Apprehensive

Sweets gave me a glass of water and joined his friend on the couch facing me. Xero watched me carefully as I took a small sip. I set the glass down and braced myself for the scolding. “I told you not to wander off,” he said.

“I know,” I whispered throat my closed up throat.

“I told you it was dangerous,” he continued.

“I know.”

“Why did you not listen to me?”

“I know―I mean I don’t know,” I corrected. “I really don’t know.”

“You don’t know?” Xero roared. “How the hell can you not know? Did you just sleepwalk your way into the room?”

The lump in my throat was unbearable. Water leaked out of my eyes.

“Back off, Xero,” Sweets snapped and moved next to me. “Can’t you see she’s sorry?”

He picked up the glass of water and brought it to my lips. This time I drained it all in.

“It’s okay,” he said rubbing my back. “Don’t worry about it. Xero is just an ass.”

I couldn’t agree more. “I am fine,” I told him, rubbing my eyes.

Xero sighed and leaned back into the couch, rubbing his temples. He yawned and spoke, “What did you see?”

“Does it really matter? You said it wasn’t real.”

“The room doesn’t always lie,” he explained. “It picks details off your subconscious. The human mind tends to see a lot of things without actually forming connections between them at all. Ugh, how should I explain this . . . Here!”

Xero reached inside his jean pocket and pulled out his business card I gave him when we first met. He put it on the coffee table. “Can you see this? Look at where it is and how it looks.”

I nodded. It was vertically put, with the slogan side up, on the right side of the table.

“Close your eyes,” he ordered. “You too, Sweets.”

We listened.

“Now, open them up,” he said after a while. “What do you see?”

“It flipped over and on the opposite side of table now,” Sweets answered.

“Exactly. You saw how it was before, and then after I changed its place. You didn’t see me move it personally, but your brain made the connection that I did. This is what the room does, it infiltrates your heads and looks at the before and after image. The rest it just predicts and fills in the blanks. So tell me, Tamara, what did you see?”

I closed my eyes and concentrated. I thought about my father. What did he do? What was he doing? There was something  . . .

I stood up and opened my eyes. “I need to go home!”

“Huh?”

“There-There is a book,” I tried explaining without letting my excitement get in the way. “I saw a book that my father had carried around with him for days before his death. He threw it under a bookshelf in the study. We need to see what’s inside!”

Xero looked at me for a while before finally saying, “Alright. Let’s go.”

Sweets clapped his hands on his thighs and stood up. “Okay. Just give me a minute to change.”

“Oh, no, no, no,” the Hunter sang, getting up. “You are not going anywhere. You hit your head fairly hard last night. In fact, I think it is better if you don’t get yourself in this mess at all. You are safe as long as nothing knows your face.”

Sweets smooth face turned tight. “First of all, I didn’t hit my head you knocked me out. Second, I know perfectly what’s good for me so you don’t need to tell me anything. Third, because you have managed to piss me off again ―which something you are doing a lot these days― I am going to go up to my room which I am pretty sure is haunted and stay there.”

Xero turned and gave me a look that said ‘look what you are turning him into’.

“Bye, Tamara,” Sweets said with his nose held up high. “I hope you succeed in your task. As for Xavier here, I hope he falls in a ditch.”

With that, I was left alone with a very shocked Xero. He shook his head and begun walking away. I raced to match his step. “Your name is really Xavier?”

“Yes,” he answered, opening the front door.

“Why do you call yourself Xero then,” I asked.

He stopped suddenly and I crashed into his back. He turned around and lowered his head to my level. “You know what your problem is, Tamara?”

I bit my lower lip and pretended to think. “Is it my insanely good looks?”

He kept his face static. “No, it’s the fact you can’t keep your nose out of other people’s business.”

“Ah.” I nodded. “So, why’d you name yourself Xero?”

Xero glanced at his car and sighed. “Wait here,” he said and made his way behind the house.

I scoffed, amazed. How could someone change moods so instantly? I put my hand on the side of his blazing hot car. I jumped away at the contact and rubbed my pink shoulder.

I hated him and his car equally.

I took the sharpest fingernail of my right hand and scratched the silver paint of the car in a straight line.

Xero appeared from the back driving an old Mustang. He stopped a few steps away from me and opened the door, hitting me my pelvis. “Get in.”

He began driving before I could even strap myself.

This time Xero drove like a maniac. I was holding onto my seat to prevent myself from swaying violently when he made turns. “Why are you driving so fast?” I screamed.

“I have decided,” he grunted, changing gears. “If I am going to be stupid enough knock on danger’s door, I might as well as have some fun.”

“Your definition of fun will kill me!” I gasped breathlessly, digging my fingers in the leather seat.

“Don’t worry, angel,” he replied. “We’ll all be dead by the end of this case anyways.”

I wish he would die now, but not before parking the car safely at the corner of the road.

By the time we reached my house, I awkwardly half standing in my seat. The Mustang skidded to a stop at my front lawn.

I got out of the car in a hurry and topple over a stepping stone on the car.

“Ah!” I heard Xero sigh loudly as stood up brushing the dirty of my jeans. “Let’s go in and get that mystery book.”

Without even asking for the key to my front door, he kicked the door open, and went inside.

“HEY!” I yelled, shoving him forward. “My mother made that door!”

He regained his balance and gave me a look from the corner of his eye. “My bad,” he said, in an unapologetic voice. “Where’s your mum anyways?”

“Dead,” I replied, curtly.

“Oh, cool,” he whistled. “Mine too.”

No surprise there. Who in their right mind would let their child turn into that.

“Where is your dad’s study?” he continued, running his lean fingers over everything in his way. “Upstairs?”

I grabbed him by the back of his collar and pulled him towards me. “Don’t touch anything. Don’t see say anything. Keep your hands and words to yourself. Otherwise, you will die.”

“Why?” he asked shrugging my hand off. “Is your house alive, too?”

“It will be after I kill you in here and leave your spirit to haunt it,” I answered with a sugary smile. “I lead. You follow.”

I went ahead up the stairs, leaving Xero behind. I have had absolutely no control over my life for the past twenty-four hours, but in my house things would run my way.

I opened the door to the study and made my way to the bookshelf. I got on my knees and lowered my face to the wooden floor. There I saw it, a thin book laying in the dark corner. I put my hand in, hoping that nothing would bite me, and pulled it out.

I stood up, holding the book above my head. “Got it!”

I turned around to see Xero’s confused expression. “What is it?” I asked.

“GET DOWN!” He screamed and hurled his body towards my direction. I bought my hands to my head and dropped down.

Xero’s body collided with a dark humanoid shape; a vampire.

They both slid across the floor and knocked him into another shelf. Books toppled from the top, showering over them. Xero pushed himself up and struck first with his fist. The vampire dogged the blow, grabbed his hair, and slammed it against the shelf. It moved from underneath him and stood up.

“Give me the book,” it snarled, with its ruby eyes shining.

Before I could speak Xero jumped on its back, shoving the vampire face forward on the desk. He spun it around and held it in place with his bloodied right hand around its throat.

“Was it you?” Xero spat out. “Did you murder her dad?”

The vampire choked and crawled at his grip. Xero shook him, hard. “I-It wasn’t me.”

“Then who was it?” he roared.

“P-Papa,” it gasped. “Papa Snake. It was Papa Snake!”

Xero’s eyes grew wider and his grip shook at the sound of that name. But as soon as it came, it was gone. He tightened his hand around the vampire.

“Papa doesn’t kill himself,” he said. “He has scum like you do it for him! I will give you one last chance, who murdered Richard Dragomir?”

The vampire shook his head. It continued to fling its limbs around.

“Well then,” Xero spoke. “It sure as hell sucks to be you.”

He grabbed a steal ruler of the desk and thrust it inside the vampire’s chest. It slowly crumbled into dust that collected in a pile in between the Hunter’s legs.

“Are you alright?” I asked clearing my throat. “Do . . . do you need a band-aid for your cut- cuts?”

Xero’s eyes met mine and I instantly knew that he wanted to kill me. “Get in the car,” he said softly. “Now.”

“Why?” I questioned, stepping around the mess of books. “Where are we going? And who is this Papa Snake? Is he a vampire, too?”

“JUST GET IN THE GODDAMN CAR, TAMARA!” he exploded.

I stopped in mid step.

Suddenly, I was very afraid of the man who stood in front of me. I had forced him into helping me, but not once did I think that he could hurt me. If he could stake blood sucking monsters with such ease, what could he do to humans? If his priority is to live a safe life, how far would he go to ensure it? Heck, he could hunt me down like a dog and I wouldn’t be able to do a thing.

Without another word, I picked up the brown book, walked out.