Paranormal
Excerpt from Rage B 4 Dawn: Flesh Urban Blood
By: Keith

"They came for me, what do you mean, they came for me?" he took the ice cream then dropped it in a carry basket he picked up.

"I'll explain it to you when we get out of here."

"No. Explain it now. How old are you anyway? Because I'm having a real hard time trying to figure that out and I'm pretty good at figuring out people's age."

"I don't think you want to know my age. It's not important. What's important is that I get you out of here before they return."

"Before who returns? And, I say I do want to know how old you are, especially since we're old friends, like you say we are. Let me see your teeth."

"Excuse me?"

"Your teeth, let me see them. I can tell a persons age by looking at their teeth."

"No. You're not seeing my teeth."

"Well, Millie, I have to be going, have to get back to the apartment."

"Billy, no, wait." She grabbed his arm. "Ok, look. The immortal one, the father of them all, in the beginning...my mother, a mere twelve years old, a little girl herself...he...the count...Dracula, he married my great-great-great-grandmother, made her the very first mortal Queen of a vampire clan."

Billy was a bit amused by the story so far but for sake of having something to do, he stayed and listened.

"My generation, we are unique in our own way but do not possess what is needed to defeat strike."

"Wait, lets go back to the part where you said your generation is what, unique, in what way?"

"Billy, we are not totally betrayed by the sun, even though we can not afford to just stand in it for hours, as you and your kind can."

"My kind, and what exactly is my kind?"

"You are mortal Billy, that's what I have been trying to tell you, you are also gifted, like me and the others."

Billy shifted his weight under him, sat the basket in the display case. "Gifted, that is why I'm having these pains all the time?"

It is only the beginning, Billy."

"Okay and you're unique generations is what, 100, 500 years old?"

"Yes."

"Well, that aught to explain things then. I'm going through pain because I'm unique and you're uniquely old. That explains things. Well, thanks for clearing that up, gotta go."

"Wait Billy. I'm not finished. I think I may have found a way back to my home in the underworld."

"Ok then, why don't you go home?"

"I can't just go, Billy. They are watching me. Tram and Denmark are the controllers of strike. If I lead them to the door, it will be disastrous for many of my kind. I have not seen the two but I know they watch me. I am convinced the three thugs who you ran into weren't working for Tram."

"Lets get one thing straight, I didn't run into them they ran into me."

"Fine, they ran into you but Tram's team was cast out of the city by the Prince of the dark land."

"Dracula?"

"No. The Prince is my father. The castaways, like Tram, were former servants to the royal family."

"Your family?"

"Yes, my family. These vamps betrayed my family, ordered by Tess, the most feared and powerful enemy know to the underworld, to my mother, the Queen. Tess, my mother's cousin, caught my mother by surprise. These castaways are trying to find their way back, as I am but they also want to get back to finish off any survivors who may have been left behind. They can only get back through me because I possess what is needed to get back but I need to locate the door."

"I didn't know vampires killed one another."

"We do Billy, all the time, especially with ones out there like strike against the royal family."

"Why do the want to destroy the family?"

"Jealousy. My mothers cousin has wanted to rule over the dark land since I can remember by my mother would assume destroy the land before turning over power to Tess or any of the others. My family has ruled long before I was born. The Queen made the land withdraw beneath the earth. This is how I ended up here."

"I have a couple of questions. One, if the land was destroyed, why do you want to go back and two, with all the power you have, why do you need me?"

"Because Billy, strike. I sought you out so that I would have someone who could walk the land freely and search for the door to the underworld and not arouse any suspicions from strike."

"Well, I don't think that's going to work anymore, especially if those guys are from strike like you said."

"No, that is why I ran off a minute ago. I had to go back and check. They were not from strike. I have someone out keeping an eye on them as we speak."

"Wait, is your friend the one who's been causing me all this pain?"

"I wanted to get your attention."

"That's what I thought. You could have just asked, you know, introduced yourself like a normal person."

"That's just it, Billy. That's what I have been trying to tell you. I am not like any other normal person that you know. Besides, you would not stop moving long enough to listen. I have been following your movements for some time now."

"Well, I'm listening now. What exactly do you need me for?" He stepped aside when a woman leaned across him for a pint of ice cream then said thank you after he handed her a box then walked off. "You could have said something to me months ago instead of just following me around."

"I had to make sure. You were always around those other kids, though."

"Yeah, that was my old crew. We use to be close but I have been trying to get away from them, because of Corrine, my girlfriend. She doesn't like it when I hang around them much. She thinks they get me into trouble all the time."

"I need you to find that door for me Billy."

"What door?"

"To my home."

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