beyond the black lines | styles

P.24 - Babe I'm Gonna Leave You

"No, but you can see it in his eyes when he talks to you. You can see it in the way he tenses up whenever you tell him you can do a job by yourself. You know, he never got used to you saying that."

He shut the notebook he was looking at to bring his full attention to me. It felt like he was really looking at me now, and I could already smell the nostalgic sentimental bullshït brewing in the cloudiness of his eyes as he grinned.

"In the car earlier, when he told you all that crap about not going into this alone. It's not just your safety that he cares about. I think it's also really hitting the old man that you're not his little girl anymore. He knows you can do this job alone if it came down to it."

"Didn't sound like that to me earlier." I mumbled, "Like, he made some points earlier. I can't take on more than one vampire alone, if it came down to it."

"You can. He and I both agree you're too sporadic to not somehow make it out of a fight like that alive. You've had so many moments of dumb luck in the past, can't imagine a silly vampire could break that streak."

I laughed at uncle Dexter's way of telling me, you should have died that one time but surprisingly you didn't. To say it was dumb luck would theoretically be correct, but in truth I was partial to Harry's assistance a handful of those times.

"You've really come into your own, bug. You're quite the hunter for someone your age." Uncle Dexter sighed, "Not a surprise there. Your dad has had you part of the business since you could walk."

"You're not gonna start crying, are you?"

"No, no, it's just really good to see you. You know, a phone call every once in a while, doesn't hurt; let me know you and your dad aren't dead yet."

"Sorry, I should call more." I frowned, "But in any case, we're here now. I've really missed you uncle Dexter."

"I missed you too, bug." He grinned, opening his arms, "Come 'ere."

I smiled as the familiar hold of his embrace enveloped me.

"When this all blows over, I'll buy you a beer." He whispered as I laughed in his ear. "Thanks uncle Dexter."

"So, it turns out those camping grounds have a history of missing persons." My father spoke up from the door as he walked in. "Similar incident happened about five years ago. A group went missing during a hike. Several others had been reported missing throughout the past decade but their cases have already been closed from lack of evidence to prolong investigations. A lot of the same profile going around, dead cows, instances of feeding, claims of a humanoid-like animal ripping these animals apart."

"So, what, they never thought to close it down?"

"Technically, no one has died on their camping grounds. Since the forest isn't privately owned, they're not liable to anyone going missing beyond the camping grounds." My father explained. "But I have alerted them that for this particular case it would be in their best interest to close down the camp until we solve the issue since it is on their camping grounds. That way, there won't be anyone else getting in our way when we go down there tonight."

"You have a plan?" I asked him.

"Well, sort of."

~ 2009 – The Motel – Manning, Colorado ~

Evelyn. Age 15.