Remember, the darkest hour is just before dawn.
We left quickly, in the company of the vampire spawn. He didn't say a word, not even when we boarded the train. His gaze was fixed on the floor, seemingly transfixed by the dull surface, as if it held a mystery so deep that a lifetime wouldn't be enough to uncover it.
Finally, Alex got bored and started asking questions.
"How old are you?" the wolf asked him, and the boy suddenly snapped his head up.
He scanned Alex's face with his alarmed blue eyes for a long second to make sure he hadn't imagined the words he had just heard. As the moment had gone on too long, the wolf repeated the question. This time the boy answered, though barely in a whisper.
"Sixteen."
"And your mother..." I asked, to everyone's surprise, "What kind of creature was she?"
"A vampire," he answered quietly.
Alex continued to pester the boy with basic questions until he ran out of them. Then the boy spoke.
"Why did you free me?" he finally asked, "I hurt your friend..."
"For which you will receive your punishment," I said coolly.
Finally, he said no more, and the journey continued in tense silence. It was well into the evening when we arrived back at Hajnal's house, which served as our temporary accommodation.
The next day I woke up to Des trying to slit Ábel's throat. After rescuing the unfortunate lad, I tried to reason with my brother—it didn't go down well, he was adamant.
"That monster must die," he raged.
"Wait a moment."
"I want to kill him now!" he protested.
Alice stepped through the door and looked calmly at all of us.
"I will punish the boy," I declared.
Alice nodded in agreement, and Des started to rage even more.
"It is my responsibility!"
"You would kill him," I interjected.
"That's the only acceptable punishment for him," the hunter snarled.
Alice took his hand. Des shuddered and looked towards his partner. Alice merely nodded silently, and Des finally sighed.
"If I don't think the punishment is good enough, I'll kill him," my brother declared for good measure, and I nodded.
After that, I led them out into Hajnal's garden, where Alex and the vampire were waiting for us. Of course, the boy panicked as soon as he saw Alice and sensed the undisguised killing intent emanating from the body of the hunter walking beside him.
Alice and Des eventually stopped and I motioned Alex with my head to join them. It was just me and Ábel in the middle of the garden.
"Now I'm going to give you your punishment," I announced firmly, "Fifty slaps. You will count them out loud."
Before he could reply, I raised my hand, put all my strength into it, and slapped him. The boy's neck snapped and he didn't stop until he crashed into Hajnal's walnut tree.
I wiggled my fingers, which were broken from the blow. I If I had struck a human with that kind of power, their neck would have snapped like a twig.
"I can't hear you," I said, my tone cutting through the silence.
"One," the vampire spawn replied, voice trembling, as he slowly rose to his feet.
I took slow, deliberate steps toward him. When I reached his side, I raised my hands once more and struck. Despite the force, the vampire boy remained unmoving this time.
"Two."
"Ho," I hummed, but the sound lacked any satisfaction.
I struck again, then again, and again. No matter how many times he fell, he would rise again.
"Thirteen," he whispered, barely audible.
I struck again, and as he staggered, barely managing to stay on his feet, I slapped him sharply from the other side.
"Fourteen... fifteen," he groaned.
His legs quivered, his entire body trembling. His eyes were bloodshot, swollen, and unrecognizable.
I continued, hitting him over and over, without a shred of mercy, relentless in my assault.
His face was purple from the constant beating, his veins were torn open, and then blood gushed from under his skin. He endured the blows, even as the skin was torn from his face.
"Uh..." he groaned powerlessly, and fell to the grass, "Fifty."
I pulled a bottle from my pocket and opened it, splashing the contents in the boy's face. His wounds began to heal immediately, and he looked up at me in surprise.
"You can't change what you've done, but you can change how you act in the future. It doesn't matter who you were, but who you will be," I declared, and with a kick, I sent him to Alice's feet.
Ábel stroked his nose, then looked up, making a face like a frightened rabbit in front of a wolf. He began to sob, repeating the same one word endlessly.
Alice merely nodded and walked away, dragging my still slightly disgruntled brother with him. I could still hear Des complaining about the punishment that should have been handed down, and then the sounds of the night drowned out the hunter's whining.
I clenched my fist and wiped the boy's blood carelessly on my clothes.
"Come," I said at last, "It's time we have something to eat. I got hungry from all the slapping."
That evening I ate my dinner contentedly, while occasionally chuckling as I read a certain article on Kaleidoscope.
[Under the cover of night, unknown perpetrators broke into the Crosspherate's Secret Headquarters!] the headline proclaimed.
Although the article mentioned the release of the prisoners, it said nothing about the theft. I grinned. Indeed, the judges' pride could not have survived such a blow.
When I entered the room, I hesitated for a moment. I leaned my back against the door and took a few deep breaths. For some reason, the world went black before my eyes and I often felt like I was going to faint. The pain was bearable, but the dizziness really annoyed me.
"Do you want to die?"
I couldn't read Simon's face, but I could tell from the flicker of his supernatural aura that I had really pissed him off.
"Not particularly."
My answer didn't seem good enough, because his eyes looked genuinely angry this time.
"No," I corrected.
"You're too reckless lately," he lectured me. "You're not taking care of your body."
I shrugged. Maybe I was taking things a little too lightly.
"If you die... you might not see her at all, you know that, don't you?"
My whole body froze. Without answering, I moved towards the bed and fell into the pillows. I didn't have to look up, I could feel the ghost's presence on my skin.
"If you want to die, why don't you give me all your life force?"
I turned my head to the side and looked up at him. I couldn't have moved more even if I had wanted to.
"I really feel like death has had a seriously bad effect on you, Simon."
Simon smoothed his hand down my back, to where my heart was.
"This is something precious, Shay," he whispered. "Because as long as you live, the memory lives. Even if it hurts, she still leaves something behind."
I had almost forgotten that all evidence of Simon's existence had been wiped off the face of the earth. His family no longer remembered him, they didn't mourn him, they didn't miss him. I may be the only one who remembers him from the time when he was a human. Maybe that's why he stayed with me. Because he has nowhere else to go... and because I am the only one who remembers who he was as a human.
"If you ever get reckless like that again," he said, and his voice sounded truly menacing, "I'll drain all the life force out of you."
Or just to one day suck all the life force out of me.
At that moment, I really couldn't decide if he cared about me or if he wanted to kill me. I did the only thing that could be done at a time like that. I chuckled dryly a few times.
Simon pursed his lips and pulled the blanket over my body.
(...)
Ábel had been acting around me with the same kindness he showed Jo, and I couldn't help but feel conflicted. He was staring at me again, his gaze fixed with an intensity I couldn't ignore. I finally snapped, irritation bubbling up.
"What are you looking at?" I asked sharply.
His eyes softened, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his lips. "Your eyes," he said simply.
I narrowed my gaze. "What about them?"
Ábel's smile grew, and there was something almost wistful in his expression as he answered, "You have the same gaze as her—the human girl. It's the first gaze that ever looked at me with warmth."
I couldn't suppress the knot that tightened in my chest. "You saw it wrong," I muttered, my voice tight. "If you want warmth, go to Alex."
But he only looked at me in confusion, as though he didn't understand. That only made it worse.
Once Ábel had set his sights on me, it became unbearable. At first, it was just that intense stare—those wide eyes full of fascination whenever he thought I wasn't looking. Then came the following. Always from a distance, but it was still there, and I could feel it every time.
Alex, of course, indulged him. He always turned to Ábel with that same kind smile he gave everyone, inviting him closer as if there was no one else in the world. Did I really need this?
Rolo probably hated Ábel more than he hated Alex—and that's saying something! Rolo refused to acknowledge Ábel's existence, giving him nothing but disdain. Occasionally, though, he'd shoot him one of those piercing glares, as if to remind the kid where he really belonged in this world. Ábel didn't even notice. Another deep sigh.
He just kept following me with that damn, innocent gaze. I was cutting the branch I was sitting on, and it was starting to feel like I was going to fall hard when it snapped.
So, we bought the house and moved in.
Downstairs was the expansive kitchen, where Alex could finally indulge in his culinary passions, much to my delight. Alongside it was the bathroom, with a space for Berry, a pantry, and a cozy living room.
Upstairs were the bedrooms—three in total. Two were connected by a shared door, while the third stood alone. (I ended up with the connected room, mostly because I had to keep an eye on Ábel. Alex took the third room for himself.)
Things were smooth—at first.
Our famiglia was the only one in the South granted both independence and impartiality. At least, that's what we became known as to both monsters and hunters alike.
The trouble began the week we moved in. Alex returned from one of his long evening walks with a man covered in blood. A hunter, with the crescent moon insignia on his mask, and someone we couldn't just let die. After all, he was my brother's acquaintance.
We patched up his wounds as best we could, then laid him on the sofa in the living room. Turns out, the hunters were still hunting down the Fifth's escaped vampires—with varying degrees of success.
To my surprise, Alex came back with two more, and I immediately wanted to throw them out. But Alex made me swear not to, promising lasagna in return. Like a fool, I agreed.
The three of them recovered in a few days, thanks to Alex's attentive nursing. When they were well enough, they thanked us profusely and left.
Little did I know, Alex's kindness had started something much bigger than we could handle.
After that, whenever a hunter was injured near our territory, they would show up at our door, begging for help. And, of course, Alex could never turn them away. It wasn't just hunters who fell prey to the vampires; there were monsters too—those who had embraced peaceful integration with humans and openly expressed their displeasure with the Fifth's presence. Sadly, Alex couldn't bring himself to turn them away either. Somehow, our house had quickly transformed into an unofficial, makeshift hospital.
For the more serious cases, Hajnal would occasionally stop by to lend a hand, but there were many times when I had no choice but to call in the fae doctor himself—another inconvenience.
"It's impressive that you've created something like this," the doctor remarked, looking around with raised eyebrows. "I never thought I'd see the day."
I couldn't fathom what was so impressive about my living room being covered in bandages and injured bodies groaning in agony.
"Thank him," I said, pointing at Alex, who was carefully reapplying a poultice to a hunter's forehead.
The doctor gave a small smile. "You've got a kind friend."
"More like a fool," I muttered.
"It must be exhausting," the doctor continued, his gaze turning thoughtful. "I mean, with the number of people who must show up in the middle of the night. How does your friend manage on his own?"
Another shrug from me. "He survives on coffee."
Alex froze, his eyes locking with mine. I knew what he was thinking, and before he could say anything, I moved toward the door. I opened it, and sure enough, the boy almost collapsed into me—he must have been leaning against it for some time. Alex could smell his blood before I even saw him.
"H-hel..."
"Shut up for a minute," I muttered, grabbing him and throwing him over my shoulder. I slammed the door behind me and carried him into the living room.
Within moments, Alex was beside me, assessing the boy's condition. A long, deep gash marred the shifter's chest. Alex immediately sent for water, and I stepped out of the room to fetch it.
When I returned, Alex had already stripped the boy of his torn clothes, and the doctor stood next to him. They were stitching up the wound with practiced precision as the boy screamed in pain, his cries echoing through the room like a tortured animal caught in a trap. How am I supposed to sleep through this?
By the time the doctor and Alex were done, the boy was finally stabilized, and we could focus on why Sasha had actually come over.
"Ábel," I called, gesturing for the boy to come closer.
Soon I heard footsteps and Ábel obediently came to my side.
"Sit down," I told him, and he willingly took a seat on the sofa.
I glanced towards the fae doctor. "It's his left eye."
Sasha merely nodded and then mumbled incantations for a while. His eyes widened slightly, then flickered with understanding.
"It's made of fae glass," he finally told me the result, "It's a quality piece, so his vision is perfect."
I nodded reassuredly, then allowed Ábel to go back to his room and escorted the fae doctor to the door.
"Shaytan," he hesitated, just standing on my doorstep.
"That boy," he added, "has suffered a lot."
I thought from the abrupt ending that he had meant to say something quite different, but in the end I didn't question it.
"Yes," I said, "I know."
The fae doctor nodded his head, too, and then went to his car.