Justin and I packed our things and headed out the motel within minutes. At the earliest, 8 am seemed to be to dragging by slowly for me. With me half asleep in the car an Justin wide awake, the journey seemed to pass by on quickly. We stopped by the closest breakfast area, got something quick to eat and drove off without stopping any furthermore.
Six hours.
With only six hours left on the journey, my anxiety kicked in again. Why was this so hard for me to believe that everything was going to be just fine. My heart told me everything was going to be just fine but my brain kept urging me to drop everything and head back. Who do I listen to? Both seemed to be just about the right thing for me to do. I looked at Justin. He had his eyes fixed on the road the entire time. I had my mind blocked the entire journey from across the country just so he wouldn't get the whole idea of why we were actually here.
But for how long can I keep this up?
I closed my eyes to surpass the remaining journey and until we got to Justin's beach house in California that he said he had. How ironic that everything was working out just fine. With his beach house on the beach, what could possibly go wrong but for me to encounter what I am actually looking for?
With my eyes closed and Justin's fingers laced through mine, time seemed to go by fast. Before I knew it six hours had gone by. I opened my eyes only to see the sign of California pass by. My heart raced again. Everything around me turned from blue and lively to gray and dead but it passed as soon as it came. I looked around trying to take in what I just saw. Everything was back to normal. Was this my mind playing tricks on me? I covered my mouth and closed my eyes to calm myself down.
"Are you okay?" Justin asked, reaching out for me.
"Huh? Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. We're here?"
"Yes. Sleep well?" He asked, lacing his fingers through mine again. I clutched it tighter than expected and brought it closer to my heart. I smiled.
"Yeah. Good morning."
"Your heart is beating more beats then expected. What's wrong?" I quickly dropped his hand.
"What? Oh no, nothing. Just really happy to be here!" I wasn't lying but I was exactly telling the whole truth either. We drove by a little further ahead, maybe fifty miles or little over more, and then came to our destination. Justin parked the car. It was a little walk to his house from the boardwalk which I didn't mind. We were confronted by large, three to four story houses on the beach. Extraordinary and beautiful, the more we got closer to the house the more excited I was getting. We walked up the five steps and to where the main door was.
"Ready?" He asked. I could be ready for a lot of things, but I'm not. I bit my lip and nodded. Justin unlocked the door and pushed it open for me to enter first. I did so and I could of swore my jaw dropped to the floor. I didn't realize my eyes had enlarged. The house was beautiful. Everything was so high, big, and elegant it almost looked like an ancient palace from back in the king and queen days. I smiled.
"Wow," was all I could say. I twirled around in a 360 angle to get a full view of the place. Justin grabbed the bags from the car and placed it on the side after shutting the door behind us. There was so much light shining in the house I felt as if I would go blind. But I loved it, I loved the aspect of the windows and I loved the light. Justin toured me around the bottom floor as we came across every room from the kitchen to the rooms down the floor. After settling back to the middle by the main entrance door, I looked up. There was a big, twirling staircase that was leading up the other floor.
I could only imagine what the top floor looked like. Justin's world was filled with interesting things and my book of Views of the Rich was filling up but yet more to come.
"Come on." Justin grabbed my hand and lead me up the stairs. The stupid grin on my face was never ending as we made it to the top. Another hallway greeted us. I bet none of the houses here looked like this. This was magnificent! The top floor had various of rooms. I didn't know what to expect or what room to go to. Then Justin lead me straight across the hallway to where that one room was in front of us that was about ten feet away. Tranquility bubbled into me as he walked me inside the room. The bags that I had picked up from downstairs fell from my hand and landed on the floor with a thud.
"I can never get tired of this," I said, sitting down on the bed. Justin dropped the belongings to the side.
"I see," he chuckled.
"Thank you for this. I really mean it. It means a lot to me for you to do this for me." Justin kneeled down in front of me and grabbed my hand.
"A birthday present well worth it, huh? Let's get some sleep now. When we awake, we'll go out. There's some places I want to take you out for a celebration." I smiled and nodded. I felt like all I really was going ever since we left from the other side is sleep and eat all the time. But right now I think not just me but Justin also needed to rest. I wasn't going to hold back considering the fact that it was steal early in the morning.
Justin and I unpacked everything, took care of business that we needed to do and finally plopped down on the bed. It took me a while to really close my eyes but Justin on the other hand fell straight to sleep as the bed touched him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was about three to four pm in the afternoon when I awoke. The sun was beaming outside. I looked over to Justin to see if he had awaken but to my surprise he was still fast asleep. To think vampires never slept, I was completely wrong. I slowly sat up, rubbing my neck to soothe my aching muscle and signed.
I was thirsty.
I couldn't remember the last time I had something to drink. Probable hours ago. I rubbed my aching muscles again and slowly got up, throwing the duvet over me. If I don't quench my thirst, I might just pass out.
I slowly opened the door, making sure any movement of mine didn't stir Justin, and walked out before promptly closing it before me. This place was huge and luckily my brain had picked up some areas and what was where.
I descended down the stairs slowly as I could with fair amount of light illuminating through the big, rounded glassed windows. I traced my hands down the staircases and smiled as the bumpy fillings went smoothly against my touch. I took in the view again. The afternoon light made the house look even brighter and more bigger than before. I walked into the elegant kitchen and to the sink. Even the sink was made of granite tiles.
I was quenching my thirsty when I heard faint sounds of waves crashing and water sloshing. At first I thought my mind was playing tricks on me but it wasn't. I walked up to a screen door and pushed it open gently as I was welcomed by a porch. The porch was huge and elegant as well but that wasn't what really caught my eyes.
All in all, I had completely forgotten what I was really here for.
In front of me stood a long, welcoming beach of California. The waves and the atmosphere in front of me called out for me. I smiled and looked around. There were people out there but not a lot as I had imagined. I was so relived and thrilled that I literally had to stop myself from running off.
To soon, Alex, too soon.
The cave was here somewhere. Sure only my eyes could see it but how far can it be before I finally came across it? I first have to take precautions and calculate my moves before I proceed ahead. This wasn't going to be easy; I had a strong feeling of that.
However, my body was relaxed and I was in a tranquility mood. I sat down on the swing and continued to watch the horizon as the waves crashed in front of me. I closed my eyes for a few minutes then when I reopened them, my smile faded.
Startled, and beguiled, I watched ahead. The sky had turned from a bright blue to dull gray. Funny how the weather looked just fine a minute ago. I stood up and rested my hands on the railing before closing my eyes again. This will all just go away! When I reopened them, I jumped back, with a strangled gasp.
Not just the sky that turned lively from dead but what stood in front of me was beyond more petrifying than ever. The entire ocean was red. Blood.
The people that were once relaxing on the sand were not laying lifeless with their bodies sprawled out. The waves crashed red as the sand turned bloody. The wind picked up. My chest heaved In and out as I watched the horror in front of me.
People were dead in front of me. About thirty to forty bodies had sprawled out with their necks cut open. The entire ocean had turned bloody. What kind of sick, bloody game was this? I looked up in the sky then back at the ocean and the bodies. I wanted this to stop. I closed my eyes again as tight as I could and then jumped back. I covered my mouth from screaming and opened my eyes, quickly.
Justin stood behind me with amusement, and tension written all over his face. I couldn't breathe right. I looked back at the ocean and to my surprise, everything was back to normal. The sky was blue again, the waves were crystal clear, the sand was white and people...
They were alive!
I watched in horror as everything went how it was before. How is this possible? I turned back to Justin.
"Hey, are you okay? You look like you just saw a ghost," he mumbled, wrapping his protective arms around my waist.
Ghost? I just saw a massacre! I so badly wanted to tell Justin what I had just saw but was afraid that, that might just lead him to figure out what I was up to!
"Tick tock, tick tock," the words rang in my head like drums. I wanted to ignore the threats and scenarios but felt as if everyone second was getting worse for me.
I may be the last Rare Blood left but that didn't mean Justin's family was going to snatch my rights away from me. I'm here for one ultimate reason and dammit, I'm going to get it!
If it wasn't the bloody pictures or the threats, it was the evil laugh. I heard it again only this time it was more clear and terrifying. The laugh mocked me and even though I couldn't see who was laughing at me, I knew exactly who it was.
Knowing it only made my heart weak. My vertigo kicked in and my face turned white as a ghost.