A Reason To Stay {THE LITTLE VAMPIRE) RUDONY [COMPLETED]

Chapter 4

The first thing Tony did was apply for a job. With all of Rookery’s money Tony probably wouldn’t need to work for a long time, but he had missed out on so many things and wanted to do something honest and good for once. 

He had fished through some of the files he found lying in the very back of Rookery’s safe, and he was able to go set up an interview at a local grocery store with a damaged birth certificate and a few other loose papers. 

He had been scared about it, sweating nervously while he waited for the manager to sit at the small table with him. He was worried they would ask about his parents or his home life, but they didn't, and the woman had been so nice to him. She didn’t mention that the computer said that he had dropped out of high school, and that he was currently living in a single parent home. He felt safe there, like he could trust any of the employees, and had hit it off well with the manager. 

Tony obviously got the job right away, signing up for late shifts. He didn’t want to be home if Rookery came back. 

The teenager also enrolled in school again. He had come in early in the morning and asked to speak to Mrs. Becker. She had run out of her office, wrapping him in a tight hug. The vice principal had dabbed at her eyes, smiling, when Tony had sat down, asking to come back to school. She had leapt up and hugged him again, saying he could even skip a grade straight to senior year with his classmates if he passed an exam.

Tony had also taken it that same day, and passed with flying colors after touching up on a few subjects with some teachers over lunch. For once, he didn’t think about Rookery, or his parents, or vampires. He was just so happy to be going back to a somewhat normal life.

The next week, the blond had been running around trying to finish his homework, college applications, and working long shifts at the grocery store. He was sleep deprived and overworked, but he was getting used to it; he was on his way to having what he had always yearned for. When Tony had gotten home one night, he heard a knock on the door. He had seen the flashing blue and red lights out the window, and with a trembling hand, had opened it slowly to look straight into the eyes of a policeman. He had jumped, but opened the door all the way, beckoning him inside.

“Oh no, son. I’m just here to check up on you. Seems your old man got into a bit of an episode over by the bus stop. Just making sure you’re home and alright,” he had said in a gruff, monotone voice.

“Umm… thanks, sir…” Tony had started, upset and quaking with the fear that Rookery would be back for good again. “B-but where is… he? Is h-he… is he here?”

The officer had chuckled heartily, tilting his head back, up towards the darkened sky. “That’s- that’s a good one, no. He’s a looney if you ask me, yapping about vampires and axes and full moons. I mean, you must know that he’s crazy, right?” he had suddenly stopped laughing, looking at Tony with slight concern.

“Oh, um, yeah,” he replied, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. “Always kinda figured. So… where did you say you found him?” he asked, trying to sound as innocent as he could. “If that’s not prying too much.”

The policeman clapped a hand on his shoulder. “It’s alright, kid, no harm in wanting to know what happened to your family,” he blew out a breath. “A bit odd, though. A local woman called it in, sounded real afraid, saying he was screaming at her, so we came as quick as we could. We found him tied up, propped up against the bench. Tied pretty tightly, mind you. Took a long while to cut him out of  that wire. Then he punched an officer who was only trying to help, yelling about you and some vampire and his ‘precious sonar’ before he tried to drive off in a cop car.”

Tony resisted the urge to laugh out loud. He hadn’t expected Rookery to prove that he was insane so flawlessly and quickly. With a smothered grin he cleared his throat, asking, “So where  is he now, then?”