Then it was over.
I felt cold, no, cold was an understatement.
I was frozen to the core.
I still felt Igris, but right now, she was sleeping, I could feel her exhaustion, which would be super weird if she wasn't me.
Great my alter ego is a woman, does that make me the same as my brother?
I hope not, I like girls, it would make dating way more difficult with a drag on my head.
My mind stopped for an instant (Thank God) when I saw lights growing bigger and bigger in the horizon.
I smiled.
Maybe I should do something before I get run over though.
That would be a dumb end.
I got up, but with the noise of the car growing louder and louder, I knew I couldn't do much more than hide my private parts with one hand and wave with the other.
I stood just next to the side of the road, praying all the gods I knew that the person coming would stop, or better yet, not be Miranda, no sorry, the vampire.
The car passed me by. I don’t think they understood what they saw.
Just when I’d given up hope, the car stopped.
I heard it going backwards, and right there and then I was bawling like a baby.
I managed to put up a nicer front when it arrived next to me.
I watched, confused, Marie, Stan, and my mother in a car I now recognized as the BMW of my father.
“M...Mo...mom?” I asked.
I didn't really understand what was said next, because the three of them began shouting all at the same time.
“Oh my god...”
“Raymond I thought you...brother...”
“Fucking hell man do you know how long we looked for you?”
Thank you, Stan, for your theater studies girlfriend, because it was definitely doing lot's of good for the clearness of your articulation.
“I...I...”
“We need to bring him to a hospital; he should be dead.” Marie intervened.
“Yes..Yes...” My mother had gone out of the car and was hugging me fiercely.
I was still naked so it was really, really super awkward.
“Please...” I answered myself, not really knowing if it was just to get out of her grip.
I was bombarded with questions. But my mother wanted to tell me what had happened.
I was wearing more clothes than I ever had before, courtesy of Marie who had had the great idea of bringing some.
It seemed I had been missing for five days. I had counted three.
I had missed the sun setting and rising two times. That made no sense at all.
The story of my abduction had made global head news apparently. Well, for two days before some school shooting in Montana.
Still two dead cops, a supposedly Mexican murderer on the run and a missing son of rich white parents. That was unheard of and everything about the story excited the media.
Or at least that's how my mother painted it. I thought it had to happen a lot more, but the fact that the particular family involved had lots of money had probably helped.
I loved my country, but I didn't like its morbid fascination for money and guns.
“Happy thoughts” Said Marie. Probably reading my thoughts through my face.
A Seer? Danger?
“A friend, no worries, go back to sleep.”
My mother stopped talking. Marie looked at me funny, and even Stan who was driving us to the hospital had a quick glance at me.
“Did I say that out loud?”
“You sure did” Answered my best friend.
“Sorry I made myself an imaginary friend out there, I had a wolf pelt, I even gave it a name. Do you think I'm done for doctor?” I answered jokingly.
“Ray...”
“Gray” I interjected “I'd like to be called Gray.”
Why the hell had I said that.
They looked really unsettled now. Even my mother was now slightly taken aback, clearly distancing herself from me.
“Ok...Gray?...” Marie continued. “There is no pelt.”
“What of course there...” I looked around. I wasn't wearing the pelt when the car had arrived.
My mother had hugged me buck naked.
“Oh no...” I knew I didn't make the pelt up, I wouldn't have survived otherwise, so it had to be real. “I...maybe it fell when I saw you on the road... we need to go back...I promised I'd take care of it.”
“Ra..Gray...there was no pelt, there was nothing like that on the road. Just you.”
“Yeah, Gray” Stan had said it as a joke, but clearly felt uncomfortable saying it. “No pelt, the headlights on this baby are epic, you see everything!”
“But...it's what made me go through it all.” I tried to explain, really confused now.
“Maybe...There were lots of pelts inside that lunatic's house, did you take one of them when you fled? They found your clothes, everyone believed you froze to death in the forest.”
“Yeah...a white, really nice...wait how do you know that? You didn't go there did you? That's crazy she could have been...” I was angry now, no furious. Those idiots could have died what were they...
“Calm. Calm. She was gone. The police and media were there for two full days before we could see the crime scene. They showed us pictures, but we wanted to see the real thing. That's why we're here, we were just leaving the house when we found you.”
“Oh...” I relaxed, feeling silly. Maybe I could have gone back to the house when I found the tracks then. Of course she wouldn't have stayed there.
“They told us what happened. You got drugged and brought to her house, where she...well we don't know what she would have done with you, but I called the cops because you were late, and the Cranium's barman of the night testified about you immediately. He didn't believe you were over 21. That guy has a crazy memory, because he had taken the ID of that bitch you were with two months prior and still remembered her address. They sent a dispatch to her house and interrupted whatever the hell she was doing, she clearly didn't like that and killed them, but that gave you enough time to escape.”
Wow, the investigation had been good. Well except they didn't figure out the vampire part, or maybe they had and just lied about it.
“You saved my life Maria.”
“I told you, my rules save lives.”
“Even the one where we have to put the lid back down on the toilet?”
“Especially that one. Proof is, you and Stan are still alive.”
The three of us laughed, except my mother, who seemed a bit shocked.
But well I don't remember her ever laughing so it wasn't really surprising.
I felt suddenly somber.
“They are completely right. Really, nice work. Exactly how they said. I ran in the mountain and lost her. I waited then came back down, my pelt to keep me warm. I went towards the sea because I knew there was a road there, and here we are.”
“This Mexican lady followed you in the woods?” My mother asked.
“Yes mother, and she was definitely not Mexican.”
“What kind of monster would go to such lengths...” She barely registered me correcting her.
I didn't tell her it was a real monster that pursued me.
“Still, those police officers, they died to save me.”
Someone died because of me.
Again.
“Happy thoughts.” Repeated my best friend.
I began crying silently.
No one said anything for awhile.
“We're at the hospital.”
True the nature scenery had left its place and instead, the city had reared it's ugly head.
The rest of the night was crazy.
The doctors immediately went into action, it seemed I was famous now. I had gotten a private chamber, where they had put the heating at max, and I was covered in heating packs almost from head to toe.
They made a battery of test, but except severe hypothermia, found nothing abnormal about me.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
I didn't realize how relieved I was until I heard those news.
Speaking of news, the media was all over the hospital. A reporter even dressed up as a nurse to try and interview me in my room the day after.
My father, who didn't come visit me, apparently did something, because the media dispersed a few hours after that attempt.
My mother told me he had threatened all media outlets of the region a severe lawsuit if they ever tried that again.
Even the police officers had to wait.
Because when coming from one of the biggest judges of the state, a lawsuit made them think twice about getting close to me.
Still, after forty-eight very boring hours, I was discharged.
But instead of going back to my flat, I had to go to the police.
That's when I saw my father for the first time since the incident, and since at least half a year.
He had taken possession of his BMW again, and had brought me to the police station himself.
“You'll let me do the talking son. You were drugged, brought back to a Mexican serial killer, and survived heroically in the freezing woods for five days.” Were his first words when I climbed inside his car. A nurse had brought me to him, he was waiting for me at the front of the hospital, where only ambulances could supposedly park.
“She's not Mexican father. And it was anything but heroic.”
“A shame.” He said, annoyed. “It would have been easier if she was Mexican. And it may not have been heroic, but we're going to say it was. It'll make you famous, you could actually go big with your 'art'.”
I looked at him, mouth wide open.
I was not so shocked about the obvious racist undertones of what he said, I knew better than to expect anything else from my parents. But he wanted to use this as advertisement for my art pieces?
“You don't care about my art, why now?”
“Of course, I do care. It's just impossible to make it big in that field, and as such, is not worth it. But with what happened, you could break into the industry. You're good, that is obvious (As you are my son, I could almost hear him think), but that's not what matters, you have to be known.”
I felt myself wanting to vomit.
“I'm not drawing to be famous.” I said, furious.
“You are, everyone wants to.”
I clenched my hands hard, trying my best not to hit my father in the face in a car driving at fifty miles per hour. I heard a scrunch, looking at the car handle breaking under my grip.
“Raymond! Stop that at once.” My father ordered.
“Gray. Call me Gray.” I said, as I forcibly relaxed my hands. I didn't want to obey him but had nothing against the German car.
“Is that a new trend? Is that your artist name? It's good. Simple and effective.” My father approved.
This was going to be a very, very long car ride.
I thought we would speak in those one-sided glass rooms you saw on tv, but we actually did the interrogation in the chief of police's office.
The chief of police knew my father, of course, and it went as you could expect.
As perfect as it could be for my family.
I couldn't say a thing. My father told his little speech about my heroics but did actually tell them my attacker wasn't Mexican. He had some professional etiquette after all.
I felt restless, on the verge of killing someone, I hated people talking on my behalf, even more so when it was Frederic Dunkelbaumen, my father, doing it.
He had only lived in his home country, Germany, when he was a baby, and couldn't speak any German at all. I inherited most of his looks, much to my annoyance. My mother was of Dutch descendance but had lived in America for five generations. My brother had been the one looking like her the most.
My family origins didn't explain why both my parents were assholes.
This whole situation made we want to vomit.
Maybe that's what made me have an opportunity to talk myself, as the lieutenant in the room with us, a severe looking woman in her forties, seemed to catch my angry expression every time my father talked.
“Sir, could I take the kid outside, it seems he needs some air.”
The chief of police and my father looked at her quizzically, but as I wasn't actually needed here, the decision was quick to be made.
“You may, King, but don't bother Raymond all right.”
“No sir.”
I smirked at her name; it did fit her somewhat.
“Follow me kid.”
Once outside the office, I couldn't help but retort.
“I'm not a kid by the way. I'm 22.”
She seemed surprised, but her cold expression came back soon after.
“Really? You look like 17 to me.”
“Shouldn't you know my age?”
“I wasn't in charge of you, I investigated Bob and Henry's deaths.”
Immediately, I felt terrible. I had heard those names on the news ; the ones of the police officers who saved me.
“You're all right k..”
“Call me Gray. And no, I'm not all right. I'm really sorry about your colleagues Lieutenant, I really am. My dad said I was a hero, but I'm just a coward, they were the real heroes.”
She didn't say anything for awhile, and I just followed her outside.
Once there she took out a cigarette and began smoking.
“You smoke?” She proposed.
“No, thank you.”
She sat on the brick railing of the steps leading to the main entrance.
Snow had begun to fall again, and the night was young.
She looked at me, and I saw some respect in her eyes.
“You're nothing like your father, are you?”
That made me smile.
“I'd like to believe so, but honestly, I'm just as stubborn as he is. I wouldn't have survived without that particular trait.”
“Not like your brother?”
That made me lose my smile instantly. I felt a growl growing in my throat. I gulped it back down.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
She sighed, her hands up in an apologetic manner.
“Sorry kid, I needed to see how you would react to that. Now I know what you look like when angry and not wanting to tell the truth.”
“So, you did look me up, you know about my brother.”
“I did. You're not cold?”
I thought about it for a while.
“Not at all.”
“Probably much colder in the woods.”
The memory was getting hazy, but I would not forget the pain.
“Much.”
“Why five days?” She asked.
“What?”
“Why did it take you five days? You should have been dead in less than one, but it should not have taken you more than a few hours to reach the sea.”
I didn't see why I shouldn't answer, what's more, it felt good to be the one telling the story.
“Because I had to run away. I knew she was following me, and I thought the river was a great way to lose her. But going downstream was obvious, I had to do something silly.”
“Getting inside freezing water is not silly, it's suicidal. Why the hell did she scare you so much, and how did she follow you in the middle of the night, through 20 inches of snow? And why did you have to go in the river?”
“I needed to make her lose my scent.” I answered her last question, regretting it instantly.
“Your scent? She had a dog?”
I didn't know what to answer. I froze.
“I see, you're not going to answer that one. Interesting. What killed my colleagues was an animal, but no animal expert can tell us which type. It's not the first time we've seen those claw marks before, very human-like ones as well, they think a mutated breed of chimpanzees. Was that what she used to follow you?”
That was a crazy theory, but it told me they knew nothing about vampires.
I didn't think it was a good idea to tell her the truth. If I knew anything about vampires in pop culture, it was that they didn't like people babbling about their secrets.
I would not take the risk.
The vampire had said the world was bigger than I thought.
Still, that didn't help me find an answer to her question.
“No, she had no animals in her home. Well except the pelts.”
She laid back, dangling her body over the railing. Looking way younger for a second.
“I knew that theory was bullshit. What was it?”
I hesitated.
“I don't think it's a good idea for me to say.”
She perked up.
“What does that mean?”
“It means she was akin a crazy ninja, and she did all the work herself.”
“That seems unlikely, even more so when a 22-year-old uses the word akin.”
“It's the best I can offer as an answer.”
She seemed lost in thoughts.
“Okay Raymond...”
“I'm Gray.”
“Gray, sure” She didn't seem bothered by it. “I'll bring you back to your dad, if you could not tell him I asked you those questions, I would be in your debt.”
The worst side of me got out for a second.
“Anything I can use to call you on that debt?”
She was taken aback for a second.
“I almost mistook you for your father there, seems you were right, you have some similarities. But sure, here's my card. If you remember anything important or need help with anything, call me. It doesn't matter when, my phone is always on.”
I took her card, putting it carefully in my wallet.
I saw her looking inside, probably expecting it to be packed with money.
I refrained a smile when I saw her surprised by the meager two dollars inside.
“What did you think you were going to see lieutenant?” I teased.
She smirked back. “Damn kid, teasing me? You're twenty years too young for that, now let's get you back to your father, I'm freezing.”
I followed her back inside.
After a week of convalescence, where I also had to go through a press conference where I had stood behind my father for half an hour while he answered all the questions in the world, I was finally free to get back to my normal life.
Well as normal as it could get when you knew mythical monsters existed in the real world.
That and Iglis was back.
I am not Iglis anymore. I am Gray.
Sorry about that.
I felt her being there when I woke up that morning. I was supposed to go to my first class in the morning in... I checked my phone...
Did I just wake up at four in the morning completely awake and well? That seemed almost more impossible than all the vampire and magical pelt business.
We need to hunt food.
My stomach was expressing displeasure, making me have no other choice but to agree.
So I said mentally How are you still there, I lost your pelt. I truly apologize about that by the way.
We did not lose anything.
You know where it is?
We do not understand, of course we do.
Weird.
Still, the mission was food; crazy pelt voice, afterward.
I served myself a bowl of cereal but was still hungry, so I took another.
As I fancied something else after that, I decided on an English breakfast with lots of sausages and eggs.
I love cooking, it was a wonder why I wasn't fat. Well, I almost never made myself those kinds of breakfast, I would rather cook it for Stan or Marie when they were waking up.
Talking about Marie, she was just getting inside the little kitchen/dining room of our flat.
It wasn't big but being on the top floor and having a balcony where we could eat in the summer, it was a great place.
“What the hell are you doing Gray?” She had gotten used to using my new name after I had corrected her a hundred times this first week. Why I systematically did it I had no idea. But well, I was pretty far from sane right now, so I just went with it.
“Breakfast?” I said in the same hushed voice she was using, probably to not wake up Stan and/or her date, Ginny?
“At five in the morning? And why are you cooking for six?”
“Well, why are you up?”
“I always wake up at five, except on the weekends. I study better in the morning.”
“That's mental.” I noted.
“You're mental.”
“Most likely true.” I admitted.
“Can I get some of that?” She asked.
I growled. I actually growled at my best friend over food.
She took three steps backward, fear in her eyes before going back to normal.
“Gray. What. The. Fuck.”
“It seems I'm really hungry.” I began to explain, not fooling even myself. “I'll cook you some more. Sorry.”
“No worries. Just, you're a bit more...feral...since...well you know.”
“Living in the wild for five days with not even underwear, I guess it helps with feral.”
“Yeah. What happened in the forest? You never told.
I felt my eyebrow frown at the question, but it was Marie, I wouldn't tell her about the vampire and magical pelt stuff, but other than that, I knew I could trust her.
The female smells nice, we can trust her.
“Marie always smells nice.” I answered myself.
Out loud.
Again.
“Thanks Gray!” Marie answered. “Could you not try to deflect the question with fake crazy please?”
Crisis averted.
“Honestly, I just ran, walked, and fell all the time. I was scared and cold, and I can only remember the white at day and the dark at night because that's all there was.
Not true. There was so much. We should go again soon.
I felt myself wanting to agree...with her or wait, myself?
Not the best idea though.
Maybe when there is less snow. And with proper hiking equipment.
We only need ourselves.
Erm, no.
Yes.
N...
“Gray, you're lost in there? You're going to burn my breakfast.”
“It's your breakfast now? Let me eat my fill, then you'll have yours.”
“Come on, you can share.”
“Want me to growl at you again?”
“You're not scaring me; I work with serial killers. Sometimes. Well, that one time.”
She made me smile.
“Fine, here.” it took some effort, but I managed to hand over half my plate of delicious eggs bacon, and sausages.
“That's way too much.”
“Shut up and eat, or I eat you.”
No, I have other ideas for what we could do with her.
I'm sorry what? She's my best friend and a lesbian. My alter ego, could you please not?
Marie, not hearing anything of my internal dialogue, retorted.
“Oooh, you're gonna eat me, kinky feral boy.”
I do not understand the word lesbian. But see? She wants us as well.
That's called sarcasm, idiot.
Oh.
Marie cut my internal conversation short before I could explain to myself what the word meant. Woman Gray went back to sleep.
“Gray?”
“Sorry, lost in all the things I was going to do to you.”
She laughed softly before a half-dressed girl got out of her room.
“Marie? Care to explain?” She seemed angry.
Marie and I looked at her puzzled.
“You're flirting with him.”
Yeah, the flat had no sound isolation, so she probably heard everything.
And now that girl was jealous, dumb jealousy if I may add.
“He's my best friend Gin, and I'm strictly into girls, like you.”
“You didn't wake me up.”
I felt Marie get angry, which was rare.
“Listen, if you want to bitch you can do it, but not here. You're being a nuisance. I didn't want to wake you up because, you know, it's not even five and a half. I think it's decent to let you sleep. But now you're going to take your stuff and leave. Don't think about calling back.”
In a long awkward moment, the Ginny girl, who wasn't even a redhead, took off in a rage, making as much noise as possible.
When she finally left, a giant groan erupted from Stan's room.
“CAN I FUCKING GO BACK TO SLEEP NOW?”
“Sorry!” Marie and I said at the same time.
Our only answer was another groan, and I heard him mumble “Fucking Marie and her one-night relationships.”
“Hey, don't talk to her like that.” I knew he wasn't serious, so I said it jokingly.
“Did he say something? I didn't hear anything.” Asked Marie.
“Oh, just how you pissed him off with your one-night stands.”
“Normal Stan then. I'll still make him do the dishes when he wakes up.”