Shadow Born: Book 1 of the Shadow-Borne Chronicles (15 page)

Alec nodded that he understood.
 

“I will teach you anything that I can.
 
I’d just prefer that we kept it between us.
 
If Doctor Schubert should question you, just say that you’ve been figuring things out and practicing on your own.”

“Got it,” Alec said nodding.

“You like to swim?” Marcus said sitting up.

“Sure,” Alec said confused.

“Follow me.”

Marcus led Alec to the far side end of the gym, directly across from where they had entered earlier and through a door.
 
Alec could smell chlorine as soon as the door opened.
 
It burned his eyes slightly but they adjusted quickly.
 
The room that Marcus took him to was huge and humid. In the center of the floor was the biggest heated pool Alec had ever seen.
 
It was massive, with steam gently wafting in the artificial air current created by the fans in the ceiling.
 

Marcus held his arms out.
 
“We have our own private pool.”

Alec frowned.
 
“Why do vampires need a heated pool?” he asked.

Marcus chuckled. “It’s not just for us.
 
It’s for visiting guests and dignitaries.”

This took Alec aback.
 
What sort of dignitaries did Silas entertain that he felt the need for such a luxury?
 
He didn’t ask, and even if he had, he felt that Marcus wouldn’t have answered him.

“You want to swim?” Marcus asked, breaking into his train of thought.

“I don’t have a suit,” Alec said trying to remember if Marcus had included one in the clothes that he had given him.

Marcus laughed and shook his head.
 
“Dude, it’s just us,” he said sounding like a typical 20-something year old man.
 
With that he took off his shirt and kicked off his shoes.

“I think you’re just trying to get me naked,” Alec said jokingly and then blushed.

“What if I am?” Marcus asked raising one eyebrow and dropped his pants, daring him with a look to get undressed.
 

Damn!
 
Marcus looked like a Greek god standing there naked.
 
Roman god
, Alec quietly corrected himself.
 
The man standing before him was in amazing shape.
 
There wasn’t an ounce of fat on his body.
 
Everything about him was just…perfect.
 
He was the epitome of what every man wanted to be.
 
He stood there with that cocky half smile on his lips and his hands resting on his hips, letting Alec look at him.

Alec laughed suddenly dispelling his own embarrassment and pulled his shirt over his head.
 
He kicked off his shoes and took his socks off and then dropped his pants.
 
Damn, this was unlike Alec to just strip and go skinny-dipping, especially in a place where anyone could just walk in on them.
 

Marcus nodded appreciatively.
 
“We will make a decent vampire of you yet,” he said and both men, laughing, plunged into the water.

They swam and splashed water at each other, threw each other up out of the water only to splash back in again further down the pool, and generally just had a good time.
 
After about an hour of this Marcus pulled himself up and sat on the edge of the pool, and was joined by Alec.
 
They sat so close that their legs were touching, but Marcus didn’t seem to mind so Alec didn’t make a big deal about it.
 

What was crazy was that Alec had done some amazing things today, like lifting weights that shouldn’t have been possible. He had tried to run an obstacle course and failed but he’d learned that his abilities kicked in anytime he was in immediate danger. And he had no doubt that with Marcus’s help, he’d figure out the rest.
 
He still had a lot to learn, but he was one step closer.
 
The great thing about it was he wasn’t even remotely tired.
 
He didn’t even feel winded.
 
What he did feel was amazing.
 
He looked back on his life and realized how limited he had been by his weight and his human body.
 
It was insane.

Marcus broke his reverie by standing and offering Alec a hand up.
 
When they stood Marcus walked over to a small stand that held towels and tossed Alec one and they both began to dry themselves.
 

The two men padded over to where their clothes were and slipped on their pants.
 
Marcus led Alec over to several chairs and they sat and put on their socks and shoes.
 
They slipped their shirts on as they exited into the gym.
 
It was a bit chilly in the gym after being in the heated confines of the pool area, but Alec adjusted quickly.

Alec wasn’t sure what time it was but Marcus told him it was almost sunrise and that he had to get back to his ‘chambers’.
 
He led Alec back to his rooms and bid him good dreams and left to find his rest.
 

Alec entered his rooms, but didn’t see the clothes that Marcus had given him.
 
He went over to his wardrobes and opened them.
 
They were filled with clothes.
 
He shut them again and went to the bedroom to lie down and think.
 
He pulled his cell phone out and checked his email.
 
Jake had emailed him again.
 
Shit, he hadn’t talked to Silas about Jake’s visit.
 

He thought about it for a minute and then quickly typed out an email telling Jake he would meet him at Foster’s Park.
 
He made up his mind.
 
He didn’t like feeling like a prisoner.
 
He’d go out through his bedroom window, climb the gate outside and take the bus to Foster’s Park and visit with Jake.
 
His friend would see that he was okay, and he’d be back before the sun went down and Marcus or Silas were up.
 
He looked up the bus route on his phone so that he knew where he was going.

Alec stripped and crawled into bed for several hours of sleep.
 
He wasn’t meeting Jake until after noon so he’d at least get several hours of sleep.
 
The charger for his phone had appeared along with the clothes Marcus had given him so he plugged it in, and set the alarm.
 

Alec lay in bed with his hand behind his head, thinking.
 
His life had changed so much in just a short amount of time.
 
What was going to happen?
 
Where was all this leading?
 
How was it even possible that he was half vampire, and half human?
 
It was all so
unreal
.
 
He wasn’t going to have to drink blood to survive, so that was good. He wouldn’t have to kill anyone, thankfully.
 
But what about the rest of his life?
 
Was he going to be like this for eternity?
 
The thought was sobering and just a little overwhelming.

Doctor Schubert had explained to Alec that they weren’t actually undead like many in the world believed.
 
It was some sort of strain of virus?
 
He wasn’t really clear on that part.
 
And what about Alec’s soul?
 
He’d never been a religious man, but from everything that he’d read and heard about vampires, they had no soul.
 
Did he have half a soul?
 
Would half of him go to whatever after life waited when he died?
 
That thought really messed with his head.
 
Had he somehow become some sort of half-damned creature that awaited an eternity of suffering when he finally did die?
 
The thought sent shivers down his spine.
 

Alec pushed those disturbing thoughts from his mind.
 
He definitely liked the changes in his body.
 
He’d never been attractive or well-built but now, he admitted to himself privately, he was both.
 
He didn’t know what to think about that.
 
He was used to being a loner and wasn’t used to much attention and now, it seemed, the vampire world was abuzz with news of his existence.
 
It was enough to give someone nightmares.
 
Alec yawned and settled comfortably into bed.
 
A few minutes more and he was asleep, all thoughts of vampires and his soul wound up in his dreams.
 

Alec was again surrounding and burning in flames, only this time it was a lake of fire.
 
All around him men and women burned, screaming out their torture and pain with voices raw from ravaging flames and smoke.
 
Again, the face was there, horns like wicked daggers sprouting from its forehead.
 
This time the figure wasn’t laughing.
 
Instead, it looked directly at Alec, into Alec and said, “You are mine!”

When Alec’s alarm finally went off to alert him it was time to get up, he felt shaky and sick to his stomach.
 
He slowly pulled himself out of bed and jumped in the shower to prepare to meet Jake.
 
At some point he had been supplied with various products for his hair, and body.
 
There was a wide assortment of products at his disposal and he used the ones he liked the best.

He couldn’t believe what he was about to do.
 
This was very un-Alec like.
 
That alone pushed the nightmare from his mind.
 
He was the one that always followed the rules and always did what was expected of him.
 
He admitted to himself that after all he’d been through he was ready to break some rules.
 
There were too many of them anyway.
 
Not only did he have to abide by human rules, he also had to abide by the vampire’s, and most of those he didn’t even know.

Alec dressed in cargo pants and a shirt that hugged his body showing his muscles, and opened the window to his room.
 
Before he could change his mind, he attempted to burn blood as Marcus had tried to teach him the night before.
 
Alec had a heart stopping moment where he was afraid his abilities wouldn’t kick in but at the last moment he landed soundly.
 
He looked around and made sure no one was watching him, and climbed the fence that protected Silas’s mansion.
 
This was the craziest thing that Alec had ever done.

The bus stop that he had looked up on his phone wasn’t that far away so he walked the short distance and waited for the bus to arrive. After a few moments, he boarded and relaxed as the bus took him to Foster’s Park.
 

Alec arrived about ten minutes ahead of time and walked around taking in the sights as he waited for Jake to arrive. Shortly he saw Jake pull in and park.
 
He started walking towards his friend while Jake was feeding the meter beside his car.

Jake turned and walked right past Alec. He had even looked directly at him and nodded.
 
Alec ran up behind his friend and tapped him on the shoulder.
 
Jake looked at him confused for a moment.

“Hey,” Alec said smiling wildly at his friend.

Jake just looked at him.
 
Slowly recognition spread across his face.
 
“Alec?” he asked incredulously.
 
Alec nodded, smiling.

“Oh my god,” Jake said and grabbed him in a tight hug.
 
“Man, I didn’t even recognize you.
 
Holy shit!” he said and held Alec at arm’s length while he searched his face.
 
“You look amazing.”

Alec grinned back at his friend.
 
“Thanks.”

“What happened, man?” He looked at him suspiciously.
 
“Did you have the lap band surgery?”

Alec laughed.
 
“No.”

He shook his head.
 
“You look amazing.
 
I literally didn’t recognize you.
 
I didn’t know it was you until you spoke.”
 
He grabbed his friend again and hugged him.
 
“Dude, I’ve been so worried about you since I heard what happened.” He punched Alec hard on the arm.
 
“Why didn’t you call me, bro?
 
I was worried about you.”
 
There was an edge to Jake’s voice.
 
He really had been worried about Alec.
 
That brought a lump to Alec’s throat and he couldn’t speak for a moment.

“I didn’t know you’d heard about the… incident until you emailed me.
 
I didn’t want to bother you,” he said quickly.

“You didn’t want to bother me???
 
When I saw you on the news my heart stopped beating.
 
I thought…” he couldn’t even finish the sentence.

“Obviously I’m okay,” Alec said quickly.

“You look better than okay, man, you look like you’re doing great.”
 
He shook his head.

“Come on.
 
Let’s roam around and talk.”

Jake nodded his head and they followed the walkway around the park.
 
Jake asked Alec what happened and Alec explained what he could without giving away any details about Silas, Marcus or the rest.
 
They stopped at a brick and concrete stage that was empty and sat and talked.
 
Alec told Jake what he could about his abduction, with Jake interrupting to ask questions throughout.
 
When he finished, all Jake could saw was, “Wow.”

“Man,” he said shaking his head, “You are lucky to be alive.”