GFD In the Shadows - 2. A Friend in Need

Friends in Need

Tim and the others had just gotten off the train and were walking down the stations steps, when a fire engine went past with its lights and siren going.

John turned and made joke about leaving the oven on, but when it turned onto their street, he wished he had not.

As the four of them turned the street corner, they could see the fire engines and police cars outside their house.

Tim and the others all sped up, but were stopped by a couple of police officer’s standing on the path, stopping the people from walking past.

Tim looked over the police officer’s shoulder at what once their home he could clearly see the damage what had been done.

The windows on the first two floors were smashed and the front door looked as if it had been ripped off its hinges and split in two. There were flames coming out of every window and smoke just pouring out of everywhere.

Char and Becca just stood there watching every think unfolded in front of them. John looked at Tim and asked, “So where are we going to go?” as he wrapped his arms around Tims waist

Tim thought about it and said, “I will give Jason a call; he will be able to give us sanctuary.” And he walked off to make the phone call while the others watched as their home burned.

A couple of minutes later, Tim walked back to the group and told them that his just spoken with Jason and he is sending someone to pick them up, “Let’s just get out of here,” as he looked about the street and over at the burring remains of their home and started to walk off toward a speak easy that was on the corner of their street.

The others followed Tim back down the street and into the bar.

Tim walked to the back and took their normal table, and as the four of them all sat down Tim looked over to Char and Becca and asked,”What did you find out?

Char looked at Becca and said,”Whoever did this was angry and the pattern would suggest he was looking for someone. His energy signature appears to come from the direction of the city and heads out towards the lake, as if he is following something or someone.”

Tim Just nodded his head and wondered if Justin was in some kind of trouble.

Tim looked around the table and was just glad that everyone was safe, as they waited for someone to pick them up and take them to Jason’s, the group just relaxed.

The drive back always relaxed Jason, and he was glad that he did not live in a busy city.

He loved where he lived. One of the things he loved most was the 150 meter, solid-stone carved, exact replica of London Bridge, with ten cast-iron black and gold old-style gas lampposts that edged each side of the bridge. The bridge was the only way on or off Cana Island.

He loved the half scale size of the Trevi Fountain - the original is in Rome - that was placed right in front of the house, so the lights from the fountain would light up the entire front facade.

He had also brought sand from North Africa’s Sahara Desert to redo the curved beach of Spike Horn Bay. He enjoyed just spending time there some nights, either by himself, or with his many friends.

As Jason turned onto the small country road, he noticed that Dominick’s black SUV was following behind him. Jason smiled to himself and pulled into the gated entrance of his estate. He pushed the button on his dashboard and the large ornately carved iron security gates opened to allow Jason and the SUV to enter. They drove up to the Victorian style mansion and around to the underground garage below the mansion itself. The SUV parked in Dominick’s place.

As Jason was getting out of his car, the door of the SUV opened and Tim stepped out, followed by John, Char and Becca. Jason smiled and walked over to welcome them all to his home.

He led them around to a solid, ornately carved door that was open. The small group walked into the basement lobby that had stairs curving up and around the wall, leading up into the main house above.

Standing beside a small table was William. He was Jason's head of the house. He was waiting for them with refreshments.

Jason smiled and invited them to help themselves to the refreshments.

William walked over and offered Tim, John, Char and Becca a tall glass champagne flute of blood that he had waiting for the group. They each took a drink.

Jason led them up the grand curved staircase, and across the marble-floored lobby, into the library, where a roaring fire had been lit.

They all walked in and took seats around the dark solid oak coffee table in the centre of the room. Jason could see the anguish and confusion on the group's faces and thought it best not to ask about what had happened. Rather, he let Tim and the others just relax for the rest of the night.

Midway through the night, William entered the living room with a paper folder and telephone on a tray for Jason. The Wolf twins found the boy that Jason was looking for and reported their findings. They even sent pictures that they had taken, including some information on whom he was hanging around with. Jason started reading though the folder.

Tim had walked over to look at a bookcase filled with first editions. When he was coming back, he saw a picture of Justin on the tray that William brought in. He wondered why Jason would have a picture of Justin.

He and the others decided to ask.

"Why do you have a picture of Justin, Jason?

Jason looked up from the papers and said, "You know this Justin, Tim?"

"Yes, he's been coming to me for help."

Jason said, "Well he was seen in one of my fight arenas run by Soren a day ago and beat two of his best fighters, so I'm just trying to see if this Justin win was a fluke, or if there was something else at work here. Like, is he a reader… or something we have not seen in a long time? Why do you ask, Tim?" Jason replied, looking questioningly over at Tim.

Tim took a sip of his blood and replied, "I have been seeing Justin and I'm helping him through some problems at the moment, but from what I can tell, he is not evil," and he took another sip of his blood.

Jason has always trusted Tim's judgement of vampires, and if Tim said this Justin was not evil, then who is responsible for destroying Tim’s house Jason thought to himself ?

Just then, William walked back into the room.

Jason asked if he would please show Tim and the others to the guesthouse on the grounds.

William nodded and looked over at Tim and the others and said, "Whenever you are ready, I will show you to the guesthouse." Then he turned and left.

Tim smiled and said, "Thank you," and looked over at Jason and said, "There is nothing to worry about with Justin. If you'd like, I could arrange a meeting for you, if that will help." Then he asked Jason to call for William to take them to their quarters.

William walked into the room and Tim and the others got up from their chairs. Jason followed them out and Tim turned and thanked their host once again, and then walked over to the other four who were waiting for him. Jason wished them a good night and told Tim if there is anything they needed, to just ask.

The five of them walked across the grand entrance hall and down the steps into the garage, then over to where Dom's SUV was parked and got in. William started the engine and drove them to the guesthouse.

It was in same style as the main house.

Once inside the house, they could see floor-to-ceiling windows with 360-degree views of Lake Michigan and the surrounding landscape. Tim thought to himself, ‘This place is a lot nicer than my house,’ and looked over at William and said, "This is the guesthouse?" with a raised eyebrow.

William just smiled and said, "Yes sir. There are another three similar to this one on Jason's estate, but this is the best one of the four, as it has the amazing views of Lake Michigan, and also the windows open, which lead out onto a private patio with stairs that are carved into the rocks that lead down onto the beach.”

William went through everything, explaining how the shutter could be set on a timer, or could be activated manually. He also mentioned the use of any of the cars in the garage.

Tim turned around and said, "As we are on this side of the bridge, we will just walk up to the house and find you if one of us needs to borrow a car." William agreed and turned to leave, leaving the four of them to look around and settle in, while he went and fetched what luggage they had bought with them, which was nothing at all, as most had all been destroyed in the fire. William would mention this to Jason.

When he walked back into the guesthouse, he saw that they had all gone out onto the patio and were just enjoying the view and the fresh night air, so he walked out onto the patio and said his goodnights and then turned and headed back through the guesthouse, leaving them to relax.

He drove back up to the main house, parking the SUV in the underground garage, and walked up the steps into the main house. As he walked across the hallway, he could see that Jason was still sat in the study, looking over the information that the twins had delivered earlier that night.

With that, he lightly knocked on the door.

Jason turned his head, smiled and said, "Come in."

As William entered and walked over to where Jason was sitting, he started to speak.

“They have all settled into the guesthouse. I could not help but noticed they did not bring anything with them. Do you want me to call the fashion house and ask them to send a personal shopper out for them for tomorrow night?"

Jason thought about this for a second and said, "Let's give them time to relax and then we can address the clothes issue." William agreed, turned, and left the room.

As William left, Jason went back to reading the folder.

He went through everything he had learnt, and thought to himself, 'This new blood's name is Justin and he currently lives in a scrape car lot in the middle of the city with a small group of new bloods. He sometimes hangs out at the Metro and has been seen walking along the lake cycle paths with another teenage boy vampire with long red hair.'

Just then, the thirty-minute alarm went off throughout the house, letting anyone in the house know that the sun will be rising in thirty minutes. Therefore, Jason looked over at the grandfather clock in the corner and then started to tidy away all of the paperwork and made his way up to his bedroom.

After getting undressed, he walked over to the window that faced the lake and looked out and then up at the night sky, which was getting slowly lighter. He then turned and walked back across the room to his king size bed and lay down just as the five-minute alarm went off.

All the shutters and doors in house started to automatically close and lock into place for the protection of the resident vampires.

Jason watched as the shutters slid out from the wall and close across the windows in front of him.

Just then, he began to feel his body slowly start to go numb. As the feeling travelled up his body from his feet, he lay down, closed his eyes and slipped into his day sleep.