The Rise of the New Bloods, From Dark Beginnings (12 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY

I stood contently beside the window in Blaze's apartment watching the new dawn rising over the city. I revelled in the burnt orange glow that tainted the darkness behind it. I longed to be a part of that world, where the darkness and light met in one continuous flow of energy. I gave a hopeful smile and drew the curtain shut tightly.          

 
‘We're going to need to talk Jyrki.’                 

I turned to look at Draven sitting on the leather chair at the far corner of the room. He poured another sachet of blood into a cup and sat back against the seat. I was fe
eling much happier since I discovered he was alive and now I was ready to hear the truth of what happened that day, no matter how painful.

  Blaze was stretched out on the sofa, strumming on his acoustic. He looked as if he had a lot weighing on his mind.
          

 
‘Where's Randulphr gone?’ he asked, still strumming on the guitar. 

 
‘Back to keep an eye on Jimmy,’ Draven said, as he took a sip from a cup.

 
‘Anyone want a glass of this fine Scotch? Stride said holding up a half drank bottle. ‘Nope? Then I take it it's all mine then.’ 

 
‘Jyrki, sit down, we must talk.’

I sat down on the sofa opposite him and switched the lamp on.

  ‘Father told me a few hours before everyone what was happening. That’s why I ran to you from the lake when I heard all the commotion going on. The day before all this was due to take place he had word from a guy called Mardok.’

 
‘Mardok? I’ve heard that name before. Father spoke of him once.’

 
‘Yes, he was an aide to Pharaoh Ramesses. Apparently, as far as I know he helped Father escape from Egypt.’

 
‘So you must know who killed our clan? You were there Draven. How did you even survive?’

Draven lowered his head; he could not bear to look at me.

‘I cannot quite remember. I was knocked unconscious and dumped into a cave on the mountains not long after you left. I assumed whoever had killed our family, had killed you too. But, Jyrki, there's something I must tell you as I've a feeling this will affect the prophecy and everything else. I feel ashamed, not for what I did, but for what it has caused.’

He paused for a few moments and turned his gaze towards the window.

‘You see Jyrki, I fell in love with a woman from the village. I shouldn't have let it happen, I know, but...’

 
‘What were you doing there anyway, you knew the rules?’

 
‘You should know better than anyone that it was never easy being alone for days on ends, with no companionship, no female company. Well, everything just got to me one night and I decided to leave the compound. I had just gone for a walk this particular night when a couple of fisherman saw me, and offered me a ride back to the main island. It was there I saw a woman tending to her horse, I stopped and began a conversation, I don't know what made me do it, I guess I was just curious. She was beautiful and didn't seem to mind what I was, which fascinated me even more. Honestly Jyrki, I didn’t think one trip out of that place would cause so much trouble.’

 
‘Who was she and did father know?’

 
‘No, father didn't know at the time. Her name was Clara, she had the most beautiful long raven hair, and big blue eyes,' he said. ‘I guess we were found out, as I had left the safe zone once too often and no I did not change her. So, you see, Father's blood is on my hands. I killed them Jyrki, don't you see? All this is entirely my fault.’

He sat upright on the chair and took another sip from the cup before rubbing his forehead. His eyes were bloodshot and his once youthful good looks had now taken a beating with all the
guilt he had carried.

  I was stunned.
‘You were with a human, a female human? Damn it Draven, it's no wonder the agreement was broken. How could you be so fucking selfish?’

 
‘You can't make me feel any worse than I already do. If I could've controlled myself better then I guess none of this would've happened, but it has, so now we have to find a way of resolving this.’

 
‘But you lost Jyrki?’ Stride asked. ‘Couldn't you sense him? Track him even?’

 
‘No, the others must've been protecting him too. But, as you know Stride, I have been searching for him for years, and it wasn't until I managed to decipher part of the prophecy that I realised that you, Jyrki, was going to end up here, in New York at the same time the book was going to be here. It is written in the prophecy, everything we need to know about who we are, where we come from. I only hope we find something in there that will help rid us of this disgusting curse.’

Draven handed me the first part of the prophecy. I looked at the parchment. Written in
burnt red ink were several lines of text in hierlyglyphics, a very old language that neither of us could really decipher.

 
‘It looks as though pieces are missing?’

 
‘You're right, which brings us back to the papers that Stride found earlier. Dr. Matthews had copied them from the prophecy just before he was murdered. It was April who discovered the parchment in the book upon its arrival. I just only hope April hasn't managed to decipher it yet, not to that lot anyway.’

 
‘Well, from what I can gather from this piece of the prophecy it says something along the lines of, ‘the return of the chosen one.’

 
‘Return? That would mean you Jyrki? But where the hell are you returning to?’ Stride asked.

Draven got up from his seat and took the parchment from my hands
.

 
‘It does too. I can’t believe I missed that.’

 
‘Then we’re going to have to find out and soon.’

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

I could not listen to anymore of this talk on prophecies. The mere fact that I was about to leave for somewhere unknown disturbed me greatly.

I got up from the sofa, and walked into the kitchen, leaving Blaze and Draven talking amongst themselves.

  ‘Stride did you fetch us some blood?’                 

 
‘Aye, it’s in the fridge,’ he said as he poured himself a coffee. 

 
‘Fridge! My fridge?’ Blaze yelled from the living room.

 
‘Well yeah I don’t have one in the back of the car like,’ Stride laughed

Just as I was about to open the fridge
door Blaze came running in with a disgusted look on his face.

 
‘Is it human blood? It had better not be. I have left over curry in there I was planning on having later.’

Stride smirked at me, and then took a sip of his coffee. Even I did not know whose bl
ood it was, which was slightly off putting.

 
‘Hell no lad, they gave that up, isn’t that right Jyrki?’

I held the sachet of blood in my hands wondering whether I should drink it or not. Knowing Stride I did not really want to ask where it had come from.

  ‘Of course,’ I said to Blaze. Although he did not really look convinced.

‘It’s cool, honestly; I haven’t touched human blood for a very long time. In fact I am over it, to an extent.’

 
‘What do you mean by that? Fucking hell man, you mean to say you have murdered people for their blood?’

That question hit a nerve with me.

I did not really know what to say to him.

 
‘Blaze, just relax for fuck sake,’ Stride said, lighting up a cigarette. 

Draven walked in the kitchen wondering what the hell was going on.

  ‘What’s wrong Blaze? You look like you’ve seen a ghost?’

 
‘What’s wrong with me? You wanna know what’s wrong with me, well I’ll tell ya. He has lived with me for the past fortnight but somehow it slips his mind to tell me that he has murdered people to drink their blood. Now you fucking tell me what’s wrong with that!’

I did not feel like drinking the blood anymore so I threw it into the waste bin.

  ‘Blaze, we are vampires what else do you expect us to drink?’ Draven said.

 
‘Look, if it’s any consolation we weren’t to drink human blood. Our father had made an agreement with Mardok, that in return for his life he would not drink from a human so that we would never expose our identity. But, of course some things cannot be helped. It’s like nature. You can’t stop a cat from chasing and eating birds can you? Well the same applies to us. It is in our nature, our genetic make-up.’

 
‘It’s cannibalism, that what that is, not nature.’

 
‘Yeah, you are quite right, but we didn’t ask for this, you must understand that.’

Blaze nodded.

  ‘Yeah, I guess you’re right. I don’t think of you as a…meat eater. Not now, since I’ve lived with you for a while. So your secret trips out at night, weren’t you meeting some lady friend then?’

I smirked.

I only wish it had been.

 
‘Nope, I was too busy stopping myself from draining you while you slept. No, I’m just joking. I felt uncomfortable about staying here since you didn’t really know what I was. So, I was drinking twice the amount of blood to reassure myself I wouldn’t attack you.’ 

 
‘Oh jeez, thanks,’ Blaze laughed. ‘So, er this curse you mentioned then, how did it come about?’

 
‘Shall we go and sit down first?’ I said, and walked back into the living room.

I sat on the sofa and rested my legs on the coffee table. Draven stayed in the kitchen.

  ‘Well, the curse, as I call it, was passed down from my father. My mother was a human.’

 
‘Shit really?’

 
‘Yeah, I have a mother. Don’t looked so shocked. Her name was Katariina. Father met her when he first arrived in Finland a hundred and twenty three years ago. He was with the last of the New Bloods clan, who were friends of father’s from Egypt. As the story goes, he met her by the lake one evening. She was crying as she had missed the boat to the mainland. Father told me he did not want to get involved with her troubles but the woman noticed him and begged him to help her. At the time father was still struggling with his inner demon and snapped when he smelt that she was human. Once she had seen him change, he had no choice but to protect the clan and change her. He did not want to kill her. He said, she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen and knew at once when he changed her the demon would not last ten years at least. Well, after that he vowed never to kill another human again, and he never. That is also why I am not a half-blood, my mother was changed.’

Blaze looked at me inquisitively.

  ‘So how old are you then?’

 
‘I’m a hundred and nineteen. The demon keeps us young enough to slay, but I suppose we will age to whatever age is appropriate for us to live comfortably. I could stay looking as if I’m in my thirties for another hundred years. It depends. If I can get rid of the curse I will become mortal, a human being just like you, because that is essentially what I really am. The first vampires, like my father were humans. Many of them were killed in Egypt when the sun came up. They did not know that daylight could kill them.’

 
‘Why did they not know?’

 
‘Well, nobody really knew of the curse, except a select few. It was a dangerous thing to unleash on the world, and that’s why it has been hidden for thousands, if not millions of years. The spell came from a very special edition of the Book of the Dead, so light being the opposite would banish the darkness.’

 
‘And what about the Ankh, that allows you to walk in daylight, right?’

 
‘Yes. I am not aware of its history, but the reason I have it is because  father overheard Mardok arguing with Jafar one day in the temple. He wanted the Ankh but Mardok would not tell him where it was. The Ankh is a very important symbol. It is the universal giver of life. Whoever has it, it would give them the power they desire. Obviously, ours were to walk in sunlight. However, before Mardok trusted my father with the Ankh, he was shown the ancient prophecy. On reading it, he vowed to protect it and return it when the deed has been done.’ 

 
‘Deed?’

 
‘Well, Stride mentioned something about trying to stop an apocalypse.’

 
‘Oh for fuck sake, I don’t think I want to hear anymore.’

 
‘I know what you mean. I never really understood why father never spoke about what he read in the prophecy though.’

 
‘Perhaps there was something a little too close to home in it?’

 
‘What do you mean?’

 
‘What I mean is, maybe he read something that concerned you or Draven and he did not wish to talk about it. Or maybe there was something about him written in there.’

Stride walked into the room.

He obviously overheard our whole conversation.

‘
Did you ever think he was at risk of jeopardising his position if he was to talk about any of the contents before its time?’

 
‘Yeah, I see what you mean. Although it doesn’t make any of this easier to deal with. I still have the worry of not knowing where I am going.’