Bloodlines and Shadows

My mind was wide open; my gift was causing my already wild brown curls to whip around me. But the Vanguard needed this. We all knew we were losing this war, so we needed to get the mission right this time. I wanted to crack my neck; I had been holding this position for what seemed like forever. It was ridiculous that Adien and Wes came with me today. I was the best at stealth, and those two were all brash and brute strength.

They were valuable to the Vanguard but not ideal for covert missions like this one. I, however, was lethal and could be stealthy. It was well known to the others in the Vanguard that I was the most valuable weapon in this war.

Standing there, I thought back to my old teacher. I was 14 when she discovered my gift. It was something rare, and not many, even the oldest among our kind, had possessed this skill. It was considered one of the ancient gifts and mostly forgotten for the most part, since so few living vampires had it.

I was only a third-generation vampire, yet here I was, the one to cover this dilapidated cathedral in storm and fog. I kept lighting out of it, which would bring light. Why Malachar thought this was a good place to hide some of his power was beyond me. Why did he even have to rise up in the first place? To me, it seemed everything was going fine, and for the most part, our species was happy.

We had a sound system going, at least that is how I saw it. The society of the Vampires was hidden from the humans. They didn’t know we existed, and thanks to our forefathers, we had built a whole hidden society that kept our existence unknown. I knew some of the Purists didn’t like that at all. It was probably the reason Malachar rose to power so quickly. He wanted to rule the whole world. He wanted anyone who didn’t meet his qualifications of being what he called “True Blooded”, though everyone referred to those with a complete vampire lineage as ‘Purists, ’ to be put to death.

Those in the Order who followed Malachar wanted to breed humans. They tried to make humans into cattle. Under Malachar, they were all food, and my kind, us 1st, 2nd, and 3rd generation Vampires, what they referred to as Dhamir, were to be put down for being mutts. What a load of shit, I thought.

I saw a head of wavy red curls running toward me. “Beatrix, we have to go.” In that moment, I was glad he had that bright red hair. I would have been likely to miss him with the clouds I lay under. Our species may have excellent eyesight, but fog was hard to see through, not to mention the pounding rain.

“Where is Adien?” I said as he yanked on my arm. “Stone Head is here; we have to go.” He yelled. That fucking guy? He was a member of the Order and the right-hand of Malachar, and we had found out a year or so into the war. None of us in the Vanguard had any idea who he was. All we knew was whoever he was, he was powerful and on the wrong side, Malachar’s side. If he showed up, that particular fight would be a win for the Order of Blood.

“Where is Adien? We can’t leave him.” I shouted over the rain. Wes opened his jacket, and I saw a little mouse poking out of his coat pocket. So, he had transformed, of course, he had, I should have known—another gift our kind could have. “Drop the storm, Beatrix. We need to make the jump out of here.” “Did you get the thing?” “Beatrix, make the jump. You are the best out of the three of us. Do it now.” Wes screamed. I caved and listened to him. I dropped the storm I had created.

I took a quick look at the dilapidated cathedral, and a tall man stood there. His long black peacoat had its hood up, and I saw the stone-like mask he wore. I could see his grey eyes staring back at me. “Beatrix!” Wes shouted again. I grabbed his arm, and we vanished, landing back at headquarters. I stared at Wes, who was now drenched, his shoulder-length red hair sticking to his face. He reached into his coat pocket, pulled out the little mouse, and set him down. I watched as the mouse shifted into Adien.

I always thought that was an extraordinary gift our species could have. Henry was good at it; in school, he used to play pranks on some of the students with his gift. “I am glad you are alright, Adien,” I said, letting out a little breath. Adien had been my first friend. I met him at school, and soon after our friendship formed, Wes was brought in, and we became a trio.

Adien was a purist. He never saw the difference in blood status. With him, if you drank blood, you were a Vampire; he didn’t buy into the idea of Dhampir's or generation shit, as he called it, unlike other families with pure bloodlines. “Did you guys get it?” I asked.

Wes answered. “Beatrix, we couldn’t. We tried really, but when we were looking, Stone Face showed up, and you know that means get the hell out of there. That is policy for the Vanguard.” I chewed on my bottom lip. So, this was a complete waste of time. I should have gone alone; if I had, I probably would be standing here with whatever the object was that held some of Malachar’s power.

Varin came walking up. I could see he had a small cooler in his hands—no doubt bringing us some blood. Varin was one of the leaders of our little resistance, known as the Vanguard. His height was astounding. I remember when I met him for the first time, I was 13 and had just arrived at school. He was one of the professors there, and at the time, he had intimidated me, but now he was just a soldier like the rest of us. He had his black dreads pulled back. He had not worn them loose and down since before the war broke out.

He opened the cooler and handed out bags of blood to all of us. His orangish-yellow eyes looked at me. “So how did it go? Did you find the blood relic or any trace of it?” He asked. Adien answered despite the question being directed at me. I was supposed to complete this mission. I had hardly anything to go on other than the idea that whatever we were hunting for would feel powerful. Whatever this blood relic was, it was created with blood magic. One of Malachar’s special gifts. Though that particular gift he had to have learnt, not inherited, like most gifts.

“Sorry, Varin, we couldn’t locate it.” His eyes turned back to me. “Miller, this was important.” I stared at him, so I had made a bad call bringing Adien and Wes. They asked me to come, and having been their friend for so long, I agreed. I trusted them, and they were strong, so why shouldn’t they go with me if they wanted to? “Miller, do you know when you can go back?” I stared at him. Miller, my last name, I thought it sounded so human. It wasn’t like the others, but I was third-generation, so, of course, my surname sounded human.

“Let’s see, Giedion, I need to drink my blood that you so graciously brought me, and then I need to figure out when Stone Face won’t be there, so that will take some time.” His face hardened. I had used his first name, and not many people did that in such a formal capacity within the Vanguard, at least to their superiors. “Fine, just come find me when you have it.” He looked at Adien and Wes. “You two are not going with her next time.” They were about to talk back, but Varin walked away, leaving us with our blood to drink.

“Geeze, Beatrix, did you have to call him by his first name? You know he hates that.” Wes said, looking at me. I shrugged and sipped from the little spout on the bag that held my blood. I smiled. I guess Varin thought we would succeed, because I could taste the blood was A negative and my favorite, this was supposed to be a reward, but we failed. Still, I had my favorite pick me up, and I sipped.

I saw straight dirty blond hair running at us. My face relaxed into a stern expression, and Wes turned to see his girlfriend, Rose, running toward him. She threw her arms around him. Kissing him. “I am so happy you are back safely.” She squealed. Adien looked at me, “I am going to find Ava.” He said, I gave a quick nod and walked off alone. It seemed like I was alone a lot.