Chapter 4: The Back story: Part 1
"I know," Theodora responded to William. "I just wish the Silks had kept their promise so we wouldn't have had to give him up in the first place," Theodora said her face ridden with guilt.
"And, he was so young when we did it to," Shori added with guilt showing through in her facial expression as well.
Nikola looked at all the guests with a confused face. He had no idea what they were talking about, and he had never taken not knowing very well. He listened closely as his supposed family was telling him the story of how they were forced to abandon him. Apparently, some of his own kind, if he was in fact part Ina, wanted him to suffer simply because he was part human. These factions, mainly the Silk family, had also done similar to his supposed Ina mother, who was also part human. They had burned both her mother's & father's communities; killing everyone except one of her father's and one of her brother's symbionts.
It was upon hearing this that the memory of what had happened last night was triggered in Nikola's mind. Nikola shuddered. It was disturbing that Helen had found out his secret. She would likely confront him about it later. He had kept it guarded, so well, for so long, why did it have to come out now?
"Why should I believe anything you've said?" Nikola asked trying to hide behind disbelief.
"Even as you ask that question, you doubt yourself. You're confused, yet you try to hide behind disbelief. You want to believe what we tell you. That your half brother didn't die because he wasn't really your brother," Shori said.
Nikola got up off the chair he was sitting in. He had had enough of this shit.
"Again, you think you can just come in here and make claims like this! Even if they are true, you give me little reason to trust you," Nikola demanded exasperated, ready to storm out of the foyer.
"I admit, this is not easy information to take in and will take time to digest. It would have been foolish of us to think you'd believe or trust us right away," William answered.
"I may have had some not so bright ideas in the past, but I find it hard to believe that I, being the genius I am, am this gullible!" Nikola exclaimed.
"If you knew about his childhood, why didn't you do something?" Helen interjected.
"Again, we are regrettably sorry, but we had to make sure taking him back, would not have taken his family or his own life away from him," William answered.
"I still don't understand why my own kind, if they're even still around as you claim, would want to kill me. Are they afraid of my genius?" Nikola asked with a smirk on his face, having calmed a bit.
"Yes, however not as you have come to think of it."
"Then how?" Nikola asked, impatient for answers.
"We can show you. However, we need to get the altered DNA out of you first."
Both Nikola and Helen looked at the guests with puzzled faces.
"The blood you two interjected into yourselves over a century ago was not from a 'pure' sample as you have been led to believe."
"Then what was it and why have you waited until now to tell us?"
"An urgent matter has come up and we needed to contact you. We are very familiar with both you and your father's work Dr. Magnus. Perhaps more familiar then you realize. We know about 'The Five' and those experiments. Again, we had to wait until it was either safe for us to contact you or we were left with no choice but to do so. As it stands, the later is the case. Did those you call the Cabal ever go after you?" Shori asked Nikola, directly facing him.
"Yes, but they didn't catch me," Nikola told them wondering why that would be important.
"Were you injured? In other words, did you leave blood behind?"
"Yes. Crap! The Cabal probably had another team on standby ready to come in and get the blood. Which means they have my DNA," Nikola deduced.
"Yes and they obviously figured out how to bring another 'you' into existence in order to do their biding. We had a run in with this other 'you' recently, hence the urgent matter. We knew he wasn't the real you, as he did not know about your half-step brother's death, which is why we had to ask about it."
"But how would they get this 'me' to do their biding? They know damn well, I won't willingly." Nikola asked.
"I think I know," Helen interjected again. "Some of the Sanctuary staff and I had a run in similar to what you are describing. They probably had or have a bug in his neck that makes him 'forget' who he really is. They did this with my father, when experimenting on humans to create some sort of warrior for God knows what reasons," Helen continued.
"Anyways, back to the altered DNA. Despite what masquerades these days as vampire lore, there were members of the church that were Ina and/or their symbionts. When they were found out, many were kicked out or killed."
"So the church did hunt them?"
"Yes, that part is true. Our kind were hunted and forced to go underground, not that many Ina families planned on taking over the world or anything like that. However, there was no sterilization of the remaining Ina, as the literature you have both read suggests.
"It should also be noted that while some Ina view humans as inferior species, most do not. That being said, while Ina do feed off humans, most have set moral and ethical guidelines for doing so," Shori explained.
"While most of the Ina who were part of the church were kicked out or killed, a small sub-group of Ina and their symbionts remained. We, like our human counterparts also have certain factions that are religious. Those Ina that remained a part of the church believe we were placed on Earth by a mother Goddess. Those Ina that believed this were opposed to any genetic inter-mixing between Ina and humans. Despite their opposition, they were relatively quiet about it, for a while. We presume this is because they thought our experiments would fail," William continued.
"What experiments?" both Nikola & Helen asked in unison.
"Our kind has had a long standing aversion to sunlight. Exposure to sunlight makes our skin blister. This aversion & blistering has also made it hard for us to blend in with humans. Since our kind had found out about and have been practicing genetic re-engineering long before humans have, we started experimenting," Shori began to explain.
Nikola shifted uncomfortably in his seat as he continued listening to this Shori person explain that she was the result of an experiment. The experiment involved the inter-mixing of her Ina parents DNA with that of an African-American woman's. This had apparently allowed to her to stay alert during the day and not blister as much.
'Interesting, that's similar to what The Five did with the Source Blood,' Nikola thought to himself, as he eyed Helen, wondering if she thought the same thing.
After the Silk family found out about Shori's family's success, they tried to kill her three times, almost succeeding the first time. This and the looming US Civil War had forced them to back to lands previous generations had owned in Hungary. When that didn't work out, they moved near Smiljan, present day Croatia in 1850.
'Wait, I don't like where she's going with this,' Nikola thought with a worried looked in his eyes.
"It was then we met your human mother, Djuka, curious and brilliant woman that she was; smelled wonderful too," Shori said, reflecting upon the memory.
At mention of his mother, Nikola stared suspiciously at Shori. 'She can't be suggesting what I think she is. Surely, my parents were NOT involved with these Ina without my knowledge! Were they?' Nikola thought as his anger began to rise again.
"How dare you suggest my mother was involved with you!" Nikola exclaimed with angry eyes and a fist to the table in front of him.
"You can wine all you want; it won't change the truth," Theodora retorted, frustrated her long lost brother was making such a big deal out of this.
"Hey! Do you honestly expect him to just welcome all of this with open arms?" Iosif said, giving his sister a hard look. Being as much human as Stephan was, he could sympathize more easily with him.
To that Theodora responded, "I was just making a point."
"I think this would be a good time for a break." Helen said in a matter of fact tone.
"Yes, I agree. I wouldn't want a fight to break out," William commented.
Both Nikola's and Helen's heads were spinning. They both had a bunch of questions and neither knew whether to believe what they were being told. This was a lot of information to take in period, whether it was true or not. A break was in order.