by Robin Thorn
“My friend has turned,” I carried on, steeling myself. “Stefan,” I prompted. “He’s one of you now.”
“There are many new demons,” Sam muttered with a weary sigh. “I don’t bother to learn their names anymore. There are too many to count.” The snow weighed down his dark hair; he looked the same, smelled the same, moved the same. I wanted so much to be closer to him. I guess that was his charm, though. That was his power.
“Why did you come here tonight?” I asked, my voice rebounding in the quiet cemetery.
He half-smiled. “Phoebe,” he murmured. “I come here every night. Just in case.”
I held my breath. I didn’t want Sam to sense the weakness in me. I didn’t want him to know how much this was tearing me up inside. Just seeing him, hearing his voice, it brought it all back.
When would I stop? When would I finally let him go? Even when I’d thought I’d done it, even when I’d told my parents exactly where to find him, to kill him, I still couldn’t let him go.
Stupid.
“Why did you come tonight?” he returned the question. “After all this time, why now?”
For you, I wanted to say. To protect you. To tell you to run. “A warning,” I said instead, my voice cold and rigid. “Tell Leonard we’re coming for him.”
For a beat, Sam was silent, his expression unreadable in the moonlight. And then he laughed under his breath, a familiar desolate smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
“Goodbye, Phoebe.” He stuffed his hands into his jacket pockets and walked off into the night.
“Goodbye, Sam,” I whispered. But it was too late. He was already gone.
As I watched him disappear into the shadows, I heard the screams start up again. The deafening keens wailed like a siren through the night, but they were screams for my ears only.
I dropped to the icy ground and leaned into Maura’s gravestone, rocking back and forth with my hands pressed against my ears.
The Banshees were coming.
Signalling death on the horizon.
My dreams were full of blood, smoke and desire. Will, in his ethereal form, floated before me. His hands raised, his mouth waiting for my kiss. As I responded to his want, I felt the need to run away. But my body would not listen. My phone rang, waking me from my dream.
I rolled over in the spare-bedroom in Phoebe’s home, searching for it as it blared with noise. Disorientated from sleep and burning hunger, I felt groggy and ill.
The screen showed the caller, but the number reads blocked. All I could see was Caller Unknown flashing on my screen. My thumb hovers over the accept button. Who would call this early in the morning? Was it Collette? Leonard?
I almost cancelled the call, but at the last moment, I answered. If it were a demon, I would unleash the anger that still burned within me.
I waited for the other caller to speak first. Hesitantly, as if the phone was going to attack me, I held it inches from my ear. Everything is silent, the room and the white noise of the call. Seconds dragged, and no one spoke. In the back of my mind, a flashing warning sign reminds me of something about tracking. I remembered from TV shows that people could track a location of a phone after a minute. I look at the number. I had twenty-nine seconds left.
“Stefan?” a deep voice suddenly spoke.
I didn’t respond. My breathing grew heavy. The voice had an accent, one I could recall from my long-buried memory.
“Stefan, are you there?” the man asked again.
I cleared my throat.“Who is this?”
The man sounded almost sad, “I wanted this to wait until I visit, but I see I may already be too late.”
“I said, who is this?”
“Stefan, it’s your father.”
My heart thudded in my chest.
“I’m sure you’re angry right now,” he went on, “but you’re going to need to listen to me. I have felt your transition; your aura feels tainted with demonic residue. It means you are in more danger then you even realise. There is a lot you do not know about me. Things not even your mother would know. I had my reasons as to why I left you. I wanted to protect you from this world, but I have failed in doing so.”
I was lost for words. All I could do was listen.
“I can see you are staying with other Guardians, that’s good. Stay close to them. I will come to you as soon as I can.”
“Is this real?” I asked although I already knew the answer. His voice I recognised, and a strange feeling swirled in my chest above my heart.
The sound of his laughter wrapped my body in warm tendrils. “We’ll have time to talk about this soon. You are different, Stefan. There is still hope for you. I see your eyes; I know what it means. You are my son.”
“Tell me,” I muttered, a single tear rolling down my face.
“Soon…” And the line went dead.
I stared at the screen, panic coursing through me.
“No, no, no!” I shouted, hitting the glass as if it would call my father back. “Please…”
I was pleading with the dark screen, wishing for it to call again. But it stayed black.
All hope of sleep slipped away after that, leaving me more awake than before.
I flicked the switch on the side light and opened the camera application on my phone. I brought it up to my face so that I could see my reflection; I saw my new eyes.
One gold. One silver.
Half Incubus, and half… something else.
From May’s reaction, I knew there was more to it.
I would find out.
Who is my father?
Who am I?
I spat blood onto the dust covered floor.
“You have failed me,” Leonard growled at me. He bent over me, hands on his strong thighs; face inches from mine. “You allowed him to escape.”
I closed my eyes, trying not to think of Stef.
When I shadowed into the warehouse, Leonard was waiting for me. The moment my feet passed through the shadow my head snapped back as he hit me. Over and over Leonard beat, punched and kicked me. Stars burst behind my eyes; my body ached under his attacks. But I didn’t complain. I bit down on my tongue to stifle the screams. All around me his lackeys watched on; mouths open with excitement.
He couldn’t kill me. Not like this, but being immortal didn’t stop the pain.
For hours I was left, sprawled across the floor until he came back for me. And the torment proceeded.
“I will not stop until you tell me if he knows,” Leonard bellowed, rewinding his hand for another slap.
If keeping silent tortured Leonard nearly as much as he did to me know, I would gladly keep this up.
“I should never have picked you for this; you failed me the first time you lied.”
I looked up at him through my lashes, blood dripping from cuts on my face. I took a deep breath, gathering more spit and blood in my mouth. I spat it at his feet.
“You are right, Leonard; you did fail when you picked me. I will never let you do this,” I whispered from the pain.
“My mother will rise, and when she does you will be her first feast,” Leonard seethed.
“Without Stefan, you will never see your mother again,” I said, keeping my swollen gaze on his.
My heart sank as I said his name. Stefan. I’d tried to keep him from this. Maybe I should have killed him when I had the chance. That would have taken him from Leonard reach. But I was not strong enough.
“I will find that half-soul and use him for what I need. I can promise you that.” Leonard stood tall, picking a cloth from his jacket pocket and whipping my blood from his knuckles. “I will drain that boy, and my mother will devour him. She will regain her strength and the Guardians will forever be removed from this world.”
I shook my head, my hair covering my eyes. I would have swept it from my gaze, but my arms and hands were numb. I could feel the last soul I ate fixing away at my damaged body.
“You forget, Leonard; I am Stefan’s sire. Without me you will ne
ver get him,” I tried to stand. “But I promise you one thing. In life, I will never tell you where he is. I will never help you.”
Leonard’s low laughter filled the warehouse. My brother and sister demons joined in and echoed his pleasure.
I thought he was going to speak, but my vision turned back as his fist connected with my face one final time.