Authors note: Oh look, I talked about it and finally delivered. Yeah, I'm an amazingly awesome person but this chapter (as short as it is) took a lot out of me. So please read, review and enjoy. Also, if this your first time reading please read the bolded note. Do it. Do it now. Or not, I'm a note not the police.
Bolded note that you were told to read: This is Nocturnal Melody which is not to be confused with Melodious Nocturne. It features the same characters and most of the same situations but the only difference is that Mail is not Matt in this story. Soon after the first few chapters things will change drastically from Melodious Nocturne. If you don't know what it is that I'm talking about please take the time to read Melodious Nocturne, or not. This is, of course, a note and not the police. The original story is featured there. Anyway read, review and enjoy. I would link but I don't know how. It's desperately unfortunate.
Mother and Father dearest
Mail turned over again meeting the face of his brother who had been fast asleep for hours. He didn't understand why he was the only one feeling like there was something strange going on tonight. His parents had requested that he should come home early from practicing his violin like he did every day. There was no reason for it, the sky was blue, the birds were chirping like they always did. There was nothing hinting towards rain so it didn't add up. When he arrived home they insisted that he left his violin by the door and for him not to touch it. They then immediately sent him to shower and once he dressed they had dinner on the table. It was only three in the afternoon.
There was no conversation at dinner. His siblings sat quietly poking at their food with their rusted forks while their parents sat on the opposite side of the room staring at the door with blank expressions. He twirled his own polished golden fork several times in his hand feeling off by the whole situation. He couldn't even bring himself to touch his food.
Minutes passed and turned into an hour. His mother returned to the kitchen just long enough to shuffle everyone off to bed. It couldn't have been five yet. The sun was still high in the sky. Something strange was going on. Mail's last glimpse of his mother had been just before he shut the door to the bedroom he shared with his siblings. His parents were back at their previous posts simply staring directly at the door as if they had been bolted into place. He watched them for nearly five minutes, it didn't even seem like they were blinking. It sent shivers down his spine. It just wasn't normal.
"Mail, shut the door." Brail called using the blanket to cover his head from the sun streaming through the windows. He did as he was told crossing the room and crawling into bed with his other brothers. His sisters shared a bed on the other side of the room and even they weren't ready to go to sleep yet.
Mail sat up slightly looking at his brother, "Don't you think everyone is acting weird today?" He asked quietly watching as the boy sat up just enough to look at him. He looked more annoyed than anything else.
"No." He replied coolly. "You have to learn to stop being so suspicious of everything that happens and just go with the flow." He lay back down and hadn't spoken since. Well, he was sleep now but no one else thought today was weird. The sun had set hours ago but Mail couldn't get the feeling that something weird was going to happen.
More hours passed and Mail was starting to feel the toil on his body. His eyes fluttered slightly before closing. Maybe he was just being paranoid.
The sound of smashing and screaming were what woke Mail from his slumber. He sat up instantly to find his brothers across the room fighting several men that were picking his sisters out of bed. He scurried to the edge of the bed getting a good look at the group. Those silvery eyes and blank automaton faces. He instantly knew who was in the room with them.
"Get off of her!" Blakely yelled wrapping his arm around one of the individuals. The Nightwalker as they like to be called flicked his arm out sending the boy flying across the room and into the wood paneling. He released a tiny whimper but the group continued to carry the girls kicking and pleading out of the room in question.
Mail jumped from the bed blocking the door before they could get Cielia out. He threw his arms out fear coursing through his whole body. "Put her back! Stop this!" He yelled but his voice wavered at the end. He wished he sounded surer. He knew that he couldn't possibly fight these individuals. Nightwalkers weren't like humans; they possessed more strength in one finger than the strongest human had in their whole body. That was how they took over the human world 200 years prior.
The man holding his oldest sister lifted a hand and he instantly felt himself flinch but the blow didn't come. "We're not to harm the red headed one." He said lightly his hand falling back to his side. "Step out of the way boy." He said his eyes locking with Mail's. The feeling of warmth filled the young boy to the brim. Suddenly he wanted to obey this man's every command, his every wish, everything. "I'll ask you again, move."
His mind fought but his body refused to listen any longer. One leg lifted and then the other. Before he could comprehend that he was moving he was standing quietly in the corner. One by one they took his siblings from the room, some were tear-streaked and begging while the others fought their aggressors the whole way. Mail wanted to fight too. He wanted to assist his brothers but his body wouldn't move until the Nightwalker returned his gaze trained delicately on him once more. He reached a hand forward before he stifled it. Instead he leaned down breathing on the nape of Mail's neck. The sheer intoxication of the moment wasn't lost on the boy, no, he wanted it to happen. He wanted this person happy. He needed this.
"Harper." A voice hissed from the door. "What the fuck do you think you're doing? He's not a fucking bleeder. If you so much as lay a hand on him do you know what will happen to you?" He questioned as the man stepped back snapping a finger in front of Mail's face.
Panic rushed though him like a damn breaking and flooding water to the city below. "Mom!" He screamed hearing the other sigh in exasperation. The man pulled him over his shoulder albeit gently before beginning to carry him out of the room. "Mom! Dad! Please, help us!" He screamed watching his parent still sitting quietly in the same spot that he watched them in previously. "Mom!"
The darkness outside was eclipsing. He had gone from fighting his attacker to clinging to the man for dear life. They weren't allowed outside in the darkness, darkness was bad. People died in the darkness. It was here that they left the lame children that were useless to the Nightwalkers for the creatures to come and devour. He screamed sounding much like a wounded animal calling its kin but if his siblings were still around none of them answered.
Harper opened the backseat passenger's door dropping the boy inside the car. "If you stay quiet we won't have to put you out, do you understand?" He questioned as Mail stared into the darkness around him. He could only hear a voice but there was nothing else accompanying and his sight gave no detail of where the man was. The door closed seconds later only for the driver's door to be opened seconds later while the two men dropped into their seats. "Like I said just be quiet and hopefully I won't get hungry on the way there."
The driver grunted something quietly to Harper and he was silent for the rest of their trip. It was a long one but they made no stops. Every few hours they would ask Mail if he needed anything such as food or a restroom but the minute he mentioned that he could use the restroom the driver muttered something about watching him as he went. Suddenly all bathrooms seemed like dark dank places that he didn't want to be. The last place he wanted to be was in the room with Harper while he was 'hungry.'
"We're almost there." The driver said after Mail had begun to doze in the backseat. He wasn't sure if the man was speaking to him or just in general but Harper didn't answer.
He leaned forward rubbing his eyes. Dark circles had developed around his eyes. "Where is 'there?'" He questioned softly as the driver glanced at him. This man didn't look nearly as extraterrestrial as the other Nightwalkers. He could almost pass as human if it wasn't for his eyes they were as dead and soulless as a void. The thought of an almost human looking Nightwalker scared the hell out of him. He jerked back into the back of his chair as the man's gaze rose from where he previous was to the mirror to look at him.
Mail didn't grow up around Nightwalkers. Occasionally he would have a violin lesson with one but there was almost contempt in their eyes. Cold, calculating hardness that couldn't be surpassed with words. He didn't know what to say to them. He didn't know how to respond to them. How were you to respond to a monster with no emotions?
Slowly the man smiled but it didn't reach his eyes. He was feigning it. He was attempting to portray a human talent; show emotion that he didn't possess is a mockery of interest. It brought the bile up from Mail's stomach but he swallowed it back down. It wouldn't go well if he were sick in the back of their car.
"You'll see when we get there, how about that?" He said quietly. They drove for a few more minutes before pulling up to a large building that almost resembled a warehouse.
The car was thrown into park and the two were out the front seat and opening the back door before Mail had a chance to blink. Harper didn't hide his traits. His fangs hung sharp and threatening in his smile as he manhandled the boy out the car. "Don't even think about running. Before you can make it three steps I'll have you."
"I told you to stop threatening him." The driver hissed his eyes flashing a dangerous golden hue. "Leave him alone or I'll reprimand you personally. Do you understand me?"
He nodded lessening his grip on the red head. "I'm sorry sir." He whispered reaching down to pull up the grate like door. It clattered through its holster before the driver pushed Mail forward.
Mail tripped several times keeping his gaze lower as they entered a large room filled with Nightwalkers. Several shifted into better positions to look at him but the driver of the car instantly stepped in front of him continuing to guide through the room and out another door where several other children sat quietly on the floor staring at each other.
He gestured out into the room, "Stay here until told otherwise." He said in his soft commanding voice. His eyes drifted back to Mail's face before a hand came up and patted him on the head. "Don't worry about it, you're perfectly safe here." He turned disappearing back into the room he had just exited with the other Nightwalkers that parted like the seas at his entrance. Whoever he was he must have been important for so many to seem they didn't want to be in his way.
He turned back to the large room filled with other children and took a seat. It wasn't as if he could disappear. So he pulled his knees up to his chest and closed his eyes to get the sleep that had hidden from him all this time.