Enter: The Songbirds
(Third Person POV)
Three days later
Alexis – ravishing, elegant, fierce, and proud as always stalked the deserted corridors of the National Museum of Archeology. Alexis was a true scholar and child of history. She revered to be surrounded by prehistoric artifacts from the Ghar Dalam phase which unearthed the earliest human settlements on Malta as far back as 5200 BCE. The exhibitions from the Neolithic period displayed decorated pottery from Grey and Red Skorba and Zebbug phases which had forever enchanted her too.
Although Alexis appeared as a woman in her early thirties, the impassive wheel of time has had little effect throughout the course of her forty-five years. Alexis was a prominent woman and affixed herself as curator of the Maltese museum after Heritage Malta dismissed the former Museums Department. Ironically enough, Alexis had dismissed herself.
In conjunction with her husband she made petitions after the Cultural Heritage Act of 2002 was enacted for an official conservational agency to be constituted in charge of safeguarding Malta's ancient history. The agency was now responsible for numerous sites on the islands including paleochristian catacombs beneath Rabat, the Ħaġar Qim Temples, and the State Rooms which were residence to the Grandmaster of the Knights of Malta – just to name a few. Alexis could be insistent and combined with her tenacity professed an invincible will.
All of Valletta knew; you don't tamper with that museum of hers, and what a pertinent conviction it was. Alexis was strict, intelligent, and intrepid which allowed for an intimidating presence encompassing her to feed on the respect of all who engaged in conversation with her. Even the Valletta police department was a pup and eating out of her hand. Whenever she called about a disturbance it would take them no less than ten minutes to arrive on sight. No one on the island would even consider wishing their worst enemy the grisly wrath of Alexis.
She looked at her golden watch embellished with amethyst's and huffed a sigh of relief to know it was fifteen past seven which meant the doors should be closed to tourists. The cleaning crew would arrive soon so she wanted to hurry and leave. Her husband, Mikal, would be waiting at the restaurant for her. He called during mid afternoon and excited her about the first letter sent from their son, Marco, who had recently moved to Oxford to study linguistics.
Alexis had already locked her office, and scurried towards the foyer through the hall of Phoenician inspired art. She placed her handbag over her arm and was suddenly startled when she came upon the figure of a young ragged boy staring at the ceiling, dazed.
Momentarily frozen and sullen that the doors weren't properly shut she took in his appearance, and wrinkled her nose. The boy was definitely handsome, she thought – porcelain skin, dark mahogany or ebony like hair with hints of chocolate, puerile cheeks, small perfect nose, and an athletic yet very tender body. But his jeans were cut, the light blue shirt torn and revealing his navel. The porcelain skin was sunburned, and camouflaged with soot. She perceived an injury on his left temple and an abashed light within his emerald ken.
"Excuse me," she said harshly, "The museum is closed."
His lips were ajar, dry, and cracked. The way he blinked made Alexis purse her lips and shake her head, the gesture wasn't in sync, and his face twisted with pain as he did so. She saw his eyes fully then. They were bloodshot and rimmed by puffiness. The tears that sat in them magnified the faculty of his eyes to shine like stars illuminating the night.
"C-cou… hhe-help mee?" His voice was a hum, like the rapid flapping of a hummingbirds wing's and barely audible.
Alexis turned her head to the side, and arrogantly waved and opened her hand at the boy, "What?"
She noticed how he heaved, and drew short and quick breaths, "Sem…," speaking was difficult for him. "Semp…Semp-p-prr…" he stuttered.
"Semper, you mean?" She made it discernible but rolled her eyes at him coldly. A meager grin somewhat beautified his face, and he bounced his head with consent cringes as he moved it.
"There are no Semper," she said aggravated. Many scholars flooded the museum asking about them, and as the years progressed Alexis grew more, and more tiresome of the practice. The grin faded but the boy nodded.
"Yeah, thre arre…" he murmured with a cry. Alexis adjusted her purse and puffed annoyed while looking at her watch again.
"Listen to me, the Semper are an urban legend. Yes, there is a family called Semper but there is nothing special about them besides being an old Maltese family," as she spoke Alexis raised an eyebrow. "Why would you even care?"
She reexamined the boy. He looked like a pauper but beat up, and strained. There were occasional spasms, and his eyes would twitch. It was illogical that he had been like this is whole life, she thought.
He wobbled and took slow steps towards her, and like a beggar put forth his shaking hands. However, one he kept curled up in a ball. "No tymee… pleeas," he cried quietly, and saliva spilled over his lips running down his soiled chin.
Alexis scrutinized him with a stony glare, "Are you on something?" The boy grunted and gripped his head, blocking his ears with his fist's.
"Tuu loou-ud," he complained.
"How about I phone the hospital so we can be done with this?" Alexis was already done with this. She invested some pity towards the boy but his problems weren't hers. Besides, any fool that wasted her time by asking questions about the Semper had no place inside her museum.
His scorching red eyes opened and new salty tears ran down his swollen cheeks. She observed his green irises throbbing and cantering over her body. His mouth sealed, and pushing away the queer convulsions he was undergoing abruptly honed in on something. Staggering and almost keeling over he stood tall in front of her.
Alexis stretched out her index finger as a sign of warning. The dogged motion went unnoticed by the boy, "Don't be balky, and back off."
She squinted and followed whatever it was he saw. Alexis dropped her head and saw her breasts wrapped up by a silky white blouse beneath a black blazer showcasing a little cleavage. A hot touch took her aback when the boy reached out and his fingers dug into her chest.
"JA HAGA MGANDRA," she cursed in Maltese, and slapped the boy across the face. He easily fell to the floor and onto his side. The thud was raucous and resonated throughout the halls. Alexis straightened her blouse and pulled the fabric up over the schism of her breasts.
Whatever sympathy she had mustered up until now vanished, and earning her clemency was often a feat forlorn to mere mortals. An icy gawk flashed the fallen boy's body as she foraged for her phone inside the purse. His cheek was inflamed where she had hit him. Alexis unlocked her phone and searched through her list of contacts for the sergeant of the Valletta police force.
"Liaa…" Her brutal eyes bore into his broken and coiled up frame.
"What did you just say to me?"
Silently he sobbed, and tears cascaded over the bridge of his nose and onto the floor. She watched as he groaned and moaned and sat up with a great amount of tribulation. He leaned on both arms, wavering back and forth like he was intoxicated.
"Li-Liar," he said, clearly. Through his tears he divulged two rows of wholly straight teeth, and giggles erupted from him, like lava from a volcano. Alexis was immediately offended. She flung her purse off to the side behind her but still clutched her phone.
"How dare you come in my museum and call me a liar you perverted filth. The police-," she wasn't ready for what happened next.
Summoning whatever strength the boy had left he catapulted himself forward and off the ground and embraced Alexis around her waist. She lost her footing and collided with the ground. There was a snap as her watch busted, and a crack which echoed from the display of her cellular phone. The boy pressed the side of his face to her bosom and snuggled into her warmth.
"Harra," she cursed again. Ordinarily obscenities weren't one of her attributes but this peculiar boy sure brought it out of her. She rose up and clawed at him, punching his back, and tearing at his already mangled shirt. She threw her arms around to her back and tried failingly to remove his clutch. "GET OFF!"
His darkish hair tickled and swept over her skin as he angled his head up to look at her. On second glance his eyes really were intense and the whites of them colored in blood. He rested his chin just above her cleavage and seemed somehow… relieved? Alexis anchored her grasp inside his messy tangle of hair and ripped his head back in the effort to free herself.
Against her stomach she felt how severely his chest solicited for air and yet, his adamantine hold on her didn't surrender.
"H-Hey ther… cous-s… hold yu… once more," the boy sang. Alexis couldn't believe the day she was having, and revolved her head away. The lads breath smelled stale and she didn't care to receive it. She continued unsuccessfully to extricate herself from this unorthodox situation but this final determined stance of his was unyielding.
"Schar-re bots of… lether from…" his lips quivered, and his eyes gave birth to new tears, "Leather.. from… Waletta…" He sobbed, and his body rocked with each blast. There was no rhythm to his corrupted singing she thought.
Alexis discarded her arms to her side, and casually eyeballed the mosaics painted on the dome. She was aloof and fatigued and wanted to get to Mikal at the restaurant. The boy gently shook her. Wearily she hung her head and scrunching up her nose, revolted, met his watery eyes again. He swallowed hard and crushed his lids shut. She felt his chest moving easier, and she thought he was concentrating.
"Your native… mind sings in… a … foreign town… it still seeks to hear… the S-Songbird's call of Kemmu-u-una, oh, oh."
The boy whimpered and unveiled his eyes, and a new floodgate of liquid spilled over their ridges. He saw Alexis – petrified. Her eyes were wide and searching him.
"How do you know that melody?"
First there was melody, and then came the lyric she remembered. A song that drifted through the archipelago long before Valletta, and the first song ever sung on Malta. A memory dashed into Alexis' mind. She was a wee girl again and zooming carelessly over warm white marble and into an ostentatious garden. It was filled with abundant trees of white jasmine and the aroma was tantalizing.
She heard the soft strings of the banjo, clicking, and birthing exquisite refrains. He sat on a bench made of white lime, and with his eternal grin beckoned her to come. "Avicus," she cheered and leaped into his arms.
"Only… on tha schores of…"
"Only on the shores of Gozo the emeralds grow," she finished. The ancient text was part of her song too, and that of Marco, and her daughter Nicole. The tune stayed the same but the lyric transformed uniquely for each Semper however always keeping the traditional chorus.
"Houume… Malta," the boy chocked, and coughed.
Disturbed Alexis reviewed him again. Motherly she combed through his hair, and saw its luster matching her own. It was dark with streaks of cocoa, and swept down over her chest and spine like vines. Her heart-shaped face reflected a fair complexion, her lips were rosy and pouted whereas his were flat and blushed lightly pink. Within the circumference of his vibrant green vista she saw her own pair of emeralds looking back at her.
"Who are you?" Instinctively she started to rub his back.
The boy groaned again and a seizure made his body rumble. His head tumbled over her shoulder and he freed her of his restraint. Alexis caught him in the crook of her elbow and supported him with her thighs.
"Hey, hey, hey," she rattled him. The boy trembled and moaned anguished. "How do you know?" For reasons unknown Alexis' lips shivered lamenting her rotten spirits against him.
The one hand that was uncurled landed leisurely above her bosom, and one of its fingers jabbed the marvelous pendant around Alexis' neck. She acuminated her vision to it. It was a gift from her uncle when she was eighteen years old. The pendant was a twin of another's and the emerald S carved within its median glistened and dazzled the world around it.
"What do I do with you?"
The seizure was interrupted by a short laugh. The lad opened his eyes and smiled complacently at her, "I'm…a L-Little Dewil."
"What?" Alexis grinned back at him.
"HEY, HEY," she yelled. The boys eyes flew into the back of his head and his body went limp, and his legs idly stretched out across the floor. She mildly tapped his cheek, and straightened his hair. Alexis checked his pulse placing her thin fingers to his throat. She could feel it, it was erratic, and the boy was sweating profusely. There was something definitely ailing him.
She ran her hand down his chest and felt his thundering heart. The hand that was cemented into a ball was still closed but she was curious. Quickly she unraveled his fingers and found a small silver, crystalline watch. Astonished she picked it up and studied the rubies on the back. Already she assessed that it was made during the 18th century. Her keen senses and education foreboded a minor opulence if sold to the proper customer.
Where did he get it from? If circumstances were so horrid why not sell it? How does he know about the melody and the lyric? She tried waking him but he was unresponsive. Alexis reached inside his pocket hoping for ID but it was empty. She sought the innards of his back pockets and found just one folded up picture.
"What happened to you?" The boy was in the picture. But there he was clean, shiny, and explicitly stunning. He was beaming from ear to ear and emerged so happy. There was another young man who Alexis thought was just as gorgeous. He was taller and had an olive toned complexion, dark chestnut hair with twirls of auburn, and was simpering with his eyes closed. This was a vision of two lovers, she knew.
She tucked the photo and the watch into his front pocket. She protracted her arm and was barely able to reach her phone. The police sergeant was no longer on her mind. This needed to be solved by a higher power. Alexis held the phone to her ear and as always, it only needed to ring once.
"Kif int, Alexis?"
"Avicus, ajjut!" She held the boy close.
"What is it?" In the background she heard commotion; he was already hurrying – her anxious tone ignited his vigilance.
"Ma nafx, there is a boy here and he knows things, things that no other living person should know. He knows about the song, Avicus."
"Mhux nifhem," Avicus said.
"Neither do I, just please, hasten."
"I was at the town house in Ta'Xbiex – only a few minutes more."
Alexis hung up and tended to the boy again. She dabbed his chest trying to rouse him. But there was no response. Whatever afflicted him had won the battle inside. Once more the intrigue of him inflated as she caressed his face. There weren't any others outside of the family that could possibly know their secrets. Her children knew the importance of maintaining the enigma of their heritage. Mikal's details of the Semper were sketchy but she trusted him with her life, and even Lumen approved of him.
The doors of the museum swung open and it was to her great reprieve to behold Avicus standing in its threshold. Avicus' hourglass shaped body was swathed by a sleek black vest, and a white short sleeved dress shirt underneath. The buttons were undone showing his smooth, hairless chest. The perfect V of his torso sat on defined elongated legs, their amplitude sheathed in dark pants and accomplished with simple verdant Westwood tennis shoes.
Around his wrist was a black armband, and embedded on top the Semper crest. Avicus arrested the endemic fragrance of jasmine. His grin brightened because there were two distinct cocktails. One belonged to Alexis but the other was more in-depth and oozed off of the young boy she cradled in her arms.
"Who is that, Alexis?"
"I-I don't know, Avicus. I was sincere when I called you. He knows things only we could, do you know him?"
Avicus took a stride towards them, his dark curls gingerly caroming. Alexis withdrew her hand that had lain over the side of his face and nudged his head out from the cubbyhole of her elbow.
For the first time since Alexis knew Avicus she witnessed his immutable cheeky grin dissolve. A light smack rung through the museum as his lips split. His brows knit together, and he took another deliberate look at the boy.
"NOOO," his velvet voice boomed through the rooms causing the glass cases to quake. "No, no, no," he wailed and slid along the floor on his knees and bumped into the pair. Alexis was aghast to his response and didn't prevent him from stealing the boy out of her hold. He took the boy's arm and jerked it over and around his neck. "LUCA, NO," he screeched.
Avicus traversed his thumb along the trench beneath Luca's eyes wiping away the misty puddles that had settled there. "Luca!" Avicus kissed his forehead and watched in horror as it slung lifelessly. "What happened," he growled at Alexis who had never known him to act like this.
"I don't know," she defended. "He wandered in from the street like this."
Avicus insured his hold on the back of Luca's knees and waist, and lifted him up off the ground. "Luca, hey, Luca," he chanted. Luca didn't reply. Avicus' lips shivered and continued crowning his head with kisses as he tried waking him. "Luca!"
"Luca?" Alexis was stumped. Avicus bolted for the stairs, "Who is he," she yelled after him. Avicus threw his head over his shoulder.
"Isabella Semper," he yelled back and disappeared up the stairs.
The name was familiar to Alexis. It didn't take a second for her recollections to piece together the puzzle. Of course, Isabella Semper was the little sister of Iccarus Semper who was Alexis' father. Dexio told her long ago that she lived in America and even had a son called Charlie. Furthermore, she learned decades later that Charlie eventually had a son too, and his name was...
Her hand's swooped up to cover her fluttering mouth when the sky above her cracked and ushered in the light. "No," she squealed, "No, no, no, I'm sorry," she wailed and followed Avicus up the stairs. She dashed down the hall to her office no doubt where the pair of them was. Alexis entered her luxurious berth made of oak that Avicus broke into. Left to her grand writing desk and placed between two filled bookshelves they rested on top of a black leather couch.
Avicus nursed Luca like a newborn baby on his lap. Alexis bowed in front of them and mopped her hand over Luca's leg. "I'm so sorry," she whispered.
"Did he speak?" Avicus inquired.
She consented, "He was searching for us, for his family."
"Anything else?"
"H-He said there wasn't much time."
Avicus studied her daunted face for a moment but nearly instantly realized what Luca meant. He hoisted one of his eye lids and gulped when he beheld the pronounced redness that had consumed the whites. "Call Dexio, now," he ordered.
Alexis picked up the phone on her desk and swiftly dialed Dexio's number. "Hold up the phone so I may speak," and Alexis did as she was told. It rang only once.
"Alexis?" It was Dexio.
"It's me, listen, we need Therratexia and morphine. Move as fast as you can, Dexio."
There was a pause on the phone. Avicus impatiently waited for Dexio to grasp the immense gravity of his request.
"Is he there with you?" Dexio was bewildered.
"Yes, at the museum, and now hurry!" The line went dead.
Avicus held Luca around his shoulders and cuddled his head underneath his chin while patting his lower back.
"What can I do?" Alexis was desperate.
"Go down the street to 91 St. John's and fetch some vegetarian food along with some fresh fruit, and orange juice."
Smiling determined Alexis joined him by Luca's side and endeared the young boy's cheek and scampered out and down the stairs. She snatched her wallet from her purse and made a prompt exit. She had been so wrong, and responded with rue. Whatever it was she needed to do in order to repent – she would do it!
Tormented, and with his otherwise bewitching contour's stricken by grief his butterscotch like eyes surged Luca's body. He was magnificent, Avicus thought, Makenna's description hadn't done him justice. Avicus stole a whiff of Luca's sensual fragrance, and smirked. His nose was sparked by the scent of exposed blood lingering in the air. With his nose touching Luca's he maneuvered his head and remarked on a contusion by the bone on his left temple. As he inspected it closely his preternatural vision perceived a strange dent. It belonged to a knuckle. Luca was attacked.
There was something aberrant about the wound – another bouquet had intermingled with Luca's parched patch of blood. Lightly Avicus tasted the lush elixir with his tongue, and panted, "Whoa, cousin," he said out loud. The fierce taste of Luca's overwhelming blood scalded his sensitive palate. But the theory he was assembling slowly took on form. There actually was a different flavor infused with his blood. The taste was less gratifying but no less evident.
Avicus groped Luca's chest frisking for other injuries. He snuck his hand beneath Luca's shirt, fixated on finding other blemishes but found none.
While waiting for Dexio, imprudently, Avicus brought Luca close. He scraped his face back and forth through Luca's hair, nuzzling him. He aligned his arm with the back of Luca's thigh and cupped his bum, petting it. He looked down in his face, radiating the innocence he commented on when Lumen showed him the picture Luca sent of Charlie and him. Avicus' grin reappeared, and he tenderly kissed Luca's lips, "It'll be alright," he pronounced and hugged him close.
There was almost an incomprehensible noise of something moving inside Luca's pocket. As prying as Avicus was he pulled out a folded-up picture and opened it. An ample smile graced his face when he saw Luca in the picture – content and jolly. The smile lessened when he scowled at the second individual inside its perimeter.
Avicus grimaced, "Edward."
"Aedw..."
His eyes darted to Luca's stained moue. The long ebony lashes flickered, he squeaked a groan, and bared his eyes halfway. Avicus smiled immediately, and tossed the picture carelessly off to the side next to them. "Hey, little one," Avicus greeted Luca's front with his. Sluggishly Luca's eyes wheeled from side to side. Avicus purposely connected their faces and nudged him again so Luca could see him.
"Bongu," he grinned. Luca's eyebrows united, and Avicus saw a gleam of recognition. Abruptly he felt the fingers dangling over his neck careening him. Weakly Luca's hand ascended up and above Avicus' smooth and sculpted chest to cosset his cheek. Luca's fingers fondled the inside of his ear, and traced his tragus while the nail of his pinky toyed with the lobe. His thumb massaged and drew circles across the entire horizon of Avicus' lofty cheekbone.
Avicus wore a comical mask and looked from right to left, "O-kay," he snickered and pecked the vertex of Luca's nose. He in turn pressured him closer and trembled when Luca's hot lips met his neck. Avicus' eyes ballooned and he stammered, "Err, um, ah, Luca?"
Luca's torrid breath made the Venom pool inside Avicus' mouth as it gushed onto his membrane. Luca's fingers tangled his hair taking fists full of it, and his hand clamped his shoulder cusp. Avicus relented to his unusual behavior and sideswiped his head with a kiss, and nestled Luca adoringly but a jouncing hiccup in Luca's breathing startled him. "What is it?" He murmured into his ear.
Luca retreated, and his face looked uncomfortable. "L-Lavend-der?"
"Lavender?" Remembering the picture lounging on the couch next to them Avicus understood Luca's implication. "Oh," he gulped when Luca's sweltering hand invaded the inside of his shirt, and gripped his chiseled breast. Luca scratched his bald sternum, palpably in search of something. He whined and pushed Avicus away. Luca's hand freed Avicus' neck and tried offensively to push him away by punching his face, and chest.
"Alright, that's a first," Avicus laughed. Luca started to cry but Avicus didn't let go.
"UNCC-CLE!" That title kindled his interest as the little one tried to wiggle out of his cradle. Avicus incarcerated Luca's neck and brought his lips back to his ears restraining him around his back. He wailed, hollering, and struggled feebly in his arms.
"Hey there Cousin, we still long to hold you once more, oh, oh, oh," he sang into his ear, and kissed it. Luca ceased.
"We'll share our boots of leather from the skin of Valletta you know, you know." Astounded Luca unleashed his eyes all the way, and his mouth was agape.
Avicus, smiling, soothed his face and continued, "How we wept when you had to go but we close our eyes and we know, you'll be standing right here by our sides," Luca's expression turned from dumbfounded to pure glee.
"Home in Malta, oh, oh, back home in Malta-a-a, oh, oh," Avicus sang.
"Home... in Malta," Luca concluded it.
Avicus smashed his lips together and snickered, heartily, "Welcome home."
Tears of joy like torrents spurted forth from Luca's bloodshot eyes, "Dexio!"
Avicus closed his eyes, and cleared his throat, "Why?" His tone was scolding.
Luca blinked, befuddled, but then, "Avicus?" He was timid, and frightened.
The cheery disposition and eternal grin returned to his face, "Indeed, cousin." Tiredly but resplendent Luca smiled, and his hands moved back around Avicus' neck. They embraced fully and truly for the first time. Avicus rocked them back and forth, and planted a doting kiss on Luca's head. The moment was ruptured and the harmony cut short when Luca's body went inert.
"Luca?" Avicus poked his face, and he twisted his face abhorrently. "Stay with me! Dexio is on his way, we'll make the headaches go away Luca."
Laboriously he unveiled his eyes, his arms plummeting down unto his stomach. "What happened, Luca?"
"Ww-rong bus," he said, and annexed his head to Avicus' shoulder.
"Wrong bus? Where did you end up?"
"Gul... J-juleeans," his voice dimmed.
"St. Julians! Stay with me now, go on, what happened?" Avicus had to keep him conscious. If Dexio arrived on schedule then there might be no need for the morphine.
"They t-took mai bag," Luca sobbed.
"Who? The ones that hurt you?" He rubbed his face up and down Avicus' shoulder.
"Evrythang... monee, lettrs, and pictur," Luca nabbed the collar of his cousin's shirt, and wept.
"Letters?" Avicus was wired. "The letters Uncle Luca sent to you?" Again, Luca nodded.
This was a problem! Lumen had entrusted the letters with information about their family. If that knowledge fell into the wrong hands the Semper could be exposed, and not just to the human world.
"Luca, is this the picture you think they stole?" Avicus showed Luca the picture of Edward and him. Surprisingly Luca picked it out of his fingers speedily and held it to his heart.
"Ah-uh," Luca grunted.
"Then what picture, little one?"
"Granma and Uncle…" This was far worse than Avicus had anticipated.
"Did you go the police station by the bay?"
"Hm-mh, no help." This was good. As soon as Alexis recurred in their presence he'd make her utilize all her influence with the police stations, and during Luca's recovery Avicus would go to San Ġiljan to enact vengeance. Whoever it was that had dared to hurt such purity and had bereft him of his possession would pay, dearly. The dry heat might have just sustained Luca's scent so finding the thieves might not be as difficult.
"Edward..."
Avicus gazed down in Luca's face. He was far away with his thoughts, on the other side of the earth. He smiled reassuringly and patted his bum. "Don't worry," he said and kissed his head again. Avicus rose and kept Luca tightly in his arms. Athwart the wall and opposite of them was a small minibar. He opened it with his foot and found a cluster of water bottles stored inside. Avicus balanced one on his foot and hurled it up in the air, and caught it with the hand attached to the arm holding Luca beneath his knees.
"Have some water," he placed Luca back across his lap. Greedily he drank while Avicus held the bottle. It brought some alleviation but didn't moderate the short spasms Luca had to endure.
From below Avicus detected fleeting footprints and the rustling of paper bags – Alexis. Briskly she stormed the room both hands full. She breathed mollified upon seeing Luca awake. Alexis removed an aluminum wrapped dish from the paper bag and vented the hot steam by taking off the lid. She walked over to them with a plastic fork, and cup filled with orange juice.
Avicus offered Luca the juice which he sucked through the straw without hesitation. Makenna had confided his preferences to him and was glad to make use of them now. "What is that," he inclined his head to the dish Alexis brought.
"Vegetable korma," she said and scooped up a mouth full. Before she could donate it to Luca's empty stomach she was affronted by his puny and exasperated vision.
"You h-hit me..." Avicus flashed his burning eyes to Alexis whose shoulders dropped, ashamed.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't know who you were, and to me it looked like you were going to assault me. Forgive me," she beseeched him.
"Mkay," Luca answered in a mousy voice. Both Semper gasped, amused but also surprised. Luca finally opened his mouth and nibbled on the green beans, eggplant, and coconut enriched rice. Alexis spoon fed him and reminisced about her son Marco, who was Luca's third cousin. Her daughter Nicole was only one year older and ripe to graduate soon. Perhaps they'd like to meet.
"Avicus? What's wrong with him?"
With a heavy heart, and while squeezing Luca's knee he answered, "Terminal brain cancer."
Panic clouded Alexis' face, and a chill slipped down her back. "Dexio is acquiring his medicine as we speak. From the looks of it he has been without it for at least two days. On that issue, when you're finished here, I need you to contact the police department in San Ġiljan. Luca was robbed. The roster undoubtedly includes the narcotics which explain his status. Luckily they missed the picture and," with his finger Avicus burrowed inside Luca's pocket and spied on the watch, "and this little token here."
Luca ate only half of the korma, the solids made his stomach feel dolorous. Alexis confessed she should have gotten soup. Avicus asked her again to please go to San Ġiljan and light a bonfire – a task she excelled at. Before leaving Alexis' mind pondered and she exchanged glances between Luca and Avicus. The formers eye's were only partially open and obviously not all the way coherent.
"It's why he took on this arduous journey, isn't it?" Avicus maintained his protective eye on Luca and shrugged.
"Alright, I'll call you as soon as I kick their lazy asses in gear." Avicus grinned.
"You go girl," he cheered. Alexis left with a sunny smile.
Avicus' grin lessened but prevailed despite the blooming jealousy. It was the only plausible explanation as to why Luca had come, and not told them. If he were made immortal by Lumen then he'd irrevocably wish to go back to America to be with Edward. Avicus didn't like that idea. Luca was absentminded so he embraced him closer and cuddled him. He wanted to keep Luca; never as an intimate lover but as a kinsperson. There was something about him he fell in love with the instant Lumen introduced the photograph to him.
Luca seemed frail, and Avicus wanted to shelter him. The innocence he exuded was like an invitation to all things malignant. The criterion was already met and the testament to which had scarred his darling face by some mortal scum. Leisurely he slid down on the sofa and discreetly raised Luca by his back and bum to him, and trimmed his mahogany strands with his chin.
Outside Avicus heeded an otherworldly wind moving with a ghostly tempo. It scaled up the stairs, and soared down the hall.
Dexio stood numb and staring at Luca by the entrance. As always Dexio wore a dark suit, creamy shirt, and shimmering green tie. His vast topaz eyes reflected the impact the fragile silhouette strewn across Avicus' thighs must have had to strenuously tolerate for days. Dexio exhaled, shaking his head, and treaded to the couple on the couch. Like a knight he kneeled in front of Luca and sat the white bag with Therratexia down next to him. Avicus was anxious to fuel Luca's body with it but as he watched his brother's reaction he became immobile.
Dexio incurved Luca's face, kneading it and sought out the lambency in his eyes. His soft distent lips dove deep into Luca's cheek, and he inhaled the enticing perfume his body transmitted. Dexio's lower lip contorted inwards and his teeth bit down. "Luca," he whispered.
Luca's eyes were glassy, and whirled around hunting through the haze for Dexio's face.
"Your native mind sings in a foreign town, it still seeks to hear the Songbird's call of Kemmuna, oh," Dexio's euphonious voice sang. Like a lighthouse penetrating a fog hovering over the sea signaling a ship Dexio's vocal's guided Luca.
"But close your eyes and you will know, oh, only on the shores of Gozo the emeralds grow, we'll be dancing right there by your side," Luca shone like a diamond sparkling and blinding his audience. Dexio took his hand into his.
"Home in Malta, oh, oh, home in Malta, oh, back home in Malta."
Dexio kissed the top of Luca's hand, and abraded his fingers over and through his hair. Dexio linked their heads yearning for their first conference to have been set on a different platform.
Avicus and Dexio's eyes confronted each other, both sulking. "The medicine," Avicus urged.
"The morphine has converted to become moot; thence ingurgitation would demonstrate the most efficiency." Avicus, vexed by his brother's speech pattern scoffed at him.
"Dexio! Luca, he means you just have to take your pills," he rocked him.
"I no," Luca mouthed. "Aedward wou like im," he said sleepy.
"Look," Dexio held the large pill in front of him. "Your remedy," Luca squirmed when he saw the white and blue tablet, automatically opening his mouth. Dexio inched it beneath his tongue. He took a second cup of orange juice Alexis had brought and fed it to Luca.
"One more," Dexio inserted the second tablet and like the first Luca devoured it fast. "It won't be sufficient. Ere, in addition to these his system will require another."
"I'll allocate you with that. There is a score to settle," Avicus' indicative sentiment worried Dexio. "Have you noticed the imperfection?"
"Yes, not deep, and it will not label him."
"He was mugged, and they took his belongings." Dexio was surveying his brother's chronicles. "Luca brought the letters from Lumen," he whispered so low that Luca would never hear, "Also, a photograph Lumen took with Isabella. We have to collect them." At random Avicus scanned Dexio's wristband festooned by the Semper insignia.
Luca's eyes had fallen shut, and he was dozing. Avicus reached inside Luca's shirt to feel around his neck. Why hadn't he noticed before?
"Where's the necklace?" Dexio asked, catching on. Their faces were grim.
"Luca?"
Marginally his eyes opened.
"Hmm?"
Avicus grasped Luca's chin and tilted his head so he could look at him. "Where is your necklace? The one that Uncle Luca sent to you?"
Appeased and trapped inside a trance he smiled bashfully, "With my heart." Luca's heaving stopped, and fell asleep peacefully.
"The medicine will take time, and I'll be leaving him in your charge, Dexio."
Conscientiously and almost opting to send Dexio instead he submitted Luca into his care. Like Avicus had Dexio held him close, "I'll carry him to the palazzo, to Lumen."
"No, take him to our town house. Then, contact Makenna and inquire if she's noted his absence. Tell her not to tell Lumen, not yet."
Dexio smirked, "Smitten?" Avicus laughed, and looked down at Luca.
"Over the moon," he joked.
As soon as his back was turned Avicus' smile evaporated and a menacing pose twisted his angelic profile – a vampire out for blood.
Avicus looked up; leaning up adjacent to the old brick building that was the San Ġiljan police headquarters – literally crumbling. Tourists were gathering their towels, sandals, tote bags, and were heading back to their hotels while the sailboats afloat on the ocean languidly docked by the bay. Avicus zipped up his black sweater and concealed his head with the hood. He couldn't wait for Alexis, this dilemma had to be dealt with; for the family, for Luca.
The bustle of the bay was ignorant to a physically capable young man taking a virtually magical leap, and an ensuing shadow that climbed up the Portomaso Business Tower – the tallest in Malta. The robust influx of the wind held no regime over Avicus as he peered out towards the southern lights of Sliema, and the dark synopsis of Manoel Island with the ducks nesting by its bridge.
Formerly he had thought uncovering Luca's scent would be burdensome applied by Luca's two long day expeditions beneath the smoldering sun. Avicus was presumptuous and had maturated a plan from just an errant thought. After tasting the blood and knowing it was tarnished by another's had given him the lead he needed. Avicus knew exactly what to look for.
He lurched over the edge of the building, falling at an already accelerated speed instituted by his powerful push. As he fell Avicus conjured his shield – the legacy of the Great Family Semper. Like bandages he felt it dressing him within milliseconds, covering ever last smidgen of him until he phased out. Avicus' cloak of invisibility was impervious. Once beneath its esoteric mantle no eyes could catch him, and no noses could even catalog his aroma.
It was much simpler this way to race through the city, up and down every last alleyway in San Ġiljan. At every turn Avicus sought out even the faintest leftover shards of Luca's scent. If Luca and his assailant bled than there was assuredly still evidence of it someplace. There hadn't been any rain to flush the blood.
Avicus continued his pilgrimage comprehending the city better than any other resident.
Over an hour had passed since Avicus relinquished Luca to Dexio's care. He was avid to get back to see him waking up but the hunt besieged his mind. Avicus jumped from one building of lime to the next having now entered a 'pleasurable district' of Paceville just north of San Ġiljan.
He decided to lower his shield and phase back into reality. Perhaps some of the hustlers or prostitutes knew something. They often had dealings with thieves and smugglers of jewelry, drugs, electronic software, and expensive fashion brands.
Casually Avicus appeared within the burnished sheen of the street light. He buried his hands within the pouch pockets of his sweater, flung back his hood, lightly paraded from one side to the other, and made himself seem gullible.
First he found himself between a colony of alabaster taxi's and ironically enough a gentleman's club called The White Palace. There was a short stout blonde standing out front wearing a black cocktail dress, and edging him over with her fingers. Avicus smiled politely at her and continued on ignoring her pleas to come back.
He stood within the mezzo expand of the street. The greasy stench of Burger King offset his delicate nasal passageway and the boisterous mortals celebrating inside a bar called Plush weren't helping matters. Further down the street were two more gentleman clubs and he thought he should investigate, after all, he had already been all over Sliema and San Ġiljan coming up empty handed.
Was Luca wandering the streets at night? Didn't he have money for a hotel or hostel? Avicus wanted to hear the entire saga once Luca was able again. But for now he chose to think that the little one might have wandered into Paceville. There were endless stories about men getting abducted into these clubs to get filled up on alcohol and drugs. The next day they'd wake up missing between five hundred and ten thousand euros from their credit cards.
"Oh," Avicus nose picked up a delightful scent. He lightly jogged down the street to a trash bin that was arranged next to a palm tree. It reeked of slowly rotting food and the flies who fed on it. The stench of used paper towels and Kleenex made his stomach churn, he imagined anyway.
But Avicus was persistent, and there was something in there that smelled ethereal. He grasped the bin and started to thrash it spilling the contents unto the pavement. The few onlookers laughed and pointed at him, thinking he was drunk. The bin was vacant, and Avicus put it back in place. Between the bits of torn paper, Burger King Cups, condom wrappers, and cans of Cisk lay a most priced trophy.
Avicus picked up the cheap wooden frame, its glass shattered, but what lay inside was of substance. He removed the old photograph and grinned at Lumen holding little Isabella but old and wrinkled. Avicus wished he could have seen her, one last time.
He stored the picture inside the pocket of his vest and zipped up the sweater. Just a few steps down was yet another club called Burlesque. Avicus entered its gloomy atmosphere. It was almost black but illuminated by devilish red light. There was a bar with several patrons sitting and drinking. The malodor of cigarettes, ethanol, cannabis, and human liquids was repugnant.
However, Avicus followed the hypnotic road of the jasmine that some irresponsible thief unknowingly leaked.
"Ħello," Avicus smiled, attractively. The man he spoke to was spindly but shorter than him. His face was like a skull with deep gorges beneath his icy blue eyes. The altogether prolonged face was partially hidden due to the straw and flaxen dreadlocks but sticking out still was his squashed flat nose, and squared mouth.
He took a sip from his Cisk and mentally gobbled and ate up all of the young and breathtaking man in front of him. "X'jismek?" His voice was raspy.
"Avicus," he answered, arrogantly raising his brow. The assailant licked his fat sausage lips and expectedly so outstretched his arm and hooked his fingers on Avicus' sculptured chest. He wrenched his lips, and was left in wonderment when he felt the cold skin.
"Need some heat?"
Avicus leaned on the countertop as his head hung seductively off to the side, and he hinted towards the back and where the dark rooms were. Avicus moved with poise and masculinity using his body as the perfect bait. Luca's predator was behind him, and there was only one proof left needed.
Avicus entered a rectangular cubicle with a dirty couch, and mirror on the wall. The assailant's eyes vibrated with lust and hunger. He pulled the curtain shut and clawed at his shirt revealing a shaggy chest and a scar above his belly button.
Both his hands reached out to clutch Avicus' head but he imprisoned and halted his advance. "You're hurt, tarbija, your knuckle."
"Nah, nah, Avikiss, a memento of a great missed pounce that got away," he moved his tongue towards Avicus' grin-stretched lips.
"Gah-ha," the assailant chocked. His palms curled around Avicus' arctic hold, and his fingers dug into them without avail. As if he were a marionette inside a great puppet theatre in Salzburg Avicus suspended him above his feet.
"Are you actually permitting me the dogma, the stupidity, and life eradicating accuracy that you," Avicus spit in his face, "were going to rape my precious One?"
"I think you and I should talk," Avicus bared his teeth, and snarled virulently.