They say people who have Kim Namjoon as their bias have daddy issues...
I say Daddy issues aren't illegal.
Alex grabbed River’s hand and they ran. Vladislav had been calm and benevolent, but Alex knew better than anyone how the old man’s moods could shift on a dime.
So they ran.
And ran.
After a while, Alex could tell River was starting to get tired but he was surprised his cousins weren’t already on them, no matter what Uncle said. There were plenty of the cousins that were tired of Uncle’s ancient rule.
The cousins might not have the ability to kill him, it was true, but Alex’s family had always found plenty of other creative punishments throughout the centuries.
Cousin Michael had been imprisoned for most of the 18th century in a living tomb and the first thing he did when he got out was blab half the family secrets to that idiot Bram Stoker. Back into the tomb he went.
He learned his lesson, but others found themselves in the kind of grave even they couldn’t return from.
Nobody in the family knew how Uncle Vlad did it. Țepeș’s were immortal, invincible—even bulletproof. Nothing could kill them and when Alex said nothing, he meant nothing. Not fire or ice or beheading or a stake to the heart or a garlic tonic or holy water or silver bullets.
But Vladislav knew how to do it, though no one knew his secret.
He was only one who did, and it gave him enormous power.
In fact, it was only thing keeping River and Alex alive at the moment. He’d seen it in Lonuţ’s eyes. He’d wanted them dead, but he couldn’t make a move for fear of Uncle Vlad.
Lonuţ’d had his eye on Alex all evening, watching him suspiciously as Uncle Vlad poured him glass after glass of their most expensive wine in celebration of his coming fatherhood. Ștefan rudely joked about popping his cherry and becoming a man. Alex had hoped they’d all be off guard if they were tipping their cups back so liberally.
The other cousins had gotten tired of the house being locked up in the standoff between Vlad and Alex. So Vlad allowed them to throw a party, with all the trimmings. Aka, the so-called “evening beverages.”
Alex had slipped out as soon as they started grabbing women and pulling them into their laps. But Lonuţ, the big bastard, had looked up from the redhead he was busy draining dry to eye Alex suspiciously as he closed the door behind him.
But Uncle Vlad had let them leave. Alex couldn’t believe there would ever be a situation in which he’d be glad for Uncle Vlad. Then again, Uncle had only let them go because Alex and River had successfully pulled off deceiving him…
Alex swallowed hard and glanced over his shoulder, but just then, River stumbled and almost took the both of them down.
Shit. He caught her and righted them right before they face-planted after both tripping over a tree root.
“I— Don’t know how much longer—” she gasped. Her face was flushed, she was sweaty and wild-eyed—and even now, she was the most beautiful woman Alex had ever seen.
“It’s okay,” Alex said, trying to be encouraging. He wasn’t sure if he was doing a good job or not. It wasn’t a role he’d had often, if ever before in his life. But he knew he had to protect this woman. He never felt anything so deeply in his bonds before. “We’re almost there. Just a little further.”
Alex wasn’t winded at all. It was part of his problematic genetics that occasionally came in handy. They were following a footpath through the woods, but it was barely a path. Alex traveled it as rarely as he could, knowing his cousins could scent him.
Finally they came upon the small hunter’s stand in the woods that Alex had discovered years ago. It was a place he came when things at the house got to be too much. Especially after dad.
Alex let go of River’s hand and hurried to the motorcycle he kept parked underneath the hunting stand, tearing back the brown tarp he’d covered it with. He stretched out his hand as he went. It still burned from her touch.
He shook it off and immediately swung his leg over the bike, jammed in his key, and kicked it into gear. It roared to life underneath him. He looked over to River and held out his hand again.
But she was backing away from him, eyes wide.
Fuck. He should have been watching her more closely. She was three seconds away from jack-rabbiting into the woods.
He could see it in her eyes. The fear. Like a deer staring down the barrel of a rifle.
But she’d get lost if she did that, or worse, one of his cousins would find her. If they locked her up again without him, their secret would be found out soon enough. He hadn’t bred her.
Then they’d tear her apart.
For a moment, he was back in that basement with her and the roar was back in his ears, a waterfall drowning out all other sound.
Mine.
PROTECT.
Alex turned off the bike and held up his hands.
“River.” He kept his voice calm even though it took all his might. He wouldn’t usually describe himself as an emotional guy, but he could barely keep himself in check around her. “What are you doing? Where you going?”
Her whole body was shaking, Alex could see in the full light of the moon that broke through the tree branches. Damn, she must be terrified. It ripped him apart seeing her like this. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what she was thinking after seeing all she had tonight.
But she just shook her head no rapidly and took several more quick steps backwards.
She might be scared but they still didn’t have time for this. The cousins could be on them any moment. Uncle Vlad could have changed his mind. A thousand little variables could have changed since they’d been gone.
“They could be right behind us. You need to get on this bike. We’re still in danger.” He was trying not to sound impatient, but he was strung tight. It never turned out well for anyone who stood up against Uncle Vlad.
River still looked like she was about to bolt.
“If you don’t get on this bike, they’ll kill you without a second thought.” If the brutal truth was what it took to get her out of here safely, Alex wouldn’t hold back.
She squeezed her eyes shut for a short moment, then nodded as she appeared to make a decision. The next second she was hurrying over and climbing on behind him.
She kept her hands to herself and Alex could tell she was trying not to touch him. Nice try, but for the speeds they were about to go, that wouldn’t cut it. Alex told himself that was why he tugged her arms around his waist as he roared the bike back to life. He took off before either of them could second guess it.
Her small arms were quickly clutching on for dear life around his torso as they sped out of the forest and onto a nearby small county road. Her touch felt like lost puzzle pieces clicking into place. As if everything he’d been searching for out in the woods all by himself the last few years, maybe far longer, had suddenly been found.
But no. He couldn’t be distracted by her touch right now. The bike was a top of the line Ducati, made for speed.
Alex himself never wore a helmet—even though until his Crisis year, he was as mortal as any other man. Maybe it was just that the events in his life had made him a little more reckless than he ought to have been.
Dad used to call life precious, but lately Alex had been feeling a little ambivalent about the whole thing. It seemed to him his family was far too obsessed with living forever, and it had only twisted them into the monsters they were. Maybe an early death, while he was still easily able, wouldn’t be such a bad thing? At least that way he couldn’t be pulled into whatever plans his Uncle had for him if he was gone.
It wasn’t like he went around actively risking his life, though. Sure, he dove off cliffs most people considered too dangerous. And yes, he surfed the biggest waves he could find. He also drove his motorcycle without a helmet—a pettier and more pedestrian disregard for life.
But now he was regretting not having a helmet handy as River bowed her fragile head against his back.
Humans were so damn breakable.
The thought freaked Alex out as soon as he had it.
Was it already happening? Did he already consider himself not one of them anymore?
He gritted his teeth against the wind searing his face. They drove on into the darkness.
☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ☆ﾟ.*･｡ﾟ
They drove for over two hours, but for the past half an hour, River had been banging on Alex’s shoulder trying to get his attention.
He waved her away. Sorry darlin’, there was no getting off till this train arrived at its station.
Going seventy-five miles an hour down small, curving roads, she didn’t have much say in the matter unless she wanted to cause a wreck. But she seemed to Alex the kind of girl with a good sense of self-preservation, and she showed it by learning the rhythms of riding.
And goddamn, Alex was glad he was sitting up front when she leaned her tight little body up against him, hugging him tighter than jelly on a PB&J. She leaned when Alex leaned, never let up her grip once, and after he waved to let her know he was intentionally not stopping, she stopped distracting him.
It was the first time he’d ridden a motorcycle with anyone else ever.
His dad used to take his mom on his old Harley. There was a picture of the two of them—Dad was wearing this really terrible leather jacket, a flannel shirt and ripped jeans, like something straight out of a grunge magazine.
Mom, though, she was a ray of sunshine beside him in a floaty yellow summer dress. There weren’t any flowers in her hair but she had the grin Dad always talked about, splitting her face as she smiled at the camera. She was in front of him and his arm was reached around her, both of them with hands cupping her stomach.
Alex guessed that in a way he was in that picture too. And yet, pictures were the only way he would ever know her.
There wasn’t time for ruminating, though, because he’d just pulled up in front of his cabin deep in the northeastern Pennsylvanian woods.
River immediately jumped off the bike. She wasn’t prepared for the jelly legs the uninitiated got after riding, though. Especially after being malnourished for days, her legs gave out on her and she started going down. She landed on the soft blanket of leaves.
“Come on.” Alex stepped off the bike and reached for her hands to help her to her feet.
But she just crab-walked backwards away from him. “Get back!”
Alex sighed. Were they back to this again? When would she trust him? Then he had the sinking thought: what if she never did? The thought frustrated him. He’d been nothing but honest with her. Okay, mostly honest…
“Look, if I wanted to hurt you, I had plenty of opportunity in that basement.” He jammed his finger back toward the direction they’d just come from.
“So you kidnap me and bring me here to this cabin in the middle of nowhere where no one can hear me scream?” She finally managed to get to her feet. She tried to look fierce, putting her feet in the approximation of a boxing stance and lifting her fists.
Alex had the feeling a strong wind could knock her down at this point.
He lifted his hands, trying to show he wasn’t a threat. It wasn’t true, of course. If she ran, he could always chase her down, tie her up, and try this conversation again. He wasn’t willing to risk her safety just because she didn’t understand the severity of the situation.
But first he’d try reason. He might not know women that well, but even he had the good sense to know that it would go better for him without the zip-ties.
“This is a safe house,” he explained patiently, hands still up and visible to her. “I stashed the bike and bought this place in all cash a few years back in case I ever had to run from them. I have a couple places like this I’ve been staying the last few years.”
“Who are they?” she screeched, suddenly losing her cool. “What the hell was that back there?” She grabbed her face with her hands and then shoved her hair back out of her eyes. “Was it some kind of cult or—”
Cult? Did she actually—Was she actually trying to deny what she saw with her own eyes?
“It’s not a cult,” Alex said, trying again not to let his impatience show. “You know what you saw.”
She immediately started shaking her head no at his words. “That’s not possible. I’m not an idiot. Monsters aren’t real.”
Alex strode right up to her. “Monsters are very real,” he said, looking her straight in the eye.
At least she didn’t look afraid as he approached. Instead, she scoffed. “What? Like fairies and werewolves and—and—”
“It’s not like that. If you just come in, I’ll explain everything.”
She frowned. “So if it isn’t a cult and you’re not saying it’s something out of a horror movie—”
“I never said that.”
“Then what?” She scoffed again. “So werewolves aren’t real, but vampires are?”
This time it was Alex squeezing his eyes shut in frustration.
“That’s just a word. It’s not like everyone thinks.”
She just propped her hands on her hips, eyes questioning.
Alex held out his hands. “What do you want me to say? There isn’t some secret subculture of infected creatures who can bite you and turn you into one of them. From what we’ve been able to discover about it, it’s some sort of genetic condition. We’ve only ever discovered it in our own family. We’re the descendants of the original Vlad Țepeș. Vlad the Impaler. 15th century warlord in Romania?”
When River still looked at Alex in confusion, he clarified, “Vlad Țepeș, the historical figure Bram Stoker based his Dracula story on.”
River shook her head and laughed, finally backing away from me again. “This is so screwed up. You and your family are seriously screwed up. I just want to go home now. I swear I won’t call the cops or anything. Just let me go.”
Was she even thinking through what she was asking? “You think the police can protect you against a five-hundred year old being with supernatural powers?” Alex tried not to scoff as he asked.
River’s mouth dropped open. “But you just said it’s not—”
Alex shook his head. “It can only be passed down from father to son. Each son grows like any normal human boy until around the age of twenty-five.”
“What happens then?” she asked, skepticism still dripping from her voice.
Alex kept calm. He could imagine that what he was saying sounded crazy, but there was nothing else to do other than say it. “At twenty-five, we hit what we call the Crisis year.”
He looked at the ground, shuffling some rocks around with his boot. This was harder to talk about than he’d expected. “That’s when the change starts coming on.”
He couldn’t quite bring himself to glance up and see how River was taking his words. Nothing else to do but to barrel onwards. “But we don’t have to turn into what they are. I don’t have to turn into what they are.”
“S-so you’re saying— Wait, so you’re trying to say you are going to turn into—” Her voice was shaky and incredulous.
“No,” Alex said vehemently. “I never will.”
Alex pressed on before he lost any goodwill he might have earned by getting her out of the mansion. He couldn’t lose her now. She was still in incredible danger. The thought of being separated from her made sudden panic squeeze his chest. He had to make her understand.
“I impregnate a woman at the same time I take my prima muscatura and taste human blood for the first time. It completes the transformation in me at the same time ensuring the next generation.”
“And the women?” Her voice was barely audible. “What happens to them? The mothers?”
She taught yoga and wore flowers in her hair—
Alex’s chest cinched even tighter, thinking of the stories that his father told him about his mom. Dad had tried everything he could think of to save her from the rest of the family. He even managed to hide her for a while after Alex’s birth.
But not for long.
In the end, Vladislav found her.
Alex leaned in, whispering a truth he hadn’t told anyone else on this earth. “Vladislav isn’t my Uncle. He’s my great great grandfather about sixteen times removed. And he considers all humans disposable after they stop being useful. According to him, it’s dangerous for any mortal to know our secrets."
River’s mouth dropped all the way open. She looked like she was about to say something. Her eyes searched his face, and then nothing came out.
Alex stayed where he was, cautious like one would be with a spooked animal. “I’m sorry, but you’ve stumbled into something much bigger than you realized. If he ever discovers our lie, he’ll consider you disposable.”
She made an indistinguishable noise that was half-snort, half cry of despair. Then she slumped down on a fallen log, all the fight looking like it had gone out of her in one fell swoop.
But Alex still needed to hammer the truth home. “You can’t just go back to your old life. Wherever we go, he’ll be watching. The lie about the baby will protect you for nine months. That’s what we need to focus on.”
Her head swung up to look at Alex, eyes flashing. Looked like all the fight wasn’t gone from her after all.
“So that’s it? I get a nine month reprieve from death, but that’s it? Well,” she scoffed, pushing back to her feet, the bright glint of fury coming back into her eyes. “I guess I better start working through everything on my bucket list then, if I’ve only got nine months to live!”
“No, that’s not what I meant.”
Alex leaned in closer, feeling exposed even though he knew there shouldn’t be anyone around for miles. He could never be certain, though. And his family had extraordinary hearing. He was just beginning to experience some of the supernatural gifts that came with the family curse as his Crisis approached, and he could hear things a mile away.
So he leaned over and spoke right into River’s ear as he said, “What I meant was that we have nine months to find a way to kill Vladislav. That’s the only thing that will end this curse once and for all. For both of us.”
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