Ugh. Just, ugh, ugh, ugh. I'm not feeling confident about this chapter. Zero confidence. Sigh. I tried to make this not sound stupid, but I don't think I succeeded. Tear it apart guys. And thanks for all the help you've given me so far. Zan, Liv, Meadow, Anna, I love you guys.
Chapter 16 - Legends
Inspirational Song: Bring Sally Up by Moby
Peter
a.k.a Hangover Guy
(the day after the gang initiation)
“I can’t believe I’m sayin’ this, but I’m glad I didn’t get drunk last night.”
Shockingly, I was not the one with a hangover this morning. We were all sitting around the table, Napoleon idolizing himself in a hand held mirror, Reaver skimming through a book, and Dodger and Brutus were rubbing their temples and wincing at any loud noises. Serves them right. This was the price they had to pay for having their little “fun” with me yesterday. Leon was still unconscious upstairs, and Titan had already gotten over his hangover. Apparently, beer didn’t affect him very much.
After Brutus had passed out, the rest of the guys had so kindly given me the liberty of hauling Brutus’ heavy ass all the way back to Shelton while they gallivanted away. Reaver told us he was going to stay behind to feed on the sheep since, strangely, human blood didn’t appeal to him as much as sheep’s blood did. But hey, I wasn’t complaining; I sure as hell didn’t want to be the one to suddenly entice the vampire’s appetite.
We’d arrived back at Shelton a few hours after I’d gone cow tipping. None of the drunken bastards helped me out once while I carried Brutus. Not even Titan, who could have tossed him all the way back to Shelton with one hand if he wanted to. By the time we’d reached the tavern, I was dead beat. But, to my great satisfaction, not as dead beat as the rest of the drunks. Dodger and Titan passed out right at the door, and I sure as hell wasn’t draggin’ their asses anywhere. I’d left them right where they’d fallen for the night. Leon had managed to make his way up to the space above the tavern and fell asleep on the couch.
Later on, Reaver showed up with a sheep trailing behind him. Said it was for the road. He kept it nearby everywhere he went, mumbled to it and stroked it lovingly as if it were a pet. Watching this and knowing that he planned to kill it later on gave me the serious creeps.
Today was the day we’d finally get the show on the road. That is, once the guys’ headaches died down some. In the meantime, we were just hanging around the tavern until we were set.
Brutus rolled his eyes at my little comment and took another gulp out of his cup of coffee. “Shut up, Petey.”
“If you’re so set on finding this kid, why are you wasting so much time?”
“I got sidetracked. Who the hell do you think you are, anyways?”
“The man who knows where Clover is,” I reminded him. He narrowed his dark eyes.
“For the last time, we’re after the hamster, not Clover.”
“Right,” I muttered. “The hamster. Why haven’t you told us why you want this rodent so badly yet?”
He pretended not to hear me. Beside me, Reaver snorted and Brutus shot him a warning look. My perception shifted; Reaver knew the big secret. I glanced at the vampire, but his icy blue eyes remained glued to the pages of his book. Dodger had too big of a headache and Napoleon was too busy admiring himself to notice the exchange between Brutus and Reaver, but I saw Titan shift his eyes between them. He and I shared a conspiratorial look.
“I’m outta coffee,” Brutus said suddenly, staring into his cup. He got up and went to go get a refill.
Once he was gone, Reaver leaned over and whispered into my ear. “I actually spotted some Hangover Helper in the back. But I thought to myself, why not make him suffer?”
I snickered. Reaver laughed with me. “An eye for an eye, wouldn’t you agree?”
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small glass vial with clear liquid inside. He made sure Brutus wasn’t looking and leaned over the table, rolling the vial over to Dodger.
“Don’t let Brutus see it,” he whispered to the dwarf.
Dodger looked over his shoulder cautiously before gulping down the liquid like someone who’d spent a week in the desert without water. He tossed the glass over his shoulder and into the wooden trash bin when he was done.
“You’re shameless,” I said to Reaver. He shrugged innocently and went back to reading his book.
“Reaver,” Titan spoke for the first time this morning. Reaver looked up and stared curiously across the table at the dark leviathan.
The next words that came out of Titan’s mouth were full of accusation. “You know why Brutus is so driven to find that hamster.”
“I know nothing of the sort.” Reaver’s tone was high with false sincerity, and his wide eyes were full of honesty I didn’t believe.
“Yes, you do,” Titan challenged. He said it as if he were pointing out the sky was blue; there was no contradiction to his words. Reaver stayed silent.
“Do you wish to tell us?” Titan said, staring him down with his black eyes.
Reaver leaned back in his chair and put his feet up on the table, looked at Titan with calm speculation, stroking the sheep sitting next to him. A long moment of silence passed, and anyone in the tavern that walked by looked at Titan and Reaver briefly, probably wondering if they were having a staring contest.
Vaguely, I wondered who would win in a fight. All Reaver had to do was sink his sharp fangs into the veins in Titan’s neck, sucking him dry or just let him bleed to death. But then again, Titan could just toss Reaver out the window to be burned alive by the sunlight…
“Baah!”
The sound that came out of little lamb’s mouth startled all five of us. Titan and Reaver broke their gazes and we all looked down at the sheep. Napoleon and Titan looked slightly annoyed, Titan because he wanted an answer out of Reaver, and Napoleon because the sheep had interrupted his narcissistic ritual.
“Baah!”
Reaver fluidly rose out of his chair and pulled the lamb to its feet. “I’d love to continue this pleasant chat with you, Titan. But Rosy is hungry.”
Rosy? What the hell?
Titan’s thick black eyebrows came together in confusion, but before he could respond, Reaver took Rosy and strolled over to the door of the tavern, opened up his black umbrella over his head and waltzed out into the sunlight.
Titan glared after Reaver and stood up to follow him, but I stopped him.
“I’ll talk to him,” I said. Titan gave me a flat look, and then nodded in agreement. After all, Reaver and I had become something of…acquaintances.
I got up and walked across the space to the door, feeling Dodger and Titan’s eyes on my back. I crossed the threshold and walked outside, not looking back at them.
Reaver was standing directly under the sunlight with his umbrella shielding him while Rosy nibbled on a nearby patch of grass. Reaver stared out into the distance with a very faraway expression on his face. He didn’t seem to notice when I approached him.
“Rosy, huh?” I said, stopping next to him. “You named the sheep you’re going to eat?”
Reaver looked down at the lamb and watched her gnaw on the blades of dry grass. “I’ve actually become rather fond of Rosy. I think I might keep her.”
“As a pet?”
“As a companion.”
“Right,” I muttered. “Speaking of annoying animals, you know what the deal is with that hamster.”
He snorted, still didn’t look at me. “I already told you I don’t know anything.”
For someone who had lived for over a century, he was a surprisingly bad liar. “Come on, Reaver. You know as well as I do that that’s a load of bull.”
He remained silent, but the corners of his colorless lips twitched, like he wanted to smile.
“Do I?” he murmured.
“I’ve only been a part of this little gang for a day, but it’s clear as daylight that Brutus trusts you more than anyone.”
He smirked surreptitiously and reached down to stroke Rosy’s head. She turned up to lick his snowy white fingers in affection and I suppressed a gag. I thought only dogs did things like that? Bleh.
“What do you say, Reaver?” I asked, ignoring the sheep. “Tell me what’s going on.”
“If I told you, I’d have to kill you,” he said the words in a joking manner, but I got the strange feeling that he meant them.
“You can trust me,” I said anyways. “I mean, it’s safe to say that we’re friends, right? Or allies at the very least.”
“Peter, I know for a fact that you wouldn’t feel inclined to tell anyone if you knew what was going on.”
Those words surprised me. I’d actually planned on telling the rest of the guys what was going on; it wasn’t fair of Brutus to keep us all in the dark. But either way, I wanted to get an answer out of Reaver.
“Then what’s the problem?”
He continued to caress Rosy’s head lovingly when he spoke the next words. “I’m worried that your intentions for finding this boy may change if you find out.”
“I highly doubt that. This mission is strictly about revenge.”
Reaver looked out across the rooftops of the humble houses of Shelton thoughtfully. I waited for him to say something.
“Alright,” he said. “Let’s just say, hypothetically of course, that someone offered you the gift of immortality.”
He turned to look at me, his snowy face wiped clear of all emotion. Then he went on as though we were just talking about the weather.
“What would you say to that someone, Peter?” he wondered. “But, more importantly, would you accept?”
Suddenly, his gaze became very intense. His crystal blue eyes burned vehemently, tried to see through me. I kept my face composed as I thought about his question.
“Honestly?” I asked. He nodded.
“I’d tell whoever it was to take his immortality and shove it up his ass. Life ain’t good enough to stick around forever for.”
He continued to stare at me, unsure whether or not to believe me. Then the force of his gaze eased up a bit and he became contemplative, considering my answer.
“Touche,” he said, nodding once.
“Is that why Brutus wants this hamster so bad? He wants to …be immortal?” The words hamster and immortal put into the same context sounded incredibly stupid.
Reaver didn’t answer my question, but he didn’t deny the conjecture, either.
“…how?” I asked in disbelief.
“I know it sounds absurd,” Reaver agreed. “The night Brutus encountered that boy, he saw something that made him think the rat could give him eternal life.”
“What the hell did he see that would make him think that?”
Reaver exhaled and stared up at the pale blue sky. “It’s going to sound ridiculous.”
I waited.
“There is a legend, so they say,” he began. “About a sort of vessel fell from the stars and came tumbling down to our lonesome little planet.”
“A vessel that fell from the stars?” I repeated. “You mean…like a spaceship?”
“Supposedly.”
I chuckled darkly. “This oughta be good.”
Reaver laughed and continued. “As I was saying, there are legends of a vessel that came shooting out of the cosmos like a giant meteor. They say that it landed on the fields of a desolate farm, and it wasn’t empty; it contained four animals: a monkey, a bird, a cow, and a hamster.”
He winked at me on that last word and went on.
“These animals were seemingly ordinary. The only strange thing about them – other than the fact that they came out of the sky in a spaceship – was that their eyes would flash purple from time to time. Besides that, they behaved the way normal animals would behave.
“The farmer who lived on the farm was a bit naïve; he didn’t think anything of the animals that came out of the spaceship. He kept the cow and let the rest go and left the spaceship where it was.
“A few months later, long after the cow had been consumed, the farmer began to notice changes about himself. He was stronger, faster and his senses were heightened. He could hear things from a mile away, see things that no ordinary human eyes could see.
“But the biggest difference he discovered was when a windmill fell on top of him during a thunderstorm; he was indestructible.
“The farmer finally made the connection when he looked at himself in the mirror and saw that his eyes were flashing purple; the cow had made him this way.”
Reaver looked at me then and waited for me to figure out where this was headed. Something in my expression made his lips curl up into a humorous smirk.
“…you said there was a hamster on the ship?” I said.
He nodded.
“And Brutus thinks that the kid’s hamster is the same one,” I murmured, realization dawning on me.
He grinned, and then nodded again. “The night Brutus happened upon the boy, he saw the hamster and he swore he saw its eyes flash purple.”
I didn’t respond. All this information was too ridiculous for my brain to process.
“And now he’s on a quest for immortality,” Reaver said casually, looking back down at Rosy.
“Tell me something,” I said. “Was Brutus by any chance drunk that night?”
Reaver chuckled. “Yes.”
“Oh, for Pete’s sake!” I cried. “Is he really that stupid?”
“Apparently,” Reaver laughed.
“So what’s he going to do when he gets his hands on this hamster? Eat it?”
“That’s the idea.”
“Have you tried telling him what an idiot he is?” I demanded.
“Yes, but Brutus has a head as hard as a ram’s,” Reaver said. “He refuses to see reason.”
He was still smiling as he spoke these words. He seemed very amused by the entire situation.
“What the hell are you grinning about?”
“I haven’t been this entertained in a century," he mused
“I have a question: if Brutus is so keen on being an immortal, why hasn’t he asked you to turn him into a vampire?”
“A number of reasons," he said. "You can’t walk out into the daylight without being burned alive as a vampire, and then there’s also the bonus of being indestructible if the hamster is really what he thinks it is. He’s not too fond of drinking blood for eternity, either.”
“Right, but he’ll eat a hamster,” I muttered.
“A small price to pay,” Reaver said, but he wrinkled his nose in distaste. He turned around to look at me again with a flat look. “Now, I need to know you won’t tell anyone about this little conversation.”
I snorted. “I doubt anyone would believe me anyways.”
* * *
After Reaver had told me about Brutus’ ridiculous motives, I stayed outside for the rest of the afternoon with him and tried to grasp everything I'd learned.
We were sitting on the ground; the sun had travelled behind us to the other side of the horizon. Reaver closed his umbrella and set it beside him and we both sat in the shade cast by the tavern, staring up at the sky that was turning orange with the setting sun.
When I asked Reaver how he knew about the legend, he told me he’d heard it back in his human years nearly a century ago.
“So this story has been around for a while. That means this farmer is older than a hundred years.”
“If the legends are true, yes,” Reaver mumbled. He gazed at the sky and exhaled a misty gush of air. “When I was changed into what I am, I kept thinking about the stories of the farmer. I kept wondering…”
I waited for him to finish his sentence, but he just kept staring up at the heavens, his blue eyes far off in the past.
“Wondering what?” I asked.
Without looking at me, he said, “I kept wondering whether he thought what happened to him was gift?”
He turned his gaze back on me, but I got the feeling that he wasn’t really seeing me. “Or was it a curse?”
“Is that what you think you are…cursed?” I asked warily.
He shook his head and stared at the grass. “I can still die. Put a stake through my heart, throw myself out into the sunlight, stuff a clove of garlic up my nose…well, that wouldn’t kill me, but it would be rather unpleasant.”
He looked at Rosy, who was napping on the grass between us. He rubbed her ears.
“But that isn’t the farmer’s case. He seems to be doomed for eternity.”
I whistled. I didn’t think I could live forever without going insane.
“Peter, I’m curious about something,” Reaver said suddenly.
I laid down on the grass and crossed my arms behind my head. “Shoot.”
“Why do you care so much about finding this boy?”
The question caught me off guard. I wasn’t expecting him to ask that. I sighed and stared up at changing sky.
“Honestly? Now that I’ve had a couple of days to cool down, I realize that what he did to me wasn’t that bad. But I’m just so pissed. I don’t have a job, I don’t have a house, and to top it all off, I haven’t had a drink in almost two days! I just want to take it out on someone, ya know?”
Reaver shrugged. “I can understand that. But I see what kind of a man you are, Peter. You’re an alcoholic, a scumbag, sure. But you’re not one of them.” He jerked his thumb back at the tavern.
I rolled my eyes. “Don’t get me wrong, Reaver. I like you and all. I like you better than those morons in there. But with all do respect, you don’t know squat about me.”
“Alright,” he allowed, backing off. “All I’m saying is, don’t do anything you’ll regret later.”
“Yeah,” I muttered, turned to look up at the now dusky sky.
Suddenly, the door to the tavern burst open. Reaver and I turned around to see Leon standing in the open doorway, staring down at us with an irritated expression on his face. It looked like someone had just dragged him out of bed, judging from the purple bags under his swampy green eyes.
“What are you two nancy boys doing out here? Having a date?” he croaked.
“Peter and I were just getting properly acquainted,” Reaver said pleasantly, but there was a deceiving glint in his eyes that Leon didn’t seem to notice. “Right, Peter?”
“Yeah, just getting’ to know each other,” I agreed.
Leon ignored our ramblings. “Get off your asses. We leave tonight, Brutus’ orders.”
He turned and stomped back into the inn. Reaver rolled his eyes and stood up, gently waking up Rosy in the process. He stretched out his pale hand for me to take and smiled down at me devilishly. I took it and he helped me up to my feet, turning to walk back to the tavern.
“Come on, friend,” he called without looking back. “We’d better get going before they suspect something.”
“Right,” I muttered. I followed him back into the tavern, eager to finally get this mission into launch.
***
