CHAPTER SIX: COMPLICATIONS

That first step through the doorway between Ever Dark and Earth felt momentous.  There was none of the blurring and being pulled. It was a simply step. Yet if felt like a massive change in altitude.  Julian’s legs trembled beneath him at the change and his ears popped. He immediately forced them to firm. He would not drop Christian.

They were standing in the middle of Main street. The street was lined with businesses that were all darkened as it was still before dawn.  The parking spots on the normally busy street were empty as well though there were a few apartments above the shops. Thankfully, no one was walking their dog or taking an early morning stroll or gazing out of their window at the moment.  It was completely deserted and they were unobserved. The street lamps glowed softly, casting small pools of golden light onto the asphalt. He realized the ground was wet. It must have rained while he and Christian were in Nightvallen.

He turned back to look at the doorway to Ever Dark. He did not wish to, but there was something inside of him crying out, needing to see it once more. The doorway was still there and he felt a rush of relief.  He almost stepped back through it again.  He wanted to go back. He felt like he was drawing away from the one thing - no, the one person - he needed.  

Christian needs me. Daemon … Daemon is irrelevant.

Anger flooded Julian. He did not need Daemon. He’d just met the Immortal and Daemon had more than disappointed him already in that short time.  Not strong enough to save them. Too weak from lack of blood for too long. There was a whisper of his conscience that told him that Daemon had done what he could to help them.  He was not responsible for Julian or Christian being in the city in the first place. They had been trespassers after all. Trespassers of their own volition. Trespassers, because Julian had to see the city that had taken his parents’ lives. But he was still angry with Daemon.  This sense of betrayal ran deep and strong within him even if it was illogical.

He killed those other two Vampires without regard. Why should he care for me?  Why would my death make a difference to him?

Logically, it shouldn’t. Daemon had given him the strength to save Christian. What more did he owe Julian?  Nothing. But still the sense of abandonment was there. As he stared into Nightvallen, he realized he was looking for Daemon. He still had this belief that Daemon would appear and … and what? He’d said he couldn’t come to Earth. He had to stay in Nightvallen at least for a time.  So what could he offer? A goodbye? What good would that do?

Julian’s mouth pressed into a thin line.  Daemon did not appear to wave at him. The goodbye was not going to happen.  And while he felt that there was still a mental connection between them, Daemon was not talking. Just like Julian had firmed his legs before, he firmed his feelings. He didn’t know how long he had left, but he had to use it wisely and for Christian’s benefit.

There was a breeze from the east that had the hair on the back of Julian’s neck rising. He could almost feel the sun on his skin.  He twisted his head around and there was definitely a grayness cutting through the black of night.

Maybe Vampires really can’t be in sunlight.  My instincts are telling me to get inside. Some place dark and safe.

He turned away from the door. It took all his strength to do so.  He wanted to logic his feelings of betrayal and abandonment away, but it wasn’t working very well.  But the need to help Christian flooded him and gave him the strength to start to move. He knew though the moment the door to Ever Dark closed.  It was on his fifth step away from the doorway. It felt like all the air had been sucked out of his lungs and he nearly stumbled. But he didn’t look back.  He wouldn’t look back.

Where should I take Christian? I cannot keep carrying him while I look for friendly Vampires.  Should I take him home to Wingate?  

But he immediately rejected that.  The Vampires that had come after them clearly knew where they lived.  They would likely track down them down at Wingate. Besides Christian needed care.  Julian couldn’t search and provide that at the same time.  At that moment, he heard the wail of an ambulance in the distance.

The hospital!

The doctors and nurses there wouldn’t be able to cure Christian, but they could keep him comfortable while Julian searched for the true cure for what ailed him.  He started to jog down the street, mentally mapping the route to the hospital from his memory. He was startled as he realized how easy it was to run even with Christian’s solid weight in his arms.  

His boots tapped a puddle on the sidewalk and he saw the individual droplets rise up and fall down in slow motion. He could see the ripples those droplets made when they fell back down into the puddle.  He stumbled to a halt and stared at the water in shock. He tapped his foot again and watched the droplets once more do this amazing dance. He vision zoomed in on each of the individual droplets, watching every one of them twist like dancers in the air.

It wasn’t just his vision that was freaking out either.   He could smell the freshness of the rain, the acrid scent of asphalt, and the sweet yeastiness of baking bread from the bakery a few streets over. The scents were strong and distinct. He could easily separate them and examine their intensity. He could almost see the scents flowing through the air like different ribbons of color.

His hearing suddenly kicked into high gear.  He heard the rush of traffic from the highway over a mile away, the creaking of the trees from the slight wind, and the gurgle of water going into the storm drain.  He found himself listening more closely to subtle sounds. He jerked as he realized he could hear the soft breathing of people in the apartments above the businesses. He heard their snorts and sighs, the squeak of springs as sleeping people shifted in their beds, and the soft pad of cat’s paws as pets went to their food bowls.  

This is how Vampires experience the world, Julian realized.

Awe rolled through him.  It was as if the world had been on mute all his life, but now, suddenly, he was experiencing it all in stereo.  He found himself turning slowly in a circle and just experiencing everything. He tried to draw in every scent, listen intently to every sound, see every glistening dewdrop even in the darkest corners of the street.

But then the things he was seeing, hearing and smelling started to grow too intense.  He shut his eyes and gritted his teeth.  He shook. He felt like his senses were nipping at him, cutting him, as the gurgle of water became as loud and clanging as a cymbal being crashed right next to his ear.  The scents became overwhelming and seemed to want to fill him like a balloon. He curled forward over Christian and lowered himself down onto his haunches. He stayed there for long moments, rocking.

Slowly, the sounds grew softer and dropped away to normal volume.  The smells were not crawling inside of him. His vision stopped zeroing in on every single dust mote.  He breathed in and out and the tension drained out of him. He realized that he was changing. Turning.  This turning would kill him. Daemon had told him it would, but he almost hadn’t believed it when he’d stepped out onto Main street.  He’d felt well. Really good actually. But now, he could believe it as he realized that his body and mind simply weren’t capable of accepting all this input all the time.

He cradled his best friend to his chest. He looked down at Christina’s face: still gray, eyes still closed, and mouth twisted as if he was in pain.  He had to get him to the hospital. Julian staggered to his feet and hurried on.

The half mile to the hospital was eaten up in moments.  There was an ambulance pulled up under the portico for the ER, but it appeared that the patient had already been rushed into the hospital and it was abandoned out front.  But a doctor in the traditional white coat was standing outside. He was tapping a cigarette out of a pack and clearly was about to have a smoke break. He had steel gray hair and a long hawkish nose with steel-rimmed glasses perched on top of it that reminded Julian of a silver bird on a big trunk. The doctor caught sight of Julian and Christian crossing the parking lot.  He tossed the freshly lit cigarette to the ground and raced towards them.

“What’s happened?” the doctor’s voice was sharp with authority.

“He’s lost a lot of blood,” Julian said, unsure how to describe what had happened to his best friend. “And I think … I think he might be … poisoned.”  

With a Vampire virus or poison or whatever the Hell Selene injected him with.  But I can’t tell the doctor that!

He just needed the hospital to keep him comfortable.  

“Come bring him inside.”  The doctor - his name tag said Richard Stone - gestured for Julian to follow after him into the hospital.  Despite the smoking, he moved quickly though no where as quickly as Julian who was now trying to stop himself from racing ahead of the other man.  

The moment he set foot in the ER, he nearly lurched back out again. The lights in the ER seemed blinding.  Julian’s head spun even as his eyes watered. He blinked them rapidly and found himself following the sound of the doctor’s steps rather than actually seeing him.  His vision finally cleared when they reached a bed.

“Lay him down here.” The doctor indicated the bed between two curtains.  

Julian, tenderly and reluctantly, laid Christian down on the bed. His best friend was half curled on the white sheets, looking small and fragile.  Julian took a step back so that Dr. Stone could examine him. The doctor’s eyes - a dark gray - were fixed on Christian’s neck, the place where Selene had sliced into his neck with her fangs. It really had left the classic puncture marks of old time vampire movies, but Julian had no fears that the good doctor would assume a real Vampire had bitten his best friend.

The wounds had stopped bleeding long ago, but there were still streaks of dried blood on his skin and his shirt was also stained a dark red-brown.  The doctor’s clever fingers drew the collar of Christian’s shirt down and studied the bite mark. Julian expected him to ask what had happened to cause this wound. But he didn’t. Instead, the doctor’s eyes were fixed on Julian. They flickered over his face and when he looked into Julian’s eyes, his own widened. He saw something wrong in Julian.  

“Did you do this?” the doctor’s voice was soft, but insistent.

“What? No!  It wasn’t me!” Julian cried.  “It was a girl! She … it doesn’t matter. Look, he’s lost a lot of blood and—”  

“Are you certain you didn’t do this?  That you didn’t you lose control and bite him?”

Bite him .. he asked me if I bit him like he knows about Vampire fangs … no, no, that’s crazy!

“Where is your Master?” The doctor continued to stare at him with an intensity that almost had Julian squirming though he was not lying.

“My Master?” Julian boggled.

Daemon, his mind whispered, but he refused to believe that a doctor was asking him that.

At that moment, a nurse hurried over to them wearing powder blue scrubs. Her dark brown skin seemed to glow with a golden luster under the lights that were too bright. “Dr. Stone, how can I assist?”

Dr. Stone stood up straight and became rigid.  He barked, “You are not needed, Nurse Williams.  I have this under control.”

She blinked, clearly confused by his behavior, but continuing to ask respectfully towards him.  “All — all right, but only if you’re sure. That looks like—”

“I’m sure! Now, please go!”

He bustled towards her, swinging his arms, shooing her away. She backed out, staring at him as if he had lost his mind.  The doctor quickly drew the curtains all around Christian’s bed as if to shut out the view of anyone who would view them. He then whirled around to face Julian.

“How are you not at your Master’s side?  You are young. Very young. I can see it in your eyes. They aren’t fully silver yet.  There’s a trace of … red in them?” Dr. Stone reached out and caught Julian’s right hand and slid back his shirt to the elbow.

Julian let out a hiss of pain.  But the pain was quickly forgotten as he saw what looked like an infinity symbol on his inner wrist.  It looked like the symbol was rising up from inside of his body. The color was a reddish purple.   It was sore.

“What — what is this?” Julian whispered.

Dr. Stone lightly ran his fingers over it and Julian jerked his hand back as pain rippled up his arm.

“This is the symbol of your Bloodline. Don’t you know this? Didn’t your Master tell you?” Dr. Stone was looking at him through those glasses with intensity but also sympathy. He was acting like Julian was a wounded animal.

Surely, this physician, this scientist, could not believe in Vampires!  But then Julian remembered the concept of Acolytes that his parents had written about. Acolytes were humans who served Vampires.  Could this physician be one of them? Could Julian have already found what he was looking for?

“I don’t have a Master!” And that was true. Daemon had abandoned him to his fate.  “I need you to look after my friend while I — I find the people that can help him.”

“You must have a Master.  I know what you are,” Dr. Stone’s tone was a hushed whisper, but it was definite. “You don’t need to be afraid.  I want to help you. Day is coming and you’re … I can tell you’re in trouble. You lost control and hurt your friend.  You don’t want anyone to know, right? You were too thirsty and drained him nearly to death. You fear your Master will punish you.  But we must get an Vampire Lord to help you. Your friend cannot recover. He must be turned or … or there is no chance for him.”

That was exactly what Daemon had said.  Dr. Stone must be a part of the Vampire World.  Julian had to take a chance. His only other plan was to look for these hidden places that Daemon had spoken of and begging someone to help him there. Here was someone that wanted to help and who seemed to know a Vampire that could help.

“Are you … are you an Acolyte?” Julian asked.

“I am.”  Dr. Stone fished out a necklace from underneath his shirt.  There was an amulet with two rings welded together in silver.  The workmanship was exquisitely fine. “I serve Lord Balthazar Ravenscroft of the Eyros Bloodline.  I’ve never seen an infinity symbol before. What Bloodline are you?”

Julian stiffened and took a step back, all his relief turning to alarm.  “Did you say Balthazar?”

The teenaged Vampires had said that a Balthazar had sent them.  He doubted that name was common even among Vampires.  That meant that this Balthazar Dr. Stone served was one of the Vampires that wanted to kill him and Christian.  Ice trickled down his spine. Of all the people that he would run into would be an Acolyte of the Vampire trying to kill him!

Dr. Stone seemingly misread his alarm. “I know that Lord Balthazar has been exiled from Ever Dark, but that only makes him more understanding of mistakes. He will help you. He will fix this. If it can be fixed.”

“N-no, I think I need to go elsewhere.”  Julian edged over to Christian’s bedside. He needed to scoop his best friend out and get him out of there.

Dr. Stone held up his hands and stepped towards Julian. “Your friend will die. He is in the best place possible. I can have him taken to—”

“No!  Stay back!  Get away!” Julian shouted.  His sense were starting to go haywire again. The lights seemed to be strobing. The smell of antiseptic was cloying, suffocating now.  The cries of pain of the patients and comforting murmurs from the staff were shouts that rubbed his skin raw.

“The day is coming. You cannot get him anywhere safe in time.” Dr. Stone patted the air between them, but Julian did not find that comforting.  Instead, it seemed like the doctor was trying to hem in him, keep him there, trap him for this Balthazar to come and kill them both.

“Let me just take my friend and leave!” Julian cried, his voice going high and tight as all his senses pounded down on him.

The curtain was yanked open and a security guard appeared in the opening. He was around fifty, but fit and lean. A gun was on his hip.  He was scowling. “Dr. Stone, are you all right?”

“I’m fine. This young man is just —”

“I’m taking my friend. You can’t make us stay here.”  Panic lit up in Julian’s chest even more than before. The pulling back of the curtain had revealed more than just the security officer, but also the sky outside of the hospital. The sun was rising.  Absolute, unreasoning fear gripped him. He had to get to darkness. He had to go.

“This young man must not be moved.” Dr. Stone pointed to Christian.  “His friend here is just very upset right now. I will handle it.”

But the security officer was reading the situation different than Dr. Stone.  His hand went to the butt of his gun. “I think you need to come with me, son.  You need to calm down.”

“Not without Christian,” Julian growled.

“Christian is staying here. But we’re going to have a talk away from here so the doctor can do his work—”

“No!”  Julian’s senses flared again. Everything in the room had an aura that kept expanding.  A terrible headache speared through his mind at the same moment and Julian grabbed his head.  “Oh, God, it hurts … it …”

“Come on, son, let’s …” The security officer grabbed his arm and started to pull him away from Christian.

Julian was pulled a few feet before he resisted. He meant to simply push the security officer away from him. Just a gentle shove.  His right hand shot out and he didn’t even think he made contact with the security officer’s chest, but suddenly the man was flying through the air.  He grasped hold of the curtains as he flew back and ripped them off as he went. There was a rattle of metal as the rings of the curtail pinged off of the metal rail.  The security officer landed twenty feet away on his back.  He lay there stunned.

Oh, my God. Oh, my fucking God. I did that. I threw him across the room and I don’t even know if I touched him.

Now with the curtain gone, everyone could see them and everyone was looking.  People were frozen. Whatever they had been doing they simply stopped to stare.  Mouths hung open in shock and fear. This stillness held for what seemed like years, but was only a moment.

Then everyone was moving. Some were rushing away, others were going to the downed officer, but the most were coming towards Julian. They were going to imprison him.  His gaze darted to the sky.

Dawn.

He had to go.  He spun towards Christian, but Dr. Stone had wheeled Christian away from him on the bed. He was halfway across the ER. There was no way that Julian could get to him without a fight and no way to finish this fight without hurting someone and no time to do it without the sun rising and imprisoning him in the hospital.  He had to go. He had to leave. His best friend, instead of being safe at the hospital, had been handed over to their enemies there.

With a cry of frustration, Julian turned and dashed out of the ER.  He would get Christian back. He would save his friend. He would find a way to fix this. But, for now, he needed to find darkness.

***

Lord Balthazar Ravenscroft was preparing for rest in his subterranean bedroom in Ravenscroft Manor.  He was wearing a robe of yellow silk that flowed to his feet without anything underneath. The silk felt pleasingly cool against his bare skin.  He was standing at the base of the massive four-poster bed that was hung with dark blue curtains. The whole room was shades of blue, indigo, twilight, except for the floor that was a deep mahogany.  It was a restful place. There was no fledgling or human in his bed that night. Whenever he caught one of Julian and Christian’s videos he found himself spoiled for the thought of anyone else, but the pouty lipped young man.

He had thought to hear from Heath and Selene about the boys’ adventures finding Ever Dark that night. But they had not returned to the Manor. Nor had they called though if they were still in the Ever Dark the cellular technology would not work.  Yet that they had been away all night without word made him faintly uneasy.  While they were young fledglings, their masters had taught them well and they could take care of themselves.  Yet …

His phone started to buzz on the nightstand by his bed. He caught it before it danced off the table onto the floor.  It was Dr. Stone calling him. He frowned. Dr. Stone was a very loyal Acolyte. His daughter, Hedda, had been dying, but Balthazar had been able to cure her through the secret research that one of House Ravenscroft’s companies had been performing.  Seizing an opportunity to get yet another doctor aligned with his House, Balthazar had offered the cure. Now Richard Stone would do anything for him. But that also included not bothering him, especially just as he was about to go to sleep.  So for him to be calling … Balthazar’s uneasiness grew.

“Doctor, what can I do for you?” Balthazar’s voice was clipped just in case this was a foolish phone call.

Dr. Stone’s voice was low, he was obviously whispering though to a Vampire his voice was easy to hear, “Lord Ravenscroft, I have a situation here.  One that I know you will be interested in.”

“What?” Balthazar held himself still.

“Those two boys, Julian and Christian, the ones that you follow online?”

“What about them?”  His voice was sharp.

“I didn’t recognize them at first.  When they came into the hospital tonight—”

“They were injured?” Why else would they come to the hospital?

“Christian was drained nearly dry.  The poison is in his body. It’s already eating him away,” the doctor explained.

Balthazar clutched the front of his robe with his free hand. He ripped the silk, but didn’t notice.  “And Julian?”

“He’s been turned. Or rather, he’s turning. Not fully there yet,” Dr. Stone explained.

“Who? Who turned him?” Balthazar hissed. Territoriality flared in his chest. This was his territory. The boys were his potential fledglings. Who would dare take them from him?

“He wouldn’t say. He didn’t even seem to understand what I was asking him.  And I couldn’t believe that a Master would let someone that young out. I didn’t even recognize the tattoo—”

“What symbol was it?” he interrupted. He couldn’t believe any of this either.

“An infinity symbol.”

Time seemed to stop at that moment.  Balthazar was as still as a statue. The doctor was rambling on, but Balthazar didn’t hear him.  The infinity symbol was for the Eleventh Bloodline, Daemon’s Bloodline, and in Balthazar’s opinion, the made-up bloodline. He didn’t believe in a Vampire King to rule them all.  He had enough problems with the authority of the Council. A single Vampire calling the shots simply because he was what?  Strong? Old? Who cared! Didn’t mean this person should rule anyone. But he’d thought that this Vampire King was a myth anyways.  No one had ever had the infinity tattoo.  Dr. Stone must be mistaken.

“Are they there with you?” Balthazar interrupted the flow of the doctor’s words.

He could feel the doctor’s confusion in the quick silence, likely because he’d been telling Balthazar where they were, but he recovered himself quickly and said, “I have Christian here. I’m preparing to have him sent to your home—”

“Yes, bring him here now. To me,” Balthazar barked.  “And Julian? I want him brought, too.”

He needed to look at this tattoo himself among other things. He was certain that Dr. Stone was wrong about that tattoo. He would find out who turned Julian and he would punish them for it.  The fact that Julian had been running around on the street after having just been turned was beyond unacceptable.  That they had taken Julian away from him was unacceptable. It was all unacceptable.

“I wish I could.  But he ran away. I could only shield Christian,” Dr. Stone said regretfully.

Balthazar pinched the top of his nose. He flared his nostrils. Dr. Stone had gone very quiet. “Understood, doctor. I am certain you did your best.”

The doctor let out a relieved breath.  “I am very worried about Julian. He seemed almost … wild. He threw a guard across the room.”

“I will take care of it. Just get Christian here as quickly as possible. If Julian shows up again—”

“I will contact you, right away,” Dr. Stone finished his sentence.

“Good. See you soon, doctor.” He broke the line without waiting to hear the doctor’s response.

He was already storming out of his bedroom. He threw open the door and called for Arcius at the top of his lungs.  He could have whispered the Confessor’s name and Arcius would have heard him, but his nerves were strong taut as he strode down the hallway.  They had to find Julian now.

Arcius popped out of a doorway ahead of him. He was still wearing his Confessor robes, which was unusual at this hour. He should have been changed for rest.  And why was he coming out of Elena’s rooms?

Elena is Heath’s mistress …

Perhaps Heath had returned. He knew that neither Heath nor Selene were old enough to turn others yet so there was no chance that they had turned Julian. Also, he’d ordered them just to observe so they shouldn’t have touched Christian, let alone drained him to near death.

Arcius’ bearded face was grim.  He grasped Balthazar’s shoulders in an iron grip.  “Elena fell unconscious. I have her in bed, but she is feverish.”

“What? Why?  Have you called the healer?”  He pushed past Arcius so he could look in at the Vampire who had supported him and gone with him into exile after he had killed their Master Roan Tithe.  Now she was lying on her bed, head thrashing from side to side.

Vampires did not get ill in the human sense. There was little to nothing that blood couldn’t fix.  Becoming unconscious and feverish was extremely rare. He had only seen it happen once when a master had lost a fledgling …

“I’m not sure what’s wrong.  Samantha is in the country. She will be able to return this evening.  I just went to see Elena to find out if she had heard from Heath. I had already tried to find Timothy, but he is not in his room or on the grounds,” Arcius said with a frown forming like a thunder cloud on his brow.  “I found Elena on the floor.”

Timothy was Selene’s master.  Where was he? While he had not required Elena or Timothy to remain at the house that night, he had expected them to make themselves available to Balthazar as it was their fledglings he had entrusted with this delicate task. Now he wondered if he had made a terrible mistake two times over.

“I do not understand Timothy leaving like this,” Arcius said, articulating his concerns. “Surely, he would stay here for Selene’s return.”

Balthazar saw Ridley over Arcius’ broad shoulder racing down the hallway Her short dark hair was standing on end and she wore a pair of black boy shorts and a cut off t-shirt. She had clearly already been asleep, but had woken sensing her mistress’ distress and was coming to Elena’s side

“Ridley!”  Balthazar stepped in front of her.

She nearly barreled into him as she was so intent on getting to her mistress.  But he grabbed her gently. “Ridley, did you hear anything from Elena?”

He meant through the mental bond that Eyros masters/mistresses and fledgling have.  

Her silver eyes were huge in her head and filled with tears as she burst out, “Heath is dead!  His Second Death took him from us!”

Balthazar let her go as his hands seemed to go numb.  

Arcius began to murmur the Vampire Prayer for the Dying.  His friend’s eyes were shut, his hands were pressed together, and he was rocking forward and back.

Balthazar, in contrast, was still as stone.

He put together what he knew.  Christian and Julian had been going to the location of a doorway to an unknown Ever Dark city.  This was the same city that Julian’s parents had been killed for allegedly finding and revealing to the world - though the city had yet to be found by Vampires.  Christian was now near death. Julian was turned with the tattoo of the Eleventh Bloodline on his wrist. Heath was dead. Elena was stricken down. Selene and Timothy were missing.  

What did this all mean? He didn’t know the answer to all of it yet. But he did know one thing.

He looked at Arcius and said, “My friend, we have a problem. A very large problem.”

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