Chapter 6: New brother
They had known each other almost a year and had been living together for four months, so Gallowglass was beginning to think about proposing to her, complete with a ring.
It wasn't quite like him, but he knew she would be pleased to decide she would marry him, even if by vampire custom they already were.
Little did she know that subsequent events would necessarily postpone his resolutions.
It was a quiet spring day, and Annika was waiting for Gallowglass in the dehors of a restaurant to have lunch together.
Suddenly, a young man approached her. He was slightly shorter than her, muscular with short dark hair.
They looked intensely into each other's eyes for a few seconds, and Annika had a flashback.
She remembered a little boy with the same dark eyes looking at her. He was handing her toys and smiling at her. Her brother.
One day they had told her he was gone and then she could not remember anything.
Interminable seconds passed and Annika found Gallowglass in front of her shielding her toward this boy. Vampire.
The boy in uncertain English said that he just wanted to talk to her, that he had searched for her so long and finally found her.
He said his name was Dawid. Gallowglass did not trust him.
They took him to Annika's house, where they were joined by Fernando, Baldwin and Eva.
Annika, unlike usual, had remained silent. She did not understand how he could really be her brother.
"When were you turned?" She asked him.
"I remember always being a vampire."
"that's impossible!" she replied. " I remember you as a child and you were not a vampire, what happened to you? One day they told me you were gone."
"It was you who left and now you live in luxury. You don't remember where you came from anymore!"
"How dare you!" thundered Annika. "I spent very hard years in Serbia..."
Eva stepped in to break up the discussion and urged everyone to stay calm.
Dawid told only that he was from Poland and lived in a small creature community. He invited his sister to go there with him, but Annika was wary.
He did not remember much about his childhood, but he certainly remembered his sister Beth.
Beth.
That name brought back to Annika's mind a series of painful memories. That was her name.
"Annika" had been given to her in the orphanage.
He said that he and Annika shared the same father, but they had different mothers; therefore, he had not been able to tell her where the woman had ended up.
He had been vague about how he had found his sister: he claimed to have had a witch help him with a spell.
He spent the next few days at Annika's house. He was introverted, taciturn and answered in monosyllables.
Annika who was so sociable and loquacious had a hard time establishing a conversation. He did not want to share anything about himself; he only wanted to glean information about her.
In fact, she had to admit to herself that she did not like him. If she had met him by chance, they would never have become friends. Nevertheless, she was trying to involve him in her life, to figure out what work he could do to stay in Boston and not separate again.
On a positive side, his closeness helped her remember the past and she had frequent flashbacks of her early years.
Dawid had also refused to take DNA tests and tell her where her small community was located. Which had disappointed his sister. He was not transparent at all.
Gallowglass could not stand him; he was monopolizing Annika's interest and he felt a bit neglected. In his opinion, Dawid was taking advantage of the situation and he did not understand what his purpose was.
Annika had reassured him of her feelings: nothing could affect their relationship.
The Knights of St. Lazarus also wanted to ask him some questions to understand where he came from, who his creator was, and what he wanted, but Dawid flatly refused to answer these questions.
One evening exasperated by Dawid's lack of cooperation and Gallowglass's attention-seeking she ended up threatening to throw them out of the house.
Dawid's reaction was completely out of proportion; he began calling her ungrateful, blamed her for abandoning him, and said she was a fool for not understanding any of the messages he had left her earlier.
Annika understood that the threats she had received were from him and began to get really angry. The situation was totally out of control and Dawid under the unmistakable influence of blood rage attacked Annika.
Gallowglass, surprised by the rapidly deteriorating situation, pulled him away from the girl and pinned him down. Dawid managed to free himself from his grip and escaped.
Two hours later Marcus was treating Annika, who had suffered an injury to her left eye and would have problems with her vision for a few days, while Gallowglass, Baldwin, Matthew, and Fernando were discussing what to do.
They had to protect Annika from Dawid and analyze his DNA. Gallowglass had managed to scratch him and they had recovered a valuable sample for analysis.
The following days with Annika recovering passed quietly. She tried to do a thousand things, while Gallowglass tried to make her rest.
In reality, she was restless and discouraged about what had happened and wanted to find Dawid again. Gallowglass did his best to distract her and she appreciated all his efforts. They both realized that their relationship was growing stronger and stronger. Meanwhile, the Knights of Lazarus were searching for Dawid and Chris was analyzing what little genetic material they had managed to collect.
The following week Annika asked Gallowglass to help her nurture her vampire side. If she was to defend herself against a vampire brother, she had to learn about these aspects of him.
