Book 1 Chapter IX - David vs Jackson

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Chapter 9 - David vs Jackson

It was the early hours of the morning on Monday, 13th February, and everyone at 9 St James Street was asleep. David knew this. He also knew that if he waited until later, he'd never go through with this. So he gritted his teeth and knocked at the door. A minute later, he knocked again, knowing that the occupants had probably not heard the first time.

A light went on upstairs and his sharp ears picked up the sound of footsteps on the landing. He stepped back and waited.

Someone unlocked the door and pulled it open. Jackson Brown, wearing pyjamas and a dressing-gown, and yawning fit to dislocate his jaw, looked at him sleepily.

"Who are you and what do you want at this time?" he demanded, or tried to while still yawning. "Wait - you're one of the teachers at the boys' school..."

"Don't pretend you don't know - or at least have guessed - I'm not who I say I am," David said sharply. "And don't pretend I don't know that you're not who you say you are, Colonel Brown."

Brown woke up considerably. He looked at him through narrowed eyes, then finally stood aside. "You'd better come in, then."

They were met in the hall by Lacey Brown, a rolling-pin in hand, wearing a nightdress and dressing-gown with curlers in her hair. That last detail made her look truly hideous, like something out of what humans called a horror film.

"What's all this?" she said, brandishing her rolling-pin.

"I'm not entirely sure about that myself, yet," her husband said.

Jackson led David into the living room, followed by Lacey after she sent the boys, who had been watching from the top of the stairs, back to bed. The Browns sat down on the sofa; David remained standing.

"Now, what's this all about?" Jackson asked after a moment.

"I know that you are the head of InGEN on Earth. And I know that you have suspicions about me."

"Then would you care to enlighten us about who you are?" Lacey said.

"I refuse to tell you my name, and you have my starship, so you should know what I am."

"Yes, we know you're a Vampiruan. And you must be a criminal of some sort, or at least you annoyed someone. Vampiru is two thousand, nine hundred and twenty-three light years away from Earth. You wouldn't come this far on your own for a holiday," Jackson said.

Lacey brandished her rolling-pin at him dangerously at the mention of the word "criminal", as if daring him to try anything.

"I'm not a criminal. I might be wanted by the government, but I'm not a criminal." David realised with a start that he himself no longer believed what he was saying.

The Browns exchanged glances.

"Would you mind starting from the beginning?" Jackson said. "We're a bit confused."

David obliged, starting from when he had been forced to leave the army to look after his father, the constant abuse he endured (and had endured before that), how he finally had enough and killed him. Then how he had found himself branded a "murderer", and had a price put on his head, and how he had fled, choosing Earth to hide, and then found that another vampire, a real murderer, was also on Earth. He took care never to mention names.

The humans were silent, listening.

"What about your siblings?" Jackson asked when he finished.

This was a question David had been dreading. "What about them?"

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