Date: Mon, 4 Feb 2002 19:59:28 -0800 (PST)
From: NCfan <ngclle@yahoo.com>
Subject: heir to the darkness 9

Disclaimer: I do not know the BSB nor do I claim to know their orientation.
This is completely a figment of my imagination.  Those under 18 are advised
not to read as this contains content of an adult nature.

**************************

By dawn, I woke up to find Nick gone.  I didn't think it odd just because
of all the odd events last night.  I expected him to be out wandering
somewhere just so that he didn't have to suffer seeing my face.  I was
startled by a loud sound behind me.

"Would you please not disturb the silence like that!" I spat at AJ as he
threw his belongings on the ground beside me.

AJ snorted.  "I was kindly reminding you to get your cute buns off the
ground so that we can get started.  We have a ways to go to reach Rencid."

"I didn't think we were heading there.  I thought that that was just a
landmark we were using," I commented dryly.

AJ snorted again.  "Tough.  We need to refurnish some supplies."

By now, Kevin approached us, his eyes sick with worry.  "Where's Nick?"

I shook my head.  "Don't know."  I felt myself shudder at the sound of his
name, forcing Kevin to glare at me, something which I had not expected from
him.

Then, in a solemn tone, Kevin told me, "He's not one of us, Brian.  You
should be careful.  I know that you like him, but something tells me that
he's holding back.  True he revealed to us so much last night, but
nevertheless, he comes from a different breed.  We cannot trust every word
of his."

I looked at Kevin bewildered.  "You doubt him?"

Kevin shrugged his shoulders.  "I do not doubt his love for us.  I doubt
his judgment.  He's not completely truthful to us, and for that, we cannot
completely believe him."

AJ put a hand on my shoulder.  "You did feel his power, didn't you?  The
other day, when that creature attacked him, did you feel the power he could
have wielded on us?  Just from one touch?"  AJ whispered.

And for the first time, I saw something in the others that I never thought
was possible--fear.  They feared Nick!

I looked at the others a little defiantly.  "Do you fear that he would
betray us . . . or do you fear his abilities?"

Kevin looked at me sternly.  "We fear that part of him which we do not
know!  We are afraid of what he has become or will become!  Don't you feel
it, Brian?  The destiny of the two people . . . the Almans and the vampires
. . . seem to be linked to Nick.  Our future, whether we live or die,
whether we're happy or tortured, seem to depend on him.  Why did the Almans
lock him up?  Why did our people use him as a symbol of conquest?  There is
something about his presence that is eluding us!  And he sure as hell isn't
clarifying sh-- for us!"  That was Kevin's first outburst in a long time,
and I was forced to comtemplate his concerns.

Realizing that Kevin was shaking my beliefs profoundly, Howie jumped in.
"Kevin's not saying that we shouldn't help Nick.  He's just saying that we
should be more attentive to everything that Nick does.  If Nick is truly
good, we will always be by his side.  But what if he is evil, or what if he
represents something bad?  We must destroy him.  It's a scary thought, but
we mustn't be blinded by our fondness for him.  Ultimately, I think the
fate of our people rests on us four.  And maybe our enemy is not as distant
as we think."

I nodded my head in defeat.  What thoughts or rationalization could I
conjure to counter such a powerful argument?  I've known Kevin, Howie and
AJ my entire life, far longer than I've known Nick.  And I knew for a fact
that they were true to me, and to our people.  Nick, I knew very little
about.  I only knew him for seven years.  And the more time spent with him,
the less familiar he became.  It was not Nick that they doubted.  It was
the mystery that surrounded him that they were skeptical about.  They were
afraid of the unknown.  I closed my eyes and succumbed to their doubts
"Please don't hurt him if we don't have to."

All three nodded eagerly, feeling rather guilty for their dark thoughts,
but unwilling to let go of them.

"So does anyone know where Nick is?" AJ finally blurted, breaking the
intensity of our conversation.

Howie nodded.  "He said he needed a nice cool bath."  With that, Howie
smiled crookedly at me.

"What?" I asked, slightly offended.  I didn't know what was going through
Howie's mind at that moment, but it appeared unchaste.

"Oh stop that annoying winking, Howie!" AJ bursted.

Kevin groaned.  "If he wants to be subtle, let him be subtle, AJ!"  Then,
Kevin turned to bark off orders at me.  "Brian, why don't you go pluck him
out of that pond."

I groaned, but felt grateful.  I'd rather be the one to see Nick bathing.
No matter what we had talked it about, it did not change the fact that I
could still kill from jealousy.

******************

The quiet walk to the pond did nothing to soothe my unsettled heart.  It
was scary, but I was starting to analyze everything that Nick did.  No
longer did his actions appear innocent to me, but everything seemed to have
served a purpose.  I tried to memorize everything, from the slight changes
in his eye color to the little twitches in his face.  That heart to heart
with the other guys freaked me out and started to create a small barrier
between me and Nick.  It wasn't a bad barrier, but it did affect me
immensely.  And no matter how much I try to convince myself that Nick was
all good, there was a part of me that distrusted his motives, as if I had
my suspicions from the start and the others verbalizing it only made it
more real.

I finally found the little pond where he was bathing in, and for a while, I
decided to just sit behind the rock contentedly.  I tried to convince
myself that I wanted to analyze him, but I knew that my motives probably
weren't that clean.

My mind drifted to his imprisonment in the Forbidden Towers.  There were
probably multiple reasons why the Almans had locked him up in the Forbidden
Towers, but I could only think of one.  It was his damn attractiveness!

It reminded me of something Kevin used to tell me.  "It is the beautiful
that we should be most wary of because their outer beauty shields their
inner malice.  And it is those people that are the most dangerous.  Don't
fall in love with a face, for it does not promise happiness."  That was so
haunting, but Kevin was very wise for his age.  He would never jeopardize
my happiness with a saying he didn't believe in, could he?

My eyes started to trace Nick's figure.  Nick's body was fair against the
light blue of the pond.  His back was to me, but I could envision his face
from the fullness of his cheeks to the light gleam in his eyes.  Just when
I was getting comfortable with the view, he slowly stepped out of the
waters, a layer of clothing forming out of thin air as he slowly ascended
from the pond.  And I wondered just how much of his powers was he shielding
from us.

I was so deep in thought, I didn't realize that Nick was a few feet away
from me until he grounded his foot into the soil from behind me.  I whisked
around only to be met by his deep blue eyes.  I didn't want to let my eyes
wander too much.

"You're here to escort me back, I assume?" Nick offered an explanation for
my sitting behind a rock, blatantly staring at him while he was bathing.

"Yes," I replied hoarsely, glad for the excuse he created for me.  He knew,
yet he was classy enough to not valize it.

Nick smiled reassuringly before nodding his head, signalling for me to
follow him.  Then, he turned around and started for the others.  I followed
behind, constantly gazing at him, watching for any hints of malice.  But I
could not detect any, for he shielded them too well.

********************

We reached Rencid by noon, surprisingly.  The town was, as Nick said, full
of quaint humans.  It was a small town with an eerie feel to it. The people
themselves appeared youthful.  No elderly person in sight, which I thought
added to the spookiness of the whole ambience.  We quickly found a nice
cozy tavern, owned by a middle-aged slightly obese, jolly-looking woman.
She knew we were vampires.  The whole town knew, actually.  That fact made
me feel vulnerable.

AJ, though, was quite delighted.  "I'll have some geese blood, please!"

The lady was only happy to oblige him, and the rest of us. She took our
orders with a smile on her face.  That was, until she finally gazed into
Nick's eyes, and there was a flicker of recognition.  "We do not serve his
kind here."  Her eyes carried something bordering on disgust, her voice
filled with contempt.  Everyone in the tavern suddenly turned to eye Nick
suspiciously.  And I saw that flicker of repulsion in everyone's eyes.  It
was as if they knew who he was.

"We do not serve any Almans.  You are not welcome here."  With that, she
spat at Nick.  "Your people have stolen all our elders, erased their souls
from this Earth.  Do not expect any warmth from us!  Your friends will
stay, but you must leave the borders of this town tonight."  AJ, Howie and
Kevin all stared in shock by her declaration.  All the other Rencid folks
glared at Nick, sharing the tavern owner's decision.  I felt a sinking
feeling within my heart, but dared not contradict the lady's decision.  I
wanted to kick myself so badly, yet I was so curious as to the reason
behind this lady's sudden wrath, some clue to Nick's past.

It was as if Nick understood the depth of her anger, for within seconds, he
stood up and departed without so much as an argument.  I reluctantly got up
to follow him, but the tavern owner placed a hand on my shoulder and nodded
at me peacefully.  "He will not leave without your protection, for that
would be folly on his part.  You need not fear that that he would
disappear.  If my judgment is not inaccurate, he will await your presence
at the outskirts of this city."  I calmed down immediately at her words and
sat down without another word.

"Why does he anger you?" Howie interrupted anxiously.

The tavern owner sighed and ignored Howie's question.  "Why do you harbor
him?  Do you not fear for your lives?  Do you not see his treachery?  Did
you not heed the prophecy in the ancient scriptures of your vampire race?"

"Prophecy?" Kevin squeaked, his eyes suddenly widening.  "Then it is him
that it speaks of?"

Aj and I looked in shock at Kevin.  "There's a prophecy that you're keeping
from us?" AJ asked in a demanding tone.  "All right, spit it out!  What
kind of damn prophecy is this, if you finally care to enlighten us?"

Howie looked at us apologetically.  "We . . . me and Kevin . . . we sort of
suspected it, but we didn't want to alarm you or Brian, just in case that
maybe, it was just a legend.  We didn't want to freak you guys out."

AJ rolled his eyes.  "Sure, I'm not freaked at all!" he spat.

The tavern owner sighed.  "You are protecting a very dangerous creature
indeed."  Then, as if reciting a passage from an ancient text, she closed
her eyes and started enunciating, "For he whose breed is impure will harbor
an evil so great as to forever destroy the sanctity of all races and
species . . ."

The tavern owner opened her eyes and sighed.  By now, silence pervaded the
entire tavern, and all the locals listened in intently.  "That creature
that you are protecting, we do not hate who he is, but we hate who he shall
become.  He is pure unadulterated evil, protected by a pretty shell to lure
and deceive those around him.  He clouds your minds with an air of
innocence, but he is more dangerous to you than you shall ever know.  His
soul absorbs evil like a sponge, feeding on it, thriving upon it.  Every
evil deed done to him, every unworthy thought that people have of him will
only be consumed by his soul, feeding his inner wrath . . . until finally,
he harbors an energy so great, it could destroy with frightening cruelty.
He needs only time, and that is what he is buying with you four.
Therefore, he will not leave this town without you."  The tavern owner
shuddered at her description as did the other locals.

AJ was the first to respond.  "He sure doesn't look evil to me," he replied
softly.

"In time, my friend," the tavern owner replied.  "Do you notice how he
deals with pain inflicted upon him?"  Kevin and Howie nodded knowingly, as
if confirming the tavern owner's words.

She continued.  "He does not lash back, but rather, he represses his
actions.  He consumes anger without releasing it.  Notice how calm his
exterior is.  Be wary of his quietness, of his reserve, for every word he
does not speak is more dangerous for you."

Kevin gulped.  "How do you know it is truly him that the prophecy speaks
of?  Howie and I could give some examples, but we couldn't be quite sure
that he is the one, that he is the Heir."

The tavern owner looked at Kevin with resolve.  "He had fled seven years
ago to our town.  After he had escaped the Forbidden Towers with that
vampire, his story had traveled far.  In his youth, he was more reckless,
less expert in shielding his true identity.  He had been easier to read,
less mysterious.  Now, he is subtle and more clever.  But we still
recognize those eyes."

The tavern owner closed her eyes again and recited another passage from the
prophecy.  "Eyes of lavender shall mark our fate; behind sheer beauty lies
evil's gaze; no friends, no love, no peace, no home; there is no child
worse than Darkness' own."

The tavern owner looked at us in disbelief, wondering how Kevin and Howie
could have read that statement and not think that it described Nick.

With more determination in her heart, she continued.  "Why did the Almans
lock him up?  They knew!  That had to have known the prophecy!  It is
undeniable who that prophecy refers to.  Yet, they had loved him too much,
had refused to destroy him.  And they hoped . . . hoped that by locking him
up in the Forbidden Towers, he would not have interaction with anyone.  His
evil would not feed upon anyone's vice.  But his mother had erred.  Those
Almans that were by her side had secretly visited the boy in the tower,
committing dark sins that no Alman knew of until he had ran away.  Who
knows what evil was forced upon the boy in those dark towers?  Who knows
what they had done to him in the dark hours of the night.  All we now know
is that the evil within his body is swelling.  And now, the Almans are
regretting their decision.  They have rescinded their pity for him and are
paying dearly in their grief and horror.  Do you know how much they are
willing to reward for his purged body?"

"What do you mean by purged?" I finally found the courage to ask.

She looked at me with a deep sympathy, as if she knew the pain I was
feeling with every word that she spoke.  She nodded.  "Purged
. . . destroyed, maimed, disintegrated . . . whatever it takes to destroy
his soul, to completely rid of the body that protects that soul.  For
without his body, the soul cannot live.  Because there is no other body
that has the ability to harbor such a horrifying soul."

I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding, suddenly very nauseous.
Nick had lied to us!  To me!  I felt the hot tears burning from behind my
eyelids.

"How do you know all of this?" Howie asked timidly.  I could tell that
Howie was getting really scared.

"I know because we were friends of the Almans.  Before they had betrayed
our trust in them, they had once confided in us, sought our skills and our
friendship."  She spoke with a pained reverence.

I felt my insides hurt all over.  This could not be happening, not to me.
It was like a surreal dream going sour.

The tavern owner continued.  "He is Darkness's Son, bred from the souls of
both the vampires and the Almans.  Since he was born in the midst of hatred
between the two people, his soul retained only the worst of each."

"Surely he had also inherited some weaknesses of the two races?" Kevin
asked, his expression full of hope.

"We do not know of any," the tavern owner confided.  Then she looked at me,
her eyes pleading and scared.  "But perhaps, we are not too late.  Since he
still depends upon your protection, he is not fully mature yet.  You, my
innocent vampire, may still have some power over him.  Use his trust in you
as a weapon to destroy him!"

I felt nauseated to say the least.  The way she told the story, I could
tell her truthfulness.  I could sense her faith in the prophecy.  And now,
she had made me a believer; there was not even a doubt.  There were no
flaws in her story as there was in Nick's.  She had not held anything back,
and she spoke with such a passion that I could not deny the validity of the
story.  Kevin and Howie were completely convinced.

I thought back to that day that I had destroyed the creature.  I knew what
I felt that day when Nick melted away my anger in less than a second.  He
had a power that defied all explanations, until now.  He wielded an energy
so strangely elusive yet frighteningly great that I shuddered to even think
back to it.  With a single touch, he could dissipate my will, my powers.
With a single gaze, he could make me beg for him.  My body started to
shake, not from the cold, but from my fright.  I could not hide it anymore.
I was scared sh--less.  Truly, there could be no child worse than
Darkness's own.

I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath, clearing my mind.  For once I
step out of that tavern back into Nick's arms, it will be a different
fight.  Thoughts of our vampire race soiling Nick's body had completely
disappeared from my mind, and that guilt that I had clung on to the past
few days had slowly died away.  His innocent eyes could no longer carry one
meaning to me.  I could not gaze upon them without wondering about the soul
that they concealed.  Yet, my thoughts wandered to what could have been
. . . had he not had a prophecy predicting his future, what could have been
had I not awoken from this beautiful dream that was Nick.  For that was
what Nick was . . . a chaste, ethereal, wondrous dream turned nightmare.

***********************

ngclle@yahoo.com

**********************