by Andrea Wölk
He got dressed quickly and went looking for Shia. The house was huge and in the basement area, accessible via the garage as well, was the gym, the firing range and a meeting room containing a large table where at least ten people could sit.
As he ran down the hallway, he could hear voices and immediately noticed that Shia was not among them. He entered the room hesitantly and saw four large men sitting casually around the table, all wearing the same combat attire. »Channing, come in. Let me introduce you to the others!« Maroush got up from his chair and came up to him. Everyone else was silent, looking at him curiously. »This is our team. This is Ruben in front. He’s from New York. Next to him is Jôrek from Finland and Aragón is Spanish.« »Buenas tardes!« Channing nodded towards each warrior. »Where is Shia?« he turned to Maroush and asked. Laughing out loud, Maroush sat down again. »He’s investigating how to get laid,« added Jôrek. »Last week at a stakeout, Shia noticed a cop, who happens to live a few houses down the street and now he spends every night lurking around hoping to fire up his love life!« Everyone laughed again. »And what’s so funny about that?« Channing didn’t quite understand. »Well.« Ruben stood up and leaned against the wall. »This cop happens to be named Eva, got it?« Grinning, he slapped Channing on the back and he couldn’t help but grin slightly to himself. The door opened and as Shia entered the room taking powerful steps, the laughing stopped. »Sorry, guys. I’m a little late.« »Sí, no problem, man, we don’t mind waiting.« Aragón spoke with a heavy Spanish accent. »And what have you been able to find out? Is there more evidence of vampire attacks?« Shia shrugged his shoulders. »No idea. I couldn’t get information that fast.« »You mean you weren’t able to interrogate her so quickly?«
Shia threw Ruben an angry look. »What do you know? I can hardly march into the house and ask Eva for information!« »Eva? Are we on a first name basis now?« The group broke out in laughter. In a single leap Shia jumped over the table at Ruben and pulled him to the ground with his weight. He was sitting on top of him looking down, his large hands around his throat constricting the air and his fangs ready to bite. »Don’t you ever speak about her like that again, you understand? Eva could be useful to us, so keep your mouth shut!« To signal that he’d gotten the message, Ruben held up his hands and Shia relaxed his grip. »Easy man, no one here is trying to interfere with your personal happiness,« he croaked overtaken by a coughing fit.
»Relax Shia, calm down. We were just joking around a little.« Trying to pacify Shia, Maroush pulled him off of Ruben. Shia ran his hands through his hair and leaned up against the wall.
»I have important news and I’m curious how you’re going to react. We are going to have to deal with Channing now.« He walked to the head of the table, pulled up a chair and sat down on the arm, all the while inconspicuously keeping his eye on Ruben, who had taken his seat again. »I pulled him out of a burning taxi fourteen days ago. I wasn’t able to save the driver.« Some of the vampires looked on in shock. »Channing was so badly injured that he wouldn’t have survived without my help. I had to transform him. He was lucky that our blood types matched.« The warriors nodded. »Stop!« Channing pushed himself away from the wall. »I need more information. How is that lucky for me?« He began to pace back and forth in the room.
»Well first,« patiently Maroush began to explain, »one of the worst things that can happen to a vampire is fire. Fire is one of the few things that can kill us. Everyone thinks that we’re the undead, but that’s not entirely true. We can die too. You are lucky that Shia is a warrior brave enough to pull you out of a fire. You need to be aware that he totally risked his life to do that. Secondly, a vampire can only transform someone when both blood types match, like for a blood transfusion. If the blood type doesn’t fit, we could feed, but your body wouldn’t accept the vampire blood, and that wouldn’t have ended well for you. Your blood would have rejected ours and begun to clump. The transformation into a vampire can only happen through a transfusion of matching blood types.«
Channing nodded in understanding. »But why was it necessary to erase my memory?« He gave Shia a penetrating look. »One thing has to be clear to you. Everything before the transformation is over. The person Channing McArthur doesn’t exist anymore. You might look like him, but your whole being, your inner self, has become something totally different. It’s better not being able to remember. Live here and now and don’t mourn the past. However, I didn’t recognize, what you have become,« said Shia quietly as four pairs of eyes turned towards Channing, who was still pacing.
»If you’d be so kind as to speak for yourself?« He looked over at Shia unsettled. »Come on, take off your shirt.« In one swift movement, he pulled the black shirt over his head. All murmuring among the warriors stopped and at that moment, everyone became silent when they saw Channing’s tattoo.
»That’s impossible!« Aragón’s booming voice filled the room. The other vampires studied the curved letters in disbelief. »That’s exactly what I thought, when I saw it for the first time.« Channing nodded in silence.
»We all have the same tattoo, only with a different maxim, but yours is special,« explained Shia.
Maroush walked up to Channing to take a closer look at the words. Shia could sense Maroush’s tension and pushed himself closer to the two of them.
»Yes, Roush, your eyes aren’t playing tricks on you!« He slapped him on the back in a brotherly fashion and pulled him over to the other side of the room. A soft growl came out of Maroush’s throat. »Could somebody please fill me in here?«
Channing grabbed at his hair gruffly. Jôrek stood up from his chair and put his hands on his hips. »You’re a half-blood. The transformation was not complete. That explains the Remember that you are but a man.« »And what does that mean?« »You need to consume small amounts of human food and only occasionally need to feed on blood like us. You can tolerate the sun in high doses. You are stronger, your mental ability develops faster than others and you hardly need to sleep. Basically, you have all the positive features of a human being and a vampire. According to our prophecy, a powerful half-blood will come bearing the maxim ›First among equals‹. He will lead us and make a vow of faith with a woman bearing the same tattoo.«
Channing put his shirt back on. »What’s a vow of faith? And who else has this tattoo?« He looked around the room at the others.
»It’s a vow with a woman you’ve exchanged blood with, and whom you’ll share your life with. In your case it’s another half-blood.« Shia explained further, »the woman with the same maxim is Sara.«
The door of the meeting room closed softly and footsteps could be heard in the hallway. Channing looked around the room and noticed that Maroush had left. He looked over at Shia curiously, but couldn’t make eye contact.
»I don’t even know Sara. We exchanged apartments, but that’s all. How come she has to be my soulmate?« he said sitting down on one of the chairs. »I don’t even know if I’m ready to make a commitment or not!« »Hey!« Jôrek jumped up and approached Channing angrily. »Every one of us would be proud to be Sara’s soulmate. So watch what you say! What is printed in the Diarium will happen, as sure as day follows night.«
Channing had also stood up and was glaring at Jôrek. »I didn’t mean it that way. I didn’t mean to offend Sara. I don’t even know her. I just don’t believe that something like predestination exists. And what is the Diarium?« »Man, you don’t get it, do you?« Ruben was shaking his head scoffing. »It’s a sacred book containing everything about our origin, and us, as well as prophesies about the future. We are called the warriors of faith. That means it is not only our duty to protect the book, but to irrevocably trust the prophecy as well. The Diarium is like a Bible to us. Everything we believe in is based on it.« »What does it have to be protected from?«
Channing’s blood began to hiss and it took him an incredible amount of energy to digest this information, but even more energy to just believe it. Shia came over and stood next to Channing. »We are warriors. That means dayl
ight cannot harm us. We have to protect ourselves, but we can bear the light in small doses. This isn’t an issue for you. You can tolerate sunlight just like mortals. But there are other creatures called the hunters of darkness, which were created for one purpose: To take over the world and kill all of humanity by either transforming them or sucking their blood and killing them.
They can’t tolerate a single ray of light and are totally uncivilized. They feed on human beings and it doesn’t matter to them if they kill them. The mortals can only be transformed when the blood types match, otherwise they die. The leader of the hunters had made it his mission to find the Diarium. According to the legend, it contains the secret of how to become a warrior of faith and therefore receive the power to tolerate sunlight. If this secret should ever get out, it would mean the end of the human race.« »Who created the hunters of darkness?« »We don’t know that exactly. We are trying to trace their origin.« Channing looked around at the others who were all nodding in agreement. »But you are all vampires. Why do you care about the human race?« Shia put his arm around Channing’s shoulder. »We are vampires, sure, but we were also mortals like you at one time. We still have something human in us and we would prefer that you survive. We need you for food and have peacefully coexisted with you for centuries. The hunters of darkness are ruthless creatures. If you could only see one, then you would know how senseless your question is.« Channing rubbed his eyes. Everything the warriors had told him was all simply unbelievable. It sounded more like a horror movie than his actual life.
»But what do I have to do with all of this?« »We still don’t know exactly. There are obscure clues, which still have to be figured out. But mainly, we have to keep our secret and protect the Diarium.« Shia looked at his watch. »It’s late. Let’s get some rest.« Everyone stood up.
»I have one more question.« Channing held back the warriors in one motion. »Why are you all so heavily armed?« »We protect mortals from the hunters of darkness,« explained Aragón, »There have been more and more attacks on innocent people in the last 20 years and once you kill one of them, they return in threes to get revenge. But that’s something you’ll experience yourself soon enough, maybe sooner than you wish, compañero!«
Encounters
Chapter 6
Shia took the narrow path towards the cliff trying to find Maroush. A thin band of light could be seen on the horizon hinting at the coming sunrise, although it was actually much too early. He could see Maroush from a distance, sitting on a large stone and looking out at the ocean. He was sitting there with his arms wrapped around his bent leg and when he felt Shia’s presence, he didn’t move.
Even when Shia rested his hand on his shoulder, he didn’t budge. In the waning moonlight, which illuminated the night sky, Maroush’s skin was a dark olive. He was from the Berber tribe and it was impossible for him to hide his ancestry. He was a born warrior, unparalleled. Everything about him appeared to be powerful and strong, from his cheekbones to his defined leg muscles. His entire body was in the best physical condition.
His almond shaped, dark brown eyes were positioned close together on his oval face. His cheekbones were distinct and his nose was slightly scarred, an injury he’d gotten in battle before he’d become a vampire. He wore his curly black hair long, usually with a leather band around his head. He was small for one of the undead, but his small size was not a disadvantage, but rather emphasized his powerful build even more.
»What’s wrong, my brother?« Shia sat down on one of the stones across from Maroush.
First he just shrugged his shoulders, but then he quietly asked, »Do you think Sara will come back?« Shia looked out at the ocean. »She’s already on her way. I can feel it. You can too.« Maroush nodded. »We all have to accept our fate. She was never meant for you and you’ve always known that.« Shia’s words were hard to swallow, but honest. Maroush nodded again and squinted his eyes shut as if he were looking at something way off on the horizon. »I never figured that Sara would find her soulmate so quickly.« »Time is relative and I can understand how you must feel, but I think one hundred and thirty years of solitude have been enough for Sara, don’t you think? She left us for a reason.« »My friend, I don’t want you to think that I envy her happiness,» said Maroush emphatically.
»But ever since I transformed Sara, I can feel her inside of me and it doesn’t matter if it’s been ten or one hundred and thirty years. You couldn’t save her, so I did it for you, my friend. That doesn’t mean it’s of no importance to me. My blood is the only blood she’s ever tasted and it’s hard for me to accept that another warrior is going to do this, even if I always did know that I wasn’t destined to be hers. I know I was never her soulmate, but that doesn’t change how I feel about her. She will always be your sister, just like she will always be a sister to me.« Shia nodded knowingly. »You know that she loves you … maybe not as a lover, but as a brother and friend. I know that you can feel that. And Channing doesn’t even believe in destiny.« Maroush scoffed. »He should believe in his fate and that no one can escape it.«
»What do you think of him?« Shia looked Maroush directly in the eyes. »I think he’s a good man, maybe not the warrior he should be, but that will change. If fate has chosen him to lead us, I will follow him. And he would be an absolute idiot if he didn’t take Sara as his companion.« »Wise words, my brother!« Shia stood up and looked out at the horizon. »The sun will be up soon. Let’s rest a little. There was another murder near the new club. We should take another look at the situation tonight.« Maroush look out at the ocean for a moment. »Inschallah!« he said quietly. »Inschallah, my brother!« Shia responded nodding.
Her eyes hurt as if she’d had too much wine to drink the night before. Her throat was slightly throbbing just below her ears, but the pain was constant. She moaned and turned over onto the other side of the bed and the rays of the sun hit her directly in the face. Shit. She’d forgotten to close the curtains. No wonder she was awake so early. Eva struggled out of bed, only to discover that she was still fully clothed. Strange. She couldn’t remember even going to bed. She’d probably been so tired that she hadn’t even been able to undress herself. She must have fallen right into bed as soon as she’d gotten home. Eva automatically reached for her weapon, but it wasn’t where she usually put it. And the holster wasn’t hanging on her belt anymore either. She jumped up as fast as she could and looked around the room. Then she ran down the stairs and spotted her 9 mm Glock on the kitchen counter.
Eva shook her head pensively, poured herself a glass of milk and turned on the radio. Absolute silence made her feel uneasy. Ever since she’d been living alone, she couldn’t stand the quiet. There were radios in every room of her house, which she turned on to escape the stillness. She even turned on the TV before going to sleep. Lost in thought, she set her glass down on the counter. The radio hadn’t been on this morning when she woke up.
She glanced over at the front door and noticed that it wasn’t locked. She stood motionless at the counter, noticing another used glass. She couldn’t remember drinking anything last night.
Shaking her head, she put both used glasses into the dishwasher and went to take a shower.
Eva had taken the next two days off and she wasn’t sure what she was going to do yet. The loneliness practically made her crazy. Maybe she should fly to L.A. and visit friends.
Grumbling, she wiped the steam off the mirror so she could dry her hair. No, Los Angeles wouldn’t be such a great idea. She only had painful memories there and she wanted to spare herself that. In the mirror she looked again at the two tiny wounds on her neck just below her ears. Since she’d been awake, she’d felt a slight throbbing there. She had no idea how she’d even gotten these little wounds, yet it was strange how conscious she was of them. After she’d gotten dressed, she went down to the kitchen to prepare a small breakfast. On the radio they were discussing the cold weather, so she turned on the CD player. It was Fleetwood Mac’s Over and Over!
The memory
hit her instantly. It ran by her minds eye like scenes from a movie. She saw a man standing in her kitchen, laughing, then taking her hand and pulling her into his arms. But it wasn’t her late husband Jim. It was a stranger in black clothes and dark hair. She saw herself outside trying to grab an orange on the street and then she saw the strange man again.
His name was Shia, Shia Keane. The wounds on her neck began to throb violently. Then she saw how the man had bent over her and bitten her in the neck, then sucked deeply and she felt how the blood had drained from her body. She was clinging to the counter, keeping herself from falling over. At the same time, she felt warmth flowing through her body. She felt a tingling sensation, which his hands had left on her skin and how his lips had tenderly caressed her and created an intimacy, as if they were the only people left in the world. She touched the spot on her neck where the wound was throbbing wildly. Whoever this Shia Keane was, Eva could feel deep inside that he wasn’t evil in any way and that he would never be a danger to her. There was one feeling she was absolutely sure about and that was that this man was real and not a product of her over-excited imagination. She picked up her cell phone and hit the number for her department.
»Hi Esposito. It’s Eva. Can you check something out for me?« »Sure, what is it?« »Check out the name Shia Keane in the system. See if you can find out something about him. Any detail would be great.« »Okay! Does it have something to do with our case?« »No, it’s a private matter.« »Hey Eva, if I remember right, the Chief gave you two days off, so I don’t want to see you anywhere near the office.« »Do you see me there?« she asked and then hung up the phone, only after she’d heard her partner laughing on the other end of the line.
