CHAPTER 7
CONNOR’S HEAD SWAM. HE KNEW he had recognized the voice in his dream, it was Mrs. Hayes! But it was crazy to think she had power over his dreams.
“It’s not crazy, Connor. You already know.”
“Can you read my mind?”
“Heheh. I have plenty of abilities, but mindreading isn’t one of them. That expression on your face tells me all I need to know.”
Connor let go, willing to take a leap of faith into the unknown, “It was you in my dream last night, wasn’t it?”
“There you go. And?”
“And I want to know…” Connor hesitated. Taking a deep breath, he plunged ahead. “And I want to know who I am. Why have I felt this force inside of me my entire life? Who is my father? Who are all these strangers in town? And who are you? Why haven’t you said anything?”
Connor was shocked with his sudden outburst. He felt as though he had tried opening a water faucet and instead unleashed a fire hydrant. He didn’t mean to let it all out, but he did and it felt great.
“There you go, Connor,” Mrs. Hayes said with an approving nod of her head and a glimpse of yellow teeth. “Now you’re ready to know.”
“I can answer most of your questions but there are those you will have to answer yourself.” Mrs. Hayes stood up as she addressed him. She seemed taller somehow, younger, and that’s when Connor realized he wasn’t imagining her taller and younger, she was taller and younger!
Every muscle in his athletic frame tensed. Brown eyes wide, he stared as Mrs. Hayes went from stooped and old to tall and fiercely graceful. Her grey and white hair gave way to raven black. Her crooked yellow grin changed into a perfect smile and her clothes even transformed to a blouse with a plunging neckline and a fitted white skirt.
The woman who stood in front of him now looked as though she were a few years younger than his mother. The change in her appearance revealed her pendant as well. It was made of the same kind of metal as Laren’s, but a different symbol hung from Mrs. Hayes’ neck. A symbol Connor didn’t recognize.
Connor’s heart was beating out of his chest. Running a hand through his thick black hair, he forced his mind to believe the unbelievable.
“I know it can be a bit much the first time, but you’ll get used to the changing.”
“How did you do that?”
“Let’s just call it magic for now until you have a better grasp of our history. The why part is a bit easier. How old do you think I am, Connor?”
“I don’t know—before, I would have said in your eighties? Now, in your forties?”
“That’s very sweet, Connor, but in reality I’m closer to five hundred years old.”
Connor’s mouth dropped open.
“I have to keep up an aging appearance for public reasons. You can imagine if you had a neighbor who never aged. Good moisturizers and great genes would only be able to justify so many years. Acting crazy was just something I started for fun, but it worked perfectly; people left me alone and I could pretty much get away with anything I wanted, so I kept it up.”
“Okay.” Connor couldn’t contain himself any longer. He got up and paced back and forth from the kitchen to the window in the main room. “Okay, so let me get this straight.” He quickened his pace. “The woman I’ve known as long as I can remember as Mrs. Hayes isn’t a senile, crazy women? She’s actually a five hundred year old witch?”
“Hmmm, hmmm.” Mrs. Hayes cleared her throat.
Connor stopped his pacing. “You’re not a witch?”
“We prefer ‘sorceress,’ and you can just call me Morrigan.”
“Morrigan? As in Morrigan le Fay the wit—” Connor caught himself. “The sorceress from King Author?” Connor gave her another look of disbelief.
“Connor, please, let’s not be ridiculous.” She feigned a smile. “I’m not that old.”
As crazy as it sounded, Connor was beginning to accept his new reality. “So, where do I fit into all of this?”
“Well for that we’ll need a history lesson.” She clearing her throat. “Since the beginnings of mankind, there have been those individuals possessing more than just the normal set of abilities or skills. Call it what you will—natural selection, mutation, chance—but a select few have stood apart from the rest.”
“Every people or race has their own name for these beings. The Germans call them “The Rulers” or “der Herrscher,” the Irish—your ancestors—chose the word “Roghnaithe” which means “Chosen,” and in ancient Rome, the Latin word was “Beastia” or “Animal.” The abilities these individuals possessed closely related to many of the abilities found in animals; heightened senses, increased speed, and strength. Another bonus for these select few was the aging process. We still age, but at a much slower rate than our human counterparts.”
She paused in her lecture. “Following so far, Mr. Moore?”
Connor nodded. “I think I should sit down for the rest.”
“Probably a good idea,” she agreed, pausing long enough for him to take a seat.
“Now, with time, these gifted ‘people’ recognized their superiority and banded together forming clans or families. Soon these families began vying for power and rank; it didn’t take long for war to break out and humans were dragged into the mix. The war was so devastating to every side that only Five Families survived. These remaining Five Families called a truce and created a Council and a list of rules to abide by to ensure a war of this magnitude would never occur again.”
Morrigan walked over to a bookcase and produced a rolled up scroll. It was cracked and dusty but still legible. She carefully unrolled it and handed it to him. “Please read it out loud.”
Connor gingerly took the scroll from her and cleared his throat. “The Law. One. We will remain hidden and value discretion above all else. Two. Under no circumstances will one Elite kill another. Three. Under no circumstances will any Elite kill or enslave a human. Four. Elites will not turn humans or mate with them.” Connor gently placed the scroll on the small table next to his chair.
Morrigan continued, “Since the signing of the Law, the remaining Five Families agreed the best way to avoid confrontation was to separate themselves and assign regions for each of their clans. The known world was split into five territories; Asia, Africa, The United Kingdom and the remaining two families agreed on dividing Europe.”
Connor raised his hand, unsure of the best way to interrupt a sorceress.
“Connor, put your hand down and just ask me,” she said, half laughing.
“Oh, thanks. You didn’t mention North or South America, or Australia.”
“When the Law was written and the known world divided, those countries hadn’t been discovered, but we’ll get into that.”
“Now, there have, of course, been instances of disobedience and breaking of the Law, but these have been dealt with quickly and severely by the Council. Almost every major conflict in history has been due to the breaking of one of these four Laws. In 1692, the breaking of the first rule led to the Salem witch trials. A few Elites thought it would be fun to show off to the human population. World War I started when one member of the Five Families killed a member of another family over a land dispute. In 1939, World War II started because Adolf Hitler broke the third rule about killing and enslaving humans.”
“Wait, are you telling me that Adolph Hitler was an Elite?”
“Yes, I am. Oh, yes, and of course the American Civil War in 1861. There was a group of Elites that thought they could turn humans and create their own army so they could claim a nation for themselves.”
“What do you mean by ‘turn’?”
“Only pureblood members of the Five Families are born with these abilities. Those who are of mixed blood, or half-blooded, still have the Elite gene, but they need an extra ‘push’ to reach their full potential.”
“Extra push?”
“Yes, if you’re not pure-blooded, the gene will lie dormant unless you are bitten by a pure-blood member. In a sense, this kickstarts the process and your dormant abilities will be very alive and very real.”
“What if an Elite bites a human? Does it work the same way?”
“Unfortunately, it doesn’t. The normal human body wouldn’t have any way to respond. They would eventually die.”
Connor nodded, then ventured a guess on his own. “The physical manifestation of being an Elite is different colored eyes, isn’t it?”
“Yes, eye color distinguishes the Elites when they’re in their normal human form. Each eye color is specific to the family in which they originated. When they show their true identities, their eye color changes—yellow, black, red, orange or white—and their fangs protrude. These traits have led to names like vampires or werewolves throughout the years. If people only knew—the truth is so much more frightening.”
“Laren and her brother are from an Elite family, and so is Randolph, right?” Connor knew the answer to this question but he had to ask it anyway.
“Yes, Laren and Lu are descendants from the Roman family; Randolph from the German.”
Connor saw all the subtle hints now—how tense Laren had been right before they even saw Randolph at the Italian restaurant, how fast and strong she was, how she had smelled Randolph on Connor when he met her for her surprise run and blamed it on allergies.
“So, why are they here now? I thought they had their own lands. America wasn’t part of the agreement.”
“Exactly. Boy, once you’re willing to accept the truth, you’re all in, aren’t you?”
Connor gave a sigh of relief. “As crazy as it sounds, even with all this new information, it feels good to finally get some answers. It’s like somehow I always knew there was something more.”
Morrigan nodded. “North and South America, as well as Australia, weren’t in the initial land agreement and that’s exactly why they’re here. As soon as these new countries were discovered, every family claimed them as their own. Meaningless treaties were signed but they have all been broken. Each family has their own agenda with what they plan to do. Not one of them has been so bold as to break one of the four Laws, but I fear that time is coming. Negotiations are failing and every day we’re getting closer and closer to violence.”
“Okay, but what has any of this to do with me?”
His phone went off. The familiar jingle of Katie’s personal ringtone met his ears. He almost ignored it, he was so caught up in the recent revelation of history, but instead he gave Morrigan an imploring look.
“Well, go ahead. It already interrupted us.”
Connor mouthed the word, “Sorry,” as he answered the phone. “Hey, Katie, what’s going on?”
“Connor, Connor, I need you right now! It’s so bad!” She sounded hysterical.
“Wait—hold on—what happened? Where are you?”
“I’m home. Randolph had some man over to the house last night and he—he wasn’t normal. Connor, I saw him. He wasn’t human!”
“Stay there. I’m on my way. Just stay put.”
“Hurry.”
Hanging up his phone, he jumped to his feet and headed for the door.
“I’m sorry, I have to go. Something’s happened to Katie.”
“Yes, I know who Katie and her family are, but there is still so much you don’t know.”
“I have to go. She needs me.”
Morrigan seemed to weigh her options. “I know I’m not going to talk you out of this. Go to her. But be careful, Connor. You have a very important role yet to play in all of this. Here.” She grabbed a pen and paper out of what seemed midair and scribbled down a number. “You call me if you need any help.” She handed him the phone number. “And Connor?”
The way she said his name with such intensity and importance caused his mind to stop racing and he gave her his full attention.
“Your mother doesn’t know about any of this. Let’s keep it that way.”
He nodded, said a hasty good-bye over his shoulder, and was out the door and in his truck in seconds. Connor turned the key, heard the engine catch, and stomped on the gas.
The sky was angry, darker now than it had been that morning, and Connor knew they were hours away from a downpour. The pickaxe, still in the back of his truck, rattled in his truck bed and slammed back and forth between the two wheelwells as he whipped around corners.
Connor ignored the noise as he replayed all the new information over in his head. Laren wasn’t normal, she was an Elite. It all made sense now. She was here on behalf of her family trying to negotiate a peaceful end to the land dispute in America. How old was she then? If they aged at such a slow pace, she could be hundreds of years old. And what was she doing with him? It was a Law that Elites couldn’t be with humans. Why would she even have bothered with him?
These questions, along with many more, ran though his mind. He was actually surprised he had taken in all this new information so well. Soon he was pulling up to Katie’s family estate and what he saw shocked him.
The black gate was in shambles. The left side of the fence was bent outwards like a bulldozer had hit it from the opposite end, and the right side of the gate had broken off its hinges completely, lying face down on the driveway. The sun emblem that was usually on the front gate was nowhere to be found.
Connor drove over the broken piece of fence and up the long driveway to the main house. The grass on either side of the driveway was torn and ripped. Had he not been there the previous day, he would have refused to believe the lawn could have been ruined so completely in less than twenty-four hours. Chunks of grass had been ripped out, holes had sporadically appeared over the landscape, and long gashes that looked like claw marks were everywhere.
The lack of vehicles in front of the house was unusual. Stopping his truck at the front door, he didn’t bother knocking and tried the handle. It opened without hesitation. Looking closer, Connor realized it was broken.
Katie’s huge house opened into a foyer with twin staircases on either side that led to the second floor. The staircases were shaped like half circles, and made of the same material as the entry room floor, white marble. To his right and left there were doorways leading to the labyrinth that was Katie’s house, and in front of him, between the staircases, were two large wooden doors.
“Katie! Katie!” he yelled.
There was no response, nothing at all. Taking the stairs two at a time, he raced to her room. The walls down the hallway were covered in family photos. Her mom was tall, blonde, and blue-eyed; her dad strong looking with perfectly cut hair and a politician’s smile. The pictures showed them on trips, at graduations, and other family outings. It wasn’t the scenery in the pictures that caught his eye, but the bloodstains smeared across the white walls.
Reaching her room, he burst through and found her lying on her bed. She was on her back, eyes closed, almost peaceful.
“Katie?” Connor kneeled by her side. “Katie, wake up. I’m here.”
Her eyes flickered open, bluer than he remembered. Her skin was pale. Her hair, normally well-groomed and styled, was a tangled mess, and on the left side of her neck, a large bite mark tore through her skin. Connor wasn’t sure if the bleeding had stopped. There was a large crimson pool by her neck, staining her white sheets.
“Connor?” she ever so slightly turned her head to him and gave a faint smile. “Connor, it is you. I was having a nightmare, then I heard your voice and woke up.”
“I’m here, Kat, it’s me.” Looking around the room, he grabbed one of her white undershirts from the floor. He carefully sat next to her on the bed and pressed the piece of clothing to her wound.
“You’re going to be okay, Kat. I’m going to take you to a hospital and you’re going to be great.”
Katie looked at him, “Connor, I feel strange. I feel like I should be in a lot more pain, but I’m not.”
“You’re probably just in shock.”
“Connor, my mom, my dad—they’re gone.” Tears formed in her eyes.
“Shhhhh.” He gently picked her up. She felt like a lamb in his arms. She was helpless but he was here now and he wouldn’t let anything happen to her.
Walking down the hall, he carried her down the stairs and out to his truck. She was rambling now from the blood loss and shock.
“They aren’t human, Connor, they’re not human.”
“I know.” Connor placed her in the passenger side of his truck with all the care an antique collector would use when handling his most valuable possession.
Closing her door, he ran to the driver’s side, turned his truck around, and headed to the town hospital. The entire drive, Katie kept rambling., Her eyes would flutter open, then closed, but in whispers, Connor could pick out words and phrases.
“Black eyes… Not human… No! Get away…”
Connor was usually a very cautious driver, obeying traffic signs and road rules, but today as Katie sat next to him, dying, for all he knew, he gave himself a pass. Barreling through stop signs and red lights, he honked his horn at other drivers, warning them he didn’t plan to stop. Angry horns replied back as he maneuvered through the mid-day traffic.
A light sprinkle started, adorning his windshield in a pattern of raindrops and forcing him to use his wipers. Katie leaned against the window, the makeshift bandage Connor applied to her neck starting to come undone. She was wearing a beige tank top, the left side of which was drenched with blood, and jeans that looked so clean they had to be new. She was missing her shoes, and her perfectly manicured toes were bare against Connor’s truck floor.
The thought that someone would injure something so perfect and innocent enraged him. The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He would make sure Katie got to the hospital and that she would be all right, then he would go and find whoever had done this to her.
It seemed like an eternity before they reached the hospital. Connor didn’t bother worrying about parking, instead he drove straight to the emergency entrance, usually reserved for ambulances. He carried her inside, ignoring the rain.
White and grey tile floor was matched with bleached white walls and bright fluorescent lighting.
“I need help!” Connor yelled to no one in particular.
Immediately, nurses and doctors surrounded him. A hospital bed was wheeled over and Connor placed Katie gently on top. He ran with the hospital staff as they strapped her in and hooked her up to heart monitors and IVs. The entire time she laid still, eyes closed, barely breathing.
A balding doctor with a small face and eyes too big for his head addressed Connor, “What happened to her?”
“I don’t know. She called me, panicked. I found her like this.”
“It looks like the others, Doctor,” a middle-aged brunette nurse pointed out.
“The others?” Connor repeated.
“Yes,” the doctor explained. “This is the fifth case we’ve had today involving an animal bite.”
Connor kept his mouth closed as he followed the mobile bed pushed by the hospital staff. Soon they reached their destination, a white room with a heart monitor and IV station against the far wall. The entire room was saturated with the smell of antiseptic.
“You can’t be in here. You’ll have to go to the waiting room,” the doctor informed him.
Connor nodded numbly. After he moved his truck from the emergency entrance, he was escorted to a small waiting room composed of twelve uncomfortable looking chairs and an army of magazines, ranging from National Geographic to Better Homes and Gardens.
The room was full. Connor chose a seat between an older man who looked like he was about to fall asleep and a young woman with a long neck and a generous application of makeup.
A friendly looking receptionist provided him a form to fill out for Katie and he completed it to the best of his knowledge. Questions like phone number, address, and age were easy. Connor had to leave many of the harder questions blank. Though he had known Katie for years, he wasn’t sure if she was allergic to any type of medication or what her social security number was.
He apologized for the lack of information. The receptionist assured him it would be fine. Now all Connor had to do was wait. This, however, was easier said than done. The minutes seemed like hours and the hours seemed like days. He tried reading a magazine, but his eyes stared at the page blankly.
His mind replayed the events of the day. The foremost question was whether Katie would be all right. What happened to her? He had a good idea, but didn’t want to jump to any conclusions before he had a chance to speak with her—if he would ever be able to speak with her again. He pushed this possibility out of his mind and told himself she would pull through. Despite her carefree personality and easygoing disposition, Katie was stronger than most people knew.
Forcing his mind from the topic, he felt a slight vibration in his pocket. His cell phone flashed—two missed calls from his mother. She was no doubt worried when he failed to return to the shop after the meeting with Mrs. Hayes, or rather, Morrigan. He wanted to call her but he didn’t know what to say. That he just learned the greatest kept secret in the history of mankind? Or maybe that he was at the hospital now with Katie, who was bitten by a distant relative who may or may not be an Elite and she may or may not be dying now?
No, a phone call was out of the question, but a text, on the other hand, would work perfectly. He pushed the appropriate buttons to form his text. “Sorry I didn’t come back. Katie needed me. Working through some issues. Love you.” It was perfect and he really didn’t have to lie. Katie did need him and God knew he had plenty of issues to work through.
His mom’s text came back right away. “Okay, honey. See you tonight. Looking forward to our talk. Love you.”
While he waited, he couldn’t help but overhear a few of the conversations that were taking place in the waiting room and one in particular caught his attention. It was the woman next to him talking into her phone.
If she didn’t want to be overheard, she shouldn’t have been talking so loud in the first place, Connor justified to himself for eavesdropping.
“I just found him there,” she replied in a New Jersey accent. “No, he was lying in the front lawn. It looked like a dog bite or something on his neck! I know, right? I called 911 as soon as I saw him.”
“Connor,” a male voice interrupted. It was the same doctor he had talked to when he had carried Katie in. “She’s going to be fine. She’s coherent now and wants to see you.”
Connor sighed with relief.
“Thank you,” he said genuinely. As he shook the doctor’s hand, he felt a weight lift from his shoulders.
“Of course. Please follow me.”
As Connor walked beside the doctor, he couldn’t help but ask, “There’s been more than one patient brought in for a bite like this, hasn’t there?”
The doctor nodded. “It’s the strangest thing. I haven’t seen an animal attack in months, and within the past twelve hours, we’ve had multiple people brought in, all bearing the same type of bite marks. It doesn’t look like any dog or animal bite that I’ve ever seen. You said you had no idea what happened?”
“No, she called me and I found her like that. How are the other victims doing?”
“They—they didn’t make it. So far, Katie’s the only one that we’ve been able to stabilize. Keep in mind that she’s gone through a lot. She’s mumbling some pretty strange things, but that’s to be expected from someone who’s lost this much blood.”
The doctor guided him through the maze of halls and rooms and soon stopped at room number 237. “Try and make your visit short. She needs to rest and I’m sure the police will be here soon to take a statement,” the doctor said before he walked away, leaving Connor by himself.
Connor opened the door to find Katie propped in a hospital bed. She wore a light blue gown that made her eyes seem bluer than normal. Her right arm was attached to an IV and the left side of her neck was bandaged securely. She looked better, not as pale as before, and when he pulled up a chair next to her, she even managed a smile.
“Hey, you came for me.”
“Of course I did.”
“Connor, I think… I think I’m going crazy.”
“Well, if you ask me, I think you’ve always been crazy.”
“No, Connor, this is serious. Do you… do you believe in vampires?”
“Like Dracula? No, I don’t think so.”
She thought for a second, then said more to herself than to Connor, “No, I couldn’t have imagined it all.”
“What do you remember?”
There in the small hospital room, she told him a story he would have discounted in a heartbeat was it not for the conversation with Morrigan just a few hours earlier.