"Dad, you wouldn't mind sampling this, would you?" Brittany said, her face etched etched with concern as she presented a cup of blood to Callahan who was back from her job. "I don't mind but who's it from?" Brittany hesitated before giving him the answer. "He gave you his blood with no explanation?"
Callahan pondered as the two made their way to his office. "Yes, he's rather strange. He doesn't talk that much." Callahan took off his coat and crashing into his chair. "Well this shouldn't take long, I should have it ready by dinner." Brittany gave a quick thanks before leaving, heading back to her room where another wine of blood was waiting for her.
*Gulp*
The sensation this time stronger than the last, her mind getting clearer of her surroundings and yet the room felt hazy. She fell onto her bed, losing consciousness.
. . .
"Ugh! This one is stronger than last time." However this time the addiction she had prepared herself wasn't there but now an agonizing pain claiming her gut. She felt as if her gullet was being cut by a knife, the pain leaving her speechless before it eventually subsided into a faint ache. She took a glass of water but that did nothing to soothe her despair.
'Strangely enough I don't feel that hungry or sleepy.' Her body felt lighter which disturbed her before she faced herself in the mirror. She touched her cheek which seemed to glisten, not obviously but noticed when one looked at it for too long. "Seriously is this part of the side effect?"
She was unsure of how to tell her father that she had become addicted to Andrew's blood, the pressure slowly building up inside her. 'If I play my cards right, he won't even notice.' Clearing her throat, she made her way downstairs where her father had already dug into his meal.
"You didn't bother changing?" A brow raised which made Brittany realize. "I felt a bit sleepy and just woke up is all." The sounds of cutlery cutting through meat faintly echoed on the dining table. "About the sample you wanted me to test, it seems like it's regular blood. It's rather fresh as well."
Brittany's unease however didn't subside however on the outside she flashed a small smile. "Oh, thank you." Callahan however pressed on. "Though I do have to ask, why did you want it tested?" A pause settled between the two, Callahan narrowing his eyes. "Don't tell me that you drank his blood Brittany." Callahan's was met with a nervous chuckle that seemed to confirm his suspicions.
"What if that blood was poisoned or drugged? You can't be throwing caution into the wind like that young miss." Brittany let out a disappointed sigh, Callahan losing his earlier calm now replaced with sternness. "If he gives you any more blood, do tell me, okay?" A hum echoed before the two went on with their meals.
"He did give me his number, maybe you could do some digging into it." Brittany slid Andrew's card across the cool glass table before it was caught by Callahan. "Thanks however I doubt that we could get anything useful with this if he intentionally gave you his number." Callahan already thinking that the other end would be encrypted.
With Andrew's backing still unclear, he saw the number as intrigue from his end and wishing to establish a relationship between the two. 'After all if they knew about us and wanted us gone, they could have revealed the information to the public and pinned us for the disappearances.' Callahan adjusted his glasses before rising and leaving.
"Goodnight Brittany and next time don't make such a foolish decision." Seeing Callahan put on his coat, she had already known that his work was calling. Brittany after her dinner didn't go back to sleep but rather went to the tennis court. Taking off her coat, the chill of the night that she expected wasn't there.
'Seriously what is in his blood for it to be affecting me like this?' She felt full of energy and vitality as she grabbed one of the tennis balls and launched it across the court.
*Bam*
The power of her shot surprising even her as the looked at her own hand. 'Is he perhaps some test subject and they are experimenting with me? It would seem that the world truly is a big place.' She had been born into wealth, her mother dying while giving birth to her leaving her as the only offspring of Callahan Voss. She had travelled all over the world till growing bored, her vacations anywhere their money would allow.
But of course she knew that there was more to it when it came to power. An entire world she had yet to get a taste of and now this seemed as her entry into such games. 'Well if they are watching me then I'm sure to give them a show.' Her dark chuckle audible to her alone as she kept on going with a few more shots deeper into the night before tiring.
. . .
Callahan arrived at his destination, not his place of work like Brittany had thought but a high end restaurant. The restaurant the same that Andrew had gone with Lara. The host didn't bother checking his name as she let him in. "How has the investigation gone with Andrew?" Callahan asked as he crashed onto his seat. The man seated across wearing a dark trench coat and a devilish grin. "Your case seems to be rather peculiar. Other than his notable disappearance, there's barely anything else to him."
The report eliciting a frown from Callahan. "But for what is there, his phone seems to have a huge amount of money and the police seems to have taken an interest into him as well. More so a detective called Connor." Callahan was handed a laptop which gave him the details of Andrew's messages, more so from what the police had.
"I've tried to tap into his phone but with no luck. Something that was done recently. The cops haven't had any luck with this either." Callahan had thought that it would be a private and simple but the proportion was out of his estimations. 'Even the cops are looking into him, huh?' His eyes skimming through the notable reports from Connor's work and interrogations with Andrew.
After absorbing what he needed, he pushed the laptop back to the man. "Since you're so interested with this kid, I could make you an offer. Get your own eyes on him. An ex-FBI officer who's unmatched in this field." Callahan took a long pause before taking the beige card presented to him. "Thank you." Now rising to his feet. "No, thank you." The man insisted before Callahan left the restaurant.
. . .
As for the person who was accruing unwanted eyes from the world, he was wide awake in the dead of night.
[{Andrew:End it tomorrow}]
[{Charles:A bit sooner than planned, why? I'm having a blast!}]
[{Andrew: You'll scare off some of the pieces required to run the board}]
The reply this time took longer, Andrew gazed at his screen while Kevin snored away on the bed, his legs all over the place and his sheets already on the floor.
[{Charles:Fine, have you interacted with my chip?}]
[{Andrew: She's tainted, still trying to figure out what she's experiencing}]
[{Charles: Well I'm starting to get impatient Andrew so be quick with it}]
Andrew didn't have to worry about their conversation being prodded by Connor or any other parties after Charles had encrypted his phone.
[{Charles:And try to spend some of that money, it would be waste to not spend it}]
Andrew turned off his phone and places it to the side, his gaze concentrated on Kevin before the lights that flickered outside. The world was quieter as he could hear the glare from the lights outside, out into the distance the barking of dogs and chirping of crickets. He took it all in like sponge before his beads that glimmered in the shadows landed on Kevin.
His gaze scanning him from head to toe before shifting to looking at nothing in particular, lost in thought.
. . .
"I see what you mean by being weird now." Pauline spoke to Eliot as the two watched Andrew conclude another match in crushing defeat. "Exactly, it's like he already knows what will happen next." Eliot chimed as the coach congratulated Andrew on his victory, a small audience surrounding him while he looked at nothing.
"Claire said that she can't interact with him as much so we have to do it as she's busy with martial arts lessons." Pauline still finding Claire's revelation of Andrew odd. Sure she too found him out of place but what Claire was selling to her was that Andrew wasn't human, pointing at his silence and most importantly his silence.
"Hey Andrew, you don't mind if you gave me some pointers, right?" One of the people circling him asked only to be shut down. "Don't feel to bad, he's like that. Distant and all." Another added as they saw Andrew's figure leave the auditorium. "So are we meant to keep on following him like we're stalking him or what? I have an image to uphold Eliot."
Pauline protested as they tailed Andrew from a distance. "You're known as the nosy reporter all over college, what reputation are you clutching to if not what you're doing right now?" As Andrew walked, he would receive gazes and murmurs thrown at him from the magazines Pauline had published.
"Do you actually think that he could have a hand with the disappearances?" Eliot asked out of the blue, his eyes narrowing on Andrew's back as they started to make their way to the tennis court, a place they weren't that shocked with. Andrew took his usual seat and Brittany noted, her face replaced with acknowledgement rather than scorn she would usually shoot at him before the match started.
The match didn't last long before a victor was concluded. "It would seem that you checked your flaws Brittany." The umpire mused with a smile before turning to face Brittany's opponent and pointing out her flaws. Brittany didn't waste any time on celebration and made her way to Andrew. "There's no way that those two are close, right?" Pauline murmured as she watched Andrew leave with Brittany.
"It would seem so given Brittany. If not accompanied by her posse that strokes her ego then she's usually with Adrian." Pauline however four it hard to believe, concluding that they were friends. "You have a lot of confidence for your theory Pauline. After all even if you are right, who says that they'll stay friends forever?" The pair in front made their way to the music department.
"I should be ask you that question Eliot given you haven't confessed to Claire. You're lucky that she was interested in Andrew because of such a reason because if not then tell me, what would you have done? Fight him?" Followed with her words a short answer came. "I plan to tell her by the end of the month." Eliot's response eliciting a groan from Pauline.
"Of course you would keep on procrastinating it. That's what you said last month as well. And the month prior to that." Andrew and Brittany made their way into a room and closed the door making the trailing pair pause. "So what do we do now?" Pauline asked as she looked around. "Barge in of course! Besides if he is having a relationship with Brittany, we could tell Adrian."
Pauline furrowed her brows, wondering what the revelation would achieve in concluding what Andrew was interested in. 'This kid. Is he planning to do this to get back at Andrew for being close with Claire? Even though he might be a coward using Adrian as his fists, he's not completely stupid I guess.' Pauline followed Eliot who paused, waiting for her to catch up before grandly opening the door.
"I know what the two of you are up to!" Eliot's tone accusatory before his confidence was within the blink of an eye replaced with stupor. Pauline on the other hand was at a loss for words.