Dark Temptations

by Eric Alan Williams

  “What’s an iPhone 5?” Xairin asked.

  Damien rolled his eyes. “A phone that I gladly sent flying out a window into a watery abyss.” He shrugged. “It was a smartphone, thanks to the iPhone 5, I became an android fan.”

  “Oh, okay, I get ya. So… What exactly is the deal with the brides' thing? You know, the three women everyone talks about?” Xairin asked curiously.

  Damien smirked. “Helena, Lulia, and Evette, well for starters, they were the first vampires I ever made, and secondly, admittingly, I am polyamorous. I don’t like limiting myself, and I just feel I honestly can love more than one person at the same time when it comes to intimacy.”

  Damien slyly grinned. “There is also Lucy, she and Evette don’t get along, which makes things chaotic at times.”

  “You know?” Xairin asked. “I have read the book Dracula, by Bram Stoker. How much of that is even real?”

  Damien laughed. “I met Bram in an Irish pub. One of a few mortals I liked. I enthralled him, even offered to turn him, but… He was one human that made it past my better judgments. He was a hunter, trying to basically go undercover to out the vampires of Ireland, England, and Scotland. Anyhow. Some of his writing is true. I’m from Romania, I went to London, I even fell in love with two women there. Lucy and Megan. He changed that in the book to Mina. As for Megan, however, she was another hunter. Anyways, to make a long story short. Stoker, stoked the fires so to speak with his literature. His book sold, he used the money to fund The Stoker Fraternity, and that is that.”

  “Is Van Helsing real?” Xairin asked.

  Damien shook his head. “Nope. Nothing more than a name created for Bram’s alter ego as a monster hunter in the novel. Bram formed his little monster hunting club, and for a time, was decently successful in killing some of us. They managed to infiltrate several different Immortium houses and tried to destroy us from within.”

  “One of my few mistakes. I couldn’t read him, something about him, made him resistant to our mind-reading abilities. Even as a thrall, it was difficult.”

  “Why is that?” Xairin wondered, asking curiously.

  “To this day, I still have no idea.”

  “What happened to them? This Fraternity?” Xairin asked.

  Damien looked out the window, then at his grandson. “Bram had it in his head that I was patient zero, of the vampires. To put it simply, he met Lilith. His entire order crumbled in a single night. Though... There have been rumors of one or two making it out alive.”

  “What did Lilith do?” Xairin asked.

  “Do you remember seeing your mother pull the blood from her rivals in mid-air?”

  Xairin nodded.

  Damien grinned and shook his head. “Your great grandmother kicked in their front door, waltzed in, and drained the entire house in that very manner within seconds.”

  “Okay, so I have a question that has been really bothering me?” Xairin asked.

  Damien looked at him curiously. “Shoot?”

  “If we have all these powers, then why the heck are they not being taught in basic training at the academy? I don’t get it… Wouldn’t it be more effective to make sure everyone can do everything they can, instead of our powers just happening on the fly, or waiting until your House gets around to teaching it?”

  Damien nodded. “We have talked about it at council a few times, but the main focus has been strength, agility, and hand to hand combat for now.”

  Xairin smirked at him. “That stuff is all fine and great, but what the hell happens when you run into a conclave member that knows how to use their powers?” Xairin sneered at him. “I will tell you exactly what you’re a sitting duck…”

  Xairin's voice inflection grew. “I never knew I could do a bat cry, and I almost killed some of my teammates when I did it. I didn’t know I could slip, thankfully I can, or else I would have been eaten alive. I also didn’t know I could phasewalk, again I am thankful that I have this power because it saved my butt too, but these powers happened when I didn’t expect them. I don’t exactly feel being ignorant of abilities is effective, in my opinion. Why not add an extra week to basic and have a solid week of power introductions?”

  Damien looked as if he was in deep thought. He looked at the passenger in front of him, then looked over at Xairin. “All valid reasons. But to be blunt, Omegas make up the largest base of our sentinel recruits. Omega are rarely are even capable of developing powers, other than the basics of inhuman senses, strength, and agility. Delta’s sure, some power development begins, but it isn’t on the level that you have.” He looked at him deeper. “You’re not like the others at the academy Xairin. You are unique in so many ways.” His eye contact with Xairin became more intense. “There has never been an Immortal quite like you before. You were a dhampling, who also carries the sensitive gene, that was made into a pureblood by the bat that bit you. Your very vampiric heritage has the blood of two powerful Grand Alpha’s flowing in your veins, and then made pure, stronger, by that bat bite. Truthfully Xairin, you’re different.”

  Damien eyed the driver, then the guard in front of him, then returned to Xairin. “Never before in our known history has a half-blood, or a thin-blood been converted until you, your mother Cecilia, and her brother Vaughn.”

  “Now second-generation thin-bloods, sure, that can happen, but never a first-generation thin-blood, and definitely never a half-blood, in any of the Immortal races.” He sighed. “If we had known, that a bite from a creature that originated the first purebloods, in the first place, could convert our half-blood and first-generation thin-blood descendants, we would have never killed them all off,” Damien said with a firm voice.

  Damien adjusted himself in the seat. “We don’t teach powers to omegas, sometimes deltas, because they’re blood may not be ready to handle it. When you start teaching powers before someone is ready, you run the risk of their blood controlling them. There are several dark temptations that our blood can urge you into if you’re not ready to resist it.”

  Now Xairin was overly curious, it was a good distraction for where he was going. “Okay, now what the heck do you mean by dark temptations?”

  Damien shrugged. “Our blood sometimes has a will separate from our own. As if it had its own mind apart from ours.”

  Given that Damien lived a life where everything was out in the open, that and Xairin taking a walk in his mind, he felt comfortable around his great grandfather. He decided to open up about something. “After I made it home, after quarantine, I felt a connection to that bat that turned me. I went to save a group of people from being killed by her.” Xairin let out a drawn-out sigh. Damien could tell Xairin felt some remorse over something, the look on his face was evident with it. “I got cocky in the ruins of New York and got bit by a ghoul. It threw me right into a blood fever.” Xairin looked at Damien. “I killed two scavs. It was as if I had no control whatsoever. I felt like I was a passenger in my own body, looking out the windows, while something else was driving me around.”

  Damien was impressed in one aspect that Xairin had survived a ghoul bite, on the other hand, he knew what it felt like to kill someone and not mean to. “You never really get over it, taking innocent lives.”

  Xairin huffed. “I don’t think they were that innocent; they were killing other scavs for supplies, but still, I know what you mean. I still remember the look on their faces when I went all Nosferatu on them.”

  Damien nodded. “Immortals, be them an Immortium, or an Aeonian… If we attempt to use powers before we are ready for it. Our blood can overpower our own will Xairin. Part of the reason we focus on physical training first. I will, however, take your concerns under advisement, and if other Immortals new to the academy are demonstrating above the norms, then maybe a special class could be arranged.”

  Xairin agreed. “I didn’t realize our blood could just take control. I get it now.”

  Damien looked out the window as the black flying Broncho continued onward to the funeral Xairin was attending. Dam
ien watched the lively city below, transition to a lush green forest. Xairin seemed quiet.

  “Our blood can tell us things, help us when we need it, but it can also control us if we never learn to control it first. We used to call it the beast when we thought we were something else before the magic was taken out of what we are, and we realized our existence is nothing more than some Alien science project.”

  “Alien science project?” Xairin asked.

  Damien nodded. “Something that the Global Alliance and our Society of Night, have agreed to keep secret, for the time being. You see, the comet that arrived. The pieces that fell to earth, well, those fragments were more than just fragments. The encasements, containers continuing the Aeon Strain. All the research points to them being synthetic and placed in that comet… Someone…” He pointed up with his pointer finger to his left hand. “Someone out there made it.”

  Xairin’s jaw dropped for a second. “Are you shitting me?”

  Damien chuckled, “No, I am not… Shitting you.”

  “Why is the G.A, and The Society, keeping that quiet?”

  Damien looked over at Xairin. “It is hard enough for humans to accept the fact that we exist, even harder for some to grasp that we are the result of a galactic infection, it would be even harder for many humans to accept the fact that the Aeon Strain was created. They would think it was some form of Galactic biological warfare.”

  “Could you imagine the amount of panic that would grip the minds of the less educated, the prejudice, and just the masses in general?” He sighed. “An individual is usually easy to speak to and bring to terms with things, people, however, feed into the energies of hysteria. It would generate more fear among the humans Xairin if they knew an alien race, or just some aliens, in general, was out there playing God, or making bioweapons…”

  Xairin nodded. “I guess I never thought of it like that. It does make sense. There is already enough hate and prejudice in the world, we absolutely don’t need any more of it spreading. Hate is one of the worst diseases this world has.”

  Damien nodded. “A disease that never goes away. Like any virus, it evolves. I have lived to see people hate others for their religion, the color of their skin, their gender, who they want to be with, and our kind.”

  The conversation helped keep Xairin’s mind off of where they were going. He didn’t even notice when the black vehicle landed. When it stopped, the driver, a man wearing black sun goggles, turned around. “We’re here.”

  Xairin’s heart began to race. He looked outside to see a cemetery, a large one. As far as his eyes could scan, headstones were guarding what lay beneath them. Surrounding parts of the cemetery, were flowers, gardens erected to add natural beauty to the landscape. In a way, it seemed peaceful here.

  “Are you ready, Xairin?” Damien asked.

  Xairin looked over at him. Through Damien’s side, he could see people walking along a path from the parking lot. His eyes zoomed in, locking on to a few faces he recognized through the tinted window. He saw Lucretia, out of drag, and dressed in a suit and tie. Lucretia was a handsome older bald man. The masculine look surprised Xairin. “Sure…”

  “Do you need me to stay with you?”

  Xairin thought about that for a moment and returned a stuttering reply. “Actually, yeah, if you don’t mind.”

  Damien kept close to Xairin as he walked along the path. Damien’s two guards kept their distance.

  Over two hundred people were gathering around a burial plot. The hovering tent, propelled by blue laser lights, was an easy indicator as to where everything was happening. Xairin wasn’t surprised at all at how many were here. His close friend was a well-liked person.

  Xairin was surprised to see a face he hadn’t counted on. The robotic smile of a robust droid, dressed in a suit, standing beside a certain detective was waiting on Xairin to get there. K2 wasted no time in walking over to Xairin as he got closer.

  “Hello, Xairin.”

  Xairin broke down and started crying. He instantly reached out as K2 hugged and held him for a moment. K2 patted the back of his head and rubbed his back in a consoling way.

  K2 didn’t say a word at first. He just held Xairin tightly. The droid knew precisely how much his friendship meant to him, having an emotion chip even made it hard for K2.

  “I’m so sorry about Rory, Xairin.”

  Xairin started crying a bit louder. “I can’t believe this happened K, I just can’t…”

  “He was the first friend I made when we got our own place. He was always there for me. He was a good person, K2.” Xairin held onto the droid. K2 pat his back.

  Damien was keeping his distance. Hearing Xairin from twenty feet away through the other conversations transpiring, he realized that was the droid Xairin missed. He noticed the detective approaching with his head lowered. Damien kept a watchful eye.

  “Xairin, how are you holding up?” Ezra asked.

  Xairin looked at Ezra. Part of Xairin was furious with Ezra and his colleagues. He couldn’t understand how these horrendous killers had gotten away without any clues for so long, he just couldn’t understand how these people, had managed to murder so many. It if wasn’t enough in what they had done to him, now they had taken one of his best friends from him. Xairin wanted to lash out, but he just grits his teeth instead. “How do you think I am holding up?”

  “Do you have any more leads yet?” Xairin said through his teeth while trying to compose himself.

  Ezra didn’t need sensitive powers to know what Xairin was getting at. He could see his fangs retracting back and forth. “We can talk another time about the case Xairin.”

  Xairin tried not to growl, he decided not to let anything physically change. His ears kept trying to become pointed and could feel his skin itching all over, trying to take on his Nosferatu form, but he managed to hold it back. “Perhaps later would be best,” Xairin said.

  K2 let go right as Ezra walked off. “You shouldn’t be so hard on him, Xairin. I can assure you; he is doing everything he can to track these killers down.”

  Xairin looked up at his blue scaled droid’s face. “This is Rory K… Rory… Rory didn’t deserve this.”

  “And you taking out your frustrations on an Interpol agent battling some very tech crafty and not to mention cyber-savvy serial killers isn’t helping,” K2 said.

  “You’re right,” Xairin said.

  “Are you still happy about being there with them?” Xairin asked.

  K2 nodded. “I miss you, but I am happy where I am until you are ready.” The droid looked into his eyes. “Aside from what happened to Rory, are you okay?”

  Xairin cried out, laughing with tears streaming down his face. “My mom’s been alive this entire time K2, she left us so she could just hide away with my grandmother in Hawaii.”

  “Cecilia is alive?” The droid looked shocked.

  “Yep, living it up in Hawaii, while we were here struggling. Dumping me in foster care, and you in that storage unit. “

  “How is this possible, Xairin? This does not sound logical based on the data from the accident.”

  Xairin leaned in, attempting to whisper. “I will tell you how… First, did you know my mother wasn’t fully human?” Xairin looked around. “She was half-vampire, she freaking regenerated.”

  Damien appeared out of thin air right beside Xairin. Xairin instantly felt a tug on his shoulder. “Xairin, there are other immortals here.”

  Xairin looked over his shoulder. K2 looked at Damien. “Who is this?”

  Xairin rolled his eyes. “Long story short, my great grandfather.” Xairin looked back. “Dracula, meet K2.”

  Damien scoffed as he dropped his hand to the side. “Damien, I don’t feel comfortable with that old name.”

  K2 extended his left hand to shake. Damien obliged the droid. “This is unexpected, but a pleasure.”

  Xairin looked at K2. “Just nod, did you know?”

  K2 looked as if the droid could panic. His black metal scales seeme
d to ripple across his face. Finally, the droid nodded. Xairin’s eyes couldn’t get any bigger. “YOU WHAT?!”

  Damien quickly stepped around to eye Xairin in the face. He was trying to calm him down. “This is not the place for this Xairin.” He looked to the sides. He noticed one person paying attention, a person, dressed in a shimmering white dress, with a blond wig. The makeup they had on was superbly done, making her convincingly enough to just about anyone. If it wasn’t for the scent being unmistakably male, and not someone transitioning, even Damien could have mistaken her for being a real woman. Damien eyed the drag queen carefully. He could see fear light up in her eyes from even behind her stylish sun goggles, once the vampire in drag realized a Grand Alpha was eyeing the beta down. She walked off quickly and began speaking with Topher.