Discovery

by Thianna Durston

  The beauty of the area changed for him daily as he and his cousins took turns each day scouting a different section. There was a reason for their vigilance. Just today, he had found one of their cows dead. Predators, most likely coyotes or wolves, had taken her down. It was a rule of the land that they would lose some of their beasts to powerful animals. And expected. To be honest, he didn’t begrudge the animals a decent meal. He just wished they could find their meal without taking one of his.

  Aaron barely managed not to wince as Krage loped over the uneven ground. His entire body ached beyond belief and it was just getting worse. At thirty-two years old, some days he felt ancient. Ever since being diagnosed at nineteen, the sun had been just a part of his problems. Not only was he allergic to it, but it seemed as though every day he awoke with some new ache or pain. His uncle had less aches and pains than Aaron did, and he was eighty-six years old.

  Another roll of thunder came toward them. When added to the crackling energy of the lightning, Krage picked up speed. Since he had been raised on the land, Aaron let him have his head. Unless the animal freaked for some reason, he would trust him to find the safest and quickest way back. Until the full force of the storm hit the homestead, he planned on staying outside. The only other time of the day he could do so without worry was the night. The medicine the doctors had given him to help him sleep did not work as well as it was supposed to, but it usually kept him somewhat somnolent in his bed.

  Sometimes he wished he could work the night rather than the day, but he knew that was a stupid thought to have. Not only were humans meant to work during the day, he wouldn’t be able to see any problems before they happened if he were out at night. For that’s when the predators were at their most active.

  In no time, the outbuildings of the homestead came into view and Krage let out a loud whinny. Hearing an answering call, Aaron looked around, waving at his cousin Jeffrey who was also coming back. “Where are the others?” he called over the sound of the rain as it picked up.

  Jeffrey pointed to the barn and they quickly dismounted and brought their horses inside before he responded. “Adam and Stephan are back.” He gestured to their mounts who were settled peacefully in their stalls munching on oats. “Conner took the south run. He’ll probably camp down there tonight rather than come back to the worst of it. Will’s clueless. He’s probably ignored the signs.”

  Snorting a laugh, Aaron nodded. Will was thirteen and while the rest of them felt centered here at Drakyl Ranch, he had dreams of far off places and travel. Of the group of them, they all thought he would be the one to leave. “If he’s not home soon, I’ll track him. He went to check out the north holding, right?”

  “Yep. If it gets bad enough, he’ll probably stand out under the lightning and watch it as it comes down.”

  “Stupid bastard,” Aaron said fondly as he removed the tack from his horse and grabbed the brushes he needed.

  “At least he’s proof that evolution doesn’t always work,” Jeffrey said in both amusement and affection. “Are we sure he’s our cousin?”

  “Davis says he is and he should know.” They spent the next thirty minutes taking care of their mounts. Krage kept turning toward his box, looking as though he wanted nothing more than to get inside and eat, but he stayed still, except for the occasional shift of his legs, swish of his tail, and a turn of the head to watch whatever Aaron was doing at that moment. Jeffrey’s steed was three years younger and not as willing to stand still. Among his cousin’s curses every time he almost got stepped on or kicked, Aaron kept silent. The torrent of rain came down harder and the tumultuous thunder now reached them. “I’ll go in and see how Davis is doing,” he said after putting Krage in his stall.

  “Yeah. He didn’t seem himself this morning.”

  “It’s that damned cough.” Their uncle had fought with pneumonia for years and after the last bout, the doctor said there wasn’t much more they could do unless he allowed them to admit him to the hospital. A few colorful epithets later, Davis left the doctor’s office and hadn’t been back. It had only been four months, but the signs of the disease were definitely back and worse than Aaron had ever seen them.

  Holding his hat down so it wouldn’t blow off with the wind, he ran the short distance between the stable and the house. “I’m back,” he called as he opened the back door and walked inside. Their mud room was adequately named and received much of the hard use in this house. He spent time removing his boots and cleaning them off before changing into fresh, dry clothing and going further. Davis lay in his easy chair, a soft snore escaping his nose. “At least he slept through it.”

  Hearing sounds from the kitchen, he walked over and opened the door, fighting a smile at what was before his eyes. Adam and Stephan were not known for their cooking skills, but that never seemed to stop them. A pot bubbled on the stove, eliciting no scent at all. Walking over to it, he glanced in. At clear liquid. “Uh, guys?” he said, looking over his shoulder. “Are we having water soup for dinner?”

  “Yeah,” Adam deadpanned. “We thought it fitting.”

  “Jerk,” Aaron said with a chuckle, straightening up and grabbing his young cousin around the waist, lifting him up easily.

  “Get off!” Adam said, his voice cracking at the end. Still in mid-puberty, he was barely five feet eight inches in height. But that seemed to be the way of all Drakyl men. Soon enough, he’d shoot up, eating anything he could get his hands on while his body climbed quickly to six feet or beyond. Laughing, he dropped his cousin back on his feet, grinning when Adam reached back and smacked his back.

  “So what’s for dinner?”

  “Thought we’d cook the beef that’s been in the freezer too long,” Stephan said, cutting up some vegetables. “Make a stew. It’s the only thing it’s good for anymore.”

  “Good idea. With some of the steers at slaughter, our new meat will be coming soon.”

  Jeffrey joined them moments later and between the four of them, they got the stew started. With two hours until dinner, they each went their separate ways to do their own thing. The house was a set of strange contrasts. It had been built in sections over several decades. Every time a new batch of Drakyl showed up, a new section would pop up. Aaron had no idea how large the family actually was as he hadn’t seen any of them except Davis and years later, his cousins as they arrived. During spring and summer, they had ranch hands usually, but this year his uncle hadn’t found any to hire. It made their days longer and each one of them was exhausted by the time they came home.

  Heading downstairs into the basement where his room had been since his allergy flared up, Aaron took a few moments to strip and take a long shower, enjoying the feeling of the hot water as it washed over his skin. He hadn’t realized until this moment just how cold he was. Shivering slightly as his interior temperature reacted with the hot water, he leaned against the wall of the shower, taking long deep breaths until the shivering stopped. Damn. The way things were going, he’d die long before Davis. They needed to get someone to come help his cousins. They were just growing boys, after all, and needed a firm hand so as not to get completely out of control.

  After dipping his head under the spray, he quickly pulled away and washed his hair, finishing his shower as fast as he could before getting out. Thinking about his imminent death was not a pleasant subject and he usually kept from doing so. But the pain he’d been feeling combined with Davis’s illness made him face these tough thoughts. Before it got worse, he would sit down with his uncle and plan out how things would work. It was the only thing to do.

  Will arrived home just before they ate, wet to the bone and shaking. And excited as all hell. “I was so close!” he exclaimed even as Aaron ushered him out of the kitchen and back to his bedroom to change into dry clothing. “I saw the lightning, Aaron! It was amazing! You shoulda been there.”

  “Krage would have gone nuts,” Aaron said as he pulled dry clothes from his cousin’s dresser. “Come on. Strip.” Will quickly removed his clothe
s, tossing them into his hamper, as he rambled on about energy and lightning and the big boom of the thunder.

  “For most of the ride back I was kinda afraid I’d lost my hearing as all I heard was ringing, but by the time I got home, I could hear the horses.”

  “Dry off,” Aaron reminded him, trying not to smile at the excitement pouring off his young cousin as he briskly dried himself off with the towel Aaron handed him. “All right, put these on.”

  Will paused mid word, staring blankly at the clothes before nodding and sliding one leg into a pair of jeans. “Anyway, maybe next storm you should take Uncle Davis’s horse and go with me. It was so cool!”

  “I’ll think about it. Now let’s go into dinner. Conner must have camped out, but the rest of us are here.”

  As usual, there were three or more conversations going on at any given time during dinner. Will, still full of his excitement, shared it joyfully while Jeffrey and Aaron discussed the ranch hand issue. Davis and Stephan kept Adam entertained and before they knew it, dinner was almost over.

  “I’m heading in to town on Friday night,” Aaron said as his cousins cleared the table. There were a few glances, but nobody said much. It was light quite late now and he would have to start out after the sun set, but it had been over a month since he’d been away from the ranch and if he was going to talk about his own damned death, he was going to do it after a night of drinking, damn it. “I’ll sleep in the truck and come home before sunup.”

  “I could go with you,” Jeffrey offered, his eyes lighting up.

  “If Jeff goes, I do to,” Stephan joined in. “’Bout time to test our fake IDs.” The two boys grinned at one another before Davis cleared his throat. They turned toward him, knowing, just as Aaron did, that Davis could care less if they drank. He drank as a teenager, too. No, his expression was focused on Aaron, not them.

  “I think your cousin needs some time to himself. He’s been working hard the last few weeks and from what I’ve been able to tell, has not been sleeping well at night. He needs some time to unwind. Without,” he added in a tone slightly deeper as the two opened their mouths, “anyone around. He’s smart. He won’t drink and drive. And he’ll be home before the sun’s out.” His eyes met Aaron’s and Aaron nodded in agreement. He only drove drunk once. Stupidest thing he’d ever done and he still regretted the large tree and the truck he’d taken out.

  Jeffery and Stephan sighed, pouting, but Will darted out of the room. Aaron’s eyes followed him, worried the youngest of them all was concerned. He was an incredibly intuitive kid. A few seconds later, he darted back in the room, his cell phone in his hand. He waved it in their direction. “Supposed to be cloudy all day on Saturday. You’re good.”

  Smiling, despite the fact this was kind of like his last big hurrah, Aaron nodded, glad Will’s first thought had been to check the weather. While not as pale as Aaron and Jeffrey, he was still light skinned and tended to watch himself in the sun more than the rest of them. Even though his mind tended to be all over the place, just like any other thirteen-year-old, Will also noticed everything. It was actually kind of scary how much the young man understood.

  For three days, Aaron spent his days doing his job keeping their animals as safe as he could, while also doing the same with his cousins. Conner returned the next day, acting as though his night spent out on the land was nothing strange. He, also, offered to go with Aaron Friday night, but when he was told no, he just shrugged and went back to what he was doing. Not much seemed to bother Conner. It was one of his strengths and one of his deepest weaknesses.

  Friday came hot and sunny and Aaron sweated all day as he went out with even his face and the back of his neck covered in material. There was no way he was hitting the bar tonight with a horrendous burn. His sunburns were the kind of thing most people didn’t have to worry about. Only seconds in the sun would leave him blistered with second-degree burns. Minutes would probably put him in the emergency room. After finding none of their animals dead or maimed, he went home a little early so he could shower off the sweat and get dressed for tonight.

  One last hurrah. One last drunken night. One last fuck. That was his plan and nothing was going to stop him.

  Chapter Three

  Striding down the long, dark corridor, Faolen scowled. His underlings leapt out of his way as he strode past for none of them wished to get on his bad side. The only two who seemed likely to do so waited for him in the room at the end of the hall. He supposed he could make them wait a few hours more, but he had no intention of remaining lucid with the rising of the sun. Before that time came, he needed to get the two bastards on their way and out of his quarters. There would be no way he would trust either of them not to try and kill him when he was inflicted with his only weakness.

  Heading up their clutch, he kept strict order. Since they ran such a large city, he had to. There was no giving way or allowing an indiscretion. One mistake by his people and they would meet their doom quickly. He’d learned over the centuries to never trust one of his own kind. And the other creatures on the planet were even worse. Grimacing at the sour taste that coated his mouth, he spat at the wall as he past. At his age, he could control his thirst for blood and take just a small amount and leave the human alive if he so wished to feed from them again. Losing his favorite stock animal had been a disappointment, but it happened. Humans died far too easily. Unfortunately Kimil and Vinishad had made it out to be far more than it was. Reaching the door to his office, he shoved the door open hard, delighting at the sound of the stone cracking slightly as it hit.

  The two vampyr standing in the middle of the room jumped slightly, but didn’t turn around. Instead, they stayed where they were facing his chair. All of his kind could see well in the dark, but his eyesight was exceptionally good. They might try and act aloof, but his second and third in command were nervous and angry. Always a dangerous combination with these two. Slamming the door closed, he felt another note of satisfaction as Kimil clenched and unclenched his fists. Every movement that proved weakness was a good thing. Vinishad, however, hadn’t moved at all. Given his propensity for going around Faolen’s orders, he would have to keep an eye on him. If only one of their enemies or underlings would kill the bastard.

  “So,” he said, his voice resounding around the stone walls of their underground dwelling. “Explain what happened.”

  “My lorde,” Kimil said, his simpering voice making Faolen want to shove him into the sun, “the drakyl would not leave town. He took one of your chosen feeders and managed to evade our trackers at every turn. It seemed prudent to end him. And the best way to do that was to send the guard after him.”

  “Ah,” Faolen said, looking down at his fingers and rubbing them absentmindedly. “And so now he is dead?”

  Kimil glanced at Vinishad, whose eyes were focused somewhere over Faolen’s left shoulder, before looking back. “No, my lorde. He escaped.”

  “Escaped?” A low growl which had been in his chest ever since he learned of this horrible event burst forth. “Escaped, Kimil? One drakyl in our city against two hundred of our kind, and he escaped? Do tell me how my two best guards let him go?” His voice dropped to a deadly level and finally Vinishad spoke.

  “He was far better at evading us than we expected, my lorde. It will not happen again.” The words were spoken, but the tone clearly said the words were ripped from him. Vinishad neither feared nor respected him.

  “No. It won’t,” he snapped, baring his teeth. The two vampyr in front of him winced and looked down. Very few of his kind had teeth anymore, and his terrified every vampyr that saw them. While he didn’t understand why he still had his, he used them every chance he could to cow those within his influence. “You demolished a building, caused a fire, and destroyed a vehicle, not to mention firing weapons in a human area. It will definitely not happen again.”

  “The building, fire, and the vehicle were his doing,” Vinishad said, a small growl of defiance in his voice. “He set the thing to explode.�
�

  A smart drakyl. Of course, that was the only way they survived, but this wasn’t about them. “Are you saying one drakyl outwitted our entire clutch, Vinishad? That our trained fighters are so bad at what they do that they couldn’t smell deceit in such a lowly creature?”

  “No,” the bastard returned, his body shaking even as his fingers flexed. “There were…mistakes, my lorde. And those responsible have been punished.”

  “How?”

  Vinishad blinked as if surprised at the question.

  “How were they punished?” he asked again, growling. Sunup was coming and he wanted them gone by that time. Any more prevaricating and he would rip the bastard’s head off right there.

  “The four who let him get away were chained to the roof.”

  For a moment, amusement struck him. “How?”

  “Some of our stock were here tonight. They wrapped material around their arms and legs before strapping them down with silver-coated metal chains. When the sun comes up, they will die.” Vinishad lifted his chin in what was most definitely a challenge.

  Leaping to his feet, Faolen’s hand wrapped around the offender’s throat in less than a second. Lifting him off the ground, he growled, glaring at the vampyr in front of him. “How can you be sure?”

  “We set up cameras,” Kimil explained.

  Turning to his second in command, Faolen considered their punishment. Nodding, he dropped Vinishad and went back to his chair. Instead of sitting down, he stood with his back to it. “Make sure everyone in the clutch sees the video. The next time something we do ends up on the human news, let them see what will happen to everyone responsible for the failure.”

  “Yes, my lorde,” Kimil said, grabbing Vinishad’s arm and yanking him backward. “It will be done.”

  “Good. Now go and prepare for the light.” Waving them off, he felt a small modicum of satisfaction as they rushed out, the door closing quietly behind them.

  Walking over to the door, he slid the locks home that would bar entry from anyone without an explosive device. Turning, he walked back across the stone floor to the door concealed behind his chair. After making it through, he bolted it and made sure nobody was in the simple room he used for the sunup period. Once he knew he was alone, he finally allowed himself to relax. Lying down on the stone ground, he stared above him and let the lethargy take hold.