Dhampirs of Sgiach

31. Kieran

Kieran had been traveling for three days. Following his gut instinct to find the damn rat. Martin had gone north to the Snow Shroud Mountains. He pulled into the parking lot of a shifter bar in some backwater mountain town.

When Kieran entered the bar, people went silent and looked at him. He saw them scent the air and heard the growls of a few of the shifters as he walked up to the bar.

“We don’t serve your kind, dhampir. Even if you’re one of the Luris’rin’Ley,” the old bartender said in a rough voice. Stature-wise, the man reminded Kieran of Mr. Harrelson. Old and wiry with skin like old leather. That’s where the similarities ended though. The man’s slanted eyes were rich brown and showed a sharp mind looking out.

“I just have a few questions,” Kieran said as he sat at the bar. From the scents in the room, there were a couple of humans but most of the shifters were wolves with a couple of foxes and bears. “I’m coming through as Third Prince of the Exagora Blood Oak Sleuth.”

“So you’re the bastard Grizzly Auron adopted.”

A tall man leaned against the bar next to Kieran and fixed him with his sapphire gaze. His black hair was cut short at the top and Kieran noticed the long Sah wrapped braid at the base of his skull. He wore a simple leather jacket over a white shirt and jeans and a black hilted Yisran sword was at his hip.

“Sah, a master’s sword, and sapphire eyes. You must be Alpha Ragnar of the War Blossom Pack,” Kieran said as he met those cold sapphire eyes with his own amber eyes.

Ragnar sniffed at Kieran and sneered at him. “I smell the blood in you. Has that Grizzly finally grown a pair?”

“I’m sure my father has sent word of the wererat, Martin Diaz. Have there been any wererats that have come through recently?” Kieran chose to ignore the Alpha’s jab at his father. Rising to the bait won’t help me.

“Kyto already told you that we don’t serve your kind. Come back when you have completed the change from Luris to Lurah and then we can talk,” Ragnar said dismissively and waited expectantly for Kieran to leave.

Kieran laughed. He couldn’t help it. “Oh? Do you really think I’m stupid enough to believe that? You’ll still claim I’m too much of a dhampir,” he said the word with the disgust Ragnar felt for Kieran’s kind, “for you to sully your clean and pure bloodline of Lurah’rin’Elkin by speaking to me. Let alone help me find an enemy of the Blood Oak Sleuth.”

He got up from the bar and looked up into those sapphire eyes. “If you find the wererat, the Sleuth wants him dead or alive.” Kieran turned from the Alpha and walked out of the bar.

Snow had begun to fall and Kieran shivered lightly as he looked up into the fat flakes. The three moons in the sky were almost full and the clouds hiding them seemed to accuse him for leaving home without telling anyone or taking his phone. Kage and Echo are probably fuming right now. Kieran chuckled to himself as he started his bike and rode away from the bar. As he left, he caught sight of the Alpha watching him leave.

There was a small neighborhood outside of the town that had a cheap motel. The scent of dhampirs hung heavy in the air as Kieran pulled into the parking lot. The girl at the counter in the main office of the motel looked tired as she idly flipped through the magazine on the counter.

She was pretty, with smooth olive skin and raven black hair. Her slanted eyes were a rich warm brown and seemed to brighten slightly when Kieran entered. Until she took in his hair and eyes. “The Frostfangs don’t like your bloodline,” she said in a melodic voice, and he caught sight of her fangs as she spoke.

Kieran leaned on the counter and smiled pleasantly. “I only need a room for the night. And to pass on a warning to your community.”

The girl raised an eyebrow at that. “A warning?”

“Yes. There is a wererat by the name of Martin Diaz who’s looking for a Luris’rin’Ley to turn into a Lurah and use to turn dhampirs. He has a rat hybrid and the collars,” he explained. “Grizzly Auron Ursine has also put out a bounty on the rat for crimes against the Blood Oak Sleuth.”

She shivered at the mention of the collars. “I’ll pass on the warning,” she finally said and set Kieran up with a room for the night. As she was handing him the key she looked up into his eyes with a strange expression as she chewed her lower lip. “Can I ask you something?”

Kieran raised an eyebrow. “Sure. I can’t guarantee I’ll have an answer.”

“Are you willing to help someone find someone? My boyfriend found out recently that he has a twin, but when he reached out to the Obsidian Luris and Lurah they refused to help. Even the Sgiach’rin’Furians refused,” she said in a rush.

And that was the irritating thing about the Furian ability to find things. Sometimes Kieran would find something he didn’t want to find.

“I can assume you are dating a Frostfang,” he said as his eyes went hard, and his fangs ached as they extended. The girl swallowed and nodded. “No.”

“Why not?”

“Your boyfriend’s twin was abandoned because they were born with Yua’s power, not Noctis’s. If one of them asks me to seek your boyfriend’s family out, then I will return with them. But it will be the Nephilim’s choice.”

“He’ll pay,” the girl tried to convince him.

Kieran shook his head. “It’s not about the money. I’ve seen what happens when a dhampir is abandoned as a child for something they had no choice in. It’s not pretty.” The memory of Kage the night he had met the sweet incubus played through his mind. He never wanted to see Kage like that again or see the pain in his eyes if he was ever confronted with the people who abandoned him before he could even remember them.

“Will you at least talk to my boyfriend? He just wants to meet his twin if he can,” she asked.

Kieran paused as he thought of that.

“Fine,” Kieran relented. Not sure how Kage would take it if he didn’t at least speak to the guy. He left the office and went up to the room.

It had all the trappings of a cheap motel room but with the bonus of being clean. Definitely cleaner than the motel I’d sneak out to with Lacey, he thought to himself as he sat on the bed. It was hard, but not to the point of being unbearable. His stomach growled to remind him that he hadn’t eaten yet today.

He sighed and pulled the pill case out of his pocket and opened it. Inside were two bloodred crystals, about the size of rock candy. The third crystal was the color of an amethyst. Kieran took one of the red crystals and popped it in his mouth. It tasted like fresh blood and had the consistency of rock candy.

Power flowed through his body in painful tingles that threatened muscle spasms. He groaned and curled in on himself as he shook and shivered. His fangs extended. Kieran wanted to run as he heard the sweet call of the moons hidden by the clouds. But he was trapped in this body that wasn’t made to run and hunt. No claws to s***h and tear.

The power began to subside and Kieran was left on the bed, curled up and shaking. A knock on the door startled him and he hissed before his mind fully cleared from the blood crystal and he remembered the girl from the office and her request.

When Kieran opened the door, a pang of guilt shot through his chest as he looked into Kage’s face with a stranger’s eyes. The only differences that Kieran could see were the sapphire eyes, the more masculine cut of his face, and his hair. Cut short on top with the traditional braid in the back. He even had the pure white Sah of the Winter Sword wrapped around it. He wore a jacket over a hooded dark blue sweatshirt and jeans with low-cut snow boots.

Kieran kept his face blank as he opened the door more to face the stranger. “You’re the one looking for his twin?”

The man’s eyes were wide as he looked at Kieran and Kieran had to repeat the question again before he shook his head and finally answered. Kage’s voice was generally higher than most guys, so it was a little jarring to hear a deeper voice from that face. “Yeah. Wow… your eyes really are amber. And that hair!”

Excitement crept into the man’s voice. Yep, this guy is definitely related to Kage.

“Do you have a name?” Kieran asked.

The man pushed into the motel room and looked around as he answered, “Hikaru. So, how does the finding work?”

Kieran frowned at Hikaru as he shut the door. “I think of what I wish to find and find it. Why do you want to find your twin?”

Hikaru sat on the bed and looked at Kieran. “I feel like I’m missing something and one of my cousins let slip that I have a twin. I want to find them. You know?” He picked at the hem of his shirt in a similar way Kage picked at Mrs. Squawkle or a snack cake when he was uncomfortable.

“I don’t know,” Kieran said as he picked up the pill case and put it in his pocket. “Your twin could be dead. Kids on the streets don’t always survive.”

“I know that. But you’re a Furian, you’re able to find them even if they’re dead. I read recently that a Luris’rin’Furian in Exagora found the bodies of thirteen dhampirs that had been murdered by a serial killer,” Hikaru said as he looked up at Kieran hopefully.

I guess Reynolds had to explain how he found those bodies, Kieran thought to himself. “So you want closure?”

Hikaru thought about that for a moment before he nodded. “Yeah.”

“And if they’re alive and don’t want to know you?”

“I just want to meet them. If they don’t want to know me, I won’t push it.”

Kieran watched Hikaru for a while before he finally nodded. “Fine. But if you push it, I’ll intervene.” He turned to the door and opened it again before he gave Hikaru a pointed look.

Hikaru brightened and stood up. “I’ll go get my stuff and be back.” Kieran raised an eyebrow at that. “I’m not letting you slip out without me.”

“I need to finish my hunt.”

“I’ll help. I’m not bad with my sword or a rifle. And Mika is a gun nut.”

“Mika?” Kieran asked.

“My girlfriend.”

“Fine, whatever,” Kieran sighed and watched the other dhampir leave. He waited a bit then slipped through the shadows to the convenience store on the counter.

He was back in the room, eating microwave noodles when Hikaru came back with a backpack, rifle, and a white-hilted sword.

“Do you have your own transportation? You’re not riding b***h with me,” Kieran asked as he set his empty container on the bedside table.

Hikaru made an odd face. “Yes.”

Kieran nodded and held out his hand. “Let me see your sword and rifle.”

“Why?”

“We’re going against someone who committed crimes against the Exagora werebear Sleuth. I’m not going to hold your hand, but it would be a shame if your rifle backfired into your face,” Kieran said flatly as he waited patiently.

Hikaru grumbled under his breath as he set the two weapons in front of Kieran. The sword was the normal Yisran sword that followers of the Winter Sword used and well cared for. The rifle was an older model of Kieran’s bolt rifle and hadn’t been cleaned properly in a while. “Do you even know how to clean this?”

“Yes,” Hikaru said defensively.

“Show me.”

They spent the next hour breaking down and cleaning the rifle. Kieran going into the same painstaking detail that Mr. Harrelson and others had gone into when Kieran learned how to take care of his firearms. Hikaru grumbled the whole time but listened intently and seemed to soak in Kieran’s words like a sponge.