Under the Light of the Same Moon
Synopsis: Along their travels hunting bugs for the night, the Shade and Marina meet true vampires that are simply passing through the area to find a more accommodating home. Their names are Persephone and Reagan.
Chapter 1--Springtime in Full Bloom
Another spring had come to Hibernaculum without much fuss. No trouble with the owls had been had and Goth hadn't been any trouble for the Silverwings either. It seemed that the final time Shade had had contact with Goth (and nearly gotten eaten in the process), he had gotten Goth lost in the suburbs and later the big cities in the cathedrals by using the power of echo-projection. Thanks to his quick and clever thinking, the Silverwings could prepare for their springtime harvest and celebration. Many of the bats were now pairing off and having families of their own. Even Shade and Marina had paired off as mates. After all, they had been friends for years, it seemed. That friendship had grown into full-fledged love and had come to fruition.
Like most bats, Marina and Shade would have to find a more secluded place to mate, but they were taking their time about unlike the other Silverwings. The two weren't teens anymore, but adults and adjusting to that change in their personalities and habits.
After preparations for harvesting had begun, the Silverwings began to celebrate. This gave Shade and Marina a chance to fly off on their own and find someplace secluded to mate. The others didn't need a note or memo from them to know where they were going since other bats had little ones they were preparing to welcome into the clan.
It was a secluded area in the forest and no other bats could pester them, especially not Breeze and Chinook, but those two were already mated, so they wouldn't be any trouble when the two had their rendezvous. The moon was perfectly round and stunningly bright in the sky, which made it the perfect backdrop for romance on this auspicious night. As the two courted in the grotto they found a few kilometers from Hibernaculum, they heard an unusual sound of rushing wings. The wings sounded unusually large. They paused for a moment, waiting to hear the sound again, that rushed past them fiercer than the force of a tornado. It nearly knocked them out of their love den, but they were unharmed.
Chapter 2--Wandering Sisters
The mates had curled up together in each other's wings to brace themselves for the gust and continued to embrace each other as it passed. When the wind died down, the Silverwings were surprised at what had caused it. Two vampire bats that had transformed into their human forms, looking a bit paler than usual. The two Silverwings were very curious at what they were seeing.
"How is it possible you can change appearance so easily ?", Marina said, flying up to the wandering sisters. It was no wonder that they could understand her, since they were partially bats themselves.
"We're vampires. It's part and parcel of our existence. I take it you know of our kind. We're practically cousins.", Reagan responded, with a canine-toothed, sparkling smile. Marina couldn't help but chortle at her statement. She had heard stories of vampires before but never thought they were true. Shade, however, was a devout skeptic, and he thought the two humans were lying.
"There is absolutely no way you can be what you say you are. Clearly you are human. Prove to me you are what you say you are !", Shade said.
Persephone rolled her ash-colored eyes. She and Reagan were very low on energy, but knew they needed to drink some blood so that they would be nourished. They had been without blood for days now and it seemed that the human population in this area was small. However, the vampires could hear chickens that were living on a farm not too far from the cave the Silverwings had found for their love den.
In a poof of smoke, the sisters disappeared and reappeared with a chicken they had recently drained of blood. It hadn't felt anything in its death, fortunately, and the two were going to save it for dinner later on their path toward civilization.
"I guess I was wrong. You two are as you say.", Shade stated in surprise.
"That we are, Silverwing. Our kind is immortal. Sometimes it is a curse to live beyond all ephemeral beings, seeing the ebb and flow of style, fads and etcetera.", Persephone said, her voice a bit tragic but wistful in a sort of odd, nostalgic way.
"Is it possible for a Silverwing to become like you ?", Shade asked, knowing his question was a bit silly.
Reagan laughed so hard her stomach hurt.
"Yes, quite impossible last time I heard. Unless there's a spell to transform you. Last I have read though, and you know I am quite a bit older than both of you combined, no such thing exists.", Reagan said, honestly.
The two bats were fascinated by the creatures of the night and wished to know more about them.
"Would you mind if we followed you on your travels for a bit ? We'd like to discover your ways.", Marina said.
"No Silverwing has ever asked us before, but there is no harm in coming with us.", Persephone replied, gently. And with that the two Silverwings and the vampire sisters were flying to their next destination where a coven of "Children of the Night" dwelled.
Chapter 3--"Shadow Dwellers"
Persephone and Reagan introduced Marina and Shade to the band of 'Shadow Dwellers' (as they were sometimes called) to the Silverwings.
"You're fortunate. It's not often we have 'cousins' here.", Reagan said, sweetly. In an odd way, she was correct in her assessment, except that a Silverwing, or any other species of bat, could never aspire to become a vampire. Even if they wanted to, as Persephone had stated earlier in a melancholy tone, it really wasn't a life they wanted to lead.
They soon learned that they had quite a bit in common with the 'Shadow Dwellers'.
"Why do so many people fear you ?", Marina asked.
"There are those that kill. But we aren't part of those clans that engage in such brutality. Like warlocks, those vampires are exiled from their families, unwelcome and never allowed to return.", Persephone responded, with some pain in her voice.
"She speaks of what happened to our brother, Cassius.", Reagan added, blinking back blood tears.
"That's terrible. We didn't mean to dredge up such a sorrowful past.", Marina said, feeling badly that she and Shade had asked a question that caused the sisters pain.
"Do not worry. We are perfectly happy here in the clan.", Persephone replied as she wiped her sister's tears quickly. The time of crying passed rapidly as the sisters were whisked away in one of the vampires' most ancient of traditions. They engaged in a Morris dance, kicking their heels up to the medieval music the other musicians played, corralled around the fire as the flames seemed to leap about themselves. Before long, they realized that morning was coming and they had to depart.
Chapter 4--Blood Ties
As the Silverwings said farewell to their vampire cousins, they remembered what they had been taught that evening. Life, even for an immortal, was precious because if they weren't careful, the sun could char them alive. But like them, they had contributed to society, even if such contributions were unseen.
Soon after spring had come to an end, Marina began to see a change within her physiology. She had become pregnant and somehow Shade knew that she would be having a boy in a few more months.
"He will learn the ways of our cousins as well as our own.", Shade said, embracing her and holding his wings over her rotund figure.
"His name will be Dusk.", Shade said, feeling the infant bat kick in Marina's tummy.
"Dusk…What a magnificent name. I believe it suits him.", Marina said. The two were elated when they had discovered that they would be parents soon. Their old mannerisms of life would soon be transformed when Dusk came into the world that they had enjoyed by each other's sides. The other Silverwings, upon being informed that a new infant would be joining the clan when summer came, erupted into a frenzy of wings circling them in an elaborate celebratory dance. It had been similar to the ones their 'cousins' had done only minutes before. As the sun began to peak out over the horizon, the Silverwings danced back into their roosts at Hibernaculum and slept as dawn broke in the horizon.
Epilogue
Dusk was born without any complications, but he was unique from all the other Silverwings. He was the most beautiful hybrid the Silverwings had ever seen and he quickly became a favorite 'pet' of the other infants in the clan. No one thought of him as different or a freak, but as unique. It was definite that the female infant bats found him attractive, and those good looks came from both sides of the spectrum: Silverwing and Brightwing combined. He would grow, learn and gain tactics that Marina and Shade had gained in their travels as well as the tales that their 'cousins' had told them. Maybe if he was fortunate, he too could meet the wandering sisters, but there was no telling where his life journey would lead. Wherever it was, it was far brighter than Marina or Shade could've ever imagined.
The End