66. There And Back Again

Mateo gazed at the dark landscape before him—in the dark of the night, it almost looked no different than it would have.

He spent his days reading. Now that he was on Earth, it was time he finally, truly get to know himself and the side of him Titus had tried so hard to reproduce on Sixam: his vampire side.

He read and he read as he figured out his powers. It had been decades, and he had never once got to use them. Never once got to learn how they worked. Now, it was time to change that.

But his vampirism wasn’t the only thing that was going to keep him busy on Earth; oh no, Mateo had ensured he have enough to do—that there was enough fun to be had, now that he was finally free. He was going to make sure he’d enjoy his freedom… to the absolute fullest extent.

He greeted his new “neighbors” casually, showing no sign of distress as he invited them in.

Okay, so maybe he wasn’t 100% fearless; he’d known a thing or two about The Mother, but he hadn’t known much about Her subjects… and they were freaky.

Mateo loved it.

What he loved slightly less, was the fact that he didn’t have the control over them that he figured he would. He was the one who had brought Her back after all. It was only fair he get some reward, right?

Well, apparently She didn’t think so.

Rude.

The sky looked prettier during the day. It was a shame, really, that he wasn’t allowed to go out without scorching up in the sun.

***

Those first few days, Mateo had managed. Trying to be serious and doing the whole planning and scheming thing, he had been focused. And if, at any point, he did feel lonely, he would just invite Her subjects over to come roam his place.

But as the days passed and the hours were starting to feel like days on their own, Mateo’s boredom was starting to get to him. It didn’t take long for his seriousness to go, and soon he found himself playing with the tomes he was supposed to read (in his defense, could they be any duller?).

“I am a big bad vampire,” Mateo spoke in a low, rumbling voice, moving the book as though it were a speaking mouth. “I drink blood and have bad sun allergy.”

He was laughing at his own jokes hard enough for him to completely miss the women that had walked past him, into his kitchen.

He was just in the midst of another ventriloquism when he was interrupted.

“Sir…”

Mateo’s eyes immediately grew more than twice their size. Had she been here all this time?

“Traces of infection have been found in your refrigerator. We have confiscated it, and all of its contents. A refund has been issued for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

“Oh,” was all Mateo could manage. Then he scraped his throat and changed his tone with it. “I mean… thank you. Thank you so much. I don’t know what the hell is going on out here, but it frightens me. I just want everything to be… dull and normal, you know? That’s all I want.”

“I understand, sir. I promise we’re doing everything we can to eliminate this threat and restore this town back to normal.”

“Good. Normal. We all need us some normal.”

***

Finally, Mateo couldn’t take it anymore. He couldn’t wait until sunset either—stretching casually as the bright StrangerVille sun exposed his vulnerable skin to its harsh rays, he barely registered the fact that his skin was literally sizzling. Man… he found himself thinking. Now there’s one way to deal with a strong, overpowered creature. Good going, Earth.

It’s gonna be taking a while, he acknowledged, to really get used to Earth and its ways. But maybe if he just went head first and dove into it, it’d all go a little faster. Alright, so Mateo had to admit it was never really about discovering planet Earth; he just wanted to have fun. Following a man he thought looked particularly influential into the bathroom to squeal at him the way he had seen Titus’ subjects do, he hoped for the best.

Actually, he wasn’t even really sure what he was hoping for. Again, it wasn’t that he was really looking for anything in particular. He just wanted to… well, yeah. Have fun.

“You know,” Mateo started, inching closer to the conspicuous man. “You really look very cool. I love your hair…”

He figured it was worth a try.

“Look.” the man replied, squinting his eyes at him all the way. “I don’t know who—or, for that matter, what—you are, but I’m seeing enough to gather you’re not my type.”

Mateo’s smile faltered. He looked at the man, face contorted into a frown.

When his face contorted even further, the man blinked once. Twice. By the time he had gotten over his shock enough to sound a scream, Mateo’s teeth were already sunken deep into his neck and he felt his voice taken away from him as a cloud of fog came over him instead.

Ah, Mateo voiced, taking in the sweet taste of blood as he withdrew his fangs. Now that was good. Maybe being a vampire was something to be happy with, after all.

That same night—his first real night out—he met an officer. She introduced herself to him as Harley Something (he’d already forgotten her last name) and, to Mateo’s surprise, spent all night chatting with him in a way he could only describe as flirty.

“You know, I like your skin… and your eyes. And your…” she did a double take, looking at his smile. “Fangs?”

Mateo’s smile only grew. “Thanks,” he said, baring his fangs further.

Harley Something squinted her eyes at him. “Don’t take this the wrong way but… what are you?”

Mateo shrugged. “A little bit of everything.”

Her smile came back, her face flustering. “Wicked.”

“Oh yeah,” Mateo smirked. “I’m very wicked.”

She ended up chatting with him all night. He could hardly believe it. After all the stories he’d been told, he figured no human was going to ever like him. That’s what Titus would tell him; that it was a good thing he’d been taken away from there, cause no one would be able to love him anyway. They were too prejudiced—hating anything and everything that wasn’t exactly like them. But from what little experience Mateo was gaining, he was starting to think that maybe, Titus hadn’t been all right about that statement. Maybe, just maybe, they actually liked something unique.

Then Tika Madden walked into the bar, and he lost her to him immediately. Suppressing a scoff, Mateo shrugged instead and took a few steps back, readying himself to test out some of those cool vampire powers he had spent his days reading about.

It worked: Tika suddenly found himself ridden with hallucinations strong enough to make him talk out loud. Finally, Mateo allowed himself to step closer to him. Sized him up, his trademark smirk plastered confidently on his face.

“Nice to meet you too, grandpa,” he smiled to him.

***

Early that morning, Mateo decided to take some time to admire his work—StrangerVille, all back to its former glory.

He scoped the place, feeling a sense of pride come over him. He had made this. All of this, this beautiful chaos… it was his doing.

Using the charm Harley Something made him realize he might have, he introduced himself to yet another military woman.

Took a piece of fruit out from his inventory.

“You know, I’ve really discovered these fruits. They’re amazing.”

“Oh, no,” the woman tried to dismiss him. “I really shouldn’t.”

“Oh, come on.” He batted the eyelashes around his big, amber eyes a few times for good measure. “I promise you they’re good.”

“Alright,” she finally gave in and took the fruit from him. Looked at it for a few seconds before taking her first bite.

She dropped the fruit immediately. Doubled over, grabbing her stomach—all the while, Mateo felt a laughing kick come on and he raised his hands into the air, laughing loudly.

Oh, yes, he thought, watching the woman’s transformation. He had truly created something beautiful, here.

Just look at that sky and tell him it isn’t the most beautiful thing you have ever seen.

***

“How many times do I have to tell you this, Cortez?” Tika all but called at his companion. “We’re not calling them. We’re not.”

“Look, as much as I’d hate to ruin their honeymoon—or actually, I don’t—I really don’t see what else we could do. It’s not like we could handle this situation on our own. That thing, The Mother… there are legends about Her even on Sixam. Everyone knows that She’s not one to be messed with.”

“And you want my son to deal with her?”

Cortez shrugged. “Least he managed to beat her before. He’s our best shot.”

“We’re not bringing Emil into this. There has to be another way.”

“Sure. Feel free to come up with a different plan.”

Tika turned his eyes to the ground—their other idea wasn’t any better for Tika than this one. “We have to find him.”

“Yeah…” Cortez turned his eyes to the bartender in front of them. “Hey, lady, I got a question. You seen any blue men in here recently?”

They were expecting her to furrow her eyebrows and call them crazy. Instead, she just smiled. “Let me guess, he has blue skin, impossibly bright yellow eyes, surprisingly handsome features and some weird pattern drawn over his face?”

Cortez stared at her. “Yeah, that’s… I guess that’s exactly it. He’s been here before then?”

“He’s standing behind you.”

“Evening, pops.”

Cortez face fell immediately, as a strong wave of guilt rushed its way through his body before accumulating itself into his heart.

“Mateo, I…”

“Mateo? That me?”

“That’s your name, yes…”

“Really? Cause I thought my name was Caeruleum. That’s what he called me, at least. You know, after you shipped me off to Sixam.”

“Mateo—”

“Caeru.”

“You have to know that it was never my intent to…”

“To.. what? Having a little trouble there, pops? Well, I’ll help you. To abandon me? To betray me? To sell me to some crazy, power-hungry tyrant to become their newest lab rat? You know, I’ve been curious.. what did you get for me? Was it just his good graces, or was it something else? Something better?”

“I’m sorry…”

Caeru shrugged nonchalantly. “No worries. I’m all over it. I don’t like to hold grudges, you know. Makes me feel so… heavy.”

“Look, Mateo, I’m sorry. I really am. But what you’re doing right now… ” Cortez swallowed his words. Wasn’t sure exactly what to say, here – he knew what Tika was expecting him to say, but Cortez himself had never really been one to play the morality police.

Finally, Tika cut in. “It isn’t right. I know you want to punish us, but…”

“Punish you? Oh, please. I’m not punishing anyone.” Another shrug. “I’m just having some fun.”

“This isn’t right, Mateo.”

“Oh yeah?” Caeru turned to Tika, his smirk even wider than the one he bestowed on Cortez. “You know what else isn’t right? Killing a crown prince on his wedding night to have a go at his bride.”

“That was never proven…” Tika sheepishly responded.

“Mateo, you have to stop this.”

“But why? It’s so much fun,” Mateo mock-whined.

Cortez looked at Tika, who ultimately took it upon himself to respond again. “These people, they don’t deserve this.”

“They don’t deserve what? How am I hurting them?”

Tika looked at him, incredulous. “They don’t deserve to become mindless slaves to some tyrant.”

“Well, neither did I. But I still came out alright, didn’t I?”

By now, both Cortez and Tika were at a loss for words. Cortez had expected his reunion with Mateo to be messy, but this? He would have expected him to be angry… to hate him. But the reality was worse than anything he had thought he could foresee, and that reality was that he was broken. Titus had broken him.

“Anyway. It was great to catch up. I have to get going now, but… you know, as a final present from me to you…”

He created some distance between them, then went and tried to once again recreate some of his newfound vampire mojo. It really was too bad that never worked on Sixam.

“Don’t take this personal, pops. I just don’t want you to get in my way is all.”

He shot Tika one last smirk as he moved to the door. “You know… I quite like this planet. You’ll be seeing me around.”

Suckers.

---

A/N: Thought you’d seen the last of me, huh? Man, I’m sorry for just disappearing, but I never did get good at announcing my hiatuses. I moved abroad a few weeks ago and spent all my time on preparations and, after I finally moved, just on settling in and all that. But I’m back now, and I hope to stay back this time, too!

Mateo… you may not remember him all that well, in which case, I suggest trying this link: https://donaeis.home.blog/tag/mateo/

Basically, he’s Emil’s long-lost son with Suze who should have never been born, but do I ever learn my lesson with Risky Woohoo? Absolutely not.