by Tarisa Marie
“What?” I ask them with annoyance. I feel like pulling my hair out. What ever happened to me working at the gas station, my only real worry how I was going to afford to go to college?
“You hurt him when you refuse him,” Kai tells me. “Imagine you’ve fallen in love with your soulmate and then they tell you that they don’t want anything to do with it and they’re actually angry at you for falling in love with them. For you it’s weird, for him it’s not, it’s who he is and what he knows.” It surprises me that Kai defends Kade, so much so that I force myself to place myself in Kade’s shoes for a moment. I get what Kai is saying but it’s still not fair to me.
“You will love him back one day, Mayflower. Whether that’s tomorrow or in fifty years from now. He’s who you were created to be with,” Daniel finishes and bring his down to rest on my shoulder comfortingly.
“Don’t turn your back on the idea so quick. Let it process. You might not want to be with him now and that’s okay, we’re not saying you have to start dating him today, but you will marry him one day, May, mark my words. That there is your future husband, the man you will one day have no qualms about giving your life up for.” Daniel seems both frustrated with me but also understanding. He lightly gives my shoulder a shake.
“I know what you’re saying,” I whisper. “He’s already in love with me and I just basically told him that I couldn’t care less that he’s my soulmate.” Which isn’t true might I add. I do care about Kade, more than I’ve admitted to myself. I realize that he and I need to talk one on one. “Where is he?” I ask, knowing that they’ll have heard where he ran off to.
“He went east then wrapped around, kicked a metal corral in and then took off west. He’s out of my hearing range,” Daniel answers. “He will be back when he blows off steam. He won’t go far.”
“Why don’t you guys go settle into the house, that is if you’re going to stay here?” I ask.
“We have clearance for four days, then we need to be back,” Kai answers and turns hastily for the door.
“Okay, well you guys can go get your room ready then. I think I will stay out here for a while. I need to think.”
Both men nod in acceptance and then leave the barn, stranding me with my thoughts. I pace around the barn and then I head outside towards the chicken coop, thinking I may as well feed them while I’m out here and collect the eggs. When it gets into eye view, I see that I’m not the only one with this idea. Kade sits next to the coop with his back against a piece of ply wood propped up against the metal gate. In his hands is Dorothy. He pets her as if she’s a dog. Lucy and Marie run around in front of the coop, pecking at the ground.
I know Kade hears me coming, but he doesn’t look up or acknowledge me until I’m right in front of him. “I’m sorry,” he apologizes. “If I could change it and make you happier, I would.” I look down to his hand as something catches my eye. The fidget spinner I gave him weeks ago. I can’t help but grin when as I watch him spin it.
His words only make me feel worse, though. “Don’t be sorry. I was just surprised. That’s not something you have to deal with in my world.” Or what seems to be my old world. “I understand better now and I’m okay with it. I just don’t know if I’m ready to commit to you yet. I’m young and I have a lot to learn and a lot to experience. I wasn’t expecting this at all.”
He nods. “I know and there’s no rush, but when you’re ready, I’ll be waiting.”
“And next time I upset you like that because I don’t think before I speak, please talk to me, don’t run off to the chickens,” I tease, and he smiles.
“Deal.”
“Do you want me to make something to eat? Are you hungry?” I ask him, my stomach growling fiercely.
He chuckles gruffly. “I don’t actually need to eat food. It gives me no nutrients. My body just disintegrates it.”
This is a strange thought to me, but I guess it makes sense. “So, is that a no?”
“I will cook for you while you catch up with your brother. What would you like?”
His thoughtfulness makes me grin. “How about a turkey sandwich?”
A low grumble of a laugh escapes his chest. “I guess I have my work cut out for me.”
Chapter 13
Daniel explains the shocking family history he learnt from the Bryxx council to me during supper. As it turns out, our great something grandma and grandpa on dad’s side were human Bryxx who gave up one of their twin daughters to demons in order to guarantee the other’s protection from the vampires and the wrath of the Bryxx.
When the Bryxx heard of the deal their family made with the demons, they enacted their own deal with the demons, knowing how important the family was to them. The Bryxx offered to protect the family alongside the demons if in return the demons continued to keep humans in the dark about the supernatural world.
Each generation then on would give their life, blood, and soul to the demons as a sacrifice for their children, ending with my and Daniel’s own father. The demons could come at any time and take them away, meaning that our father didn’t die of a heart attack, instead he’d given up his soul for us to be protected and able to live long, normal lives. I can’t help but wonder if our father knew what happened to Daniel.
“Where was this protection when you died?” I squeak in shock.
Daniel bows his head. “Mayflower, Dad wasn’t my biological father, so I wasn’t protected under the agreement. He thought I was protected, but somewhere in the fine writing I wasn’t, and I didn’t really need any protection since I didn’t have the Bryxx blood. If I did have the blood, I probably would’ve died rather than made the change to Bryxx. Those with Bryxx blood rarely make the change, remember? Our mom had me before her and dad got together. I don’t know my biological dad and I probably will never know who he was.”
My jaw drops. I never would’ve guessed that Daniel entirely biologically related to me. We look so similar. “How long have you known that you weren’t dad’s?!”
“Since yesterday,” he admits quietly. “The council told me.”
“Oh my gosh, Daniel!” I blurt. “Are you okay?”
He shrugs. “It doesn’t change anything, May. You’re still my sister.”
I’m about to argue but I decide against it when Kai covertly shakes his head at me behind Daniel’s back.
Kade gathers up everyone’s sandwich dishes and places them neatly in the dishwasher.
“You’d make a good housewife,” Kai teases, lightening the mood, a thin smirk on his lips.
Kade doesn’t seem bothered. “I don’t like clutter.”
“What do you guys do for fun around here?” Kai wonders while wandering around the kitchen like he’s bored out of his mind. “Kind of boring out here.”
Daniel rolls his eyes. “We’re on vacation. Relax a little, please, Kai.”
“Vacation? I was hoping we’d get to kick some vampire ass,” Kai retorts and picks up a flipper from the utensil vase, flipping it in the air and then catching it. “What kind of vacation is this?”
“Yeah?” Kade goads. “Try it. Let’s see how many times I can pin your ass to the ground before you give up.” Kade’s tone is cocky and rightfully so. I’ve seen the guy fight.
Kai grins. “You’re on, vamp!”
“Take it outside,” I groan and point to the door. I know just how much of a wreck these people can cause in a fight. It’s like having two bulls in a china shop for heaven’s sake.
Kade zips out the door and Kai follows him. Daniel waits for me to make it out the door before he follows and closes it behind him.
The scrapple has already started and ended by the time we get outside. Kai is pinned to the ground groaning in pain.
“Vampires are faster and stronger than you. Use that you your advantage by using it against them. Use surprise by implanting an uncommon fighting style or move. Don’t stick to the basics. It’s predictable. Up. Let’s go again,” Kade demands and backs away from Kai quickly.
&nbs
p; Kai immediately lunges at Kade who grabs his wrist, twists it back, then manages to flip Kai onto his back with a thump.
I can’t help but wince. That’s gotta hurt.
Daniel takes a seat on the front steps, so I sit beside him.
“Why is Kade so much better than Kai? He can’t even get the upper hand for one second.” I hope that Kai is too into the fighting to hear me.
Daniel snorts, “Kade is a legend. He was the best Bryxx guard they’d ever had.”
“Why would they give him up so easily if he was the best? They accused him of a crime he didn’t commit. If he was so important to them, then why not take it to trial?”
Daniel pulls out his phone and lights up the screen before returning it back to his pocket. “Well, when he was attacked by a whole herd of vampires, he stood little chance. They turned him, but that also meant that the Bryxx lost their best fighter. It normally wouldn’t come down to a vote. Bryxx turned vamp, are to be killed. No matter what. If it had been anyone else, they would’ve been killed on the spot then and there, but with his talent and his royalty status... Well, one councilman stood up for him and thought that he should be kept with the Bryxx but controlled closely. This lead to a vote. It was a close vote, but it ended up that he was allowed to stay under a long list of conditions, and if he were to slip up even once, they’d banish, or more likely, kill him. His royal title was stripped to top it all off. It was a shit deal, but he took it over death. Even as a vampire, he hated vampires and it wasn’t like he had anywhere to go. He got to do what he loved most and I think that’s why he stayed. Without his royal status, and with the fact that he was now disposable, they let him go on missions that could actually use his advanced skills rather than have him be stuck guarding the Bryxx walls which really doesn’t take much talent. He lost a lot, but he also gained a little.”
I watch as Kai attempts to leap onto Kade’s back, but Kade whips around, jumps, and kicks him in the side. Kai gets sent rolling through the air until he hits the ground ten feet away. I gasp hoping that he’s okay. Kai springs right back up, ready to go again and Daniel chuckles easily. For the first time since I found out that Daniel was still alive, he’s relaxed.
“Aren’t you scared he will get hurt?” I ask Daniel, although I know Kade would never seriously hurt him.
Daniel shakes his head and smiles warmly. “We get tossed around a lot in our job. In our level of work, Kai is used to being one of the best. It’s kind of funny to see him getting repeatedly knocked on his ass for once. It reminds him that he’s only a level blue.”
“Level blue?” I ask, crinkling my nose.
Daniel explains, “There are ten levels of fight skill. Each skill has a different job set. In order from lowest to highest rank there is: white, yellow, green, purple, blue, orange, brown, red, grey, and black.”
“Kade is a black level?” I ask for reassurance, though I’m already convinced.
Daniel nods. “Not very many people have that kind of skill. Some of the lower Bryxx are white, yellow or green, mostly kids in training. Usually by the time you’re eighteen you’re a purple, but some people just aren’t good at fighting, so they get shuffled into other jobs at eighteen rather than continue physical training. If you make it to purple by eighteen, you keep training and you go into guard work. You start as basically an errand boy and you continue your training until you get to blue level. At that point you actually start guarding the walls. You get lots of action with the smaller demons that the higher defenses let through to focus on higher threats.”
“You and Kai are blue?” I ask to make sure I’m following.
“Yes. Every year you’re tested against the level higher, and if you fair well, then you move up. Orange and brown are the next line of defense. The middle, I suppose. They take anything that gets through the main line of defense and filter through the small stuff and send it towards the blue. Then there is the main line of defense which is the red and grey. They basically just take down the big bad guys and let everything else pass through. Their main worry is to get the things that are the biggest threats. There are tons of different types of demons, part of the job is knowing which are which and knowing how to kill them, which isn’t easy. We can innately sense demons if they’re in their true form, except vampires. We also learn how to point out a demon in another body and how to pick out a vampire from a crowd.”
“I thought you told me you were a combat trainer, not a guard?” I recall vaguely as I focus on trying to depict the motions of the sparring men in the yard, but they’re far too quick for me to catch everything. I catch a move here and there but I miss most of it.
Daniel grins. “You remembered that? I’m a combat trainer for level purple but only three days a week. The other four I’m on guard duty. Being a trainer is a well-respected position, even if it’s for one of the lower levels. It means I am giving up time I could be using to do what I was born to do, kill demons. I’m also giving up me time to learn and strengthen my skills to teach the next generation of fighters.”
So, if those are all the defense lines, then what does level black do?” I wonder as Kade throws Kai into a tree, sending a large branch timbering to the ground. I wince, but of course Kai gets up again.
“Level black gets sent out on missions around the world to take down demons in problem areas. They also help guard when they’re around, usually running a larger perimeter around the community to stop demons before they even hit our defenses. They’re like our form of special agents.”
“Okay, Dan, you’re up, I need a break,” Kai calls from the ground about twenty feet away where he lies on his back.
Daniel stands and removes his black jacket, handing it to me. Kai slowly saunters over to me and takes a slow seat beside me on the opposite side that Daniel was just on. He moves carefully as if he’s stiff. I can’t imagine why. I glance at the broken tree.
“Alright, vamp, let’s get my beating over with,” Daniel mutters as Kade moves the fallen tree branch out of the way.
Kade grumbles an amused laugh. “Never doubt your skill, kid. You’ll never improve if you do.”
Kade using the work ‘kid’ to refer to my adult brother confuses me for a moment until I remember just how old Kade is compared to Daniel, Kade, and myself. He’s old enough to be my great something grandfather. The thought feels strange in my mind. Humans Kade’s age have been dead for centuries.
Kai groans and lifts his hand in front of my face. “Does my pinky look broken to you?” he asks with a smile behind his playful grimace.
I look at the bluish, reddish, purplish appendage and can’t help but gag when I see its position. Definitely broken.
He laughs and then uses his free hand to bend it back into place.
“Ewww,” I squeal when I hear it crack and crunch. I cringe away from him.
His laughter only gets louder. “It’ll heal in a minute or so. You better get used to being queasy if your soulmate is a vampire.”
I can’t help but think he’s right. I recall the cow. Kade literally drinks people’s blood. The thought makes me gag.
Kai wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me in for a hug. “You’ll get used to it darling.”
“Easy for you to say. You were born into this, so was Kade, and Daniel’s been around this since he was a kid,” I complain.
Kai shrugs. “Daniel cried every night for the first six months he was away from his family. He was a nine-year-old kid that died, came back to life as a supernatural being, and was told he wasn’t going to ever see his family again; and he didn’t until the day Kade found you after your car accident. As soon as he saw you, there was a part of him that died that day in the woods that came back to life. He sent you away and that was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to watch him do, but it was for your safety.” Kai rubs his hands together roughly. “Then we get called into a meeting with the council after finding out you’re dead, and they give us his whole family history. Councilman Henry meets us outside just a
s Daniel is about to go into complete meltdown mode and pulls us aside, out of reach, and gives Daniel a note, tucks it in his pocket and tells him to open it when he’s home and alone. The note said that you were alive but in hiding and that no one else could know about it for your safety. It said to call your cell phone.”
I gape. “What?” I ask. “How did this Henry guy know where I was?”
Kai shrugs. “That’s what we’d like to know. Someone obviously trusts the senile bastard, someone who knows him very well which not many people do.” Kai’s eyes wander to Kade who is on top of Daniel pinning him down.
Kade glances over to us and jumps off of Daniel. “I told Henry,” he admits. “I trust him, and I knew word would get out about her death, and when that happened, I wanted Daniel’s reaction to her death to be authentic so people didn’t grow suspicious, but I also didn’t want him thinking May was truly dead.”
“You trust councilman Henry?” Daniel asks vehemently.
Kade nods. “More than you can possibly imagine. We have much in common.”
Daniel and Kai appear confused, their faces crinkled. Kai mutters, “I’ve only ever seen the guy be a dick to you.”
“He’s a dick alright, but he’s a trustworthy dick, one that I trust immensely. He’s done a lot for me over the years believe it or not,” Kade clarifies and straightens his clothes. Not a speck of dirt on his plain t-shirt and sweats. I wish I could say the same for Kai and Daniel who are both covered head to toe in dirt and rips.
The next few days pass quickly as I get reacquainted with my brother and get to know his best friend and boyfriend Kai. When it’s time for them to leave, in order to keep appearances up and keep their places in the Bryxx community, I am sad to see them go, but at least this time I know I will see them again. I am now part of their world, even if the reasoning why isn’t so pleasant.
They pull out of the driveway in a rented red suburban and I watch them go until they’re out of sight. Kade stands behind me on the porch quietly. Because the other two have been around the last few days keeping him busy with combat training, I haven’t had much time with him, which has been good since it’s given me time to think about everything that’s happened lately.