If Only

We will teach you how to make boys next door out of assholes Fall Out Boy

-

It turned out that Jon's friend, Tom, called halfway through our journey. I caught parts of it, mentions of the name Adam, and not good. So, Jon had to leave to help, but he had given me very detailed instructions on how to get to his other friend, Joe's house.

However, Joe wasn't home.

"He's not here?" I asked the man at the door. He was squinting through framed glasses and peaking out behind a baseball hat that was pulled over his eyes. "This waiter at a diner, Jon, he said to come here."

The man scratched the back of his neck, and questioned, "Jon sent you?"

"Yeah," I replied. "I have this...big problem, like... I just ran away from William Beckett's house and Jon suggested I find Joe, to eventually find Pete."

The man's eyes went wide, and he grabbed my arm and quickly pulled me into the house. He then checked the street before shutting and locking the front door.

"Um..."

He gave me a small smile, and said, "You've came to the right place." He added, "I'm Patrick.

"Hi," I said. "I'm Leah."

He gave me a quick grin and motioned me to follow him through the house. We walked into a small living with two couches across from each other. Blankets and pillows were haphazardly thrown across both, and in the middle of the room a coffee table was cluttered with newspaper clippings and old books. Next we walked into a kitchen, which was a huge mess. Mismatched bar stools surrounded an island counter that had gadgets of all sorts on its surface. A blender was knocked on its side, red goop leaking out of the top. Pizza boxes and cartons of milk took up the rest of the space, and it smelled like nail polish.

"Excuse the mess," Patrick mentioned. "I've had an intervention with this project I have been working on.” He pulled out a bar stool and motioned for me to sit. He took his own seat, and pulled a notebook and pen out of the clutter. "So, you mentioned William Beckett."

I sat down, and clasped my hands together. He seemed fairly relaxed for me being some stranger. I assumed the name William Beckett had to be explanation enough. "Yeah. I...don't remember much besides that William had kidnapped me, and earlier this night I ran away."

Patrick jotted a few things down and asked, "Any time frame?"

"Not exactly no, but if it helps I was there before the fire that destroyed his place. A couple days maybe."

Patrick's eyes light up. "Oh that helps tons!"

"Good," I said. I picked at my nails, honestly curious with just about everything. My mind was spinning in every direction. How did all these people link together? How did Jon know Joe, who happened to know Pete, but Patrick apparently knew all of them? And who was Adam? Jon mentioned he was an old friend of William’s, but Will never mentioned the guy. I couldn’t wrap my head around it. "Okay, well can I ask you a couple questions? I'm not sure if I should just assume that you know Joe..."

Patrick blushed a deep red and apologized, "Oh, holy smokes! Sorry I totally forgot! I get so excited about this stuff, and usually get lost in my work. Well, right. So Jon is a friend of ours, through a mutual friend. That's not really important, but basically Jon knows Joe. And Joe, myself included, Andy and Pete are the Hunters."

"Jon mentioned 'Pete and the guys.'" I didn't add that William and Brendon had mentioned the Hunters, too. Jon made the Hunters out to be these great people, and he practically cringed at the thought of Brendon and William. Yeah, William was an asshole and Brendon was beyond crazy, but I didn’t think they were that bad.

"Good," Patrick smiled. "Basically we are working to keep the humans of Chicago safe from all the vampire clans. Hence that great fire. If we would have know you were in the building we probably wouldn't have set it off, sorry."

I took a deep breath. This was the guy who helped set William's old manor on fire? He looked too innocent to be involved in something like that. Nonetheless, I shook the thought from my head. "Nothing you can do now."

Patrick put his pen down. "Well I think we can both assume Beckett and his crew will be out looking for you. You'll have to stay until we can settle this. And, to clear the thing with Joe up, he and Andy and Pete are out scouting the town. They'll be back before sunrise. Sorry, I forgot to explain that earlier. My brain is scattered with this project I have..."

“You mentioned earlier,” I reminded him.

He sighed, exclaiming, “See! I can barely keep my thoughts straight. Part of it is because this project is really a time consuming thing. I’ve been working on it for months now.” Patrick paused, and then said, “And you probably aren’t that interested, so. For now, do you want anything to eat? Drink? William has a reputation for not being so concerned with the needs of others.”

I bit back my remark, my need to tell him otherwise. All these rumors and stories that I’ve heard from my brother, from everyone else, weren’t really true. William really was like Howl, only giving off that scary impression to keep himself safe. All you needed to do was just give him a chance.