Nightfall - 7. Reunion
"Shayne?"
When he spoke, it startled me a little. I'd distracted myself with the murals around the room and occupied my thoughts with what I'd do with the wolf when we found him. So when I heard Maxwell's melodic new voice, I flinched like a young boy caught with his paw down his pants.
I looked to the gryphon still cradled in my arms and smiled. "You made it. You're a vampire now."
He moved to stand up and suddenly he was standing before me. It was faster than he was ready for and suddenly I was behind him to stop his fall. He looked to me and chuckled. "That's going to take some getting used to."
"Don't worry. I'm going to take you out into the woods to work on it all, but first follow me. You need to see the new you." I grinned and bolted off to the hallway. "Just run, it's easy!" I called back to him from the bathroom. As he passed the bathroom door, I reached out and grabbed his wrist to stop him. I pulled him into the bathroom and stepped aside so he could become acquainted with his new reflection.
Maxwell's eyes burned brightly behind his black hair - which had grown from its short length down to his shoulders like mine. Oddly, his left eye was blue like mine had been and his right was blood red like mine were now. His light gray feathers were perfectly straight now and the random coarse downs occasionally visible beneath them were permanently hidden. He held a hand at his beak in awe of his new appearance.
I ran a finger across the spot where I'd bitten him. "I'm sorry."
He grabbed my paw and held it to his face. "It's okay. Why aren't you cold anymore?"
I chuckled and patted him on the shoulder. "We're the same temperature now. Here, let me get you something to drink."
"No thanks, I'm - ACK!" he grabbed his throat.
"That explains your eyes..." I said stepping closer to look into them. My mind shifted to a blank space where it seemed to create a new library of knowledge as I spoke. "I broke the 'drinking from the dead' rule for you." I laughed. "Unbelievable. Your thirst is hitting you so hard because you're half dead - half Strigoii."
"How'd the rule get broken?" he said. His melodic voice was now a hoarse whisper.
I beckoned for him to follow me as I explained. "Remember, I died. You drank from me. Voluntarily or not, it was broken." We reached the kitchen and I opened the refrigerator, then the bottom drawer of it and took out two bags of blood like one would find at a blood bank. "Here, drink these."
He looked at them with question.
"Oh don't be such a priss, bite and suck." I laughed, putting the bags in his hand. "You'll need to get used to drinking blood. You may still be able to enjoy mortal food, but you'll require blood now."
He shuddered and punctured one of the bags with the end of his beak, then tilted his head back and squeezed the bag. I saw his pupils dilate before he tightened his grip on the bag, squeezing the remaining blood out of it before moving on to the next one.
I cocked my head to the side when he opened his beak. "Maxwell, open your face for me." He blinked a couple times before opening is beak again for me. "Oh mercy me, you've grown fangs." I said, placing a paw over my mouth. "I was wondering how you'd feed." I'd never seen an avian creature with teeth, let alone fangs. This was new.
As he licked at his new fangs, I took a bag from the refrigerator for myself. As I bit into the bag, Maxwell held up a hand to get my attention.
"I don't have to sleep in a casket, do I?"
Blood nearly came out my nose. "More movie nonsense! We sleep in beds like anyone else, but I suppose they can be convenient. They do block out sunlight." I turned to him. "Tell me, before you felt the burning in your throat, did your mind kinda shift around a little?"
"Just a little." He said, finishing off his second bag. "Why, doesn't yours?"
I nodded. "Yes, but not until I died. I suppose Strigoii have a mental advantage over the living. You have it too, it seems." I moved to the couch. "Come to me. It will be daylight soon, so we can't go into the woods until later." He was in front of me now. "In the meantime, I'll teach you the basics of being a vampire."
"Can we start with rules?" Maxwell asked, biting into another bag of blood. "I don't want to end up dead before I'm as old as you... How old are you exactly?
I chuckled. "Five-hundred seventy-nine. By the way, my name isn't Shayne, that's just my cover. Anyone older than five hundred would call me Arael."
"Why'd you never tell me that?" I gauged he tone. He didn't sound disappointed with my secret-keeping, just curious.
"Because some of us - like myself - can read thoughts. I didn't want anyone to hear my real name buzzing around your mind and hurt you for knowing it." I cleared my throat and continued. "So, as for rules, they're pretty basic. Don't make a scene; don't tell anyone what you are. We're not supposed to attack our own kind, unless of course you're a tracker. And that's were me, Bacchus, and maybe even you are in danger."
"Why is that?" he asked, squeezing the last few drops of blood from the pouch.
"Well, that falls under what I was going to tell you at your apartment." I said, folding my legs and turning on the couch so that I was facing him completely. "Strigoii. We are the truly dead. Proven everlasting denizens of the night. Mortal only to sunlight and piercing the heart, and I'm not even sure about that last part." I grinned as my mental library replaced the appropriate words in my Sire's explanation of vampires. "We all begin as Moroii, the living vampire which you seem to be half of. When a Moroii dies and clings to his soul, the soul leaves an echo that never quiets."
Maxwell clung to my every word. He took it all in with no trouble, nodded as I made important points.
"So, that brings me to why you may be in danger." I said, lowering to a more serious tone. "Maxwell, Strigoii are considered abominations. This couldn't be further from the truth, but ignorance is a quiet virus among the living vampires. There are Moroii whose appearances change drastically during the transition from mortal. They are deemed incapable of living inconspicuously among mortals. These vampires choose to become Trackers. It is their sworn duty to seek out and destroy Strigoii."
"So we kill them first?"
"No!" Without yelling, I almost roared the word at him. "Don't ever forget this. We are stronger and faster than Trackers, but they are trained to eliminate us. I saw the one that I killed paralyze Bacchus's arm and nearly knock him through a wall, and that's just when one choose to be in melee range. They all carry bows and are lethally precise." I pointed to the hole in my chest. "Never seek out a Tracker. In fact, when the sun goes down, we're getting you a patch to hide that red eye of yours."
"Before we get off the topic of Trackers, how are we going to handle them when we find Bacchus if he's seeking them?" Maxwell asked, twirling his fingers in his new hair.
"Ah yes, that was one of the reasons I turned you, wasn't it?" I didn't say it as a question, but more as a bemused thought. "We're going to count on our speed, strength, and ability to think better than them. Be prepared, Maxwell. When this is done, we won't be able to return here. They will hunt us down if we do."
"Where will we go then?"
"I'm thinking Italy."
***
When the sun finally set and we had Maxwell's patch, we made the run to the woods where Bacchus's cabin had once been situated. It was the perfect place. The area had been cleared off for the cabin which was now nothing but a pile of charred memories. Also, with it being so far off from the city and off the road, there was no chance of anyone seeing or hearing us. I kneeled in the ashes for a moment, silently asking every deity I knew of for guidance in finding Bacchus, before I turned to Maxwell who was counting disturbed particles of forest as they floated in the moonlight.
"There isn't much to learn, really." I said, walking over to him. "Really, I just want to test your reflexes and teach you what you need to guard when we inevitably run into Trackers." I swirled the white streak in my hair around my finger. "They are trained to go after pressure points to cause excruciating pain or immobilize, sometimes both. It's their bread-and-butter, but it can be used to our advantage."
"How's that?" Maxwell asked, still counting particles in the moonlight.
"There is a gap. Between the time it takes to calculate where to strike and actually striking a still target, there is an approximately three second gap. We don't have that gap - well, I don't. We're going to find out if you don't."
"And how do we do that?" he asked, now turning to see that I was gone.
I watched him from the trees surrounding the clearing. As he looked around for me, I bolted toward from behind, appearing as a red and silver streak. I saw his ear twitch as I swiped my claws at him. With two fingers on his left hand, he struck downward on the back of my wrist, then followed with his right fist. I was gone again before he could connect with my face.
"Good, good! Now keep it up." I called from the trees, moving so he couldn't tell where I'd come from. "It should come naturally." I said before appearing in front of him. Before he could think, my paw had collided with his stomach. He doubled over, not prepared for my strength. I whirled around him and locked my arms around his shoulders. He stretched his arms outward, breaking my grip and as soon as my paws were apart, I was half way across the clearing, but I hadn't run there. I looked up to see he'd opened his wings and knocked me over there.
Then he was gone. There was a sound above me. Wings! I skipped backward just in time to avoid being cratered into the ground by his talons as he dropped from the sky. I tilted my head and chuckled. He smirked.
The next thing I saw was a blur of fists, claws, and talons coming at me. Maxwell was a natural at this. I was hardly able to block and dodge his assault and when I finally did get a swing in, he closed his wings around his front, shielding himself before knocking me back with them.
"Well done." I said, dusting myself off. "Just guard your joints and such. The one I killed hit Bacchus on the inside of his elbow and shoulder to paralyze his arm, so be careful."
He nodded and stretched his wings before folding them neatly behind his back. "Gotcha. Let's keep going now. I'm having fun." He said, taking a low stance.
I'd just nodded and mirrored his stance when something hit me. There was a scent in the air that wasn't there before. We were being watched. I pretended not to notice and charged at Maxwell. I'd lure them out, using feigned unawareness as bait. I swung at the gryphon, then pushed him away, bending backward just as an arrow passed exactly a quarter of an inch before my eyes. I put my paws on the ground behind me and lifted my feet from the ground, springing backward with my arms. I took my stance once more when I landed, looking in the direction the arrow had come from.
Mistake.
I felt two fingers strike the back of my neck, then a shock went down my spine and she was standing before me. I gasped as the silver fox smirked and pushed me backward, easily knocking over my paralyzed body. She turned from me and slinked over to Maxwell.
"Ooh, aren't you a handsome thing." I heard her say, running a paw along his cheek. "That repugnant abomination didn't harm you did it?" she asked, dragging a finger beneath his chin. If I could move, I'd be chewing my claws. It'd be my fault if she found out what Maxwell was and killed him.
Maxwell shook his head. "I'd been after him. Thanks for putting him down for me."
I wanted to scream how brilliant he was. Anyone else might have thought he was betraying them, but he was actually buying time for the numbness in my body to wear off and keeping from being killed himself.
"Let me see what we have here." She was standing over me.
"...Carmina..."
She drew an arrow from her quiver. "Do not speak my name, abomination!"
Would you really kill me, sister?!"
"Sister?!" I heard Maxwell nearly scream.
Carmina cringed hard at the word and stared at me long and hard. I swear I saw something break in her eyes when she saw beneath my markings. "My brother is dead! Leave this world, monster!"
"Apparently, you are mistaken!" The numbness had gone enough for me to sit up. "I don't know how deep into your belief of us you are, but no matter what you believe, I am not the monster you think!"
She set the arrow on the string. "Shut up! Just shut up and die!"
"Sister... we've not seen each other since you were turned more than five hundred years ago and you are already prepared to kill me - your little brother?" I could see her paws shaking. "Do I look like the monster you think I am... Carmi?"
I heard a whisper, but it didn't come from any of us. I closed my eyes and listened closer.
Be strong, child... He lies... Kill the abomination...
The whisper was coming from deep within her mind. Someone was manipulating her! "Carmina! Listen only to me!" She took aim and Maxwell locked his arms around hers. "Carmina, look at me! Look past my eyes. You know it's me. Moroii doctrine is wrong about us!"
"LIES!" she screamed, beginning to give the gryphon hell as she tried to break free.
"Sister, if we are immortal, why would it be right for us to die and stay dead?" She struggled against Maxwell's grip, but she seemed to be listening. "If we died, we wouldn't be the 'everlasting denizens of the night'. This - becoming a Strigoii - is just what happens when we do. We do what immortals do. We live forever."
"He's right." Maxwell said as Carmina began to relent. "Look at me." He turned her around in his arms. I could see her reflection in his one visible eye. She was looking. He lifted the patch on his other eye and I heard her gasp. "Do you think I'm a monster now?
Carmina went limp in his arms. "I don't understand." She'd been won over, but I don't think it was mine and Maxwell's argument alone that did it. Ruthless Tracker or not, Carmina was still my sister. Undead vampire or not, I was still her baby brother.
I could feel my legs now. I stood up and took her paw. "You don't have to understand. Just know. We're not monsters. In fact, I think the violent ones are only that way because Trackers hunt them." I felt my heart squeeze. "I think that's why mine was violent..."
"Yours?" Carmina asked. Maxwell released her so she could step closer to me.
"You've missed a lot, sister." I said. "My mate is a Strigoii - perhaps the most infamous one." I met her eyes. "Carmina, you must help me find him."
"Him?" her curious face turned to a smirk. "I always knew there was something odd about you, baby brother."
I tilted my head a little. "You're smiling. Does that mean you're on our side now?" I knew my sister. She could be tricky.
She nodded and threw her arms around me. "Oh, Arael. I've missed you so! Yes, and I'll help you find your mate. Who is he?"
I cleared my throat, bracing myself for how she'd react to his name. "Bacchus."
Carmina's eyes nearly exploded, as I'd expected. She held me by the shoulders. "Arael, Bacchus is at the top of their most wanted list. Do you know how dangerous it is for you to be seen with him?"
A snicker escaped me. "Sister, I died protecting him. I'm well aware of the danger I'm in." I sighed. "But the danger doesn't bother me. I love him dearly and every second that ticks by without him makes it worse. We need to get looking for him." Maxwell stepped up and put a paw on my shoulder.
"Don't worry." He said with a smile. "We'll find him."
I gave as best a smile as I could, but thinking about how far Bacchus was from me had drawn me into my sadness again. "I'm tired." I said. It was a lie - we didn't get tired - but I wanted to lie down. Alone. "Let's go back to my place for now. We can start looking tomorrow night."
"I'll join you in a bit." Carmina said. "I'm going to check in with the higher-ups. Maybe I can get something useful. She kissed me on the cheek, then she was gone.
Maxwell looked off in the direction she'd run, then back at me. "You're sister's hot." He said bluntly.
I couldn't help laughing. "She'd eat you alive."