Wake of darkness, p.14
Wake of Darkness, page 14
Zoey picked an apple up out of the bowl on the table and bit into it. Dante set a cup of coffee in front of her and another in front of Catherina. The latter looked up and smiled at him, and then scowled at Alexander when she realized he wasn’t paying any attention to the pair. Jim and Laney were bickering over the cereal and milk, which ended in Jim tousling her hair and Laney punching him in the arm.
Alexander sat forward in his chair and laid the folded paper in front of Zoey with a serious look on his face. She snatched it up, biting her lip. Sophie pulled her cup away from her lips.
“What’s up?” Sophie asked.
Alexander grinned. “Shoe sale.”
Zoey tossed the paper at his head, which he easily ducked.
“I’ve got to go,” he said. He stood up and kissed Sophie on the forehead before disappearing from the room.
She and Zoey exchanged a look; Zoey smiled.
*
“How did it all begin? I mean us. How did our kind come to be?”
“Well,” Alexander answered, “that story is one in which Catherina was uncharacteristically useful. Many decades ago, she was determined to find the answer to that question herself. From his own research, Dante believed that our kind had originated in Mesopotamia. He gathered stories of Kahala, the first vampire there and her daughter—I mean to say her biological daughter—Ishta. Kahala was a beautiful young woman in life and—as you would guess—with child when she was attacked and transformed.
“Legend holds that when Kahala traveled to the underworld, the creature at the gate did not allow her entry. She returned to the Earth with an insatiable thirst. And of course, her daughter had sprung from her womb at her death.
“According to the stories, Kahala was the epitome of evil and Ishta carried an inner light. It is a legend which has been handed down verbally through many generations of humans and of our kind.
“Catherina eventually found Ishta. At the time, Catherina was truly remorseful of the lives she had taken. Ishta believed she was good. She saw that Catherina was a creature like herself and not a blood-thirsty vampire like her own mother. The two spoke with one another for a time, but Ishta had no answers for Catherina except to say that she believed that we are created for the sole purpose of balancing out the evils brought into the world by our mothers and fathers.
“She said something to Catherina that I shall always remember. To Catherina’s question of what we are, Ishta replied that ancient India had named us untouchables—those cast out of society, but she added, ‘Never forget that we are more immortal than the vampires; virtually untouchable by the angel of death’.”
“But not immune to it."
He nodded. “That is true. We may dodge death for centuries, but it does not mean that we will dodge it forever,” he responded. Then again, we may.
“Well…,” she began, but stopped.
“What is it?” he asked softly, taking her hand in his own, stroking the palm with his fingertips.
“How did you find out…you know: that you’re…?”
“Different?” he added, to which they both snickered; the word didn’t do them justice.
“Yeah.”
“I shall tell you that story some other day, when I have more time,” he replied and glanced toward the door. “In short, I learned it from an enemy, but I suppose that goes without saying.”
*
Everything is in black and white. I walk down a gray path that is overhung with arching trees, their black limbs creating a canopy over me and blocking out the moon, though light from its fullness is evident on the path. I wear a luxurious red ball gown with heavy taffeta skirts. I look down at my left hand and recognize that something is missing there, but I don’t know what.
The path winds around in a switchback so I can look to my left and see, through the trees, the part I have already walked upon. I know my goal is through the archway created by the trees up ahead, but I don’t know what I’m looking for.
A white wolf watches me from the misty forest which surrounds me. He is not threatening and I’m not scared. He stares at me for a moment and then turning, he walks away from me back into the trees. His movements draw my eye back to the path to my left, before it winds around the corner.
Walking up the path towards me is a teenage boy, with black spiky hair and bangs that cover one eye. He wears a red and black striped hoodie and I’m more nervous about his presence than the lone wolf’s. He turns the corner and passes me though, in his own world, without even looking at me before he suddenly disappears before my eyes.
I gather up my large skirts and notice just now that my hair is incredibly long—and golden—and it dawns on me that my hair is very strange. I look back up the path and continue in the same direction, along the soft soil. I stop suddenly as another wolf crosses in front of me. He is already through the archway and he stops to look at me. He is beckoning me to follow him. Grasping my dress, I fearlessly start up the path toward him, walking quickly.
As I step through the archway, I’m suddenly in a different place. I look down and my pretty dress is gone. In its place, I wear jeans and a tight black t-shirt. My hair is my own and pulled back into a ponytail. I look around and I remember this. I am in the nursing home where I’d first—and last—met my grandmother.
There she is, lying in her bed.
‘She was a little hussy, your mama!’ she says. ‘Runnin’ off with that boy and gettin’ herself in trouble with you!’
Right. My mom had left home when she’d gotten pregnant with me, or at least that was the story. Who knows what stories are true anymore?
‘Little ungrateful hussy!’
Does anyone actually say hussy anymore? I look down at my grandmother, who is more than half crazy by this point anyway.
‘Grandma, what was she like?’ I ask.
‘A little spoiled thing!’ she exclaims. ‘Always wantin’ the world on a silver platter. Thought she deserved it all too!’
Okay, this is going nowhere, fast. Just like when the visit had happened in real life. I know I’m dreaming.
‘Did you ever see her after I was born?’ I ask.
‘Yeah, once,’ she answers and is silent.
‘What was she like?’
‘Darlin’ I can’t remember what she was like, but I do remember she looked sick. She was all pale in the face and her eyes just didn’t look right.’
Her description hadn’t made any sense when I’d heard it the first time, but now it did. Of course my mother looked pale and her eyes were all wrong. She probably smelled different and spoke differently, too.
Of course her mother would not have known why the change had occurred, but reliving the conversation, I knew this time around that my mother had become a vampire.
‘Grandma,’ I say, deviating from the memory. I am dreaming, I reminded myself. ‘Grandma, she’s lost.’
‘Of course she’s lost, darlin’. Your mama was a lost soul all her life.’
‘No, Grandma, I mean she’s not your daughter anymore. She’s a monster.’ Why am I telling this frail old woman all of this?
I hear a sound and I freeze in my place. A woman walks in. She doesn’t acknowledge me; she must not be able to see me.
‘Hello, Mother,’ she says and I recognize instinctually that the voice is my mother’s.
‘Leslie! What the hell are you doin’ here?’ my grandmother demands; she is panicking and I can’t do anything to help her. I reach out to my grandmother, but I’m as effective as thin air.
My mother creeps to the bedside and I can smell the sickening scent of her vampire self as she stirs the air around her body. Why is this happening? This is so different than what had been a relatively benign visit in reality.
I try to move; I try to yell, but I can do neither. I can simply watch as my mother deliberately hovers over my grandmother. She watches her daughter with fear in her eyes.
‘I’ve owed you a visit for a while, Mother,’ she says.
‘You been busy. I understand,’ my grandmother says softly with fear in her voice.
I turn away. I can’t watch, because I know what’s next. I can hear my grandmother gasp as my mother sinks her teeth into her papery thin elderly skin. I feel the change in the room when my grandmother’s life is ended and I look up to see my mother stand at the bedside.
‘Better than you deserve,’ she says bitterly, crudely wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
I am horrified and begin to cry…
And the tears were real when Sophie woke up, even if her grandmother’s death hadn’t happened that way. She had passed away soon after Sophie had met her; from a stroke, not a vampire. But, it didn’t make the dream any easier to bear.
She blinked at the sunlight that streamed into the window. She must have fallen asleep while studying and slept through the night. She sighed. Her breath was shaky.
She was used to having weird dreams, it was true, but the merging of her grandmother’s memory and the image of her mother as a vampire together didn’t make any sense.
What do they have in common? She thought. She wiped the tears from the corner of her eyes and sat up on the edge of the bed, still shaking a little, but quickly coming back to reality. Probably nothing.
There was a soft knock at the door and she knew it was Alexander. She looked up as he opened it and peeked inside.
“Are you alright?” he asked, very concerned. He’d probably seen the dream.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied with a weak smile before adding, “thanks.” She wiped a tear that lingered on her cheek.
He nodded and quietly, albeit reluctantly, closed the door.
She sighed and ran her hands through her hair, before diving into her closet to get dressed so that she could join him as quickly as possible.
Chapter 17
Alexander sorted through some papers for work and let his mind drift to Sophie, listening to the conversation she was having – not because he wanted to necessarily, but because he was so connected to her that he couldn't help it.
“Laney?” He overheard Sophie ask.
“Yeah?” Laney asked.
“I’ve been thinking about something. Alexander told me that vampires are twice as strong as we are…so, how was he able to get that one off of me so fast a few weeks ago?”
Alexander stopped what he was doing and listened.
“Daylight,” replied Laney matter-of-factly.
“Oh, right.”
“That, and he’s in love with you. He’d die before he’d let anything bad happen to you.”
There was a long pause and Alexander held his breath as he listened.
“I know.”
“Pizza dude!” Jim called out, so that the whole house heard.
Alexander stepped into the hallway and looked over the railing into the foyer below. Jim reached the door before the delivery boy could manage to get up to the patio with the twelve pizzas he had ordered.
“Come on, y’all!” Jim called. “Time to eat.”
“Holy crap!” Sophie exclaimed at the sight and fell into gales of laughter.
Alexander walked into the room to see her perched on one of the barstools, watching Jim stack a whole pizza on his plate in a mountain of mozzarella and pepperoni, as Laney danced around the room. Sophie looked up when she realized Alexander was there and held her hand out to him for him to take. He walked to her. Wrapping his arm around her waist, he kissed her on the top of the head.
“Hi Alex,” she whispered contentedly.
“Yeah, Alex,” mocked Jim.
Alexander picked an apple up off of the counter and hurled it at his head. Jim caught it and he hurled it back at Alexander who snatched it out of the air before it reached him; he hadn’t even looked up.
“That was really fast,” Sophie said, frozen over a slice of pizza, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open.
Jim looked at her and smiled. “You have no clue what this guy can do. Trust me sis, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”
“Is that right?” She asked, looking at Alexander with an interested but flirty look, a delicate eyebrow rising in response to a sudden thought that ran through her mind.
Zoey smirked at the pair.
“Oh, yuck!” exclaimed Laney from the other room. “Ew! Blech! Would you two keep your thoughts to yourself?”
“Stop listening!” Sophie called back before Alexander kissed her lightly on the lips. “So…,” she prompted after a moment.
“Yes?” Alexander asked, suspecting something.
She looked like she was preparing for a fight. “I need some hands-on experience. I don’t want to have to rely on you or Jim to come save the day all the time, and it’s going to get worse.”
Alexander groaned.
“And,” she continued before he could argue, “I want to go out with you and Jim tonight.”
He grimaced and she held a hand up to keep him from saying no.
She looked at him almost reproachfully. “I need you to teach me how to find them.”
Alexander shook his head in response. “Sophie, you are not ready for…”
“I am, actually, Alex,” she interrupted firmly, becoming more committed to her goal. “You’re not ready for this, but I am.”
He opened his mouth to argue as his grip around her waist tightened.
She shook her head. “I know I’m a lot newer at this than you are, but I’ve relied on myself my whole life. If I decide I can handle it, please let me try. I’m not as fragile as you think I am—I think we’ve proven I can get an advantage over you if I try hard enough. Besides, I need to be prepared. Isn’t it better that I see what this is all about when it’s on our terms and when we’re fully prepared for what could happen instead of waiting for them to hit me first? I mean, it doesn’t look like they’re going to cut me slack anytime soon.”
He studied her face for a minute. Her logic was solid and he really couldn’t argue. “Alright,” he finally consented, “but under one condition.”
“What’s that?” Sophie asked.
“You do exactly what I say when we are out there. I will not have you getting hurt.”
She nodded in agreement. “That’s what I’m trying to prevent.” She strutted out of the room.
She grinned at Jim as he walked into the room for his second helping. He turned in a circle, watching her walk away and then settling his eyes on Alexander. “What’d I miss?”
“She’s going with you tonight,” Zoey replied.
“Awesome!” Jim exclaimed, clapping his hands together and ignoring Alexander’s grimace. He looked at Zoey. “You going too?”
The redhead shrugged. “Might as well. It’s been a while and it looks like we'll have a lot to deal with soon.”
“Nice.”
Zoey's eyes settled on Alexander's. “She’ll be okay.”
“She needs to learn this stuff sooner or later, you know,” Jim added. “She may be really good at it, who knows?”
“She will be very good at it,” Alexander corrected him, before leaving the kitchen and disappearing on the way to his own room. She must be.
Chapter 18
Jim groaned. Typical. He was the first one ready. He paced at the foot of the stairs; he wanted to get out there tonight so badly he could taste it. Something in his bones told him that it would be a good night.
“Ready?” Alexander asked, suddenly appearing at his side.
You really have to ask?
Alexander shrugged seconds before they looked up to see Sophie and Zoey coming down the stairs. Jim muffled a snicker when he heard what ran through Alexander’s head. Good luck, man.
Alexander raised an eyebrow at his brother.
Good luck keepin’ your mind in the game with her lookin’ like that.
Sophie shot Jim a smug smile.
“Alright! Let’s go,” Jim said, leading the way out the back door.
“Have fun!” Laney called from in front of the T.V.
“Thanks!”
Jim held the door open for the others and led them back to the storm cellar out back.
“What’s first?” Sophie asked.
“Gettin’ a few things, just in case,” Jim answered, typing the code in at the door. “After the increase of activity the past couple of weeks, I’d put money on seeing one or two out and about.”
