The PulseTeam, Book One: Origins

Chapter Twenty-Seven: The Fall Of An Empire

Part One: The Fury Of The Pulse

A benefit that comes from nigh-invulnerable skin is that pain comes to you at an all-time no. When we get home, I spend a lot of alone time with my sister in the dining hall. We talk, and talk, and talk some more. We talk until she falls asleep.

When she falls asleep, I carry her upstairs to her room, put some pajamas on her (I swear I didn't look), and I put her to bed. And she deserves every ounce of rest that she can get. She's had a very full sixteen years.

I, however, go down to the Cave immediately after to train off my anger. All while I was talking to Serenia, I was angry. No matter how much I laughed during our conversation, I was furious. I was (and still am) angry at her father for turning her into a vampire and abusing her, and I was (and I think still am) angry at my mother for just leaving her there in that hellhole.

So, I train. On rock. Barefoot. Every jagged stone column destroyed is a piece of my anger, gone. The only problem is that, the more and more I think about what happened to Serenia, the more and more my rage is fueled. And there's only so much rock in the Cave. At some point, something's gotta give, right? Right. The rock. In that respect, I'm like the Hulk: The angrier I get, the more and more unstoppable I become. And the harder it is for me to think clearly. Which is why I'm training on rock. Barefoot.

Suddenly, I hear behind me, "David? Why is it so noisy down here?"

I spin around and I see Serenia back in her bodysuit. Baffled, I cock my head to the side for a split second, then shrug it off. Then she looks around, and asks, "Why are you barefoot on all these rocks?"

"I'm just training," I reply.

"Training," she says.

"Yeah, training," I reply.

"Then where's the punching bag?"

I motion to the remaining rock columns, smile, and say, "You're lookin' at 'em."

"You're joking, right?" she asks in disbelief. "I don't care how much martial arts you know; you could really hurt yourself!"

I chuckle and say, "Watch and learn, big sis..."

And I start leveling column after column. When I stop, she just stands there, eyes wide and mouth gaping.

I laugh and tap her chin as I walk past her. "Close your mouth, dear. You don't know what you'll catch down here."

I go to one of the fridges near the training area, and as I grab an ice cold water to cool myself off, I hear a thud. Before I turn around, I mutter under my breath to DEELEX, "DEELEX, record everything from this point on. You'll know when to stop."

"Recording, sir," she says.

I turn around, and I see a man in a nineteenth century suit and a cape with a flared collar kneeling over my unconscious sister, stroking her cheek with the back of his hand.

I squeeze my unopened bottle and it explodes. Almost unable to think, I growl out, "If you desire to keep your hand, you will remove it from her face. Immediately."

"So," the man says with a thick old-country accent, standing straight up, "you are the one who has stolen my daughter from me. Unless you want to give me the lives of all your friends and family, you will let me take her."

"You are her father?" I ask.

"Unfortunately for you, I am," he replies. "And you are the son of a sow who tried to leave with my property."

"Property...?" I ask in confusion. Then it hits me: He's talking about... "Serenia."

Then it all comes together in my head, and I am no longer angry at my mother. "Our mother did leave without Serenia, but not by choice. She tried to take Serenia with her! And when Mom left and came back to that house's former location, it was already gone, and she couldn't even begin to know where to look for it."