Part 2: The Dragon

Max stood up and put the bandages away in one of the many holes in the wall. And he wished once again that he knew how to talk. It's not my fault. I was never taught how. Still, the strange, pale boy who had run into him made him desperately wish he could say something. The kid had been terrified, but he hadn't run. Why hadn't he run? Everyone runs when they see me, everyone except him, at least. Taking the boy's knife had been fun. I never get to have fun anymore. The look on his face when I took his knife was hilarious. But he's too slow. If he had been faster, I wouldn't have fallen and stabbed myself. Max looked at the scar on his stomach. Lucky I heal fast enough for it to have stopped bleeding. I only hope it heals completely before Violet gets here, she said she was coming over to check on me. Like she has to, sheesh, I can take care of myself, for crying out loud! Now, what to do with this guy... The boy moved slightly as he slowly regained consciousness Oh no! I don't know what to do yet, damn it! Crap, oh crap, oh crap! I am going to be so dead when Violet gets here! Shit!

Jeff woke on his back in a small, dark cavern. He could hear the quiet sound of running water over rock. His eyes adjust to the darkness as he remembers what happened the night before. Jeff tries sitting up, leaning hard on his left arm. A bolt of pain tears through him, and he gasps from the shock of it and quickly lays back down. He looks and sees that it's been rather messily bandaged.

A noise causes Jeff to look up, and he sees Max, with a plate standing next to him. His face has gone completely blank and nothing in it shows the faintest hint of emotion and barely shows any of life. After several seconds of Max standing like that, he snaps out of his trance and sets the plate of food down next to Jeff, then, despite Jeff's protests, makes him sit up, then backs away a little and sits down cross-legged, facing Jeff. He takes his knife and stares both at it and at Jeff.

Jeff looks at the food, and then looks back up at Max. “I'm not going to eat that.” Nothing. “It's probably poisoned, I mean, you did try to kill me.” Max shrugs and continues staring. “What the fuck are you doing?” Once again, no response. “I'm not going to play this game, fucker. Say something.” Max shook his head. “Why? Just say something, and I’ll leave you alone.” Max shook his head again, then pointed to his mouth and shook his head again. “You can't talk... Are you fucking serious?!” Max shook his head once again, pointed to himself, then his head, then his mouth again. “So... you can talk... but you just don't know how?” A nod. “So... in other words you're a retard?” At that comment, Max's face turn crimson with anger and he turned his back to Jeff, then flipped him off. “Well, fine than.”

A sudden noise makes Max leap to his feet and then, in one motion, he crosses to Jeff, pulls him to his feet, and throws his knife into a hole in the wall. Staggering from sudden and extreme vertigo, Jeff struggles to stay upright. Max looks at him for several seconds before quickly putting his hood up.

Max struck a match and lit a lantern hanging from the cavern roof. Jeff could see in the faint light a tall woman walking towards them. She came closer and Jeff could see her clearly. She had purple hair that came down to her knees, and grey eyes. She had paper white skin and wore a navy blue sleeveless dress. She didn't seem to notice Jeff.

“Hello, Max. I hope you haven't been causing trouble.” Max shook his head, indicating that, no, he hadn't been causing trouble. Yes you have, fucker, cause I’m the worst trouble you've ever met. “Good... what are you looking at?” Max quickly looked away from Jeff, but it's too late if you're hoping she wouldn't notice me, cause she did. “Oh, how rude I’ve been! Sorry, I'm Violet, what's your name?”

“Jeffery.”

“Lovely. I do hope Max hasn't been difficult. If he has, you'll have to excuse him, it's in his nature.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, he's a vampire, so he tends to be a bit cold-blooded, and cold-heated, when it comes to his friends.” Max rolled his eyes and stuck his tongue out at Violet at hearing her description of him. “Oh, and, he is quite rude to people who care about him. No wonder you're parents left you.” Jeff was now feeling very awkward, but before anything else could be said, a faint but clear call reaches their ears, accompanied by a siren that sounded like someone was dying a very horrible death, “DRAGON!” Upon hearing this, Max immediately runs towards where the call came from. “Maximus, what do you think you're doing?! Come back here!” Violet runs after him. Out of curiosity, Jeff decides to follow them and see what Violet was getting all worked up about.

Jeff reached the entrance just in time to see Max scrambling up a tree. “Max, get back down here, you're going to get yourself killed!”

“What is he doing?”

“I don't know, but I do know that it cannot be good, for anyone. Max, listen to me, you're going to get hurt, or worse, killed! Are you listening to me?! Get down here!”

A roar that seemed to shatter the night sky echoed out. Violet pulled Jeff farther into the cave mouth with her as a giant shadow blacked out the moon.

Max reached the top of the tree just as he heard the roar. C'mon beastie, come get me. I'm wide open you stupid creature. COME AT ME! I FUCKING DARE YOU! He got his wish. It saw him and headed directly towards him. Now it's playtime, big boy. MY playtime, not yours, not this time!

All Jeff saw was that one second Max was sitting in a tree, taunting a... Jeff couldn't see what it was, but whatever it was, it was fast, and the next, both Max and whatever had terrified Violet were gone. He left without giving me my knife back. I don't care if he wanted to go get himself killed, but couldn't he have at least given me my knife back? No, because he is a fucking bastard and I hate him. Thank God he's dead. Put the world and me out of our misery. Jeff decided to look for somewhere else to stay while he looked for a way out of wherever he was. And God forbid Max not be dead and I see his face again. If I do, I’m gonna make sure he's dead.