The Missing Boy

Chapter 31 - Never Prepared For This

"I'll tell you why."

•••••••••••

Richard always feels at home in his lab. He doesn't take the same way to work anymore. The route is longer but far more scenic and when his prosthetic leg is bugging him he switches to public transport.

His lab is quiet. Just him today. And when he picks up the vial with Axel's blood in it, he pretends that it isn't his son's. And when he extracts the venom from the blood, he pretends that his son isn't a vampire.

He thought it was smart to take a blood test in his own lab. That way he could get the blood without hassle. Richard knew without a doubt that Axel was his son the second he saw him at their front door. He could never forget his face even if he was a few years older.

He could never forget that day.

•••••••••••

"No! Don't touch him! Please! Don't take my son! He's all I have!"

••••••••••

His boss had been demanding.

"Get your ass down here right now Jacobson, we need you in the lab."

"But I'm with my son. My wife got pulled into work I can't just leave him."

"Dammit Jacobson, just bring the kid. Now get here, stat! I think we've got a breakthrough."

That word breakthrough was enough to get Richard (and his reluctant 13 year old son) running to the car.

Breakthrough. They were on the brink of it. The uses for the venom were infinite and Richard was eager to be the one to come up with the best use. To cure all disease. To cure every cancer. And when Richard got too curious he discovered the venom could do something else. It could cure old age. This discovery he kept to himself.

Richard had been hesitant to believe it. When his boss told him that vampires were real, it was hard to comprehend. Science didn't allow for it. But when he saw the private security footage of a young woman being bitten and a man run away with fangs, he had to.

They were disgusting creatures, vampires. They fed off humans, lived off of them. Even Richard, a scientist, couldn't figure out if they were really dead or alive. Undead? He had suggested but it was too hard to define.

The girl who was bitten was secretly brought into the lab. She had died. And when they found an unknown substance flowing through her system they were curious. It turned out to be the venom, it's properties unlike anything they've ever seen. They wanted more of it.

It was a very difficult process to harbour all the venom that they had in the lab. First they had to find a vampire, and then extract the venom out of them. It was more painful than it sounded. It was torture. And one of the limited ways of killing a vampire.

Their team was small, secretive, Richard's boss and a couple other scientists. They were all recruits, scouted, the best people for the job. How Richard loved his job. There was a promise of great things, he hadn't realised the promise came with bad things too.

•••••••••

It had happened fast. In the blink of an eye. One second Richard was cruising down an empty road with his son playing on his phone in the backseat, the next his car had spun, laying on its side on said road. Shattered glass covered the ground around Richard's head like a halo. He could feel the bent metal of the car hood squeezing painfully at his right leg. It was unbearable. But Richard had to force himself to forget about the pain and remember his son. The 13 year old boy he was never prepared for laying motionless on the middle of the road.

Richard fought his way through the pain, climbed out the car but with the current condition his right leg was in, he could barely crawl to his son. He could tell from the odd angle and the searing pain that his knee was broken. He screamed for help and when he thought all hope was lost, a man emerged from behind the wreckage with a new car at the scene.

He was surprised by the smile on his face.

•••••••••

"Elias."

"Richard." The two men greeted each other.

"I didn't arrange this meeting because I wanted to kill you. There's no point hiding the gun, I can smell the gunpowder. You must have been practicing your aim, the smell is on your fingertips too."

Richard looked away embarrassed. He knew vampires had heightened abilities. It was stupid of him to think he could hide something from the vampire.

"A gun wouldn't kill me, Richard. Nothing could." Elias laughed. It was a lie though. There are ways for vampires to die. Elias knew this. And Richard, he knew this to.

"I've organised this rendezvous as a warning. I know what you're doing in that lab and it won't work. Immortality is meant for vampires only. Abandon your foolish dreams because you will not succeed."

"Why is that?" Richard spoke. "This 'rendezvous' as you called it, is proof enough that I'm on the verge of something. It's proof that you're scared. The fact is I am succeeding and that scares you doesn't it? Your fear will only motivate me more."

"I shouldn't be the one who's scared, Richard." That's when Elias left, he walked back into the darkness like a ghost.

Fear makes you more careful. Richard wasn't. He was reckless and messy. He didn't stop. He didn't pay a second thought to Elias' threats. Perhaps if he did Elias wouldn't have arranged the crash. Perhaps Elias wouldn't have gotten one of his men to wait by the side of the road for Richard's car. Perhaps Elias wouldn't have ordered the other vampire to crash into Richard's car in an attempt to kill him but end up unintentionally killing his son instead. The 13 year old boy Elias was never prepared for. The 13 year old boy he took, turned and loved.

•••••••••••
A/N

Hopefully you got all the different time jumps.

If you have questions please ask. Or just comment for the sake of commenting.