[Chapter 20]

The nostalgia of my home came to me as I sat in the cab, watching the familiar homes pass. I saw the many homes of the friends from school. The travelling had worn me out, but I was still looking forward to seeing them all. I wanted to go home quickly.

The cab drew up by my house, but strangely, I saw no one. Could my parents have forgotten that I was coming home today?

I dragged my bags out of the cab, paying off cab fare, holding the teddy bear in my free hand. It surely had kept beside me the entire time, and I wanted to see Raun’s face when I gave it to him. It would be priceless. Maybe I would even record it on my phone –and show it to Zane.

I skipped quickly up the front steps to my house, ringing the doorbell again and again in my excitement. I waited, but no one came to the door.

“Mum? Dad?” I called, a little confused. Mum and Dad rarely left so early in the morning for their work; they should be at home at this time.

I was suddenly reminded by the scare back at the school. Could Kenton have gotten to my family?

The taste of fear covered my tongue, but what could I do at this moment? I had to go in to check things out. I called on to my power, keeping it ready at my fingertips. I may not have been trained to fighting vampires like Kenton after that night, but I wouldn’t stand by to wait for Kenton to feed on my parents and Raun.

Cautiously, I turned the knob, not knowing what to find. Kenton-the-vampire had been willing to sacrifice his vampires just to capture me. Coming here to capture my family didn’t need any more effort than it took him to break into the school.

I desperately tried to feel out for the presence of the vampire, but I felt only three people in the living room. The mental image of my parents and Raun tied and gagged flashed through my mind, and I rushed to the room before I knew what I was doing.

“WELCOME HOME, ASHE!” The shout shocked me, and I screamed as I jumped.

The banner caught on fire due to my shock.

“Mummy! Daddy!” I cried as they jumped to me, their back towards the fire chewing away the banner on the wall that welcomed me back home.

Raun began to scream, picking himself on his little feet.

“FIRE! DADDY! MUMMY!” He screamed; running and sticking himself by my waist. I wasn’t sure if his hug was because he was afraid of the fire and was looking for protection from the fire, or that he was truly glad that I was back.

I laughed at his hug though, as my parents turned to see the banner almost chewed to blackened bits. I felt no danger from this, but time at the school had rubbed down my fear of these minor fires.

“Its okay, Mum, Dad. I’ll deal with this.” I had almost reached out for the fire with my power, before I remembered that my parents knew nothing of Faens. They weren’t Faens.

“Oh my god, how did it catch fire? Quick, Andy, go get me a bucket of water!” Mum screamed as she grabbed the scissors off the table, snipping the rope holding the banner up since it led to the curtains. Dad ran into the kitchen, my welcome home forgotten.

Since there was no way that I could use my power to snuff out the fire, I did it the normal way, bringing Raun to a safe corner of the room before I ran over, helping Mum stomp out the fire on the banner. Dad came to our rescue by dousing the entire banner in water, hearing the fire sizzle and die out.

The immediate danger was gone, and we stood there, watching each other. Mum and Dad passed confused glances to each other, unknown that I had been the one to set the banner on fire myself.

Then the awkward silence was broken when Raun screamed again, like nothing happened at all.

“WELCOME HOME, SIS! DID YOU GET ANYTHING FOR ME?” He screamed, jumping and colliding into me, expecting me to carrying him.

“Raun! Don’t be rude to your sister!” Mum scolded, but my little brother didn’t care.

“DID YOU GET ME ANYTHING? IF NOT, I WON’T TALK TO YOU FOREVER!” He screamed, almost deafening me.

For that moment, I thanked the million gods above that Zane saved me.

“Let me go, and I’ll show you what I got you, Raun.” I plucked him off me, dropping him to the floor, trusting him to find his own feet beneath him.

Knowing that talking to my parents would be made impossible until Raun was satisfied, I plucked the teddy bear beneath my bags where I had dropped it when I left to save the banner, thrusting it to Raun’s expectant hands.

“AHHHHH! I LOVE THIS! THANK YOU, SIS!” He screamed again, hugging the bear as if it had instantly become his favorite toy.

“Go play with it in your room, Raun. Let us talk to your sis.” Dad sighed, smiling at the gift I’d remembered to bring back for Raun.

“OKAY!” Raun screamed, and though I wasn’t sure he insisted on screaming his head off, I chuckled as he zoomed up the stairs, disappearing with Zane’s teddy in his arms.

My parents hugged me, a welcoming hug that was almost rivaled by Noel’s departure hug.

“How are you, my little princess?” Dad asked, pulling quickly away from the hug with all due manliness embarrassment.

I thought about the explosion at the Training Hall, that night of the vampire scare. I thought of the million cuts and burns I had, the boxes of bandages I had gone through, then I smiled sweetly at my father.

“I’m fine, Daddy. The school treated me very well.”

He seemed to understand that pretty well.

“What about your studies? Are you still sleeping in classes?”

It took me a long moment to remember what he was referring to. The school of Cynus had squeezed me so dry that I hadn’t even slept a single wink in class. The many million things about Faens and vampire had me so caught up that I hadn’t even afforded a single minute’s worth of shuteye in classes.

“You just won’t believe the workload there, Dad. It’s a crazy marathon of homework after homework… I don’t even have time to blink there!” I complained. Sure there was exaggeration in that, but most of it was true.

Mum spied my suspiciously. “Is there something you’re hiding from us?”

I thought of the fact that we studied elemental magick there. I thought of the many incidents that happened when I was there. I thought of me being the only one with two elements. Of course, there were a million things that I kept from my parents.

“Um… does having a boyfriend count?” I asked sheepishly. At least Noel wasn’t something I was afraid to tell my parents.

“Oh my! That’s great!” Mum clapped her hands in glee, but Dad’s face grew darker.

“Do I know him?”

“Do you know Mr. Richard Cypher from the Council that Grandma works at?”

Dad put on his thinking face, recalling a face to that name. Then it brightened up.

“Richard Cypher? The guy who hangs out with Lance Krien and pisses off Mum half the time?” He asked, and though he got the first part right, I couldn’t help but laugh. Dad’s impression of Noel’s father was that he always pissed off Grandma Elvie?

“Yes, Richard Cypher. I’m dating his youngest son Noel Cypher.”

“Noel? The last I heard he had a son called Jacob.”

I nodded. “Jacob is Noel’s elder brother.”

“Does he treat you right?” Dad spied me suspiciously, giving me a look-over, as if trying to look for any bruises or injuries that must have been inflicted by my boyfriend-whom-he-had-never-met.

“Dad, Noel cares for me. He protects me from harm, not harm me!” I whined, and Mum came to the rescue when she hit her husband lightly on his shoulder.

“Now that’s enough, Andy. I trust her judgment in choosing her man. Besides, it’s not like they’re planning to get married already.” Mum chided, already taking me by the arm. “Take her bags upstairs, Andy. Let me talk to her.”

Dad didn’t have time to protest before I was dragged into the kitchen, a glowing look on her face.

“You must tell me everything about him. Is he good looking? Is he suave? How did you meet him? Tell me everything!” Mum gushed like a teenage girl all over again, and I heard Dad sigh outside, lugging my bags up.

I smiled, and began to tell her everything about Noel.

Everything; save the fact that we were Faens and we controlled elements.

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“Yay! Long live Sis! Long live Mum and Dad!” Raun pummeled the air as we got off the car at the parking lot. It had been months since Mum and Dad last brought him to the amusement park, and it was only due to my persuasion that they agreed to go on a family outing. In a way, Raun had only me to thank for this day –not that he would know it.

“We agreed to come here because you promise to be on your best behavior, Raun. No matter what you do, you have to stay close to us, okay? Tell Dad if you want to go to the washroom.” Mum reminded him again. One problem Raun always had was listening to instructions, and that usually got Raun lost in large public places like this.

“Okay, Mum! I promise! I’ll stick by Sis even if I don’t see you guys.” Raun jumped up and down, looking already impatient to go.

“I see that look in your eyes. Don’t you dare go running away, Raun.” Dad chuckled as he locked up the car, taking Raun’s hand in his as he turned around.

“Daddy let go! I want to take Sis’s hand.” Raun wriggled his hand free, running over to my side and clutching hold of my hand tightly.

“Let’s go.” I laughed as we approached the entrance of the amusement park.

Half of the day went by quickly, with Raun pulling me to rides after rides, waiting in line for the different rides. Raun cried at one of it, and I had to piggyback him out since he insisted that he couldn’t walk with his jelly legs. I thought that was the end of Raun’s incessant pulling and tugging on my arm.

Turns out, he recovered quickly and was already dragging me to towards the ‘Fall Of Death’ in less than five minutes flat. We went on millions of rides afterwards, and Raun made me shoot another teddy bear for him at one of the stalls. Thanks to my elemental trainings, I had honed in on my aiming, so I managed to win the stuffed toy, in which he threw in my hands before he proclaimed that he needed the washroom.

Mum and Dad had left Raun with me to go the many different rides as they spent their twosome time in the café. Dad wasn’t around, but I guessed that Raun could handle himself in the washroom, so I waited for my brother outside, feeling a little stupid that I was holding a teddy bear in my arms.

All around were kids of Raun’s age, none of them relatively near my age. Sure, there were a couple of older siblings that were being dragged around like me, but no one seemed stuck here, waiting for a little boy to finish his business with an enormous teddy bear in her arms.

Raun took a long time, and I began to get worried. What if something happened to him in the washroom? What if he needed Dad to help him or something? I should have known that Raun would find some trouble in the washroom. Raun was a trouble magnet.

Since I was of the different gender, there was no way I could walk in to look for Raun. The best way was to look for help. I waited for the next male adult to come out, feeling my heartbeat picking up pace.

The first guy who came out was wearing a pair of extremely dark sunglasses and a strange black trench coat despite the heat. He wore a fedora over his head, completely covered in all black. Truthfully, he didn’t seem like he belonged, with his blackness in his style of clothing.

Something about him struck me familiar, but I didn’t give it much thought as I walked up to him quickly.

“Sir? Can you please do me a favor? My six year old brother Raun is taking too long in the washroom. Can you help me check on him?” I asked hopefully in my best ‘please-help-me’ voice.

The guy stopped and turned to me. I couldn’t see his eyes through the opaque black sunglasses, so I had to assume he was looking at me. Assuming he could even see through those blocks at all.

A slow smile drew across his face and he drew his hands out of his trench coat pockets. I saw that he was wearing black leather gloves, but I was more interested in staring at the two sharp teeth that flashed before me. Not teeth. They were fangs.

The hands slowly drew the sunglasses from his eyes, and I took a step backwards, my breath hitched in my throat.

I knew that face, that smile, those eyes.

“Your brother is doing just well inside, Princess.” Kenton grinned, as I rushed to draw my power. How could he have tracked me all the way here? How long had he been tracking me?

“What have you done to Raun?” I demanded fiercely, feeling my power for the first time in a week, feeling the familiarity of its touch.

“Now, now, Princess. Don’t be so scared. Raun is perfectly fine, as are your parents and the other people you see around here. All you have to do is just stay put and listen to me, and I’ll do nothing.” Kenton said in a voice that seemed to be placating me, but for the safety of my little brother and everyone around, I kept my silence.

Kenton took a step forwards, another step that was closer to me. I called fire to me, feeling as the element rushed to my fingertips, but even I knew it was pointless against a vampire like him. I would burn down the entire amusement park, and Kenton wouldn’t even get scorched.

“Relax, darling princess. We don’t want to trouble you. Really, all you have to do is to agree to turn into one of us. You don’t even have to step into the frontlines of the war. Just stay put, and let us do our job.” Kenton whispered, his voice almost like a caress on my skin as his gloved fingers reached up to stroke my cheek as I stayed frozen.

“Leave my family alone.” I said in a voice that sounded braver and stronger than I was feeling inside.

“I will, if you promise to come with me.”

“Show me that my brother is unharmed.” I insisted. This was a different trade, but with Kenton, he always knew to manipulate me with the people I cared for. First, it was Noel. Now, it was my brother and my parents. I had absolutely no doubts that he could get to my parents if he wanted right now, and I didn’t want to take that chance.

“Clever thinking, princess. You don’t want to take chances with me. What happened that night at the school; I can put it behind me for the moment. But you don’t want to make me remember it, darling. I will get pissed off, and you don’t like a pissed off vampire at your back. Don’t think about engaging your fancy little Council to kill me either, princess. I’m not the only one. Even if you kill me, my brother will hunt after you. And I can guarantee you my brother is no Raun. He may be my little brother, but he is twice as ruthless as me.” He continued to trail his finger across my cheek softly, as if he were my lover, caressing my cheek.

I shivered inwardly at that thought, shuffling information of Kenton’s brother away in my mind. I didn’t want to question him about his brother. Having Kenton after me was enough.

“Show me that Raun is fine.” I insisted again. He could have whatever he wanted, as long as Raun was perfectly alright.

He laughed a laugh that was easy. He didn’t sound the least bit threatening, but I tensed at that laugh. He laughed as if I had just told him a funny joke, but both of us knew of the icy look on my face.

His gloved hand pinched my cheek, forcing my lips to draw into a distorted smile.

“Give yourself a break, princess. This is your term-break, no? Relax a little. That is what an amusement park is for. This is what you’re here for; to unwind. There’s no need to be so tense.” He grinned as I slapped his offending hand away; jerking away from him and the miserable pain he was putting on my cheek.

“Where is my brother?” I pursued. I couldn’t afford to let him bring me away from the topic. Raun could be tied up and gagged. Raun could be suffering and crying out for me. Raun could be anywhere.

The grin slip from Kenton’s face quickly, and he took a step back, a serious and stern look descending over his face as he held my eyes.

“Today, I will leave you, for I have other pressing matters. Rest assured, I will be watching you. But I will not change you for this term-break. I will give you chance to unwind the last time as a human. As a Faen. The next term-break you will have; you will be feeding on blood. I give you that promise.”

With that, he replaced his sunglasses in a smooth movement, gave me a wave and turned away.

“Wait, where is my brother?” I asked, not knowing if I should chase after him until he showed me where Raun was or just stay put and hope he would release Raun.

Kenton merely continued walking off as if he hadn’t spoken to me at all. He disappeared when someone walked past me.

“Ashe! Sis!” I nearly cried out in relief when a familiar child’s voice called me. Turning, I saw Raun running towards me with desperate tears in his eyes.

Quickly, I bent down and took him quickly in my embrace as he ran towards me through the crowd.

“I came out, but I couldn’t see you anywhere, Sis! I was so scared! I got lost, but this good man directed me back here. He told me he talked to you just now. He looked creepy, Sis! He was all black! And he was wearing black gloves! Big teeth!” Raun cried as he hugged me fiercely.

His description could only fit someone’s appearance. I pulled from Raun’s embrace quickly, giving him a glance-over.

“Are you hurt in anyway? Did he do anything to you?” I asked quickly, trying to look for any telltale fang marks. If Kenton bit Raun and erased that memory, my little brother would be left none the wiser.

“He didn’t! He just told me to come back here. He said I would find you here. I was so scared, Sis! I’ll never run off on my own again!” Raun said seriously, but I doubted that. Raun usually never stayed still anyway.

For the moment, I did my best to forget everything about Kenton as I dredged an uncertain smile across my face. It was better that I pretended I hadn’t seen Kenton. At least until I got home.

Taking Raun’s hand in my, clutching it tightly and holding on to the relief to find him unharmed, I straightened and pulled my brother back to the million rides he wanted to go to.

I let go of my power, feeling as fire left me.

For now, I would pretend.

But when I returned home, I would begin to call for help.