Chapter Two
My father, the Patron, and a few other cousins were standing next to me. Neve had run to get help, and had come back with them and Jaime. Jaime had sat down a few trees away, and was absently shuffling cards.
‘I thought stakes didn’t kill vamp- dearly departed?’ I asked. My father shook his head.
‘No, it merely paralyzes them. He didn’t die from this wound.’
‘Then how did he die?’ I wondered, out loud.
The Patron sniffed the air like a dog, and then knelt next to the body.
‘Loss of blood.’ The Patron said, quietly. I turned to him, hoping for more information. He didn’t give any. He turned and walked away.
‘Someone killed my broodling’ the Patron said, darkly. All descendants of him, vampiricly, are his broodlings. It was the vampiric term for child or offspring. He let out a screech. It sounded like a scream, but more reptilian. It was the sound of sadness. But it was also inhuman, and terrifying.
Bats, thousands of them, came to the trees, and they started screeching with him. It was horrible and sad, like an animal symphony or dirge for the dead.
He stopped, and turned to me.
‘Find who did this, and bring them to me.’ He said, and walked away. It was not a request, it was a command.
My father stood still as the bats left, and my cousins – some living, some dead- followed the Patron. Soon it was only Neve, Jaime, me and my Father.
‘I will find out which dearly departed this is. It will be an easy process of elimination. You can look for clues.’
I nodded. ‘Careful, the Patron will not accept failure in this area. When an dearly departed meets second death, the Patron takes it very seriously.’ My father said. He laid a hand on my shoulder. ‘Good luck, son.’ He walked away.
~
I was looking at the body with improved sight. I could see every detail clearly. He had tiny little cuts in his t shirt near his right lower ribs and another similar set near where his belly button was. The bones were all bleached white, letting me know that this dearly departed was not too old. Older ones dissolve into ash almost completely, leaving no trace of skin or bones. By daylight, these bones would be gone too.
None of them appeared to be broken, except the ribs, where the stake had gone. The jeans had no discernible marks on them, other than dirt from laying on the ground.
There were a few drops of blood, but not much. Some was around and on the stake, and there was a drop or two near the shoulder bone.
I looked for footsteps leading to or from the body, but found none.
From what I could tell, it was like someone staked the vampire, and dropped him from a tree or something. Or, we had a very smart killer who could somehow remove his footsteps or any other clue.
Jaime stood close to the body himself, and then stood up. ‘He died this evening, probably 3 or 4 hours ago- probably just after dusk. There is no one near here or on your Compound that shouldn’t be here.’
Neve and I looked at him. He just shrugged. ‘It’s my power’ he said, refusing to say anymore. Santiagos never discussed their family power- it was something like being psychic, though it always seemed to be in different forms for Jaime. I couldn’t quite pin it down. I dismissed it- he would explain when he felt comfortable.
‘I wonder where the cuts on his shirt came from,” I said.
‘What cuts?’ Neve asked. I tried to explain, but decided to show her. I passed the power to her. My own sight went normal, but I saw her blink a few times in amazement, and then look at me.
‘Cool!’ she said. Then she looked at the clothes. ‘Oh, I see!’ she said. She then picked out a small dagger.
Neve compared her dagger to the tears. ‘Whatever did this was sharp- but a lot smaller than my dagger. Maybe a pen knife or something’
‘Who would kill one of the dearly departed?’ Jaime asked, while shuffling his cards.
‘Who wouldn’t? Mortal hunters, the Masons, Mages, rogue Werewolves…’ I said
‘Well, I think we can rule out werewolves. They kill by biting and clawing- this is too clean.’ Neve said
‘And hunters, well, we would see bullet wounds or some other type of injury.’ Jaime said. I agreed with both of them.
‘So that leaves… other vampires, mages and other unknowns.’ Neve said. ‘That doesn’t help us too much. What about this vampire- maybe he had an enemy or something? Like a spouse or broodling or something?’
‘Right, we shouldn’t leave out the possibility that a Saxon did this.’ I said, quietly. I hoped that wasn’t the case.
‘There is one clue here that is important, I think’ Jaime said.
‘What is that,’ I asked.
‘The lack of blood. He was drained dry before he was killed. Which means that whatever killed him either drained him of blood to kill him or-‘
‘Killed him for his blood!’ Neve and I said, together.
‘What can use vampire blood?’ Jaime asked, leading us on.
‘Other vampires, Renfields, and Mages’ I said.
‘I have heard the Fae can use it too’ Neve said.
‘Well, if we can rule out Mages for sure, it will help us focus on Vampires and Renfields, for the most part.’ I said.
‘Count me out- I hate magic,’ Jaime said. Neve nodded, as if confirming something. Sometimes I feel like I know the least about the Families. Neve and Jaime sometimes acted like they shared some secrets. For instance, Neve seemed to really hate werewolves, and Jaime creeps out anything magic was mentioned. The really weird thing is that you could present Jaime with a thousand zombies, and he wouldn’t blink. Bring up the idea of even a little white magic, though, and he disappears in a second. Thinking this made me wonder about zombies. I made a mental note to ask Master Jamison about them, if they existed or not.
‘Get a sample of his bones, so the magicians can test it to see if it died by magic’ Jaime said, and then walked off.
‘What’s his deal?’ I asked Neve. She shrugged ‘Santiagos hate magic.’ She said
‘Why?’ I asked. She glared at me. ‘It is rude to ask about another Family’s problem.’ She responded, sounding annoyed. I already knew this.
The Families seem big on keeping secrets. For instance, each of the family powers are kept under strict secrecy- you don’t know them until you get them. Most families share some common powers- like moving fast, healing fast, being strong, and speaking to animals (well, only predatory animals, from what I can tell). But when it comes to their special power, wild horses couldn’t drag them out of a vampire for anything. At the end of the day, it is what keeps the Familes in power.
Just like they are with powers, so too are they quiet about any problems a Family might have. To talk to most different Family members, their Family is fine and perfect. But every once in a while, Neve or Jaime let slip how easy the Saxons have it.
Except we don’t. The Masons are ruining us. We are losing money, power and control every day the Masons are around.
After I had collected a little of the ashes, the sun was starting to rise. Neve and I sat quietly as the rays of the sun hit the bones, and they turned to ash. In a way, it was kind of peaceful, but it was sad too. One of my cousins just died, and I needed to know why.
Neve and I trudged back to the main building in silence. I knew how to contact mages, but I didn’t really want to.
Renfields 