Moonlight Denial: Shades of Moonlight Book One

Rain pelted the window of the house as the wind blew outside, causing and whistling sound along with the constant drumming. The living room was warm as a fire crackled in the fireplace and it made shadows dance and twirl along the walls and the occupants that dwelled within.

Nicoli sat on the couch between Andre and Ethan. He was on the very edge as he intently watched Faith, who was on the floor in front of the fireplace fiddling with a mass of cloth, fabrics, threads, and yarn. She had woken up not long after Nicoli had gone to sleep and apparently had been working on her little project since then.

“So, what are you making exactly?” Nicoli finally asked after several minutes of trying and failing to analyze the misshapen object in her hands.

“I’m making a doll,” Faith replied simply as she began stitching the body, complete with limbs, to the head.

“A doll?” Nicoli murmured.

“It’s a hobby of hers,” Andre informed him. “I must say the one she made of me is quite dashing,” he said with a big grin as he held his cigarette holder between his teeth. Sadly for him he was not smoking an actual cigarette since Gavin, who was currently sitting in the chair reading the newspaper, had snatched it from him, telling him not to smoke in the house.

“I’m so sure,” Nicoli said with a roll of his eyes.

“She usually only makes dolls of family members, though,” Ethan said with a tilt of his head. “Who exactly are you making, Faith?” he asked.

“You’ll see,” Faith said as she finished sewing the head on and the thread tied and snapped itself.

“Everyone already has their own doll,” Felix said from where he was sitting on the coffee table. “Now I’m curious.” He crossed his arms as he studied the barely constructed doll.

“I suppose I’m lucky that I can work while being gawked at,” Faith said with a giggle. She had a long container filled with compartments and when she opened one buttons were inside. All of the compartments seemed to be color coded and in the one she was digging in she extracted buttons that were every shade of blue imaginable. When she had gathered them all she got up and went over to the couch.

“Uh, what are you doing?” Nicoli asked as Faith took his chin in one of her hands to hold him still.

“Don’t move. This will only take a second,” she told him.

One by one the blue buttons floated up into the air and Nicoli watched curiously as one swooped down to his face until it was right next to his eye. It hovered there for a second before it zipped over to land on the coffee table and another took its place.

“No. No. No,” Faith said as the buttons kept coming and going. “Hmm that one is closer, but not quite.”

“Wait a second,” Felix said as he leaned over to get a better look at what Faith was doing. “You’re making a doll of him!? You’ve known him for just a little over a week. I had to know you for two years before you would even think of making one of me.”

“Ooooh I think Kitten is jealous,” Andre said and smirked when a heated glare was sent his way.

“Shut up, Andre!”

“Wait, you’re making a doll of me?” Nicoli asked and even when he realized that she was trying to match the buttons to his eye color he could not quite comprehend why Felix was so offended.

“It’s considered an honor in our family to have Faith create a doll in your likeness,” Ethan said through the link, answering his voiceless question.

“Don’t get so upset, Felix, Sweetie,” Faith cooed, but had not let her gaze leave the task at hand. “I’m mostly doing this out of boredom. Who knows when we’ll get another addition to our little family? So this is not a doll made out of love, but one made to keep my sanity intact. And I mean that with no offense, Nicoli.”

“Ummm…none taken?” Nicoli said, still not seeing what all the hubbub was about. Even with Ethan’s helpful little murmur.

“Aha!” Faith exclaimed when the next button to be matched up with Nicoli’s eyes was near perfect. “Thank you, Nicoli.” She took up her buttons, making sure to keep the chosen one separate. Before she settled back in front of the fireplace she stopped at the coffee table and smiled at Felix.

“Oh, don’t pout, Felix,” she told him. “You should remember that you have two dolls made for you and no one else can say that.”

“Yeah…I guess,” Felix murmured, not wanting to give up on his scowling, but it melted away when Faith kissed his cheek.

“Wait, Felix has two dolls?” Nicoli asked as Faith went back to her original spot. “How come?”

With just that one question the air was sucked right out of the room. Nicoli noticed how everyone tensed and eyes darted away from his gaze. He couldn’t see Gavin’s face because of the paper, but Nicoli knew even he was affected by the dynamic atmosphere change by the way his hands tightened on the newspaper. A full, painful minute went by before Andre spoke up.

“Okay, is anyone going to say it or am I going to have to?” he asked.

Felix sighed and rolled his eyes.

“Fiiine, I’ll say it,” he said as he spun around and stared Nicoli full in the face. “I get two dolls because…well, think of it as a sort of before and after thing. Ya get me?”

Nicoli blinked at him for a few seconds before it dawned on him what Felix meant. The two dolls represented Felix when he was alive and after he had died. Nicoli felt dumb. If he had actually thought before speaking he could have figured that out on his own.

“Ooooh, yeah, I got ya,” he said.

“Good. Now stop asking stupid shit,” Felix hissed. The next second a button went flying straight through his head.

“Felix,” Faith said warningly. “Don’t make me wash your mouth out with soap.”

“Sorry.”

“So, what exactly do you do with the dolls?” Nicoli asked, trying to change the subject.

“What else? I play with them,” Faith answered as she began sewing the buttons into the doll.

“But…aren’t you, ya know, a little old to be playing with dolls?” he asked.

“In mind, quite possibly, but not in body. As I always say if I have to look like a child for eternity I might as well have fun with it,” she said and smiled at Nicoli as she finished the button and the thread snapped.

“Oh, I guess you have a point.”

It was the first time Nicoli really wondered why Faith was turned at such a young age. What had Conrad’s motivation been behind it? He could ponder on the reason behind Conrad turning anybody, since he had such a disdain for humans, but that was another huge mountain of a question to tackle later.

He wanted to ask Faith about it, but Felix was right. Nicoli had only known the clan a little over a week. That sort of question demanded that he know her just a little bit longer before even attempting such a thing. But he did have a few other questions that were well within the “feel free to ask” zone.

“Hey, Faith,” he said to get her attention. “What you said about the next time there’s a new family member. Are you saying that doesn’t happen often?”

Faith’s eyes lifted from her project and she studied Nicoli for a moment before tilting her head.

“Yes, that is what I’m saying. New vampires are few and far between. Did you not realize that? I thought our various ages would make that obvious,” she answered.

“Er, well, I don’t know all of your ages. I know Ethan’s eighty –”

“Eighty one now,” Ethan said.

“Whatever. Cora said she’s a little over a hundred. She also mentioned that Conrad is over a thousand, which is insane by the way, and that Gavin is, well, a mind blowing age over that. How old are you two?” Nicoli asked, looking from Faith to Andre.

“Turned five hundred and twenty a couple months back,” Andre said with a grin as he twirled his cigarette holder between his fingers. “More than half-way to the one thousand mark.” His voice was full of pride with that tidbit and he pumped his fist in victory.

Nicoli was unable to prevent his jaw from dropping. He knew that Andre had to be older than Cora, but he didn’t think by that much. The man was far too juvenile to be over five hundred, but Nicoli supposed, human or vampire, some people just never grew up.

“And what about you?” he asked Faith when he picked his jaw up from the floor.

“Six hundred and sixty,” she answered with her sweet, child-like smile. “So I shall be hitting the “one thousand mark” much sooner than dear Andre.”

“You always have to rub that in my face,” Andre said with an overly dramatic sigh.

“Wow, okay, you guys are much older than I first thought,” Nicoli said. Even though he found it hard to believe that Andre was so old he found it even harder to imagine that Faith was even older. “So, why is it that you guys have such a small family?” he asked. “Being so old I would think each of you would at least have a couple of fledglings a piece, but Conrad only has you two and Andre only has Cora and…you don’t have any fledglings, right Gavin?”

“No, that I do not,” Gavin answered. His face showed for the briefest of seconds as he lowered the paper to turn the page before it was lifted back up. Nicoli had the brief thought that it was odd that it was taking Gavin so long to read one newspaper since he knew vampires could read at extreme speeds. It was possible that even vampires found enjoyment from doing certain things at a “normal” pace.

“So, what is with that then?” Nicoli asked. Honestly confused now that he thought on how very few were in the clan compared to how many could be.

“Actually, compared to some other clans, we are quite large in size. The reasoning behind clans being small is because turning someone is not as simple as you might think,” Faith answered as she began stitching in the other button. “There’s a lot of responsibility that goes into making a fledgling. Something that maybe Cora will be ready for in a few years, and that Ethan isn’t even nearly ready for.”

“I quite agree,” Ethan said with a nod when Nicoli looked to him to see if he had been offended.

“What’s so hard about it?” Nicoli asked, not very clear on the matter.

“Really it is because the maker, or the sire, has to be fully ready for it both mentally and emotionally. Well…they don’t have to be, but it works out a lot better for both parties if they are. You see, the first few years of a fledgling’s life are very difficult because they go through something that we call Blood Rage,” Faith explained.

“Blood…Rage? Yeah, just that name doesn’t make it sound good,” Nicoli murmured, trying to imagine what such a thing entailed. “What is it exactly?”

“Blood Rage, little Nickel,” Andre said, picking up for Faith. “Is the state when a human first becomes a vampire. The transition is very hard not only on their bodies, but on their mentality. They are hit with an overwhelming need for blood and they also must deal with the new senses and instincts that go along with the change, making their need – no – their hunger that much more intense. In those first few years vampires are reduced to little more than animals, who need to kill and feast constantly in order to keep up with the demands of their new bodies.”

“And if you think that is hard on the fledgling it is even harder on the sire, at least emotionally,” Faith chimed in. “When new fledglings are made they need to be locked up in either a well made cage or cell of some sort so they can’t get out and wreck havoc on the outside world and they need to be given new blood almost every hour on the hour. So think what that would be like for a sire. To have to sit there for who know how many years and watch the one you turned in some kind of prison as they rage and scream like animals. Not able to speak or even recognize who you are. It’s a sight not everyone can handle and that is why no vampire ever takes the idea of turning a human lightly.”

“…holy crap,” Nicoli said. His voice was soft and it came out in almost a whisper. He never knew what it really meant to become a vampire, but he never imagined they had to go through such a horrific event in order to become the elegant, powerful creatures they were now. “And you all went through this?”

“Yep, think of it like an initiation into the vampire fold,” Ethan said with a smirk. “And it isn’t that bad. The whole time you’re going through it, it feels like you’re in a complete fog. You’re not even aware of what’s happening to you or even that it is happening to you. When you finally snap out of the Blood Rage it feels like you’re waking up from a very long, very strange sleep.”

“How long were you in it for?” Nicoli asked, not being able to picture Ethan as an out of control, psychopathic, blood starving vampire.

“About five years,” he answered. “Which is pretty much average for most people.”

“Four for me,” Andre said when Nicoli turned to him. Andre’s cigarette holder levitated into the air and flew over to Gavin and began jabbing him in the arm. “Are you ever going to tell us your Blood Rage time, Gavie?” he asked.

Gavin simply grunted as he knocked the sleek, black stick away from him.

“He won’t tell any of us what his was,” Andre told Nicoli with a sigh as he went back to twirling his holder.

“And what about you, Faith?” Nicoli asked with a tilt of his head.

“Oh, twenty years,” Faith said simply as she was going through her yarn.

“Wha…twenty years? Are you serious? If five was average why was yours so long?” Nicoli asked.

Faith stopped her rummaging long enough to smile at Nicoli.

“Because children aren’t mature enough in any aspect to deal with such a change. It’s a miracle I survived at all. It all worked out, though, so I have no reason to complain,” she said as she began comparing yarn for hair color.

Nicoli couldn’t help but stare at her for a long while. Faith was steadily becoming one of the most amazing people he had ever met. Here she was, stuck in the body of a child and had to suffer through twenty years of hell to get that way, and she was perfectly fine with it. Well, possibly not “perfectly” fine with it, but she seemed at peace with herself. It was more than he could say for himself if he had ever found himself in a similar situation.

“It is believed among some of our kind,” Gavin said as he lowered his paper, his voice startling Nicoli. “That the reason we go through such a drastic episode is because we are mentally transforming into that of a killer. It is said that if someone with high morals is turned they will stay in the Blood Rage longer because it is harder for those morals to be stripped away. There in making it more difficult for them to be internally at peace with the fact that they have to kill humans in order to survive. That is why new bloodlings are virtually mindless when they are turned. They kill because of instinct. Not on a conscious level and once they come to terms with that the Rage lifts.

“That is why, it is believed, it was so arduous for someone like Faith,” he said. “Children have no sense of death, and even less of a notion of killing people. So to become accepting to a mind of killer would take that much longer.”

To Nicoli it made some sense, though he wasn’t going to fool himself into thinking he could understand vampire psychology.

“So, do you think that’s true?” he asked. He frowned when Gavin shrugged and his eyes went back to the paper.

“It has not been proven, though it seems, in some instances, that there is some truth to the theory,” Gavin said. He was about to block the world out with his paper again when he paused.

Nicoli noticed that Gavin’s eyes widened, but only a fraction. It was such a small action that it went unnoticed by everyone but Nicoli since he was staring directly at Gavin. The next second Gavin calmly folded up his paper and tucked it under his arm as he stood.

“Excuse me,” he said as he strode past the couch to leave the room.

“Hey, where you going, Gavie-kins?” Andre asked.

“Somewhere not in this room. I was not aware I had to inform you of my constant whereabouts,” Gavin said without even turning and he exited the room without another word.

“I will never understand that man,” Andre said with a shake of his head as he gnawed on his nicotine dispensing accessory.

“Would he be Gavin if you did?” Felix asked with a chuckle.

“Good point, Kitten.”

Nicoli wondered if he should be overly concerned about what he witnessed. It was as if Gavin was surprised by something, but then his demeanor had been so composed when he left Nicoli doubted whether he was right in his assumption of the ‘surprising’ and brushed it off as nothing.

“I have a question. Gavie and Gavie-kins? Really?” Nicoli asked. “He lets you get away with that?”

“We’ve all found that, rather than try and fail at stopping his stupidity, its better that we just ignore it,” Felix answered with a smirk.

“Ow, Kitten, that hurts,” Andre said with a pout.

Nicoli couldn’t help but snicker at Andre’s expense. Felix’s insults were rather amusing…when they weren’t directed at him.

“Okay, back to the original subject. You guys are making it sound like humans and vampires brains are really different what with this ‘transforming’ and ‘adapting’ to the ‘mind of a killer’ thing. Are you guys really that different from us?”

“Possibly not as much as we’re making it sound,” Faith said. “Vampires kill to live and we have a mindset where we do not feel remorse for this. In some cases this is untrue, like if we killed a human we personally know, such as yourself, we would most likely indeed feel regret.”

“That’s nice to know,” Nicoli said with a sheepish smile.

“But I suppose that does not make us at all different from those few humans who find enjoyment from killing one of their own kind. It’s all in the way you perceive it,” Faith finished.

“Well, human and vampire brains might not be different in that sense, but they work completely different in another,” Andre said pointedly with a wag of his holder.

“And what way is that?” Nicoli asked.

“Do you remember Gavin telling you that if the mind link is broken that Ethan’s mind is more equipped to sustain the damage?” Andre told him.

“Vaguely,” Nicoli said with a roll of his eyes and tried not to glare at Ethan, reminding himself that he had forgiven the small ‘oversight.’

“Do we really have to bring that up?” Ethan asked.

“Yes, because it’s the best example and I like seeing you squirm,” Andre told him with a vicious grin and both Nicoli and Felix chuckled. “You know that with the mind link no other vampire can read your thoughts or try to manipulate it. Ethan, on the other hand, can still communicate with the rest of us telepathically.”

“You can?” Nicoli asked Ethan. “I didn’t know that.”

“Yes, I can speak to them as easily as I speak to you,” Ethan replied.

“Wait, how come he’s not blocked off from other people like me?” Nicoli asked.

“Here, I believe I can provide a helpful demonstration,” Faith said. She lifted her hand and two balls of yarn rose into the air, one white and the other a dark green. “Now think of the white yarn as a human’s brain. It functions completely within itself. It has no extraordinary way of reaching outside of its limits. The green yarn represents a vampire’s brain.” With a flick of her wrist and a snap of her fingers several pieces of string shot out from the ball and remained that way. It resembled a spiked ball.

“Whoa, so what does that all mean?” Nicoli asked as he observed the two now very different balls of yarn.

“Think of the strings as tendrils that come from our minds,” Faith elaborated. “It is with these tendrils that we are able to read minds. A human comes along and we reach out and touch their minds like so.” She twirled a finger and the green yarn approached the white and one of the green “tendrils” lengthened until it touched the other. “With this very temporary connection we can reach into that person’s inner most thoughts.

“You are a very different case, Nicoli. With the mind link you now have one of those tendrils permanently affixed to you.” The green string touching the white one lengthened and wrapped around the white ball several times. “With this affixation you now have a telepathic link to Ethan and it also works as a barrier so no other vampires’ tendrils can touch you or dive into your thoughts.

“Ethan, however, has many more tendrils to which other vampires can “link up” to.” This time a black ball of yarn joined the first two and several strings stuck out from it to resemble the green. One of the black strings then reached out and touched one of the numerous green strings. And that is, in simple terms, how our brains are different than humans on that level,” Faith said as the three balls of yarn floated down to the ground.

Her small lecture was met with applause from Ethan, Andre and Felix. Nicoli soon joined in after feeling left out.

“Very nicely done, Faith,” Andre praised.

“Put so simply even a Meatbag could follow it,” Felix said, sending a smirk over his shoulder.

“There is only so many times I can say that I hate you,” Nicoli grumbled as he crossed his arms and leaned back.

“Oh, please say it more. It makes me all aquiver,” Felix said as he mock shivered.

“You two are so cute,” Andre cooed as he pinched both of their cheeks, though his fingers simply went through Felix.

“I wish you two would tolerate each other. Even just a little,” Ethan said.

“Ha, like that is ever going to happen,” Felix said.

“Yeah, for once I actually agree with him,” Nicoli said. “And thanks, Faith. That really did help me. I never knew vampires were so complicated. Here I thought you guys just had super cool powers, drank blood, and lived forever.”

“Even the most simplistic beings have complexities underneath,” Faith said as she began trying to rewrap the yarn balls that she had severed.

“As I’m beginning to understand. So, really, you guys have to go through this weird Blood Rage thing, you all have uber crazy wiring going on in your brains and all of that. I’m kinda curious as to how you turn people into vampires. How does that work? Obviously it’s not just from biting someone or else I would have become a vampire a long time ago.”

“Oh reeeeally?” Andre asked with a quirk of his eyebrow.

Nicoli realized too late what that could imply and he immediately went red around the cheeks.

“Y-Yeah, you know, from when Faith bit me at the park,” he said, trying to keep his voice firm and believing.

“Suuuure, Buddy, that’s the first time you got bit,” Felix said with a roll of his eyes, having been there when Nicoli really had been bitten the first time.

“Shut up,” Nicoli growled and resisted the urge to elbow Ethan when he chuckled in amusement.

“No, you’re right. A simple bite is not enough to turn a human,” Faith said with a giggle.

“So, what is it then?” Nicoli asked, ignoring the morons that surrounded him and were trying to make him blush more. “Is it that whole thing where you have to drain them and give the person your blood?”

“Yes and no,” Ethan answered. “To anyone observing that seems like that’s all that happens, but there is one more vital part that is needed in order for the turning to be a success.”

“Well?” Nicoli asked.

“While a vampire is draining a human,” Andre said, taking over for Ethan. “We actually inject something into the bloodstream through our fangs.”

“Inject? You mean like a snake injecting venom?” Nicoli asked.

“Very similar, but what we secrete is not venom but a substance that is very close to being an extraction of pure DNA,” Andre explained.

“DNA? You inject DNA into humans? Why?” Nicoli asked, now heavily confused.

“It’s actually rather simple,” Faith said as she held the unfinished doll to her. “Just like the brains our bodies and humans bodies are quite different. If a vampire introduces a high quantity of their blood into the human system, which is needed for the turning to occur, without that DNA secretion then the blood just goes rampant through the body and, instead of assimilating the human cells into vampire ones, they completely overwhelm and destroy everything in that body.”

Nicoli could feel the blood drain from his face. That could happen just from having vampire blood in him? He could not help but think back to all the times he had had Ethan’s blood on him and how, on more than one occasion, had that blood in his mouth. Who knew how much he had ingested.

“You’re making yourself worry for nothing,” Ethan told him, making him nearly jump. “She said a high amount had to be in the body for that to happen. The amount you’ve had is nearly nothing in comparison.”

“You better be right,” Nicoli retorted, not able to calm the queasiness coiling in his stomach.

“So, you’re saying if that DNA stuff isn’t put into the body before the blood that person will die?” he asked.

“And vice versa,” Andre said. “If the DNA is injected without any vampire blood present shortly after the same thing can occur…though, there have been cases where the person didn’t die from that happening. Very few have survived the failed process, but for those poor souls death would have been much kinder.”

“…I’m almost afraid to ask why,” Nicoli said.

“Tell me, have you ever seen those old vampire movies where the big, bad vampires turned some people into mindless, rotting corpses that did their bidding?” Andre asked.

“Yeah, you mean the ghouls?” Nicoli asked, thinking of the zombie like creatures created by the evil, twisted vampires in some movies he had happened to see.

“Yes, they become something very similar to those “ghouls” and that is an existence I wouldn’t wish on anyone,” Andre said.

Nicoli shuddered as he thought about it. No, he wouldn’t wish such a thing on anyone either. Even after knowing that vampires existed he hadn’t given a single thought if their putrid counterparts were real too.

“It doesn’t happen often,” Faith said, drawing Nicoli out of his thoughts. “If someone does fail in the turning process the chances of the victim turning into such a creature is only one in a million.”

“Blergh, even that seems too risky,” Nicoli said with a shake of his head. “So what exactly does the DNA do so that the blood doesn’t…deform or kill someone?”

“It’s very similar to the blood,” Faith said. “The DNA works as a catalyst or you can think of it more like glue. When the vampire DNA is introduced into the body it spreads and coats the human cells so when the vampire blood is given it does not attack the foreign cells. Instead the vampire cells recognize the human ones as its own and begin to absorb and assimilate them into itself instead of drastically mutating them.”

“Wow…add another complexity point to you guys,” Nicoli said. “Okay, I think I’ve officially decided that I never want to become a vampire. Ever. I didn’t have a desire to before, but now I really wouldn’t want to.”

“Awe, but you would make such a cute vampire, though,” Andre said as he teased the end of his cigarette holder along Nicoli’s ear, who smacked it away. “You won’t even think about it?”

“No, this is something I don’t have to give thought to,” Nicoli said as he rubbed his ear.

“Good, I don’t ever see you making a good vampire,” Felix said.

“You know what? I don’t need your agreement,” Nicoli snapped.

“Well, if you have no more questions then I would like you to come with me,” Faith said as she stood and trotted over to the couch.

“Uh, for what?” Nicoli asked as Faith took his hand and, with deceiving strength, pulled him up to his feet.

“You have to go through fabric with me and tell me what kind of clothes you want me to make for your doll,” she said as she began leading him out of the room.

“Er, okay?” he said as he followed, casting one last glance behind him at the others before following willingly and traveling up the stairs with his little guide.

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

Conrad’s eyes went to the door of his study as he heard footsteps coming up the stairs. He could hear the heartbeat of the boy and the clatter of feet of another. When the two went past his door and into another room he refocused his attention back on the man beside him.

“Now, Gavin, what about this blasted newspaper coerced you into waking me up and dragging me in here?” he asked as he leaned back in his chair and rubbed at his eyes. He hadn’t been getting a good amount of sleep lately, something which Gavin was too helpful in pointing out, and now that he had actually relinquished his will to sleep he had been rudely woken up by the one man who had been hounding him about his health.

“It’s about these,” Gavin said as he flattened out the paper on the desk and pointed to a certain article.

“Missing persons?” Conrad said when he read the headline. The article showed the faces of five missing people, both men and women, something that Conrad could hardly muster enough interest to care. “What does missing humans have to do with us?” he asked before covering up a tremendous yawn.

“All of these disappearances took place last week in different towns around this area. Look at the date of the first disappearance,” Gavin said, pointing to the first person, a woman with a pleasant smile and kind eyes.

“What about it?” Conrad said, rubbing at his eyes again. He was really having a hard time waking up fully.

“It was the day right after we left home.”

Now Conrad was awake. It felt like a bucket of ice water had been dumped over his head and he grabbed at the paper to get a better look. Gavin was right. The first disappearance happened the day after they had left for Whixton.

“You…you think these disappearances are connected?” he asked, his voice soft. He prayed that Gavin wasn’t hinting at his worst fear.

“Yes, I’m positive. Look, all of them are between the ages of eighteen and twenty five. There are no blemishes or anything of the sort marking their skin that I can see and they all appear to have come from good, unbroken families. Does that sound like the preferences of anyone you know?” Gavin asked, his eyes boring into Conrad’s.

Conrad swallowed thickly. A giant knot had formed in his throat and he could not dislodge it, no matter how hard he tried.

“…Seth,” he finally managed to say. The name caused shivers to assault his spine, but he would not let himself outwardly shudder.

“Yes, that was also my thought,” Gavin said with a nod.

“No…so you think Dimitri is looking for us,” Conrad said as his eyes traveled from face to face of the missing humans. If Seth really was the one to take them then even Conrad felt pity for the poor creatures.

“Yes, it’s to be expected. Moving the entire clan without warning would catch anyone’s attention, especially Dimitri’s. I believe he has sent Seth out to locate us and that twisted fool Seth wants us to know that he’s coming and he’s giving us a subtle message.”

Before Conrad could speak Gavin pulled out a map of the surrounding area that the clan had picked up when they had made their way to Whixton. Gavin then took out a felt pen and began making marks on other towns.

“This is where the first disappearance occurred,” he said, putting an X over one town. “And here was the second.” Another X was placed on a town near the first. Gavin continued until five towns were X out. “Now watch this.” Gavin began connecting all of the X’s with a line. When he was done there was a spiral shape on the map and a cold sweat broke over Conrad’s brow when he realized that, right in the middle of the spiral, was the town of Whixton.

“Damn it,” he hissed through clenched teeth.

“Yes,” Gavin said. “Seth is closing in on us and who knows how much closer he is since this paper has been published.”

Conrad stood from his chair, causing the legs to screech against the wood floor. His eyes went over and over the path Seth had taking, trying to gauge how long it would take the bastard to finally find them. Out of all of Dimitri’s children Seth was the most fleet of foot. It wouldn’t be long.

“You and I will have to go on immediate patrol of Whixton, starting as soon as possible. If we can catch him before he spots us and returns to Dimitri we can stop him.”

“What about the others?” Gavin asked. “What will you have them do?”

Conrad was silent for a moment. This revelation could plunge the whole clan into turmoil if it was handled incorrectly.

“We shall inform everyone but Ethan and Cora. If those two were to know of this there is no telling what they would do. Their wounds are still too fresh, and they are far too young, for them to act rationally.”

“Those were my feelings also,” Gavin agreed with a nod. “It will be hard to tiptoe around them without revealing what we’re doing.”

“We’re going to have to try. I’m not going to let either of them get killed because they are blinded by rage and pain,” Conrad said.

“I understand.”

Conrad stared at the map and his arm shook as he resisted the urge to punch right through the desk. This could easily spiral out of his control and he hated that feeling.

“I wish Aria and Stephen were still here,” he said softly, not having spoken those names in years.

“Sir?”

“If those two were still alive then we would have the upper hand over my despicable brother and his brood. The clan was dealt such a heavy, heavy blow with their deaths.”

“…I know, sir, I know,” Gavin said, almost trying to sound reassuring.

Conrad’s hand curled into a fist on the desk and he finally gave into his urge and slammed his fist down on it, but not hard enough to hurt the object.

“Damn that traitorous child of mine! Damn him to hell. If I ever get my hands on him I will take the life I so generously gave to him.”

“I believe you will have to beat Ethan to that,” Gavin said as he stood still and let Conrad work through his rage.

“You are most likely right and even my heart would be faint if I was to come against Ethan’s fury,” Conrad said as he ran his hand through his hair. He gave the map one more second of examining before taking it and the newspaper and folding them.

“Keep these to yourself for now,” he said as he handed them to Gavin. “When I have the chance I will speak to Faith and Andre about what you have found. Then we will think on what to do with Seth when we intercept him.”

“Yes, sir,” Gavin said as he tucked the items under his arm.

“We won’t give Dimitri the chance to find us,” Conrad said as he strode over to the window and moved the curtain just enough to peer outside. The rain had stopped, but clouds still blotted out the sky. “We’ll stop this madness before it has a chance to take anyone else from us.”

There was little to no chance of Conrad going back to sleep now, or ever again for that matter. Like many time before insomnia was going to be his closest friend for many days to come.

=============================Ch. 42 End