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But as we moved through the crowd, their inner voices continued. And their content began to hurt, jabbing into my side like iron spears as I attempted to hide the pain of it.
"The chosen one is a 'HALFLIFE'? Ridiculous! What does a fucking halflife know about pain and suffering?"
"THAT'S the Mimic? I expected so much more! He's just some waifish little blond boy! What could he possibly have to teach to ANYBODY?"
"He's HERE! The messiah has come to SAVE us all!"
"Look at him! I'll bet he's just soaking this shit up! Got people kissing his ass like he's so special! I should walk right over and tell him exactly what I think of him, since everybody else is so 'mesmerized'! Ego maniac...."
I felt hands reaching out to touch us as we walked passed them. Not just me, but Dylan, Jenna, everyone. Especially Taryn. Hands reached out towards him as though he were some kind of great healer. As though ne touch of his hand, or tug on his clothes, could somehow cure whatever ails them inside.
We picked up our pace, dodging more and more vampires as they attempted to get a good look at me. I could feel myself 'filling up' again....absorbing even more of their abilities like a sponge as they reached in my direction. Thank goodness Dion was strong enough to push a nice little path for the rest of us to follow, otherwise, I fear the crowd would have swallowed us whole.
"What are these fanatics doing? There's no such thing as a Mimic! What kind of idiot would even MAKE such a claim???"
"We must alert the Elders! The dark angel is here! He'll murder us all!!! He'll murder us *ALL*!!!"
"This is blasphemy! He is no chosen one! He is a false prophet! He should have his heart cut out and roasted in the dawn for toying with concepts a mere boy couldn't possibly understand!"
I don't know if I was feeding off of the emotions of the people around us, or merely magnifying my own, but I soon found myself nearing a state of hysteria after being so vulnerable in front of strangers. I could feel their eyes on me, burning me with their critique. I was stumbling from walking so fast. Almost running to get away. Just trying to get out of there before they made it any worse. I felt tears welling up in my eyes as I was put on 'display' for everyone watching, gawking at me like some sick animal in a zoo. Making assumptions about me when they didn't know a fucking thing ABOUT me!
"Look at him! The dummy is practically tripping over his own feet! What a moron! Some 'savior'...."
"He is no warrior! Look at how he runs from us! He is nothing more than a coward!"
"Is that his sire? Is he the one fated to die for us? Such gentle beauty..."
"He must be the one responsible for the killings! For the outbursts of violence! It MUST be him! He must be Rage!"
"What makes HIM so special? I don't think he's all that great. Others need to know he's just some dork with an attitude..."
"He will not be able to control his abilities for long. He should give them to ME instead! *I* shall guide us to the Vampire Dawn...instead of this halflife scum...."
I was sniffling now, my vision getting blurry. That Pier never felt so long before. It seemed like it would NEVER end!
"The chosen one...I must find him. He's got to help me! He's got to make me whole again! He is the only one who will have the answers I need! The ONLY one!"
"He doesn't look so tough! I bet I could take him out EASY! I'm a much better fighter than he could ever be! I should challenge him! Right here, right now!"
"Omigod, he's HOT! I've GOT to have him! I'll do anything! He must be mine!"
"Psh! Where was he when I needed him? He's never done a thing to help ME! Fuck him, AND his half witted prophecy!"
"...He will join us in our quest, and we will become unstoppable! We must find away to gain his trust...and use his power to defeat our enemies in the West..."
"If only I could be seen with him! If everyone thought that the chosen one was my ally, I'd get some respect! They'd worship ME the way they do him!"
"...Once we capture his sire...he'll have no choice but to obey our demands! We'll make an example by killing the girl first!"
The flood of thoughts kept getting worse, until at last I couldn't stand them anymore. At one point, while we were all galloping towards the front gate, I felt a sting in the center of my brain that caused my legs to collapse, and I fell down to my knees in pain. "JUSTIN!!!" Taryn ran to comfort me and help me up, but I couldn't stand. My head was spinning, and the Pier seemed to lift, tilt, and sway, back and forth as vertigo set in and threw me off balance.
I felt my mind being probed from many different sources at once. The sensation of scores of vampire readers sifting through my most personal thoughts at high speeds. INVADING my every private memory without mercy!
"Suicidal? Oh my...such a shame!"
"Sexual little faggot, isn't he? Ewwww....how many times do they have to do it, for crying out loud?"
"Hahaha! His father used to beat the shit out him TOO? What a fucking JOKE! Who decided to give THIS pussy the gift???"
"...Mother was an alcoholic..."
"He has no idea what he's doing. None at all."
"Lost his friend Jarrod in the IceZone....couldn't save him..."
"...Richie? He's probably dead by now...so sad..."
"...He should have just fucking jumped over the edge. He's better off dead anyway."
"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!!" I shouted, my voice doubling and tripling up as an energetic blast ripped its way through my vocal chords. I felt an uncontrollable mental pulse fire back at them all, spreading out in all directions, creating cracks in the cement! I watched as the readers grabbed their ears in pain, and disconnected from me to prevent any further agony. There were cracks forming in the glass windows around me, and the lights began to rapidly flicker on and off with more intensity.
"He is the great DESTROYER!!! He has come to judge us for execution!"
"His power is unfathomable! I MUST possess it for myself!!!"
"The creature is too unstable to be allowed to live!"
I was breathing sooo hard, trying to regain my senses, when I felt something ice cold crawling over my hand. I looked down to see the shadows beginning to move towards me. Their pain...their screams....their hatred....their judgement. I yanked my hand back, but it started to latch on to me again. More shadows came, as others looked for me to bring them salvation. To finally bring an end to their pain and offer them an answer of indisputable truth. An answer....that I didn't have.
"HE'S HERE TO DESTROY US!!! Don't you understand? Don't you remember what happened with the last one???" Shouted a voice from the upper level. "HE'S GONNA MURDER US ALL!!!"
Dion and Taryn both quickly helped me to my feet again, and we were practically racing towards the gate. My legs would barely work, and my eyes were rolled back as a result of being scanned by so many vampire readers at once. I felt my legs go limp again, but just as I was falling, it was actually Trevor who assisted me and helped me to keep going. None of us looked back once we were out by the fountain in front of Navy Pier. We just kept running...hurrying back to the shadows, where the illusion of safety was still possible. Still valid. Even if...deep down...I knew that hiding wasn't going to do me any good. Not any more.
Gyro was right. I wouldn't be able to hide a secret like this forever.
"Alright, let's just go back to the lot and lay low for a bit. I mean, who's gonna believe those vampires on the Pier, right?" Jenna suggested. "I mean, Justin is basically ranked up there Big Foot and alien abductions. Nobody's going to take a mimic sighting seriously."
"I don't know, Jenna..." Dion said. "...There were an awful lot of witnesses."
"How did they even KNOW?" Trevor asked.
"It must have been the pulse. Something about that electromagnetic screw up of yours must have given them a pretty big hint." Michael added.
"I didn't mean to do it. It went off all by itself." I wanted to explain, but I couldn't. Ever since my last feeding, my extras have been completely out of control.
"It's ok, baby. We're gonna get you home, and we'll find out when Doc can get that Jeweler guy to help you. We can keep things quiet until then and wait for the rumors to mellow out a little bit."
My brain seemed to be sending me some kind of strange 'message' at that moment. Some kind of inner alarm went off, and I stopped walking. "Wait...no. We can't." I said.
"What? What are you talking about?" Trevor asked.
"The lot...I can't go back there. Not yet."
Dion stepped forward to put a hand on my shoulder, "Justin...listen, once we get you back home, we'll figure this out. Ok? But I don't think it's the best thing for you to be out in the open right now..."
"NO! You don't understand...." I said, detecting small 'intrusions' inside of me. "...They're tracking me. I can feel it." I closed my eyes, and felt three or four individual signatures, each one different from the one before. No doubt from different vampires. "Their traces are pretty weak, they should wear off in an hour or so. But if I go back to the lot now, I'll be leading them right to us."
Jenna raised an eyebrow. "How do you know all this?"
"I...I don't know..." I told her. Taryn hugged me from the side, and we both shared a moment of helplessness, where I had only his embrace to balance me and keep me from falling over.
Dylan thought for a second and quietly said, "Why don't we go get Max and Gyro and just go somewhere quiet? Someplace where nobody else goes?"
"Not too many places like that here in city." Trevor told him. "Besides....'glory boy' over here is gonna stick out like a sore thumb in a place where the vampire population is low. They'll be able to track him down easy. We'd be better off just taking him to the club."
Dion heard Trevor's idea and spoke up, "Wait...actually, the club isn't such a bad idea. I know it sounds crazy, but we just might be able to blend in with the chaos in that place for a little while and throw the others off the trail until their tracers wear off."
"But what if Justin absorbs even more from the vampires at the club?" Jenna asked. "He's already beyond full as it is. Who knows what taking on more abilities is going to do to him?"
"That just might be a chance we have to take. We can't keep him out in the streets. His chances are better in a public place where we have more of a chance of hiding him in plain sight." Dion looked to me and Taryn for the nod, and we agreed that it would e the best plan. "Cool, we'll head over there now, and when it's safe, we'll sneak out and try to make it back to the lot without being seen. In the meantime, Justin...you'd better work on keeping that 'pulse' thing under control. You set that thing off in the club, and we're REALLY gonna have a problem on our hands!"
It might have taken us all of 30 minutes to make our way down to the subway. Staying in dark alleys, avoiding the paths of strangers as much as we possibly could along the way. I wanted to feel relieved, but the paranoia had already set in. It din't matter if the eyes were human or vampire...anyone who so much as glanced at me got my defenses up. It was as if the whole world had suddenly shrunk to the size of a kiddie swimming pool...and it was getting smaller and smaller by the second.
I felt so full. So exhausted. I didn't have the comfort to even sit still for more than a few seconds. My very spirit felt crushed and crammed into a tiny box, trying desperately to breathe while attempting to make room for all of the new abilities I was gathering by the minute. At times, I had to close my eyes just to keep from seeing double. It was a painful experience, but for Taryn's sake...I tried not to let it show too much. He's already worried enough.
We came to our stop, and walked out of the subway. The short trip to Bernie's place was never much of a walk for any of us. But as we got closer to the place...we noticed something different. The area was different, the breeze was different...and we didn't hear the usual muffled thumps of loud music coming from inside. In fact...once we reached the back alley where we usually went in for admittance, we saw two young vampires carrying another vamp on their shoulders. He was banged up pretty badly, bleeding from the mouth, and from a socket where his right eye 'used' to be. The smell of ash and coagulated blood was in the air, and when we got to the back door....it had been ripped off the hinges, the metal almost bent in half by some kind of powerful force. Bernie's club, the place we had been going to since I first crossed over...the place where Taryn and I had gotten our eternity bands from....
...Had been completely destroyed.
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