by K.N. Lee
Koa shook her head. “No Ian. You don’t understand.” She ran her hand through her bangs, getting them out of her face so that she could get a better look at her sire. “Vampires cannot walk in the sun! That’s just how it is.”
Ian gave her a look. His mischievous smile never faltered. “Really? And yet you can walk in the sun.”
“Yes. But I am different. I’m not a full vampire.”
Ian nodded. “I see. You created me, Koa. I must share that with you then. It makes perfect sense. Doesn’t it?”
Koa began to speak but closed her mouth. Ian was right. He was her first and only sire.
“Holy Hell,” Koa whispered as she reached over to touch his face. His skin was still smooth, although cold to the touch. She missed his warmth, but she would rather have him alive than have to bury him.
“You’re right.”
She cracked a smile. “I’ve never turned anyone before. You are my first. I now see why Greggan wants me. He wants whatever trait my mom passed down.” Koa looked at the floor. Her smile faded. “Damn.”
“What’s wrong?”
Koa covered her face with her hands. “This is not good.”
“No, it’s great! I don’t have to hide out in the daytime. I can be like you. I can finish school, and live a normal life again.” Ian frowned. “I thought you’d be happy.”
Koa shook her head. Her stomach was full of anxiety. “Imagine a world with vampires roaming the streets in the daytime. The Netherworld Division wouldn’t be able to monitor them. The humans wouldn’t have a chance. That is what King Greggan wants.”
Ian frowned. His wavy, black hair fell over his eyes and he ran a hand over it to pull it back. “Who is King Greggan?”
Koa sighed. She motioned for Ian to follow her out of the kitchen. “I fear you’re going to find out very soon.”
She had to get to the Gate to meet with Halston. Koa took Ian’s hand.
“You’re coming with me. Halston has to see this.”
15
Tunes fell from the sky once Halston approached the Gate. A squat little creature, Tunes resembled a goblin. His skin was scaly and dry, and when he wasn’t glamouring himself, he was completely bald. Tunes peered at young Roderick with bulging black eyes.
“What’s he doing here?” Tunes looked up at Halston. His eyes narrowed and he scratched his scabbed-over scalp. “You’re just letting all kinds of creatures out, Master.”
Halston gave him a stern look. “Open the Gate, Tunes.”
Tunes nodded. He glanced at Roderick once more. The boy smiled at him. Tunes had no idea just how powerful Roderick was. Tunes played a note on his silver violin and then used the bow as a key.
A loud clinking sound resonated throughout the entire valley on the other side, as well as the dark cavern of Shadows behind Halston.
He looked over his shoulder. The Shadows were being obedient. They hadn’t been so obedient when he’d brought Koa there days ago. Now, they were bowed low for him, as if frozen.
Halston entered the human world and breathed in the fresh air. It smelled like home, and yet this was not really his home. Roderick recited rap verses behind him like a poet recites his best work. Halston looked down at him with a side grin, amused.
Somehow, when Roderick rapped it just sounded right, like he had discovered a new language. That was when Halston realized the power in the boy’s words. Roderick had found a way to combine his spells with the music he had grown to love.
The Alchemist, grand wizard and immortal being, loved human culture above all things. Halston couldn’t help but grin as he watched the grass grow taller at Roderick’s words. The flowers bloomed bigger, the air smelled sweeter, and Halston felt oddly joyful.
Roderick looked up at Halston, and still rapping, he winked.
Halston shook his head but chuckled. He was tired, but somehow he felt certain that he’d made a good choice letting the Alchemist come along.
The rapping stopped, and all was quiet.
“So,” Roderick said, looking up.
In the light of the sun, his face was almost translucent. Halston had never seen anything like it before. Roderick almost looked like a ghost.
“That’s what a real sun looks like?” Roderick spoke softly, in awe of his first glimpse of the human world.
Halston followed his gaze. The sun had the most power in their world. It was beautiful and humans took it for granted. The sun protected them from vampires.
“It’s even more beautiful than you said.” Roderick looked around in wonder. His childlike face smiled. “Pictures don’t do it justice. Why didn’t you bring me here sooner?”
Halston looked down. A new form of vampire had now arrived. Greggan wanted Koa for one thing, and that was to produce vampires that could dwell in the sun.
“I agree with you,” Halston said, nodding. He checked his watch. Koa should be heading back to the safe house with Tristan and the others by now. “Pictures don’t do it justice.”
Roderick looked up as the sun’s light spilled through the canopy of trees above. Halston froze. Roderick became almost completely translucent. Roderick took a step forward, and cried out. He seemed to hit an invisible wall that made his entire body flicker, disappear, and reappear.
Halston reached out to the boy. “Are you all right?”
Roderick cringed. He held a hand out and touched the invisible wall. Once again, his body slowly began to fade. His voice seemed to come from far away. “Halston! Pull me back!” Half of Roderick’s body was sucked into the wall. The boy’s cried filled the valley that surrounded the Gate.
Halston moved quickly. He grabbed Roderick’s arm and yanked him from the force that seemed to pull back.
Halston knew then that he would not be able to bring the Alchemist along.
Roderick seemed to know it as well. He fixed his clothing and felt his face, making sure it was still there, and not fading any longer. When he gazed at Halston, the look of disappointment on his young face was heartbreaking.
“Roderick,” Halston said. His shoulders slumped. He was disappointed as well. They could use the help of someone like Roderick. There was no one else in existence that could do the things that boy could do. Besides that, he had grown to like Roderick, almost like a younger brother.
Roderick sighed. “You’re just going to leave me here, aren’t you?”
Halston looked away. The tears in Roderick’s eyes bothered him. He already had enough worries and heartbreak. The look on Koa’s face when he had to leave her haunted him every second of the day.
“You have to stay. Somehow, the human world rejects you. I don’t think you were ever meant to leave the Netherworld.”
Roderick’s face twisted with sorrow. “But why? I never harmed anyone. How is it fair that vampires get to roam free and I am stuck in that horrid place?” He pointed at the Gate as tears trailed down his cheeks. “All I ever wanted was to see a real human. Please. Help me.”
With a sharp lump in his throat, Halston put a hand on Roderick’s small shoulder. Seeing the boy look so devastated cut to his core. He tightened his jaw, and tried to look brave, for Roderick. “I’ll find a way to let you out one day Roderick.”
Roderick looked up at him with big brown eyes. He looked hopeful.
“But right now, I have more important things to worry about. I hope you understand. If I don’t there might not be any humans left.”
Roderick’s face darkened. He pursed his lips and gave Halston a look that made him looked significantly less like a child and more like the being that creatures all over the Netherworld’s many levels feared.
Roderick turned back towards the Gate. “We shall see.”
Halston wanted to say more but the words wouldn’t come to him. He watched Roderick return to the Gate and speak to Tunes. Tunes glanced at Halston questioningly.
Halston nodded and Tune’s opened the Gate. Roderick stepped inside and looked back at Halston one last time.
Halston held his
breath. Roderick’s pale face shone in the dark as he grabbed the bars of the Gate. Then, he vanished into the darkness, and Halston was left alone.
“Halston,” a familiar voice shrieked with joy.
Halston didn’t turn right away. He smiled to himself, thrilled to hear her voice again. Everything he did seemed to be for her. But somehow he felt as if he could not let her know that. He could not let her see that she meant so much to him. And so, his smile faded into a stern look as he turned to face her.
There she was, standing in the sunlight with her hair gently swaying in the light breeze. Her eyes were creased at the corners as she beamed at him. His heart thumped in his chest. He wanted nothing more than to swoop her up in his arms, swirl her around, and kiss her like she’d never been kissed before.
Instead, his shoulders slumped and he looked past her, at her sire. Seeing him stand behind her… in the sun, changed everything. It was exactly what he was afraid of.
“Koa,” Halston said with a nod. He walked past her without another look and made his way to his car. “Keys.”
Koa, devastated, tossed his keys to him and got in the back seat without a word.
Ian, confused by what just happened, sat in the passenger’s seat, filled with the excitement of a little boy on a quest for adventure.
Halston had to hide his hands as they shook. He wanted to hold her so badly. He took a deep breath and got in the car, turned the ignition, and started for the church safe house.
He risked a look back at her through the rearview mirror and saw the glassy look of tears in her eyes. His heart broke at that look, but this time, he would put duty first. The humans needed him more than Koa did.
“So, who are you anyway?” Ian asked.
Halston looked ahead. Koa shushed Ian.
“What? I haven’t been introduced!” Ian exclaimed. “And what was that creepy gate you came out of?”
16
Alice surveyed the massacre. The sun rose, and so they were safe… for now. A cool dawn and faded sunlight shone down on an old farmhouse that was burnt to the ground.
All of the livestock had been slaughtered. Cows and sheep lay scattered around the grounds as if someone had simply run through the fields, cutting them down with an axe. The flies buzzed around the bodies with glee. What a feast had been laid out for the vultures and scavengers.
The poor family had been murdered, bled dry, and pinned to stakes in the ground for all to see. Two young women around the ages of twenty and twenty-five, a boy of about ten, and the mother, father, and grandmother. All dead, all with their eyes ripped out and mouths sewn shut.
It seemed that no matter where they went, that death and destruction had already made an appearance. Raven felt as if she was going to be sick. She’d seen so much in her long life that she should have been prepared for this.
The smell of burnt flesh lingered in the air making Raven gag. She looked up at Alice with tears in her eyes.
“More children?” Her heart beat in her chest like a tiny drum.
She yawned. Raven was weary from running around with Alice from crime scene to crime scene. There was no rest for the pair. They were tracking a demon, and would not stop until they found him.
Alice nodded. Her face was serious, angry, and pale. “That bastard,” she growled. “I will pound his ugly face with my fist and chop his skinny body into tiny pieces.”
The firemen were frozen as Alice and Raven looked over the damage. An old house had been burned down. It was apparent that the fire had started in the basement and destroyed everything.
But with Alice’s gadgets she had surmised that there had been fourteen young bodies. She could actually view the scene with absolute clarity. Raven imagined what would happen if the humans had their hands on such technology, just how many crimes would be solved. With the device in Alice’s hand, she pulled up the scene, and they watched Bund hang the girls by their heels.
They watched him taunt and tease them, feed from them, and then, they watched Greggan enter the room and set it on fire. The only thing that was missing, was the sound. They had no idea what was said between Greggan and Bund, but it was clear that the demon was not happy with Greggan’s actions.
Raven stood on a stone step and watched Alice look over the ashes and remains of the old farmhouse. A buzzing sound drew her attention. Alice raised a brow and looked down at her watch. She pressed a button and shot to her feet when Halston’s image pulled up before her.
Raven ran over to get a better look. She was too afraid to hope or feel joy yet. She needed to hear what he had to say. Halston was fine, but where was her daughter?
“Well,” Alice began. She folded her arms. “Took you long enough, Mr. Boss Man.”
Halston looked around at the burnt logs and piles of rubbish and ash. “What happened here? Any luck with tracking Bund’s whereabouts?”
“While you were off playing around in the Netherworld, rescuing damsels and breaking princes out of prison, Greggan and Bund haven’t wasted time with making the humans fearful to leave their homes. It is a real shit show out here, Halston. Greggan made an announcement on the BBC that he is making a change to this world. He told the humans to stay in their homes until the “transition” is over. He says that he wants to take the VRS from a secret agency to a global scale. No human will have a say, and they will all be at the mercy of vampires.”
“What a fool.” Halston didn’t look surprised. “Meet me at the old church as soon as you can get here. I’ll wait for you two.”
Alice raised a brow. “Oh, will you? I’m honored.”
“Viktor wants me to report to him at headquarters. I need you to look after the others while I’m gone.”
“Like a babysitter?”
“Where is Koa? Is she all right?” Raven cut in.
Halston nodded. His face softened when he looked down at Raven, as did his voice. “She’s fine, Raven. She will be here at the church when you two arrive.”
“We’re on our way,” Alice said.
Halston gave a nod. “Take care, you two.”
Alice nodded. “We will. You do the same.”
Halston’s image faded as he cut the connection and left Alice and Raven in silence.
Alice rolled up her sleeves and took a deep breath. “We’d better get a move on then.”
Spoons came sniffing along, in the form of a jackal. He stepped in the center of what used to be the basement and dug his nose in the ash.
“Not even a piece of meat left for me,” he growled, disappointed.
Alice rolled her eyes. “Stop complaining. I let you eat that body back at the library crime scene. Shouldn’t you be full for a couple of days?”
Spoons looked up at her, with the same ice blue eyes that he had in his true form. It looked strange on a jackal. “I’m always hungry.”
“Well, tough luck.”
Raven put a paw on Alice’s leg. “Can we head to the church now? I need to see Koa. Please.”
Alice smiled and picked Raven up. She nuzzled her neck. “Of course. We’ll go there now.” She looked over to Spoons. “Do you still have his scent?”
Spoons nodded. “I do. Where the two of you’s goin?”
“We are headed to the safe house to meet with Halston, you keep tracking Bund until I meet up with you again.”
“Right, leave me to do all da work. Jus like ya angels. Lazy bastards.”
Alice let out a long breath and shook her head. She ran up the stone stairs with Raven in her arms and into the cool afternoon. A group of onlookers had appeared, confused by the frozen firemen and the damage to their neighbors’ farm.
One of the teens stood before the stake to which one of the farmer’s daughter had been nailed. His face was white as a sheet of paper and his breaths came fast. He was on the verge of an anxiety attack. A few moments longer and the kid would surely start screaming his head off.
Alice cursed under her breath and sat Raven down on the grass. “Go on, hun, stand back.”
Raven did as she was told. She knew what Alice was about to do. She’d only seen the angel do it a couple of times, when their cover was almost blown by a few nosy humans. Freezing cops and police officers was a simple task for Alice, but when other humans came into the mix and actually saw what she’d done, it took more than a little freezing of their muscles and minds.
Alice stepped before the two older women that stood at the gate, a smile on her pretty little face. The women looked at her with fear, and stepped back.
“Hey ladies, what a lovely day it is, isn’t it?” Alice lifted a hand and the teen boy was lifted from the ground. She tilted her neck and he yelped as she sent him flying across the field and dropped him beside his family. She dusted her hands and looked them over.
“So, is it just the three of you then?”
“Y…yeah.” The women held onto one another and the boy scrambled to his feet to join them in their frightened huddle.
Alice nodded. Her smile remained friendly, and soothing, but it was too late, the humans had already seen too much. “Good. Now,” she ran her hands through her short pink hair and clicked her teeth. “Let’s say we play a little game.”
Raven’s eyes widened as she stood far away and watched Alice levitate off the ground. The woman started to scream but Alice muted their voices somehow. Then, she started to glow.
Rings of light encircled her body, crisscrossing and shooting up and down from her feet to the top of her head. The women and the boy watched her with stunned awe. They knew it then, that she was an angel, and their faces softened into looks of wonder.
Raven was unsure of what they saw, but their faces went from contorted horror to looks of joy and relief. Alice’s angelic glow softened against the humans faces and bathed them in feelings of happiness and serenity that would have a completely opposite reaction to any form of nephilim. It was why Alice told Raven to step away.
Raven lowered her head as she watched. She was a nephilim, a supernatural spawn of the fallen angels. Not vampire, or Syth, Jem, or anything she’d ever seen or read about; Raven was a new breed. Even so, Alice’s angelic glow would have killed her.