Shadow Born: Book 1 of the Shadow-Borne Chronicles (10 page)

“What?
 
NO! I have a job.
 
I have school.
 
I can’t just stay here.”

“I’m sorry Alec, but we don’t know what’s going on.
 
Someone has already tried to kill you or capture you once.
 
They will try again, especially now since they know you do have abilities and you are stronger than you should be.
 
Besides, we don’t know exactly how strong you are. Doctor Schubert will need to run more tests. I’ll have to inform the council of this.”

Alec didn’t like this one bit.
 

“Wait,” Marcus said and he looked like something had occurred to him.
 
“What if you only tell the council that Alec is exhibiting abilities but you don’t tell them that he’s stronger than he should be?
 
We are the only ones that know, other than the bastards that attacked us tonight.
 
If someone slips up and says something about it, that will let us know who is trying to kill Alec.”

Silas bit his bottom lip, thinking about it.
 
“I don’t like keeping anything from the council, but I think you’re right.
 
We don’t know who is after Alec or why.
 
Maybe someone will trip up and give us a clue.”

Marcus nodded and winked at Alec.
 
Alec felt like his world had turned upside down and now he was Silas’s ‘guest’.
 
What else could happen to him?
 
This was most certainly not turning out to be the best time of Alec’s life!

Silas had said he wanted to talk to Doctor Schubert and Marcus alone, and had used the intercom system to call in his butler.
 
He introduced Alec to Xavier, the older gentleman that Alec had seen when he first entered, and informed the butler that Alec would be staying for a while, to prepare him a room, and see to his comfort.
 
The older man had simply nodded and to Alec said in a very cultured voice, “This way, sir.” Xavier led Alec out the double doors, past the guards, back to the entranceway and up the staircase on their right.

Xavier led him down a hallway with several doors and finally stopped at one.
 
He pulled out a ring of keys, chose one and unlocked it.
 
He opened the door and flipped on the light.
 
What Alec saw when he entered took his breath away.
 
This one room was bigger than his whole apartment and opulently decorated.

The entranceway led to a sitting room with several plush looking couches that were upholstered in a warm brown, textured fabric and were in the middle of the room facing one another.
 
On either side of the couches, forming an open box style arrangement were deep chairs in dark blue that Alec thought he could sink into and never be seen again.
 
To the right of where he stood was a small table with a gilt framed mirror over it.
 
The table had various decanters and glasses sitting on silver trays.
 
Alec assumed these were for entertaining one’s guests.
 
There was a single window on the far wall from where Alec stood but the dark blue heavy drapes were drawn and he couldn’t see out.
 

Xavier walked him through the chambers as he called it, and showed him the bedroom and the large bathroom with a huge tub that looked more like a Jacuzzi to Alec.
 
He walked back out into the main sitting room and informed Alec he would have the kitchen bring up something for him to eat and drink.
 
He asked the young man if he needed anything else to which Alec merely sighed and shook his head.
 
Xavier walked over to a small table with an odd phone and showed Alec how to summon the staff.
 
The same odd-looking phone was even in the bathroom and the buttons were labeled.
 
All he had to do was pick up the receiver, press a button; kitchen, house staff, or car; and let them know what he needed.
 
Xavier nodded once to the young man before leaving the room quietly and shutting the door.

Alec didn’t know what to think.
 
He walked over to the window and pulled the heavy dark fabric aside and peered out.
 
He could see the front lawn from his vantage point.
 
The car that Marc…Marcus had driven them here in had been moved and was nowhere in sight.
 
There were no bars on the windows, but it might as well have been a prison.
 
He was surprised that Xavier hadn’t locked the door on his way out to keep Alec inside.

Alec’s mind still reeled from what he’d been told tonight.
 
Vampires.
 
He wondered if he wasn’t really in a padded cell somewhere and this was some sort of drug-induced dream.
 
He pinched himself but it hurt too much not to be real.

Alec wandered around the room looking at various objects.
 
He stopped at a bookshelf and scanned the titles.
 
Most of the classics were there with some he’d never heard of before.
 
He looked around and noticed that there was no television in the room.
 
This should be fun.

What did all this mean?
 
Would he start craving blood and drinking it?
 
Alec didn’t want this.
 
He hadn’t asked for any of it and yet here he was dragged against his will into a world he had never known, had never wanted to know, existed.
 
And now his life was at stake
 
— hell, maybe even his soul.
 
Did vampires have souls or were they demons made flesh that preyed on humans?.
 
Marcus and Silas certainly didn’t seem anything but genuine.
 
They had to have killed in the past?
 
How many times?

Thoughts and questions fired through Alec’s mind before he could even stop to examine most of them.
 
What was he going to do?
 
He was now a ‘guest’ of Silas’s.
 
That meant that he would lose his job and would also have to drop out of college this semester.
 
His first semester in college and he was going to fail.
 
Alec was so frustrated he wanted to cry, but he knew that wouldn’t do him any good.
 
Alec hadn’t eaten in awhile but his stomach felt like a rock had settled there.
 

A knock at the door broke Alec out of his reverie and he walked to the door and opened it.
 
Marcus was standing there with a tray full of food balanced on one shoulder.
 
“Room service,” he said.
 
“Can I come in?”

“Why not?” Alec said and stood aside.

Marcus went to the coat closet right inside the room and pulled out a small folding table.
 
He carried it and the tray to the couches and set it up placing the tray on top.
 
He sat on one of the couches and waited until Alec sat before he started speaking.

“How are you holding up?”

“How do you think I’m holding up?” Alec asked, the frustration in his voice evident.

“Alec, look I know this is a lot to take in.
 
Believe me.
 
I’ve been there.
 
Only when I was going through this, vampires were still evil demons that stalked their prey in the night.
 
Man, I was terrified.”

“Did Silas send you to spy on me some more and try to get more info out of me?” Alec said snidely.

Marcus shook his head.
 
“Alec I certainly understand your frustration, but we aren’t your enemies.”

“No, you’re my captors.
 
And you were sent to spy on me.
 
I thought you were my friend Marc…Marcus… whatever the hell your real name is.”
 
He sat back on the couch and crossed his arms over his chest feeling betrayed by the world in general.

“Marcus.
 
And Alec, I am your friend.
 
The fact that I was sent to monitor you doesn’t change that.”

“Really?
 
How do you figure?
 
I was some sort of, what, assignment?”

“It’s true that Silas sent me to ‘spy’ on you if you like.
 
But I was also there to protect you from any of the others and to keep you from hurting yourself.
 
It wasn’t just for information.”

Despite his anger, Alec wanted to know what he was talking about.
 
“What do you mean, to protect me from the others?
 
Why would they even care about me? I’m a nobody.”

“Back in the old days,” Marcus said rolling his eyes, “there was no vampire council that looked out for all of us.
 
It was a chaotic, dark, dangerous time.
 
Vampires sired whomever they wanted whenever they wanted, often against the victims will, and constantly clashed with one another.”
 
Alec was intrigued despite himself.
 
“Some of the older vampires, and a few of the younger, resent the council and its control.
 
They do whatever they can to work against them in secret.
 
There are always plots, and plans and mechanizations behind the scenes.
 
When you are immortal, you run out of things to do and you get bored easily.
 
So, they plan and wait for the right moment to strike.
 
And they are always looking for new weapons and tools.”

Alec wasn’t sure what that had to do with him.
 
“I still don’t understand why anyone would care about me,” he said in a huff.

“No one is allowed to sire a vampire without the council’s permission.
 
Well there are special circumstances but that’s not important now,” he said, and waved his hand like he was pushing something away.
 
“When a vampire is sired without permission, the offending vampire is punished in horrible, horrible ways.”
 
At this he shivered.
 
“And as a lesson, the newly made vampire is put to death.”
 
He said this slowly and quietly.

“What???” Alec said sitting forward.
 
“Why should I be put to death for some crazy bitch’s wrong doing?”

“I agree, Alec.
 
And you were left alone and not picked up and questioned because you survived and showed no signs of vampirism.
 
Well, except for your blood.
 
Silas thought that maybe Clarissa had failed in some way and you were still human.
 
That’s why I was sent to monitor you.
 
If any of the other vampires thought that you had been turned and you were left to roam freely, that could jeopardize our existence.
 
So, we knew that someone would take matters into their own hands and try to kill you.
 
That’s what happened tonight.”

Alec slumped back on the couch and sighed.
 
“This just gets better and better.”

“If you had been turned and not put to death, then that would show that Silas and the council were incompetent and give our enemies a platform on which to base an argument for its dissolution.”

“So, Silas is one of the council members?”
 

“Yes, he is one of five.
 
He’s also the Protectorate of Tennessee.
 
He oversees the vampires here and upholds the laws of the council… among other things.
 
And Alec, I am his second.
 
He thought you were important enough to pull me off of my other duties to watch over and help you.”

“Great,” was all Alec said, shaking his head.

“The vampires that attacked us tonight were either there to kill you, and flaunt to the council that they had to do its job for them, or they would have captured you and made a spectacle out of you.
 
Either way, not good for you.
 
But, there’s something more.
 
And unfortunately they are aware of it now.”

“What’s that?” Alec asked tiredly.

“They now know that you are exhibiting some sort of abilities.
 
After the attack tonight, at least.”

“So?” Alec said shrugging.
 
“Silas is going to tell the council.”

“Yes but the council can decide to keep the information quiet until they decide what to do.
 
Individual vampires may not be so tight lipped with their information.”
 
At Alec’s blank stare he continued.
 
“Alec, there are vampires out there that would try to use you as a weapon.”

Alec’s brow furrowed and he looked at Marcus.
 
“I don’t understand.”

“Okay, as a newly made vampire, any other vampire out there should be able to best you in a fight.
 
But you defeated two much older vampires tonight.
 
That should’ve been impossible.
 
You can also walk in the daylight without being killed.
 
You are a newly created vampire-like being with unheard of strength who can walk in the daylight.
 
What could stop you?”

Alec looked dumbfounded.

“Some would see you as a powerful ally.
 
You could attack a vampire’s stronghold during the day, kill their human guards and drag the vampires out into the sunlight and voila! No more enemies.
 
If you are stronger than other vampires, who could actually stop you?”

“Why wouldn’t the guards just shoot me?”

Marcus chuckled.
 
“You’ve obviously never tried to shoot a vampire before.”

“But I’m not a vampire,” Alec argued.