by Slick, Tabi
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I woke up to the feeling of total agony. I was sure my toes were going to have to be removed. My arms were still stretched out, hanging from the chains that kept me bound. I slowly opened my eyes and saw that my stark white feet were no longer in ice water, but I still couldn’t feel them and so my weight was being carried by my shackled wrists. I heard footsteps and I slowly lifted my gaze to see Chuck preparing for school. He grabbed his bag before looking up at us, pitifully hanging, cold, drenched in blood, and helpless to change our circumstances.
“Well, I wonder,” he sneered, “how long it will take before someone notices you’re not at school? I imagine not even a couple of days, but then they won’t be expecting anything.”
I kept my mouth shut, remembering that I had borrowed Lee’s truck. Obviously Lee would notice that his truck never made it back and come after me. His dad was a cop in this area, which gave us an advantage.
“Oh,” Chuck exclaimed, the screen door banging shut as he returned from the front door, “I almost forgot, that little truck of yours. You might be thinking I’m just a noob at all of this…”
He shrugged, a crooked smile spreading across his face as he saw the look of utter shock on mine. He knew what I had been hoping, that he’d leave that piece of evidence and that we’d be found soon before being “taken care of”.
“I assure you, I’m not,” he chuckled, “I already took care of that bit so no worries.”
He seemed so pleased with himself. Congratulations to him, I guess. He made quite a villain.
“Goodday,” he waved before disappearing through the front door.
I let my head drop in devastation as I realized our fate.
“Iz,” Kain’s raspy voice gasped.
“Yeah,” I replied.
“We can’t,” he sighed, “can’t break. Whatever this is, this is the school.”
How could a school let someone do this to their students? Perhaps that vision of the eldest Bartholomew brother was right. But why was the school after us? It didn’t seem like Chuck had any idea who we were. So, what was the connection?
“He mentioned a secret,” I said, “that must stay within the family…”
“Must be related to that Tompkin,” he agreed, “president of the school.”
“I had a vision,” I added, “of that Bartholomew brother. He was older, speaking to someone….some supporter of the school.”
It took me a minute to gather the strength to continue. Breathing was hard, it was as if my chest was pushing against ice whenever I took a breath.
“He said,” I finally continued, “he said the school slaughtered innocent students...for something they couldn’t help…”
“They know,” Kain completed my sentence, seemingly indifferent as if he had already put two and two together.
“Kain,” I replied, “I spoke to this brother...as if I was there in the past. He spoke back to me!”
“What’d he want?” Kain asked.
“He said that the school was made for us,” I coughed, “that we’d get more powerful. Then they’d come for us.”
Kain was silent and I could tell he had endured quite the beating before I arrived. I shouldn’t have gotten so swept up into my own world! I was kidding myself if I expected to have a normal love life after all this and in my selfishness I had left my own brother to pay for it. That was my last thought as I dozed off into a strange and painful slumber.
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Lawrence awoke feeling as though every bone in his body had been broken. He opened his eyes slowly, recognizing his dorm room and slowly twisting his body into an upright position.
What had happened last night? He thought to himself.
He suddenly felt a jolt of pain from his shoulder blade and slowly reached back, feeling large bits of tender flesh. He looked down in horror at the blood on his fingers which seemed to jog his memory. He had transitioned again last night. Must have been another full moon. He shrugged and hopped out of bed, ignoring the human reaction to crawl into a ball and cower in pain. He couldn’t deny his power anymore. The transition was a gift that gave him the gift of flight, to see everything in a new and clearer light, and also to see the future. He had turned too many times to count, but he knew when it began. It was just after his sixteenth birthday. He remembered how terrified he was of himself, how it ached as the wings tore through his skin, and how dreamlike it all was. He still had no idea what he was, but quickly discovered that he could use some of his powers beyond the full moon. He even thought he had found a way of controlling himself when turning, but it seemed another darker part of his soul was in control in those moments which prevented him from fighting it. It seemed to guide him into the darkness and to his prey.
He didn’t know why he had a hunger to hunt down humans for their blood or what the connection was between them. He didn’t even know where the blood went after returning back into his original form or what happened to the bodies! All of these questions remained unanswered, but one thing he knew for certain. He would do anything to protect his brother from whatever kind of monster he was.
“There you are,” his roommate greeted him as he entered the dorm room.
Lawrence quickly pulled on a shirt and prepared for the day.
“Oliver,” he nodded to his roommate, “good morning.”
“Good is questionable,” Oliver replied, picking up some books from his desk, “the school is on a rampage.”
“A rampage?” Lawrence asked, puzzled.
“Yes, you know that girl your brother fancied?" He began, “One of the monitors found her dead.”
Lawrence’s mind raced as he tried to relive the events that had occurred last night. He tried to remember the face of the one he had taken, but all he could remember was the smell of her blood. What had he done?
“Where did they find her?" He asked.
“On the front porch,” Oliver replied, “just sprawled there and get this! She was missing her heart.”
“I’ve got to go,” Lawrence commented as he suddenly left the room.
He had to find his brother to see if he was okay! He must be devastated. He would never forgive this treacherous act. Nor would he understand the fact that he had killed without even having the will to stop! He made his way down the hall towards the stairs and headed down to the lower level to see if Edwin was in his room. He didn’t bother to knock as he entered the room, but his brother was not there. He stormed out wracking his brain for where his brother would go. Lawrence rushed out of the boy's dorm and headed down the path to where it split to the girls’ side. He heard many cries in the distance, obviously last night’s events were found by the authorities already. He found Edwin at the split, slumped on the ground with his head resting against a tree trunk.
“Come on,” Lawrence said to his brother.
His brother made no response as his eyes spaced out, completely emotionless as if he had lost the ability to focus.
“Let’s get out of here!” Lawrence ordered, picking his brother up by the shoulders. Edwin stood, but still made no attempt to make eye contact.
Lawrence guided his brother off of the path and towards their secret meetup spot near a small creek. They walked in silence, Edwin occasionally stumbling in his strange trance.
“Ruth...why…” Edwin mumbled.
“What?” Lawrence asked, not fully hearing his brother as he rambled under his breath.
Suddenly,Edwin grabbed Lawrence’s collar, slamming him against a tree.
“Why Ruth!” his brother spat, lifting Lawrence higher into the air until he couldn’t touch the ground anymore.
“Edwin,” Lawrence answered, realizing that his brother was nearing his sixteenth birthday which would explain the strength that his little brother was experiencing.
“No,” he growled, his eyes flashing black, “you listen. I know you’ve been hiding something from me. But I’m not as foolish as you might have led yourself to believe.”
Lawre
nce had no response. He had hoped that he had been the only one impacted with whatever curse he had been plagued with. But it was evident that his brother had no such luck. He recognized those eyes, the eyes of black nothingness. The ones that could erase all voices of reason, voices of morality. The ones that spoke at every other moment except when he transitioned. The transformation into the demon was the most painful experience and he would wish it on no one, not even his enemies.
“I know you killed her,” his brother hissed.
“Brother,” Lawrence replied, “you don’t understand.”
Edwin let out a growl and threw his older brother into the air and watched as Lawrence slammed his back into a tree trunk and falling to the ground.
“So, you admit it?" He glowered, “No remorse, no pity in your eyes?”
“I didn’t know who it was!” Lawrence cried, “I swear!”
“What are you?" He asked, staring at Lawrence as if he were a stranger.
“The same as you, it seems,” he answered.
“What do you mean?” Edwin said, taking a step back.
“You threw me like I don’t weigh a thing,” he replied, slowly picking himself up, “your eyes flashed black, you’re turning into me. Your sixteenth birthday is in a few days and if I’m right, then on the next full moon you’re going to transition.”
“Transition? You’re insane!” Edwin spat, “A murderous monster! I should report you!”
“No,” he assured, “you won’t.”
“How can you be so sure?" His little brother asked, defensively.
“Because down deep you know what you are,” Lawrence replied, “you feel the hunger, the desire inside that is just waiting to rip out. That’s the anger that triggers that power and on the full moon you will have the ability to fly, to see things from a completely new perspective!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he lied.
“I promise,” Lawrence said, taking a step forward with his hands up defensively, “I never wanted this for you. I don’t know why we are this way, but you have it easy. I’ve already gone through all of this confusion. I can help!”
“I think you’ve already helped enough,” Edwin said, his words drenched in sarcasm.
“Look,” Lawrence replied, “I have special abilities. Now I don’t know if you’ll have the same, but our eyes both change the same color. Charcoal black. I haven’t been able to control all of my abilities, but I am able to use some of them outside of transition.”
Edwin eyed his brother. He seemed to be willing to hear him out, at least, and that was what mattered.
“Watch,” Lawrence said, bracing himself.
He moved his attention internally, focusing on every nerve in his body. He cleared his mind and as he slowly breathed he felt his body start to become weightless. It was the strangest feeling he had ever experienced. He opened his eyes in time to see Edwin’s shocked face as Lawrence’s body slowly disappeared.
“What are you?" He gasped.
Lawrence’s focus to the present returned and his body reappeared.
“I don’t know, brother,” Lawrence answered, truthfully.
“Does it hurt?” Edwin asked.
“Transition?" He replied, “Every full moon it is the most excruciating pain. It’s the worst thing I’ve ever felt in my life.”
Edwin had no words for this. Lawrence could tell that his little brother was afraid, afraid of the unknown and what would happen at the next full moon.
“But,” Lawrence added, “it is also the most beautiful thing. It’s beyond human. The power you feel after the transition...there’s just nothing like it!””
“How did you become this?” Edwin asked.
Lawrence paused. He had asked himself the exact same question. In all honesty he had not the slightest idea what made him this way. Did their parents know about them? He imagined that if his parents knew what they were that they would have been able to better help them. They would have explained what would happen to them once they reached sixteen, instead of sending them off to a boarding school and abandoning them.
“I don’t know,” he whispered.
Edwin shook his head, not wanting to believe any of it.
“Come on,” Edwin finally said, heading deeper into the forest, “I need a drink.”
They headed to the creek and found their secret hiding spot of whiskey in an old safe they hid in a hole they found within a huge oak.
“Cheers,” Edwin said, taking a huge swig of it from the bottle.
They sat near the stream of water, watching it twist and turn in silence. Lawrence didn’t know whether or not he should feel relieved that he no longer had to keep it a secret from his younger brother, or to be filled with remorse that his brother was condemned to the same fate.
“Is that all you can do?" His brother asked.
“While not bound by the full moon,” Lawrence said, “I haven’t been able to reproduce any of my other powers outside of the transition.”
“What happens, you know,” Edwin began, “during the transition?”
Lawrence pondered this question for a moment, remembering the events that had occurred just the night before.
“It starts as a surge of anger flowing through your veins,” he began, “slowly crawling from your heart through your entire body. Soon the anger is so heavy that it begins to hurt and that’s when your shoulders burn like they’re on fire.”
“Your shoulders?” Edwin asked.
“Yeah,” he added, “your shoulders burn as the wings grow. These giant black wings tear through your shoulder blades. It’s the worst pain in the world.”
Edwin grimaced.
“But after that,” he continued, “I’m able to see everything...I can see for miles. I can even see the future sometimes! I can fly anywhere. But usually I’m pulled towards a particular direction. I feel heartbeats of others like us, it’s as if we are all working together for a purpose.”
“And what’s that?" His little brother asked.
“I guess something to do with blood,” Lawrence replied, “I smell it all the time. It’s only a few people that I smell it from, but when in transition I’m always clear on who I have to go after. I can’t control it, Edwin, I swear if I knew this would happen I-I…”
Edwin just shook his head, handing the bottle to Lawrence.
“We’re going to run out,” Edwin commented, nodding to the bottle.
“No worries,” Lawrence grinned, “I’ve got a contact.”
“Yeah, and I’m sure your neat little trick of invisibility helps as well!” Edwin laughed.
“Yeah,” he smiled, “that, too.”
“Why’d you keep it from me?” Edwin asked.
“I didn’t know what to say,” he replied, “and quite honestly I was afraid of how you would take it. That you would be too afraid of me.”
Edwin nodded, understanding the dilemma. Lawrence took a long swig of whiskey, not wanting to think about everything that was running through his brother’s head. What were we? This had been the foremost thought on his mind since he had first transformed. All he could seem to produce were questions with absolutely no answers. But maybe with there being two of them it would be easier to find the answers. Lawrence was counting on this. He didn’t know how long he could live like this, but what he did know is that they would be an unstoppable force. Together they would achieve a power that he couldn’t even fathom. He had no idea what this would mean for them or for the school, but they would control whatever darkness grew inside of them if it was the last thing he did.
Chapter 9: What You Were Born To Do
I was awoken by the treacherous sound of thunder as rain spattered the only window I could see. Kain and I were no longer chained up, hanging by our limbs in the kitchen. Chuck had decided to be kind to us and handcuff us to the floor. I couldn’t remember how long we had been trapped there. Days, weeks, maybe. It was all the same to me. I knew it had been a long time since I smelt like roadki
ll and Kain looked freakishly disheveled. So, far Chuck had only learned that they were from New York, our father was a fashion designer, and we really did have a strange interest in history. I wondered if the reason Chuck had kept us alive so long was because he was finally considering this to be an honest mistake.
“Kain,” I breathed.
“What?" He replied, his voice hoarse from dehydration.
“I had another dream,” I answered, “of the brothers.”
“Yeah?" He coughed, “let’s hear it. Not like there’s anything better to do.”
“They both were like us,” I replied, “one...the eldest...he could make himself invisible, see things...miles ahead...even the future! The youngest could manipulate feelings, see the future, and hear things from far distances.”
“Sounds badass,” Kain laughed, then wheezed in pain.
Chuck had beaten Kain the worst last night. Kain hadn’t helped with the situation at all! He couldn’t just be quiet, he had to be snarky.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Kain replied, “go on with your story.”
“Fine,” I agreed, “I’ve been dreaming about them on and off since we’ve been here. It’s a little annoying.”
“Better than being present,” Kain said, “better to be in a dream then to be fully here because here is torture.”
Kain was right. I needed to stop complaining about zoning in and out. It strangely helped me cope with all the madness that was going on.
“They both had black wings,” I whispered, as if it was a secret, “their eyes black, black as coal. Claws like ours. He called it transitioning…”
“Transitioning?” Kain asked.
“Yeah,” I replied, “Lawrence, the oldest, said that it only happened at the full moon. But he was able to control some of his abilities outside of the full moon.”
“Maybe we could conjure up a bit of our power and make ourselves scarce of this place,” Kain chuckled.
“Yeah,” I agreed, “I wish.”
“I wonder how long he’s going to keep us around,” Kain murmured.