Cas was right, thought Sal as he zoomed towards Luna Estate, the windows of the car down, the wind whipping his hair wildly, Uber is definitely better.
It was easier to avoid everything about the Other World when you simply watched it all go by in a blur.
He'd being going to Luna Estate for two days now, learning about the Other World and the Lex, training with Kyrona, getting used to the armour and the way his body moved more swiftly when he wore it, before setting out to find the next person.
He'd had a hard time explaining to Lester where he'd been lately. Casmir had informed him that mortals were to remain completely oblivious when it came to the Other World, something about disrupting the Shade and possibly destroying the delicate division between human and inhuman.
A breech in all realities, Casmir had said.
Sal had thought he was kidding at first, but Casmir had never been more serious.
"Are you sure this is the place? it's off limits" asked the Uber driver.
Sal nodded and stepped out of the Uber, then watched as it drove away in a cloud of dust.
He walked into the estate and made his way down to Katarina's house, the name of the next Shaded being replayed over and over in Sal's mind. It was someone named Bloomera Nephity, whoever that was Sal felt sorry for them, he imagined growing up with a name like that, it couldn't have been easy.
He made the turn and Katarina's house loomed up in front of him. She was standing on the front porch, wearing armour of her own, a short leather jacket, a black leather skirt and knee high boots, and leaning against the closed door. A dark blue pendant was distinct on her neck and had the glossy surface of a wet pebble.
Sal still couldn't stop himself from admiring her beauty, the lush in her hair, the gleam in her eyes and the delicate curve of her lips as he approached her. Where Casmir's smirk was cunning Katarina's was enchanting.
"Hey" Sal greeted.
"Hey" she answered, she looked amused which puzzled Sal greatly.
"You look great," said Sal.
She chuckled and pushed against the door and walked up to him.
"You are the weirdest Shaded being I've ever seen, trust me that's a compliment," said Katarina as she sat on the front porch steps.
"Thanks," said Sal, as he sat beside her, she smelt like flowers and sunshine, a sweet scent that gave Sal a heady feeling. Like the first time he'd taken molly and had nearly collapsed with the ecstasy of it all.
"Can I ask you a question?" he said.
She rolled her eyes as if expecting this and turned to him.
"No I don't have a boyfriend, no I'm not a lesbian and no, I won't be ready for a relationship, not in the next hundred years" said Katarina.
Sal's eyes flew wide with surprise and then he burst out laughing.
"What?" he said.
Katarina blushed in embarrassment, her eyebrows scrunched in confusion.
"I thought....."
"You thought what, that I was trying to make a move on you?" Sal said. "I barely know you"
"It hasn't stopped any other boys, or men for that matter" Katarina said, her initial expression of confusion fading away, replaced by a faint surprise as she turned her face from his. Her cheeks were still pink though.
"Well, I'm not other boys, I'm Sal, you can trust me to respect you," said Sal.
She turned and looked at him with new eyes, as if searching for an ulterior motive. Then she shook her head and fiddled with the blue pendant on her neck.
"So, what did you want to ask me?" she said.
Sal hesitated, the question he wanted to ask was a delicate one and was sure to upset Katarina, still he asked.
"What happened between you and Casmir?"
She frowned and turned away from him, her fingers tightened around her pendant and made her already white knuckles grow whiter.
Sal regretted it immediately.
"I'm sorry I asked" he said.
She refused to look at him, so he braved her wrath and moved a bit closer, their knees were touching now and she faced him. Her eyes, he realized, weren't black, they were just dark, with traces of blue hidden in them.
"It's just" he continued, his voice low, "if we're going to spend a lot of time looking for these people and eventually finding this necromancer, I need to know who you guys are, I need to know who I'm working with"
She didn't answer, which told Sal everything he needed to know. He moved away from her and looked to the road, watching out for Casmir in silence.
"We were seventeen when he got Turned," Katarina said suddenly.
Sal turned to look at her but she was still not facing him so he watched her staring at the ground, clutching her necklace and telling her story.
***
"We were a Spanish family living in America, the Velasquez family", she smiled as past memories settled on the surface of her mind. "if you're wondering Velasquez means crow"
"Sometimes" she said. "I would ask my dad why we were called the crow family and he would laugh so hard you wouldn't help but join in, and then he'd say "Because crows are survivors Kitty". He was a cop, a good one, and my mom worked day shifts at a fancy restaurant somewhere uptown."
We were happy, so so happy, his smile was the brightest I had seen my entire life, and sometimes I felt there would be no need for any other light, he would lead us through any darkness, but then one night the darkness took him away from us, and once it did our whole world just...crumbled.
For years Casmir took it upon himself to be the man of the house, he'd work multiple jobs, take extra shifts, and for a while he was so occupied with work that I hardly ever heard him laugh or joke. He just stopped being the Casmir that I knew and loved.
He changed.
Then when we turned fifteen our mother was diagnosed with PTSD. We did all we could; therapy and prayers, but the only thing that seemed to work were the antidepressants the doctor prescribed. She would take those pills and have at least three hours of bliss until the effects wore off and she'd have to face the sadness again.
The drugs were supposed to help, but soon she started ignoring the prescriptions, started getting addicted to that feeling of bliss.
Eventually, I realized it was getting out of hand, she started being dependant on the drugs, and so I told Casmir about it and he tried to make her stop.
For a while it worked, day after day Casmir and I would administer the drugs ourselves, try to wane her of the desire. But we were only increasing her hunger. And one day, when I was at school and Casmir at work, our mother had found where we hid the drugs and she overdosed.
We found her dead on the bathroom floor, her eyes cold and lifeless, the shower still running, thick, sparkling foam spilling from her mouth. I still can't get those images out of my head. Just like that we'd lost our mother, just like that we'd lost everything.
When social services came the following week we were sent to a foster home where we stayed for nearly a year. Casmir, always trying to make things better, went back to his usual goofy self to try and distract me, but no one was distracting him. Sometimes, when he thought I was off studying or asleep, I would catch him gazing at the sun or sometimes just.... staring.
I could tell he was scarred, we both were, but we were surviving and at the end of the day that was all that mattered.
Then we turned sixteen and our uncle offered to take us in, we didn't have much of a choice, we assumed if we lived with family we'd be safe, he was our blood after all.
It was later we'd discover that our uncle had Turned to a vampire, a very careless one at that. He wasn't even trying to hide it. He would stay indoors all day and then bring home a different girl every night and feed on her. Casmir and I would hear the screams but he warned us to stay put if we heard anything. Casmir being Casmir, got too curious and walked in on my uncle feeding one night, and then my uncle Turned him.
I had to watch as my brother became this....thing, something I couldn't understand, and it hurt because I knew from that night, and for many nights to come, he would never be the Casmir I had known my entire life.
After that day he and I could see through the Shade. We didn't know what was happening to us, and our uncle was no help at all, so we ran away, but it was harder surviving this time, this time my brother was a bloodsucking monster who couldn't stand sunlight and water and I didn't know how long I could pretend I wasn't afraid of him.
Over the months we managed, we survived, and eventually, when we knew and understood enough, we grew.
We became hunters, I joined the Shemer and he joined the Blood Moons and then we went our separate ways, I specialized in hunting vampires and before I knew it I was famous.
***
Katarina's voice fell as she said the word "famous" almost as if she wasn't proud of her achievements.
She looked up at Sal, there were no tears in her eyes, but from the way she looked at him Sal could tell that the next part of the story would be the worst.
"On a particular hunt", she continued, "I needed Casmir's help, there was a vampire that was using humans as blood slaves, and it turned out that that vampire was a part of Casmir's nest"
"Nest?"
"Yeah, a nest of vampires is kind of like a pack of wolves and it's against the Lex for a vampire to go against any of it's nest members"
Sal could see where this was going.
"Casmir agreed to help me, he would've done anything for me, then the night we were to take the vampire in we were ambushed, somehow our plan was exposed and so I and Casmir had to fight off an entire nest of vampires."
"We were good together, fighting side by side, and we would've made it out if I hadn't let my guard down, in a split second I was disarmed, the culprit vampire hissing on top of me as I landed on the floor, I tried struggling but I couldn't match it's strength, I thought I was going to die, but then..."
"Casmir saved you," said Sal.
The tears came then.
"He took Kyrona and he cut the vampire's head off" Katarina said as a tear spilled down her cheek, Sal's fingers itched to wipe it away.
"I can still see him standing over me, blood sprayed across his face, his eyes glowing red, Kyrona dripping blood and steaming as it made contact with his skin, he reached out a hand to me but I never took it, I could hear the vampires bringing reinforcements and I knew it was only a matter of time before they came down on us, I knew we wouldn't survive when they did, so I left the sword in his hand and I fled"
She wiped a tear from her eyes and looked away from Sal.
"Fleeing was the worst mistake I ever made" she said, as tears spilled down her cheeks. Katarina didn't sob, Sal noticed, she cried silently, her jaws clenched tight, her hands clenched tighter.
Sal moved closer to her and hesitantly put a hand on her knee, she looked up at him, dark eyes shimmering like black pools of water.
"You did something unforgivable..." said Sal.
"You think I don't know that?" said Katarina, anger boiling through her clenched voice.
"Let me finish", said Sal calmly, "you did something unforgivable, but you have been trying to make up for it for fifty years, my dad's not that old!"
Katarina chuckled lightly.
"You need to stop dwelling on the bad things you've done because doing bad things doesn't make you a bad person, it's doing those bad things and justifying the reasons why you did them that makes you a bad person. You have sacrificed so much, your time, your heart, your home, and the person you sacrificed all those things for is here, like finally here, embrace him, love him, give him a reason to stay"
They were slightly closer to each other now, the warmth of their bodies mingling in the cool of the morning.
"I know I would"
Katarina smiled and then their eyes met and locked, in an instant Sal could hear his heart pounding in his chest, his blood rushing in his veins, and everything else suddenly went out of focus, he struggled to take his next breath but at the same time he felt like he could survive without it.
"You have beautiful eyes," said Katarina, her voice suddenly small and tight.
"I..um..."
"Hey guys"
Sal and Katarina jumped apart at the sound of Casmir's voice.
Sal looked towards the road and saw that Casmir was standing and facing them, his armour shining as the sun rose higher, but he was too focused on the lighter and the cigarette in his hand to notice them. He cursed as he tried one more time but failed to get a flame.
"Shit", he said, "stupid lighter"
He looked up and his brows furrowed in concern.
"You two okay?" he asked.
It was Katarina who replied.
"Yeah we're fine, what took you so long?"
"I went to officially reunite with the other Blood Mooners, a lot of excitement last night", said Casmir, "I'm sorry I'm late, I know how you are about punctuality...."
"No it's fine, come in, there's a lighter inside, plus we have a lot of things to discuss" said Katarina.
She stood up, glanced at Sal with a small smile, and went inside.
Sal stood up as well and looked at Casmir who was giving him a weird look.
"What?" he said.
"Were you two making out or something?" asked Casmir, his voice sounded strained but with the cigarette jutting out of his mouth Sal couldn't tell.
"No," said Sal.
Even though I would've liked that.
"Okay, just asking, she looked a bit flustered," said Casmir.
"Weren't you the one that said no one can get your sister flustered"
Casmir gave him a wary look.
"I don't know", said Casmir, "it's been fifty years, I'm not sure I know who she is anymore"
Casmir walked past him and into the house, leaving behind the scent of strong cologne.
If Sal didn't know any better, he would've thought Casmir sounded hurt.
Was he? or was it Sal's imagination?
Sal shook those thoughts out of his head and walked into the house, right now they needed to find Bloomera, and they needed to get this over with.
He moved up the steps, looking once at the places he and Kat had sat, and smiling as he walked through the door.