by Tara Shuler
“Twenty minutes,” he said, and he hung up.
I went into the bathroom across the hall and
turned on the shower. I was hoping that anyone
who came looking for me would assume I was in
there and wouldn’t keep looking for me. I crept
down the stairs and snuck out the back door so
no one would see me, and then I went down to
the curb to wait for Liam. True to his word, he
pulled up in a shiny red sports car exactly when
he said he would.
“Alice,” he said, nodding at me.
“Liam,” I acknowledged, returning his nod.
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he asked.
I sighed, looking wistfully back toward the
dining room window where I knew everyone was
sitting and planning how to keep me safe.
I nodded.
“Yes, I’m sure.”
Liam shook his head and sighed.
“Alright, then.”
He shifted gears and sped off, while I looked
over my shoulder and fought back tears. I knew I
might never see any of them again.
A few minutes later, we pulled up at the gates
of a stately manor. Liam pushed a button on the
call box, and called his name when the guard
asked him to identify himself. There was a faint
buzzing sound, and the gates slowly opened.
Liam drove through the gates and parked right
outside the front door. He turned car off and his
hand hovered over the keys for a moment. He
looked at me.
“Last chance,” he said. “Is this really what you
want?”
“Liam, I have to,” I said sadly.
He nodded.
“Alright,” he said with a shrug. “Alexi’s going
to kill me, though.”
With that, he removed the keys and slid them
into his jacket pocket, and the two of us got out.
I followed him up the grand stairs to the landing,
and the huge front doors swung open.
“Master Liam,” acknowledged a man in a
tuxedo, bowing graciously.
Liam nodded once to him, and he walked
through the doors and into the enormous palatial
estate. We were standing inside a formal entrance
that looked like a huge hallway. Overhead I saw a
massive dome-shaped skylight. The sun streamed
in and illuminated the opulent room, where
towering palm trees flanked a giant waterfall at
the far end, and priceless works of art adorned
the walls. A long red carpet ran the length of
room, stopping just before the pool where the
waterfall flowed, and each dark paneled wall held
at least a half dozen wooden doors.
In a moment, we were greeted by a trio of
cloaked individuals. All of them wore the same
black cloaks as Liam and Alexi, but around their
necks, they had large red ribbons, which held
huge silver pendants with massive rubies set in
the center.
A slight woman with high cheekbones and
shocking golden eyes was in the front, and behind
her were two men, whose faces were hidden in
the shadows of their cloaks.
“Liam,” the woman spoke. “We weren’t
expecting you until noon.”
“Veronica, I have brought someone who
wishes to address the Council,” he said.
Veronica’s eyes burned into mine as she
analyzed
me.
It
made
me
exceedingly
uncomfortable, and I looked at the floor. She
kept staring at me for several more seconds, and I
grew more and more anxious.
“Wait here,” she said at last. “I will inform the
Council.”
The trio turned and walked down the long
hallway. They disappeared inside one of the
rooms. Liam stood motionless, and I followed
suit. We waited for just a minute or two, and
Veronica stepped out of a door down the
hallway. She motioned for us to come to her, so
we obliged.
We walked into the room, and were greeted by
the piercing eyes of more than a dozen vampires.
I could feel their stares burning into me, and I
shifted uncomfortably.
They all sat around a massive table, each of
them in a high-backed brown leather office chair.
At the head of the table sat a very old man. He
had his hood off, and his milky white hair hung
down to his shoulders. His skin was snowy
white, like Alexi’s, and his eyes were the same
incredible shade of violet.
“You must be Alice,” he said in an accent
similar to Alexi’s. “Please, come here and let me
have a look at you.”
I looked at Liam, and he nodded once to let
me know it was okay. Anxiously, I crossed the
large room and stood beside the man. He peered
at me with his head tilted sideways as though he
were trying to understand me.
“You are indeed as beautiful as I remember,”
he said.
“I’m sorry, do I know you?” I asked.
He chuckled.
“No, dear,” he said. “But I know you very
well. I believe you have now saved the lives of
both my sons.”
I felt my forehead wrinkle as I thought, and
then I realized that this was Alexi and Liam’s
father.
“Oh, it’s you,” I whispered.
“I am Barnabas Christakos,” he said. “You
may call me Elder Barnabas.”
“Alright,” I answered.
“Why have you come to see us, Alice?” he
asked.
“I…” I wasn’t sure what to say, and I
stammered. “I… want to turn myself over to
you.”
Barnabas raised one eyebrow at me and tilted
his head the other way.
“Do you understand what that entails?” he
asked.
“N-no,” I admitted. “But I am aware that the
Council wishes my presence.”
He nodded. “That we do. You do not know
why?”
“I guess it has something to do with my
abilities?” I asked.
“That is but a small part of it,” Barnabas
stated. “But it is not yet time to reveal all of that
to you.”
“Why not?” I asked him.
“You are not ready,” he replied.
“When will I be ready?”
“In time,” he answered cryptically. “I cannot
be more specific.”
“I see.”
“I’m very glad you have come to us, Alice,”
Barnabas said. “In time, you will be a part of this
family. For now, please make yourself at home.
Liam can show you around the grounds.”
I turned to Liam and he beckoned me to
follow him.
“Oh, Liam?” Barnabas called.
“Yes, Father?”
“Please inform your brother that he is not to
have contact with young Alice until he hears
from me.”
“As you wish, Father,” Liam said, bowing
before him.
We left the room, and Liam led
me past the
waterfall and down another long hallway, which
stretched out along the back wall of the grand
entrance hall. This opened up into a massive,
dimly lit library with dozens of tables and chairs.
Each table held a small lamp, which cast a subtle
golden light. The floor was carpeted in rich red,
and the bookshelves held thousands of books –
far more than even Alexi had.
“This is the library, of course,” Liam said.
“You will see to your studies here.”
“My studies?” I asked. “You mean I won’t be
going to school?”
“I’m afraid not,” he answered. “You won’t be
learning traditional subjects here. You’ll learn
how to hone your abilities in preparation for…
for whatever the Council wishes you to do.”
I followed him back toward the waterfall, and
we headed down the hallway on the opposite side
of the entrance hall. At the end of this hall, there
was a staircase leading up, and another
descending down through the floor.
“Upstairs is where your room will be,” he
said. “But for now, I need to show you
downstairs.”
I followed him down the narrow wooden
staircase into the basement. This was another
long hallway that reminded me of the basements
in the hunter warehouses. I shuddered,
remembering the things that had happened in
those places.
“This hallway contains all of the classrooms
where you will practice your abilities,” he
explained. “Each door holds the classroom for a
different ability. Your Keeper will work with
you one-on-one to help you train.”
“Keeper?” I asked.
“It’s like your teacher,” he said. “You’ll be
assigned one soon, probably tomorrow.”
“Oh.”
“Let me take you to your room,” Liam said,
and I followed him up to the main floor, and then
up the next flight of stairs.
Upstairs was yet another hallway. I followed
Liam down the hallway to the last door on the
right.
“This is the only empty room,” he said. “I
hope you’ll like it.”
He opened the door and stepped aside,
allowing me to enter. The room was dark. Thick
gray curtains blocked out almost all of the
sunlight from the two windows. A large bed
made of wrought iron stood with its headboard
on the back wall between the two windows. A
small wrought iron table with a glass top held a
lamp underneath the window on the right side,
and a matching desk sat empty underneath the
other window. The walls were a dark wood
paneling, and the floor was bare hardwood. A
plush crimson quilt covered the bed.
On the right wall, a door was cracked and led
into a bathroom. On the left wall, I saw another
door that I assumed was a closet. Against the
wall by the door, there was a large dresser with a
mirror above it, and a small television sat on the
dresser.
“It’s perfect,” I told Liam. “It’s nice and dark,
just like I like it.”
“Your Keeper will get you some clothes and
such,” he told me. “For today, since you won’t
have a Keeper assigned to you, you can spend
some time in the library or something. Let me
take you downstairs to the main hall and I’ll
show you where you can get something to eat.”
He led me through a door in the main hall and
it opened into a huge dining room. There were
two rows of five tables. It reminded me of the
cafeteria at school. In the back of the room, there
was a window, and I could hear the clatter of
dishes behind it.
“Whenever you’re hungry, just go up to the
window and tell them what you want. There’s a
menu on the table under the window, but if you
want something off the menu just let them know
and they’ll fix whatever you want as long as they
have the ingredients. You can come here any
hour of the day or night. It’s never closed. Are
you hungry now?”
“No,” I lied. “I’m too anxious to eat.”
“Okay,” he said. “Anyway, they’ll assign your
Keeper soon. Until then, you can find me if you
need anything.”
“You’re leaving?” I asked.
“I’ll be on the grounds,” he said. “I have a
room in the Council House out back. If you need
me, just come to the Council House and ask the
receptionist to take you to my room.”
“Can’t you stay with me today?” I asked
suddenly. “I’m… I’m kind of scared.”
“If that is what you wish, I will stay with
you,” he agreed.
“Thanks, Liam,” I said. “I don’t understand
any of what’s going on, and I’d really like to have
a familiar face around.”
“I understand,” he nodded. “You know, I
never got to thank you for saving my life.”
“Don’t thank me,” I told him.
“Well, I want to. You didn’t have to do that. I
kidnapped you, and instead of letting me die, you
saved my life. You’re one in a million.”
I shook my head.
“I just did what anyone would have done.”
“Do you really believe that?”
“Of course. Don’t you?”
“Alice, I’ve never known anyone who would
have done that for someone who just kidnapped
them. Most people would have just let me die.
But not you. You are unique.”
“I don’t think so. I can’t imagine letting
someone die if there was anything I could do to
save them.”
Liam shook his head somberly.
“This life is not going to suit you.”
“Why?”
“Because you will be forced to let people
die,” he answered truthfully. “Sometimes you
will be forced to kill them.”
“Oh,” I said quietly.
“I’m sorry you’re involved in this at all,” he
said. “But the Council insists. Your gifts are too
valuable to them to just let you go.”
“It’s okay,” I told him. “It was my choice.”
“Another reason you are unique,” Liam said.
“Not many people would have come into a
situation like this in order to protect the people
they care about. You are brave and selfless. That
is quite unusual.”
“Wouldn’t you do it?” I asked him.
“I don’t have anyone I care about enough to
do it,” he admitted.
“What about Alexi? Your father?” I asked.
He shook his head.
“I am not really close to either of them.”
“Your mother?”
“Not even her.”
“Wow,” I muttered, suddenly feeling very
sorry for Liam. “I’m sorry.”
“It is… inconsequential,” he said, but his eyes
said otherwise.
I wasn’t sure what to say, s
o I asked, “What is
there to do around here?”
“We have a music room, an art room, a
computer room…”
I interrupted him. “Music? Is there a piano?”
“Yes, there is a piano,” he answered. “Do you
play?”
“Since I was five,” I told him.
“Would you like to go there?”
“Yes, please.”
So he led me to the room next to the dining
hall. The room held a wide variety of
instruments, but a huge black grand piano stood
against the back wall. I walked over to it and sat
down. Liam took a chair from the front of the
room and brought it over by the piano, and he sat
down in it to listen to me play.
I remembered playing for Kai in the church
the night I first met him. The first song I played
was my favorite – Moonlight Sonata, the first
movement. I closed my eyes and pictured him,
and I began to play.
As the melancholy tune echoed throughout the
room, and I felt the crushing weight of Kai’s
absence pressing upon my chest. My throat
swelled, and my eyes began to sting. I blinked
back the tears, and continued to play.
One by one, the faces of my other loved ones
filled my mind – Max, my brother, my mother,
and Jamie. I even saw Alexi. Oh, how I would
miss them! I had no idea what the Council had in
mind for me. I might never see them again.
I clenched my jaw and struggled to contain the
flow of tears I knew was imminent. The harder I
tried, the more difficult it became. Finally, a
single tear escaped my eye and trickled down my
cheek, and I could no longer contain my emotion.
I slammed my arms down on the keys and buried
my face in them, and the sobs erupted in sharp
waves.
I felt a strong arm around me, and Liam said,
“Alice… I’m sorry. Perhaps I have made a
mistake.”
“No, Liam,” I said, choking back sobs, my
voice muffled by my arms. “I made my choice.”
“I should not have allowed this,” he said. “My
brother was right. You’re not cut out for this
life.”
“Your brother is one of the people I left to
protect,” I reminded him.
“Alexi can take care of himself, Alice,” Liam
said. “He’s been doing this for a long time.”
I lifted my head and looked at Liam.
“He sacrificed everything for me. He turned
away from the Council and defied your father.
He did it to keep me away from them. I never
would have allowed that if I had known. I had to
do this, Liam. I had no other choice.”