Boy in the Mist (Vampire BoyxBoy)

Bottles

The next morning was so dark and dreary that Isaac had trouble waking up. His clock said it was 7:30, but for a little while he doubted that. He didn't want to get up, but he wasn't one to sleep in, either.
Slowly, Isaac sat up and slid out of bed. His thoughts quickly drifted to Raymond, then to the guys at the shop. He had to talk to them at some point, because he wanted to form a friend group as soon as possible. He didn't feel safe traveling alone in a place like this, especially not with his current attire.
Isaac had stopped by the grocery store the day before and picked up a few cheap snacks, and the only breakfast food he had gotten was some cereal. It would have to do, even though he wasn't in the mood for it. His mouth watered as he thought about home. He thought about the bacon and pancakes his mother would cook on Saturdays when he was little. That was when his father was still there; the tradition stopped shortly after he was gone.
He lazed around watching TV for who knows how long, and he glanced over at the phone multiple times. He had to keep reminding himself that he was many hours ahead of New Jersey time, and his mother would still be fast asleep. He was at a loss for what to do.
And then the doorbell rang.
Isaac stood up and made his way to the front door. The side windows were hard to see out of, but he could tell that the person outside was wearing a lot of black. Cautiously, he cracked opened the door.
"Isaac!" Raymond stood on the front porch, seemingly worried. Isaac opened the door all the way and smiled.
"Hey. What's up?"
"I hope it's not too early, but.." He leaned in. "I found something really peculiar. Everything else could be written off as pranks, but I can't explain this."
The cold air outside was welcoming to Isaac. He wanted to get out, even if he was wearing nothing but sweats and a white t-shirt. "Can you show me?" He asked.
"Yeah. That's what I wanted to do- you're not going to believe me if I just tell you." He looked Isaac up and down. "Would you like to get dressed first?"
"Nah. I'll be fine. Show me." Isaac slipped on his tennis shoes he had left by the door and stepped outside, following closely behind Raymond.
The town was quite friendly looking in the morning, with lights on in lots of buildings and many cars going down the street. They seemed to all be traveling to the same place: a church down the street that Isaac could only barely see through the fog. He bit his lip; he could only imagine what they taught in there.
Isaac suddenly saw where Raymond was taking them: the cemetery. Without even hesitating, Raymond slipped through the crack in the wall and kept walking. Isaac did the same, trying not to act as scared as he was.
"I think there's someone living in the mausoleum," Raymond said, waiting for Isaac to catch up with him. "It's a small place, but there's a rather old mattress in there. It's got a pillow and a blanket too, and they're fairly new and clean. There's a cat in there, but it might have just wandered in."
"Who the hell could be living in that? Does this place have a lot of homeless people?"
"I'm more confused as to how they got the mattress. You can't just walk into someone's house and steal a mattress, right?" A smirk grew on Raymond's face.
"Did you find something else?"
"That's the main thing I want to show you. Come on." Raymond picked up his pace, prompting Isaac to start running to keep up. He saw a small, grey building up ahead, and he quickly went ahead to see it.
It was a mausoleum, but it wasn't the kind he expected. It was small and made out of thick concrete, with a tall doorway and little designs carved in near the roof. It was ancient-looking, and there were lots of dark streaks running down it that he assumed were from the rain. It was extremely dark inside.
"Not a desirable place to live, huh?" Raymond remarked, finally catching up.
"Not at all. Wouldn't you get eaten or something?"
"I don't think there's a normal person living in here. Come look." Again, without hesitation, Raymond walked inside. Isaac stayed outside for a second, but he finally stepped in to see what the hell Raymond was doing.
Raymond was crouched down right by the doorway sorting through something. Isaac bent down beside him and saw dozens of small glass bottles with corks in the tops. They all had labels on them- some with the letter "L" and many with the letter "C". Raymond picked one up, and a dark liquid swished around inside. He held his hand out the door and looked at it in the light.
"Is that.." Isaac trailed off, afraid to say the word.
Raymond nodded. "I think it's blood," he whispered. He twisted the cork off of the lid and raised the bottle to his nose, not having any sort of reaction to the scent. When he was done, he offered it to Isaac. "Smell."
Reluctantly, Isaac smelled the bottle. The scent was extremely strong, and it smelled like rusty metal and raw meat. He quickly turned his head to stop himself from gagging. "That's blood," he muttered. "That's definitely blood."
"I'm concerned about these labels." Raymond paid no attention to the way Isaac had reacted. "Do you think the letters mean a name?"
"I would say it's an animal, but I don't know any here that start with L."
"The C makes me think either cat or coyote, but neither of those can be found here just wandering the streets. You're right, though- I don't know about L."
"Why would anyone have this? This is sick."
"If someone lives in a dark mausoleum by themselves and owns multiple bottles of blood, what do you think he'd be doing with it?"
Isaac wanted to be optimistic and suggest it was just a collection, but his subconscious wouldn't allow it. "Drinking it."
"Fuck it." Raymond twisted the cork back in and put the bottle in the pocket of his suit. "He won't notice if one's gone, right?"
"That might not be a good idea."
"What's the problem? He can't come in my house." Raymond stood up and walked out the door, closing it behind them. "I need some evidence, anyway."
"What do we do now? Go to the police?"
Raymond snickered. "They don't care enough about something like this. They'll arrest you for a false call or something."
"What do we do, then?"
"You go get dressed, then we go across town to the music shop. We need to have more people involved before we investigate."
Raymond's confidence made Isaac feel a little better about the situation, but he still had an awful feeling in his gut. He felt something crawl down his neck, but when he raised his hand to touch it there was nothing there. The wind made him think someone was breathing in his ear.
He practically sprinted towards Raymond and got so close to him that the fabric of his suit rubbed against Isaac's arm.