𝕳𝖆𝖗𝖛𝖆𝖑𝖊

𝔗𝔥𝔢 𝔐𝔦𝔰𝔰𝔦𝔫𝔤 𝔓𝔦𝔢𝔠𝔢

The air in the mansion was stale. The house creaked softly but noticeably at random intervals. There were cobwebs almost everywhere, most of which you would feel lightly brushing against your skin as light drafts of air blew them gently about. But none of that mattered to Kayla and Alice at the moment.
Instead, as they sat by the stupendously huge and ornate dining room table, the two girls could only focus on the sounds of their own heavy breathing and their pounding hearts.
They had been sitting there for hours now, taking their seats after entering the house and simply waiting for Drayken to return from wherever in the house he had gone. The windows, feeling oddly distant to them from where they were sitting, allowed the pale blue light of the cloudy day to stream into the room, and as the girls stared at it they realized they had been up all night and they hadn't even noticed. It was not like they would have been able to sleep even if they had the time though. The recent events had left them far too rattled for rest to be had.
"I would imagine you both would find yourselves in need of sustenance."
Kayla and Alice turned slightly to the right and saw that Drayken had returned. He was wearing a new white suit, and his injuries had cleared up completely. His scars were still there, but other than that, he looked perfectly fine. Well, as fine as a vampire could look with their pale skin and red eyes.
"We...yeah we would like...to eat," Kayla stammered.
Drayken nodded casually. "There should be something left back by the various parties that have illegally used this place as a temporary shelter. I shall see what food items of theirs have remained," he said. With that, he turned around and walked off into the shadows of the mansion. He returned not much later with a crystal bowl that had an assortment of snacks and packaged foods in it. As he set it down in front of his human guests, he grimaced slightly.
"From what I have gathered, such foods are not suitable for a healthy life, but...it was all I could find that was not spoiled or rotten in some way," he said.
Hesitantly, Kayla and Alice reached into the bowl and took things out of it, which they promptly began nibbling on. Drayken sat down across from them and watched them benignly. As they ate, some of their energy returned, and with it came a light dusting of boldness.
Alice was the first to break the silence. "If you're a vampire, what are you doing with all those scars?"
Drayken brushed his damp looking, jet black hair back with a hand, revealing his ears, one of which sported a large silver ring. "I am...not a classic example of a vampire," he replied.
"What does that mean?" Alice asked.
"The nature of my existence means that I differ from most of my kind in a handful of key areas. My healing factor is one of those areas," Drayken said.
"But you healed from whatever injury you had last night though," Alice pointed out.
Drayken nodded. "Indeed. However, the nature and timing of certain injuries I have retained makes it impossible for me to heal myself entirely, the way vampires typically would."
Alice scowled a little. "So...you're not a vampire?"
Drayken smiled. "I am," he responded. "Especially in the ways that would validate your apprehension about me."
Alice shook her head and sighed. "All those words and you're still not answering my questions," she grumbled.
Kayla decided to ask some questions of her own at this point. "What were you doing when I saw you earlier yesterday? When you almost hit my truck?"
"Looking for the Midpoint. A place where your world and ours joins. A bridge of sorts, which, if located, allows our world to be entered. And it should be somewhere in this very town," Drayken explained. "Well, to be specific, I was looking for a map that would point out its exact location. Which I hoped would be attained by forcing a fellow vampire, the one who was in the car with me, to retrieve it via a meeting with his boss or bosses. The idea was that such a meeting would allow me a chance to attack and capture someone of a higher rank, who Christopher could then use to achieve other objectives. Or, even better, if such a meeting ended up revealing the Midpoint itself via some sort of traveling arrangement to facilitate said meeting, I would get what I had set out to find, and would have no further need for my captive or his superiors."
Kayla and Alice looked at each other, and then back at Drayken. "Did it...work?" Kayla asked.
"It did not," Drayken revealed. "We ended up running into a collection of private mercenaries and soldiers who, upon realizing who I was, killed my captive so that he could no longer assist me, and then tried to do the same to me. When I chanced upon you two, I was trying to escape them."
"Why were they trying to kill you?" Kayla wondered.
"For the same reason they have always been trying. My association with Christopher makes me a threat to the elites of our world, since he himself is a prime target of theirs."
"Who is Christopher? You've said his name twice already. Is he like...your friend or something?" Alice inquired.
"He is the reason I am alive, so I suppose such a title can safely be given to him," Drayken answered.
"And what's his deal?" Kayla asked.
"If you mean to ask what the circumstances are surrounding their decision to eliminate him, I must tell you that I am not at liberty to speak about it," Drayken said apologetically. "Christopher is...keen on the secretive privacy he has always upheld regarding his operations. And I am not about to violate it."
"Well that's a problem," Alice stated, an edge creeping into her tone.
"How so?" Drayken asked.
"Because everything you've told us so far has painted a bit of a dangerous picture for everyone here in this town, and I think we deserve an explanation if this is the situation we're finding ourselves in," Alice growled. "I mean, you're telling us we have a secret sort of gateway around here leading into the world of vampires, and on top of that there are vampire soldiers and whatnot creeping around and trying to kill you and your friend. And as for you two, you're trying to work some antagonistic angle against the bosses of these soldiers and assassins, with no regard for the fact that all the humans in this town will get caught in the crossfire. And after all that, you can't even tell us what this conflict is all about or why your friend is an object of concern for these...hunters or whatever."
Drayken leaned back in his chair and sighed patiently. "Perhaps it would be better if Christopher himself was here to provide additional information," he said.
"Perhaps it would be," a smooth, silky voice announced.
A blinding flash of bluish lightning struck, temporarily knocking out the power. Thunder rolled. Kayla and Alice, after glancing at the window, turned back to face Drayken, only to realized he had moved from the head of the table where he had been and was now sitting to their left. In his seat was...something. Or someone.
With a soft buzz, the lights winked back on and Christopher was revealed. Alice's mouth dropped open. "Kayla!" she hissed. "It's..."
"The guy from the cameras in the cafe," Kayla breathed, nodding.
He practically oppressed the air. His presence would probably be felt even if he was not visible. He sat regally, calmly regarding the young women, legs crossed and arms on the armrests of his chair. He wore black pants and a white poet shirt, its open V-neck revealing a subtle silver necklace with a circular pendant. His silvery-white hair was not as perfectly styled as it had been when Kayla first saw him, and while it was still mostly swept back, a section of it to the front hung down over his left eye. This visible eye drew Kayla's attention specifically because she could not tell if it was framed by winged eyeliner or if Christopher's eyes simply had a slightly angular shape to them. Honestly, his entire face was like this, having this oddly perfect ability to mesh its natural appearance with a subtly made up look that was especially apparent regarding the dark, shadowy smokiness around his eyes, his impeccably sculpted eyebrows, his smooth skin and his subtly red lips. He sat there staring at Alice and Kayla for what felt like an eternity, until finally they grew too uncomfortable with the silence and decided to speak.
"You...you're Christopher," Alice whispered.
"I became aware that you two were experiencing a substantial amount of frustration regarding an inability to secure a few explanations you sought," Christopher said at last.
"Well yes, we were. Can you help us with...any of them?" Kayla asked cautiously.
"Ask, and we shall find that out together," Christopher replied. While he spoke in a similarly elegant and masterful manner to Drayken, his tone was far more commanding and subtly pompous.
"Well...just before you came in from...wherever, we were asking about this, uh, clash you have with these hunter-mercenary vampires, and why they want to kill you," Kayla said slowly. "And Drayken said—"
"The short answer is steeped in the history of my life," Christopher began, cutting Kayla off completely. "The primary facets of which are the murder of my family, the erasure of my memory and excommunication from the society of my kind."
"Oh..." was all Kayla could think of to say.
"My quest to find out who did these things and why, has forced me to find a way back into my world since I can no longer legally enter into it via the usual methods. And finding my way back into it requires me to find the Midpoint. Attempting to do that has caused the efforts to eliminate me to increase in frequency and severity, which must mean I am close. But it has also led to a noticeable amount of calamity here in your town, and all for nothing, since I am no closer to my goal for it."
Kayla nodded slowly. "Right, okay, that makes...some sense."
"Sorry about your family," Alice said gently.
"Have all your queries been addressed?" Christopher asked coldly, ignoring Alice's comforting sentiments.
The girls looked at each other and then back at Christopher. There was silence for a moment.
"Well w-we do have...one more," Alice revealed.
Christopher silently waited to hear it.
"So, with all this happening and these...guys running through our town and threatening to end our lives as collateral damage, what are you going to do?"
Christopher raised a perfectly sculpted eyebrow.
"Like, I'm guessing you're going to continue your search for this Midpoint thing, and you probably have your own plans for doing so, and all that. Which is fine, but I just want to know what happens to us? Are you going to do anything to help us? Do you have any ideas on how to make sure all of us here in Tres Guardianes don't, well, die? As a result of getting caught up in what you and these vampire mercenaries have going on?"
Christopher still remained silent, staring ahead at Alice with the blankest eyes anyone had ever seen.
Alice was growing frustrated. "People like my mom, you moron! I don't know if you know, but she died last night. Had her throat slashed open by a vampire that was trying to kill your friend! How many more people will die because of the circumstances you have created?! How...how many..."
Alice broke down as the grief she had been repressing for hours finally overtook her. Her very own mother had been killed in front of her, after all. And as she explained that out loud, it finally struck her.
Kayla reached over and hugged her friend tightly. After a few seconds, Alice got up and left the dining room, unable to control herself even though her friend was offering her comfort. Once she was gone, Kayla turned back to face Christopher.
"Well? Do you have an answer for her question?" she asked firmly.
At this point, Drayken sensed the tension that had entered the conversation, and tried to diffuse it. "We do not have any immediate plans to rectify the mess we have indirectly made, but I am sure—"
"I don't care," Christopher cut in, finally answering Kayla.
"I'm...I'm sorry?" Kayla spluttered.
"I said I don't care," Christopher repeated. "My own goals have not yet been achieved. You cannot possibly expect me to set them aside in pursuit of the meaningless aim to comfort, console and protect your townsfolk."
Kayla was almost stunned into silence. Almost. "Are you forgetting that you and your little operation ended up bringing this mess to our front door?" she replied.
"It is in no way my fault that the Midpoint happens to be located here," Christopher retorted. "I am also not responsible for those hunting me who are willing to lay waste to everything and everyone in order to capture me."
"Yeah, but you knew they were after you, right? And you knew that by being a literal beacon to these groups, you would end up endangering anyone in the areas that you purposefully went to because these idiots would be following you, right?!"
Christopher flicked his head to the side, tossing his hair out of his eye. "I am still confused as to why you think any of this would be an important factor worth my consideration," he admitted.
"Because you're—I'm sorry, I just...how can you not see what I'm trying to say?!" Kayla ranted.
Beside Christopher, Drayken sighed softly and looked down. Christopher himself leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table in front of him.
"You seem to be forgetting that I am not a human," Christopher said. "If I was, perhaps the sentiments you have expressed would register differently. But they cannot, because I do not feel the responsible sort of unity that would require me to consider the general public and their safety when doing anything."
"What...does that mean?" Kayla asked.
"It means that I view your kind with little more importance than you would spare on a very common animal," Christopher explained. "Would you consider the comfort and physical safety of a cow if you were driving your car more recklessly than usual past its enclosure?"
Kayla did not know how to respond to that.
"No, you would not. You would probably still slow down once you considered your own safety, but the cows would be nothing more than an inconsequential feature of your landscape," Christopher went on. "All this to say, I am trying to accomplish something. And while I have not set out to endanger anyone while I do it, I remain mostly unbothered by the fact that it may lead to the demise of a few members of your kind."
"You can't..." Kayla's sentence died midway through being delivered, as she found herself unable to properly express her feelings about everything she had heard. It began to occur to her that while she did not like what Christopher had said, he was more or less correct.
He was a vampire. As far as they cared, humans were a species that looked a lot like them, and functioned somewhat similarly, but only really counted when it came to nourishment. Kayla figured that vampires probably viewed her kind as slightly more advanced monkeys that they could feed on. And if Kayla was honest with herself, when was the last time she, as a human being, had thought very highly of a monkey? If her life depended on eating them, they would probably hold more importance to her, but it definitely would not be in the sense of being equals.
"It appears you have no more to say," Christopher concluded. "If that is so, then there is just one more thing that must be addressed before I ensure that you do not remember any of this. And it concerns my friend here."
Drayken looked up and faced Christopher. "What is it?" he asked.
"Why did you bring them here?"
"For the same reason I was calling you about when I left earlier with our captive," Drayken said. He pulled a Blackberry phone out from the inside of his suit jacket, turned it on and showed the call log to Christopher.
"I see. I must have missed those calls," Christopher said. "What did you want me to know?"
"It should probably be said out of her earshot," Drayken admitted, glancing over at Kayla.
"She will not remember this meeting, or any of the recent events she has been involved in," Christopher responded. "Talk freely."
"She recognized me," Drayken reported, pointing at Kayla.
Christopher flicked his head, tossing his hair again. "Whatever does that mean?"
"When I was in the car. With the vampire we had captured. She stared at me in a way that indicated she was aware I was...different. At the time I could not think much of it as I was otherwise occupied but...she could be..."
Christopher looked over at Kayla. "Did you know?" he asked her.
"Know what?"
"That Drayken was a vampire. Could you tell?"
Kayla took a breath. "I...I didn't know he was a vampire. I mean, for obvious reasons I wouldn't think vampires were real. But he didn't seem...right. The red eyes and the pale skin, all that. I know sometimes normal humans can be pale, and that red contact lenses exist and stuff but...I don't know, he seemed odd. But I'd assume that's a normal reaction to seeing one of your kind."
"It isn't," Christopher revealed. "Which is what makes you suddenly more interesting."
"What do you mean?" Kayla wondered, looking slightly more apprehensive.
"Typically, when our kind are spotted, we tend to subconsciously employ psychologically manipulative tactics that prevent humans from perceiving us outright for the oddities that we are," Drayken explained. "This usually results in an air of confusion regarding anyone who does happen to spot us when we are not blending in as effectively as usual. People find that they cannot remember why we seemed different or odd; they fail to recognize and take note of our physical differences, such as our red eyes and our exceptionally pale skin. In some cases, we end up being forgotten by these people entirely. But this does not seem to have happened to you."
"So am I like...resistant to whatever it is that you guys do to stay hidden?" Kayla wondered.
"You may be," Drayken said.
"And what does that mean?"
"It means that you are now very important, and you will be a key part in a scheme that is currently taking shape in my mind," Christopher said, seeming slightly preoccupied as he stared off into space. "But we have to know for sure if you are...different. Is there anything else you can remember about any other vampire you may suspect that you have seen?"
"Well, no. Except for you," Kayla recalled.
Christopher scowled slightly. "Me?"
Kayla nodded. "Yeah. That night in the cafe when you came in for coffee. And you...well, I don't know what you did but it scared the hell out of me and I haven't forgotten it since."
Christopher's eyes started glowing softly. "Very intriguing," he muttered.
"Why?" Kayla asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Because," Christopher began, "you should not be able to remember what I did that night. It was a brief weaponization of terror itself, which was supposed to trigger a feeling of unease if you ever tried to find out more about me. But you were not meant to remember exactly what had happened."
Kayla's eyes widened. "Like the power going out and..."
"Exactly" Christopher said.
Drayken looked over at his friend. His eyes were glowing too. "Do you think..."
"There is one more thing I want to try," Christopher said. He flicked his head again, tossing his hair out of his face. Now that both of his eyes were visible, they began glowing a little more harshly than before. He stared dead ahead into Kayla's eyes.
"You will not remember any of this," he said. "The events of the last few days, as they are related to the discovery of vampires and everything we are doing in your town, will be lost to your mind and you will return to your life."
With that, the glow from Christopher's eyes dimmed somewhat.
There was silence.
No one said anything for a good while.
Kayla could hear her own heavy breathing.
At last, she spoke. "Okay so, I don't know what you just tried to do there, but it made me a little nauseous and gave me a slight headache. Other than that, nothing much has changed. And I...remember everything."
Christopher leaned back in his chair, his eyes once again glowing fiercely.
"We have found it," Drayken whispered. "One of the unveiled."
"Indeed we have," Christopher mused. "She can be the missing piece to an entirely new plan I am concocting, since from what I heard you tell these two young women earlier, our original scheme was a failure."
"Are you sure you want to employ her assistance?" Drayken asked. "Because I recall you were reluctant to bring a human into this operation. Especially one that would remember everything. Moreover, she will end up needing more in the way of explanation if we expect her to participate," Drayken realized.
"Indeed she will," Christopher agreed. "But all of that can be arranged."