The first time Ben watched Nino 'mesmerize' another human, was when they first met at the Halloween party. On his way to the bathroom, Ben was relentlessly hit on by Lincoln's ex-boyfriend. Nino appeared and convinced that guy his drink was empty, and he needed a refill.
Later, Ben learned from him that vampires could only mesmerize humans with suggestions that made sense. Suggestions that could actually happen.
A light was at the end of the tunnel.
Those goons mesmerized Ben based on a lie. He had a sliver of humanity to latch onto and he held it in a death grip. Ben would never give Evie up.
He knew he couldn't bring them anywhere close to the house, so he followed his lie and took them to a grocery store. One he sometimes shops at, but not his local one.
This wasn't a full-fledged plan. It was a step-by-step guess of what to do, make something up on the spot kind of plan. Ben just focused on keeping them away from Evie. That was the mission. He'd worry about whatever came next when he got there.
Ben kept his thoughts clear and his expression empty while his heart pounded at the top of his throat. The summer sun was unforgiving, and trickles of sweat slid down his back. He just thought about his apartment, his sanctuary full of the Ventura family, who came to him for help. Evie wanted to wait there for her mom. Nothing else.
Even in adulthood, making friends was hard. He never got enough practice as a kid. So, he intended to nurture his precious friendship with Evie by making sure she stayed happy and healthy.
Leading the vampires away, Ben listened to them talk. The man, John, sighed. "This heat is a killer."
"I told you we didn't feed enough," the woman, Jane, replied. "The summer is so annoying."
"The sooner we find Evelyn, the sooner we can return home. Besides, this guy smells good. We can grab a snack before we follow her trail."
"Snack? We can't let him live. He's seen the kid's face and ours."
Ben wondered about his last words to friends and family. How would the world remember Ben Robinson? For his spicy vampire novels? For his inability to memorize any song completely? For chasing around the same guy who'd never love him back?
Ben didn't like the sound of that.
Maybe his legacy is his bad ideas. Taking a deep breath first, Ben made a run for it, diving into the park. It was a long shot, but he stumbled upon a LARPing event with everyone dressed up like it was for medieval times, smacking their sticks around and not in a sexy way.
"Get back here!" John yelled, but Ben didn't stop.
He chose every path compiled of the most people. Ben took out his phone, noticing a flood of texts from Nino. He called him and Nino answered immediately. "Ben, I'm sorry."
"Listen to me. Gabriel knows Evie is in the city. You need to take her and go. Find a different safe house."
"What?"
"I don't have much time. Leave without me—"
Someone screamed, and Ben thought he was going to scream, too. Bones jumping out of place, Ben whipped around to see the vampire woman with her foot on someone's neck. All the blood drained from Ben's face.
One of the human girl's friends stepped up. "Hey, what the fuck?"
The vampire, John, punched him hard enough to knock him back and out. They weren't pulling punches. "Who's next?" He egged on the crowd.
Jane didn't stop looking directly at Ben. "Stop running."
"Ben!"
Ben could hear Nino in the receiver call out to him.
"Drop your phone," John instructed.
Ben did.
They smiled. Stepping off the woman, Jane approached him with the saunter of a cat with a mouse in its mouth. She grabbed one arm and John grabbed the other, lifting him off the sidewalk. The crowd went immediately to their friend's aid. Jane whispered, "If you run away again, we won't hesitate to kill the first human we see."
"If I could have everyone's attention please," John announced to the crowd. Only a fraction did, but John still pulled a bottle from his pocket. He smashed it directly in front of the crowd of LARPers and a burst of purple smoke engulfed them.
Jane pulled Ben away, but he looked back to check if they were okay. Lately, Ben was at the center of all the wreckage. Confused looks emerged as smoke vanished. Someone said, "What happened? Why are we here?"
Ben let out a relieved breath.
Melting against him, Jane ran her arm around Ben's and held his hand. She leaned her head against his shoulder. Nothing strange about it to anyone else. Lagging just behind, John stayed closed, his eyes burrowing a hole through the back of Ben's head. It was all about the confidence in their stride, the zero promise to stop.
The more they walked, the more the city was put between Ben and his coffee shop, his apartment, and his Nino. The final destination was The Grand Mystic Hotel. It was a staple in the city, lasting longer than most of the people here. Jane led him through the back of the hotel and opened a large metal door with more authority than Ben has ever held in life.
The ovens and burners caused the kitchen to become unbearably hot, competing with the summer heat outside over what's the worst. The kitchen staff didn't stop her, it could be because they were busy or used to strangers coming and going. Ben locked eyes with a random waitress and Ben caught the first spark of curiosity, but red flashed through her eyes and the waitress yawned, suddenly no longer caring. This was another bewitchment, Ben could tell, and that thought made his inside curdle and die.
They whisked Ben away to one of the hotel ballrooms. They had obviously decorated it for a wedding reception with so much white, gold, and blue. Big bouquets of white flowers everywhere, like heavy clouds. John wasted no time driving Ben's arm up his back and slamming him into the nearest tabletop. Pain exploded front to back, his arm threatening to snap like a dry twig with shattered glass pricking his face.
"Are you working for the Ventura?" Jane asked.
Ben clenched his jaw and focused on breathing. Struggling was dumb. He glanced up, searching his surroundings for an out, or at least another chance to run like hell. The nagging voice of Nino pinched his nerves, telling him repeatedly that any vampire other than him would've killed him by now. To spite Nino, Ben had to get out.
Ben's lack of an answer was enough for them. John yanked Ben up just for Jane to smack him across the face. John slammed him back down onto the table. His face pounding, Ben could already feel the swelling and the bruises. He could taste his blood. Nino was a liar on top of everything else. It definitely didn't taste good.
"You're making this harder than it has to be. If I were you, I wouldn't let myself be tortured for the sake of that family—" Jane's words caught on a realization. Her eyes dilated, narrowing in on the corner of Ben's busted mouth.
"What?" John asked.
"What indeed..." Jane's hand shot out, snatching up Ben's face and forcing his neck to turn, twisting unnaturally. She grimaced, running her thumb over the blood. John's grip loosened, echoing the woman's awe.
Thinking was a waste of time.
Ben shot his hand out, grabbed a knife, and twisted around to plunge it through John's sunglasses and right into his eye. As John screamed, Ben put his foot to John's chest and kicked him right into Jane and flung himself up. Tripping, Jane reached for him, grabbing his shirt, but Ben pulled against her grip and the frail cotton ripped right off. Ben sprinted around the corner, jumping into the elevator and gasping for air with his ribs aching.
Pulling himself up, Ben took out his other knife, staring at the rough edges. Shaking this much was going to make Ben scatter to the winds. He cranked up his adrenaline and took a deep breath before cutting into the meat of his arm, biting back a cry. Ben ripped off his shirt, pressing it against his wound, then threw it into the corner of the elevator and sent it back up.
Ben didn't stop, heart pounding as he checked every door in this hallway. He turned for the next and a cleaning lady with her cart nearly slammed into him. Her eyes widened at his appearance, his lack of clothes, and probably the horrified look on his face. Ben raised his hands and whispered, "Please, please, don't yell or anything. Um—" Ben swallowed, making this up as he went was more anxiety inducing than he thought. "I just broke it off with my boyfriend. He—" Ben jaw trembled, his words catching. "He well, you know um, and my friend is coming, but I need a place to hide."
"Your friend is coming?"
Ben nodded so fast and deeply his neck nearly snapped. "I- I just need like..." Ben shook his head, the words bursting out of him. "Like ten? Fifteen minutes? I don't know."
The cleaning lady was maybe middle aged, streaks of white combed back with her brown hair in a bun. She had pretty gold earnings on and a soft face full of wrinkles. She nodded. "Here..." she glanced around, before motioning Ben. "Go in here."
She led him through a hotel room where the sheets were in disarray and empty water bottles and opened snack containers were littered everywhere. The woman pulled a handful of towels from her cart and said, "Get cleaned up. It's just me today. Takes me about 45 minutes to clean a room, so be gone by then, alright?"
"Alright." Ben tried keeping it together. "Thank you."
She closed the door and Ben ran, stumbling to the phone, dialing the only number he knew in the world by heart. Lincoln's phone number. Lincoln answered after a few years. "Hell this Lincoln."
The sound of his friend's voice almost broke Ben in two. He sucked it up and said, "Hey. Um, I'm sorry, it's me. Uh, Ben, I lost my phone and I'm a little stranded."
"Oh, shit."
"Yeah, uh... I'm at The Grand Mystic Hotel. Could you call Nino and tell him to pick me up?"
"Sure, but I could call an Uber for you or something."
"No, no, um, I just need Nino to come get me."
"Alright. Where are you?"
"Tell him I'm on the second floor. He'll find me."
There was a pause. Lincoln asked, "Is everything okay?"
"Totally. Thanks, Lincoln. You're the best."
Ben hung up before Lincoln could ask too many questions. Turning his thoughts off, Ben was a wonder of working human parts, a machine going into the bathroom. He found a can of Lysol that smelled like poison and sprayed it until all his nose hairs fell out. Ben then got into the scalding hot shower and let his blood flow down the drain. His skin pinked from the heat, but if this alone could shed Ben's skin, he was willing to try it.
Ben was so lost in avoiding thinking, lost in the shower's sound, lost in the heat of the water, Ben almost didn't hear the door open. Ben froze. Taking a deep breath. Ben didn't turn the water off. He carefully crept out with his knife, white knuckling with his tight grip around the handle, preparing for anything and to do anything.
"Ben?"
Nino's voice.
Dropping his knife, Ben burst through the bathroom door at Nino in the hotel room. Actually there. Standing right there. Not John and Jane. Not worse for wear. Nino's wide eyes looking Ben up and down as if he'd seen a ghost. Ben's body felt electric, zapped by the relief and all his adrenaline fizzled and made him drop the knife. He did it. He made it back to Nino Ventura.
Nino appeared in front of Ben, hands hovering near his face and the cut on his arm, not sure what needed more attention. He was radiating unease without touching Ben. He obviously didn't want to make it worse. "Fuck," Nino spoke, but he didn't know what he was saying. His eyes were miles away. "I made it. I made it. You're alive."
Ben stood there, dripping water and he almost assured Nino when their fight back at the apartment came flooding back. Snatching up a pillow, Ben walloped Nino's head as hard as he could. The vampire didn't budge, but Ben messed up his hair and made Nino's eyes almost pop out of his head.
"Whoa! Whoa! What's that for?" Nino asked, hands now up in surrender.
"You!" Ben snapped at him and shoved him this time. "Stop telling me how lucky I am that you met me first."
"What are you talking about? Stop—" As Nino was demanding it, Ben hit him again. "Stop hitting me. You're really pale, Ben. Maybe you should sit down—"
Ben pushed him hard one more time.
"You've said it! You say it a lot that I should feel lucky that you met me first and not somebody else, but have you ever stopped to think that maybe!" Ben was shouting, all his panic and adrenaline and everything was exploding out of him. "Maybe you're lucky that you met me at all? That maybe you're the lucky one? You have been selfish and mean, but you know what?"
Ben straightened up even when his world was tilting on its axis and pulling him down. "After spending these few months with you, I realized that you're a coward, Nino Ventura. You're not some brooding loner, you're running away from something, but me? I'm the one you're running to, so never fucking say I'm lucky to have met you. Ever again—"
Ben shook his head too hard and the lights went out faster than a baseball bat to a lightbulb. It went completely dark, and Ben was drowning in it. Ben woke up on Nino's back, walking through the hotel lobby. Nino must've dressed him and thrown him over his back like a bag.
Having felt him stir, Nino whispered, "You're really a handful, you know that?"
Ben tightened his grip, folding his arms around Nino's neck.
"Go back to sleep," Nino whispered so gently, it finally made his eyes water. "We'll talk back home."
Home. The way he said it sounded so permanent.