The Sons of Satrina: A Sons of Satrina Novel

by Kristan Belle

  “Kelton was convinced that I could get over it, but in the beginning I didn’t share his optimism. With his perseverance and faith, I did it. But only with his help. Everything I am today, I owe it to him.

  “He explained everything to me about both of the races and all about the ongoing war. It sounded like some really off fairy tale, like a story I’d heard when I was a child. Even with the bloodlust rolling through me, it wasn’t until I was coherent that I understand what Kelton had been telling me. Vampire. Vampires were real. That was what I had become. I couldn’t imagine the sort of job he had and it really hammered home how close to dying I had come. After all, he chased down monsters like me, and I understood first-hand the kind of thing I would have done to quench my thirst for blood.”

  Kayleigh tried to smile again, “Kelton always said that he saw something different in me from that very first moment, and I guess he was right. I’m not like them at all. I have much more in common with you than I do them. I don’t have their temperament. I don’t have their bloodlust, at least not any more. I am able to stand the sunlight a little better than you, which I guess is a bonus.”

  She grew serious again and leant forward. “Most importantly of all, I am not Lamia Mortuorum in here.” and she placed a hand over her heart.

  “But how does no one else know about this?” Aisline blurted out.

  That was one part that was really confusing her. There was nothing about Kayleigh that even whispered that she was different from anyone else of the Matris race. Usually you could spot a member of the Mortuorum a mile off, but none of that was present in Kayleigh. She was normal. She was the same as everyone else Ash had ever met. And as Kayleigh smiled over at her, Ash couldn’t think of any other polite way of asking her, so she simply tapped on her pointed teeth in her own mouth with a little shrug of her shoulders. All the Lamia could retract their fangs at will, but when they were living only among their own kind, like here at the academy, they didn’t feel the need to hide them. If Kayleigh had walked around with her fangs hidden all the time that was when people would have started to talk.

  Kayleigh smiled even wider, displaying her teeth that looked no different from Aisline’s.

  “Well, that was something that Kelton and Bartholomew took care of for me. Not personally of course,” she grinned, “After Kelton had taken me in, it wasn’t long before there were whispers and rumours that soon reached our leader and he was summoned to appear before him. No one had any real knowledge of what had happened, just that Kelton was distracted from his duties. However, knowing that it had to have been about me, I wasn’t bothered that Kelton was the biggest, most bad ass warrior that the Matris race had ever seen, I wasn’t letting him go and face his leader all on his own and take the heat over what had happened to me. I wanted to be there when he explained it all. And I can tell you, I was absolutely bricking it.” They both chuckled nervously, “Walking in there had me shaking in my boots. It was a million times more nerve wracking than anything else I’d ever had to do. This man had the power to demand my death and here we were, walking freely into his home, with only hope on our side.

  “Luckily, though, Bartholomew saw the same thing in me that Kelton had and granted me immunity from assassination. Obviously, it wasn’t quite as cut and dry as all that, but the outcome was better than we could have hoped for. As long as I remain with the academy and with Kelton shadowing me, my life would never be in danger.

  “Also, Bartholomew sent me to his personal dentist for a little cosmetic surgery to enhance my new dental look. After all, if I was to live my life within the Matris community, I had to blend in and look like the rest of you, didn’t I?”

  Aisline grinned over at her, “Well, I gotta say, they did a bloody good job!”

  The momentary silence that followed wasn’t uncomfortable this time. It was liberating. They truly did have a common bond. They were both fighting natures that had been thrust on them and were working with what they had to make the best of a bad situation. Kayleigh was an inspiration.

  Kayleigh visibly relaxed, knowing that her secret was safe with this girl. Likewise, Aisline was feeling reassured that she had someone that she could turn to now and in the future with whom she could share her deepest, darkest secrets without fear. Between them, there would be no judgement. Only trust and loyalty.

  “So, now you know. Only Kelton, Bartholomew, the dentist and now you know anything about my own little situation. Bartholomew took my secret to the grave with him. I am trusting you with more than just a secret here - I am trusting you with my life. Quite literally.”

  Aisline crossed the couple of steps from her sofa over to kneel in front of Kayleigh and caught her hands up in her own, a gesture beyond her years but heartfelt. “On my life, from now until my death, your secret will remain in silence. Never to be revealed. Never to be spoken. This is my solemn vow to you as a Warrior of the Sons of Satrina, and as a friend.” The last part of the passionate speech was delivered a little hesitantly and a raised eyebrow, but she needn’t have worried, for Kayleigh leaned forward and swept her up in a huge, motherly hug.

  “Thank you, Ash. Thank you.” she said through tears.

  Sitting down on the sofa next to her, Aisline smiled with her own tears brimming in her eyes, but waited for Kayleigh to dab elegantly at her eyes with a tissue before continuing.

  “Wow, you’re so strong. After everything you’ve been through, I‘d have been falling apart. It’s really unbelievable.”

  Kayleigh couldn’t speak as the tears continued to flow, the lump of emotion wouldn’t let any words passed its barrier. This had been harder than she’d thought it would be, and she’d barely brushed the surface of her life.

  “Can I ask you one more thing? And then we don’t have to speak about it anymore. You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, because it’s personal. But I am curious.” Aisline asked, hesitantly.

  Kayleigh heaved in another bracing breath and nodded. “Go ahead. We might as well get it all out in one go.” She tried to smile bravely.

  Ash admired her so much for what she had been through, and that she had come out the other side such a sane person. It was bloody miraculous. It also scared her a little to think what could be still lurking within Kayleigh. The Mortuorum were an unpredictable bunch, and she just hoped that she was right and true in saying that she had it all under control.

  “What happened to your family? Your husband and your children?”

  Kayleigh almost looked like she had expected this question and smiled fondly as her eyes took on a faraway look. The pain on her face gave way to warmth and love.

  “As I said, I was married to a wonderful man called Michael. We’d been married for seventeen years. I was thirty seven when my human life came to an abrupt end, not that you’d think that now,” and she stood up to do a funny little twirl, making Aisline laugh.

  Whatever happened during the process of the change, the body took on the form of a fully grown adult Lamia, the time of their life when they are at their prime, which is generally twenty seven or eight. The Lamia didn’t actually start the aging process for several decades after that, even centuries. It was a dose of physiological magic that no one had ever been able to explain.

  Kayleigh smiled cheekily as she gestured to herself, “If only my old friends could see me now!” and laughed as she sat back down.

  “Oh, yeah. And what happened to your friend, the would-be murderer?”

  Kayleigh put an arm around her shoulder and squeezed gently, “One thing at a time. Firstly, you asked about my family. Let’s start there. As I said, I was married to a man called Michael for seventeen years. We had a daughter, Nicole, who had turned sixteen only the week before my fatal ‘accident’. And then we had twin boys, Christopher and Matthew, who were six years old. I had everything I could ever have wanted. Up until that night, my life was perfect.” She smiled fondly at the thought of her children.

  “Evidently, it was a little too perfect and had crea
ted a bit of jealousy, and Julia wanted what I had. Literally.”

  Aisline looked over at her with an indignant expression on her face. Damn, she wanted to go out and find this so called bitch of a friend and personally rip her head off for her betrayal. How very dare she put Kayleigh through this? How dare she put her in this position? How dare she take a mother away from her children? What had happened in that monsters life to fuck her up so royally that she opted to pull a stunt like that? She belonged in a metal hospital at worst, a grave at best. That woman was the scum of the earth. She was even lower than the Mortuorum, which was saying a lot.

  “What happened?”

  “Well, that is not exactly something that I am proud of. That was my one and only lapse into Mortuorum insanity.” Kayleigh ducked her head at the memory, “I managed to escape from Kelton, which was quite a feat in itself, I can tell you! Then, I went back and I got my revenge on her.” Kayleigh did look remorseful, but Aisline jumped up and punched the air.

  “Hell yeah! Now that’s what I’m talking about!”

  Kayleigh couldn’t stop the laughter that exploded from within her, and she had to quickly remember that this was an impressionable young woman in a life transition that she was speaking to and tried to put a halt on the joviality, which wasn’t easy to do when Ash’s reaction had been so comical.

  “As I said, it isn’t something that I’m exactly proud of, but it is a part of my past. If I’m telling you it, I may as well tell you all of it.”

  Aisline was still grinning from ear to ear, pleased to hear that Kayleigh had managed to avenge her own death. That sure would have been amusing to see in a morbid kind of way - Kayleigh coming back from the dead would have been quite a sight to behold!

  “Anyway, I just couldn’t seem to let go of my old life. For me, immortality is a cursed blessing. Kelton tried his hardest with me, but my humanity was still too strong in my blood to just walk away from them without a backwards glance. The Mortuorum usually lost their humanity when they lose their life, but mine remained with me and in a really big way.

  “Obviously, I couldn’t let them see me. After all, they all thought that I was dead. For heaven’s sake, they’d mourned for me. I couldn’t do that to them. I had to watch as they learned to cope without me.”

  Aisline felt a lump forming in her throat again as she thought about what Kayleigh and her family had been through. To lose their mother and not know that she was still out there, watching over them? It was heart breaking. How much that they had been through, all because of one single jealousy motivated individual.

  And she could understand the feeling. She had been ripped away from her family. Or thrown out and abandoned by them, however you want to put it. But, just because they had given up on her, that didn’t stop her from feeling and it didn’t stop her from loving them. They were her family and she wouldn’t give up on them. She would wait. Aisline wanted to get on with her life here and be independent, but there was still a part of her that craved her family life that she had only left a few days previously. It sure had been a harsh reality check for her.

  “So, I did all I could and helped them in other ways that they couldn’t see. I even encouraged a relationship between my husband and my true best friend. She had always been there for me through thick and thin, sickness and health, and she was devastated by my ‘death’. Our kids had always gotten along so well that it seemed natural. I knew that Michael would cope better with someone there for him, and their relationship that had started out as a friendship blossomed into something more.”

  Wow, Aisline thought to herself. She had never known anyone in her whole life who had had so much to go through, and showed so much courage and strength. She had not only helped her family mourn her death, but she also helped someone else to step into her shoes.

  “Obviously without them knowing, I was even at their wedding. It was a beautiful day, and they said some truly beautiful things about me. It was nice of them to keep me alive in their own way, which was really strange to hear, me standing there, solid flesh and blood and all. But I wanted to make sure that they were all happy and well, and they were. My children all flocked around Jenn and she is the best step-mother that a kid could wish for. Sometimes, it does hurt to see it, like on birthdays when I should be the one making the cake, or Christmas time when it should be me and my children decorating the tree, but I have to keep going back to check on things. No matter how much it hurts. They are my family, born of my flesh and blood. If I’m not there to raise them, then the least I can do is protect them the best way that I can, from afar.”

  Kayleigh took a deep, shuddering breath and turned to look at Ash, tears swimming in her eyes.

  “So, now you know. We have both had a lot to deal with, and I hope that by telling you all of this that it will help to put your own situation into perspective. Hopefully, it will give you the strength to go on.”

  Aisline nodded and gulped back a sob. It was a heart wrenching story and, although the situations were different, she knew that there were similarities in there. The big difference was that Aisline could walk back into her family home, be seen, be heard and hopefully again one day, be loved.

  “When did all this happen?” she said in a voice that was barely a whisper.

  “Not as long ago as you think. The time has flown by so quickly, it’s untrue. But I have managed to be there for most of the major events in their lives. After all, the Mortuorum side has given me the advantage of less sunlight aversion than the rest of you. Like, when my daughter got married, that was one of the most beautiful moments of my life. The boys are both grown men now, studying law and medicine. And I even have three grandchildren!” The delight in her eyes was obvious and although she had never held those grandchildren in her arms, the bond between them was, evidently, as strong as ever.

  “Even though Kelton disapproves, I still go back to check on them all now and again. I just can’t help myself, it’s something that I have to do. It soothes me. No matter how much it hurts afterwards. And that’s what he hates seeing, how much pain I am in from losing them. But, it helps me to see that they’re succeeding in life. We are all happy, in our own particular ways.”

  They were quiet for a minute or two. Neither of them knew what to say next.

  Aisline still couldn’t quite get her head around the fact that the woman next to her was still standing, still functioning. And not because she was Mortuorum and should have been killed on sight. Ash didn’t believe that for a second. Which was something that could make her re-think her whole belief system, although that would be something to dwell on at a later time. It was a miracle that Kayleigh was sane, strong and something to admire. To come out the other side of all she had suffered, appreciating her new life and yet making sure that her death didn’t wreck the lives of others? She really was a miracle.

  “Anyway, that’s my life. You have a lot to deal with yourself now and you have to work out what you want to do, for yourself. I can’t decide that for you and neither can Kelton. And you can’t let the mark decide for you either. Just like I didn’t let the way that I was changed determine who I was.”

  Aisline nodded and looked down at her hands. She was wringing them in her lap just like her mother would have done.

  A steely resolve spread over her and with a forced grin on her face, she turned to Kayleigh and said, “Let’s get started then.”

  Chapter Seventeen.

  Kayleigh and Aisline gathered up everything that they could find in the school that might be useful for a female warrior, which was pretty damned difficult when everything in the place was fashioned to fit the frame of a male over six foot tall and built like a brick shit house. Everything swamped her. But seeing as she was the only training female in the place, cover up may not be such a bad thing.

  So when they ran out of places to look, they headed back over to the library to purchase the rest of it online. EBay was a Godsend to them. After going through her own limited wardrobe that she’d broug
ht with her, they had more than enough for her to be able to use for the time being.

  The place was quiet as all the trainees were still in their intensive combat training as they had been for the past few days, helping the pre-grad’s work toward their final date, which was looming thick and fast. Their graduation date had been brought forward after Bartholomew’s death - they needed their warriors out on the streets. Kayleigh had explained it all to Aisline as they worked and she was pleased that she had some time to get used to the school without the prying eyes of the rest of the student body. It would at least make the transition a little easier, although everything was still daunting.

  “Well, I think that’s about all we can do for now, don’t you think? I’ll have to check with Kelton to make sure we’ve got everything, but I can run that by him later. I think this is enough to go on with. Let‘s just hope they hurry up with the deliveries.” Kayleigh said as she scanned through their extensive shopping list of things they’d gathered together and ordered. It was mind blowing the things that she needed. Ash hadn’t really thought about it, but the list seemed endless, especially when Kayleigh kept retrieving her pencil from behind her ear to add another item to ever growing pile.

  Aisline was quietly thinking. This was getting all very real, very quickly. Before, everything had been so rushed that she’d been running on pure adrenaline for most of it. The times when she had been alone, none of it had seemed real. Now, here she was buying specialist combat boots, getting measured for clothes, testing hand grips on weapons that were especially made for each individual and next, she was going to be heading off for a medical. This shit was getting scary.