The Progeny

by Shelley Crowley

  “And plus,” added Evie, to cushion the blow. “I don’t mind being a vampire. In fact, I think I prefer it. I was human for like, a week, and I almost died. That taste of morality really made me realise how fragile life is. I mean, I know we’re hated and depicted as ruthless monsters but in fairness, it’s a lot better than worrying for your life every time you step out of the house after dark.”

  “See, and people thought it was weird that I wanted to be Turned,” Robin chimed in with an I told you so raise of his eyebrow. “Being a vampire is awesome.”

  Caius laughed. Evie’s insides fluttered. She had almost forgotten what it sounded like. Such a warm, gentle, harmonious sound that made her fingertips tingle.

  Evie’s gaze spun to Caius, her lids heavy and voice tender. “You’re mine forever, Caius. Eternity is not long enough.”

  Caius reached out, his long, muscular arm spanning the distance between them. She took his hand, the touch igniting that tingle into a mighty blaze. In the corner of her eye, she saw Robin roll his eyes and drop back, falling into the armchair with his legs still hooked over the arm.

  “Uh, you two had to go and ruin it by going all soppy on me.”

  Evie laughed and felt the heat of Caius’ gaze on her cheek. He was smiling at her, an all-encompassing smile that solidified what she had said. Eternity wasn’t long enough.

  An hour had passed before the creak of a step interrupted the meditative silence of the living room. Evie, Caius and Robin both looked away from the black screen of the TV and settled their eyes on the staircase. More creaks. Legs were descending. Evie grabbed Caius’ hand and squeezed it when Alexander emerged, followed closely by Varsee.

  They both looked so different. In fact, more like the opposite. They both looked like themselves again. Varsee’s hair and face were clear of blood, and she had replaced her tattered dressing gown with a ruby red silk blouse and black trousers, making her look like the fierce beauty that she was. Alexander’s blond hair was back looking effortlessly styled, half flopping over his face. He had changed from his basic black attire to a green check shirt and black skinny jeans.

  He could have almost convinced Evie that nothing had changed. But he had. His face gave it away. Alexander had always had a very pronounced facial structure, with a sharp jawline and high cheekbones. But now the hollows in his cheeks looked deeper, his cheekbones hung over them like clifftops over the mouths of two caves.

  He had rolled the sleeves of his shirt down to his wrists and Evie was certain that it had been a conscious decision to hide how much he had deteriorated.

  And he was still human.

  Alexander swung around the bannister post and plonked right into the centre of the hallway, a smile tugging up the corner of his mouth as his eyes swam from one person to the other. His gaze hit Robin last, and his smile fully appeared.

  “Did you miss me, kid?” he asked, his voice no longer hoarse and trembling. It exuded confidence now. The kind that was obviously hiding something else.

  Robin was on his feet, his arms tense by his sides as his fists curled into his cuffs. “We all did.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me. Bet this place was as boring as hell without me.” He crossed over to the living room and threw his arm around Robin. Robin’s eyes bulged and his hands tentatively held onto Alexander’s hips. “Missed you too, kid.”

  Robin smiled over Alexander’s shoulder and Evie caught a glimpse of red in his eyes before he blinked and it vanished.

  While Alexander was conversing with Robin, Evie casted her attention to Varsee who was leaning against the staircase, arms crossed over her chest and a content smile resting on her lips. Evie could have almost cried. That spooked, haunted look in her eyes had disappeared. The tremble in her fingers and the wobble in her steps, gone.

  Varsee was back.

  Evie crossed the room and stood at her side. “What do you know?” she asked close to her ear.

  “What do you mean?” asked Varsee, keeping her gaze glued on her brother.

  “About what happened while he was gone. Did he say anything else to you?”

  Varsee’s expression pinched and she massaged her throat. “No,” she rasped. “He didn’t speak. Not really. He was silent while we bathed. He just stared at the bath water as if he’d never seen it before. He spoke briefly when we were dressing, but just light small talk. I didn’t ask him anything. Didn’t want to pressure him.” Her eyes quickly flicked to Evie, making sure she was still there.

  “Do you mind if I ask?”

  “I think that would be best. I don’t really know what to say,” Varsee admitted.

  Evie lay a comforting hand on her Maker’s back before stepping into the centre of the room, in full view of everyone.

  Evie cleared her throat, catching everyone else’s attention. Alexander looked over his shoulder, found her looking at him, and spun around fully. His easy smile fell when he saw her concerned expression.

  “Alexander,” Evie started, her voice wavering a little. She cleared her throat. “We’re all very pleased to have you back but your sudden appearance has raised a lot of questions.”

  Alexander noticeably shifted closer to Robin like he was trying to use him as a shield.

  “If you’re not up to answering them right now, that’s fine. We understand.”

  Alexander straightened his back and looked at Evie straight in the eyes. “It’s fine. Ask whatever you want.”

  Evie cleared her throat again. It felt like the room was closing in on her. She could feel the pressure pressing down on her ears, enclosing her. She almost felt suffocated by it, if that was even possible for a vampire.

  “What happened with Nico? I know you were cured but… how? Start from the beginning.”

  “The beginning,” Alexander swiped a hand down his face and dropped onto the arm of the armchair beside Robin. After ruffling his hair several times with his eyes downcast, he expelled a breath and continued. “The blood whore infected me with some sort of virus. Completely harmless to humans but deadly to vampires. I guess Nico created it so that the infected vampires would want the cure. Brings them to him instead of him having to do the hard work.”

  “So, you still have the virus?” asked Varsee.

  Alexander nodded, his head still bowed. “So don’t bite me.”

  “Then you can’t Turn back?” asked Varsee.

  Alexander nodded again.

  A minute gasp escaped his sister’s lips before she pressed them into a thin line.

  Alexander’s eyes flicked up and hit her. “You didn’t run into any problems by killing the blood whore, did you?”

  She shook her head. “No, apparently there were several unexpected deaths of blood whores. The Court are looking into it.”

  “No need. I know it was Nico’s men. He had them killed so they didn’t spread the virus further. He needed to make sure it was successful first.”

  “Well it was, right? You’re cured. It was successful.”

  “More or less, yeah.” The tone of his voice suggested there was doubt.

  Varsee caught it and stepped closer, her head tilted with curiosity. “More or less? What do you mean by that?”

  Alexander shrugged, his bottom lip squished between his fingers. He was clearly uncomfortable with the path this conversation was going down. “There were… um… side effects. It affected us all differently.”

  “All?” It was Caius who spoke. “How many is all?”

  Alexander kept his gaze on the carpet. “Fourteen.” His eyes squeezed shut. “I mean thirteen. Thirteen escaped.”

  “Escaped?” This time Robin spoke, suddenly looking alert. “What do you mean escaped? He didn’t let you go?”

  “He wasn’t going to let us go.” Alexander’s voice was sombre. “He said he was going to when he fixed us but there was no way. We can’t be fixed. We were going to spend the rest of our lives in there.”

  Varsee was now sitting beside him, her arm wrapped around the small of his back. Al
exander didn’t move at the contact.

  “How did you escape?” asked Varsee. Evie’s next question would have been about what he meant by having to be ‘fixed’. But she kept quiet.

  “It was stupid really. I don’t really know how it worked. But it did. I got them out, sis.” He turned his face slightly towards her, smiling through the curtain of his hair. “I did it. I got them out.”

  Varsee smiled back, her gaze fluttering over his face.

  “And Nico?” said Robin. “What happened to him? Is he dead?”

  “I don’t know,” replied Alexander, looking to him. “Maybe. Hopefully. But I can’t be certain.”

  Robin’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean? How can you not be certain?”

  “That’s enough questions,” said Varsee, hugging her brother protectively. Alexander’s body wilted like a dying flower. “We can’t all just pile on him at once.” She smoothed his hair down so she could see his face. His blue eyes were wide and set on her lap. He looked like he had completely shut down. Like the lights were on but there was no one home. So detached from himself.

  The sight made a chill pass through Evie.

  Varsee lowered her lips to his ear and whispered softly, “Let me take you to bed.”

  Evie waited for his deadpan expression to split into a mischievous grin, accompanied by some sort of smutty reply, and found herself without when all that followed was a numb nod of his head.

  Varsee took his hand and escorted him back up the stairs.

  “I’m sorry I let you come back down. I should have just sent you straight to bed. You’ve clearly been through a lot,” she was saying before they disappeared.

  Again, Caius, Evie, and Robin were left standing looking at each other.

  “I don’t like it,” said Robin. “Something happened. Something that he doesn’t want to tell us about.”

  Evie was thinking the exact same thing and when she looked to Caius, she could tell he thought it, too.

  “Well, I can’t begin to guess,” admitted Evie.

  “You were cured, right? You spent time with this Nico person. Surely you could think of something.”

  Evie shook her head. “He’s… a hard person to understand. I barely scratched the surface. But whatever he’s done, he seems to think that he needs to fix it. That doesn’t sound good.”

  “And if he’s dead. He won’t be able to,” said Caius.

  Robin sank into the armchair with a look of grim defeat. “I don’t like this. I don’t like it one bit.”

  Chapter 33

  In bed, Evie rested her head against Caius’ bare chest, absently trailing patterns with her fingers over his abdomen. Her eyes were open, gazing over at the closed curtains, but her mind was somewhere else. She was still piecing together what had unfolded hours earlier.

  “Crazy night,” she finally whispered into the grey-darkness of the room.

  “Crazy night,” Caius echoed, his voice soft and monotone.

  Evie peered up at him. She couldn’t make out his features fully, just the contrast of his pale skin against his dark hair. The white of his eyes stood out like beams of light. He was looking back at her.

  “Varsee will be okay, right?” She rolled onto him, folding her hands under her chin. “Alexander is back, that’s what she wanted.”

  Her body rose and dipped with his emptying sigh. “I don’t think this is what she had in mind.”

  “But he’s still him. He’s still her brother.”

  “Except he’s not.”

  Evie dropped her gaze. “Well not technically… but they still love each other.”

  “We love each other.” His voice was still soft but there was a steely almost accusing edge to his tone. “And the cure nearly broke us.”

  Evie rolled off of him again, landing on her back by his side. The weight of guilt pressed down on her chest as the image of Caius’ despair when she had left their house floated in the forefront of her mind like a phantom face against a windowpane.

  “That’s not going to happen to them,” said Evie, her voice wobbling with emotion. “I had been weak and selfish and naïve.”

  Caius didn’t speak, but instead she felt his body shift in the darkness. A small, surprised gasp jumped out of her when she felt his lips at her temple. He kissed her softly. Accepting.

  “There is no room for optimism in this world,” he uttered, his voice low. “It feeds the darkness and the cruelty and makes it stronger.”

  A hot tear ran down Evie’s cheek, rolling down her temple. “Are you saying there is no hope for Alexander and Varsee?”

  Caius’ hand snaked between their bodies, interlocking their fingers together. “I’m saying we take every night as it comes.”

  “She can’t lose him, Caius.”

  “She’ll still have you.”

  A sob lodged in the back of her throat. “I’m sick of being someone’s replacement. I can’t be that for her. I just can’t.”

  Caius’ fingers squeezed hers. “You are not Catherine’s replacement. You wouldn’t be Alexander’s replacement, either. Varsee and I love you for who you are. You, Evie. You helped me through my darkest times, and you will do the same for her. You’ve been doing it already this past week.”

  Evie scoffed. “Not well. She nearly destroyed the whole house.”

  Caius squeezed her fingers again. “But she’s still here.”

  Evie gulped, her eyes wide and staring up into the blanket of darkness. The room felt so small. Varsee and Alexander, only a few doors away, felt so unreachable. Lost in their own world of confusion and sorrow and pain. And Evie was supposed to somehow help them? She didn’t even know how she had helped Caius through his grief. Although both of her Maker’s meltdowns had been very similar. Stoney silences followed by chaotic successions of cries, screams and crashes.

  But Alexander was back.

  Surely there was no harm in having a tiny bit of hope?

  Evie closed her eyes, relaxing her hold of Caius’ hand. He lay still beside her, asleep or awake, she wasn’t sure. The dragging weight of the sun was yet to affect her but her emotional exhaustion was coaxing her to rest anyway. As sleep eased her muscles and melted her body into the mattress, she recited her mantra over and over again in her head like a broken record.

  Everything’s going to be fine.

  Awaking from vampire sleep was like breaking out of a coffin six feet under. The amount of weight pressed against the conscious mind was equivalent to the thick seal of wood and packed mud you’d have to crawl your way out of. There was always a couple of seconds delay where the vampire body had to sync up to the waking mind, causing a minor lapse where vampires hovered in a sort of purgatory, not quiet there in their death-like sleep but not a fully functioning half-living being either.

  Evie was thankful that when her eyes finally did flutter open, breaking away the collected crust that had sealed her lashes together, Caius was lay beside her. His half-lidded gaze was on the closed door. Evie stretched her arms over her head, cricking her fused joints.

  “Robin was crying again,” said Caius, his voice monotone.

  “You heard it? I didn’t hear anything.”

  “I felt it.”

  He gulped hard, shook his head and flipped the duvet back. “I heard Varsee getting up. We should see how she’s doing.”

  Evie lay in bed as Caius slipped into his clothes. They were all struggling with the news about Alexander. But for both Evie and Caius, it was like they were experiencing the pain second hand. Through a wall. Evie caught fragments of Varsee’s worry like pin-pricks to her skin, making her shudder every so often with an inner chill. And Caius was feeling it, too, through Robin. It was obvious that Robin had looked up to Alexander in the short amount of time they had been in each other’s lives, and thinking that his idol was dead only for him to come back yet somehow flip-reversed had severely shaken him up.

  They all thought Alexander was invincible in a way. Evie had come to that conclusion when she had s
at alone with him on the back doorstep and he had shared with her his past whilst batting away tears, only for him to be grinning and throwing jokes left right and centre in the next moment. Alexander was as tough as they come. And when he was faced with Dr. Nico Bergan, the doctor had won.

  Caius left while Evie dressed. The door to Robin’s bedroom was still shut and she heard movement inside as she passed. The lighting in the house was dim and as Evie descended the stairs, she was caught in the flickering shadows of the fire dancing across the walls. Alexander was sitting in one of the armchairs. It had been turned to face the fire directly. His fingers were digging into the overstuffed arms as his intense, icy gaze threatened to douse the flames. His hair was a gold crown in the firelight. He looked like a demonic ruler watching his kingdom from his thrown of human bones.

  Evie had been so drawn to Alexander’s morbid appearance that she almost walked right passed Caius, sat on the sofa and casted in shadow. He had a glass of blood in his hand but it looked forgotten as he watched Alexander.

  The room felt stuffy and heavy. Evie quickly headed into the kitchen. Varsee was in her usual spot. She wasn’t even trying to busy herself by drinking and was instead just standing there with her hands tucked under her armpits, giving herself a tight embrace. Her eyes shot to Evie when she swung the door open.

  “Hey,” said Evie quickly, feeling like maybe she should have made herself known sooner.

  “Hi.” Varsee smiled weakly.

  “How’s Alexander doing? Was he okay when you brought him to bed?” Evie’s voice was soft, maybe a little too soft. Like she was talking to a child.

  “He was hungry. We don’t have any food here.” Varsee’s jaw clenched with irritation. Her nostrils flared. “I didn’t want him going out alone. Not if-” She looked to the window. “If he’s still out there, he might want to bring him back. Punish him for getting out. For letting the others out, too. I was going to go shopping but I just- I don’t feel like I can. It just makes it so real.”