Chapter 4

“Something you want?” Daniel gulped nervously as he slowly backed away from the leering figure. “Sorry I don’t have any cash on me but I have an ATM. We can work something out”

“Oh, my boy.” The man replied as he finally had Daniel cornered. “ I don’t have any interest in your money.”

“Then what do you want?” Daniel was literally sweating now.

Smiling, the man rubbed his chin and stared at the sky as if in thought.

“ Why don’t you lean back and relax. I am about to delve into a little bit of history here. You might as well know the truth about yourself.”

Daniel said nothing.

Noticing Daniel's attention, the man began.

“Once upon a time in a boring little city, there lived a good doctor who was know to be indispensable and efficient. Dr Joseph Johnson.”

“ My father?” Daniel interrupted. His mother had shown him pictures of his father since he was little and the only other information he had received was his name.

“ Yes, how touching.” The man frowned at the interruption.

“ Now where was i? Oh yes. Like I said, he was so talented that people said he could give life to the dead.Now he had everything a man could dream of: Good house, good name…” 

Smiling slyly at Daniel, he added. “Pretty wife?”

If Daniel wasn’t so scared, he would have rolled his eyes at that.

“They were so happy together and everything was going well. Then came that day. The day his wife went into labor. As fate would have it, delivery proved to be quite a task and it seemed she wasn’t going to make it. Better put, It was a case of either the life of her baby or hers. Joseph, being the 'considerate' and 'caring' person he was,wanted both to survive. And so he revealed a syringe containing a serum. X-serum, it was called. Joseph had a history of health attacks since he was little and he wanted to correct that. He was developing the serum to provide immunity to illness and health attacks and meant to use it for himself. But when fate came knocking, he opted to save the life of his wife. And so…..he injected her.”

“What?” Daniel gasped.

“Yes, he did. And so she made it and delivered a healthy baby boy…”

The man paused and turned to Daniel.

“ …You.”

 Daniel was quite in shock as this was a whole lot to take in. He wasn’t sure if to believe this creepy stranger or not, but the fact that the man knew him and his father meant something.

“ But the story doesn’t end there.” The man continued.

“ You see. What wasn’t anticipated was that the serum would be passed into your blood stream but surprisingly, it did. If my guess is accurate,you’ve never fallen ill before. Correct?”

Daniel nodded. The whole thing was now making sense to him.

“That’s the effect of the serum working in your body. You were born with it. I came to meet your father asking him to create another one. From what I deduced, that serum not only provided immunity to illness,it could also serve as an antidote to the weakness of my kind.”

“ Your kind?” Daniel was confused now.

“Yes." The man replied.

“ But your father refused to grant my request. Giving me the pathetic excuse that he didn’t know if there was any side effect of the serum. He only used it on his wife out of to save her life..and yours. A risky move if I may add. One thing about me is that I like it when people give me what I want. And if you don’t give me what I want, there will be well……consequences.”

Daniel’s eyes widened in realization as the man’s words sunk in. He clenched his fists, an angry look etching on his face.

“What did you do?” He whispered darkly.

The man smirked, unpeturbed by the boy’s visible anger.

“ Poor Joe.” He laughed wickedly. “ He never stood a chance.”

Hearing this, Daniel screamed in anger forgetting about his fear momentarily as the truth came crashing down like a ton of bricks. He dashed forward and drawing his energy from his rage, connected his fist to the man’s jaw.

Nothing happened. The man remained rooted to the spot. He didn’t move an inch and his face was intact. The smile was still plastered on his face. Rearing his foot back,he kicked Daniel on the stomach which sent him flying a few feet away.

Daniel landed hard on his back and grunted hard as the effect of the man’s boot lingered on his stomach.

“ I have to give it to you ,kid.” The man smiled as he walked towards Daniel’s sprawled form.

“ You have some real guts. I like that.”

Bending down, he grabbed Daniel by the throat and raised him up with surprisingly inhumane strength. Daniel gasped for air as the man’s hold on his neck tightened.

“Now, back to our lovely discussion.” The man continued, paying no attention to his struggling victim.

“ Since he was gone, I couldn’t find a way to get the serum. But I had an epiphany. The serum existed in your mother and you. I could have gone for your mother. But unfortunately, according to Joe’s theory, It was only effective for the male gene. So I had to turn to the next option. An option that is in my grasp now. Literally.”

 He laughed.

 “I followed you for years but it turned out I wasn’t alone. Others had gotten news about the serum too. You were a wanted target that slipped through our grasps. Until now. You know there are others like me in this school. You may want to be watchful of the kind of friends you have in this school. How did you think I was able to know about Jacob and your other friends. I have my sources."

“Who are you?” Daniel choked out "What are you?”

 With abnormal speed, the man ran towards a nearby tree and slammed Daniel into it. Still having Daniel pinned to the tree with one hand, he pulled down his collar to reveal the nape of his neck.

“ Well, since you won’t survive this.” The mansmiled as his eyes began to glow a deadly red. Daniel’s eyes widened in horror at the sight and he struggled in vain against the man’s grasp.

“ My name is Luke and as for what I am?...”

The man opened his mouth to reveal sharp fangs.

“ I am a vampire.”

 With that, the man moved in to bite Daniel's exposed jugular.But before his fangs could connect , a swift kick from nowhere slammed into the man's face and sent him flying into the lagoon.

Daniel fell on the ground and gasped as the hold on his neck was released and he saw a new figure, his savior standing in front of him.

It was a girl but he couldn’t see her face clearly. She was wearing a pink sweater with light blue jeans. She offered her hand to him and he took it.

“ Are you alright?” she asked as she pulled him up.

“ Barely.” He grunted as he rubbed his sore neck and coughed a bit.

“ Come on.” She said as she pulled him along.

“ It’s not safe here at night.”

 Needing no further argument, Daniel obliged as she pulled him along and soon they were out of the dark area. She let go of his hand and began to walk in front of him.Only slightly so he could keep up with her.

“Hey.” Daniel began. “ I can’t thank you enough for what you did back there. I appreciate it. Please what’s your name?”

The girl paused for a bit and Daniel stopped just in time to keep from running into her.

She sighed and turned to face him. Daniel got the shock of his life as looking at him was no other than the mystery girl!!

The one who couldn’t stop staring at him since he arrived at the school.

The one he considered as weird.

What a twist.

“YOU?!” he gasped.

……………………………………………………………………………

  Luke came out slowly from the lagoon.Anger was visible on his face as he gritted his teeth. He stepped on dry land, shook his hair and squeezed his hoodie to get rid of the water. Sighing, he took a big breath as his eyes went back to their normal color.

“You’ve interfered for the last time.” He growled to no one in particular.

"I guess it’s time we play this the hard way.My way!!”