Midnight Blood (Born Immortal) (8 page)

     He knew what she was getting at, “I can’t just walk away from her, and leave her alone.”

     “I know, Cain,” everything was beginning to become clear to the old woman, “If you leave her, it will crush her, it will kill her spirit. You have to stay and see this thing through. She needs you,” she said and paused, “You need her.”

     Cain looked up at her. He knew she spoke only words of wisdom, and knowledge, and that deep inside, she knew something that he did not.

    
I need her.
After hundreds of years, Cain never thought he would need anyone, he liked the sound of needing Shayna.

     “You need each other.” Aunt Mill said.

Cain noticed her look out the window in a peculiar way. He got up and stood behind the old woman, and looked out himself. The sun was setting, but the two of them could see the dark silhouette of a large bird perched on the roof of the barn.

      A growl erupted from deep inside Cain’s throat, and Aunt Mill gasped. Cain turned and ran out the back door. Aunt Mill saw him running through the snow covered yard towards the barn, and the hawk flew down towards him. Then she saw the Panther. She couldn’t believe it. She had heard of this creature, but had never seen it herself. It was incredible. He was all black, with white around his neck, that looked like a collar, and white paws. He looked like he wore a tuxedo.

     The panther leapt at the hawk, and caught  a mouthful of tail feathers, and ripped them out. The unusually large bird let out a defining screech, and clawed at the panthers face, then took off over the barn, and out of sight.

     Aunt Mill stared from the window in fascination. She could not peel her eyes away from the grizzly bear sized panther  standing in her yard. They both knew that the hawk was no match for him. The panther turned and looked at her. In the fading daylight, she saw bright emerald green eyes, ringed in red. She nodded her head in acceptance, and the panther roared. The sound  rumbled in her chest, she smiled. She had never witnessed anything like this in her life, and she had witnessed
a lot.

     Shayna opened her eyes, thinking she had heard thunder. She thought she was still dreaming for a second. She looked around the room, she was still on the couch. What weird weather. She thought. She tried to remember back to the dream she was having. The meadow had become a battlefield. She sat upon Obsidion’s back beside the newly downed tree, and watched the hawk she had seen, and an enormous panther, fight over a blood red rose. They looked as though they would fight to the death, when the hawk suddenly flew away taking the rose with it. It had definitely been one of the weirdest dreams she had ever had.

     She sat up on the couch, Was that thunder? It was part of the dream, I bet.She thought. She looked outside, it was snowing again. A couple of kids had built a snowman across the street, that she could see under the streetlight. She thought of the long life that was ahead of her, and of drinking blood. She knew that once she changed,the small amounts her mother gave her, would never be enough, and she would have to drink more.

     “How am I going to do this?” she asked herself. She was scared. In a couple weeks, she would be thrown into a world that most people didn’t know existed, or even believed existed.

     Her phone rang upstairs. She jumped up, and ran upstairs to get it, but was too late, she had missed the call. It was Noah. She put the phone back down on her dresser. She decided she would talk to him at school. She sat down on the bed and thought of her father. She wondered how he had hid their secret from her mother. Didn’t she ever ask
why? She wondered.

When her stomach growled, she realized she had not eaten all day, and she went down stairs. Smiling to herself along the way. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up, when she thought of Cain’s face. She had enjoyed the time they were able to spend together, and couldn’t wait to see him again.

Chapter 5

      
The snow had stopped, and was mostly gone by Friday morning, but school remained cancelled, since they had missed most the week already. Shayna had spent most of Thursday shopping with Melina and Sarah in Traverse City. Melina needed a dress for the Winter Formal, and Shayna needed new boots. It drove her crazy that she hadn’t been able to see Cain. She had gone to bed early, in hopes that he would visit her in her dreams, but she had been disappointed. She laid in bed all morning listening to The Rock Station, and reading Utopia, and finally decided to go to ‘Between the Lines.’

She hoped Cain would be there, but was going to see about finding another book, or two. Melina had taken their car and she was forced to walk. She scanned the trees for the hawk she had seen, wondering if it had any connection to the one in her dream, but it was nowhere in sight.

     She walked into the book store, and was immediately greeted with the smell of inscence, and a calming feeling. Aunt Mill was putting books on a shelf that was labled ‘Philosophy’, and when she saw Shayna, her face lit up with excitement.

     “Shayna dear,” she said with an inviting smile. She put the last book on the shelf, and she turned to Shayna, “I’m so glad to see you again.”

     “I like your store,” Shayna told her looking around, “It’s very, inviting.”

     “Is there anything I can help you with today?” Aunt Mill asked.

     Shayna could see stacks of books on the counter, and didn’t want to keep her too long.

     “Well,” Shayna hesitated.
Should I? She asked herself. She lowered her voice, she didn’t know if Cain was in the store or not, “In one of the books I bought, it said something about Changeling vampires. Do you have anything on them?”

     “Well,” the old woman said, and blinked. Shayna saw something change in her eyes, just a twinge of something. She wasn’t sure what it was. “There isn’t a whole lot of written material on Changelings dear, like you, they are rare creatures.”

     “Do
you,
know anything about them?” Shayna asked, hopeful that she would.

     Aunt Mill stared at Shayna for a moment, then sighed and said, “I do know a little. What can I tell you?”

     Shayna laughed a little, “I’m not sure. Anything you can, I guess.”

     “Do you know what a Changeling is?” she asked Shayna.

      “No,” Shayna answered, looking towards the back of the store where Cain might be.

      Aunt Mill noticed, “He’s not here today, dear,” she told her.

     Shayna was disappointed. She twisted her hair nervously, she wondered what she was doing. “Up until two years ago, I didn’t even know what I was.” She assumed Aunt Mill knew too.

     “Changelings are vampires, that are ususally created carelessly, or by mistake. Very rarely does it start off intentionally,” she looked at Shayna with eyes filled with care, and knowledge.

     This was all becoming more confusing to Shayna, “By mistake?” she asked.

     “Yes dear. If a vampire is changing a human, and it doesn’t take enough of the humans blood, before the human takes the vampires in return, the human will either not change, or, it will become a changeling, and will not have the powers and abilities, that a full vampire would have,” Aunt Mill switched her cane to her other hand, and shifted her weight onto the same side.

     “Do you need to sit down?” Shayna asked her, and looked around, to no avail, for the chair that was usually by the register.

     “No dear, I’m fine,” the woman insisted. She smiled at Shayna and continued, “Another way a Changeling is created, is for a vampire to drain the human of most of their blood, and then the human consumes a
different
vampires blood,” Shayna was fascinated, she stared at Aunt Mill in awe, as she went on, “This usually doesn’t happen child. The most common reason this particular act happens, is when the human is left for dead by a careless vampire, and another vampire finds him, and acts as a savior. The original vampire intended on killing the human.”

     Shayna thought about taking blood from a human, and her stomach churned. Images and questions ran through Shayna’s mind, as she stared at Aunt Mill while she spoke.

“Vampires these days are more careful, and as a result there aren’t very many Changelings anymore. They’ve either changed, or died. They are more prone to death.”

     “Changed?” Shayna said quietly.

     “Yes dear, changed to a full vampire, with no mortal blood in their body.” Aunt Mill replied. She wondered if she was telling Shayna too much.

     “How?” Shayna said, perplexed. “How do they change?”

     Aunt Mill took a deep breath, and closed her eyes briefly. Shayna thought she saw a look of remorse when she opened them, but in a blink it was gone.

Aunt Mill took Shayna’s hand. “You dear,” she said.

     “Me?” Shayna was confused, what did she have to do with their change. She wondered.

     “Yes dear,” she squeezed Shayna’s hand gently, Shayna noticed her hands were unusually soft, and dry. “They need
your
blood to change. The blood of a Halfling Princess. It must take place the last night that the girl is seventeen, and the two must intimately exchange blood, to consummate the arrangement.”

     Shayna was intrigued by what she was being told, but terrified too, there were so many things about this world she would probably never understand. She wanted to know as much as she could though, and Aunt Mill for the time was willing to talk to her.

Aunt Mill continued, “There are a few rare accounts of a Changeling, changing without ever tasting a princesses blood,” she shook her head at this, and watched a young boy walk his dog past the shop, “Nobody knows how they changed though.”

     “No body at all?” Shayna asked.

     “No dear. You Halfling Princesses are rare yourselves, so a Changelings odds of ever changing, are not that good anyway.” She knew Shayna was uninformed on the subject, and the old woman had much sympathy for her. “Vampires usually don’t breed with humans,” she said, and picking up a stack of books off the counter, “Can I help you with anything else dear?”

     Shayna did want more help, but knew Aunt Mill was probably busy, “No,” she answered. “I think you’ve helped me enough today, thank you.”

     “Anytime, Shayna dear,” Aunt Mill said and nodded. “Hope to see you again soon.”

     “You will,” Shayna said, and turned toward the door, “Bye.”

     She left the little shop, more informed, but disappointed too. She had hoped to find a book that she could read herself, so she could absorb as much information as possible. What Aunt Mill had told her was more than she thought she would find, but she regretted not asking more questions, although she didn’t know what questions to even ask. Of course once outside the store, she thought of tons of questions she should have asked. She had one more stop to make, before heading home. She crossed the street and turned onto Railroad Avenue.

     Shayna walked through the gates of the cemetary and, was stricken with an unusual feeling, more unusual than normal. Eerie. She thought. She walked down the first aisle of headstones, and made a right towards her fathers memorial. She felt alone in the world, as she made her way through the cemetary by herself.

     She hated coming to the cemetary, but she did love the memorial her mother had designed. It was tucked away in the back of the cemetary, surrounded by thick bushes, which bloomed beautiful purple flowers in the spring, and a tall cement wall. Inside the memorial was an elegant black marble angel, that stood about ten feet tall. A black marble sitting bench was placed in the center. Marcus Verona would have appreciated what his beloved wife had done for him.

     Shayna sat down on the Marble bench, and put her hands in her lap.

     “Hi dad,” she said, and twiddled her thumbs, “You’re not coming back for me, are you?” her eyes went to her hands, which were resting in her lap, “I’m scared, and the time is coming soon, I need you here.” she closed her eyes and envisioned Cain, “I met someone,” she said. “His name is Cain, and he’s like you,” she paused, “I guess. He said he would help me through this, I trust him. Also he…” Shayna was interrupted by a noise behind her, and quickly turned around. She was sitting on the bench with her back to the entrance of the memorial. As she turned, she saw tanned skin, and sandy brown hair. Derrick. The way he stood, looking at her gave her the creeps. He stared at her like she was a piece of meat. He always had, even when he was with Melina, but she had ignored it.

     Shayna stood up, and started walking toward the opening of the memorial to leave. She realized suddenly by the way he was standing, that he was intentionally blocking the entrance. She hastily looked around for another exit. The only way out was over the wall. She was trapped.

     “Hi Derrick,” she said as she approached him.

     “Where are you going Shayna?” he asked. “Don’t leave.”

     “I have to go home,” she said. She stood face to face with him, and was pretty sure he wasn’t going to let her pass.

     “I don’t think you need to go anywhere,” he said, and took a strand of her hair between his thumb and forefinger, and twisted it, like she did when nervous. His words were slurred, and he reeked of alcohol. My God! She thought He’s drunk! She shivered in disgust, she didn’t want his dirty hands touching her at all.

     “Come on Derrick, I have to go.”

      She tried to push past him. He grabbed her arm, and pulled her back.

“You’re not going anywhere,” he said.

     She knew she was in trouble. She opened her mouth to scream, and Derrick’s dirty, motor oil stained hands covered it. He held her close to him, with her back against his chest.

     “I always liked you better,” he whispered into her ear.

     He pushed her further into the memorials enclosure, where they were invisible behind the cement wall. Tears ran down Shayna’s face uncontrollably. She couldn’t believe what was happening.