Available Darkness Season 1

hand.
    Abigail looked over at her fallen angel while keeping one eye fixed on Larry in case he made any sudden moves. She wasn’t yet sure she could trust him and hoped he wouldn’t ask for the gun, even though most of her felt silly holding the heavy metal in her hands. It wasn’t as if she knew how to shoot. She imagined missing her target, pissing Larry off, and having the gun used against her. She wished she could just make it disappear so nobody would be able to use it.
    “Is he going to be okay?”
    “I think so,” Larry said, “do you … know what he is?”
    “Some kind of vampire?”
    “More or less,” Larry said, “but with touch rather than biting. He feeds off the energy of our souls. Only now, he just shot all his energy at me.”
    “Are you okay?” Abigail asked, courtesy in her voice but nowhere else.
    Larry smiled, “Yeah, I’ve had worse. Now that he’s running on empty, he’ll be out cold for a while. He should be okay. But, we’re going to need to take precautions.”
    Abigail watched as Larry moved towards the back of the motel room, kicking empty soda cans aside as he waded through a sea of trash. What a pig , Abigail thought. Larry swiped a stack of newspapers off of a black trunk, flipped it’s fasteners open and thrust his hands inside. Abigail tightened her grip on the gun as her eyes focused in anticipation. Larry retrieved a rough looking white jacket with long sleeves and an assembly of straps and buckles. Whatever it was, it didn’t look good.
    “We need to restrain him,” Larry said.
    “What? Why?” Abigail asked, nerves tickling the back of her neck.
    Larry dropped the jacket in front of John. A heavy thud echoed in the room as the metallic buckles banged against each other and the floor. He turned to Abigail, squatted on his haunches and folded his hands in front of him.
    “Listen, I know you don’t know me from Adam and you’re probably scared. But I need you to trust me when I tell you this one thing, okay?”
    Abigail glanced at the gun in her shaking hands then back up at Larry. She nodded, her head barely moving.
    “When John wakes up, he’s going to be very hungry. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
    Abigail thought she did, but at the same time, knew she was missing a finer point somewhere. She shook her head no.
    “John’s tank is empty. If he doesn’t feed as soon as he wakes, well, our boy could die of starvation. But the bad part for us is that when he is that hungry , he becomes something else entirely.”
    Abigail didn’t like where this was going. The acid in her stomach agreed.
    “He will feed off of the first person he sees. Won’t matter if it’s you, me, his own mother, or all three of us and a birthday cake; the hunger overrides everything he knows. Which is why we need to put this jacket on him. To protect ourselves.”
    The small room suddenly felt smaller. “He wouldn’t hurt me,” Abigail said, her voice coming out more childish and whiny than she wanted.
    A smile spread across Larry’s face. There was something in the smile, not mocking her statement, but rather some sort of genuine kindness which matched the gentle gleam in his hazel eyes. Though he looked a bit gruff, Abigail suspected Larry was secretly a teddy bear when it came right down to it.
    “I don’t know what happened between you guys,” Larry said as he pointed to the rows of TV screens and computer monitors replaying news coverage of ’the kidnapping’ just beyond the doorway, “or how you came to be traveling together, but you’ve got no idea what John is capable of.”
    “He’s good ,” Abigail persisted, “that’s all I need to know.”
    “Yes, he is good . But he’s not always in control of himself. And when he’s not, he’s not the John you’ve gotten to know. He’s… a monster.”
    Abigail looked at John’s face, so serene and peaceful lying propped against the wall. His eyes moved beneath their lids and she wondered what his dreams were showing him.
    Larry said, “I’m going to restrain him now and I need to know you trust me. You can even keep the gun if you want.”
    Abigail looked down at the gun, considered handing it to Larry, but then thought better of it. “Okay, you can restrain him. But if I don’t like what I see, I’m not afraid to use this.”
    Larry looked at Abigail for a moment, as though tasting her words, or perhaps feigning to take her seriously. Then he smiled that warm, friendly smile.