Shadow Born: Book 1 of the Shadow-Borne Chronicles (25 page)

“Due to some unforeseen circumstances, I’ve had to bring along a companion.
 
I apologize for the inconvenience, but it was necessary.”

Silas walked over to Alec and put his hand on the young man’s shoulder.

“Hisashi, this is Alec Carson, the young man everyone has been talking about.”
 
Hisashi’s eyes went wide at the news.

“Alec, this is Hisashi Moriyama, Protectorate of Missouri.”

Hisashi bowed deeply to Alec and then took his hand and shook it.

“Mr. Carson, this is indeed an honor beyond words.”
 
He bowed again while still holding Alec’s hand.

“Please, call me Alec.”
 
Alec was flustered by the reaction he had gotten from the man.
 
He wasn’t sure what he’d expected but this wasn’t it.

“Alec, my house is your house.
 
If you need anything, let me know.
 
And please call me Hisashi.”

“Thank you,” Alec said quietly.

Silas explained then what had happened at the mansion and why he had chosen to bring Alec along.
 
They were hoping to throw off whoever was trying to kill Alec.

“I assure you, you may rely on my discretion in this matter Silas.”
 
Hisashi turned to the two men who had yet to be introduced.

“This is John Alexander, my second, and Trevor Walker, my head of security.”

John looked like he was maybe nineteen years old, but looks could be deceiving with vampires.
 
He had reddish blonde hair and light blue eyes.
 
He had the build of a vampire, muscular and lithe, but his face had a boyish quality about it.
 
Trevor on the other hand, looked like he’d just stepped out of an action movie.
 
He was broad and muscled and stood at attention.
 
His hair was mostly gray with just a touch of a darker color woven throughout.
 
His green eyes constantly moved, never staying in the same place for very long.
 
Alec almost expected him to have a cigar between his teeth, smoking on it while he talked.
 
He was also human.
 

Both men came forward and shook Alec’s hand.
 
Both had firm, strong grips and welcomed Alec to Saint Louis.
 
Hisashi’s head of security said, “Please call me Walker.”
 
He turned to address Hisashi.
 
“I’ll have security beefed up.
 
I’ll tell them it’s a drill to keep them on their toes while we have another Protectorate here.
 
No one will think anything of it.
 
And while you’re here, your name is Michael, like the archangel.
 
You remind me of him for some reason.”
 
He nodded and winked at Alec.

“Thanks, Walker,” Hisashi said.
 
“Good idea.
 
We don’t want to give your identity away by using your real name.”

John excused himself then to see to Alec’s rooms.
 

Hisashi led them over to a small comfortable sitting area and offered them drinks, which he poured himself.
 

“So Alec, how are you adjusting to our world?” Hisashi asked with a chuckle.

Alec shook his head. “It’s taking some getting used to.”

“It’s truly amazing,” Hisashi said shaking his head and looking at Alec.
 
“We’ve heard a lot of stories about you.
 
I’m sure not all of them are accurate.
 
Is it true that you have both human and vampire organs and vampire abilities?”
 
He cocked his head.
 
“I hear your heartbeat.”

Alec looked at Silas who nodded slightly.
 
News did travel fast in the vampire community.
 
Alec assumed that Silas had put the info out there so that eventually it would be old news.

“Yes.
 
For whatever reason, I have both sets of organs and I have abilities.”
 

“Amazing,” Hisashi said shaking his head in disbelief.
 

“What’s it like being half vampire and half human?”

Alec shrugged.
 
“I’m not sure how to explain it.
 
I have nothing to compare it to.”

Hisashi laughed.
 
“I suppose that’s true.”
 
He turned to Silas.
 
“Do you have any leads as to who is behind the attacks on Alec?”

Silas sighed heavily and shook his head.
 
“None at this point.
 
I don’t know of anyone powerful enough to compel a woman to deliver a message and then just make her heart stop.”

Hisashi frowned in thought. “I don’t either.
 
Could it have been something else that caused it?”

“I suppose so.
 
We will know more once Doctor Schubert has performed the autopsy and the tox screen comes back.
 
Do you know of any groups or cults that use the Devil as their sign?”

Hisashi shook his head.
 
“I don’t.”

“Well I have my people researching it so, hopefully, they will turn up something.
 
We need a clue or a lead.
 
We are floating dead in the water right now with a target painted on Alec.”

Alec yawned.
 
It had been a stressful day so far with an attempt on his life and then travel.
 
He hadn’t gotten much sleep and it was catching up to him.
 

Hisashi caught Alec yawning.
 

“You’ve had a long day Alec.
 
Silas and I, unfortunately have business to attend to.
 
I’ll have someone show you to a room and you can rest.
 
I look forward to speaking to you further though.”

Alec thanked Hisashi, bid Marcus and Silas good night and was led out of Hisashi’s office and through to the main building.
 
It was a huge sprawling affair just like Silas’.
 
The only difference was, here a lot of the decor was Japanese or Japanese inspired.
 
The attendant that led Alec sought out John to find out if the rooms were prepared.
 

Once they located the man the attendant bid Alec - or Michael as he was currently called - a good night.
 
John led him down a hallway and to a room, he pulled out a set of keys and unlocked a door and ushered Alec inside.
 

Alec wasn’t surprised to find that his rooms here were huge just like at Silas’s place.
 
Things were a little different here though.
 
The room had wooden floors that looked like they were made of cherry and the walls were an eggshell color with panels of rice paper hanging on them and over the windows.
 
The bedroom was decorated the same, with a light wood platform bed and a thick mattress atop it.
 
The bedspread that was tucked under the mattress was red, matching the Japanese symbols painted on the walls.
 
The room had very clean lines and seemed open and uncluttered.
 
Alec liked it a lot.
 

John gave him instructions on how to call the staff depending on what he needed, and where he was free to roam if he chose to leave his rooms.
 
Before he left, he handed Alec a handwritten note which said: These rooms are not guaranteed to be secure.
 
Be careful what you say and do here and in other parts of the house.
 
Alec nodded his understanding and they said their farewells.

Alec noticed a folding wall of rice paper against one wall and went to look at it.
 
Behind it were the suitcases that Marcus had packed for him.
 
For now, he left them there and went into the bedroom and fell heavily onto the bed.
 
He raised himself up, stripped off his shirt and tossed it onto a low-lying chest that was against the wall closest to him.
 

The last 24 hours had certainly not turned out the way he had expected.
 
What had started out as a simple day of playing games had turned into a murder attempt on his life and the death of two people.
 
Alec knew that was Silas said was true; he hadn’t killed either of the two victims, but he couldn’t help but feel responsible just a little.
 
None of this had been of his choosing or doing, but the guilt was there just the same.
 
He assumed that survivors of a catastrophic event felt the same.
 

Alec had been blown away when Silas had told him that there was a vampire that had died and been brought back.
 
What had he seen?
 
What sort of experience did he have?
 
Alec wondered if this would clear up his doubts about his soul or make them worse.
 
Surely if Silas knew that they would only make Alec feel worse he wouldn’t have offered.
 
He just couldn’t help but wonder about all of it.

As if Alec didn’t have enough to worry about already, now he had someone coming for him.
 
Who was the Devil?
 
Was it someone, something or just the way Nancy Farris had interpreted what she saw?
 
Who had compelled her to try and kill Alec, and then contingent on her failure, deliver a message?
 
Alec almost felt like crawling into a hole and never coming out again, but the whole thing was really starting to piss him off.
 
He was tired of this.
 
He wasn’t sure how to go about it with as little information as he had, but he had already decided he was going to start being proactive in his life instead of floundering around like a victim.
 
He had made the commitment and planned to see it through.

He felt a little better about everything happening to him.
 
He couldn’t do much but what he could do, he would. He had questions about the state of his soul, and he was going to talk to this Jacob character about it.
 
He was practicing burning blood and was trying to consciously control his abilities.
 
And he was going to quit worrying about why someone wanted him dead and accept the reality of the situation and take any steps necessary.
 
With this decided, he finally drifted off to sleep.

The next week and a half was uneventful.
 
Alec stayed in his room most often and read, or played games on his cell phone.
 
He didn’t use the phone for much else, afraid that somehow his unknown attacker might use it to track him.
 
He also used the time to practice burning blood and turning on and off his abilities.
 
It didn’t really require him to do anything active that would give him away, he just had to concentrate.
 
He’d even miraculously made it happen a couple of times.
 
Often while he was reading, he would stop, attempt to burn blood, activate his abilities and then, if he succeeded, let it all go.
 
It was an arduous, frustrating task.

Alec also visited Hisashi’s office a couple of times and spent time talking with Marcus and Silas.
 
Alec asked about the Samurai armor and was surprised when Hisashi told him that most of the pieces had belonged to him before he had been turned.
 
He’d kept the armor and weapons polished and in good condition.
 
He explained that to everyone else, they were family heirlooms that had been passed down through the generations.
 

To Alec it was amazing getting to see real period Japanese armor that the man had worn in his previous life.
 
He wondered if down through the centuries he would have something to show from his old life.
 
Would he pull out his cell phone one day and show people the antiquated equipment they used to use back in the day and explain it away as a family heirloom?
 
The thought both intimidated him and made him laugh.

Doctor Schubert had called with the autopsy report.
 
Nancy Farris had not died of any injuries that she had sustained from beating her head against the bars or from any heart defect that Doctor Schubert could find.
 
Her tox screen had also come back clean.
 
As far as the doctor could determine, her heart had just stopped, like Alec said.
 
Dorn had questioned the remaining staff, with the help of Doctor Schubert, and had determined that four more of Silas’s housing staff had been compromised.
 
The four victims had all been compelled to kill Alec on sight, given any opportunity.
 
When questioned, they instantly dropped into a zombie like state and had admitted their purpose.
 
None of them however, could tell anything about who compelled them or why.
 

The four unfortunate staff members were currently in holding cells awaiting Silas’s return.
 
Precautions had been taken to keep any of them from injuring themselves.
 
There was nothing security or Doctor Schubert could really do if the four had been compelled to just die because their hearts stopped.
 
They were on 24-hour watch at the moment, but all seemed to be in a zombie-like state, staring straight ahead and not speaking when questioned.
 

Dorn had also answered the mystery as to where Nancy Farris had gotten the semi-automatic weapon she had used to try to kill Alec.
 
The maid had obviously put some sort of sedative in the drinks of the security officers guarding the weapons room.
 
She had then stolen their keys, somehow figured out the pass code, took an M16, loaded it, then headed to where Alec was last seen.
 
The machete-like weapon she had picked up from the kitchen.
 
That fact alone was enough to give Alec pause.