Draconic Testament (3 page)

“Oh…” Bastion said, taken aback by her boldness. “So, you wouldn’t know who’d want her dead, or what she was doing before sh
e died?”
”No.” Veronica sighed, looking back at her books. “You’re finished here. Leave.”
”Ah… I see, well, thanks… that’s all I wanted…” Bastion said. He figured he should leave, not really wanting to press for more information when he’s not wanted. Probably should’ve took Vander, he’s a lot more better at prying information from people… but before he left, he wanted to see if he could strike up conversation, knowing that it was probably a huge mistake. “Nicollo Machiavelli, huh? I'm a fan of history, though I heard it’s rather controversial.” Bastion chokes on a forced laugh. “Would you recommend it?”
”No. Wouldn’t want to overwork your brain.” Veronica says, not taking her eyes off the book.
”Well… I don’t know about that. I mean, I read a lot of books… and I have good grades in English.” Bastion said, almost offended. ”In GCSE.” Veronica interrupts. “This is sometimes used for A-level exams. Besides, grades you achieved in a mere school only rate your intelligence among the common folk.”
”I see.” Bastion says. Her archaic choice of words interested him. He thought about upping his vocabulary, but he figured that would give off a creepy impression. The room went silent again. Bastion figured he should just leave before he really pissed her off, but he decided to wait around a little longer. “So, you live round here?” He asks. Veronica looks up from the book at him again. He met her gaze, standing his ground, then, she puts down the book gently. “What is it you want from me, exactly?” Veronica hisses at him, looking angry now. “Are you some kind of pathetic, obsessive stalker? Are you looking to have your eyes ripped out?”
”Wh… What? Why would you ask me something like that?” Bastion asked, feeling threatened due to her glaring and her supernatural feeling is beginning to change, become more active, more threatening. “Oh, come now. Do you believe yourself to be subtle, staring at me constantly, during class?” Veronica hisses at him again, angry. “No, It’s not like that… you see, I-“ Bastion begins, but he gets shut down by Veronica.
”Get out.” She snaps. “I won’t tell you again.”
The next day, lunchtime. Bastion is still replaying his encounter with Veronica over and over in his head, and that supernatural feeling becoming more aggressive. It was like trauma, where you can’t stop thinking about what happened, and how it depresses you and constantly gnaws at you, not letting you concentrate on anything. It comes back to you during conversations, pulling your attention away and thrusting flashes into your head. What bothered him most was both her appearance and her words. She had some Victorian style clothing, with an odd accent, and an odd choice of vocabulary. It just didn’t fit here in the modern day out in society. Perhaps in some sort of festival, or some sort of historic grounds, but Veronica was quite obviously comfortable in that attire. Vander noticed Bastion’s lack of concentration. “Are you alright, man?” Vander asks him, worried.
”Err, yeah. Yeah, I'm just tired is all, I was up too late last night reading.” Bastion lies.
”Nerd.” Vander laughs. “I think you’ve been working too hard.”
”Yeah, perhaps.” Bastion laughs. “Exams and stuff, I suppose. It’s our last year, don't want to fail at getting into college with bad grades.”
”College ain’t shit.” Vander said. “They make out like it’s really hard to get in, and they’re going to treat you like it’s training for the military, but it’s practically highschool with a little more freedom. Whatever, you know… you should come out tonight, it will be fun.” Vander suggests.
”Where?” Bastion asks. Perhaps going out with Vander would be what he needs to get his mind off of Veronica. Nights out with him were always fun, and he’d usually get up to mischief while Bastion chided him and tried to stop him, while secretly wanting to go along with it.
”Get a load of this. We’re all going… to the beach!” Vander beams. The notion of going out with Vander instantly died in Bastion’s head.
”The beach?” Bastion frowns, unimpressed. “The hell would we go there for?”
”You must have seen it in movies, guys and girls lighting a fire and having fun, drinking beer. Girls will be there, come on! Chillax! We’re young! Let’s have some fun, before you get depressed with a crappy desk job!” Vander laughs.
”Well, firstly, I don’t care if there’s girls there, I have a girl friend. Second of all, that’s a stupid idea, sand all over the place, people getting drunk. Thirdly, people will complain and the police will be all over us like it’s a bank robbery.” Bastion says. “Sorry, just not my thing. Thanks for asking though.”
”Well, Talia’s going.” Vander says, knowing that’s going to get a reaction.
”You asked Talia to go? She accepted?” Bastion asks.
”Yeah, she’s not your slave, is she?” Vander laughs.
”Of course not, but for gods sakes! She’s going to get drunk, and guys will be there? What the hell, dude?” Bastion snaps.
”Yo, chillout, just come along. For one night, it will do you good! Socialize with more than at least 4 people a day! Besides, Talia isn’t some total dumbass, is she?” Vander says. “It’ll be fun!” Against his will, a brooding Bastion agrees, knowing that he’ll come to regret going, since its likely going to be loud and obnoxious.
Loud and obnoxious it was. Bastion and Talia was sitting within the group of drunk, loud teenagers, telling stories about how stupid the people they know are, such as their boyfriends or friends, complaining about the way they flip out at the tiniest thing, or that boys always cheat on girls. Bastion got really sick of it after the seventieth time hearing the same story. Talia was beside him, drinking everything she could get her hands on, her right arm around him. If he wasn’t there, she wouldn’t be able to maintain her balance. “Your parents are going to be mad as hell at you, you know.” Bastion whispered in Talia’s ear as the ranting teenagers continued what they do best. Talia shrugs at the gesture. She wasn’t on good terms with her parents, she hated her mother, and loved her dad, but her dad was in America. Vander was elsewhere, bragging about his name and making a girl laugh. He looked pretty sure of his chances with the girl, who was named “Leticia”. Unfortunately, the ranting went round in unofficial turns, and soon, it was Talia’s turn to begin to moan about things going wrong in her life. After talking about her mother, and school, she decided to rant about Bastion. “EVERY time this… CUNT, called Veronica walks by, Bastion figures he’ll just lock onto her skirt and track her ass everywhere until his line of sight is broken!” She rants.
”Now, that’s an exaggeration, I don’t do that at all.” He says, although she wasn’t far from the truth. “Yes you do!” Talia huffs. “You stare at her for ages!”
”I stare at YOU for ages, actually” He says, trying to snuggle her, but she doesn’t fall for it.
”No, don’t do that, face the facts!” Talia retorts. Bastion sighs, knowing that he’ll never win.
”Gotta say, you do actually do that, Bastion.” Vander says, smiling evilly at Bastion’s glare.
”Never thought you were the type!” A girl screeches at him.
”I DO NOT, stare at that archaic bitch.” Bastion shouts, getting impatient.
“Archaic?” One of the girls laughs, not understanding what that meant.
“It means old.” Another girl says, one of the more smart ones.
“She’s not old... is she?” Talia asks.
“Well... no...” Bastion says, sighing, thinking of drowning himself.
“What did you mean, eh, Bastion?” Vander asked.
“It’s nothing.” Bastion retorted.
“Sounds like you know quite a bit about her, eh?” Another of the girls said, laughing. Bastion sighs as Talia prods him with questions, shooting another glare at Vander for not having his back, but Vander’s attention was elsewhere. Bastion looks to see what caught his attention, and sighs with relief as a great distraction comes along. “Goddamnit, it’s the pigs.” Vander says. The police officer ordered them to tip their drinks, swinging around his authority at them. Of course, a few heroes decide to rebel, but are soon shut down when one of them goes too far, and gets arrested. Bastion found that hilarious, because it wasn’t worth it at all. The rest pack up and leave, as do Bastion and Talia. Talia waves goodbye to Vander, and Bastion gives a middle finger, and Vander parts ways with Bastion while holding Leticia. It was now Bastion’s duty to carry Talia home, but no way in hell was he staying any longer than that, no way was he going to get another rant. “Do you think Veronica is beautiful?” Talia says, bringing up the dead subject. Bastion curses under his teeth.
”I think a lot of women are beautiful.” Bastion sighs
”Avoiding the question? Sounding rather guilty, there.” Talia groans
”Do you think Brad Pitt is handsome?” Bastion asks.
”That’s not the same!” Talia snaps
”Erm, yes, I think it is. But, you don’t love Brad Pitt, do you?” Bastion asks, raising his eyebrow.
”No…” Talia submits.
”There, problem solved. I think many women are beautiful, but I love only one.” He says, giving her a kiss. That was the end of the debate.
Bastion carried Talia for about a mile before reaching her house. He kissed her goodbye, and left her at the doorstep, running off when he broke her line of sight as to not get involved with the screaming that would soon occur. After running a couple of blocks, out of range of the house, he stopped and leaned against a wall. He had a mild headache. He didn’t take too much alcohol, but he doesn’t do that well with even a couple of sips. That was another problem with him, alcohol. He was sort of curious of how it would feel to get drunk, and act like an asshole without caring of how you looked, but if he tried for more than a can of beer, he’d end up feeling sick to his stomach. He closes his eyes against the mild throbbing in his head, that didn’t feel normal… Then, he sees something… while his eyes are shut. A strange glowing… An outline of a person, but it’s extremely small… as if looking at someone far away. It was glowing, brightly. He opens his eyes quickly… Nobody’s in that direction, just a house, but if he closes his eyes again, he sees it. “What the?” Bastion thought to himself. Eventually, he felt the presences… The supernatural presences that were just like Veronica. He picked up another and another… until he stopped picking up anymore. About 6 of them, 2 of the presences he recognized. There was Veronica, who was currently in bed, and the Haven, which of course, was stationary as always. But the two closest were rather odd. One of them didn’t feel exactly… whole, like it was being controlled. How he knew this, he didn’t know, but the outline showed that one of the people that he was detecting had the woman, and was leading her somewhere. “Perhaps… Perhaps I am a superhero?” Bastion asked, then laughed at himself straight away. He didn’t know why this was happening, or how, but he could feel that the woman was in danger. “What should I do?” He asked himself. “What if this is just some stupid illusion?” But it didn’t feel like an illusion. If it was an Illusion, he’d end up reaching nobody, then he could just right it off as him being drunk and go home. He decided to go with it. He begins to walk off in their direction, start jogging, passing cars and streets, following the presences. He had to switch between watching where he was going with his eyes open, and closing his eyes to check the presence’s location. The presences where getting closer, the outline of the people becoming more clear, and before he knew It, he sense their presences without the use of his closed eyes, like he felt the haven and Veronica. “What the hell’s going on??” He asks himself again, but he puts it off for later. Now is the time for action, someone may be in trouble. He begins to slow down, panting, when he passes a gas station. He was very close to the presences at this point, observing as they both were facing each other, then... one disappears. This startles him, and he speeds up again, tired from the running. He was in the middle of town now. Beads of sweat ran down his face and exploded on the ground below him as he approaches his target. He’s extremely close, about a block away now… only… he was at an interior parking lot, the ones with many levels. The presences had been inside this, and one was leaving the other end. He didn’t know whether it was in a car or not, but he had to at least find out where the woman was. He entered the parking lot. The parking lot was deserted, nobody here, just a whole bunch of cars. Light from the street lights peered through the small openings, and illuminated parts of the room, heating up his skin as he passed through it… when, eventually, something caught his eye between the cars. As he passed through one of the lights, something sparkled due to the lighting effect. He stopped and took a double check. It looked like a jewel… a blue jewel. He approached it, and as he got closer, he realized what it was. It was an amulet, one shaped like a snake, with a blue jewel in it’s eye. Veronica had one like this. He walked up to it and reached for it, when he slipped forward when he stepped on a liquid, hitting his head off one of the cars the wall behind the cars. Whatever the liquid was, it was all over his legs. At first, he thought it was urine, and was disgusted… but… It wasn’t. He looked down at his shirt through his dizzy eyes… and at first he couldn’t believe it. But soon he realized. BLOOD! Bastion screamed, and flailed, and then he saw where it came from. It came from a cauterized wound in a woman’s chest and throat! The presence he felt before, it was the killer! And this was his Victim! Bastion screamed again, over and over, in shock, until he stopped and calmed down. People were running to investigate. He quickly grabbed the amulet, and stuffed it inside his sock to keep it hidden. Then he closed his eyes, and let his senses fade as he heard the horrified yells of civilians.
Chapter Two – Secrets known by few
Sebastian Slater
Bastion lies in his hospital bed, finally at peace, the only noise he can hear is the peaceful beeping of his heart rate monitor, as opposed to all the fuss about the murders. His mother, Talia and the police have all been rather frequent visitors, and while he appreciates the attention he’s getting from his mother and Talia, he would much rather just get past this concussion. Being constantly reminded about what he had seen was both disturbing and depressing to him, and he just wanted to move on. His mother was wailing, and hugging him, and fighting off police when they came to question him, telling them to “leave him alone, he’s hurt and all you want to do is interrogate him”. Talia came in, also crying from time to time, blaming herself for dragging him out in the middle of the night, although she couldn’t keep the drama up for too long. Like Bastion, her head was also in pain, although this wasn’t from a concussion, it was from a hangover. The police wanted to know if he had seen anything, how he discovered the body, if he heard anything, that sort of thing. He wasn’t actually suspected of committing the murder because a CCTV camera from a nearby shop spotted jogging towards the car park at the time of death, an airtight alibi. Soon, he was to be let out of the hospital and he could go about his daily life, one step at a time. However, this time, he had one more visitor. Another worried soul, blaming himself for what happened to Bastion. Vander. He sulked in through the door, biting his lip. “Hey.” Vander says.