5. Going Home Again #2
“Oh, well, when you get a chance to be anyone, you see the warp and weft of the universe,” Charlie explained with an airy wave.
“You do?” Ryder lifted an eyebrow.
“Yes, you do.” Charlie nodded sagely. “Ah, it looks like we’re here and your young man is coming right towards us.”
Ryder barely had a chance to turn his head before Grayson was in his arms. He buried his face in Grayson’s hair. The young man squeezed him tightly.
“You’re here,” Grayson breathed against his chest.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t with you before,” Ryder answered as he kissed Grayson’s head.
“No, no, if not for this… I’m glad you were with your Bloodline.” Grayson reluctantly pulled back so that they could see one another.
Ryder gently ran a thumb underneath Grayson’s right eye. Dark circles. He was exhausted. But there was that fierce intelligence and determination in his eyes, too.
“Hey, Charlie, I’m glad you came,” Grayson said.
“Of course! I’m always up for a performance,” the Mirryr Vampire said as he rocked back and forth in his dress shoes.
“I’m sure.” Almost shyly, Grayson added, “Ryder, Charlie, I want you to meet my dad.”
Ryder opened his mouth in surprise. Surely, Grayson’s father was dead, but when he saw the softly glowing figure, he understood.
This was the Kaly party after all. Bringing the dead to meet the living was exactly what it was all about.
The man–who looked so like Grayson in his jaw and form–came over, but kept a few cautious feet away.
The wave of cold that preceded him explained why he kept his distance.
“Ryder,” the ghost said.
“It’s nice to meet you, sir,” Ryder said, feeling oddly shy himself right then.
“Sir? No, no, please, my name’s Ryan. Ryan Duke,” he said. “I want to tell you how glad I am that you and my son found one another again.”
Ryder blinked. “Ah, you know who we are?”
Ryan nodded. “I’ve been with Grayson since I died. So I’ve seen and heard everything, I’m afraid. But I couldn’t leave Grayson, even to give him privacy, or… well, I am glad I got to see my son’s life.”
Ryder’s eyes widened and he glanced over at Grayson’s face. His beloved looked both touched and incredibly sad.
“He was keeping me safe,” Grayson said. “My stepfather was hanging around too. But Caemorn took care of that.” Grayson dipped his head towards the Kaly Vampire who was standing with Balthazar, Christian and Fiona a few feet away. “Oh, and he wasn’t the only one. Sam, come over here and say hello.”
Charlie looked rather agog as the other spirit approached. Grayson recalled then the homeless man who was Grayson’s friend and who had been murdered by the Sect member “Jill”. He waved at Ryder awkwardly.
“It’s nice to meet you, Sam,” Ryder said.
“Anyone named Sam is a good egg. I’ve met many!” Charlie said.
“I’m all right!” Sam chuckled.
“C’mon, we need to go get Mom,” Grayson said as he tugged Ryder’s hand in order to lead him to the others.
“I thought you were staying here,” Ryder said with a lifted eyebrow.
“I did too. But the more I think about it, the more I’m convinced the only way Mom will come willingly is if I’m there. We need her to come with us quickly,” Grayson said.
Caemorn, Balthazar, Christian and Fiona broke apart their little circle so that the rest of them could join them.
“Oh, good, Charlie, you’re here and ready to go,” Balthazar said, pleased.
“I look forward to meeting Grayson’s mother. I hope I’ll do him proud,” Charlie said.
“I haven’t seen her in awhile.” Grayson ducked his head. “But I’m sure you’ll capture her personality and looks.”
Ryder wondered if Grayson was thinking about how much his mother had aged in the near 15 years he had been gone. His mother would have gone from a younger woman to someone middle aged. It would be a shock for Grayson to see her, a reminder of the time he’d been on his own.
“Charlie, Ryder, take my hands and we’ll go get Grayson’s mother,” Fiona said.
“I’m coming too,” Grayson spoke up.
She turned her head towards him. “I thought we all agreed–”
“Mom really won’t come if it's you guys. She’ll be afraid and won’t trust you,” Grayson insisted. “Even if that’s temporary, I don’t want her to be frightened. With you, Ryder and Charlie, we should be fine even if something goes wrong.”
“I’ll get us the hell out if something goes wrong,” Fiona said. “It took two of those Kaly slices to hold me. That won’t happen again.”
“I’m sure it won’t,” Grayson agreed.
Christian picked up a large soul gem that had been resting on a nearby boulder. “As you’re going to Earth and to see your mother, I’ll discontinue the power boost. I imagine that seeing you and the others will be enough of a shock for her without adding in your father.”
“Right. Definitely,” Grayson nodded.
“I’ll reconnect it when you’re back,” Christian promised.
“How long does one gem last to do stuff like this?” Balthazar asked, seemingly genuinely curious.
“It will last over a 1000 years,” Caemorn remarked.
“That long?” Balthazar’s eyes widened. “I dare say, how exciting. I can think of bunches of things to do with something that powerful.”
“I’m sure you can. But later,” Caemorn remarked. “Let us not waste more time in getting Grayson’s mother here. We must see if she will agree to help.”
“I’m sure she will.” Grayson tipped his head up. “All the more reason not to scare her when she meets you all. Fiona? Shall we go?”
She nodded. Ryder, Grayson, and Charlie all linked hands.
That sickening feeling of teleportation rushed through him as he felt his body seemingly stretched and then snapping back like a rubber band.
They’d come from a forest glade to now a middle class living room in a two story colonial home in America.
“What a pleasant room! Such Americana!” Charlie enthused softly as he immediately began to wander around and pick up random things here and there as if to get a flavor of the place.
There was one lamp turned on in the corner. The windows’ curtains were drawn, but there was no daylight peeking through them. He shouldn’t have been surprised. Fiona would have known what time it was here and made sure it was dark. Fiona went over to the curtains, but didn’t part them.
“I’m glad you’re here, Charlie,” she said. “We’re not alone.”
Ryder tuned into the hearts and breathing of the humans outside.
There were half a dozen, which was a surprising number to him.
But then he remembered that the truth was that nothing was more exciting than Vampires and the students.
Everyone’s eyes were upon them, which was easy to forget in the Ever Dark, but less easy to do so here.
“... the mysterious death of Steven Range took place here over fifteen years ago…” one female reporter was saying, practicing her lines for a broadcast.
Another reporter, a male one, said, “... Grayson Duke at just twelve-years-old disappeared from his family home on the same night…”
The female reporter clicked in again, “... there have been rumors that the two incidents are connected. Yet how could a twelve-year-old boy crush an adult man’s skull without any weapon?”
Ryder’s hands fisted at his sides. This had to be stopped.
But until they got rid of the Sect of Dawn entirely, any work that Balthazar did to eliminate the attention to Grayson was countermanded by them.
Because of the Blood Pact, no human police were allowed in the Ever Dark, but if any found Grayson here, they might take him in and question him.
They definitely had to get back to the Ever Dark as quickly as possible.
And Grayson has to be turned into Ashyr just as quickly.
His head turned to find Grayson. The young man was standing in the room’s center, seemingly frozen.
But why was this room having such an effect on him?
Other than the lamp, there was a television, a comfortable, squashy sofa with a low coffee table made of wood and stone in front of it and a few over large chairs that Ryder imagined would envelop anyone that sat in them.
There was an old game system tucked underneath the television that held Grayson’s attention.
He stared at it as if it were a ghost. Despite its age, it wasn’t dusty, but completely clean.
The whole room was spotless and well taken care of.
Ryder touched his shoulder and Grayson jumped.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean–”
“No, it’s fine. I just… she hasn’t changed anything really.
” Grayson was staring at that game system.
His eyes moved over the furniture then to the shelves on the walls that were filled with well-thumbed paperbacks.
He drifted over to one shelf and took a book down.
The pages were yellowed and soft. There was a dog-eared page that Grayson opened the book to.
“I was reading this the day before… I had to leave.”
Grayson swayed a little. Ryder clasped his shoulder to hold him up.
Grayson firmed his legs and shook his head as if to clear it.
He gazed through the open arched entry to the room into a darkened dining room.
Ryder wondered if that was where Grayson had killed his stepfather.
Grayson made no move to leave this room.
He stared into the darkness and swallowed, but nothing more.
The whole first floor was dark as if no one was here.
Or perhaps the hour was late and Grayson’s mother was already in bed.
With the constant surveillance by reporters, Ryder wouldn’t have blamed her for seeking comfort in her bed and
“Ah, is she here? Can you guys hear her?” Grayson asked and wiped his palms on the front of his pants.
He’s nervous to see her. Understandable. I’m sorry we can’t see his father or Sam any longer. That might help him.
Ryder’s hearing focused on a lone heartbeat on the second floor. “She’s upstairs.”
He pointed to where the heartbeat was, but then it began to move in a straight line.
Soft footfalls accompanied it. Stairs groaned and creaked as she came down them.
Grayson watched his finger move. His eyes were huge and he was breathing more rapidly.
Fiona drew near while Charlie looked on with interest. This was the woman he was to look like and play for the next few hours.
Out of the darkness came a woman with ash-colored hair and Grayson’s topaz eyes.
She was lean, almost rangy with quick, sure movements.
She wore jeans, a white waffle shirt that hung loose down to her thighs.
She stared right at Grayson, but didn’t seem surprised at finding him and the rest of them standing in her living room.
She stopped just beyond the threshold, in the room where Grayson had defended them both.
“Mom?” Grayson asked, his voice sounding hollow, but then he was shaking his head. “No… no…”
It was her smell that told Ryder something wasn’t right. She smelled human, but… but…
“Who are you?” Grayson demanded. “Where’s my Mom?”