hardy boys fan fiction
GUARDIAN IN THE DARK
hardy boys nancy drew fan fiction
by
Jolly
Chapter 6
hardy boys fan fiction
THE CHAPTERS
The Story Part 4
It is still early in the evening. I am sitting at my usual spot on the roof, watching the activities in the small world spread out below me. The neighbors’ kids who just finished their game of tag and are now rushing home for their dinner; and the fathers and mothers coming home after a day’s work. I watch my father’s car turn into our drive, and then follow him as he collects the mail before heading into the house for dinner.
It is strange isn’t it, to know that they all remain unaware of the other world, the world that I exist in. We fight wars and humanity moves on with their lives, totally unaffected. With exception of a selected few such as the Van Helsings of course, whose job was to keep the other world in check.
You see, at the end of the day, humanity outnumbers them so much, that they must be wary and keep their existence secret. The inability to walk in daylight is also a great weakness of theirs. Any risks of exposure are quickly and ruthlessly taken care of.
This was the reason why the Queen had to leave that night when She could have easily killed the Van Helsing twins, given a little more time. But She had to make sure that the FBI did not find out about the vampyres. She did not want to risk exposure before She is ready.
She did come back after us later though, but I’ll get to that later.
I suppose you are curious as to what happened after Jana and Jonah interrupted the ritual, aren’t you? I don’t mind telling you, though it may get a little confusing, since only half my mind will be on the story. My brother’s safety will always take priority, you must understand that. And I will be continually scanning the environs for threats.
Now, let’s start at the raid that night….
This part really is Jana’s and Jonah’s story.
Apparently, the Van Helsings and their allies have also been keeping an eye on Joe over the years. They found us when they followed the trail left behind when I was taken. Yeah, Jana said she placed a tracking spell on me just in case, after they realized that Joe was taken. They were caught by surprise that the enemy had even managed to find Joe in the first place. And they tracked me to the stronghold when I was taken. Unfortunately, they did not have enough resources to rescue us from the stronghold themselves, and they had to risk getting some extra help.
So they sent my father an anonymous tip-off to my location and let it out that I was taken by a slavery ring-cum-Satanic cult. It was an almost-truth anyway. The teens I saw in the afternoon that fed and cleansed me were really captives. Most of them were homeless and abandoned kids that no one cared about. The vampyres took them and kept them for both entertainment and for food.
And yes, those vampyres have their own human minions working for them in the day. Some of them were naturally loyal, but most of them were Revenants, bound to their respective vampyre-masters by a blood bond.
My father did not fail them. He and his longtime partner Sam Radley had instantly followed up on the lead and checked out the huge mansion and the grounds where I and Joe were held. They found out that the estate belonged to a man dead for the last few decades. They saw me via a telescope from a nearby hill through the windows as I walked down that artwork-lined corridor to see the Queen.
They also saw a good number of other teens about the place, some of them in chains. And with that evidence, my father pulled favors for an immediate full-scale FBI raid of the place. The raid took place some hours before sunrise. And the Van Helsings took that opportunity to come in for Joe. They had to guard him until sunrise, and then things would be easier once Joe left the grounds of the stronghold.
The raid freed many children, and the FBI was shocked by the magnitude of the ‘slavery operation’ that had been occurring literally under their nose. After all, the home of a high court judge was just three blocks away. They found Joe with some other kids soon after sunrise, in one of the little garden sheds located in a secluded corner of the sprawling estate. None of them remembered their time on the estate, of course. Several days later, they sent DNA confirmation of my remains to my family from a section of the estate that was totally burned down after an initial explosion. After the FBI went through the place, they thought they had stumbled upon a modern version of the Hellfire Club. They shook their heads at the depravity of human imagination, and soon moved on to other cases.
For your information, the Hellfire Club was a popular name for what was supposed to be an exclusive English Gentlemen’s Club established in the 18th century, where members indulged in pseudo-Satanic rites and hedonistic activities.
My family was grieved by my death. I did to my parents what I did to Callie, I entered their dreams and dulled their feelings and pains. But Joe…I was so selfish. I still am. I cannot bear for him to distance himself from me like the others. His dreams offer me access to the sun that I can no longer see. So I keep going back to him for solace, and by doing so, Joe never really moved on either. In fact, he throws himself into his studies and tries to live my life for me in memory of me. I feel guilty every time I know he declines an outing or a game to focus on his studies. Unlike me, Joe has to work hard to make his grades. Still, I cannot make myself let him go. In his dreams I asked him to pursue his own dreams, but he insisted on pursuing mine. He claimed that is also his dream now. For me, he said.
He knew I always wanted to do Law at Harvard….
Yes I know, I know. I know that I had always planned to join my father’s PI business eventually…so why would I need a Harvard Law degree? Call it pride, and like I said before, Pride cometh before the fall.
Okay, that’s the story the Van Helsings managed to spin for the FBI and the public’s eye. You know, if not for the fact their calling was to be hunters, the Van Helsing twins would have made great detectives. The way they set the scene and helped plant the evidence for the FBI was ingenious.
The vampyres were forced to collaborate on that story of course, unless they wanted to risk exposure, which they don’t…and especially since there are really several versions of vampyre-run Hellfire Clubs around in New York City alone. Now don’t ask me for them; I will not tell you. Trust me, it’s too dangerous for you to venture there. And if you have a fetish and think it’s cool to be a vampyre, just remember what I said about every single waking.
Once Joe was safely settled back home, the hunters [had] set up a network around him. Jana and Jonah both enrolled in Bayport High so they can watch over him. And over the last year, they dusted a good number of vampyres that came after Joe, and rooted out a good number of vampyre nests around the region.
Now, back to what happened to me, shall we?
Ever play Pac-man? I know it’s an old game. But I still find it entertaining nonetheless. Jana and Jonah hated that game after that night. Yes, that was what happened. They, together with Joe, were the mobile version of the ‘fruit’ that the Pac-man wanted to eat. The Pac-man represents the vampyres of course. And the ‘ghosts’ were of course the FBI agents swarming the estate.
After the Queen left to handle the damage control, she commanded me to attack them and I did. It happened as Jana said; I went for her throat and Jonah almost killed me. But Jana saved me. She stared at me in shock for an instant, then moved quickly to block Jonah’s blade with her crossbow. That is, after she had me trapped in this very strange piece of webbing.
“That’s Frank, Joe’s brother,” she told Jonah.
“He’s turned,” he said, but it was clear from his tone he wasn’t expecting that.
“I know….” The disbelief was clear in her voice.
“Come on Jana, we don’t have much time. You know the Queen will be back as soon as she’s done hiding the evidence from those FBI agents.”
“We can’t leave him here Jonah; maybe we can use him....You got that charm?”
Jonah threw something across, but it was clear from his expression he wasn’t happy with Jana’s take on the matter. “You know that the effect’s only temporary, right?”
Jana did not reply. She recited some words and next I knew, the Queen’s directive vanished. I stopped struggling and Jana removed that webbed trap.
“Take your brother and follow us,” she ordered.
Then all four of us made our way out of the window and up onto the roof. And just in time too, for the FBI agents rushed into that room just a minute later. All they saw was an empty room – as they were supposed to. Much later, they would find both my and Joe’s fingerprints in that room.
Meanwhile, we made our way from the roof onto the estate grounds, all the while evading the FBI agents and also dusting a few vampyres on the way. I was only carrying Joe and following them, of course; while the other two did the fighting bit. We almost made it to the walls at the far end of the estate when the Queen caught up with us.
She tried to call me to her side, but that spell that Jana cast must have held, for I did not feel the need to oblige Her. She hissed in anger and turned to face the attack by the Van Helsing twins. They were good, but She’s better.
“Help us!” Jana called out desperately to me.
And I did. I dropped Joe onto the ground and tried to attack Her. She flung me aside easily. It was a stroke of luck I landed next to a wooden stake. It must have belonged to one of the twins. My hand burned as I touched it. But that fiery pain also brought me back into full awareness in an instant, and everything that transpired that night came crashing down onto my newly awakened mind. The disbelief, the terror, the guilt…everything…. And finally the pain and the anguish as I took in the knowledge of what I almost did.
Most people in my position would have been shocked into inaction. But I saw instantly that I could not afford that blissful system shutdown. The twins were all that stood between Her and Joe…and they were losing. I watched for my opening, and knew I had only one chance. When it came, I grabbed that stake and ignored the pain as it burned through my dead flesh. I had hoped to stake Her heart, but I missed. The Queen must have sensed me and She moved at the very last second. The stake went through her shoulder instead. She growled in pain and then She turned on me. From the fury in her eyes, I knew I was done for.
Again, fate intervened, and I saw several other people dressed just like the twins come over the walls, fully armed with all sorts of strange weaponry. The Queen saw them, hesitated for the merest instant, and fled. And those people continued to chase after Her.
Obviously She escaped, that’s why Joe’s still in danger today.
The twins brought us to this little shed at the corner of the estate. There were several other kids sleeping there. They left Joe with them. By then, the sun was already rising. Jana packed some earth on my burned hand, took a lock of my hair, and then placed me in a thick black bag of sorts. And that was all I remembered from that night.
When I awoke the next night, Jana was there. She just sat there and watched me. At first I wondered why. Then what happened hit me. I went straight into denial, of course. Jana proved to me logically and functionally and step by step that everything that happened was real.
Trust me; you wouldn’t want to go against that woman. She can be brutally and ruthlessly efficient and effective.
It was a painful experience, emotionally as well as physically. The Bible and the mirror and the fact that my heart was not beating and finally my own memories did their job most effectively.
How would you react if you woke up one day to find that you are dead and yet your body is still animated?
I experienced my first panic attack – full blown. But I did not get a heart attack from that. My heart no longer beats. I couldn’t die from it. I am already dead.
And then to find out that I thirst for fresh blood….
I could hear Jana’s heart beating. I could feel her blood flowing. I could smell the sweetness of her blood calling out to me. And I was hungry. I started to reach out for her when it suddenly hit me what I was about to do. I shrank back into my bed and struggled to control my craving.
I was horrified.
Next I remembered about Joe. What I almost did to him. The fate I almost consigned him to.
That was when I started to hate myself. The self-loathing that swept through me was so powerful, it left me drained.
How much can a man take within an hour?
I tried to kill myself.
Jana stopped me.
I begged her to kill me.
She refused.
I hated her.
Then after I fully exhausted myself, she started to talk. She told me about the vampyre world. She told me that I am not totally turned. That as long as I did not drink from an unwilling victim, there is still a chance I can regain my life. I did not respond to that. Then she told me about Joe being special. Just vaguely, but I didn’t catch it then. And she told me that the Queen is still after Joe.
THAT got my attention.
She made me an offer. And I accepted.
Can you guess what that was about?
I let her bind me into her service of my own free will. In return, she promised that she would make sure that I harm no one, and she promised that she will teach me and help me protect Joe.
She teaches me how to survive and how to kill vampyres. She teaches me how to use my newly acquired skills and psychic abilities. She provides me with the weapons and knowledge of various spells. In the early days, I hunted with her and Jonah. She took care of my injuries when I got hurt. And when in need, both she and Jonah offered me blood of their own free will.
And as I gained more and more confidence in my own abilities, I spent less time with them and more time with Joe. Soon I was there in his room almost nightly.
So here I am sitting on the roof above Joe’s room, guarding him, and protecting him.
And so now you know the whole story.
Ah, how time flies! It’s now almost dawn!
Again I scan the environs. Please forgive me, but I am feeling nervous. I really am expecting something….
‘And you are right to… my Fledging…’
I swivel around. There is no one there. I scan my surroundings repeatedly. There is nothing there.
Her laughter fills the air around me. Yet I cannot detect Her.
‘Ah my little Fledging, do you think you can escape me so easily? I’ve been watching over you for the past year…. watching you gain mastery over your skills…and now you are ready to serve me again.’
And I watch myself stand up and I know that I will be heading down to Joe’s room.
SHIT!
“Frank?”
That’s Jana. She’s just clambering up the roof towards me. She looks distracted.
I am torn between hope and fear. Hope that she will know what just happened to me for Joe’s sake, and fear that I may harm her for her sake.
“Sorry I couldn’t get here earlier. But there seems to be quite a few nests popping up around here.”
I watch me nod in understanding.
Then she tilts her head to one side and frowns. “My brother needs me…I have to go….Will you be all right?”
“Of course,” I watch me tell her. “Do you need help?”
“No…no…you stay and guard Joe.” And then she left.
I want to yell at her to come back. I can’t, of course.
Come on Jana, you bound me to your service….Can’t you tell that something is not right? I tried to send a silent plea to her.
The Queen laughs again. And I find myself raising my own hand, so I can view the symbols on my wrist fade off one by one.…
Dread fills me.
‘Now go down to Joe’s room….You know what to do this time…do not fail me…’
I watch my brother wake up as he senses my presence. I watch the myriad of expressions flitter across his face as he switches on the light and sees me.
“Frank? Is that really you?”
I can hear the happiness in his voice and see the joy on his face.
“Yes,” I watch me answer.
Please Joe, it’s not me, can’t you tell it’s not me? I’m dead, remember? …But I kept going back to him in his dreams so he never really moved on…damn, damn, damn…
I am helpless. And my body carries out the Queen’s directions.
“I know you’re still around. They never found your body, Frank….And I can feel your presence; I know you’re still around….Frank…why did you have to hide from me…?”
I watch me interrupt Joe and I watch what happens next in horrified fascination. Too late I understand the significance of needing to invite evil into your heart of your own free will. You see, we vampyres can always come and go in your house and in your mind. But you can always chase us out at any time if you have the right knowledge, skills and will power. But not when you let us in of your own free will.
“You’re in danger, Joe. They’re after you.…”
“Who are? What are you talking about?”
“I’ve no time to explain, Joe. Do you trust me?”
“Of course Frank, do you even need to ask?”
“Would you let me in to help you?”
“Of course Frank…whatever do you mean by…”
“Of your own free will Joe, of your own free will…”
“Yes, of my own free will, but…”
I watch me go straight into his mind. I can see Joe’s surprised expression when he realizes the mental breach. And I watch helplessly as the Queen, through me, shuts him down literally.
And Joe collapses there and then at my feet.
Then I watch me carry him out through the window and head towards where the Queen awaits.
All the way, I wept without tears.
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Disclaimer
The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The Hardy Boys Fan Fiction authors of the Hardy Detective Agency have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.