NIGEL

CHAPTER 25: TRACKING

One valuable skill I learned from Noah was tracking. The animalistic aspects of being a vampire both disgusted me, and provided me with abilities that served quite well over the years. There's more to tracking than just simply having a keen sense of smell but the smell thing didn't hurt. We were starting to get very close based on the time limit the witches essentially set for us. Our window of opportunity was not yet lost, seeing as we were making good time each day. Kieran also insisted that we were walking into the belly of the beast very soon. He clearly wasn't thrilled and was more than apprehensive about it, but I wouldn't be swayed.
            Noah seemed to have conflicting feelings on the issue as the days went on. The closer and closer we got to the event that seemed so inanimate and obscure to us months ago, the more uneasy he became. Probably because it was starting to feel real. Some days Noah vocalized in small measures his feelings on the subject, revealing his thinly veiled reservations about finding James Mallory, but other days I could see that fire in his eyes that overtook those apprehensions. Noah threw himself into training with me and teaching me how to track, partially to distract himself from his thoughts and I think on some level he wanted to leave something behind; impart some wisdom on me and know that he had made some difference in the time he spent on this continent. He still wouldn't express to me what it was that Kieran has seen all that time ago in his vision, but I was done bothering him for an explanation if he wasn't willing to give it. Besides, whenever Noah was in a foul mood he didn't feel like training with me; teaching me about weaponry and how to utilize the abilities that came as a consequence to my being born. I would have rather spent time with him and learned what would become invaluable skills in my existence than bother him about something he and I both knew could've been nothing. Kieran refused to betray Noah's trust as well, so all I could do was pretend the vision had never happened.
            "Nigel," Noah said to me one evening, wiping sweat from his brow from our training session. "Can I ask you something?"
            I was confused by his strange question but I permitted him to continue. I surmised it must have been important since this was not like Noah to broach a subject in this manner.
            "What does he look like?" Asked Noah finally.
            I was taken aback by this. Never had I expected such a question to be brought up, but then I realized that Noah had never actually seen or met the monster whom I sought to destroy. As Noah himself had actually said at one time, James probably wasn't aware of Noah's existence, and if he was, then James would most likely only know him as his birth name of Nadir instead of Noah. After a brief pause, I sighed and tried to explain what I saw that horrible night. "I only caught a glimpse of him that one time, and I was a child so I'm not sure my account will be all that accurate." I warned him.
            "Anything will do. It's just, I want to be somewhat prepared before we actually face him. I want to know if his face is truly the face of a monster before I see it, or if I will be softened by his rather normal appearance. Truth be told I haven't met any other vampiric creatures besides you." Explained Noah.
            I nodded in understanding and reluctantly went on to explain. "I didn't get a terribly good look at his face, but from what I can tell he was actually quite good looking if it weren't for his disheveled appearance and haunting red eyes that changed color!" I shuttered at the memory of those disturbing eyes peeking through the crack in the floor, ready to take me captive or murder me before being forced to flee. "I can understand why so many women are lured into his clutches and fooled by his lies. He can trick them into appearing normal. They went from a crystal blue, to crimson as soon as my mother exposed him. I have a theory that his eyes were blue before he was turned into a vampire and that's why they're blue when he covers up their now true color. I wonder Noah, why we don't have such monstrous red eyes?" I posed to him.
            His mouth formed a slanted line, and he shrugged. "I'm not sure. I suppose my elvish half can mask that other half of myself well enough. I elves possess golden and amber colored eyes typically. However, it must be different with humans. Don't forget Nigel that your green eyes are particularly striking. They seem to glow in the darkness, and you say there's a similar look to those red eyes which you remember so vividly, right?"
            I nodded. "Yes, that's true. I wonder how much vampirism comes through in different people who bare the same curse we do? You told me there were other offspring of James Mallory besides ourselves, so they must have similar abilities. But your abilities and mine are not exactly the same. Do you think it's just the elf thing or is it all dependent on luck?" I asked. By this time I was mostly speaking to myself since I knew Noah couldn't possibly have all the answers to my questions. I hoped one day I could find more of my half siblings. They could just as well be in the horrible position I found myself in. I wondered how many of them knew why and what they were and who their father was. I exhaled loudly, my breath visible in the cold northern air. Severno was the kingdom of my birth, yet every time I returned there I felt an uneasiness. I vowed to leave my old life behind me, but here I was traveling all the way north east to kill someone who was nothing but in my past. Was I just a hypocrite? I felt sometimes I was, but Lily would always point out to me that I was a mess of contradictions and that made me complex rather than hypocritical. I wasn't so sure I believed or agreed with her.