Chapter 62

I sat there on the plane, a cup of steaming coffee in my hands. They still shook from whatever I had done in that room. Ki had told Nick not to ask what I had done. But I could tell that's all he wanted to ask. Ki's close comrades were already at the town, trying to salvage what they could, while Igor, and Nick stood outside the plane which was inside a hanger at the Waco airport.

Daylight had hit about an hour ago and thankfully the hanger had no windows, though all the lights were on. Ki squatted next to me. I had cried for hours and I knew my eyes were bloodshot as I looked up at him. He asks sofly, 'Feeling any better?'

I couldn't seem to talk, words wouldn't form, my mind felt shattered, my emotions gone as I shake my head. Ki nods, looking worried as he asks, 'Would you like some blood?'

My eyes just stare into his and he nods whispering, 'I understand.'

He stands and murmurs, 'I'll be back in a few minutes.'

My hearing sharpens as I listen to him leave the plane and come up to Nick and Igor who were talking about 'the girl'.

Igor: 'How is she?'

Ki: 'In shock. I don't really know how to handle this.'

Nick: 'No one does, she's so human.'

Igor hissing: 'Humanity still rings true in us as well brother. But that is besides the point. The female vampire, the one you called Beck.'

Nick: 'Who is she?'

Igor: 'My most trusted comrades are on the trail, but she is out.'

Ki: 'Out?'

Igor: 'Unconcious. It seems Nina literally was slowly squeezing her insides. Her brain is scrambled eggs right now.'

Nick: 'Great Fideus, really?'

Igor: 'Yes.'

Ki: 'What is she?'

I could only imagine that they were thinking about me, but I could care less, as I continue to listen, eyes on the slowly swirling coffee in my cup.

Igor: 'I don't know. Right now all I can sense is a low powered C rank. But you told me last night when you came into Mart, before you even knew where she was, you sensed her.'

Nick says softly: 'It was like being hit by a brick wall. Her power was so strong I was terrified.'

Ki: 'It was terrible, I have been around my cousin Aname and his power was nothing like hers. We were just on the outskirts of the town when that happened and the power only increases the closer we got.'

There was silence, until Igor finally says, 'I know she is hiding something, but what she did last night from your descriptions, it tells me she doesn't know her abilities.'

Nick: 'Its possible she is just coming into them.'

Ki: 'It's a possibility, but unlikely. She might not know what she is. Do you think she is what the Phantasma wants?'

Igor: 'I think so.'

Instantly I pull away. I didn't want to hear more, shaking with fear and fury. My dearest friend was dead and it was all my fault. I didn't deserve to go on, but then I feel the rage for Beck build inside me. My eyes flash to the window and then I see black in front of me. The rage was gone and I look up. It was Igor. He was calm as could be, not a sign of stress on him as he asks, 'Do you need something?'

Again I shake my head. He had just been outside, how could be suddenly be in front of me?

Suddenly he lifts the coffee from my hands and I frown, looking up at him. He holds it, tapping it, and he says, 'Can you speak? Or have you gone mute?'

Ki says from the open doorway of the plane, 'Come on E, she's in shock.'

Igor says over his shoulder, black soulless eyes still on me, 'I doubt it.'

With a grace I had learned of in the library, he sits on his knees in front of me. We were at eye level, staring at each other, and he says, 'I can smell your rage. You lack a poker face Ms. Simmons.'

I continue to stare, unafraid of this man or more likely nit caring what happens to me at thus point and he continues, 'Use it.'

With that he stands and walks away with the coffee. My hands felt empty and cold as I call out, 'May I have my coffee back?'

I see his shiny shoes and he plunks the coffee back in my hands, walks away, and says to Ki, 'See, no shock at all. I have things to discuss with Nick. Take care of her.'

I feel Ki come over, his own little nothingness. He sits opposite me, and I look up at him, murmuring softly, 'My apologies for my behavior. I just...'

'You needed time to process what has happened.'

'I... I need to contract his father and mother. Oh dear god how will I ever explain it to them,' I ask, feeling the tears rolling down my face.

Ki holds out a packet of tissues and I take one, wiping at my already raw eyelids and whisper, 'What do I even do from here on out?'

'You fight.'

My eyes snap to him and I let out a long sigh, saying softly, 'I don't know if I have any fight left in me.'

A quirky smile comes to his face as he says, 'After what I saw last night, I'd say you have plenty of fight left.'

Looking down at my shaking hands, my body spent from what I did, I say shakily, 'I don't even know how I did it.'

'No idea?'

I shake my head saying, 'I could never do things like that before, and that power.'

My hand comes up to my chest, feeling my heart thump under it and continue, 'I've never felt anything like it before in my life.'

Ki leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees and says softly, 'I can tell you, in all my years, I have never seen the like.'

I stare at him and ask, 'What happens now?'

'Right now, we are just trying to play catch up. If you'd like I can call Jerry's family, it's my job as a Night Hunter anyhow.'

I shake my head, saying sharply, 'No! No, I'll do it. He was my friend and I'm not a coward when it comes to doing what needs to be done.'

'I don't doubt it.'

--D--

Ending the call with shaking fingers, I hand the phone back to Ki saying, 'Thank you.'

'Of course.'

The call had devastated Jerry's parents, but they thanked me and I let them know the body would be sent and all funeral arrangements would be paid for. Just like that, it was done, my friends life wrapped in a tidy little bow.

I felt hollow as I wrap the soft blanket around myself just a little tighter. Ki seems to perk up and says, 'E needs me, I'll be back in a moment.'

A lot had happened in the last few hours. Between what I had overheard and seen it was as if a fire-ant bed had been disturbed. We were back in the air, heading back to Tokyo. It had been decided among the three Purebloods, as it seemed something had been found in the tunnels and they were all a little nervous. I had remained quite. Nick had brought my personal folder over, the one I had been compiling since beginning this journey with. It contained a mixture of information and questions I had written in margins, but I hadn't opened it. After what had happened I had no interest in going forward with those investigation. All I wanted to do was hide away, disappear from this dark world I had allowed myself to be sucked into.

Thats when someone sits across from me, my eyes on the closed window shade. The sun was high in the sky now. I could kill everyone on this plane if I so chose to, in so many respects I had all the power. Slowly I look up and see Igor. Blinking I ask, 'Have you finished your conversation with Ki?'

'Yes.'

I nod and look down at the folder between us on the small table. Igor was silent as the grave and the silence stretched. It was strangely not uncomfortable though the last couple of times had been.

No pheremones came off him, he was that blank space in the room and I ask, 'Don't you think your brother will not appreciate you messing with me?'

His face was unmoving, that machine like quality not changing as he says in that clipped way of his, 'I didn't realize he had a monopoly over your time and presence.'

'He doesn't.'

'Good.'

The silence stretched again and I suddenly felt the cloak of my old self come back, the dutchess in me coming to the forefront, 'Is there something that requires my attention?'

He picks up the folder in front of us and opens it. I flinch inside as he flips the pages as he saying, 'Not unless you want it to be, Ms. Simmons.'

How he could so calmly keep his cool. Nick would be beyond frustrated, that fire just under the skin, so close to the surface. So it was true, this man was ice. He didn't seem bothered at all by the long silences, the anger that would burn. I had seen it only that once with his brother, but even then it wasn't fiery rage but an icy resolve. He says quickly, 'Is there something on my face?'

His eyes flash up to meet mine and I jump in surprise. Those black irises sucking me in and laying me bare. Quickly I look away and murmur, 'No, I was simply noticing the distinctions between yourself and your brother.'

'We may be twins, but we are both far different than people like to admit.'

This makes me stiffen and my eyes fly to his as I ask, 'Twins?'

'Yes,' he says, eyes sliding over the pages in the folder.

'I didn't realize you two where twins.'

'Yes, an unusual occurrence in the vampiric society.'

This stunned me beyond words and my eyes dart to Nick and frown. It was as if a fogginess stood between us. Him on the other side. He looked to be speaking, but I couldn't hear him as he spoke with Ki and his A rank who had joined us, Gregor.

My eyes cut to Igor and he replies before I can ask, 'I prefer that people do not eavesdrop on my conversation.'

Now I felt everything in my being stiffen. The numbness slides away like a film of mineral oil as I ask in a hard tone, 'What do you require of me?'

The soft conversation of before gone. Had he been trying to work his way into my mind? I could still remember how his mind had been like a battering ram to my own several weeks ago.

Slowly those black shark eyes rise to mine and he says, 'Nothing. Consider this us getting to know each other.'

'It feels more like a test.'

Igor just stares at me for a moment, until his head cocks to one side, eyes slightly narrow, and he asks, 'What was your childhood like?'

This stuns me for a moment and I ask with a half laugh, 'What?'

Igor puts down the file on the table and says, 'I would say I had a fairly standard childhood, at least in the vampiric society. During the time I was born there were many children, so my brother and I grew up among peers. Sad to say many have died as of late, but we had a simple childhood. When I was nineteen I learned I would go on to be a Night Hunter, thus my education came to a rather abrupt end. My father thought it would be a waste to teach me anything beyond speaking, reading, and writing.'

All I could do was stare at this phantom. He seemed rather relaxed telling me this and I murmur, 'Seems rather sad.'

'It was enough.'

'So at nineteen you joined the Night Hunters? That is quite young.'

He doesn't answer for but a moment before answering, 'There have been younger, though not Purebloods. It was more in your standing.'

'C rank?'

He nods and then asks again, 'Tell me about your childhood. My brother is under the impression you were born during the victorian age.'

'I was.'

Why was he doing this? He nods, tapping the cane against his leg and says, 'One of the periods I enjoyed the most.'

This made me blink in surprise and I ask, not thinking, 'You enjoy things?'

His eyes meet mine and he asks, his eyelids tightening slightly, 'Am I not allowed to?'

'No, I simply... You seem very mechanical. Your speech, your manner.'

He nods and says, 'We will just say I have had little time to enjoy the finite emotions many have.'

Now I notice the slight edge to those clipped words. He had emotions, as Ki said but he was as guarded as I and he says again, 'Tell me about your childhood.'

He truly was Dracul, not a question but a command. He wasn't early sidelined by different topics, bringing it right back to the question he wanted answered. No point in not telling him as I ask, 'My human childhood or once I realized I was a vampire?'

'Human. I find that being born as a vampire too messy and too similar.'

'You are right, I did grow up in the Victorian times. My father was a Duke, a man of considerable reput and a kind man. I grew up in the countryside and my father instilled in me a sense of adventure and a craving for knowledge. He allowed me the best of tutors and instructors though I was a girl. He never remarried despite having, from what I heard, many ladies who held him in regard. He was an amazing father, strict, but kind. I had a happy childhood. Is that all?'

Igor looks down at the file and asks, a twitch in his jaw, 'Being instilled with a craving for knowledge, why have you not started searching?'

'Pardon?'

He taps the folder and then those black eyes snap to me, 'You want justice for your friend, I can sense it. So why do you wait?'

Now we stare at each other and I ask, 'Why should I loose more?'

'Have you not already lost all?'

Who was this vampire? I couldn't understand him. He switched from topic to topic, but used my deepseated history to try and pull me back into this dark world he inhabited, like Nick did, but more intricately. It was as if he would try to keep you forever off your center. I stare at him as he stands, tapping the cane twice against his shoe and says, 'It is a pit, but you can climb out. You have before, you can again.'

With that he walks back towards his brother, the fog lifting and the others coming into focus. What did he mean by before? My heart starts slamming in fear, what had he gleened from me?

My eyes follow him and I can't help noticing how though he seemed machine like in manner his movements were far more predatory and smooth. That man was to be truly feared and it made me wonder what he was hiding in the depths of his black soul.

Looking away, my eyes land on the folder. I hated to admit it, but he was right. I needed to find justice for my friends and something told me, the world as well.