The Vampire Legacy III; Familiar Souls (2 page)

* * * * *

"Charming young lady." Cristian said
and looked at the empty chair. "May I?"

"Please." Taryn answered and looked at
Bobbie, who was sucking on a lollipop. "So, Cristian what brings
you to this lonely neck of the woods anyway?"

"I needed a place away from home."
Cristian said and gave her a sly smile. Chris smiled and looked at
Bobbie. "Chris, here, has been nice enough to show me around most
of the college."

"Hey, Brenda Miller is having a party
tonight." Bobbie said and smiled at the two young men. "Maybe, you
two could come. Everybody is going to be there."

"Sounds fun." Cristian replied and
smiled back.

I can’t do
this
. Cristian said as he tightened the
black belt that was around his waist.
I
can’t believe I’m trying to fit in with mortals. Why do I think of
such things?

Cristian was looking at himself in the
mirror when he caught a glance of something peeking in the windows.
But, he was on the third floor, with no way to get up or around
that window. He cautiously walked over and looked outside. No one
was around, it was pitch-black outside.

He shrugged and walked out the bedroom
door and leaving it locked and dark, just like the
night.

* * * * *

I looked at the fire that was blazing
in front of me and I concentrated on the flames. I knew that there
was something about Cristian that set my body on fire, but I
couldn't pinpoint it, couldn't quite grasp the thought. I whispered
to myself, the prayers that the old woman had taught me to call
upon the spirits of the Earth, the way the old Indian shamans use
to, the way my ancestors use to.

I began to see things not quite real. A
castle, far away from where I sat in the woods behind the college,
it was dark and foreboding, towering high above the villages below
from a cliff that seemed to have been hidden in the clouds. I
watched the blood sacrifice and watched as the young men, three of
them took blood from the shining, red alter.

I saw the sword come crashing down as
it sliced the wrists of all three, a wound that should have never
been able to heal in that time was sealed in a matter of seconds,
right before my eyes. I knew these images to be true; I had seen
them depicted in the history book that I had gotten for my new
class.

I shouldn't be seeing these things.
They were not for my eyes, not for me to behold, but I couldn't
tear away and I watched them become worse and more grotesque. I saw
them take lives, the three of them; I watched them drink the blood
of their victims. I awoke from my trance suddenly, by a noise in
the woods. I looked around and found that only one word would
escape my lungs if I tried to call for help.

My breathing was very labored as I
stood and walked around the fire in a circle, quietly praying for
protection. I stopped and listened as a sound grew closer to me and
I looked in all directions finally finding out which it was coming
from. I turned and watched it emerge from the forest.

* * * * *

Cristian spotted Taryn and Bobbie as
they danced provocatively close to one another, but they seemed to
have no knowledge of anyone watching the two of them. They seemed
to be in their own little world. Taryn looked over towards
Cristian, as if she knew that he was looking at her, and smiled,
slyly, as she and Bobbie ground their hips together,
erotically.

When the song ended, the two parted as
if none of their dirty dancing had ever taken place. Taryn walked
over to Cristian, smiled and took his hand. Cristian looked at her
eyes and was caught in her brilliance; she was the first mortal to
do that to him.

"You looked beautiful out there with
Bobbie." Cristian said softly in Taryn's ear as they made their way
through the crowd, out into the back yard. "Do you always dance so
close?"

"Bobbie and I have a special
relationship." Taryn said softly and smiled. She looked at Cristian
and sighed. "You're the most amazing man I've ever laid eyes
on."

"I bet I am." Cristian said, softly,
and touched her cheek with his fingers. "Where's Sage?"

"She's not the party person." Taryn
replied. "Sage is an unusual girl."

"So, I've noticed." Cristian said and
smiled. Taryn put her hands on his face, and looked into his eyes.
"Don't you think we need to get to know each other
first?"

"Sure." Taryn said and pulled him
closer. "What a better way to start."

She kissed him softly on the lips, then
looked at him and smiled.

* * * * *

I looked into the black woods and
waited, then watched as a dark form walked over to the light, and I
saw his face. He was gorgeous, dark hair and deep brown eyes. He
was well built, but on the shorter side, though he was taller than
I was. I looked at him and smiled.

"You scared me." I told him.

"I do apologize, but, a young woman,
such as you, shouldn't be out here alone." He replied. I looked at
his face, and then took in his whole body. He was dressed in a
black dress shirt, with a tie, black dress pants and a knee-length
overcoat. I looked at him closely, as waves of danger swept over
me.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him
softly. My eyes narrowed in suspicion as he smiled.

"Looking for someone just like you." He
replied.

"Sure, we were meant for each other." I
replied, casually. "Now, tell me why you're really
here."

"These are my woods; I dwell in them,
live off their land, so to speak." He told me as he stepped closer
to me. I could feel him now, the feelings I had gotten from
Cristian were the same from this man, except much stronger. "You
seem upset. If I startled you, I do apologize."

"No." I said and shook my head. "You
don't need to apologize, it's just that, well, you feel like
Cristian to me, but you look nothing like him." I replied. I had
wanted to rephrase that, but my mind didn't seem to want to
work.

"I feel like Cristian?" He questioned.
"He's here, at the college?"

"Yes." I said, then looked at him and
took him all in again.

"You didn't know that he was here.
You're very distant from him, aren't you? What is your
name?"

"You don't want to know." He told me
quietly and with anger in his tone. He stood directly in front of
me in a split second, where he had been standing five feet away
only a second ago. "I can harm you, miss, but I don't want to do
that. I want you to give into me, willingly."

"You can go to hell." I said and
stepped back, against a tree. He moved closer to me and I looked
him in the eye. "You're darker than anything I've ever
met."

"I'm darker than anything you'll ever
meet again." He told me and leaned towards me, as he pushed his
body against mine.

"You still haven't told me your name."
I said and slipped away from him. "You must be Cristian's brother,
so, you're last name must be Kingston."

"No!" He yelled and looked at me. "Why
do you wish to know who I am before I kill you?" He asked and I
smiled at him.

"Because, vampires are rare. I am not,
so, I think I have the right to know the name of my killer." I told
him. He moved towards me, with an angry look on his face. He
knocked me over and laid his weight down on me. "I've always wanted
to be drained by a vampire." I mocked. "It's been one of my
fantasies."

"Shut up!" He ordered me and grabbed my
wrists. I smiled at him, feeling his anger, and to my surprise, I
liked it, but my smile seemed to make him angrier. "You want to
know my name? You wish it to be the last thing you ever hear?" He
asked viciously, and then shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I can't
do that."

He kissed me hard on the lips, a
passionate kiss that sent fire through my body, then he got up,
quickly, and left me there, laying on the ground. I watched him
walk away, then stop just before the woods and turn his head, so
his eyes looked right into mine. He almost seemed as if he weren't
there, except for his eyes.

"My name is Justin Tudorian, and you
can tell Cristian that I'm here." He disappeared from view,
suddenly. I sighed and looked at the sky.

"Justin, huh." I said softly and then
looked around. "I wonder what vampires are doing in these
woods?"

I got up and brushed myself off. I
didn't really believe that Justin was a vampire, but if that's how
he lived at night, then let him be, but how would it explain the
dark feelings I had gotten from him, feelings that I had warned
Taryn about when Cristian had shown interest.

* * * * *

Taryn and Cristian sat looking at the
city from Brenda Miller's back patio. They were the only ones out
there; it was very quiet. Taryn looked at Cristian and smiled,
cutely.

"Why doesn't Sage like you much?" Taryn
asked, looking into his face. "She gets such strange feelings from
you."

"I've just gotten stranger ones from
Justin." Sage's voice interrupted. They spotted her walking out of
the woods; Cristian watched her long skirt sway. Why was she so
captivating. "He decided to come and visit me in the
woods."

"Justin is here?" Cristian asked. Sage
nodded, as Cristian looked at Taryn and got up. "Taryn, I'll talk
to you tomorrow morning, I have to find someone." He kissed her,
quickly, on the cheek. "Goodnight."

Taryn watched him walk away and she
looked at Sage, who looked up at the sky. "Well, I never!" She
huffed. Sage smiled at her. "Sage, who's Justin?"

"Cristian's brother, I think, who
apparently isn't suppose to be here." Sage said, softly. "He told
me to tell Cristian."

"What the hell is going on here, Sage?"
Taryn asked. Sage looked at her and shrugged. She knew just about
as much of what was going on here as Taryn did, but she knew a
little more. "Are you going home?"

"Yeah, I'll see you in the morning at
breakfast." Sage told her and walked away, slowly. Taryn looked at
the woods, and then went to find Bobbie.

* * * * *

Cristian looked at the doused fire and
then looked round. He could feel Justin nearby. He knew his blood
brother was somewhere close. He turned in a circle, calling out to
Justin, with his mind, telling him to show himself.

"And, if I never decided to show
myself, never decided to tell you I was here?" Justin asked as he
stepped out of the woods. Justin looked over at him. "And, the
girl, what if I had never decided to tell her anything and just
killed her, what would you be doing right now?"

"That is your way, Justin, why didn't
you kill her?" Cristian asked.

"She intrigues me, and she wanted to
know my name. She knew exactly what I was and I'm attracted to
her." Justin told him. "But, what I want to know is why you are in
my territory."

"Your territory? I felt no signs of an
immortal in this area." Cristian said, softly.

"So, tell me, brother, what did bring
you here?" Justin asked. Cristian looked around and smiled. He
thought about what brought him there, the eyes in the darkness, the
whispers, the pulling that reeled him in like a fish on the end of
a line, but, he looked at Justin and sighed.

"Someone told me that there was plenty
of young blood at this college. This is a private, well diverse
place. I could have the pick of the litter and be very discrete
about it." Cristian replied. "I have found that he was quite
right."

"What do you know about this young
woman, the one who so bravely stood up to me?" Justin asked.
Cristian looked over at the ashes of the fire and
sighed.

"She's a witch." He replied and then
thought of Sage. "Quite powerful, but not nearly skilled enough to
use the powers against us. Her name is Sage Owens."

"Certainly, a name fit for a witch
isn’t it? Sage?" Justin sat down on the ground. "In all my immortal
days, I've never met a woman who makes me so mad, but, also makes
me feel so alive with...with..." he paused and shook his head, then
looked back at Cristian. "Oh, she's unique."

"Justin, we haven't been together in
almost two centuries, why would we, suddenly, end up here, in these
woods?" Cristian asked, looking at the sky.

"I've been here almost a year." Justin
smiled and stood up. "What brought me here was, oddly enough, a
feeling of being close to home."

"You don't think he's in the area, do
you?" Cristian asked, thinking about the third blood brother, the
one who disappeared.

"I would have known by now if he was.
New England isn't all that big, Cristian." Justin smiled at him
then looked at the sky. "The three of us together, once again. What
an interesting thought."

Cristian watched Justin walk off into
the woods, leaving him there to be by himself. Slowly, as the night
dragged on, Cristian made his way out of the woods, and slowly
across the campus. He found himself in front of a large red brick
building and slowly, as if commanded too, he looked up at one of
the high windows. There, silhouetted by a small candle near here,
was Sage, and she was looking down at him. He began to walk away,
but he kept his eyes on her, until the curtain closed.