Something Samuel could agree too; his mother had always been beautiful. But he remembered the scar his mother had always had over her left eye. He’d asked her once how she’d gotten it, but Aaline had been in the room with them. She’d laughed it off, saying she’d tripped. His sister had stormed out of the house and had been gone for the rest of the day. He’d forgotten that memory until now. He turned his attention back to Adam, not sure he wanted to hear any more, but still compelled to. “Go on, finish it.”
Adam met his gaze over the piano and kept speaking, “Then Aaline’s father made the mistake that cost him his life. He stabbed Derry in the back. Fool. Derry pulled out the knife and without turning around, threw it behind him right into the bastard’s heart.”
“That’s a lie, in a fit of rage, he—he ripped his throat open!” Samuel leaned forward in his seat as though he could make Adam retract the things he’d said. “My sister saw the whole thing. It was a misunderstanding.”
Adam continued his tale, ignoring Samuel’s outburst. “The little girl looked at the entire thing dry eyed. Not once did she shed a tear,” The cords of his song rose in anger and regret with every word. He spoke in a clear normal tone, carrying the power of truth, “Not even when she saw her father die. She just looked at us, then at your mother bleeding in your father’s arms and said, and I quote, ‘May you all rot in hell’. Then she turned and ran off. Derry took Sasha into the house and I took off after the child, just to make sure she didn’t try to run away or get hurt. Aaline was, after all, just a child. I followed her down to the river. She spent the day sitting on its banks and staring out at the water until dark. Then she walked right over to where I stood, watching over her. How she knew I was there, I’m not sure. She told me she was ready to go back now.”
“You still haven’t said anything to make me think this wasn’t just the reaction of a child brainwashed by a sick mind and who grew up in an abusive atmosphere.” But he had. His words carried the ring of truth backed by the magic coming from his music.
“That may be true, but your father and I both did everything to try to show Aaline another way existed. I stayed with them for only a short time. I couldn’t be around all that love.”
“What, too tempting?” Samuel taunted.
Adam raised his head to look up at the ceiling, but Samuel got the impression his gaze pierced the stone walls. “You have no idea. Even after I left, I know your father showed Aaline nothing but love and acceptance, but his attempts were always rebuffed. Did you know when your mother was pregnant with you, your sister tried to kill her?”
The anger simmering in his chest blew into flame.
Thalya squeezed his hand and pulled him back when he began to rise from the couch to yank Adam away from the damn piano.
Instead, Samuel continued to sit there silently and listen. Listen to the truth he had no heart to hear.
“She pushed Sasha into the river and ran off. She claimed it was an accident, that she got scared. But Derry never believed her.”
“No.” But it came out as a whisper, lacking in strength, unlike Adam’s voice.
“Then after you were born, she appeared to change. She adored you. I visited shortly after and thought all would be well. Aaline reeked of joy and by then your father was no longer soulless. He had found his redemption.”
“So, it’s true,” Thalya whispered. “There is hope. All we have to do is feel an emotion we cannot feel.” She snorted. “That’s some kind of stupid hope. Who came up with such a nice out clause, then built a brick wall over the doorway.”
“Derry was not the only one to find redemption. There have been others. Yes, they are few, but it is possible.”
“Yes. To do so we just have to feel emotion. Oh, wait…But we cannot feel.”
“Can’t we?” Adam countered.
Thalya threw up her hands and growled, but her hand returned to enclose Samuel’s again. “What do you think of this nonsense?” she asked him.
He thought about everything he’d heard and what he knew of his father. What he had been told by his mother and Aaline. What had not been spoken, and what he sensed. “I think Adam’s right. It happened to my father, it can happen to others.”
They stared at each other, neither wanting to look away. Then the cords of the music started again. When had it stopped? This time the theme of hope rang through the strains. Reluctantly, he turned back to Adam. “You’ve said a lot, but even you concede my sister loved me. If she hadn’t, surely you would have taken me away from her after my father died.”
“That is my one regret. And trust me, after being banished, I don’t make many mistakes and have fewer regrets. Only once did I think I made a mistake, and then realized I was wrong. I arrived too late to get you after your father died, and I knew things had seemingly changed over the years. But before your parent’s death, the first chance she got Aaline ran off and came across a group of hunters.”
“That’s a coincidence,” Thalya stated.
Samuel frowned. “I haven’t thought about it. There would have been fewer soulless then too.”
“True. There have always been those who hated or feared us. Humans with a heightened sensitivity or awareness, who knew we were dangerous, or could be. I think your sister had very heightened abilities. She found this group, or they found her and eventually, began to lead it. She was one of the first to organize the hunters and actively recruit others to her cause.” Adam swung his hair away from his face as he spoke, “Aaline was a fanatic and one of her favorite soulless to hunt was me. So not wanting to have to kill her, I stayed well away.
Samuel couldn’t move, couldn’t feel, could only listen.
“During that time, she continued to maintain a relationship with you, carefully cultivating you. Don’t you think it ironic that she turned you to hunt the very thing that also makes up a part of who you are?”
Memories long buried rose to the forefront, stories of his sister telling him of the atrocities she’d witnessed by the soulless. Stories she probably shouldn’t have told an impressionable young boy who worshipped her. “She never forced me into this life. As a matter of fact, after she took me to live with her, she made it a point to keep me separate from it. Oh, I knew what she did, but I never accompanied her on a hunt.”
“So what happened? What brought you into it?” Thalya asked, looking at Samuel.
Samuel stared at the thick legs on the baby grand piano but he didn’t see it, not really. His memories took him back to his past. “I stood in a crowded market one day and saw this man. I knew something seemed odd about him, so I told my sister. The next thing I knew, she had someone take me back to our encampment set up outside of the village. Our group never stayed one place for long. They followed the rumors in their hunt for the soulless. But afterward, she started taking me with her wherever she went and asked me if there was anything strange about anyone in the area. After it happened a couple more times, she finally told me I could sense the soulless and how I could be a big help to the hunters. I agreed to help by pointing them out, but I refused to kill.”
Thalya sat and listened as he remembered.
He wished these memories weren’t there, but the words came out as he relived it, “Then one day, Aaline took me on a recruiting quest. There’d been rumors about a group of soulless in the Carpathians. She didn’t want to leave me with the group she’d been with. There had been arguments among the hunters. Some didn’t trust me and wondered how I could sense the soulless without even seeing their eyes, so she wouldn’t leave me alone with them and took me with her. We’d been going from village to village, talking to people asking questions. We were out riding and I guess like you, Adam, I came upon something I could no longer ignore.” Yet, looking back, he’d never really been separate from what his sister did. She’d come home at times covered in blood. Some of the hunters never came home and he could still remember the cries of anguish from their remaining loved ones.
“Ah yes, the village of Tilisca,”
Adam said. “I knew it well. The original one, of course. At the time of the massacre, I was on the other side of the world dealing with a rogue group of soulless who were preying on another town. Back then, I was sort of judge, jury and executioner. Really, the only one able to take on a group of soulless. The only one they either listened to or paid the price for ignoring.”
Thalya laughed. “Still are.”
“But you weren’t the only one,” Samuel pointed out. “The hunters also fought the soulless.”
For a long moment, Adam didn’t say anything. He didn’t have to, even the music stopped. “But the hunters also hunted those they merely suspected, didn’t they?”
“Yes,” Samuel agreed. “Usually, they hunted those that had been fed from.”
“Humans thought we’d sucked out their souls with their blood and didn’t want these people walking around soulless too.” Adam smiled but the smile held no joy. “Well, in this particular village they found a soulless one, one who took blood.”
“Thus, began the legend of the vampire,” Thalya said, shaking her head.
“Yes,” Adam replied, shifting on the bench to face them.
“I know. I was there.” Samuel ran his hand over his face in a futile effort to block out the memories. But nothing, absolutely nothing, would make him forget that day.
“There wasn’t a man, woman or child left alive in that small village. Husband had killed wife, mother had killed child. In the center of it all stood this crazed creature covered in blood. I took his head. The first time I killed a living creature and I do not regret it. Afterward, I rode at my sister’s side until the day she died. Then I took over the group.” Regardless of what she might or might not have done, he knew in his heart she loved him. He would always be grateful to her for giving him the family he’d had through the ages.
“I know and I stayed out of your way,” Adam said. “The damage had been done. You were her revenge.”
For the second time in his life, Samuel had to reassess his choices. He believed everything Adam told them. He would have known if he’d lied. “I did stop the senseless killings, though. I still believe there is a need to destroy the soulless.” He glanced at Thalya. “Some of them, anyway. I changed the way the hunters do things. We require a confirmed kill or a clear attempt before we move in to eliminate one of the soulless.”
“As do I.”
“So, you’re a hunter too,” Samuel stated.
Adam shuddered. “Please. Anything but that. I am however, glad to see you think now before you act, and you all are more organized. It is one of the reasons I’ve ventured out into the world less, and why I don’t need to. I know the hunters have things under control. At least you did.”
Samuel’s body tensed. Now maybe, he’d get some answers.
“What’s going on, Adam?” Thalya asked. “There has been a rise of unrest around the world. In certain areas it could be just the nature of humans, but some things even I’ve noticed.”
“What do you know?” Samuel added.
“The soulless are getting restless. We’re not as we were when first banished, but in the past, this is how it starts. A restless spirit is moving among the younger ones. The ones who might have a lingering memory of their time in heaven and have been gorging on emotions. Therein lies the danger. You need more and you need it to be stronger to feel fulfilled and it doesn’t last long. There is something major on the horizon. Something on a massive scale.”
“So, what do we do?” Thalya asked.
“We?” Adam removed his hands from the keys and looked at them. “You two will have to rely on each other. I have someone coming here in a little while who needs my help right now, more than you all do.”
“What!” Samuel exclaimed. “What’s more important than stopping the bloodsuckers?”
He raised his arms wide. “My redemption.”
Thalya leaned forward. “Adam, you are one of the oldest among us.”
“Correction, Thalya, babe, I believe I am the oldest left still standing.”
“Well, you’re also a leader of sorts. Can’t you just talk to the ones acting up? Threaten them? Kill a few as an example?”
One blond eyebrow rose at her request. “And you say you’re not blood thirsty! Tsk, tsk. Listen, you all will have to handle this without me. I think you can. If it escalates, I promise I will step in and give you a hand. Just remember when I get involved things happen on a larger scale, like I end up taking away memories. I tremble to think what it will take next time. But Samuel, you have to get your hunters in hand. Some of them walk a fine line between right and wrong and a few have already crossed it.”
Samuel frowned. “What do you know I don’t?”
“Nothing you haven’t already suspected. Don’t wait for the evidence, by then it might be too late,” Adam warned.
“Noted. One last thing.”
“Just one and then you really have to go. My guest is almost here.”
Thalya tilted her head. “Who? Is it a secret?”
“No secret, but this person likes privacy even more than I do. And he’s bringing someone with him. Someone who doesn’t know the family history, if you will. Now, Samuel, what else would you like to know?”
“You mean you’re not reading my mind?” Samuel asked.
“No. Not right now.” He paused and squinted his eyes at him. “You also have strong natural shields you inherited from your father. I’d have to touch you to strip them.”
“Good to know. Have you ever heard of a group, in this case, it appears to be at least two, maybe more, sisters who chronicle the lives of both the soulless and hunters?”
“Yes, Wilhelmina and her sisters. There were actually seven of them. One of the seven is always destined to have seven daughters to carry on the family business.”
“Which is?” Samuel asked.
Adam shrugged. “Just what I’m sure she’s already told you. I assume you’ve met her. Wilhelmina lives here in New York. Her sisters are spread out all over the world, wherever there’s a concentration of hunters and soulless. Their purpose has always been to keep an accurate record, a neutral accounting of both sides of our little war. Why?”
“Can she be trusted?” Samuel asked.
“Of course.”
“Then why would she hide or help one of the soulless we were hunting?” Samuel asked.
Adam shrugged. “She might if she thought you were going to kill them. I know, not very neutral, but I’ve never known any of them to be able to stand by and watch either side kill or be killed if it can be helped.”
“Even if this person just moments before tried to kill us?” Samuel pressed.
Adam crossed his arms over his chest. “But I see you’re both very much alive. And as your father’s son, I would assume you walked away from the encounter without a scratch.”
“Adam. Last question,” Thalya interjected. “Then we’ll leave. Are my wings bound…” She paused.
Samuel could tell she dreaded the answer to the next question.
“Or clipped?”
“Bound, darlin’. When you find the person who will redeem you, I will undo them. Then you’ll have some decisions to make.”
Samuel did his best not to look at Thalya. He couldn’t deny the hope flickering in the depths of his soul at the thought he could be her redemption. Before it could grow, he used all of his willpower to snuff it out. It was impossible. She had no soul. No emotion. She could not feel.
He could.
Sadness replaced the hope momentarily beginning to grow, squashing it painfully.
Thalya laughed, but no mirth lay behind it. “Then I am indeed doomed, as are we all.”
Her reaction only made him feel worse.
Adam stood. “Remember, have faith, hope.”
“Do you?” she asked, rising too.
“No. But then again, redemption was never meant for me. Come, I’ll show you out. And hopefully, it will be another decade or five before we see each other again. Sa
muel, it was good to see you. You reminded me of someone who at one time, I called brother.” Adam walked them to the door and watched them get on the motorcycle. “It is too bad, we didn’t have a chance to race. Maybe in another lifetime.”
“You got it!”
They left and neither looked back. Adam had given them both much to think about. They rode in silence for the rest of the night, racing against a restless dawn.
“Will the rising sun bother you?” Fine time to ask, he thought. If a soulless one hadn’t fed recently, even dawn light could hurt them. From her answer, she must have read his mind—she sat, after all, pressed against him. He had to clamp down his thoughts from the pleasure he got out of her nearness…her touch.
“No, the dawn doesn’t bother me. I am an olden. I can even be in direct sunlight for a short period of time, as long as I’m well covered.”
“Good to know. I’ll have you back at sunrise, if not before.”
True to his word, before the sun crested the tree line of Central Park, he pulled up in front of her condo building and stopped the bike.
She got off and handed him her helmet.
He shifted to return it to its storage space but made no move to get off the bike.
“You’re not coming up?” she asked.
He stared at her. “No. I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
She stared back, her gaze unblinking. “For who?”
“For me.” He smiled but didn’t touch her. Everything in him wanted to but if he did, he wouldn’t leave. Instead, he started the motorcycle and rode off. He didn’t look at his rearview mirror but her gaze seared into his back until he turned the corner. Lust, hell yes, for them both and the only thing to which he would cop to. But wasn’t lust an emotion?
If she could feel that, what other emotion could she feel? He shook his head, merely wishful thinking on his part. Her kind fed off emotion. She’d probably gorged off him when she touched him on the bike and was merely reflecting his feelings back at him.
An ache of sadness clamped tight around his heart.
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