Sweet Sleep (The Children of Ankh Book 1)

by Kim Cormack

  Kevin stated, “Quit listening to my thoughts.”

  Frost replied, “Quit having stupid thoughts and I won’t be compelled to speak out against the insanity.” There was a loud crash like someone had been thrown against the door and they both startled. A brief moment of eerie silence followed before a casual rhythmic knock on the front door. Frost smiled and hollered, “We don’t want any.” He lifted his fingers up and began to simulate a countdown. The front door exploded into a million pieces. The fragments of wood flew around the room.

  In the doorway stood Kevin’s brother, Clay—the powerful looking version of him. He could see the differences between his brother and that shithead, Tiberius, quite clearly now. Kevin was enraged at the sight of his Grandfather. He had to play these cards right. If he was taken by Tiberius, he didn’t want to be stored in a tomb for a decade. He needed to be free so he could save his family. He needed to be free so he could be with Kayn. How had his Mother been fooled by this idiot? They were so different.

  Kevin had always been sure in a parallel universe there was a guy as good looking as his brother that wore something other than wife beaters and jogging pants or torn jeans. He would have been able to tell this wasn’t Clay for a dozen reasons. First of all, there’s no way Clay made an entrance like that. His older brother’s grand entrances usually involved a beer can crushing into his forehead or a well-timed burp. They were identical in looks but worlds apart in their mannerisms.

  Frost leaned against the railing casually and said, “Seriously … there is this thing called a door knob. The door wasn’t even locked.”

  Tiberius threw up his arms as if he was actually going to attempt to hug Frost. He teased, “Just kidding, no cuddles for you today.” Tiberius began to pace back and forth as he sighed, “I often reminisce about that last week we spent together. I get all nostalgic and shit when I think about the look on your face as I pulled out your intestines.”

  Tiberius began to pick up the pictures off of the end table and look at them. He looked at Kevin and stroked a circle with his thumb around the twins in the frame. Tiberius smiled and placed the picture back down on the table. He was attempting to intimidate Kevin without saying a word.

  Frost said, “I’m glad I could brighten up your day. It’s too bad that you never got what you were looking for.”

  Tiberius stared directly at his brother as he spoke in a disturbingly sweet voice, “I wasn’t looking for anything. It was just an excuse to have a little one on one time with you. Well, maybe I wanted to try to sleep with your fiancée, wife … What was her final title? Sorry, I know that’s a touchy subject.”

  Frost sparred, “Her final title is friend. Don’t you have any new material? Seriously, it’s been the same old pathetic you stole my girlfriend crap for a thousand years. There is this crazy thing called moving on. You should try it sometime.”

  Tiberius stared at Kevin and said, “Thanks for fixing up the kid. That’s one less thing I have to do when I take him off your hands.”

  Kevin raised his weapon and said, “Let’s go then old man.”

  Tiberius laughed, “With that little knife … Really? Should I get Uncle Frost to tie my hands behind my back to make it fair? I’m sure He has plenty of bondage experience.”

  Frost shook his head and said, “I still find it difficult to believe that you were allowed to breed. He strolled over to the massive scary looking guy that stood obediently in the doorway. He said, “You get to pick any body you want. Why in the hell would you choose to be the missing link? You look like that example of Neanderthal man on the evolution chart.”

  “He is kind of authentic Neanderthal, isn’t he?” Tiberius stated.

  The scary looking guy made a growling sound and Frost dramatically jumped back. He asked him a question, “I’m curious, does having the intelligence of a can of Spam aid in the mental recovery time after being eaten by a demon?”

  Tiberius laughed openly and said, “I’m just going to go right ahead and take this kid here and the Conduit. I will trade you for three of my partially digested under eighteens and you can find out for yourself.”

  Frost sighed, “Yeah, I’m sorry, we have an intelligence clause in the fine print to join our clan.”

  Tiberius held out his hand towards his brother and said “It’s always fun chatting with you, brother, but I have places to go and people to kill so pleasantries are over till next time, Zoolander.”

  Frost was looking at his brother’s hand obviously thinking not a chance in hell on the hand shake.

  He said, “What?” to the Zoolander reference as Tiberius sucker punched him, knocking him out cold.

  Kevin looked down at the ground and said, “You have got to be kidding me.”

  Frost now lay on the marble floor seemingly out cold.

  Kevin laughed nervously, “What the hell, Frost … seriously.”

  Where was the fight? All their traps and plans and one sneaky sucker punch and the great Frost was out cold.

  Tiberius sort of forced a smile and began to speak, “We are not going to be hugging because I’m sorry, but I don’t really give two shits about you at this point. I would really rather just kill you and chuck you in a coffin and chat later. It’s been a long day. I did hear that you have some of my abilities and that makes me feel a little warm and fuzzy for you. So if you can just come willingly it will be less traumatic for you.”

  “You really are a complete shit head, aren’t you,” Kevin said. He grabbed the landline off the side table and threw it at Tiberius.

  “Really now, you’re throwing phones at your grandfather. That’s just not very mature, young man. You do have a set of enormous balls just like your mother. I see the family resemblance.” Tiberius chuckled.

  “How do you like me now?” Kevin said as he picked up the whole side table and started swinging it at his grandfather.

  Tiberius held out his hands in front of him to block Kevin’s mini attack. He retorted, “Okay, now seriously, son, I love a good battle of wits, but you appear to be completely unarmed. No song lyrics or cheesy movie lines during a fight. It’s just wrong for so many reasons.”

  Kevin swung the table at him again.

  Tiberius grabbed it with both hands and broke it in two. Then he smiled at Kevin. Using only one hand he crushed a piece of it into a hand full of dust. He laid his hand flat and cockily blew the dust off of his palm. Tiberius said sweetly, “You’re wasting my time kid. I already have your Mother and your Brother. On a happy note, your Father is still alive, but he won’t be if he comes here looking for you three. So, the faster we all get out of here, the better Daddy’s chances are.”

  Kevin looked defeated. It was true … this was the first place that his father would look. Tiberius took advantage of Kevin’s split second of indecision. He pinned Kevin against the wall and branded him to Triad, and unceremoniously broke his neck. Tiberius turned around to tell the Neanderthal to put Kevin in the car. His back up had his throat slit and was lying in a giant pool of his own blood. Frost was nowhere to be seen. He had disappeared from his spot on the ground. Tiberius looked around the room, braced for Frost’s surprise attack.

  He hissed, “I knew you went down far too easily, you sneaky bastard.”

  Tiberius turned toward the doorway again, just in time to take an arrow to the heart and another to the head. They were not taking any chances. It wasn’t Frost who got him at the end of the day. It was a couple girls from Trinity.

  Frost walked in behind them, kicked his brother a few times hard in the head and said, “Thanks, ladies.” Usually when something comes together far too easily there is something you misread in the instructions. You find that one leftover piece and have an Oh crap moment. Frost had been around the clans, was the politest way to put it, and in the couple thousand years that he could remember he had kind of lost count of his dalliances. He did remember that one though, the curly dark haired one, had been a lot of fun a while back. He couldn’t remember her name though.
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br />   She said, “Me saving your ass today. Do you actually believe that makes us even?”

  “Right, darling, totally even … sweetheart,” Frost replied opting out of a name attempt. He had a feeling something messed up was about to happen. He wished he could remember what she was talking about, and then just as he remembered, Frost thought, Oh crap, as another girl from Trinity shot him with an arrow. Another arrow followed closely behind the first penetrating lower in his back.

  “You shot me you bitch,” Frost stammered to the girl behind him as he fell to the ground.

  The dark haired beauty said, “No, honey … karma is a bitch.”

  Frost remembered where he knew her from now. Her name was Glory and she hated his guts, rightfully so. He had slept with her, yes; he had shown her a good time but that wasn’t why she hated him. They had been in the woods and just finished when he had sort of accidentally tripped her when they were running from some demons. A little bit on purpose maybe.

  Glory and the other girls grabbed his arms and she said, “Well, tell you what, darling, I’m going to drag you and your Frenemy outside now and leave you boys to that demon. Then we can call it even.” They left Frost’s body on the front lawn. They pulled Tiberius out to the lawn and were just about to pull Kevin out when one of the Trinity named Melody said, “Awe … let’s leave the kid inside.” Melody shut his open dead eyes softly with her hand and tidied his hair.

  One of the Trinity said, “We have two shooters hidden in the trees. They will take out anyone coming through the front door. I have the back. We can buy you maybe ten minutes. Get the Girl, mark her, kill her, and carry her out the back. Thorne and a couple of the others are almost here. We have the rest covered.” The girl ran down the hallway and out the back.

  Meanwhile upstairs a seriously wacky version of Matt had managed to wrestle his way past Kayn and Jenkins. He bolted out of the bedroom yelling, “I’m free.”

  Jenkins stood in front of Kayn and said, “Think about it. Matt is deliriously happy right now. I wish I had a little of what he got shot with. If this is it, why make it all dramatic for him. He won’t even see it coming. Do him this kindness. Frost and Kevin are downstairs. They will look out for him.”

  She understood this was the final act and soon nobody may be alive to protect her brother. She looked at the clock again. He dies here today. None of the mortals would be allowed to live. Her heart clenched in her chest. Lily’s words replayed in her mind we are all immortal. Jenkins convinced Kayn that it was time to climb up through the bathroom closet into the attic. She caught him staring at one of the stray arrows from earlier. Kayn pulled it out of the wall wrapped it in a towel and brought it up into the attic with them. Kayn chucked the wrapped arrow in before her. She climbed in and helped pull Jenkins through.

  He closed the slab of lumber and sat on top of the opening and said, “Please just stay up here with me. I don’t want any more drama before I die either. They said I could protect you by keeping you in the room.”

  ~

  At the top of the stairs Matt appeared. He looked like he was foaming at the mouth but it was because he had been creatively eating toothpaste. He said, “Is it Halloween? I know who you are. You are the girl from Flash Dance.”

  Glory looked at Melody and said, “I think he just insulted you.”

  Melody teased, “You totally look like the flash dance girl. I never noticed that before.”

  Glory, the brunette with thick beautiful curls, took a step up the stairs toward Matt and said, It’s an eighties party and we are just waiting for your sister.”

  Matt laughed, “Kayn can’t go to a party today. People are fighting on the lawn. Hey, is the front door gone?”

  Melody said,” Hey honey, did somebody happen to knick you with an arrow earlier and what is that on your face?”

  Matt licked his lips and said, “Yes, they did, but I taste minty.” Matt looked shocked and he pointed at the body in the doorway and said, “Is that Kevin?”

  Melody replied, “He passed out. What a light weight. Go get your sister and tell her it’s time to go.”

  Two burly Triads ran through the missing front door. They had arrows sticking out of their backs, but it didn’t slow them down.

  Glory said, “Sharp shooters my ass.”

  The Triad rushed at the two girls that were standing at the bottom of the stairs. One of them picked up Melody with both hands and launched her across the room and into the closet door with inhuman strength.

  She slammed into it and the wind was knocked out of her for a second. “Shit that hurt, what in the hell do they feed you guys?” Melody groaned. She was a healer. She bounced to her feet. Glory was pinned up against the wall being strangled. She started throwing things at the Triad. He didn’t even flitch.

  Even in Matt’s higher than a kite state, he still had the instinct to try to save Glory. He ran down the stairs and launched his mortal toothpaste covered self at the giant ogre of a man’s back. He wasn’t even slowing him down. He hung on like he was riding a bull at a rodeo. Matt bit him with everything he had on the shoulder and the man screamed. He grabbed Matt off his back and threw him up against the wall with so much force that Matt was killed instantly.

  Melody ran at the Triad while he was in his momentary triumphant state of bliss and moved her blade swiftly across his jugular. A fine mist of his blood sprayed across the room. He staggered around for a second and went down. Killing people was still new for Melody. She froze for a split second and that is all it took for the other Triad to grab her by her shirt, and yank her towards him. He stabbed her repeatedly in the stomach. She gasped and then cried out in agony. She had to heal quickly. She screamed with rage, and her stomach wounds healed.

  The Trinity had been shooting everyone that attempted to come through the front door. One of her fellow Trinity heard her cry and ran through the front doorway to give her back up. He shot a few more arrows into one of the Triad. The Triad staggered around for a few seconds and then finally succumbed to the poison.

  The Trinity standing in the doorway said, “Sorry Melody, we need to up the dosage. They aren’t going down fast enough.”

  Melody replied, “No Shit, Sherlock, if I go down there is no point in us being here. I’m the only healer on site.”

  The Trinity grinned at her, winked and said, “Don’t die then.”

  Melody shook her head in frustration and said, “Shoot them with fifty frigging arrows if you have to, just keep those mutants away from the front door.”

  The Trinity boy chuckled, “They are all dead on the lawn. Take a peak. That was the last of the Triad.”

  Melody took a deep breath, and she felt the Trinity give her a soft jab in the arm. She said, “I just need a moment to regain my sanity. I just healed myself after being stabbed multiple times in the stomach.”

  He poked her again and she hissed, “What do you want Derek?”

  Derek pointed at the corner on the floor, Glory was dead.

  Melody knelt down beside Glory’s body and said, “This fight is going to time out before we get the chance to make a first attempt at luring the conduit out. I’ve got this, go catch up with the rest of the group.” Melody stared at her friend. When had she been killed? This fight was a shit show. She laid her hands on Glory’s chest and began to heal her. She wasn’t going to be able to heal her completely. She wasn’t strong enough yet to heal Glory and then the conduit.

  Glory whispered, “You didn’t come back to the room last night. Where did you go? Were you with who I think you were with?”

  Melody smiled and said, “Maybe, we should dispose of the bodies before we talk about my sex life. It’s just a thought.” Her best friend had been dead and the very first words out of her mouth were in search of gossip. She was hilarious.

  Glory ruffled Matthew Brighton’s hair and said, “Toothpaste boy tried to save me.”

  The Trinity dragged Matt towards the closet and they shoved him inside.

  Glory said, “
Thanks toothpaste boy” and closed the door.

  Matthew Brighton now lay curled up in the same closet that had held his mother’s body, his eyes staring off into the unknown just as his mother’s had been a year ago almost to the day.

  Proof that fate weaves a tangled web, Melody stared at the boy still lying on the floor by the doorway. Toothpaste boy had called him Kevin. This was a name that was powerful enough to alter her perception of the situation. Kevin had been Melody’s little brother’s name. He was dead, of course. All of their families were dead. She stood over him and wondered if he was the Conduits brother, or her boyfriend. She deduced that it must be her boyfriend. There was a picture of toothpaste boy hanging on the wall.

  The Flash dance girl otherwise known as Glory ran back down the stairs and said, “The room is spiritually protected for astral projection purposes. We have to get her to come out, and we are running out of time. What did the guy in the closet say the kid on the floors name was?”

  Melody said, “Kevin … his name is Kevin.”

  Glory said,” Good, we have a name. Kevin here was probably her boyfriend. This will be easy.”

  Each clan had new ones. Melody was not eighteen yet. In her heart, the death of her family was still agonizing. Melody couldn’t stop staring at the boy named Kevin. Melody had a boy that had loved her enough to give his life for her once upon a time. Melody liked to add once upon a time to a lot of her memories so she could look back and pretend that they had been just that—a beautiful story. Her life that had followed the beautiful story had become more of a nightmare. She thought of Glory’s words. This should be easy.

  Glory said, “Don’t go getting all mushy and sentimental because he has the same name as your brother. That is going to happen a lot. Get a grip. Push those feelings down Mel.”

  The boy’s lifeless eyes looked up … accusing her. Melody whispered, “You were already dead when I got here.”

  Glory said, “Please don’t talk to the dead bodies, it’s unsettling.”