GFD 11: Born of Fire - 14. Chapter 14

I just stood there.... staring at the screen. There was such a foreboding sensation that took over my very being in that moment. It was like having someone dance on your grave. Feeling your chest sink in the middle, your brain turn cold, your soul beginning to tremble with an intangible sense of fear that you couldn't comprehend until you were threatened in a way that truly frightened you.

It took Taryn's gentle hand on my shoulder to somehow give me an anchor back to a solid reality. I jerked suddenly from the contact, but let out a long sigh to soothe my rattled nerves. "You ok?" He asked, and then looked at the flatscreen tv report to see the wreckage. He was instantly enchanted by the sight of it too. "Omigod...." He whispered.

"Jesus, Justin..." Dion said softly. "...What the fuck did you DO to that place?"

"I don't....I don't really remember." I said in response, my eyes still glued to the screen.

I could feel Jenna, Dylan, Trevor, and Michael, crowd up behind me as the report continued. I wasn't sure if they could see what I could see, but they knew trouble when they felt it in the air around them. And this was definitely trouble.

I could hardly speak. I just concentrated on the dark figure hidden in the background, and was overwhelmed by the unrestricted hatred in his heart. It was like needles being dragged against the surface of my skin...like an infinitely cold block of ice being pressed tightly against your heart, cramping the muscle to the point where it hurts for the organ to keep beating in rhythm. There was just something about his very presence that broadcasted a level of darkness that my eyes weren't yet adjusted to. And yet, my recent developments allowed me to see him clearly right through the camera. And his recent developments alerted him to my awareness as well. I could feel it. He looked directly at me, seeking me out. Sensing my power. Emotionally 'tuned in' to my strength, my weaknesses, and everything in between the two extremes. I could feel him analyzing me. Sizing me up from an unfathomable distance, and preparing himself to gain access to everything that I am. It was an evil feeling of despair that I couldn't even begin to describe, not even if I tried. And it was searching....

Searching for me!

"He can 'see' me." I whispred out loud, not even knowing that I was saying it.

"What?" Dion was confused. "Who can see you?"

I just kept staring. I stared until my eyes were dry and sore from not blinking. And Rage stared right back at me. There was a moment of true 'connection' that I can't explain. It was almost as if our souls were instantaneusly intertwined. Suddenly understood. It was strange. His pain and mine weren't all that different. Not at all. In fact, I found myself being almost in sync with his suffering for that one eternal moment, and wondered how his embrace of that dark misery could be such a different technique from my own. It was like he enjoyed the pain. Like he welcomed the agony. And without the conflicts that I seemed to maintain to keep me from completely losing my mind...he had become completely corrupted by it. The suffering wrapped itself around him like constricting jungle vines, covered with thorns for all who come close enough to be damged by them. That blackness...that 'abyss' of a soul...it was almost hypnotic to look at. Because, deep down....wouldn't we all like to know what it feel like to be enveloped in darkness? Just for a little while?

"Justin? Talk to me. What's going on?" Dion asked me, and Taryn held my hand tightly as he recognized the part of the warehouse that we escaped from. It was still on fire, the bricks smashed in, blood staining the walls, debris scattered in every direction. Much like Rage had done with his erlier attacs...I think I just accidently 'announced' my existence to the vampire world.

"He's watching me..." I said, still dazed. Rage was right there, in the shadows. Blended in, but I could see. I could see the crisp edges of his silhouette in the shadows, it caused me to tremble inside.

I felt that sickening spotlight of his land on me, striking at my heart, flooding my spirit with a sense of immediate danger. And while my major instincts told me not to look, while they implored me to run in the other direction before he was able to lock on to my location...there was another force inside of me at work. Something deep down in my spirit, that had been running all of its life from the pain, and was now realizing that it was strong enough to bring that pain to someone else's doorstep for a change. A savage urge to be let loose, to stop running, to stop hiding. It had been buried for oh so long, but my fight at the warehouse gave it strength. Gave it focus. And when it felt Rage targeting me from afar, it began to assert itself once again. Calling out to him. Challenging him. Only wanting more power and the chance to unleash the kind of mindless destruction it was created to produce. I forced my eyes to look away from the screen, but my instincts betrayed me. My eyes beginning to turn red on their own as I salivated over a set of razor sharp fangs, dropping down from my gums.

At that moment, when I looked up, and our eyes met again...I saw the figure smile wickedly, and his eyes flashed a bright red for a second. Almost as if he were 'taking my picture'. And then he swiftly escaped before the television cameras caught sight of him. He saw me. He KNEW what I had done there. And what he was actually gonna 'do' with that knowledge...was still a mystery.

"I was supposed to stay quiet. I was supposed to be in hiding..." I mumbled, feeling a gradual invasion of panic as it soaked itself into my emotions. "...Com told me not to make noise...he told me that I'd be in danger. That we could all be in danger..." Suddenly, that rush of emotion began to spark up, and an unexpected pulse of energy ballooned out of me on all sides, causing a disturbance in all of the tvs and electrical devices around me. The screens' picture twisted and fluttered, static blaring from the speakers as the lights flickered and the music around us temporarily got warped and slow. I backed away from the tvs slowly, and things soon got back to normal. It was only a moment...but it was noticed. Not so much by the humans on Navy Pier...but mostly by the vampire population wandering on the dock. They tuned into my signal almost instantly...and before I knew what was happening, I had almost a hundred pairs of vampire eyes staring directly at me.

You can always tell our kind in a crowd. They attempt to blend in, but they always stand out. It's their movements, their wandering eyes, their displacement from the 'cattle' that surround them. Usually, they try harder not to be noticed among the humans...but not at that moment. They were suddenly locked in on my very presence...and stared at me with a certain level of...shock. Some in horror.

I couldn't be certain if they knew or not. If I had done something to alert them, or if the word had spread that fast in the streets. But as the humans kept walking by as normal, the vampires stood perfectly still. Young and old, male and female, aged and newblood, alike. As I turned slowly, I saw more eyes catching sight of me. Then I heard the sounds of vampires up above us on the second level, rushing to the side to look down upon us and see if I was real. All the way down the Pier, for as far as the eye could see in either direction...there were eyes gazing in my direction. Dylan was the first to notice it, and hugged himself close under Dion's arm. Trevor and Michael took a few steps away from me, and Taryn gripped my hand tightly to stop it from shaking.

"I don't like the looks of this." Jenna whispered as the crowd began to slowly close in around us. I didn't know what to expect. I was too nervous to really get my senses to work right. I was worried that I'd use some kind of offbeat extra that I wasn't ready for and end up making things worse.

They slowly got closer, and we all took a few steps back. But the vampires looking over the railing above had almost tripled in number now, and there was nowhere for us to go. The crowd gathered, and we got more and more tense, until my reading ability began to pick up small bits of their thoughts. Slight phrases here and there...growing stronger and more varied by the second.

"It is him. It is the chosen one...."

"He's real? He CAN'T be real!"

"Dear God in Heaven...the rumors were true..."

"The Mimic is alive! He has returned to us!"

This wasn't a deliberate mind read. It wasn't like I was scanning them for information. Instead, this was an uncontrollable absorption of every mindset around me at once. Much like Zero in his underground basement, ingesting the thoughts of everyone within range.

"I can't believe my fucking EYES!!! This CAN'T be hapening!!!"

"He is the one. The golden child is reborn, as prophecized by the most sacred of scriptures..."

"I thought the Mimic was a myth..."

"I knew this day would come. The day when our prophet returned to guide us into the light..."

I felt chills move all around me and through me. They KNEW!!! They ALL knew! And as their open eyes focused on me more intently, ever shuffling closer to our position, I knew that there would be no more covering up this secret. I failed...and I'm sure that the consequences were going to be severe.

"Justin...I don't like this. We should go." Taryn said softly. I looked over at Jenna, who was obviously getting all of their feelings at once, absorbing a confusing array of comments and questions that varied from person to person. My mind began to pick out more of their random thoughts, and much more rapidly as their emotions got stronger. The vampires on the Pier were now huddled up in even larger numbers than before, staring at me in disbelief. And their minds ran wild as my reading ability caused their inner conversations to overlap inside my head.

"That's not him. It can't be...just look at him...he's just a baby..."

"He has returned! Oh rejoice...he has returned!"

"The Dawn is at hand! He brings the awakening!"

"We....we have to go. Come on...we've gotta...get out of here..." I said, trembling inside. But as we all walked to the right to get away from the gathering masses...they stood in the way. And then...as I saw tears appear in the eyes of many of them...they turned their gaze to the ground, only peeking up at me as if in submission. And then, they began to kneel down at my feet. Ten, fifteen, twenty five, thirty five....vampires all over the Pier slowly bowed down on one knee and lowered their heads in my presence. Some of them weeping softly. Others trembling in fear of judgement. Some quaking in anticipation of some...holy revelation of some sort. We all stood perfectly still, afraid to move. Not really sure of what was happening. And when I looked up above, the vampires on the second level knelt at the railing as if in praise to an altar.

Humans began to look at us like we were crazy. A few security guards noticed the disturbance, and started to walk over to investigate. And vampires who hadn't seen the initial warning of my arrival...they too were now asking questions, and the word was spreading faster than I could stop it. At this rate, every vampire on the Pier will figure me out in the next ten minutes or so. I was totally exposed, and had nowhere to go.

I saw a few of the human security guards attempt to pick some of the vampires up from their kneeling position, but they refused. Curling their legs under them, and struggling to remain seated. I tried to walk further forward, holding Taryn tight and hoping to just wade through the kneeling spectators...but as soon as I came close to one of them, he spoke. "I am sorry. For I believed not." He whispered. When he raised his head, there were tears dripping from his eyes, and he sobbed for forgiveness. "I believe. I BELIEVE in thee!"

As I looked around us, more vampires began to kneel as well, and people were starting to notice that I was the center of all this commotion. I had to do something. I had to do something NOW!

"Who are you? What are you doing???" I said outloud. "Stop it! Get up! What the...get UP! Come on!" They didn't listen. They shook their heads and refused. I went to the first man and pulled on the back of his shirt collar to get him to look at me. "Look...I don't know what you did, or who you think I am...but I'm...I'm NOT him! Ok? So just...just get up. Tell everybody to stand up now. Please..." I got more nervous as security started heading our way, and more humans and vampires began to take notice. I began to panic. "Ok, you REALLY need to get up now, ok?" I shouted out to the crowd, "ALL OF YOU...GET UP!!! Stop this!" In the distance, I saw other vampires as well, but they had no intentions of kneeling at my feet. In fact, they seemed disgusted by the display. Some began to instantly loathe me, staring at us with a burning plot already building in their hearts. I hurried over to one older lady vampire, and tapped her on the back. "Get up. Please? Please don't do this." I moved over to a small group of teenagers by the stairs. "Stand up...none of this is necessary. PLEASE, just...don't make a scene, ok?" But none of them responded. I hurried back to the first one that spoke to me and asked, "Why are they doing this??? Why won't they listen to me?"

"We are listening." He replied.

"No...I mean...I need them to stand up and I need them to stand up NOW! Ok? I'm...I'm NOT who you think I am!" I lied, trying to keep them from drawing even MORE attention to me out there in the open. "Vampire mimics are a 'myth'! A fairy tale! There must be some mistake."

"There is no mistake." He said, and then his eyes focused on the band on my arm, showing slightly from under my short sleeved t-shirt, and then he looked over at Taryn to see a matching design on his arm as well. This brought even more tears to his eyes, and he pressed his forehead to the ground. "It is exactly as it was written. The scriptures have made manifest a savior of great wisdom. The fates have kept their promise, and are preparing us for the Dawn."

"No! It's a LIE! Do you hear me?" I said. "LOOK AT ME when I'm talking to you!"

"I mean no disrespect. To rise would be a insult to your greatness."

"Knock it off!" Angered by his refusal to listen, I kicked him in the side, hoping to get a reaction. But he took the pain and hardly allowed himself to wince from the impact.

"It is an honor to be punished for my sins against you. You may continue."

"NO! There are NO sins against me...ok? You don't have to kneel...just stand up...."

"That...I cannot do." He said solemnly. "We are humbled by your request, but not worthy of standing before your greatness. As it is written."

"There's no 'greatness' here! Ok? I'm not anybody special! I'm just like you. I'm just like ALL of you! There's no need to 'worship' me...I'm just a kid!"

"The fates were wise to have chosen an entity with your passion. Your message will undoubtedly be a powerful one for the rest of the world."

"The rest of the world....?" I said. "No...no no no....nobody can know about this! You have to STOP this now, ok?" I looked around to see even more vampires being awakened to my presence, the word racing through the crowd at light speed. "Listen...I'm BEGGING you, ok? You've got to get up, and you've got to walk away from me, right now. I don't want you to tell anybody what you thought you saw here tonight! Alright? You tell them that I am NOT the Mimic!"

"That I cannot do." He replied.

"I'm ORDERING you to tell them! I'm ORDERING you to keep them silent!!!" I said in frustration, hoping to force him to comply.

"The scriptures have instructed us all to spread your word freely and often, at all times, no matter the consequence. It is not to be kept silent. This enlightenment was meant for the collective consciousness of us all. We MUST tell others of your arrival. That is our gift, and our burden. Our sacrifice..." He said, then looking over at Taryn. "...To give thanks for your sacrifice."

"STOP IT!!! Please, stop it! ARE YOU ALL FUCKING CRAZY???" I screamed, but Taryn put a hand on my arm to let me know that it was no use.

"Come on, let's just go. Let's move." Dion said, and we all tried to look as inconspicuous as we possibly could with one hundred vampires bowing and scraping behind us. We all began to move faster and faster, and I saw them begin to rise to their feet again. Many of the vampires stared at me with a gaze of unrestricted worship. Many others stared with a sneer on their lips. And there were some...who were nearly levelled by their own fear of me. They were EVERYWHERE! I never knew the population of vampires was so huge on the Pier until I had to lower my head, and try to duck their line of sight.

But as we moved through the crowd, their inner voices continued. And their content began to hurt, jabbing into my side like iron spears as I attempted to hide the pain of it.

"The chosen one is a 'HALFLIFE'? Ridiculous! What does a fucking halflife know about pain and suffering?"

"THAT'S the Mimic? I expected so much more! He's just some waifish little blond boy! What could he possibly have to teach to ANYBODY?"

"He's HERE! The messiah has come to SAVE us all!"

"Look at him! I'll bet he's just soaking this shit up! Got people kissing his ass like he's so special! I should walk right over and tell him exactly what I think of him, since everybody else is so 'mesmerized'! Ego maniac...."

I felt hands reaching out to touch us as we walked passed them. Not just me, but Dylan, Jenna, everyone. Especially Taryn. Hands reached out towards him as though he were some kind of great healer. As though ne touch of his hand, or tug on his clothes, could somehow cure whatever ails them inside.

We picked up our pace, dodging more and more vampires as they attempted to get a good look at me. I could feel myself 'filling up' again....absorbing even more of their abilities like a sponge as they reached in my direction. Thank goodness Dion was strong enough to push a nice little path for the rest of us to follow, otherwise, I fear the crowd would have swallowed us whole.

"What are these fanatics doing? There's no such thing as a Mimic! What kind of idiot would even MAKE such a claim???"

"We must alert the Elders! The dark angel is here! He'll murder us all!!! He'll murder us *ALL*!!!"

"This is blasphemy! He is no chosen one! He is a false prophet! He should have his heart cut out and roasted in the dawn for toying with concepts a mere boy couldn't possibly understand!"

I don't know if I was feeding off of the emotions of the people around us, or merely magnifying my own, but I soon found myself nearing a state of hysteria after being so vulnerable in front of strangers. I could feel their eyes on me, burning me with their critique. I was stumbling from walking so fast. Almost running to get away. Just trying to get out of there before they made it any worse. I felt tears welling up in my eyes as I was put on 'display' for everyone watching, gawking at me like some sick animal in a zoo. Making assumptions about me when they didn't know a fucking thing ABOUT me!

"Look at him! The dummy is practically tripping over his own feet! What a moron! Some 'savior'...."

"He is no warrior! Look at how he runs from us! He is nothing more than a coward!"

"Is that his sire? Is he the one fated to die for us? Such gentle beauty..."

"He must be the one responsible for the killings! For the outbursts of violence! It MUST be him! He must be Rage!"

"What makes HIM so special? I don't think he's all that great. Others need to know he's just some dork with an attitude..."

"He will not be able to control his abilities for long. He should give them to ME instead! *I* shall guide us to the Vampire Dawn...instead of this halflife scum...."

I was sniffling now, my vision getting blurry. That Pier never felt so long before. It seemed like it would NEVER end!

"The chosen one...I must find him. He's got to help me! He's got to make me whole again! He is the only one who will have the answers I need! The ONLY one!"

"He doesn't look so tough! I bet I could take him out EASY! I'm a much better fighter than he could ever be! I should challenge him! Right here, right now!"

"Omigod, he's HOT! I've GOT to have him! I'll do anything! He must be mine!"

"Psh! Where was he when I needed him? He's never done a thing to help ME! Fuck him, AND his half witted prophecy!"

"...He will join us in our quest, and we will become unstoppable! We must find away to gain his trust...and use his power to defeat our enemies in the West..."

"If only I could be seen with him! If everyone thought that the chosen one was my ally, I'd get some respect! They'd worship ME the way they do him!"

"...Once we capture his sire...he'll have no choice but to obey our demands! We'll make an example by killing the girl first!"

The flood of thoughts kept getting worse, until at last I couldn't stand them anymore. At one point, while we were all galloping towards the front gate, I felt a sting in the center of my brain that caused my legs to collapse, and I fell down to my knees in pain. "JUSTIN!!!" Taryn ran to comfort me and help me up, but I couldn't stand. My head was spinning, and the Pier seemed to lift, tilt, and sway, back and forth as vertigo set in and threw me off balance.

I felt my mind being probed from many different sources at once. The sensation of scores of vampire readers sifting through my most personal thoughts at high speeds. INVADING my every private memory without mercy!

"Suicidal? Oh my...such a shame!"

"Sexual little faggot, isn't he? Ewwww....how many times do they have to do it, for crying out loud?"

"Hahaha! His father used to beat the shit out him TOO? What a fucking JOKE! Who decided to give THIS pussy the gift???"

"...Mother was an alcoholic..."

"He has no idea what he's doing. None at all."

"Lost his friend Jarrod in the IceZone....couldn't save him..."

"...Richie? He's probably dead by now...so sad..."

"...He should have just fucking jumped over the edge. He's better off dead anyway."

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!!" I shouted, my voice doubling and tripling up as an energetic blast ripped its way through my vocal chords. I felt an uncontrollable mental pulse fire back at them all, spreading out in all directions, creating cracks in the cement! I watched as the readers grabbed their ears in pain, and disconnected from me to prevent any further agony. There were cracks forming in the glass windows around me, and the lights began to rapidly flicker on and off with more intensity.

"He is the great DESTROYER!!! He has come to judge us for execution!"

"His power is unfathomable! I MUST possess it for myself!!!"

"The creature is too unstable to be allowed to live!"

I was breathing sooo hard, trying to regain my senses, when I felt something ice cold crawling over my hand. I looked down to see the shadows beginning to move towards me. Their pain...their screams....their hatred....their judgement. I yanked my hand back, but it started to latch on to me again. More shadows came, as others looked for me to bring them salvation. To finally bring an end to their pain and offer them an answer of indisputable truth. An answer....that I didn't have.

"HE'S HERE TO DESTROY US!!! Don't you understand? Don't you remember what happened with the last one???" Shouted a voice from the upper level. "HE'S GONNA MURDER US ALL!!!"

Dion and Taryn both quickly helped me to my feet again, and we were practically racing towards the gate. My legs would barely work, and my eyes were rolled back as a result of being scanned by so many vampire readers at once. I felt my legs go limp again, but just as I was falling, it was actually Trevor who assisted me and helped me to keep going. None of us looked back once we were out by the fountain in front of Navy Pier. We just kept running...hurrying back to the shadows, where the illusion of safety was still possible. Still valid. Even if...deep down...I knew that hiding wasn't going to do me any good. Not any more.

Gyro was right. I wouldn't be able to hide a secret like this forever.

"Alright, let's just go back to the lot and lay low for a bit. I mean, who's gonna believe those vampires on the Pier, right?" Jenna suggested. "I mean, Justin is basically ranked up there Big Foot and alien abductions. Nobody's going to take a mimic sighting seriously."

"I don't know, Jenna..." Dion said. "...There were an awful lot of witnesses."

"How did they even KNOW?" Trevor asked.

"It must have been the pulse. Something about that electromagnetic screw up of yours must have given them a pretty big hint." Michael added.

"I didn't mean to do it. It went off all by itself." I wanted to explain, but I couldn't. Ever since my last feeding, my extras have been completely out of control.

"It's ok, baby. We're gonna get you home, and we'll find out when Doc can get that Jeweler guy to help you. We can keep things quiet until then and wait for the rumors to mellow out a little bit."

My brain seemed to be sending me some kind of strange 'message' at that moment. Some kind of inner alarm went off, and I stopped walking. "Wait...no. We can't." I said.

"What? What are you talking about?" Trevor asked.

"The lot...I can't go back there. Not yet."

Dion stepped forward to put a hand on my shoulder, "Justin...listen, once we get you back home, we'll figure this out. Ok? But I don't think it's the best thing for you to be out in the open right now..."

"NO! You don't understand...." I said, detecting small 'intrusions' inside of me. "...They're tracking me. I can feel it." I closed my eyes, and felt three or four individual signatures, each one different from the one before. No doubt from different vampires. "Their traces are pretty weak, they should wear off in an hour or so. But if I go back to the lot now, I'll be leading them right to us."

Jenna raised an eyebrow. "How do you know all this?"

"I...I don't know..." I told her. Taryn hugged me from the side, and we both shared a moment of helplessness, where I had only his embrace to balance me and keep me from falling over.

Dylan thought for a second and quietly said, "Why don't we go get Max and Gyro and just go somewhere quiet? Someplace where nobody else goes?"

"Not too many places like that here in city." Trevor told him. "Besides....'glory boy' over here is gonna stick out like a sore thumb in a place where the vampire population is low. They'll be able to track him down easy. We'd be better off just taking him to the club."

Dion heard Trevor's idea and spoke up, "Wait...actually, the club isn't such a bad idea. I know it sounds crazy, but we just might be able to blend in with the chaos in that place for a little while and throw the others off the trail until their tracers wear off."

"But what if Justin absorbs even more from the vampires at the club?" Jenna asked. "He's already beyond full as it is. Who knows what taking on more abilities is going to do to him?"

"That just might be a chance we have to take. We can't keep him out in the streets. His chances are better in a public place where we have more of a chance of hiding him in plain sight." Dion looked to me and Taryn for the nod, and we agreed that it would e the best plan. "Cool, we'll head over there now, and when it's safe, we'll sneak out and try to make it back to the lot without being seen. In the meantime, Justin...you'd better work on keeping that 'pulse' thing under control. You set that thing off in the club, and we're REALLY gonna have a problem on our hands!"

It might have taken us all of 30 minutes to make our way down to the subway. Staying in dark alleys, avoiding the paths of strangers as much as we possibly could along the way. I wanted to feel relieved, but the paranoia had already set in. It din't matter if the eyes were human or vampire...anyone who so much as glanced at me got my defenses up. It was as if the whole world had suddenly shrunk to the size of a kiddie swimming pool...and it was getting smaller and smaller by the second.

I felt so full. So exhausted. I didn't have the comfort to even sit still for more than a few seconds. My very spirit felt crushed and crammed into a tiny box, trying desperately to breathe while attempting to make room for all of the new abilities I was gathering by the minute. At times, I had to close my eyes just to keep from seeing double. It was a painful experience, but for Taryn's sake...I tried not to let it show too much. He's already worried enough.

We came to our stop, and walked out of the subway. The short trip to Bernie's place was never much of a walk for any of us. But as we got closer to the place...we noticed something different. The area was different, the breeze was different...and we didn't hear the usual muffled thumps of loud music coming from inside. In fact...once we reached the back alley where we usually went in for admittance, we saw two young vampires carrying another vamp on their shoulders. He was banged up pretty badly, bleeding from the mouth, and from a socket where his right eye 'used' to be. The smell of ash and coagulated blood was in the air, and when we got to the back door....it had been ripped off the hinges, the metal almost bent in half by some kind of powerful force. Bernie's club, the place we had been going to since I first crossed over...the place where Taryn and I had gotten our eternity bands from....

...Had been completely destroyed.