08-19-2015, 11:41 AM
Kailin touched her forehead with her fingertips, running them from one temple to the other. Her head hadn't hurt this bad since she was a human. After a few moments of enduring the throbbing pain, she became aware of the bulk of weight on the corner of her bed. Her eyes wandered down to Mathias' large form, his hand on the bed post as padding for his head. His dark brown eyes were closed, and he was breathing heavily. Kailin grinned, an instinct of being human still continued within his sleep thousands of years after his death.
Sitting up slightly, she shook the bed, and Mathias' eyes shot open and turned to her. He watched her rub her eyes for a moment, and then returned her fingers to her aching head.
"Are you feeling alright?" He asked, placing his hand on her knee and then quickly removing it.
"I'm not exactly sure." Her words were a whisper, "I don't understand what is happening to me, but…"
"Your aura and soul are fighting for control, and when you get upset it gives your soul better access." He sighed, he was about to betray everything that he had sworn to uphold. "Kailin, I believe I have much to confess to you, and I don't know where I should begin."
She looked up at him, "Start with where you were when I came to America."
Mathias rose his eyebrow questioningly.
"I always noticed you when I was younger, and to catch a glimpse of your shadow made me feel safe. When I came to America, you didn't come with me, and when I returned to my sister, you weren't there."
Mathias looked down at the dark wood floor, "I was ordered to destroy you."
The room laid silent for a moment, and then Kailin cleared her throat.
"You were too emotional, and we couldn't afford to have you as the guardian."
"Kill me, though? But I thought…"
He shook his head before she could finish, "You weren't the first. In my lifetime, you were the third. The first was turned into a bowery, and I was told to slaughter her. The second was born a male, and Tzion swore this was a mistake, and again I killed the guardian." He swallowed as he thought of his next words, "But when I was ordered to destroy you, I knew the reason was unacceptable. I knew that if I could lose you until you created the Mephis, that I wouldn't be able to kill you."
"So, you weren't protecting me?"
He shook his head, "I was, but that wasn't my main reason for following you around. My purpose was to keep
you alive, but only until the time came to execute you or you progressed the prophecies."
Kailin nodded, causing her head to begin it's throbbing again.
His eyes remained fixed on the ground, "I knew of your flight plans to America. When you slipped out of your home that night, I was going to follow you into the woods, and take care of you within the darkness." His lips opened slightly as if he were going to say more, then closed while he thought for another moment. "I remember you running and it had just stopped raining, the ground was wet and their were leaves everywhere. You slipped on a pile of leaves, and hit your head on a tree. I don't think you understood then, that you healed at abnormal speed, because you propped yourself up against the tree and sat there."
He looked at Kailin out of the corner of his eyes, she remained silent as she listened to his story. "I was going to destroy you then, but as I stepped forward, you began to cry. Not in pain or frustration, but in fear of yourself. I realized then as I listened to your thoughts, that I had heard a thousand times, that I missed something. You weren't running away because you were afraid of what you had become, but afraid of what you might do to those you loved. You were protecting your family, and I knew then that it would be against everything that I was to take your life. So, for the first time in my existence, I disobeyed my master."
"Tzion?" Kailin asked, she had thought that they were bonded somehow, but was uncertain.
He nodded, "I told the high elders that you had snuck away in the night, while I was fighting off a group of Bowery. Tzion knew it was a lie, and had it not been for Eva, he would of severely punished me. She had me try to search you out, by getting any information I could from your family."
Kailin looked to her right at the make-up desk, she could see her reflection in the large mirror that rested on it. "So, you were the strange man that my sister said visited Nathaniel often."
"Yes. I become his friend, and all our conversations were held in private. Your sister was the only person to interrupt us, just before she fell ill."
"She didn't fall ill, she was being poisoned!" Kailin shouted, snapping her head to look at Mathias. She then covered her mouth. "I'm sorry."
"It's the truth, no need to apologize for it."
"What is your business with me now?" Kailin asked, wanting to take the subject off her sister.
"To protect you from enemies you don't yet know you have."
"Like you?"
He looked over at her, his eyes wide with shock. "Me?"
"You, Tzion, Akela, and Khaldun." She watched his eyes return to normal.
"I didn't know you remembered that I was part of it."
She ran her hands over her face several times, "I… I don't remember it as a memory of my own. Well, it is my memory, but…" She couldn't find the words to explain what she meant.
"You remember it as my memory, don't you? Seeing it through my eyes."
"Yes. You didn't protect me from that."
"When it came to me, I had to make a choice…"
She nodded, "I understand, but you must understand that I have seen the same through Tzion's eyes. He doesn't wish me any harm. The two of you within my head, I am not sure which one is helping me or helping themselves."
"There is nothing that I can do to prove myself, except go on the way we have been." Mathias stood up. "I must take my leave now, I am certain that Lycorisa and Jareth have grown tired of waiting for me."
She watched him take his steps towards the door. "What of Khaldun and Akela?"
He didn't turn to look at her, "Akela is much older and stronger then I am. Her mind abilities were stronger as a
fresh then mine are now. Eva has forbid her to read my mind without permission, but she can take control of my mind to make my body motionless at her leisure." He waited for a reply, but she remained silent. "Good day, Kailin."
"Goodbye." She said, when the door shut behind him.
Some of the buildings' windows were reinforced in the same way, and it seemed most of the buildings were. The torn, weather worn notice of the door told that it had been condemned a couple years before. But this was the address that Tzion had written down. He stared at the many spirals of the man's handwriting, as they made out the name of the attempted murderer of his father.
Lucas didn't even understand why he was here. He wasn't entirely certain that Tzion had been telling the truth, and what exactly did he need from this man. There was nothing else that he could go home to. By the end of the month he wouldn't have an apartment anymore, and what money he had left, he was using to pay for institutionalizing his father.
He took a deep breath, he had never been an undercover detective, and wasn't sure how he should go about this. Raising his hand, he knocked gently on the door. There was no answer, which brought instant relief to his pounding heart.
"May I help you?" A deep voice from behind him.
Lucas turned to look into Damon's eyes. Two scars on his right cheek, and one of his left. They looked like he had been scratched long ago. His hair was a light gray and wildly twitched in the cold wind. A dark brown jacket, jeans, and brown boots made him look more like a woodsman.
"Damon Anderson?"
He jerked his head forward and back, which Lucas could only assume was a nod.
"I'm… well… I'm…"
"Stark." Damon answered, "Your father was James Stark."
Lucas wasn't sure how to answer that, but he remembered Tzion told him to be as truthful as possible. "Yes, he is."
"Is? I didn't know that he was still alive." He coughed and covered his mouth with his left fist. His face began to turn red with the furiousness of the cough.
"Are you alright?"
He nodded while coughing, and then cleared his throat. "What is it I can do for you? I have not broken any laws, and I do no appreciate to be harassed. My probation officer allowed me to move out here."
"No, that is not why I am here." Lucas looked across the street at the tire yard, as a black dogs nose stuck out through a hole in the plywood. "I've come to learn."
"Learn?" Damon chuckled, "Learn what?"
"How to hunt them."
He knew what Lucas meant, but seemed to be uneasy about the whole thing.
"I am not trying to get you locked up again. I was actually fired from the force, because one of the blood suckers killed my partner. I couldn't tell them what it was, because I didn't know…but I do now."
Damon's haunting eyes continued to stare at him, "Come." He waved him over, and they walked behind the building to a cellar door. He pulled a large ring of keys from his pocket and unlocked the latch.
Opening the door, he allowed Lucas to walk down the unsteady wooden stairs first. Lucas placed his hands on the narrow hallways' paint chipped walls to ease his descension . He looked back when the sunlight stopped shining on him as the cellar door shut. He was afraid he had been locked down there, but Damon only locked it from the inside.
"Go down." He ordered.
When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he looked at a gathering room. The chairs were stacked to the sides of the small stage. Damon walked into the middle of the room, and pointed in front of him.
"Alanna!" Damon yelled.
Lucas saw the dark haired woman come down the stairs to the right of the stage. Her skin was pale, her hair and eyes dark. She had a small, charming mole above her upper lip, and wore a white robe. She smiled at Lucas as he stared at her.
"Yes, master?" She asked from across the room.
Damon held up his index finger telling her to wait a moment, his eyes went back to Lucas. "Take off your clothes."
"What?" Lucas squeaked.
"Don't make me repeat myself."
Lucas cleared his throat, as he began to take off his jacket. He held it over to Damon for him to take.
"Throw it on the ground." Damon ordered.
Lucas did as he was told, and pulled off his shirt, shoes, socks, and pants.
"Your underwear too." Damon said.
He looked over at the woman standing near the stair case, and back at Damon. "Come on, man."
"You have nothing that she hasn't seen before, take them off."
Lucas pulled off his white boxers and dropped them on the pile to his right, then covered himself with his hands. He hadn't felt this embarrassed since showering with the other boys in high school.
Damon began to walk around him, checking him for wires, Lucas assumed. "Alanna, take his clothes and burn them. Except for his personals."
She bowed her head and walked over to scoop up his clothes, as she bent down Lucas looked down at her. She smiled at him, before standing up and walking back to the stairs.
"Bring down a robe for him, before you begin."
"Yes, master." She bowed and began up the stairs.
"She's my eighteenth wife, do you like her?" Damon asked.
"Sorry?"
Standing in front of Lucas, he smiled. "Do you find Alanna attractive?"
"She is a lovely woman."
He nodded and grinned. Pulling on Lucas' hair, he twisted his head to check in his ears. "Open your mouth."
Lucas did as he was told.
"Alright, you are obviously not wired."
Alanna returned with the white robe in her hand, she offered it to Lucas. He snatched it away with one hand and pulled it on.
"Anything else, master?" She asked.
Damon shook his head, "No, go back upstairs."
Lucas watched her disappear up the stairs, and then turned his eyes back to Damon. "Are you going to teach me?"
"No." Damon answered.
"What the hell was this all about then?"
"You already know everything there is to know about vampire hunting. You have that inborn ability, all I can do is help you strengthen, enhance, and understand these abilities. Everyone else in this building had ancestors who defiled their blood.
"Defiled their blood?"
He nodded, "They either don't have the gene or it's so diluted that they wouldn't even be able to take on a bowery by themselves. You on the other hand, have a very strong gene, just like your father. You will be my protégé. I am too old, and by the time my children are born, I won't be able to teach them. If I teach you, you must promise me to teach them everything."
"You have children on the way?"
Damon nodded.
"Then I give my word."
The old man smiled, "I will introduce you as my son later tonight to the rest of the group." He thought for a moment, "You will need to breed as well."
"Well, I don't think we need to worry about that."
Damon laughed, "It must always be the first thing on your mind, there are vampires out there who want nothing more then to kill us. We must keep our blood line going." His laughter had turned into anger. "If you want me to help you, then you must follow me unquestioningly, understand?"
"Yes, I am sorry. I am naïve to these ways."
"As my son, I will give you one of my women to start you off." He looked at the stairs, "Alanna!"
"Wait, huh?"
The dark haired girl came down the stairs, "Yes, master?"
"You belong to Lucas, my son, now."
She bowed her head.
"Wait, you…"
Damon rose his hand, "I haven't used her if that is what you worry about. She was a gift from her father to me only a few days ago. She is very obedient and I am sure she'll please you."
"Is there anything I can do for you, master?" She asked Lucas.
"Uh." He looked at Damon.
"Go back upstairs, tell Neil to remove himself from the room. It is for my son."
She bowed and ran up the stairs.
"Why are you being so accepting of me?"
Damon grinned, "You treat the people that you trust. I know I can make you into a great vampire hunter. But you will need the pleasures of home to off set the torment you will be going through for the next few months."
Lifting her hand she used the door knocker to send the noise of her presence through the house. When she
was done, her hand dropped to her side, and some paint chips from the door dropped onto the porch. Her eyes looked down at the porch, it had been painted and was now chipping.
The sound of someone behind the door, made her look up as it was opened. Lycorisa wearing a pair of jeans, a light blue sweater, and socks stared out at the porch at the hooded woman.
"Leave him alone, Akela." Lycorisa snapped immediately.
Pulling her hood back, Akela allowed her black hair to escape the confines of the hood. "If I didn't have more important things to do, I would crush your mind for speaking to me in that tone. Now, move to the side." She pushed Lycorisa to the side, and stepped in.
Helpless, Lycorisa shut the door, and looked at Akela. The elder rubbed her fingers across the hand railing of the stairs, she looked at her fingers as she rubbed them together. The inside looked much better then the out, wooden panel walls, floor, and stairs all seemed to be newly polished. "What a quaint little house."
"I am sorry that it's not up to par." Lycorisa's words tried to be sympathetic, but Akela knew she was being sarcastic again.
"Tell me, Lycorisa, how does it feel to live with a man, love that very same man, and yet all he uses you for is your abilities?" Akela meant Mathias.
"You of all people should know how that feels, Akela."
She spun around, "How dare you speak of such things." Bringing up her right hand, she slapped Lycorisa.
Bent over, she recovered from the slap, and looked into the dark eyes of Akela. "Fortunately for me, the man I love desires women, so at least I still have a chance."
Akela went to raise her hand again, but felt a tight grip around her wrist.
"If you hit her again…" Mathias' voice said, he didn't have to finish. Truth be known, he was glad he didn't. There wasn't much he could do to Akela, before she could control his mind and put his attempts to a halt.
Turning around, Mathias let her wrist slide out of his hand. "Just who I needed to speak with."
He looked at Lycorisa, "Weren't you getting us water?" He asked her, and with that she disappeared towards the kitchen. His attention went back to Akela.
"I wouldn't expect you to live in a place like this." Akela said, and then looked up at the white ceiling.
"I wouldn't expect you to come near a neighborhood like this."
She grinned, "Normally, I wouldn't. Rather dingy for a woman of my stature."
"I thought I heard you call it quaint." He folded his arms.
"I was just trying to be nice. I know how sensitive Lycorisa can be."
He sighed, "What is it that you want?"
Lycorisa walked by with a tray of water, Akela snatched up a glass while she headed down the hall. She held the glass up to the sunlight that the window let in, looking the water up and down, she pressed her lips together. After she decided on the water purity, she placed the cup on the stand next to the stairs.
"I am playing the part of messenger until Kristian gets well again." She pulled off her gloves and shoved them in her pocket. Heading towards her left, she looked into the living room. The couch and loveseat were white with blue vertical strips. Akela stuck up her nose at them.
"Are you here to snoop around or actually give a message?"
She turned back around and looked the tall, dark haired man over. "Tzion has ordered that you not speak with Kailin again. You have caused to much trouble, and explained far to much to her. As a matter of a fact, after the convention, you aren't allowed to see her again."
"It's my job to protect her, that order comes from Eva." Mathias leaned against the railing with his arms still crossed.
"Yes, well, at a distance. He decided that after you stood there and did nothing while Kristian was being attacked…"
"Is this what this is about? His precious lover is injured and I couldn't save him in time."
Akela rose a lip, "Kristian is not his lover, do not speak of Tzion in such a manner."
"Do not tell me what Tzion is and isn't. I lived with him for two hundred years, and I was created by him. I know
damn well what kind of man he is."
Her head looked down and stared at the floor below, "Mathias, you will not fully understand pain until the moment you speak to me like that again or talk of Tzion like that. I will…"
"Do nothing, I will go to Eva if you finish your threat, Akela. You forget that you are not part of the prophecies and can be easily disposed of." He stood up straight, "You have delivered your message, and may leave now."
"I don't need your permission to leave."
"It wasn't permission, it was an order."
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her gloves. "You pray that when all this is over that one of us has fallen. If not, I will be waiting to end what ever miserable life you have left."
Mathias reached over to the door knob as she walked to it, and opened the door for you. "Good day, Akela."
Without a word, she headed out onto the porch and the door shut behind her.
Mathias turned to look at Lycorisa standing in the hall. "It is not your place to speak to Akela the way you did. She is a powerful, intelligent being, and deserves to be treated as such."
"You back talk her all the time." Lycorisa retorted.
"As an elder yourself, you should be aware of the ways. I will not have you disrespect her again, understand?"
She nodded, and as he walked down the hall to the library, she decided to ask the question that had been on her mind. "Where is Khaldun?"
Mathias stopped in front of the library door, "He is no longer a part of this group."
"He told me what happen when he left the apartment. You did the same thing, and yet you haven't out casted yourself."
"I had no choice."
"Neither did he."
Mathias sighed, and opened the door, stepping into the hallway, allowing Lycorisa to remain in silence in the hall.
Sitting up slightly, she shook the bed, and Mathias' eyes shot open and turned to her. He watched her rub her eyes for a moment, and then returned her fingers to her aching head.
"Are you feeling alright?" He asked, placing his hand on her knee and then quickly removing it.
"I'm not exactly sure." Her words were a whisper, "I don't understand what is happening to me, but…"
"Your aura and soul are fighting for control, and when you get upset it gives your soul better access." He sighed, he was about to betray everything that he had sworn to uphold. "Kailin, I believe I have much to confess to you, and I don't know where I should begin."
She looked up at him, "Start with where you were when I came to America."
Mathias rose his eyebrow questioningly.
"I always noticed you when I was younger, and to catch a glimpse of your shadow made me feel safe. When I came to America, you didn't come with me, and when I returned to my sister, you weren't there."
Mathias looked down at the dark wood floor, "I was ordered to destroy you."
The room laid silent for a moment, and then Kailin cleared her throat.
"You were too emotional, and we couldn't afford to have you as the guardian."
"Kill me, though? But I thought…"
He shook his head before she could finish, "You weren't the first. In my lifetime, you were the third. The first was turned into a bowery, and I was told to slaughter her. The second was born a male, and Tzion swore this was a mistake, and again I killed the guardian." He swallowed as he thought of his next words, "But when I was ordered to destroy you, I knew the reason was unacceptable. I knew that if I could lose you until you created the Mephis, that I wouldn't be able to kill you."
"So, you weren't protecting me?"
He shook his head, "I was, but that wasn't my main reason for following you around. My purpose was to keep
you alive, but only until the time came to execute you or you progressed the prophecies."
Kailin nodded, causing her head to begin it's throbbing again.
His eyes remained fixed on the ground, "I knew of your flight plans to America. When you slipped out of your home that night, I was going to follow you into the woods, and take care of you within the darkness." His lips opened slightly as if he were going to say more, then closed while he thought for another moment. "I remember you running and it had just stopped raining, the ground was wet and their were leaves everywhere. You slipped on a pile of leaves, and hit your head on a tree. I don't think you understood then, that you healed at abnormal speed, because you propped yourself up against the tree and sat there."
He looked at Kailin out of the corner of his eyes, she remained silent as she listened to his story. "I was going to destroy you then, but as I stepped forward, you began to cry. Not in pain or frustration, but in fear of yourself. I realized then as I listened to your thoughts, that I had heard a thousand times, that I missed something. You weren't running away because you were afraid of what you had become, but afraid of what you might do to those you loved. You were protecting your family, and I knew then that it would be against everything that I was to take your life. So, for the first time in my existence, I disobeyed my master."
"Tzion?" Kailin asked, she had thought that they were bonded somehow, but was uncertain.
He nodded, "I told the high elders that you had snuck away in the night, while I was fighting off a group of Bowery. Tzion knew it was a lie, and had it not been for Eva, he would of severely punished me. She had me try to search you out, by getting any information I could from your family."
Kailin looked to her right at the make-up desk, she could see her reflection in the large mirror that rested on it. "So, you were the strange man that my sister said visited Nathaniel often."
"Yes. I become his friend, and all our conversations were held in private. Your sister was the only person to interrupt us, just before she fell ill."
"She didn't fall ill, she was being poisoned!" Kailin shouted, snapping her head to look at Mathias. She then covered her mouth. "I'm sorry."
"It's the truth, no need to apologize for it."
"What is your business with me now?" Kailin asked, wanting to take the subject off her sister.
"To protect you from enemies you don't yet know you have."
"Like you?"
He looked over at her, his eyes wide with shock. "Me?"
"You, Tzion, Akela, and Khaldun." She watched his eyes return to normal.
"I didn't know you remembered that I was part of it."
She ran her hands over her face several times, "I… I don't remember it as a memory of my own. Well, it is my memory, but…" She couldn't find the words to explain what she meant.
"You remember it as my memory, don't you? Seeing it through my eyes."
"Yes. You didn't protect me from that."
"When it came to me, I had to make a choice…"
She nodded, "I understand, but you must understand that I have seen the same through Tzion's eyes. He doesn't wish me any harm. The two of you within my head, I am not sure which one is helping me or helping themselves."
"There is nothing that I can do to prove myself, except go on the way we have been." Mathias stood up. "I must take my leave now, I am certain that Lycorisa and Jareth have grown tired of waiting for me."
She watched him take his steps towards the door. "What of Khaldun and Akela?"
He didn't turn to look at her, "Akela is much older and stronger then I am. Her mind abilities were stronger as a
fresh then mine are now. Eva has forbid her to read my mind without permission, but she can take control of my mind to make my body motionless at her leisure." He waited for a reply, but she remained silent. "Good day, Kailin."
"Goodbye." She said, when the door shut behind him.
---***---
Standing on the top stair, he looked up at the large brick building. The neighborhood seemed vacant. Across the street was an old tire yard and he could hear dogs barking from behind the chain fence, that was reinforced with plywood boards.Some of the buildings' windows were reinforced in the same way, and it seemed most of the buildings were. The torn, weather worn notice of the door told that it had been condemned a couple years before. But this was the address that Tzion had written down. He stared at the many spirals of the man's handwriting, as they made out the name of the attempted murderer of his father.
Lucas didn't even understand why he was here. He wasn't entirely certain that Tzion had been telling the truth, and what exactly did he need from this man. There was nothing else that he could go home to. By the end of the month he wouldn't have an apartment anymore, and what money he had left, he was using to pay for institutionalizing his father.
He took a deep breath, he had never been an undercover detective, and wasn't sure how he should go about this. Raising his hand, he knocked gently on the door. There was no answer, which brought instant relief to his pounding heart.
"May I help you?" A deep voice from behind him.
Lucas turned to look into Damon's eyes. Two scars on his right cheek, and one of his left. They looked like he had been scratched long ago. His hair was a light gray and wildly twitched in the cold wind. A dark brown jacket, jeans, and brown boots made him look more like a woodsman.
"Damon Anderson?"
He jerked his head forward and back, which Lucas could only assume was a nod.
"I'm… well… I'm…"
"Stark." Damon answered, "Your father was James Stark."
Lucas wasn't sure how to answer that, but he remembered Tzion told him to be as truthful as possible. "Yes, he is."
"Is? I didn't know that he was still alive." He coughed and covered his mouth with his left fist. His face began to turn red with the furiousness of the cough.
"Are you alright?"
He nodded while coughing, and then cleared his throat. "What is it I can do for you? I have not broken any laws, and I do no appreciate to be harassed. My probation officer allowed me to move out here."
"No, that is not why I am here." Lucas looked across the street at the tire yard, as a black dogs nose stuck out through a hole in the plywood. "I've come to learn."
"Learn?" Damon chuckled, "Learn what?"
"How to hunt them."
He knew what Lucas meant, but seemed to be uneasy about the whole thing.
"I am not trying to get you locked up again. I was actually fired from the force, because one of the blood suckers killed my partner. I couldn't tell them what it was, because I didn't know…but I do now."
Damon's haunting eyes continued to stare at him, "Come." He waved him over, and they walked behind the building to a cellar door. He pulled a large ring of keys from his pocket and unlocked the latch.
Opening the door, he allowed Lucas to walk down the unsteady wooden stairs first. Lucas placed his hands on the narrow hallways' paint chipped walls to ease his descension . He looked back when the sunlight stopped shining on him as the cellar door shut. He was afraid he had been locked down there, but Damon only locked it from the inside.
"Go down." He ordered.
When he reached the bottom of the stairs, he looked at a gathering room. The chairs were stacked to the sides of the small stage. Damon walked into the middle of the room, and pointed in front of him.
"Alanna!" Damon yelled.
Lucas saw the dark haired woman come down the stairs to the right of the stage. Her skin was pale, her hair and eyes dark. She had a small, charming mole above her upper lip, and wore a white robe. She smiled at Lucas as he stared at her.
"Yes, master?" She asked from across the room.
Damon held up his index finger telling her to wait a moment, his eyes went back to Lucas. "Take off your clothes."
"What?" Lucas squeaked.
"Don't make me repeat myself."
Lucas cleared his throat, as he began to take off his jacket. He held it over to Damon for him to take.
"Throw it on the ground." Damon ordered.
Lucas did as he was told, and pulled off his shirt, shoes, socks, and pants.
"Your underwear too." Damon said.
He looked over at the woman standing near the stair case, and back at Damon. "Come on, man."
"You have nothing that she hasn't seen before, take them off."
Lucas pulled off his white boxers and dropped them on the pile to his right, then covered himself with his hands. He hadn't felt this embarrassed since showering with the other boys in high school.
Damon began to walk around him, checking him for wires, Lucas assumed. "Alanna, take his clothes and burn them. Except for his personals."
She bowed her head and walked over to scoop up his clothes, as she bent down Lucas looked down at her. She smiled at him, before standing up and walking back to the stairs.
"Bring down a robe for him, before you begin."
"Yes, master." She bowed and began up the stairs.
"She's my eighteenth wife, do you like her?" Damon asked.
"Sorry?"
Standing in front of Lucas, he smiled. "Do you find Alanna attractive?"
"She is a lovely woman."
He nodded and grinned. Pulling on Lucas' hair, he twisted his head to check in his ears. "Open your mouth."
Lucas did as he was told.
"Alright, you are obviously not wired."
Alanna returned with the white robe in her hand, she offered it to Lucas. He snatched it away with one hand and pulled it on.
"Anything else, master?" She asked.
Damon shook his head, "No, go back upstairs."
Lucas watched her disappear up the stairs, and then turned his eyes back to Damon. "Are you going to teach me?"
"No." Damon answered.
"What the hell was this all about then?"
"You already know everything there is to know about vampire hunting. You have that inborn ability, all I can do is help you strengthen, enhance, and understand these abilities. Everyone else in this building had ancestors who defiled their blood.
"Defiled their blood?"
He nodded, "They either don't have the gene or it's so diluted that they wouldn't even be able to take on a bowery by themselves. You on the other hand, have a very strong gene, just like your father. You will be my protégé. I am too old, and by the time my children are born, I won't be able to teach them. If I teach you, you must promise me to teach them everything."
"You have children on the way?"
Damon nodded.
"Then I give my word."
The old man smiled, "I will introduce you as my son later tonight to the rest of the group." He thought for a moment, "You will need to breed as well."
"Well, I don't think we need to worry about that."
Damon laughed, "It must always be the first thing on your mind, there are vampires out there who want nothing more then to kill us. We must keep our blood line going." His laughter had turned into anger. "If you want me to help you, then you must follow me unquestioningly, understand?"
"Yes, I am sorry. I am naïve to these ways."
"As my son, I will give you one of my women to start you off." He looked at the stairs, "Alanna!"
"Wait, huh?"
The dark haired girl came down the stairs, "Yes, master?"
"You belong to Lucas, my son, now."
She bowed her head.
"Wait, you…"
Damon rose his hand, "I haven't used her if that is what you worry about. She was a gift from her father to me only a few days ago. She is very obedient and I am sure she'll please you."
"Is there anything I can do for you, master?" She asked Lucas.
"Uh." He looked at Damon.
"Go back upstairs, tell Neil to remove himself from the room. It is for my son."
She bowed and ran up the stairs.
"Why are you being so accepting of me?"
Damon grinned, "You treat the people that you trust. I know I can make you into a great vampire hunter. But you will need the pleasures of home to off set the torment you will be going through for the next few months."
---***---
The house was painted an off-white, and a small porch began the entry way. It wasn't far from Tzion's mansion, but it wasn't in the city either. She opened the metal gate and heard the squeak of an un-greased hinge. The sound sent shivers down her spine, as she headed towards the door, leaving the gate open. The grass was dead, and the bushes bare. But she hadn't expected him to take care of his lawn.Lifting her hand she used the door knocker to send the noise of her presence through the house. When she
was done, her hand dropped to her side, and some paint chips from the door dropped onto the porch. Her eyes looked down at the porch, it had been painted and was now chipping.
The sound of someone behind the door, made her look up as it was opened. Lycorisa wearing a pair of jeans, a light blue sweater, and socks stared out at the porch at the hooded woman.
"Leave him alone, Akela." Lycorisa snapped immediately.
Pulling her hood back, Akela allowed her black hair to escape the confines of the hood. "If I didn't have more important things to do, I would crush your mind for speaking to me in that tone. Now, move to the side." She pushed Lycorisa to the side, and stepped in.
Helpless, Lycorisa shut the door, and looked at Akela. The elder rubbed her fingers across the hand railing of the stairs, she looked at her fingers as she rubbed them together. The inside looked much better then the out, wooden panel walls, floor, and stairs all seemed to be newly polished. "What a quaint little house."
"I am sorry that it's not up to par." Lycorisa's words tried to be sympathetic, but Akela knew she was being sarcastic again.
"Tell me, Lycorisa, how does it feel to live with a man, love that very same man, and yet all he uses you for is your abilities?" Akela meant Mathias.
"You of all people should know how that feels, Akela."
She spun around, "How dare you speak of such things." Bringing up her right hand, she slapped Lycorisa.
Bent over, she recovered from the slap, and looked into the dark eyes of Akela. "Fortunately for me, the man I love desires women, so at least I still have a chance."
Akela went to raise her hand again, but felt a tight grip around her wrist.
"If you hit her again…" Mathias' voice said, he didn't have to finish. Truth be known, he was glad he didn't. There wasn't much he could do to Akela, before she could control his mind and put his attempts to a halt.
Turning around, Mathias let her wrist slide out of his hand. "Just who I needed to speak with."
He looked at Lycorisa, "Weren't you getting us water?" He asked her, and with that she disappeared towards the kitchen. His attention went back to Akela.
"I wouldn't expect you to live in a place like this." Akela said, and then looked up at the white ceiling.
"I wouldn't expect you to come near a neighborhood like this."
She grinned, "Normally, I wouldn't. Rather dingy for a woman of my stature."
"I thought I heard you call it quaint." He folded his arms.
"I was just trying to be nice. I know how sensitive Lycorisa can be."
He sighed, "What is it that you want?"
Lycorisa walked by with a tray of water, Akela snatched up a glass while she headed down the hall. She held the glass up to the sunlight that the window let in, looking the water up and down, she pressed her lips together. After she decided on the water purity, she placed the cup on the stand next to the stairs.
"I am playing the part of messenger until Kristian gets well again." She pulled off her gloves and shoved them in her pocket. Heading towards her left, she looked into the living room. The couch and loveseat were white with blue vertical strips. Akela stuck up her nose at them.
"Are you here to snoop around or actually give a message?"
She turned back around and looked the tall, dark haired man over. "Tzion has ordered that you not speak with Kailin again. You have caused to much trouble, and explained far to much to her. As a matter of a fact, after the convention, you aren't allowed to see her again."
"It's my job to protect her, that order comes from Eva." Mathias leaned against the railing with his arms still crossed.
"Yes, well, at a distance. He decided that after you stood there and did nothing while Kristian was being attacked…"
"Is this what this is about? His precious lover is injured and I couldn't save him in time."
Akela rose a lip, "Kristian is not his lover, do not speak of Tzion in such a manner."
"Do not tell me what Tzion is and isn't. I lived with him for two hundred years, and I was created by him. I know
damn well what kind of man he is."
Her head looked down and stared at the floor below, "Mathias, you will not fully understand pain until the moment you speak to me like that again or talk of Tzion like that. I will…"
"Do nothing, I will go to Eva if you finish your threat, Akela. You forget that you are not part of the prophecies and can be easily disposed of." He stood up straight, "You have delivered your message, and may leave now."
"I don't need your permission to leave."
"It wasn't permission, it was an order."
Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her gloves. "You pray that when all this is over that one of us has fallen. If not, I will be waiting to end what ever miserable life you have left."
Mathias reached over to the door knob as she walked to it, and opened the door for you. "Good day, Akela."
Without a word, she headed out onto the porch and the door shut behind her.
Mathias turned to look at Lycorisa standing in the hall. "It is not your place to speak to Akela the way you did. She is a powerful, intelligent being, and deserves to be treated as such."
"You back talk her all the time." Lycorisa retorted.
"As an elder yourself, you should be aware of the ways. I will not have you disrespect her again, understand?"
She nodded, and as he walked down the hall to the library, she decided to ask the question that had been on her mind. "Where is Khaldun?"
Mathias stopped in front of the library door, "He is no longer a part of this group."
"He told me what happen when he left the apartment. You did the same thing, and yet you haven't out casted yourself."
"I had no choice."
"Neither did he."
Mathias sighed, and opened the door, stepping into the hallway, allowing Lycorisa to remain in silence in the hall.