The Progeny: Chapter 29

It had been three years since Milah had summoned Caius and that had been because she was on the run and was bored being on her own. Now she had summoned him twice in the space of three nights and he knew that Evie would grow suspicious. This wasn’t like his Maker. She usually left him alone because all she was met with after she summoned him was hostility.

She now stood by the edge of a field, holding onto the fence before her. Her long raven hair blew from her face in the clean, country breeze. She was as beautiful as the night Caius had first met her. And in white as usual. He figured she wore it ironically. The harlot before him was far from pure.

She must have heard or sensed her progeny nearby because she turned her head slightly and fixed her eyes on Caius who had been carefully approaching her. His blood turned to ice in his veins and he was pinned to the spot by her piercing cerulean eyes that shone like cut crystals. This woman -this powerful, dangerous, indomitable woman- had a hold on him like no other. He wanted to believe that it was just because of their bond but that wasn’t true. He had felt the same way when he had been a mortal man.

It had been in the early years of the 11th century when Caius had lost his life and had been reborn into the world of blood and darkness. He had been a simple country boy, had worked on the farms every once in a while but his heart had been in carpentry. The sky had grown dark when he had worked late in the shop one night so he locked up to go home.

But he never made it home.

On his way down the road, he had started at a noise. The sound of a woman wailing. He had had the urge to keep going, it wasn’t his problem, someone else would deal with it. But what if no one did? What if that poor woman was in serious danger? He couldn’t just leave her. What sort of man would that make him? And being the man he was, thirty-two years old with no wife and no children to speak of, he needed to prove himself. And so he followed the screams, his heart in his throat and sweat on his brows.

It was coming from a cottage a little way down the road. A light flickered in the window and the screams were becoming louder and louder, so shrill they cut through him. Panic turned into adrenaline as he gritted his teeth and burst through the door.

Then the screams stopped.

Caius looked around the small, simple cottage and found himself alone staring at the burning hearth. The thumping in his chest started to calm as he scratched his short scruffy hair with confusion. He got ready to spin on his heel and head right back out the door when he heard it clatter shut behind him.

He turned to see a woman dressed in a floor length white nightgown made from a material so thin that it did not leave much to the imagination. Her back was pressed against the door and her shockingly brilliant blue eyes were trained on him. She was the most exquisite thing he had ever seen and Caius, not being that confident around woman in general, found himself utterly speechless in her presence.

She smiled- look of soft pity for the man before her- and Caius let himself relax, if only a little. But then something changed in her. Her expression cracked like a mirror. That look in her eyes that had only moments ago brought him ease suddenly made his heart contract. Her gaze raked up every inch of him, making the hair on his skin stand on end. Her full lips split into a grin not fit for a lady but fit for an animal. An animal that had spotted its prey.

When Caius noticed her fangs, he backed away, only for the woman to lunge and pin him to the floor. He tried to cry out but she yanked his head to the side and tore at his throat, stifling his attempt to call for help. He felt her suckling on his neck and her moans of bliss made his stomach knot and the pain of her ever digging fangs clenched his muscles. His legs were kicking. His hands were grabbing. Everything began to grow dark, his vision blackening at the edges as his life faded away.

He awoke on a bed feeling faint and strange. His head was cushioned on the lap of the woman. She was gazing over him, caressing the curls at his temples. He watched her in awe. Her skin as pale as snow. Her hair as black as the night. Her eyes as blue as the sea. The flickering light from the fire brought out the sharp eagle-like features of her face.

She smiled down at him and he reached up to cup her cheek without hesitation, and wiped the red that smeared across her lips. It took him a moment to understand what it was as he rubbed it between his fingers. And then he took in the whole of her- the billowed white night dress she wore and the huge red stained that covered the front of it.

He jerked up and had every intention of running away. But he held her gaze and something inside him forced him to stay. To stay with her. Forever.

“We really need to stop meeting like this.” Her red lips parted into a grin, the tips of her fangs pressing against her lower lip.

“You summoned me.” Caius’ voice was gruff as he stiffly made his way towards her. “What do you want?”

“You know how I warned you about Guardian finding out your little secret?”

His jaw clenched. “Yes.”

“Well…he’s found out.”

Pressing his tongue into his cheek to suppress a growl of frustration, he fisted his hair. “What was the point in you calling me to warn me when neither of us could do anything about it?”

Her wicked gaze softened and she reached out to stroke his cheek, a motherly gesture that Caius slapped away. “It was an excuse to see you. I am your Maker, I do like to check up on you and see if everything is okay. Is that so terrible?”

“Yes,” Caius gritted out. “Because, while you were relaying pointless information on me, Evie was attacked and Turned.”

“Ah yes.” Milah retracted her hand and smoothed down the front of her slim white dress that fell over her strong figure like liquid. “I felt your pain. But why so distraught, Caius? You wanted to her to be a vampire again. Her being human was simply killing you. I almost had the urge to do something about it myself.”

“But she’s not mine.” Caius’ cold heart contracted in his chest.

“If she still loves you, she is still yours.”

“You know that’s not true.” He sent her a hard glare. “I never loved you and I am yours.”

Milah pouted and reached out to brush his hair from his face. This time, he let her, watching her with distain. “Yes you are, my sweet. And do not pretend like you don’t enjoy it. I still remember those days when we were inseparable. And you had loved me, even if it was just for a fleeting moment.”

“I still despised you then, I was just so drugged up on the thrill of being a vampire that I had forgotten.”

She grinned, showing fangs, and held his face up by the tips of her fingers. She inspected his features like she hadn’t seen it only two moons ago. “Those were the times. Back when you were fun. Before you went all soft on me.”

“Killing innocent people is not supposed to be fun.”

She cackled. “Oh, but it is when you have a good partner.”

Caius clenched and unclenched his jaw making Milah drop her hand. The memories of those nights were beginning to rise up to the forefront of his mind. All the blood. All the terror. All the death. And all the sickening pleasure he had gotten from it.

“Why exactly have you summoned me, Milah?” Caius said finally, not enjoying the trip down memory lane.

The mischievous twinkle in his Maker’s eyes vanished and what was left behind was hard and serious. “Guardian wants to see you.”

Caius’ eyes bugged. “Now?”

She nodded and gestured into the field. “He’s waiting.”

“Wh-what exactly does he want from me?”

She shrugged and jumped over the fence. “I don’t know. He just told me to summon you.”

Caius stepped over the fence with an easy long legged stride. “How much does he know?”

He had started following her down the field which was shrouded in complete blackness. The sprinkling of stars in the sky offered no help with the lack of light but luckily his vampire sight made everything just clear enough. It was like he was looking through a poor quality, grainy video recorder.

“Everything I know about you. So, anything that’s worth knowing. He compelled me, I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t block anything from him. He’s too powerful.” Milah was looking down at her feet and Caius got the feeling that she was hiding the guilt on her face. But it wasn’t her fault. Well…it sort of was, actually.

Caius huffed his annoyance. “Why does he have to be a bloody direct descendant of an original?” he grumbled. It was Guardian’s perfect link to an original vampire that gave him the ability to not only compel humans, but to compel any vampire that was less powerful than him. Which meant every vampire except the Originals and his brothers and sisters. “And please tell me why you decided to join the Vampire Court again?”

Milah raked her pale fingers through her sea of hair and looked straight ahead. The moonlight shone off her eyes and made them look luminous. There was a sadness in them that Caius couldn’t help but find endearing.

“You know why, Caius. I have too many enemies out there. The Court guarantees my safety.”

“He’s using you as a lap dog.”

“It’s better than being a puddle.”

They walked on in silence through the field. Caius continued to follow Milah over another fence and into another field that looked more like a dump, with broken shells of cars dotted about in the long grass.

He was hit with a cold chill that seeped into his bones and froze him to the spot. Milah, noticing that he was no longer following, turned to look at him. The breeze whipped her black hair across her face and the thin material of her dress flapped around her legs like a flag of surrender.

“They’re here, aren’t they? They’re close?” His eyes flickered to his Maker.

She nodded. “Just behind that pile of cars.” She flipped her hand in general backwards direction but her concerned gaze never left him. “If I had a choice, you know I wouldn’t have done this, don’t you?”

“What? Throw me under the bus?”

The muscles in her jaw tightened and that guilt she had tried to hide flared in her eyes. “The Court are here for a reason, Caius. When vampires start getting special treatment, the whole order would come apart.”

“But you’re getting special treatment. You’ve done some awful things, Milah. Things you should meet the sun for, but you’re still here.”

A beat of silence fell between them as Milah searched her progeny’s face, angst tightening her sharp features. “Giving you up is my punishment, Caius.”

His eyes grew wide with a mixture of surprise and horror. The bond between them hit him like the slash of a whip and he was suddenly overwhelmed with the urge to grab Guardian by the throat and pull him apart piece by piece for making his Maker look at him the way she was doing now.

But then the anger in him subsided and was replaced with the cold indifference he had trained himself to feel towards Milah. It had taken him a good few centuries and he knew it was only a veneer but it was better than being in her absolute control like he had been at the beginning.

“You should be dead for what you have done,” he said, lifting his chin in defiance and forcing himself not to crumble under the plea in her eyes.

Then she blinked and the shine had disappeared. Her look became cold and flat as her plump lips curled into a smile. “I know. But I’m an ancient and Guardian tends to favour them more. Not that many of us are around nowadays since the Rage.” She took a step towards him and cupped his chin, her nails biting into his skin. Her dark eyebrows lifted ruefully as he glared down at her with flared nostrils. “I just hope they give you the same treatment. Because, I know it comes as a shock to you, Caius, but I really do care for you.” She let him go but stayed close, their chests only inches apart. “I’d experience great loss if you were to die.”

The urge to embrace her knocked against his insides but he held his ground. She watched him a moment before backing away and continuing on her journey. Caius watched her heading towards a cluster of dilapidated cars and he gulped at the thought of what lurked in the darkness behind them.

Milah clutched his hand as they rounded the hood of a rusted canary yellow Beetle. He squeezed it and fought back the lump that had lodged in his throat.

A group of tall pale figured emerged from the shadows of the long grass. The abandoned cars were placed in a semi-circle and for a distracting moment, Caius thought that maybe the Court had planted them in that way as to try and box him in.

Caius recognised Guardian immediately. He had a face that was hard to forget and if vampires could dream, he was sure it would haunt his sleep. He was as sharply dressed as Caius had remembered, in a pin striped three piece suit with polished shoes that reflected the moonlight. Flanking him on both sides were four other vampires Caius didn’t recognise. Three female and one male. But Caius knew Guardian never worked alone, not that he needed back up. It was more for intimidation purposes. And it was working. It felt like Caius had been yanked into the past to that graveyard where he had seen Evie for the first time. And killed her. Only to bring her back to the land of the living where she would forever be an outsider.

“Caius,” Guardian crooned in an almost sing-song manner and extended both arms as if to embrace him. His wrinkled face cracked into a shark-like grin that deepened the pools around his eyes and mouth. The moonlight gleamed off his bald head so brightly it almost made Caius have to wince. “It’s been so long.”

Not long enough, thought Caius bitterly.

Caius’ eyes shot to Milah by his side when she squeezed his hand. He looked into her eyes and his dead heart grew twice as cold at the devastation in them as she let go. He wanted to grabble for her and pull her close but she left him and stood beside a female member of the Court with her eyes downcast.

How could you do this to me?

When Caius didn’t answer, the fake smile on Guardian’s face fell and his eyes darkened as he lowered his head to glare at him through his grey brows. “Do you remember the first night we met, Caius?” he asked in conversational tone that held a sinister edge.

Caius held back a shudder. “Yes, Guardian.”

“Do you remember what punishment I gave you for exposing our kind to a breather?”

The memory of Evie’s small bloody body in his arms pierced his thoughts like a hot needle into his brain. “Yes, Guardian.”

“Would you like to relay what said punishment was?” Guardian angled his face upwards, allowing the moonlight to bathe his whole face.

“You forced me to Turn a girl. To become a Maker.”

A smile passed over his lips as he clasped his hands behind his back. “Yes I did.” His steely eyes glanced away. “But it has come to my attention that my punishment was short lived and you have been released without my consent.”

Caius’ eyebrows furrowed and he looked to Milah still had her head bowed.

“You are no longer a Maker are you, Caius?”

The words stung and he swallowed the bitter taste in the back of his throat. He could hardly believe the situation he was now in. The thought of no longer being a Maker hurt more than being forced to become one in the first place. And he knew the reason why. Because of Evie. Because of who she became to him. His everything.

“No, Guardian.” He looked down. “I am not.”

“Well.” He rocked on the balls of his feet. “I guess I’m going to have to do something about that, aren’t I? I can’t just let you off the hook. A Maker is a responsibility you take with you until you are nothing left but pulp. You can’t just pass it onto someone else.”

Caius’ head suddenly bounced up, his eyebrows drawn with confusion. “If you know that Evie is no longer my progeny and that she is now another vampire’s, that means you know about the cure.”

Guardians eyebrow arched and his lip curled with contempt, probably because Caius was no longer addressing him in the manner that he so desired. Which was guiltily and riddled with fear.

“I know about the cure,” he stated simply. “I know it worked on your progeny and no others.”

“So you know about Nico’s plan? You know he’s been taking vampires to experiment on them?” Disgust had seeped into Caius’ tone as he looked at the vampire before him.

“I know everything that goes on around here. My Court is everywhere.”

“Then why aren’t you doing anything?”

Guardian took a lofty step forward, making Caius instinctively shrink back. He had gotten carried away. Overstepped. And now he was going to pay.

The lines of Guardian’s face sharpened as he clenched his jaw. “Do you know what the Vampire Court is here for, Caius?”

Caius stayed silent, his eyes wide and fearful.

Guardian’s nostrils flared in anger. “We are here to keep the Equal Rights Movement intact. Before the Rage, we were simply here to keep our kind afloat and hidden under the radar. But we are known now. And we have had to change with the times. Vampires are more powerful than humans but the humans outnumber us over five hundred to one and this is still their world. We do not want a war, Caius. We do not want to seize this world and make it our own. We would just be proving the mortals right. That we are savage monsters. We need them to survive. We depend on them. Without them, we would waste away.” He took another step forward and inspected Caius’ eyes.

“The reason I have not done anything about this Dr. Nico Bergan is because he is no threat to us. He has killed our kind? Yes. And I am angry. That anger is the reason I am choosing to ignore the fact that you killed thirteen of his men and left four bodies out in the open for us to clean up. But I am not nearly angry enough to cause a pointless war and make the humans turn all their weapons on us and paint the streets with our blood.”

He smiled faintly. “But the second he declares war. The second he puts our existence in jeopardy and forces my hand, that’s when I will do something about it. And trust me, Caius, if that happens-” His eyes widened with a brief spark of horror, “-get ready for the apocalypse.”

Caius could only stare, completely lost for words. Guardian’s expression softened into an aloof smile and he stepped back. “So, does that answer your question?”

Caius nodded rapidly.

“Good. Then I can get back to why I asked Milah to summon you here.” Caius’ eyes shifted to his Maker and saw the pale column of her neck roll with a heavy gulp. “Your first punishment was cut short and that is unacceptable. So you are to continue it.”

Caius’ eyebrow furrowed and Guardian’s steely eyes glinted with sadistic glee. “What do you mean?”

“You need to Turn another human.”

The ground felt like it had been ripped from under his feet. Caius’ head spun and his heart plummeted. He felt instantly sick and lightheaded. This only enhanced the mirth in Guardian’s eyes.

“No.” Caius shook his head and instantly regretted it as he felt his stomach lurch at the motion. “No, I can’t.”

“Well then, it’s a good job I have another option for you.”

Hope flared and Caius looked up expectantly but that dangerous look in Guardian’s eyes only grew, diminishing the spark entirely.

A moment of silence passed over them before Caius’ curiosity got the better of him and he asked, “What is the other option?”

There was no humour in Guardian’s expression as he met Caius’ fearful eyes, only the strong, unflappable demeanour a man in total control.

“Either you Turn another human and become a Maker again, proving to me that you are as worthy of immortality as your Maker says you are-” Caius’ eyes flickered to Milah in surprise. This time, she was looking right back at him, her eyes wide and bright. A pang of emotion ran through him. She really does care after all. “Or-” His attention quickly shot back to Guardian before him, “I will kill the red-headed freak of a vampire that you love so dearly.”