"You've been through a lot Alec. You have the right to feel upset and mad." Silas let that sink in for a moment.
"Young vampires feel things very strongly. Strong emotions can be hard to deal with at times. Just don't let them overwhelm you. You are in control. Not your emotions," Silas said and put his hand back on the steering wheel of the car.
"I know," Alec began, not knowing how to put his feelings into words. "My life has never been normal. I just want to be normal like everyone else," he finished lamely.
"Normal?" Silas laughed. "Whose life is normal around here? I'm a vampire that's thousands of years old. I've seen kingdoms rise and fall. I've seen the birth and death of generations." He shook his head. "Is that normal?"
Alec thought about it for a moment.
"I guess it's not completely normal," he said smiling despite himself.
Silas did laugh then.
"Alec, normal is subjective. Normal for a common, ordinary human is not being able to jump from a fourth story fire escape without injuries. For you it's completely normal. Some people have the voice of an angel when they sing; some can paint so realistically it brings a tear to your eye. You…you can do extraordinary things that no other person on the face of the planet can do. That's normal. You should be proud of who you are. I know I'm proud of you."
Alec lowered his eyes to the floorboard feeling ashamed again.
"What do I do if the council decides to end my life?" Alec asked. Silas could tell he was afraid it would come to that. Who wouldn't be scared in the same circumstances? He’d been trying to keep Alec busy to take his mind of the impending meeting.
"The council member in me says give in to what the council says. But," and his voice became fierce, "the man in me says you kill anyone that tries to take your life if that's their course of action."
Silas's hands were gripping the steering wheel so tight his knuckles were white.
"That's off the record of course," Silas finally added.
Alec laughed feeling a little better. "Of course."
They drove on for a while longer, Alec actually now enjoying the beauty of the countryside, or what he could see of it in the moonlit dark. He'd never seen the ocean so he was completely blown away when it finally came into view. All he could do was stare at the beautiful silver water and the waves as the moon shone gently down on it. It was breathtaking.
After about another hour of driving, taking regular roads, then gravel, then dirt, they finally ended up at the edge of a forested bluff overlooking the ocean to their left.
"This is where we start walking," Silas said turning the car off and unbuckling his seat belt.
Alec followed him out of the car and to the trunk, where Silas unlocked it. Inside were the refrigeration units that Alec had seen earlier. They weren't overly large, but one would have been almost too much for a human to carry; and Alec counted four, two for each of them. Alec just wondered how far he would need to carry them.
"Normally, Jacob's supply is delivered by helicopter. They fly in, lower the order and leave. Since we are meeting him, I thought this might be the better way of doing it. Besides, I wanted to be outside for a while. I need the break." Silas smiled at Alec.
Alec completely understood. With everything going on, it was nice to be out of it all where only the two of them mattered. No drama, no attempts on his life, he hoped, and no one to run from. Alec actually felt freer than he had in a while.
Silas grabbed two of the refrigeration units out of the trunk, the other two were for Alec. It took a couple of tries for Alec to burn blood but then he was lifting the other two heavy units from the car. In that moment he realized something. What Silas said was true; this was normal for him.
"I'm not going to lie Alec. The path ahead is not easy. We are taking the shortest route to Jacob's, but it's a long trail and there are obstacles." Silas grinned at him. "I'm quite certain that you are up to the task or I wouldn't have chosen this route."
Alec grinned too but something occurred to him.
"How am I going to see in the dark? I can only see you right now because of the trunk light but after that…" he let the sentence die off.
Silas chuckled. "Has Marcus not shown you how to see in the dark? I know you two have been training."
Alec blushed.
"No, he didn't train me in that particular aspect of being a vampire. He only trained me how to hear things from afar."
Silas thought for a moment.
"Okay, what you want to do is open the irises of your eyes. You don't want to open them too far. But there is enough light out there for your eyes to work by."
Alec looked confused for a moment wondering what he was talking about.
"You have the light of the stars for one thing." Silas watched Alec process the information. "And when it's completely dark with no light, you can use the heat of a person's body to see by."
"Really?" Alec asked incredulously.
"Yes," Silas said chuckling.
Alec concentrated and tried. Nothing. He tried again. Again, nothing. He just wasn't sure what to do.
"I can't seem to make it work," he said frustrated.
Silas thought for a moment. What seemed to work for Alec? Silas closed the trunk of the car, shutting off the light, and pulled something from behind him.
"Okay Alec, I have a knife in my hand and I'm going to throw it at you." Silas sounded very casual but Alec knew he wasn't joking. He licked his lips nervously.
"Wait, give me a minute…" Alec saw Silas cock his arm back. Then with a quick flick, he threw a knife directly at Alec's head. Without warning, his world burst into light. He could see everything; the trees, the road, the leaves blowing in the wind. Without thinking he grabbed the knife out of the air, a mere inch from his left eye. He could see Silas grinning from ear to ear.
"What did you do that for?" Alec asked, annoyed.
Silas laughed. "I read Doctor Schubert's report. When threatened you act on instinct. Can you still see?"
Alec looked around. It was weird to be honest. The colors were completely different. Everything seemed to be bathed in silver light, but he could see as easily as he did during the daytime. He looked up at the stars, the source of the light and had to squint and throw his hand up against the glare.
"Yeah, I can see," he said blinking tears out of his eyes.
"Good. You ready?"
Alec nodded.
"Can I have my knife back, please?" Silas asked holding out his hand.
Alec handed the knife back to him and Silas secreted it away somewhere on his person.
"Ready?" Silas asked, and picked up two of the heavy refrigeration units.
Alec easily picked up the other two.
"Of, course."
Silas started off into the night with Alec following closely behind him. Alec was amazed at the quality of his vision using only starlight as a source for light. Silas had started out slowly at first, to give Alec time to adjust and make sure he could keep up but after a few minutes he began speeding up. After a while Alec was leaping fallen logs and chasms, dodging around huge mounds of earth and ducking the whipping branches that sped past. He was enjoying himself immensely. He almost felt guilty about his abilities and the fact that he enjoyed them but he reminded himself that no one had to die for him to be able to do the things he did. Well, no one but Clarissa, but that hadn’t been his fault.
Once they came across a black bear foraging with her cubs. She sniffed the air searching for their scent and stood up on her hind legs and roared. Without missing a beat, Silas jumped over her head, followed by Alec and they quickly left the mother and the cubs behind.
After a while, Silas began to slow and finally he stopped. Neither he nor Alec was panting for air. Silas looked around, found what he was searching for and motioned with his head that Alec was to follow. In the distance Alec could hear falling water and realized they must be close to a waterfall.
A few
more yards of walking and Silas pushed through a dense set of branches. When Alec passed through them he stopped and his breath caught in his throat. They stood at the edge of a deep gorge on the opposite side of where the falls emptied through the split and into the river below. What had taken Alec’s breath away was the beauty of the falls under the stars. The water looked like molten silver and shone brilliantly as it passed over the lip of the gorge to plummet the hundreds of feet to the river below. It was one of the most beautiful things that Alec had seen. He was certain, however, that this was not the reason that Silas had stopped.
Before them a rockslide had taken out a part of the narrow lip of the gorge they were standing on and a huge chasm lay between them and the opposite side.
“This wasn’t here the last time I came through,” Silas said thinking. “It was barely a trickle. The rains must have caused this.”
“Let me guess,” Alec began dryly, “on the other side lies our path.”
Silas turned to regard Alec.
“Of course,” he said smiling. “How far can you jump?”
Alec leaned around Silas to take a look at the gaping hole left by the rockslide. It was at least fifty feet, if not more.
“I can jump it,” Alec said a little nervous. The other side was a bit narrower than where they stood. The slide had done a great deal of damage to the path they were traveling.
“Here’s what we are going to do,” Silas said, sitting his double burden on the ground. “I want you to jump across and then I’m going to toss you the refrigeration units. Just set them aside and then I will join you. You up to this Alec?” Silas searched the young man’s face for fear or uncertainty.
Alec licked his lips and nodded.
“Yeah, I can do it.” He set his own units down on the pathway and walked to the edge to look over the chasm that he was about to jump. It was a long drop if he missed his mark. The chasm didn’t go all the way to the water but if he missed it would mean a bad landing for him and either a long climb back up or a huge jump, and that was providing he didn’t break anything major and take a while to heal. He wasn’t exactly sure how quickly he healed and he really didn’t want to find out.
“Take your time, Alec. Don’t rush yourself. Just make sure you land safely on the other side.”
Silas walked up behind Alec and put both hands on his shoulders and squeezed reassuringly.
“To be on the safe side you might want to jump further than you think you need to in order to make sure you land safely on the other side. You can even get a running start if you think that will help.”
Alec took a deep breath and nodded. Silas removed his hands and stepped back. Alec made sure he was burning a sufficient amount of blood and before he could change his mind, he squatted in place, took a breath and flexed his legs under him pushing him forward and up. Burning blood always caused time to slow for Alec and he tried not to think about the empty space beneath him that seemed to be inching by slowly. After what seemed like forever, Alec landed squarely on the other side, exactly where he’d aimed. He turned to smile at Silas and found him giving him two thumbs up.
Thankfully Alec was burning blood or he’d never have heard what Silas was saying. He nodded his head that he was ready and Silas tossed over the first refrigeration unit, which Alec caught easily and set behind him. Once all four were across, Silas hurtled the chasm easily and landed right beside Alec, and clapped him on the shoulder.
“You did great.”
Alec mumbled thanks and then the two men picked up their burdens and continued on. Silas started out slowly like before and sped up as Alec adjusted. They didn’t travel as quickly as before. The trees were thicker here and their limbs blocked out more light. Alec could still see easily enough but moving much faster might have meant they missed something important.
They traveled easily and without incident for another half hour before Silas slowed again. This time he stopped and turned to Alec.
“We are here. Remember, let me do the talking to explain who you are and why you are here.”
Alec nodded his head once and they shoved through the thick foliage and entered a circle of land with only grass. To Alec’s left he could see the ocean and the fat moon that had crested the horizon. It was beautiful. Jacob had certainly picked an amazing place to become a hermit. Alec had been so busy staring at the ocean and moon that he almost missed the huge mansion to his right. It looked like something out of a movie.
As Alec and Silas drew closer Alec could see that it was beautiful. It was several stories high with balconies supporting open arches on the second floor. Alec bet the view from there was breathtaking. It looked a lot like some sort of castle or cathedral in its build. There were even gargoyles looking down from the edges and from the balconies.
Silas walked towards the large hulking structure and to a door that was in the back, middle part of the building. He set the refrigeration units down and pressed a button that was beside the door. Alec didn’t hear anything but after a moment a voice came over the intercom above the button.
“Can I help you?” A deep voice asked.
“Jacob, it’s Silas. I have your delivery and…a surprise.”
The voice on the other end of the intercom was quiet for a moment.
“Silas, you know I don’t like surprises.”
“I think you’ll like this one,” Silas said reassuringly.
They waited for a moment in the darkness for someone to come to the door and open it.
“Alec, you might want to change your vision back to normal so that the lights in the house don’t blind you. It can be quite painful.” Silas smiled at him.
Alec concentrated a moment and felt his vision go back to normal and everything darkened around him. The door opened suddenly and Alec and Silas were bathed in warm, golden light. Silas picked up his refrigeration units and walked into the house, followed by Alec. They entered some sort of storage area and sat the heavy units in front of them. Alec was a bit nervous, not knowing what to expect.
Standing in front of them was a young man that looked to be in his late teens. He was clean-shaven and his dark, curly hair was long and almost stood out around his head like an Afro. His eyes were almond shaped and dark brown and his skin had the same dusky hue as Marcus’s. His eyes were narrowed and looking at Alec. The look wasn’t hostile, but it certainly wasn’t inviting.
“Silas, who is this?” Jacob asked in his deep voice. It was odd to hear such a masculine voice coming out of such a young looking man.
“Jacob, this is Alec Carson.” He waited a moment for the name to sink in and saw recognition spread across the man’s features.
“The Alec Carson?” he asked surprised.
Silas nodded and Alec blushed.
“Please come in,” Jacob said and motioned them further into the house.
“What about these?” Silas asked motioning to the refrigeration units.
“I’ll take care of those later. I’m sure you are thirsty.” He didn’t wait for an answer; he started off through the house with Silas and Alec in tow. They had entered through what looked like a storage area and followed Jacob down a small hallway that opened into a huge kitchen with an island in the middle and a hearth on the far side. There were candles lit here and there throughout the kitchen and very few electric lights were on. The kitchen looked like something you might find in an Italian villa, minus food, cookware or anything cluttering the long counters.
Jacob went to a cabinet and opened it to pull out several glasses. Two of the glasses he took over to some sort of silver dispenser sitting on the counter near where a stove should be. He pressed several buttons and held the glasses under them as warm red liquid poured from the nozzle. He kept turning to look at Alec like he wanted to make sure he was still there. As soon as the liquid began filling the glass Alec could smell the warm irony tang of blood. Jacob handed one of the glasses to Silas who took it gratefully and held the other toward Alec wit
h a question on his face. Alec tried not to look nauseated and only shook his head no.
“I apologize but the only other thing I have to drink here is water, which you are welcome to if you like.”
“A glass of water would be awesome, I’m really thirsty,” Alec told Jacob and watched as he went to the kitchen sink, turned it on and filled a glass with water. He handed the glass to Alec and watched curiously as he took a sip.
“So you really don’t drink blood?”
“I eat regular food and drink regular drinks,” Alec said awkwardly and downed the water.
“Interesting.” Jacob led them through the huge mansion to a candlelit sitting room that was very open with comfortable couches against the walls.
“Not that I’m upset mind you, but would you like to explain what Mister Carson is doing here? I’m sure he didn’t come all this way just to help you carry supplies.” Jacob sat and motioned for them to make themselves comfortable.
Silas looked at Alec who nodded his head for him to explain.
“Alec has some unique questions about what it means being a vampire. He wants to know if he still has a soul and if he’s damned for all eternity,” Silas began.
“And you thought that due to my experiences I might be able to answer some questions for him.”
Silas nodded his head. Jacob stopped and thought for a moment.
“I’ll tell you what,” he said narrowing his eyes at Alec. “I propose a trade. I’ll tell you my story and answer your questions if you will tell me yours and answer mine.” Jacob sat back and sipped the blood in his glass.
“That sounds fair,” Alec said and clasped his hands in his lap.
“I’m sorry if I’m intruding. Silas has told me you respect your privacy, but I have questions that only you seem to know the answer to.”
Jacob waved away his apology.
“It’s fine Mister Carson. You’re one of the few people that Silas could bring here and get by with it. I’ve wanted to meet you since I first heard about you, I just didn’t think I’d ever get the opportunity.”
“Please call me Alec.”
“Thank you Alec. I keep up with the things that go on in the world around me and you’ve been quite the talk of the underworld as I like to call it.” Jacob smiled showing perfect white teeth. There was something about the exotic way Jacob looked that made him beautiful.
Shadow Born: Book 1 of the Shadow-Borne Chronicles Page 27