Moonlight Denial: Shades of Moonlight Book One

“Nicoli. Nicoli.”

Nicoli groaned as his name being called brought him back to consciousness. He winced when he felt something gently patting his face continuously.

“Stop it,” he growled in annoyance and sighed in relief when it stopped.

“Well, at least he’s still alive.” He heard Felix say.

Nicoli’s eyes fluttered open and his vision tried to focus on Ethan and Felix, who loomed over him. For a moment he had no idea where he was until he recognized the overly white ceiling of the hotel.

“Are you all right?” Ethan asked worriedly once the boy’s eyes were fully open.

“What the hell happened?” Nicoli questioned weakly, ignoring Ethan’s ridiculous inquiry. It felt like he got run over by an eight-teen wheeler, of course he wasn’t all right.

“The linking process seemed to be a bit overwhelming for you and you fainted,” Ethan told him, gently moving strands of Nicoli’s hair from his face.

“Again,” Felix snickered.

“Enough, Felix,” Ethan scolded him with a scowl.

Nicoli hardly cared about their bickering when, without warning, his mind and vision whirled and his stomach lurched in a most unpleasant way.

Hands covered Nicoli’s mouth and he curled into a ball as that lurching threatened to expel all the room service food he had eaten.

“Oh, God, I’m gonna be sick.”

A second after the words left his mouth he felt himself being lifted into Ethan’s arms and rushed to the only place built to deal with those who were nauseous. The bathroom.

Ethan sat on the edge of the bathtub and rubbed Nicoli’s back comfortingly with one hand and held back his hair with the other. The boy was currently hunched over the toilet and saying hello to all the contents of his stomach.

“I suppose I should have mentioned that a side effect of the mind link is a brief spurt of queasiness,” Ethan said sheepishly and winced when the human heaved more vomit into the once clean toilet bowl.

When it was over Nicoli lifted his head just enough to glare venomously at the vampire.

“Ya fuckin’ think?” he spat. His glare was cut short when he had to put his head back in the toilet as another wave of sickness hit his gut.

“Man, you can’t have much more in there, can you?” Felix asked.

He had positioned himself on the wall across from the two and was watching with unwanted fascination. He felt a pang of sympathy with each heave the boy gave. Felix didn’t remember what it felt like to be sick to his stomach like Nicoli was at the moment, but he remembered enough to feel sorry for the boy.

“Depends on if I upchuck my stomach along with everything else,” Nicoli answered, the toilet bowl making his voice echo a bit. When he felt like his stomach had settled he reached up with a shaky hand and pulled down the handle to flush away his regurgitated food. After it was cleared away Nicoli crossed his arms on the toilet seat and rested his head in them. His stomach felt fine at the moment, but he didn’t dare move away from the toilet.

“Okay, answers, Jackass,” Nicoli growled, though it was weak and half-hearted. “Why the hell am I throwing up from that and what exactly happened when you made the link? What was that that I saw?” he demanded.

Ethan released Nicoli’s hair from his grip – once he was sure the boy was done vomiting – and sat back enough to rest his arms on his knees.

“Well, my dear Nicoli, I’m thinking you saw pretty much what I saw,” he said.

A dark brow rose and Nicoli stared at Ethan curiously.

“What you saw? So you saw the fast moving people and heard the voices, too?” Nicoli asked. “Then why aren’t you being friendly with the toilet like I am?”

Ethan chuckled and rested his chin in the palm of his hand.

“Because mine wasn’t moving quite so fast and there wasn’t that much of it, I suppose.” When that answer didn’t elevate the boy’s confused look, Ethan continued. “What you saw was my life, Nicoli, and I saw yours. You see, when the link was created our thoughts and memories were…transferred for a split second. So, in essence, you experienced my life and I experienced yours. Speaking of which, did you really crash your uncle’s car when you were sixteen?” he asked with an amused grin.

Nicoli blinked at the vampire. He tried to comprehend what he was told.

“Wait, how do you know that?” he asked, tentatively lifting his head. “When I saw your life I couldn’t make heads or tails of anything. It was all going by way too fast, so how is it you could comprehend mine?”

“Like I said,” Ethan told him. “When I saw your life it wasn’t going by as fast as I guess mine was for you. You see, you’re much younger than I am, so there wasn’t that much for me to see so it went by at a much slower pace, but I, on the other hand, am more than four times your age so you experienced eight decades in one foul swoop, which is why you’re the one leaning over the toilet and not me,” he explained.

Nicoli stared at him before he groaned and buried his face further into his arms.

“Why do I always get the short end of the fucking stick?” he said, his arms muffling his voice. He then lifted his head to glare at the vampire.

“So you’re telling me that you know all about me now while I still know diddle-squat about you?” he questioned with a frown.

“More or less,” Ethan replied with a sheepish smile. “But, if it makes you feel any better, I don’t remember every little thing that I saw.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m so relieved,” Nicoli said sarcastically.

“Well, you have no one to blame but yourself,” Felix told him with a smirk.

“You’re a bastard, Felix. Shut up,” Nicoli replied curtly, not in the mood to deal with the ghost.

Ethan chuckled and shook his head, but gave a warning look to Felix when it looked like he was going to continue to taunt the human.

“Nicoli, you’re wrong,” the vampire then told the boy. “You do know more than diddle-squat about me.”

Nicoli turned his head enough to look at the man.

“Oh, really?” he said, skepticism heavy in his voice.

“Yes, really,” Ethan shot back. “Everything that you saw is now stored away in your memories, so, even though you can’t remember much of what you saw –”

“Anything that I saw,” the boy corrected him.

“Fine, anything that you saw, its still there. Only now its buried somewhere in your subconscious. So, in reality, you know everything about me even if you don’t remember it. It could very well pop up when you least expect it,” the vampire assured him.

Nicoli stared at him then his brows furrowed.

“Well, what good does that do me!?” he demanded then groaned and turned away from Ethan. “This is still incredibly unfair.” He felt that the vampire had an even bigger advantage over him now that Ethan knew everything in his life, as well as any secrets he had wanted to keep to himself, but in return he knew nothing.

Ethan chuckled and leaned forward. He placed a hand on the back of the boy’s neck and pulled Nicoli towards him.

“Nothing’s ever really fair. You get used to it,” he said softly before he pressed a kiss to Nicoli’s temple.

The boy’s eyes widened and his face turned a dark crimson. With a mighty shove of his arm he pushed the vampire away.

Felix roared with laughter as the push sent Ethan sprawling into the bathtub.

“Damn it, Ethan, stop doing stuff like that!” Nicoli yelled at him, his cheeks still stained red. “I thought we agreed no unnecessary touching.”

Even though he was angry and embarrassed he couldn’t help the slight smile that broke through. Ethan’s legs sticking up over the rim of the bathtub was just too funny of a sight.

“My mistake,” Ethan groaned as he struggled to sit up.

“Man, if only we had a camera. That was hilarious!” Felix said, still chortling. “Do more stuff like that and I may grow to like you,” he told Nicoli with a wide grin.

“If he keeps that up, don’t worry, I will,” Nicoli assured him, plopping his head back in his arms.

“I’m glad you enjoyed it,” Ethan huffed at Felix as he hefted himself out of the tub.

“You brought it on yourself,” Nicoli murmured. The boy then stirred and tried to use the sink counter to get to his feet. His legs betrayed him, though, and he sank to his knees once more.

Ethan watched with a cocked head as Nicoli tried over and over to stand up, but failed every time.

“May I have your permission to help you get up?” the vampire asked with a cheeky grin.

Nicoli glowered at him and, just to spite him, tried one last time to get up on his own. Too bad his jelly arms and legs refused to help him. The boy sighed in defeat and nodded.

“Yes, please help me up,” he asked with his head bowed.

“Throw him in the tub, too,” Felix said with a smirk, wanting to be entertained further.

“Now, now, Felix, only if he leaves me no choice,” Ethan jested as he slipped his hands under Nicoli’s arms.

“Oh, that’s comforting,” Nicoli grumbled as he was pulled up to his feet like a rag doll. When the vampire tried to let go the boy’s legs immediately buckled so Ethan had to help hold him up.

Nicoli shivered as he was held against the vampire’s body. He noted that they were both still shirtless. He tried to shake off that observation and pointed to the sink to show where he wanted to go.

The boy had to wait a few minutes before his legs could bear his weight on their own. Once they did he told Ethan to let him go. He then turned on the faucet and began splashing his face with the water and rinsed out his mouth to get rid of the aftertaste of his sickness.

Nicoli was glad he didn’t feel nauseous anymore, but his body felt heavy and lethargic. The mind link really worked him over.

“So, do you know if it worked or not?” Nicoli asked abruptly, being reminded of why they had done the mind link in the first place.

“What?” Ethan questioned and Felix also stared at him a bit perplexed.

“The mind link. Is my brain safely shut off from other vampires now? Cause if we went through all that for nothing I’m going to be pissed.”

“Oh, yeah, I guess it would be good to check on that,” Felix agreed.

“Well, I think the transfer of memories is a good guess that it did, but we can test it, just to make sure,” Ethan said as he leaned against the counter, next to Nicoli.

“How do we test it?” Nicoli asked curiously after shutting off the water.

“Simply think something,” Ethan told him.

Nicoli stared at him in bewilderment, but decided to do as he was told. He debated whether to say some kind of scathing remark, but decided against it. A little rhyme then popped into his head and he decided to go with it.

“Who killed Cock Robin?” he thought as he gazed at Ethan, seeing if he’d receive it.

A smile upturned the vampire’s lips and amusement sparked in his eyes.

“‘I,’ said the Sparrow, ‘with my bow and arrow, I killed Cock Robin,’” Ethan recited. “My, that was a little random, but impressive. I didn’t think children nowadays knew about that song.”

Nicoli simply rolled his shoulders in a shrug.

“My mom used to sing it to me when I was little and I’ll tell you something. That is not what you want to hear when you’re about to go to bed,” he said.

“Yeah, just a little creepy there,” Felix said, even though he had only heard Ethan’s part.

“But what does that prove?” Nicoli then asked Ethan. “You were able to hear me before all this.”

“Well, now we test if the link works both ways,” the vampire answered. “Are you ready?”

The two stared at each other and Nicoli braced himself for whatever was about to happen. Then he nodded.

“Can you hear me?”

Nicoli’s eyes widened and his hands immediately went to his ears as Ethan’s voice echoed in his skull. It was the weirdest sensation Nicoli had ever experienced and it left shivers running up his spine.

“Holy shit,” he murmured. His eyes were still wide as his hands slipped from his head. “You didn’t move your mouth, did you?” he asked, even though he had been watching Ethan’s mouth the whole time.

Ethan smirked and crossed his arms as he shook his head.

“Nope, that I didn’t.”

Nicoli’s body tensed and he had a pained expression as the shudders swept through him again.

“Ah, okay, I get it. Stop it!” he told the vampire and went back to rubbing his head. “How the hell do you stand that?” Nicoli asked. He found it astonishing since he knew Ethan could hear the thoughts of all the people around him if he wanted.

“You get used to it,” Ethan said with a shrug of his shoulders.

“Shit, I don’t think I could ever get used to that,” Nicoli muttered.

“Sure you will.”

“Ah! Stop it!” Nicoli yelled and tried to punch the vampire, but his movements were still slow so Ethan dodged easily.

“Wow, so it actually worked?” Felix asked as he watched Nicoli cling to the sink counter to regain his balance.

“Yes, and I’m beginning to regret it already,” Nicoli growled as he glared at Ethan, who smiled back.

“I always wondered what it was like for human’s to read people’s minds,” Felix said before he disappeared and reappeared lying across the counter next to Nicoli. “What’s it like?” he asked with almost childlike curiosity.

Nicoli looked at the ghost strangely, never seeing the ghost behave that way before.

“I dunno…it’s kinda like when someone rings a gigantic bell and you can feel the vibrations in your head for a long time afterwards,” he said, trying to put it into words as best as he could. “Only the ringing is actually words.”

“Huh, weird,” Felix murmured.

“Yeah, no kidding,” Nicoli huffed as he rubbed his head again.

Felix tilted his head back to look at Ethan.

“So is his mind protected from other vampires now?” he asked.

“It should be,” Ethan answered. “If we can speak to each other mentally then that means all access to Nicoli’s mind should be cut off to other vampires.”

“That’s good…I guess,” Nicoli said.

“It’s more than good. It means now I can share with you the information you’ve wanted to know. Mainly, why I’m here in Whixton,” Ethan said with a pleased smile.

Nicoli looked from Ethan to Felix, then back to the vampire. He could feel his heart beat faster. Now he was in the search for the Hearts fully, there was no turning back. He and Ethan were linked and now he was going to be brought into the folds of Ethan’s trust. Yet, somehow, he didn’t regret it as much as he thought he would.

*************************

“Wait, you mean the Heart is here? In Whixton?” Nicoli asked in disbelief as he fully pulled his shirt over his head. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. One of the most powerful items in the world was in a small, dinky town like Whixton of all places?

“That’s what I’ve come to believe,” Ethan said as he paced in front of the chair Nicoli had seated himself in. “Back home we have lot’s of research my clan has collected over the years in search of the Hearts. One day, as I was going over it, I noticed that the name Whixton kept coming up. When I asked my kinsman about it they told me that, a long time ago, they believed that one of the Hearts was located in a town called Whixton, but after they did a thorough search they came up with nothing and thought they were wrong.”

“But you thought otherwise,” Nicoli stated as he leaned back in the chair.

“I did. I felt it was worth looking into, at least,” Ethan told him. “So Felix and I came here to look for any clues that could lead us in the right direction. Even the smallest of clues would help.”

“Wait,” Nicoli murmured, his eyebrows knitting together. “Is that why you were in the library when I met you?”

“Yes, we were trying to see if anything in Whixton’s history even hinted that one of the Hearts was here.”

“My idea,” Felix said with a smug smile. He was currently in the air sitting upside down besides the living boy.

“Well, did you find anything?” Nicoli asked curiously.

“Not specifically about the Heart itself,” Ethan said, and noticed how the boy visibly deflated at the news. “But we did find something about the person who was possibly acting as Guardian to the Heart at that time.”

“Really?” Nicoli asked, excitement coming to his eyes once more.

“Yes, you see, vampires were not the ones who put the Hearts in their final resting places. That job was left to a secret order of humans called Last Hope,” the vampire explained.

“Last Hope? That’s a weird name,” Nicoli murmured.

“But appropriate because when the Hearts were first created it nearly sparked a war amongst all the vampires that strived to gain the power of the Hearts as their own. So, Last Hope was created to deal with the Hearts before the vampires could destroy themselves and those around them. Last Hope took the Hearts and chose the locations where they would be locked away,” Ethan explained. “But, there was always the chance that the Hearts would be found so Guardian’s were designated to each Heart. If a Heart was found it would disappear from its resting place and warp to whoever was the Guardian and it would be that person’s job to find a new hiding place for it.”

“Wow,” Nicoli muttered in appreciation. “So, wait, the archives in the library talked about this Guardian person, like, actually called them the “Guardian” of something?” he then asked, finding it a bit far-fetched.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Felix snorted. “Nothing is ever that easy.”

“He’s right,” Ethan said before Nicoli could snap at the ghost. “It’s one of those things where you have to read between the lines.”

“So, who do you think was the Guardian?” Nicoli asked after throwing a dirty look at Felix.

“First let me ask you something,” Ethan said, disregarding the boy’s question for the moment. “Did you ever hear of the Witch Trial that happened here in Whixton?” he asked.

Nicoli’s brows furrowed at the question. It was rather random compared to what they were talking about.

“Yeah, Amelia took me to the Witch’s Burning when she was helping with my report. Why?” he asked.

“One of the women that were accused of being a witch was Deloris Mary-Weather. The archives spoke of the burnings only briefly, I suppose Whixton isn’t entirely proud of that part of their history, but it was recorded that before Deloris was burned she said something, something that I found quite intriguing,” he said as he stopped his pacing and stood in front of Nicoli.

“What was it?” the boy asked softly, his eyes wide as he listened intently.

“Before I die let this be known. You intend to kill me because you think I am a witch. Then do so if it pleases you, but I will tell you that you are all fools. The only thing that I have done is protect you, those that I love, from a far greater evil than you could ever imagine. I am the light that kept away the dark from devouring that which would only have made it stronger. I was your friend, your ally, your protector, your guardian.”

Ethan finished reciting the words he had come across in the archives. The words that he had read over and over and that had burned themselves forever in his mind.

Nicoli let out a deep breath and cradled his chin between his fingers as he mulled over the vampires words.

“I admit, it does sound kinda like she was, you know, protecting them from something and she did use the word Guardian, but can that really mean…” Nicoli trailed off and his eyes slowly got wider and wider.

He bolted up in his seat and his heart began to race as a thought tickled the back of his brain.

“What’s wrong with you, Meatbag?” Felix asked as he and Ethan watched his odd behavior.

“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, Ethan, I think you’re right,” Nicoli muttered, his skull starting to prickle at the thought he was having.

“What? What is it, Nicoli?” Ethan asked. The boy’s thoughts were so frenzied the vampire couldn’t even pick up on what he was thinking.

“Oh my God, it’s something – something Amelia told me when we were at the Witch’s Burning,” Nicoli told him. His eyes were still wide as he looked up at Ethan. “She told me about why they were accused of being witches, why they were burned.”

“The archives didn’t say anything about that, did they?” Felix questioned curiously. “They just said the women were accused, not why.”

“You’re right, Felix,” Ethan agreed, his voice low. Would Nicoli give them another piece to the puzzle? His sudden crazed behavior seemed to say so. “What did this Amelia say, Nicoli?” Ethan encouraged.

“She said that the women were accused because they had weird, unnatural items,” the boy said. “These items proved that they were witches. One of them – one of the items.” Nicoli looked away and buried his fingers in his hair. “Damn it, what did she say?” he snapped at himself as he tried to think, tried to put his racing thoughts together.

“One of them was a stone,” Nicoli said, finding the stray thought. He looked back at Ethan, his heart now hammered at his chest. “She said one of the women had a stone, a weird stone that – that was unlike anything anyone had ever seen and seemed to have some – some kind of…” Nicoli’s breath became slow and heavy as he finally remembered what the red head had told him.

“Some kind of life of its own.”

Ethan and Felix stared at Nicoli, their eyes now just as wide as the boy’s had been.

The ghost’s head whipped around toward Ethan.

“Ethan, do you think…could it be?” he questioned in disbelief.

Nicoli looked up at the vampire to see what his answer would be. Neither of them received one though and the boy yelped as Ethan grabbed him out of the blue and yanked him out of his chair.

“Yes! The Crystal Heart! It has to be!” Ethan cheered enthusiastically as he spun Nicoli around happily.

“Gah, Ethan, hold on, Ethan, stop spinning me!” Nicoli shouted in annoyance. He stumbled when the vampire did stop and he was brought face to face with an excited Ethan as the man had hold of his upper arms.

“Nicoli, you’ve confirmed it. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I knew I was right in wanting you to help us,” Ethan told him with the biggest smile the boy had ever seen.

Before Nicoli could utter the words “Thanks?” the vampire pulled him forward and he was stunned as kisses were rained all over his face. His eyes widened when the last kiss landed right on his lips and were held there for several moments.

Just as Nicoli had the sense to struggle he was pushed back and he fell into his chair. The boy righted himself and glared at the vampire who was now doing some kind of odd victory dance, lost in his own, blissful world.

“The next chance I get I’m kicking him in the nuts,” Nicoli growled lowly as his face flushed lightly.

Felix floated down to his level and had the exact same expression on his face as Nicoli’s.

“Go for it,” he murmured with his full blessing.

“Felix, you know what this means, don’t you?” Ethan asked the ghost, coming back down to Earth. Both the living boy and the specter looked at him questioningly. “It means we have to get back in that house. There has to be something there. Some kind of clue as to where she hid the Heart.”

“Whoa, whoa, wait,” Nicoli stopped him, forgetting his anger for the moment. “What house? Whose house for that matter?” he questioned.

“Deloris Mary-Weather’s. Her house is still here in Whixton, untouched and, even better, not being lived in. The people have made it into a kind of tourist attraction, you know, give tours through it and the such,” Ethan replied with a wave of his hand. “When I first came across her name in the archives I decided to do some snooping around her house.”

“And you guys didn’t find anything,” Nicoli asked, looking from Ethan to Felix and back.

“Wellll,” Ethan drawled out with a sheepish look. “We didn’t really get a chance to…”

“Omen chased us out of there only a few minutes after we got in,” Felix finished for the vampire.

“Omen?” Nicoli echoed, his eyebrows rising.

“Yes, the night you followed us into the woods and got a first hand experience of Omen’s…people skills was the night we went into Deloris’ house,” Ethan told him.

“So, what, he was waiting for you there?” Nicoli asked. He was then reminded that the first time he met Omen was when he bumped into him in town. It was at that moment that it dawned on him that the man was most likely following Ethan just like he and Amelia had been.

“It’s more probable that he followed us there,” Ethan said, drawing Nicoli out of his thoughts. “We unfortunately had a run-in with him a few weeks ago and he’s probably been following us ever since.”

“Yeah, the stupid, homicidal stalker,” Felix grumbled, crossing his arms.

“Ditto to that,” Nicoli agreed before turning back to Ethan. “So, you think there’s something in that house that can help us?”

“That’s what I’m hoping,” Ethan said with a nod. “If there’s not then we’re stuck. Even though we have deduced that this Deloris woman was the Guardian we need to get something that will prove it and, if she was, tell us where she’s hidden the Heart. So, the only way to do that is to get back in the house.”

“Aaaand what if Omen is still lurking around there waiting for you?” Nicoli asked, a feeling of dread trickling into his stomach. Even though he only met the man once, something told him Omen wouldn’t give up so easily.

“It’s a risk we’ll have to take,” Ethan said with a shrug of his shoulders. “We have no other choice if we want to progress further in our search.”

Felix shook his head and leaned towards Nicoli.

“Luckily, I’m already dead, so I don’t have much to worry about.”

Nicoli arched a brow and stared at him oddly.

“Yes, oh so lucky for you.” Nicoli then gave Ethan his attention once more. “So, when are you planning on doing this?”

The vampire shook his head and shrugged once more.

“I’ll have to think it through and scope the place out before I do anything, but it’ll most likely be soon. It has to be. We’ve finally made some headway, I’m not going to just stand idly by and do nothing about it.”

“Sounds reasonable,” Nicoli said. He was going to say more when the alarm in his watch went off.

Ethan and Felix stared at it curiously as Nicoli lifted his wrist to look at the time.

“Shit!” he said as he sprang to his feet.

“What is it?” Ethan asked curiously.

“It’s getting late. My mom always wants me home by a certain time, even though she doesn’t say it, and I set my watch to go off a half-hour early before I came over here. Just in case,” Nicoli explained as he shut the alarm off.

“Ooh, such a momma’s boy,” Felix teased and grinned when the boy glared at him.

“Excuse me if I like to abide by the rules of the one that feeds me,” the boy huffed.

“It’s just as well. We can talk more later about what we’re going to do,” Ethan told him with an assuring nod.

They briefly discussed about when they would contact each other next, via the mind link, before Ethan escorted Nicoli to and out the door.

“Hey, Kid,” Ethan called out as the boy was walking away from the room.

“Yeah?” Nicoli asked, turning back to look at the vampire.

Ethan leaned against the door and smiled at the boy in a most endearing way.

“Thanks for deciding to agree to all of this. I know it wasn’t high on the list of things you wanted to do.”

Nicoli sighed and shrugged his shoulders.

“What can I say? You’re just lucky that I don’t know when to get my ass out of the fire,” he said as he lifted his hood over his head. He then gave Ethan the briefest of waves before continuing on his way. “Later!”

Ethan chuckled as he closed the door. He then yawned and stretched as he leaned back against the door. He tilted his head when he saw Felix had his arms crossed and looked less than happy.

“Something wrong, Felix?” the vampire asked.

The ghost glared at him before turning his head away in a huff.

“Of course something is wrong. I can’t believe you actually went through with all this. Even if he did give us that info about the witch it doesn’t mean he’s going to bring us any closer to the Heart,” Felix said.

Ethan chortled and shook his head.

“I know you’re not happy with this, Felix,” he said as he pushed himself away from the door and headed to the bed. “But tell you what, you stop bitching about Nicoli being involved and I’ll let it slide about you going to his house to try and convince him otherwise.”

Felix’s eyes widened and he watched the vampire collapse onto his back on the bed.

“W-wait, how did you,” the ghost sputtered.

Ethan chuckled and pointed at his head.

“Remember, I saw Nicoli’s memories and one of the more recent ones was of you in his house when you had told me you were going to the cemetery, interesting, no?”

Felix opened his mouth, but closed it and looked away with a grunt. The boy had ratted him out after all, even if it was unintentional.

“So, what do you say?” Ethan asked.

“Ugh, fine, I won’t say anymore about my not liking any of this,” Felix hissed through clenched teeth.

“Good,” Ethan said as he put his hands behind his head. His eyebrows then furrowed as he stared at the ceiling. “Though, I will admit, something is slightly…off about that boy.”

Felix looked at him with a raised brow.

“Off? What do you mean?” he asked.

“During the transferring process I noticed something odd,” Ethan said. “There was a brief moment where his memories…weren’t there.”

Felix hovered over and floated above Ethan. His curiosity peaked.

“Weren’t there?” he repeated, looking at the man questioningly.

“Yes, it was like a good chunk of it was cut out. Just a gray space between one memory and another,” Ethan said with a shake of his head. “I didn’t know what to make of it. I had thought about asking Nicoli about it, but I decided against it.”

“Why?” Felix questioned, now just as curious as Ethan had to be.

“Well, it’s a gap in his memory, there’s a chance even he doesn’t know about it,” Ethan replied. “I’m not going to draw his attention to something that he doesn’t know is there, or isn’t there, to be more precise.”

Felix snorted and threw his hands up in the air.

“Of course, there’s something actually interesting about the guy and you don’t want to look into it further. You are no fun.”

Ethan laughed and lowered his arms to his sides.

“Anyways, let’s forget about that for now. Come here,” the vampire said, patting his shoulder.

Felix pursed his lips, as if thinking over whether he wanted to or not. He then chuckled when Ethan pouted at him and the ghost floated down. He made himself tangible so he could lie against Ethan’s side and rest his head on the man’s shoulder.

“What do you want?” Felix asked as he laid his arm across Ethan’s chest.

The vampire smiled as the arm that Felix was lying on curled in order to run his fingers through the ghost’s hair.

“You should be happy. We’ve actually made progress today.”

“Yeah, I guess that’s good news,” Felix said as he closed his eyes and enjoyed the vampire’s petting. “But, we shouldn’t get our hopes up, we could be all wrong about this.”

“I know, but I want to get them up anyways. If it’s true than we’re that much closer,” Ethan told him with a smile. He turned his head enough to kiss Felix’s forehead.

“We’re closer to our vengeance.”

==================================Ch. 12 End