by Shadow Soft
Victor shrugged. “I suppose.”
Glancing at her watch, Valerie turned to Vales. “You’d better hurry, dear. If you wait any longer Erika and Nathan will leave for school without you, and you’ll be late.”
Vales looked at her own watch and squeaked in alarm. She darted to kiss her mother and father, then gave me a friendly pat and raced out the door.
Chapter 2
Obedient, if reluctant, I stayed away from the forest. Instead, I headed east across the rolling pasture land. There was a rutted dirt track that ran through green fields where grasshoppers churred and flickered red wings beneath the sun. I hummed tunelessly as I walked, swatting at the tall grass heads and luxuriating in the feel of the sun on my face.
This may sound trite to you. A pleasant morning walk on a pleasant spring day. But imagine living in a lab your entire life, never feeling a playful breeze on your skin or the sun melting across your face. It’s wondrous, almost magical. The feeling of it as it sinks into your body, beneath your skin, and runs with the racing of your blood. Sometimes when I am alone I break into a run, feet flying over the rutted road, exhilarating in the feel of my lungs as they strain, heave, thrill . . . .
The ground blurring beneath my feet. The wind sweeping my hair away from my face. My fists clenched at my sides, pumping back and forth. Faster, faster . . . .
The sun above me, shining. The blue sky. The birds dipping over the fields. No white-washed walls. No steel doors. No locks, grated windows, surgical tables and needles and lab coats.
When my breath was gone I slowed to a trot, to a walk. My chest heaved and my legs burned, but I relished the sensations. They were the sensations of freedom.
A little further down the road it sloped upward to a little hillock before tripping down the other side. Another person appeared over the hillock, tossing a pebble in their hand and whistling merrily. Even from a distance I recognized the jaunty stride. Blake was Vales’ older brother. I hadn’t met him until three months after coming to live with the Nightfalls, because he had been away on an archaeological expedition in Greece.
“Valxy!” Blake raised a cheerful hand to wave as we drew closer. “How’s the superhuman?”
“Hi Blake.” He patted my shoulder as he passed, and I turned to walk with him. “Doing well, as always. It’s hard not to do well when you live in a place as beautiful as this, with people as kind, under the blue sky.”
“Hm.” He studied the sky for a minute, and his whistling gradually died. “You always seem fairly optimistic for someone who’s been through what you have. Good trait, chap.”
I chuckled. Blake several years older than me and always bright-eyed himself. “I’m always afraid of what might happen in the future, of course,” I said, “but if something bad is going to happen, it’s all the more reason to be happy now, while things are good.”
Blake grunted and shrugged. “Well, I wouldn’t say something bad’s bound to happen, Valxy. You’re not alone, you know. We’re always on the lookout for danger, and there’s the LFX. Last month I met some LFX vampi––”
I held up my hand, stopping him mid-sentence. “I’m not having this conversation again,” I said a bit testily. “Nothing about the LFX.”
Blake looked at me curiously, tucking the pebble he had been tossing into his pocket. “You did? With who?”
I hesitated, then confessed a bit reluctantly, “Vales.”
He sucked his breath in through his teeth. “Ouch. How’d that go?”
I sighed and kicked at a tuft of grass with my toe. “As you’d expect.”
“What did you say?”
I grimaced ruefully. “I said that anybody wanting to protect me has to be as . . . .” I cleared my throat. “Abnormal and mutated as me.”
Blake laughed out loud, head tipped back and teeth flashing in the sunlight. He laughed for a good ten or twenty seconds, which is a long time when you’re the one being laughed at.
“I know it was a stupid thing to say,” I groused.
“Blood, it was,” Blake grinned, as if it were a joke. “And you’re still alive.” He prodded experimentally at my shoulder. “She loves you like an angel, that’s for sure. If I said something like that to her she’d have my head off in no time.”
I chuckled, agreeing, then realized what he had said and grew a little serious. “Like a brother, you mean, right?”
“Hm?”
“She loves me like a brother.”
“Vales?” Blake’s throat hitched, as if he were thinking about laughing again, but decided not to. “Are you blind?”
I began to redden, but fought it down passingly well. Whenever I thought of love I thought of Victor and Valerie. They were always so sweet together, always making eyes and smiling secretly. But Vales and me . . . . One, we were young. Teenagers. I hardly felt like I understood enough of the world to think about loving anyone like that. But more importantly, Vales was human. Technically so was I, but who goes by the technical definition? I was a freak of nature. I could never tie myself to someone normal, drag their life into the horrid nightmares that tangled my own existence. “Vales is like a sister to me,” I corrected. “And I’m pretty sure I’m like a brother to her, Blake.”
“I’m her brother. Her real brother. And she doesn’t treat me like she treats you.”
Not knowing what to say, I was silent.
Blake laughed and ruffled my hair affectionately. “Ah, Valxy, you’ve changed so much since coming to live with us! I still remember the picture they sent when I was in Greece––your empty eyes, your pale face.” He hugged me roughly. “Hey, want to practice?”
Blake punched my shoulder, and I caught his fist and twisted it down. Trying to fold his arm painfully behind his back, as he had taught me, but Blake was a more experienced fighter and too fast for me. Laughing delightedly, he slid out of my grasp and cuffed me upside the head. “Quick! I like it! Come on!”
We faced off in the middle of the dirt road, both grinning as we shifted eagerly from foot to foot. Blake had been teaching me the basics of hand-to-hand combat for over a year now. He was taller and stronger than me, and a more practiced fighter, but I was grateful for the challenge. I enjoyed improving, and there’s no faster way to go about that than fighting someone who’s better than you.
I threw the first punch, but Blake ducked to the side and swung his fist toward my stomach. Knowing how crippling it was to let yourself be winded at the beginning of a fight, I staggered backward to avoid his blow. Blake shuffled after me, feet spread wide apart for balance, moving on the balls of his feet. I evaluated his approach, then made a quick lunge to the right that he twisted to avoid. Taking advantage of my greater agility, then, I darted to the left and struck him on the shoulder blade.
Blake laughed and whirled around, catching my wrist. I tried to pull away but he jerked it one way, toppling my balance. I fell and landed in the dirt. Before he could get his weight over me, I scrabbled to my feet, fending him away with a few clumsy kicks. Blake let me my feet beneath me before attacking again. We exchanged blows, or what would have been blows if they had landed. Blake deflected most of mine with ease, and while I was more hard-pressed, I managed to dodge or turn away at least half of his.
Occasionally we would lock together in a brief, vigorous struggle that would end with both of us rolling around on the ground, tumbling over one another, panting as we grappled for the upper hand. Inevitably Blake won. My only chance was if fortune allowed me to get his arm trapped behind him, at which point I could exercise the only move I was truly adept at. By twisting his arm backwards and wrenching upward, I could have him straining on the ground within three seconds. He knew that if I kept twisting I could pop his shoulder out of its socket.
Unfortunately, it was rare I achieved this position of advantage. Usually Blake’s greater size and strength won him our wrestling matches, and I found myself lying in the dirt writhing futilely as he pinned me from above.
I was always glad Blake wasn’t th
e mean sort. A mentor teacher might have considered pain the best teacher, and accompanied my defeats with several well-aimed kicks or an extra arm-twist than was really necessary. All Blake did was pat my back and help me up, pointing out where I had gone wrong and what I could do better next time.
“Your legs were too close together here––” he tapped his toe in the dirt “––which let me push you sideways here. When you went up onto one foot I could then spin you around and grab your forearm, see?”
I nodded as he replayed the sequence in slow-motion. “And then you kicked my ankles––”
Blake was nodding. “Because you were thinking about my grip on your forearm, and I knew that. I knew you would be preoccupied finding a way to slip away from my hands, so you wouldn’t be thinking about your feet. Right?”
I nodded, abashed. “I did the same thing yesterday.”
Grinning, Blake clapped my shoulder. “Hey, it’s all good. You’re just learning. Don’t let yourself get discouraged––remember, I’ve been doing for years. Black belt in tai kwon do. Don’t feel bad; I’d be embarrassed if I wasn’t beating you.”
We settled into our stances and went at it again, testing the air with halfway punches before committing fully. I landed a blow on Blake’s ribs, but he caught my feet and had me on the ground before I could follow up. Determined not to make the same mistake I made last time, I kicked upward, knocking the wind out of him. Blake stumbled backward and I leapt to my feet. I caught him in a headlock before remembering that was a bad idea, since I wasn’t strong enough to hold it.
Improvising when he reached up to dislodge me, I clambered onto his back and kicked the fronts of his thighs with my heels. Blake half-laughed at my unconventional maneuver; then I grabbed his hair and yanked backward, making him lose his balance as he yelped in mild pain. The two of us tumbled to the ground together, and I scrambled on top of him, landing blows on his chest and shoulders.
For a couple minutes we floundered around on the ground like that, abandoning traditional form in favor of scrappy brawling. By the end we were both laying on our backs in the dirt, laughing between gasps for breath.
“I have to admit,” Blake said, wiping sweat and dust from his brow, “nobody has ever attacked me by jumping on my back and pulling my hair.”
I laughed and sat up, combing back my hair with my fingers. “I’m getting better, right?”
“You’re getting more . . . . inventive,” Blake said with a rueful grimace. “You’re learning your weaknesses and learning how to fight with them.” He shoved my shoulder playfully. “That’s important.”
We helped each other to our feet and made our way back toward the town, limping slightly but still grinning. I always enjoyed practicing with Blake. It gave me a chance to use the muscles that had been strapped to a stretcher in a science lab for so much of my life.
Chapter 3
“What?” Nathan demanded, mouth hanging open in astonishment, “you asked Valx this?
Vales swatted him, looking quickly around to see if anyone else had heard. “Shh! Nathan, quiet! Someone could hear you?”
Giggling, Nathan darted away from Vales’ hand as they made their way into the patch of trees behind the school. Vales glared at him, but he stuck out his tongue at her. Nathan and Erika were her cousins, same age as her, and twins. She had never known two more similar-looking people. Despite their different genders, their features were remarkably similar. Same little pert nose, same sparkling eyes and little pointed chin. Nathan had a slightly more masculine face, and Erika was a little taller, but other than that the differences were minor.
“You know, Vales,” Erika said in a serious voice, “you can’t make him promise that and expect him to keep it. It’s just unfair.”
Vales’ lips thinned and she scuffed her foot across the ground. “I know,” she muttered, “but what was I supposed to do when he said that this morning?” She spread her hands pleadingly as they passed beneath the dappled shade of the trees.
“The date’s already been set by Uncle Vic, you know,” Nathan said as he scrambled up the trunk of the largest oak. “Which means he’s finished his research with your mother.”
Vales sighed as she clambered up after Nathan, Erika on her heels. They made their way out onto the oak’s widest branch, and from there Nathan jumped onto the roof of the school. Vales followed a moment later. Technically they weren’t supposed to be on the roof, but the view was too good to miss, and besides, climbing the tree was a lot of fun. So was the jump. And so was doing a little bit of mischief, if she was completely honest with herself.
“Not to mention,” Erika added, “the movements of the LDV have become more numerous, Vales. I don’t think the LFX can keep them away for much longer.”
Vales walked carefully across the reddish roof tiles, arms out to the sides for balance. Nathan and Erika had good points. She couldn’t deny that. But nobody was closer to Valx than her, and as his closest confidante, she couldn’t ignore the feeling in her gut that warned he wasn’t ready to be told yet. “We can’t do it like this,” she said quietly, squatting on the roof out of view of any teachers walking on the sidewalk below. “We must break it to him gently. And not yet.”
Erika crouched beside her, a soft frown on her face. “I know that’s what you think, Vales, but the truth is, Valx will never be ready to hear it. No matter when we tell him, he’s going to freak out.”
“Besides,” Nathan added, “LDV isn’t going to stand to the side and give us the luxury of more time. We have to tell him now, Vales. LDV is on the move. They’re forcing our hand.”
What Vales’ cousins said was true. They didn’t have the luxury of time to fritter. So it would have to be how it had always been, in the three years she had known Valx: she would have to wait for the most opportune moment and reveal it gently, cushioned in love and friendship so that he came to see her as a haven of consolation, not a bearer of bad tidings.
“We know it’ll be hard,” Nathan said, patting Vales’ shoulder as he squatted beside her. “But don’t worry––we’ll be there to support you.”
Vales hesitated, then smiled a confused smile. “What do you mean, Nathan?”
“You didn’t think you were going to be the only one there to encourage him, did you?” Erika asked.
“I’m his best fri––”
“You know I love him too,” Erika interjected, “right?”
Vales paused, not sure if she should take her cousin seriously or not. “Like a . . . . friend, right?”
“You’re not the only one who gets to enjoy being with him,” Erika said, avoiding the question.
Vales’ expression hardened. There was steel inside of her, when she cared enough to show it. “I think you’ve forgotten something,” she said, smooth as ice. “Valx is mine and nobody else’s.”
Nathan waggled his eyebrows teasingly. “Mm-hm. I see what’s going on here. A little cousin competition. Why don’t we let Valx decide himself?”
“We didn’t ask you Nathan,” Vales snapped. “Erika, I’m not playing around. Valx has been mine ever since––”
Suddenly Nathan made a choked sound in his throat, and Erika burst out laughing. They both doubled over, holding their stomachs as their faces went red with laughter. Vales stared at them for a moment, then began to chuckle, too, as her umbrage faded.
“I’m joking!” Erika blurted, wiping her eyes. “You know none of us would challenge you for Valx, Vales! You’ve been his best friend for the past three years, no competition. I promise.”
“Thanks.” Vales wiped her own eyes, feeling a little sheepish now that she knew it had only been a joke. “Lunch time is almost over, don’t you think we should head back now?”
Nathan got to his feet and made his way unsteadily over the tiles. “As I always say, gentlemen first.”
Walking home from school later that day, Vales reminisced with her cousins about when Valx had first come to live with her family. “We lived in that tiny French town, r
emember?” she said. “The one with the old sawmill we pretended was haunted?”
“It was haunted,” Nathan protested. “I heard a ghost wailing there once.”
“It was the wind,” Erika snorted. “Where did we move to after that? Do you remember, Vales?”
Vales laughed. It was hard to remember all the places they had lived, sometimes. Her cousins usually moved when her family moved, and that had been frequently over the past three years. It was impossible to stay in one place for very long, with both humans and vampires hunting frantically for Valx. “It was Sweden,” she said, “the place where we were always cold, remember?”
“I thought Germany came before Sweden?”
Vales shook her head. “Nope. Sweden, then Germany, then back to France.”
“The castle town!” Erika piped, skipping ahead a few steps. “That was my favorite.”
Vales turned her face toward the sky, enjoying the warmth of the afternoon sunlight. “Honestly I like this town the best,” she said. “So much sky and sun. It’s small, out of the way, the people are nice . . . .”
A silence grew between them, and it wasn’t till a dozen steps later that Nathan asked the looming question: “When do you think we’ll have to move on from here?”
Sighing, Vales shifted her backpack on her shoulder. “I don’t know. With the LDV so active recently . . . . It could be soon. Very soon.”
“And after we tell Valx . . . .” Erika began.
Nathan blew out his cheeks. “I sure hope he doesn’t try to run. We’re the only people who can protect him, but if he gets scared he might think it’s better to go into hiding on his own.”
There was another stretch of uncomfortable silence. None of them, Vales least of all, liked thinking about the danger Valx was in. “At least Blake is teaching him to fight,” she offered half-heartedly. “He can defend himself a little, in any case.”
“Against who?” Erika asked dejectedly. “The scientists will have the governments behind them. Lots of men, lots of technology and power to bring him down. Just because he has unnatural healing abilities doesn’t mean he has unnatural strength. Throw some handcuffs on him, and he’s as helpless as any normal human.”
