[Rewritten] The Family Secret - Voices of Beasts (Book 1)

Chapter 1

Around 1930, New York City

"Horatio, I'm telling you something funny is going on here." Dexter said, his tall lanky form hunched over in the chair in their break room, his brown haired head in his hands. Horatio looked at his friend skeptically.

"Dexter, I think the stress of the job's got you losing your head."

"I know what I SAW, and Jimmy's STILL not here this week!"

"Maxus and Ivan are mobsters, Jimmy probably tried to squeal and they had to make him disappear. That's on him for not acting right. But there's no way that Ivan grew his teeth and ripped Jimmy's throat out."

"But I saw it happen!" Dexter said as he stood and and threw his arms up and to his sides.

"Shaddup and relax, they're both good employers, and as long as you don't go talkin about this with anyone else, we'll both keep our jobs and our heads." Horatio replied, looking up at Dexter's stressed face. His green eyes were still panicked, but he tried to relax himself. Horatio ran his hand along his short black hair and rubbed his brown eyes behind his glasses.

"Fine, I'll relax. At least until someone else goes missing when Ivan gets angry again." Horatio rolled his eyes at the comment and started making them some coffee. Before their break ended, they talked about heading out to the bar after work and what they planned to do after this gig. But before they headed back into work, a large, intimidating looking dark blond haired man with dark eyes came into the break room. Terrifying, taller than Dexter by almost half a foot, and a strong silent type around the workplace, the both of them gulped as he pointed at Horatio.

"Maxus wants you."  The large man's voice was still heavily laced with a Russian accent, which made Dexter shake in his work boots. Horatio stood and followed him out, coffee still in his hand, and once they closed the door behind them and got around the corner, Horatio and Ivan broke down into uproarious laughter.

"He's so afraid of you!" Horatio chuckled.

"I know, it makes no sense!" Ivan laughed.

"Well...He's been saying that he saw you rip Jimmy's throat out with your teeth."

"What is he going on about?" 

"Apparently he was over near Maxus' office, saw you and Jimmy talking with him in a chair, and you two got to arguing so he peeked in to see what was happening. He said you grew your teeth and bit into his throat then ripped it right out." Horatio shook his head at the ridiculous notion. "The noise he said Jimmy made sounded like a monster screech from what he was tryin."

“Horatio, listen. Maxus and I have something to tell you.” Ivan began as they walked into the office. Sitting at the desk was a bright blond long haired man with dark neon green eyes, his face from under the nose down and most of the front of his suit were coated in blood, and his teeth were long and sharp. Horatio was speechless, and Ivan kept a strong hand behind him, just in case he fell over or passed out.

“I...Ivan...What…” Horatio stammered in shock. Maxus looked up and realized he wasn’t alone, then clamored to throw on his blazer and wipe the blood from his face. He then stood and with inhuman speed rushed over to Horatio. He flinched away from his boss in shock.

“Horatio, calm down. It’s alright, everything’s okay.” Maxus stood half a foot taller than Horatio, at 5 '11 that wasn’t difficult, but he crouched to get at his eye level.

“Maxus...What are you?” He managed to struggle out.

“My boy, Ivan and I are vampires. We have an offer to make you, so if you could stay conscious long enough, it’s of utmost importance that we get this discussed today.”

After an hour long talk, Horatio had been completely filled in on who and what Maxus and his closest crew really were. Maxus was the leader of the Colonies Covens, which reached across the original 13 states of the US. He was here in the city with Ivan and his wife, Quinn the Receptionist, helping the newest coven in the area settle in and he was about to choose a head of this coven to govern while he and the happy couple went upstate to head back home. Tonight was the night he would announce his choice, and tomorrow they would be gone and this section of the docks would go to the new coven.

“So let me get this straight, you three not only aren’t human, you’re a handful of vampires far away from home, but you’re all going to be gone by morning and not a damn one of you told me until today?” Horatio asked, a tinge of anger in his voice.

“That’s the thing, we want you to come with us. We’ve only been here this long because I had to get approval from my boss to recruit you through the proper means and tell you about what we are.” Maxus explained.

“Who could you possibly report to that would be higher than you?” 

“The Original King of Hell.”

“Like Satan?” Horatio asked incredulously.

“No, Satan is far from the Original King. He stole the Kingdom from an all powerful demon named Azaran. Azaran is the reason we all exist as Inhumans, so he helps us run our families and helps us do damage control to keep our existence a secret. He prefers we get approval before we just randomly turn and recruit a human.”

“So you want to recruit me? Turn me into a vampire?”

“Only if you agree. If not, you go back to your day to day life and remember nothing of what we’ve told you today.” Maxus was sitting on his desk in front of Horatio, patiently waiting for his answer. He had near begged Azaran and the other two fates to turn another human, since he had just turned Quinn ten years ago for Ivan. The Fates didn’t much like the thought, but they knew that Maxus was a responsible leader, and was very good at finding strong vampire candidates.

“I...I’ll do it.” Horatio said, just a slight hinge of nervousness in his voice. Maxus smiled happily, but Ivan clapped his hand on Horatio’s shoulder.

“Are you sure? There’s no going back, and you seem hesitant.”

“I have nothing left out here. My parents are both gone, my siblings don’t speak to me anymore, the only human contact I get is Dexter, and he won’t miss me if he doesn’t remember me.”

“Then why the hesitation?” Maxus asked curiously.

“Giving up my humanity, watching the world move on essentially without me, it’s a strange thought. I won’t be able to have children…”

“That last part is not true. Male vampires still have everything work, you could easily sire children when you’re ready. We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. Now, I’m assuming you’re in?” Horatio watched his fangs drop, he gulped and then nodded.

“Then welcome to the Family, Horatio.”