“Caius fell in love with a human. He shared vampire secrets with her and so, to punish him, Guardian killed her and forced him to Turn me. To be a Maker. I was his first and only progeny.” She winced at the word ‘was’. Now a vampire again, yet no longer belonging to Caius, it just didn’t feel real. It didn’t feel right. Yet that tug was there, sharp and insistent, like she was tethered to Varsee by an invisible cord.
“Godfrey spoke of Guardian. This happened in 1934?” Varsee’s voice was cool and collected.
Evie had started picking at a piece of skin at the corner of her fingernail. “Yes,” she said, twisting the hard skin and snapping it off with a small burst of empty victory. Blood welled up in the tiny slice and coloured the underside of her nail red. She watched as she healed, her skin simply sealing shut.
“Have you seen them or heard from them since?”
She shook her head. “That’s why I was shocked to hear you say they were still around.”
“They never left.”
“Do you know Lady Sylvia? The woman off the T.V?” asked Alexander.
Evie nodded. “She’s the chairman of the Vampire League.”
“The Vampire League is the Vampire Court. Just the more political, harmless side.”
She picked at her nail, trying to remove the dried blood trapped under it. It was a distraction. A distraction from everything. From the discussion about the Court. From being in this house in the middle of nowhere with two perfect strangers. From no longer being human. No longer being alive. And from being without Caius.
Alexander left the room. Now it was just her and Varsee. She could sense her close to her, like an open flame.
“You need time to adjust. I get that,” Varsee finally said in a voice that was calming. That was when Evie noticed the slight lilt in her accent. She wasn’t from England. It wasn’t a surprise. Many vampires had travelled the world because being in the same place for too long... watching everything change around them while they stayed the same filled them with an intense yet empty sickness close to vertigo. Evie had experienced it but had never left the country. She didn’t want to stray too far from her old human life. She liked to know she had easy access to the graves of those she had lost. Who had aged and died while she still remained twenty-three years old. Twenty-three years old for a hundred years.
A hundred years by Caius’ side.
And now was she destined to spend another century or ever by Varsee’s side?
“How about I show you to your room? We have two spare.”
Varsee grabbed her bags from the hallway and guided her up the stairs. Even upstairs there were china plates hung beside framed painting of cats and dogs.
“Alex’s room.” Varsee nodded to the closed door at the end of the hall, facing the back of the house. “Mine’s the one next to it. That’s the bathroom. The two bedrooms left are pretty similar. That one has a bay window overlooking the front yard so that’s pretty nice. Don’t worry, the curtains are thick enough to block out the light. That one has a double bed, too, whereas the other’s just a single.” She turned, showing Evie a pleasant smile.
“I’ll take that one then,” said Evie, offering a faint smile in return.
“Okay,” nodded Varsee and shouldered the door open to the front facing bedroom. The one furthest away from Alexander’s room, Evie noted. Even with the light off and the heavy curtains drawn, Evie knew this room was furnished just like the rest of the house. It even had the musky smell of old people. Varsee flicked on the light and Evie cringed at the brown and cream colour scheme.
Varsee sighed and dropped the bags on the double bed that sat in the centre of the room. “Yeah, we haven’t touched this room since we’ve been here really. As you can see, we’re in no rush to redecorate.”
Everything had brown fringing. The lampshade. The cushions. The window seat. Everything. The walls were plain cream, which was something. But the floral patterns still covered the bedspread and the curtains. A heavy, uncomfortable looking brown armchair sat in the corner of the room with a cane propped up beside it.
“This place is pretty big for one woman,” Evie observed, wandering into the centre of the room. An oak wardrobe stood boldly again the side wall. She crossed over to it and opened the doors to find a rack of clothes obviously belonging to an old gentleman.
“We guessed she had a husband,” said Varsee. “She was on her own when we came but there are photos of her with a man. No children. Maybe he died. Or left her. We don’t know.” She sat down at the foot of the bed. “She lived in the bedroom I took. All of her stuff was in it. Just her stuff. Those clothes were always in here. That’s why we figured maybe he died and she just didn’t have the heart to get rid of his stuff so she put it all in here, out of the way.”
Evie closed the wardrobe, suddenly feeling guilty for violating a dead man’s privacy. She pressed her hands flat against the door and stood there for a moment, her eyes fallen shut. The backs of her eyes burned and she clenched her jaw at the sensation. “It’s hard to let people go,” was all she managed to say.
“That is too true,” Varsee sighed, making Evie turn back to her. Varsee was beaming at her from the end of the bed. Her eyes were bright and optimistic but Evie could see the pain hidden behind them that made her smile tight at the corners. “So, is this okay for you?”
Evie took another sweep of the room and nodded. “It’ll do.”
“Great. And look, I’m just next-door so, honestly, if you need anything, don’t hesitate to ask. You’re my responsibility now and I take my job as a Maker very seriously.”
“How many progenies do you have?” asked Evie, still trying to warm up to the idea that she now belonged to her and not Caius.
“Right now, only you. I tend to take on one progeny at a time so they have my full attention. I teach them all they need to know and then I release them.”
Evie was a little taken aback. Caius had always told her how disrespectful it was to release your progeny. It was a sign of giving up on them. A Maker was supposed to stay with their progeny until the very end. “You release them?”
Varsee looked rather confused by Evie’s wide-eyed reaction. “Yes. I believe progenies are your children. One day, they grow old and don’t need supervision anymore. It’s time for them to go and make a life for themselves.”
“Is that what Godfrey did?”
Her face darkened and her eyes casted downwards. “No, Godfrey had many progenies. He knew he couldn’t be there for them all so he made sure they banded together. He wasn’t with me when he died… but I felt it. We all did.”
“You and Alexander were both his progeny, right?”
She nodded.
“Speaking of Alexander…” Evie squirmed awkwardly, “is he always that…”
Varsee let out a soft laugh and nodded with understanding when Evie couldn’t figure out how to end the sentence.
“People deal with immortality in different ways,” Varsee explained, still not looking up from the floor. “Being in a state of permanence… it’s difficult. It swallows people up. My brother’s hardened himself. He acts like he is better than everyone else because it makes him feel safer. Makes him feel like everything is beneath him. But he has chinks in his armour.” She splayed her fingers over the floral duvet, watching creases shoot from the pressure of her fingers. “As do we all. No one is untouchable.”
Suddenly, a loud clattering sound came from downstairs. Both their heads whipped to the landing.
A cold breeze seemed to wash over Evie. Not a physical breeze, but a sort of cold spell that hit her on the inside, seeping into her bones.
“Are you expecting company?” she asked, her voice a little tense.
“No,” replied Varsee, her stormy eyes squinting at the door in wonder.
“Was is Alexander?”
Varsee shook her head, an action that was slow and unfocused as she listened to the heavy footsteps creaking against the wooden flooring in the hallway below them. “There�
�s another vampire here.”
Chapter 12
An odd feeling passed over Evie as she heard footsteps enter the hallway. It was a feeling unlike anything she had ever experienced. It was as if she was being torn apart from the inside. Pulled in two different directions like a doll caught between the clutches of two selfish children. She curled her fingers into the material of her vest, trying to capture the feeling and rip it out. But it was still there. It seemed to be emanating from her heart. The cold, lifeless sack inside her was responding to something. Not beating. But just… behaving.
“Wh-who is that?” she asked Varsee, who was now on her feet at the threshold of the bedroom. Just as she was about to step out onto the landing, there was a crash from downstairs and she jumped back. It was the unmistakable sound of one of the china plates smashing. Then there was a thud of a body against a wall. Footsteps started clambering up the stairs, quick and messy. From where she stood, Evie had no view of the landing but she watched as Varsee’s eyes rounded and fixated on the intruder. She lifted her palms as if to warn them off but then she was flung into the open door by a sweeping arm. A cry left Evie as Varsee stumbled, her mouth gaping in shock. A black blur of a figure flew into the room and the next minute, it had a strong, nail-biting grip on the tops of Evie’s arms.
Evie blinked in horror, looking up at the vampire before her. The mess of black hair that covered its face, matted and wet. The long grey tunic, a shade darker from the rain and splattered and crisping with old blood. And then the eyes. The eyes that stared at her, wide and frantic through the netting of clumped hair. Those pale blue pools that almost looked as reflective as mirrors. And the desperate recollection in them.
Suddenly, her hands flew out and pushed the hair from his face. Red tracks ran down from his eyes and his nose and smudged across his mouth. The natural porcelain of his skin was hidden under the hideous blend of dirt and blood. Tears pooled in her eyes as she stared up at him because, even in the state he was in, he was still the most beautiful thing she had ever laid eyes on.
“Caius,” she gushed with a smile. “You came back for me.”
He let out a soft, breathy laugh and pressed his forehead to hers. “I promised, didn’t I?”
“Wait a minute, you’re Caius?”
Varsee’s voice cut through the room, making Evie and Caius separate with a start. Caius turned to the blonde vampire standing in the doorway.
“Yes,” he replied, and to Evie’s surprise, his usual soft tone had become dark and dangerous. “And you are?” He inched closer to her, his shoulders squared and his fingers forming the shape of claws by his sides.
Varsee looked him up and down with cool indifference then cocked a perfect eyebrow with a self-satisfied smile. “I’m her new Maker.”
Caius paused, flinching like the words had been thrown at him. His head whipped back to Evie and she gulped when realisation dawned on his face, wiping his expression completely blank. Self-consciously, Evie brushed away a blood tear with the back of her hand. He looked down at her chest that no longer rose and fell in the pattern of breathing. He lifted a shaking finger in her direction. “Y-you-” Then his face twisted into bitter rage and he spun to Varsee, prodding his bloody finger at her. “You Turned her!”
“I saved her life!” Varsee stepped up to him, chest out and head high. “Because you left her.”
He drew back, curling his pointed finger into a fist and lowering it. He was looking in the direction of Varsee, but looking through her rather than at her. Then his hand went to his chest and his fingers splayed over his heart. “You were attacked…” he said in a voice that sounded so far away. Slowly, he turned back to Evie. Her old Maker’s eyes searched her face with lost wonder. “I felt it. I felt your pain.”
Varsee’s eyes widened with disbelief.
“You were attacked. By vampires. I… I tried to help you but Milah wouldn’t let me leave,” Caius continued, his voice now cracking as red rimmed his eyes. Evie just stood and stared as her old Maker’s face twisted with pain. “Honestly, I did try.”
“Wait a minute.” It was Varsee. Both Caius and Evie jumped a little and turned to the blonde vampire at the door. “Did you just say you felt her? You knew she was being attacked? But she was human.”
Alexander appeared in the doorway with earbuds hanging down his chest.“What’s going on, I’ve been hearing-” his voice trailed off when he saw the look on his sister’s face. He studied her bewildered expression cautiously and touched her arm as if to console her, but then turned to where her gaze lay and stepped back with surprise. Taking a moment to study the scene set out in front of him like a freeze frame, he gestured to Caius. “Who’s the hobo?”
Varsee replied in a whisper that sounded close to a single puff of air. “Caius.”
Alexander shook his head as if to gain clarity. “The Maker. Her old Maker. Oh my… God…” His lips sealed closed as he looked warily between the tall, dark stranger and his sister. “This must be pretty awkward.” Then he shook his head again and looked at Caius, confused. “How the hell did you find us?”
“That’s what I was just about to ask,” said Varsee, still sounding as if she was only half there.
All three of them watched, patiently waiting for a reply as Caius gulped and started shifting awkwardly. Caius didn’t like being in the centre of attention, Evie knew that. Years of hiding in the shadows did that to you, she supposed. It had done it to her, too. The eyes of strangers would make him grow a shade paler. He’d fidget nervously or leave the situation all together. But he couldn’t leave now. He was surrounded. Like an animal in a cage.
He looked to Evie and her chest tightened when she noticed the fresh string of red running from the corner of his eye down the side of his nose. He smiled faintly at her and the tension in his body seemed to cool a fraction, as if just seeing Evie had settled him somewhat. But then he squeezed his eyes shut. “I felt everything. Your pain when you were attacked. I saw…” He gasped. His eyes shot open. “I saw the vampires attacking you, clawing at you. I needed to be there. I should have been there. And then… and then your confusion. Your fear. You woke up here. I found the car… the blood.” His hand clamped over his mouth to muffle his sobs.
“So much blood.” He reached to caress Evie’s cheek but pulled back. “I could still sense you. Where you were. I followed that feeling. It was faint. Barely there at some points then just shut off all together. Like a flickering lightbulb. That’s why it took me so long to get here. You’d shut off and I’d lose you.” He gasped a laugh and cupped both hands behind his head, a broad, dazed smile across his bloody face.
“And then I found you. You’re here and you’re safe.” As if unable to stay back any longer, he enveloped Evie in his arms, crushing her to him. He burrowed his face into her neck and she smiled at the feeling of his lips brushing her collarbone. She wrapped her arms around his slim frame in a desperate embrace. Against him, she realised he was suppressing her quaking body. She was shaking. Probably from shock or adrenaline, she didn’t know and she didn’t care. All she cared about was that she had him back.
“But that doesn’t make any sense.” Varsee’s irritated voice cut through the silence. “I’m her Maker now. Whatever bond you had should have been broken. She’s my progeny.”
Caius began to draw back and Evie reluctantly let him. Still with his hands loosely placed on her hips, he turned to Varsee. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what to say. That is the truth. I can’t understand it either. This has never happened before. A vampire has never had two Makers-”
“She doesn’t have two Makers. She just has me,” said Varsee, stepping further into the room with a clenched jaw.
Carefully, Caius took his hands off of Evie and turned to face the blonde vampire fully. “I’m afraid that just isn’t true. Evie and I still clearly share some sort of bond, yet it is weaker now. I don’t know if it’s supernatural or some other sort of force but whatever it is, it’s fighting.”
“F
ighting?” echoed Varsee with gritted teeth. She cricked her neck, clearly agitated. “You mean fighting against me?”
Caius’ eyebrow lifted in a guilty expression and he offered her a helpless shrug. “Perhaps.”
Varsee’s nostrils flared and Evie suddenly had the unavoidable urge to jump between them. To protect Caius from Varsee or the other way around, she wasn’t sure. But then Varsee let out a heavy, calming breath, glanced at Evie and took a step back. “It is clear that there is something that still links the two of you together and I guess I can deal with it, so long as it does not tamper with my role as her Maker. Which I plan to take very seriously.”
Caius lifted his hands as a signal to surrender. “I have no quarrels with you. You saved her. I am forever in your debt. I am so sorry for barging into your home uninvited.”
A ghost of a smile crossed her full lips and she offered out her hand. “We haven’t been properly introduced; my name is Varsee.”
He smiled and took her hand in his bloody one. “Nice to meet you, Varsee. I’m glad we don’t need to fight. Against a vampire as old as you, I didn’t like my odds.”
Varsee laughed and grasped his hand in a firm shake. “A friend of Evie’s is a friend of ours. You are welcome to stay. We have more than enough room.” She released his hand and looked down with a curled lip at the flaking of old blood that covered her palm. “Perhaps you should get cleaned up.” She turned to her brother who was now leaning against the doorframe, watching everything with a look of cool intrigue.
“Alex.” He perked up at his name and looked to his sister like an obedient puppy. She gestured to Caius. “Show our guest to the bathroom and find him an outfit. I’m sure you have something that fits him.”
The Progeny Page 17