Chapter Four (Walter)

It was hard to believe that I had actually glued myself to Julian and his friends.

I used to hate them. They were annoying how they walked around like they didn't give a shit about anyone else or their problems. They acted like they were tough shit, like they had no problem in the world. They talked like they could handle anything.

And for some reason, Julian annoyed me the most.

He was the stereotypical rich pretty boy. He was always following Adam around like a puppy, doing whatever he said. He was so obviously crushing on the guy too before they started dating. The way he looked at Adam like he was the only thing in the world that mattered, and even now, as we stood out in the parking lot with street lamps flickering around us, he was looking at Adam like he was a king.

And all of it was going to Adam's head.

The guy had an ego the size of Texas. Oh yeah, even I had to admit that Adam was a tough cookie. He didn't take bullshit from anyone and he was a hard worker. Once he put his mind to something, he could get it done in a jiffy. He was strong and smart, an incredibly fast learner and it seemed like he always knew the right things to say. He was confident to the point where sometimes, you'd think he was just getting cocky, but he proved you wrong and showed you he could do it. And he was incredibly loyal.

Felisha was always flirting with Adam, and so did a few female customers, but he flat out told them he was dating Julian. He didn't care if people gave him weird looks when he told them he loved Julian, because even the most homophobic son of a bitch wouldn't dare question him considering he was over six feet tall and made entirely of muscle.

And another thing about Adam? Always kept his promises. He promised to pick me up from work at five and he was there on time to take me home. He promised Julian they'd go out for dinner and he'd tell our boss he had prior engagements and the extra cash wasn't worth it.

The guy was the perfect boyfriend, most of the time.

Oh sure, Adam and Julian got into little stupid arguments every so often like an ordinary couple. Maybe Adam hogged all the blankets last night and Julian froze or Adam was too rough with him or he didn't want to walk the two blocks to Subway. Those sorta things, and sometimes, it was the kinda thing that could put everyone's life in danger.

"Just stay here," Adam was saying sternly when I zoned back in, watching him argue with Julian, "Stay with Daimonas and the rest of us will get Hunter. Besides, no offense, Julian, but you can't carry a two hundred pound adult."

"Fuck you," Julian insisted angrily, clenching his fists, "I can to. I carried him before, didn't I?"

"Yeah, and you were practically hyperventilating when we got back."

"Oh, I so was not."

"You were to. This discussion is over. You're staying with Daimonas in the parking lot. Open Seth's car door so we can put Hunter in after. So it's not like you're completely out of the game."

"Ugh!" Julian just threw his hands up in the air in exasperation, but their argument ended there, much to my relief. Julian folded his arms over his chest and leaned against the side of Seth's car while Daimonas sat on the back of the hood, kicking his legs back and forth and trying to take in everything around him.

Daimonas was another weird guy. His skin was completely black. Not dark brown, not brown at all, but pitch black like coal. His hair was as white as snow and fell down his back in long straight locks, matching his long eye lashes and the two sets of horns on his head. I'd never seen two sets of horns before, at all, not even in pictures. Two sat on top of his head like normal horns, then a pair of smaller ones stuck out at the top of his forehead through his hair. All of his teeth were sharp like razors in his mouth, and every so often, he'd stick his two tongues out to lick his lips.

And apparently, the guy had never seen the outside world before. He'd only ever seen the inside of Julian's head and the incubator that Zephyra had kept him in. I felt surprisingly sorry for him, though. I knew what it felt like to be locked up and wanting to go outside and do something.

The last year of high school was like that for me. My parents didn't want me to embarrass them anymore than I already had, they didn't want me to go around looking for vampires, so they would send me to my room and my dad put a lock on the outside, so I wouldn't be able to leave if he was in a bad mood, which around that time was very common.

So yeah, it was nice to be able to go outside and be free.

Only Daimonas had no idea what a road was, or a car, or trees, or the sky, or what made the clouds move, what made it rain. Things that I already knew and never thought about, Daimonas was extremely interested in. He had hopped off the car earlier to dig around in the snow, only to discover that it was fucking cold as hell and he declared that he didn't like it very much, but it was Michigan, and snow here was nothing new to us, so if he was gonna live here, he'd have to get used to it.

"Walter," Adam said, snapping me out of my stupor to turn and stare at him, "You're coming with me. Since we're the biggest, we'll carry Hunter out to the car. Kipp, you might need to help us with that too. Seth, you're in charge of getting all those plugs out without hurting him and then grabbing some supplies."

"You're stealing from a hospital." I deadpanned. For some reason, after all the weird shit that happened, this still surprised me. The fact that he could act like a crime was completely normal.

"We're borrowing," Adam drawled, "Without returning."

"Stealing."

"This really shouldn't bother you," Adam answered dryly, "We're being chased by terrorists. Would you rather stay here and wait for them or take off running like hell?" I considered that before shrugging and Adam nodded before glancing at Seth and Kipp.

Both of whom were also weird.

Kipp was weird because he was inappropriate and childish. Oh yeah, sure, when we all declared we were going to help Adam and Julian on their suicide mission to destroy Zephyra, he was all tough and strong, but he still couldn't hide the fact that he was a brat. A poor kid that shopped at Goodwill and thrity shops and drove a beat up old Chevy Beretta with the back seats torn up by the previous owner's rabid dog.

But I had to admit, I felt sorry for the guy after his girl cheated on him and broke up with him through text. I wasn't much of a comforter sorta guy and if you were upset about something, you didn't let the rest of us know. It wasn't our problem, but when Kipp got that text in the middle of their band practice, the guy looked like he was ready to burst into tears.

Which brought me to Seth. The guy was tiny. Not super tiny, but let's just say that his head reached my chest, but his fist could hit anywhere it wanted. Seth was the typical short guy with a terrible temper. He'd be a horrible boyfriend. That wasn't me being rude either, everyone else agreed. The guy loved a good fight and he didn't care how big the other guy was, he'd pop his foot up your ass faster than you could say oops. And shockingly, he was the one that defended Kipp. The guy went to this Leslie chick and tore her a new one. I heard the girl cried, but Seth had no mercy. He didn't care if you were a boy or a girl, everyone was the same to him.

Yeah, I had gotten myself tangled up with the weirdest group. And I used to think the Little Rascals was odd.

"What about the nurses," Kipp complained, shivering from the cold as his breath came out in clouds, "They're gonna be kinda suspicious if we walk out carrying a patient. Daimonas, you have super powers right? Can't you just put everyone to sleep or teleport Hunter out?" Everyone looked at Daimonas now, but Daimonas scowled as he rolled over onto his stomach on top of the trunk.

"I'm not usssing any of my powersss. I don't know how, and it'd be dangerousss if I even tried. I could try to teleport Hunter here and I would acccidentally sssend him to another world or sssomething." He told us with his weird lisp, sticking his nose in the air before rolling onto his back again and staring up at the starry night sky. He seemed to really like those stars. Adam sighed, frustrated as he ran a hand through his hair. Julian frowned, then turned to look at Daimonas again.

"Daimonas, you can't just not use your powers. You need to practice. And maybe not teleport Hunter, but why not put everyone inside asleep? That's sounds safe for a first try, doesn't it?" He asked, making Daimonas hesitate before rolling back over to look at us warily.

"I... guesss... that would be okay. But I don't know how to do it." He admitted, reminding me of my little five-year-old cousin when he was upset about something. He was even pouting too. Julian sighed, giving us a look that said there were a hundred reasons why he didn't want to be a parent, and this was one of them.

"Just, I dunno, think about it," Julian suggested, "Think about how you want everyone in the hospital to fall into a deep sleep, and they can't wake up unless you say the magic word."

"Magic word? What'sss the magic word?"

"I dunno, what do you want it to be?"

"Mm... Night."

"Okay. So when you say night, everyone in the hospital will wake up, all right? But you can't say it until they leave the hospital with Hunter." Julian informed. Daimonas nodded, looking a little more confident as he sat up cross-legged on the car. He closed his eyes for a moment or two. Julian stepped back, then glanced at us with uncertainty. I glanced back at Daimonas, who sat there for a while, slowly tilting his head before he perked up and his eyes flew open.

"They should be asssleep. Did it work? Let me know if it worked." He added, looking a little too excited about this. Julian nodded and looked at Adam, giving him the go ahead, even though he looked like he still wanted to argue. Adam leaned forward, kissing Julian on the forehead reassuringly before he headed toward the building. Seth, Kipp, and I followed close behind him as we approached the doors. Adam went in first and I followed behind him to see that it really had worked.

The nurses at the front desk were fast asleep, one of them snoring, as they laid sprawled out on their desks. A few doctors were lying on the floor in fetal positions, chests rising and falling as they slept. Some families in the lobby where slumped in their seats, snoring and sleeping away.

"Wow," Kipp whispered, looking around as he did a 360, "It totally worked! That's so cool! We have our own, like, alien or something." I rolled my eyes and Seth snorted, shaking his head. We followed Adam to the emergency ward and went past the doors to find a few doctors and nurses asleep on the floor. Even a few patients were lying face down, sleeping comfortably despite being on the cold hard floor.

Adam checked every single room before we reached one on the right hand side in the back where Hunter's name was written on the label. We went inside and sure enough, Hunter was lying in a hospital bed, deep asleep with bandages wrapped thickly around his torso, an IV pumping into his arm, a few stitches covered with gauze on his temple and neck.

"This is gonna be fun." Adam deadpanned, hardly sounding enthusiastic. Seth walked over first and carefully pulled the IV out, grabbing a bit of gauze from the nearby metal tray to put over top of it. He seemed to know what he was doing.

"I thought you were a computer nerd, not a medical nerd." Kipp pointed out, apparently thinking the same thing. Seth scowled at him as he taped the gauze there.

"My uncle's a doctor. I know what I'm doing," He told him flatly, then looked at Adam, "We need to be extremely careful. They stitched up his side, but it's like a zip lock bag. If we move him too roughly, the stitches will break open and we might be carrying Hunter in pieces starting with his innards."

"Thanks for the imagery." I muttered in disgust.

"No problem." Seth replied, then went to the nearby cupboards as he started grabbing things out and stuffing them in his pockets. I rolled my eyes and went over to the bed. Adam studied it for a while, then looked at me.

"I saw one of the beds with wheels out there that we can fit out the door. It'll make it easier to move him." He said, which was his way of telling me to go get it. I went out into the hallway, grabbing the bed that squeaked as I rolled it toward the bedroom when I heard a weird noise. I instantly stopped moving, feeling the hairs on my arms stand on end.

I had a bad feeling out here. Something wasn't right and being naturally paranoid for the past year, I was whipping my head around back and forth to find the source of the weird noise. It had sounded like someone moving down the hallway, like wet sneakers on the floor. I almost passed it off as probably being mine or one of the guys', but then I heard a door shut from somewhere in the wing. I winced and quickly wheeled the bed into the room and shut the door behind me.

"There's someone out in the hallway." I said instantly. Adam looked up, alarmed, and came over to stand by me in front of the door, peering out the crack in the door before he shut it again, turning to face us. Seth and Kipp were staring at him, both antsy judging from the way they were shifting.

"It's someone who wasn't in the hospital before," Adam decided, "It's safe to assume Zephyra caught up with us. We need to move faster. Let's move Hunter to this bed. Seth, grab anything else and we can put it on the bed with Hunter. Walter, Kipp, go out there and make sure the path is clear."

Kipp and I nodded, walking out into the hallway and shutting the door. We looked both ways and went down the hallway to the left, looking into the hallways that split of from there, but no one was present, except sleeping nurses and doctors. We went back down the hallway toward the main lobby, both of us tense and listening. And much to my surprise, Kipp was trembling as he looked into each room and moved cautiously.

"Are you scared?" I asked him. How could he possibly be scared? What did he think he signed up for?

"Aren't you?" Kipp returned, looking down at my hands. I blinked and looked down to see my hands shaking. I grimaced and quickly tucked them into my pockets. Kipp frowned.

"You're the one who attempted suicide. Why are you afraid to die?"

"Just because I attempted suicide doesn't mean I wasn't scared, doofus."

"That doesn't make any sense."

"Well, I don't need to explain myself to you, dork, so quit with the therapy session. I already had plenty of that in high school and don't need anymore. Now shut up, someone could hear us." I ordered quietly. Kipp looked like he wanted to argue, but gave up and remained silent as we made it to the doors at the end of the hallway. We peered through the small windows, scanning the lobby to see that it was still the way we left it before.

I walked out first, pushing the door open slowly. Kipp came behind me, our sneakers squishing on the floor when I heard something behind me and Kipp yelped.

"Walter!" He cried out. I whipped around to see someone had been hiding up against the wall and now had Kipp in a chokehold. I narrowed my eyes and went to pry the guy's hand off, but he tightened his grip on Kipp's throat, choking him.

"Who the hell are you?" I demanded the guy, who eyed me suspiciously.

"Who wants to know?" He asked.

"Walter, now let go of him. He's human and you're choking the crap out of him." I ordered. The guy hesitated, then slowly let go of Kipp, who stumbled forward to stand beside me, breathing hard as he rubbed his bruised throat.

"I thought you were a vampire." He admitted, looking a bit embarrassed. I frowned. The guy was young, maybe twenty or so, with light brown hair streaked with the occasional strand of auburn. His eyes looked an awful lot like Hunter's. In fact, the more I looked at him, the more I realized he looked almost exactly like Hunter, but smaller. He even wore leather pants, a leather biker's jacket with studded shoulders, and a black choker with a silver skull embedded into the front.

"Who are you?" I demanded again, cautiously this time. He frowned, eyeing me suspiciously.

"Peter... Peter Rice. Why is everyone asleep?" He asked, glancing around quickly before looking back at me. I frowned, folding my arms over my chest.

"Because." I answered flatly. Peter scowled at me, then stepped away from the doors at the sound of someone coming down the hallway. We all tensed until the door opened and Adam and Seth came wheeling Hunter out. Peter's eyes went wide.

"Hunter!" He exclaimed, his face paling.

"Who are you?" Adam and Seth demanded in unison, then paused to pass each other disgusted looks before looking at Peter, who glared at them.

"That's my brother!" He snapped. Even Adam looked surprised at that as we all stared at him.

"Hunter has a brother?" Seth asked at last. Adam made a weird sound of disbelief, like "pfft". Kipp gave Peter a long, suspicious stare.

"How do we know you're not a shapeshifter?" He asked. Adam and Seth looked at Peter, who scowled and reached into his jacket, taking out a butterfly knife. I almost thought he was going to gut Kipp, but instead, he sliced a cut onto his palm and held it up for us to see. At first, I didn't get what this met, but then I remembered Adam saying something about shapeshifters being incredibly fast healers, but this cut didn't heal and only bled further.

"Great," Adam said at last, "Then you can help us get him out of here before these people wake up."

"But how--"

"Not now." Adam interrupted sharply. Peter glared at him and looked like he wanted to tear him apart, but one of the doctors near Peter's foot behind to stir from his sleep. My eyes widened and I looked up at Adam, jumping aside and helping him quickly wheel the bed out as people around us were murmuring and yawning as they started to wake up. We hurried out of the hospital and headed toward the car where Julian was scolding Daimonas, who was yelling back at him.

"Sssorry! I didn't mean to! And oh, look! Your harem'sss back!" He exclaimed, pointing at us. Julian looked up, relief crossing his face for a split second before suspicious replaced it as Peter approached with us.

"Who the hell are you?" Julian demanded. Peter scowled.

"Peter Rice. And I'm coming with you if you're gonna be carrying my brother around." He added, making Julian's eyebrows go up in surprise.

"We'll talk about it later," Adam ordered, making everyone look up, "We need to get Hunter out of here as soon as possible. They're going to find out that Hunter is gone soon enough. Julian, open the door and help us get Hunter in." Everyone seemed hesitant and were passing each other uneasy stares before we reluctant got together and helped Hunter into the car. It was kinda hard to lay him flat out on the back seat considering he was ridiculously tall, but we managed to fit him in there. Seth got in to check his stitches, which were still closed, so we shut the door and Kipp went around to the other side.

"We're going to Gothica Manor," Julian informed everyone with a grim frown, "I called Vladimir ahead of time and let him know we were coming." Peter looked at him, folding his arms over his chest.

"I don't know where that is or who you guys are, but I'm sure as hell not letting youtake my brother anywhere near the Gothica Clan." He stated. Julian glared at him.

"It's the only safe place right now considering we're being hunted by terrorists." He answered. Peter shot him a nasty glare.

"You got my brother involved with terrorists? Are you fucking kidding me?"

"We? Oh, you know what, no. I'm not dealing with this. We're leaving. If you want to come with us, fine, follow behind us. Otherwise, you can stay here and get your head lopped off for all I care." Julian replied icily, then grabbed Daimonas off the arm and pulled him off the back of the car, making Daimonas whine and complain as they headed for the truck. Peter seemed to just notice Daimonas, his eyes widening.

"What the hell is that?" He asked, voice shaking in disbelief.

"Demonic parasite," I told him casually as I reached up to brush the wet hair back out of my face as rain began to trickle down again, "Daimonas. Super powerful. Has the mindset of an infant. You'll learn to like him. And if I were you, I'd listen to Julian. He knows what he's doing." Peter glared at me.

"But the Gothica clan is a clan of vampires."

"Yeah, and?"

"Are you insane?! Vampires are bloodsucking murderous sons of bitches!" Peter spat in disgust, clenching his fists. Adam stared at him flatly before flashing his fangs and making Peter insantly jump back and reach for a weapon, but I caught him by the wrist and twisted his arm behind his back quickly, pinning him up against Seth's car. I took away the knife he had managed to take out, making him curse at me.

"Relax," I ordered, "Or I'll twist your arm right off."

"Are you stupid?! He's a vampire! Who else is a vampire?! I swear to God, I'll rip your heads off and torch your corpses!" Peter shouted angrily, squirming to get away from me, but I gave his arm a tug and he went still, afraid of having his arm ripped off. He ground his teeth together, glaring at Adam and I as we stared at him.

"We're not going to hurt you," Adam told him calmly, "Not unless you give us a reason to. We're being chased by Zephyra, a vampire terrorist group that wants to get their hands on Daimonas, but we can't let that happen. Daimonas is extremely powerful and dangerous. The only place we'll be safe is at Gothica Manor. Vladimir has his own parasitic demon inside him that he can control and he can defend us if Zephyra tries to jump us. There is no other place in the world he'd be safer."

"Bullshit," Peter seethed hatefully, his eyes blazing, "I don't trust your fucking species!"

"Yeah, I don't like them too much myself," Adam replied dryly, "But some of them aren't that bad. The Gothica Clan is one of them."

"Liar," Peter sneered angrily, trying to twist away from me again, but I lifted his arm further in warning and he went still again, glaring daggers at Adam, who remained completely stoic, "The Gothica Clan is nothing, but a group of filthy bloodsucking leeches! They want to kill Hunter, and me!"

"Why do you say that?" I asked flatly, kind of annoyed with this whole thing. He was an adult that acted like a child. Now I wonder who that reminded me of, I thought wearily. I hoped once we got to Gothica Manor, I could take me a nice hot bath and eat some donuts. Donuts sounded really good right about now.

"The Gothica Clan killed our parents," Peter snarled, making Adam and I stare at him in surprise, "They butchered them while they slept when Hunter and I were just kids! I'm not about to let you take him to them! I'll kill you!"

"Well, that was a piece of news that would've been nice of Vladimir to tell us." I stated. Adam sighed, furrowing his brow in irritation as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Okay... All right, tie him up and stick him in the car with Seth and Kipp. Make sure he doesn't get away or anything." He added, making me frown.

"That would be easier if there wasn't a two hundred pound dude in the back seat." I pointed out. Adam rolled his eyes, then scanned the parking lot before looking at Peter, who was breathing hard with rage, his cheeks flushed.

"Which car is yours?"

"Bite me!"

"Don't tempt me." Adam returned. Peter paled at that, then ground his teeth together before seething his answer.

"The Impala." He hissed angrily. I raised an eyebrow and scanned the parking lot before I spotted the classic black impala hiding behind a silver SUV. Adam spotted it too before looking at me.

"Think you can handle her?" He asked me. I snorted.

"I was born to handle her." I replied. Adam smirked at that, then looked at Peter for a split second before looking at me.

"Make sure he doesn't get away and keep him under control. Follow Seth and I toward the Gothica Manor." He informed. I nodded and stripped off my jacket to use to tie Peter's arms behind his back. He still squirmed and tried to jerk his arms out of it, but even though he was Hunter's brother, the little guy wasn't as strong as big bro. I patted him down, making him arch his back and squeak to try and get away from me.

"Get your mitts off me, pervert!" He growled. I rolled my eyes before I heard the jingle of his car keys in his front right pocket and reached inside. Peter's face flushed and he made incoherent sounds of distress as I fished the keys out of his pocket. I straightened and grabbed him by the back of his neck, giving a nod to Adam before he went back to his truck. I went over to the impala, pausing to admire its sleek beauty.

"Nice ride. Where'd you get it?" I asked casually as I unlocked the passenger door. Peter glared at me for a moment, then looked away.

"Borrowed it from a guy in Seattle."

"So you stole it."

"I'll give it back! Eventually. Maybe."

"You stole it." I repeated flatly, experiencing a short moment of deja vu. Was I the only one who saw a problem with this? I shook my head and shoved Peter inside a bit roughly, making him wince before I slammed the door shut. I went around and got behind the wheel.

"If you crash her, I'll gut you." Peter seethed.

"If I crash her, I'd let you gut me." I replied, making Peter frown as I started the engine, pausing to listen to it purr deeply. I pulled out of the parking space and easily caught up to Adam and Seth, who were waiting near the exit of the parking lot before we all drove out at once onto the road, heading to the freeway.

"Why are you working with a bunch of bloodsucking ticks?" Peter grumbled, glancing at me as I drove down the highway behind Adam. I glanced at him out the corner of my eye, then back at the road ahead.

"Good question."

"Seriously. Are they threatening you?"

"Nope."

"Are you suicidal?"

"Sometimes."

"God, you're pathetic."

"I'm not the one tied up with a jacket."

"Fuck you." Peter snapped and fell silent again, slumping down in his seat to glare out the window in defeat. The rest of the car ride was incredibly silent. I didn't even want to turn on the radio because I was afraid we'd get static and for some reason, static made me really nervous. It was one of those sounds that made you jittery and twitchy. Vladimir didn't live too far from where we lived, but apparently it was long enough for Peter to fall asleep because by the time we pulled up Vladimir's ridiculously long drive way, Peter was slumped back in his seat, sleeping quietly.

Oh yeah, what a real tough guy. Falling asleep in the car with the guy he wanted to kill. He was a smart one. Hunter would've probably attacked me while I was driving and killed us both, or somehow, magically esacpe on his own and walk away from the car as it was exploding. Because Hunter was just that weird.

Yeah. Weird. Not cool. Just weird.

But then again, I was a human traveling with other humans and vampires and a parasitic demon to a vampire dictator mansion in Southern Michigan.

So, suffice it to say, my entire life was weird now.