The cold ones. Part 1, In two worlds

Chapter 14 - Cue the curiosity.

Kyans POV:

I stepped through the trees, trying to keep my footing light and my eyes on anything that seemed like an unnatural snap of a branch, footsteps in the mud or a scent to pick up on, as Zekan and twelve others did the same. I’ve been doing this tracking every day since I got here, some even twice a day, and now it was starting to piss me off. I was starting to really believe we were tracking nothing, just paranoia that someone or something was lurking out here and it just coming down to a new family of foxes or badgers… something as ridiculous as that!

I just wanted an answer! Something meaningless and stupid, so I could report it back to my father and be on my way back to Shelter Island! That human girl from Bluebay was constantly bugging me, the image of her face trying to pop its way into my head and her scent was f*****g everywhere! It didn’t help that the new girl my father was babysitting used soaps that reminded me of the scent. Every day I’m out searching the forests with my team, I’m constantly trying to resist the urge to sneak to her house, just to get a glimpse of her. So that I could see her again and realise she wasn’t as pretty as I remembered and feeling nothing around her aura to put my mind to rest and carry on just as I was before I met her.

“Found anything yet?” Zekan mouthed to me as he made his way closer.

I shook my head “No”, I mouthed back, and we went back to our search.

As much as I can’t be bothered with any problems from the humans, I’ll be pissed if it does turn out just to be foxes! Us out here tracking and searching like idiots.

I was about to search in a different direction when something caught my eye. I walked over to a snapped twig hanging off a tree with a ripped piece of blue material hanging off of it by a thread. I pulled it off carefully and held it in front of my nose. Breathing in, I tried to pick up a scent, but it only smelt like damp earth, the smell of fresh fallen autumn leaves that covered the forest floor. I tucked it in my pocket and headed in that direction, but with the constant flow of leaves falling, it was hard to uncover any tracks that may have been left behind. But unless foxes have learned how to make and wear clothes….. we either have something to worry about, or just the possibility of young humans daring each other on who could run the furthest into the forest. Because whoever was here didn’t exactly rush back to retrieve the piece of evidence they left behind!

After a few more hours of looking, all we returned home with was the one piece of material I had found, which wasn’t much to go on at all.

As soon as we got back, we all sat down at the main table and waited for my father to join us, to discuss the search, pretty much the same conversation we’ve had every day so far since my return and every meeting ended the same way…. Keep up with the searches, stick to the rotation of guarding at night!.

He finally came down from his room, greeted us all, then took his seat at the head of the table. As the oldest son, I was seated on his right and Zekan was to his left.

“What came of the search today?” He asked, looking around the table as my team waited for me or Zekan to answer.

“Not much, father”. I replied, “Apart from this”. I told him as I took the blue material out of my pocket and handed it to him.

He looked at it, then put it to his nose, just as I did. His senses may be stronger than mine, but I wasn’t surprised when he couldn’t smell anything either.

“All I can smell is earth!” he said, looking disappointed.

“That’s all I got too!”.

“Does that mean it might not be human?” Del from my search team asked.

“Not necessarily”. Father replied. We don’t know how long this has been out there. Do we know of any stray wanderers, human or vampire, that may have been this way recently?”

As soon as he asked that question, my thoughts went to that human girl in Bluebay. She was way past her border, and you could get to the river from the direction I found the material. As much as I didn’t want to, I thought back to that day I saw her and a clear image of her sitting by the river in a cream dress teased my head and I had to shove it away and get back to focusing on the meeting… but at least it ruled that out though, she had nothing blue on her.

Everyone replied with a sullen ‘no’. I think they were all becoming just as pissed off as I was, that our constant searches were leading to nothing.

“Ok, well, we need to keep at it. Until I feel we can ease up, I want the searches and the guarding on the towers to continue. Kyan, Zekan, let the rest of them know what shifts they’re partaking in and have Kiko join the searches. She’s fast and she’s done more than her share of guarding."

“Father”. Zekan spoke. “We have the evening gathering tomorrow, remember?”

“Oh yes, so we do! rather an awkward time for us to have visitors, but we will go ahead with it and instead, Zekan, you can take out a team in the morning and return by noon, then Kyan and his team can takeover in the afternoon”.

“Why don’t we just cancel the stupid gathering?” I asked, not in the mood to plaster on a smile, shake a dozen hands and deal with horny she-vamps swarming me!

“Kyan, you know we do one every year and, besides, it is much too late now, they’d already be on their way. And so no one misses the party, guarding can be swapped every two hours. I know we’re still trying to figure out what’s going on, but I will not have anyone miss the opportunity to see some of their old friends and family”.

“Ok father, then we’ll go ahead with it!” I agreed.

I knew really how much everyone enjoyed our yearly gathering. I’ll just sneak out of the party early and do the guarding myself! At least then Zekan can have the women all to himself, not to mention how funny it would be to see Lyra be taken down a peg or two. As seductive and sly as Lyra could be, she-vamps wouldn’t hesitate to get their claws out if it meant landing the son of a lord! Just so they could have the reputation of bedding one, or some even had the high hopes of tempting one to settle down with them!

HA! Well, no chance with me! In all my years, I haven’t met one she-vamp yet that took more than an hour to bed me, then actually have it in her head that I’d see her as a lifelong partner material! They all came and went the same way, happy to jump into bed with me, without me even having to try and woo or seduce her, then expecting me to get on bended f*****g knee the next day and ask for her to marry me. I hate to say it, but most of the time, I wouldn’t even know their names, that’s how quickly they rushed me to my room and got naked before I even had chance to f*****g ask!

“Zekan, baby, you’re back!” Lyra’s shrill voice echoed as she strutted down the stairs, interrupting our meeting!

“Lyra, we’re still talking, I’ll be up in a minute!” Zekan replied and to my annoyance she just ignored him and continued to walk over to him then draped her skanky arms all over him like a needy cat!

“Well, I want some company!” She practically purred, in his ear but loud enough for us all to hear, even in the presence of my father!

“Lyra, we’ll be done in a moment. Go back upstairs!” He told her, looking embarrassed as he took one of her arms off of his chest.

“MMmm babyyyy!”. She purred again.

The sudden slam of the end of my father's cane banged on the floor, as he stomped it loudly with a furious expression.

“LYRA! YOU WERE TOLD TO GO BACK UPSTAIRS! YOU HAVE RUDELY INTERUPPTED OUR DISCUSSION, JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE BORED! IF YOU WANT SOMETHING TO DO, THEN BE USEFUL AND TAKE OVER GUARDING ONE OF THE TOWERS!” my father scolded.

Lyra stood up straight, her body stiff from his sudden outburst, she cleared her throat and, sticking her chin in the air like she was f*****g royalty, made her way back up the stairs.

I got to admit, it’s not often at all that my father gets like that, but when he does, he even manages to shut me up! He might be getting on in his years now, but he’s definitely not someone I’d want to go head to head with and any fucker is a fool who tries to. He might look a little worn on the surface, but his strength and speed has always been held in high regard, which is how he’s managed to hold his title as lord without it being scathed or tested. I could go to any home of my kind and as soon as I speak my father’s name, they all know who he is, and they all have the same look on their faces like.. Wow, s**t! Talon’s your dad? You’ll get no trouble from us!

As soon as the discussions for tomorrow were done, I decided to have my dinner alone in my room. It was the only place I could go where that human girl’s scent wasn’t so noticeable. But as my room was close to my father’s, every now and then the smell of that new girl’s soap would sift through and catch me off guard. I wonder if the new girl knows of the human girl in Bluebay? Who f*****g cares? It’s not like you’re going to barge into her room and ask her! Then feel father’s wrath!..... definitely not! Anyway, it’s just a dumb human girl from that waste of a town!