Primal Burdens: (The Uruwashi Series #5)

by Christina Moore

  Eric’s grin got bigger yet. “So, where’d you two kids meet?”

  “Japan,” Tristan answered as Ash said over him, “Greece.”

  The couple looked at each and Ash said, “We met in Greece.”

  Eric, seeming curious about the obvious discrepancy, gave Tristan a look.

  “Er, yeah. We met in Greece, but we live in Japan right now.”

  “Man, Japan? Is that where you ended up after—” Eric pursed his lips and then huffed softly. “Look, man. We really need to talk, about a lot of stuff. I got us a table at Buddy’s.” The cell phone in his hand made a noise and he glanced at it, coming back with a big smile. “But there’s someone here who wants to see you first.”

  When Eric turned his back on him, Tristan felt the tingle of goose bumps all across his body. He looked around but didn’t find anyone watching him. And he trusted Ash to warn him if there was.

  “Over here!” Eric called out and Tristan whispered under his breath, “Gillian.”

  Ash flinched. “You’re sure?”

  “Of course I am.”

  She scoffed and maybe had more to say but then there was an excited redhead throwing herself at him.

  “Oh my god, it’s really you!”

  Tristan laughed when Gillian tumbled right into him. He scooped her right up and spun in her a little circle, lifting her off the ground. And then they both were crying as she covered his face in wet kisses.

  “I can’t believe you’re really here. I’ve missed you so much.”

  “Oh god,” he whispered, shutting his eyes and hiding his face in her hair. “I’ve missed you too. I’m so sorry.”

  “No,” she said as she motioned for him to put her down. “I’m sorry.” She wiped her tears away before reaching out and grabbing Eric, pulling him in close to her and Tristan. “We’re sorry. We didn’t mean for you to think we hate you. We just, we wanted to help and didn’t know how and—”

  “No, Gillian.” He shook his head, smiling sadly. The few tears that had escaped were already gone but he felt like crying all over again. “I was the asshole. Look, there’s a lot I have to say but I just need to know, right now, are you okay?”

  “Eh? Well, um, yeah. I mean, I’m feeling a little emotional but that’s nothing out of the norm. Am I right?” She gave Tristan a little punch on the arm as Eric snickered.

  “Perfectly normal. But I mean, has anyone been bothering you lately? Anything… strange happen?”

  She frowned, bunching up the freckles on her nose. “No. Not in particular. Unless you call seeing you again like this after so long, strange. What’s going on?” She looked to Eric and he shook his head.

  “I just—” Tristan started and then stopped when he felt it, eyes widening.

  “Sore wa wana da!” Ash hissed, her fingers tightening on his arm.

  It’s a trap, indeed. He was starting to wonder as much and now, well, now he knew for sure.

  Tristan cursed more than a little, causing the other couple to take two big steps away from him.

  “Fuck me,” he said finally through gritted teeth, darting a look around. He could feel the fucker but damned if he could pinpoint where.

  “Tristan, what’s going on?” Gillian almost looked panic, like she might lose him again.

  “I, I don’t have time right now—fuck. We’ve got to go.”

  “Go? But you just got here. I thought we’d have dinner and talk.”

  Tristan sighed, glancing over his shoulder. Nothing but water and boats. “Dammit, I know, but I just, this is important.”

  Gillian frowned. “So are we.”

  He darted forward, almost too fast, and startled her but held on to her arms despite the fear in her eye making him want to flee in shame. “I promise, we’ll talk and really soon. Tomorrow, maybe, but right now I’ve got something super important to do. I’ve—it’s hard to explain.”

  She considered him a moment and then swallowed hard, nodding. She glanced at Eric and then let her attention fall on Ash, considering her for a long moment before going to Tristan again. “Okay.”

  “Okay,” he repeated and gave her a tender kiss on the cheek.

  “Tristan,” Ash warned even as he felt the real warning closing in. God, they’d been so careless.

  “I promise,” he said softly as if meant only for Gillian. “I’ll see you again.”

  He heard her confused noises and whispered words to Eric as he and Ash put their backs to them and walked away. It broke his inhuman heart.

  “I can’t believe how fucking stupid I’ve been.”

  “We were both careless,” Ash said.

  He shot her a furrowed look. “Not sure if I should be insulted or not.”

  She sighed. “I should have known it was a trap.”

  Tristan squinted up at the sky when he felt the first few drops of rain. “At least the rain will help clear out the area.”

  Ash jerked to her left. “And none too soon.”

  “Jesus,” Tristan whispered as he sensed the sudden presence of the vampires. It felt almost as if they were dancing in glee like a bunch of wood nymphs in the rain. “What the hell are they doing?”

  Ash squinted at him. “You can feel that?”

  “Yeah,” he answered, feeling a bit itchy all over. That he could tell they were several streets over bothered him too. He’d never been able to feel a vampire so far away. Worry tickled his nerves as he wondered if Apos had done something to him in those moments between being knocked out and Ash coming to his rescue. He didn’t care what Ash and Netty said, he wasn’t convinced that creature he met was anything but the First Vampire. “What is that? What the fuck are they doing?”

  Ash glanced back as the night crowd gave a collective gasp when the sky opened up and pour down on them. Distantly, almost past the row of buildings where the museum and Mangia’s was located, were Eric and Gillian as they rushed for to their car. The complete opposite direction of the three vampires he felt.

  Pushing a few stray strands of hair from her face, Ash sighed. “They are killing someone right now.”

  Tristan’s eyes widened. “Then we have to hur—”

  Ash shook her head. “It’s already too late.”

  “But they’re not dead,” he hissed through his teeth. How he knew that, he wasn’t sure.

  “He’s lost too much blood. It’s too late to save him, with modern medicine or vampire wiles.”

  Tristan roared an angry noise, right there in the middle of downtown. He felt the presences pause, take notice of his frustration and then laugh at him.

  “They’re mocking us!”

  Ash put a hand on his arm, making him stop to look at her.

  “How the fuck can you be so calm? They’re killing someone right now, right here in the middle of a busy downtown and you’re fucking calm like it means nothing to you!”

  Ash knew his attitude wasn’t directed at her. He was a man, undoubtedly, led more by his actions than words. She didn’t even look fazed in the face of his rage.

  “Human death means many things to me. Sorrow, for one, just as you feel. I just chose to keep it to myself, rather than scream and yell about it.”

  Tristan sighed at her and shook his head. “Sorry. I know, okay? It’s just, I don’t understand what’s going on here and I’m frustrated and I’m… I don’t know.”

  “Then let us un-frustrate together.”

  Oh boy, did that sound like something completely opposite of what they were about to do. Shame too. He could use some vigorous frustration relief right about then.

  “They’re over here,” he said, pointing to the east.

  Ash nodded. “Yes, but there’s something not right about this. I just, I cannot put my finger on it.”

  “Great,” Tristan grumbled.

  “Is that the Naval Academy?” she asked when they came up against a brick fence.

  “Uh, yeah,” he answered looking around, fighting desperately with the rain in his eyes. “I’m sure I felt them righ
t here though. Ballsy fuckers to break the law right on top of the Academy. There’s MP’s n’ shit.”

  “Master at Arms.”

  “What?” he snapped.

  “They are called—never mind.” Ash bit into her lip, tilting her head. “I never felt our foe move. One is completely gone now.”

  “And the other two have split up. Should we?”

  Ash frowned hard. Obviously she didn’t want to any more than he did but it was their best bet at catching the two left behind.

  “It’s not like I can’t handle one alone. Not after—” He stopped short, frowning hard as the image of the child vampire burning alive in the sunlight bubbled to the surface. His eyes stung as phantom shrieks filled his ears. His stomach dropped into his belly when he realized he was hearing real shrieks of terror.

  Ash eyes widened and she pointed the direction towards the docks. “You go after that one.” She pointed towards the water and the shrieks. “I will take care of this one. But be careful. That they can move without me sensing them…” she shook her head in dismay. “These two are dangerous.”

  Tristan harrumphed. “Aren’t they all?” he muttered.

  He started to turn to leave, thought second on it and spun back towards Ash. Almost as if she could read his mind, she turned into him in that same moment and they kissed hard and fast. He just hoped it wasn’t a farewell kiss. Then again, a good luck kiss didn’t seem right either, not with a dead body on the ground and three vampires in the wind.

  2: Fiends

  TRISTAN was left staring at an empty street. Even after all this time, he was startled by Ash’s vampiric speed. She put a lot of effort into looking human, something he took advantage of the longer he was with her. He knew with all his being that she wasn’t human, but it was just easier to think of her that way, to accept what his eyes and deeper conscious wanted to see.

  A surge of trickery taunted him and he turned the direction of the fiend. The rain was letting off so that he didn’t have to squint anymore just to keep the water out of his eyes and he rushed off down the street, stopping only long enough to cross a red light without getting himself clobbered by a passing car.

  He ran down a narrow street. Like most of downtown, it was all street parking for the crammed together homes. A few houses had porch lights on, TV’s flickering in their front living rooms behind curtains, but most were dark by now. The rain had driven them into their homes and to their beds, into the arms of their loved ones.

  “Dammit,” Tristan cursed under his breath. He hated to leave Ash and it wasn’t because he thought she couldn’t take care of herself—he could learn a lot from her brand of self-preservation. But because he didn’t feel right. One of those bad feelings was settling in the pit of his stomach, making him feel anxious and sick. He wasn’t ready to kill just yet but something told him he would have to for this one, whoever these vampire were.

  He knew using a gun would probably get him caught before he even had a chance to clean up after himself, so he had to go with the close and personal method and hope it didn’t get him killed, or worse, bitten.

  Knife pressed against his thigh to conceal it from happenstance glances out a window, he slowed his pace to a slow stroll. He was close now, but having trouble pinpointing exactly where the vampire was. Tristan stopped, feeling like he was right on top of the presence.

  “That’s impossible,” he muttered to himself, looking around frantically for the invisible monster. “Unless…”

  He looked up just as someone started to whistle to the tune of “London Bridge”. Even whistled, it had this eerie monotone that made him shiver. Then again, a vampire could push emotion into their voice no matter how they used it.

  “I’m okay with you testing the theory on whether or not your kind can fly,” Tristan called out.

  The vampire kept on whistling, staring down at Tristan from his perch on the edge of a dark home. Those cold, cynical eyes that were glaring at him, they were a warm brown, a few shades lighter than his hair. So why, despite his eyes and his blood telling him that the vampire was indeed a vanilla, did Tristan feel like it wasn’t the whole story?

  “You wanna come down here and have a talk?”

  The whistling tapered off to nothing and still, the vampire said nothing.

  “You a mute or something? Seriously, come down here. I need to talk to you.” Nice, amicable. Sure, they could talk this out because maybe what Tristan felt wasn’t what really happened, that this vampire hadn’t mutilated someone just minutes ago.

  The vampire seemed to think about it really hard for a moment and then with a swing of his legs, launched himself off the roof to the street below. He landed rather gracefully, even if he did lose his balance and end up crouching for a moment to catch himself. Tristan took a step back to keep the kid from being up in his face.

  “Jesus,” he muttered, “what is it with vampires killing kids?”

  The vampire straightened, a silent sentinel before Tristan. And “kid” he was. Tristan guessed the vampire wasn’t much over sixteen if he was a day. It seemed too tragic to die so young, only to live forever as a monster. Even while their appearances were utterly deceiving, it still weighed on Tristan’s human mind that he was killing children, young people with their whole lives in front of them. People like him.

  “You wanna tell me who you are and why you’re here?”

  The kid tilted his head to the side, making thick curls flop into his eyes. “Are you the vampire police?”

  “Oh-ho, so you can speak.” Tristan smiled darkly. “And yeah, I kind of am. You gonna answer my questions?”

  “Rather not.”

  “You know, I typically like a vampire with little to say, but you’re really starting to urk me, pal.” He shifted his weight to rest on one hip. “Do you know who I am?”

  The vampire thought about it a moment, his eyeing looking Tristan over, and then gave a nod. “Yes. You’re Tristan. The Uruwashi.”

  He nodded, figuring as much. His secret wasn’t so much a secret anymore. “All the more reason to get along, don’t you think?”

  The boy tilted his head to the side again, that curious sort of look, like a dog recognizing a favorite word. “Rather not.”

  “You’d… What?”

  With a cry, the vampire shot forward. He took Tristan by surprise, smashing a fist into Tristan’s cheek and sending him to his ass. Tristan narrowly missed smacking his head into the pavement and despite the disorientation, he was on his feet again within seconds. Yay for training and strong natural instincts.

  He dove at the vampire and would have hit the fucker if he hadn’t dodged the blow. No, dodge wasn’t the right term for it, more like he fucking teleported. In an instant, the kid was just gone and Tristan was left breathlessly shocked. A vampire was a vampire, but a vanilla shouldn’t have been that fast.

  Something small and hard bounced off the back of Tristan’s head and he spun quickly, rubbing the spot to make sure he wasn’t bleeding. The kid was standing behind Tristan looking like he’d been there all along, tossing something small in his hand into the air and catching it again. The jerk had thrown a pebble at him.

  “Look, I don’t know who you are, but I’ve had a shitty week and I’m not in the mood for your bullshit. Tell me what I want to know and I’ll let you go… if you’re innocent.”

  The vampire pulled down the collar of his shirt exposing his white neck. “Will you bite me?”

  Tristan stumbled back a few steps, horrified. “N—no. Just who do—I’m a human, for Christ’s sake.”

  The vampire’s brow creased.

  “Castor!”

  Tristan shuffled back, keeping the kid, Castor apparently, and the newcomer coming from Ash’s direction in view.

  Ash wasn’t with him.

  “Dear, dear brother. What are you doing?”

  Tristan squinted at the newcomer. He was standing in just the right light that his face was obscured but had a familiarity about him.

&nbs
p; “What I was told to.”

  The vampire scoffed, taking a few steps forward. Tristan could see his face now and immediately saw that the two boys were more than brothers, they were twins. And he thought, how terrible to die so young and see your own twin suffer the same fate. At least they had each other? Right.

  The twin laughed, sounding a little manic. “That’s my dear brother, always doing as he’s told. Well, we’re done here anyway. But maybe…” He took a few more steps towards them and Tristan tensed, thought about his gun and lamented not being able to use it. “We have a few minutes to spare, get to know our new friend here? What do you say, Mr. Tristan? Wanna play a game?”

  Tristan hadn’t the time to answer as the dull one was talking again. “No, Pollux. That wasn’t the directive. We must leave.”

  “Hate to say it,” Tristan managed to butt in, “but your bro’s probably right. Because if what I felt earlier really happened…” He shook his head, hating that it came to this. “I have to kill you.” And better if he had help. As it was, he was alone and couldn’t think to take on two at once, not safely. Even if they were vanilla.

  The new one, Pollux, stared at Tristan for a long pause and then burst into manic laughter again. Tristan sighed. He was way too tired for this bullshit. The past few days stress was really starting to get to him and he was supposed to be sleeping right now if he were on his normal schedule.

  Tristan shuffled on his feet. Where the hell was Ash?

  “All right, all right. If you two come along nicely, we can talk about this, okay?”

  “Are you fucking stupid?” Pollux bit out between his laughter. “You and I both know I just murdered a person and loved every fucking second of it.”

  “Damn,” Tristan hissed, looking around and wondering just how many residents heard Pollux’s big voice bouncing off the buildings. He really needed to get these two isolated.

  Without fully thinking it through, Tristan dove. But Castor was just as quick as he’d been before and missed getting his neck slashed open by Tristan’s knife. But only just this time; Tristan had surprised the young vampire if the look on his face said anything and that made him smile.