Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Necrofiend: Blood Moon ❯ Chapter Thirteen ( Chapter 13 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

Xo Shu Mhing: Glad to see you’re still around too. I hope life hasn’t been too hectic for you. I think Talim [now Thiago] is going to be the only name change. Some of the minor characters may or may not be present. I hope that doesn’t ruin the new version for you. Thank you for the review <3
THE AIR OUTSIDE of the club felt cooler, almost crisp as I inhaled it. Had I not known better, I would have thought it was normal. It wasn’t. I looked over my shoulder with a frown, taking in the front door of the club as we put distance between us and it. Inside had been so heavy with otherworldly presences and energies, it had left the air thick and heated in a way that had nothing to do with it being the beginning of summer. A lower level full of vampires and lycans having a small orgy with humans would do that to a place--a place I wasn’t planning on visiting again. I turned to focus on the walk back to the jeep. It was late, almost five in the morning yet the parking lot was still filled to capacity with a short line of cars waiting for an opening. It was mildly unnerving to see so many willing to expose themselves to things more than ready to take their lives then again, I felt that I should understand them. After all, my line of profession exposed me to far worse than club going monsters. “Hey, Raven.” I called ahead and waited for Raven to turn to see what I wanted before tossing him the keys to the jeep.

He caught them easily and smirked. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say that you like being driven around.” He teased. I shrugged.

“At this point, yes I would enjoy being driven around. I want to go back to the hotel and be able to relax for a few hours but knowing my luck it won’t happen.” I shrugged again wondering which I’d wager on happening first, the cops coming to question me about the latest dead body or another attempt on my life. Strangely enough, with either outcome a strong possibility, I felt calm. It was almost like this was becoming an everyday thing which meant I was long overdue for a vacation.

Raven must have read my mind. His steps slowed so that he was in stride with me. At the same height and leg length, we walked easily together without either of us having to alter our steps. “You seem very calm considering the only two things that could interrupt you from relaxing is another attempt at killing you.” He commented.

“Yeah…I think I’m getting used to it…I clearly need a break.” I tried to make light of it, even bumped his shoulder lightly as I slipped my hands into my pockets. He didn’t react. It was my turn to read his mind. “Just because I’m getting used to it doesn’t mean I’m willing to die, Raven.” I stated and knew it sounded rehearsed. It wasn’t my first time saying it. I’d said the very same thing to Remi and Nagumi and two separate occasion. They were all convinced that know one who loved life would choose my profession. Surrounding oneself with so much death should have been depressing. I found it…calming most days when things didn’t get too complex. This wasn’t one of them.

“Sometimes I believe you…and sometimes you make it really hard to.” Raven sighed. I watched from the corner of my eye as his drooped slightly. He hadn’t slept well last night while I’d slept soundly. He was tired. I plucked the keys from his hands and proved that I was right when he didn’t react right away. I was able to stretch my hand back and move so that he had to reach around the opposite side of my body to even come close to grabbing them.

“You’re tired. I’ll drive.” I said as I finally raised my forearm to press to his chest to keep from falling over. He grumped at me and I ruffled his hair. He let me do it for only a second. Raven enjoyed having his hair and scalp played with and had the perfect hair texture for it. It was fine stranded with a soft almost spider web feel to it. I let him bat my hand away because if he didn’t, I would have stood there and ran my hand through those strands. It wasn’t a loving gesture despite us being friends. Good hair running through my fingers cleared my head. Odd, but it was what worked. “Let’s get you in bed.” I said as I turned from him and led the rest of the way to the jeep. I climbed into the driver’s seat while he took the passenger seat. While he fussed with the seat so it would lay back, I fastened my seatbelt into place.

The drive back to the hotel was a quiet uneventful one. Raven had slept most of the way back and was half sleep on the way to our room. I endured the amused and suspicious looks sent our way as I led him by his hand toward the elevator with a smile. It would be a funny story to tell him when he woke up. The elevator took us straight to the fourth floor past the floor where a corpse had bled all over our first room’s floor. I stepped out and tugged Raven with me half expecting to have to throw him back into the elevator and reach for my gun. I didn’t have to. The hallway was empty as I reached our hotel door and unlocked it. The door swung wide revealing that our room was just as empty as the white and rose pink hallway. A breath I didn’t know I was holding was released. I used my hand at the small of Raven’s back to coax him forward. As he stepped forward, an elderly woman appeared.

Not once did I think to myself that Raven wasn’t thick enough to hide her so completely from sight or that I hadn’t heard her approach. She stood there at no more than four feet in what looked like a pastel pink flannel nightgown. Though the material was thick and far too warm for this time of year, I could tell that she was suffering from the symptom of age that stole a person’s height. Perhaps she’d been closer to five feet tall at some point in her life. Her skin was the color chocolate milk and looked soft in texture despite the deep wrinkles carved into the corners of her mouth and ears by age. Her hair fell in two thick French braids over either of her shoulders like strands of silver rendered into fine strands of downy soft strands. “Oh deary me, such an interesting boy.” Her voice was like chiming bells when she spoke--high pitched but pleasant and melodious. The smile I had lost, dared to return but didn‘t stay. “To bad you’re going to die.”

“What?” I asked overlooking the nervous laugh that came with the question. Her words had been clear as day but I was sure I’d heard wrong.

“Don’t look so surprised. You have so much death already looming around you. What else could possibly happen?” She laughed and it was painful to hear. Where her voice had been melodious and soothing, her laughter was like swallowing broken glass. “Your friend will fall with you too.” I swallowed a lump in my throat and glanced into the hotel room. Raven had gotten down to his boxers and had climbed halfway into my bed. If it was any other circumstance, I would have smiled.

I looked back to the woman unsure what I was about to say to her. How did she know? What was she? She wasn’t there. Only the darkened indentations Fighting a frown, I walked into the room and shut the door. Once I had it as secure I could get it, I set to pulling Raven’s lower half into the bed. He woke up just enough to help me get him to one side of the bed. I sat heavily on the side of the bed elbows resting on my knees, head hanging. I wanted nothing more than to blame the woman’s words on insanity. I couldn’t. You’re going to die. Your friend will fall with you too. I shook my head and began pulling my shoes and holsters off of my feet. I had no worries about dying. It was the inevitable and would most likely be my own doing but Raven, he valued life especially his own. I stripped to my boxers, redressed my gunshot wound , bandaged the bite on my forearm then pulled on a pair of soft cotton pajama bottoms.

Before I went to bed…I prayed. Prayed that the strange woman was insane or had the wrong pair of guys. I prayed that Raven had many years to come before he met his end. And lastly, that his life wouldn’t end because of me.

“Thiago?” I cracked an eye open and lifted my head from my interlocked hands upon hearing Raven‘s voice. I’d chosen the standard praying position on my knees beside the bed, just like my mother taught me. I had prayed silently barely qualifying as a whisper to human ears yet he had woke up. He stared at me with those dark eyes still clouded with sleep. He tried to clear his throat and failed. “What are you doing?”

“Praying.” I answered him honestly because I knew he wouldn’t ask why. No one asked why one with religious faiths chose to pray. Whether it was out of respect or some rule I hadn’t come across, I wasn’t sure. “Did I wake you?”

“No…hmm…I’m not in my own bed am I?” I shook my head. In the darkness of the room, I could see that he was blushing. “Sorry about that…” He started to get up and I stood.

“You can stay if you want. I can just move to the other bed.”
“But you like being between the door and window.” He protested.
I smiled softly suddenly remembering why Raven was my best friend all of these years. “That’s true…but you’re comfortable so stay there.”
“How about we share the bed…it’s big enough and I promise to stay on my side.”

I agreed. There wasn’t anything wrong or awkward with sleeping in the same bed with Raven. I knew as I slipped on the covers and placed my Browning under my pillow that I’d end up with him pressed against my side. For that reason, I laid on my back so that my left side was closest to him. I stared up at the ceiling silently following the brush strokes of whatever paint they used to cover it. “Goodnight, Raven.”

“Night, Thiago.”



Author’s Notes: Kind of a filler, kind of not. I felt Thiago and Raven deserved a semi-normal chapter that didn’t involve shooting at people, being shot and whatnot.