by Marcus Brown
“Kane knows you’re here, and is, shall we say, a little concerned. The boy hasn’t been seen in some time now, and you know how suspicious our master can get. He wants to know his investment is safe, and everything is on schedule.”
“My son isn’t an investment…” Constance spat.
Carlo interrupted her. “He was never your son, you merely borrowed him.”
Romeo stood over Carlo’s diminutive frame and grabbed the sleeves of his jacket, lifting him off his feet. “Never…” he snarled, “… speak to my wife in that way again, do you hear me, little man?”
Carlo was intimidated, but couldn’t afford to show any weakness. The most important thing was winning favour from his master.
“Put me down,” Carlo ordered. “You forget your place and Kane will not be happy to know how you’ve treated his most loyal servant.”
The wind instantly picked up, blowing cold air right through them.
Carlo watched as Constance looked around and Romeo held his stance. The three of them knew what the wind meant.
“Yes, Romeo, be a good man and put him down.”
Romeo dropped Carlo to the floor, never taking his eyes off Kane for a moment. He dropped to his knees, dragging Constance with him, bowing their heads in deference.
Chapter Seven
“Master, I-I…” Carlo stammered, staring at his master’s un-shadowed face for the first time “… I wasn’t expecting you so soon. Forgive this, erm little squabble between us.”
“A poor choice of words, Carlo. It looks more than…” he paused. “… What did you call it? A squabble.”
“I was simply trying to find out what they were doing here.”
“And you have all the information ready and at hand to deliver to me, I trust?”
“Err, no, I’m sorry, Master.” There was a definite tremble in his voice. “I only arrived shortly before you.”
“Then it’s a good thing I arrived when I did, to take charge of the situation” Kane turned to look at the Benitez’s. He bowed his head and removed his sunglasses slowly, and then for added effect looked up, his red eyes blazing.
Constance edged away from him.
Kane was pleased. It wasn’t often he revealed his true self, but they were caught in a lie, he could sense it.
“Constance, you have nothing to be afraid of. We’ve been friends for many years, after all.” He extended his hand. “Come, let us talk, like civilised beings.”
She accepted his offer and held onto his hand, and in a split second, Kane had his hand tightly around her throat. Her eyes bulged as he tightened his grip and lifted her effortlessly into the air, her legs twitching. He called the wind and rose from the ground, his eyes focused on her.
“Please, Kane, don’t hurt her,” Romeo begged, falling to his knees. “Take me instead.”
Kane ignored him. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and his fangs elongated. He bit into Constance’s throat as she screeched. He knew the agony of being bitten, never forgetting Empusa ripping into his own throat. “Now, tell me what you’re hiding from me.”
“Please, no,” she croaked as his hand tightened, threatening to crush her larynx.
The rush of ecstasy as the salty blood hit the back of his throat felt like nothing else, and almost immediately, her memories flooded his mind and became his.
Taking what he needed, he lowered himself to the ground, throwing Constance to the floor, not caring as she landed in the grass, her limbs bent at awkward angles. Blood oozed from the puncture marks on her neck.
Carlo appeared rooted to the spot, grinding his hands together, a grin stretched across his pudgy face.
Romeo ran to his wife. “Connie, I’m coming,” he shouted, but in a flash, Kane was standing in his way, a furious expression across his handsome face. His eyes blazed crimson red.
“You dare lie…” he roared, incandescent with rage. “… To me.”
“Please, Kane, forgive us. We came here to put it right, to bring him home.”
“Nothing you say or do will convince him to leave – the bond he feels to his second self will be too strong,” Kane replied.
“We’ll find a way, I swear it. Kyle loves his mother and will listen to her.”
“You deceived me all these years, give me one good reason why I shouldn’t rip you apart where you stand?”
“Do to me what you must to me, but please spare Constance’s life. We did our best, but were almost discovered that night. Kyle’s birth mother came back to her room and discovered the boy gone. There was no way we could risk going back for the girl after that. The police were everywhere.”
“So, you thought misleading me was the better option? Telling me the girl died in childbirth would keep you safe?”
“It was the only thing we could do – we’d failed you, but brought you the boy. We knew you’d never accept just one of them.”
“And why do you think that is, Romeo?” Kane asked.
“I don’t know, Master.”
“Because of the bond that holds twins together. For reasons I’ll never understand, they sense a part of them is missing. Presenting them as one would have put us in Empusa’s good graces once again.”
“We didn’t realise, or we would have done more to secure the girl.”
“And now, Kyle runs around this backwater, bringing us all into the glare of the world’s media. You know Daywalkers have little control around mortals. How could you have been so foolish to allow your wife to tell him about her?”
“I’m sorry, but he dreamt of her every night. She had to tell him, it was driving him insane. Please, just tell me what to do, and we’ll put it right.”
“You have no love for the child, I can see that – I’ve always known that, but I believed you and your wife would make the best guardians, which is why I chose you, and rewarded you handsomely.”
“He wasn’t mine to love,” Romeo replied.
“No, he belonged to me, as did the girl, but you failed, and seventeen years on, and at the most crucial of times, you lost control of the boy. Do you know what Empusa will do to us all? Maybe you’d like to be the one to explain it to her?”
“No, Master, please. Anything but that.”
“Don’t worry, Romeo. I’ll spare you the pain of what Empusa would do to you both if she found out about your negligence.”
Kane could see the relief on Romeo’s face. “But it doesn’t excuse your dishonesty.”
Carlo moved away from Romeo. Kane had never seen him look as nervous as he did at that moment.
“I apologise. Please allow me to make amends.”
“There is no need, Romeo, your work here is done,” Kane said with an air of finality.
“Thank you, Master. May I go and attend to my wife?” He twisted his head, the look of fear on his face evident.
“Yes, it’s time you were reunited with her,” he said jovially.
Romeo turned and rushed toward his wife as the sickening crunch echoed around the woods. He looked down, eyes widened in apparent shock as he began to choke on the blood pouring forth from his mouth. Seconds later, he dropped to the ground, a huge tear ripped from his neck to the lower part of his back, stone dead.
Kane smiled as he held Romeo’s blood and gore soaked spine in his hand.
“A handkerchief, Carlo, if you please,” Kane requested.
Carlo rushed forward, pulling the piece of silk from the breast pocket of his jacket and handing it to him.
“This is all I have, master.”
Handing Carlo the spine, he wiped the mess from his hand and dropped the handkerchief to the floor.
“Feed their bodies to the wolves,” Kane ordered.
Constance groaned in the distance.
“But master, Constance, she isn’t dead.”
“Are you arguing with me, Carlo?”
“No, master, I was simply…”
“Feed them to the wolves. I won’t tell you again.”
“Yes, master.” Carlo
bowed as Kane vanished into the wind.
Chapter Eight
Chloe had woken five minutes earlier, no longer feeling scared.
It was a relief to know why she felt love for the stranger sitting at the end of her bed.
She couldn’t believe they’d gotten away with stealing a new born baby.
“But if you know what they did, why didn’t you go to the police as soon as you were told”
“Because I’m not the same person that was taken from that hospital in San Diego on Christmas Day seventeen years ago.”
“Surely, you must have been curious about your birth parents?” Chloé asked.
“I was only ever curious about you – I’d dreamt of you every night and could see your face, but I didn’t know who you were. It was years before Constance told me the truth, and why I always dreamed of you.”
“This is crazy – I don’t know anything about you.”
“Lara never mentioned me at all?” he queried.
“There were no clues I had a brother, let alone a twin brother. It all makes sense now, the medical records, the nurse’s weird comments. They all knew and kept it from me.”
“Probably to spare you the pain I went through when I realised what I’d lost.”
“But why did you feel it, and not me?” she asked.
“Like I said to you, I’m not the same person I was – I have certain gifts at my disposal.”
“What does that mean?”
“You know what I am, but being a vampire, or even a half vampire isn’t like it is on TV. We have certain abilities, you know, like being able to fly.”
“You have wings, what else would they be for?”
“To aid me in flight, but for me to be able to fly, I have to be able to control the elements – call the wind to carry me through the air. As unnatural as people would consider us, we’re still connected to nature.”
“Holy sh…” She stopped herself from cursing. “What exactly are you then -- some sort of vampire fairy?”
He laughed out loud. “I’ve never been described as a fairy before, but I guess we do share some of the same abilities, but I’m what is known as a Daywalker.”
“Don’t tell me fairies exist as well.”
“You’d be surprised what lurks at the bottom of your garden.”
“Oh, don’t – I don’t think I’ll ever sleep again,” she added.
“Nothing is going to happen to you – most other beings are wary of Nightwalkers, and Daywalkers come to think of it.”
“What’s the difference,” Chloé asked.
“The clue’s in the name – I can walk freely in the daytime, but it weakens me, I’m happier when the sun sets, but Nightwalkers can never walk in the sunlight. It would kill them instantly.”
“But vampires can’t walk in the sunlight, I’ve seen Interview with the Vampire you know.”
“No, they can’t, but I’m not a full vampire yet, remember.”
“You can fly, and you drink blood, but you aren’t fully vampire.”
“I know it’s hard for you to understand, but I’ve been fed blood since I was a small child. Forget everything you think you know about my kind. It’s not like one bite and then you change. The transformation is painful, and a lot of us don’t make it through the transition itself, so they feed us their blood over a space of time to increase our strength, so when the final transition takes place, it isn’t as hard for us.”
“Wow, I guess I shouldn’t be impressed, but I am.” Chloé couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “Oh, and yuk, you’re given vamp blood to drink, even as a kid?”
“What else do you think gives us our preternatural abilities and allows us to do things mere mortals can’t? It also heightens our senses, the same ones you have, but the blood gives us the ability to utilise other senses as well, lets us hear other people’s thoughts, track those we wish to find, but alongside everything else, I formed a connection with you, one that once formed wouldn’t break, no matter how hard my parents tried.”
“This is some heavy-duty stuff you’re telling me, Kyle.”
“I started to dream of a little girl, but my dreams were so vivid, I remembered everything about you so clearly, just like I was there in person. The little girl in my dreams seemed to mirror me in every way, her growth rate, the things that made her laugh, made her sad, everything. It was like looking in a mirror and seeing your reflection staring back at me.”
“This is so weird.”
“Yes, I agree, but I kept seeing you, but didn’t know who you were. Romeo told me to ignore it, but the more I tried, the more the pain manifested itself physically. I couldn’t eat, or sleep and was sick a lot of the time. It felt like I was being pulled toward something that wasn’t there. I had nothing to latch onto, but I could feel it – like you were pulling me toward you. After a few years, Constance finally told me the truth, she told me your name and what they’d done and almost immediately the pain went away and I knew how to find you. It was Constance that told me to call for you, but she swore me to secrecy, and told me Romeo must never find out she’d helped. It was as easy as that. I focused on your name and thanks to my new-found abilities, there you were -- it was like an unseen force, guiding me toward you.”
“I felt like I was being pulled toward you too. Every time you were near, I felt it -- like you were magnetised and I had no choice, but to be near you.”
“Our bond is stronger than I ever thought possible, but we are twins after all, and shared Lara’s womb – we were meant to be together, but very soon, what’s left of my mortal side will be gone forever and I must leave you and live in the dark.”
“You don’t have to go through with it, do you?”
“My soul is promised to Empusa.”
“Em-what?” Chloé asked, not catching the name.
“Em-Pu-SA,” he said slowly.
“Who’s he?”
“He is a she. Empusa is the first of our kind, and the mother of us all.”
“So why does she want you so badly?”
“I don’t suppose she does, but she has to take a soul every hundred years or…” He paused.
“Well, I don’t actually know why, but I’m this century’s lucky guy.”
“No brother of mine would be so dumb as to agree to something he didn’t have the full facts about.”
“I didn’t agree, Chloé, I was chosen and had no choice.”
Chapter Nine
“There is more to the story than I’ve told you, but I won’t burden you with any more right now.”
“You’re not getting out of it that easy, brother -- I wanna know, I have a right.”
“I wanted you to live your life the way it should have always been. It was never my intention to reveal myself to you, but my parents are here and as long as they are, you’re in danger.”
“How did they track you here?”
“I told you before, Madam Selena.”
“You can’t trust anything that comes out of her mouth – I’ve lived here most of my life and trust me, she’s off her rocker.”
He laughed at her choice of words. “That may be, but my mother knows of her, that much I’m certain of – how I haven’t managed to find out yet.”
“Why don’t we just go to the police. Tell them who you are and let them deal with your…” She was reluctant to say the words. “Parents.”
“If only life was that easy.”
“It’s quite simple.”
“There’s more to this than you’d ever believe.”
“Come on, if what you’re saying is true, I deserve the full truth. How can I protect you if I don’t know what I’m dealing with?”
“I can’t argue with that logic, but it’s not your job to protect me, more the other way around. I never wanted you to be part of my world. My destiny is already sealed and when I turn eighteen, I will cease to be what I am now, and will become something entirely new.”
“This Empusa chick, right?”
&nbs
p; “She is the deadliest of our kind, and nobody would survive if they rose up against her.”
“Then, where is she? If everyone seems so afraid of her, why is she not here keeping an eye, making sure you all behave like good little children?”
“That’s Kane’s job.”
“Who’s Kane?”
“Her consort – She’s the mother of our kind and Queen to us all, but he does her bidding.”
She put her head in her hands “Dang, my brain hurts.”
“I know it’s a lot to take in, but it’s all I’ve ever known. I prepared myself from a young age and I’m resigned to the fate that was decided for me a long time ago.”
“Fate isn’t set in stone, Kyle.”
“It will be,” he said with an air of finality. “And then I will join my brothers and sisters in the dark.”
“I’m your sister. What about me?”
“It’s because you’re my sister that I’m here. Do you see the danger you’re in? I see now I was wrong and should have stayed away from you, but in my selfishness, I didn’t think clearly and now I’ve led them here to you. If my parents know about you, then so do others that live in my world. But, it’s vitally important Kane never finds out about you.”
“Where is this Kane person?”
“He lives in a huge fortress far away from here, but he has spies everywhere. You’d be surprised how many of my kind live amongst you, but they’re forbidden to kill humans because of the attention it will bring.”
“Jillian Tremblay,” she said, suddenly remembering the death of the local girl. “Was that you?”
“No, Chloé, I ‘ve never taken a human life.”
“Then who? Did you see the news, or are your kind not allowed to watch television?”
“We live in the modern world, and we’re expected to blend in where possible. It’s not a religious order, and yes, I know what happened to the girl, but I don’t know who is responsible. If it were one of my kind, the repercussions would be swift and final. Kane would never tolerate the murder of a human, especially one so bold.”
