Bloodlines Trilogy

by N. A. K. Baldron

  To her relief Lance spoke first, "We need to report your moped as stolen."

  "What?! I can't do that, I need it!"

  "Don't worry," Lance smirked. "We can get you a new one. We can even get you a car if you prefer."

  "It's not that. If I report it as stolen, my Aunt Jackie will flip."

  Lance stood and paced around the living room.

  He really doesn't like to sit still.

  He stopped at the mantel and looked at the few photos that Aunt Jackie had up. "Why are there none of you?"

  "My aunt and I don't get along. That's her in most of them."

  "You said you need to fight the Aether Walkers?" Lance asked, "How do you expect to do that?"

  "Well, I figured you'd teach me how to change."

  Lance put the photo he was looking at back on the mantel and returned to the couch. He kept his gaze focused on the bookshelf, rather than Kandice.

  "That's not possible," Lance's voice was monotone and soft.

  "Why not?" Kandice scooted closer to him on the sofa. "Just teach me how to use the magic y'all were telling me about."

  "If I did that ..." he stared into Kandice's eyes.

  Chills ran down her spine—Lance's eyes were turning black at the edges.

  "You would never be the same," he continued. "It's not something you can turn on and off. Once you become an oboroten, shifter. You'd be a different person."

  "I can't go back to fighting them as I was. Not now, I've seen how they kill. I didn't know they could be that large or vicious. I thought that night my mother died was a fluke. A horrible accident. They eat people!"

  Lance sat, unmoving. Kandice watched—waiting for him to speak—but he sat staring at her, unflinching.

  "Even though they killed my mom, I thought I had over imagined their size," she paused, weighing out her next words. "I lost everything but my brother after that night. Vengeance is the only thing that keeps me going."

  "You will never find the one that killed your mother. And even if you did, you wouldn't know the difference. Could you spend your whole life killing?"

  Lance pulled a flask out of his jean pocket and took a large swig before offering it to Kandice. She shook her head no.

  Lance took another swig, "Every time I kill one of them, I also kill a man, a woman, even a child. I know what I told you last night, but I don't believe Slava about Them not being human. I think he taught me that to make it easier to kill, but I can't force myself to lie to you. The truth is no one knows what They are."

  How could they be Aether Walker and human at the same time? What if the human appearance wasn't to draw in their prey, but who they were?

  Aether Walkers appeared human to others, but to discover they might be real humans was too much. The shock must have shown on her face because Lance moved close enough that their knees bumped.

  "Slava and I have worked many years to fight them. My mother died because we failed."

  "I'm so sorry─"

  He raised his hand. His eyes turned black as he stood up and took another swig from his flask. Constant drinking made her uncomfortable and brought back painful memories of her father. If Lance became drunk while in their house, it would be hard to explain to Blake or worse her aunt. After dealing with her father's constant drinking, there was no room for alcoholics in her life.

  Lance paced around the room again, while Kandice bounced her leg.

  "I know what it's like—" Kandice said.

  "No, you don't," he muttered. "You watched your mother die. Slava and I had to kill ..."

  He left the living room, headed for the front door.

  Damn it.

  This leaving her with more questions than answers each time they met had to stop!

  She pleaded with him as he stepped onto the porch, "Please, don't leave,"

  "I can't help you. If you don't want to report your moped as stolen, fine. If the cops contact you, just explain what you saw. You might get taken in, but they'll let you go. You were just a witness. They might not know you were there."

  "Lance, please. I need your help. I have to learn how to fight like you, whatever the cost."

  "Goodbye, Kandice," his eyes were jet-black.

  The sound of finality in his voice told her not to push it. Her mouth had gotten her in trouble again. She tried to speak, but no sound came out.

  Fuck!

  She stood at the door—overwhelmed with emotion—as Lance drove off in his tiny truck.

  She'd blown it!

  Instead of being the gracious host her mom raised her to be, she had pissed Lance off enough to leave. They shared a connection—the pain of their parent's death—sharing should have lessened it for each of them, not push him away.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Thursday, September 1st

  AFTER HOURS SPENT DELIBERATING, Kandice rolled out of bed and marched down the stairs. Blake stood in the kitchen drinking his morning iced tea.

  "What time did you go to bed?" Kandice walked behind him.

  "What were you doing last night?" He pointed an accusing finger at her.

  "Don't you know it's rude to answer a question with a question?"

  "I'm worried about you," he put his empty glass into the dishwasher. "You're gone at all hours of the night."

  "Just trust me," she took a drink of her own glass of tea. The bitter lemon shocked her brain wide awake. "I'm not doing anything illegal, or dangerous. You wouldn't understand if I told you."

  "I'm your brother," Blake leaned against the counter close enough to hug her. "When we moved here after dad died, you agreed that it was me and you against the world, and that no matter what, we would stick together."

  "It is me and you versus the world, but this is one thing you can't help me with."

  "Try me. I know you think you need to protect me, since I don't talk about mom, but I can handle it."

  Kandice sat down on a barstool and tried to ignore the list of pros and cons for telling him. It had always been in her long-term plans to explain the Aether Walkers to Blake, but when he was ready to handle the shock. Not today. The last time she'd tried to discuss what happened to their mother, Blake shut down for days and wouldn't even be in the same room as her.

  She took a deep breath to calm herself.

  Here goes nothing.

  "What do you believe about monsters?" Kandice asked.

  "What the fuck, sis. I was trying to be serious, and you ask me about monsters?"

  "I'm serious Blake, I need to know what you already think about them."

  Blake sighed, "I guess you mean how all of mankind has a monster inside of them, that if not kept in check, would cause us to become a barbarous race that killed for the pure pleasure of it. And how that's why, when there is a major crisis, people loot and rape?"

  "Random direction to take it, but sure," Kandice looked at the counter between them, trying to find the words.

  No matter how she phrased it, it would sound crazy, "What if I told you that those monsters inside mankind were real?"

  "What?" Blake asked.

  He looked confused, but she pushed on, "I can see monsters. When you see a person, sometimes I see the monster that occupies the person, if there is one to see. I call them Aether Walkers."

  Blake stared at her with a blank expression.

  He's holding his breath.

  The silent tension stretched on between them for more than a minute. With every second, Kandice grew more nervous.

  "So, monsters?" Blake let out a deep sigh, "You're telling me you see monsters everywhere?"

  "Not everywhere. There are only a few of them compared to the number of people on earth, but some people aren't as they appear. The Aether Walkers are able to look like a human to everyone else. I only see the monster, never the human shell, except in photos."

  "What the fuck, sis?" Blake shook his head, "That was a good one. You had me going, but tell me the fucking truth. I want to know where you go, not a crappy sci-fi story about monsters."


  "I call them Aether Walkers. And it's not science fiction. It's what I've been working on sin-"

  Kandice stopped talking—the truth about how their mom died had almost slipped out.

  He isn't ready for that...

  The conversation was treading a fine line—any miss step would send him back to the hospital. Her words didn't save her earlier with Lance. They might not work now.

  Lance! That's it!

  Another person out there saw and fought them alongside her. Blake had to believe her if Lance confirmed her words.

  "So ..." Blake paused, "Monsters?"

  Kandice came back to the conversation, "Yes. I'm telling you they're real. I can see through their human disguise."

  "What does that mean? What did you mean when you said they can occupy humans?"

  "Well. They look like normal humans to everyone else, but when I look at them, I see their true form. There are several kinds. Not all of them are very dangerous. Most only feed on human life force a little, but some will kill."

  "And you see these everywhere?"

  "There's not enough to be everywhere," Kandice said, "but I see them when I'm in different areas around town."

  Before Blake could respond, she interrupted him, "I need to tell you something. I want you to listen before you react."

  "You mean you've got something crazier to tell me than this shit? Lay it on me."

  "Okay," Kandice paused, trying to find the courage and the right words. "Okay, so the night mom died."

  "Mhum," Blake grunted and looked down at his feet.

  "Well, mom didn't die the way you think she did."

  "What?"

  "Mom didn't die from a car crash."

  The moment Kandice uttered the words, Blake's eyes widened. He looked up from his feet, into her eyes. There had to be a way to get this out for him to understand without losing him again. His stare was defeating, the table was her only constant to get through the next sentence.

  "A fucking Aether Walker murdered Mom," she said.

  Silence hung in the air. Kandice kept staring at the table, waiting for him to say something, anything. She looked up, and Blake stared out the window.

  "Say something," she pleaded.

  He kept looking out the window, "I don't know what to say. I mean... Why didn't you ever tell me before? I spent a year in that hospital, and you never told me."

  "I didn't want to make things worse. And you never wanted to talk about her."

  "No!" Blake looked back at her. He met her eyes, "You don't understand. I had dreams. Horrible, vivid dreams. I kept seeing something nonhuman attack Mom. The doctors told me it was PTSD, and that my mind was manifesting a monster because the trauma was too much to handle."

  "What? You never told me you saw an Aether Walker."

  "That's the thing. I don't remember that night, except from my dreams. You say you see these Aether Walkers everywhere. I didn't see them until I got out of the hospital, but I'd rather die than go back, so I stayed silent."

  "What did you see in your dreams?"

  "It's hard to describe. It looked like a massive octopus, almost. The eyes. I can't forget the eyes. They were purple and shaped like those of a fly. Instead of arms, it had large, green tentacles with claws, and that's what it shoved into mom's chest."

  Tears shimmered at the bottom of his eyes. Kandice moved from her chair and hugged him tight.

  She kissed his forehead, "You're not crazy. I saw it too."

  Blake looked up at her and pushed her back, "Why the fuck... Why didn't you ever tell me?"

  "I told you, I didn't want to make things worse. For the longest time, I thought I was crazy. After that night, I saw them everywhere."

  "You should have told me!"

  "You could have told me. Why didn't you? Why wouldn't you ever talk about that night with me?"

  "They locked me up!"

  Blake paced around the kitchen. The intense heat radiated off him.

  "The doctors told me I was losing my mind," he said. "It took so long to get out of that place, and I only did it by agreeing that it was only a dream. I thought about telling you the truth, but I was too afraid of being sent back."

  Kandice embraced him, "I'm so sorry. It's not your fault. I'm sorry."

  Blake stood up and hugged her back. They held each other for over a minute before Blake sat back down and wiped the tears from his eyes. Kandice sat and took a large drink from her iced tea. Relief flooded over her.

  "I need to see this guy named Lance again. Him and his grandfather might know why she died. They know a lot more than what they've shared with me."

  "Is he the boyfriend you keep sneaking out to see?" Blake asked.

  "No, for fuck's sake, I don't have a boyfriend! I've only met him a few times. In fact, last night was the first time we spoke. He was here this morning, but I made him mad and he left."

  "When? While I was asleep?" he asked. "Not cool. How can you trust him already? This shit is so fucked."

  "I can't explain it, I just do. He has the answers I need, and I will get them out of him. I promise I will find the fucker who killed our mom and kill him."

  "Promise me one thing," Blake pleaded.

  "Name it."

  He froze and looked her in the eye, "When you find him, I get to help kill him."

  Kandice's whole body shivered. It wasn't her brother before her—his eyes had never been so bright with determination. It scared her to think he was ready to kill someone. The joy in his voice at the prospect of killing unnerved her. A documentary about serial killers flashed into her mind, and she shivered all the more for it.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Friday, September 2nd

  WHEN THE MORNING CAME AROUND, Kandice decided to blow off school. Fuck the group presentations, her fellow group members could do it without her. There were more important things to worry about than college.

  Kandice pulled into her old driveway next to a small silver Honda, more of a go-cart than a car.

  How often do they change out vehicles?

  When she knocked on the door, Slava opened it as if he had been waiting at the door.

  "Hello, is Lance here?"

  "No," Slava said. "Please, come inside."

  Kandice followed him inside, and Slava closed the door behind her. His English surprised her, though the accent was unmistakable.

  "Would you like a drink?"

  "No, thank you. It's still early for me."

  He offered her a seat in the living room, and she sat on the sectional. Slava poured two drinks from the vodka bottle on the coffee table, but Kandice refused his offer to join in.

  "To your health," he said, as he finished the small glass in one drink. "I understand my grandson spoke with you yesterday."

  "Yes. He left upset, and I wanted to talk to him again."

  "Lance ..." he paused, as if searching for the right words. "He has a temper. It runs in our family."

  "He was very insistent that I get a new bike, but I don't see how that would solve anything. I think it would cause more problems if I report it stolen to the police."

  "We will handle the Politsiya," Slava said. "The stolen bike idea was one way to handle it, but there are many others. If you want to keep the bike that is fine."

  "Why was he so mad then?" she asked. "He left in a hurry and seemed hurt."

  "In the motherland, Politsiya are criminals. He has never forgotten that. It's hard for him to remember that here, they play by a rule book. Any time there is a rule book, there are ways to get around it."

  "I still don't understand why he was so mad," she said.

  "My grandson likes you," he said. "It has been a long time since he could talk to someone. I am not always the best company. Besides, you are a beautiful woman."

  "Thank you," Kandice blushed, and looked at her feet.

  Slava waved his hand—dismissing the gratitude—as if what he had said was a simple fact. He wasn't hitting on her, but it was flattering to hear him state
her beauty in the same tone he might state the weather, as if her beauty were an undeniable fact. Kandice found Lance attractive, but she hadn't considered that he felt the same—or how it might affect his judgment.

  "Do you know when Lance will be back?"

  "He goes out in the morning and comes back for lunch. We have spent years together, and we both need space from one another."

  "How often do you run into someone else?" Kandice asked. "I mean, there have to be more of us out there, right?"

  "We know several families in Europe. They go back as far as our family, and for generations we have worked together. However, here in the states, we have only met a few people who can see as you do. We have yet to meet an established family."

  "Really!" she was on the edge of her seat. "How far back does your family go, then? Surely there are families here doing what you do."

  "We can trace our ancestors that could see the Nechists back to the 10th century. However, there are families in Europe who can trace their lineage back to before the fall of the Roman empire."

  Kandice sat motionless—anything to not break the moment. Slava looked out the window while she tried to process what he told her. It was surprising that there were families, thousands of years old, who knew of Aether Walkers.

  "How long have the Aether Walkers existed?"

  "They have been here as long as we have. Some think they were here before us, and that our ancestors were their prey."

  "That's absurd," she said. "We're not animals. We can't be prey."

  "Look at history. Given the age of the earth, we are rather new. However, we have come far in a short time."

  "If they were here first, how would we have grown to a large population?"

  "This is only a view that some hold. There is not a record of our history that far back."

  Kandice was in awe of the magnitude of the Aether Walker's history, but her questions were becoming invasive to his privacy. There were still so many to ask, but she needed to learn the lesson of not prying too deep. The emotional outburst from Lance still stung.

  Her phone showed 11:30.

  The awkward silence that developed between them was too much to bear and after a prolonged minute she stood to leave, "Please tell Lance I stopped by."