"Who was that?" Jackson startled me when he spoke once I stepped into the house. He was lounging in the living room with his feet kicked up on the couch, an expression on his curious, boyish face that worried me deeply.
It didn't take long for me to realize he was upset with me. It was written all over his face, the way he crossed his arms, the livid daze in his own gray eyes was something I couldn't quite get past. Shrugging, I unstrapped my stake's holster from my leg. "Who was who?" I asked.
Jackson rose from the couch and shifted his weight. If he'd seen Dom just a while ago, I wondered what part of us together he'd seen. Was it when he and I said goodbye to one another? If so, there was a chance he'd seen me kissing him, and not just another guy, but another guy who just happened to be a vampire. Then again it's not like he knew Dom was a vampire. I think... if that was the case, I was confident he'd have busted my face in for it... or worse, called Julius and ratted me out.
Jackson followed me to the kitchen and passed the dining room archway. When I made it, I grabbed a glass mug from the cupboard overhead and headed for the fridge, grabbing the picture of water. "You know who I'm talking about," he said, "That guy you were swapping spit with on the corner."
Cautiously, I filled my glass with a bit of cold water and took a sip. "Oh, he was just... a friend."
Jackson released a laugh that told me he knew something was up. "Kyle Timber is my friend, and so is Tony Dion, but you do not see me making out with them. I saw that dude, Raeden, he was grabbing your ass and stealing your tongue like you've been in a relationship for years. Who was he? I'm your brother, you can tell me. I always thought you were gay anyways. I was just never too sure... until now."
I wasn't up for sharing my life, especially with Jackson. He may be my brother, but that doesn't give him every ounce of trust I have. The only person I really know how to trust at the moment is myself.
"Don't worry about it," I said, "Where did Julius go tonight?"
"What's his name?"
I stopped and set my cold mug down on the counter, "Jackson, don't worry about it. It's none of your business."
He dogged me with the eyes of a greedy lion. "I'm gonna tell Julius you're dating a guy." He smirked with triumph. "You know he'd send you back to training if he ever found out about that, don't you? He's what you could call a... homophobe, and with him being in the Public and all, it'll only make things worse for you if he ever found out. Just tell me, Raeden. What was his name?"
Calming my breathing with a sigh, I thought for a moment on how I could switch this conversation. Talking about me would only lead to the discovery of Dom, and that was something I could not have.
Taking another bothersome sip of my water, I said, "What's with you, Jackson? Ever since Julius told me about my special task in taking down a vampire that actually needs to die, you've been acting like a child who didn't get what he wanted for Christmas." I huffed a laugh, "Are you jealous or something that I was given the duty, and you were stuck with city rogues?"
"Jealous? Of you? You've got to be kidding me? I'm a better slayer than you'll ever be—."
"And that's why the Slayer Public compared my skills to Hamilton, while you're stuck being a bloody janitor to the city nightlife."
A rage blew from his ears, steam I could've sworn I saw spew from his eardrums. He came at me but I didn't flinch. He gripped the collar of my shirt and shoved me back on the refrigerator door, rattling the magnets and clips stuck to the door and causing them to fall off from the force he gave.
"Don't start with me, Raeden," he began, "I deserved that position far more than you. I'm the oldest, giving me the right to go out before you. The Public must be run by fools if they think you're going to finish the job. I bet you haven't even found out where that fanger lives, let alone where it's from."
"So what are you going to do? Hunt him down for me?"
"It..."
I thought about what he'd said, taking his abrupt statement in. "Let me rephrase then; are you going to hunt it for me?"
Jackson smiled sinisterly, "You're not getting soft on us now, are you? Julius told me about the time you mistook those bloodsucking fanged freaks for their gender. That's a no-no in Public books. You do know that, right?"
I lifted my hands, driving Jackson's football built body away from me. "Back off, dammit. Of course, I know that. Who cares if my vocabulary slips up every now-and-again."
Scorning me with his eyes, Jackson turned from me and headed for the dining room, where on the table he had his duffle bag, and in it, all of his utilities. "Whatever you say, Hamilton. Then, if you're not too busy or expecting a phone call from your boyfriend...?"
I said nothing.
"Good, then I'd like to know if you're up for helping me with a task of my own. You see, there's this building across town, a hive of vampires that I've been instructed to get rid of. I've got everything we'll need in my bag, but just in case anything unwanted happens, I'd like to have a little back up if any of the fangers get out of the fire. You up for it? I mean, I'm not forcing you if you're scared."
I took it as an insult for him to speak to me like the Public crowned him with fame when I was the evident star. "Where is this place?" I asked with a pure sign of irritation.
"Downtown Wind Ridge, Pine Street."
I remembered that street from when I used to have to walk to school every morning before graduating. It was a lonely street with only a count of three other buildings, all of them being ravishing condominiums fit for high paying buyers with money to spend. They were vast structures embarking envy upon others who used the way as a shortcut. However, it was easy to believe vampires could be populated there, because whenever I'd go and come back from school, no one would ever be outside, and the windows were always... shielded.
Jackson gave me time to change into my slayer uniform and I draped the black mask over my face once we reached our destination.
We ducked within the darkness of an alleyway beside the targeted building, and Jackson said, "Take this." He handed me a small bottle of lighter fluid, "and go up to the very top floor using the stairwell, spread it everywhere... avoid yourself... and when I give you the signal, make your way down the back stairs of the building, understand?"
I gave him thumbs up, and stuffed the lighter fluid in my back pocket along with a lighter he almost forgot to give me. I scaled the ladder bolted to the rear to the second floor, and eased through a window displaying a fake potted flower. The hall was long and wide, nice and dimly lit with very few light fixtures in the ceiling and walls. The place seemed rather gloomy if you thought about it, but that wasn't what I was here for. Though I could admit I'd fallen for a vampire, I was still a slayer. A vampire slayer.
Keeping my footsteps easy upon the floor, I worked myself quietly to the emergency stairwell to my right. I opened the door and closed it silently behind me, only to look up and see I had ten more floors to climb. Could this night get any better?
After Dom left me, I'd supposed it could not.
Reaching the second to the last floor, I received a call from Jackson to tell me he was ready for me to spread the fluid because he'd taken out the lobby attendant vampire. "Alright," I said, "Give me two minutes and you can go on and set fire to your floors. I still have two more to go."
He agreed and hung up.
At last making it to my final rise, I opened the well's door and peered into the hall. Taking my stake, I placed it in my hand just in case, and made my way out into the open. My only hope was that all the vampires turned in for the night and not one would open their doors. After one would come another, and another, and that certainly was something I don't even think I'd be able to handle. I was like Hamilton, but I was not the Hamilton.
Legend has it he'd slain up to thirty vampires at the same time. My record was only five at the time. Anymore and I'd be their dinner.
Creeping without making a sound, I made it to the end of the hall where I was to begin my mission. When I had most of the fluid down... I heard a noise.
I turned around with uncertainty and a slight sense of panic to find none other than Dom heading out of one of the condos. "Dom?" I couldn't keep myself from saying.
He was dressed in the same black jeans, buttoned dress shirt and boots. He looked tired but in realizing it was me who'd called his name, only shock and question was sitting in his gaze. I pulled my mask down to uncover my mouth, "What are you doing here?"
He lowered his voice, something I think I should do as well. "I live here, Raeden. What are you doing here?"
"Oh, no," I said without warning. "Dom, you have to get out of here. My brother and I were sent to burn down the building."
"What...?" he quickly drew closer to me, "No, Raeden, you can't. This is my home."
"I would've changed my mind if I had known you lived here."
"Can't you change his mind. Tell him to back the hell off?"
"No, unfortunately. The orders were given to him directly from the Public. There's nothing I can do. He asked me to help him."
Dom put his hand up, cutting me off with a stern look of disbelief. "You're talking to a vampire, yet you still have the courage to keep killing? What the hell is that, Raeden? You can't do this. This is my home, these are my people!"
"I can't do anything about it, I'm sorry. What am I supposed to do, call Jackson and tell him his task has suddenly been called off?"
"If it would help."
Dom looked down at my hand, and stole the lighter from me, and without it I wouldn't be able to set fire to the fluid I had spread just a moment ago. "Get to him and tell him you've been discovered by us. Get out of here!"
I couldn't help the rise of my tone, "I can't, he'll blow the place up anyways."
He turned from me rushing down the hall to the stairwell I came from before. "What are you doing?"I asked, hurrying after him.
"I'm going to kill him."
I gasped, "Dom!"
He faced me with influence, the look of a murderous vampire in his eyes. I continued, "He's my brother, I will not let you touch him. If you ever wish to lay a hand on me ever again, you will not go after my brother."
Suddenly we could hear screaming in the background, agonizing pain shrilling from the lungs of several immortals burning to death on the lower floors. My phone rang from Jackson calling me, but I couldn't answer it at the moment. Given the floor was practically melting from under my feet; the one thing I wasn't worried about was a phone call.
"You have to get out of here," I told Dom, "You of all have to live."
His eyes were on me with a disappointment I never knew, and he caught me off guard when he placed a knowing kiss upon my lips. "I have to get someone first. You get out while you still can."
"Can I do anything to help?"
"Just go."
He was gone from me on the spot, and I stood there at the frame of the stairwell looking about the scene. Doors to other condos opened up and bodies set a flame spiraled out. Sparking flames ignited the fluid I had spread as well, so the fire was getting out of control, and guilt was suddenly starting to fill me. They were screaming, and for once their screams made me feel sick inside... sick about myself. I hadn't set the fire, but somehow I felt it was my fault.
Hundreds of vampires would die; others would lose the only home they had, forcing them to take shelter probably under a dark bridge during the day, or perhaps relocate before the sun came in a few hours. Either way, I felt truly responsible for ruining so many lives all in one night.
When a smoldering creature wailed in my direction, I turned from it, letting the blazing body pass me and watched as it plummeted down the stairwell after tipping over the guard rail. The sight only made me think of Dom, my vampire. I couldn't leave him not knowing if he'd make it out or not.
I had to get him.
Moving further back into the same hallway, I tossed my cell phone from my pocket when it rang again, and hunted through the doors to the condo's that fell open. The many screams would drive me crazy if I didn't get out soon, or worse, I'd die leaving my brother to deal with the grief.
When I made it to the room Dom had once exited from, I could hardly breathe from the amount of smoke in the air. I cupped my mouth and nose with my hand, and was startled when the door crumbled before I could open it myself. "Dom!" I shouted through the thickness, coughing roughly when my lungs began to fall ail.
I scanned the enormous area to my best, and through the darkness of the smoke I could make out two figures moving. Dom was one of them with his arm around another male who I suspected to be his friend Nathaniel. His friend's face was burned halfway but was still able to function right. And that much was known, because when he caught sight of me, fury was all I could determine, that and the urge to kill me.
He worked himself away from Dom and charged for me with a quick pace, but I wasn't ready, "Wait—!" I tried to get out before he clotted me across the face with his hammering fist. I couldn't see let alone breathe, and now I had to deal with a fight from an immortal I had no business with.
I pushed myself back up, searched through the depths of smoke for my holster, and from it I grasped my stake. But the vampire Nathaniel was quick even with his energies. He stole my stake from my hand and chucked it out of the window several yards off. "Nate, stop!" I could hear Dom in the background calling off his comrade, and my arm was grasped with a force that picked up my body from the ground when I lost my footing.
The smoke in my lungs was killing me from lack of oxygen. If I stayed any longer I was going to die with every other vampire who already had.