So Sacrifice Yourself, and Let Me Have What's Left

It was all such a tragedy to me. How could anyone do this? What could possibly convince someone to do what those people did? It was sick and wrong, if you ask me. All of those people…they were never to see their families or loved ones ever again. I watched in fear as the smoke began to rise up into the heavens, and my throat tightened at the sight of people jumping off the burning building in attempts to save their lives. I just wish they knew that there was no one waiting for them to catch them as they fell. I covered my mouth with my hand at the sight of one man crashing against the cement, his blood splattering all over the ground as innocent bystanders rushed to get away. I looked at the guys. They looked so calm about what was going on. How could they just watch those people die and not show one sign of emotion? Were they really that cold-hearted? My eyes averted back to the TV screen in Brian’s living room, watching in horror as the lives were taken by innocent people who hadn’t done anything wrong to deserve such a fate on this day of September eleventh, the year two thousand and one.

“Why are they in New York?” Johnny finally broke the silence. I looked to see that his eyes showed no expression as they looked at Matt, who was sprawled out on the couch like he was just watching Saturday morning cartoons. They all seemed to sicken me at that moment. How could they not care about those people dieing before their very eyes? This was madness, and they were treating it like it was a walk in the park.

Matt shrugged, his eyes never once leaving the TV as he watched the horror that was happening in New York City while we were in the peaceful town of Huntington Beach, California. “Beats me.” he muttered. Matt looked at Zacky, who was beside me on the couch. “I thought you said they were coming here?”

Zacky shrugged, his arm tightening around my shoulders. He could sense how horrified I was at the full out manslaughter that was going on at this very moment, and he seemed to be the only one showing emotion, even though those emotions were headed towards me instead of those innocent people. “Maybe she moved there.” He suggested.

I looked at Zacky with a questioning expression plastered all over my face. Who was he talking about? Who was Matt talking about? Why did Johnny seemed so surprised that those people who were responsible for the killings in New York? This was too confusing for me at the time. Zacky saw my look, and he returned it, although I knew what it meant. He would tell me later and explain things in a better way. But I couldn’t wait until later, I had to know the truth, and I had to know it now. Plus, I think I’ll go mad if I have to stare at human blood splattered against cement much more. God, I hate my vampyre side. It makes me feel so…cannibalistic. I grabbed Zacky’s arm, pulling him off the couch. The guys gave me strange looks, except Jimmy’s. He was smirking, his brow was raised, and I rolled my eyes.

I dragged Zacky down the hallway and pushed him into our room, closing the door behind me so we could have privacy. I thought back to the last time we did something like this, only it was Zacky dragging me into the room and him closing the door once we were both in. But we weren’t going to do what we intended to do last time, that is, before Matt interrupted.

“What’s going on?” I asked. I was slightly surprised that I could make myself sound so unemotional and cruel. I sounded like Kala when she was talking to Evangeline, and I feared that this was my ugly vampyre side once again peeking its ugly little head out from under the surface of my skin, just waiting to take over my entire body.

Zacky sighed, and extended his hand out to me. I took it without a second thought. Zacky’s warm hands seemed to be the only things that were able to calm me down in times like these. “Promise not to freak out?” his voice was so smooth and perfect it gave me Goosebumps, but I managed a nod anyway. “Those people, who stole the planes, they weren’t just regular people.” I gave Zacky a confused look, but he ignored it. “They were Lycans.” My eyes widened. “They were there to kill you.”

My heart stopped. No, Zacky was lieing. He was saying these things so I could be like how the guys acted towards the people dieing because of this epidemic—emotionless. He didn’t want me to be in pain by watching other people suffer because it hurt him to see me obsess over people I’ve never met.

“They thought that maybe you were in New York.” Zacky continued, and I noticed both of my hands were placed in his. “I guess they overheard that you’ve always wanted to go there, so they just took matters into their own hands.” he mumbled. The feel of his thumbs brushing against my hands soothed me a bit, but not all the way.

That must be why the guys didn’t care much for the people dieing. They were all werewolves, and their brothers had committed that crime, meaning they couldn’t care. It saddened me to think that those innocent people died all because of me. Perhaps it would be easier to do this world a favor and kill myself. It seems easier to me, life without The Forbidden One. Maybe then the world would be at peace, and innocent people wouldn’t die every day. I then began to wonder…if this tragedy was happening right now, what else have I caused? Could it be that almost every epidemic that involved thousands of people dieing were all in the hunt for me? Were the werewolves and vampyres that cruel?

“Remember the Black Plague outbreak in the sixteen hundreds?” I looked at Zacky to see him staring intently at me. He looked so serious it scared me. I wanted my Zacky, the one who was so carefree, not this grim one that made my knees shake. I nodded, and Zacky gave me a look that said it all, but he decided to speak anyway. “They thought maybe they could kill you with a disease since you were so young at the time.”

I remembered when I was younger, perhaps three or four, and I had fallen ill. The same had happened for Devin, so it was up to Cynthia to care for a sick toddler and her husband. Cynthia told me it was just the flu, and I should think nothing of it and to stay in bed for as long as I’m sick. Eventually I got over it, and that’s all I’ve ever thought of it as. Could it be I had the Plague, but somehow my body got over it? Devin acted as if he had a cold, so perhaps it was my werewolf side that prevented me from dieing?

This was all too much for me. I needed a distraction.

“Hey, Ace, there’s someone at the door for you.” Matt said. I turned to see his hand on the doorknob, leaning against the now open door. I gave him a confused look. “He’s dressed all fancy schmancy—”

“Like he just walked out of a fucking circus!” I couldn’t help but laugh at Jimmy’s interruption. At least I had an idea of what this guy looked like that apparently knew me.
Matt just rolled his eyes. “Anyway, he’s waiting outside. I think he has some weird invitation for you.” he shrugged, leaving the door open as he walked away and back into the living room where the rest of the guys were.

I looked at Zacky, who shrugged. “Might as well go see who it is, right?” he suggested. I nodded, and let Zacky—who still had my hands in both of his—lead me out of our room and into the living room. He took a seat beside Johnny on the couch, leaving me to go see this mystery man waiting for me on the other side of that door.

I carefully opened the door to see a man standing before me. He was dressed in a black jacket with a white shirt under, the collar sticking out from the black jacket hiding it and the cuffs covering the sleeves of the jacket. Every button was buttoned, and it looked like this man had his jacket ironed every day to get out even the tiniest of wrinkles. His small, bony legs were protected by a black fabric that had been creased in the middle, going down his long legs that were attached to two feet, which could not be seen thanks to the black shiny shoes that sparkled brightly in the California sun. I looked up at his face, and this did surprise me. He looked as if he had been dead for years, maybe even centuries. His gray skin had sunk into his skull, making his cheekbones prominent in his face, almost as if they were ready to rip apart the leathery coating surrounding them. His beady, emotionless black eyes stared into mine as if he could see into my soul. He stared at me as if he knew my secret, and he knew who I was and what exactly I was put on this earth to do. His thin lips were slightly lifted upward in a permanent smirk, and his pale, thin nose looked as if it would break at any moment. His lanky body gave off this unknown power, almost as if he could easily break my neck in half in a second just because he was bored at the time and had nothing better to do.

I was speechless, but the man spoke for me. “Candace Vanderkay?” his voice was as deep and rich as dark chocolate with the British hint of accent as he spoke my name. Only that wasn’t my last name. This man had to have the wrong address, or something.

A true Vanderkay, as she is seen,
For she has taken the name of another, but her true self intervenes,

The words were whispered into my head by a voice that was unfamiliar. It was raspy, but smooth at the same time. It had a sinister slur to it, and it gave me chills just thinking about it. I looked at the man, who was still smirking slightly and his eyes telling me something along the lines of ‘I know exactly who you are’. I remembered the story, and I remembered the last words. Vanderkay, could it be that is my real last name? Something inside of me told me to nod my head or say yes to his question, telling me that Vanderkay was my last name, and so I obeyed. “Yes, I am her.” This voice that escaped my lips did not sound like mine, and yet it was.

The man’s smirk lifted a bit into a small smile, and he extended his gray, bony hand to me. Caught in his hand’s grip was an envelope that was sealed in a crimson wax with an emblem stamped onto it. The emblem looked like some sort of family crest, for it was in a ‘D’ shape, with all sorts of extensions going outward in the places they were necessary, enveloping the D as it stood out proudly. “This is yours.” The dark chocolate voice said to me, although I was not looking up at his face rather than the envelope I was reaching towards.

I placed my fragile fingers around the end of the envelope that was sticking out, and took it gently. Even the paper of the envelope looked possibly a hundred years old, and I knew that it would offend someone had I torn the weak paper. I slid the envelope out of the man’s grasp. “Thank you.” the unfamiliar voice that sounded just like mine escaped my lips once more. This wasn’t my voice. I was almost sure my voice would have cracked or stuttered, and yet the unfamiliar voice pronounced every syllable perfectly, stressing what needed to be stressed. I examined the envelope. There was my name, only followed by Vanderkay after it, with the address signaled to mine and Brian’s house. There was no return address, but simply the same crest that was stamped onto the crimson wax that sealed whatever was inside the envelope to stay there.

“Everything you will need to know is in that envelope.” The man spoke up, clearly not caring at the fact that I wasn’t looking up at him, but was instead still studying the beige piece of paper in my hands, looking for a way to open it. I felt bad for having to break the seal, but I guessed that would be the only way to do it. “The host is greatly expecting your presence, and when he specifically wants someone at his parties, they have to do everything that invitation says right down to the punctuation marks.” His voice sounded a bit harsh, almost as if peanuts had been thrown into the dark chocolate smoothness. “Farewell, young Candace.” That sentence sounded a bit faded.

When I looked up, he was gone.

I looked around the opening for a minute, and could find nothing out of the ordinary. It was almost as if that man had never stepped foot onto Brian’s steps that led to his door where I was previously still at, holding the envelope in my hands. I slowly closed the door with caution, hoping that the man didn’t pop up again and for me to slam the door right into his face. That would be pretty rude, no matter how scary that man was.

I turned my attention back to the envelope, and placed my thumb by the seal. I could see in the corner of my eye that everyone was too busy looking at the TV, watching the tragedy as it came to a halt, and figured that it would be okay opening this here. The seal easily broke off from the paper, leaving a small bit of dried crimson wax in the circle outline, but that didn’t bother me. I could see a much whiter piece of paper inside the opening, and gently slid that out. The paper had been creased in half, and on the outside the words were written almost as if someone by hand had taken a quill, which is the kind of pen no one uses anymore, and wrote them delicately onto the paper.

To
Miss Candace Rae Vanderkay

That was bit freaky. How did they know my middle name, and why were they saying my last name was Vanderkay, too? Did whoever wrote this and that man know something that I didn’t? I’m pretty sure I knew almost everything there was to know about me. Well, then again, I never really expected to be a Hybrid, but somehow my body kept that secret from me, so God only knows what else is hidden inside. I flipped the crease open, and my fingertips grazed over the lace trimming in beautiful decoration that someone must have spent a fortune getting done. The words inside were like the same on the inside, and I guessed that someone had to have written this all by hand. There was no way a computer could have written so precisely and to the point.

You Are Cordially Invited To
Lord and Lady Draken’s Annual
Prince of Thieves Costume Party
31, October, 2001

Guests are required to dress accustomed to theme, which this year is the late sixteen hundreds medieval clothing

Guests are also required to follow the following dress codes:
No masks in the faces of dogs
Nothing too revealing
No explicit or vulgar clothing
Clothing may be any color except for blue and gold
If masks are required as a finishing touch of your costume, you are more than welcome to do so

There will be the annual feast before the party begins, and you may come as you like, or if you are one with a weak stomach, I would advise to eat at home and then come and join the merriment

Sangre and wine will be shared equally, along with the occasional water for those of us who are just beginning the tasting of the newest kind of traditional drink

If you have received this letter by hand from one of the guardsmen, you have been chosen as a VIP guest, congratulations. As VIP you must follow all dress code, must mingle with the Lord and his Lady, and must show others what it means to be a true Obyri. If you do not wish to come, that is a bad choice on your part. VIP members are required to attend and make their presence known throughout the night.

Guests are allowed to bring another with them, but only one person per guest.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary except for the dress code, which was not to wear anything with blue or gold, also I had no clue what Sangre meant, same for Obyri. I began to guess that this invitation went to the wrong person. I had never heard of any Lord Draken or his Lady. I hoped that maybe the one person I could bring would be Zacky, since he would most likely be looking out for me the entire night. The party was almost a month away, and I still had time to think things over, right? I had to go, since apparently I’m a VIP and it says I have to go. This was all too weird, but hey, it’s a party, and it says that they serve wine. That’s good enough for me. I read the last paragraph, and watched as the invitation spun and swirled to the ground with my eyes wide open, my mouth agape, and my heart stopping its regular beating process.

Candace, my darling, I look forward to meeting you. From what I have heard you are a rambunctious little girl with a free spirit, just like your mother. It will be a great pleasure of mine to seeing you for the first time in person. My Lady and I have been awaiting this moment for the longest time, but I have been the more impatient one. I may be an Obyri, but I am still a father, yours, to be exact, and we are very protective over our daughters.