Alejo [Vampire]

Alejo- Chapter 1

It wasn’t anything personal between us. It was just business. They weren’t my family by birth. My father and siblings were only my relatives by Change. We lived together and sometimes fed together but that was where our bond stopped. Don’t get the wrong idea. I wasn’t happy that they were dead. Honestly. I didn’t appreciate having my plans being carried out by someone else. A man had to have his pride.

Oh well, what was done was done and it can’t be helped. No use being petty. I am not an ungrateful man. I appreciated this gift. There was no reason not to see the silver lining of the situation. All of us wanted the large inheritance and for every human that our maker Changed, the more tension had grown in the castle. Being the last child, I was hated the most. The more of us that existed was the more the inheritance had to be…shared. It was not a word we liked to use much. There had been attempts to murder me in my bed. Not that I didn’t return the favor on more than a few occasions. None of us were successful...obviously.

It goes without saying that there had always been some dissonance between us. Three fights in one afternoon was a slow day. Even so, I had not expected for all of them to see their deaths all in one afternoon. Something like that was almost too much to anticipate. Too much to hope for. When I had returned to Rome that particular night, the news came as a shock. My advisor had come to me with a grave face though he knew that I was not one to grieve anyone’s death.

“Alejo, I have to speak with you,” he had said with sympathy marked in every plane of his face.

“Take a seat.”

I was unpacking my belongings from the trip. Ignoring his restless shifting, I pulled my things from my luggage and placed them onto the shelves in the bedroom. Samuel sat at the window, watching my every movement. At the time those little details didn’t mean much but they made sense now. He was wary of my reaction to the news.

“Sir, it’s about Loki,” he said finally.

I looked up at the sound of the name, eyes narrowed. “What about him?” I asked putting out my daggers to be cleaned later.

“While you were away, he sent a little over a dozen of his people here to the house,” Samuel started, “and I’m still not sure how, but they got past the guards.”

“That’s impossible. No one has ever gotten past the Guard. They’re trained, elite, military men. Immortal military men. It isn’t possible.”

“I know, sir. But they did.”

“How?” I asked, “New weaponry? New training?”

“No new training, but they were all clad in deflection suits from what I could tell,” he said and shook his head as if to rid himself of the memory, “Everything we hit them with came back at us. It was…very bloody, sir.”

“So they were of our kind,” I nodded, “What happened with Loki’s men? Were we able to capture any of them?”

“I’m sorry. No.”

“Do you at least know what they wanted? Why were they in our castle?”

“Yes. They came after your father,” he responded, “They dragged him out of the castle and…well I won’t give you the details but they killed him—.”

“In what way?”

“With some sort of a UV dagger. Once your father was dead, they went after the others. I truly am sorry for your loss, Alejo.”

“The others? My brothers and sisters? They are all dead?” I confirmed dismissing his apologies, “Every single one of them was assassinated by Loki’s men?”