A Pact for Eternity

This Isn't Rocky

Queue the Rocky montage. I ran through the snow in the mountains. My muscles ached as I chopped wood. My back screamed from the effort of lifting wooden beams. Sweat soaked me as I forced myself through another round of pushups and situps.

Yeah, that wasn't what Finn's "training" entailed.

Instead, Finn led me into his mother's study. Before, he had always guided me away from this room. Seeing it now, I couldn't exactly tell why. The only thing that seemed different was that the room appeared much older than the rest of the house. The Lancasters redid this house ten years ago. It didn't make sense that this room looked stuck in the seventies.

Mustard carpet covered the floor. Gray and white striped wallpaper plastered the walls. Dust laid in a thick layer over the built-in bookshelves. Hideous green drapes hung in front of the large window. A dark oak desk overlooked the window. However, the window was barely visible from the pile of items that consumed the desk.

Finn sat down in a swivel chair; the one modern piece of furniture in the room. He began digging around in the mess of papers that laid on the desk. Uncaringly, he sent some of the papers drifting to the floor. Mrs. Lancaster and her son are just alike. They both don't organize things very well.

It became evident that it was going to take Finn a while to find whatever he was looking for. I sunk into the green striped loveseat on the other side of the room.

Thunder rumbled through the house and rain tapped against the window. A streak of lightning broke across the darkness that loomed in the sky. My vision once again slowed down the world around me. Tendrils of light hung in the sky for an unusually long amount of time. The sky glimmered with silver sparks. As the lightning dissipated, the air around it seemed to shrink inwards.

Finn was staring at me when I glanced back at him. I guess he had found whatever he was looking for.

"I'm glad you don't think it's all bad anymore." He shifted in the chair as he held a thick binder on his lap.

I looked down at the table, not wanting to make eye contact with Finn. "I never said that it was all bad."

He pulled the chair forward to sit next to me. "Well, I'm going to teach you everything that I can. That way, you can realize that most of it isn't bad."

"Don't pretend like we aren't blood-drinking monsters." I searched his eyes for any sign of recognition.

"You're right. However, there are benefits to that. You just have to keep an open mind." He pushed the binder across to me. "Those are rules, regulations, and guidelines to the world of the undead. I am required to give you those, but I honestly couldn't care less if you know them. I'll tell you the important ones."

I hesitantly opened the cover of the binder and then shut it when I saw the twelve size font that covered the entire page. "Why is there so much?"

"I think The Strix gets bored. Also, the rules have been added to for well over a millennia, so most of them are outdated. Anyways, you want to hear my version of the rules?" He rolled his chair a bit closer to me.

My arms crossed against my chest. "Go for it."

"Rule number one: don't be reckless. That goes for everything. If you are going to do something, remember that you are going to be living with your decisions for a very long time. Rule number two: never tell anybody our secret. Humans don't like the idea that they aren't at the top of the food chain. Rule number three: if you make a mess, clean it up and don't let me find out if it isn't necessary. " He listed his points off fast. He had to have rehearsed that.