Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf? [Complete!]

Chapter 17: He Lives

The girl giggled again.

"Lindsay! Why is it that everyone we meet, you somehow have on your side?" He groaned.

"'Cause I'm just so darn lovable, Matt!" Lindsay said, grinning.

"Marie, when is your brother going to be here?" John asked.

"Here's here now."

"Huh?" John shot Lindsay and Matt a confused look.

"He's at the window."

Lindsay, Matt and John glanced at the window just as they heard a knock on it. A boy was leaning against the tree beside it, grinning. Shocked, Matt slowly opened the door.

"Marie, I'm so glad you're safe!" The boy exclaimed, dashing through the window at a break-neck speed.

"Whoa, dude, how'd you do that?" Matt yelled.

"Huh? Do what?" The boy asked, looking confused.

"Gee, I don't know, get here in less than five minutes, run through a window in 0.3 seconds..." Matt let his sentence trail off.

"Oh, I've just always been able to do that. What're you jealous, man?" The boy asked, tilting his head to one side and smirking. Mischief sparkled in his lavender eyes.

"I'm not jealous!" Matt yelled, outraged.

"Marie, you and your brother should definitely join me in annoying Matt daily. You're naturals at it," Lindsay exclaimed.

"Lindsay, no, just no," was Matt's exasperated reply.

"Ok guys, stay focused, Matt knock it off," John said, trying to keep everyone on track.

"B-but Johnny, she started it!" Matt yelled.

"I don't care who started it, I'll finish it!" John yelled back, grinning at Matt's bewildered face.

"Lindsay, Matt, John, I'd like you to meet my brother, Jasper." Marie said, beaming.

"Hi people," Jasper waved.

"Dude, I need an explanation, just what the heck are you?" Matt asked, still shocked.

"Do you really want to know?" Jasper's eyes narrowed.

"Yes."

In a matter of second Jasper was standing behind Matt.

"I'm a vampire. But I'm different than most of them, see, I can't use magic or anything fancy. But I can run," Jasper grinned.

"Um," Matt's eyes darted to John. Do you think he knows Alexander? They were both thinking the same thing. John nodded, giving him permission to ask.

"Jasper," Matt started, "Do you um...know a guy, err, vampire named...Alexander?"

Jasper's lavender eyes flashed, smoldering with anger. Marie looked slightly nervous and she touched Jasper's arm. His eyes turned lighter to their natural shade of lavender once more. "Thanks, Marie," he said under his breath.

Do you think we should ask him, Matt? If he can somehow help us defeat Gary? We need all the help we can get...Jessica is getting weaker.

Matt's eyes darted to John, he nodded once, yes.

"Jasper, Marie, we have something to tell you..." John told them the whole story, of how Jessica had fallen into this world, of how Gary was loose with the stone. Of how Jessica was unconscious in the hospital, thanks to Alexander, as the imps continued destroying things. John finished and Jasper let out a low whistle.

"Hold crow, you guys have your hands full alright!"

"Alexander has been hurting my brother and me for a while..." Marie said quietly.

"If it means helping you guys defeat this Gary dude, then taking out Alexander once and for all, I'm with you," Jasper paused before adding quietly, "He killed my parents."

"What?" Matt, Lindsay, and John all yelled at the same time.

"It all started about a thousand years ago," Jasper began.

"Whoa, whoa, wait, wait. Do you mean to tell me you're over a thousand years old?" Matt asked, bewildered.

Jasper eyed Matt wearily, "Vampires can live a long, long time..."

"If you're about a thousand years old, Jasper, how old is Marie?"

"I'm not like the rest of my family," Marie said quietly, "I'm only seven. I can communicate through telepathy with people, and sometimes I have weird dreams."

"Well, they're actually visions, Marie," Jasper added, "Anyway; I'll continue my story before I'm rudely interrupted again."

Matt stuck out his tongue at this as Jasper shot him an amused glance.

"As I was saying, about a thousand years ago, when Blackdeath was vanquished, my parents died. We were in living in secret back then, since most vampires and such were rumored to all have been evil, and working with Blackdeath. We were living peacefully for a while, but one night my Dad woke me up. He said that we had to leave the house, and run. It happened that this same night was the night Blackdeath would fall. We grabbed only what we needed to survive, and in a matter of moments were outside in the night air. My Mum and Dad were right behind me, when suddenly I heard Mum scream. I was about to turn around and look but Dad said to keep running. I didn't listen to him. I couldn't listen to him. I turned around and I saw him, in the flesh. He had black hair with a few white streaks in it. His eyes were red and he looked as though he had fangs too. My Mum was kneeling on the ground. Dad was trying to help her, and he didn't notice Blackdeath behind them," Jasper's voice faltered, "I tried to tell them that he was behind them, but I was too late. Before I'd uttered a word he'd said something I didn't quite understand. In a fraction of a second my Mum and Dad were on the ground, unmoving, and he was gone. It was morning before anyone found us. Some villagers helped me bring them both to a nearby hospital. They seemed to be in a coma, under a spell of some kind. Exactly like the one you described your Jessica is under, John," Jasper nodded his head towards him. "Later that day I received news that Blackdeath had been vanquished, but his power had been sealed away in a stone.

I stayed at the hospital with my parents for nearly a year. Then one day, their hearts stopped beating...it was over. I couldn't believe it, we'd tried everything we could to heal them...but nothing worked. For years I lived on my own, depressed. I isolated myself from the world. But one day I was out for a walk...and I met a little girl. She was crying and couldn't find her parents. I helped her look for weeks, but we never found them. I took her in, and we became a good team. We later found out that her parents had died of the very same spell mine had. It has a name that spell, they call it lurixomia. And that brings us back here," Jasper finished.

"..I'm sorry to hear about your parents, guys." John said.

Lindsay and Matt nodded gravely in agreement.

"I have one question though," Matt began, "You said Alexander murdered your parents, didn't you?"

"Yes, indeed I did."

"But you just said Blackdeath did."

"That I did."

John's eyes lit up with recognition and terror, "Matt! Don't you get it?"

"Obviously not, that's why I'm asking Jasper, Johnny!"

Jasper leaned in closer, as though he was afraid someone might overhear them. "Matt, Blackdeath is a shape shifter, remember?

"Duh."

"Well, who's to say that he actually died? Who's to say he didn't fake his death, then shape shift into another nearby animal or something? Who's to say he hasn't been hiding all these years, in the form of another?"

Matt took a step backward as the terrible truth sank in, "No...that's not...possible."

"He looked like a vampire to me, Matt. Vampires can live a long, long time."