3.20 - The Prodigal Son
“Are you sure you found this guy’s son? I don’t want to get
here and upset him. He’s dying for fuck’s sake,” Destiny asks as she drives to
Damien Harold’s home.
“Yeah, I’m sure,” not really.
“Then tell me where he is, we can go get him.”
“I’ll tell you afterwards,” I’m saved by her stopping at the
home.
It’s a nice home, rather old but taken care of. This man is
supposed to be near 200 years old. I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s lived in
this home most of his life. Outside there’s a few people sitting around passing
cigarettes and beer amongst them. They’re human, or not quite human. I can’t put
my finger on it until I lock eyes with one.
I first noticed it with Destiny one night, when you look
into the eyes of a vampire it’s different than a human. If the light is just
right, there’s a glow in their eyes, similar to cats. I did some research on my
own, not that there’s a ton of legitimate research on Vampires. I call it
eyeshine, the same thing that happens with nocturnal and deep-sea animals.
There’s a special layer behind the eyes that reflect light allowing for better
night vision. I’m not exactly eager to cut open a vampire’s eyes, but that’s
what I think it is. Notes said Damien was a half vampire, I’m guessing they are
too.
“Friends of Damien,” an old woman asked.
“Sort of. We were hired to find his son,” Destiny responds
to her.
“I didn’t know he had a son,” the lady seemed surprised.
She patted the seat next to her motioning for Destiny to
take a seat on the old couch. Everything inside the home seemed old. Lace
doilies covered most of the surfaces, and pictures with Bible verses dotted the
walls. If I hadn’t known better, I’d say the little old lady had been the only
inhabitant of the home. Still there were signs a vampire lived here. An
occasional small blood stain, not intentional, more like shaky hands.
We learn the lady had been his familiar for the better part
of forty years. He was leaving her the home and the wealth he had accumulated for
over a century. She had no need for it, as she didn’t expect to live much
longer either. Why do old people always do that? Make jokes about dying and
expect everyone to laugh with them as if it were the funniest thing ever. An
older gentleman walked out of the room Damien had been resting in. He carried
with him a set of keys he kept glancing down at. Some sort of keepsake or final
quest Damien had sent him on perhaps. He said his goodbyes and left through the
front door.
“Well, go ahead,” Kay, the old lady ushered me to his room.
“Don’t make him wait.”
I closed the door behind me and took in the room. Dim
lights, and the scent of medicine filled up the room. Furniture inside seemed
even older than the home and even older was Damien, long limbs stretched across
the bed. Gentle, almost dead. If it wasn’t for the slow shallow breaths, he
took every few moments I would have thought he was dead. I could tell his skin
was once my color but had faded to a paler color. His eyes had lost all color,
they were open but the milky white couldn’t send back any images to the man.
There was no eyeshine with this man, only nothingness.
“Come. Sit,” the man spoke not sure if anyone was there.
I took a seat next to his bed and really examined him. His
nails had grown out into brittle claws, liver spots dotted his body. This was a
vampire, a half vampire anyway, and he had lived 176 years, but here he was. On
his deathbed and looking just as frail as any human on the verge of death.
Death always scared me, and looking at it right now is putting me on the urge
of a panic attack. The idea that there’s nothing when you die always bothered
me, you just cease to exist. Then all memory of you fades with time, and
eventually it’s as if you never existed, as if you were nothing. Looking into
those empty eyes verified that fear for me, made it reality. Just an empty
white void, waiting for me when I died.
“It’s about your son,” I start as he feels around the air.
“Ah, I knew you would come Paul,” he said finally grasping
my hand.
His hand was cold to the touch. Destiny had been the only
vampire I touched, but she had never been cold. It shocked me, and I wanted to
pull my hand away, but I didn’t. I’m not sure why I’m letting him hold my hand.
Maybe I’m just sure the brittle claws could still cut me if I moved too fast,
so I just accepted it.
“I’m not Paul,” I told him.
“Yes, I know, you aren’t the Paul you were when you were a
boy,” an easy smile slipped over his face.
“Right, different man,” I don’t know if that was a lie or
not. I did say I was different than Paul.
“I never forgave myself for leaving you behind. But I’m glad
you could forgive me,” the man drifted out of consciousness.
We didn’t speak much afterwards. He would wake up, say a few
words about nothing. Favorite TV Shows, the time he met Eartha Kitt and the
first movie he ever saw. I would tell him how nice it must have been, he’d
agree and go back to sleep. Watching the clock, it had been an hour since he
said anything, and his shallow breaths had stopped at some point without me
noticing. I pulled my hand free of the dead man’s hand and made my way out of
the room.
Outside only Destiny and Kay remained. The others had said
their goodbyes and had things to do. His death reminding them of their own
fragility as vampires still existed. We bid Kay a farewell and made our way out
onto the porch.
“You didn’t find his son did you,” Destiny asked.
“I did, but he was dead. He died a long time ago in a car
accident. Damien was driving the car, and I don’t think Paul got any of his
father’s vampiric healing or whatever. He was only 30 and it made all the Black
newspapers at the time because they were wealthy.”
“Then why were you in there so long?”
“He thought I was Paul, and wouldn’t let go of my hand.”
“You just stayed and talked to him like you were Paul,” she
asked her face somewhere between disgust, rage and confusion.
“Yeah, I didn’t know what else to do,” I stare down at the
ground, a little ashamed.
She punches me in the shoulder, “next time you’re going to
do something stupid, tell me,” she kisses me on the cheek “That was sweet of
you. Good job,” she heads to the car.
I just follow, lost in everything that happened today. I could probably just fly home and she only kissed me on the cheek. Does that count as a first kiss or does it have to be on the lips? Still, I can only think about Damien telling me how he had first kissed Eartha Kitt on the set of The Serpent Warriors. I wonder if he’s just floating in the great void, or if he truly did get to reunite with Paul.
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