Chapter 315 - Homecoming

When I concluded my tale for the night, the sun was just winking over the wooded peaks of the mountains of my homeland. The Swabian Alb stretched out before us, white and frozen beneath a blue porcelain sky. It didn't look much like the land of my mortal days. Time and the elements had rounded off its rugged peaks, making them appear from a distance to be very large hills rather than mountains, and the valley was cluttered with the steep brown roofs of mortal dwellings, but it was my home, the place of my birth, and so I loved it.

"You can't just stop there," Lukas said beside me, shifting anxiously from foot to foot. "You have to tell me the rest of the story. What happened after Khronos ripped off your head? How did they restore your body? Did Khronos hunt down the Tanti, like he said he was going to do? Come on, man, don't leave me hanging!"

I laughed a little, forgetting for a moment the anger I had been nursing since his betrayal of my trust. I remembered what he had done to poor Agnes then, and my amusement wilted. I should destroy him for what he'd done to her, but who then would destroy me? And I wanted to die so very, very badly.

"I'll tell you tonight after we rise," I said. I nodded thoughtfully. "We'll finish it tonight. But it's almost daylight now, and we need to find a hotel. If this is to be my last day on earth, I'd like to start it with a refreshing nap in a warm and comfortable bed."

Lukas nodded toward the village. "Down there?"

"Where else?"

We started forward, the snow crunching under our boots. The town below was still aslumber, though here and there a pair of headlights navigated the narrow streets. White smoke puffed from every chimney. It was one of those picturesque German villages you see so often in postcards. The river in which I'd once helped our Neanderthal neighbors fish, the river in which I'd spent so many of my childhood days splashing happily about, had dried up long ago. There were a few meandering streams running through the outskirts of the village, but mostly it was pavement and parking lots.

It is not true, you know. That old adage. You can always go home. Just don't expect it to be the same as when you left it. You'll be very disappointed.

We walked down into that picturesque village, and we rented a room at a nice hotel. I got us a room with a double bed so that I could keep an eye on my impulsive traveling companion. I wasn't giving him a chance to destroy another poor woman's life.

No, that is a lie, too, and I swore to myself I would strive to be as truthful as possible in my memoirs.

I had come too far, sacrificed too much, compromised my own moral code too many times, to allow Lukas to jeopardize my plans. I would be dead soon, and Lukas free to run amok, so I cannot say that I was too much concerned about the misery of others. Not anymore. I just didn't want him to endanger my plans.

He is sleeping now, lying on his side facing the wall, knees drawn up very nearly to his chest. The posture of his slumber is very illuminating. It is perhaps my greatest sin that I have chosen to use him and his madness rather than do what is right and simply destroy him, put him out of his misery like the rabid dog he is.

But I cannot.

I am ready to join my loved ones in the afterlife. I am ready to meet my Maker. I am lonely. I am disillusioned. I am very simply tired.

So very, very tired.

In just a moment I will finish the last chapter of my memoirs, I will send the entire document to my mortal editor in America, and then I will go and lie down in the big comfortable bed I have rented for the day. Tonight, after I rise, I will tell Lukas the rest of my story, and then I will climb up into the mountains, find a spot with a good view of the land where I was born, and bid my companion to destroy me.

I hope I can sleep today. I hope I have pleasant dreams. Most of all, I hope, tonight, to die.

All my love,

Gon

The Oldest Living Vampire