Legal disclaimer: not true. Fiction. Not meant to mean anything about anybody. Be old enough to read.
Author's note: another chapter, another one soon to come. Hope you like.
- Eternally Yours, part 18 -
They both were unusually quiet. Whenever JC looked in the rearview mirror, he could see them quickly turning their eyes away from him. In the end he couldn't take it anymore, and stopped the car on a quiet sideroad.
"I know what you're thinking," he began. "And no, we didn't have a fight... But something happened tonight, something that affects the two of you too. That's the reason why Joey isn't coming back with us right now, and why we have to go home in such a hurry. It's just a precaution, for your own safety."
"Then where is Joey?" Justin asked. "Did he go to see Vincenzo?"
JC nodded. "Yes."
"Vincenzo was the one that turned Joey," Justin whispered to Lance. "He's Italian too."
"I might as well start at the beginning," JC sighed. "What little I know, anyway... Justin, I know you know the prophecy about the end of things already, but I need to tell Lance about it."
The curlyheaded vampire merely nodded.
"Our whole community is built on this prophecy," JC said, letting his gaze roam over the darkness outside of the car. "It's like the Bible's jugdement day. Sort of, at least. One man will come from nowhere and his word will be law. He is the bringer of the revolution. The chosen one will bring upon the end of all of us, or a new beginning. Noone knows, it will only be revealed as the chosen one reveals himself. All that is written about him is that he will suddenly appear, taking one of the enemy as his companion..."
Justin looked sharply at him. "Oh my God, Josh..."
"Tonight a group of vampires, both elders and young ones approached us," JC went on, one hand gripping the steering wheel tightly. "One of them has the powers of visions, just as Joey has... He had seen what will be happen, what can happen...what only my Joey has the power to change..."
"He is..." Lance started. His green eyes large and glowing in the faint light. "Joey is the chosen one, the one the prophecy speaks about?"
"He is," JC said quietly. "And the revolution is already here."
"Changes do come fast," Vincenzo sighed, taking a seat on a low bench. "It's like my roses. They wither and die and then they come to life again, bringing forth even stronger flowers... You have to tell them, Gianni. The council of slayers knows about the prophecy too. Undoubtedly they have eyes and ears out, if you are already known as the chosen one, they know too."
"I will tell them tonight," Joey promised. "After that... After that I don't know what to do. I don't want this, Vincenzo. I am perfectly happy with the way things are."
"Fate doesn't ask for permission," Vincenzo told him. "Now, this elder, with the visions... You must look out for him. I have a bad feeling about him, and his followers. Next time he might decide that just warning you won't be enough. You might not get away that easily next time, child. The followers of the revolution, on the other hand...they want the mayhem, the chaos. We are more divided in this time than we ever have been. We have never been many, and we have always been a close-knit group... Maybe it's time to loosen the bonds a little..."
"Are you saying that I can refuse my role in this?" Joey asked, intriguied by the words.
"It's up to you, Gianni. You are the prophecy. It's all in your hands."
"So what's coming now?" Lance asked. "What does this mean for us now?"
"I don't really know," JC told him, pacing on the livingroom floor. "The prophecy is vague, everything is just interpretations and hints... It's so frustrating!"
"Maybe I can help," a voice said from the door, making JC spin around.
"Joey!" he breathed, crossing the floor in one step and threw himself into his boyfriend's arms. "You're home again!"
Smiling Joey hugged him tightly, whispering something in his ear. Justin and Lance sent each other a look and shared a smile.
Pulling back a little so he could look Joey in the eyes, JC reached up and cupped his face in his hands. "Honey, are you ok? You had me so worried!"
"I'm ok," Joey assured him. "And I had a long talk with Vincenzo. Now I need to talk to you three."
"I told them about the prophecy," JC said carefully. "Don't be mad at me. I thought they should know."
"I'm not mad," Joey took JC's hand and led him to the couch. "Come on, we're in for a long night... Josh, you were right, we did say no promises, but... Well, hopefully you'll understand why I haven't told you about this before."
When they were all seated, Joey placed a quick kiss on the back of JC's hand. "First of all, I'm sorry, love. I never meant for you to feel like I didn't trust you or didn't want you to know everything about me. But my past is kinda shady...which is the reason that I came here. I didn't leave Italy willingly. I had to run away."
"What?" Justin couldn't help himself.
"I'll get to that," Joey promised. "But let's take this in it's natural order." He got to his feet, needing to let go of some nervous energy. "My real name is Gianni, I chose Joey when we came here just to blend in more easily. My family home in Italy were, are, powerful and I had to make sure that they, or nobody else would find me. Vincenzo is my maker and he arranged for us to go the America. I had been a vampire for only a week before we left... But I'd had time enough to..."
The livingroom went silent.
"I better start with my family," Joey suddenly said. "I was the youngest, with two older siblings. Stephano was the oldest, the one who took over my father's duties. Then there was my sister, Janina. What happened to her, I'm not really sure of... My father was a mighty man, rich and powerful...and evil. Anyone who didn't follow his last orders were beaten. Because he was so powerful, noone dared to go against him, leaving him to do just as he pleased... I hated him from the very core of my being. And I was even named after him, to make things worse. My full name is Gianni Antonio di Fatone." Brown eyes met wide, shocked blue ones. "Do you see now, Josh, why I haven't told you this before?"
"Yes," JC stuttered. "Yes, of course... Oh my God, Joey... This is...."
"This is what?!" both Justin and Lance complained.
"What JC knows," there was a small, humourless smile on Joey's face, "is the tale of the Hidden One. The son of the slayer, who let himself be turned to the dark side. The vampire who murdered his own father, then ran away. Me."
"You killed...your father?" Lance's voice was thin, alarmed. "But..." He stopped, unable to combine what he had just heard, with the browneyed man in front of him.
"I walked in on him with my sister," Joey replied, his voice flat. "He was...forcing himself on her. I tried to pull him away from her." He accpted JC's embrace thankfully. "Even if he was close to sixty at the time, he was still stronger than I was. He nearly killed me that night. I managed to get away, to hide in the forest. That's where Vincenzo found me. I had passed out on a small field just a few hundreds yards from our house. He saved my life. And...he gave me a new life. I might have survived if he hadn't turned me the next night, but it would have taken weeks, maybe even months. And I was too hungry for revenge, I didn't want to wait. And the stories he told me...if he hadn't offered, I would have made him turn me even so."
Lance wasn't sure he liked the determination and slowburning rage in Joey's eyes, it seemed that the older man was far away in his own thoughts, all the way back to Italy, many decades ago. Justin seemed to be as shocked as the rest of them, but also mesmerized with the story. JC was the one who took it best, Lance thought, having wrapped his arms around his lover and just held on tightly.
"After a few days of getting used to my new life, I snuck out, back to my family's house. For the last time." Joey's voice was still calm and docile. "When I got there, everyone was shocked to see me, my father most of all, I think. Driven by my anger I challenged him...."
As he continued his story, Joey closed his eyes, seeing the scene play itself in his mind.
They had both been standing on top of the stairs, circling each other like rival predators, not father and son. His brother had been out of town and would hear of the event later and forever curse his younger brother's name. His sister and mother was at the base of the stairs, holding on to each other with desperate force. His sister looking terrified, his mother looking at him with fear and hope in her dark eyes.
In a dreamlike state he watched himself hit his father, pushing the older man out of balance. He watched him start to fall, watched the terror in his eyes without feeling anything else than satisfaction. The scene faded and Joey opened his eyes again.
"The fall down the stairs broke his neck. I walked past him, then out the door, never looking back."
"The man committing the ultimate crime and then seeking refuge in a new land, taking one of the enemy as his companion..." The words came back to JC as the morning crept closer outside. "No more secrets," he told himself, placing his hand against the blinders, feeling the weak heat of the first sunrays.
Joey was explaining more about the prophecy for Lance and Justin, who still were a bit shellshocked from the news. JC wondered about telling Lance about how Justin had been turned, but decided that it could wait. The younger man still flinched everytime someone even got close to the issue. And it wasn't connected to the prophecy in the same way as Joey's past was.
Remaining in front of the window, feeling the warmth against his palm grow stronger by the minute, JC thought of the revolution. The prophecy never stated what would happened in the chosen one refused his place. With a small shrug he assumed they were about to find out.
"From now on none of us leaves this house alone," Joey said, giving JC a quick smile as he sat down beside him in the couch. "There are people out there that might be dangerous. And I haven't even started on that damned slayer yet..."
"Slayer?" The word was out before Lance could stop himself. He didn't notice the look Justin gave him, and the hidden smirk.
"Yes," Joey replied. "The other vampires are afraid of that I might cause the total wipe-out of all of us, and the council is afraid that I won't cause it. That I'll somehow gather the society back to what it once was. Apparentely they sent their best slayer after me. Well, second best, after Josh, of course."
"Heeey!" JC said, making a face at Joey. "Not a slayer anymore, remember? And you like what I do to you!"
"Oh..." was Lance's only reply, biting his lip. "Damn," he thought to himself. "No more secrets... And I have one that might kill us all. What should I do now? I can't tell them about Chris, they will never allow me to see him again. And I have to see him again... But how am I going to fix that, if I can't even go out on my own?"
"Hey," Justin said, sitting down on the armrest of Lance's chair. "Don't worry, getting to go out on your own is the easiest thing in the world with those two. Neither of them can resist a sad face and a pout. Throw in some tears, and they'll let you do whatever you want. I'll help you."
"Thanks," Lance replied, giving Justin a smile. He was too occupied with finding a way to keep seeing Chris, to wonder how Justin seemed to know exactly what he was thinking about.
--- "Blessed Are The Cheese Makers" (Monthy Python's Life Of Brian.)
-Sanity Is Just A State Of Mind- http://www.envy.nu/bluekat