Chapter Two

Shadows and Death.

Julia had to stay late after school for one of her Volleyball practices, so Liam and I took Amelie home, the day had been just as the weatherman had said very sunny, so by the time school was over I wasn’t feeling the best and needed to feed soon. I wasn’t sure we should be the ones to take her home, but there wasn’t anyone else, well Bo Jensen had offered but my brother had surprisingly cut him off, saying that she already had a ride and must have just forgotten. Bo was, what you would considered the most popular guy in school I guess, and all American athlete. He also thought he was god’s gift, he had convinced himself that every girl in school had wanted to date him which I suppose was true for the most part, which was till we moved here. Bo seemed to of hated Liam from the moment we stepped into school. His jealously was quite funny but his obsession with obtaining me was not. He wasn’t convinced that I had no interest in him what so ever. Me or Amelie, since he had failed at dating her as well. He constantly accused us of playing hard to get and why were we putting off something that was meant to be. This annoyed Liam as well, but he kept his distance from Bo an tried to ignore him whenever possible which he was usually good at, but today was not one of those days. Grabbing Amelie and I by the arm and walking us to the car. The drive to her house fairly quiet other than a thank you from Amelie to my brother for giving her a ride and saving her from Bo.

The drive took longer than it would of normally because he was watching his speed with her in the car and all. So when we finally reached her house I was reaching the end of my rope thankfully she had climbed out of Liam’s side and blown me a kiss through the door. Liam had thrown our bags in the trunk so he had to retrieve her’s. As he closed the car door I felt a sense of longing and then suddenly I was no longer in the passenger side of my brother’s car but standing on a beach, the sun warming my skin, I could hear the waves crashing against the rock just off the point, and every so often I could feel the cold icy chill of the water flow over my toes, the taste of salt filled my mouth. I looked to the left and right of me but there was nothing but stand and rocks for what looked like miles, I gazed out into the endless ocean wishing for, wishing for what? I thought. This Place felt familiar to me, I knew that I knew it and then I remembered my dream, this is the same beach from my dream it had to be, but what was I doing here.

“Finally, I thought I would have to wait forever.”

The sound of his voice nearly made me jump out of my skin. I whirled around to see him, the boy with the golden eyes, he smiled and walked up beside, standing motionless for a moment he starred out at the ocean. I couldn’t take my eyes off him as usual, I was enthralled by him, I wanted to reach out and wrap myself around him, but I refrained this made no sense, none of ever made any sense and yet I wasn’t scared. “Where are we?” I asked and he smiled without taking his eyes of the crystal blue horizon, “Close.”

Furrowing my brow I looked away for a moment then brought my eyes back to rest upon the silhouette of his face. “Close? What do you mean close?” He again didn’t look at me but reached out and took my hand in his, “Just that, we are close.” I looked down at his hand, it was warm and oddly comforting, “close to what?” I asked this time not taking my eyes off our fingers intertwined with each other’s.

I could still feel him grinning, “You will see.”

All of a sudden I felt a feeling of dread come over me, I quickly looked up, squeezing his hand. “Don’t leave me, please stay!” that’s when he turned his head to finally look at me, “I am not, I’m here.” Then it all disappeared, I was back in my brother’s car staring out the windshield, the seatbelt pressing a little too tightly to my chest, I took a few second to get my bearings and then glance up into the rearview mirror to see Liam and Amelie, I watched them as the trunk open and closed and Liam handing her, her bag, she gave him a smile and then ran out of view but I could hear her running down the driveway towards her house. Liam’s ducked his head down to look at me through the window, He looked confused, and A bit worried, I pulled my eyes away letting them dart around the car, could he possibly know, could he see her? Here it? Before I knew it he had climbed back in, turning the air on full blast and waited till she was safely inside before pulling away.

“What was that?”

“What, was what?” I tried to fain innocence by dear old brother wasn’t buying it. “I think you know? What was that back there?” I looked at Liam, as he gestured behind him and then back at the road. “You went somewhere? Or at least your mind did, I couldn’t hear you for a moment.”

He then turned to look directly at me, “What happen to you?”

I took a big sigh and looked away there would be no getting out of this and Liam was my twin I had to tell him, “I don’t really know, first I was sitting here calmly as

you helped Amelie and then the next thing I know I was standing an empty beach with him.”

I heard my brother’s hand tighten on the steering wheel, and felt his thoughts begin to race, “The one from your dreams? The boy you think you love, because you feel it in your dream.”

“Yes.” I said softly

“If it’s happening like this in the middle of the day, when you are at rest it’s not a dream Sister” his voice became increasingly louder, “It’s not dream, it’s a vision.” He leaned towards me and pulled my face around with one hand and held it there.

“A VISION ELISABETH!”

“Please don’t shout.” I tried to say as sweetly as I could muster, “I am not sure why you are even shouting.”

Liam let go of my face and went back to watching the road, I felt him calm down and the thoughts in his head begin to slow. He took a deep breath and relaxed a little, “I don’t know why I am either, you’re right, but it scared me, when I lost you like that, we’ve never been apparent not in that way.”

“That’s not true, we don’t ever each other’s every thought.”

“No, but that is by choice when we close our minds or are not in range of each other, like when you are in that damn cave. But this, this was different Lizzy.” I suddenly felt my brother’s fear, “It wasn’t closed, it was severed. For only a moment, but enough that –

“You felt darkness.” I said as I reached up and laid my hand upon his shoulder. I didn’t know what was happening to me, or what it meant, but I was sorry in that moment that I had hurt the person who meant the very most to me. The drive home took no time at all, and as we rounded the last corner to our house, we saw Harlan standing in the middle of the yard with a rack in one hand and a plastic bag in the other.

“He is a strange duck sometimes don’t you think.” I asked Liam, who nodded in agreement.

“It was nice of you to give Amelia a ride home.” I said

“She is your friend and I can’t stand Bo.” he answered back.

He does like her, I thought with a smile “and is that your only reason for driving her home?” I asked.

“What? Yes.” Liam said looking a little shocked by the question.

He pulled the car into the garage next to Emery’s Aston Martin Vantage and Katherine’s Nissan 370Z. Michael’s car wasn’t sitting at the end, which meant he must have still been gone. As we climbed out of the car, closing the door behind us, we heard screaming. We scrambled into the house forgetting our stuff and down the hallway skidding to a stop just before the stairs where Emery stood blocking it. He was holding his hands out in front of him like he was holding something back but there wasn’t anything there. A glass orb goes flying over Emery’s head and shatters into a million tiny pieces against the wall behind him.

“Now just stay right there.” he said

“What is going on?” I asked as a mirror comes flying overhead. Liam was holding his hands over his ears, as the screaming became louder. “Can we do anything?” Liam asked Emery, grabbing his arm with one hand and pulling him out of the way of the flying vase. Which didn’t hit the wall this time, but flew through the already broken window, Harlan standing in the middle of the yard made sense now. I saw him out of the corner of my eye walk over without complaint picking up the pieces.

“Margaret, its Margaret.” I heard Emery say.

“Let go Margaret please.” Katherine said from atop the stairs. I moved behind my oldest brother, keeping my head down, so I could see well. Margaret stood at the middle of the staircase, screaming and yanking everything she could off the wall and lunging it at Emery. Katherine stood at the top clutching her arm against her chest, blood spreading across her shirt.

“What happen?” I asked again.

“We don’t really know, we came home and she was running through the house screaming about shadows and throwing things, she drank all the blood left in the Fridge.” Emery said.

“Why do you have her Cornered on the Staircase?” Liam asked with some

confusion. Still holding his hands over his ears trying to drown out the banshee screams.

“Well” ducking to miss being hit by a picture frame “we are only trying to keep her from trashing anymore of the house before Michael gets here.”

“He is on his way” Katherine yelled over the screams.

“Are you okay?” I asked Katherine

“Yes, for the most part, she won’t stop biting me.” She answered back.

I looked at Liam who looked as confused and scared as I did. It was out of realm of possibility for this to happen, she’d had episodes like this before, it one of meaning side effects of our birth, but it had been so long since one had happened we just hadn’t prepared ourselves, from behind us I heard Harlan yelling something about Michael, he was finally here. Michael came racing thru the front door and pushed past Emery.

“Everyone stay where you are.” he said, and he inched his way up the stairs towards Margaret, avoiding items scattered down the staircase. She had turned and Grabbed Katherine, who was pulling back, and sunk her teeth into Katherine’s already bleeding arm. Margaret was stronger than any of us, being nearly the oldest, we could only hope to hold her off till Michael had arrived. He took the opportunity of Margaret’s back being towards us, to lung at her wrapping his arms around her body, whispering in her ear. She quickly let go of Katherine, who stepped back and leaned against a table again clutching her injured arm. Margaret began to calm down and Liam took his hands down as the screaming stopped. Her breathing was heavy, and she had tears in her eyes. Michael pressed his face against hers and held her. I could tell he loved her very much and seeing her this way hurt him. I watched as he look up with tears in his own eyes.

“Liam, go get Harlan tell him I need the Key.” he asked, and Liam nodded quickly running down the hallway to the garage, where he could hear Harlan’s footsteps. I laid my head on Emery’s back not wanting to watch this anymore. I listened as Michael as he told her it was alright, she was alright and Margaret begging him not to lock her away. Katherine gave a loud sound of relief, I felt Emery reach behind him, wrapping his arms around me. I saw Liam coming down the Hallway with Harlan right behind him holding a thick piece of leather in his hands with a large key on the end. I heard my mother’s breathing become more rapid as she smelled Harlan come around the corner. She had never tried to attack Harlan, excepted when she was in one of these fits. Harlan handed the Key to Liam and stayed at the bottom of the stairs.

“Elisabeth, help Katherine with her arm” said my Father, “and the rest of you come with me. You to Harlan.”

I notice Harlan hesitate for a moment and then pull his sleeves down and wrap his scarf his neck and mouth and did as my father asked, He would never tell Michael no and he was invaluable to us but I couldn’t blame his hesitation, not one bit. I did as my father asked and sled around Emery staying against the wall opposite from them, up the stairs to Katherine. As I walked by my mother, I felt her eyes burn into me and I tried to not look at her, I heard her whisper to me, “you are Beloved”, as I reached Katherine I saw Liam hand the key back to Harlan and help Michael and Emery with Margaret. They carried her down the hallway to the other staircase that led to the third floor, I could hear her pleading as I pushed Katherine into my room and further into my bathroom.

“Here sit here.” I told Katherine, moving some of my stuff out of the way on the counter.

“Thank you, why is it” looking at her arm “why is it when she bites you it doesn’t heal.” Katherine asks.

“It will, just not right away.” I told her.

“Why is it that she only bites me and never any of you?” I could feel Katherine frown. I couldn’t blame her for her feelings of hurt, Katherine wasn’t like us and as much as we loved and accepted her she still felt like an outsider and to any others like us, she was what they called a “Thin blood” someone that wasn’t born but made making her someone of lesser standing or worth within our society. They were not entirely uncommon but they weren’t respected or even liked most were shunned, some were created by accident and tress gone too far or a silly human who got it into their head that our life was something out of a book and would find ways to get the blood of one of us and drink it and then get themselves bitten. Those rare ones that were chosen were usually used as Mistresses or as sexual toys, they were never turned out of love, let alone considered suitable for marriage and furthering one’s bloodline. Michael was not as narrowed minded as most and did not objected to my brother’s choice, that wasn’t to say that he was for turning but as long as Emery made it Katherine’s choice and it was out of true love he give his blessing for their union wholeheartedly, as did we all, and we grew to love her over time, it wasn’t that hard really I said before she was a little self-involved but she was also brave and strong and loyal and she loved Emery with everything she had and I couldn’t help but love her for that. I laid a hand on her shoulder doing my best to comfort her.

“It because you are not of her blood, but she loves you, loves you like a daughter, you know that Kate.”

A door slams above us, and then the sound of four sets of footsteps tramps across the floor. Then the sound of more screaming, someone crashes across the wall. Which made us both look up at the ceiling.

“Damn it! She kicks hard.” We hear Emery say.

Michael cries out to hold her arm. Another slammed door and the sound of someone wreathing in pain and then there is silence. Katherine and I looked back at each other. She was as worried as I was. There was no need to say anything. I bandaged her arm and we went back downstairs to clean the mess left by Margaret. I wandered to myself what could have made her go crazy like that, she hadn’t had one of her spells in a very long time, we thought perhaps she was getting better. Now it seemed like she had gone backwards. Our Father Michael had blamed himself for her condition, but I knew it was Liam and I who had done the damage. Remember before when I mentioned that we were rare. That usually we died at birth with our mother. The ones who lived were hunted down and slain because we were considered dangerous our gift were unknown and our bond were usually like no other of our kind making us loyal to only our “other half” and no one else, and the mothers, the ones who survived went crazy with Bloodlust. A type of blood poison. That deteriorated their minds and made them kill at random, no one or nothing was immune including vampires. It also made them have disillusions. Like the shadows Margaret thought she saw. Things were beginning to change, and change rapidly. I felt a sudden surge of adrenaline rush thru my body.

“Someone is here.”

Behind me I felt something like eyes, I quickly turned around, peering out the broken window, there stood a small red fox with a hawk sitting upon its back in the middle of the road, staring at the front of our house. I could see it clear as day through the hole in the window. The hawk was looking around but the fox was just watching, like it was waiting, I turn to yell at Katherine to come look at this, but when I turned back they were gone. Katherine came down the hallway carrying a dust pan. She had her head tilted to one side in curiosity.

“What is it Elisabeth? What is wrong?” she asked as she approached me.

I looked from the window and back at her. I felt stupid for calling for her now, it was only a fox. A silly little creature that probably heard the screaming and thought maybe it was a wounded animal, but the hawk that was strange, why would it feel so comfortable to sit upon the fox like that. I’d never seen anything like that before.

“Nothing Katherine, I am sorry I just thought I felt someone, but it was nothing, just an animal.”

She laid her hand upon my shoulder “you are being very strange.” then as quick as she came she turned around and walked away back down the hall. I took another look outside. Must have been lost, poor thing. I pick up the broken shards of glass and wood off the floor. When the men returned, there wasn’t much said. Harlan returned to his duties, and picked up the mess outside along with fixing the window. Emery sat in the kitchen with Katherine, fusing over him. Liam had side tracked to his room and came down clean and with fresh clothes. Our Father had locked himself in his office to think. I sat the large trash bag I was still holding in my hand beside the door. I could hear our mother up above repeating something to herself over and over again. Something about shadows, the shadows have come. What shadows? I thought, the shadows have come they’ve come for us. I know my father would have said they were only in her head that they weren’t real. But who were we to say what wasn’t real, and how does he know it’s not real.

The humans thinks we are only a myth. She seemed so scared, so convinced by what she saw.

“She is sick Liz, that’s all it is.” Liam sounded like he was whispering.

“I know, a blood disease. But”

“No buts Liz, that’s all it is. It gives her false visions.”

Liam gave me a frown and reached out taking my hand, pulling me towards him, wrapping his arm around my waist. “I feel fear in you. You have nothing to fear, a few days in the room and she will be back to her old self.”

“Your right” leaning against him, laying my head upon his shoulder.” This attack wasn’t like any one she has ever had before.”

“It will pass. Father says it will pass and so it will.” feeling him smile, which I knew was only for my benefit. Liam felt as scared as I did, everyone did. “Did you say something about someone being here?”

“No, I mean, I thought it felt someone but it was only animal.”

“An animal? That’s strange, there aren’t many animals that come near the house, let alone that you sense it.” I felt him gripped me a little tighter “Are you sure?”

“Yes I am sure” forcing a smile and patting his back hoping that was enough to reassure him not to press the matter. Maybe Katherine was right I am being a little strange. But how could I not strange, vivid dreams and hearing voices?

I tried to push it out of my mind. I thought about what Liam said. She would go back to normal. But I knew she would never be normal again. She had good days, days were you could see a glimpse of the women she used to be. Before we came, that is Liam and I, but they were only glimpses, she would never be Margaret, not Michael’s Margaret. And that was on us.

Next Chapter: A Home Coming