Shadow Worlds and Chaos Lights

"DOCTOR WESTLAKE Found Murdered"

Sebastian read the headline on the cover of the evening paper his Blood-mother was reading and bit his lip. "So it is that bad, huh?"

Dwen looked up from behind the paper. "It's even worse than that, Sebastian; the press doesn't know all the details. He was murdered, yes, but that's not all; one of our contacts inside the police force informed us that he wasn't only murdered. He had been tortured, probably for several weeks, before they finally killed him." Her voice shook, and she was on the verge of tears from grief and rage. "Those monsters! How could they?" she made a sound that was something between a feral snarl and a sob. "Poor James!"

Sebastian swallowed; he suddenly remembered a couple of years ago, when he had read Bram Stoker's 'Dracula.' Hadn't he, caught up in the plot as he had been, cheered Van Helsing and the rest of the slayers on as they went to vanquish the evil monster? He looked up into the blood-tear-rimmed eyes of his Blood-mother; had the Dracula in the book ever felt like this? Cried over a lost comrade, felt unfairly treated because they hadn't done anything to deserve the hunters' hatred and bloodlust? Did he also just want to live and love in peace?

Well, Sebastian really didn't think so, at least not of the infamous impaler, who had been more into terror and bloodshed than into love and peace, but still, the thought got to him. How many other vampire stories had he read, each of which having its own version of a merciless hunter killing vampires left and right and apparently enjoying it?

But Dwen and the others weren't like the vampires from books and horror movies. They were the kindest and sweetest people he knew, and to be frank, they were more human than some of the real humans he had known – his own parents included. It made him angry. What gave the hunters the right to slaughter them as if they were a disease that needed to be controlled and prevented at all costs?

At that moment, Nadine entered the room, helping her Blood-father Jeffrey to carry an armful of papers about the campaign, and all thoughts about death and torture were erased from Sebastian's mind and replaced with the warm, almost aching feeling he always got when he was near the beautiful transvestite.

"Are you ready to begin, dear?" Jeffrey said, giving Dwen a smile as he put the stack of papers on the table.

"How can I be?" Dwen retorted for the moment, not caring the least that she was lashing out at a completely innocent person. "How can we even think about rebirthing new young ones into this world when it's not even safe for older lilies like James or any of the others that have turned up dead?" she held up the newspaper so Jeffrey could see the headline. "He was tortured and murdered, Jeff!"

"So they found him?" Jeffrey took the newspaper from Dwen and quickly read the article, then he sighed. "How horrible! Poor James; he was such a good man."

Dwen nodded and they sat in silence for a while in grief over their dead friend.

Then Jeffery spoke again. "But Dwen, even if it is horrible and unfair, we have to go on with the campaign. To quit now would be to let them win, to admit that they are stronger than us. We just have to be even more careful, tighten the security around the meetings, avoid being alone, keeping an even closer eye on the young ones." He took Dwendelyn's hands in his and squeezed them. "Dearest friend, we can't let the hunters win!"

Dwen sighed. "You're right. The show must go on." As a sign of acceptance, Dwen leaned over the papers Jeffrey had brought and started reading.

Sebastian watched in silence. A new campaign, new young ones; he knew what that meant. They were going to be replaced.

That was how things worked with the lilies. There was a recruiting campaign during the spring, followed by the rebirth of the chosen ones in the early summer, and then began a year of training where the young ones learned to control their new powers, read about their history, the society and their laws, and were trained in practical things like how to avoid hunters, find food, blend in amongst the mortals and other necessary things.

And then, just in time for the start of the new campaign, they were considered fully-trained lilies and, like a last year's calf, they had to step aside and let their Blood-fathers and Blood-mothers take care of a whole new generation of newly reborn ones.

This cycle had been repeated over and over again during the last three hundred and eighty two years, and now it was time for the three-hundred-eighty-third campaign. Their 'childhood' was over and Sebastian didn't like it one bit, and he wasn't alone. He had talked to Nadine and some of the other ones that had been reborn at the same time, and all of them felt the same.

During the year that had passed, the elder lilies had been the biggest part of their lives. They had been their mothers and fathers, their teachers and their best friends. They had been there with love and support, admonished them when they had made mistakes, cheered them on, rejoiced with them when it had gone well and comforted when things hadn't. But most of all, they had been a safe haven where the young ones could escape when all the sensations of their new lives had become too much for them.

The thought that that safe haven in a couple of weeks would be occupied by someone else was not something he wanted to think about, but that was the way things were. Sebastian could still remember the jealous and dejected looks he and the others had gotten from the year-old lilies when they had been the new ones about a year ago. He hadn't understood why until now.

Sebastian looked up at Nadine; she was sitting cross-legged on the floor, listlessly going through the pages of a magazine, and if Sebastian knew his friend as well as he thought he did, Nadine's thoughts had been travelling along the same path as his.

Jeffrey had also noticed the mood in the young ones and came over to sit beside them.

"Nadine? Are you afraid of the hunters?" he put a hand on Nadine's shoulder. "Don't worry; we will keep you safe."

"It's not that...I think..." Nadine replied, confirming Sebastian's earlier thoughts. "That both Sebastian and I are sad because our training will soon be over, and you will have others to take care of. And we are worried that you will forget about us."

"Darling, you should know that's not true," Jeffrey said, giving Nadine a hug. "You will always be my Blood-child and have a special place in my heart, no matter how many others I take care of. Just because I get a new young one doesn't mean that I forget the ones I had before."

"He's right," Dwen smiled. "And it's the same for all of us. Sebastian, you are my blood-child and nothing will ever change that. You can always come to me when you need me."

Sebastian fought back the tears of relief that threatened to break forward at his Blood-mother's words and mumbled: "You must think that both of us are childishly selfish."

"Not at all," Dwen assured. "It's only natural; almost everyone reacts that way. Jeffery did too, you know, at the end of his first year."

The youngsters watched Jeffery with surprise, and the older man laughed, somewhat embarrassed. "You didn't know that Dwen was my Blood-mother?"

"What do you say we go and see a movie together? The campaign can wait," Dwen said, giving Jeffrey a warm hug. "Isn't that right, Jeffrey? Our young ones need us for a little while longer."

"Indeed!" Jeffrey agreed, smiling

"So what do you want to see?" Dwen had opened the newspaper again, this time looking at the movie ads. "How about that new Dracula movie?" she said, after a while. "It got really good reviews," she smiled, an impish look spreading over her face. "Besides, the guy that plays Van Helsing is a real hottie."