Blood Brothers

Chapter 9

The azure morning sky is dotted with shapely clouds. Alois Trancy sits alone in his large, colorful garden, listening to the lovely chirping of small birds and enjoying his first meal of the day. From afar, the Earl of Trancy appears to be a fine gentleman, pleasuring himself with nature's beauty on a fine, sunny day. However, things are not always what they appear, especially when they cannot be carefully observed from afar.

Stabbing his food gracelessly into tiny bits with his knife, Alois sits with his right leg on top of the small marble table. Sighing, the young nobleman wonders why he is spending his morning in the boring garden, and not asleep on his comfortable bed.

"Of course," Alois cries to himself, a sense of excitement washing over his mind, "Those two Americans!"

Had could he have forgotten? He had so many questions just for the young lad. Why do they look so alike? They could not happen to be a long forgotten distant relative, could they? The young blond grins.

Why trouble himself with these questions now? He would know the answer as soon as that other boy shows up.

Suddenly, the earl hears footsteps coming from behind him. Annoyed, the mischievous boy remembers that he had specifically instructed his servants to leave him by himself. Who could this be? Of course, it must be Hannah, that unworthy maid never does anything right.

Turning his head around, Alois prepares to scold, and perhaps beat, his ugly maid for disobeying his orders. Instead, the young earl finds an unexpected visitor.

Walking towards Alois is the blond boy from the previous night. Damn you, Claude! A fake, begrudging smile appears on Alois's lips, I told you not to tell them where I am!

Removing his leg from the table, the young earl gets up on his feet, and greets the other boy.

"Did you enjoy your evening, Mr. Edwin?" Alois asks with an emotionless smile.

"Yes, Earl Trancy," Edwin responds cheerfully, "Your servants had treated me with well."

Now that Alois can see Edwin more closely under the bright, morning sun, the earl notices the other boy's plain and modest clothing. The blond earl is certain that Edwin does not come from a wealthy family.

"Of course," Alois answers, taking a quick look behind Edwin to make sure none of his servants are spying on them, "After all, that is what they are supposed to do. Oh, and please just call me Alois."

Despite the English boy's curiosity towards Edwin, Alois has to keep in mind that he is an earl, while the other is no more than a common peasant. Thus, he must behave like a nobleman. However, if he wishes to pry any information out of the boy to satisfy his inquisitive heart, Alois must at least act friendly in front of his lookalike, to gain his basic trust. The young earl's fabricated smile broadens; knowing he couldn't give less of a damn about Edwin.

"Alois, huh, that's an unusual name," staring into the earl's sky blue eyes, Edwin continues, "Its unusualness certainly suits its owner."

A strange feeling surrounds the young nobleman, as if he and Edwin are in some peculiar way connected. Alois senses a strong call from the depth of his soul, one he had not felt in many years. It is as if a bond, broken for a long, long time, is again being chained together.

"Well," Edwin's words brings the earl back to reality, "You've probably been wondering why our appearances are so similar."

Looking back at Edwin, the smile on Alois's lips begins to fade.

"Indeed," he answers shakily, a sudden fear starts to spread in the young earl's mind, "That is a question that had been stuck in my head every since I laid eyes on you."

What is this sense of paranoia? What is he afraid of? Alois is well aware of the ugly truth behind his own twisted game of masquerade, and just imagining that somebody else knows of his little huge secret scares him.

No. What terrifies Alois to the core is what he does not know, or does not wish to know. The much uglier truth is quickly unfolding in front of his eyes, and there is nothing he can do to stop it.

"The truth is," Edwin pauses for a second as Alois's mind snaps back to the real world, "That I am-"

Alois, with cold sweat pouring down his body, stands still, frozen with horror. He could see Edwin's lips move, but he cannot detect any words. A loud bang, followed by two more, had exploded through the Trancy Estate, preventing the earl from hearing Edwin.

Instantaneously, the two blonds shift their attention to the large manor, where a large window on the second floor balcony shatters into dozens of pieces. Edwin's eyes grow wide, as he identifies the sound to be a gunshot from none other but Adam's revolver.


Five minutes ago.

Alone, Claude Faustus paces quickly through the Trancy manor, with a submerged anger, sparked by mere annoyance, dwelling deep within him.

Just two short days ago, the demon had learned of the two travelling American's search for Alois.

No. Not Alois, according to his all-hearing ears, but Jim, Jim Macken to be specific.

This most certainly will bring unnecessary troubles to his scheme with the young earl.

Claude had planned to get rid of the two nuisances before they even set foot in the Trancy Estate, thus he hired a band of well-armed assassins to end their lives. Obviously, that did not work out well, but at least now he is aware of the capabilities of Adam and Edwin. They are no normal people, that is for sure.

Turning at a corner, the darkly-dressed butler soon reaches his destination. With no other knives to throw at the two, the demon has to deal with them personally. Claude sighs impatiently at the thought of dragging two corpses out of the manor and burying them deep in the woods after the sun is gone. Nevertheless, Claude is a demon, a tool of the devil, and taking lives is something he is rather skilled at.

Slowly opening the door that leads to his first victim's room, the butler quickly thinks over his almost-perfect plan. The child will not be a problem at all, and now that he is in garden speaking with Alois, Claude has a perfect opportunity to quietly kill Edwin's elder companion without making a mess.

A savage grin, revealing much of the demon's true, dark colors, grows wild on the butler's face.

It will all be over soon.


Edwin had told Adam to wait in the guest room while he speaks with the young earl. This won't take long, Edwin had said nonchalantly, I hope that Earl Trancy will not be too shocked by what I am going to tell him.

The brown-haired companion is certain that his master would not be in harm's way at an occasion such as this. However, Adam does sense something strange in the large estate.

Since the moment Edwin and he entered the Trancy Manor, Adam had been feeling an unnatural, dark presence as he wanders through the halls. The experienced servant knows well of this strange yet familiar feeling, as it dwells deep within the depths of his distant memories.

Sitting alone on a small, cushioned chair, Adam glances out the half-curtained window at Edwin and the earl. Though he knows no danger is present for his master, the dutiful companion still watches out for his master.

Suddenly, he hears the door behind him creak, and quickly turns around. Standing there is Earl Trancy's stoic butler, gazing coldly at Adam as if the latter is a defenseless creature about to meet its doom.

"Good day to you," Adam says with a smile and gets to his feet, "Mister-"

Before the American could finish talking, three lustrous darts, thrown at an incredible speed, fly right towards Adam. With amazing reflexes, the brown-haired servant grabs the cushioned chair and blocks off the deadly razors. The surprised companion is more surprised as he finds that the darts are actually golden knives from the dinner table.

"What are you doing?" Adam yells, blocking and dodging two more knives in the process.

How is this happening? Claude wonders desperately as he unsheathes more lethal silverware and leaps towards the agile American, How is a simple human able to react to such speed and accuracy?

Splicing the chair in half, the demon butler does not give his opponent a single chance of recovery.

Despite his flawless moves, Claude is unable to hurt Adam as the dexterous companion stops and dodges every attack the butler throws at him. Jumping from place to place, Adam's agility amazes Claude.

As the butler continues his attack, Adam finally finds the right chance and reaches for the Colt 45 hidden in his coat. Pulling the revolver out, the brown-haired servant quickly takes aim and fires just as a razor-sharp knife slices into his upper shoulder.

Dropping to the floor and rolling to his side, Adam fires two more rounds at Claude, who stands right in front of the large set of windows.

The bullets pierce through the butler's arm and chest, and smashes into the window behind him. Instantly, the glass shatters, but to Adam's shock, the butler still stands, with a look of only annoyance on his face.

"You," Adam shouts, his eyes growing wide with fear and spite, "You're a demon, aren't you?"

A morbid smile fills Claude's face, his amber eyes glow with malice. Turning towards Adam, the butler answers in an unnaturally deep voice, "A dead man needs not to know."


Author's post-notes:

Thank you for reading! Please write a review if you see any mistake in this chapter, or if you wish to express your view, or anything at all. Thank you again!

Agent Ekis