We took our time approaching the Velas estate, gradually building up our anticipation for the rampage we'd soon unleash. Along the way, I told Rachel everything I learned earlier from Anikka, which in turn enraged her and made her eager for the upcoming confrontation.
“All the manipulation, and cowardice, I just can’t stand it,” she said vehemently. “Hiding behind money and influence and throwing away lives. Who could stand to be around such people? That’s why I told Cross I couldn’t join the Valkyries.”
“Oh, is that what she wanted to discuss with you?” I asked.
“Yeeeah,” Rachel said sourly. “I mean it was flattering, right? An elite group of all-female fighters renowned throughout the nation. It sounds great! But having to do so in the service of this pathetic society of backstabbing snakes? I just can’t. Working for the establishment holds no appeal.”
“Did Cross take your answer well?” I wondered.
“She thinks she can still win me over,” Rachel said. “I might have to mesmerize her into backing off.”
“Working in general is for lesser beings, anyway. I’m disappointed she thought she could make a coworker of you. We, the night’s nobility, have no need to toil,” I said haughtily.
“That is so snobby,” she snickered.
“It’s only snobbery if you’re rude about it,” I corrected her.
__
Once we arrived at the Velas estate, the two of us were quick to let loose our shared displeasure with how Anikka had been treated. At this point I feel there was no need to go into an overly descriptive recounting of the response of the security forces that pitted themselves against us, nor the many, many instances that followed in which we maimed and murdered the lot of them without mercy.
While I realize that I haven’t been that sparing in such details before, this time around was a little different due to our raised ire. Today, Rachel and I were especially…unpleasant in our method of dispensing with those doomed, brave souls.
It was a real scene, all right.
The scene of a massacre.
There was a time that I feared taking the lives of other hunters due to the system rules forbidding conflict between our kind. After all, killing them could eventually get us labeled by the system with the dreaded title of [Player Killer], which would leave us unable to live in civilized lands and would have placed a permanent bounty on our heads as an incentive for others to kill us.
That was before I realized that our [True Vampirism] trait essentially negated such a dire outcome. When Rachel and I were in our human forms, the penalties could apply only then. But when we acted as vampires, the system regarded us as monsters. Why would monsters be penalized for acting according to their nature?
It was pretty much a license to kill. Thank goodness Rachel and I were such thoughtful and responsible people who would never even consider abusing such a massively unfair advantage.
“Kyler!” Rachel laughed. “Did you see me rip that one in half? Oh, wow, look at him! He’s trying to crawl away! That’s so gross! I’m going to step on his head.”
Yep. Just a couple of good-natured people out to have a little fun.
It was a shame that Thalia and Patrick weren’t here to share in the fate of their men. Those two were the ones I wanted most of all. I wish I’d thought to confirm their presence before beginning our attack, but it was too late now.
Oh, well. We’d just have to save that particular gratification for a future date.
Once we finished with their outside forces, we smashed our way inside the main house where the elite among them awaited us. After our introductions were made, each side spoke a few monologues and delivered a few thinly veiled threats before squaring up to fight; you know, the usual routine that happens when colorful warriors and deadly monsters decide to clash.
I found it all rather rote, personally speaking, having endured such rituals many times before, but Rachel was bright-eyed with enchantment for the proceedings, having never thrown down with these sorts of characters before. Since it was all still new to her, I refrained from giving any derogatory commentary, not wishing to stymie her enjoyment. In fact, I let her take them all on by herself, while I sought out the master of the estate.
He was the one I truly had business with.
In a way, every misfortune I’d suffered this year all came back to him. Whatever his reasons, he’d been an absolute thorn in my side. And now he was going to pay for it.
How sad that he was so unreceptive to my overtures of friendship when I finally tracked him down.
“Greetings, my lord. Allow me to give you my warmest regards,” I said to him in a jovial manner. “Are you as happy to meet me as I am to finally meet you?”
“And who the hell are you supposed to be?” asked Lord Velas with a ferocious looking scowl.
“Oh, come now, my identity shouldn’t be a surprise to you,” I said as I stepped closer so he could see me. “Not to the master of the great Velas family. Not to the man with his fingers on the scale and his nose in everyone’s business. Of course you know me!”
“Kyler Evans?” he asked in surprise before scoffing at the name. “I knew you recently came scurrying back into the city, but I had no idea you’d be so foolish as to—”
“No,” I said, raising a hand to silence him.
“No?” he asked with a puzzled expression.
“I didn’t scurry back anywhere,” I informed him. “Vermin scurry. Insects scurry. I came into town in a limo. Get it right.”
“I’m sorry, are you completely mental? What the fuck are you doing in my home?” Lord Velas asked angrily.
“Claiming it,” I explained. “Everything here will now be mine, by right of conquest. Your remaining men, your resources, the clothes on your back, the money you’ve saved, I’m taking everything from you*.* Would you like to try disputing my claim?”
“I’d very much like to see you try!” he yelled. “You can’t just steal everything from me and expect to get away with it, you insolent cur! The entire nobility of all three cities will rise against you!”
“There’s no need to take that tone, sir. Men of our ilk shouldn’t argue,” I said. “Despite our many differences, you and I have much in common. Like you, I was a terrible father that failed my children miserably.”
“What insane drivel are you spouting?” Velas said with a sneer.
“Only the truth,” I sighed. “You must know that a father who fails at his duty will eventually make enemies of his own children. You’re lucky that only one of your daughters turned on you.”
Lord Velas glared at me for a moment before saying, “Anikka,” spitting the word out as though it were a curse.
“Correct,” I said with a nod. “Your daughter and I recently reconnected. She feverishly affirmed her passionate devotion to me and begged for my protection from you. As a gentleman, how could I resist?”
“That ungrateful little bitch,” he swore. “How many times must she defy me?”
“Just this once was enough,” I said. “I swear I tried to be logical about this! But who could resist someone as beautiful as your girl? My head said no, but my heart said kill you and plow her in your bed.”
“COME AT ME, THEN!” Lord Velas shouted as red electrical energy enveloped his body and exploded outward, destroying everything around him in a shower of surging sparks and eradicating light. “You presume to challenge me? You want to take what’s mine? Come forth you little bastard and I’ll bury you like just every other fool who dared to face me!”
“Your electrical light effects aren’t going to save you, sir,” I said as I walked toward him. “This isn’t a duel, this is banditry. I’m taking everything that you value. The only thing I won’t do is let you die quickly. That’s the price you’ll pay for laying a finger on Kyler Evans.”
“You shouldn’t have gotten involved with my daughter,” he said remorselessly.
“Then you shouldn’t have stood in her way,” I replied. “Clipped wings can never soar.”
“She is MINE! My property to do whatever I want with!” Velas ranted. “As worthless as she was, the little whore should have been grateful that I found a good use for her! But instead, she defied me! And over what? A misfire like you? A goddamned porter? The jest went too far! A lesson needed to be taught!”
“She said my brother and Thalia were hurting her. Do you understand the implications contained in that sentence? How could you let that happen?” I asked him.
“What business is it of mine how your brother enjoys his cut of meat?” Lord Velas sneered.
In the blink of an eye, I was across the room, standing before him. Lord Velas only had time to blink once and flinch, before my fist punched through his chest all the way up to my elbow. When I removed it with a wet plopping sound, he dropped to his knees with a newly placed sucking wound at the center of his torso.
“Why did you make me do that? I was going to play with you a bit first,” I asked him.
Bloody saliva dribbled down his chin as he stared at me with a dazed expression. “Dally ges bru-bles-guuu?” he babbled incoherently before he began weeping when his adrenalin faded, and the pain kicked in.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Oh, this displeases me greatly,” I said unhappily. “I’ll say this for you, old mortal, you possess an excellent gift for provocation. You managed to colossally piss me off and in I went! Now look at what a mess you are. The amount of blood I would have to give you to heal this wound so I could resume killing you properly, would surely transform you into a thrall, and I do not want to hear any of your thoughts in my mind. Oh, how annoying!”
“Haaaaaaweeeeehh!” screeched Lord Velas.
“Yes, yes, very interesting,” I replied as I knelt to face him. “Listen, if the subject ever gets brought up in hell, you’ll tell everyone I tortured you to death, right? It would really help my reputation.”
Lord Velas grunted another nonsensical barrage of word salad as I raised my hand and prepared to tear off his head.
“Hold on, Kyler!” Rachel said suddenly as she ran into the room, fresh from crushing the elite guard. “Don’t be in such a hurry!” she said.
“Hmm?” I asked as she rushed past me while biting a fresh wound into her palm so that she could feed her blood into the old man’s mouth by hand.
“Rachel? I very much want this wretched man dead so would you please explain your reasoning here?” I asked her with a raised brow.
“Ha! And you’re always calling me too hasty,” Rachel snorted as Lord Velas’ wound healed and the process of enthrallment began to overtake his body. “Come on! This bastard is still much too useful to kill outright. Even I can see that.”
“What’s your plan?” I asked, once I saw how seriously she was taking this.
“I’m so glad you asked!” she said giddily as she watched the old man’s body spasming from the effects of her blood. “Check this out. First, I’m forcing him to become our lesser kin.”
“So, I see,” I said. “But what’s your next move after that?”
“I’ll order him to disinherit Thalia and Patrick and make Anikka the heir to the household. I’ll also force him to adopt us into the Velas family. Lady Rachel Velas. Doesn’t that sound like a wonderful name?”
I let out a low whistle of appreciation at the sinister depths of my child’s insidious cunning. “Rachel, does this mean you’ve been paying attention to my rambling lectures about the virtues of Machiavellianism?”
“Well, your speeches do get so long-winded that it’s hard not to absorb a few good ideas,” she admitted. “I mean, I’ll always prefer directly tearing my enemies apart over ensnaring them in a shadowy scheme but come on! This is too good an opportunity to screw over too many people that deserve it.”
“Men like Duke Velas have a great many connections to influential members of society,” I cautioned her. “Taking this route is the same as painting a target on our backs and daring our enemies to shoot.”
“Cool,” said Rachel. “Then let’s start a civil war and burn this place to the ground. If they’re going to be a bunch of whiney children over one of them getting the proper slapping he deserved, then fuck it. Let’s kill them all. Even better: let’s make them kill each other.”
The demented grin now lighting up my daughter’s face made my heart sing with joy. Why had I ever been so frightened by the notion that I had poorly influenced her character? This was how she wanted to be! These were her choices!
Rachel liked who she was. And I had been a fool to assume I had somehow corrupted her. She was a rare soul who found freedom through darkness, not despair. Who was I to assume I had any part in the development of her twisted values? She was her own woman.
And I was proud of her.
I swept an arm around her shoulders and pulled her in for a crushing embrace before saying, “I love how twisted your mind has become, daughter. More so than any of my children of birth, I think you best reflect the mad virtues of our sacred bloodline. I dearly look forward to seeing how high you’ll rise.”
“Kyler, stop,” Rachel said with a blush. “You’re embarrassing me in front of my new thrall.”
On the floor, Lord Velas continued to tremble and groan.
“I can’t help it!” I said merrily. “Papa’s so proud of his devious little angel! Everyone come take a look at the future tyrant I helped raise! From this moment on I’ll tell everyone I meet that I knew you before you were infamous!”
“Daaad!” she squeaked.
I think I felt my undead heart skip a beat.
Metaphorically, that is.
“Is that the first time you ever called me that without being sarcastic?” I gasped.
Were my eyes beginning to water?
I think they were!
“My little girl loves her father!” I sighed.
“Shut up!” Rachel groaned.
“She called me dad! My daughter called me dad!” I shouted jubilantly at the estate. “Did everyone who’s left alive hear that? My child finally acknowledged me! Oh, is this how nirvana feels?”
“Kyler, shut up!” Rachel shouted as she swung an armored fist at my face, which I merrily dodged by jumping into the air and floating just out of reach.
“It’s too late, Rachel! The gate once opened can never again be sealed!” I said tauntingly as I shot outside through a window and continued to crow my pleasure to the world.
In response, Rachel flew into the sky to chase wildly after me with murder blazing in her eyes. And that was how we spent a few pleasant hours playing in the darkness over our newly acquired estate. Enjoying a delightful game of tag far above the broken bodies and ruined minds of those who had tried to oppose us.
Later, we returned to Anikka with both the good news of our overwhelming victory, and our sincere congratulations over her becoming her family’s heir. She was dazed at first, but quickly warmed up to the incredible change in her status. When we informed her that she had also acquired two new siblings by adoption, as well as a very clever dog and whatever Orby was supposed to be, she seemed almost overwhelmed.
Rachel, who had grown up on a farm with many sisters, was delighted to have acquired a new one in Anikka, and didn’t hesitate to embrace her as kin. Anikka, who had never known the genuine love of family was put off by Rachel’s forwardness at first, but it didn’t take long for my daughter to win her over.
The pair of them are now thick as thieves. The common ground they shared at being selfishly used by others for the entirety of their lives was strong enough to cement an unbreakable friendship. Although Rachel and I agreed for the time being to keep the secret of our vampirism to ourselves, lately she had been giving me hints that she wanted to take Anikka as a child of her own.
I’m reluctant to allow it, but Rachel has proven herself to be a powerful and resourceful vampire. As her strength grows, so will her ambitions and her desire for a family of her own. It would be wrong to oppose that out of a selfish desire to keep her to myself.
I’ve become very fond of her, but the primary task of a parent is to protect his children until they’re strong enough to stand on their own. And once they’ve achieved that strength, it was best to stand aside while they made their own decisions.
If I was being more honest with myself, I’d admit that the primary source of my reluctance had nothing to do with Rachel at all. Without going overmuch into detail, I’ve explained to Anikka that I’m not the man she once loved. That only his body remained, and while I was willing to reciprocate her affection to a degree, it was impossible for me to truly feel for her as he once had.
At the time, I thought she took my revelation calmly. I felt relief that she finally understood and could move on with her life. But lately, when she thinks I don’t notice, she looks at me with an expression filled with such longing that I can’t help but pity her for what had been stolen from her.
What misery it is to be human and know loss.
Patrick and Thalia, who only survived because they happened to be abroad on the night of our attack, did not take the news of their disinheritance very well. When she realized that the paperwork had already been put in and the law was irrefutably on our side, with even her own father dispassionately rebuking her and denying her claim, Thalia became a screaming wreck reduced to making hoarse vows of bloody vengeance against her sister for what she had done to her.
Such a charming girl. I hope she learned to conserve her stamina. When it came to ruining her life, we were only getting started.
By far, the most satisfying confrontation was with my supposed brother, Patrick. He sat wordlessly throughout the meeting we’d arranged, as our estate councilors explained the new family paradigm to him and his maddened fiancé. He also made it a point to ignore my presence, even though he couldn’t have been surprised to learn I was still alive, since Lord Velas made certain to share information with him. That was why I was surprised after things had concluded, when he pulled me aside for a little tête-à-tête.
It seemed he had some things he wanted to say to me.
“I should have fucking killed you the moment our mother dragged you into our house,” said the righteous holy knight who wished to ascend to the rank of paladin. “I should have slit your throat with a dull blade.”
“Has anyone ever suggested that you have issues with aggression?” I asked him.
A vein throbbed visibly in the corner of Patrick’s head before he responded.
“You stole my future, you little bastard. You even stole my girl. I just…I just don’t understand how you keep getting away with it. I just don’t get it. But I’ll fix it. Every single time you ever got in my way; I always made you pay for it. This time will be no different. I promise you.”
“Patrick, you should be more careful,” I said in a concerned tone of voice. “We share a bond of blood so I’m willing to overlook it but think of what others might say if they heard a minor noble like yourself threatening me. As the legal head of a great house, Lady Anikka might be forced to make an example of you.”
“Kyler Velas,” he said in disgust.
“What can I say? That’s now my legal name,” I shrugged.
Rachel had insisted upon it. Probably as revenge for me teasing her too often.
I’d resisted at first. Stragos had been my true name for fourteen centuries and casting it aside had felt like pulling out one of my own teeth by hand.
But as I thought about it, I realized that sort of thinking was in its own way, arbitrary nonsense. Why should I be so attached to it? It was a name associated with ruin and death. Why should I continue bearing it now that I’d been granted a second chance?
Kyler Stragos and Kyler Evans were both dead. Stragos had been a fiend who brought unnecessary suffering to millions. Although he had the potential to change for the better, he had never been brave enough to seize that opportunity. Tragic, yes, but his loss was still a benefit to his world.
Evans on the other hand, had been a good man without the resources needed to change his circumstances. He hadn’t lacked courage, but that still hadn’t been enough to make the world acknowledge him as a person. Without the power to fight his oppressors, he had amounted to nothing.
What if Kyler Velas could be a bridge between these two disparate individuals? Someone with Stragos’ power who also bore Evans’ defiant will. What manner of being might such a man become?
Could he become someone worthy of remembrance?
There was only one way to find out.
“Watch your back, brother,” Patrick said with spiteful intensity before turning his back on me. “A rising tide eventually crests on the shore. Just remember that when I come to take back what’s mine.”
“The wave may crest but it still washes the shore clean,” I said in reply.
Patrick paused to throw a final glare at me before leaving the room with a window shaking slam of the door.
Heh. Drama.
__
Later, for the first time in a long while, I managed to escape the company of Rachel and Schultz long enough to enjoy a nap by myself.
It was a rare and refreshing experience to sleep by myself. But I was mistaken to believe that I’d get to enjoy it alone. Before much time had passed, a familiar presence soon joined me.
The dream shaped itself into a fine spring evening at an outdoor café I once frequented in London. Beside me, of all the people it could have been, sat Jamie, wearing a sleeveless white dress and enjoying a sip of coffee. I was so surprised by her presence that it took me a moment to realize that her voice sounded different.
“I’m sorry it took so long to get back to you,” she said sheepishly. “But can I say how pleased I am at how well you’ve taken to life in this world? I should have known you’d be up to the challenge.”
“Alpha?” I asked after realizing who was speaking to me.
“In the flesh!” she replied. “Well, in the dream anyway. I thought it would be fun to appear to you in the form of someone you cared for, so here I am! I like this a lot better than the disembodied voice routine.”
“Wow. Do I really still care for Jamie?” I asked in surprise. “I feel that our relationship became a bit complicated towards the end. The waters were truly muddied.”
I then sat silently for a few moments while I considered my own feelings. Then I said, “She turned out to be quite the vixen, didn’t she?”
“She was! I was so glad when you figured her out,” Alpha said with a smile. “But to answer your question, yes, you still subconsciously long for her.”
“She was such a horrible person, though,” I said.
“Emotions can be hopelessly complex,” Alpha said. “And people can wear many masks throughout their lifetimes. If it helps you feel better, there was a part of Jamie that truly cared for you as well. So here I am, representing that portion of her psyche for you. The genuine friendship hidden beneath her greed and subterfuge.”
“Heh,” I chuckled. “That’s very kind of you, Alpha.”
“Think nothing of it,” she said. “So, how have things been?”
“Don’t you already know everything?” I asked her teasingly. “Aren’t you the great eye in the sky?”
“I do have all the pertinent details,” she admitted. “But I only know them as plain facts without all the interesting nuance involved. I’d very much like to hear the entire tale from your exciting perspective. You’ve been having quite a few adventures of late, haven’t you, Lord Velas?”
“I have, haven’t I?” I grinned. “Where would you like me to start?”
The End.