Not Everyone Is Who You Think They Are

It was a cold morning in a small town just outside the German border in 1992.  Alone, almost as if it was in its own little world, was a beautiful mansion like house in which three men lived. As you looked at this house from afar, it sat so high up on a hill that it looked as if it was rising fiercely in a graceful way off of the ground. The front of the mansion like house was magnificent. The front doors were the most beautiful wood with knockers on each side that were intricately designed and resembled a dragon. Trees surrounded the mansion as if they were protecting it from the outside world. The once beautiful plants and flowers that covered the front of the house wilted away.

 

            One of the guys that lived there was named Damien. Damien was twenty-eight years old. He is very tall with mesmerizing blue eyes and the blackest of hair. Damien wore ripped jeans and a black t-shirt. What stuck out the most on Damien was his snakebite piercings. Two of Damien’s closest friends also lived in this mansion like house. Although Damien owned this house he never made his friends feel like it was not theirs. Damien’s friend Matthew who liked to be called Matt was also very tall. Matt was tall with short blonde hair and dark blue eyes. He was just barely twenty-three. Matt wore black jeans and a white t-shirt with cut off sleeves. Blake, Damien’s other friend is twenty-four years old. Blake has brown hair and bright green eyes. He wore blue jeans with a red plaid button up shirt. All three had very different personalities.

 

            Damien and Blake were sitting in the dining room at the big oak wood table that seated up to ten people. Blake looked at Damien and questioned, “Where is Matthew?”

 

Damien looked back at Blake and rolled his eyes replying, “I have no idea.” Damien sighed heavily and in an irritated voice said, “If you’re that worried get up and look for him yourself, oh and also tell him to hurry back, we need to leave soon!”

 

Blake glaring at Damien grabbed his cup and took a drink of the addicting substance that a servant had brought to him. Both of them looked up just as Matt walked in the door. Blake stood up and glared at Matthew and spoke, “Where were you?” Blake moved closer to Matt so he could be standing in front of him and stated, “You were supposed to be here an hour ago.”

 

Matt grinned sheepishly and looked at him replying, “I stopped to talk to my uncle.”

 

Blake looked back at him curiously and questioned him once more, “Why did you need to talk to your uncle?”

 

Damien stood up and both Matt and Blake looked at him curiously.

 

Damien looked at them as if they were a couple of idiots. He questioned “Have you forgotten that we must all meet with Arthur in a half an hour?” Damien looked at Matt and said annoyed “If we are late it’s your fault because you hadn’t paid attention to the time and forgot about your responsibility.”

 

Matt sighed and apologized. He looked at Damien, “What do you mean, if we are late, we are already going to be late.” He added, “It takes an hour to get to his place from here; we talked about that last night when you told us that he wanted to discuss something.”

 

Damien smirked and replied “I’m going to drive.”

 

Blake nodded and grinned knowingly stating “If he’s driving we’ll definitely make it on time.”

 

Matt just nodded disbelievingly as the three of them walked outside. Damien’s car looked as if it was glistening in the sun because of the new chameleon paint. This 1969 Mustang was eye catching as it turned every corner appearing to change colors. Matt and Blake looked at Damien’s car admiringly. Damien chuckled and took his keys out of his pocket unlocking the door. Once they were in the car Damien started it up. The engine roared to life as Damien sped off. After twenty minutes of driving at a break neck speed they finally arrived at Arthur’s mansion. Damien took the key out of the ignition and stepped out of the car.

 

Matt looked from Damien and Blake to the mansion. He thought ‘What does Arthur want to discuss with us?’ Damien broke his train of thought by saying “Let’s go we have ten minutes until we have to meet with Arthur.” All three of them walked towards Arthur’s mansion.

 

They got to the doors and one of the two guards spoke up “Arthur told us you were coming and said to tell you that he is in his study waiting for you.” Damien nodded and walked through the door with Matt and Blake trailing after him. The inside of the mansion was beautiful. Inside the doors to your right was a table with a single vase of flowers on top of it. Above the table was a painting of an army marching as the sun was near the horizon filling the sky with a dark purple that had a tint of red to it. As they kept walking they saw a few doors but they didn’t stop until they entered the living room. In the middle of the living room there was a black couch adorned with red pillows. A wooden coffee table made of oak sat in front of the couch along with a seventy-two inch television. On the right side of the living room there was a fire place. Above the fire place was a painting of a woman and man dressed in nineteenth century clothing. Both were unnaturally beautiful and young looking. The woman had her hand on the man’s shoulder and was smiling; she had a pendant around her neck. The man was looking at the woman with a loving look in his eyes. He stood with his arms at his sides smiling back at her. On the left side of the living room was a grand staircase. It gracefully wound up the second floor. The carpet was red and covered the floor that also went the whole way up the stairs.

 

Matt looked over at his friends and disrupted the silence “Wow, this guy’s got a marvelous house.”

 

Blake nodded in agreement “You can say that again,” Blake smirked “hey wait I didn’t know you knew any big words.” He laughed hysterically.

 

Matt gave Blake a dirty look and said “Shut up.” Damien rolled his eyes annoyed by the two of them and started up the stairs. Matt and Blake instantly followed him. They walked down a long corridor passing many doors on their way as they headed for Arthur’s study. Once they found the door to his study Damien, Matt and Blake all heard him say “Come in.”

 

In his office Damien took a seat in front of his desk while Blake and Matt sat on a couch on the left side of the room. On the right side of the room was a giant bookshelf that took up the entire wall; it was completely filled with books. Behind Arthur’s desk was a huge window that was at the moment covered by the curtains. Damien looked at Arthur completely serious, “What did you want to discuss?”

 

Arthur sighed and looked him straight in the eyes, “You always were one that got straight to the point,” he sat back in his chair, “you see I’ve been in contact with some foreign merchants and,”

 

Damien interrupted him already knowing where this was going, “You need me to lend you money because you’re in over head in debts.” Arthur nodded sullenly at his remark.

 

Blake and Matt looked at each other apprehensively, then back at Damien and Arthur, all the while Matt started to think, ‘Arthur only wanted us here because he knew we’d convince Damien to say yes if he doesn’t want to lend Arthur money.’ ‘We’re being used.’ He came back to reality as Arthur and Damien started to speak again.

 

Arthur looked at him forebodingly “I’ll do whatever you want, I’ll pay you back all the money you give me when I can, just please help me out,” Arthur sighed, “I got a letter in the mail saying that if I don’t pay them back by the end of the week,”

 

Yet again Damien interrupted Arthur, “Do you have this letter?”

 

Arthur nodded and reached over opened the top drawer on the left side of his desk. He handed the letter to Damien. Damien took the letter and looked it over. He gave the letter back annoyed, but stated “If you don’t pay me the money back you will see me again and my visit won’t be a pleasant experience.”

 

Arthur nodded gratefully but there was a hint of something in his eyes. Damien saw it but pushed it aside and didn’t think anything of it at the moment and got up. Damien, Matt and Blake walked out of Arthur’s mansion to Damien’s car.

 

Blake broke the silence looking at Damien, “Do you think he’ll come through?”

 

Damien looked at him through the rear view mirror then back at the road and replied, “I don’t’ know but what I do know is that if he doesn’t there will be consequences.”

 

Matt looked at Damien indifferently and shook his head. They sat in silence the rest of the way home. As he pulled onto the road that led to the mansion Matt spoke up breaking the silence that had ensued since Arthur’s mansion, “Home sweet home.” Once Damien parked the car and turned it off they all got out and walked straight to their separate rooms without saying a word to each other.

 

As the days passed slowly towards the end of the week Damien was getting more anxious each day. He had been calling Arthur and hasn’t gotten one call or answer back. He tried looking for him but couldn’t find him anywhere. Damien had been pacing one night while Blake and Matt watched him intently in silence. His phone started going off breaking the silence. He answered annoyed, “What is it?” He was nearly growling “This better be important.” Damien stopped pacing, “Where?” He closed his phone and grabbed his keys off the coffee table and stormed out the door. Matt and Blake got up immediately after that and ran after him. Matt and Blake got outside just in time to see Damien speed off. Matt got into his car with Blake and followed Damien. Once Damien got to the road he drove at the break neck speed like he normally did until he came along a path in the forest. He pulled over and got out of the car. Matt and Blake pulled up behind Damien’s car and ran after him into the forest. Once they had caught up to him they saw Arthur on the other side of the clearing they had followed Damien into. Matt and Blake looked at Damien cautiously. Damien stared intensely at Arthur and said in a dangerously low voice, “Where have you been and why haven’t you answered any of my calls?”

 

Arthur swallowed and looked at him wide-eyed, “I meant to get back to you but I had some, uh business to take care of.”

 

Damien growled, “Cut the crap Arthur, where is my money?”

 

Arthur looked uneasy and shifted in his place as he replied, I don’t have it but,”

 

Damien interrupted him angrily, “You said you’d pay me back Arthur, you broke your promise,” he glared and in the blink of an eye he was in front of Arthur seething. Matt and Blake’s eyes widened but they didn’t move a muscle. They knew how Damien was especially when he lost his temper. Damien smirked, “You broke your promise, now you face the consequences.” Before Arthur could reply he flew back into a tree. He hit the tree with such force it fell over. Arthur got up and touched his face where he had just been punched. He glared at Damien and went after him. Matt and Blake watched the two fight mercilessly. When Damien and Arthur parted from each other they glared dangerously at each other. The wind around them started to pick up speed and launched itself at Damien, he moved just in time and a line of fire shot towards Arthur engulfing him in flames. He used the wind to smother the flames and spoke up, “You are definitely like your father.”

 

Damien growled dangerously, “How am I like my father exactly?”

 

Arthur smirked, “Both of you are hotheads.”

 

Damien rolled his eyes not amused, “This is the end of the line for you and I am nothing like my father, and don’t ever compare me to him again.”

 

Matt and Blake both knew he hated when people said ‘oh you’re just like your father.’ Or ‘hopefully you turn out just like your father and follow in his footsteps.’ He hated being compared to his father more than anything.

 

Arthur’s eyes widened as Damien slammed him up against a tree with one of his hands around his neck and the other holding Arthur to the tree so he couldn’t move.

 

Arthur sighed and said, “I should have known this was going to happen sooner or later, I thought I could get away but I underestimated you.” He looked into Damien’s blue eyes which now had a tint of red in them thoughtfully, “I guess the saying ‘You can run but you can’t hide’ is true.” He chuckled dryly.

 

Damien rolled his eyes and before Matt or Blake could stop Damien, Arthur burst into flames and his body slowly burned to ashes. Damien smirked at his terrified face and his painful screaming and once he burned fully to ashes Damien walked away triumphantly.

He walked past his friends without saying a word and went to his car, then headed home.

 

As the days passed Damien slowly started to drift away from his friends. Matt and Blake were trying to be good friends and not say anything to the council of immortals but killing someone was against their ways and you could be found and killed for your sins. Damien’s mind started going all over the place nearly driving him insane. He kept thinking ‘What if they say something?’ ‘I’ve got to do something.’ ‘I will continue to exist.’ During the night Damien had snuck into Blake’s room while everyone else was sleeping and covered his mouth so nobody would hear if he screamed. He snapped his neck without a second thought because his fear had overridden all of his other senses. He feared that Blake and Matt would go to the council. If they told Damien would be killed and he didn’t like the idea of them having something they could hold against him. He didn’t like that at all.

 

The next morning Matt was in the kitchen and Damien entered. Matt looked up at him and sensed something wrong, he was tense and silent and it looked like he hadn’t slept at all last night. Matt looked uneasy and asked, “Damien is everything okay?”

 

Damien smirked evilly and said dangerously low, “Three may keep a secret only if two of them are dead.”

 

Matt’s eyes widened realizing what he meant but before a word could escape his lips he was suddenly engulfed by flames until all that was left of him was ashes.

Reviews

[Summer Blue]

You have a good imagination! This story kept me interested and I couldn't wait to get to the end to see what happened. The title is also perfect for this story. I hope there are more to come. Great story!!!