Vance hated leaving Emma behind, but he knew she'd be safer with her mother. He silently moved on the dirt path, feet barely making a sound and wearing a dark coat and hat. His mahogany eyes gazed toward the shadow of the new moon. Prime hunting time, with the moon darkened , prey would have a harder time detecting any prowling vampires in the shadows.
He looked back at Machecoul on the hill. Emma was right; Striga and Morana could decimate the entire town by sunrise, and they would if they sensed Vance was hiding there, or thought he was being held captive. Get them away from the humans and hope they were in the mood to talk. Hope he could successfully convince them to leave.
That was the plan...
Vance stopped when he passed the Renard's house. He cautiously approached with sharpened claws and urgently knocked on the door. Please be Maria or Richter. To his worst scenario, Tera answered.
He immediately stepped back.
"What do you want?" She demanded venomously.
"You must go to Amalie's." Vance informed her maintaining his calm demeanor. "There's a great danger in Machecoul tonight. My sires are here and your family will be safer under Amalie's protection."
"Your sires?" Tera's eyes widened horrified. She understood, though she wished with all her soul she hadn't. "You must go! If your sire is here, your presence will draw them to us."
"That's what I'm doing." Vance lowered his head. "I'm leaving on my own to see if I can reason with them. I only wanted to warn you to keep you safe."
" Your lingering on my doorstep is only leading them here." Tera glared at him with all the hate she possessed. "Leave now before your put my family in danger."
" Will you go to Amalie?"
"What I decide is not your business, vampire." Tera seethed. "Now leave."
"I will once I know Emma's family is safe."
"Leave!" Tera lashed a coiling flame at him. Vance recoiled backward bearing his teeth in a hiss. He would've struck down and drained that woman dry if it weren't for Emmaline's own blood in her veins. "I'm not your enemy Tera. I want to help you."
"Only because of Emmaline." Tera glared and Vance didn't refute. "Leave. I won't warn you again." The fire blazed in the Speaker's palm. Vance lowered his head and nodded, moving on his way.
"Was that Vance?" He heard Maria's voice before he vanished into the woods. He hoped they'd heed his warning.
......
The closer he got to Striga, the tighter the knot pulled in his heart. It would lead her to him like a rope through a labyrinth, Morana too. Vance kept his head high, breathing in the night air and letting the scents of the woods trail into his nose. The stars glimmered over the midnight woods with the hill of Machecoul far behind him, the lights of the houses flickering dimly. I'll keep you away from the humans while I figure things out.
Vance halted and bared his teeth, feeling his chest clench. His eyes pinned on the ring of standing stones on the nearby hill, making out two shadowy figures in the center. His heart lurched, but not from the connection.
"Should be easy." He took a deep breath. "A good greeting and a catch up. Not like you haven't seen or heard word from your own brood in over five hundred years." Another deep breath. Emmaline, you need to keep Emmaline safe. Muster it up for her. She was his child as much as he was theirs, bound by blood without inheritance.
It's not like the vampires who raised him in his new life would hurt him, certainly not Striga who turned him.
Vance bravely strode up the hill, the knot clenching ever tighter until he found himself within the circle of standing stones, where his sires waited.
To Vance's eyes, neither Striga nor Morana had changed in the past five centuries. Save for clothes, but even vampires kept up with the fashion. (At least relatively, they wore traveling clothes, and Vance wondered who Morana had to torture to get a coat and dress Striga's size.) Nobody spoke when they saw each other. Eyes locked on one other until Vance steadily approached, bowing his head low in respectful greeting to his elders.
"Rise, it is unbecoming of you." Striga lifted his chin with her sharpened claw. Vance straightened and looked upon the one who turned him on the brink of death. His maker, his vampiric sire. Emotions flooded him he believed would never feel again. Awe, endearment towards a parent, even a little bashfulness.
"You are home,my child." Striga wrapped her burly arms around him and pulled her progeny into an iron embrace. She nuzzled his forehead, emitting deep thrums within her chest. Morana joined in, wrapping her arms around him and nuzzling his cheek while thrumming. Vance felt like a lost child finally returned home. He blinked, startled by the tears blinding his own eyes.
"Demons below, you stink!" Striga wrinkled her lips stepping back from him. "What have you been up to since we've parted ways?"
Morana snarled in agreement, cupping Vance's cheek like a small boy. "Why do you reek of angel? Has that vulture harmed you? We shall rip her wings out of her sockets and wrench her mortal heart from her chest if she so much as frayed a hair on your head!"
"Whoa whoa, back it up a bit !!" Vance exclaimed, undead heart racing as he stepped back. "Nice to see you too! Missed you all these centuries! Mother." He glanced at Striga. "Mum." At Morana. "Relieved to say I am well. I have been well. I never expected to see you here."
"Neither have we, my son." Striga thrummed, taking her lover's hand. "We feared you vanished off the face of the continent."
"In a way I did." Vance admitted. "I was overseas for a century and a half. America was quite nice but it's good to be on the home continent again. I've been in France for eight years now."
"Eight years." Striga growled. "And you did not bother to find us? Why?"
"It's been....." Vance sighed. "Busy. I have my own obligations in this commune. Honestly I didn't think you'd be desperate to see me again, ever since I decided to leave on my own. I never felt welcomed in Styria, and Carmilla always gave me disgusted looks while I was around."
"No." Striga assured him. "You were wise to leave, every vampire leaves their brood to forge their own path, and Carmilla made it easier for you."
"That bitch." Morana growled. "Treating our son like an outcast yet cherishing us as a sister. We should have spoken words with her."
"We should have, but that is past." Striga comforted her mate. "Carmilla is centuries dead and our child has returned." She thrummed, gazing on Vance with endearment. "The reassurance was knowing you weren't killed, I would have sensed your dying breath in my lungs."
"Nope." Vance chuckled. "Still breathing. Say? How about a good hunt, the three of us just like old times? The moon is new and the darkness blinds our prey."
"What a perfect idea, my child." Striga thrummed in approval, staring hungrily at Machecoul. "We shall wash that purified stench off you with fresh blood."
"Ah no! You can't eat the humans there!" Vance quickly intervened. "You said something about an angel? Well she protects the people in that town, and she is very powerful. Perhaps the most powerful angel I've ever seen, and I've only seen few!"
"Of course." Morana bared her fangs. "Every damn inch of this country the shepherds guard their flock. You are wise, my son, perhaps that is how you survived so long in its territory. Most vampires do not believe angels still walk among their livestock. Some do not believe in them at all."
"Thanks.." Vance. "I certainly didn't believe they had a smell."
The bonded vampires glanced at each other.
"Typical Vance, focused on the scent in front of him and but never of the surrounding wolves." Snickered Striga.
"Easy on him, my love. He wouldn't know the scent of an angel. He is far too young." Morana rubbed his cheek.
"Excuse me? I am eight hundred years old mind you!" Vance clicked his fangs . "I may not be as old as you ladies but I'm no spring chicken either!!"
"Of course not, my child." Striga said warmly. "But to linger in an angel's territory long enough where its sweet reek masks your lovely scent is impressive. If it weren't for the bond we share, Morana and I would have killed you on your approach. How long have you been here?"
"Apparently long enough where I smell like an angel." Vance shrugged. "I didn't know that was the scent, I just assumed it was the general smell of the area. There are a lot of wildflowers in this country.
"I do not blame you for that assumption." Morana understood. "Most vampires do not recognize their scent, and the damn pigeons conceal themselves well. This country is crawling with them! Virtually every province is covered by their shit! I still wonder why we even linger in France?"
"The squabbling animals make easy prey." Striga's teeth glinted in the night.
"Oh yes, they are easy pickings." Morana agreed. "Some even offer their enemies to us. Humans can be useful after all."
"I'm guessing the current revolution has been beneficial to you." Vance commented. "Well you won't find any of that squabble here. No violent upheaval, no riots, no beheaddings. Machecoul is as boring as it gets. Even the humans are bland."
" Didn't you say the angel guards the humans?" Striga questioned.
Shit!!! Vance mentally cursed himself. "She does, but I've hunted under her nose years after accumulating her own scent. Not all the time, just when I'm feeling a little daring." He wanted to pat himself on the back for adding the truth. "I advise heavily against it. You'd two would stick out worse than a sore thumb." He flared his cloak and turned northwestward. "I know a good place. Let us run together as we did long ago, as shadows beneath the darkened moon."
The vampiresses smiled. "Yes. Our brood is one again." Striga approved. "Let us hunt as sire and progeny together."
"It has been ages since we drank blood as one." Morana said wistfully, her eyes and mind drifting towards the town, detecting a familiar scent.
....
Vance found the deer herd in the shadowed trees. He crouched down, senses keen towards the grazing animals. They cannot detect our scent from here, we are downwind. He telepathically informed his sires, who were crouched down and flanking him on both sides.
Where is the prey? Morana asked.
Right in front of us. Vance flicked his gaze towards the ancient vampire. Don't tell me your sight's fading with your old age.
The deer? Morana silently growled.
Yes.
We are hunting animals? Striga bristled.
Vance darted his head towards his maker, whispering audibly. "Yes, we don't need to feed solely on human blood."
"We are vampires of an ancient breed, scions of our kind." Striga bristled. "We shouldn't be hunting beasts." She gave Vance a pitied look. "You have been feeding on beasts all this time?"
Vance's glowing eyes narrowed onto the herd grazing blissfully unaware. "Not always, but mostly. It's easier. The humans here are savvy of vampires, you run the risk of getting knifed in the heart with a silver blade, or dashed in the face with holy water. Occasionally I'm able to nab a drunkard or one without their wits on them, but that is far and few in between. Especially now, with their revolution getting them itching to fight."
"Then we will not hunt humans if you are so concerned." Morana said in a warm, kindly voice. Vance bristled, he knew that tone. That sweet motherly tone with underlying venom. Morana had a scheme she wanted to keep secret in that moment. He knew his sire-of-heart and her ancient reputation.
"No." Vance's hackles rose. "Morana. Not this one. You do not want to mess with this angel I swear. She's not like the other flesh-walkers. I don't know why, but she's stronger, more powerful than others of her kind that embraced humanity."
"She is a flesh-walker nevertheless." Striga huffed. "Flesh that bleeds."
"Vance is right my dear." Morana thrummed. "The risk is too great, even for us. No, I have another idea." She turned from the grazing herd, her eyes glowing enviously. "Our beloved son, hunt with us beneath the moonlight and I will show you greater prey."
Vance reluctantly followed Morana with her mate as they silently crept towards Machecoul. He bristled and hissed like a weary cat, urging the vampires to turn back lest they catch the angel's attention. Even Striga was unsettled, stepping heavily when they passed through Amalie's wards. The Watcher's divine magic coursed beneath the earth and under their feet like an electrical current. It would repel them if they got any closer to home, which Morana seemed to understand as they skirted the inner ward, eyeing the house through the shadow of the trees. "There, our prey cowers in its den."
Vance's undead heart hammered in his chest. He telepathically warned Emma to shelter in Amalie's basement with her family, and made no effort to conceal his panic from his sires. "On second thought, hunting humans in town is a better option."
"Don't be afraid, my child." Morana assured. "I have a scheme. I know what I'm doing."
"If this scheme involves hunting an angel in its home, you've caught Carmilla's madness!" Vance snarled. "Don't you see the wards in the ground, or feel their power coursing through your skin?"
"The wards are not powerful enough to destroy us." Morana reassured.
"They are powerful enough to alarm what's waiting inside the damn house!" Vance snapped, twisting his head towards Striga. "Knock some sense into her mother! This is suicide!!"
"We are not hunting the angel, my son."
Vance turned to Morana, who stood before him with a menacing smile. "No, this angel, this Egrigori, is too dangerous even in human flesh, but her spawn is an easier kill."
Vance froze, eyes locked on her in dread. "Spawn!?" He feigned ignorance. Striga rankled and bared her teeth at the mere idea.
"Yes, child. An unholy half breed of an angel and a mortal. A Nephilim. I have not scented one in millennia."
"Would not.....would not an angelic hybrid be just as dangerous?"
"To those who are not experienced in killing them, yes. They are harder to slay than humans, but easier than angels. Their blood is the sweetest you can ever imagine, and will nourish you for centuries, but will not poison you like a flesh-formed angel's. Many millennia ago, I hunted them down at the request of the Celestial Hierarchy, picking off those the Flood did not drown. Those were monstrous giants, born from human mothers."Hatred flickered in Morana's eyes. "This one is a human born from an angel's womb. Like the last one I encountered."
Vance dug his claws into his palm, droplets of blood littered the dirt.
"My love, now is the time to avenge your fallen sisters." Striga clutched Morana's hand and nuzzled her forehead. "Her blood will taste sweeter in the memory of theirs."
"The only blood spilled will be yours." Vance hissed. "You can't do this! You will both die in the name of revenge and a foolish hunt! I don't know about Nephilim, or what they have to do with your shadowed past, Morana, but I do know if you break into that house, you will perish. Harming the cub will draw the wrath of its mother!"
Morana laughed. "You've been away from us too long. Vance our child. We are not stupid and reckless to run headfirst into a deadly den."
"No." Striga grunted. "We shall draw the creature out of hiding and rip out its throat. Feast on its mongrel blood."
"And what makes you think this Nephilim is stupid to come out of hiding?" Vance laughed uneasily, yet somewhat relieved. They underestimated Emma, good.
Striga and Morana gave each other a clever look, their minds agreeing in unison. They lunged at Vance with sharpened claws.