Battle of Shadow - 2. Chapter 2

It was a sunny day. A thick layer of fresh snowfall from the night before now graced the earth with its subtle beauty. Despite the sun, it was bitter. The temperature seemed to fall as the sun grew brighter. The house was dark with a thick musk that seemed to linger. Jace’s body still laid lifeless on the floor. The three predators were long gone.
Jace’s eyes shot open. He was not able to move. He was barely able to breathe, but that didn’t bother him. The room was dark, but he could see. Every slight movement was now amplified in Jace’s eyes. He could hear footsteps coming from outside the house, but how? His mind raced with a million thoughts, that had yet to even include what had happened several weeks earlier. The footsteps came closer and closer to the front door and came to a halt.
“This door’s open,” spoke a low toned man.
“It’s probably just some stupid kids,” said the other slightly higher pitched male. Then Jace could smell it. Something amazing. He couldn’t grasp what it was but he wanted it more than anything he had ever tasted.
The door pushed forward several inches before stopping.
“If anyone is in here, you have about thirty seconds to leave. This is condemned property due to be demolished in an hour.” The two men waited outside for numerous seconds before shoving the door open all of the way. Jace lunged from the floor back into the farthest corner of the room. He stared at the two middle aged men as they glanced around the room.
“You go check upstairs to see if anyone is sleeping up there. I’ll go downstairs,” said the higher pitched man. The two separated and left Jace alone in the room. He crept slowly towards the hallway that lead to the basement. Even though his mind told him to leave through the front door he couldn’t. Something told him that downstairs was where he should be. He continued slowly down the steps to where the man was waiting. Just as Jace reached the bottom step it creaked caused the middle aged man to turn quickly.
“It’s you! Jace Lanson! You’re all over the papers!” The man reached for his cell phone and began to dial 911 but stopped.
“Are you ok, son?” the man asked. Jace did not speak. He could smell something wonderful. He wanted it. He needed it. Jace took a few steps toward the man causing him to back up slowly. “Ah! Fuck!” screamed the man as he backed up into the jagged end of a broken pipe sticking out of the wall. The man squeezed the aching spot with his hand.
“I think it cut me!” He pulled his hand off of the spot that was aching only to reveal a dark red substance on the tip of his finger. Jace lunged without delay. He pinned the man up against the wall and held is mouth shut with his other hand. He stared into the mans eyes and hissed as his fangs busted out through his gums and shimmered in the dim light. Without even one second of hesitation, Jace bit into the neck of his first victim.

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Fargo became terrified of the dark. Small towns operated like this. Every time a crime was committed the town became petrified until the culprit was caught and put away. It had been two weeks and hope was fading. The assumption of the town was that Jace was gone, which scared them even more. At first people wanted to believe he just ran off. That he couldn’t handle college anymore and left, but those beliefs were quickly abandoned and replaced by more gruesome ideals.
Daniel had tried his best to remain focused on classes as he drifted to each. It was a Friday and that meant, for the next two days, he had nothing to distract him. His final class ended with a screeching ring that sent him out into the cold world on a path to the dorms. He used to love the dorms. Until recently they brought nothing but pleasant memories, and until recently he thought of the dorms as his home.
He flung open the door to dorm room 142 and stepped into a room full of depression. Jace’s bed remained messy and untouched. His laptop remained open and propped up on his desk, and his contact case and solution sat open as if ready to be used. It all seemed to be waiting. Waiting for Jace to come back as if he had never left, but Daniel knew the truth. Jace may never come back. He knew that someday he would have to pack up Jace’s things and it would be as if he were never there. Could he be able to just go on?

Daniel met Jace when he was 14 years old. They both attended West Fargo High School. The only difference was that Jace had lived there all his life while Daniel had just moved there that year. Daniel was obviously shy from the beginning so at lunch he would sit by himself and do his homework. It never bothered him, being alone was normal. Yet, one day, Jace came up to his table with invitation for Daniel to sit with his friends. Daniel was a little taken back, but accepted. He joined Jace and his group of friends and remained there for the remainder of high school.

It was now four and half years later and Daniel had just realized how much he needed Jace. Even in his worst moods, Jace was his friend. His only friend, and Daniel didn’t know how to cope with losing that.

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Jace felt the mans body go limp underneath him, but he could not stop. The blood flowed faster, and with each second tasted infinitely better. Then he felt it. The man’s heart beat stopped completely. Jace released him and shot back to the other side of the room. The man lay completely lifeless on the ground. Jace stared in horror. What had he done? He wiped the blood from his mouth and ran up the stairs towards the front door. The light from outside hurt his eyes but that didn’t stop him. He was determined to be somewhere else. He flung open the door and took a step outside but stopped right away. He felt weak. Almost as if he couldn’t move. He took a few steps forward and collapsed. Then he felt it. He knew exactly what was hurting him. He stared directly up into the sun as his body slipped into unconsciousness.

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Ring. Ring. Ring.
Daniel awoke to his phone buzzing and chiming at the same time.
“Hello?” muttered Daniel in a daze.
“Daniel! They found him! Oh, god! They found him!”
Daniel couldn’t fully listen to the rest of the conversation. He mindlessly carried the phone around the room as he threw on clothes and was out the door in a matter of minutes.
The car ride to the hospital took a short seven minutes at two in the morning, but felt much longer. Daniel ran into the hospital just in time to meet Jace’s mother at the front desk.
“Is he ok?”
“They aren’t sure Daniel,” Jace’s mother sniffled. It was clear that she had been crying for hours. “They found him in the backyard of a condemned house, apparently he was beaten, and forced to use some type of drug. They haven’t given me all the details.” Daniel hugged her just as she burst into tears again. He felt her pain. He wasn’t ready to lose Jace either.
“Can we see him?”
“Once the doctor comes out,” Jace’s mother squeezed out. They waited several impatient hours for a doctor to come and reveal what had happened to one of the most important people in their lives. Finally a little after five in the morning, a white coated man emerged from the room that was hold Jace.
“Mrs. Lanson. I have some bad news. Although Jace his stable, his heart seems to failing at an alarming rate.” Daniel leaned in the help keep Jace’s mother from collapsing. “Nothing came back from toxicology. We have been unable to pinpoint why his heart is failing. I think now would be the best time to see him. He is stable at the moment.”
The doctor lead Daniel and Mrs. Lanson down the hall into a room where a nurse has just finished replaces the IV in Jace’s arm. Daniel couldn’t help but notice how sick he looked. He had huge dark circles around eyes. His skin was flushed, pale, and looked to be burned in a few spots. He had tiny puncture wounds on his neck and his face was a little swollen. Nevertheless, he smiled when they entered.
“Hey mom. Daniel,” Jace mumbled. Mrs. Lanson walked forward and grasped her son’s hand. Daniel took his place on the other side of the bed and took his best friend’s other hand.
“How are ya feeling, dude?”
“Like a truck hit me, backed up, then drop kicked me,” Jace said with a smirk. Daniel laughed. Seeing Jace again made him feel hopeful. Mrs. Lanson said and did nothing, except for softly stroke her son’s hand.
“Do you remember anything?” Daniel asked in a soft tone.
“To be honest, no. I remember leaving the dorms. I remember sitting in the park. Then the next thing I remember is…waking up here,” Jace lied. He wanted to tell Daniel everything. He wanted to confess to killing the guy they found with him. He wanted to scream out what happened, but didn’t. He wasn’t sure if people would believe him. He didn’t want to risk it.
“You were gone for two and half weeks.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, it was kinda…hell.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be Jace. None of it was your fault. I guess I was just trying to say…We missed you.” Daniel leaned in for a hug and embraced Jace softly. Jace inhaled and could smell it. The blood that flowed through Daniel’s body had a different scent to it. It gave off a sweet aroma. Jace could feel his body tense up as he fought the urge to taste it. Daniel backed up.
“You ok?” Then the pain began to set in. Jace’s chest started to heave back and forth as if a bowling ball was slapping him on each of his sides. He began to scream as the fiery exploded to every inch of his body. The doctors and nurses came flooding in and pushed Daniel and the sobbing Mrs. Lanson to the side. It took several orderly to restrain Jace to the bed and just when they had him down, Jace flung one into the wall. The screaming increased to a point where there were no breaks between yells. Then they stopped. The tiny sporadic beeping on the machine became one continuous reminder that Jace was dead.
Mrs. Lanson screamed out in pain. Tears began to collide down Daniel’s face as the doctors did their best to bring him back. They shocked him for several minutes until the doctor threw the paddles to the side. He glanced back at Daniel and Mrs. Lanson.
“Time of death…5:47 AM.”