The Fall of Judas Priest

5:Hello Love, You're New (part 1)

(Alucard) 

Once I had shown Alex I wasn't going to drop him, he calmed down about the whole flying bit. He actually looked to enjoy it after a small spell. We reached our first stop, which was a diner I had found that served wine and British food. We go in, and I order a blood sausage with a pinot noir, while Alex ordered a full English breakfast and a cup of coffee. 

" I didn't think you could eat."

" I'm not supposed to, but I have built up a tolerance over the years. Blood sausage has always been one of the easier things to keep down than say, what you ordered."

" Does it taste differently?" 

" Because my senses are more acute than yours, I can taste things at magnitudes you can't. It's how I can tell what type I drink is. Each one has it's own distinct flavor, and it's also how I can tell if someone is carrying a blood born illness."

" I see. That's...actually really cool, Alucard."

I felt a slight heat go to my cheeks and chest, and I turned my face to the counter. 

" Thanks, for everything, for hearing me out." 

" Why did you reach out? I'm curious, as are my friends."

I couldn't tell him the truth, could I? Did I dare? I figure he does deserve the truth. I take a deep, unnecessary sigh, and let it out.

" I...I missed you, terribly. It's been boring not having you around. Ever since the incident, it left a power vacuum, and many small organizations and hunter groups tried to take over, but they were all weak compared to the force that used to be, well, you know. Several hunters thought that they could win in a spar with me, and when they lost, it left them in shambles for weeks. I miss having someone around who could keep up, who I could call me equal in the field. I missed you, your spunk, your bully-me-harder nature, I missed our banter and how you'd scream bible quotes at me...I missed what we had." 

I looked at him, and his eyes were wide, a few tears threatened to fall, but he blinked them away before they had a chance to fall. 

" I missed you too, to be honest with myself. It was hard in the beginning, not having someone around that I could let out the pent up anger with. I have to go easy on everyone I try to spar with, or else I break bone, or worse, I could kill them. I miss the hunt from time to time, but it doesn't pay well enough, and the risk versus reward is very unbalanced. At least with what I do now, I get paid, and there is very little risk. Even my clientele get tested regularly as do I."

" I am proud you managed to make it on your own, and to get out when you had the chance. It shows me that you are more than just a puppet. Do you even go to mass anymore?" 

" No, actually. I haven't done that since I moved here. I only wear these out of habit-" he pulled out the old cross I knew as well as his face and voice."- And because I feel naked without it. The only time I actually take it off is on the clock or when I shower. I sleep with it. I want to take it off, to leave them in the past, but some part of me just can't bring myself to let it go, like if I do, then it never happened, like that part of my life never existed."

" You are afraid to let that part of life go, aren't you?" 

Food was served, and I ate the sausage without the bun. I take a sip of my wine, and I notice how even when he was eating, he was on the defensive. He really was messed up by Iscariot. I felt bad for him. He was a genetic mutation of a human, one that had served his organization dutifully and loyally. He needed to let it go, to leave that mess in the past.

" Alex, did you ever think of just letting go? Of putting your guard down for one second, just to see how safe you actually are now?" 

" Now you sound like my therapist." 

" I'm serious. Why is it so hard to let it go for you?" 

" Because if it wasn't for them, I'd be dead. Stone cold, in the ground, dead. I owe them-" 

" -Nothing. You owe no one anything. You are a free man. You aren't what they said you are. You don't owe anyone jack. You are your own man, and look at your life! In just four short years, you have a home, a car, three jobs, a group of close friends, and not once in those four years did it occur to you that maybe having the incident happen was the best thing for you? In the last four years, how much blood have you seen? How much of the old life have you interacted with?" 

Alex stopped eating, and his emerald eyes locked with mine, a look of disgruntled amazement on his handsome mug. 

" How is it that you managed to get through, when even my therapist hasn't come close?"

" Because I know you, I've known you longer than anyone here. I understand our personal history is muddied by an old blood feud, but, if you want, I can take over the job of being your link to the old life. You don't need that silly little shiny trinket to tell you who you are. You know who you are, because you've made a name for yourself outside of those damnable bastards." 

" Thank you. I guess I just never saw it that way before." 

" It's nothing. Don't sweat it." 

We finished eating, and I paid for dinner, and once we were outside, we took off to the next place on my list.