Chapter Twenty-Nine
Unexpected Visitors
The weather was starting to cool down considerably in the three days following Katha's death. It usually follows a certain pattern, which it was seeming to do at the moment. This included it becoming chilly in October before giving a whole new meaning of cold in November so that we could all be prepared for the snow to fall into our lives in December. The sad times were when the snow failed to fall before Christmas for a cool holiday, but snow was snow either way. Still, now that it was more into November, the chill was settling in real good, which caused me problems seeing as I was stuck in a house with vampires. See, I soon found out that vampires never really noticed the cold. It also turned out that there were a few things vampires did to trick humans during this type of weather. For example, when Evanen went hunting during the cold, he put on a coat that he stated was very annoying, but was necessary so that he wouldn't concern those humans who were shivering in their boots.
Meanwhile, I was stuck curled up under a blanket for warmth because their resistance to the cold left the house as cold inside as it was outside. The only thing that was bothering me the most was the question of the people who were stuck in the dungeons, where they had no blanket to curl under. Evanen was quick to reassure me on that, though, with a simple, "Oh, we kill off all of them before it gets cold and they get sick. Sick people are not tasty." I wasn't kidding. He said it just like that, as though that would make me "feel better" about their habits, when killing off those people would mean that they would go hunting more. Still, this was also how I found out that the winter season was the time that they moved elsewhere. I assumed it was because of the fact that they did hunt more.
At the moment, I wasn't in too much of a need to be too warm due to the fact that Evanen had decided to fetch a small heater for the room. Instead, I was just wearing the most fuzziest coat I'd ever seen that Evanen had also decided to get as well. I was sitting at the edge of the bed, not too far from the charred area on the carpet that replaced what used to be Katha's blood. I looked about slowly, noticing that it appeared they weren't in any hurry to start moving so far.
I turned to look at Evanen, who had ignored Katha's spot by pretending it was just another place on the floor. He was leaning against the wall across from me absently staring into space. "So why haven't you started moving yet," I asked him, "It's winter after all." What I was really wondering is what Cecilian was doing about Katha's mysterious disappearance, but we'd made an agreement to pretend nothing had happened. It was apparently clear that my killing Katha wasn't going to go over well with anyone.
"The Rising is suppose to be sometime this month," Evanen responded. I had forgotten about "The Rising", seeing as I barely knew much enough about it to be worried over it.
"Does that mean you're turning 20 soon," I asked curiously.
"November 20th," Evanen stated.
"Weird. So if your birthday was the 16th, would the Rising have been on your 16th birthday or something," I joked.
"Exactly," Evanen confirmed. I waited for any sign that he was kidding, but when none came, I shrugged. Then I continued to stare at the blackened spot on the ground. It wasn't big or very noticeable against the black carpet, but I still couldn't stop looking at it.
"Well, if you weren't going to turn 20 for another couple of months, why'd they throw a party so early," I asked without looking up.
"I assume it's because Cecilian felt as though by celebrating it earlier, then it would come earlier," He responded dully, apparently not too fond of the party for some reason. It's not like he knew that's where Mikel had stated his love for me or anything. Then again, Evanen had been acting weird lately. He almost seemed a bit jumpy about something, and it sort of concerned me because I feared it had something to do with Katha. She apparently was more bothersome dead to us than alive. It seemed as though she was right in being the one laughing in triumph, seeing as that same laughter would not disappear from my conscience. Then again, it could be because the Rising was coming closer day by day. Not that I would know why it was so important, seeing as no one had told me.
I suddenly had an urge to beat the answer out of Evanen, but decided to try to startle him by a blunt question. And so I asked bluntly, "What's The Rising exactly?" There was a clear moment of hesitation, which told me my trick was not taking the effect of being off-handed as I had hoped it would. I didn't try to fix it or anything, but assumed he wouldn't tell. Instead, I just continued to stare at the spot on the carpet. Then I was startled by Evanen's sudden presence beside me on the bed. I looked up and over to him, and he was looking at me as though he had made a huge decision.
"I don't know why I haven't told you already," Evanen said as-a-matter-of-factly, and I felt a sudden mix of excitement and dread. Then there was doubt as well because I didn't actually think he would tell me. Still, he continued, "There's this story that had been going on for centuries and centuries before I was even born. It was about this belief that the key to true immortality would be found by a conceived vampire of two humans who carried it in his blood, but only when it reached the age of its birthday. It was a nice story, actually, but nobody actually believed it because nobody can be conceived a vampire. They can be born a human, halfbreed, or turned into a halfbreed in the uterus, but not conceived a full blown vampire."
I smiled like a kid, "Except for you, right?"
"Right," He responded, "When I was born from two humans, they checked my mother to see if maybe she'd been turned while pregnant with me, but there was no reason why I'd been vampire. So Drewdon, who knew the story like the back of his hand, snatched me up to try to hide me, but it didn't work for too long. Word got around, and all everybody wanted to know was when and how. So Drewdon figured out that the phrase 'the age of its birthday' meant what you said. It should happen on my 20th birthday because I was born on the 20th. As for the how, they figured that it would be passed by drinking my blood."
"What is it," I asked, wanting specifically the knowledge behind the term 'power.'
He hesitated, "Well, by the key to true immortality, we assumed it meant complete immunity to everything. That included the sun, silver, and whatever you could think of that would normally kill a vampire. So they named it 'The Rising' randomly just as a term for the event in which my blood would evolve completely, but the only thing that I wonder about is what happens after I hand it off to Drewdon."
"What if you don't hand it to Drewdon or anyone," I suggested, imagining Evanen being the most powerful vampire in the world, which was a much better image than Drewdon, who would enslave all humans and bring about the apocalypse if he could. At least now I could tell why it was such a big deal, but it made me nervous thinking that I'd be in the middle of this.
"I have to. I'm a carrier, which means that it won't work on me, but can be passed on to someone else," Evanen responded, "And after a lot of research, we found that it can be passed to a vampire, but afterward, only Drewdon can make vampires with the true immortality by turning humans. Other vampires will just have to die out as the unevolved breed. Still, I just wonder if I'm to die or if I'll just go back to normal. Drewdon thinks I'll just stay the way I am now, forever unsure if I'll die of old age rather than live forever. That's what sucks about being the only one of your kind... you never have anything to tell what could possibly happen. And it never really bothered me until recently."
It took a moment, but his concern was suddenly starting to sink in. He was watching me think it over until I finally was hit with the realization of what he meant. If he was to die after he handed off the power, what was going to happen to me? Even if he lives, what's going to happen? I looked at Evanen in dread, "Drewdon's going to kill me, isn't he?" There was a palpable pause.
"Or turn you," Evanen suggested, "I could turn you before it happens. That's why I've been trying to get you to let me. If you're already a vampire, you'd have a better chance than being human. In fact, once Drewdon is given his power, all human's are doomed. He'll start recruiting them into his new breed of vampires, and start in on allowing vampires to dominate the world. And then he'll no doubt start after regular vampires. Most likely he'll kill them off so as to preserve humans or just to get rid of the weaker breed." He paused before looking at me intensely. "Can you imagine the future wars?" I took notice to the look of excitement on his face rather than fear.
"Well, apparently you think you'll be safe," I said sarcastically to him.
He laughed, "Are you kidding? Drewdon would be afraid of killing me. He's not sure if it would destroy his true immortality or if nothing would happen, but he's sure not going to test it out. In fact, I'm pretty sure the only people I''ll have to be afraid of are normal vampires and humans... not so much humans, but you see where I'm going. They'd want to kill me just in case it gets rid of the new vampires. But not at first, just when the new, strong vampires go after the old, weak ones." He continued to smile reassuringly until I allowed a small, uncertain smile to go back.
At least then I knew I was right in having a bit of doubt when it came to The Rising. It could be the end of me. Either I was going to stay the human girl that Evanen was protecting oddly or Evanen would die and I'd be coming right after him. That is, unless I let him turn me before The Rising. Then I wouldn't have to worry until some good years into the future, which did not make me feel any better. One, because I'd be breaking the only thing that was now connecting me to Mikel: my promise to stay human. And two, because I'd be doomed as a weaker breed of vampires and would be just as enslaved and killed as humans would be. There was nothing too promising in my future, but I preferred not to think about it. Instead of wanting to know more, I wished I was back to my ignorance. It's bliss, right?
I was distracted from my thoughts when Evanen sharply turned his head towards the front of the house, suddenly alert. I frowned, concentrating to see if I could hear anything, but it seemed as though nothing had happened. Then before anything happened, Evanen looked back to me. "Stay here," He said before leaving the room. I looked after him in confusion, not moving for a moment. But then, I had betted that he was in such a hurry, that he didn't lock me in the room. I mean, I hadn't heard any lock, so why not just check to see what's up?
So I moved out of the bed, heading to the door, which was unlocked indeed. I listened through the door first, not wanting to open the door in order to sly into my curiousity state to find Evanen standing directly in front of it still or something. When there wasn't any noise, I cracked the door open to peek through, but nobody was there. As I slipped into the hall and headed toward the stairs as quietly as possible, I began to wonder if maybe this curious side of me wasn't the best personality to keep during such trying times. Still, it only made me hesitate before I shrugged it off and continued towards the stairs.
When I was in view of them, I heard voices downstairs, and paused. I moved to all fours before crawling to the rail of the stairs. When I looked through them, I realized the voices came from the front door, which was directly in view of where I was. Evanen, Cecilian, and a familiar man who I could recognize as Drewdon had their backs to me, looking at the three other men who I'd never seen before. The three men, who I assumed were vampires, were dressed in the same dark suits, looking very grim about something. I moved closer to the rails, assuming it couldn't be a big threat for strangers to be here to me. I rested my head against the rails, and listened to the conversation.
"..only here for a moment, Mr. Draele," the man in the middle said. The only thing I could tell from him was that he had dark, crimson hair. The man to the right had extremely dark skin, and the man on the left was the opposite. In fact, the one on the left was so opposite, that I wouldn't be mistaken in believing he was albino. "We're just investigating now, but you won't have to worry about anything."
"Until after The Rising, you mean," Cecilian said haughtily, "What makes you think we had anything to do with Sir Trenton's death?"
The albino seemed annoyed, but the man in the middle was as calm as ever. "Mrs. Draele, we are obliged to investigate every possible explanation. Sir Trenton was a member of this council, after all, and we can't just leave the murder of our own alone," he explained as-a-matter-of-factly. "We're only going to ask young Mr. Draele some questions; where he's been, when the last time he's seen Sir Trenton, and so forth. After all, it was his human that Sir Trenton was suspected of snatching illegally, correct?" He looked towards Evanen, who's expression I couldn't see, but from behind he looked tense.
"I assumed that was resolved before Sir Trenton's death," Drewdon stated darkly, looking toward Evanen so that I could see how bored he looked by all of this. Then he seemed to glance towards me, causing me to jolt on the inside by the sight of his creepy, yellow eyes. I figured I had imagined this because before I could even blink, he was already looking toward the redhead.
"That's what we're here to figure out," the man replied, and then he seemed to remember something, "And there's another problem. Have you seen Miss Katha around lately?" At this, I became nervous. I could understand why some council would want to know about its own member, but what did Katha have to do with that? Plus, I had been the one who killed her rather than Evanen, so at her mentioning, I figured I would be caught automatically. Even the three Draeles seemed a bit startled by this question.
"Katha," Cecilian asked, and she looked around behind her, definitely spotting me, but searching for a missing person. She didn't seem to care that I was there, but turned back to the men. "Actually, I was wondering where she's been lately myself. Why?" Apparently she had been speaking for the other two because nobody else said anything to back themselves up. I moved my feet through the rails, now no longer caring if anyone else spotted me because it wasn't as if I was doing too well hiding. Nobody looked towards me except the dark man, whose black eyes merely skimmed over me as if I were unimportant before continuing watching the three Draeles.
"Well, you know Jove Silverstone, correct," the man asked, and as if being called, Jove walked in from behind the three men, dressed similar as well. He smiled, holding out his gloved hands so as to greet the Draeles. I was becoming more nervous each moment because if anyone would know what happened to anyone, it would be the man who could read the minds of the people who did it. "You know him and Katha have been in touch for a long time, seeing as they are blood cousins... humanly relative." Now I was very nervous. "Well, Silverstone was telling us he couldn't contact Katha lately, and we're a bit concerned as to her whereabouts. We think something may have happened to her." Jove smoothly looked up at me, smiling as though this were one of his high points in his day. So much for acting concerned about your relatives.
Drewdon apparently wasn't too fond of Jove, for he had seemed bored until Jove came in, and now he looked completely annoyed. "What, are you going to fully investigate each of us, then," Drewdon asked testily, and I assumed "fully investigate" meant a mind-reading investigation.
"Silverstone is the Council Interrogator, after all," the man responded -- no surprise as to the reason there -- before looking darkly at Drewdon, "We're just being completely cautious, Mr. Draele. In fact, I don't think we'll need a full investigation when it comes to you or Mrs. Draele." He glanced at Evanen through the corner of his eyes, "But some others are more in need of questioning in this matter than you two." Then, as though I had yelled at him, he looked up at me.
"Ah, and who is that," he asked, making all eyes turn to me. Now I got to see the seething look upon Evanen's face as he finally got to glare at me without seeming too noticeable. Apparently, he knew I was there the whole time. Automatically, I voided that glare to look towards Jove, who was more kinder with his all-too-familiar smile than those of everyone else. I didn't know if I should wave and introduce myself or slink away. Cecilian seemed to have different goals as she also gave an all-too-familiar look of mischievious glee.
"That would be Evanen's human," Cecilian stated boldly, "Katha always had a thing against that one, and was always trying to figure out a way to get rid of her. That'd be motive enough for Evanen to get rid of her, right?" I was seriously considering slinking away like a slug. "Oh, and that would be the same one Sir Trenton had taken off with, as well." And that was the way to do it. She couldn't get anyone else to get rid of me yet, so why not turn to the law? I mean, they wouldn't be able to get rid of Evanen, so I'd be a good alternative.
Still, I obviously wasn't too interesting because in the next second, the three men looked back to the three Draeles to converse further. "We'll need to see the young Mr. Draele's room.. see if there's anything in there that would point to any other reason of connection between Sir Trenton and Miss Katha," The redheaded man, obviously the leader, stated. There seemed to be no reason not to, so not long later, they all were making their way up the stairs towards Evanen's room. See? If I had stayed put, I would have been just as well in the crosshairs as not staying there. Still, as they all passed me, Evanen didn't continue with them, but moved towards me with a look upon his face that I knew was full of a scolding speech. He wasn't able to give it, seeing as Jove decided to stay put as well.
I shoved myself to my feet, looking at Evanen sheepishly, "Sorry." He just gave me a look before pulling me along with him so that I wouldn't be stuck with Jove alone. When we arrived in front of the room, it was a bit crowded, but Evanen kept a good grip on me. I didn't look to see if Jove was following, but I had no doubt he was. The three men were already in Evanen's room, and were searching it rather quickly. Then they were circled around the spot where Katha had died, looking down at the charred area on the ground. Of course they'd notice it.
After awhile, the leader of the three moved towards Evanen's door. "Evanen Draele," He said as though he were a nurse calling a patient from the waiting room, "We'd like to ask you a few questions in private, please." Evanen looked towards me, Jove, Cecilian, and Drewdon before settling back on me again.
"Oh, for Christ's sake, we're not going to hurt your precious human," Cecilian finally snapped, "Get your claws off of her and go talk to the man." It was times like this that I could notice the more motherly figure Cecilian seemed to play as a Draele. It was odd, but Evanen listened relunctantly before letting me go. Then he was in his room, with the door shut, conversing to the men with words that I was no longer allowed to eavesdrop in. I stood there for a moment, noticing my company wasn't too good of one, and becoming nervous again. Or maybe more nervous because I hadn't exactly moved from that state. I was mainly focusing on not looking at Drewdon because he scared me.
"Hello again," I heard Jove say, and when I looked up, I noticed that Cecilian and Drewdon had moved further down the hall to converse about their own things. I looked at Jove, who I actually had no beef against seeing as he had allowed me to escape from Trenton's grip. Or did he? Maybe he had told Trenton real quick, which would be why Trenton had showed up the moment I had called for Evanen. That was reason enough to be suspicious of him. I decided to look away and just not talk to him. It was safe. He didn't seem to mind, though, and I wondered if he really did have that permanent connection with my mind. "The last time I saw you, you were near death. I must say, you look a lot better when you're actually eating." And he smiled, making me turn to look at his solid green eyes again.
Don't talk to him. Don't talk to him. Don't talk to him.
"I didn't know you were in some vampire council," I bursted with a hint of bitterness, as though he had cheated on me. Then I had to add, "And how can you be related to Katha?" Of course, I knew how a vampire could be related to another. The redheaded man basically told it awhile ago, by stating that they had been related as humans. Still, it was a nice shock that I didn't like too much.
"Well, I joined the council a long time ago, and Katha and I weren't too close, technically. Plus, there's no way you would know, seeing as you weren't too talkative the last time we met," Jove responded. I took notice to the fact that he had his hands clasped together behind his back, as though keeping them out of the way wouldn't tempt him to latch onto my hand or something. He was a very strange vampire. Then again, if he'd been Evanen, he wouldn't have even tried to keep from invading my personal boundaries. "I heard you by the way. When you said hello to me quite randomly. I assume Evanen decided to tell you a bit about me." Now I regreted doing that.
"Just a little," I responded vaguely, and then I finally said, "You know, I really don't care if you read my mind and all, but you're probably not going to like what you see. I just want to say sorry ahead of time.. in case they make you do it or something." There was something really strange about him because for some reason, I couldn't shut up. He merely smiled, though, apparently not believing that I killed Katha. And then I got an idea. I looked at Jove clearly before thinking just as clearly, I killed Katha. Not that he wouldn't have figured that out anyway.
Jove didn't seemed phased, and I wondered if he even heard it. Then he said, "I know, Hailence." He suddenly was directly in front of me, before he said quietly, "I'm sorry about your accident." I was utterly confused for a moment, but then he looked down at my stomach. Automatically, I felt a pain of realization that he had known about Mikel's child after all. Maybe that was why he had let me get away. Still, I felt even more bitter that he hadn't told me about it. After he apologized, though, he stopped talking, as though I were no longer interesting. Which, to tell the truth, I could say that I'm not because I believe I'm not. Truthfully, I had no idea why I was even in this mess.
The door to Evanen's room opened, and all three men moved out, followed by Evanen himself. He moved quickly to stand beside me, and to peer at Jove suspiciously. That must suck, I thought, he finally was rid of Mikel, and now he had a new person to be suspicious of. Not that he had to be suspicious of Jove because that was never going to happen. Who wants a relationship with someone who knows everything you know and not the other way around? No thanks.
The three men were now in front of Evanen and me, and the leader of them looked at me absently. "There's just one last thing to do, and we'll be on our way," He said shortly, and I noticed that Cecilian and Drewdon were now back with us. The man looked to Jove, who nodded curtly. Jove started pulling his gloves off carefully before moving in front of us. Then he held out his hand to Evanen, who hesitated clearly. Knowing Evanen, I knew that he absolutely hated the thought of another person in his mind. But he bitterly put one fingertip against the palm of Jove's hand as though Jove were the most disgusting thing in the world that Evanen had to touch. I couldn't help but smile at the look on Evanen's face. There was merely a moment of this before Jove pulled away, apparently finding another person he wasn't too fond to be connected to. It wasn't as if it were clear in his distaste of Evanen, but something about his withdrawal revealed how Jove preferred to not touch Evanen as well.
Before saying anything, Jove moved to me, which I noticed annoyed Evanen even more than Jove touching him. Jove smiled lightly at me, and I smiled partially back before placing my hand in his without hesitation. Automatically, I felt the burst of energy that made me burn to ask why that happened everytime he did that. Everything was more clear than before, and I liked it. I wondered what exactly he saw when he did this, but apparently it wasn't near as disturbing to him as Evanen's thoughts had been. He seemed relieved the moment he touched me, and then he had to let go or it would disturb the others who were watching. When he tore his grip away, I felt the absent buzzing in my extremities as though I had just got done running away from something.
Jove turned to the three men, holding his chin thoughtfully. "Nothing," He said to them, "Mr. Draele last saw Trenton the night before he died, but didn't kill him. He retrieved the human instead, settling it then, but not violently. As for Katha, they haven't seen her for a length of time either, so I think she might have just run off. He was telling the truth about the burned spot in his room. Apparently the human was messing with candles and wasn't cautious enough. They're innocent." And he seemed to be finished. I was utterly shocked, but tried my best to hide it.
"We're sorry to bother you all, then," The redhead stated to the Draeles, not concerned with me what-so-ever. "Thanks for being patient throughout this. We hope to see you under better times." And that was it. As they left the house, Jove turned to smile one last time at me. And then they were gone. Evanen and I seemed to be the only ones relieved with this result, but Cecilian was the opposite.
"What a waste," She muttered as she walked off bitterly. Drewdon had disappeared before saying anything about the matter. I assumed this was considered just as much as a waste to him as to Cecilian, but he probably didn't see it as anything else but a great bore to interrupt whatever it is that he does. Either way, I couldn't help but be glad about the helpfullness Jove ended up being.
"I guess that's the end of that," I said to Evanen once we got back to the room, "See, Jove's not too bad."
Evanen seemed to growl as though the thought of Jove annoyed him, "No. We owe him, now. I hate owing people. Especially him." At least he only owed Jove once. This made it two times Jove helped me out. I went to sleep that night, finally a bit more happier about looking forward to my dreams with one less thing to stress me out. But then.. that didn't stop me from remembering Katha's eyes when I had stabbed her.