The Change

By L. M. McPherson

Dan is fresh out of high school and is about to embark on the most daunting quest his life has yet to encounter: college. Shortly after his arrival in this new world, he discovers that his world as a whole is not as he had always thought. Finding himself caught in a two-thousand-year-old mythical struggle between vampires, werewolves, and mankind, Dan struggles with the idea of fighting to preserve his old world or to help usher in a new one.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Nov 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781504959988

L. M. McPherson

McPherson has always had a love of fictional stories. The idea of being able to create one’s own universe always appealed to him in the mundanity of everyday life. He has written many short stories and fan fictions for his own entertainment and has now decided to try his hand at a full-length novel. He writes in a very self-commentative style and analyzes his writing in the writing, allowing the reader to experience the writing process while enjoying his story.

Book preview

AuthorHouse™

1663 Liberty Drive

Bloomington, IN 47403

www.authorhouse.com

Phone: [phone]

© 2015 L. M. McPherson. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse  10/29/2015

ISBN: 978-1-5049-5999-5 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-5049-5998-8 (e)

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

Move

Party

Realization

Breakfast

Fire

Restaurant

Return

Karaoke

Interruptus

Oval

Hersilia

Later

Closer

Drive

Pub

Back

Clues

Manistee

Death

Talk

Bar

Origin

Beer

Flashbacks

Plan

Offer

Time

Niall

Aftermath

Den

Build

Climax

Conclusion

"…the sons of God

went to the daughters of humans

and had children by them.

They were the heroes of old…"

-Genesis 6:4

Move

Victor Lucror was a dark skinned, Mediterranean, male of twenty-three. He stood about six feet tall and weighed around a hundred and eighty pounds. He was of muscular build, short dark hair, and currently clean shaven, although his facial hair patterns changed like the weather in Ohio. He attended The Ohio State University and was in his fifth year as a physical education major. This is his story…

Too cliché? Beginning someone’s story with, ‘This is his story…’? I wish I could say, ‘This is my story,’ but alas, I am but a minor character. The only reason I am in this tale at all is because of Victor’s pure lack of ambition.

He was on his ‘victory lap’, as he used to say, when I roomed with him in the Lane Avenue dorms my freshman year. I was five eight, buck thirty soaking wet, and had an undying love of video games. There I was, barely eighteen and had no idea what life beyond high school was like. I still thought I would be able to play two sports, be in three music groups, attend class full time, hang out with my friends and carry a four point GPA. Victor quickly informed me that I could pick one of those things. Always the optimist, I insisted I could pick two or three; always the pessimist, he insisted I could pick one. Victor was always like that- called it being a realist. I told him most pessimists think they are realists, to no avail.

Anyway, I should start from the beginning. I have a mild case of ADHD, so I tend to rabbit trail a lot in my story… I want pizza. Sorry, I promise I will focus. Move in day. I was one of the first to arrive on my assigned day. When I signed in, I got my room key and went up to check out my new space and plan where I would put everything I had brought. Victor had already moved in when I got there. Normally the upperclassmen wait a couple of days but Victor new the RA and she let him in early. She would have let him in in more ways than one if you catch my meaning… I am tempted to rabbit trail, but I will save the description of the RA for a more relevant point in the story.

I opened the door of the twelfth room on the top floor the building. Victor was sleeping on a futon in the corner. Face down, on top of the sheets and stark naked. I quickly stepped back into the hallway and shut the door before my mother got into the room. My mother is the extremely caring type that kind of smothers me because she cannot imagine her life when I am not in it for even the briefest of periods. I know it is because she loves me, but I could barely convince her to let me attend a university halfway across the state. I wanted to apply to Hawaii, but that was, of course, out of the question. A volcano might mug me… or something to that effect. Regardless, if she had seen my nude roommate she might not have let me stay.

Fortunately she was still halfway down the hall talking to another parent so I had a little time to plan. I concocted the brilliant strategy of knocking very loudly. Just a sec! came a soothing baritone, transatlantic accent by the sound. I know that is not technically an accent but that is how he spoke. Victor opened the door in a pair of gym shorts. An upwards nod was all the greeting I received. His face was indifferent. I learned that indifference was his preferred approach to most things in life. During serious moments he would make jokes, and during joking moments he was a major buzz kill.

I am Dan, Dan Hackering. He raised an eyebrow. I’m your new roommate. I extended my hand.

He shook it, firmly. Victor Lucror.

Nice to meet you, Vic.

Victor. He insisted, and then retreated back into the room. To be fair, retreated probably is not the most accurate assessment of his movement. Everything he did had a hint of aggression, but not off-putting aggression; it was more of a commanding presence. Like in Braveheart when Wallace begins to leave the meeting of the nobles when they start to argue and then… I digress. I took one step into the room and goose bumps plagued my body.

It is freezing in here! I exclaimed. How are you only wearing shorts? How were you not wearing anything?

I’ve just gotten used to it. He then began something which he did with fair regularity; he explained the behavior of a large portion of society by insisting that everything people do is selfishly motivated. There are two strategies to the temperature of a male dorm room. Both revolve around the hope that a girl will at some point be in said dorm room. Some guys like to keep a warm dorm so that the girl will be encouraged to progressively wear less over the course of her time exposed to such an environment. Approach number two: Keep it cold. As a body which generates warmth, a cold girl will be encouraged to sit closer to, slash, snuggle up against the man she is with. Approach two is generally more affective at realizing its intended goal, as well as being the more respectful of the two options.

At the conclusion of his explanation, Victor returned to his futon. I took a moment to survey the room. The building used to be a hotel, so the rooms were quite large for dormitory spaces, and each room had its own bathroom. I then realized that the futon was all Victor had in the room. The rest was empty. Where is the rest of your stuff? I asked.

He looked up. I had not noticed that he had begun reading a book and eating a meal replacement bar. All I could make out on the cover was ‘Jodi Picoult’. He raised an eyebrow again. I grew to learn that most of his communication was done through nods and facial expressions. Victor generally kept to himself and only when it was absolutely necessary did he use audible words. All you have in here is a futon. I was just wondering where you kept everything else. He nodded towards the closet and went back to his reading. It was a joint closet, so I opened it. One half of the closet was pants and shirts hanging, a basket of shoes on the floor, and workout clothes folded on the shelves. The other half was empty. The closet was perfectly divided in half, his stuff and space for mine.

Wow.

Dan, Honey? Mom was lost in the hallway.

In here, Ma!

She walked in, quickly at first, then, snail pace. It is a bit chilly in here. You brought your warm clothes right? her jest dripping with genuine concern. Hi! I am Melinda Hackering! she called out across the room.

To my surprise, Victor rose, approached, shook my mom’s hand and said, Victor Lucror. and went back to his corner.

It is a pleasure to meet you Mr. Lucror.

Victor. He replied as he pulled an apple out from under his bed. Objects had a tendency to appear out from under that futon; food, socks, books, but I never had the courage to look underneath to see how it was organized. And it was organized. Victor never grabbed something, decided it was the wrong thing and put it back. And he never rummaged. It was always, hand goes in empty, hand emerges occupied. Either his organization was impeccable or he just always pretended to grab the right thing on the first try. Anyway…

My mother was stunned for a moment. She had grown accustomed to people not correcting her. A career business woman in a male dominated company, coupled with an ‘only the strong survive’ upbringing, resulted in a very strong-willed feminist who rarely had her authority challenged. Even on an issue as small as somebody’s name, she could not be wrong. Mr. Lucror, I understand you are a fifth year. Will you be able to look after my son? Show him the ropes?

Again, Victor rose, walked past my mother, entered the bathroom, and proceeded to urinate with the door open. He flushed, washed his hands, walked out of the bathroom, back to his futon and began reading again without uttering a word.

In the interest of time I will summarize the events that followed. Mom called housing while Dad and I moved in all of my stuff. Housing told her that I would have to try and live there for the time being and, if I could not handle it, they would address the issue in a month or so; however, new experiences is what college is supposed to offer. It was a good thing Victor did not have a lot of stuff because my stuff took up the rest of the room. A bed, a desk, a couch, a TV, a desktop, a laptop, a console, a dresser, a fridge, a microwave, a bookshelf, and so on. I walked with my family back down to the car and hugged them goodbye.

Now remember, at the end of the month you need to call housing and tell them to switch you roommates, if they give you trouble tell me and I’ll call them. My mother would not let the office of student life best her.

I’ll be fine, I protested. Love you guys. I offered, giving them each one last hug.

That night was FPS night. That is ‘First Person Shooter’ for those of you outside of the video gaming realm. I fired up my XBOX and put in Halo 4. You wanna play some SWAT? I asked Victor still engrossed in his novel, now polishing off a bag of chips, party size, and he just opened them half an hour earlier. He simply lifted his book. I interpreted that as a ‘No, thank you.’ I do not know why, but I always translated Victor’s gestures very politely. Whatcha reading? Again he lifted his book. I read aloud, "Sing You Home. I heavily debated the asking of this next question, Aren’t those girls’ books? He nodded. Then why do you read them?"

He set the book down and walked over to me, pulling around my desk chair and had a seat. He spoke very slowly; I could feel him fighting back the condescension. When you first meet a girl do you talk about video games?

Sometimes.

And how is that working for ya?

Not great I suppose.

The ladies like Jodi Picoult; I like Jodi Picoult. A phrasing I grew to know well during my time with Victor. "The ladies like rainbows; I like rainbows. The ladies like Yoga; I like Yoga. The ladies like a man with nice abs; I like to be a man with nice abs." He was always careful about how he altered this general formula.

Then a voice at the door interrupted our little pow-wow. The bell-like soprano of an angel beckoned me from our doorway. ‘Sup bitches? The resident advisor for my floor entered my room. I now understood why Victor insisted we leave the door open. She floated in, her strides so smooth she merely glided across the floor. The mild scent of cinnamon preceded her. She was five feet, ten inches tall and One-hundred and forty pounds of perfection. She wore jean shorts which exhibited her long, tan, toned legs. Also, a form fitting grey polo demonstrated the exquisitely proportioned curves of her torso. Long red hair cascaded down her back to her waist. Her dark, sapphire blue eyes were intoxicating pools of endless beauty. Then she smiled the most perfect smile that has ever been smiled. Long story short: Helen of Troy got nuthin’.

Uh… was all I could choke out.

She giggled her name, Sidney Alexis Strauss. She reached out for a handshake, I shook.

I…uh…

Victor stood. I began to really wish he had put more clothes on. His vitals were still covered, but his rock solid torso was exposed and sculpted masterfully as if by Michelangelo himself. I later heard girls claim he was the most beautiful man they had ever seen. Regardless, at that exact moment, there was a goddess to my left, and a gladiator to my right, and I hated him for it.

Dan. Victor gestured to me.

Nice to meet you, Dan. uttered the nymph. Well hey, some of us were heading down to the RPAC for some time in the hot tub if you gents are interested.

Victor gave a nod and she exited with a point and a wink. Victor went over to the closet and put a towel and his swim shorts in a bag. Then, without asking, he did the same with my bag, my towel, and my swim shorts. What are you doing? I objected. He simply responded by throwing the bag and my sandals at me and twitching his head towards the door.

No, I can’t.

Eyebrow raise.

Because I won’t know anybody, and it’d be weird, and it’s FPS night, and I don’t swim, I only own the shorts as a formality, and hot tubs are full of bacteria, and… He left. I quickly shut off my XBOX and stumbled out of the door putting on my sandals and dragging my bag behind me. I expected him to be waiting by the elevator but I saw him at the end of the hallway by the stairs. I sprinted to catch up. When I did he said nothing and kept moving. Out of breath from my hall run, I managed, Don’t, breath, you want to, breath, know why I came?

Nod.

My breathing slowed and speech began to regulate. I came because you wanted me to. Now I want to know why you wanted me to come.

You like Sidney. Blunt.

So? Confused.

So you should get to know her. Oversimplified.

But won’t there be other people there? Other guys who are also interested in her? Besides she’s a junior and she is way out of my league and…

He stopped walking, turned, and looked me straight in the eye. Yes. There will be other people there. Yes. There will be other guys there who want her. Yes. She is a junior. Yes. She is way out of your league.

You’re doing a hell of a job making me feel better about this…

Dan. He took a pause; I believe on purpose to build suspense. You have something very special that none of those other guys have: a coach that she likes. Look kid, Sid is a beautiful girl, which means the majority of her friend base is guys that want to go out with her. Every time you are in a group setting with her, they will all be vying for her attention. You just relax and wait for her to come to you. Now, she will be more likely to come to you because she likes me. She is going to believe that as long we are roommates, that getting closer to you will get her closer to me. Use this to your advantage. I never told my mom, but this is the reason why I never petitioned for a new roommate.

We got to the Recreation and Physical Activities Center and swiped in. The card swipe girl was attractive, not Sidney attractive, but attractive. She recognized Victor and asked him how he was. He nodded, and smiled, more smirked really, and moved on. She giggled; I have no idea why; he did not tell her a joke or anything. Ya know, it is really not fair sometimes, I have to do everything right for a girl to give me the time and he just makes faces and they fall head over heels. Anyway. As she swiped me in she watched him. Who was that? I asked.

Victor shrugged.

Once inside Victor showed me around. Just the general directional head nods with what I could find down there. Cardio Canyon. Free Weights. Machines. Track. Locks. He stopped there and checked out a lock. I got one too, then the tour continued. Racquetball. Locker rooms. We changed and exited the back of the locker rooms, Pools. End of tour.

We went to the hot tub and got in. I started to move toward where Sidney was seated at the back and Victor put a hand on my shoulder and made me sit right by the stairs. Rookie mistake. he said. Make her come to you. Don’t even look at her unless she calls you by name. And the first time she calls, pretend you didn’t hear her.

Dan! she called and waved.

Victor stared at me. I will admit my fear of the look on his face trumped my desire to acknowledge the siren’s call.

Dan! she called again.

Victor nodded and said, Small wave.

I lifted my hand just out of the water and raise my thumb, index and middle fingers. Victor nodded in approval and gave me a pat on the back.

The next thing I knew Victor was talking to a good looking brunette. When I say ‘talking’ I mean, she was talking he was…not really listening but that did not matter to her. He kept looking at a little blonde girl over in the corner by Sidney. She was cute in sort of a Simmons from ‘Agents of Shield’ kind of way. Cuteness shrouded in nerdy. Honestly, the image of them felt kind of equated to Victor and me. One very attractive, one kind of forgettable. Not that Simmons is forgettable, I happen to find her very attractive, I am just saying that modern convention labels intellectual types as not as physically appealing as the more athletic… Anyways.

I caught the end of one the brunette’s sentences, …ya know what I mean Vic?

Victor. was all he gave in response.

Victor. I said, getting his attention. He gave the girl the ‘wait a second’ hand gesture and turned to face me. Do you keep checking out that nerdy blonde chick in the corner? His face did not change. Seeing no objection I continued. Is she really your type?

I read the next facial expression as, ‘Why would she not be?’

And I continued, I just kind of figured you for more of the… well the girl who’s been talking to you type.

Eyebrow raise.

Well she is very attractive and seems really into you and…

His eyes shifted to a slight glare so I stopped talking. He took a moment and spoke slowly. First. I like an intelligent girl. Second. Everyone has different aesthetic preferences. Third. I like a challenge.

I looked at the blonde who seemed completely disinterested in her environment. She kept looking at the clock, and looking down and around.

Victor stood up and went to the drinking fountain. The blonde girl also got up almost immediately after Victor. It was like he sensed she was about to leave. He stopped drinking just as she walked by and he smiled at her. She avoided eye contact, kept her head down and left. Victor smiled to himself and came back to join the rest of us. Cue the brunette’s incessant rambling.

A few minutes later one of the guys who had been hovering near Sidney came toward us. You talking to my girl, the guy accused. He was a little bigger than Victor but not as toned. He looked strong but thick.

Victor yawned and rubbed something out of his eye.

Hey! I’m talking to you, the guy spoke a little louder.

Victor leaned over to me and whispered, Keep your distance; she will come over to you. He then stood and made eye contact with the guy. I could not tell from my angle, but I thought I saw Victor’s face… change.

The guy took a step back, What the… He took a look around, and apparently realized no one else saw anything unusual. So he simply grabbed his girlfriend and left. Victor turned and looked at me, nodded, and left as well.

After a few more minutes, it was just Sidney, me, and about five other guys. Sidney stood and they all followed. I stayed seated. I figured Victor would have told me to stay seated. As she walked by me she leaned down and said, Walk me home. She gave a wink and a point, and left with her entourage in tow. I raced out, changed as fast as I could, and waited for her outside of the locker rooms. Two of the others remained as well. I just cannot catch a break. Sidney emerged from the locker room and came over to me. She