“Eh, don't worry about it, you didn't do it,” she said laughing. “Besides it made me stronger. Gave me an amazing friend. Sometimes evil things happen in the world. You'd be surprised to find out that the reward for sticking it out can be so much better than if you ran and hid from them. Face your fears head on. That was something I learned quickly.”
“So what have we learned from my tale of woe,” she asked standing up and shaking a finger down at me.
“To never be afraid,” I answered her. She smiled and nodded.
“Listen, I have something else to tell you,” she said looking a little uneasy. “It's a secret, so I need you to not tell Ken.” I nodded. “We're not really out in the sun. I have another ability. I can Create Illusions. Ever since I lost contact with Kaeden, I've been really lonely so I needed to do something to keep Ken from thinking that he can go out into the sun, because it really can kill us. And you too.”
“Anyway, let's go out and find him. I'll hear your story another day if that's okay with you?”
“That's fine,” I said, “but why keep it a secret from him?”
“He was really hell-bent on killing himself at one point. I mean we all go through it. Even I did.”
She hopped over the door again and I followed close behind. We went over to the horse and she gave it a hug. I smiled when it nudged her shoulder and blew in my direction. I gently patted its muzzle and we walked back out into the faux daylight. I noticed that the sun was rapidly starting to set.
“After losing Kaeden, I guess you could say, I wouldn't be able to stand losing him too. He's a great friend. So I like to create these illusions for him so he can be happy.”
“But what happens if the day comes that he goes out into the sunlight for real?” I asked.
“He won't,” she said as she looked around the carnival. “He thinks he knows when the sun rises and sets so I've got that pretty much in the bag. There he is,” she said suddenly pointing at the shooting gallery.
The shooting gallery was starting to bring back the anger. Shortly after winning that stuffed animal for Kendall, I had run into Skiles. The rage was starting to rise in me, I knew it wouldn't be long before I would lose control. “Ava, I'm gonna go for a walk, okay? I don't want to be here right now.”
I turned to leave and walked into Ryker. I looked up at him but he didn't even seem to see me. He was staring daggers at Ava. I turned to look at Ava who saw that she was staring daggers right back.
“Get out,” he said in a low seething tone.
Ava stood her ground and crossed her arms over her chest. I could almost swear I saw a glimmer of fear in her cold stare.
“You could try asking nicely,” she said.
“Now,” he said taking a menacing step closer.
Before I knew what was happening, night suddenly fell in the blink of an eye and Ken was at Ava's side looking ready for a fight.
“Whoa, whoa!” I stepped between him and Ryker. “What the hell is going on?”
“Get them out of here,” Ryker said. “We don't need rotting corpses walking around our property.”
“How did you know?” I asked him surprised.
Ava looked at me, “Because he's a—”
“GET OUT!” Ryker shouted cutting her off.
I jumped and looked at him. For some reason he just hadn't stricken me as the angry type. Ken reached over and grabbed Ava by the arm. He leaned over to grab my arm but Ryker stepped in between us.
“Wait a minute Ryker, if you want them to leave because they're 'rotting corpses', then I'd better leave too.”
“No. You are different. You are not like them. I can tell,” he said not taking his eyes off of them. “Leave and do NOT come back,” he warned.
Ken looked at me, “No hard feelings kid. Come see me sometime.” And with that he and Ava left the fairgrounds. I stood there still in shock over what just happened. But Ava did confirm some suspicions I had about Ryker. He obviously was something other than normal.
Now the question was what?
He obviously wasn't going to tell me.
This was a mystery I was going to have to solve on my own.
5. Origins
(Day Three)
Something really weird is happening in this town.
It seems to be a magnet for immortals and humans hiding secrets.
The odd thing is they all know about each other.
I thought I had finally gotten to a place where I would be the only one.
What kind of world has Skiles sucked me into?
Why didn't he just let me live?
How long is this going to go on?
I laid my head on my journal and closed my eyes. Ryker had walked me home about a half an hour earlier. It was kind of funny to see him act like such a bodyguard since we barely knew each other. I knew I should've made him think that I lived somewhere else, but I felt that I could trust him. Don't ask me why.
Sitting there in the quiet dark house I felt myself drifting to sleep. Guess I was more tired than I thought I was. I knew that falling asleep like this would make me stiff as hell the next evening but I couldn't help it. I welcomed the substitute for death. My eyes fluttered shut. I let out a contended sigh as I felt myself slipping into the dark abyss of dreams.
Shuffle, shuffle.
I sat straight up. What the hell was that noise? I closed my eyes tightly and listened again.
Scratch, scratch.
Something or someone was in my house. This is pretty much what I get for letting Ryker take me home. Ryker. I wonder if it's him. No, I told myself, Ryker doesn't seem to be the intrusive type. Then again I don't really know –
BANG!
I jumped as something fell over in the hallway. Whatever it was, was obviously closer than I thought. I got up and walked over to the door and pressed my ear against it. I heard a cough and the shuffling noise of putting whatever it was that had fallen back into its place.
Shutting out all other sounds, I listened specifically to the footsteps. I wanted to know if they were coming toward my door or away from it. For a moment there was no sound. Almost as if whatever it was had ceased to be.
But that's when I heard it.
The breathing at the door. I listened as it fumbled with the doorknob.
I took a few steps back and was ready to attack whatever had invaded my home. How dare anyone or anything come into my home? The rage started to boil in my veins. I watched as the door started to slowly creak open.
I saw long, sleek fingers wrap around the side of the door as whoever it was pushed the door open further.
Then the door stopped moving and I heard a chuckle. Confused I stood there waiting while the rage continued to build inside me. I wasn't going to be able to control myself this time, but no matter, I was hungry so it would be a good meal.
Suddenly the door flew open and I found myself pinned against the wall in the far back of the room near my window. He tightened his grip around my neck and held me in place. I realized it was a man when he spoke.
“Stop moving. And calm down. I'm not going to do anything to hurt you,” he said.
“Get ... off ...” I spit out between gasped breaths.
“Only after you've calmed down. I don't need to be ripped to shreds tonight,” he said good-naturedly.
I struggled harder against him, which caused him to tighten his hand. For someone who was swearing he wasn't trying to hurt me, he was making it awfully hard for me to breathe. And even though I was no longer alive, I liked the ability to still breathe.
I decided to fight my way out of this. With the speed it takes a human to blink, I pulled my arm back and threw a punch at his chest with everything that I had. And he caught my hand with a smile.
“I promise I'm not here to hurt you. Look I'll make a deal with you. I'll let you back down and back away if you promise that you've got your rage under control.”
Let me down?
I kicked my feet.
They weren't touching
the floor. He had lifted me clean off of the floor and was holding me up like I was a rag doll. Okay so he could rip me into a million pieces if he wanted too and instead he was giving me a chance to calm down.
“Ready?” he asked.
I nodded as best as I could with a hand under my chin.
"Alright on the count of three. One. Two. Two and a half," he started to loosen his grip and take a step back, "three!"
I dropped to the floor and gasped for air. I looked up at him and saw that he was already seated at my old vanity mirror. He pushed his wire rimmed glasses back up his nose and smiled.
Getting up, I put my hands on my hips and took a few deep breaths until I felt better. Then I took a better look at him. I had no clue who he was, but my God he's gorgeous. Thinly built but with muscle tone to him; a swimmer's body. That's what this guy has. Behind those glasses I saw the kindest, most intense blue grey eyes I had ever seen in either of my lives which of course gave away that he wasn't human. The front of thin light brown hair came down to his chin, while the back a little longer, covered his neck. It was a cute choppy kind of haircut that made him look youthful. But the more I studied his face, the more I realized, that he was probably changed when he was young. I could tell by his long arms and legs that he was very tall. And judging by the distance between me and the floor when he held me up, he had to be at least six foot five. Perfect is the only word I can honestly use to describe him. You'd think he was crafted by Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simon himself. For some weird reason, I had the overwhelming feeling that I should know who my intruder was.
"Who are you?" I asked eyeing him suspiciously.
"I think you already know, but we'll talk about me later," he said leafing through my journal.
"Okay, so what do you want to talk about then," I asked walking over to him and snatching away my book of personal thoughts.
Laughing he held up his hands in mock surrender, "Is there somewhere else we can talk? Being here in the room where you sleep is much too personal."
But reading my journal isn't too personal or anything, I thought to myself as I walked passed him. As I lead the way down the hall, I turned to be sure he was behind me and was surprised to see that I had pretty much guessed his height right.
He grinned when he saw me staring at him, almost like he knew why I was. These vampires got weirder and weirder the more that I met.
We crossed the staircase and walked all the way to the back of the house to a room I never used. I saw it when I first moved in here and it seemed like a room for a party.
Me not being the party type, steered clear of it.
When we reached the room I slid open the wooden doors and gestured him to go in. Once he passed me into the room, I slid the doors closed. I rested my head against the door for a second to regain my composure. Holding my head high I turned to face him, but I saw that he was busily walking around the room inspecting the old, torn paintings that hung on the walls.
Walking briskly past him, I headed over to start a fire in the humongous fireplace. When I turned around I saw that he was seated in the big French couch chair that was near the now raging fire. I took a seat across from him in the ragged Maison chair and folded my legs underneath myself.
"Alright so talk," I said looking him in the eye.
That pleasant smile never left his face. "I was first wondering something. See I'm very old fashioned and I believe that when you come into someone's home uninvited, that you must provide a reason. So tell me why you're here."
"This isn't your home," I said more angrily than I meant to. "Not the house," he said with a laugh, "Devils Lake."
"I didn't know it was yours," I said sarcastically.
"Well I did get here twenty years ago. You got here only a few weeks ago," he said philosophically.
"Look I don't mean to be infringing on your territory, but I tracked a problem here that I need to take care of."
"I know," he said smiling kindly, "and I have a proposition for you."
Oh great.
"And what's that?" I asked.
"Well I was out walking tonight and I witnessed something I haven't seen in a very long time," he paused to lean back on the chair and to look into the fire. "The sky. It changed to day in the blink of an eye."
"Uh huh."
"Where's Ava?" he asked looking back at me.
"Um. How do you know her?" I asked suddenly feeling protective.
Smiling he tilted his head to the side. That's when it hit me. I knew who I was talking too. And now I understood the feeling of familiarity.
"Kaeden?" I asked my voice barely above a whisper.
He nodded and smiled a little wider. For some reason this was really not what I was expecting him to look like. Someone as powerful as Ava made by someone who looked no older than a studious kid in his late teens at the most twenty years old.
"What do you want with Ava?" before he could answer, I went off on a rant, "What is it with you men? You monsters? You make us then you leave us to fend for ourselves! Then you come back as if everything is fine! That's not fair!"
I didn't realize that I was screaming at him, until I noticed that he had his hands over his ears.
"Are you done shouting at me," he asked.
Crossing my arms over my chest I stared into the fire. But as I stared into the fire I found myself wondering why I was 'protecting' Ava. After all she had used one of her abilities on me and in a way she was torturing Kendrick with another one of hers.
"Yes," I replied.
"Good. I don't want to harm her, I only wish to see her and make sure she's okay."
"She's fine. She's got someone she hangs around with so there's no need to worry about her, she's being taken care of just fine."
He looked thoughtful for a moment. "This person that's taking care of her. Is it a human?"
"No, Ken's a vampire, she made him."
"She what?" he shouted. His yell sounded like an angry alpha lion fighting off intruders.
"You know, she followed your example," I said.
"No. No she didn't. If she did, she would've asked me first. She never should have done that. Never. I am the oldest living vampire so I had no one to ask. She broke the oldest law I have. Why?" He put his head in his hand and looked almost like a tragic version of The Thinker.
"Oh so now you have laws?"
"You wouldn't know or understand them. You're not a vampire. I don't mean that to sound as if I'm talking down to you, but how can you understand something you're not? I need you to take me to her. I need to see this other vampire. I need to let her know she broke the law."
"What are you going to do to her?" I asked nervously.
"Nothing that concerns you. Look I'm not going to kill her if that's what you're worried about, but I do need to see her. As soon as possible," he said looking at me with imploring eyes.
Oh what the hell did I care anymore? I didn't even find myself thinking about my sister and I knew the fix she was in.
"Fine I'll take you to the shop, I'm sure that's where everyone is. Can I just please take a nap? I'm exhausted."
"Agreed, I'll sit here and wait until you're rested, if that's okay with you," he said that friendly smile returning.
I just nodded and went back to my little hole in the wall. I wasn't in the mood to argue, I just wanted to get some sleep and I really didn't care at whose expense anymore.
I threw myself on the mattress and forced myself to sleep. I didn't dream. Then again that's not really a surprise because I never do. I fell into my world of faux death so happy that I almost didn't wake up until the next evening.
Groaning I pushed myself onto my back and blinked a couple of times. I stared at the ceiling. What the hell was this life coming too? Vampires seemed to be everywhere lately and I seemed to have the Alpha and Omega of them upstairs in my ballroom. I heard him starting to shuffle around in there so I knew it was time to go.
Quickly, I threw on a pair of black capri pants and a hunt
er green tank top. I located my dark green flip-flops shoved them onto my feet. Running my brush through my hair, I made my way toward the ballroom.
Sure enough when I slid the doors open, he was wandering around. He had the hood of his grey jacket bulled over his head. I smiled because that's how I liked to be out too. He turned and saw that I was watching him and he smiled back.
"Ready?" I asked him. He nodded and came toward me. We walked to the door and I grabbed my black hooded jacket because Devils Lake could be chilly at night. I pulled my hood up and he laughed.
"Yeah so we're twins," I said jokingly.
As we stepped out into the brisk air I was in higher spirits than I was when he arrived a couple of hours earlier. That small nap had really put me in a much better mood and I think he could tell.
The walk was silent though and I felt him tense up when we turned the corner into the alley where the tattoo shop was. It was almost like he sensed we were that close to her. Then he just stopped walking. I looked at him and the intensity on his face was clear.
"How many are in there?" he asked staring at the door.
"Um." I did some quick mental calculations. "Five."
"Five? You said she made one."
"She did, but I guess Ken made the others, I never asked."
He gave one short nod and walked straight to the door. Practically jogging to keep up with him, I finally caught up with him when he opened the second door in the building that actually revealed the shop.
Then I heard a scream of agony, a scream of terror, and a scream of anguish. I ran into the room and there was Kaeden standing next to the body of Drake. It looked as if though his head had been ripped clean off of his body, and I knew who had done it. The bloodied proof was all over his hands and so was Drake's head. He was still holding it by the hair.
"Now that I have everyone's attention," he said. It almost sounded like he was a teacher speaking to a class of rowdy students. "I need you all to know who I am and why I did this. My name is Kaeden Westmore. And I do not tolerate the transforming of others without my knowledge. As the maker of all vampires, if you weren't able to ask Ava, you were to ask me, “he said to Ken.
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