by Dawn Gray
Familiar Souls
The Vampire Legacy III
Dawn Gray
Copyright 2011 Dawn Gray
Smashwords edition
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August 24.
Dear Friend:
It is with great disappointment that I write this letter to you, not as a friendly correspondence, but as an urgent plea for you to, once again, return to the safety of my home.
It has come to my attention, via a letter written from an overseas contact that I, and anyone who has any sort of blood ties to me, is in great danger. The details of this threat are, at the moment, not at my disposal, but I fear that this is not a joke, and once again, stress the need for speedy return home.
I have considered your families in this matter and have been reassured that whatever this power maybe, it wants nothing to do with your family, only your ties to me. Since I trust that you have kept your word, as I have kept mine, to keep our knowledge of once another secret, than your family will be at no risk, for they know nothing of who I am.
Arrangements have been made for you to stay, if overnight travel is necessary, at a local hotel on August 29th, otherwise you will have a private room at my home in New London, Connecticut. Please, bring only what you might need for clothing, and tell no one exactly where you have gone, only that you must go alone. I'm sorry for any inconvenience this might cause in your life, but I assure you that this is an urgent matter.
With apologetic love:
Michael De Polyneices.
Michael stood by the wall of the patio and looked out across the large stretch of green grass to where it touched the ocean. His blond hair, which reached down passed his shoulder blades, blew back in the breeze. His hands, which seemed to be clutching the wall so hard they were beginning to turn white, shook when he touched his chin.
A hand rested on his shoulder and he looked back quickly at Julian, whose green thoughtful eyes trapped his long time friend in a stare. Michael broke from Julian's trance and looked out at the yard, once more.
"The letters have been sent." Julian said and took a sip of the drink in his hand. "The carrier will have them delivered by tonight and an answer should return by evening, tomorrow." Julian paused to look at Michael's pained facial expression. "Was it really necessary to tell both of them?"
"It wouldn't have been fair to protect one and not the other. They are my life, even though it has been a while since I have gone to see them, with them actually knowing." Michael said and stepped back, then looked at Julian. "They're taking care of each other."
"They don't know the truth about the other one, how could they be taking care of each other?" Julian questioned. Michael sighed and put a hand on his hip.
"Maybe you should take the girls and Jack and leave, Julian." Michael said softly. "Ash and Lauren will only be targets when this begins. It would be safer this way."
"We're not leaving." Julian smiled at him. "This is our home too."
"Yes, and it's just been rebuilt, I wouldn't want it to be destroyed again." He sighed and closed his eyes. "Why now?"
"Because, now is the time for all prophecies to come to pass." Julian said and shook his drink, then took a sip.
"Oh, horseshit!" Michael yelled and swung his fist at the air in front of him. "You know I don't believe in all of that nonsense, why are you bringing that up?"
"I've read it, Michael." He whispered softly.
"Well, you know what?" Michael said, angrily. "Your books can go to hell."
"It's because our family is at its strongest." Quinn's voice interrupted. Michael looked over at Quinn, the younger of the two men now standing before him, and rubbed his head. "Think about it, we have Jason and Angel, Isaac and Louis, Ash, Jack, Lauren, and Cecilia, not to mention Cleo. Don't you agree that over the last two years, we have grown in size and strength? Of course, now would be the time to challenge it all. People see this as an opportunity to bring the power back to the other side."
"Okay, this I don't need to hear." Michael sighed and shook his head. "It's not that I don't appreciate you two trying to help me cope with this, but I would feel better if they were here all ready."
"Have you gotten any word on what might be going on? What threat that they might be talking about?" Julian questioned.
"No, the only thing they know is that its origins are from France and it's very powerful." Michael answered and looked up at the sky. "We don't stand a chance.”
Chapter 1
Eight Months Prior
January
The college was a crowded place and it seemed to hurt him as he stood in a secluded corner and watched the people pass by. How could he possibly make it through the rest of the day with over two thousand pulsating bodies around him? He sighed and looked at the time on his Timex watch. Time for History 223-04, a Romanian history class. This was only school in the country that a teacher was allowed to teach about old Romanian myths and legends.
He ran a hand through his thick black hair and sighed. The class room was right around the corner, no need to hurry. He watched as the last of a small crowd of girls walked in. There were three of them and they seemed to let off a power that caught him by surprise. They seemed almost uninterested in him but turned to get a second glance as they entered the classroom.
Cristian Kingston walked up to the doorway and looked around the room. He spotted a desk in the corner of the room and sat down in it. The three girls looked over at him and one of them smiled. They seemed to stay very close together. The teacher walked in and looked around at the faces of the new students. The semester had just started and everyone was new and unfamiliar to each other.
Cristian listened to the teacher call off names and waited for his, which they pronounced wrong, as usual. He sat there the rest of the class and tried to ignore the feeling that he was getting from the three girls.
Taryn McNally looked at him a couple times and then smiled at Sage Owen who rolled her eyes and looked at her new history book. Taryn was a small framed, strawberry blonde who was attracted to men who looked like the mysterious type, which was just what this new guy was and since Taryn knew his name she was going to do anything in her power to get him. Taryn loved a challenge but she thought about what Sage had told her as they walked by him in the hallway.
"Don't jump into him to soon, Taryn. I have an awful feeling he's not what he seems." Sage had told her and she hadn't even noticed Sage looking at her when she glanced back at him. However, she wasn't about to take Sage's word in vein, Sage knew a lot about strange things and had proved that her intuition was uncanny.
Sage Owen was what Madam Bodell had called ‘a natural witch’, this was odd because she had said that within seconds of meeting the three girls. Taryn pulled away from her thoughts and looked at Bobbie Morgan, whose black hair was almost as shiny as the sun and Taryn watched the colors reflect off of it. Bobbie was Sage's cousin but her witch heritage had crossed over Bobbie's half of the family. She sighed and looked down at her book once again and finally listened to the teachers boring lecture on what not to do in this class.
Cristian looked over at the girls and noticed the girl with the slightly red hair was looking at him. She quickly turned away and pretended to look interested in the class. Cristian sighed and turned back around in his seat, and that's when he noticed the young man beside him looki
ng at him oddly. Cristian stopped and looked back into his eyes.
"Hey, man, you pick the weirdest chicks to get interested in." The kid told him. Cristian smiled.
"Oh, yeah, why's that?" Cristian asked him softly. The kid laughed slightly.
"Those are the local witches, or at least one of them is. Taryn McNally, Sage Owen, and Bobbie Morgan in that order." The kid pointed out. Cristian looked over and smiled. The one who had been looking at him was Taryn, according to this kid. "Sage is the witch; they say she killed her last boyfriend by casting a spell on him to jump out the window of a twenty story building."
"Okay, like I believe that one." Cristian said and rolled his eyes. The kid smiled.
"I know. Pretty far out story, huh? I don't make them up, I just tell'um." He smiled. "My name's Chris Tanner, but most of the losers here call me Slide."
"Cristian Kingston and I'll call you Chris, all right." Cristian smiled and they shook hands. Chris nodded. "Where is the Hanson Building?"
"I'm going there next period, I'll show you." Chris replied, and Cristian nodded in agreement. He glanced over at the girls and then at the teacher.
* * * * *
I abruptly felt very strange sitting in the same room as Cristian Kingston even if my best friend wanted him. There was something about him that made my head hurt and my body tingle, which usually meant that it was something bad. My blue eyes looked at him, casually, trying to find a notch in his thoughts that I could get into. I was very telepathic from what the old woman told me, not that I believed it.
I had never felt anything like Cristian Kingston before, not since I was seven did anything come close. I looked away as Chris Tanner pointed us out to the strange new comer. I didn't trust Chris much more than a rattlesnake. I just wished this period would get over so I could get out of that suffocating room.
Lunch was normal for Bobbie, Taryn, and I. We went to meet with a small group of friends at a usual table in the student lounge, and then headed to the cafeteria for some of the day's mystery meat. I felt awkward and ate nothing for a while then picked at the half of a sandwich that I had agreed to split with Bobbie. There was a small commotion among a table of girls next to the entrance that made me look up and watch.
Taryn made an audible intake of breath and I looked at her quickly, then back at the door. Bobbie nudged my shoulder and smiled then looked at Taryn, who looked as though she were in a trance.
Bobbie leaned close to Taryn and gave her one of her less insulting phrases. "Hey, slack-jaw, wipe your chin your creating a puddle."
Taryn looked at her and elbowed her in the gut, then smiled. I smiled awkwardly and then looked up as Chris and Cristian headed towards their table. I looked back down at my book.
"Ladies, good afternoon to you." Bobbie and Taryn rolled their eyes. "This is Cristian Kingston. I'm sure you've seen each other around campus but have not been properly introduced."
I couldn't help but look up at him. "And who made you, honorary butt-kisser to the stars, Tanner."
"Sage, my lovely, lovely Sage." Chris said and sat down beside me. I looked at the three on lookers and then at Chris. "Your beauty is undeniable, but your mouth is like that of a barbarian muskrat."
"And you really do make this up as you go along, don't you?" I said and stood up. Chris gave me this shocked face. "Chris, dearest, be so kind as to drop dead by the time I see you next." Chris put a hand over his heart and blew me a kiss. I looked at Taryn and Bobbie then at Cristian. "It was ever so nice to meet you."
"The pleasure was positively all mine." Cristian said and we smiled at one another.
"Bye, ladies." I said as I turned and walked out of the room. Taryn looked at Cristian as he watched her walk away.
* * * * *
"Charming young lady." Cristian said and looked at the empty chair. "May I?"
"Please." Taryn answered and looked at Bobbie, who was sucking on a lollipop. "So, Cristian what brings you to this lonely neck of the woods anyway?"
"I needed a place away from home." Cristian said and gave her a sly smile. Chris smiled and looked at Bobbie. "Chris, here, has been nice enough to show me around most of the college."
"Hey, Brenda Miller is having a party tonight." Bobbie said and smiled at the two young men. "Maybe, you two could come. Everybody is going to be there."
"Sounds fun." Cristian replied and smiled back.
I can’t do this. Cristian said as he tightened the black belt that was around his waist. I can’t believe I’m trying to fit in with mortals. Why do I think of such things?
Cristian was looking at himself in the mirror when he caught a glance of something peeking in the windows. But, he was on the third floor, with no way to get up or around that window. He cautiously walked over and looked outside. No one was around, it was pitch-black outside.
He shrugged and walked out the bedroom door and leaving it locked and dark, just like the night.
* * * * *
I looked at the fire that was blazing in front of me and I concentrated on the flames. I knew that there was something about Cristian that set my body on fire, but I couldn't pinpoint it, couldn't quite grasp the thought. I whispered to myself, the prayers that the old woman had taught me to call upon the spirits of the Earth, the way the old Indian shamans use to, the way my ancestors use to.
I began to see things not quite real. A castle, far away from where I sat in the woods behind the college, it was dark and foreboding, towering high above the villages below from a cliff that seemed to have been hidden in the clouds. I watched the blood sacrifice and watched as the young men, three of them took blood from the shining, red alter.
I saw the sword come crashing down as it sliced the wrists of all three, a wound that should have never been able to heal in that time was sealed in a matter of seconds, right before my eyes. I knew these images to be true; I had seen them depicted in the history book that I had gotten for my new class.
I shouldn't be seeing these things. They were not for my eyes, not for me to behold, but I couldn't tear away and I watched them become worse and more grotesque. I saw them take lives, the three of them; I watched them drink the blood of their victims. I awoke from my trance suddenly, by a noise in the woods. I looked around and found that only one word would escape my lungs if I tried to call for help.
My breathing was very labored as I stood and walked around the fire in a circle, quietly praying for protection. I stopped and listened as a sound grew closer to me and I looked in all directions finally finding out which it was coming from. I turned and watched it emerge from the forest.
* * * * *
Cristian spotted Taryn and Bobbie as they danced provocatively close to one another, but they seemed to have no knowledge of anyone watching the two of them. They seemed to be in their own little world. Taryn looked over towards Cristian, as if she knew that he was looking at her, and smiled, slyly, as she and Bobbie ground their hips together, erotically.
When the song ended, the two parted as if none of their dirty dancing had ever taken place. Taryn walked over to Cristian, smiled and took his hand. Cristian looked at her eyes and was caught in her brilliance; she was the first mortal to do that to him.
"You looked beautiful out there with Bobbie." Cristian said softly in Taryn's ear as they made their way through the crowd, out into the back yard. "Do you always dance so close?"
"Bobbie and I have a special relationship." Taryn said softly and smiled. She looked at Cristian and sighed. "You're the most amazing man I've ever laid eyes on."
"I bet I am." Cristian said, softly, and touched her cheek with his fingers. "Where's Sage?"
"She's not the party person." Taryn replied. "Sage is an unusual girl."
"So, I've noticed." Cristian said and smiled. Taryn put her hands on his face, and looked into his eyes. "Don't you think we need to get to know each other first?"
"Sure." Taryn said and pulled him closer. "What a better way to start."
She kissed him softly on the lips
, then looked at him and smiled.
* * * * *
I looked into the black woods and waited, then watched as a dark form walked over to the light, and I saw his face. He was gorgeous, dark hair and deep brown eyes. He was well built, but on the shorter side, though he was taller than I was. I looked at him and smiled.
"You scared me." I told him.
"I do apologize, but, a young woman, such as you, shouldn't be out here alone." He replied. I looked at his face, and then took in his whole body. He was dressed in a black dress shirt, with a tie, black dress pants and a knee-length overcoat. I looked at him closely, as waves of danger swept over me.
"What are you doing here?" I asked him softly. My eyes narrowed in suspicion as he smiled.
"Looking for someone just like you." He replied.
"Sure, we were meant for each other." I replied, casually. "Now, tell me why you're really here."
"These are my woods; I dwell in them, live off their land, so to speak." He told me as he stepped closer to me. I could feel him now, the feelings I had gotten from Cristian were the same from this man, except much stronger. "You seem upset. If I startled you, I do apologize."
"No." I said and shook my head. "You don't need to apologize, it's just that, well, you feel like Cristian to me, but you look nothing like him." I replied. I had wanted to rephrase that, but my mind didn't seem to want to work.
"I feel like Cristian?" He questioned. "He's here, at the college?"
"Yes." I said, then looked at him and took him all in again.
"You didn't know that he was here. You're very distant from him, aren't you? What is your name?"
"You don't want to know." He told me quietly and with anger in his tone. He stood directly in front of me in a split second, where he had been standing five feet away only a second ago. "I can harm you, miss, but I don't want to do that. I want you to give into me, willingly."