Cold Was The Ground

[skeggsismad]

The ride was more violent than he’d anticipated it would be. Perhaps violent was the wrong word for it, but Ransom couldn’t find any other word to describe how it felt to be in a car with a driver who was obviously going over the speed limit without regards. People didn’t buy fancy cars just to cruise down streets though, he reasoned. Really he was just grateful that he’d be at his apartment sooner than later and out of this awkward situation.

When they arrived, Ransom expected it would be a ‘drop off, bye, see you never’ sort of thing. But Tom asked him exactly where he lived now and he got the impression that he wasn’t going to be allowed to weasel off. He didn’t to come off as rude, either, considering gas was expensive and these men had just spent money to make sure he at his home for the sake of safety. Ransom doubted that was the only motivation, but he couldn’t possibly know what exactly the other motivation was.

“Uh…I live on the second floor,” Ransom said, pointing out the window to his apartment building and of course to the second level. It wasn’t the slummy area of the Inner City but it wasn’t an extravagant part, either, but rather a happy medium between the two. Without his recently jailed roommate’s steady contribution to the rent, he never could have afforded it.

“I um…thanks for the ride, then,” He said as he began to open the car door. He did so slowly, uncertain how this all was going to work. He was almost certain Tom’s intent was to walk him to the door and Ransom crossed his fingers that the opposite would be the case.

[Annalas]

It was strange to be back in this area, knowing that just a few streets away, his brother was probably already in bed asleep. He almost asked Georg if they could swing by real quick, just so he could peak in, but he didn’t. It had been too long, now, to mend things between them, and the only thing he could see happening now was his brother dragging him back into that circle of hell where he was taking care of him constantly. Georg was absolutely right…Bill needed to learn to stand on his own two feet.

“I’ll walk you to the door,” Tom offered as Eric started to leave, pulling himself from his thoughts. In this part of town, getting inside of the building didn’t exactly mean safety, as he well knew. Georg knew that, too, though he didn’t exactly have to worry about people mugging him.

The vampire turned off the car, getting out of the vehicle as well. Safety in numbers; he hadn’t let Tom walk from the car to his apartment when he had lived down here, and he wasn’t about to, now. Of course, Tom could have been exaggerating the amount of crime in his mind, but considering the fact he had nearly gotten shanked on the way back to his apartment a few years ago, he wasn’t willing to take any chances.

[skeggsismad]

Ransom pulled himself from the car and began walking towards his apartment building. He’d heard that Georg and Tom, as he’d assumed, were going to walk him up there; all he did was nod in response. He hadn’t wanted them anywhere near where he lived in the first place, and now they were going to walk him up to see his exact room number? This was awful. Truly awful.

He climbed one flight of stairs and approached the door to the right, taking out a key and pressing it into the door. He wanted the two men to go away now, but he felt like that was unreasonable. You couldn’t just let someone take you home and walk you to the door, as if you were in some old fashioned black and white movie, without being hospitable when they arrived and offering them tea or something.

Perhaps Georg could smell the stench of death emitting from Ransom’s apartment, even without the door open. What with his supernatural smell he’d be able to realize it was true death and not vampire- something had died here quite recently, and it was likely human. But for normal noses like Ransom and Tom, such a fresh death would take several days to actual be able to smell.

After unlocking his door, Ransom held it open a bit and looked over his should to Georg and Tom.

“Um…I…you guys should come in and um…have a cup of tea before you go. Just…just because you helped me, and everything,”

He didn’t want them to come in but he felt like it would be rude if he didn’t offer. To make the offer more appeasing he opened the door to the two men, exposing his slightly messy flat, waiting expectantly for them to accept or decline the offer.

[Annalas]

Georg's nose twitched as they neared the apartment, the pungent scent of a fresh kill pervading his nostrils. It made all sorts of warning bells go off in his head, scenarios popping up instantly. Eric didn't seem to mind the smell, though perhaps he couldn't smell it just yet--the kill was still fresh. Perhaps he didn't know that there was death in the apartment and was about to get a nasty surprise. Perhaps the nasty surprise would be on them, and Eric was actually a serial killer attempting to seduce them inside and then kill them. Lucky for them, Georg was confident that he could handle a human, and there didn't seem to be any other signs of life in the apartment.

"Okay," Tom freely agreed, completely oblivious to the stench or to Georg's growing unease. He glanced up at the vampire quickly. "Just for a few minutes, and then we'll go."

He wasn't sure if he was telling Georg or asking his permission, but he could tell that tea was the last thing on Georg's mind, and probably not just because he didn't ever fancy a cup, either. That stoic look was back on his face, the look that meant that he was thinking hard or worried about something. Tom glanced down the hallway, but it appeared to be rather deserted. So why was his lover so worried? Perhaps simply the situation of going into a stranger's apartment for tea.

It was only good manners to accept, though, really, and how awkward would it be declining now that they had walked all the way up here? Besides, he was confident that Georg could take Eric, and if there was someone (or something) else in the apartment, Georg would know with his magical vampire powers and simply not let Tom enter.

Well, he referred to them as magical vampire powers, at least, when in reality he knew that they were just advanced senses with a bit of speed. Georg could barely use telepathy at all, and only then with great effort. He told Tom time and again that it just wasn't worth the effort, truly. He spent far more time trying to protect his own mind from being read rather than reading other people's minds.

With his boyfriend close behind him, he entered the apartment, a sweet smell in the air. He didn't know what it was, though, and it was barely a faint whiff, so he dismissed it from his mind immediately, not even realizing he had smelled it in the first place.

[skeggsismad]

He shut the door behind Georg and Tom gently and proceeded to the kitchen, which was to the right of the front door. The living room was to the left of the front door and both rooms were openly connected rather than being separated by walls and doors.

“Um…have a seat,” Ransom offered as he looked at the two from the kitchen area, waving his hand to the couch.

It was then that he saw there was something covering the couch which would have made it impossible for the two to sit down. It hadn’t been covered when he’d left the apartment, but Ransom had noticed lots of strange things happened in his apartment when he wasn’t gone due to the fact that a billion people had keys to his apartment, a billion people that were Lance’s friends, not his.

“Wait…uh..hold on, I’ll get that.” Ransom commented and rushed to the couch, trying to move what looked to be a clump of clothes. It was only when he leaned in closer that he realized the clump of clothes had hair coming out of a hat and that in fact, the ‘cover’ on his couch seemed to be a sleeping person.

Ransom jumped back as fast he could, looking as startled as ever. He didn’t know what to do. Here he was with two guests and there was a stranger sleeping on his couch that could wake up at any moment. He didn’t want the two strangers to leave now because he had no idea who the man was and what he’d do when he woke up. His face was even pressed against the opposite side of the couch so that Ransom couldn’t see who he was, but he was sure that he didn’t know him. The most important detail of all that he was missing, of course, was that the man wasn’t exactly sleeping.

[Annalas]

Tom took the time to look around the apartment, noting that everything, though a bit messy, was of fairly decent quality. It certainly didn't look as if it had been pulled from a dumpster, as he had feared. It looked surprisingly normal; he figured it would have looked a bit more shabby, if Eric's only income was the paintings he did--especially if he didn't get paid for them.

Looking around as he was and slightly behind Georg, he didn't catch the fact that anything was wrong immediately. His lover, however, wasn't so lucky.

The couch was the first thing Georg saw, perhaps because the smell was coming from that area of the room the most. He, personally, had no intention of going anywhere near it, especially since the smell was already beginning to make him lightheaded. Well he wasn't sure, exactly, if it were the smell that was making him lightheaded or the fact that there was a dead body on the couch and no one had seemed to notice it yet.

While Georg was a vampire, true enough, there were things that severely freaked him out, and dead bodies was one of them--most likely the reason he had never desired to make another of his kind. The phobia had stayed with him since he was human, back when he had been in Vietnam. There had been lots of dead bodies there, too, and even more in the army hospital he had ended up in back in the States. That fear had made him desert the army, traveling across the country, only to get bitten by a vampire and die himself, so to speak. And now there was a dead body on the couch.

Eric looked sincerely surprised to find a body on his couch, though Georg wasn't sure if he was more surprised to find a body or more surprised to find a dead body. His  hand reached out for Tom as he moved almost instinctively in front of his lover, shielding his view even more.

"We should go," was all he said, a strange tone in his voice that revealed his fear and surprise. He didn't know what was going on, but he didn't want any part of it.

"What?" Tom asked, only now noticing the freaked out look on Eric's face and the way Georg stood in front of him, between him and Eric. What was happening?

[skeggsismad]

Ransom looked at Tom and Georg and then back to the couch. He was surprised when Georg said that they should leave and even moreso scared at the idea that pretty soon he was going to be left alone in his own apartment with a complete stranger.

“I….um…”

Ransom stuttered, though he wasn’t sure what to say.

“I don’t…I don’t know who that is,” He admitted in a faint voice, taking steps backwards so that he was as far away from the body as possible.

No, he didn’t want Tom and Georg to leave, but what was he going to do, beg them to stay? Even if they did stay, what could they possibly do about the stranger sleeping on his couch? They couldn’t call the police. Ransom knew  what Walter would think if he called the police. In fact, calling Walter was probably the best thing to do now, but he didn’t want to do it now and risk his visitors leaving him. If there was any way he could convince them to stay…if there was just a way…

“Please…uhm…I can’t…I don’t know who that is and I…” He tried to get the words out ‘don’t leave m here alone’, but he simply couldn’t manage it. He knew to ask something like that was way too much. Georg and Tom had the right to leave. This was his problem, not theirs.

[Annalas]

Oh, no. Georg knew exactly where this was going. Exactly. He hadn't been around Tom and his brother for two years only to not know exactly what was going to happen. Tom and his fucking strays. Well, to be fair, Eric was the first one that there had been a problem. Up until now, every one of Tom's pet projects had been a simple distraction that they had taken home and let be, and then Tom had been happy. Now, though, they were in an apartment with a stranger and a dead body, and he just knew what Tom would want to do with that.

"He is not coming home with us," Georg spoke up before Tom could open his mouth.

Poor Tom was still so very, very confused. He couldn't see around Georg, and all he knew was that Eric was freaking out and his boyfriend wanted to get out…and apparently Georg thought he would want to invite Eric home? Confusing, indeed.

He shifted away from Georg slightly, enough to see around him. There appeared to be someone sleeping on the couch, and poor Eric was beside himself. It wasn't unheard of for a hobo to break into these types of apartments for a place to crash, especially if they thought they were abandoned. He didn't personally see how anyone would think this apartment abandoned, though.

"We can't just leave him with a strange hobo in his apartment," Tom protested, frowning at his lover. He wasn't quite getting the whole 'dead man in the apartment' thing, though that would have made him even more determined to get Eric out.

"He's not coming home with us," Georg repeated firmly, finally moving out of the way--and a bit farther away from the body. "People don't just show up with dead bodies in their apartments. Whatever this is, we're not getting involved."

Tom blanched. "He's dead?!"

[skeggsismad]

Ransom’s eyes widened at the conversation, getting more and more panicked by the minute. The last line, however, disturbed him the most. Dead?

“No he…he’s asleep,” Ransom insisted, looking at the person on the couch and then back to Georg.

“He…why do you think he’s…um…dead?” Ransom asked. He wasn’t about to go check the guy’s pulse and also, a part of the conversation was to try to keep Georg and Tom from leaving. If there really was a dead body on his couch then the fact that two strangers now knew that wasn’t good. What if they tried to blackmail him later with the information? What if they went to the police? He couldn’t let them leave and go to the police.

“Wait…no, you can’t go. Um…you…I can’t go to the police and you just…you can’t tell anybody,” He felt like he was already saying too much, but he was frantic due to being out of control of the situation. Quickly Ransom ran for the front door, pressing himself in front of it defensively. It was the only safe way out of the apartment- he didn’t have a fire escape leading from the windows and he was on the second story, so they could try to jump, but any human might be injured by such a fall.

“I don’t know what happened…I promise I…my roommate he lets people have keys and someone must have just showed up and…you have to…you have to believe me.”

Yes, he needed to call Walter. Walter would know what to do, he would know what to say to keep him from getting in trouble and keep these people from telling. But how did he know they wouldn’t just push him out of the way from the door and leave? He was hoping they’d agree to stay until he figured out what to do about everything. If they didn’t…then he had another thing to worry about.

[Annalas]

The look on Georg's face said it all. He knew a dead body when he saw one, and Tom trusted that. What he didn't trust was Eric trying to stop them from leaving. And from the look on Georg's face, he wasn't amused, either.

Despite that, though, despite the fact that there was a dead body on the couch and they were in the inner city block, Tom felt for the guy, he did. Trust him as far as he could throw him? Definitely not. But he did believe that he didn't do it. Why would he have invited them inside with a dead body on the couch? Even if he had planned to kill them, it was two to one and he had to know that. And no one could act that surprised…he hadn't even known the body was dead!

"Your roommate just lets people have keys?" he asked skeptically. "In this part of town?"

Actually, that did fit the quota, didn't it? It was a shady part of town, after all. He sighed, looking over at Georg. His lover looked less than thrilled to be somewhat trapped in the same room as a dead body, with some puny human standing up against the door. Tom had a feeling that he would rectify that fairly soon.

"Go get your stuff, we'll wait," he sighed, nodding towards the rest of the apartment. Before the kid could even move, Georg spoke up.

"What part of 'we are not taking him home with us' don't you get?"

"We won't," Tom agreed, reaching over to take the vampire's hand. "But he can't stay here. We'll find a place for him to stay that isn't with us, honest. Just…come on, just look at him, Georg. We can't leave him here."

The older vampire harrumphed, clearly not happy about it. He was getting hungry, Tom could tell, which meant that he was getting a bit grouchy, too. Sunrise was a few hours off, still, so Tom figured they had time to figure something out.

"You and your fucking strays," Georg griped. Tom knew that was as close as he'd get to agreeing.

[skeggsismad]

“He…he had a lot of friends,” Ransom said with a shrug, before he realized that he’d said had as if he was dead or something. He didn’t want them to think that he was some murderer, that he’d killed his roommate and now he had another dead guy on his couch. He was still suspicious of them, too. How could Georg know that the man wasn’t just sleeping but that he was actually dead? The man had never explained.

 Here he had a gangster looking fellow and rocker kind of guy standing in his apartment saying there was a dead guy on his couch but not explaining why. Maybe they were the friends of Lance that had placed the body here in the first place! Ransom knew that he was letting his thinking get away from him, though. He just wasn’t thinking straight because of all of the adrenaline that was coursing through his body.

He considered getting his things to pack up and go- probably the valuables like his painting art supplies and such- but then he worried that if he stepped away from the door that they would use the opportunity to rush out on him and leave him here alone with the dead/sleeping man, whichever it was.

“I…I can’t because, if you guys leave then…that wouldn’t be good. Um…I have a friend, Walter, and he’ll know what to do. But…if I come with you...if I go to get my things…how do I know you guys won’t leave? Because you can’t…I mean…you can’t leave until I uh, talk to Walter.”

He voiced his real opinions, reaching his hand into his pocket to grip his phone. Maybe they’d give him permission to call Walter now and he’d walk them step by step through what needed to be done. He was sure the man wouldn’t appreciate him calling so late, but he had no choice given the circumstances.   

[Annalas]

Georg was just about fed up with the measly human that was trying to block their path. He didn’t know why there was a dead body here and it certainly didn’t appear as if the human had killed him, but all the same, he suspected foul play. Worse, he wasn’t sure if other supernatural beings were involved, and he didn’t intend to find out. Before Tom could so much as try to calm the other human down, Georg moved.

He wasn’t the best at celerity, but to a human eye, it was merely the space of a blink before he was before Eric, reaching out to easily pick him up and move him away from the door. He was sure that Eric was surprised at not only his sudden appearance, but also his easy strength, something that he didn’t reveal to many humans. But really, he figured that this was the best way to get it through Eric’s head that they needed to go, and he could call his precious Walter later.

“Get you stuff, come with us, and you can call him on the way,” Georg ordered shortly, taking Eric’s former position in front of the door, arms crossed. “We’re leaving in two minutes.”

“Georg,” Tom stepped forward, frowning now. He obviously didn’t approve of the vampire’s brash methods.

“Tom,” he countered, looking at his lover. “We need to get out of here before someone else shows up. Two minutes.”

[skeggsismad]

As he was moved, Ransom’s mind flashed to the same events happening earlier that evening. Well, they hadn’t been quite the same; this time he’d been physically picked up and moved as if he was light as a feather, whereas last time it had only been the suddenly speed of Georg. How could someone move so fast? It make it seem like Georg was teleporting or something. Since Ransom couldn’t explain it, he could only assume he was imagining things or exaggerating inside of his head how fast Georg really was. It might have seemed like he ‘flashed’ places, but maybe he was just super-fast at running, like marathon athlete or something.

Now that he was away from the door he thought surely that the two men were going to leave and then he’d have problems. Walter wouldn’t be able to help him if they did call the police…there would be much bigger problems if that were to happen. But instead, Georg demanded he get his things. It was strange being ordered around like that and for a moment Ransom considered what would happen if he refused. But what was the point? He didn’t want them leaving and he didn’t want to be here in this apartment with a dead body, so if they were willing to leave with him even if Georg was ordering him to do it, he decided it was just as well.

Given two minutes and nothing more, Ransom scrambled through his apartment. He didn’t need much. He grabbed a clean pair of clothes, extra asthma medication, his cellphone charger and his knapsack with some art supplies and he was back in the living room, peering at Georg and Tom. He could feel a blush coming on. It was embarrassing to have someone else dealing with his problems now, two men he didn’t even know, simply because they’d been nice and walked him to his apartment. He felt immensely guilty even though he couldn’t have known this was going to happen. Ransom’s gaze dropped to the ground as he waited, not consciously realizing the reason he didn’t want to make eye contact was because he was ashamed. 

[Annalas]

Georg watched Ransom get his things, in the meantime drawing Tom close to him to speak into his ear. He didn't care for the young man, but it did seem a bit rude--and even a bit shady--to leave him here alone with a dead body.

"I wasn't lying when I said I didn't want him coming home with us," the vampire spoke quietly into Tom's ear. "But you're right, we can't leave him here. We'll take him for a ride, let him call whoever, then drop him off and be on our way. But it's getting late and we don't have a ton of time to do this, Tom. You understand, right?"

Tom nodded, leaning back against his lover as they waited for Eric to finish packing. His eyes drifted over to the body on the couch, a shudder coursing through his body. He was in a room with a dead body. He knew that Georg was just as affected as him, though it seemed silly for a vampire to have this sort of phobia, to him. Finally, Eric was in front of them and ready to go.

"You ready?" he asked redundantly, Georg already moving away to open the door and beckon them out. The vampire obviously couldn't wait to get out of there, and Tom didn't blame him at all.

[skeggsismad]

When the two began whispering, Ransom politely looked away. He didn’t want to pry into their business and too, if they were whispering horrible things about him he’d just rather not hear them.

“Um, yeah,” Ransom responded at the question if he was ready to go. He wasn’t sure that he should actually be going with them, but they’d said he could make a phone call to Walter in the car and that was good enough for him.

He followed the two out of the apartment and locked the front door before proceeding wherever the two men were going to go.


Continued Here.