The Progeny

by Shelley Crowley

  A spark flared in Alexander’s eyes. He flashed Evie a smile before looking his sister up and down and slipping past her. “Better get to bed then,” he said over his shoulder as he sashayed through the kitchen.

  A knowing smile tugged on Varsee’s lips before she ushered Evie into the house. “Let me lock the door. I think those sheep carcases have rotted away. I can’t even smell them anymore. And we can’t be too careful about that bloody Nest.” She slammed the door, turned the key and gestured back into the living room. “Caius has gone to your room. I think there’s about an hour of dark left.”

  For a moment, Evie studied the vampire woman’s face, still completely amazed at her age. It didn’t show. Vampires didn’t age the same way humans did, with wrinkles and age spots. Ancients were able to detect the age of vampires due to years of practice, but for new-borns like Evie, the only way was through their eyes. Eyes were the windows to the soul, as people said, and it was true. Look into a vampire’s eyes and you could almost feel everything they had felt through their passing years.

  But as Evie looked into Varsee’s eyes, she saw nothing but her reflection warped in her storm coloured irises. She felt a little dizzy, like she was facing the heart of a maelstrom.

  “He’s waiting.”

  Evie felt heat rush to her cheeks when she realised she’s been staring. She smiled awkwardly and headed out of the kitchen. Varsee followed close behind, switching off the lights.

  When Evie walked into the bedroom, Caius had his back to her, studying the painting that hung over the bed. It was an acrylic painting of a farm with cornfields and cattle. Evie smiled at the thought that William would have liked it, but then she shrank back in on herself as that cold spell of grief washed over her.

  Curiously, he lifted his hand and brushed his fingertips over the painting. The grey shirt clung to Caius’ back, accentuating the rippling muscles underneath. Evie moved slightly and a floorboard creaked underfoot. Caius shot back, dropping his arm and turned to her with his eyes wide as if he’d just been caught doing something bad. When he noticed it was her, he smiled softly and swiped back a dangling piece of hair.

  “How was Alexander?” he asked, moving towards her.

  “He’s alright. We made up.” She smiled.

  “What was wrong?”

  “I made him remember something from his past.” She squirmed, still feeling a little guilty. “He had a wife and a son.”

  “A wife?” Caius looked perplexed.

  Evie laughed a little at his confusion. “Yeah. I was a little shocked, too.”

  “Huh.” He furrowed his brows and scratched the back of his head, suddenly looking awkward. “Look, about what he said. About me being like your parent-”

  She held up her hand, silencing him. “Let’s just forget about that.” She thought back to the encounter between Alexander and Varsee that she had just witnessed. The closeness. The teasing. The lust. “I’ve come to realise that vampire relationships and human relationships have different rules.”

  Caius sighed with relief. “Okay, good. Because I didn’t want it to get all weird between us. I’ve only just got you back.” His eyes widened a fraction. “I do… have you back, right?”

  She couldn’t help but smile at the shine in his eyes. She crossed the room and took his face in her hands. His fingers wrapped around the tops of her arms, keeping her close. His long hair fell over her cheeks and hid their faces from the rest of the world. “You have me back and I’m not going anywhere.”

  He let out a soft exhale of relief. Even though vampires had no need to breathe, Evie could have sworn he had held his breath as he waited for her response. His eyes swooped closed, his long eyelashes brushing his high cheekbones, and he leaned into her. She pushed herself up on her tiptoes and met his lips. As soon as their lips touched, Caius let out a gasping, urgent moan drew her closer so she was pressed flush against him. Every inch of them connected. She giggled excitedly as his hands ran over her skin. Vampire skin was always cold and lifeless like stone, but his touch was like fire, burning into her and giving her life. She felt her insides jump as if being revived by an electrical charge. She moaned softly and splayed her fingers into his hair, feeling it curl around them, soft like silk.

  Caius sank down onto the edge of the bed. Evie straddled his waist. Their bodies rolled together. She unbuttoned his shirt, desperate for more contact. The feel of his skin on hers was like being touched by sunlight for a human.

  She broke the kiss and pressed her forehead to his as her fangs unsheathed. The click of them made him growl longingly. He dragged the tips of his fangs across her bare throat.

  As she pushed his shirt off his shoulders, a noise caught their attention. They both stared into each other’s eyes then turned to the wall, where the sounds were coming from.

  Evie’s eyes widened as her vampire hearing zoned in on the muffled moaning and the unmistakable sound of bedsprings.

  “Is that...?”

  “Alexander and Varsee.” Evie sheathed her fangs. “Yeah.”

  “But… they’re brother and sister.”

  “Vampire brother and sister. I told you, the same rules don’t apply.”

  Caius’ lips started to twitch before he let out a little laugh. “Wow.”

  She got to her feet. “Yeah.”

  “Who are these people?”

  Evie laughed. “I don’t know but I think we’re stuck with them.” She unbuttoned her jeans and they dropped to the floor. They had been barely hanging on to her skinny hips anyway. The vest she was wearing- Varsee’s vest -was more like a dress on her so she made the decision to sleep in it. Caius watched her as she skirted the bed and crawled up onto the right side. Her side of the bed. No matter where they lived, she always slept on the right side of the bed. Even when she was with William.

  The thought of William made her get back to her feet and grab her bag. She withdrew the old framed photograph that lay on top of Caius’ spare shirt. A shirt she now wanted to throw out after seeing him in what Alexander had put him in.

  The backs of her eyes burned as she looked down at the picture, taken the night William had proposed to her at the Opera, arm in arm, looking as happy as every young couple should.

  She turned and saw Caius stepping out of his trousers, also readying himself for bed. He had already removed his shirt which he had folded neatly and placed on the floor next to his shoes. He folded his trousers also then crossed the room to Evie. He looked over her shoulder.

  “I thought you had left that behind.”

  “I couldn’t.” She curled her fingers around the simple brass frame, tightening her grip as if it were going to jump from her hands. “It’s all I have left of him. And all you have left of her.” She looked up into his eyes. His his lips formed a thin line.

  “What do you mean?”

  She smiled and looked back down at the picture, turning it over in her hands. She spun back the clasps and took off the back of the frame to reveal a small, folded square that was hidden behind the photograph. In the corner of her eye, she saw the muscles in Caius’ face tighten. She unfolded the hidden photograph and passed it to him. He took it, eyeing her face warily. She could sense his eyes on her but she was focusing more on the photograph. The photograph she had seen him unfold and stare at by the bedside when he thought she wasn’t around. He would brush tears from his eyes, mutter things under his breath and run his fingertips over the broken, faded picture. He’d seen her do the exact same thing with the photograph of William night after night.

  His photograph was of him and Catherine. They were both sat at a table in a white cloth restaurant. He had his face pressed to the side of hers and they were both laughing. He looked how he had that night he had Turned her. His hair was slicked back in a side parting and he was wearing a dark, three-piece suit. Catherine looked beautiful. When Evie had first found the photograph, a bitter jealous rage surged up inside her. Evie had been Turned when she was twenty-three years old and had always felt l
ike she hadn’t really grown into a proper woman. Her cheeks were still a little round and her body lacked curves. She was pretty, but in a plain sort of way - whereas Catherine was breath-taking. Her dark hair was sleek, pinned up in a wavy bob and her face was thin and elegant.

  Now when she looked at the photograph, she just felt Caius’ pain. Because she had learned to understand that Catherine was to Caius, as William was to her.

  “How long have you known about it?” Caius held the photograph to his chest, shielding it from Evie.

  “Ever since you put it there. I don’t see why you felt the need to hide it. You knew about my photograph and you don’t mind, do you?”

  “Of course not.”

  “Then I don’t see why you expected anything less from me.”

  There was that twitch in his eyebrow again. A little blip in his stoic mask.

  “But our situations are different. I lost Catherine. She was killed because of me. And I took it out on you.”

  Evie flinched, seeing those early months of her old vampire life flash in her mind.

  “I had neglected you when you needed me the most. Hurt you when you didn’t deserve it. You were just a new-born. I was so wrapped up in my guilt and depression that I took it out on you. You hated Catherine because of what she made of me. But it wasn’t her fault-”

  “-It was Guardian’s,” Evie cut through him.

  He gave her a melancholy smile. “It was mine.” His eyes flickered to the photograph she was holding and his eyebrow twitched again. “You had to leave him behind. You were going through your own heartbreak. I should have been there to console you.”

  She remembered the nights- Caius slouched in his high armchair, his suit wrinkled and his face wan. Never moving. Never blinking. Just staring into the fire as if he were waiting for something to appear. But the thing he had been longing for was gone.

  Caius placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it a little before sitting on the edge of the bed, gazing down at the unfolded photograph in his hands. Evie watched him, sat in his underwear staring down at a picture of another woman with a pleading, sorrowful look on his pale face.

  “She would have liked it here,” he said with a laugh and looked up at Evie. He nodded to her side and she turned to see three more china plates decorated with cats hung behind her head. They seemed to have taken over the whole house. “She always liked cats.”

  “How many did she have again?” She turned back to him.

  He smiled. “Eight.”

  “You still remember all their names, don’t you?”

  His smile tightened sheepishly.

  She laughed. “Go on.”

  “Maurice, Edward, Charles, Pickles, Jeremy, Snowball, Erin and Maisie.”

  Evie rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “You’ll never forget those, will you?”

  “I’m afraid they are embedded into my memory. Just like Jeremy’s claws used to imbed into my legs.”

  She laughed and crossed the room, placing the framed photograph on the nightstand. She sat down beside him, still gazing at the picture. William was the polar opposite of Caius, with his fair hair and strong, squared jaw. They were both handsome in their own way.

  “We should find a frame for yours,” she said and looked down at the photograph that hung loosely between Caius’ fingertips. Because of how many times it had been folded, it had white lines running all over it and was barely holding together.

  He just passed it to her. “Put it where you found it.”

  She did, knowing that the memories that arose whenever he looked at it were too dreadful to experience on a nightly basis. Because bad memories cancelled out the good. Every time she saw the picture of William, she knew that was true. The first memory that hit her was always her last of him. The only bad memory in a life time of good ones. But that was the one that stuck like a tattoo on her brain.

  They both crawled under the covers which were stiff and cold from the lack of use. The silence between them amplified what was going on a few doors down. Whenever Evie caught Caius’ eye, they just laughed, shaking their heads. At one point, a heavy bang made the painting above their heads crooked. Evie reached up and set it straight, only for it to drop at an angle again. She gave up and sank her head into the expensive feather pillow. Caius lay beside her. She smiled at the familiar sight of his dark hair scattered around him and pulled him closer to her. He cupped his hand under the crook of her knee to hitch it up and over him. Every inch of their bodies was connected and even though they were both technically dead; two beings without a heartbeat, she no longer felt like it mattered. Because she had experienced life without him and it almost destroyed her. If he had given up; if he had just let her go; if he hadn’t come back to save her, she’d be locked up with Nico, probably wishing she was dead. Real dead.

  A heartbeat was overrated. As long as she was with Caius, she felt alive.

  She kissed the edge of his lips, down his throat, to his collarbone, and then rested her head against the crook of his neck. His hands slid up and down her back lulling her to sleep as she felt the daylight dragging her under.

  Chapter 14

  As Evie stirred, she could sense the darkness outside even before she opened her eyes. Caius was lay beside her. Of course, she had slept in the exact same position she had drifted off in because of her vampire death-like slumber. She missed waking up and wondering where the hell she was, only to realise she had just rolled over. She missed dreaming, too. Sleeping alone in that hotel, she had enjoyed trying to piece the fragments of her dreams the next morning.

  Caius was awake, his fingers massaging her scalp. She closed her eyes and smiled at the tingling sensation that swam through her.

  “How long have you been awake?” she murmured into his chest.

  “About half an hour. I didn’t want to move you though.”

  She rubbed her eyes and rolled onto her back.

  “It’s because you’re a new-born again. You can only rise when the sun has fully set.”

  She groaned. “I hate being a new-born.”

  “At least you can stay up for longer though. Your body clock is still probably adjusting to being a vampire.”

  “Well, I certainly wanted my sleep this morning.”

  His pale eyes glowed in the grey-darkness of the room. With no lights on and the black-out curtains drawn, the room was probably pitch black, but Evie’s vampire vision allowed her to see everything as if it were just shrouded in fog.

  “That’s probably because you’ve been through a hell of a lot,” said Caius.

  Evie replayed the events of the day before and the night that followed. It was a big mess of horror and pain and suffering. She covered her eyes as the visions hit her like blows to the head.

  Caius hugged her, his chin resting on the top of her head. “Shh, it’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay from now on.”

  Evie managed to calm herself a little by pushing all those fresh memories into the back of her head- something that vampires were able to do rather well. It was probably a coping mechanism for eternal life. She remembered how it had felt when she had become human again, like a wall had been pulled down and she was seeing the world for what it really was. As a vampire, they were on Earth, but there was always a nagging feeling that they weren’t a part of it. Separated from the world by some invisible force. Separated- sometimes- from their own emotions.

  But it only worked to a certain degree. There was only so much a vampire could lock up and forget about. That was why Caius was the way he was, a little distant and melancholy. It was why Alexander put up his cocky front. And it was why Varsee…

  Her Maker’s stormy eyes filled Evie’s mind, and the sickening vertigo she had felt when she looked deep into them. There was nothing in them. Or maybe too much. So much that it just churned up into one big messy blur.

  She rolled onto her back again. “We should go downstairs.”

  “Okay.” Evie watched as he padded over to the huge wardrobe and s
tarted checking the clothes that hung on the rack. She pulled a face at a black and purple paisley shirt he pulled out but luckily he didn’t find it appealing either and put it back.

  “Why don’t you just wear what Alexander gave you last night?” offered Evie as she grabbed Varsee’s jeans from the floor.

  He swatted away the suggestion, still searching. “It was too constricting. The shirt anyway. It was like a size too small.”

  “But it looked good.” The tightness of it was what Evie had liked about it. The way his muscles rippled underneath like brewing waves had almost made her drool.

  She saw his eyes brighten as he reached far back into the wardrobe to unhook something. This time, he pulled out a dark grey and brown stripy baja jacket. He held it up in front of him to take it all in and then smiled. Quickly, he shrugged it on and started rooting through the set of drawers hidden inside the wardrobe for trousers. Evie tugged on Varsee’s jeans and when she looked up, he was fully dressed. A smile crept onto her lips. He looked like himself again. Sure, what Alexander had dressed him up in was great, but it wasn’t him. Not anymore, anyway. Now, the man stood in front of her with his long shaggy hair still ruffled from sleep and bare feet, was the man that she had woken up to for a hundred years.

  His thin lips broke into a smile when he noticed her beaming back at him. He tugged on the hem of the jacket with a shrug. “It’s comfy.”

  Evie looked down at the jeans she was wearing- the ones that drowned her and made her walk like she was wearing flippers. “I think I’ll have to raid Varsee’s wardrobe for something else.

  After rolling up the bottom of her jeans to prevent falling flat on her face, Evie and Caius made their way downstairs. Evie could hear voices in the hall coming from the kitchen and suddenly felt very awkward at the prospect of facing Alexander and Varsee after overhearing their rather private and rather energetic escapade the night before. Sucking back the feeling, she ploughed onwards with Caius strolling along beside her. Evie had run a brush through her hair to look presentable, but Caius hadn’t followed her lead so his mane still looked feral.