Moonlight Denial: Shades of Moonlight Book One

The darkness of the night leaked in through the window and sucked most of the light from Nicoli’s room, only allowing the minimal glow the moon provided.

Nicoli lay sprawled out on his bed. Eyes closed and dead to the world. Light breathing passed his lips, which was abruptly disturbed by a light groan. Nicoli’s brows furrowed and another groan rose from him as he shifted and squirmed over his covers. His breathing became quicker and quicker and his heart started to race to match it.

“Ah!”

Nicoli’s body jumped and he snapped up into a sitting position. He was breathing harshly and his eyes were wide. After a few seconds the boy visibly relaxed and let out a deep sigh of relief.

“Man, thank God. It was just a dream.” Nicoli laughed at himself. A dream, it was all just a silly dream. “Crazy men with crossbows, lights, voices, falling off a cliff and a vampire of all things!” The boy couldn’t help but laugh at it all, but it was mostly out of relief than anything else. “I really need to stop eating junk food before I go to bed.”

Nicoli covered his face with his hand after his laughing fit. But he quickly pulled away when the palm of his hand stung.

“Ow, what?” Nicoli looked at his hand and his eyes widened. His palm was red and the skin was scraped and raw. He looked at his other hand and it was the same. Nicoli’s eyes trailed down to his wrists and that’s when he realized he was wearing an extra article of clothing than what he went to bed with.

Nicoli looked down and stared at his jacket that was smeared with dirt and bits of dried, withered leaves clung to his body. Then he noticed he was wearing his sneakers and they were also slathered in dirt.

“What…what the fuck?” Nicoli murmured, not believing what he was seeing. It couldn’t have been real, it just couldn’t have.

“Sorry to break it to you, Kid, but that was no dream.”

Nicoli nearly jumped out of his skin and, instinctively, recoiled from where the voice came from. Pressed against the headboard the boy stared in disbelief at Ethan, who was calmly sitting on the side of his bed.

The two stared at each other. When Nicoli remembered his body could move he opened his mouth to scream, but was stifled as a hand covered his mouth.

“Shhh, hey, none of that now,” Ethan chided softly.

With quivering eyes Nicoli stared into those intense teal orbs that weren’t hindered by sunglasses. Even in the darkened room they were visible, burning with an inner fire. They were more striking than the boy remembered and seemed to pierce right into Nicoli’s core.

He couldn’t hold it. He couldn’t hold that gaze. Those eyes. It made Nicoli’s very bones shudder to look into those eyes. Desperately wanting to look anywhere else the boy took in Ethan’s appearance as a whole instead. A muffled, soft whimper rose from him when he recognized the tattered and blood soaked clothes, just as he remembered them from his “dream.”

A surprised squeak came from Nicoli and he grabbed onto Ethan’s wrist when the man’s thumb began rubbing against his cheek. A supposed gentle caress, he guessed.

“Calm down, Nicoli, I’m not going to hurt you.” Ethan then smiled at the boy kindly, showing no malicious intent in his features. “Your heart is beating so fast it’s like a drum line right in my ears,” he chuckled.

Nicoli stared at him before his brows drew together. He tugged at the wrist in his hands and tried to pull back from the hand, but found the headboard limited him of room.

“I’ll remove my hand when I know you won’t do something stupid like screaming,” Ethan informed him. “I know what you just went through was a little…shocking, but there’s no reason, or need, to make this night anymore hectic.”

An unintelligible muffle was Ethan’s reply and Nicoli squirmed against his hold more. No matter how much the boy tried to pry the hand off it wouldn’t budge an inch and the man’s grip was like steel.

A little shocking? There’s the fucking understatement of the century! Nicoli thought bitterly.

“Yes, I know, I know,” Ethan murmured, making one of Nicoli’s eyebrows arch. “Now are you going to refrain from screaming or am I gonna hafta hold you like this all night?” he asked, starting to sound a bit impatient.

Not really looking forward to a hand on his face for who knew how long Nicoli nodded in agreement. He watched as the pale hand slowly released him, ready to jump back at any indication that the boy was going to change his mind.

Once the hand was resting on Ethan’s lap, Nicoli looked at him with narrowed eyes.

“Okay, what the fuck is going on?” the boy growled, making sure to keep his voice low so as not to have the fleshy gag again. “Are you telling me that everything that happened in the forest?” Nicoli looked himself and Ethan over, his eyes settling on his scraped up hands from his numerous falls. “All of it…was real?” He didn’t believe the ridiculous question that came from his mouth. Of course it wasn’t real. There was no possible way.

“As real as I’m sitting here,” Ethan answered.

Damn condescending dreams.

“No, it wasn’t.” Nicoli’s resistance was strong and he wasn’t going to give into this outrageous nonsense so easily. “Cause that means that you would be a vampire and there’s no such things as vampires. Anyone real can’t float in midair or disappear from being pinned to a tree and real people don’t go around dressing as some lame ass Van Helsing wannabe, shooting at innocent civilians.” Nicoli ignored the snort of laughter that came from the dream sitting on his bed. “And in the real world there are no glowing orbs that direct you away from danger, which so happened to be the edge of a cliff.

“Those aren’t real so it must have all been a dream,” Nicoli concluded. If anything could be said of the boy, it was that he stuck by his beliefs no matter the evidence right in front of his face.

“You hardcore disbelievers are so entertaining,” Ethan chuckled with a smirk, which, Nicoli noted, contained no fangs. “But, Nicoli, I’m sorry to break it to you-”

A harsh hiss escaped through Nicoli’s teeth as Ethan grabbed one of his hands and pressed his fingertips into the palm, causing it to sting like mad.

“-It was no dream. Omen did try and kill both me and you. He chased you after you risked yourself by saving me, which is the only reason I’m sitting here now, explaining all of this to you out of respect,” Ethan explained as he released his grip and let the boy snatch back his hand. “He chased you to that cliff and you fell and the only reason I was able to save you is because I am a vampire.”

Nicoli stared at the “vampire” as the boy cradled his now throbbing hand. He curled in on himself protectively and that’s when he noticed the sore flutter from his chest and abdomen. No, it wasn’t true. There wasn’t a vampire on his bed and his chest didn’t hurt because an elbow socked him there and a boot definitely didn’t lodge into his stomach, causing the painful spasms it was now giving. No, no, no.

“There’s no such things as vampires,” Nicoli muttered, the only feeble defense he could fall back on. He hadn’t been an ass to the people of Whixton for no reason, there were no vampires or witches or fairies. None of those things existed. They just didn’t!

“Feisty and hardheaded. A combination that can get you into trouble,” Ethan said with a lazy smile. “What is it going to take to prove it to you?” he then asked and he made the odd motion of waving something away from his ear, just like at the library.

Nicoli was silent. He wasn’t sure what to say. What could he say? He didn’t believe in any of this and what he feared most was that if he did suggest something…Ethan would actually do it.

“Not going to offer up anything?” Ethan asked with a slight tilt of his head. “Nothing at all?”

When the boy remained silent the man sighed.

“Well, I could most likely show you many things, but you may try and debunk them all. So, I’ll tell you what. I’ll do something you’ll have to believe.”

Nicoli’s brows furrowed in suspicion, but also interest.

“And why’s that?” the boy asked. Nicoli leaned back against the headboard again as Ethan leaned in.

“Because it’ll be on your person,” Ethan answered.

Nicoli could only blink at him repeatedly an arch an eyebrow.

“What?” That didn’t make any sense to him, but he was pretty sure he didn’t like the sound of it.

“Just wait and see,” Ethan told him as he began pulling up the sleeve of his denim jacket.

Nicoli watched curiously as Ethan brought his hand up to his mouth. With a quick jerk the man ran his palm over his teeth. Nicoli’s eyes widened when, once Ethan lowered his hand, he saw that a gash had been cut into it and blood began to bubble up.

“What the hell are you doing!? Are you insane!?” Nicoli exclaimed in horror. That sealed it, the guy was nuts. The psycho wanted to prove so much that he was a vampire he was willing to harm himself.

“Hush, don’t make me gag you. It won’t be pleasant,” Ethan warned as he grabbed one of Nicoli’s wrists with his good hand and pulled it to him.

The boy immediately fought against Ethan, but no matter how much he yanked and pulled he couldn’t get his hand free.

“Let me go! Bastard, get off!” Nicoli snarled as he started kicking at whatever part of Ethan he could reach.

Undeterred and unaffected, Ethan ignored the boy’s struggles as he forced Nicoli’s hand open with his bloody one. Once the boy’s palm was visible Ethan quickly placed his palm on top of Nicoli’s.

Nicoli froze and stared at their joined hands in revulsion. His body shook like a leaf as he felt the oddly cold blood begin to pool in his hand. He swallowed a lump in his throat as he saw trickles of the crimson fluid escape down the sides of his hand.

“W-What-what the fuck are you doing?” Nicoli’s voice was small and trembling. He hated blood. He could hardly stand the sight of it let alone the feel of it on his skin.

“Give it a second,” Ethan murmured calmly, as if waiting for something.

Nicoli wanted to fight and scream, but his joints had locked up and refused to move. Finally, after what seemed like ages, Ethan took his hand away.

Ethan kept hold of the boy’s wrist as his other hand made work of ripping off the bottom of the man’s shirt. He then began wiping the blood off Nicoli’s hand, much to the boy’s bewilderment.

“There, that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Ethan asked once he was done. He released Nicoli’s hand and the boy was quick to draw it back and press it to himself protectively.

“Not so bad having a psycho smear his blood all over me? Yeah, I’d have to say that was pretty bad!” Nicoli snapped.

“But your hand feels better now, doesn’t it?” Ethan questioned with a smug smirk.

“What are you talking abou…” Nicoli trailed off and simply stared ahead of him. His hand was curled into a tight fist against him, but his palm wasn’t stinging like before. Nicoli slowly looked down and tentatively uncurled his fingers.

“W-What?”

Nicoli lifted his hand and carefully studied his palm. It was smooth and unblemished by flakes of scratched skin. Nicoli’s eyes flickered over to Ethan before he carefully reached by the man to turn on his lamp. The last thing he wanted was to put himself in a vulnerable position, but he needed light.

Both the men winced as light flooded the room, banishing the bulk of the shadows. Nicoli sat up straight and went back to eyeing his hand. The now lit room confirmed it. His hand was smooth and perfect, like he had never had dirt and debris tear it up.

Nicoli noted how his heart began to pound and his breathing quickened just a bit. His skin prickled all over. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t possible. The boy looked from his hand to the man sitting idly on his bed, as calm as can be.

“Proof enough?” Ethan asked, a smile creeping its way on his face.

“This – this,” Nicoli stuttered. “This isn’t-”

“Possible?” Ethan finished. “Yes, that seems to be a recurring theme racing through your brain,” he said with a smile before taking Nicoli’s other hand.

The boy showed some resistance, but not as much as before. Nicoli watched in disbelief as Ethan repeated the process with his other hand. The next time it was released the palm was perfectly healed like its twin. Nicoli looked from one to the other and back.

There’s just…no way. Nicoli just couldn’t wrap his mind around it.

“How did you…”

The boy watched as Ethan then used the blood soaked ripped cloth to wipe off his own hand. The prickling along Nicoli’s skin increased when the man lifted his hand. The self made gash was gone, as if it had never been made.

“Vampire blood, good for most healing purposes,” Ethan commented with a smirk. The man then leaned in once more, making Nicoli sit back so fast he smacked his head against the headboard. He really needed to just stay against the damn thing.

“Ow. What?” Nicoli asked as he rubbed the sore spot on the back of his head.

“I was just thinking,” Ethan said, and Nicoli shivered as he felt the man’s breath roll over his skin. “Maybe I can heal that black eye for you.”

Nicoli stared at him. He heard the words, but they didn’t sink in fully.

“Heal my…black eye?” he murmured.

While it was true his black eye was getting better, the swelling and the puffiness reduced considerably, the area around the eye was still a sickly black and yellow color and would no doubt be there for awhile.

“How can you…do that?” Nicoli asked hesitantly.

“Do you really have to ask?” Ethan retorted. “It won’t be too hard.” The man brought his thumb up as he opened his mouth. Nicoli could have sworn he saw a glimpse of abnormally sharp teeth before the thumb was swiped across. Just like with Ethan’s hand the thumb was cut and blood was swift to rise.

“Now hold still,” Ethan said softly.

Before Nicoli could even think of moving away Ethan ran his thumb right under the boy’s left eye. This, of course, didn’t please Nicoli one bit.

“Ah!” Nicoli jumped and, instead of pushing back, he kicked off to escape to the side. This action effectively caused him to tumble off the bed and onto the floor with a loud thud.

Ethan winced.

“Ouch, you okay, Kid?” he asked as he licked the remnants of blood off his thumb.

“Am I okay!?” Nicoli snarled as he bolted up from the floor. “You just wiped blood on my face! Of course I’m not okay!” the boy yelled at him then began to rub his eye. “Ugh I think you actually got it in my eye!” Nicoli then glared at the man. “What the hell is your-” Nicoli sentence was finished by a gasp.

In one brief moment, Nicoli’s vision in his left eye changed. Instead of the room being lit by his lamp, it was as if the very sun had been placed in his room. Everything was lit up and he could see every indent in his wall, every grain of wood in his floor and all the pore’s in Ethan’s skin.

As quickly as it happened it was gone, leaving Nicoli quaking and short of breath. The boy stumbled back in his shock, but was saved from falling as Ethan was instantly to his feet and grabbed the boy by his arms.

“Are you all right?” the man asked in concern.

Nicoli didn’t respond right away. As he tried to get his body to calm down he focused on Ethan’s ripped, bloodstained shirt. Even though it was black, Nicoli could see where the blood had stained it and he noticed a hole in the fabric, most likely where the arrow pierced Ethan’s body.

When he felt in control of his body again Nicoli looked up at the man, the boy only came to his chin. Nicoli’s eyes narrowed in a glare and he shoved at Ethan’s chest, though it barely moved him at all.

“What the hell did you fucking do to me?” he demanded as he gave another shove, but still the man hardly moved an inch and the boy felt like he was pushing against a steel wall.

Ethan looked confused then understanding showed in his face.

“I see. My blood must have entered the bloodstream in your eye and you were able to see how I see for a split second,” he explained. Ethan then placed his hand on Nicoli’s cheek and tilted his head up more. The boy struggled again, but Ethan paid him no mind. “But it does seem like it did the trick.”

Nicoli was able to turn his head away from Ethan’s grasp, but couldn’t get the other hand off his arm.

“What are you talking about?” Nicoli grumbled.

“Here, go see for yourself,” Ethan said and turned the boy around and gave him a light push towards the closet mirror.

Nicoli grunted and gave an irritated look back at the man, but curiosity got the better of him. He approached the mirror and he couldn’t believe what it reflected back at him. The boy drew just a tad closer and ran his finger along the peach colored flesh under his left eye. The sickly bruise was gone, as if it had never happened.

Nicoli just stared at himself for the longest time. It just wasn’t possible. His black eye was gone and his hands had been healed in nothing flat. With all of this evidence smacking him in the face, Nicoli’s firm disbelief was getting harder and harder to hold onto.

Dark blue eyes glanced at the reflection of the man behind him. Nicoli studied the tousled blonde hair, the strong chin, but soft curved cheeks and jaw, the clothes that the boy associated with him now that were stained with great rings of blood. The man stood there patiently. His pose nonchalant as he leaned most of his weight on one heel and the corner of his mouth was raised in a secretive smile, as if he knew everything that someone would give their life to know.

The man who had saved Nicoli from being further humiliated by his bullies and had just a few hours ago saved him from a fall that would have killed him, the man who had been plaguing the boy’s thoughts for the past few days to the near point of insanity. This man…was a vampire.

It felt like a bucket of ice cold water was poured over Nicoli. He couldn’t deny it anymore, the evidence was too great. In just a matter of minutes all of Nicoli’s beliefs of what was real were shattered.

Nicoli slowly turned to face Ethan. He stared at him for what must have been minutes. With slow, deliberate steps, Nicoli approached what he now admitted was a real vampire. He stopped when there were just a few inches between them.

Ethan couldn’t read the emotions playing across the boy’s face. Confusion, fear, interest, curiosity, it was all an undistinguishable mesh.

After a few minutes of silent staring, Nicoli lifted up his hand. In a moment of indecision he let it hover over Ethan’s cheek before tentatively resting his fingers on the man’s skin, followed by his whole palm.

Ethan’s skin was cold. Nicoli could practically feel it sucking the heat from his hand. The man’s flesh was so odd. It felt hard like rock, but Nicoli could feel an underlying softness to it. Like soft marble.

“God, I can’t believe I’m going to say this,” Nicoli murmured, running his fingers up and down Ethan’s cheek, feeling its unnatural smoothness. “But you…you really are a…vampire.”

Ethan smiled and his eyes showed the pleasure he found in his victory. He covered Nicoli’s hand with his own and turned his head just enough to rest his lips against the boy’s palm. Humans were always so warm and inviting.

“I’m glad to see you finally came around,” Ethan murmured into the skin and he delighted how the boy reacted by shivering ever so slightly. The boy was so tempting now to just pull into his arms and see what other reactions he could elicit out of that body.

“Great, you got him to believe you. Can we go now?”

Nicoli jumped and his heart leapt into his mouth at the sudden irritated voice that sounded behind him. He whirled around and unconsciously backed up into Ethan. What he saw made the whole situation that much more believable and unbelievable at the same time.

“Holy fucking Christ…” Nicoli murmured as he pressed fully back into Ethan, as if he could meld into the other man.

Standing, or much rather floating, in front of him was a boy that looked around Nicoli’s age. The boy had short, almost fluffy, hair that fell around his ears and down to his neck. His face was round and boyish, but the look of extreme irritation and bitterness eradicated the cherubic picture.

The boy was clothed in what looked like a long, tattered coat and a horizontal striped shirt. A scarf adorned his neck and his fingers poked out from fingerless gloves. But what really struck Nicoli, and here was the kicker, he could see right through the boy to the back wall.

Nicoli couldn’t believe it. Wasn’t it enough he finally conceded that Ethan was a vampire? Did this really have to be thrown at him?

“What the hell is going on?” Nicoli muttered before quickly darting around the man so he was behind Ethan, using the man as a shield.

“Thank you, that entrance helped things all the more,” Ethan said sarcastically to the see-through boy.

The boy just shrugged his shoulders and crossed his arms.

“Like I care?” he asked.

Ethan rolled his eyes and looked away from the boy in front of him to the one behind him.

“Nicoli, I’d like you to meet a dear friend of mine. This is Felix,” Ethan introduced casually.

Nicoli peeked around the vampire’s body to look at Felix.

“Uh…hey,” he mumbled, not really knowing what else to say to a…

“Hello, great, pleasantries are over. Can we go now?” Felix snapped at Ethan, disregarding Nicoli without another thought.

“Hold on, don’t get your transparent panties in a bunch,” Ethan retorted before turning to Nicoli. “You doin’ okay with all of this?” he asked.

“Oh, yeah, what guy wouldn’t be okay with a vampire and a – a.”

“You can say it. Ghost,” Felix finished for him.

“Right, ghost, thank you very much. A vampire and a ghost in his room. Yeah, I’m just peachy,” Nicoli finished, throwing his hands up in the air at the ridiculousness of it all.

“And I thought you could be sarcastic,” Ethan muttered to his floating friend.

“And where did you come from anyways?” Nicoli demanded before the ghost could open his mouth. “Where do you fit into all of this? There was never any hint of a ghost through all of this absurdness.”

“Huh, let me see,” Felix said. “It’s this handy little thing ghost can do, now what was it called? Oh! Invisibility,” the ghost said mockingly before disappearing altogether.

Nicoli’s mouth fell open and he looked around the room for any sign of the boy, but there was none.

“That’s just the way Felix is. He doesn’t like making his presence known unless he sees fit too, but he’s always with me,” Ethan said, drawing Nicoli’s attention back to him.

“A shy ghost, who would have thought,” Nicoli said, rubbing at his temples with his fingers. When was this madness going to end?

“Shy my ass, I just don’t like dealing with people,” Felix said, reappearing beside Nicoli.

The boy jumped and stumbled away in his surprise.

“Felix, be nice,” Ethan scolded.

“Make me,” the ghost said, crossing his arms and sticking out his tongue.

“Wait a minute…” Nicoli suddenly said, making the two look at him. Hearing the way the two bantered it made something click in the back of his head.

“Will you stop hounding me?”

“I know I’ve been looking for hours, but I’m sure I’ll find something soon.”

“Just give me a little more time.”

Nicoli could practically hear Felix’s voice filling in the gaps.

“You’re the one Ethan was talking to in the library the first day I met him,” Nicoli concluded. The whole scenario fit together now.

“Bravo,” Felix said dryly as he clapped his hands. “You’re a regular Sherlock Holmes.”

Nicoli glared at him as Ethan just sighed.

“I know Felix can be a right ass sometimes,” he said, getting a look from the ghost. “But I wouldn’t have been able to save you without him.”

“What do you mean?” Nicoli asked, looking at the man in confusion.

“Ha, you think that cliff collapsed all on its own?” Felix asked, a smug smile on his ghostly white face.

Nicoli looked from Felix to Ethan, still confused, if not more.

“What…?”

“He may not look it, but Felix has a great deal of spiritual energy,” Ethan explained. “So much so he can manipulate solid objects.”

“Yeah, but I’ve been tapped out from saving your sorry ass. You’re just lucky you were at the very edge of the cliff,” Felix finished.

Nicoli stared at the two odd people before sitting on his bed and covering his face with his hands.

“Oooooh for crying out loud, let this day be over already,” he groaned. He wished he could just faint again and when he woke up everything would be back to normal.

“See? He doesn’t want us here, so let’s go,” Felix insisted.

Ethan just sighed again and shook his head.

“As much as I’d like to give you some peace, Nicoli, we can’t go just yet,” he said.

“What? Why not?” Felix and Nicoli asked in unison then glared at each other.

“Because, in case you two haven’t realized,” Ethan said as he walked over to the window. “Omen is still out there, somewhere, and while he thinks you’re sleeping with the fishes, Nicoli, he’s most likely still looking for me,” the vampire explained as he gazed through the windowpane.

“While that’s true,” Nicoli said as he stood up. “If he finds you here my family will be put in danger.” The last thing he wanted was for his mother and father to come face to face with the psychotic maniac.

“Yes, that is a possibility, but after our fight I wouldn’t be able to hold my own against Omen if I ran into him again tonight. Are you saying you’d turn me out with those kinds of odds? Even after saving your life? I could have easily left you at Omen’s mercy, but I went back for you,” Ethan said, leaning against the window frame.

Nicoli looked away, a heavy knot of guilt forming in his stomach. It wasn’t made easier when Felix felt the need to glide over and murmur in his ear,

“As much as I don’t want to be here, that does seem a little ungrateful.”

Nicoli glared at him out of the corner of his eye before sighing in defeat.

“All right, you can stay here,” he grumbled, crossing his arms and lowering his head. “But that was really low and underhanded.”

“Yes, but necessary,” Ethan said with a smile.

“But you have to leave by morning,” Nicoli said, not realizing that was just a few hours away.

“That’s not gonna fly either,” Ethan told him.

“What? Why not?” Now he was just getting frustrated.

“Um, hello, vampire plus sunlight? Not a very good mix,” Felix said haughtily.

“But-But I’ve seen you outside in the sun!” Nicoli argued.

“Yes, but that’s because I had my protective gear and my specially made sun block,” Ethan said, walking away from the window to stand beside the boy. “As you can see, I don’t have any of my things now and my sun block faded hours ago. So if I leave here the sun will only make me weaker and if Omen catches me then…well, I’m sure you know what’ll happen.”

Nicoli groaned and buried his face in his hands again.

“So you’re saying you want to stay here all day?” he muffled through his hands.

“Just until the next nightfall. I should be recovered by then and I’ll have a better chance of avoiding Omen,” Ethan said.

Nicoli sighed and sat down on the bed once more. This was not going well.

“Where the hell am I going to keep you?” he asked. “Felix is easy, he can just disappear, but if my parent’s find you…how would I explain that?”

“Tell them you were hard up for cash and needed to make some money,” Felix snickered.

Ethan shot him a look and smacked him in his stomach, the man’s hand going clear through the boy.

“Give me some credit, Nicoli,” Ethan said, turning his attention to the living human. “I am a vampire. I know how to stay hidden. Besides I can just stay in your room all day. Teenage boys are supposed to have their parent’s banned from their room,” he suggested.

“But where are you going to stay in here?” Nicoli asked. His fingers were back to massaging his temples. The pounding headache that was coming promised to be a massive one. “And if you say in my bed you are out of here right now,” he threatened, pointing an accusing finger at the vampire.

“Well of course not,” Ethan said. “The thought never crossed my mind,” he said innocently.

“Liar,” Felix murmured, looking up at the ceiling guiltlessly.

Ethan huffed and turned to examine the room.

“Well, we obviously can’t have me out in the open. The sunlight is bound to come in through the window, which you inconveniently have no curtains on,” he said.

“And I don’t happen to have any coffins lying around either,” Nicoli said, crossing his legs and arms. He was not looking forward to the accommodations.

“Har har,” Ethan muttered sarcastically.

“Congratulations, you made your first vampire zinger,” Felix praised and Nicoli jumped a little when he realized the ghost was now floating upside down beside him. “I actually thought that was rather funny.”

“Uh…thanks.” Nicoli was taken back. That was the first civil thing Felix had said to him. “I didn’t even mean to say it.”

“Oh, I know what you mean,” Felix said as he righted himself. “They come naturally after awhile, almost second nature, believe me.”

“Hey, here we go.” Ethan’s voice interrupted the two and they turned to see him investigating the closet. The vampire opened it and wandered inside.

Nicoli, being the lazy teenager that he was, hardly had any clothes hung up so it made more room for Ethan than there would have been.

“It’s a little cramped, but I’ve slept in worse,” Ethan said as he leaned out of the doorway and pulled the door closed. “Yep, this could definitely work.” Came the man’s voice from inside the closet.

Nicoli and Felix stared at the closet, finding the whole scene rather odd. The boy looked over at the ghost when he snorted.

“What?” Nicoli asked.

Felix snickered behind his hand for a few seconds before grinning at the other boy.

“I always knew Ethan was trapped in the closet,” he said before turning toward the door. “It’s okay Ethan. We’ll still love you when you’re finally ready to come out of the closet,” he called out.

Nicoli stared at him before a smile slowly spread across his face then he burst into laughter. It made his stomach clench painfully, but he didn’t care. After all of the terrifying and unbelievable events, it was good to laugh.

The closet door opened and Ethan stared at the two boys, who were still laughing.

“Ha ha, you’re a riot, Felix,” the man said as he strolled out and towards the bed.

“I know I am,” the ghost said with a smug smile.

“Okay, okay,” Nicoli struggled to say as he tried to control his laughter. “So for the night, and I guess tomorrow, you’ll stay in my closet.”

There was a short pause before Nicoli and Felix erupted into a fresh wave of laughter.

Ethan rolled his eyes and waited for them to finish. Once they calmed down for a second time, the man tried to get them back on track.

“Yes, I’ll sleep here and by next nightfall I’ll leave. Does that sound about right to you?” Ethan asked.

“Yeah, I suppose so, though you’re in for a boring day tomorrow since I have a report to finish,” Nicoli pointed out.

“Rest does not require entertainment,” Ethan retorted. “And, speaking of rest, I think it’ll be best for everyone if we all hit the sack,” he suggested.

“Ha, right,” Nicoli laughed. “Like I’m going to be able to sleep with a vampire hibernating in my closet and some ghastly specter floating around God knows where? No offense,” he then said to Felix.

“None taken, meat bag,” the ghost assured him.

“But after the night you’ve had some sleep will do you a lot of good,” Ethan encouraged.

“I know that and you know that, but my body is a little too freaked out to get the message,” Nicoli rebuked.

“Hmm, I suppose I’ll just have to help you along then,” Ethan said and took a step closer and bent down towards the boy.

“Wha – Hey,” Nicoli sputtered as Ethan put his hand on the boy’s face once more and tilted his head upwards. “What are you do…ing?” Nicoli trailed off as his eyes locked with Ethan’s and he could feel himself taken in by those abnormal orbs.

Ethan raised his other hand and pressed to of his fingers against Nicoli’s forehead and pushed. The boy fell back and the instant he hit the mattress he was in a sound sleep.

“Show off,” Felix murmured.

“You know what they say, if you’ve got it, flaunt it,” Ethan said with a smile as he then kneeled on the bed and began working on unzipping Nicoli’s jacket.

“What are you doing now? Are you going to rape him in his sleep?” the ghost asked, hovering behind the vampire.

“Don’t be vulgar, Felix,” Ethan chided as he threw the jacket behind him so it went straight through the ghost. “I’m simply getting him ready for bed,” he said as he then went to untying the boy’s sneakers.

Felix glided back a bit and watched the vampire work. His expression became troubled as an unnerving thought began to play in his brain.

“Ethan?”

“Yeah?” the man answered as he tucked the sneakers well under the bed, out of sight.

“After this you’re going to have nothing else to do with this boy, right? You’ll ban all contact with him, won’t you?” the ghost asked softly.

Ethan froze as he was in the middle of pulling the covers back. He let go of the blankets and turned to face his ghostly friend.

“Now why would you care?” he asked curiously.

“Uh – I don’t!” Felix huffed as he crossed his arms and turned away a little. “It’s just, if you continue to let this boy hang around he’ll only drag us down and get himself into trouble, just like tonight. We don’t need any extra baggage,” he said.

Ethan stared at the ghost boy for awhile before turning back to the bed and resuming his task.

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about, Felix. Tonight was a fluke. I had no idea he’d come out of the blue like that. We’ll stay here for the day then be gone by the next night. After that, I doubt we’ll be seeing our little friend again,” Ethan assured Felix as he picked up the dozing Nicoli in his arms and laid him gently in the bed.

Ethan’s words did little to comfort the boy specter as he watched Ethan pull the blankets over the living boy. The man then ran his fingers through Nicoli’s dark locks before standing up. If Felix knew one thing it was that the vampire had a soft spot for males in their more tender stages of youth, and that’s what worried him.

“All right, let’s hit the sack, Felix,” Ethan said when he was finished. The vampire turned off the light and headed for his temporary bed for the night.

Felix watched him go and waited for the closet door to swing shut. Once Ethan was tucked away in the dark little space Felix glided over to the bed. He looked down at Nicoli and studied him for a bit. The boy was so peaceful and serene in his state of sleep. Felix couldn’t help but think he looked so innocent and the ghost wondered if he ever looked that way before, blissful and unaware of the nightmares and horrors that surrounded him day after day. If Felix had a heart it would have clenched at that point.

He lowered himself down enough to be next to the boy’s ear.

“Get out of this while you still can, Nicoli,” Felix whispered. “Don’t go deeper into the Rabbit Hole. If you go too far you’ll be trapped and dragged into something far worse than you could ever imagine. Stay in your beautiful, mortal ignorance.”

The ghost pulled away and he noticed that Nicoli’s expression became troubled and the boy murmured something unintelligible. Felix hoped his warning had penetrated somewhere in the boy’s deep subconscious.

“Human’s should never meddle in the affairs of vampires. The consequences are too tremendous to bear,” Felix whispered before fading away and leaving Nicoli to his pleasant dreams.

===============================Ch. 6 End