Chapter Ten

Homecoming

Manuel, in his infinite wisdom, had no idea what Rhitarr (the home planet of the Kaerqan people, within the Kaerqa solar system) was like, what mysteries it held, what nuances there were in the way its people lived their lives. To him, the whole Kaerqa system was an enigma. Perhaps this oversight was an inept quality to have as a member of the order that ruled over all systems, but he could hardly be blamed - he had never been here, nor had he conversed with a native, save the few that made their way into the Quarters (and even then, conversations were few and far between.

Truth was, he had no other reason to be here, aside from Alyssa. A Kaerqan god had approached him and provided him with the task of assigning an assassin to take out a troublesome group of vampires terrorising his people. There was no one more suited to the task than Alyssa, who herself hailed from Rhitarr, the most inhabited planet in the Kaerqan solar system.

The Seven were not supposed to get involved with these sorts of affairs. However, given that the involvement of other members of The Seven in mortal affairs dominated most conversations the order held at the moment, Manuel had few reservations about doing the same himself.

His immediate problem was ensuring Alyssa was happy for him to come. He was coming with her regardless of her feelings about it, but selfishly hoped she would warm to the prospect more than he hoped for success in their mission.

Today, she looked resplendent in her black leather bodysuit with crimson armoured shoulders and sleeves. Her golden-lined chestpiece glinted in the baking sun. The outfit was tight. This was not a criticism – he was more than happy she had elected to wear it. Before he got any ideas, he focused on the twin daggers strapped to her hips and the sword to her back between her black wings (which were tense and folded in a protective fashion) and thought better of making a move. Mind, he had matched her for tightness – his simple, cotton, white shirt, and black trousers were so tight he feared chafing.

‘Remind me,’ she turned her head but did not deign to look at him. ‘Why are you here?’

The dry, yellowing grass crunched beneath their feet as they approached the contact’s town. Manuel, walking a pace behind Alyssa, grinned and placed a hand to his chest. ‘My dear, we both know you truly enjoy my exquisite company - you can try to hide it, but we both know it’s the truth.’

She grunted and pivoted forward again. ‘I have no idea where you got that impression. Regardless, that does not answer my question.’

He sighed and fell into step beside her. ‘Because, while I in no way doubt your capabilities when it comes to your assignments... I was approached by a god, and given this implied the gravity of the situation in which we find ourselves, it was impressed upon me that I should probably get my hands dirty. And – this is the more important factor – I was bored.’

The corner of Alyssa’s mouth twitched. Manuel surmised this was as close as he was going to get to an actual smile from her. ‘Could you not find a task more suited to your talents than hunting savage vampire women?’

‘My dear, those savage vampire women are the reason I chose to accompany you.’

‘You know that while they may not be able to expressly kill you, it is well within their capabilities to capture, maim, and otherwise injure you horrifically?’

Manuel flashed her a white-toothed grin. ‘Exactly. Sounds like a perfect evening. There are worse creatures to be captured by - at least these ones are attractive.’

Alyssa looked at him full in the face, an eyebrow raised. ‘Goat hooves a turn on for you?’

He winked in response. She shook her head and continued walking. Manuel took the hint and spoke no more, though he was certain he glimpsed a half-smile.

A short time later, they reached the town. Named Sanhain, it was a small, cosy location of two-storey stone houses and shops, organised in eight narrow, packed rows. In the centre of the main road was a mammoth, limestone church, all spires and towers, which cast wide shadows and watched over the town like a disapproving parent.

The town was nestled at the base of a forest-covered bank, with expansive, open fields that, due to the season, were dead and yellow, but it was unchallenging to imagine this place in spring: large, luscious expanses of green, with beautiful blue and pink flowers sprouting everywhere the eye could see. The steel wall that stretched around the town, trapping it in, on the other hand, was an undeniable eyesore. The lone entrance to the town was a steel gate in its centre.

Alyssa stopped and her breath caught in her throat. Her eyes were wide; there was a hint of sadness nestled within them, a small glimmer that seemed to fade out. ‘I did not wish to tell you this, but… this is my hometown. I was raised here.’

He frowned. ‘Why would you want to keep such information to yourself?’

‘Let us… Let us locate the contact and pursue the mission.’ Giving herself a vigorous shake, she forged onwards.

Manuel followed, narrowing his eyes behind her back. He knew better than to push a woman to talk when she did not want to. But he would ensure Alyssa did so later.

They walked through the steel gate. Manuel twisted his head to look up onto the battlements, which were vacant.

‘Does the town have any security?’ he asked Alyssa. When she did not reply, he turned his attention back to her, just in time to avoid bumping into her.

She stood in the centre of the cobbled road that wound through the town and branched off in every direction between the houses. Her head darted to and fro, taking in every detail. Her mouth was ajar, and her damp eyes glazed over.

He stepped away a few steps, allowing her to roam in her stream of thought and memory.

During this time, he took the opportunity to analyse the current environment himself – children were running around everywhere chasing one another, their Kaerqan wings still white in their youth. Upon reaching adulthood, these would fade to grey (or black in rare cases) but would grow strong and carry them long distances - even over the seas if they so desired. Parents sat on wooden chairs outside the fronts of their houses, throwing intermittent, loose glances at their children. To Manuel’s left, an old woman was surveying him and Alyssa; the woman’s grey hair was tousled and her wrinkles melted into her frown. She turned away, shaking her head, her grey wings giving a small flutter of disapproval. A group of five bulky, miserable men ambled past, their heads down in shame, for whatever reason.

No figures Manuel witnessed were working, none were sweating upon returning from a strenuous exercise, none were hurrying along late for work – all appeared to be calm. Relaxed. Luxurious.

Alyssa returned to the present moment. She puffed her chest out, let loose a long breath, and pushed her shoulders up. ‘Let’s find the boy and get out of here.’

A striding Alyssa led him off the main street and down one of the many narrow alleyways, shaded by the large houses defending them from the glare of the red sun to the south. They emerged into the final street where they approached a house tucked into its far corner. Built from stone just like the rest, this simple abode had no parents sitting on the pavement, no children running after one another; it was as silent as a tomb; a darkness seemed to enshroud it. The shadows of the church and the town walls were deeper here.

Alyssa marched straight up to the door, paying no heed to these details. She rapped on it three times. The door was opened by a large, heavyset woman with dark skin and hair, dressed in frayed linen clothing. Her eyes became slits. A moment later, her mouth opened, and those sceptical eyes widened. ‘Lys?’

Alyssa showed no such surprise. ‘Erika. How wonderful to see you after all these years.’ Her tone was flat. ‘Is Jennah in? We require a brief word with him.’

Erika surveyed her. Then, she repeated this behaviour with Manuel. She wagged an eyebrow, to which he returned a narrow, polite smile.

‘My, you’ve done well for yourself, haven’t you?’

Alyssa sighed and stepped forward. ‘Listen, we need to speak to Jennah. As soon as possible. We don’t have time to exchange pleasantries.’

Erika turned and bustled back into the house, gesturing for them to follow. ‘As you wish, as you wish, you never were one for conversation. Always too busy working on those muscles. I see it paid off, didn’t it?’ She gave a harsh chuckle. ‘Not that those muscles could hide that you weren’t a looker. Overcompensating, you know?’

Alyssa aired that comment. Manuel frowned, for to him, this opinion was inaccurate – Alyssa was one of the most beautiful women he had ever come across, and her physique added to that, rather than compensated for a lack of beauty. Not that he would ever say any of this out loud, of course. He did not yearn for a punch, after all.

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Manuel inspected the interior of the house. All the furniture was wooden; the sofa and armchairs were comprised of feather cushions on a wooden frame. From the walls hung tapestries that were frayed at the edges. Lining the walls were towering bookcases, rammed to the brim with leather-bound volumes. Manuel knew little of Kaerqans, but what he did know was their primary hobby was reading, which provided the reason for why the majority of the Lorekeeper’s Quarter were Kaerqans – they had little more to do than read their historical records and legends. When they were not worshipping their gods, of course. This home provided a blatant example of Kaerqan reverence through the scale clay figurines that stood dotted around the room; some stood on the bookshelves, while the firepit was surrounded by its own entourage of them.

A fire crackled in this pit. It burned low, yet gave off enough heat to make Manuel uncomfortable. Alyssa showed no indication that she had noticed.

On a rickety, wooden chair in the corner of the main room sat a healthy young man. He was not strong – Manuel would have him in a fight, no questions asked – but he was fit enough to be getting on. He had kind, gentle features, and took after his mother with his dark skin and hair. A blue linen shirt hung loose off his frame and wide-legged black trousers disguised the strength in his legs.

The clearest indicator that this man was the one he and Alyssa sought was his eyes. Red-rimmed, they hosted deep, purple bags beneath them. Hopeless and empty, they stared, unfocused, at the ground. They did not rise when he and Alyssa walked into the room, nor when they pulled chairs up and sat before him. His leg jangled and his hands shook.

‘Would either of you care for refreshments?’ Erika asked, teetering on the balls of her feet behind them.

Manuel was about to say yes, but Alyssa answered for him. ‘No, thank you. We shan’t be here long.’

Erika nodded, though gave no hint that she planned to leave the room. Alyssa turned, gave her a withering look, which encouraged her to trudge off into another room. A frown once more graced Alyssa’s features. The way those eyebrows knitted, leaving small creases at the bridge of her nose… the way her lips pursed… the way she gazed with unrelenting intent...

Alyssa’s features softened. ‘Jennah?’ Her voice was gentle and easy (and returned Manuel’s focus to their mission).

No response. Jennah’s hands kept shaking, his leg continued jiggling, and his eyes remained fixed on the floor.

‘Jennah?’ Alyssa tried again. ‘I understand you have witnessed something... awful. I can not imagine how you feel. We are here to make things a little better, and get something moderately similar to… revenge on the people who did this. When you are ready, would you be able to walk us through the events of that night?’ She crossed her legs and settled back in her chair. ‘Take your time. We shall be here for as long as you need.’

Some fifteen minutes later, Jennah had stopped peering at the floor. It was another ten before he spoke, at which time he focused on Alyssa’s knee.

‘W-w-well…’ His voice was weak, hushed, and shook as much as his limbs. ‘Morrigan invited me and… some others, Jan and Sala, out to his cabin, deep in the woods…’ He gestured behind him to nowhere specific.

‘Morrigan? Morrigan Venia?’ Alyssa leaned forward.

Jennah nodded. ‘It took all day to get there. It’s well out of the way, you see. He… thought it would be good for us to all get away and spend our time doing something that wasn’t in this town. So… out we went and darkness fell. Started raining. Eventually, we got to the cabin.

When we were in there, we talked… just irrelevant conversation, about women, you understand. The other three… well, they were older than me and… you could say they were lonely. And… bitter. They said they wished they had female companions.’

There was anxiety etched into each of Alyssa’s forehead creases; the colour had dripped from her face. ‘What happened next?’

‘Well… out of nowhere, these four women turned up. Said they were just passing, walking by, and they’d overheard. Morrigan let them in. There was flirting, touching, drinking… then they started dancing together. One of them… one of them sat on the armchair I was in and… we talked… just talked… then she readjusted her position and…’ his voice caught. He took a moment to compose himself before continuing.

‘I noticed… her dress came up… exposed her feet… except they weren’t feet. They were hooves… my ma, she’s told me tales, all my life. About these female vampires who seduce men and tear their throats out.’

Alyssa glanced sideways at Manuel. ‘My mother told me the same tales. The Baobhan Sith.’ A shadow fell upon her features. The flames in the hearth lowered and their shadows lengthened. ‘Bet you believed they were purely the stuff of myth, didn’t you? A tale to keep the younglings from entering the woods at night. Just like I did.’

‘Aye,’ Jennah said, letting out a breath that could have been a chuckle. ‘That I did. Then these four turn up. After that, I cried out a warning, but… ‘twas too late.’

‘Morrigan? They killed him?’

‘Aye. Him, Sala, and Jan. All of them, butchered.’ Alyssa whimpered and turned away.

‘Don’t take this the wrong way,’ Manuel said. ‘But how did you escape that? Shouldn’t you be dead?’

‘Aye, sir, I should be. But the one I talked with, she… she helped me escape. She dragged me to the door while the others were… you know… and she threw me out and told me to run. So I did. Didn’t stop until I reached home.’

Manuel smiled at the boy. ‘Thank the gods for that, then. You’re very lucky, young man. During all this, did you manage to catch the names of these women?’

Jennah was crying now. ‘Yes, sir, I got their names. The one I talked with, she was called Novalea. Don’t… if you’re going to hurt them... please don’t hurt her. She didn’t want to be there and she didn’t want to kill anyone. She’s innocent and doesn’t deserve to be hurt.’

Manuel placed his hand on the boy’s. Jennah was freezing - to Manuel, it was similar to sticking his hand in a bucket of ice. ‘Do not fear, we shall do our best to make sure that they are all punished accordingly. This girl will not be punished if she caused no harm. That’s not how we operate. The other three? Did you get their names?’

‘Yes, sir. The one who seemed to be their leader, she was called Rhea. The other two, Sofia and Ximena.’

Manuel gave Jennah a tender smile; the boy was holding eye contact now, even if his limbs were still shaking like trees in a storm. Manuel gripped Jennah’s shoulder. ‘Thank you for your time. I hope… I hope your grief passes soon. This is just the worst part. Remember that. Get plenty of rest, and honour your friends by treasuring their memories and leading a long, happy life. Take care of yourself, Jennah.’

Jennah turned his fatigued, wet eyes to a spot on the wall beside him. Manuel stood and made his way to the door. Alyssa took longer - she embraced Jennah, then was back at Manuel’s side.

Once outside, Alyssa sagged and placed one hand on the wall of the house to steady herself. The other went to her stomach. Manuel moved to her and stood mere centimetres away. ‘You alright?’ he asked.

Alyssa breathed out a long, shallow breath before speaking. Her voice was little more than a whisper. ‘Yes, it is just… a bit of a shock. I knew Morrigan… very well. We trained together in the Assassin’s Quarter here. He… left after a couple of years, came back here. He was never any good, to tell the truth. Still… I was… we were close. I have not seen him in years, but… he was the last person I saw from this town. I left when I was a child… things got complicated… and now… I never got to say… g-goodbye...’

She took a deep breath and steadied herself onto her feet. She hunched her shoulders once more and steeled herself. Manuel stepped in, and hugged her. She did not return it - he would have received more warmth and less stiffness from a wooden pole. After a moment, though, her arms wrapped around his neck and she sagged against him. Her arms tightened and he could have sworn he heard her sob.

Alyssa broke the hug off and gave him the most minute of smiles. Success, he couldn’t help but think, despite the gravity of the situation.

She led him away. Through more alleyways they walked, and the thought occurred to him that she was evading the populous on purpose.

‘So, these women, they’re the Baobhan Sith?’

She stepped out into a wider street, checked left and right, made sure no one was approaching, and sped into the alleyway opposite. ‘Yes. Vampires, like the boy said. They have always been a plague on this planet. Still, they had an agreement with the gods.’

‘What was that agreement?’

‘You picked up on Jennah saying the others declared they wanted a woman’s company? Well, the deal they struck with the gods, millennia ago now, was that they could remain on the planet, as long as they stayed away from the general populous. Obviously, this proposal was fine, aside from one small detail – they needed to feed.

So, Sanhiel decreed that they could only feed on those who declared their loneliness and/or desire for companionship. A strange decree in this day and age, but back then, no one was lonely. Arranged marriages were all the rage. So, Sanhiel thought he would get one over the vampires this way, and they would subsequently die out.’

‘But they didn’t, obviously.’

‘No, exactly,’ they reached another street and Alyssa checked both directions. Then, instead of leading him through another alley, she brought him to a house. She pointed at one of the wooden chairs outside it and he duly occupied it. She took the one next to him.

‘He made a crucial oversight only Sanhiel is truly capable of making – arranged marriages do not always lead to happiness. I have found that it is a rarity. Nevertheless, the result was that a large proportion of citizens were lonely. When they stated this, especially a desire for a new companion, the Baobhans would show up and feed on them. Only on those who made the statement - whatever else they are, they always remain true to their word. Ironically, the murderous ones, the so-called ‘plague on the land’, were those who did not baulk on or try to circumvent the deal and remained faithful. So, Sanhiel let them live on under the accord, despite his burning hatred towards them.’

‘Until now. Now he’s decided he wants an end to them.’

‘I suppose, they are killers, at the end of the day. But… they’re strong. This won’t be easy.’

Manuel winked at her. ‘Bet you’re glad you have me, then.’

Alyssa looked at him, her face straight. The corner of her mouth twitched. ‘You wish.’

He laughed. ‘So, where do we find them? Who’d know?’

‘You are sitting next to her.’

He raised an eyebrow. ‘Oh? You’ve been there?’

‘It is… complicated. All you need to know is I know where we are going.’

‘Well, that’s something at least. Saves us a bit of time. Anyway... why have you brought us to this house?’

Alyssa got to her feet and knocked on the door. ‘Well, put it this way… you are the first man I have brought back to meet my parents. Congratulations.’

Though her tone was sarcastic, Manuel smiled to himself.

‘What do I do about the whole ‘divorce’ thing? How do I ask mum about it?’

Lauren clasped her hands. ‘I… I hate to say this, but you don’t. You can’t ask her about the divorce without telling her you ran into Jeremy. That then means you run the risk of letting slip what really happened or her asking Jeremy for the true story. Either way, she finds out you attacked Jeremy in self-defence in a manner that can’t be rationally explained. So… I know it’s not easy, but you’re going to have to wait for Lyra to come out with it herself, and just act surprised when she tells you.’

Savannah groaned. ‘I thought you might say that.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Lauren placed a hand on Savannah’s shoulder. ‘You’ll get through this. And I’m going to be here, by your side, through it all.’