Inheritance (The Dark Gifts) (5 page)

Looking down into her brightened face, he exhaled and allowed her to drag him across the threshold.

Large and open, the living room had a homey feel.  Eight evenly-spaced, cedar beams spanned the ceiling sporting rows of baskets filled with dried flowers and herbs.  A massive stone fireplace on the East wall was the focal point of the room.  Three blue gingham couches arranged in a U shaped pattern surrounded an oversized coffee table and offered a cozy view of the fire. 

The fireplace sparked Jason's memory.  He vaguely remembered sitting by the fire with his father roasting marshmallows, while his mother told stories. 

Shana left the room for a moment, and returned with a large wooden tray holding a plate piled with sandwiches and three glasses of lemonade.  Placing the tray on the coffee table, she said, “Here we are.  You two look starved.  Have a seat and we’ll catch up.”

Jason and Sarah looked at each other in confusion, before sitting as requested.  Ridged and unmoving, Jason glared at the woman.  If she was related to them, why did she leave them to fend for themselves instead of taking them in?  What kind of
family
did they come from?  The more he thought, the more his anger began to build.

“Well let’s don’t all talk at once, shall we?”

Uncomfortable in the permeating silence, Sarah shifted in her seat. 

Jason turned his gaze to the fireplace. 

Smiling, Shana continued.  “Sarah, you look so much like me, it's uncanny!  Why, except for our hair color, you're the spitting image of me when I was your age.” 

Sarah returned her smile and nodded.  Now that she had an honest to goodness living family member sitting in front of her, she couldn't find words to say.

Not receiving the desired reaction from the girl, Shana turned to work her charms on the brother.  “And Jason, what a strapping young man you've turned out to be.  You know, even as a small boy, you were big for your age.  We always thought you'd be a big man when you grew up, but I don't think any of us ever thought you'd be this huge.”  Her voice grew soft, almost caressing in its tone, “You look so much like your father.  But you have other features as well.  See that picture on the mantle?”

His eyes moved over the many silver framed photos resting on the mantle.

Pointing, she said, “That one on the end.  That's my daddy, your grandfather.  You bare a resemblance to him, too.  I think you get your size from him, and your dashing good looks from your father.”

“Aunt Shana, Who is the dark haired man in the photo with our grandfather?”  Sarah interjected.

“Oh, he's my husband Thomas.  He was a looker in his younger days, don't you think?”

Jason made a grunting noise, but offered no conversation.  Still scanning the pictures, he was surprised there were none of his parents. 
I guess it's out of sight out of mind with them.  If they don't have to look at us, they'd never have a reason to feel guilty about being such worthless human beings.
 

Shana spotted the change in his expression.  “Jason, you must think we're a horrid bunch to leave you two alone for so long.  We are not.  You were left where you were for your own safety.  I am your mother’s youngest sister.  What has happened is a tragedy, yes, but you must believe it was set in motion solely to safeguard the well being of our people.”

“There‘s more of us?  I mean more than just the three of us?”  Sarah asked.

Eyebrows rising, Shana nodded.  “Oh my, yes.  Oodles and gob
s really.  It’ll take you two awhile to remember everyone’s names.”

“But if,” Sarah paused, “if there are so many, why would you…well…”

Shana’s eyebrows drew together in a barely masked look of disdain.  “We had no choice.  It is simply a matter of survival.  I’m sure you can grasp the precariousness of our situation.”

Shaking her head, she answered, “No.  I don’t understand at all.  I mean, there are tons of people in our family, and no one ever--how could they never come for us?”

“I don’t know if I
want
to understand any of this,” Jason leaned forward in his seat and pointed his finger at the woman across from him.  “You left us to live in one foster home after another.  Completely alone.  Do you have any idea what they tried to do to us, to her?  Look at her,” he pointed to his sister, “can you imagine what she went through, what I went through, trying to keep her safe.  At least Edna gave us a home when she died.  That was something.  Something more than the big fat nothing you’ve done for us.”  He stood.  Enough was enough.  Anger clouded his thinking and it was getting late in the afternoon.  Tonight should be his last transformation in this cycle and he was not going to be caught outside in the moonlight again.  “Come on, Sarah, we need to go.  It’s getting late.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, you just got here.  This is your home, you own it.  The basement here is already set up for your needs.  You will be perfectly safe down there.  There are no windows and the cage is well fortified.” Shana assured them.

Shocked, the siblings stared at her.  For some reason, it had not registered with either of them that she knew what had been going on.  Jason‘s jaw muscles grew tight and twitched as his teeth clenched.  His eyes narrowed as he spoke.  “Are you freaking kidding me?  You know
everything
, and have done
nothing
to help us?” he bellowed. 

“Don’t you dare raise your voice to me.  Sit down, shut your mouth, and listen,
young man
.  I will be happy to explain the circumstances in which you find yourselves.  What do you think I'm doing here?  Just setting up a family reunion?  Everyone goes through hard times, believe me, if you‘d stayed it would have ended up the same way.  Possibly worse.”

Sarah placed her hand on Jason’s arm.  “Calm down.  We need to know more.  I need to know more.  Anger will get us nowhere.”  Something felt very wrong.  Wrong about Jason, wrong about her, and most importantly…wrong about what they were going to find out.

Jason looked from Sarah to Shana.  Taking a deep breath, he attempted to control his emotions.  “Fine.  We’ll listen to your excuses for being a rotten human being, but first, I want to see the basement.  It’s too late for us to make it back home.”

Ignoring his sarcasm, her mouth slid into a wid
e grin.  “Wonderful.  Follow me,” She said as she moved through the kitchen to a panel door. After one last glance over her shoulder, she headed down the stairs.

Amazing
, Sarah thought as she gazed at the luxuriously decorated, enormous cage.  It took up half the large basement.  A thick and obviously expensive oriental rug covered the entire floor.  A television sat in the corner beside a small fridge, and a large comfortable couch offered seating.  There was even a bed covered with thick soft blankets against the back wall.  Jason and Sarah exchanged surprised expressions, and then started laughing.  “Don’t you think it’s a bit of overkill for a dog?” Jason asked.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” Shana replied.

“All of this, so a dog can be comfortable?  That’s pretty ridiculous.  Seriously, when I change I’m not interested in watching television or having a cold beer.”

“Oh, that.  I’m afraid you have it all wrong, dear.  The cage is not for you, it is for your sister.” Shana answered.

Sarah stared at her while waiting for Jason to say something.  Hearing nothing but silence, she turned her gaze to him.  Jason’s face was white and drawn.  His lips moved as if he were trying to speak but could not find the words.  The muscles in his neck twitched as he glared at the woman.

Placing her hand on his heavily muscled arm, she felt the tension in his body, and slipped between Jason and Shana.  “What do you mean?  I don’t change.”

“Well of course you don’t, not yet anyhow, but the rest of us do, dear.  That is why this is here, to keep those too young to change out of harm's way.” Shana replied, then turning to look at Jason, asked, “Don’t you remember any of this from before?  I know you were young, but you were still six the last time we saw you.  Surely, you remember something?”

“I don’t remember any of this.” Jason answered. 

“It’s okay, Jase.  I’ll be fine down here.  Look how nice and cozy it is.  I can even catch up on my favorite shows.” Sarah’s eyes wandered over the massive structure.

“Exactly how many of
us
are there?” Jason asked Shana.

“Hundreds.  All over the United States.  Seventy-five in our particular pack.  Each pack consists of clans, and each clan has their own territory.  Our pack is lead by my husband, Thomas; he's also t
he Masada clan leader.  There are also the Rashuk and Indera clans.  They all live in this territory but each have their own lands.”

Jason crossed his arms over his chest looking as if he might throttle someone.

Unabashed, Shana continued, “Try to understand, children.  Growing up as you did was only out of necessity.  None among us could have possibly taken you in without being discovered for what we are.  If any of us had attempted to foster you, the human world would have been involved.  With welfare case workers and court appointed busybodies, we couldn't have kept our secret long.”

“So our parents made this cage for us?” Sarah asked

“No dear.  Your grandparents made this cage for
us
before we were even born.”  Shana leaned over, and gave her a one-armed hug. 

Sarah bristled at the physical contact.  It all felt too forced.  Although she didn't know why, she was certain most, if not all, of what she was hearing was bull.  As the woman continued to smile and speak, Sarah watched her eyes.  Lips could easily smile and lie, but eyes always seemed to tell the truth.  She'd learned that a long time ago.

“I know this all seems impossible and frightening, but you will be perfectly safe in here, I assure you.  Tonight, Jason and I will change and meet with the pack.  For the first time, Jason, you will know your descendants.”  Smile steady, her eyes darted away from their faces.

“I am not leaving my sister locked in a cage so I can run around like a wild animal.” Jason hissed.

Tossing her long hair over her shoulder, she said, “You'd rather stay here and take a chance on killing her then?  That seems rather unintelligent to me.”

“He won’t hurt me.  He can‘t.”

Shana shrugged, mumbled something about seeing is believing, and went up the stairs. 

Jason placed his hand on Sarah’s shoulder, “What do you want me to do?” 

Sarah thought for a moment before answering, “I don’t know why, but I don’t think you should go with her tonight.  Something is wrong, really wrong.  Before you go out to meet them, we need to know the whole story.  We don’t know half of what is going on.  I can feel it.  Have you noticed how she wouldn't say our parents’ names?  All of those pictures across the mantel, yet none of Mom and Dad, or us?  Please don’t leave me here.  I don’t trust them.”

Although it was a few hours before his change would come, Jason almost growled as he answered, “I won’t leave you alone.  I don’t trust them either.  Let’s make sure this room is secure against moonlight.  When I change tonight, I’m going to be in there with you.  I don’t like the way she looks at you when she thinks no one’s watching.”

The setting sun spread hues of purple and pink across the horizon.  Fascinated, Sarah watched from the steps of the front porch as the darkened part of the sky overhead began to twinkle with small bursts of light.  Jason and Shana's voices filtered through the screen door in various volumes.  Hushed whispers would be followed by loud speaking, only to die down to whispers again.  Although it was obvious they were trying to keep their conversation private, they failed miserably.

“Look, maybe you do mean well, but I don’t want anyone here when I’m not myself.”

“You will not hurt us.  We are part of you.  Why can’t you get that?”

“I’m not worried about hurting you.  I don’t trust you alone with my sister.”

Shana’s voice grew louder.  “Why in the world would we want to hurt Sarah?  Of all the unreasonable--”

“Unreasonable?  You climb out from under a rock, after we’ve been going it alone our whole lives, and now all of a sudden you want us to trust you?  Are you insane?  Do I look stupid to you?”

“Well of all the--” she gasped.

Jason’s tone lowered as he hissed, “Keep your voice down.  I don’t want her getting upset.  Give me the keys and get out.”

“Or what?  You’ll leave?”  Shana laughed.

Sarah sighed and rose from her seat. 
I better get in there before they start beating the crap out of each other. 

Both heads turned in her direction as she entered the living room.  Shana smiled a phony, sickeningly sweet smile, before gently placing her hand on Jason’s arm.  “Of course, dear.  The keys are on the table.  You two have fun tonight.”  Then turning to Sarah, she said, “Don’t forget to lock yourself in, dear.”  Her eyes flashed to Jason as she continued, “Everyone will shift tonight and some are like your brother and have little control.”

Sarah nodded.

Shana gave Jason one last menacing look and headed out the door. 

Exhaling loudly, Jason followed her to the door and locked it behind her.