Chapter Five~

Sometime during the night I fell asleep, and, being that it was the first breath of sleep that I had had in over twenty-four hours, it was enjoyed. I woke up shortly before sunrise; the world as well as the night was in a light blue haze. Though I had gone to bed on the other side of the bed from where Danica was sleeping, and had made sure that I stayed on my side the entire night, I woke to find her curled up beside me. Her right arm was extended over my chest and her head rested sheepishly on my arm. I wondered if she knew that it was me that she was sleeping next to. Had she, sometime during the night, woken to find me asleep and curled up to my side out of loneliness? Or perhaps while she slept she turned, and I was the nearest and only thing by her? Perhaps in her dream world she imagined that I was Zachary or another man, for someone had to have stolen her heart in my absence.

I didn't want to move, or open my eyes yet to the growing light of the day. The place that I was in now, here, with her, was enough for me now.

"I hate to interrupt," I heard someone speak, the voice commanding and slightly sarcastic, and I knew who it was before I opened my eyes. It was Zachary, standing over the bed as watchful as he had been last night.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, raising my form slightly, but still aware that Danica was so near, I raised only a little.

"Care to explain something to me?" he asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "How is it that you plan on protecting Danica Shardae from those who hunt her if you can't even stop me from breaking in here?" He paused, and I frowned due to his pushiness. "I've been standing here for almost an hour, plenty of time to kill her if I were an assassin."

I whispered hoarsely to him, "Calm down!" I could feel Danica stir slightly but I did not want to wake her yet; her sleep was too peaceful and precious to disturb. Both Zachary and I were quiet and still as I untangled her arms from me, and with my hand I lifted her head slightly to free my other arm, and then, just as I had lifted it, I gently placed it on the pillow. I waited, we were no longer touching, but I was sure that my absence would wake her. It took her only a few seconds though, to curl back into a ball and continue sleeping. "Come on!' I commanded through stiff lips. His unwelcome presence bothered me, and I new, just by the way he had spoken her name, that he had deeply strong feelings for her.

Zachary followed me out of the bedroom and quietly we tip toed down the hall. I could tell by the amount of noise that Simon Acevedo had already gone to his offices to work- he was the big snorer in the family. Diane was a deep sleeper, so I wasn't worried about her. Zachary and I made our way to a closed door near the Acevedo's bedroom, and as I turned the rust colored knob slowly, I proceeded to open it. The door creaked and cracked as I slowly slid it open, but I was sure that the noise hadn't woken Diane in her room, or Danica in mine. Without asking him to, Zachary followed me up the old wooden stairs that lay behind the door. The stairs led to a small attic that I was sure neither of the Acevedo's had stepped foot in for years, but it was one of my favorite spots in the house. It was old and creaky, and the only part of the house that hadn't been redone and still held the old mystique of the time frame that it was built in. With my raised hand, I instructed Zachary to stay behind in the doorway. I had memorized where the creaks in the floorboard were due to this room being half above Simon and Diane's bedroom.

I walked across the floor like I was mimicking a dance. My feet stepped lightly in some places and more forceful in others. My pathway led me to an old trunk that was slightly hidden by boxes that were labeled after certain holidays like Christmas and Valentines. Old ornaments laced the edges of those boxes, I presumed, held ornaments that were kept out of sentimental value but beyond that they were never looked at again. I moved the boxes away carefully until I was free to open the trunk without incident. My fingers trailed along the elderly and worn lock as I turned the right numbers in the combination to open it.

When the lock was open I pulled it lose from its hinges and lifted the lid. Across the top was a woolen piece of cloth that when last I placed it there was brand new and intact but now stood thread bear and moth ridden. I pulled it away and underneath it were a few swords, the longest and most impressive had belonged to my father, and I had kept it safely all of these years incase of situations such as this arose. The other swords were small daggers of varying size, and underneath that was a large duffle bag made out of dyed linen. I removed all of the swords from the trunk, placing them neatly on the floor at me feet, and then placed each one, except for my father's, into the bag.

My way back to Zachary who still stood in the doorway was the same as when I left him, my feet making sure that every step was the same as it was before. "Here," I said, handing him the long sword. "It belonged to your grandfather." I watched for a moment as he held the sword up with pride and stature. Irene, or Danica, had obviously told him about our strong line of kings and warriors. He handed the sword back to me as we walked together down the attic stars and back to my room where I placed the blades on my desk.

Without a word spread between any of us, I turned from him and began to walk down the hall again. I could hear him follow me hastily. "So, what is my plan Zachary?" I whispered, making my way down the staircase that led to the lower parts of the house.

"I've arranged a flight; it leaves from Sea-Tac at 5:00 o'clock tonight."

"Five!" I turned toward him, my voice a little louder then it should have been. "By 5:00 it will be dark, and as we're being hunted by vampires, wouldn't it make more sense to travel during the day when they cannot follow us?"

He said nothing, but I knew that I was right about this, and for a moment I felt higher in rank that he was. Out of the corner of my eye as I continued to walk down the stairs I looked him over. He still wore what he wore the night before, a loose fitting light blue button up top and tan slacks that hung just below his ankles. His feet were bare, as before, and in the light, I could see that they were sooty and dirty from the ground and gravel. "Why don't you wear shoes?" I asked as we entered the kitchen and I placed the empty duffle bag on one of the counter tops.

"I don't like shoes," he said honestly. "I find them uncomfortable."

I opened up the refrigerator and grabbed what I could from it: two bottles of water, and an unopened loaf of bread. "Anyway," he said as I moved on to the pantry, grabbing cans food by the dozens, "the flight will take you to Europe, and from there you can go where you please, as long as it's safe for Danica and remote so Jeshickah will not think to look there. I'll join you," he finished, "as soon as I can."

I turned to him, my hands filled with cans of soup and vegetables: "You're in love with her, aren't you?" He didn't answer me, but I could tell by the longing on his face that it was true. I didn't blame him. Danica was not only beautiful, but also sweet natured and vivacious; both were components that were highly attractive in a women. I smiled at him, unthreatened by his presence in her life.

"You've changed, Zane," he said to me as I began to place all of the food in the duffle bag.

"How would you know? You and I have only seen each other once, and that was long before you could remember."

"When I was a child," he began his voice changing in tone slightly as he went into his story, "my mother would tell me stories of the courageous and fearless King of the Serpiente's Zane Cobriana, my uncle and her brother. She told me how he always fought for good and stayed true and loyal to his lady Danica."

"And I am no longer like this?" I questioned, not seeing the difference from the me then to the me now.

He tilted his head to me, squinting his eyes: "Yes."

The remainder of the morning was calm, as the night had been, unlike Zachary feared. Danica awoke sometime after we returned up stairs and Zachary greeted her warmly, as though she had been in a coma for long years and he had feared that she'd never wake up. I handed the duffle bag to him, though I still held my father's sword in my hand, and told them both to go and wait in the car for me. I knew that we had to leave now, before the world awoke. In my room alone, I looked at all of the things that made up my life for the last few years. Alex Acevedo's years.

I put those days to rest as I left the room, truly, for the last time. Still holding the sword in my hand, I laced on my leather jacket. The walk down the hall was a strange one; it was always strange for me when I left a family that I had been with long. But this one, like no other, was strange because I wasn't going from one person to a new person. I would not create a new identity for myself after this; I would go back to being Zane, a personality and a skin that I had not worn in decades. My task was daunting, considering I had no idea how Zane, the king from so long ago, would fit into this modern world, and it scared me slightly. Before leaving, I peaked my head into the Acevedo's bedroom. It was just Diane, alone sleeping soundly against the safety of warm blankets. I wondered what my absence would do to her. Would she recover from it? I doubted it, knowing that she was still in heavy grief over her daughter's death. For a moment I was sorry that I had ever come here, knowing that when I left I would cause the same, if not more, pain that there had been at my arrival.

In my mind I had memorized all of Diane's prayers, her prayers for Christina and her prayers for me. How would they change when I was gone?

I didn't linger long, and I forced myself to put this life here to peace before I set out for another one. I walked down the stairs fast, clutching my father's weapon tightly around my palm and fingers. I couldn't even imagine what he would think if he could see me now. His once proud son ruined and damaged from too many years of heart ache. Perhaps he could see me. I saw him perched in some kind of heaven, shaking his head at the fall of his bloodline. I shoved my memories and fears away as I stepped through the front door and outside into the world that loomed before me like a road.

The sun had mostly risen now, and the light blue haze that I had awoken to was all but faded into a pale morning. From the doorway I could see Zachary and Danica leaned up against the side of my car at the curb. I'll miss you, he mouthed to her from where they stood. I could not hear their voices, but I knew that they were speaking. And I you, she replied placing her hand on his cheek, leaving me to watch as they embraced. Be careful, he pressed, while his head hung over her shoulder. She let go of him and looked him in the eye, turning her head slightly so that I couldn't see what she said to him next. He placed his hands on her shoulders and squeezed slightly; I could tell that leaving her was painful for him.

He let go of her a few seconds later and turned away, his pace slow at first but soon he was running away. Before he was gone from my sight he looked back at me, sending me a look that I could only decipher as a warning to watch out for her or else. I wondered if they were lovers.