Moonlight Denial: Shades of Moonlight Book One

It seemed that the air now held a constant chill as the season drew closer to winter. Soon winter wear was going to have to be pulled out from closets to prepare for the coming icy weather. But at the moment the slight chill was nothing but a nip to the skin and Nicoli enjoyed how the coolness clung to his bare arms. Every time he shivered it served to remind him that he had lived to see a brand new, glorious day. A day filled with light, parents and friends. Everything he could have lost if his fall yesterday had truly been fatal.

Nicoli closed his eyes as a breeze picked up and he relished how it caressed his face. Ever since he woke up that morning he had been appreciating everything around him, which amused him because he had only experienced a feigned near death experience. Maybe what made him appreciate that encounter with death more than the others was that his father had been caught in it with him. In his mind he had almost lost his own life and his father in the same instance. It was enough to shake him to the core and shuffle his list of priorities.

He was seriously considering pulling out from his agreement to help Ethan. Omen had gone after his family and what was stopping him from doing it again? Nicoli had faced death more than once at the hands of the vampire hunter, but this was wholly different. He would never forgive himself if his parents suffered because of him. Never.

But that did not mean that he had officially decided. No matter how much he wanted to protect his parents he had made an agreement to help Ethan and he had been told, more than once, that Ethan needed him for this. From the way Ethan made it sound Nicoli would be the only one that could grab the Heart when the time came. Whether that was true or not was up for debate, but Ethan had said it so many times with such conviction that Nicoli was prone to believe him. Besides, even if he did stop helping who was to say that Omen would leave him alone anyways? He could go against his word and finish Nicoli off anyway for being a Sympathizer. It was all up in the air and Nicoli was faced again with the tough decision of what to do.

“Hey, if you keep standing there someone is going to spot you and we’re going to get caught,” Amelia’s voice said behind him.

Nicoli opened his eyes and stared down at the school grounds from his perch on the roof. He could see students milling about as they leisurely ate their lunch, but none had looked up and seen him. He took Amelia’s advice, though, and walked back to be beside her near the center of the roof. It had taken some scaling of the building and some risky jumps, but the two had made it to the roof to hide for the remainder of the lunch period.

It had seemed that everyone knew about what had happened yesterday, but Trevor had shown no sympathy and came after them as normal. Neither Nicoli nor Amelia seemed to mind, though. The routine was just normal enough for them to pretend that yesterday did not happen.

“Aren’t you going to eat anything?” Amelia asked without looking up once he had rejoined her.

“Nah, I’m not really hungry,” Nicoli said as he plopped down. “Mom made a really big breakfast this morning and I’m still working off that,” he told her before lying down on his back.

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

“What about you? Aren’t you going to eat anything else but pickles? That can’t be a very satisfying lunch,” he shot back quizzically.

Amelia had been snacking on a jar of sliced pickles that she had brought from home, but in typical Amelia fashion, she spiced up the food by pulling out packets of strawberry Kool-Aid and sprinkled the powder onto the slices. She was not eating very enthusiastically, though. After applying the Kool-Aid to the pickle she would slowly nibble on it with a distracted, far off look.

“I guess you can say I’m not very hungry either,” she told him as she set down a half eaten slice of pickle and put the lid back on the jar. She then wrapped her arms around her knees and the two sat in silence for a time. After a while she sighed and bowed her head.

“Yesterday was really scary, wasn’t it? I can’t believe we both almost lost someone,” she muttered into her legs.

“I thought we weren’t going to talk about it?” Nicoli said as he stared up at the sky. They had both made a silent agreement that morning that they were not going to discuss about what happened.

“I changed my mind,” she said as she lifted her head. “I want to talk to someone about it other than my family.”

“How are they holding up?” he asked as he sat up. He was relieved; really, he wanted to talk to someone about it too, someone other than his parents or the clan.

“Good, I guess, Aunt Hailey was in hysterics all night, fussing over Uncle Lloyd and making sure he was as comfortable as possible. Uncle Roderick kept joking that we should have given her some tranquilizers to calm her down,” she said with a smile.

Nicoli smiled too. He had only experienced Hailey’s disliking side, but he supposed even she had deep feelings for those she cared about most.

“What about you? How are you and your parents doing?” she asked.

“Fine,” he answered. “Mom was pretty much how your aunt was. I was too, I’ll admit, and now Dad won’t stop teasing me about being a “Little Laura” since I was just as worried as she was.”

“Well, it’s stupid to think that none of us would be worried.” The smile that had finally come back to Amelia’s face disappeared again. “Aunt Hailey would have been devastated if Uncle Lloyd…if he didn’t make it. All of us would have been.”

Nicoli frowned and he scooted closer until he was able to put an arm around her. When she leaned into him he placed his chin on top of her head. Now he felt even worse than before. Not only had his family been attacked, but so had Amelia’s, no matter how inadvertently. Was no one around him safe? Nicoli took that disturbing thought and put it in his collection of cons in helping the vampires. It’d make a good point if he did try to squirm his way out of the agreement.

“Hell, but everything is fine. They didn’t even get hurt too seriously, so that’s something to keep in mind,” he said with one last squeeze before pulling back.

Amelia abruptly giggled, causing one of Nicoli’s brows to rise.

“What?” he asked.

“It’s very rare that you’re the one groping for the Brightside of things. You’re such a pessimist I didn’t think you had it in you,” she told him, fighting to keep her smile this time.

“Well, we can’t both be pessimistic, can we? You’re usually the optimist, but since you’re all gloomy it falls on me to be Mr. Brightside,” he told her with a chuckle.

“Maybe I should be gloomy more often. I like you as Mr. Brightside,” she said with a playful shove to his shoulder. “But, you’re right, everything and everyone is okay. It was just a freak accident, so I guess I shouldn’t be so worried.”

Nicoli had to chomp down on his tongue to prevent a scathing comment about it being a “freak accident.” If he ever ran into Omen again he’d throttle him and throttle him good.

“It’s funny, my dad is more worried about his job rather than himself,” Nicoli said offhandedly before his thoughts got him riled up.

“What do you mean? Why is he worried about his job?” Amelia asked.

“Since he designed the building he thinks that he’ll get blamed for the accident and if they find any other faults with his plans he’s worried that he’ll get fired.”

“What? That’s ridiculous. Uncle Lloy-Lloy would never let them fire your dad. I’m pretty sure he’d scrape the entire project before he let something like that happen.”

“You think so?” he asked.

“I know so. They go way back and friends always stick up for friends,” she told him.

“That is true.” Nicoli thought back to all the stories his father told him about his younger days and Lloyd was always in them in one way or another. Amelia was right. If they tried to fire Lance then Lloyd would definitely have something to say about it.

“You know, a lot of weird stuff has been going on lately, even by Whixton’s standards,” Amelia said out of the blue, catching Nicoli off guard.

“Weird stuff? Like what?” he asked, his heart doing an odd flutter in his chest.

“Just a few things. Like that weird guy Ethan showing up,” Amelia said, making Nicoli sweat a little. “The total destruction of Deloris Mary-Weather’s house and now part of a wall collapsing at the new museum. It just seems so…peculiar how it’s all happening in succession.”

“It’s just coincidence,” Nicoli said as he began picking at his shoe, giving himself something to do so he would not act at all jittery. “Nothing more to it than that.”

“Mom always told me there’s no such thing as coincidence. That everything happens for a reason and works together towards a set destiny,” she retorted.

“Eh, I’ve never liked thinking like that.”

“Thinking like what?”

“That everything in life is already planned out for us. What’s the fun in that? I think that if the future really can be predicted it’s never concrete,” Nicoli said thoughtfully as he looked up at the sky again. “The future can always change, it just always comes down to the choices that you make. So, no matter what, there’s no such thing as a ‘set destiny.’”

His brows rose again when Amelia laughed.

“Jeeze, you never cease to amaze me,” she said with a shake of her head.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” he asked, debating whether or not to be offended.

“First your Mr. Brightside and now your Mr. Philosophical. I never thought you could think so deep into something like that,” she told him.

“Oh, thanks, so you think I’m just some kind of shallow thinking dunderhead?”

“More or less,” she answered and dodged a swipe sent at her. “But it’s always nice to see that I can be proven wrong.”

Nicoli settled for huffing at her. Even though what she said was true to a degree. He never gave problems of the world much thought. He never had a need to. But with this new turn in his life he could not help but find this particular issue right in his face.

All of what was happening had been done because of the choices he had made. He had chosen to follow Ethan and Omen into the woods. He had chosen to help Ethan in his task. And now he was faced with the choice to either continue on his reckless journey or stop and return to his old life. It all came down to choices. He could not see that all of this had happened by destiny when with the single word “No” he could have stopped all of it. With that knowledge firmly in his grasp he could not fathom the idea of a ‘set destiny.’ Such a concept for him, at this moment in his life, simply did not exist and probably never would.

“Hey, so how is the cleaning up of Deloris’ house going? You haven’t mentioned it much after it happened,” Nicoli said, changing the subject to one of his crimes listed.

“I haven’t mentioned it because it pisses me off every time I think of it, but its fine. There were several volunteers that helped and the place is in tip top shape now, though it’ll never be the same what with most of the antiques destroyed. What pisses me off more is that the police never caught any leads as to who did it. Not a one. I’ll tell you what, though, if I ever find out who did it I’ll make them wish that they’d never been born.”

Nicoli held back a gulp, but also felt a sense of relief. He got away clean with his blunder, even if it was Omen’s fault for the destruction of the house. He was finding that most everything in one way or another was Omen’s fault.

“Speaking of the weird things I have a question for you,” Amelia said, drawing Nicoli out of his thoughts.

“What’s that?”

“Have you seen that Ethan guy around lately? At all?” she asked casually.

Nicoli took a second to cover from his surprise by pulling some lint of his shirt and smoothing out a few wrinkles.

“No, not since that day we followed him around town. I almost completely forgot about that guy, actually.” It was a damn, dirty lie of course. Especially since just last night he had had the most amazing sex ever with said man. Not that he would ever let Amelia in on that bit of info. “Why do you ask?”

“No reason,” Amelia said with a shrug of her shoulders. “I was just reminded of him when I listed him, so I was wondering if he’s popped up after he caused such a stir.”

“Nope, he must have left town or something,” Nicoli said as he turned to gaze at the edge of the roof, to make sure his friend would see nothing in his face that would give him away, but in doing the action he missed Amelia’s features darken for the merest of instances.

Both of their heads perked when a shrill bell cut through the air, signaling that the lunch period was over. With mutual grunts of irritation they gathered their belongings and began making their way across the roof to the spot where they could reach the ground.

“Nicoli, I have to ask you something else,” Amelia said as they neared the edge.

“Go ahead. It’s not like I can stop you,” he replied.

“Why are you limping?”

The question almost made Nicoli stumble, which would have only resulted in more pain in his backside. He was able to keep his composure and appear cool and casual.

“Oh, I kinda hurt my leg when I fell down the school stairs yesterday,” he answered with a shrug. All the while he was trying not to grit his teeth with each step he took. Ethan had been right, after the thorough sexing he received he could not walk straight to save his life. Of course, when it came to satisfying sex, he would not have it any other way.

****************************************************************

When the final bell rang students poured out of the building like fleeing ants. One student in particular hurried just a bit more than the others.

“Whoops, sorry. Out of the way, please. I’m seriously going to knock you guys over if you don’t move!” Nicoli yelled as he bolted through the crowd, bumping into a few of his schoolmates as he ran. He broke through the mass, with some scathing remarks and outraged cries following him, and took off down the sidewalk.

The reason for his track worthy run came in the form of a group of boys taking hot pursuit after him.

“We’re going to catch you this time!” one of The Pack yelled after him and a few taunts followed.

“Stop running, ya coward!” Trevor himself finally barked. “You’re only making it worse for yourself.”

“God, will you guys get a life!?” Nicoli shouted over his shoulder. “Do you seriously have nothing better to do?”

His only reply was the beating of feet against concrete and he simply kept up his sprint to outrun them. The chase went on through most of town, which was odd that The Pack was keeping pursuit for so long, but Nicoli did not have the time to think on it. At one point he diverted from his normal path home to take what he considered “the back road.” A few houses lined the way and he skidded around the corner of a particularly big, rundown house.

When Trevor and his gang rounded the corner they stopped.

“What the hell?” Trevor muttered through heavy breathing as his eyes scanned the area.

“Where-Where the hell did he go?” one of the boys asked, resting his hands on his knees to take a breather.

Nicoli had vanished. They could not see him down the street or around any of the houses. With orders from Trevor the group spread out and searched the area, but there was no trace of their prey.

“He’s a freakin’ Houdini!” one boy finally exclaimed when their search failed to prove fruitful.

“Damn it!” Trevor cursed as he slammed his fist into the closest pine tree that was growing in one of the yards. “How the hell does he do that?”

“He’s a sneaky little bastard,” one of his friends said.

“I have a question,” another one piped up. “Why are we still chasing him? We already taught him a lesson before and I’m getting tired of having to search for him every single day. I would like to eat lunch once in a while.”

Trevor sighed and rolled his eyes. He then gave a mighty push to the other boy that almost had him hurling to the ground.

“Because, Idiot, no one disrespects our town like that, especially not some city punk snob. Plus, something about him just pisses me off and rubs me the wrong way. Every time I see his spineless, cowardly face I want to smash it in,” Trevor said and rolled his shoulders and neck to pop a few joints. “Come on, he can’t be too far. We’ll find him this time and really teach him a lesson.”

With renewed vigor The Pack moved on, pumped up and ready to track down their prey. What they never noticed was that their prey had been right above their heads the whole time.

Up in the pine tree that Trevor had released his frustration on; Nicoli sat on a branch and had his arms around the trunk in a tight grip. He released the breath that he was holding when the gang moved out of sight.

“Holy shit. They really almost had me that time,” he muttered, craning his neck to make sure they were gone. When he was satisfied he leaned his cheek against the rough bark and took that time to recover from his excursion. “Jeeze, Trevor, why don’t you tell me how you really feel?” he said when he thought over what Trevor had said before they departed. “If he knew what the hell I did in my spare time I bet he wouldn’t call me spineless or a coward.”

Nicoli squirmed uncomfortably on his perch. He had never climbed a tree so fast in his life, but now the run and his current spot made his soreness all the more evident.

“God, my ass hurts,” he whined as he rubbed his backside. Now he was cursing his nightly activity for putting him in such agony. “It feels like my organs are about to fall out.”

“I could stuff them back up for you in any number of ways, if you like,” a purr sounded behind him.

Nicoli yelped and turned so abruptly that he slipped from his branch and began to fall. He was saved from a rough trip down by a hand grabbing his wrist. He dangled there for a few seconds in shock before looking up to see who had startled him and saved him in the same instance.

His gaze was met with a familiar charming smirk and one golden eye stared back at him in amusement.

“Andre?!” Nicoli exclaimed.

“Hey, Nicoli, how’s it hangin’?” Andre said, chuckling at his own joke.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Nicoli asked. He had been getting used to Ethan popping up randomly, but not the other vampires. “And pull me up, will ya?” he said. Being suspended in the air was the last thing he wanted to do at the moment.

“Your wish is my command,” Andre said as, with hardly any effort, he pulled Nicoli back up onto the branch he had taken residence on.

When Nicoli was set down he quickly straddled the branch again, but was facing the new occupant this time.

“Uh, thanks, but what are you doing here?” he asked again, once he secured himself on the perch.

“I was just in the neighborhood and happened to see you run by with your entourage. You lot have so much energy. Ah, what it would be like to be young again,” Andre said, his voice full of nostalgia. When he saw Nicoli stare at him skeptically he simply smiled. “All right, truth is I wanted to check up on you. See how you were doing.”

Nicoli was taken aback by that. In truth he found the first statement to be truer to Andre’s intentions. He had not expected anyone but Ethan to see if he was all right. He would have been less surprised if Felix was the one to seek him out. To have Andre come, one of the vampires he had not really gotten to know yet, made a peculiar feeling stir in his chest. He was not sure what it was, but it felt good. Maybe what he was feeling was something close to acceptance, but it was too early to tell.

“You…wanted to check up on me, really?” he asked, not being able to hold back his disbelief.

“Of course, you went through a rough time yesterday and, even though Ethan comforted you all night long, I wanted to see for myself if you were holding up.”

“Wow, I don’t know what to say. Thank you, I guess…wait a minute,” Nicoli said, taking in all of Andre’s words. “Ethan told you about last night?” he asked. His face flamed red and there was nothing he could do to stop it. He was fine with the new casual fling he had created with Ethan, but that did not mean he wanted everyone else to know about it.

A big grin spread across Andre’s face, nearly identical to the one Ethan usually sported. Now Nicoli knew where Ethan got it from.

“He didn’t have to tell me,” Andre said as he leaned in close to Nicoli. “I could smell the sex on him combined with your lovely scent.”

Nicoli leaned back, finding the proximity to be far too close and intimate.

“Do the others know?” he asked, his face still red.

“Possibly,” Andre said with a shrug as he exited Nicoli’s personal bubble. “If they do I can assure you they don’t care. Ones sexual endeavors are no ones business but their own and the rest of the family isn’t as nosey as I am,” he said with a reassuring smile. “Now, we are a bit off topic. I came here with an actual purpose, believe it or not.”

“To check up on me, right?”

“Yes, but I do have another motive. I wanted to talk to you,” Andre told him.

“About what exactly?” Nicoli asked, not knowing what they could possibly have to talk about.

“Well, as lovely as this tree is, I’d rather not have this discussion in it,” Andre said, patting the branch under him.

Nicoli looked down at the branch then at the ground below.

“Yeah, I see your point.”

Before his eyes Andre rose from their perch, as if levitating by no means of help. When Andre was standing he held his hands out to Nicoli.

“Come on, I’m sure I can provide an easier means of descent for you,” he said with a smile.

Nicoli looked down at the ground again, which seemed to be getting further and further away each time he looked, and decided that Andre was right. He reached up and took hold of the offered hands. With no help on his part he was pulled all the way up until he was resting on his feet.

“Jeeze, you guys really do have the whole strength thing down, don’t you?” he said in amazement.

“It’s a nice bonus,” Andre said with a chuckle as one arm slipped around Nicoli’s waist. After making sure no one was around he simply stepped off the branch.

Nicoli gasped and his arms immediately went around Andre’s neck. He had no need to fear, it seemed, when they floated down to the ground as lightly as a feather. Soon enough their feet met earth and Nicoli gazed about in astonishment. He had experienced Ethan’s hover ability, but only to a small degree. He had not, however, been in motion when it was being used. It was quite interesting.

“You can let go any time you like,” Andre said, drawing back Nicoli’s attention.

Nicoli looked at him and realized that his arms were still around Andre’s neck.

“Oh, sorry.” He developed a bad feeling when a grin spread across Andre’s face and the arm around him tightened.

“You don’t have to let go if you don’t want to. We could stand here and neck a bit,” he said as he leaned in to graze his lips over Nicoli’s throat.

Nicoli pushed him away and put a few feet between them.

“I’ll thank you for the ride down, but not like that,” he said, covering his neck with his hands.

Andre put on his best pout.

“Awe, so only Ethan gets to taste you. How unfair. You’re not going to share, even a little?” he asked. When Nicoli only scowled and refused to move his hands Andre simply sighed and shrugged. “Oh well, I’ll let you think on it. You might find that you get tired of only one pair of fangs sooner or later.”

“Yeeeah, we’ll see about that,” Nicoli retorted. “Now, just what did you want to talk to me about?”

“Oh, yes, I do keep getting distracted, don’t I?” Andre said with a sheepish smile. “I’ll tell you as I escort you home. No telling when your little friends will show up again.”

“Nothing like a vampire bodyguard.”

Before they set off Andre took up an umbrella that had been leaning against the tree that Nicoli had not noticed before. Once Andre was shielded from the suns rays they headed down the street at a nice, leisurely pace.

“What I want to talk to you about,” Andre began, “has to do with what you saw yesterday.”

“You mean what happened between you and Omen?” Nicoli asked, making a guess.

“Precisely, I’m sure it was rather confusing for you.”

“I think confusing is a bit of an understatement,” Nicoli muttered under his breath.

“Yes, well, you have been caught in the middle of something that has been going on for quite awhile between Owen and myself and I feel, especially with what happened yesterday, you have a right to know exactly where Owen’s rage stems from.”

Nicoli chewed on his bottom lip. He was curious that much was for sure, but a part of him was scared to know the truth. There was a possibility that what he was about to hear would change his view of Andre, maybe of all the vampires, for the worst.

“Omen, er, Owen,” Nicoli said, correcting himself. It sounded weird to call the vampire hunter anything other than ‘Omen’ but he felt that it would be better to use the man’s true name in Andre’s presence. “Owen made it sound like you…like you ruined his life. That’s not true…is it?” he asked. “I don’t know you well, by any means, but it’s just hard for me to imagine you doing something like that.”

Andre did not respond right away. Instead he delved into the pockets of his black coat. It fell to his thigh and was the same pitch black as his hair. Gold buttons with intricate designs on them ran down the length of the coat and two adorned the cuffs on the sleeves. After some rummaging he withdrew his long black cigarette holder and a pack of cigarette’s to go with it. After placing one of the white sticks in the holder he pulled out a silver lighter that had the letters A and H engraved on the side. After lighting the cigarette he placed the pack and the lighter back in his pockets.

To Nicoli’s amazement he had done all of this without holding onto the umbrella. Instead the item had hovered above Andre without the aid of a hand.

“You’re right, you don’t know me well,” Andre said, taking up the umbrella again as he blew out his first stream of smoke. “My life, like anyone else’s, has been filled with ups and downs and I have done things that I have been proud of and others that I am ashamed of. In Owen’s case shame doesn’t even begin to cover the wrong that I caused him, but I get ahead of myself. Before we get into what happened between us, I guess you need to know the means of our association back before he hated me.”

“Would probably help in the long run,” Nicoli agreed.

“Well, many years ago, Owen and I,” Andre paused, as if the next words refused to leave his throat. “We…we were in love.”

Nicoli tripped over his own feet and when he regained his balance he stared at Andre in pure shock and disbelief.

“I’m sorry, it just sounded like you said you and Owen, the homicidal vampire hunter, used to be in love,” he said, thinking he had to of heard wrong.

“It sounded like it because that’s what I said,” Andre said with a smile, but it held no laughter and seemed to be filled of nostalgic sadness.

“How could you two have been in love? I mean, that just doesn’t seem possible given Omen, er, Owen’s…let’s say personality,” Nicoli said.

“You have to understand that Owen wasn’t always this way. Back when I first met him he was a very kind man. He wouldn’t hurt an innocent person if his life depended on it. Also, hunting vampires was nothing but a duty to him, not like the obsession it has become,” Andre explained.

“What happened to change him?” Nicoli asked.

“In short, me,” Andre said, heaving a great sigh. He took in a deep drag from his cigarette to recollect himself. “I met Owen twelve years ago, when he was a young, vibrant twenty year old.” A serene smile appeared on his face and a far away look came to his eye. “You should have seen him back then. He was magnificent.”

“How exactly did you two meet?” Nicoli asked, trying to bring Andre back down to earth.

“Well, back then Owen was just a vampire hunter in training. A regular green horn, if you will. Even with his low rank he was cocky with even more self-confidence and ego than Ethan.”

“That’s hard to believe,” Nicoli said with a laugh.

“I know, isn’t it? Anyways, one night I was visiting a good friend of mine and on my way home I got the peculiar sense that someone was following me. Since I’m always up for a bit of fun I walked around in circles for a while, until my pursuer got up the courage to come out of the shadows and attack me. Imagine my surprise when I saw it was a young man who declared himself a vampire hunter and vowed to bring back my head to prove himself as such. Being who he was, Owen thought he could take me. Of course, I could have snapped him like a twig in a matter of seconds, but, really, what fun would that be? I played with him for a while, letting him think he had the upper hand a few times before turning the tables on him. After I had my fill of fun I decided to leave him in one piece and made my exit, which infuriated Owen to no end.

“I had planned to leave it at that, but the next few nights I just could not get the young vampire hunter out of my head. He had been so full of life and confidence that I wanted to see him again, just to tease him. I sought him out and the dance happened all over again. Soon, the teasing became a game that I found myself becoming obsessed with. I would beckon and lure him out to a secluded area, start our “fight” and when I was done I would leave him seething and spitting like a wild cat. It became my favorite entertainment. What I never imagined was that I would start to develop a sort of an affectionate attachment to my little plaything. The attachment soon manifested into a deep lust. I wanted him in a way that I’ve never wanted any other human. He was so strong in body and in will and his ferocious fighting spirit excited me more than words can say.

“Needless to say during one of our fights I changed things up a bit. Instead of leaving him when I thought it would anger him most I stayed and waited until he became exhausted and fatigued to the point he could hardly stand. That’s when I made my move and caught him in a deliciously compromising position. He fought my advances, of course, but after some “persuasion” he relented to me. Ah, it was a spectacular night,” Andre said with a dreamy sigh.

“Wow, talk about a weird courting ritual,” Nicoli said, trying to follow the course of the story and imagine Omen in his prime with a pesky Andre seducing him.

“You can say that, but for a vampire and a vampire hunter you could say it was necessary,” Andre said.

“So, you guys stopped fighting and started a sexual relationship?” Nicoli asked.

“Oh, heaven’s no. The fighting was our soul bond, the sex just came as a way to spice it up and quench our lust. We actually used the fighting as a decisive way to see who would top who…I won every time,” Andre boasted with a smirk.

“Somehow I don’t doubt that.”

“Indeed. I guess it was inevitable that our animalistic lust began to turn into something more. After a while I realized I wanted our meetings to come not because I wanted entertainment or sex…but because I wanted to be with him. I was falling in love with the feisty vampire hunter. I didn’t count on it, but it happened and I soon found that Owen reciprocated my feelings, even though he never admitted it outright. Do you want to know how I knew?”

“Yooou read his thoughts?” Nicoli guessed.

“Nope.”

“Then how?”

Nicoli watched curiously as Andre pulled the lighter out of his pocket again. He thumbed the engraved letters fondly before handing it to Nicoli.

“This was how I knew,” Andre said with a soft smile.

“Did he give this to you?” Nicoli asked as he stared at the simple little lighter in his hands.

“That he did and do you know what those letters stand for?”

“Um, no, can’t say I do,” Nicoli replied.

“They’re my initials. Andre Hagar. He had it made especially for me. When he gave it to me he muttered something about hating how I always used cheap lighters, saying they looked tacky and that I needed a proper one. He tried to act like it didn’t matter if I liked it or not, but I could see it in his eyes that it did, in fact, mattered greatly to him. That was when I knew.”

Andre took the lighter back and stared at it for a moment, his eyes distant with treasured memories.

“It’s such a simple little thing,” he mumbled with his cigarette holder dangling out of the side of his mouth. “But it means more to me than any gift I have ever received.” He slipped the lighter back into his coat and patted the pocket with great affection.

“So…what happened?” Nicoli asked. “You guys sound like you were happy, in some weird, bizarre sort of way, but happy.”

Andre sighed and puffed on his stick a few times before looking at Nicoli out of the corner of his eye.

“Everything unraveled because of one man. Owen’s father or his adopted father, really. You see, when Owen was younger his parent’s were killed in some sort of accident. He never really let me in on all the details and I never pressed him. He and his sister were carted around to foster home to foster home for many years.”

Nicoli’s head whipped around and he stared at Andre in shock.

“Wait, Owen has a sister!?” he asked in disbelief.

“Oh, you didn’t know that?” Andre said.

“No, it’s not like Owen told me about himself when he was trying to kill me,” Nicoli shot back.

“Well, yes, he has a younger sister named Eleanor. The two were very close since they only had each other for many years,” Andre explained.

“Does she know what he does for a living?” Nicoli asked.

“I would assume so considering whom it was that took them in,” Andre replied.

“What?”

“You’re making me jump from place to place. Let me go in order.”

“All right, all right, go for it,” Nicoli ushered, finding this whole conversation to have one twist after another and it was making his brain spin.

“After a few years of going from foster home to foster home a man named Cainan Royce took them in, now the thing about Cainan was one of the greatest vampire hunters in the history of the profession.”

“Oooooooh, I gotcha,” Nicoli said. It was obvious then that Owen’s sister would know what he does. So his question had been rather silly.

“Right, so Cainan became their “father” of sorts and raised and trained Owen to be a vampire hunter, which he was good at right from the get go. Eleanor, on the other hand, did not venture down that path. I’m not sure what she does now, I never got the chance to meet her. Anyways, I’m sure you can see why Owen’s father being a vampire hunter also could put a bit of a dent in mine and Owen’s relationship.”

“Yeah, just a bit. But that still doesn’t explain why Owen ha…dislikes you now,” Nicoli said, refraining from using the word “hate.”

“Well, that comes with what happened next,” Andre said. “Our affair lasted for about a year. Of course, it was only a matter of time before Cainan noticed Owen’s odd behavior and tendencies to slip away during the night. When he learned the reason as to the cause of the behavior he, as kids today would say, flipped his lid. Soon after he came after me to do what vampire hunters do best. Kill vampires. Oh, the things he said when he found me. Kept going on and on about how I had ruined his son and that he wouldn’t allow me to defile Owen anymore and on and on. Now, unlike Owen during that time, Cainan was incredibly powerful. It took everything I had just to dodge his attacks. I couldn’t even grab a spare moment to flee.”

“You didn’t fight back?” Nicoli asked.

“I didn’t want to,” Andre replied. “He was Owen’s father and mentor. From the way Owen spoke about him you could tell he loved him more than life itself and I loved Owen so much that I didn’t want to hurt the man he revered most. Unfortunately, as our battle raged my options were decreasing by the second. I could no longer just be passive or else I would find myself six feet under. That’s when I did something that made me wish I had chosen death instead.”

“…what did you do?” Nicoli asked. His throat had tightened and a prickling sensation crawled along the back of his neck.

“I killed him.” A gentle breeze picked up, making Nicoli and Andre’s hair sway and the white smoke from the cigarette be carried away.

“You…killed him?” Nicoli repeated. He was beginning to see where Omen’s rage came from.

“It was in self-defense, I assure you,” Andre said. “I didn’t mean for it to happen. When you corner an animal and threaten it, it will lash out to protect itself. That’s what happened to me. I had only tried to incapacitate him, so I could escape, but I over did it and he died as a result. That wasn’t the worse part, though.”

“What could have been worse than that?” Nicoli asked.

“Owen had gone after Cainan when he knew of his intent to kill me.” Andre closed his eye and shook his head. “He showed up the moment I struck the fatal blow…I killed Owen’s father right in front of him.”

“…Oh my God.”

“Do you understand now?” Andre asked. “Ever since that day Owen has hated me more than anything in the world. No matter how hard I tried to explain to him that I never meant to kill Cainan, he wouldn’t listen. He then convinced himself that I never loved him in the first place. That I had used him to dispose of a large threat to the vampire community. That was when he started to believe that all vampires were pure evil. His duty became an obsession and he tries to kill every vampire he comes across, or anyone that has anything to do with them, like you. But he wants my blood most of all and for the past eleven years he has been trying to kill me. I believe he deserves that retribution and that’s why I was willing to lay down my life yesterday,” Andre explained. “Of course, when he was first coming after me I believed I still deserved my life.”

“Then why don’t you believe that now?” Nicoli asked.

“Because in one of our altercations I almost repeated the same mistake that I had made with Cainan,” Andre answered.

“You almost killed him?”

“Yes, I struck a fatal blow and sent him into unconsciousness, but I was able to save him at the last minute. Vampire blood works wonders to heal wounds, but there was one part of him I damaged beyond repair and I have felt guilty over that ever sense. Luckily I was able to rectify that one fault. ”

“What do you mean by that?” Nicoli asked.

“…do you ever wonder why Owen has two different colored eyes?” Andre questioned back.

Nicoli stared at him in confusion. It was something that Nicoli had pondered from time to time, but he didn’t see the relevance now. But as he gazed at Andre’s face it all come together and clicked in his mind.

“Oh my God.” Nicoli halted and placed his hand on Andre’s arm to make him stop too. “His yellow eye. Andre…is that your eye?”

Andre chuckled as he tapped on his eye patch with the mouth piece of his cigarette holder.

“I don’t wear this just for looks,” he said with a grin. “In our fight Owen’s eye was gouged out. How that happened I’ll never know, it all went so fast, but I couldn’t leave him like that. So, I tore out my own eye and gave it to him.”

“Ow, I guess I don’t have to ask if you still cared about him,” Nicoli muttered as they began to walk again.

“Such a silly question,” Andre said with a chuckle. “In truth I didn’t even think it would work. Vampire cells and human cells are quite different, so there was a high chance his body was going to reject a vampire eye, but it didn’t. It was the first time in my life that I believed in miracles.”

“So…does that mean he can see like a vampire in that eye?” Nicoli asked.

“Yes, and that’s the reason a lot of vampires’ were upset with me after it happened, whoo, especially Conrad. I thought his head was going to explode,” Andre said with a chuckle.

“What? Why?”

“Because when humans see vampires use their superior speed it’s just a blur or they don’t see them at all. When a vampire sees a vampire move it’s as if they are moving normally. Being a vampire hunter and having the ability to see your enemy’s movement is a great advantage. An advantage that I gave him,” Andre explained.

“Oh…and he still wants to kill you even after you ripped out your own eye for him?” Nicoli asked.

“Something tells me that no matter what I do he’ll always want to kill me. You heard him yesterday. It’s all he ever thinks and dreams about.”

They walked on for a while in companionable silence. Each with their own thoughts until Nicoli wanted to voice an opinion.

“You know, with the whole you killing his dad thing, I don’t think he should hate you forever over that. It wasn’t your fault.”

“You think so, do you?” Andre asked, his voice level, no sign of gratitude for Nicoli’s words to be found.

“Yeah, like you said it was self-defense. He was trying to kill you and what happened was an accident. I think Owen needs to pull his head out of his ass and realize that,” Nicoli said with great conviction as he crossed his arms. He was caught off guard when Andre asked one simple question.

“Would you have forgiven Owen if your father had died yesterday?”

“What? That’s not the same thing,” Nicoli said, not finding the similarities. “Owen purposely tried to hurt my dad. Cainan was trying to kill you first. The blame is all on their part, not yours and certainly not my dad’s.”

“What I’m trying to get at, Nicoli,” Andre said as he placed his hand on top of Nicoli’s head, leaving the umbrella floating again. “Is, yes, Cainan came after me and his death was an accident, but don’t forget that Owen was just trying to bang up your father a little and if he had actually died it would have also been an accident. So my question is: Would you have forgiven Owen if that was the outcome?”

Nicoli’s tongue grew thick in his mouth. He understood now and he wanted to lie in the hopes of making Andre feel better, but he couldn’t because they both knew his answer without him even speaking.

“No, I never would have forgiven him,” Nicoli said with a shake of his head. “I would have hated him forever.” The hand on his head moved down to his shoulder and gave it a squeeze before returning to the levitating umbrella.

“Now you know how Owen feels towards me,” Andre said.

“Yeah, I get what you mean, but I still don’t think its fair,” Nicoli said.

“And you don’t have to, just as long as you understand.”

“There is something else about Owen that has me absolutely confused,” Nicoli said.

“Owen is a complex man, but what’s the one point that has you confused?” Andre asked, urging him to voice his thoughts.

“When I first met Owen he was trying to kill me because I was a “Sympathizer,” but yesterday he kept going on and on about how he was trying to save me from you guys. What the hell was all that about?” Nicoli asked, not able to wrap his head around Owen’s confusing actions.

“Well, in order to understand you’d have to look at Owen’s way of thinking. In the beginning he was probably just trying to kill you because you got in the way of him killing Ethan,” Andre said, having heard the story from his cousin. “But now, I believe what is driving Owen’s actions is that…he sees a bit of himself in you.”

“How do you mean?” Nicoli asked.

“With you helping us and trusting us Owen sees his younger self and is reminded of his innocence and naivety. He most likely believes that history is repeating itself and that, in the end, you’re going to be hurt just like he was and he wants you to save you from that, even if it means killing you, which, to him, would still be saving you from a fate he deems better than the alternative,” Andre explained.

“Jesus Christ, well I don’t agree at all. At this point death would be worse,” Nicoli said, not liking the idea about having to die to be “saved.” Owen was just a nutcase. “Besides, again, what happened with you two was an accident. I’m pretty certain that you guys aren’t planning to kill my parents or something like that…right?”

Andre laughed as he put his arm around Nicoli’s shoulders.

“Not to my knowledge, my little Nickel,” he assured him.

“Nickel?”

“Yes, it’s the nickname I have now deemed you with. I find humans are much cuter with nicknames,” Andre told him.

“But why Nickel? I’m not sure I like that.”

“Oh, you will, and I do not divulge my nicknaming secrets,” Andre said, nuzzling Nicoli’s ear teasingly.

Nicoli tried to pull away and fidgeted when the arm would not release him.

“You know, for someone who lost the love of their life you sure are a flirtatious bastard,” he said, trying to use his shoulder to bump Andre’s face away.

“What can I say? We all cope with grief in our own way.”

“Hey! Hands off the ass!”

Even with the wandering hands Nicoli was happy Andre had sought him out and told him of what had happened all those years ago. To be told something so personal added to his feelings of acceptance and he felt closer to the clan in that way. However, he knew that the closer he got the higher the risk was to his family and to those around him. Until he figured out what he was going to do he hoped and wished with all of his might that Omen would not strike out at those that he loved again.

********************************************************************

Omen cried out as he was thrown against one of the walls of his cheap hotel. Before he could get up from the floor a powerful force flung him into the air again and he crashed head first into another wall.

“All right, all right, enough,” he said as he held his hands up in surrender. Blood was cascading down his face and he could only see his attacker through one eye. “I said I was sorry. Will you stop throwing me around like a ragdoll?” He sat up and wiped the blood from his face with his arm and looked up when his assailant stood in front of him.

What was worse than being surprised and beaten up was that it was being done by the person that had employed him in the first place. He added another point of humiliation since his employer was a woman. He had met her once before when he had followed Ethan’s trail to Whixton and she had approached him to ask if he would protect the secret lying in Deloris Mary-Weather’s house. She assured him that was where the vampire’s search would end up and she had been right. He had also spoken with her numerous times on the phone to give her updates. In those few encounters he had the impression that she was a very kind, serene woman. What he didn’t count on was that, when pissed, she had a demon like temper.

“You think an apology is going to be enough?” she said, her voice level, but filled with such ice and malevolence that Omen thought his insides were going to freeze. He was amazed that even when angered her voice didn’t rise to match it. “I hired you to protect the book and get rid of the vampires, not to endanger the lives of innocent people. If I knew this was going to be the way you operated I would have driven you out of Whixton the second you came to our town.”

“Okay, my methods may be a little unorthodox, but it got me this close to the book,” Omen said as he struggled to his feet, using his fingers to show just how close he had come. “That counts for something, doesn’t it?” He supposed not as, with one flick of her wrist, he was thrown into yet another wall, but instead of falling to the floor he was held there by an unseen power.

“I don’t care if you had retrieved it and handed it to me right now. That does not excuse what you did. You put the lives of innocent people in danger and the ends would have never justified those means,” she told him.

“Okay, lesson learned, will never happen again. Can you put me down now?” he asked, not liking the vulnerability of being held in the air against the wall.

“First, answer me one thing,” the woman said. She lifted her hand and her fingers began to close.

Omen gasped and his head rose as he felt invisible fingers close around his throat.

“What in the world did hurting civilians have to do with the book? How did that get you closer to it?” she asked him.

“Look, the vampires have a young boy helping them,” Omen replied.

“A boy?”

“Yes, they’re using him to help them and he knows where the book is. I’ve been trying to get him alone to…persuade him that what he’s doing isn’t a good idea, but those damn vampires are around him constantly so I never had a chance. His father works at the place I caused the accident. I was just trying to make it so I could get the boy alone. That’s all,” Omen explained.

The woman was silent as she reflected on his words. Her eyes then focused on his bloodied face again.

“What is his name?”

“The boy?” His answer was a nod and a tightening around his neck in warning. “He has some really weird, funky name. His parents must have been high when he was born-ngghck!” The woman must have not found his answer amusing because the invisible fingers tightened their grip so his air was cut off.

“A name,” she hissed, loosening her grip just enough so he could cough and suck in air.

“Nicoli Vurke-something, okay!”

It didn’t escape his notice that the woman’s eyebrows raised in surprise and she looked away in thought.

“Nicoli? Could it be…that must mean that the components of my vision are starting to form and come together,” she whispered.

“What the hell are you muttering about?” Omen snarled.

The woman faced him again and the tight frown had returned.

“Nothing that concerns you, but I do have news that does. As of right now, Mr. Omen, I no longer require your services. You no longer have to worry about getting back the book, forget that you ever knew of its existence,” she told him. “I’ll pay you the amount I promised, of course, and I will not force you out of town. I know your main concern is the vampires and you can hunt them as much as you please. But you are not to touch one hair on that boy’s head. Do you understand me?”

Omen reluctantly nodded.

“And mark my words, if you ever hurt anyone else in this town again I’ll do worse than simply remove you from the premises.” She proved her point by tossing him from the wall. The springs of the bed squeaked in protest as he landed on it and he bounced right off it and onto the floor.

Omen coughed and spat out some blood as he pushed himself up. He looked up just in time to see the woman stride to the door to make her leave.

“Wait just one God damn minute,” he growled.

She stopped to watch him get up to his knees and stumble to his feet.

“What are you going to do about the book? You and I both know that if they find a way to open it they’ll find the location of the Heart. We can’t let that happen,” he said.

“Again, that is no longer your concern,” she told him crisply. “And, like I told you before, there is no possible way they can open the book on their own. There is one way and one way only to open the book and see the secrets it holds and I am the only one that knows how to do that.”

She then made her way to the door, but stopped when she opened it.

“Good day, Mr. Omen,” she said and then she was gone with the click of the door closing behind her.

Omen sighed and grumbled as he sat down on the bed and began wiping away more of the blood on his face. She really was a powerhouse. He hadn’t expected that at all.

“Crazy bitch,” he muttered as he looked around at his destroyed room. He was surprised that no one had come to see what the ruckus was about, but he figured she had something to do with that.

Well, now he was out of a job, which didn’t bother him too much. The only thing he would miss were the helpful items that the woman had supplied him with: barriers, talismans, suppression charms. It was fine, though, he was never into using those things much anyways. His bare hands would do nicely and now that Andre had shown up in Whixton, Omen was going to make sure the vampire’s visit ended with those same bare hands around the bastards neck.

=======================================Ch. 34 End