The Ultimate Vampire Resource and Directory

"This is my townhome" Haley gestures with her hand.

"Rather quaint and subtle place you have. It even has a gate." Johnny chuckles.

"It once belonged to my grandmother." She replied to his snarky remark.

"My apologies Haley, it really is a beautiful townhome." He hesitates for a brief moment. "Well, I guess I better be off then since you are safe and sound at your place, just like I promised." Johnny begins to walk away when Haley grabs his arm.

"Would you like to come in? I mean just for a little while." She gives him a doe eye look that he couldn't resist. he shruggs his shoulders and thought to himself what did he have to lose.

"I would be honored, my dear." as he offered his arm out to her, she looked hers in his and walked up the stairway to the door. Haley pulls out her keys to unlock the door and opens it, they both enter. She tossed her keys onto a side table to the left by the door and then shuts it. On the right side was a set of hooks to hang up jackets and other items. Johnny took off his hat to hang it up and then helped Haley out of her jacket placing it on a hook next to where he hung his hat. There they both stood in the hallway staring at each other wondering what the other was thinking. Haley gestures down the hallways towards the living room to break the awkwardness between them.

"Come on in and have a seat." John walks down the hallway and into the living room and has a seat next to the fireplace. The chair he sat in was antique he could tell. His eyes wander to a picture frame sitting at a book table. Haley gets his attention asking him, "Would you like a drink?" He looks at her.

"Sure I'll have a beer if you have one." He answers.

She walks into the kitchen, well what seemed like a kitchen. It was rather small and had a breakfast bar that separated it from the living room to where he sat in that was very open and had cathedral ceilings, the tiles were old victorian style art by the corners of each wall. The carpet in the room where he sat was rug-like and ended at the breakfast bar. Everywhere else had wood flooring. He could hear Haley rummaging in the refrigerator for their drinks. His eyes returned to the picture frame. He picks it up. It was an old faded photo, one he seemed to recognize. The photo was outside one of the Chicago hotels. In it was a lady similar in appearance and in age to Haley. As he looked closer he realized who and where the photo was taken. He was next to his old flame. Haley returns from the kitchen with two bottles of beer.

"Oh, you seem very fixated on this photo." She pulls a chair similar to the one he sat in next to him and then sits down.

"Where did you get this photo?" He asked.

"It was my grandmother's. All of this you see here was left to me by her." Haley looks closer at the photo.
"Hey, this is quite interesting. The gentleman next to my grandmother has a strange resemblance to you John."
John took in a deep breath. ~Think Johnny, think of a story to tell her. ~ His mind was telling him.

"Well, to be honest, Haley, it's interesting our paths have crossed. You see that man in the photo is my grandfather."

"You don't say? That explains a lot, plus maybe you can fill in the things my grandmother wouldn't tell me."

"I'm named after my grandfather. His name was john as well. He was no saint mind you and your grandmother wasn't either. You see both of them ran with the mob of Al Capone during the prohibition days. This photo was taken in front of one of the hotels he owned during that time." He looked at Haley. He could see in her eyes how awestruck she was and intrigued by what he was telling her. It was sort of the truth, just the man in the photo was him, not his grandfather.

"So what happened between the two of them?" she asked. Johnny wasn't ready to answer that. He already felt a lump building in his throat just speaking about Haley's grandmother. He really did love her dearly, and looking at Haley was almost like looking at a twin.

"The two of them had their differences. As I was told. She didn't care for his heavy drinking and he was always running moonshine between Chicago and New York. They called it off with their relationship and moved on." Johnny tried hard to keep a straight face as he put the picture down and took the bottle of beer from Haley, taking a few gulps.

"Anything else you would like to know my dear?"

"What about your mother and father? Surely your grandfather had children or else you wouldn't be here." Johnny almost spit out his beer upon hearing that then began to cough.
"I'm sorry Johnny." Johnny hold his hand up gesturing that it was ok as he regained his composure.

"My father like my grandfather ran with the mob. Guess you could call it a family business. My mother died in childbirth with me, and my father tried to raise me by himself but gave me up as being a father interfered with his job with the mob. Good thing too as he was later gunned down, at least this was what I was told while I was in a foster home. My foster family was better to me than my own family." He had hoped that his story convinced her and she wouldn't pry any further.
"How horrible!" He could hear the concern in her voice.
"It's ok, I'm a better person. So how about you Haley since we're on the subject of family?" He takes another gulp of beer.
Haley clicks her nails on the side of the beer bottle. Johnny could tell that she felt uncomfortable.

"My father died in a car accident and my mother left my father when I was young. My grandmother stepped in to raise me. She was the only family I had. She did a fine job doing so, to say the least. It wasn't always easy for her. I always fell for the bad boys and was always into trouble with the law. She'd always scold me saying if I continued to run with the wrong crowd, it would catch up to me. It eventually did and I found myself in jail. My grandmother bailed me out thankfully but told me I would not have a place to stay if I continued. It all makes sense now with your story. She didn't want me going down the same road as she did."

"Sounds like she was a smart woman." He finishes the rest of his beer.
"I must head out now. Morning comes quickly and you need to rest."
Haley walks him to the door. Their eyes meet once more, Johnny turns away to grab his hat and puts it on his head. He slightly tilts it to her.

"Goodnight Haley. You know how to reach me." He opens the door and walks down the stairs out into the lit street, Haley standing in the door watches him walk away.