by Sylah Sloan
Mikhail, my father, looked up at me, dark circles under his eyes, his hair uncharacteristically messy around his head. He set his glasses on the table, stood slowly and took tentative steps towards me. The heart monitor betrayed my emotions, and the steady beeping quickened.
He stopped at the edge of my bed, his eyes downcast, his hands clasped tightly in front of him. “You talk in your sleep.” He looked into my eyes, his shiny from unshed tears. “Do you want to talk about what happened?”
I looked at him, my sleep fogged brain starting back up. I made a slow trek of my arms and pushed the sheets off my legs. I was healed, completely. A lump formed in my throat as I lifted my eyes back to Mikhail’s. “Is he dead?” I didn’t need to elaborate. All I could picture were all those things Rhyker showed me. All of those dead bodies, all of those memories crammed into one mind, one person. Rhyker had said he wanted to escape his prison, to be free and rule over everyone. I hated him for what he put me through, but there was also a small part of me feeling sympathy for him. I couldn’t even imagine what it would feel like to be locked away, never to see your family and friends again.
Maybe Rhyker and I weren’t so different. After all, had I not been ripped from the only world I knew? I had been thrust into this new and mysterious world that held supernatural creatures. I could never see my friends again and would never be able to see Marie and the kids. I guess we weren’t too different, but I had to keep telling myself Rhyker was evil. He tortured and killed people, and for what? To rule as king? To control the world? I shivered involuntary at my thoughts. They were too frightening to even think about.
For the next hour Mikhail and I talked about what had happened. I told him how Rhyker Rulon had wanted me to stay in the Shadow realm, so he could travel between the worlds. About how he wanted to rule over everyone and I was his only chance of doing so. Mikhail wasn’t surprised about this, instead telling me they had sought the help of the Witches and Warlocks of Arcane Manor—the people in the white robes.
“I believe the alcohol in your system lowered your resistance.” At my puzzled look he continued. “The alcohol let your inhibitions down. It left your mind and body fully open, and let your powers free.” He started pacing the side of the bed. “Of course, they would have come out eventually, but because of the alcohol, it was jumpstarted, you could say.” He stopped pacing and stood at the foot of my bed. “God, Meadow, I am so sorry.” He hung his head, and the urge to go to him, to comfort him, was strong.
When he finally lifted his head, after what seemed like hours, the anguish written across his face took my breath away. He told me that Cadeon was the one to reach out to him, telling Mikhail what he had witnessed, when we had been in my room. Mikhail immediately went to the mystical beings of the Manor and sought their help. It was when the Witches and Warlocks had used their magic to locate me they had realized where I was and what they were up against.
“If you hadn’t locked into your powers when you did, we would have never found you, Meadow. The Witches and Warlocks work on our world, but when it comes to different planes, it’s difficult for their powers to penetrate that invisible wall.”
I was still so confused about my powers and what it meant. “I don’t understand any of this. What powers do I have?”
He breathed out. “We don’t know, Meadow. You’re rare, and because there has never been anything like you created before, you are a mystery to us.” He started pacing in front of my bed again. “What we can gather is that you have the ability to link directly between dimensions.”
“You can also suspend time, like you did in the forest, when you stopped those two boys from fighting. This is all fantastic to me, too, and I don’t know exactly why or how you have the powers you do, but I know they’re important. What I do know for certain is that only time will tell us exactly the extent of what you hold inside of you. There are no tests out there that will definitively tell us what we’re working with.”
I didn’t know what do say, so I didn’t say anything at all. This all sounded crazy, and if I wasn’t in the situation I was currently in, I wouldn’t have believed any of it. What Mikhail was saying was surreal. I can stop time and go between dimensions? I shook my head, and it started to throb painfully.
Even after everything he had just told me, the thing that racked my brain the most was the whole Mikhail was my father thing. I looked down at my arms, not wanting to look into Mikhail’s eyes, because we still hadn’t talked about the father issue. I didn’t know what I had said in my sleep, but I assumed I had said something, because of the awkward silence which followed. Mikhail cleared his throat, and I looked at him. He stared down at me, his eyes seeking my face for something.
“I think we should talk, Meadow.” His voice was low, distant.
“I think we should, too.” I pulled myself up in the bed and leaned against the headboard. The bag of blood hung from an IV pole beside me. It reminded me of when I had first awakened and saw what I was. “Why didn’t you tell me?” I knew I didn’t need to elaborate on what I meant. By the look on Mikhail’s face, he knew.
He exhaled and pulled a chair closer to the bed. He sat down, hanging his head as if he was defeated. “I don’t know where to start.”
“Why not at the beginning?” Any anger I had previously felt was gone. I was happy to be alive, and whatever reasons Mikhail had for keeping this information from me were in the past. I needed to start looking forward. I had the chance to finally get to know my father, and it felt incredible. I couldn’t lie. There was a part of me that hurt over the fact I was left alone, but after spending time with Mikhail at the Manor, I knew he must have had a good reason.
He nodded and started. “The first night I met your mother, she was walking home. It seems like ages ago.” He rubbed the back of his neck and brought his eyes up to mine. “She was so beautiful.” He was silent for so long I wondered if he would even continue. “You look just like her.”
My heart clenched painfully, as he spoke the soft words.
“I normally didn’t walk in town, but something urged me to go that night, to see how the world around me had changed. I had been staying at the Manor for years, so secluded from the outside world, because of my research,” he said. “When I saw her across the street, she was like an angel, like a bright ray of light shining into my darkness. After then, we were inseparable. She didn’t care what I was, and I loved her even more for her acceptance. She was everything to me, and when we found out she was pregnant, we were ecstatic. Never had a human and vampire been able to have children, but somehow your mother and I conceived.”
I didn’t know my mother, but, as I listened to Mikhail speak about her, I felt myself start to tear up. “I wish I would have been able to meet her.” Mikhail smiled and took my hand, and I let him.
“She loved you so much, even though she never got to hold you in her arms, she loved you.” A tear slipped out of his eye, and he quickly wiped it away. “I’m ashamed to admit I left her, thinking it was best, for both you and her, if I weren’t in your lives. I didn’t want to, but when I thought of all the harm which could befall both of you, if word got out a human and a vampire had conceived.” He shivered, as if the very thought frightened him. “I don’t even want to think about what the Seekers would do to you, or to your mother.”
I remembered reading about the Seekers, the rogue of the Arcane, the ones that prey on the weak and innocent. “Is that why you didn’t take care of me?” My voice caught, and I blinked quickly, willing myself not to cry.
He nodded and squeezed my hand. “Yes. If I had taken you, cared for you as a human child, your life would have been constantly in danger. But being raised by other humans in their world, you were far safer than in mine. By the time I realized I couldn’t live without her, she had already been hunted, had already been found by one of them. I found her in a dirty alley, my pure and innocent Lilly being drained by one of my own, a vampire. I couldn’t save her, but I could save you. I realized I neede
d to get far away from you for you to stay alive.” He leaned forward, his eyes reflecting the years of despair and sorrow he felt at the loss of his love. “I hoped maybe you would be able to live a normal human life, your mother’s genetics were stronger and therefore, you would be spared my side.”
We were both silent for a very long time, but then I found the strength to continue. “You always watched over me, didn’t you?”
He nodded. “I did at first, but then it became so hard to watch you grow up. I wanted to be there, when you said your first word, or when you took your first steps. It was so hard, and so I started having Cadeon watch over you. At first it was only sometimes, but then you started to look so much like your mother, it crushed me.”
“So Cadeon was there all those times?”
“Yes, sometimes I couldn’t stay away, and when I sensed the change in you, I knew you wouldn’t be spared. I knew you would soon be a vampire. I needed to protect you, and, although I was an awful father, when you were younger, I hoped to try to make up for that now that you’re older.”
We stared at each other for a second. I pulled my hand away from his, and I saw his sadness. I moved toward the edge of the bed and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, letting my tears out, crying so hard into his shoulder, I shook. I think he was surprised at my actions, because he was tense before he finally wrapped his arms around me too. I cried for my mother, knowing I would never get to meet her. I cried for the love my father lost and for the heartache I felt. Sadness filtered through the room, but it was good sadness. I didn’t know what would happen now.
He pulled away and ran his thumb under my eyes, wiping my tears away. It seemed very paternal, and I felt my heart swell.
“If you’ll give me the chance, I’d like to start over, Meadow.” He smiled and cupped my cheek. “I’d like to be the father you deserve, if you’ll let me.”
I didn’t answer right away, just buried my face in the crook of his neck and cried some more. He didn’t rush me, just held me for as long as I needed him to. For the first time in a very long time, I felt like I belonged somewhere. Sure, Marie had made me feel that way, but deep down inside I knew I was missing something substantial in my life. As Mikhail, my father, held me tightly in his arms, I finally felt the connection I had been searching for my entire life. I pulled back, and I could see the hesitance in his gaze. “I’d really love that.” His smile was wide, and he crushed me to him once again. We stayed like that for so long my arms and legs started to cramp, but I didn’t care. I had never felt such overwhelming joy as I did at that moment.
We talked for hours after that, and Mikhail had said Rhyker was dead. He couldn’t ever hurt me or anyone I cared about again, but there was still that tickling, in the back of my mind, warning me of what could happen. I knew my life was just beginning. I now had a father, and maybe things might be different. If not, then that was okay, too, because I was surrounded by people who loved me, and whom I loved.
****
I sat on the front steps of Arcane Manor, watching the brilliant sun set beneath the horizon. Spring was starting to make the flowers come up, the newborn buds sprouting and accepting their new life into the world. Since my encounter with Rhyker, I had gotten a lot accomplished. I started coming outside, getting my vampire body used to the sun, so that I no longer felt the tingling of it on my skin.
Strangely enough, the only students who knew about what happened with me and Rhyker were Nik and Violet. Neither one of them had been too surprised by what had happened, but I suspected they were more accustomed to the unusual than I.
I didn’t tell them about Mikhail being my father, and to be honest, I don’t think I was ready to reveal that to anyone, yet.
Cadeon and I spoke about what happened, but any free time we got we ended up holding each other. Whenever I was with him, I didn’t want to think about the past, didn’t want to worry about what could have happened.
I heard the front doors open as the sun dipped below the mountains. I knew it was Cadeon before he said anything. He sat next to me, and his presence was a gentle reminder I was alive and here. I closed my eyes to savor the moment. When I opened them, he was still staring at me, his stare affecting me more than anything else in the world had.
He wrapped his arm around me, and I leaned my head against his shoulder, both of us staring at the sky and watching the pinks, oranges, and yellows melt into deeper and darker colors. I reached for his hand, and we twined our fingers together, just basking in each other’s presence, as the night unfolded in front of us.
“Meadow?”
“Hmm?” I looked up into his face, his lips pressing gently against mine in the sweetest of kisses.
“I love you.” His words were soft as he pulled away.
We looked into each other’s eyes, his words sinking into me and going straight into my heart. I reached my hand up and cupped his cheek. “I love you, too.” I leaned in and pressed my mouth against his. I ran my tongue over his bottom lip, hearing him groan in response and feeling my chest swell with emotions. I loved this man, loved him so much my chest ached. He opened his mouth, and our tongues touched. As our kiss deepened, I knew that this was where I was meant to be, right here in his arms, feeling all his love pour into me from just his kiss. When we finally pulled away, both panting, I knew as long as I had Cadeon, Mikhail, Nik, and Violet in my life, everything would be okay.
I rested my head on his shoulder, and we stared out at the grounds. “Maybe one day I’ll be able to see Marie and the kids again.” I was mainly just thinking out loud, but then I felt Cadeon’s arm tighten around me and felt him kiss the top of my head.
“I think after everything that has happened, that doesn’t seem like such a bad idea.” I didn’t respond, but I didn’t need to, because his chuckle when I grinned up at him was enough of an answer for me.
We kissed once more, just a light peck against each other’s mouths, letting the shadows wrap around us, like a blanket of protectiveness. I knew that as long as I had the people I cared about around me, everything would be okay. Well, as okay as a vampire’s life could be.
The End
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