Lure of the Night

by Bethany Knox

  There were wild animals there, wolves, but I wasn’t frightened of them, they seemed more frightened of me. I ran through the trees, suddenly I was out in the open, there was a bustling airport and I just walked onto the runway. An airplane came in to land and stopped right next to me. A couple of hundred people got off but they didn’t see me, they just walked right past. They were almost all men, there were perhaps four women, all dressed in black robes with veils. Then one of the men turned around to look back at his companions and my blood froze. The Grand Master. But he hadn’t seen me, he walked along with the others and they faded into the distance. Someone came around the airplane and walked towards me, it was Ethan. I ran to him and he held me tightly.

  “Claire, they are here, you must warn the others.”

  “The Medusans, here in Canada?”

  “Yes, they’ve located the ranch. Somehow they have knocked out our communications system so I couldn’t warn the others, it was just by luck that I found you in your trance.”

  “Is that what this is, Ethan, a trance? I’m not asleep in my bed at the ranch?”

  “No, you are still at the party in the barn. When I leave I’ll wake you up, you must go back and warn them.”

  “How will you wake me up?”

  But he had gone, faded away. It was just me, standing on an airfield next to a passenger jet. There was nobody in sight and everywhere was deserted. Then I felt a sharp jolt, as if my insides had been churned in a blender and I was back in the barn, surrounded by my new friends who were looking at me with expressions of astonishment.

  I remembered the Medusans. “I have to go, my family and friends are in trouble, the people I’ve been hiding from are coming.”

  Rafe Thundercloud didn’t even flinch or blink. “Are there many of them?”

  I thought back to my dream. “I think about two hundred.”

  He nodded. “We will get you back to your home to warn them all, in the meantime I will get my people out to help.”

  “But why, why would you do that? It’s not your fight.”

  “Do you not recall the ritual of blood? You are now of us and we are of you. Your fight is our fight.”

  I shook my head. “But Rafe, that’s not fair, your people could get hurt.”

  He smiled. “We’ve been getting hurt for hundreds of years, we’re used to taking the knocks. But as I said, it is no longer a choice for us, you are of us, your fight is ours. We are sworn to protect our own. Daniel, Zeke, take the truck and go with her back to her home. We will follow you later.”

  Two young men of about mid-twenties stepped forward. The first shook my hand. “I’m Daniel, looks like we are your bodyguards.”

  The other guy stepped forward and shook hands, introducing himself as Zeke. They led me out of the barn and we got into a truck and raced away. I dreaded what I would find when I got back, but the ranch was all quiet. I raced through the front door shouting, Daniel and Zeke came behind me. Everyone looked up in alarm.

  “Claire, what’s the matter? Who are these people?” Megan asked.

  “They’re looking after me. Listen, there’s no time, it’s the Medusans, they’ve found us, they’re on their way!”

  The room erupted into action and Ulysses started shouting orders.

  “Guy, unlock the guns and make sure we are ready, the rest of you start packing, we will need to leave. How long do we have?” he asked me.

  “I don’t know, I’m sorry. It was all in a dream message from Ethan.”

  “Right, we’ll have to assume we haven’t got long. We can be out of here in two hours, I hope that’s enough.”

  I went up to my room and packed my precious laptop, the only possession I really had these days. Then I went back downstairs. The house was boiling with activity, cases brought down ready, guns being checked, loaded and stacked against the wall. Zeke went to look out of the window. When he spoke his message was chillingly final.

  “You’re out of time, they’re here.”

  I rushed to the window. A long line of four-wheel drive SUVs was driving along the track towards us, there were at least ten of them, behind them were three large buses, laden with people. Silence descended on the ranch house, everyone stopped what they were doing. We were trapped.

  “The float plane,” Dad said urgently to Ulysses. “We can get her out on that.”

  “No, we can’t,” he replied, an embarrassed look on his face. “The fuel pump stopped working yesterday on the flight back here. They only barely managed to land. We’ve ordered a new pump, but until it arrives that plane is going nowhere.”

  “So what do we do?”

  “We fight, that’s all there is left.”

  The Medusans finally arrived in the yard at the front of our house. Their vehicles made a huge, solid barrier to stop any of our cars from escaping. They got out and advanced to stand in a wide ring around the house. There were, as I had seen in the dream about two hundred of them. Four of them stepped forward carrying axes and sledgehammers and they approached the house. Four more followed them, carrying hunting rifles. Our men slammed the shutters closed and picked up their own guns ready to fight to defend our home. And to defend me. Then we waited for the blows to start hammering on our log cabin. None came. We waited some more and still nothing happened. Ulysses lifted a shutter and looked out. We all heard him gasp.

  “What the hell is going on?” I heard him say. “There are more of them, many, many more. Where did they come from?”

  I looked out. Although it was dark I was able to see quite clearly. Outside of the ring of Medusans was a much larger ring of people, maybe two thousand of them, it was an incredible sight.

  “They’re not Medusans, they’re Indians!” I shouted.

  “What are they doing here?” Dad asked me.

  I explained to him about the ceremony.

  “So you are part of them now?”

  I nodded. “Apparently, that’s what they said to me. Dad, they are great people, they really mean it. I honestly think they are here to protect me.”

  There was a loud knock at the door and we all jumped, but a voice called out to us, “It’s ok, it’s Rafe Thundercloud.”

  Ulysses unlocked the door and looked outside. He was alone. “Come on in, Rafe.”

  The Indian stepped into the ranch house. He looked slowly around at all of us.

  “I see. You are all the same as Claire, you are all of the vampire tribe.”

  Ulysses started to protest but Rafe held up his hand.

  “No, do not try to deny it, we do not feel threatened by your kind. We would never listen to the old nonsense about running around at night and kidnapping people for their blood. We have had similar tales told about us over the years. We know who you are and what you are. We are here to help. What would you like us to do?”

  “Help us get rid of these invaders, they are called Medusans, by the way.”

  “Are they vampires too?”

  Ulysses shook his head. “Not exactly, but they’d like to be.”

  He briefly explained to Rafe why they were here, to kidnap me and enslave me as a brood mare for their future generations. Rafe’s expression darkened.

  “Then they are foul creatures, we will certainly do everything we can to help rid you of them.”

  Rafe opened the door and called in five of his people. They stood and talked to Dad and Ulysses about how best to deal with the Medusans. In the end, they nodded agreement and went to open the door.

  “What’s happening?” I asked Dad when he came over to speak to me.

  He smiled. “The Indians are coming to an arrangement with our people. They are going to take over the whole of the ranch as their tribal territory. That gives us government protection. They are also going to designate it an ancestral site, which will mean that the Medusans are absolutely forbidden from coming anywhere near here. If they do, they could wind up with long prison sentences. Claire, when you formed an alliance with these people you certainly made some powerful frie
nds. It is strange, almost as if it was pre-ordained. Did you have any idea what you were getting into?”

  I shook my head. For a time there was a standoff. Eventually, when the agreement was finally sealed we opened the door again, the Medusans still standing there, waiting silently to seize an opportunity to attack. At the front was the ominous figure of the Grand Master. I remembered with horror that time in the cell when I’d thought that he was about to rape me. Now, he was seething with anger. Good, tough luck, buddy. This girl’s not for the taking.

  “If you think you can get away with this, you are very wrong. We will wait here until you hand her over to us. We are not leaving without her. Do not think your friends will protect you, if necessary we’ll fire the cabin to get you out.”

  As he was speaking, we heard the sound of an approaching helicopter. He looked around in alarm. It flew nearer and in the lights of its fuselage we could see the emblem of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the floats slung underneath the cabin. The chopper settled down on the lake near to our float plane and the pilot steered it to shore. Two Mounties jumped out and walked up to the house, glancing around the huge crowd. They both nodded to Rafe Thundercloud.

  “Rafe, what’s the deal here, we had a report of a mass land invasion?”

  Rafe explained about the people who had come onto tribal Indian land.

  “We thought it was private land, Rafe.”

  “No,” he replied. “That is only an agreement between our tribe and those we allow to stay here, they have connections to our people, we are related by blood. These people,” he indicated the Medusans, “came in their vehicles to cause trouble. To be honest, we are not sure what they want, maybe they think they can steal our land. Whatever it is, it is to cause trouble. We want them to go.”

  It was clever. Without admitting any weird tales of vampires, Amstrydae and Medusans, he had painted the Medusans as simple troublemakers, perhaps land grabbers. For their part, they could hardly admit that they were here to kidnap me. It was an elegant solution. The Mounties went to speak to the Medusans, we could see the Grand Master talking quickly and gesticulating at us. He grew heated, we could hear what he was saying.

  “Of course we have permission to enter Canada. No, we do not have our visas with us. We are citizens of Greece in the European Community. No, I know that does not entitle us to enter Canada, but…”

  “Sir, for the last time,” the Mountie said loudly. “What are you doing on Indian land without a permit or their permission, and what are you doing on Canadian soil without being able to produce valid visas?”

  There was more arguing, then the Mountie’s stern voice rode over them. “I am putting you all under arrest prior to being deported from this country. Do not go near your vehicles until my people are here to escort you away. Now stand still and shut up! If any of you are holding weapons, put them down or you may be shot.”

  We waited for two hours until truckloads of additional Mounties arrived. They shepherded the Medusans away in their vehicles. It seemed like a miracle that they had gone.

  “Rafe, you and your people have been fantastic, we’d have been lost without you,” Ulysses said. “If you ever need our help, we will be glad to give it, anytime. You only need to ask.”

  “It is no problem and I will bear your offer in mind,” he said. “I think you are safe now, our people need to get home.”

  I saw Mrs. Thundercloud, the Principal, push her way to the front of the crowd, she came up to speak to me.

  “You make sure you are in school in the morning, Claire.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” I replied. And I would, too.

  It occurred to me that it was the first time I had spent in any school without snotty kids hitting on me. Now why was that? The crowd dispersed and we started to take down the defenses and put away the guns. I went to bed, I felt safer, for the first time in a long time. Not completely safe but better than I had felt in a long time, safe enough to fall into a deep sleep. Ethan came to me. He stood before my bed, the same Ethan, my Ethan, dressed as usual in his jeans, t-shirt and black sneakers.

  “Claire, you did well tonight.”

  I looked up startled, then relaxed when I saw him there. “Yes, well, my new friends did well. Thank you for warning us.”

  “No problem. Hey, look, it’s cold out here.”

  I smiled and pulled back the bedclothes. “Come on in, then, but this had better be a dream.”

  He laughed, “Yes, it is a dream, I’m back home in the USA.”

  He climbed into my bed and I held him tightly, letting the warmth of his body smooth out the jagged edges of my soul, left raw by the endless fear of attack by our enemies.

  “When are you returning here, my darling?”

  “Soon. My work is almost finished here.”

  “How long will you stay this time?”

  He hesitated. “There are many more problems facing us right now. I will stay as long as I can, but when I am needed I will have to go away again.”

  “What kind of problems?” I asked him.

  “Claire, the Medusans won’t just give up. We need to keep working to find a permanent way forward to stop the endless battle between us. We were lucky this time, the next time it might not be so easy to stop them.”

  I didn’t recall that it had been so easy to stop them this time, but I said nothing.

  “Be patient,” he continued. “Your powers will grow and soon you will become very strong.”

  I didn’t want any powers, there was only one thing I needed. “Hold me, Ethan, hold me tightly, I want my body to melt into yours.”

  His arms tightened on me and I felt the tension and fear drain away. I knew then that I would either have a life with him, or I would have no life at all.

  I had no idea then what the future would hold for me, or for my people. They said my powers would develop, maybe they would, maybe not. I had the ability to see in the darkness, perhaps there I would develop no further powers, or would I? What I needed right now was the ability to see into the future, but no one had that second sight, did they? I had a sudden thought flash, I was on a hilltop, surrounded by hundreds of my people. Below, there was rank upon rank of Medusans, more than anyone had thought possible, threatening to attack. What a strange vision, where had that come from and what did it mean? I shivered.

  I decided that I could only live my life one day at a time. Whatever the future held for me, where I would live, even in which country, I had no idea. Dad had left me once, would he go away again with Megan? And Mom, I needed to talk to her desperately, something didn’t fit, of course she’d tried to betray me but the last time I’d spoken to her I’d sensed her wanting to tell me something, what was it? I had a hundred questions, a thousand. And so far, only one answer, only one thing in my life that I could rely on, the rock I knew would always be there for me. Yes, I did have that.

  Ethan.

  *****

  The procession of vehicles drove over the bridge and crossed back into the USA. The immigration officer checked their passports and visas, but each had a valid visa for America, issued in Greece, part of the European Union.

  “Welcome back to the US,” he smiled at the older man in the passenger seat of the lead vehicle. The Grand Master just nodded, unsmiling. He turned around and passed the documents to the veiled woman who sat quietly in the back seat.

  “Take care of these, Najat. We will need them again when we leave the USA.”

  “Are we going home, Grand Master, back to Greece?”

  “Yes, we need to make a new plan. The Amstrydae are not the only people who can recruit allies, I plan to raise a force that can destroy those filthy vampires forever and we will take that girl for ourselves. Then we can have their powers and live forever.”

  “Will that mean us women as well can live forever?”

  “No.”

  “Why are the Amstrydae so filthy, Grand Master?”

  “What? Be quiet, Najat, you ask too many questions for a woman,
I am growing tired of your nagging voice. Otherwise I shall get myself another wife, perhaps two, I will force you to act as their servant.”

  “I apologize deeply for offending you, Grand Master.”

  “Just remember whose property you are,” he grunted. Then he spoke to the driver.

  “Who do you think we should approach? The Columbians, the drug people?”

  “Yes, Grand Master, they would be a good choice to destroy the Amstrydae.”

  “Yes, I think so too,” the Grand Master said, “I’ll get someone to contact them.”

  Behind him, Najat listened carefully to everything that was said. Were not the Columbian drug lords really filthy, why were her people even contemplating working with them? Wasn’t it time now to make her escape from this life of misery? But then she would not be able to warn the Amstrydae and that pretty young woman could suffer a horrific fate. She remembered her own rape in the bed of the Grand Master so many years ago. It was not a pleasant memory. The pain still came to haunt her in the night.

  No, she would stay with him for now and just watch them.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10