Esper kept running. He'd been running since school ended. For nearly an hour and 30 minutes he'd been running since then. No exhaustion hit him.
Why was he running? It had all started when that boy left after stating he was a vampire. This heat in Espers blood. He'd started noticing it. The differences. He could see so far if he tried. He had so much energy. Much more than he'd had before. So he'd begun running. The scariest part however was when the boy had left Esper. There started a sense. In the halls he wasn't alone. A voice spoke.
"You can hear me?" it said, then it laughed, "Weird for a vampire. Vampire's don't usually see the dead."
That's when Esper decided to start running. There must have been a lack of fresh air. Maybe this was all a dream. Esper felt like he was awake. He started running thinking when he ran out of breath that he would know he was awake. But here he was running still.
Esper stopped running and sat on the curb, a street he'd ended up on. He grabbed his phone and checked it. His friends had texted him a few times.
Rook: Bro where did you go?
Liam: Are you ok?
Oliver: Some girls invited me and by extension you guys to hang out today. So if you aren't doing anything, come to that dinner a few streets down from your house. The one that serves that chocolate cake you love.
10 mins later
Rook: Bro where are you? Ravens here! She asked about you!
Oliver: Get your butt here. We should be here for a while cause the girls are doing some homework before we actually hang out.
Then another text that said it was from ten minutes ago.
Rook: Bro if you're alive meet us at the bowling alley across the street would you? Where are you?!
Esper sighed. Looking up he recognized the street he was on. Only a 15 minute walk to the bowling alley. He got up and started walking.
"I'm probably just crazy," He said to himself quietly.
A man passing by stopped next to him.
"From that smell coming off of you I can tell you. You aren't crazy." The man looked at Esper, revealing one eye that lit up as it looked at Esper, "You're a very interesting one, kid. If you ever have questions, reach out to me. I'm not a vampire, and you're not normal. Two things you should know. I'm in a rush so I can't tell you more. Sorry."
He handed over a business card. Well a whole bundle and ran off after looking at his watch. Esper read it:
Erasmus Caldur
Alchemist & Seer of the Broken Fate
**8- 256 -2626
His number written on the card and a picture of his middle-aged face on the card. With his eyes normal instead of glowing. Esper sighed. He really had a thing for attracting the crazies it seemed. He continued walking toward the bowling alley.
When Esper arrived he spotted the group as they laughed. They had expanded with the group of some students they'd met at the bowling alley. Of course Esper was attracted to the sight of Raven Lynch bowling and smirking at the strike she got. Rook however was the first to see him.
"And WHERE the HELL have you been?!" He said with a look of concern, "I called your uncle and he said you weren't home either."
Esper stared in disbelief.
"You. . called my uncle?" Esper said.
"Yep. he gave me his number this morning. It's cool. Said if i ever needed anything let him know. Anyways, where were you?"
Esper shrugged.
"On a run."
Rook looked skeptical.
"For an hour and a half?" He replied, "You? With your dad-bod."
He smacked Espers stomach and looked back up with amazement.
"Well ok then. Didn't know you'd been working out so much dude. Respect, but try to answer your phone would you?"
Esper nodded and sat down next to Oliver who was currently getting swarmed by girls.
"ESPER! Yo! Where've you been?" he asked, looking concerned.
Rook interjected, "Running."
"With his dad bod?"
Oliver also slapped Esper's stomach and then went silent.
"Dude. Honestly. No words. You've been taking this dance thing more seriously than I thought. Keep it up." He said with a pat on the back.
Esper sighed. Most of the people there were either popular kids, friends of Ravens group, or friends of Espers group. They were indeed rowdy, some sneaking in alcohol in mugs so the owners wouldn't notice, and others casually making out on the side of the bowling lanes shamelessly. Either way this was not Espers scene.
Glancing over at the area where Rook was talking with a group of people Esper sighed. Of course he'd have no one to hang out with comfortably. Just as he got up to go find a place to silently wait for someone to find him when they got bored Liam walked over to him.
The blue and red lights coming off the signs and games all around the alley made Liams red hair seem to glow in a somewhat 3D way. His brown eyes glancing from side to side as he walked over to Esper.
"Too much," Liam said, "I was expecting it to be a small group thing. I've been waiting for you for a bit. Found a place we can escape."
He ushered Esper to follow him with a wave of the hand. Esper looked back feeling a little bit guilty but didn't catch so much as a glimpse of Raven anymore. He wondered where she'd gone.
"You coming?" Liam asked from a few feet away, "Hurry up."
Picking up his feet Esper started walking side by side with Liam. They passed a few rooms on the way. A room for eating and ordering food, a room for laser tag, and a bump car room that Esper didn't know they'd even managed to fit in a small bowling alley. Finally they reached a room without excess blue and red lights and noise.
Inside was a shelf full of books, a desk, and a stairway on the other side. On a little sign in front of it there was writing saying:
The Quiet Room, for the people dragged into loud gatherings against there will. (The son of the owners idea.)
Esper didn't know who the owner was but he reminded himself to thank the son if they ever had the pleasure of meeting. Then Esper glanced at Liam who'd closed the door to the room behind them, and went to sit in one of the chairs. Esper made sure to sit down next to him, picking up a random fantasy book from the shelf randomly. Though he currently wanted to talk rather then read.
Liam sighed. Then grabbed the book from Espers hands and set it down on the shelf before sitting back down.
"Lets talk," He said seriously.
Something many people failed to understand about Liam was his lack of speech. He wasn't stoic or silent, but preferred to wait before talking if he could. Though he never went spoke in any tone other then the calm one he served everybody.
"Where have you been?" Realizing that Esper had probably been asked that already Liam changed questions, "Actually I already heard. My question is why? I can understand exercise and stuff, but I know you. You'd have told one of us or asked for us to do it with you if you'd been doing it beforehand. I'm not trying to pry, but no offense it's odd that you didn't even say bye when you left school. You saw us. I know you did."
Liam stopped blowing his curly red hair out of his face with another sigh. He sat back still gazing at Esper. Esper looked at his hands. He didn't even know himself. Everything said before was clearly lack of medical intervention in the lives of certain deranged individuals. Esper however didn't want to consider himself one of the crazies.
"I guess I was having a mental breakdown?" Esper finally replied, which seemed to put Liam at ease.
Liam sat up again this time with worry in his eyes. He put a hand on Espers shoulder.
"What are you worried about? I'm always here to help man. You know that. I won't tell anyone, not even Oliver or Rook."
Esper could tell Liam was sincere. Despite everyone's common misunderstanding of the friend dynamic in his group Liam was probably the closest with Esper out of all of them. Though if you asked the other two they'd say it was probably Rook because that's who Esper usually hung around. Esper trusted Liam a lot more than the others thought. Thus he shared the contents of his day with him.
"Okay, but the eye thing stands out," Liam said, "Even if you were crazy, contacts don't actually glow. Change colors for sure, but they don't glow as far as I know. If they do, they'd probably be damn expensive. Sounds like you're kind of just learning about something that you shouldn't be involved in."
Liam took out his pad and pen. Something he kept on him and would randomly write in whenever he felt like it. No one knew what he wrote in there as he'd never really speak when he wrote stuff down. Only putting it back in his pocket after. This time however he paused while writing and looked back up at Esper.
"This isn't adding up," He stated with a look of discontent, "He said your scent changed or something. Sounds like he mistook you for something. A blessing or whatever. . ."
Esper interjected, "A Blessed. I think he said."
Liam nodded and wrote that down. Putting his pen down again and starting talking with Esper again. He tapped his finger on his arm before speaking again.
"Ok, I think I need more info," He said with his hand in his hair.
"I don't have any other information," Esper replied, " I don't even know what's going on. . ."
Liam took his hand out of his hair and started fidgeting with his pen, and opened his notebook. He then suddenly closed it and slammed it down.
"Okay," Liam said with a slight smile, "We aren't talking about today anymore. What happened in the last few days? Anything unusual? Different routines? Anything that you'd classify as abnormal in your life?"
Esper looked down trying to think, and it suddenly hit him. The crows. That was definitely not normal. The voice imitations with his name, the bites vanishing. The whole thing was a work of fiction. But clearly not a dream, because of the tattered clothing Esper currently had lying on his bedroom floor. Liam seemed to realize that Esper had realized something.
"You thought of something," he said simply, "Care to share with the class?"
Esper looked up to see Liams brown eyes boring into his soul with a reassuring look. Esper took a deep breath and gave the events of what had transpired.
"That does sound like a fictional event, but seeing as you actually have the clothes and stuff.. . . Well either way you've got no reason to lie."
Liam wrote everything down and finally no inquisitive look followed. He put his book in his pocket and sat back. Esper seemed concerned by his quietness. He looked around the room to see if maybe someone was near and that was the reason for his silence. Only the backs of books looked back. Esper turned towards Liam again to see him with his eyes closed.
Perfect he was taking a nap in the middle of a serious discussion. Then Liam spoke again.
"OK," He said quietly, "OK, I'm ready now."
Opening his eyes Liam gestured for Esper to sit back too. He then grabbed a book with a picture of aliens on it from the table next to him and raised it so Esper could see.
"You and I have discussed it before. Aliens. Before you say anything I'd like to make sure you realize I'm not saying this situation has anything to do with aliens or anything."
He again points at the aliens then the sky.
"Everyone has an opinion on aliens. Some say they don't exist, others believe. However it's really impossible to say what does or does not exist due to the sheer size of the universe. We don't have enough knowledge to really say what does or doesn't exist. Some choose to believe, some don't. You and I though, we aren't like that. Instead of going into this saying, 'this isn't possible' we should do the same thing we do when talking about aliens. There is no proof that this exists, but there is also no proof that it doesn't exist."
Liam pointed at the sky then at Esper.
"I think we should remember. Lack of evidence doesn't make something false. It just means we can believe harder. We can believe until we have proof it doesn't exist. Even as illogical as this whole situation sounds, that doesn't make it false. Vampires, or whatever else. Alchemists, all that. We can't really expect to understand everything. Especially if it's true."
Liam now stood up and pulled Esper from his chair. He then punched him in the gut as hard as he could. Esper gasped for air, then realized it hadn't hurt that much. He glanced up at Liam shaking his fist in pain.
"See that," Liam said, "A few days ago you would be on the floor right now. I mean I have punched you like this before. Exercise doesn't just make your body able to take a solid punch this well. There's more I've noticed as well."
He then went to a window and pulled the blinds back. Pointing across the street at a sign with very small letters in the front of a cafe.
"Read that," Liam said, as Esper began saying the words Liam quieted him, "Thats enough. You can read it. A week ago you and Oliver had pretty bad eyesight. You couldn't read anything that far or small. Hell you had a hard time ordering far away from the menu board at McDonalds. Something changed."
He then sat back down with his pen and notebook. Esper simply stared at him with a look of exasperation.
"Couldn't you have found a better way to explain that to me?" Esper said sitting down again as well.
"Esper, we don't have time for that." This time Liam actually looked worried. An emotion that had never taken up much of his face till this point, "I believe you. I think deep down you believe these things are happening too. Whatever 'these things' means. This is serious. If you are a vampire then there are some things we need to really address."
That was when Liam did something that he never did. He turned his notebook around and showed Esper what was written down.
All it showed was the words "factions?", "crows?", "vampires", "sent?", "what does it all mean??". Then on the next page was a cliff notes version of all that Esper had told him.
"You never got bitten by a vampire. I don't know if there are other ways to turn but-"
Just as he said that the gorgeous figure of Raven Lynch came up the mysterious stairs that Esper hadn't dared to question. She was alone however. Esper looked at Liam wondering how long Raven had been there.
A look was in her eyes that Esper had never seen. Like there was a veil held over her soul so no one could see in. Liam put his notebook away so fast that it seemed almost inhuman, but somehow in that split second Raven had grabbed it out of his hands.
"H-hey," Esper tried, "those are private. Please don't read what's on those pages."
Raven ignored him. Her face contorted into a frown, and every few seconds or so she'd glance over at Esper with no expression. Finally she threw the book back onto Liam's lap with quite a bit of force. Not to mention a lot more sass then Esper thought she needed. The look in Raven's eyes didn't leave. She didn't walk and stared at Esper in silence.
"I guess I was right." She took one step forward, "You aren't human anymore. I smelled it."
Espers eyes grew wide, as did Liams.
"ESPER RUN!" Liam said as he tried to hit her over the head with a book.
Raven simply grabbed his arm and turned it in a way that wasn't natural. There was a crack and a squelch that shouldn't have been possible. She threw him back into his chair.
"Sit," Raven said simply. Liam complied bracing his arm with tears rolling.
Esper didn't dare move. The air had grown sharp, with each breath there was a piercing feeling in his chest. Raven took another step forward. Then Esper felt it. Every bone in his body froze. The blood in his veins stopped flowing. Even the hair on his head stood up and stayed there. This wasn't just any normal girl in front of Esper. This was a killer. A force of nature. One that Esper and Liam would not be able to escape with a quick slap and run.
"I noticed it right away," Raven said, " The stench coming off of you. Y'know that we can smell the soul? It's truly odd. When you turn into something else your soul takes on a different scent. Hell sometimes you lose your soul and thus lose your scent. The thing is I would have known if you were turned before today. I would have been able to smell it just like today. You weren't like this yesterday. What really concerns me is that no scent of blood is coming from you. You show no lust for blood. Not even in this room alone with your friend. No normal vampire is immune to blood lust."
She looked over at Liam with pity as he groaned. Then she laughed.
"You also don't have the disgusting stench of a were-wolf at all. So I took it upon myself to garner your attention. Get you close to me. Which was so very easy. Here's the funny part. Even as I had you close I couldn't register the scent. Not magic, not a vampire, not a were-wolf. Nothing I've ever seen before. I don't know what you are, but everything in me says kill you."
Raven smashed a table down with one hand as she said this. Pulling her hand up and sighing then running her hand through her hair. She took another step towards Esper.
"I crave your death, Esper. I don't know why but I do," Raven says with a cynical smile, "The funny part is I don't crave your blood. In fact I can't even smell it. Like it's odorless. Did you know we can tell when blood no longer can be consumed by the amount of odor? The more pungent the odor the more amazing it tastes. When there's no odor that means we can't consume it. It's like poison to us. So as you probably imagine it's very rare to come across such a thing. Even other vampires with flowing blood have a bit of odor in them."
That was the end of her words. She grabbed Esper by the neck. With only the flick of her finger she snapped his neck. Liam screamed in shock. Then voices from outside died, and all that was left was the darkness. Calling. Creeping. Burrowing into Esper. Until finally there was no difference between the darkness and the boy.
"Esper Agnes."
A voice seeped in from the darkness. No light returned only the sound of a man.
"You are not dead. The darkness showed you what you must see. This is only one possibility. You cannot die yet. I have plans for you. Now open your eyes."
Esper felt a cold shiver up his spine like a finger tracing his skin. Ever inch burning with a cold pin-puncture like feeling.
"What are you? The question they all ask. All have a basic understanding of what makes a man. Yet none have an understanding of what man chooses to be."
Esper shrieked into the darkness. Though nothing emerged from his mouth. Remembering once again that he and the darkness were one he settled.
"I am not this darkness. I know you're wondering. I can hear all your thoughts. I would have thought you'd realized it already. Boy. This is not death. This is your soul. This 'darkness' is in fact the part of you that you were not aware of."
And with that Esper broke out of his endless oblivion.
What returned first was sound.
"YOU MONSTER. YOU KILLED HIM!" Liam's voice rang out.
Then the sight returned. Espers eyes hurt. Everything hurt, though he wasn't dead. He looked at the girl holding him by the neck only to realize that it had only been a moment or two that he was with the voice. It had felt like an eternity to Esper.
"Let go," Esper said in a hoarse voice.
The screaming died, and Raven looked back at Esper in horror. For some reason she flew back and let him go completely. Holding her hands up as if to strike.
"Don't come near me," She said. She sounded scared. Just the same way Esper had felt before. Why? Esper couldn't understand it.
"Esper?" Liam said as he clenched his arm, "Is that you?"
Esper wanted to reply but his throat hurt. He instead gave a thumbs up. Only there was something very wrong with his thumb. It was dark and covered in feathers. It was very human-esk, but things were clearly wrong. The fingers were still 5 on each hand. His arms were still arm-like.
It was the way they were shaped and the way they felt. Like they were so powerful, yet so light. His fingers were longer and much more slender. His arms slimmer but much more toned. Esper grabbed a mirror from the ground where the table had broken. A small one that had been on the table from what seemed to be a risky encounter between girls. (there was blood on the mirror. Though Esper couldn't tell if it was there before or if it was his.)
His face was almost the same as before. His nose was shorter, and his eyes were bigger and the dark irises were lined with a red that shone so bright that it made him look like an ancient warrior. His face was normal yet unnatural. His hair had been replaced with feathers instead of hair. Ears nowhere to be seen and the feathers grew where they would be but easily flowed into the hair- feathers so it looked just about normal.
If anything Esper didn't look scary. Only slightly unnatural. Esper looked up at Raven in confusion. He hadn't grown to be 9 feet tall. Nor had he become some bulky killing machine. What was she afraid of? He turned over to Liam.
BAM. Something fell. As he turned to try and check what had fallen another thing fell.
"Esper stop," Liam said, slowly moving towards Esper warmly, reaching a hand out he grabbed Espers, "You have wings dude."
Esper turned his head slightly. On his back had sprouted two dark wings, beautiful in color. Liam groaned and let go of Espers hand, crumpling to the floor. Of course this was the part where Raven had somehow convinced herself that Esper was no different and launched at him.
For some reason Esper was able to react much easier. With one hand he grabbed and threw her. Well tried to throw her. Though he could match her strength she still had her tactics. Biting deeply into his arm as he was about to throw her. Esper pulled back wincing at the gaping wound on his arm. To his surprise Raven also flew back, with a look of terror in her eyes. She spit out what looked like purple goo from her mouth.
Looking back at his arm Esper realized it was indeed his blood that she'd spit out. With a purple hue instead of a red one now.
"Ew," was all he had to say before Raven launched at him again. Bracing himself Esper readied a punch. Raven pivoted away from him quickly and instead sunk her hand into Liam.
Esper roared a quick scream, and for the first time moved so fast it was like he wasn't even in his own body and his soul had just launched out in a rage.
With a solid punch Raven launched out the window of the Bowling Alley. She got up quickly, and only stood there. With a grimace she took off running. Esper wanted to chase her and rip out her throat with his own hands but instead decided to grab Liam.
Like they'd been a part of him for a long time Esper flew into the sky with Liam and looked for the nearest hospital. It took him only 5 minutes before he finally found one. He almost flew down. Then he remembered. He was not looking the most. . . human.
His mind raced. Think, think, think. He urged himself desperately. He flew aimlessly for another few minutes then finally remembered. Erasmus Caldur. That weird man who'd shown up. Esper set Liam down. He realized how profusely Liam was bleeding. Hurrying, Esper grabbed his phone to dial the man's number. The phone rang around 5 times before a click came and a raspy voice came on.
"Hello? If this is about that '100 dollar gift card' thing again. I hung up on you for a reason." The voice belonged to an elderly woman, not the man from before.
"Is this Erasmesi-Era- uh. Erasmus?" Esper stuttered in a panic. Looking over at Liam who was now bleeding on the ground next to him. Breaths were barely coming out of him. Like all the power of his lungs had finally died, and only the excess was leaving. Permanently. Esper couldn't allow that.
"Oh? If he gave you the means to call him then you must be quite unique. Let me transfer the call, sweetie." The woman said gently.
With a series of tumbling sounds, and what sounded like a cats tail being stepped on the voice of the middle aged man came on.
"Esper Agnes?" He said calmly, Esper stood there for a moment.
"Y-yes? How did-" He stopped himself, realizing now was not the time, "My friend, he's dying. I can't take him to the hospital right now. I can't explain. I need help. Please."
A short break happened then a sigh.
"Fine, but you have to promise me something first. Actually two things." Erasmus said.
"Yes. Fine. I agree. I'll do anything, but i don't have much time."
A laugh came from the other side of the phone.
"Wonderful. 15 Alabaster Lane. No need to knock, kick the door down if you must." And with that the phone hung up.
There was no strength in Espers arms, yet somehow he managed to pick Liam up and start flying to the road. The same road that he'd crossed everyday with his friends to skateboard, to go to a cafe, even to go home. There was a sense that told Esper he could say goodbye to those days. It had only been a short while, but the world seemed to have changed so fast. Rook was probably wondering where he was, or if he was ok. Oliver was probably searching for them as Esper flew. But they could never know. Esper wasn't even human anymore, and Liam. Well Liam was dying. Esper screamed out.
Finally he made his way to the intersection the address was located on. The address looked like an old place, with stairs that went into the cement and revealed a door at their base. Esper kicked it open, breaking the wood and causing the glass to fly everywhere.
"We just got that new door," The old raspy voice said. The lady that had been on the phone sat at a desk in the front of what looked like a hotel lobby. The place was huge on the inside, much bigger than it had been outside. There were what looked like seven floors up when the outside building was only 3 stories high. What was odder was the actual 'old lady'. She was around 6 feet tall, and not old at all. Her hair was a silk like hair that fell to the waist in silver locks. Not to mention she was beautiful. Like a model, but with bronze-like skin. Even her eyes were a piercing green, which was not natural in any sense of the word. Not natural but what was Esper going to say? The boy covered in black feathers, with wings, and red lined irises?
"Up the stairs, sweetie. You should be able to find him immediately," The woman said in her old lady voice with a smile. She gave a wave as Esper half sprinter, half ran up the stairs.
The place wasn't like some magical place at all. Every wall was plain, or had some type of picture with the woman from downstairs or other normal pictures. Nothing magical, only lived in.
Esper found that one room seemed open. All the others were closed and no light shone from them. He threw that door open. To his surprise there the man waited with a pair of gloves on. He gestured for Esper to set Liam down on the brown table in the center of the room. As he did Erasmus told him to wait outside. Two other people walked into the room with gloves as well.
Esper stepped out terrified, but not stupid enough to question the only saviors that could possibly save Liam now. He sat in front of the door. With head in hands, he sat and waited for everything to make sense again.