The cold ones. Part 1, In two worlds

Chapter 21- Blurred enigmas.

Kyans POV:

One week later.

I was supposed to be researching more into the dagger that was found, yet here I am staring out the window at her, like a weird, perverted stalker! I was more intrigued at how she managed to get my father out to the gardens for the second time. He always seemed to find more peace in his quarters, but out there… he was smiling, he looked calm, he even seemed to be enjoying himself as she handed him another bird feeder to hang in a nearby tree.

It seemed like a ridiculous thing to do, but also just… warming! Something so simple, something we’ve never once done before. Now seeing her do it, it just seems so logical and humble to give the little creatures a helping hand. I watched as her hair slightly waved whenever there was a gentle breeze, and I could hear her laugh and see her smile whilst she looked so at ease with my father. There was no hesitation from her as she took hold of his arm, no wariness or fear. Every time she laughed, it awakened my heart with an odd flipping kind of feeling.

The birds were now practically swarming them as they hung more feeders in the trees. I saw as my father lifted her by her waist, like a feather, to help her reach the high branches so she could hang some herself. The slight pang of jealousy that shot through me, didn’t go unnoticed, for some bizarre reason, there was something inside of me that was wanting to be the one out there with her instead.

I tried not to, but my legs didn’t listen as I shot away from the window and didn’t stop moving until I was at the rear doors and standing in the doorway, her laugh even more affective now!

“Kyan! You want to join us?” Father asked as he carefully set Ellie back on her feet and I tried to ignore her gaze as it fell on me.

“I heard you were out here, I wanted to make sure it was safe”. I lied, but I wasn’t exactly going to admit I was watching and, for some reason unknown to me, I wanted to be the one helping Ellie.

“It is, look we have four others watching out”. He replied as he motioned to four of our kind, their eyes trained on their surroundings, watching and listening for any noise and movement.

“Well, I’ll leave you to it then”. I said, suddenly wondering why I came out here and lied like some fool.

“Actually” he called out, making me pause just as I turned to leave. “Ellie still has some seed to put out and there is something I must tend to now. I know she had a run in with Lyra yesterday”. He said, looking annoyed as he started walking over. “Keep an eye on her and once she’s done, escort her back to my suite, I know she still doesn’t feel safe on her own”.

“Seriously father, I have things to tend to as well, I’m not here to babysit a human!” I replied a little louder than I had meant to as I saw Ellie’s eyes move from me to the snow covered grass, looking slightly saddened. f**k sake! My head drummed, feeling bad for speaking too loudly. Feel and? Feel f*****g bad? She’s a human! And I do have other things to do! I quickly reprimanded myself.

“Kyan, I am telling you to watch over her just for a moment and YOU will do it!” Father commanded, looking a lot less patient now I dampened his mood, along with Ellie’s!

Wow! I sure know how to piss people off rather quickly! I groaned in my head.

“Fine, I won’t leave her on her own, I promise!... is that better?”

“You know son!” Father looked at me thoughtfully as he clasped his hand on my shoulder. “She’s the one away from her home, not you, so why not show a little more understanding!” He whispered, before loosening his hand and walking away.

I know he was right in what he said. My father, for some reason, still managed to show compassion to humans even after everything they’ve taken from us. But for me, newcomers…. Are a threat, temporary, dumb, just running their lives off of the pathetic legends and tall tales they’ve been taught in their f****d up version believing they’re innocent and so far removed from anything sinful and we’re the only ones to blame, we’re the only ones that deserve to die!

But I chose to watch her… again! I just felt drawn to her, she was quiet now, her smile was gone just with her laughter… Obviously, I have that effect! But she looked….. soft, content as she flicked and tossed bird seed across the ground.

Before I could look away, her eyes averted to me and caught me off guard as my chest tightened and I felt suddenly stuck to the floor.

“Would you like to do some?” She asked in her soft, timid voice as she held out her hand, full of seed for me to take.

“No” I quickly replied, shaking my head.

“It might not look like much fun, but it’s actually rather satisfying and calming. You might enjoy it?”

“No”. I replied again and she slowly drew her hand back, looking disappointed.

“You know…”She spoke quietly, clearing her throat as she threw around more seed “Your father, he’s…. he’s a very warm, kind man, so I wonder, if perhaps deep down you and your brother are the same!”. She said almost like a question, but more a thought she wanted to voice out loud but had hoped for a positive answer. As she kept glancing at me with those damn blue eyes! But I didn’t answer, I just merely averted my gaze elsewhere, hoping she’d back off and not make this baby sitting so damn uncomfortable!

“Well, I’m ready to go back in now. I don’t want to keep you out here any longer as you clearly don’t want to be”. She said as she marched over, but she didn’t look angry…if anything she looked awkward… perhaps I wasn’t exactly subtle in portraying what I was feeling.

“Ok”. I simply nodded as we walked back inside.

She took her time walking though, like she was in no rush to go back, and I didn’t blame her. My father’s rooms might be the biggest and more expensive decorated ones here, but who would want to be cooped up in a couple of rooms all day. So, even though there was something on my mind I wanted to see to, I thought I’d pace myself this time and let her have her slow walk back and it also meant I got to be around her scent a little longer.

As we walked through with just faint sounds of people talking or walking around in the distance, we took each step in silence and I started to wonder if she was afraid of me… she didn’t seem to be the first two times we met, she’s definitely more stand offish… not that I’ve been any better… my thoughts were rambling, until her little voice cut them short.

“You know, I read in a book once, that if vampires go out into the sun or daylight they burn”. She chuckled shyly. “But now I’ve seen a few of you out there and there’s definitely been no flames or vaporizing”.

“Hmmm”. I mumbled, knowing how dumb most of what they learn is.

“So, does it not affect you at all?”

“Well, we don’t burn, that’s for sure! But it does slow us down and will tire us out, depending on the visibility of the sun”.

“Sooo, like today… it doesn’t have much effect?”

“No, the sun was barely visible and because of the coldness of the earth, even if there hadn’t been any clouds today, it would slowly tire us, but after a short rest, we’d be back to normal”.

“Soo, when its summer and spring… is that when you have to hide away the most?”

I shook my head at her question. “We don’t really hide away. Unless we have a reason to make sure we’re not weakened, then we sometimes tend to bask in it a little, I guess”.

“Hmmm, so have you ever been to a beach? On a summer's day?”

“Of course, I have!” I answered with a chuckle which caused her to look at me with a mesmerising smile and it made my stomach jolt.

“Soo, you’d suck at any beach sports then, if you get tired quickly?” She grinned. “If I was to play beach ball or soccer with one of you, I’d kick ass!”

I couldn’t help but smile back, she was bewitching. “Oh, against you!.... I’d definitely still win, I could lie in the sun all day and still beat you, without even needing a rest, it would just be like playing against a little hamster or something!” As much as I got caught up in the back and forth talk between us, I wish I hadn’t because the laughter that came out of her, just made me want to make her laugh more. Her hand flew up to her mouth as she let out a loud chuckle and a scoff, before giving me a daring look, and I just felt like I was stuck watching and listening to every word she said and every sweet noise she made.

“Did you just compare me to a hamster?” She scoffed with a smile, trying to give me a daggering look, only that heart stopping smile of hers let it down immediately and I fell for it like a fool! I let myself give in to curiosity and her smile. As we finally reached my father’s doors, instead of opening them, pushing her in and walking away, I found myself not ready to end whatever it was that was happening right now.

“HEY!” She scolded as she playfully hit my arm, when I failed to answer. “You know they’re like tiny and fluffy, right?? They live in a tiny cage, they’re no bigger than my hand!” she grinned as she held her small warm hand up in front of me to prove a point.

And giving into temptation, I decided to play even more. “Well, you’re not exactly towering over anyone, are you? You tend to squeak like one too!” I joked as I resisted my mouth from stretching into a smile of its own.

“Uhhh, I don’t squeak!” She frowned, looking a little insulted. Her smile was still there but I could see in her eyes she was trying to work out if I meant it as a joke or not.

“Brother!” Zekan’s voice came out of nowhere as he suddenly came up behind me. “What you doing? You wanna look into this thing or not?” He asked, already looking impatient.

I looked back to Ellie and her demeanour had already changed, she went from smiling to looking as though she was about to have to fight for her life. I opened the door, and her eyes lingered on me for a moment, then she stepped in and closed the door before I had a chance to. Damn! I didn’t tell her it as a joke! I scolded myself.

“Well come on then!” Zekan spoke again as he threw his arm over my shoulder, and we walked to the library.

“Let’s have another look at it then!” He said once we got inside the room. I reached into the inner pocket of my jacket and pulled out the thick velvet cloth. I set it on the table and unwrapped it to uncover the dagger.

“Father said he’s seen these marks on it before, he recognises it as some sort of branding. But he can’t recall what!” I reminded Zekan, so we could pick up where we left off.

“Well, we do know one thing, if he’s sure he’s seen it before and the carvings belong to a group of something, then we had better start training regimes again! For all we know, we could be hugely outnumbered. We don’t want to be outskilled as well”.

“I agree. Both of us will have to lead a group each, once a day in the training room. But we also need to fit in time to go hunting and carry on with the search”.

“If the dagger was found close to Bluebay, why don’t we just have a few of us wait close by, see if anyone passes through?”

“You know we can’t authorise that without father’s permission. I can’t imagine him thinking it’s a good idea that some of our kind are lurking around their border”.

“Well, we can run the idea past him, they’ll be told to keep their distance, of course. But for all we know, Kyan, it could be the humans up to something… isn’t it best we know sooner?”

“We’ll ask. But whether he agrees or not, we’re going to have to limit the hunts. Four at a time, once a week, we’ll add more supplies for the next shipment. That way, we have more than enough to sustain us in between hunts.

“And the search?”

“We split into three groups. At first light every morning, one group heads out and each morning it alternates, training will take place after. I’ll lead a team of eight, you can lead another, and we can place Kiko in charge of a team of five”.

“Sounds good. What about Lyra?”

“What about her?” I frowned in confusement.

“Well, we can let her lead a team, instead of Kiko”.

I shook my head in disbelief. “Brother, Lyra’s better at running her mouth than she is actually defending someone from harm. I trust Kiko to look after our clan while they’re out there”.

“You mean you don’t trust Lyra to do the same?”

“No! Honestly, Zekan, no I don’t. I don’t trust her to lead a team carefully, or to act in their best interest, or keep them safe and I don’t trust her to not act selfishly!”

“She’s one of us Kyan, she deserves a chance!”

“She’s been given chances, Zekan and half the time all she does is cause more problems. She’s constantly thinking only of herself and that is not someone I will put in charge of peoples lives that OUR father is responsible for! You know what he'd say if he found out!”

“She could very well prove you wrong!”

“Zekan!” I sighed heavily. “I think we’ve known her long enough to know that won’t happen! And if it wasn’t for the fact that you chose to have some sort of relationship with her, Father would have sent her somewhere else a long time ago. She’s only still here because of you!”

“You’re just saying that cause you don’t like her!”

“No, brother, I’m saying it because no one likes her”.

I could tell by the tightness of his frown he was a bit pissed by what I said and as much as I don’t like having Zekan angry with me, I wouldn’t take back things I know were true and deep down he knew the same, perhaps it was him that needed her to prove herself.

“Look, we better get to planning out the schedules. We can put them up in the training room. We’ll speak with father tonight and he can hold a meeting with them all in the morning and let them know”.

Zekan just nodded in agreement, grabbing the white flip board and marker pens as we then started going over our plans and putting teams together, ignoring any animosity from our previous conversation.