by Cat Thomson
As they aimlessly walked, taking in the new sights, Kylie thought about what had just happened back at home. She had always felt that she didn't fit in with her family. She hadn't even been aware of her parents' existence before Helmut had stolen her away from Nikolas. They were total strangers and had insisted on calling her Kylie, even though she had been known as Elizabeth before then. After having lived with vampires for the first five years of her life, she had never truly become accustomed to the diurnal habits of her parents. Then her body had gradually undergone physical changes: she had begun to run faster; her teeth had become sharp and elongated. Her eyes had also changed and she could easily see the smallest of things in great detail, even in the dark or when they were a long way off from her. Recently, she had noticed that her sister was starting to undergo the same changes she had experienced; the two of them really were becoming physically identical. And now Kylie was beginning to develop an ever-increasing attachment to night's dark and sensual pleasures.
Kylie wished she could re-experience that sense of belonging she had had, firstly with Nikolas and later with Helmut. She didn't want to admit it to her sister just yet, but she was becoming increasingly vampire-curious. She had seen Nikolas at the farm, all those years ago, and if he had survived the onslaught by the rebel countries, then perhaps there were other vampires out there, and no doubt Nikolas would have created vampires himself over the past few years.
But if there were other vampires out there, they would highly likely all be affiliated with Nikolas, and Kylie was surprised when she realised that she didn't want to risk encountering him, in spite of his having been her kindly adoptive father when she was a child.
After Kylie had been taken to live on the farm, her strong affinity for Helmut had drawn her to him and she had thrived in his company. Helmut had often spent time with her in the evenings, when he first became conscious, before his vampire instincts would lure him away to the pleasures of the night. Kylie had always kept the excruciating mourning for Helmut she had endured a secret from everyone, her face an expressionless mask whenever anyone had tried to get her to divulge the reason for her taciturnity. Her mother's friend Katie, having lost her vampire mate in the fire, had sensed her grief and had tried to talk to her about it, but Kylie had even denied her sadness to Katie. With time, the pain of her grief had waned, but it had never fully subsided, and over the years an intangible pinpoint of anger had come to life and had wrestled alongside her grief for a space in her heart where it could incubate.
Kylie had also spent a lot of time with Charlotte and James on the farm, and Charlotte had often talked to her about Nikolas, using gentle, simple words to help her to understand how he had made slaves of humans; how he had sought to destroy Helmut and his coveners, and had tried to force James and his coveners to join him. At the time, Kylie had been too young to understand much of what Charlotte had told her, but as the years had passed, her memories of Charlotte's conversations with her had resurfaced, and her more mature mind had begun to comprehend the reprehensible character of Nikolas.
Kylie stopped walking.
"What is it, Kylie?" said Stephanie.
Kylie was amazed; had it not been for her regular habit of breaking the nightly curfew on the farm, she would never have discerned Nikolas prowling there in the blackout darkness. She had never once faced up to admitting to herself the obvious fact that he was the instigator of the fire - the fire that had destroyed Helmut and all the other vampires who had inhabited the barn. It could only have been Nikolas! He had to have had a reason for lurking at the farm. So it was he who had taken Helmut away from her. She may have connected with Charlotte and Katie and others, but it was Helmut who had been the only creature, human or otherwise, who had ever given her a sense of wholeness. Had she lived with her parents from birth, she might have ended up viewing life very differently from the way she now did, but she saw Helmut as her true - vampire - father, the one creature she had ever truly connected with in her short life.
"Kylie, talk to me," said Stephanie. "You've got a really weird expression on your face. Why've we suddenly stopped walking? Have you changed your mind about coming to London or something?"
The anger in Kylie's heart now swelled and overflowed its confines. She was bewildered at the strength of this new and aggressive dark emotion that was stirring to life within her; up until now, she had always been serene. She turned to look at her sister, the clarity of her resolution brightening her eyes.
She wanted revenge.
The End
About the Author
Cat Thomson writes for the sheer enjoyment of it. When she isn't writing, she enjoys travelling, drawing and working out with kettle bells.
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/CatAT
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Please visit your favourite e-book retailer to discover other stories by Cat Thomson:
The Amazing Space Adventure
The Idyllic Cottage