Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 89023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89023 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 445(@200wpm)___ 356(@250wpm)___ 297(@300wpm)
He scoffs now. “I don’t think of you as a son. That’s kind of… gross, Ryet. We’re lovers.”
“That’s your response to what I just said?”
“You’re missing the point.”
“No, I’m not. I get the point. You are playing a game and I’m your chess piece.”
He sighs while rubbing his hands down his face, suddenly looking very tired. Then he tries again. “The game is important. And trust me when I say this, I don’t like it any more than you do. But it was”—he shrugs—“assigned to me.”
“What was assigned to you?”
“This role I’m playing. I mean, no one wants to live forever, Ryet.”
I’m gritting my teeth when my words come out. “No shit. That’s what I just said.”
But he doesn’t respond to that, just keeps going. “And the vampire? Is there a more diabolical creature in existence? They are loathsome demons. Feeding off the life force of others. It’s despicable.”
For a moment I’m confused because in all the years I’ve known Paul the vampire, he’s never come across as self-loathing. He’s proud. He’s boastful. He’s the definition of a narcissist, for fuck’s sake. But it’s a ploy. I know it’s a ploy because everything about Paul is a lie.
“Well”—he chuckles—“you’re actually correct. Everything about me is a lie.” His face is somber now, and again, I find myself disoriented. “There’s no time to explain now”—which makes me laugh—“but it’ll be over soon and the good news is…” His pause is short, but noteworthy. “The good news is that we always win.” He ends this proclamation with a forced smile.
I just shake my head. “This doesn’t feel like winning.”
But he’s gone, and the purple dreamwalk fades, and I am nothing but a half-eaten, half-dead monster again.
I scream. And it’s not a human one, either. It’s something animal. No. Worse than that. It’s something demonic. Because that’s what I am. It’s time to face the truth. I am a fucking demon.
I am the opposite of everything I wanted to be as a young man and my whole life has been nothing but one, long failure.
“Oh, come on, Ryet. You can do better than that.”
I open my eyes and I’m back in a dreamwalk, only it’s not purple, it’s white. And the person talking to me isn’t Paul, it’s… Jane.
“Jane?” And for a moment I think I might cry. I stand up and just stare at her. “Am I in a delusion? Am I seeing things? You’re not really here. You can’t be here. You’re too good, Jane.”
She smiles and walks towards me. She’s wearing a white, short-sleeved cotton blouse and a pleated mint-green skirt that covers her knees. Her shoes are white with no heel. And I recognize this outfit as one she wore often. At least once a week I would come home from work and find her in the kitchen cooking dinner in these same clothes. If there’s a classic image of Jane in my mind, this is it.
That’s how I know it’s not real. She’s not here. I’m delusional.
“You know that’s not true, Ryet.”
I scoff. “You left me. And it was a one-way trip.”
“I had to. I was told to. And…” She hesitates, unable to meet my gaze for a moment, but she quickly recovers and stares right into my eyes. “And I made a deal.”
“Deal?” I laugh. “A deal? No, go away. I don’t want to hear about your deal. This isn’t real. You’re dead, Paul killed you and the kids, and none of this is real!” I yell this last part. “You’re Paul. You’re fucking with my head. You’re trying to get me to do something. And—”
“Shhh,” she says, putting a finger to her lips. And it’s such a Jane thing to do, to shush me like she used to shush our children in church, that I actually shut up. “I made a deal, Ryet. To save the souls of our children, but not only that. It’s so much bigger than that. You see, I had a vision when we first got married. He came to me in a dream.”
“Who?” I ask, my heart thumping. But it’s a dumb question. I know who.
“Paul. He was…” She shakes her head. “My God, the man is—”
“Not a man,” I growl at her. “He’s not a man, Jane. He’s a fucking vampire.”
“Of course he is. But he was a man. Once. And then he got the call. So when he came to me—”
“Oh, no. No. No, no, please tell me you didn’t fall for his lies, Jane! Please!”
“They weren’t lies, Ryet. It was all true. And this is all so much bigger than just us. It’s about so much more than just a married couple with children. It’s about… everything. Once he explained it all in detail, I understood and I knew what I had to do. Paul asked me if I wanted to go with them or stay with you. And it was my choice.”