Prince of The Night

“He was a funny little thing!” Mary Bake laughed shook her head & set her blonde hair flying in the breeze from the open car window. “Do you remember when we had him tat year?”
It was early in the summer of 2009 & they where driving down to stay with Anna & her pariah husband Lorgen Benirus. The last time they had stayed was 2 years ago. Trevor thought the boy was strange then, he’d said so on several occasions- not to Anna & certainly not to Lorgen, but to Mary in private.
Now he said so again.
“Funny little thing?” he cocked an eyebrow. “That’s one way of putting it, I suppose. Weird would be a better way! And from the last time we where there he hasn’t changed a bit- he was a weird baby & now he’s a weird young man!”
“Oh, Trevor. That’s ridiculous. All babies are different. He’s just more different. That’s all.”
“Listen,” said Trevor. “That child wasn’t two months old when he came to us & he had teeth. Anna told me that he was born with them too. Teeth like needles in the side of his mouth. That’s why she couldn’t breast feed him.”
“Trevor,” said Mary warningly. Reining him the Alexa was in the back of the car. She was their daughter: a beautiful & sometimes precocious girl of 16.
Alexa sighed very deliberately & audibly & said,
“Oh mother! I know what breasts are for- apart from being natural attractions for the opposite sex, that is. Why must you put them on you taboo list?”
“Ta-boob list!” Trevor grinned.
“Trevor!” warned Mary, even more forcefully now.
“2009, but you’d never know it. Not in this family, anyway. I mean feeding your baby’s natural isn’t it? More natural than letting your breasts be groped in the back of some fly-pit cinema!” Argued Alexa.
“Alexa!” Mary half turned in her seat. Her lips pressing into a thin line.
“It’s been a long time,” Trevor glanced at his wife & winked.
“What has?” She snapped.
“Since I was groped in the back of a fly-pit cinema, “he said.
Mary snorted in her exasperation. “She gets it from you!” She accused. “You’ve always treated her like an adult.”
“Because she is an adult, very nearly,” he answered. “You an only guide them so far Mary my love, & after that their on their own. Alexa’s healthy, intelligent, happy, good-looking, & she doesn’t smoke pot. She’s worn a bra for four years & every month she-“
“Trevor!”
“Taboo!” said Alexa giggling.
“Anyway we where talking about Uilian not Alexa. Alexa I submit is normal. Uilain, is not.”
“Give me a for instance.” Mary argued.
“Why are you so defensive. Look, I call a spade a spade. I find Uilian a bit much. As I said before weird!”
“You mean” Alexa pressed. “A bit of an apple-bobber?”
“Alexa!” Her mother yelled.
“I get that from you!” Alexa stopped her mother in her tracks. “You always talk about gays as apple-bobbers.”
“I NEVER talk about…Homosexuals!” Mary was furious. “And I certainly never talk about them to you!”
“But I’ve heard you talking to Daddy. He says that so-and-so is as gay as a defrocked vicar,” Alexa said, matter of factly. “And then you say, so-and-so an Apple-bobber, really?”
Mary rounded on her & may have even hit her, if she could reach.
“All right all right!” Trevor quietened them. “Points taken all round. But we’re on holiday, remember? I mean it’s probably my fault anyway; but Uilian’s a sore point with me that’s all. And as for him being how’s-your-father I can’t say. But he did get kicked out of that all boy’s school &-“
“He did not!” Mary snapped. “He got his qualifications a year early, left a year before the rest. Are you saying that just because you have a high intellect you’re a raving…homosexual. Good Lord!”
“I’m just saying that I’ve seen more gays come out of those collages the any of the schools that I went to!” Trevor was quick with his answer.
“So what about Clever Miss Know-It-All, she’s got two ‘A’ grades, which you think makes her near omniscient. In which case Uilian must be godlike” Mary didn’t actually care for Uilian herself, but she hated the fact that Trevor had to call him horrible things. “He’s cleverer than all of us put together. Oh I admit he’s quiet, comes & goes like a ghost & seems less active & enthusiastic about life that a chronically depressed lemming, but look at his disadvantages! He’s never had friends was brought up by that Lorgen & has lived in that asthmatic mansion for 16 years. Little wonder he’s a bit queer!”
She seemed to have won the argument.
Queer? Alexa thought, did her mother mean gay. No, she must have meant shy or something. Yes, he must seem shy- if anyone knew better.
Alexa knew better, from that time two years ago. And as for queer- hardly! She smiled secretly. Better let them keep on thinking it though. That way they wouldn’t be afraid of her being in his ‘company’. But, no, Uilian wasn’t entirely gay. AC, DC maybe.
Two years ago, yes…
It had taken Alexa ages to get Uilian to talk to her. She remembered the circumstances well.
It had been a beautiful day. Her parents & Anna had gone to the beach & Lorgen away on ‘business’ for the day. Uilian & Alexa where left in charge of the house, he with his Alsatian pup to play with & she to explore the grounds the great barn the old stables & Lorgen’s old car, which was placed in the bottom stable.Uilian wasn’t into the beach, in fact he hated both the sun & the sea, & Alexa would do anything rather than spend time with her parents.
“Walk with me?” she pressed Uilain finding him alone with the pup in the dim, cool library. He had shook his head. Pale in the shade of this room which the sun never seemed to dare enter, he’d lounged awkwardly on a chaise-lounge fondling the pups floppy ears with one hand & holding a book in the other.
“Why not? You could show me the grounds.”
He had glanced at the pup: “he gets tired if he walks too far. He’s still jot quite steady on his legs. And I burn easy in the sun. I don’t really much care for the sun. And besides I’m reading.”
“Your not much fun to be with” she had told him deliberately pouting. And she’s asked, “Is there still straw in the hayloft, above the barn?”
“Hayloft?” Uilian had looked surprised. His long, not unhandsome face had formed a soft oval against the dark velvet of the furniture. “I haven’t been up there in years.”
“What are you reading, anyway?” She sat down beside him, reached for the book held loosely in his long-fingered, soft looking hand. He drew back, kept the book from her.
“Not for little girls,” He said, his expression unchanging. Frustrated she tossed her hair, glanced all around the large room. And it was large; partitioned in the middle by ceiling height book cases & had book lined alcoves all around the walls. It reeked of old books, dusty & musty, so that she almost feared to breath in case her lungs where filled with words & inks.
There was a shallow cupboard in one corner of the room & its door stood open. Tracks in the threadbare carpet showed where Uilian had dragged a stepladder to a certain section of the shelving. The books on the top shelf where almost hidden in gloom where old cobwebs where gathering dust. But unlike the neat rows of books in the lower shelves they where piled haphazardly lying in a jumble as if recently disturbed.
She went to the step ladder & started to climb.
Uilian’s Adam’s apple bobbed. He tossed his book aside, came easily to his feet. “You leave that top shelf alone,” He said unemotionally, coming to the foot of the ladder.
She ignored him, looked at the titles, read them out loud: “How to Hypnotize, Huh!
...The Erotic Beardsley! She slapped her hands in delight- “What, dirty pictures, Uilian?” she took the book from the shelf opened it. “Oh!” she said, rather more quietly.
“Put it down!” Uilian hissed from below.
Alexa put the book back, read off more titles.
“Vampirism- eh! Sexual Powers of Satyrs & Nymphomaniacs. Sadism & Sexual Aberration. &… Parasitic creatures? How diverse! And not dusty at all, these books, do you read them a lot Uilian?
“Get down!” He yelled from below, his face turned up at a sharp angle just below the level of her knees. His eyes where like holes punched in a paper face, with pupils shiny as black marbles. She stared hard at him but their eyes didn’t meet, because he wasn’t looking at her face.
“Why, I do believe,” she told them, teasingly, “that your quite naughty, really Uilian! What with these books & everything…” She had worn her short dress because of the heat & now she was glad.
He looked away, touched his brow turned aside. “You…wanted to see the barn?” his voice was soft again.
“Can we?” She was down the ladder in a flash. “I love old barns!”
They went through the rambling huge house to the front, Uilian excusing himself for a moment to go to his room. He came back wearing dark spectacles.
Then they made their way to the barn.
When they got there Uilian crossed the paved floor between piles of old slates & rusty, broken down implements to the floor of the open stairs. “Hayloft,” he said turning his dark eyes on her.
Sometimes his movements where so fluid it almost seemed as if he where sleep-walking. They where like that now as he climbed the stairs slowly, step by deliberate step. “There is still straw,” he said, voice languid as a deep pool.
She watched him walk out of sight. There was a leanness about him, a hunger. Her father thought he was soft, girlish, but Alexa guessed otherwise. She saw him as an intelligent animal, as a wolf. Sot of furtive, but unobtrusive, & always there on the edge of things, just waiting for his chance…
She emerged into the hayloft & threw herself own on the hay. She was conscious that her dress rode up above her knickers, where she lay face down. She did nothing to adjust it. Instead she spread her legs a little, wriggled her backside & contrived to make the movement seem perfectly unconscious- which it was not.
Uilian stood still for long moments & she could feel his eyes on her, but she simply cupped her chin.
The straw stirred & she knew that he was right behind her like a wolf in the forest.
His sunglasses fell on the floor; he got down beside her on her right, his arm falling casually across her waist. Casually, yes & light as a feather.
“Your really extraordinary you know, although, you say that we’re all special. What makes me special?” Alexa inquired looking at him.
“Your innocence.” He said right away, his voice a purr. “And your desire not to be!”
Alexa smiled put a piece of straw between her lips, slowly she turned onto her back.
His hand then fell on her belly lingered over her navel slipped down & crept under the band of her knickers. She stopped him there caching his hand with her own.
“It’s not the right time.” She said to him softly. Stroking his hair back. “Oh. Uilian.”
His eyes widened, he got up, took his sunglasses & slinked down the stairs.
“Uilian!” She’d called after him then, ran out of the barn & into the grounds.
She wasn’t able to find him for the rest of the day, but she hadn’t really looked for him.

But when she thought of him, she still remembered his hand burning on her flesh. And now she found herself wondering if there still was hay in the hayloft…

Trevor, too, had his secret thoughts about Uilian. Mary could say what she liked but she couldn’t change that. He was weird that lad, & weird in several directions. It wasn’t only the creeping-jesus aspect that irritated Trevor, though certainly the youth’s furtive ways where annoying enough. But he was sick, too. Not mental, maybe not even sick in his body, just generally sick. To look at him sometimes, to catch him unawares with a side-glance, was to look at a cockroach surprised by a switched on light, or a jellyfish steaming away, stranded on the beach when the tide goes out. You could almost sense something seething in him. But if it wasn’t mental or physical, & yet encompassed both, what the hell was it?
As for what Mary had said about Uilian at school: well it was true, as far as it went. He had taken his exams early, & passes all of them, but that wasn’t why he left a year early. Trevor had a friend whose son went to the same school as Uilian. Mary would hear none of it, of course not, but the stories had been wild. Uilian had ‘seduced’ a male teacher, half-gone-gay he’d somehow managed to switch on. Once over the top, the fellow apparently turned into a raver, trying to roger anything male that moved. He’d blamed Uilian for that. And then:
At his art classes, Uilian painted perfect pictures, however they where pictures that caused a very gentle lady teacher to attack him physically; she’d also stormed his bed space & burned his art folios. Out natures rambling, Uilian had been found wandering on his own, his face & hands smeared in blood & insides. Dangling from one hand he’d carried the remains of a stray cat. The carcass was still warm. He’d said a man had done it, but this was the moors, miles away from anywhere. That wasn’t all. It seemed he liked to walk the halls during the night, scaring the shit out of the younger boys. He wasn’t doing it purposely, but again his ghostly ways would be scary, seeing his shadowy figure creeping around in the dark. By then the headmaster had spoken to Anna, in length, & she’d agreed he could leave. It was that or expulsion. For the sake of the good name of the school.
These where some of the reasons Trevor didn’t like Uilian. But of course there was one other thing. It was something very nearly as old as Uilian himself, but it had fixed itself in Trevor’s mind.
The sight of the old man clutching his sheets to his chest as he died, & his last whispered words: “Christen it? No, first… have it exorcised!”
He shook the thought from his head as he swivelled the car round & through the gates to the Benirus Estate. There where other large houses down the street but none like this the others where crisp & white, however, the Benirus Estate was much different, it was old, covered in ivy, & had large lawns. Apparently there had always been a Benirus living on that plot of land, since as long as anyone of the neighbourhood can remember.
As they reached the house, that party found themselves being greeted by Anna & Uilian. They had almost failed to see Anna for she was over shadowed by her son; leaning against one of the pillars. As Trevor stopped the car, Alexa’s jaw fell open a little. Mary simply stared. Trevor himself thought, Uilian! Yes of course it is. But what’s he being doing right?
Getting out of the car, Mary finally spoke, echoing Trevor’s thoughts. “Uilian! My but what a couple of years have done for you!”
He glanced towards her, shook his head a little & laughed to himself, then turned his head to Alexa where she got out of the car & stretched.
She had changed a lot. A net of red hair covered her right eye & she was even more cockily confident than before.
“I’m not the only one who has grown.” He said tilting his head & peering over the top of his sunglasses to get a better view, His voice was that dark one that Alexa had heard sometimes before, which was now, apparently, his normal voice. He held her at arms length, stared at her with those unfathomable eyes.
She gazed through the tint of those glasses & straight into those very eyes. She thought about how stupid she was before, & how much she wished she could take it back. He was attractive before-yes, but now! His long, straight chin, not quite lantern-jaw, high brow, straight nose- & especially his eyes all combining together to form a face with might seem quite odd on anyone else’s shoulders. But coupled with that voice, & with Uilian’s mind behind it, the effect was quite devastating. He looked somehow foreign. His dark hair, flowing naturally back & forming something of a mane at the back of his neck, made him seem even more wolfish than she remembered. That was it- wolfish! And he was getting tall as a tree- maybe 6’2 from first glance.
“Your still slim, anyway,” she found something to say, however uninspired. “But what’s Aunt Anna been feeding you?”
He smiled & turned to Trevor, nodded & held out one hand. “Trevor.” He said solemnly.
Trevor! Trevor groaned inwardly. First names, just like with mummy, hey? Still, it was better than being shied away from.
“Hello, Uilian.” Trevor forced a smile, checking Uilian out but unobtrusively, while shaking his hand. The youth topped him by a good 5 inches. Add his hair to that & he looked even taller still. Trevor was suddenly very aware of his own thinning hair, his small paunch & slightly stodgy appearance. But at least I can go out in the sun! He thought. Uilian’s pallor had not changed; even here he stood in the shade of the house, like part of its shadow.
Once Uilian had pulled his hand away, he wiped it down the front of his pinstripe waistcoat.
But if these two years had been good to Uilain, they had not done the same for Anna.
“Anna!” Mary had meanwhile turned to her, hugging her where she sat in her wheelchair. Beneath the hug, she felt how frail she was, how trembly.
“Do come in, make yourselves comfortable.” Anna spoke as if robotically charged. “There’s cream tea in the hall.” She led the way, clanking her chair round like some old clockwork toy winding down.
Uilian paused at the door. “I shall see to your things, Trevor.” He spoke as if some kind of butler, however always managed to seem superior to Trevor.
“OK, thanks! I’ll give you a hand.”
“Not necessary. You go make yourself comfortable.” Uilain had put devastating effect onto the word ‘comfortable’, as if warning about something.
Trevor shrugged his shoulders in a ‘suit-your-self’ manner, threw the keys to him & watched the young punk make an ass of himself. Uilian opened the boot & took out their cases as if they where empty. It wasn’t just a show, Trevor could see that. Uilian was very strong…
Following him inside the house, & feeling just a shade useless, Trevor paused on hearing a low growl of warning which came from an open cloakroom in an alcove to one side of the entrance hall. In there, in the deepest shadows behind a dark oak coat-stand, something black as sin moved & yellow eyes glared. Trevor looked harder, said, “What in-?” & the growling came louder.
Uilian, half way down the corridor towards the stairs, turned & looked back. “Oh, don’t let him intimidate you, Trevor. His bark is worse than his bite, I assure you.” And in a much more commanding tone: “Come, boy, out into the light where I can see you.”
A black Alsatian, almost full grown, (was this monster really Uilian’s pup?) came slinking into view, baring its teeth at Trevor as it slid by him. The dog went straight to Uilain, stood waiting. Trevor noticed that the dog never wagged its tail.
“It’s all right, old friend,” The youth murmured. “you make yourself scarce.” At which the vicious looking creature moved on into the house.
“Vlad,” Uilain pointed out, turning away, cases & all. “It’s Romanian, I believe. Means ‘Prince’.”

Uilain wasn’t much visible for the next three days. The fact did not especially bother Trevor; if anything he was relieved, Uilian & Vlad where a duo he could do without. Mary merely thought it was odd that he wasn’t around, like his father. Alexa felt he was ignoring her & was annoyed about it, but she didn’t let it show. “What does he do with himself all day?” Alexa asked Anna, for the sake of something to say. Then she realised what she had said & began a small orgy in her mind of all the things Uilain could be ‘doing’ with himself all day.
Anna’s eyes seemed constantly dull, but only mention Uilian & they’d take on a startled almost shocked brightness.
“Oh, he has interests… most of the day he locks himself away in the library. I wouldn’t bother trying to disturb him, there’s only two keys.” Her eyes faded again as she continued. “One carried by Uilian & the other…” Anna looked above the fireplace towards the large portrait of the houses master, Lorgen Benirus. The painting showed him in an old fashioned tuxedo, from head to waist. One of his hands tucked into his right hand side pocket, the other grasped the arm of a chair that stood next to him. He was facing left wards in a three quarter fashion; however his eyes glared right at you wherever you stood in the room. It was the only idea they had about what Lorgen actually looked like. All they knew about him was that he was 43, owned the house, inherited a ton of money from his family line, was a stickler for his own security, had black oiled back hair; like in the 1930’s, & that he was never around; at least when Trevor , Mary & Alexa where.
“Lorgen has it?” Alexa was curious now. Trying not to sound too eager.
Anna turned to face her again, “Oh, no. But it is some where in the house. Lorgen once talked about leaving himself clues so he could remember where he put it. Since he isn’t here, you could always try to find it yourself.”
So for the rest of the day Alexa was looking around the house for clues to where the key to Uilain’s sanctuary was located. But, alas, she found nothing, nothing but a spider which she gratefully named Polly, then shooed it out of the window. After another hour of deep thinking she decided that she was to give up & go back to the adults. As Alexa slouched back into the chair, which was black, old & had an incredibly bouncy seat, she noticed a little zip on the inner side of the arm, so slyly she pulled it open. A note fell out onto the seat & she snatched it up. Alexa looked around at the others sitting & chatting, to check if they’d saw her; also, she looked up at the huge Lorgen Benirus, almost frowning at her.
Now she got it, clues! The picture had his right hand in his pocket & his left on a chair arm. You read left to right! She thought, so the painting tells you, ‘chair arm pocket’. Everything was falling into place, the type of clues that Lorgen left behind. She must be sitting on his chair. As she now ran upstairs to the tiny guest room, which was acting as hers, Alexa read the note.

‘Look where old demons hang & where the Lycan bears its teeth.’

It made no sense to her, but then again, with the limited knowledge of Lorgen, how could it possibly make sense. But then, something clicked, Lycan, that was the old fashioned name for werewolf, & a werewolf was a dog, of some description. But where old demons hang was completely new to her.
Giving up again, she walked down the long corridor towards the stairs to the third floor; it was covered with paintings of the Benirus family line, the first was coveted in chain mail armour & donned & small crown of sorts, his name was Faethor, & underneath his name was the date of when he was painted like this (1122). She passed more, Chendyrihal, Emerala, Cassius, Morgan, Lleyawiin; but a small section of five grabbed her attention, they where based in the 1800’s. One called ‘Cerberus’ (1802), ‘Pluto’ (1828), A woman called ‘Memnoch’ (1840), another called ‘Medusa’ (1875), & another man called ‘Cthulhu’ (1876). She stopped, dead. Alexa knew demons, & these where just that. She retraced her steps, back to the woman ‘Memnoch’, who was holding a small Pug in her lap. As little looking like a wolf as it was, it was still the only dog next to some demons, & it was bearing its teeth. Her hands traced over those teeth, & she noticed that the long one that protruded over its lips was, somehow loose. It quaked under the pressure of her finger. So, she dug her nail into the tiny rim around it, the tooth, it fell out of the painting, but, it wasn’t part of the painting for it was made of wood; & seemed to slot perfectly into the cavity it made in the canvas. Inside the little hold, there was also another note, in the same scratchy hand.
‘Look for the lone tome, with the writings of the dead.’

Now she was stumped. ‘Lone tome.’ that must mean a book on its own somewhere. She thought hard about where she’d seen a book on its own. At that moment the figure of a sixteen year old could be seen racing through the house towards the drawing room. How can Lorgen expect people to go through this much trouble to sneak into his library! Rounding the corner, now facing the door to the drawing room; the door was small, but had a huge handle, Alexa quivered her hand as it clasped the brass knob. The door squeaked open & she ducked inside. There on the self was the book on its own, it was red & had gold trims, & it was thick; about 800 pages she thought. Picking it up, she opened it up, but found that it was hollow & inside was- a gun!- a poxy, snub nosed gun, which looked like it was made of gold & had a mother of pearl grip on its handle. She sniffed at it; it smelled like it had been fired recently. Why would Lorgen want a gun?
Alexa guessed it must be for self protection. She decided it was better to put it back & pretend that she’d never saw it.
More hours had passed since she started her hunt & now, she was stuck!
But, Alexa wasn’t one to give up, so she decided to call her friend, her best friend in fact, Villana Dantes. Villana was the closes friend to Alexa, nothing would come between them.
“Hi, Villy?”
A voice came through the opposite end; it was delicate, as a Rhino! Alexa knew Villana, & she was anything but delicate. At school Villana had taken on 6 jocks, they where big, the kind of meatheads you see at all the school, thinking there gods gift to- everything; because they’re good at football! She remembered that incident well as she thought back for a moment…

It was a dreary & wet day at the school; however it wasn’t just any dreary day, it was the leaving prom. It had happened after they where leaving the building. Sirennas got the Prom ‘Queen’ award, as everyone knew was going to happen, & Ekei Capp won the Prom king award. Villana didn’t see why the popular kids always got those awards. She felt like pummelling Sirennas’ pretty little face in as she stood on the stage, all in pink, tarted up with a ton of makeup plastered on, like someone who should be standing on a street corner at midnight. Ekei Capp wasn’t much better either, long blonde hair; put in a ponytail that sprawled down the back of his designer suit.
When it had finished & everyone was walking home, Alexa was pushed into the mud by one of Ekei’s cronies. Her dress was ruined, not that she cared, as she laid face flat in the dirt, she saw Villana out of the corner of her eye, ripping her dress from the bottom to the crotch.. Villana then ran for the pack of jocks. Alexa watched her jump, high as if almost flying, & land both her high heels into jock number 4’s chest, sending him hurtling across the car-park & into a ford focus. Alexa always called the jocks by the number on the back of their football shirts, because they where practically the same person, as if coming off an infinite conveyor belt. At this moment, as Villana was readjusting herself, jock number 9 was coming at her with an almost iron fist when suddenly she turned & grabbed his wrist. Villana broke that boys arm that day, in several places. The doctors apparently said that it was demolished.
“Hey Villana, still round Aunt Anna’s, just wanted to talk is all. Oh & ask a few question, see I’m trying to find something. But first, that talk. How are you.”
That voice again, “OK, how you doing? And more importantly, How’s that guy you mentioned doin’?” Her question was blunt, but it was just her. She’d stopped making everything have frilly edges & sugar on the top. Her life had been hard for a long time so she was allowed the privilege.
“I’m fine-ish, but Uilian, jesus, talk about better with age.” Alexa took a deap breath as she started her rant about what she’d saw earlier. “And that’s why I need to find this key!” She’d realised then that she’d just shouted that out loud & when she glanced back she thought she saw a figure sly through the corridor. Just her imagination. She turned once more & the she saw Vlad, strolling around, shoulders pronounced & angular. She wasn’t fond of that dog. Not at all.
Villana had told her to look for a phone or address book seeing as though she hadn’t seen one around so far, she decided that one must be in Lorgren’s bedroom.

The room was shady & cold, the curtains firmly pinned closed. A huge four poster bed stood, almost dormant over the entire room. Along the many shelves that hung on the walls, there where many forms of gemstones, including obsidian which donned a red rose leaning up against it black gleaming face. It seemed to reflect the sliver of light that burst into the room, onto a lectern upon an oak desk, so she closed the door behind her & slid into the room & toward her target.
Flipping the lid open, Alexa dived into the lectern to fond a dark green book of leather & of stained old pages. When she opened the book it let out a smell of pure must. Inside the pages where dated from the early 1700’s & as she flicked through them, the dates moved on. Yes this diary of scratchy handwriting had seen the French revolution, the world wars, the great recession & even the cold war. She puzzled at it. ‘How can this be, the handwriting’s all the same, but these entries cover three centuries’ she snatched it up & then retreated to her room, hoping no-one would notice. There she spent most of the night reading the entries & found the writer quite intriguing.
The alarm warned with a ‘beeeeep’ & Alexa’s hand came crashing down on top of it. She fixed her hair, however scruffily, & went to open the curtains. Out there, in the grounds of the manse she saw Uilian slinking around with deadly precision.
“Uilian?” She thought to herself, extremely puzzled at the notion of him being outside without being dragged out. He still wore sunglasses, even though it wasn’t particularly bright outside, no, just warm. Vlad was in his tracks, following military-like, padding across the grass with his head up & his back arched inwards. Alexa glanced over to the barn at the other end of the arbour. ‘I wonder if there’s still hay in the hayloft?’
Trevor was now also awake, still in his pyjamas, but well awake. He was watching the youth walk the grounds with his nightmarish dog.
He hated the boy, money, talent, looks, so what the hell was he moping about all the time for? He had nothing to worry about, did he? Just when Trevor thought he hated Uilian, watching the next few seconds, he would come to detest the boy, as he saw his little Alexa run to his side & Start to talk. However his detest would soon turn to fear when she led him into the barn & left Vlad outside to stand guard.
Now fuming, Trevor heard music from down stairs, “piano music?” he thought it must have been Mozart, & so went to investigate, still in a rage & probably on his way to grab the sickly roach by the neck. He bounced down the stairs in his slippers, however when he arrived in the hall, he found no-one at the piano. Just the keys moving by themselves. He backed slowly towards the stairs again, until an unfamiliar hissing voice swam into his ears.
“Why hello Mister Lake, pleasure to meet you at long last.”
Trevor then turned to the chair where his daughter was sat not twelve hours ago. In it sat rather lounged, was a man around forty-three years old, with oiled charcoal hair & a snotty expression, fitted neatly into an expensive looking black suit.
“How?...You!” Trevor was dumfound, he excused his attire & went to shake Lorgen’s hand, whereupon he instantly dew back, ‘father like son-eh’, he thought. He then tries another stab at conversation.
“How does the piano… I mean?”
Lorgen rose form his seat & went to the fireplace, put out a hand & lit it in a plait second. Blink & he would have missed it.
“Magic.”
The music continued. At that moment, Trevor thrust himself back upstairs & into his room, locking the door behind him.
He went & sat on his bed, put his hands over his eyes for a second, but when he opened them again, Lorgen was sat next to him.
“It’s a nice day, though you’d be outside by now!” An eerie smile crawled over Lorgen’s face. Trevor then caught glimpse of the teeth that his behind the pale & evil mouth. Long & pointed, they protruded far further than any others.
An abominable ringing started in his head like a throbbing toothache of the mind.
Trevor soon fell to the floor, convulsing & foaming. Blood soon ran in front of his eyes.
Lorgen leaned over him, smiling devilishly again.
“Goodbye, Trevor Lake. A pleasure too meet you.”
Outside Alexa was talking to Uilian, about last time she was her & how much he & she had changed. He refused to converse, however she persisted to talk. She discussed what happened last time she was here, also. The day was warm & more sun than she thought had burst through onto the grounds. Uilian’s sunglasses perched on the bridge of his nose, seemed to reflect all light & leave his eyes in perfect darkness, however she wished he’d take them off more often. Actually, she wished she was able to see him more often in general, she’d been so bored these past few days & Uilian was so fun to wind up. Alexa did her little smile she does when she thinks of something she liked, spun around Uilian & hooked her index finger into the buckle of his belt, then dragged him into the barn. She kissed him while in the hayloft, he didn’t really do it back, but nipped her bottom lip with his canine, then savoured the smell of the single trickle of blood running down her chin & onto her neck.
“Sorry.” He said sombrely, walked away from her & went down the stairs again. De ja vu struck her & she went chasing after him. Again he was gone, completely out of sight. A blue & red flashing came from over the other side of the house & Alexa went to investigate, still lamenting over Uilian’s ‘sorry’. Whet could he mean sorry for. Everything he did was so purposeful & deliberate.
The day was still warm & she could see Vlad patrolling the grounds. In particular he guarded a small flagstone building, about the size & shape of an under stair cupboard. He padded around it twice, then circled the garden area, then repeated the cycle. Again & Again.
As she reached the main hall, she saw a smartly dressed man standing in the centre of the large room. His suit ironed to perfection & every hair in its place. He swatted at the dust particles in the air that looked like snow in the light of the huge window that squatted in the farthest wall. Ambulance crew spoke to him & he conversed back, still grabbing at the air. She then looked at the other paramedics & her father, lying on a stretcher, one of his arms flopping down & his fingers stroking the shiny floor. Her mother skidded alongside the stretcher & Alexa joined her in her howling cries of pain. Her fathers’ face looked back at hers, his eyes paralysed open & tears of blood streaming down his face. Alexa fell to her knees & her mother groped at the sides of the trolley before finally falling behind & releasing her grip.
She sat for the rest of the day, in her room, crying to herself. Her mother had come in not half an hour ago to try & comfort her, but only succeeded in letting her guard down & began to cry along with her daughter.
Ten forty & there was a knock at the door. Alexa looked up from between her knees & wiped a dried tear from the corner of her eye. It was a great relief as it had been stinging her for a long time. The door was pulled open by her trembling arm.
Uilian stood in the door way, his head hung in a shameful way. She scanned him from bottom to top, his shined shoes that never made a sound, they where around size ten from ten from what she could see. Moving up to his pinstripe, grey dress trousers, she skipped upward & lay eyes on the thin golden chain that hung from the front to the back of his belt. His shirt & waistcoat clung tight to him as they had always done before, she thought it made him look restrained & tight, but none of that seemed to affect him. In fact nothing seemed to effects him.
Then she looked into the abyssal eyes from before, suddenly she stopped sniffling & her tears ceased to flow. The eyes drew her in, compelled her to gaze farther in. they seemed to ebb from black to topaz, & then back to black, back & forth until she was distracted by Uilian fumbling around in his pockets.
“Wha-what are you doing at this time, coming knocking at my door while I’m so upset?”
A key was thrust into her face & Uilian began to speak.
“I’m sorry for your…loss. I’m no good at consoling people, I haven’s met death much.” He put his head back down & then clicked his fingers in remembrance. “that’s the key to the library. I know you where looking for it. I know when someone’s up to something. Your clumsy, you leave a lot of clues.” He breathed in heavily, inflating his chest & then said, while tapping his forehead with his index finger. “It’ll let you into the library. Not sure what you want to find in there.”
Alex took the key from his hand & closed it tight to her chest. She attempted to wipe the tears from the corner of her eyes. Uilian’s slender hands came towards her face &, with his thumbs, he dried her face & eyes of the salty tears.
“You’re leaking.” He said bluntly.
Alexa tittered a little & put her eyes on his again. He looked directly at her & the mesmerizing started again, so she looked back down towards the floor.
“I…I think I was trying to find you.” She said after a breath, letting it out quietly so that he may not hear. “Your never around & it’s kinda boring.”
“Well…” He replied, not knowing what to say. The expression on his face becoming that tense & hard one that she saw last year in the dim lit library where he spent his days back then.
“Your not the greatest company. I know. But your still company in the end.”
“Alexa! Gte to sleep now.” Mary came storming down the corridor. Uilian excused himself & then slipped away down the hall & into the darkness. Mary always got angry to cover up her grief. It was the same when her own father died. The idle chit-chatter after the funeral at the ‘party’ was disturbed by her mother’s ranting & shouts of undignified pain.
“We are going home tomorrow. I want your father to be buried near home.”
That was the end of the visit. A meagre three days. The car pulled out of the drive, squelched round the corner & out of sight.
Uilian stood, still in the shade of the gigantesque house, staring over the top of his sunglasses at the car as it made it’s way to a place for from reach.
Under her breath, he apologised to Alexa.
“I am sorry. Truly.”
His eyed flashed to their gold & back once more before he made his way back inside with Vlad to sit alone in the library once more.