Unafraid (36 page)

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Authors: Michael Griffo

BOOK: Unafraid
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“I don't want to go with you,” Brania said, inexplicably nervous about journeying into the unknown. It was an absurd feeling, but she sensed that wherever Rhoswen wanted to take her, whatever events she wanted her to see, would be horrifying. But how could anything be more horrifying than what she already knew about her father? He had made her do heinous things as a child. He had ripped purity from her heart and allowed the black blemishes of sin to settle into her soul, all because he was a coward, because he wanted to reap the benefits of someone else's wicked actions. Someone who he was supposed to love and protect and cherish. No, it was time to stop acting like the child she had never been and learn the truth. All she had to do was take hold of Rhoswen's hand. If it was so simple, why was she hesitating?
“Do you want to control your own immortality?” Rhoswen asked.
Brania's reply was immediate. “Yes.”
“Do you want to break free from the harness your father has shackled you with?”
Again, Brania's answer came without thought. “Yes.”
“Do you want to understand that the man who prevents you from fulfilling your potential is not worthy of your fear?”
Brania hesitated. Did she really want such knowledge? Did she really want to sever the ties that bound her to the man whom she loved and despised in equal amounts? She heard Imogene whimper, unnerved at watching Ruby's body remain frozen at one end of the cave and Rhoswen's ghost-like presence take up the other, and Brania found her answer. As much as she loved her ward, she never wanted to be that fragile, that despondent. If she didn't take this step, chances were that's what she would become. If she didn't take hold of Rhoswen's hand, she might never have another opportunity to escape that fate.
The moment flesh touched spirit, Brania and Rhoswen disappeared as easily as Imogene was able to when she was frightened. Hurtling into black space, Brania was blinded for a moment. Then she saw the world race by her like wisps of multicolored light. Nothing was clear; nothing was recognizable; she couldn't make out any landmarks, until she landed.
St. Joshua's looked the same, only the surroundings were different. There were very few buildings nearby, and the foliage was overflowing, wild, nothing like the meticulously manicured lawn today. Brania didn't know what time period she was in until she looked through the library window and saw her father as a teenager reading to a girl who was the carbon copy of the billowing spirit that stood next to her. The girl sitting on the ground next to her father was listening intently, devouring every word he spoke, all the while caressing a bouquet of white roses, stroking each petal and occasionally brushing a flower across her lips or her useless eyes.
“Your father would read to me every day,” Rhoswen explained. “And with each new book he'd bring me a fistful of white roses.”
The image was startling. David looked so gentle. Could this be the same man she knew? “He loves you very much,” Brania observed.
“He did.” Rhoswen clutched Brania's hand, her spirit-grip firm and secure, and they disappeared again only to reemerge standing outside the same building, only this time it looked different, slightly more modern. Brania realized they had traveled a few years into the future from the previous scene.
As the action unfolded before her eyes, Brania realized that this was the man she knew, this was the man she loved and hated and wanted to destroy. This was the man capable of performing acts of cruelty on those he claimed to love. Brania felt her heart pound within her chest as she watched Rhoswen sit staring into her own private darkness, smiling, unsuspecting, while a few feet away David cut himself and created a circle of his own blood. She felt her stomach churn as she heard him whisper in Rhoswen's ear that they were going to play a game. And she screamed out loud when David stabbed his sister in the back while she smiled.
The first thought that came to her mind when she stopped screaming was that her father didn't even have the courage to look Rhoswen in the face when he murdered her. The next was: Why did he do something so vile in the first place?
Reading her mind, Rhoswen explained. “Your father sacrificed me to Zachariel so he could become a vampire. As part of his reward, Zachariel made it so his race could walk in the sunlight on this hallowed ground.” The blind girl smiled. “Ironically, only their eyes needed protection from sunshine.”
Finally, Brania understood what was so special about this land; it was drenched in her family's blood. “He's destroyed everyone who's ever loved him.”
Finally, Rhoswen knew her murder would be avenged. “Because he loves himself and his power just a little bit more.”
She scooped up a handful of dirt and blood from the ground where her dead body lay and molded it into a ball. She threw it up in the air, and when it landed in Brania's waiting hands the ball of dirt had transformed into a gorgeous white rose in full bloom. “This flower will bring you more luck than any of my flowers have over the centuries,” she advised. “Choose how you use it wisely.”
By the time they returned to the cave and Rhoswen had once again assumed Ruby's body, Brania already knew what she must do. After Rhoswen left, she helped Imogene out of her coffin and sat the girl down next to her on the large boulder in the middle of the cave.
“I have good news,” she said, though her expression was far more sinister than joyful. “It's time for us to get to work so we can reclaim our freedom.”
chapter 26
Girls suck! Totally, completely, and without a bloody doubt.
Nakano looked from face to face to face, from the Italian girl to the Swede to the pretty Hindu girl with the pierced nose, and he couldn't believe he was standing in the boys' locker room surrounded by nothing but girls who wouldn't shut up. On and on and on they chattered about the stupidest things in the world; one dumb sentence after another tumbled out of their painted mouths. Nakano thought if he had to listen to one more word about clothes or makeup or the best feminine products his head would explode. The only girl he had any interest in talking to had double crossed him, the same girl who had gotten him in this mess in the first place, and the same girl who was running into the locker room from the back entrance.
“Saoirse!” Nakano yelled. “It's about time!”
“Sorry,” she said, buttoning up her skirt. “I was, um, a little detained.”
“Crikey! I thought you were going to stand me up.”
“Kanosan! How could you think I would do that?” she yelled back. “I'm the one who set this whole thing up.”
“Well, you're cutting it a little close, aren't you?” he said. “We go on in less than a bloody minute.”
“I had stuff to do with my brother and Michael,” she replied, fusing a lie with the truth. “But I'm here now and I'm ready to go. Isn't it exciting?!”
“No, it isn't!” Nakano's complexion turned even paler than normal. “I'm terrified.”
And he had reason to be. Never before had Nakano been in a situation like this, not as a human or as a vampire, and he had been in some peculiar and unusual situations as both. This one, however, was odder than them all.
Huddled in the locker room, he wondered if he was about to make the stupidest mistake of his life. If he did he would have no one else to blame except himself. Well, and Saoirse too, because it was her idea and she was the one who had talked him into doing it, but at some point he could have said no. It was just that he didn't want to. He was having fun, and that's all he really wanted, to balance out all the stress he'd been under lately with some good times. Running his hand nervously through the bristly top of his crew cut, he had the feeling that those good times were all about to come to an end.
“Ladies! And Mr. Kai, here we go!” the Italian girl chirped excitedly. “Kano, you stay in the middle of the group like we decided, since you're our secret weapon.”
The girl was Talisa Rondo, captain of the cheerleading squad, and she was leading Nakano out onto the St. Sebastian gym floor for his debut as the first and thus far only male cheerleader in all of Double A's history. Instead, he felt like he was being led to an execution.
David's voice boomed throughout the gym and spilled into the locker room. “Honored guests, distinguished rivals, I welcome all of you to the National Swim Team Competition and Archangel Academy's Tri-Centennial Celebration.” He paused as the crowd roared, and the sound made Nakano sick. They were a rowdy group, filled with students and faculty members from schools all across Western Europe who had come here to win some swimming races, and as a side treat they were going to get to ridicule the lone boy who was cheering with all the girls. They would join in with Fritz and Ronan and all his other so-called friends at Double A to morph into one loud, angry, mocking voice that Nakano would hear in his dreams for the rest of eternity. This was so not worth it. “I can't do this.”
Saoirse whipped around so fast that her ponytail whacked Nakano in the face. “Vamp up, Kanosan,” she whispered. “We've been practicing and working our arses off for this moment for weeks.”
Wiping away some cold sweat that was bubbling on his forehead, Kano nodded. “I know, and it's been great, Seersh, I've had a really great time with you and the squad, but I can't do this.”
“Why? Because everybody's going to find out you're gay?” she asked, fists on hips. “We interrupt this pep rally for a school news bulletin, everybody already knows!”
“Yes, okay!” he admitted. “I'm proud of who I am, but why do I have to advertise it to the entire school? To every bloody school in Western Europe?”
Saoirse had no idea what it was like to be gay, but she did know what it was like to be embarrassed because of who you were, so she understood what Nakano was going through. She also knew that after the shock of seeing Nakano standing in a field of pom-pom girls wore off, the crowd was going to flip out watching Kano do all his acrobatic vampire tricks. She had to find the right words to convince him that if he chickened out now he would never forgive himself. Subtlety had never worked for her before, so why start now.
“If you wimp out now and watch this pep rally from the bleachers instead of showing this school and this whole crowd how brill your moves are, you will regret it for the rest of your life,” she spat. “And when you're 192 and I'm dead, I'll come back as a ghost and make you remember that you gave up a chance to be a superstar cheerleader just 'cause you were scared.” She took a breath to let her words seep into Nakano's brain and his heart, but saw no change; it looked like she hadn't made an impact. One last try. “Do not deprive these people of seeing the Kano triple twist backflip,” she whispered reverentially. “It will make them believe in the impossible.” What a terrific closing argument! Saoirse seriously thought she might try for a career as a lawyer, she could be very persuasive when she wanted to.
And successful. Nakano couldn't resist, partly because Saoirse's words and enthusiasm swayed him, but partly because he really did want to show off. Why not use his powers for good? Entertain the troops, make them see just how incredibly talented and superior he really was without plunging his fangs into any reluctant necks. It could be a nice change of pace. “Let's do this!”
Some girls marched, some pranced, others just walked out onto the gym floor, but all of them worked together to shield Nakano from the audience in the bleachers until Talisa gave the command and the squad parted to reveal who they were hiding in the middle of their huddle. That's when the crowd gasped. Collectively and loudly. And that's when Nakano's conviction waned. Saoirse's pep talk was forgotten, and all he wanted to do was flee, run into The Forest and never come back again. He peered into the crowd and saw his friends staring at him with their jaws open, incredulous looks etched into their faces. He didn't have to read their minds; he just had to use his vampire hearing to listen to what they were saying to one another.
“This is why Kano quit the swim team a second time?” Michael asked Ronan rhetorically. “To be a cheerleader?”
Shaking his head Ronan replied, “Funny, I never thought of him as the cheery type.”
“Nakano's a cheerleader now,” Fritz whispered to Ruby, who was just as surprised.
“I thought it was an all-girl squad,” she remarked.
“Technically, it still kind of is,” Ciaran quipped.
Oh really, Eaves,
Nakano thought.
Tell me what girl can do this?
On the first beat of the music Nakano took all the nervousness and anxiety and fear that he had been feeling and put it into motion, three continuous backflips to be exact. While the girls on the squad cheered, shook their pom-poms, and did cartwheels and some other basic gymnastic moves all around him, Nakano began a routine that would immediately attain legendary status at Double A. He flipped, he flew, he twisted, spiraled, and contorted in the air and at some point, possibly after his double flip over a small pyramid of cheerleaders, the audience forgot all about how weird it was to see a guy cheering with a bunch of girls, and they started cheering for him. Saoirse was beaming as Kano threw her up into the air so she could do a Russian split and land in his waiting arms.
“Told ya so,” she said, a bit out of breath. Not waiting for a reply, she jumped out of his arms to join the rest of the squad and give Nakano ample room to finish the routine. The crowd was now screaming so loudly the music couldn't even be heard. No matter. Kano didn't need music, just the satisfaction that thanks to some encouragement from a friend he hadn't run.
Standing between Talisa and Saoirse, Nakano didn't have to use any preternatural skill to know what the crowd thought of him. They were standing, stomping their feet, chanting his name. When Saoirse gave him a hug, he was so happy he couldn't speak. And when Fritz and the others ran toward him and bombarded him with accolades and praise, he just smiled and felt his cheeks grow warm.
“Blimey, mate!” Fritz exclaimed, his hands gesticulating wildly, even the one that was holding onto Ruby. “Where'd you learn to do all that stuff?”
When you're a vampire it sort of comes naturally. “Practice,” Nakano replied.
“You were amazing!” Michael cried. “I can't believe you kept it a secret.”
“I can't believe I had the guts to do it.”
“Are you bonkers?” Ronan shouted. “You're Olympic caliber with moves like that.”
“Thanks, guys,” Kano said sheepishly, not at all used to such attention. “But you should all thank Saoirse. She's the one who convinced me to join the squad.”
“Of course she did,” Ronan said. “Always full of surprises.”
Before they could all agree, Coach Blakeley announced that the first swimming race was about to begin and that all the teams needed to gather around the pool. As the group split up, Ciaran pulled Saoirse aside with Michael and Ronan close behind. When he spoke he made sure no one else could hear them. “So I heard someone had a right fine adventure this morning,” Ciaran said, his eyes shimmering with excitement.
Fussing with her pom-poms, Saoirse confirmed the rumor. “I know, I know, first non-water vamp to see The Well,” she replied.
“Which is bloody amazing!” Ciaran exclaimed.
“You're not missing that much, though,” she said. “It's a bit on the cold side.”
Ignoring his sister, Ciaran rambled on, his excitement building. “No! You can breathe underwater, and The Well is protecting you even though you're human!” He turned to Ronan and Michael, who were still impressed by the morning's events. “Sis, I don't know what you are, but clearly The Well thinks you're bloody special!”
Now that she had actually seen The Well, seen with her own eyes what her family and their race prattled on about and praised, she wasn't sure she shared their opinion. If she was so special and if she had this unique connection to this thing, this mysterious and all-powerful entity, why wasn't she more excited? Why didn't she think her life had just gotten a huge upgrade and she was standing on the corner of Amazing Avenue and Smashingly Brilliant Street? Maybe because she had had more fun being tossed in the air by Nakano in front of a crowd of applauding spectators. She wasn't sure. Thankfully, boring self-examination could be postponed, because just then Blakeley's voice boomed over the loudspeaker. “Let the games begin!”
 
Sitting in the bleachers David tried to push all worry from his mind and concentrate on the mundane competition that was playing out in front of him. It was sheer willpower that prevented him from ripping those damned T-shirts that Ruby had designed from the backs of the students. Wherever he looked he was assaulted by a red T-shirt with the number three and two white roses that spelled out three hundred. It was like Rhoswen was all around him, suffocating him. He had to ignore them, act as if they weren't there, or else he'd lose his mind. He looked forward to watch the participants, marvel at their lithe, sculpted bodies, their muscular frames clad in tiny bathing suits in so many different colors, each representing a different school. He had no interest in them sexually, that was perverse, but they were a distraction, and he did appreciate and admire the discipline required to attain such physical beauty and supremacy. Nothing simple was ever achieved easily; he knew that better than most everyone. Except perhaps Brania.
“The competition is off to a rousing start,”
she silently declared.
Looking straight ahead, David didn't turn to the right where Brania was sitting next to him. He focused on Morgandy, in the middle lane of the pool, a few strokes ahead of his nearest competitor.
“Because I saw to it that it was planned meticulously.”
What a perfect segue, Father. Thank you.
“I have a plan,”
Brania said. She was also staring at Morgandy as he prepared to flip and swim the last lap of the race. She, however, had no interest in the match. She was merely acting like her father, aloof and indifferent, when just the opposite was true.
“Edwige is planning to feed tomorrow,”
she informed him.
“With my help you can follow her to The Well and do with it whatever your heart desires.”
David could no longer resist. He turned to face his daughter and was incensed to see that she still kept her eyes on the race.
“And just how will you be able to follow Edwige to The Well?”
David asked.
“I have a secret weapon,”
Brania replied.

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