The Fools That Fall in Love

I stared at Michael in the dimly lit room, waiting for him to bring me words. I had no idea what he was going to say, but I was thinking it had something to do with the night before. I knew he'd know what happened to me.
"I'm unsure of what I should say here.. It's not an easy thing to tell you, but it also wasn't an easy thing to find out, myself." For, probably, the first time ever, he was speechless. I don't know how to say this without sounding harsh or too blunt."
"Just.. Say it." I said, starting to think he was going to tell me something like his life was in danger or he wanted to die or something.
"Do you remember when I told you that demons shape shift into humans and befriend people, treat them different, then eventually kill them?" He asked. I nodded, trying to understand where he was going with this. "It's starting Lydia. That was the first phase, and from here on out.. It'll keep getting worse and worse until.." He stopped, turning from me so I couldn't see his face.
I didn't really get it until I finally made the connection. Demons kill humans. Jason was a demon. I was only human. I was going to die, and Michael knew it. I let out a short, but very shrill cry and covered my mouth. I started shaking, being very afraid. I felt like a patient who just found out they have cancer. I never thought I'd know that feeling, but when I did come to know it, I couldn't imagine anything worse. "Is that why I was puking up so much blood?" I asked, starting to cry.
"Yeah. But that wasn't your blood, it was his. That's why it didn't look like human blood, because it wasn't. And that's why there was so much of it. But that wasn't intended to kill you, hence why you're still alive. By rights, you should have let out much more than that, but I guess knocking you out stopped it." I hadn't known why I blacked out until then, it was because Michael literally knocked me out. I never thought I'd be so thankful for something like that.
"So you said it gets worse.. What happens?" I asked, hoping to know about how long I had.
"I can't be sure. Demons tend to enjoy torturing their victims, so my guess is that he'll replay the puking sequence a few more times, then move on to something else. I don't want to scare you more than you already are, but it doesn't get easier. And he won't stop until one of you dies." He seemed hesitant to tell me things like that, but I guessed it was because he was trying to protect my feelings, but we both knew he couldn't do that forever.
"So I have to do that again?" I started getting more upset, wanting nothing more than to never have to do that again. I thought back on the feeling, the burning in my stomach and throat. I couldn't go through that again.
"Yeah, but I have to warn you now, he wants you to kill yourself. Suicide is the ultimate death to a demon, because you're doing the dirty work for them by taking your soul to Satan all by yourself. I bet he starts damning you with nightmares, to scare you into suicide. But I'm begging, don't ever do that. I don't care how afraid or pissed you are, don't. You have to remember that I'm going to be here no matter what happens and I'm going to do everything I can to stop him, because that's my purpose here. That's why I was brought to you, but the motivation of my love only makes me more determined." He kissed my forehead and I started to feel a bit better.
"So, what now?" I wondered how Michael intended to save my life, because I had no clue how to go about it.
"Now? Now we continue on with our night and hope nothing happens." Not the answer I was looking for.
"What are you going to do with Jason?" I specified.
"I'm going to have to destroy him. There's no other option." It sounded so easy, but I knew there was a catch.
"So why don't you go do it?" I was a little annoyed at Michael for not explaining things.
"It's not that simple. If it were I would have done it a long time ago. See, demons work a bit differently than vampires. When it comes to death, all vampires have the same weaknesses, as opposed to demons where each one has something different. It's not easy, and you can't just attack any time, it takes a lot of study of that particular demon. You have to know it's routine, because they have really bad OCD, but all with something different. So if you make it to where that demon can't continue it's routine, it'll freak out a bit, like someone who forgets to take their anxiety pills. They're frazzled and they can't keep their mind in one place. That's when we fight. Otherwise, I'd never win." He explained.
"Oh." I said, finally understanding what the problem was. I knew it'd be a little while before they'd get to fight, but I hoped it would be soon. "So how close are you to figuring him out?"
"Well, he has a few different sequences through out the day, and it's hard to stalk him in the day time. But I have to figure out exactly what sequence to screw with, and how to do it, before I can plan anything. And it's getting tiring." He added, I noticed his eyes seemed a bit darker than usual, and he looked a bit more dead. I hadn't even realized it until he said it was tiring. Poor thing.
"Can I go with you next time? I just want to see.." I asked, mostly asking to go with just to make sure he'd be alright under these conditions. The sun was dangerous.
"That's not safe.." He sounded very against me going.
"Please?" I begged.
"No, I can't let you go. I'm sorry. Why don't you stay here and get to know the other guys? I'm sure they'll be nice to you." He offered. I knew he was just trying to help, but I was still bummed that I couldn't go too.
"Fine." I pouted.
We spent the rest of the night by ourselves,not really wanting to be bothered with the outside world. We both knew we'd have to face it sooner or later, but we didn't think we'd have to face it so soon. I had two more puking instances, just that night. And every time I had one, Michael would have to knock me out to stop it. I was already getting tired of this demon trying to make me want to kill myself. He was just making me mad.
I stayed up all night with Michael, but shortly after the sun rose, he told me to sleep just before leaving the house to spy on Jason. I felt bad that he couldn't sleep, but there was no stopping him.
I fell asleep almost immediately after he left, and woke up shortly before the sun set. Michael still hadn't returned and I could hear the muffled sounds of beings from the kitchen. I made my way to everyone else, after getting dressed, and got some juice from the fridge. I was surprised they actually had food in the house, seeing as they didn't need it to live. They just had food for fun, just for taste. I sat at the table and tried to stay quiet, still not quite warmed up to the rest of the coven.
"Hey there sunshine." Phil smiled at me.
"Hi there. Phil, right?" I asked. I remembered who he was because he was the nicest to me.
"Yeah! That's me." He chuckled. "So, how did you sleep? Do you like your new vampire habit, sleeping all day and partying all night?" I appreciated the Lost Boys reference.
A smile lit my face. "It's okay, a little strange actually. I was never one to stay up really late and sleep all day, let alone change the hours completely. I'm surprised I haven't been literally forced to go back home yet." I admitted.
"Home? No, that's not home. This is your home now. You are home." His warm aura made me feel like that was true. Home. The word sat in my brain and kept repeating.
"I guess so, huh?" I was happy to say that I had a home, a real one. But I wasn't sure how welcome I really was to the rest of the coven.
"Yup! And Michael tells me that you are it." He winked at me, but I wasn't sure why.
"What do you mean by 'it'?" I asked, putting air quotes around the word "it."
"You're the one. He says that he never wants to love again, if something happens to you. He speaks very highly of you, Lydia." He encouraged.
"If something ever happens to me? Of course something is going to happen to me, I'm only human. Phil. I'm going to get old and die one day, if Jason doesn't kill me first. Michael won't let me live forever with him." I hung my head, feeling a little defeated.
"And why do you think he's hesitant on doing so?" This seemed like a test. I felt as if Phil had a motive here, to answer my own question and change my mind on my outlook of Michael's intentions. Darn, he was sure obvious, but at the same time, I had no idea what it was he was trying to get me to see.
"I think he doesn't want to turn me because of the whole humanity thing. I mean, he says he regrets it more often than not, and I think that he doesn't want me to have to regret it. I don't know." I started really thinking about it. Why didn't Michael want to keep me forever?
"You're partly right. Do you know how I became a vampire?" He asked, seeming to change the subject. I knew he'd come full circle and end with some elaborate answer as to why I couldn't be a vampire.
"No. Will you tell me?" I asked, genuinely curious.
"Absolutely." He smiled, seemingly happy to do so, or at least more willing than Michael was. "When I was a kid, my dad was very much in debt. He was a farmer, a cotton farmer, which was about the worst possible job you could get at the time. The economy was going downhill incredibly fast and there was nothing we could do about it. But that's not all, he was also very desperate, would do anything for money. Are you familiar with the KKK?" He asked, very casually. He seemed far less grave about his past than Michael did.
"I learned a bit about it in school. All I know is that it was a huge group of people dressed in a certain costume who hated people who weren't white."I stated, doing my best to remember what I spaced out on in my previous history classes.
"You're on the right track. The KKK, Ku Klux Klan, was a huge organization of white men who hated practically everything. If it wasn't 100% white and American, they sure hated it. They were incredibly violent and started making it a habit of burning crosses. I wasn't very religious back then, but it was still scary. Anyway, my dad had been suddenly busy all the time, making up excuses to not be home. My mom thought he was cheating on her, which was completely outrageous to her. She was the kind of woman who fell so deeply in love with someone that she couldn't even think straight. She was a romantic, but very brave. Very strong, amazing woman. I looked up to her a lot as a kid, even in my teen years I looked up to her. But anyway, my mom didn't work and the stock market was rapidly going down, so there went my dad's job, but he brought home money. We always wondered how he did it, but never asked, in fear it was something we didn't want to know. We found out. The KKK was recruiting people with the bribe of money, like an entry bonus. They gave the freaky white costume and all that, and initiation. My dad was part of the KKK, though he hated everything about them. Had he lived to the 70's, he would have been the biggest hippie around!" He smiled. "But he joined for the sake of his family." His smile melted from his face. "And he did some pretty terrible things.. Even I was eventually forced to join, at the literal hand of my father. He got so desperate to keep food on the table for my mom and younger brother, that he beat me until I agreed to join. I went through initiation and suited up. The masks were just big, white pointed hats with holes for the eyes, kind of hard to see through. And the robe was of the same material, also white, covering the whole body, with a patch sewn over the heart of something of a plus sign in a circle, to put it simply. We did a lot of damage.. I even burned a few crosses. Very tragic, I'd say. I was terrified to put that mask on, I couldn't even look at myself in the mirror after the first cross burning. I was scared, and my mom was scared for me too. She prayed my little brother wouldn't have to go through that." I was absolutely shocked to find out that someone who sat not two feet from me was in the KKK. I wasn't ashamed of him, knowing why he did what he did, but I was still incredibly shocked. I think that is what really made me realize and understand how old these guys really were.
"But anyway, one night, while I was sitting around a fire with the Klan, someone, masked of course, came up to me a took me aside. This wasn't usual so I was a bit freaked out. He told me that I could be great, I could be so much more than what these guys in 'white pajamas' had to offer." He put air quotes around "white pajamas." "I asked him how and all he said was 'immortality is much greater than this.' and I was sold. He went on to tell me about being immortal, though he never used the term vampire, and he failed to mention that I'd have to feed off of human blood. I too hastily agreed with the deal, my humanity for immortality, and he turned me that night. I didn't realize until it was too late that I had to leave my family. About 6 years later, people started making comments about how I seemed to quit aging and how young I still looked, even though I was 27, I was still 21."
"What year were you born?" I asked, realizing that Michael and Phil had to be very close in age.
"1914. I joined the KKK in 1935, and that faded out around 1944. So I was roughly in the Klan for 9 years." That made Phil only 6 years younger than Michael. "But anyway, once the rumors of witching and all that went around, I had to leave my family behind. I told them I was going to travel the world, and that they couldn't stop me, though they tried. I packed up, told my family goodbye, and never saw them again.. Not until the next time I visited Georgia, anyway. I went back about 10 years after they died, my brother was still alive but he was getting older, obviously. I was stupid enough to go see him.
"I went around the town where I grew up, and not a lot of people noticed who I was, only the older people who remembered my face. I couldn't imagine what they thought when they realized I didn't age, or die for that matter. But long story short, I found my brother and his family, he freaked out, I told him what happened, he tried to get a priest to exorcise me, he freaked out a bit more, and I left. I never saw him after that." He seemed sad to say that, seeing as he rushed through it. It made me sad as well, I couldn't imagine doing that to people I cared about.
"That's crazy." I commented, amazed by his story.
"Yeah, well that's me though." He smiled. I decided that it would be a good day to get to know everyone else's stories.
"Hm. I love hearing about things like this." I smiled.
"Go talk to DJ about his past. And if you can get Aaron to tell you, I'll be shocked. It took him a long time to tell us. But anyway, go on!" He shooed me away, and I set off to find DJ.