Lifeline (Chills Fanfic)

6 - Autumn

When we reach a small park that has been constructed here for the younger vampires. I see some teen vampires lingering by the swings, vaping and drinking. I look past them and back toward Emma.

"Arlo is here?"

"She comes here on occasion," says Emma.

"Why?" Dylan asks.

"This is where the teens hang out," she says quietly. "This is where I met Gabriel."

She walks ahead of us and looks around nervously. She hums and faces the cluster of teens we saw when we entered the park.

"Hey, have you seen Arlo?" Emma asks one of them.

"Nah, man," says a boy with green hair and round brown eyes, light tan skin, and baggy clothes. His eyes flick to Dylan and me, and a mischievous smile flashes on his face. "But I think I know where these two want to go."

"What? Where?" I ask.

"C'mon, you three." The boy gestures to the right and we follow him through the park. We pass the swingset, the slides, and then the merry-go-round. The boy stops walking in front of the merry-go-round. He nods towards a hatch in the ground. "Okay, down there is where you'll want to go."

"Why, what's down there?" I ask him.

"Not what. Who. You'll see."

He opens the trapdoor and I see darkness beyond. Dylan walks up to stand beside me as I peer inside.

"Advanced darkness."

I snort and Emma shakes her head. The boy smirks and nods at the darkened trapdoor opening.

"There's exactly five stairs that go down into the room down there. Just walk down there, and you'll see who it is."

Glancing at the others, I slip down into the darkness. Dylan follows me, and Emma follows him. Then the boy follows. He walks down the stairs, and as my eyes adjust to the dim light, he turns on a dim light.

I look around this place, seeing the cramped walls are made of concrete, and covered with photographs of various people of varying ages. I then see a older man sitting in a hospital bed leaning against a cluster of pillows and blankets.

The old man looks at us and smiles. He sits up and looks at the boy with green hair.

"Good job, son," the old man says. "Hello, new vampires. My name is Darwin. I am pleased to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too," Emma says. "I am Emma, this is Dylan and Autumn."

"Yes, I know. Soren, can you get my wheelchair? I want to show them something."

"Sure," Soren, the boy with the green hair says.

He walks over to the corner of the room, and retrieves a wheelchair that he brings over to Darwin.

"Do you need help?" Dylan asks.

Darwin's smile returns. "Only if you would not mind."

Dylan shakes his head. "I don't mind at all, sir."

"Sir? Ha, no, Dylan, we are equals. I am not above you in any way."

We help Darwin get into his chair, and then Soren pushes Darwin to the other side of the room we are in, and we head into a wide, short hallway, and into a new room. But this one has no pictures on the walls like Darwin's room did.

Instead, the walls are bare, and the room itself is a dull color. Darwin raises his hands into the air.

Suddenly, the air around us ripples and warps like water, and then, the world is engulfed in light. I hiss in pain as I close my eyes and turn my head away. Emma and Dylan both make grunts of surprise too.

The light fades and then Darwin lowers his hands. When I look away from him ....

"Where are we?" Dylan asks.

"Welcome to the real safe haven for vampires, and the place that your friend Gabriel cannot get to, Emma," says Darwin. He looks at us, his smile showing fangs of a vampire. I am shocked, I thought Darwin was human until he did that.

"What is this place called?" Emma asks.

"Viiros," Soren says. "Told you that you'd want to come here."

"Viiros," Dylan mumbles. "How'd you come up with that name?"

"It is an old name," Soren explains. "It means nothing, it was just the name the vamps of old used."

Darwin chuckles and shakes his head. "Viiros is the vampire safe haven. But leave it to the young and inexperienced among you to believe it is nothing more than a made-up word."

Viiros is a city. It is night here, and this is very obviously a city full of buildings and houses that are all mostly cool colors and dark shades. A few pinks here and there add some real pop to it.

We currently stand in the yard of a house in the front of Viiros. I look up at the house.

"Is Arlo in there?" I wonder aloud.

"Maybe," says Emma. "Let's find out, shall we?"

She looks between Dylan and I and loops her arms through ours. Together, the five of us head up the ramp that wraps around the front of the house. On the porch in front of us is a boy and a girl. The boy looks maybe a year or two younger than me (I am 22, soon to be 23). He has bright red eyes and black hair that is styled into a short hairstyle on one side and a long one on the other. He has light brown skin, and wears all black, save for his red shirt. The girl beside him looks like a stereotypical ghost girl.

"Welcome to Viiros," the boy says. "I am Mick."

"Hello, there," Emma says.

Mick looks at Soren and Darwin. "So are you going to show them around?"

Darwin nods. "Let's not dally. Come."

We head inside then.