by Kendra Ashe
“This is where vampires go when they don’t want to deal with the hazards of the sun and vampire hunters,” Mason informed me.
“How do they feed?”
Mason chuckled. “Like the rest of us. They go out to hunt at night or they bring a feeder down here.”
Ax was staring at the city as if he were seeing it for the first time.
“Have you ever been here, Ax?” Mason asked him.
He shook his head. “I’ve heard of it, but never really had the desire to go underground. I’m a dreamer at heart. I’ll never accept that the only way to have a normal life is to go underground like some kind of rodent.”
“You would think someone would have found this place by now,” I said to no one in particular.
“Those who work in the subways have always known about these underground nests, but they keep quiet and they stay alive. The vampires hunt elsewhere,” Mason said, taking my hand in his.
With only a couple of hours until dawn, it appeared as if the city’s inhabitants were winding down. I didn’t detect much movement around the maze of apartment-like buildings.
“You sound as if you are familiar with this place,” I commented.
“I’ve spent some time here,” he said, providing no more detail.
“Well, I’ve seen enough,” Ax told us. “Can we get on with what we’re here for?”
Mason continued to lead us into the city. We were walking down a narrow sidewalk with buildings on both sides.
Suddenly, a hand popped out of a door.
I jumped about ten feet.
Okay, maybe it wasn’t actually ten feet, but it felt like it.
The vampire immediately recognized me as human. He started hissing and was ready to leap at me. I instinctively moved closer to Mason.
Stopping in his tracks, Mason stared at the vampire, his eyes glowing with fury. “Do not accost someone in my company,” he warned.
The vampire withdrew, immediately becoming non-aggressive.
“So few of our kind are civilized these days. Wouldn’t you say?” Ax directed his question to Mason.
“Yes,” Mason answered. “I would say that.”
Mason turned his attention back to the makeshift building where the vampire was still watching us. “I am searching for Nicolas Benolt. Is he here?”
When I heard my father’s name, I gasped and turned sharply to stare at Mason.
“I thought we should talk to him about a couple of things,” he said with a shrug before turning his attention to the rude vampire.
When the ill-mannered vampire stuck his head out of the doorway, he actually looked normal. In fact, he could have been the local school janitor. His hair was short and mostly gray. Not only did he have a bald spot on top of his head, but he was actually a little overweight. He was definitely a vampire, but he wasn’t exactly how I’d pictured vampires, that’s for sure.
I couldn’t help but wonder how many vampires roamed the streets at night, without the human inhabitants even realizing it. How would people react if they knew the world was full of these creatures?
“Down that way.” The vampire pointed to the end of the alley-like street. “He’s in the fanciest place here.”
Mason started walking again. “At least we know he’s here.”
“Have we come all this way just to look for my father?” I was excited but a little disappointed at the time. Like Ax, I’d been under the impression that our trip was directly related to our search for Shadow Valley.
Mason nodded. “Your father would be in a much better position than we are to go up against Kieran. He’s not someone Kieran’s followers want to tangle with.”
Soon, we came to a gray stone structure that was much larger than the rest of them. There was a set of stairs leading to the double doors.
“This is incredible!” I said, gazing up at the building.
Mason knocked on the door and a moment later it opened. A woman with long blond hair stood there, glaring at us.
“I want to speak with Nicolas,” Mason told her.
“And you are who?”
“Mason Romero. Tell him it’s about his daughter.”
“Wait here,” she said before closing the door on us. I didn’t miss the hateful look the woman tossed in my direction.
When the door opened again it wasn’t the woman. This time, it was the dark man from the park. He looked exactly the same as he had all those years ago.
Nicolas stepped aside so we could enter. “Come in.”
I was again surprised by the interior of the structure. There appeared to be several different rooms.
The room we entered was lavishly furnished with antique pieces. The walls were even adorned with fine art.
I looked around for the woman who’d answered the door but she was nowhere in sight.
“Mason, it’s been a very long time,” Nicolas said.
Mason nodded and then pointed to me. “Your daughter.”
Nicolas stared at me for a long time and then smiled. “Claire! You’ve grown even more beautiful than I imagined.”
A storm of emotion raged through me. Here was the man who’d abandoned my mother and me - the dark man who’d never returned as he’d promised. “You never came back,” I accused.
Sadness entered my father’s eyes. He looked at Mason and Ax. “Can I have a few minutes with my daughter?”
Mason hesitated.
“She is my daughter. I’m not going to hurt her,” Nicolas assured my companions.
Mason nodded before he and Ax left through the same door from which we’d entered.
When they were gone, my father reached out and touched my cheek with the back of his hand. “Claire, you are truly a rose of the night.”
“Why did you leave? Didn’t you care about us?” I asked, my emotions torn between anger and elation.
“I left precisely for that reason. I left because I do care about you and your mother.”
Unable to accept such a flimsy explanation, I shook my head. “I’m not buying it.”
“A little girl needs to grow up in the light, not the darkness.” He made a sweeping motion, bringing attention to the structure he lived in. “When I saw you playing in the park, all I could think about was how I should have been able to watch you beneath the sunshine.”
“So you left for selfish reasons,” I said through clenched teeth. Memories of my mother's struggles flooded over me. If my father had been around then maybe life wouldn’t have been so hard.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he said, shaking his head. “I found ways to help you and your mother but you must understand, a born vampire is forbidden. If others had found out about you, it wouldn’t have been safe,” he explained.
“But I am not a vampire.”
“But you are, Claire. You are a vampire that can live in the light, but a vampire nonetheless.”
“I’ve never -,” My words trailed off.
“You’ve never consumed blood,” he finished for me.
I nodded.
Nicolas smiled. “You are half-vampire. You will not turn unless you are infected by the poison, but it would take very little to do that.”
“What do you mean?”
“With most mortals, they must be bitten and drained. They have to drink the vampire’s blood and experience death. Even then, they must carry a certain type of DNA from the original vampires before they will turn. A born vampire will turn quickly if infected. They do not have to die to turn. This virus was meant to destroy the original vampires.”
“Kieran knows about me,” I blurted out.
A look of apprehension entered his eyes. “If this is true, you must go into hiding.”
“What good is it for me to remain human if I must hide in the dark?”
Nicolas seemed to be wrestling with some internal demon. Finally, he spoke. “If my brother gets his hands on you, he will use you for things that are not good.”
“What about the secret he is hiding and the mag
ic that can turn vampires into Daywalkers?” I asked.
“Yes, what about that?” Ax stuck his head in the door.
Nicolas motioned for them to come in.
“There are only two ways that an infected human or Immortal can withstand the sun. If a witch’s magic is strong enough, they can sometimes create a magical talisman that allows the one wearing it to be in the sun. There are also rumors of a substance that neutralizes some of the virus’s symptoms, such as our allergy to the sun.”
“In the mythical Shadow Valley,” Mason put in.
Nicolas shook his head. “Shadow Valley is a real place, though the idea that it is a myth has been circulated by the oldest vampires, but only because they don’t want others searching for this place and discovering the secrets of the ancients. It is simply one of the many places that have become havens for supernatural beings. They use earth magic to keep their location hidden. It is that same witch magic that neutralizes some of the virus’s effects,” he said. “But the wolves control Shadow Valley. We have never been welcome there.”
“So the wolves are not extinct? I have heard that they are,” I said.
My father shook his head. “It’s true that the wolves were almost hunted to extinction. It got to a point that it was safer for them to take refuge in Shadow Valley, but don’t fool yourself. The wolves still hunt outside of their refuge.”
“Are you saying that a vampire can be a Daywalker there?” Mason asked.
Nicolas nodded. “Yes, if you know a good witch or can get your hands on whatever they have that makes this possible, but as I said, we are forbidden entrance to that world because we prey on humans.” He reached into his shirt and pulled out a medallion that hung from a gold chain.
“This medallion holds some of the magic that veils Shadow Valley. With this, you can find the entrances to the different havens that were created by witches hundreds of years ago, but the wolves would kill you on sight. That is, if you even knew where to look for these havens?”
“Do you know where they are?” Ax asked.
Nicolas shook his head. “That knowledge has been lost.”
Mason spoke up, “One of the wolves talked to me the other night. He’d been following me.”
Nicolas appeared shocked. “For what reason?”
“He claims that Kieran is a danger to his granddaughter and the only way to stop him is to bring the secrets of the vampire into the open.”
“His granddaughter? The granddaughter of a wolf?” Nicolas seemed to be in deep thought.
“Do you know what secrets he is hiding?” Mason wanted to know.
“I do,” he nodded.
“Well?” Ax threw his hands in the air. “What are these secrets? What are we?”
“The first vampires are more ancient than man himself. What we are is not a curse, but a species.”
“Why can’t we use this magic here?” Mason asked.
“It is very old magic passed down from the healers of the ancient world. The secrets of this magic are only known by a few. These witches live in the havens for their own protection.”
“But can’t we go to Shadow Valley and convince these witches that we need this magic?” Mason was determined to get answers and wasn’t about to let up until he got what he wanted.
“We can’t.” Nicolas frowned. “And it isn’t because we are cursed. We are just not welcome.”
“But technically, we could find Shadow Valley with that medallion?” I asked.
“Why are you so interested in this place, daughter?”
I wanted to tell him about Johnny, but what could I say? Should I tell him that according to my boss, I might talk to my brother again? Even vampires may not believe in such nonsense.
Nicolas reached out to take my hand. “Be truthful, Claire. Isn't the reason you seek this place is to soothe your pain?”
He’d read my thoughts. So far, he’d been the only vampire with the ability to read me.
“It isn’t necessary for you to go to Shadow Valley. You can see it with this medallion,” he said.
Taking the medallion from his neck, he placed it in my hands. Immediately, everything around me changed and I was somewhere else.
It was startling at first, but I willed myself to be calm and accept what I was seeing.
I was in an unspoiled land that was as colorful as it was beautiful. Everything was so vivid that it was almost like I was really there.
There was a small village with people milling around. All types of people and there was a lake.
From a distance, I could hear my father’s voice. “As long as you hold the medallion, you have a window to look into any location veiled by its magic. Go ahead and explore.”
I did exactly that, walking along a small road toward the lake. For some reason, I was being drawn to the lake.
“What do you see, Claire?” he asked.
“A lake,” I told him.
“Go to the lake. It is a window to what you seek.”
In my mind’s eye, I moved toward the lake’s shore. That’s when I nearly stopped breathing. “It’s Johnny,” I cried.
Johnny sat on the sand with his knees drawn up to his chest. He was watching as I approached.
That's when the tears came and I didn’t care who saw it. “Johnny, are you okay?” I sobbed.
Nodding, he smiled that familiar smile. “Why do you cry so much, Claire Bear? I’m okay.”
He was calling me Claire Bear!
Johnny was the only one in the world who had ever called me by that name. “I’m so sorry, baby! I swear I didn’t mean for this to happen.”
Johnny shrugged his tiny shoulders. “It was just time to go. That’s all.” Suddenly, he faded away and was gone.
“Don’t go, Johnny,” I wept.
I felt my father’s hands on mine and he gently pulled the medallion from my grasp.
I was back. The others were staring at me with pity and confusion. They had obviously not shared my vision.
“Was that Heaven?” I asked when I finally managed some composure.
Nicolas shook his head. “It was Shadow Valley but the lake is known as a place where you can peer into the Between. That’s where souls travel to get closer to the living. The Between exists at a higher vibration. Many places on earth act as windows into the Between.”
“How do you know so much about Shadow Valley if you’ve never been there?” Ax asked, seemingly entranced by what he’d just witnessed.
“I am very old,” Nicolas confessed.
“How old?” I asked. “When did you turn? Who were you before?”
Nicolas smiled. “I have always been what I am, a born vampire.”
“I thought they were forbidden.”
“I am one of the original vampires. It is a long story and not one that any of you are ready to hear,” he told us. “Trust that I have always been what I am, but I have not always been banished to darkness. That is something that happened to our species a very long time ago.”
“All of this is what Kieran doesn’t want others to know?” Mason put in. He had been quiet through most of the ordeal, but now he seemed to want some clarity.
“It is. He feeds off the hatred of the vampires. They believe they are cursed, but it’s not that simple. He doesn’t want his followers to have hope. If they have hope, Kieran fears he will lose control over them. He will have no power then.”
“But if we are forbidden to be in Shadow Valley, its existence makes no difference.” Mason shrugged. “What does it matter if they know? Most have already guessed that the original vampires are a species. It is those of us who were turned that are cursed.”
“It isn’t a curse and it isn’t magic that will set you free. Magic can allow you the freedom that comes with being a Daywalker but it is science that will prevent the worst of the disease. There are those in Shadow Valley who believe there may be a way,” Nicolas said. “The reason the havens snub vampires is because we are a species that prefers darkness and blood. Until t
hat is no longer the case, we will be shunned by other supernatural beings.”
“Changing the vampire is impossible,” Mason scoffed. “We are predators. It is in our nature to hunt.”
“Well, there is my recipe,” Ax reminded us, but no one was listening.
“Aside from the ancients, there are three born vampires,’ he informed us. “According to one of the Shadow Valley prophets, three sisters will come together to face Kieran and destroy his nest. They can then seek an audience with the Gatekeeper of Shadow Valley.” Nicolas motioned to Claire. “You are one of those sisters.”
“I have sisters?”
Not only was I shocked to learn I had sisters, but to find out that I’d been chosen to go up against some badass ancient vampire was like having ice water dumped on my head.
Whoever made up these crazy prophecies obviously didn’t know what they were doing. There was no way I could go up against an ancient vampire and not get my butt kicked.
My newfound father put an arm around my shoulders. “You do have two sisters. You must find the other two. Only then will you be strong enough to destroy Kieran.”
“Why can’t you do this?” I asked.
“I cannot. Kieran is my brother. His death cannot be by my hand.”
“How do you know all of this?” Mason was still skeptical.
“You could say I have some inside information. What I know is that as long as Kieran has his way, the evil that our species has become will prevail.”
Chapter Sixteen
Sleep was impossible.
My nerves were fried. I tossed and turned for what seemed like hours.
Although my room had all the furniture and luxuries you might expect in a bedroom, I couldn’t get over the idea that I was deep underground. I felt more like I was in a tomb than my father’s house.
I was still trying to absorb everything I’d discovered. My father was an ancient vampire who lived in an underground city and my uncle wanted to turn me into a full-fledged vampire for some evil purpose.
What was I supposed to do with that kind of information?
Not knowing would have been far more comfortable, but in this particular situation, ignorance wasn’t a good thing. Ignorance could actually get me killed.