The Keyes To Unlife {Jesse Fforde}

[Rhett Keyes]

Jesse was answering all his questions and replying to Rhett's statements as best as he could. While he did this, Rhett attempted to take another drink of the blood, but couldn't stomach it for now. Maybe, in a night or two, when he came to realize that this was the only thing he could eat, Rhett would be able to wrap his head around it. Maybe. He hoped so. Jesse made it sound bad-really bad, if Rhett couldn't drink the stuff.

This was a lot to take it. Rift, spirituality, death, time frame and other things made the guy push away from the counter he was leaned against and shift around the room to a new location. Near a window, so he could lean against the frame there. He was still tired, but overall, felt as if he hadn't almost been killed by the guy who he thought he knew. Time changes everything-but Rhett never suspected being a vampire was one of those things that would make Jesse different from the guy he once was. It sounded insane, right?

"So now what? Stay in the city. Check. Drink blood." Rhett didn't vocalize check on that, eyes dropping to the mug. "Be secretive. How secretive? Probably stop going to Easter and Christmas dinners, eh?" Rhett chuckled sourly, not at all bitter about what Jesse had done, just trying to imagine a life of blowing the rare family traditions off. "Can I stay here? Or do I have to get a coffin, or find refuge during the day in some dirt?" Rhett brought the mug to his mouth and forced another mouthful down before making a displeased and disgusted noise. "I don't really bother the neighbors, or they me-so I don't see any reason why I can't stay here..." He trailed off as his eyes wandered around the length of the kitchen, thinking about all the things in it that were now useless.

[Jesse Fforde]

Jesse’s eyes scoured the small apartment. He knew what he wanted to do. He wanted to take Rhett home with him, show him where the family gathered. Give him a room and tell him he never had to return to this apartment ever again. Although Jesse felt better, having sired, he knew how deluded he could be; how insane the thought that he could gather all his progeny and keep them all in one place. He shrugged his shoulders.

”Yes, you can stay where you want, but keep the heavy curtains on the windows. The sun isn’t good for you - it’ll burn you to a crisp. But - there’s a family home. Family… well, flimsy term really, but we call it a lair. I’ve made you a tome. A tome is… well you read it, and it’ll instantly take you there, no matter where you are or what you’re doing,” he said, clicking his fingers. The tomes were a handy little tool, and he’d never regret focusing his skills on rituals. He enjoyed them, even if there weren’t too many calls to use them. The tomes, though, were a thing he’d not do without.

”Basically, we’re back in each other’s lives now, Rhett. For better or for worse,” he said with a grin. He couldn’t say that he regretted that too much, either. It would be nice to have an old friend around; someone from his past that he at least knew; that he thought he might be able to trust to not screw him over. It would be lovely. Jesse stood, shoving his hands in his pockets as he slowly paced the small apartment. He nodded toward the bedroom.

”I left you some weapons with the tome. There’s a lot about this city you might not be aware of, but you should be armed. Whether for offence or defence, it’s a good idea regardless,” he said.

”I can show you some things tonight, or we can wait until tomorrow. But I’ll do what I can to tell you everything you need to know,” he said. Rhett was awake - it made him restless. Eager, to tell him everything. To show him everything.

[Rhett Keyes]

Rhett could stay anywhere as long as he was careful. As long as he paid attention to how things were different now. How things would always be different. At the mention of a tome, Rhett's eyes wandered in search of this tome. And weapons. "I uhm." Rhett looked back at Jesse and then chuckled nervously. "Weapons? Guns or something different?" Rhett rubbed at the back of his neck before looking around again.

"I've never shot a gun. Or really done much on the whole defending myself thing. People generally tend to leave me alone." Rhett was in pretty good shape and a lot taller than most women, and semi-taller than most guys. "I don't really go anywhere but work-" And that was when he realized that he was supposed to go to day shift soon. But wouldn't be able to. Not when Jesse said the sun would burn his skin. "So about work..." Rhett hinted subtly, before continuing that train of thought. "Guess that's a no go too, huh?" He chuckled softly before sighing.

"Yeah. Let's talk more about some other stuff tomorrow. This is kind of bogging be down. So, stay away from the sun. Drink this stuff-" Rhett lifted the mug to show what stuff he meant. "Be careful in the things I do. Zombies in the Qz. I have a tome that takes me to a lair and you've given me some weapons." Rhett put the mug of blood down and looked at Jesse. "That about sum it up for night one's lessons?" He wasn't being a dick-in fact, he was grinning as Rhett said all that stuff, but it was just how it came out for the guy.

[Jesse Fforde]

”Yeah,” Jesse snorted. ”That about sums it up. For now,” he said. He didn’t think Rhett was being a dick – and even if he was, it was probably a well-deserved reaction. Even Jesse had taken time to adjust. Some things had come as a shock to the tattoo artist, regardless of the fact that he had asked to become what he had become. He had asked for it without any awareness of what lay ahead of him. Some things had come as a nasty shock, but most things had delighted. The point being, however, that Jesse was ready for however Rhett chose to understand and deal with his new state of affairs.

Jesse also understood that it was his obligation and responsibility to teach his progeny all that they needed to know. Not only for their own comfort and security, but for the sake of the masquerade. It was something that needed to be kept, at all costs. That was the belief that Jesse still clung to. Overwhelming Rhett with everything in a single night would not achieve anything. Too much information in too short a time would be detrimental. Key facts could be forgotten. Jesse had to be careful to drill the important points home.

But, that could wait until the next night.

He stood, and rolled his shoulders. He glanced around this small apartment that had become so familiar over the past week. It struck him, that this could be an important turning point in his life. This man who’d played such an important role in Jesse’s past was now back. To what end? Would he remain as influential as he had been, or had Jesse changed too much? Had he become too much his own man to be influenced by anyone else? He certainly seemed to burn a lot of bridges.

”I can leave you to your own devices for a while… if you want some time to let it all sink in,” Jesse said, finally turning his eyes back to Rhett. ”Or you can come with me. To the lair. I can give you a tour…” he said. Either way, he’d see Rhett the next night. He would make sure that his friend and his newest progeny knew whatever he needed to, to be on the same page as his sire.

[Rhett Keyes]

Rhett heard the snort, but let it go. He knew that if Jesse wanted to say something to him about how Rhett summarized things, he would. Rhett knew enough about Jesse, or at least who Jesse was before they went their own ways to know he's not the type to not come out and say what was on his mind.

There was an offer for Rhett to stay here tonight, or to go to a place known as a lair...Why wasn't it just called a home? If that's where Jesse lived, than that was his home, right? Rhett wondered if he was going to start calling things by different names now that he was a different sort of person. Now that he was a vampire.

A hand was put on the back of his neck as Rhett thought about the two choices. He probably should go check this place out-but he also wanted a little space to take things in too. Jesse had told him a lot of things that Rhett still needed to process for the next couple nights...but since he was only going to get one half night to do that-then he was going to take the first choice.

"Swing by tomorrow. We can check out this...lair, later?" There was a hint of a question, only because Rhett still wasn't sure what this lair was or how it differed from a normal place that normal people lived in. Only, they weren't normal people anymore, were they? "If you don't mind?" He wanted to make sure that Jesse was cool with that choice and even added on to the question. "I'm just going to stay in and...check out the changes you've made. And I don't know. Just stay in." Rhett wasn't sure what else there was to do, but he wanted to assure Jesse he wasn't going to be a risk while he wasn't here at Rhett's apartment. "I'll be alright, man." He set the mug down, crossed his arms at his chest and laid his back against the surface of the sink as he assured Jesse that things would be copacetic on all fronts in his life before Jesse would leave and go do whatever it was he was needing to do now that Rhett was fine and knew some basic vampire skills.

[Jesse Fforde]

Jesse would be lying if he said he hadn’t hoped for Rhett to come with him now. There was still so much to go through, and Jesse was quite proud of what he had to offer. Maybe he wanted to show his old mentor what he had achieved; how much he had changed. He had gone from being a street brat to owning his own ‘lair’. Yes, he nodded and gave a vague wink at the slight question that Rhett had offered. Lair – A wild animal’s hiding place, especially one that is well hidden.

They may as well have been wild animals, for all the control that Jesse could exert. He himself was as wild as they came, sometimes – control was not something that he’d got a grip on just yet. Rhett had heard correctly, and he’d understand once he saw the place; an atrium out in the wilderness that stood a top two vast basement levels. It was a bunker that rivalled anything the military could create.

Jesse’s need to show off the lair wasn’t the only reason he hesitated. Even regardless of Rhett’s assurances, Jesse felt strange, leaving the man behind. It was their first night of coherent speech; the first night that Rhett was completely aware of what he had become. Jesse took in a breath, as if he were about to say something – but decided against it. He just nodded.

”Yeah. I’ll see you tomorrow night. Don’t go do anything stupid, now,” he said. He gave a small wave and a nod before heading out the door; he descended the stairs in the same way he had done for the past week. When he reached the street he took a deep breath in; checking his watch, he had a couple of hours to kill before sunrise. He would make sure he was home before the sun graced the sky, but before that – he would eat. The city was a buffet, and he was starving.

[Rhett Keyes]

Rhett wasn't sure what Jesse had all done to his apartment while Rhett was somewhere between half alive and half dead, to finally dying. It wasn't that he thought Jesse took anything, or touched stuff he shouldn't have, that had Rhett itching to see what Jesse had changed about his apartment, it was the fact, Rhett wanted to visually see how different his life was going to be.

Since he was staying in his apartment like a good boy, as Rhett had stated and sort of promised he would anyways, what else was there to do for the guy? He wasn't tired. He didn't watch a lot of television. He didn't feel like reading-unless...maybe he could go online and see what things there were about vampires and cross reference them with what he already knew and ask Jesse more things tomorrow about vampires when they got together. Maybe he would do that-in a while. Rhett also knew that he wasn't hungry. The rest of the blood in the mug was picked up and dumped down the drain, the sink turned on and Rhett splashed water everywhere, removing the droplets of blood from the sink as best as he could until Rhett went under the sink and grabbed the bleach. Rhett set the bottle in the other side of the sink, found the black, rubber stopper and placed it in the drain on the side that once had blood in it. Bleach was poured into the sink, then diluted with water, the sink cloth was made damp, and then squeezed until it just felt warm, but wasn't dripping with excess water. And he scrubbed. First, it was a light, gentle scrub, like someone polishing their car, but as Rhett kept wiping, he remembered what it was he was trying to wipe away.

Rhett dropped to his hands and knees and was digging beneath the sink again. Not just digging, but burrowing under the sink, in the cabinet below, searching for a box. A box that would make everything clean, and brand new. It would wipe everything away and the blood would be gone, in Rhett's mind; even if it was already gone. Every chemical under the sink, from floor cleaner, to glass cleaner, to extra bottles of soap for washing dishes had found its way to the floor, cast aside in various places so that he could find this one. single. *******. box. Rhett knew it was here, somewhere. And finally, he came across the small box that housed six Brillo pads, pads that were intended for cleaning pots and pans that were heavily caked in something from dinner, or breakfast, but this one...the one that Rhett just pulled from the box, the gritty feel of the bristly pad was going to be used to clean the one thing that should have never been in his apartment, most of all in his sink. Someone else's blood.

Rhett forgot about everything that was strewn about and pushed off the ground with one hand, keeping the Brillo pad safe in the other and got to work. the second the pad touched the warm, bleach tainted water, the blue on the pad started to wear and was floating in the water as Rhett started the same routine. Tiny, semi-circular strokes, that grew bigger and bigger, until Rhett pushed up the sleeve on the side of his shirt that was soaked so he could just make the back and forth rubbing motions that would better serve his purpose and meet his needs. He did this for just about an hour, until there was very little left to the pad, nothing bigger than a car key, before he drained the water and saw what his cleaning had done. Rhett had managed to not only rid the sink's interior surface of any blood that might have remained, but he also removed a fair bit of paint and now there were odd shaped scratches in the sink, much like that of a fork that had been dragged across the same surface he had performed his cleaning frenzy on.

The cup was rinsed out, repeatedly before Rhett tossed what was left of Brillo pad into the mug and tossed both the mug and the pad in the trash can. The tall male was on the floor in the kitchen once again, stacking everything neatly in front of the box he had found just an hour or so ago, then made sure both doors were closed, before he grabbed a drying towel from off the handle of his stove and dried the sink. He knelt down to the sink's counter, making sure it was level to his eye and searched the sink for any other traces of blood before Rhett nodded his head, crumpled up the towel and threw it in his laundry basket. From there, he would begin a load of laundry in the small laundry space in his apartment and then check out what Jesse had done to his apartment.

Curtains, heavier and thicker than the ones he had, were replaced with the type Jesse thought would keep the sun out. They were all drawn closed, even if it was the middle of the night-a reminder to Rhett, he imagined; to keep these closed at all times. No where did he find a coffin (not that he actually thought he would-but he had to humor himself), and other than the curtains...everything seemed to be the same. His computer was in the same place, his books, furniture...nothing seemed out of sorts in his room, or any of the rooms anyone could just walk right into. Things appeared to be normal. And that's when it hit him. The kitchen. He remembered Jesse grabbing blood from it. How much blood was in his fridge?

Quick, solid strides took Rhett right to the appliance in question, and very slowly, he pulled the door open, expecting to see food and blood, but only saw blood. "No, no. NO." Rhett groaned, as he stared at the packs of blood. Then the realization struck him. This was his life. Everything seemed normal on the surface. At a first glance. But when someone pried open the door, and took a deeper look, they wouldn't find anything normal about Rhett Keyes anymore. This was how he was going to have to survive now.