Dead End

‘Look Cindy, I really appreciate this.’

‘And I’d accept your appreciation if you would just tell me what’s going on,’ Cindy countered, flicking the indicator.

‘I’ve already told you, I can’t tell you.’

‘And that’s what makes this whole thing so frustrating. I mean, c’mon, does Mike even know you’re here?’

I thought about it. A half truth would be better than no truth at all.

‘Yeah,’ I said slowly. ‘He knows.’

‘Well that’s something I suppose.’

My phone started buzzing in my pocket, I checked the caller I.D. but it showed a number I didn’t know.

‘Hello?’

‘Keira Kay, this is Silver Morning, just calling to let you know that your Jaiza friend has been caught and is now in our custody alongside her brother.’

Huh? Jaiza, she must mean Natalie. That must be the name for whatever she was.

‘You know where we are, and uh, it’s probably best that you leave the human behind. I can’t guarantee my companions won’t be uh, tempted by her.’

‘Fine,’ I replied sounding more confident than I felt.

I heard the beeping that signified the end of the call.

‘Who was that?’

‘Mike,’ I lied smoothly. ‘He’s just checking that I’m alright.’

‘Whatever,’ Cindy said as a finalising statement.

The next two hours passed in silence as we travelled further and further inland. The roads became dustier and were made of more dirt than bitumen.

‘Wait,’ I said suddenly. ‘Stop the car.’

The car slowed to a halt and a dust cloud rose around us. When it cleared, I saw a person walking towards us over the horizon. But I knew it wasn’t a person even though it may have looked like that to Cindy.

‘That’s who I’m supposed to be meeting, their car’s on the other side of the ridge,’ I lied again.

‘Fine,’ she said. The fact that she was clearly pissed off was visible to anyone looking at her.
I got out of the car and Cindy sped off in the opposite direction.

‘Goodbye,’ I whispered. But the dust from the car was now settling onto the dry ground and Cindy was nowhere in sight.

I blinked.

Generally when you blink nothing much happens. That, however, is if you’re a normal human. If you’re a part of a world where vampires roam freely, a hell of a lot can change in the blink of an eye.

When I looked again, two black cloaked figures stood behind me and four others in front of me holding Alex and Natalie in kneeling positions. Their heads bowed and arms tied behind their backs.

Alex’s bare arms showed unmissable signs of burns and cuts. Natalie was kneeling with no signs of harm, but then again, she was a vampire. Skin impenetrable and vast healing capabilities. I ran to Alex but the two vampires behind me held me back.

‘Let him go!’ I yelled.

‘If you join us,’ a familiar voice called from my left. ‘He will be free to go.’

A silver haired lady appeared to my left and looked from me to Alex. His head raised and his eyes looked into mine.

Leave me, his eyes said. Save yourself.

‘No,’ I replied in response to his eyes.

‘Then you condemn him to death,’ the woman I assumed to be Silver Morning said, presuming I was responding to her.

‘No!’ I yelled. ‘I’ll join you.’

She inclined her head at Alex’s guards and they let him go. He started to fall, but I caught him before he dropped.

‘You should have left me,’ he groaned.

‘I couldn’t,’ I said. ‘Ivy is my family. You and Natalie are all I have left.’

‘Leave him,’ Silver commanded.

I lowered him onto the ground. His eyes closed; he was still breathing, but barely.

‘We have to help him,’ I pleaded to Silver.

‘Put him out of his misery,’ she said harshly to a person next to her.

‘No!’ I shouted, defending the body behind me. ‘I’m here. I’m willing to take his place. You have to take him to safety!’

‘Take them back to the dungeon,’ Silver snarled. ‘And make sure you lock it properly.’ She glared at Natalie in triumph, ‘We don’t want anyone to escape again do we.’

My arm were instantaneously bound in ropes and in a three person procession, we were led beneath the desert into a cold dark dungeon.

‘I am so sick of dungeons!’ Natalie whinged as the metal door swung shut.

‘Help me get him onto the bench,’ I said impatiently. She hurried over and simply picked him from the ground in her arms and placed him on the bench.

‘He’s got to be at least twice your size!’

‘Jaiza,’ she said.

‘Oh,’ I said stupidly. ‘Right, so exactly what does that mean your capabilities are?’

‘I have awesome strength, speed, healing abilities and eyesight. I can look at myself in a mirror and walk in sunlight. Oh, and no heartbeat.’

‘Well, it’s good you’re on our side. Can you keep watch while I sleep?’

‘Duh. It’s not like I have anything better to do.’

xxxxx

The sun was shining brightly in the sky but it didn’t hinder Natalie. She stood on the green plain soaking up the rays. The river running to the right reflected the colour of the sky above and flowed to a waterfall somewhere further on.

I stepped out from underneath the tree where I was standing to join Natalie.

She spun around in a blur, looking at me with shock.

‘No Keira!’ she yelled. ‘Get out of here! Go back to the shadows!’

An uncomfortable feeling began spreading across my skin. Looking down at my hands I saw them blackening and turning to ash before my very eyes. I glanced back to Natalie but she only stared on in horror.

I looked up to the sun…

But all around me was shadow.

xxxxx

I sat up shaking. Across the room, Alex was staring at the wall with blank eyes. I hated to think of what he’d been through in the past day. But the evidence or severe torture was still written all over him. I stood up quietly and walked past Natalie. She had her eyes closed – I presumed she was having a vision, so I let her be and crept over to where Alex lay.

‘Alex?’ I breathed.

He blinked and sat up. I wondered if he’d been sleeping with his eyes open.

‘Are you okay?’ I asked quietly.

‘Aren’t I the one who’s meant to be asking you that?’

‘Not under these circumstances,’ I replied, shivering as a cold wind blew under the door.
Alex shuffled over and I climbed up beside him.

‘What’s wrong,’ he murmured. ‘I mean, besides the fact that we’re about to be killed by murderous vampires.’

I leaned into his shoulder and breathed deeply, but that didn’t stop the tears from coming. As if it had heard my tears, rain began to fall upon the hard earth above.

‘Alex?’ I hiccupped.

‘Hmm,’ he responded.

‘Two years ago when people started disappearing, you never went after them. Even when Natalie went, you stayed.’

‘There’s more than one reason.’

‘Enlighten me,’ I whispered.

‘Seven years yesterday marks the first day I met you.’

A smile played across my lips as I remembered that day.

‘Your parents had taken over the running of Ivy,’ he continued, ‘and they asked my parents to work for them. At that time, you had already begun your training, so Natalie and I started too.’

‘When I was thirteen and you were eleven, Natalie had a vision. It was terrible. She looked like she was having a massive seizure and there was nothing we could do about it. But when she woke up, she came with a prophecy.

‘ ‘If she dies it will cause great enmity. The likes of which have not ever been seen in the history of this world.’ ’

I was silent with shock. It was impossible.

‘Mike was right Keira, you are important enough to start a war.’

I shifted back against the cold stone war allowing it to sink in.

‘Keira,’ Alex said, turning to face me. ‘The point of Ivy, our whole reason to be, is to protect you.’

‘And the other reason?’ I prompted, not too sure if I actually wanted to know.

‘I love you Keira Kay, and I have since the moment I met you.’