by Phil Wohl
Thaddeus then came running at Gary as a ram, thinking he was going head-to-head with a hippo, but Gary also changed into a cat. Thad was knocked unconscious as he ran past an unharmed Gary and slammed into the goal post. Sharon and Gary then made their way to a nearby inlet as wolves and then changed into dolphins once they hit water.
Hartwell was battered and bruised but could see that Andrew was running out of gas. He stood up, much to Andrew’s chagrin, and said, “Are you done yet, my dear boy?”
With that, Hartwell swung his might right arm as Drew’s energy short- circuited and his human form buckled under the force of the thunderous blow. Drew fell to the ground and Hartwell unfurled his wings and then flew off with the beaten hunter, as they made their way to the Atlantic Ocean
and safety.
Emily regained consciousness a few moments later before her father came to and became startled, “Drew!” she exclaimed as she turned into a hawk and flew east toward the water.
Hartwell was two-hundred yards from the beach and decided it was time to rid himself of the dead weight he had been carrying around. Drew came hurtling down toward the earth and crashed hard into the sand. He was barely conscious when Hartwell landed and then dragged him by the neck to the shore line.
Normally, in these types of situations, Hartwell would give into his blood-craving and snack on the flowing liquid inside of his victim. But, since he was fostering Daniel, he could not take the chance of tainting his blood with the blood of another. So, instead, he moved in real close and said to Drew, “Don’t you ever come at me like that again, little boy! Next time I will drain every last drop of blood in you, and I will do it slowly so you can suffer.”
He then pulled back and saw Emily flying toward him. Sharon and Gary emerged from the water, transforming from dolphins to their human forms in an attempt to combat Emily. Hartwell smiled and then twisted Andrew’s head off clean and tossed it on the sand, as Emily put up her talons to land and transformed into a bear. Her eyes lit up bright red as she took a swipe of her mighty paw and sliced Hartwell’s head off.
Sharon jumped into the air and changed into an Orca whale, squashing the bear on impact in the tightly-packed sand. She then turned back into her human form, picked up Drew’s head and his body, and then changed into a hawk and flew away with her son.
Thaddeus then arrived on the scene as a hawk and landed in his human form in front of Gary, who was also in his human form. The two elder-statesmen thought about fighting for a moment, but the battle was done and Hartwell was dead.
Gary extended his hand and Thaddeus somewhat reluctantly shook it at first.
“We’re getting too old for this,” Gary stated.
“Tell me about it,” Thaddeus moaned and then flew off as a hawk.
SEVENTEEN
“That cousin of yours is really strong,” Hartwell said to Daniel as he placed a few drops of his blood in Daniel’s mouth. Of course, Daniel did not reply because he was basically comatose and non-responsive.
Daniel probably would have said the same thing as his grandpa’ Thaddeus, “Tell me about it!”
Hartwell had never backed up a step since he died, not even for the almighty Calvin Brewster. But, Daniel was about to become an upgraded vampire model and was probably better equipped to handle Drew, who was also higher on the evolutionary chain than his predecessors.
Being only seven kills away from mortality was beginning to hit home for Hartwell. He also knew that with each passing day he would get weaker and Andrew would get stronger, thus increasing the likelihood that he
would be on a perpetual spiral toward 100.
Daniel was now a week away from coming out of it. Hartwell held his own for a few days and was only killed once, as a result of a sword delivered old-school-style by Thaddeus straight through his heart.
Hartwell was getting sloppy and there wasn’t much that Sharon and
Gary could do to protect him.
“What do you want us to do, Thomas?” Gary asked his long-time running mate.
Hartwell sat on a wood bench with a base of stones on the Beach
Haven boardwalk, and looked out into the ocean for answers.
“Well, my friends. We can look at this two ways. The first way is the way we’ve always done it, regardless of the number. For years we’ve been playing it hard and we’ve been quite successful.”
Sharon was waiting for the other, more attractive shoe to drop. “Or…”
“Or, we can lay down our arms and take the beating. We’re going to reach 100 sooner or later,” Hartwell mused.
Sharon looked at Hartwell and then asked, “Do well all become mortal?” “All?” Hartwell countered.
“You know, the kids,” she clarified.
Hartwell pondered the question and then responded, “I’m not sure.” For one of the few times in his vampire life, Hartwell was unsure what
tomorrow would bring. The previous years didn’t really give him much to think about – it was basically a steady flow of eat, drink, sleep… eat, drink, sleep – his life was a fairly routine, but brutal, existence.
“I just want to last long enough to talk to Daniel as a vampire, not a mortal. He won’t believe me if I don’t show him,” Hartwell said as he flashed his fangs at Sharon and winked at her.
She giggled like a school-girl, “Are you going to be this charming as a mortal?”
Gary thought, “I hope not!”
“I would like to say ‘yes,’ but probably not,” Hartwell quipped. She smiled, “Then maybe I have a chance.”
Aside from surfer Blake, Sharon had only known true pleasure through Hartwell. And he was about as far as you could get from being a storybook romance. He basically took it when he wanted it, and she was only allowed to initiate occasionally – usually after he was killed and his self-esteem was only overbearing.
Each person attached to Hartwell privately thought what mortality would be like after fighting the good fight for so long. But, Emily Brewster was only focused on one thing, for now.
“I want that last kill!” she said to her father. “For Cal.”
Andrew walked into the kitchen and asked, “What do you want to do for Cal?”
Emily thought fast, “I want to light a candle for him. It’s been 15 years since he’s been gone.”
Andrew shifted gears, “Do you think he’ll ever come back?”
Both Emily and Thaddeus swallowed their drinks down the wrong pipe and started coughing.
“I didn’t mean to upset you,” Andrew stated. “I just wanted to know if either of you believed in reincarnation?”
Emily shot Thad a look and replied, “Yes, Drew. I believe your uncle will join us again one day.”
Hartwell avoided the kill the next few days and was now five days from his son’s rebirth. He was also six kills away from mortality, meaning he would be able to welcome his son into the darkness the proper way.
It was Tuesday night and the special at the Beach Haven Diner was split pea soup, so Emily took an axe out of a tree and flipped it to her son, who caught the blade and split Hartwell in half in one forceful motion.
Emily had always been the playmaker for her soul mate, Cal, and he always knew how to finish in grand style.
Since the split pea soup strategy worked so well, Emily returned to the Beach Haven Diner on Wednesday to see what the daily soup special was – the top of the inserted typed page read, “Squash Puree.”
Emily devised a special stacking strategy that would incorporate both the soup special and Hartwell’s weakened state, including his inability to fend of the hunter trio. The vampire’s mind was elsewhere and his protectors were also ill-prepared when the hunters showed up in the parking lot of Hooters at 2:00 a.m.
Gary was making small-talk to Sharon.
“I hear they have good wings,” implying that he had frequented the glorified strip club in a culinary capacity.
Before the protectors could even react, Thaddeus the
bear had pinned Hartwell down. Hartwell struggled to move but his lack of strength made him an unwilling spectator. Emily jumped on her father’s back – also as a bear – and Hartwell was feeling the pressure of more than 1,000 pounds of hairy bear on top of him.
By the time Sharon and Gary picked up their heads and realized the fight had already begun grizzly bear Andrew had climbed up a nearby tree and was already airborne to his bear-pile destination.
Gary looked down at Hartwell and then eyed a descending Andrew and stated the obvious, “Ugh, that’s not good.”
Andrew hit the pile with such force that Hartwell exploded – well, for our purposes, he pureed – in a 50-foot radius all over the parking lot pavement. Since his essence would not reconstitute for a few hours, Gary walked over to the pile of smiling bears and said, “You guys want to get some wings?”
The Brewster bears de-stacked and stood up, as Sharon and Gary changed into a couple of wolves. They crashed through the back door of Hooters and then had a feast in the kitchen.
The Hooters security video feed made the local, then national news, and became an overnight sensation on YouTube by the weekend.
Meanwhile, the drive to 100 marched on Thursday night when the
Beach Haven Diner was serving lobster bisque.
EIGHTEEN
Soup was served on Hartwell the next three nights – he was cracked like a lobster, shot full of silver bullet holes like a bowl of Texas chili, and
finally had his lifeless body dropped to the bottom of the ocean like a matzoh ball.
“You got to hand it to that sadistic bastard,” Emily said to Thaddeus. “He took the punishment this past week and didn’t complain a bit.”
Andrew chimed in before swallowing a Beach Haven Diner matzoh ball, “And we got to eat great soup all week!”
“Here, here!” Thaddeus exclaimed as he raised his tablespoon in the air.
Sharon and Gary collected Hartwell’s severed body from the bottom of the ocean and raced to the surface as dolphins. They brought him to shore and waited a few hours for the sun to rise, which brought the renewal of Hartwell.
Hartwell opened his eyes and slowly sat up, mirroring a man of his advanced age.
“You made it, boss!” an excited Gary said to the exhausted vampire. Hartwell half-smiled at both Gary and Sharon and replied, “Just
barely.”
“Get me home. I have some blood in my fridge,” Hartwell said as his protectors helped him get to his feet and then got him home safely.
Once home, Hartwell went through about 10 pints of blood before he stabilized, and then another 10 before he started feeling like himself again.
Gary left and Sharon was alone with Hartwell, who looked over at her with a sinful look and said, “You’re next.”
Sharon blushed and brushed her shoulder-length brown hair away from her left shoulder, exposing her neck.
“Well, just a taste,” he said as he again moved at the speed of light and was sampling her neck in a most provocative way.
Hartwell was feeling so great that he and Sharon went at each other like two animals in heat for the better part of an hour. They showered, and Sharon kidded on her way out, “I’m gonna’ stop by the diner on my way home. Can I get you some soup?”
She left quickly, because she knew that Hartwell would only tolerate so much ribbing. After all, he wasn’t the most gracious of losers.
It was 10:00 a.m. and Hartwell knew it was time. He sat in his comfortable Pottery Barn leather chair – as he was still partial to things from San Francisco – and focused on summoning his son to him.
Daniel had lain dormant in his bed for more than two weeks with no food or drink, other than Hartwell’s blood.
“Come right over to my house after you take a shower,” Hartwell communicated to Daniel, who’s eyes popped open.
Daniel glided toward the shower and was dressed and out the door within 30 seconds after turning off the water. His mother was still in “Daniel has mono” mode and didn’t even realize that her son had left the house.
Daniel looked at his car, a beat-up Jeep Grand Cherokee, as a mode of transportation, but decided to glide the five miles toward the water instead. Five minutes later, he was in front of an old, abandoned warehouse just off the Beach Haven Pier. The place was a wreck – windows were smashed, graffiti was scribbled all over the building, and a broken “CONDEMNED” sign dangled sideways, held loosely by a rusty
nail.
“This looks promising,” he said as he pushed open the door and walked into a dust- and dirt-fest on the inside of the building.
“You found the place,” Hartwell said as the decrepit space was transformed into a modern decorating marvel.
Daniel looked around and said, “Wow! That’s better,” as he stepped toward Hartwell.
The two men hugged and Hartwell said, “Good real estate is hard to find,” and they both pulled out of the hug.
“Don’t want anybody knowing about this place,” Hartwell continued as he motioned for Daniel to sit down on the couch.
The two men glided toward their seats and Hartwell asked, “How are you feeling?”
Daniel was still getting used to his new abilities and gently nudged into the rectangular coffee table as he sat down, causing a black-and-white picture to fall on the area rug under the table.
Hartwell hoped that Daniel wouldn’t notice the picture, at least until they had a chance to ease into “the talk.” But, Daniel immediately noticed the wayward photo and started to bend down to pick it up.
Hartwell gently held his arm and said, “No, my dear boy. It’s all up here now,” he said, pointing to his head.
Daniel sat back on the couch and put his left hand out and the picture came up to him.
“Cool!” Daniel said as he sought approval from Hartwell. Hartwell nodded in approval, “Excellent.”
Daniel looked at the picture and asked, “Family heirloom?”
Hartwell was about to answer but Daniel interjected, “Hey! That’s the high school’s new librarian, Miss Craswell.”
Hartwell’s usual 20 beat per-minute heart-rate instantly doubled to 40 beats per-minute, as he leaned over toward Daniel.
“This woman is the new librarian?” he asked pointing at his wife. Daniel chuckled, “Well, not this woman. Just someone who looks
exactly like her. She helped me with my last paper.”
Amidst all of the jubilation, Daniel’s focus shifted from Miss Craswell to the little boy in the picture. He thought, “Man that kid looks familiar.”
His mind went elsewhere for the next 15 seconds as flashes from his childhood - both old and new – circulated throughout his mind.
When he came out of it, he was confused and looked at Hartwell. “What the hell just happened?”
And then he regained his senses, “And why am I in that picture?” he yelled.
Hartwell’s head was spinning from news of the return of his wife, but he still had to answer Daniel’s loaded question. He reached out and the picture transported into his right hand, and then he tucked it away in the left breast pocket of his shirt. Hartwell wasn’t answering Daniel and the newbie became agitated. He stood up and started pacing, almost in panic.
“What am I doing in that picture next to the librarian, and…” at the beginning of a string of unanswered questions washed over him, “and, who are you?”
“You don’t know who I am? Hartwell replied.
Daniel moved closer to his mentor, who had stood up to try to calm him down.
“I mean, I know who you are. I just don’t know your name, or why you’ve been with me the past 10 years, or why I don’t need to use my feet anymore, or why I have this craving for… what is that?” he scraped his fingers on his rough tongue.
Hartwell zipped into the kitchen and returned in an eye-blink. “Blood?” he said holding a bag of blood in his hand.
Daniel snatched the bag out of Hartwell’s hand and made at it like
Oliver being given that second bowl of porridge.
“You got any more of that?” Daniel said like a true junky. After two more bags of blood, Daniel regained enough of his
composure to continue to the conversation.
“So, are you going to answer any of my questions?”
Hartwell dreamt of this moment since he lost his son – the day that he would be able to tell his son everything.
The two men were standing and facing each other. Their body language reeked of confrontation. Hartwell pulled the picture out of his pocket.
“A long time ago – the turn of the 20th century to be exact – we were a family. Then a plague swept through San Francisco and I lost you both,” Hartwell emotionally stated as a few small ice balls fell out of his eyes and to the ground, melting into small puddles of blood.
Hartwell continued, “A man – at least I thought it was a man – came to me and offered to bring you back to me one day in exchange for my blood, my life. All I wanted to do was see you and your mother again, so I desperately agreed to his offer. Not that I really had much of a choice, in hindsight.”
Daniel tried to process Hartwell’s words, “So, what are you saying?” “My name is Thomas Hartwell and I am a vampire,” he directly
replied. “And now, so are you.”
“Did you just raise your voice to my boyfriend?” she yelled at Nicole. Arguments were all over the living room as Blake watched the
