Time passed with one of us occasionally making our way up to Ryan’s room to check on him. He continued to sleep throughout the day, as well as did Jade. Holly assured us that this was normal. She had both lost and received blood and been kept under the heavy sedation of Duncan’s blood influence and as such her body was exhausted. We let her sleep, and truthfully I was grateful. I needed some time to absorb what was happening.
At around eight o’clock that night we were continuing to sit around the kitchen table, not saying much from hour to hour after one of the longest days of all our lives when the sound of several sets of footsteps made themselves known in the yard. We all exchanged a look. None of us had to peer outside to see who it was that had come to pay us another visit.
“Aries is here,” I said. “And he’s brought the herd with him.”
“Let them stay out there,” Gavin said in disgust. “This is none of his business.”
Holly snapped. “I know you hate the man Gavin, and with good reason, but there’s not any way you can sit here and seriously think this is none of his business. I’m going outside to talk to him. He might be able to give us some idea of what to do because, let me tell you, I am lost here.”
Holly stood and I followed her outside, leaving Gavin and Duncan alone at the kitchen table.
“Aries,” she greeted him.
“Holly,” he said in return. “How is he?”
“Not well I’m afraid. He hasn’t turned, not completely anyway and he’s transforming into something I’ve never seen before. I believe he’s some kind of hybrid. If you have any suggestions on what to do I’d like to hear them, because believe me, I’m stumped.”
Holly seemed both exhausted and exasperated and as desperate for answers as I was.
“Give him to me. I can take him down to the Changing Springs. Whatever is happening it might not be too late to stop it and undo what you have done. The water might heal him.”
“The changing springs?” I asked.
“Yes, little one. When it is time for one of us to join the herd the young one is submerged into the springs. His fever is washed away and he is born anew as a brother to us. It might not be too late.”
“What do you think, Rachel?”
I hesitated. I didn’t know what to do. This was easily the most difficult decision I’d ever faced and I wanted to make the right one. It was looking more and more like I was going to lose Ryan from my world and I didn’t want that loss to include him having to give up his life as well.
Before I had a chance to make up my mind there was a commotion from upstairs. It was Jade and she was screaming.
Chapter Six
In a matter of seconds we were upstairs in Jade’s room and witnessing a horrible sight. Ryan, now awakened, had made his way into his baby sister’s room and was holding her forcefully on his lap as he clamped down on her neck. He let go and lifted his head upon our arrival and blood poured openly from the wound. Jade, so small and helpless, had passed out and was in danger of bleeding to death within moments if we didn’t get to her.
I took a step forward and attempted to get to my children to separate them. Ryan uttered a primal territorial growl. Jade was his and he had no intention of letting her go. Gavin came around me and grabbed Ryan by the neck, restraining him so that he could not continue to feed and I grabbed Jade from his arms whisking her to the other side of the room as Gavin and Duncan continued to restrain him. He was incredibly strong and it took Duncan a good few minutes to hold him still and put him back under into sleep.
Jade, bleeding profusely in my arms was still alive, but barely. Holly held the wound between both hands forcing the skin together. He had not just bitten, but had taken a large chunk out of her neck. Holly licked the wound forcing it to close. Had she been in the presence of human doctors she would have been dead within moments. There would have been no way humanly possible to save her from what Ryan had done.
I listened to my tiny little girl’s heart. It was still beating but faintly. Holly laid her down onto the blood soaked covers and ran for her medical supplies. “I’m going to have to transfuse her again. I just hope we have enough.”
Duncan took the now unconscious Ryan back into his room and rejoined us to watch as Holly attempted to save Jade’s life. Holly took the remaining blood that she had secured to transfuse her in the first place, she hadn’t used all of it, and ran a line.
“Will the little girl live?” a concerned voice said from behind me. I hadn’t noticed until that very moment that the satyrs had joined us when we’d run upstairs.
“I honestly don’t know,” Holly said.
“But you can turn her if you can’t save her, can’t you?” he asked.
“No.” Holly was adamant. “If she can’t survive on her own we’ll have to let her go. She is much too young to be turned.”
“You must give him to me,” Aries said to us. “Before something like this happens again. Let me take him to the Changing Springs. It may not yet be too late for him to be what nature intended. If it is, I will do the thing that needs to be done.”
Gavin began screaming. “He’s my son, not yours! If something like that needs to be done I’ll be the one to do it. He’s mine and I’ve loved him all these years.”
Aries, gently and bravely, took a step toward Gavin, speaking softly as he did so. “I know you have, and you’ve done well. A better father for the child I could not have asked for, but, that time has come to an end and you must do what’s best for him. I can perhaps save the boy, you can’t. You need to let me try, for his sake.”
Gavin was about to protest when I stopped him. “We have to think of Jade now. We’ve been so desperate to save our son that we’ve put the life of our daughter in danger. He’s right, Gavin. As much as I hate it, he is.”
I motioned for him to follow me quickly and we went down the hall, his large hoofs echoing sombrely on the hardwood as I took him to retrieve Ryan. I bent down, kissed his forehead and whispered, “I love you. I’ll miss you.”
Then Aries took my sweet boy effortlessly in his arms and carried him out of the room. I followed him out into the hallway and watched, Gavin at my side as the satyr king whisked my child out the front door, and out of my life.
Gavin put his arms around me and at the same time we both fell to the floor and cried.
Part Four
Aries
Chapter One
The satyr ran as fast as he could through the woods toward the camp, the weight of the boy heavy in his arms. There was no time for pomp and ceremony as there usually would be when a young boy was joining his father, and besides, there were not enough left of them to do it properly anyway. Given the circumstances all he could do was pray that the fever Ryan still had was enough to satisfy the gods. Truth be told if he did survive it would be nothing short of a miracle.
He could not fault Rachel and Gavin for doing what they did. A child was the most precious thing of all and the loss of one could kill as surely as any deadly disease. He couldn’t fault Rachel no matter what she did. He knew what she was planning all these years, that she was going to do whatever she could to keep the boy with her as opposed to letting things happen naturally, but he never let on. He stayed as far away as he could so as not to upset the balance of things. For now Rachel had a mate, and a jealous one at that. He couldn’t say he blamed him. If only he was a king of a people who permitted him to take a queen, Rachel would be his. She was exquisite in ways he couldn’t explain. From the moment he saw her in the woods that first night, all those years ago, he knew he needed her. Bedding different mates who didn’t remember you, let alone remember they had birthed a son for you, was surprisingly lonely.
“Hurry,” he shouted as he passed the others. “We have to get to the spring. I have a feeling there isn’t much time.”
The five other satyrs jumped up and followed him, running, all of them, hoofs pounding on the ground, their strength sending vibrations through the earth. Once there Aries wasted no
time.
He waded into the stream and held Ryan there, submerging all but his head in the water as the others formed a tight circle. Then he began offering prayers. In other ceremonies he had thought of the prayers as just a formality, a part of the tradition they carried out as it was a given that as long as they got to the boy in time he would survive and join them. This one was anything but certain. The prayers now were uttered aloud by all of them in desperation and fear.
Ryan began to breathe heavily, his eyes rolling back in his head as he did so, skin reddening even more than it already was. A moment later he was overtaken by sporadic convulsions. Terror surged through every part of him. Aries had never seen this in any of the boys he’d held in his arms as they transformed and so for a few moments he was sure his son was dying.
“Brother, son, warrior,” he pleaded. “Stay with us. Let us keep you.” Ryan’s arms flailed about in the water now, as if some part of him was fighting the incredible change. He opened his mouth and Aries saw something he hadn’t noticed before. His son was sporting two jagged fangs and as he fought the sharp teeth made their way into his bottom lip, drawing blood.
He was indeed a crossbreed and those fangs had been what had caused the damage to his younger sibling. “Please,” he whispered as he lifted Ryan out of the water slightly to cradle him up against his neck. Aries could tell that the boy was big and strong, but as he lay there thrashing in the water he seemed frail.
“Please,” he said again. “Let him live. Let him be one with us. Let us save him and keep him.”
As if by some miracle just then, Ryan let out a cry and opened his mouth. The two pointed fangs fell out into the water and right before his eyes two normal teeth grew back in their place. Then, as always happened during the transformation, the large bumps that were forming on the skull broke free and a pair of majestic circular horns developed in their entirety. Aries felt the pride that only the father of a newly born child can feel. He looked at him with wonder. Ryan was magnificent, a miracle, and would be a mighty addition to their too small herd.
He walked up out of the water, accompanied by the others and the eldest among them came alongside, touching his hand to the boy’s forehead and spoke the words that had been spoken since the beginning of their kind.
“Who is he, this boy, now a man who will join us? What is the name of our brother?”
Aries puffed out his chest proudly and spoke the name of his son for the first time. Not the name he had been given at birth but the one he would now hold forever, his true name. “Heras is his name.”
“Welcome Heras,” the old one said.
“Heras!” the group shouted out loud.
Aries kissed the top of the boy’s forehead and then carried him back to camp where they lay him on a bed of soft fur blankets. The group gathered round, sitting in a small circle for a time, burning incense and offering more prayers. The rest of the transformation would be relatively easy as Ryan would be unconscious for a while. When he woke, if all was normal, he would want to eat. Normally there would be a feast but given their small number a humble meal would have to do. After a time the rest of the group left to hunt. The small group meal would probably consist of rabbit, or perhaps deer if they happened to run across one and of course, wine. Whatever it was the others would take care of the work of preparing it to welcome him. For now it was just he and his son at camp. He had been waiting for this day for so long. To have his precious creation, a piece of his glorious mother, with him now and forever was overwhelming. When he was sure he was alone, Aries lowered his head to the boy’s chest, let out a wail of relief and began to sob.
Chapter Two
The hunt was over and their humble feast was slowly coming together. Despite their small number and modest meal it was a happy time for the group. A new brother had officially come to join them, something that hadn’t happened for many years and by all accounts wouldn’t happen for many more. There was only one other child in the community who would transform and be with them in the years to come, but that was at least a decade in the future.
The rest of the group worked and engaged in happy chatter while they did so as Aries sat vigil. There was no way he was leaving the boy’s side until he awoke. He was allowing himself to become excited now. Thoughts of everything they would do together, everything he would teach him, ran though his mind. He would be a great hunter, a great swordsman, and someday, a just and benevolent leader to take his place. This was his flesh and blood, his heir, and even if he had another child he was sure this one would be the most magnificent of all. How could another even possibly compare? Aries had never seen such a fine specimen. The boy had grown during the transformation and was now at his full height of about seven feet. His hair had grown down to the halfway point in his back, long and black just like his mother. His hands were even larger than they had been and at the sight of this Aries was particularly proud. His son was a fearsome and beautiful creature and he felt as though he was about to burst with pride as he looked upon him.
His thoughts were interrupted when the flap to the small shelter opened, letting in some of the moonlight and warmth from the nearby fire. It was Ramsay. For some reason he hesitated to speak.
“What’s the matter? Out with it.”
“Nothing’s the matter, my king. Rachel is here. She wants to see the boy.”
No wonder Ramsay looked puzzled. A satyr mother seeing her son after he’d transformed was highly unorthodox to say the least. Aries was surprised as well because he had always known when she was looking for him. His connection to her after mating with her was strong and he had always managed to find her before she could find him. Even when he decided not to head her off at the pass so to speak, he always knew she was coming.
“Let her in,” he said.
With that Ramsay stepped aside and Rachel entered the enclosure. His heart broke for her as it was easy to see that she’d been crying. As they’d been celebrating and giving thanks for the boy, Rachel had been grieving for his loss and for all he knew, facing the imminent loss of the girl. He wanted to take her in his arms and comfort her, but he knew that to do so would be disrespectful, and perhaps only compound her sorrow. He backed up so that she could kneel down beside the boy, who was now a proper man, and take his hand. There were no words spoken between them for a long time. She simply sat with her son for what he was almost certain would be the last time.
“He must look very foreign to you,” he finally said.
She nodded but kept silent.
“This is the way he is supposed to be, and I promise you Rachel I will nurture and guide him for the rest of his life. He’ll never be alone.”
“I know,” she said in a whisper.
A silent tear fell from her eye as she took the boy’s hand, laying it against her cheek. Her sadness was palpable and Aries wanted nothing more than to reach out and take her in his arms. As he was feeling pride she was trying to let go.
“This child is a beautiful and wonderful gift, Rachel. You don’t look upon him with regret, do you?”
For the first time since entering the tent Rachel turned to look at him. His heart was filled with fear at the prospect of her answer and for a moment he regretted even asking the question.
Finally she said, “Not for a minute.”
Her voice broke and Aries finally found the courage to place his hand on her shoulder. Her eyes softened as he did. “I hope you have forgiven me.”
“I wouldn’t worry so much about my forgiveness.”
He knew to what she referred. “Gavin still wants to kill me.”
“I’m afraid he does. I’m not sure that I can stop him. He’s in so much pain.”
“I know it’s hard to believe, Rachel, but I understand. I really do.”
“I don’t know if you truly can, since you have him and we are now without him.”
“But for many years it was the opposite. For fifteen long years I lay awake at night wondering about the boy, although not for a momen
t did I ever think he wasn’t in good hands. You were a superb mother, and Gavin a wonderful surrogate.”
“Well, don’t let him hear you say that. To Gavin; Ryan is his son, not yours. He doesn’t consider himself to be a surrogate anything.”
She stood. “I shouldn’t be here when he wakes,” she said her voice barely a whisper. It was evident that she was stating something to herself that she already knew. That it would be too painful for him to wake, see her, and not recognize her at all.
“What can I do? How can I make this easier for you? I desperately want to.”
She turned away and opened the flap, then stepped outside into the night. Aries followed and both of them were now able to stand at their full height. She turned to face him. “You can stay out of sight. I’ll try to convince Gavin that hurting you would be a bad idea. Ryan might be transformed but I think he’ll need you now more than ever. Once he’s awake move your camp again and keep moving until some time has passed. I’m sure I can convince him to see reason, but it might not be for a while.”
“I understand.”
She turned away from him and flitted off without warning, the trees rustling in the whoosh that she left behind. He knew he wouldn’t see her again for a long time, if ever, and he felt his heart breaking at the thought. For a long moment he stared at the spot where she’d stood and even contemplated going after her, but then a noise sounded from inside the enclosure. A gasp and small cough. Ryan was awake.
He stepped back inside and saw his son, his head in his hands at first and then spotting his lower body a look of fear crossed his eyes. Hooves and goat like calves had replaced his legs and he reached out, touching them with his hands, exploring his new body. Then, he seemed to notice something about his head. Something that made him want to touch it and reaching up he found his two ram like horns. They were fine and strong. Smaller than they would be once he’d reached full maturity, but still, one of the biggest sets of horns Aries had ever seen on a ‘newborn’. He couldn’t help but burst with pride all over again.
The Vampires of Soldiers Cove: Sacrificial Children Page 14