Chapter Three

 

Lit by lots of candles, the old church looked haunted as people moved about inside on such a dark night. The moon, but a sliver, was no damn help at all. Amberlyn felt a chill snake its way down her already cold spine as she got closer. She snuck hand-in-hand through the woods of the Willows with Kane, as if they were common criminals who approached to watch their own trial. It may not be an actual trial, but it sure felt like it.

What was worse for Amberlyn, since she’d grown up in a house where a church was attended and the hand of discipline was heavy, was going to actually have to walk into the that type of building again. She hated churches. Her own personal beliefs aside, which were skewed and confused with all life had handed her, had nothing to do with her feelings about the place and some of the people there, the ones who used religion for their own sick agendas. Of course, she was aware that many churches had many nice people in them too, but after her twisted childhood, any church held painful memories for her.

Ingrained in her memory, though she buried it, ignored it as best she could, was what it was like to be inside one, beside her parents. She remembered all too well what would come later once they got home. The sermon often had inspired her father to beat whatever bad could be in her, out of her that day. Tonight she’d hide where the choir usually sat behind the pulpit. She’d try to focus on the new rather than the old. At least she hoped that would be the case.

Isaac and Winter hid there like common conspirators as well. Never had she felt closer to her brother. Isaac looked at her and Kane, down at their clasped hands and smiled. When he looked back up at Amberlyn, he winked. From her point of view, he looked gorgeous, such chiseled features, dark hair, blue eyes – the perfect characteristics for a Vamp. Yet, on his other side, she knew the accident that had ended his human life had also scarred his face. She was happy to know that Winter could see past all that and more. Isaac had not had it easy since he’d become a Vampire, turned by Drake after a car accident. Yet, for whatever reason – one of life’s sick mysteries – he’d never fully healed from those injuries like he should have.

Just like his face, Isaac’s nature had two sides. He’d had no choice but to live apart from the Willows so his real family who still lived here wouldn’t recognize him. He lived a hard and unsavory lifestyle to survive as a Vamp without a clan. How he lived reflected more of what most thought of their kind, namely the other paranormals, or what Witches and Werewolves made Vampires out to be – vicious and dangerous. Isaac made his money as a bounty hunter, and his scarred face, enhanced by the shadows of the night, made him a guy no one wanted to mess with.

One would think that those in the Willows, those gathering before them now, after all these years, would see the difference. That all paranormals had dual-natures and some chose to do good rather than bad, as with any species. Maybe it was just too hard to bother to weed out the good ones. She probably wouldn’t have tried to see a good side in a Werewolf, if the staff at the Willows resort hadn’t insisted on one female and one male night guard on the beach. They’d thought somehow that would save them certain types of social issues, possible embarrassing situations due to skinny-dipping incidents. Good for them, bad for her. But her boss, well her ex-boss as she hadn’t shown up for work since Drake’s death, would never understand the implications of what he done to her people with such a simple human decision.

Of course, her boss thought her and Kane were human too. So what did the fool mortal know anyway? She couldn’t exactly put any fault on him, though at the moment she tried her best. Why, she had no idea. Her brain raced as fast as her heart.

The air in the little church was muggy for spring. It was so packed that the body count alone made the temperature rise. She had trouble breathing, her anxiety on the rise from the moment she’d walked in the back door. Add to that the thick air that stuck in her lungs, ones she didn’t even need to use, but had been out of nervous habit alone at the moment.

She’d never witnessed such a meeting in her existence as a Vampire. The social conventions between the clans until now had been obeyed or maybe secretly broken. Again, surely her and Kane couldn’t be the first. Still, she was surprised when an elder Witch stood up first, flanked by the young who comprised their council. Amberlyn assumed her words shook from age likely more than nerves.

“We find ourselves at war here. Witches, Werewolves and Vampires. We gather here tonight though to see whether we can’t come to some sort of understanding, some sort of change, compromise, which will end the bloodshed between us before it gets out of hand and exposes our true natures to the humans here in the Willows,” the old Witch began. “The social laws we have between the clans were most probably created originally with safety in mind, and perpetuated for that same reason. No one knew really, if it was safe for the clans to intermix. Speaking as a Witch, I have my magic, but know too that against a quick attack by a strong Vampire, my magic may not save me. When relationships develop and have problems, as all of them do, we feared the possible consequences.”

“But, now…” the old Witch sighed, yet continued to speak, her voice feeble but determined, “Now we have proof that the clans can indeed become romantically involved, safely it seems. So, maybe enough is enough. Maybe we should stop hating each other, stop fearing each other and see how that works for a while. Maybe we need to have something like old-fashioned mixers. Not to find dates, but to find friends among the other clans to get to know each other as people first. Of course, there would need to be some parameters set up first…”

In the beginning, for the most part everyone there was attentive and respectful. Not much had been said either way to agree or disagree with the Witch who had spoken. Yet, when she mentioned interaction, possibly specific dates to see how such interactions with each other would work, a low rustle of voices started to murmur in the room like wind blowing through dry leaves. Looking out the window, Amberlyn had to remind herself of the green everywhere, the warmth rather than chill of the current season.

Soon though, the murmur took on a voice and one of the young Witches on the council stood up to take the pulpit from her elder.

“If that is what you are proposing, to let just anyone have relations, say Witch and Vampire or Werewolf and Vampire, friend or lover, then why not come out to humans too? I mean, we know that each of our clans have dated humans and that it has never worked out since somehow, someone always slips up and the humans find out the truth. Then there are spells and glamouring, and a paranormal with a broken heart since the pathetic human can’t remember a blessed thing. So, if we are going to get idiotic, let’s just start now. Bring in the first set of humans and get the Vampires over here.”

Amberlyn glanced up over the wood in front of her to see what kind of stunt the Witch was up to, only to have her heart drop, her breathing stop when she caught sight of the tied up and struggling humans they dragged down the isle of the church.

Of course, she’d thought she’d stopped breathing until a scream escaped her lips when she swore her father looked her right in the eye. Only, it wasn’t her Vampire father, because Drake was dead. It was her human father; the true monster she’d run from three years ago.

“Amber!” He yelled. “Shit, is that Amber? I should have known you were fucking alive, you no good whore. What is this all about you bitch?”

Beside him, Amberlyn’s mother only started to sob. Amberlyn didn’t hate the woman the way she did her father. In fact she felt sorry for her. At the same time, she also didn’t have any warm cozy feelings for the woman who’d been abused as well, yet had never had enough strength to stand up for herself or her poor daughter.

The younger Witch from the council who’d spoken, Amberlyn believed her name was Sashia, walked down to Amberlyn’s father as the uproar started around all of them. The Vampires closed in around Amberlyn’s father. The Werewolves stood and yelled – demanded to know what kind of idiotic scheme the Witch’s were up to. Some of the Witches laughed while others looked shocked by Sashia’s actions. The place was in chaos.

Isaac and Kane now stood as well, their arms supported Amberlyn. She was grateful, leaned on them. She didn’t even try to decipher all the voices in the room. All she could see was the monster who’d beaten her, abused her mentally as well, for so many years. She really thought years ago, when she’d ran away, that she’d never again have to lay eyes on him again; a man who was human, but the worst kind of evil she’d ever met. He made every Vampire she’d ever come in contact with look like a saint.

All Amberlyn heard was the rushing of the blood in her ears as Winter rushed forward to deal with the Witches and the arguments which had erupted. Next thing she knew, magic filled the room, her lungs, her body. She could feel it, an invasive energy, one slightly electric, unmistakable after living a few years among a bunch of Witches.

Her fangs descended. Bloodlust grew inside her, overwhelmed the fear, the rage she’d felt already. She fought the urge to leap forward, to feed. The reaction to fight against the urge for blood had almost become instinctual to the Vamps in the Willows who lived among the humans, locals and tourists. The Witches hadn’t counted on their spell to bring about a primal instinct in the Vamps, their bloodlust. They hadn’t expected that the spell would be overtaken by an instinct to deny bloodlust, which had been long cultivated among Vampires who lived among humans. Right now, whether her parents lived or were torn apart was probably a crapshoot. She damned the feelings within her that cared at all about their safety.

Weird though, the Witches took quite the chance, being pretty much human themselves. The spell just showed how stupid and reckless Sashia was. That idea came into reality though as a Vampire in the pews leapt over the seats toward the Witches who were in a circle around her father. A flick of the Witch’s wrist froze the Vampire in his tracks. So, the blessed Witches were prepared. She should’ve known. Her heart beat franticly to even think of what else they had up their magical little sleeves.

While Vamps all over the church stood as if they were frozen too, in a fight with what was being done to them verses their own desires. The Witches lead her parents up to her. Her father said nothing. That was something she never thought she’d see, that ass silent. But then again, his daughter was now a fanged-being that could hurt him. With her eyes black and her fangs extended, she probably looked to him like a mythical creature from fiction. A laugh caught her, one strange and sadistic, as the realization hit her how she’d become the incarnate of the evil he used to claim was in her when she was truly an innocent little human girl.

Her insides jumped. The nerve endings under her skin pulsed, and she braced herself as the Witches pushed her father right up in front of her. He stood just inches away. They had served her up the option for revenge on a silver platter. A hiss escaped her. The smell of the slime-ball’s blood actually invited and revolted her at the same time.

“Amberlyn, you are truly evil,” her father said in a low voice, one unlike any she’d ever heard him use before. Disbelief and real fear showed in his eyes. She had put it there just as he had done to her hundreds of times. For a moment, everything was not so bad after all. Revenge was sickening sweet.

“Amberlyn,” Kane said beside her, “Look at me, babe. Are you okay?”

She looked at him, all her emotions on the surface, showing in her eyes. But, it was when that first tear slipped over her cheek that Kane shifted into his animal. She knew he wanted to rip her father apart. Kane loved her. He’d heard all of the stories of her past. He’d said before, that given the chance, he would kill the man. The Witches had handed the man over to him on a silver platter too.

“Kane, please, no!” she yelled to her own surprise and then burst into tears.

How had they known though about my past? Why did the clan of Witches pick my parents to bring here into this mess? She had imagined the man being tortured and killed so many times in her human life. Even when she was first a Vampire, she’d imagined what it would be like to kill him herself. Why should it matter now if he was killed or not?

“Do you see what your runaway daughter, the ingrate, has become sir? She’s not only a Vampire, but she’s screwing a Werewolf. Aren’t you proud, sir? Don’t you think that all of us should live out in the open together in peace and love?” The Witch actually cackled, her pleasure in the situation more then obvious.

“You bitch,” her father’s voice shook, but with anger or fear, who knew. He’d spoken to Amberlyn, ignored the Witch that taunted him at the moment. “I should have killed you when I had the chance. I was right. You are an abomination—“

Just then Achim had come up and grabbed her father at the same time Kane had leapt onto the man. Vampire, Werewolf and demon-slash-pious-man, all went down. There was a growl, a rip of flesh and an ear-piercing, girl-like scream from the man who’d been the source of all of her nightmares – awake and asleep – since she could remember.

She fell to her knees, unsure what she was upset about. Her feelings all whirled through her mind, confusing her, so it took a moment to realize that the magic was gone. Isaac was beside her again, his arm around her shoulders as he pulled her into his side. More than half the church had already emptied out during the scuffle.

It took some time, but things calmed down. The Vampires had returned to normal and stood around, waited to be there, if they were needed. Kane was a man again, but most of the Werewolves had fled rather than stay and support him. The Witches were all gone. A dead silence fell over the room.

Achim and Kane started to apologize to her. She wasn’t sure for what, but she silenced them when she raised one hand and half-heartedly shook her head. Her eyes were on her mother who sat with a glazed look in her eyes, obviously in shock. Amberlyn felt nothing really. She had nothing left in her at the moment. She was dead inside in more ways than one.

“What do you want us to do, Amberlyn,” Isaac asked. She noticed that Winter was under his other arm. So, all the Witches had left but one. She smiled at her, a small, forced upturn of her mouth, which soon fell.

“Bury him. I’m fine. He was dead to me anyway,” Amberlyn whispered to Isaac.

“No Sis,” Isaac continued, “I meant with your mother.”

She looked over at her. The woman really didn’t see anything but her dead husband. She felt bad for her one more time, to have had to witness the man so brutally ripped apart. But, then again, Amberlyn was well aware that this was the only chance the woman had at a real life, whether in the woman’s messed up head she wanted it or not.

“Take her back home, to her own house. Glamour her to forget tonight and tell her that her husband died and was buried when they were away or something like that. Whatever story works. She has no friends there anyway. Maybe she will wake up and leave, get out, make something of her life away from the monster she married. She’s being given a second chance at life, one she wouldn’t take herself. It’s her problem what she does with the opportunity.”

Achim spoke up and motioned to two Vamps to help him do as Amberlyn requested.

“Where do you want to go, Amberlyn,” Isaac asked. “Do you want to come back to Drake’s with me?”

“No. I want to go home, to my apartment. I want Kane to take me. Do you think that would be safe?” she asked as she looked at Kane in time to see the poor man sigh with relief. He should have known by now that she could never be mad at him. Yes, she’d never seen him kill anything before, and this was her father, but he was also the man who’d given her life and then proceeded to take it away little by little. She smiled, all she had to offer him, to let him know that she wasn’t mad in any way, about anything, in case he had any lingering doubts.

“I think so,” a Werewolf named Rick, the alpha of the were clan spoke. “If anything, tonight has shown us how you and Kane feel about each other and that maybe the Werewolves and Vampires need to unite against the Witches.”

“Not all of the Witches. Just the leaders of their main coven right now,” Isaac spoke up as he squeezed Winter close to him.

“You’re right, I guess. They obviously all are not the same. They did call this meeting, but did they call it just to do this, or was this mess just the leaders?” Rick asked.

“The elders truly didn’t know what those few were planning. Sashia and her evil coven were pissed that the elders were working over their heads. Leader or not, the Witches have to listen to their elders. Sashia doesn’t like that age-old law at all because it doesn’t suit her own diabolical plans. Us Witches have a problem right now until Sashia and her coven are brought down, maybe even stripped of their powers. Of course, all of the covens in our clan would have to be present to decide if such a thing were necessary. It would be ugly, I can tell you that. But, soon, we may have no choice. They are out of control.”

Kane and Amberlyn accepted sympathies and said their good-byes until Amberlyn feared she couldn’t stand up on her own another minute. She stood on shaky legs as the night had almost come to an end. The damned hunger for blood had stayed with her, made even a rodent sound good about now. She’d never gotten this tired, this hungry before as day sleep started to settle in. She guessed this was what a diabetic must feel like and felt sorry for them instead of herself. It had always been a good habit of hers to remind herself that somewhere out there, someone else was worse off.

Long ago as a little girl, tired and hungry after being beaten, unable to sleep, she’d learned not to feel sorry for herself. It was a useless waste of energy, which changed nothing, only robbed a person who had nothing of any bit of joy they may be able to stumble upon. And she’d had very little joy. She had kept to herself so the other kids would never find out her secret. Her father had always threatened that if she ever told those who didn’t understand what a low-life waste she was, how she deserved only punishment for her sins, if those people came for him, some day he would find her again and kill her. Bloodied, knowing nothing but pain and loneliness, she didn’t doubt the man.

Somehow as a young girl she’d moved past wondering what she’d done wrong and only wished for death. If she was as bad as this man said, why was she here? Then a few days later she would rally, live, maybe just to piss the man off, or in the hope of someday running away. She wished to live free among other sinners where she would be accepted. She figured they had to exist and took to dreaming of colonies of those who were like her. In the meantime, she’d thought on those out there that must have it worse than her and tried to be grateful for the normal days, the ones between beatings where she had a home, clothes, and books – a world to get lost in. Never, even in her wildest of those dreams though, had she imagined herself in this clan, a Vampire, but it seemed appropriate now.

And, her clan – her grandfather really– had killed the monster, alongside her lover. She had to let it all go. These thoughts and emotions were not worth being sorted out. Achim had not said anything to her when he left, just given her a hug, the first since Drake’s death. So, she chose to be grateful for just that. All that were left in the church now were two Vampires with her mother. The woman hung limply in their arms, acknowledged them as nothing more than support she assumed – if the woman could see anything at all.

With her father’s body gone, Amberlyn’s mother’s eyes had glazed over. Amberlyn touched the woman’s face. Her mother felt clammy, but didn’t react. When Amberlyn felt for a pulse at the woman’s throat, it was fast, but weak, another sign of shock. Then her mother started to mumble, but no one there could make out anything she said.

“Do you need to say good-bye?” The one Vampire – actually another brother of hers who she rarely saw – asked her. The man was one of Drake’s many converts to stay in the Willows, but one who also stayed to himself after his conversion. This one had told Drake that he wanted nothing to do with the politics of the clan, just a quiet life. This one seemed to Amberlyn to be almost brooding about what he’d become. But, who was she to judge?

This brother was another embodiment of diversity within one person. Maybe becoming a Vampire did that to you. Everyone called this bloodthirsty Vampire Devin. He was one who often took off to actually feed on humans, but kept to himself. Though an obviously strong person, if the rumor that he had come from a street gang was accurate, he’d always seemed a tad bit depressed anytime Amberlyn had contact with him. But, each of them had things they missed about being human. It was just how they reacted to those loses that shaped their new personalities it seemed.

“No, Devin, but thank you for asking. I said my good-byes when I ran away as human. I don’t want to repeat that. She was out of it that time too though. She won’t win any awards for being a mom that a girl could learn from, look up to, or depend on for protection.”

“Sorry, Amberlyn. I won’t patronize you by saying I understand, but I’m truly sorry. I know we’ve never been close – never acted like brother and sister– but if you need anything, you know where to find me.”

She did know where to find him, a house not far from her apartment actually.

“Are you ready to go home?” Kane asked her as he touched her shoulder gently, like she would bite him or yell at him now that they were alone. “You look, truly, like the walking dead right now.” His laugh came out slight, sounded as if he’d meant to test the waters.

“Listen Kane, I’m not mad about what you did. I understand it and I don’t mourn that monster’s life. I’m a bit sad, just no idea about what. Maybe it’s just latent feelings resurfacing from seeing him. And, I’m beyond tired. Seeing him brought up a lot of crappy memories for me.”

“I can only imagine. Let’s get you out of here, okay? I will stay at your place; stand guard. I just have this feeling, one that raises the hair on your neck, that trouble… well, it’s just waiting for us around the next corner. So, let’s get through the woods and home. You have about an hour till daylight.”

A sound of a scuffle in the woods caught their attention – A woman’s scream abruptly cut off.

“My mother?” Amberlyn yelled, though she’d not meant to. “The Vamps were taking her back. They just left.”

They took off on a run into the trees. Amberlyn didn’t even know how she moved her legs since she couldn’t even feel them under her any longer. She seemed to move across the ground at a speed slower then usual for her. Stopping only when she found her mother on the ground alone, she wondered what had happened to Devin and the other Vampire she had left with. Kane came up to meet her. As a were – he was fast, but not Vampire fast, not even ‘out-of-it slow’ Vampire fast.

Leaning over the woman on the ground she noticed her mother’s eyes were still open, blinked now rather then the straight stare of previous. Her chest rose and fell at a rapid pace, but just didn’t get the height one would expect of a woman who was afraid. Amberlyn’s ear close to her mother’s mouth let her hear the woman’s breaths, which came fast but were shallow. She had to wonder how much longer her mother’s body could remain in this unnatural state without any permanent damage.

A bright white light, like a fireball of some kind, moved past Amberlyn’s face. She could feel not only the warmth of it, but the electric-buzz it carried snaked down the side of her body. The light became momentarily bigger, causing her to shield her eyes as she fell behind her mother. Another light flashed, but this time her entire body buzzed, as if she had been mildly electrocuted. Then, she was out cold.