Hidden from Sight

There are few things in this world that I know for certain, like I wasn’t like most girls my age and that for some crazy reason I could ‘see’ things that would scare most people to death. it had been a week since I was told of the ‘gift‘, as my Great Aunt Elizabeth called it, passed down through my father’s family for generations and it was only the strongest of the generation that it ‘chose’. And that in this week, we had moved with my Aunt back to England, where we had run from when I was a baby.
I sat in front of my new mirror in my new room and started going over the last week in my head, I remembered the first time I noticed that I was different and the reason we were in a new country with my father, who I thought was dead, and it gave me shivers.
I was walking through the mall with my best friend Megan, we were shopping for dresses to wear to the formal and all of a sudden I could smell something that smelled like burning sugar. I looked around to see where it was coming from and I saw a man walking toward us, only he wasn’t like any man I had seen before. His face was angry looking, it was dark and had a strange red glow to it. The things that caught my eye’s were his mouth and eye’s. His mouth was twisted into a devious grin and had these teeth that were large and bright white and seemed to glimmer in the fluorescent lights of the mall. His eyes were the deepest red with the look of death flashing in them. As soon as I looked into them I could see hundreds of screaming people, twisted and tormented, crying out for someone to help them. I felt like all the good was sucked out of the world and felt my body shudder. I screamed and collapsed in a heap on the floor. I felt a snap in my head, like a rubber band was stretched until it broke, it was a strange feeling. I knew something was very wrong with me.
“Kaylee, are you ok? Tell me what’s wrong, everyone is staring at us. Please get up.” Megan said anxiously, she was leaning down to me with her hand on my shoulder.
I looked up and she was right, everyone was staring at us. The man had stopped to ask if I was ok and I caught another glimpse of his face, he looked as though he wanted to drag me away and slowly kill me. I stared into his eyes and felt the strangest pain in my head, it was as if he knew at that moment that I could see into the deepest and darkest parts of his mind. It was as if there was no light but I could still see, there was a strange humming and a lot of screaming. “Who are you ? I heard someone say. I was about to ask who said that when I realised that it wasn’t spoken aloud.
“GET OUT OF MY HEAD.” He growled at me.
At that moment I realised that there was something definitely wrong with him, his anger boiled furiously and made my skin tingle. I stared at his face, he was glaring at me with his mouth open showing those white teeth. I couldn’t break away from his stare, I felt all my muscles tensing and had an urge to grab the nearest object and drive it into his chest. I could hear from his thoughts that he was excited, like he had been looking for me and was thrilled that he had found me. I could see from his thoughts that he was thinking of ways to get me away from everyone else, he was scanning the mall looking for the nearest exit. His thoughts kept coming back to Megan, he knew she wouldn’t let me out of her sight, especially with a stranger, so he had decided that she would have to die along with me. I clenched my fists and continued to glare back into his eyes. I started to get up from the ground when I heard him.
That’s right, get up and tell your friend that you are alright. If you come with me and don’t put up a fight then she will not be harmed. I could see from his thoughts that he was serious.
I stood straight up and leaned into him. “I don’t know who or what you are but if you don’t get away from us I will scream bloody murder. I think that all these people here would find help.” I whispered, so low that only he could hear me. I glanced over my shoulders at the people who were standing around us and then back at him and grinned.
You think your so smart, fine I will leave but this isn’t over. I will get you. He replied when he realised that people were looking at us and quickly walked away, looking over is shoulder at me with a look of shear horror. “Hey are you okay? What happened?” Megan asked. She was watching the man walk away. “What did Mr Warner say to you?”
“I…I think so. I just thought I saw something. Wait…did you say Mr Warner?” Mr Warner was my History teacher at High School.
“Yeah, I think he saw you fall and he came over to see if you were alright.” she replied.
“Oh, I’ll be fine, I think I need to go home.” I replied quickly to stop her from asking any more questions. I have no idea what it was that I saw but I knew that there was something really wrong with me. I felt like something had snapped in my head and nothing I looked at looked right. I was determined to leave the mall without looking like a head-case. I didn’t want to look at Megan’s face, the poor girl sounded scared to death, besides, I knew that I would see my face in her eyes, and I didn’t want to.
“Are you sure you’re ok? You looked like you saw a monster. Your face was horrified, it was really scary Kay. Maybe I should call your mum.” Megan said. “Oh my gosh, what was that?”
“Nah, it’s cool Megs, I don’t know what happened. I think I need to stop watching scary movies before bed.” I said with a smile. “I am wondering what that was myself,” I answered. Whatever it was that I saw, there was no way I was going to tell Megan. Even I know that it’s not normal to see things that aren’t there. “Let’s go home.”
“Um… Kay, what do you mean you wonder what that was?” Megan asked, her voice shaky.
“Oh, I thought you asked me that, that’s all.” I am sure she asked that? Maybe I am losing my mind.
“No, I didn’t.” Megan had a wary look on her face. “What is wrong with her? Mum always said that she wasn’t normal, maybe she was right. I think I need to get out of here and away from her.”
It only took me a split second to realise that Megan hadn’t said anything aloud, but that I could still hear every word. What the heck is wrong with me? I could feel that something wasn’t right as we walked swiftly toward the car park, every time I replayed the image in my head I shivered. What was wrong with that man’s face? Obviously I was the only one who saw it, otherwise it wouldn’t have only been me freaking out. I would have to talk to my mum when I got home and see if she could make sense of this. I could feel Megan staring at me, it made me feel uneasy. I ignored her looks as best I could and kept walking to the car.
The drive home was extremely quiet, I think that Megan was still trying to figure out what had just gone on back at the mall. I turned the stereo on and tried not to think about it, and so that I couldn’t ’hear’ what she was thinking about me. For some reason I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something terribly wrong with that man, his face was like nothing I had ever seen before. So twisted and distorted, it looked as though he wanted to rip the heads off every person around him. His face was like a blur, and was surrounded by this invisible glowing light, it made no sense but I felt terrified as soon as I looked.
“Hey Megs, you know that guy that walked past as I, um, freaked out? Did he look weird to you?” I asked cautiously.
“Weird how? I don’t know what you mean, Mr Warner looked fine to me. Is that what made you collapse?” she asked me, giving me a worried look.
“Yeah, I thought I saw something wrong with his face. It scared me. Like I said, no more horror’s before bed hey,” I answered, pretending it wasn’t a big deal.
“Are you sure you’re okay? I mean he looked fine to me, just a little ugly but nothing weird. Maybe you do just need a good nights sleep,” Megan replied, raising one of her eyebrows. I caught a glimpse of her in the window.
“Yeah I suppose so. I will just go home and go to bed after I drop you home.” Yeah right, there was no way I was getting any sleep tonight after what I saw. I hoped my mum had some answers, but then again maybe I was just crazy and tired.
I dropped Megan home and started the drive to my house when my mobile rang. I tried to dig around in my bag while looking at the road but I couldn’t find it. I pulled the car over and looked around the front seat to see if I could see my phone, I finally found it and answered it.
“I know what you saw. You had better hope that it was the only time and you’d better not tell anyone. I know how to find you if I have to.” the voice on the other end said and then hung up. I closed my phone and then re-opened it to see the caller ID. I didn’t need to see it, though, I recognised the voice as soon as I answered the phone. But how did he get my number?
“Damn!” It was withheld. Well I guess I wont be calling him back then. I don’t think I had ever driven home so fast in my life, one minute I was on the side of the road and the next I was walking up the front stairs of my house.
“Kaylee, is that you?” I heard my mum call out from the kitchen. “Megan just called and said that something happened to you at the mall but she wouldn’t say what. Are you okay?”
“No. I don’t think so, mum.” I answered. “I was just walking through the mall and saw this man walking toward us, his face was…not right. I was terrified and I collapsed.”
The look on my mum’s face told me that she knew what I was talking about. Well I hope that’s what the look was for and not that she was about to call the insane asylum.
“When you say not right, what do you mean?” she asked.
“Well it was terrifying, it looked like something from a Brahm Stoker movie. He had these bright white teeth and deep red eyes, there was also a strange glow around his face. I also felt like something snapped in my brain and I could see every thought in his head.” I explained. I shuddered at the memory as I played it back in my mind.
“Did anyone else notice the man?”
“No. I asked Meg if she saw anything strange and she said no, he looked fine to her. Is there something wrong with me mum. I am really scared.” I said on the verge of tears.
At first I had thought that maybe I was seeing things, but after the look on my mum’s face, I was beginning to wonder.
“Please answer me, don’t just stand there and stare out the window.” I screamed at her in hysterics.
“Kaylee, calm down. I am trying to think. Go to your room and get ready for dinner, and don’t argue with me, for once do as I ask.” she demanded. She had a look of terror across her face.
I thought about arguing but the look on her face warned me against it. I had only ever seen that face once in my life and it was the last time my Great Aunt Elizabeth had visited us. I was ten at the time and she had come to see us for Christmas, all I remember is her and mum arguing early Christmas morning about someone coming of age and how she was stupid to think it wasn’t going to happen because despite her effort I was still ’his’ daughter. They were arguing about my father, a man that I had never met. He had died when I was 6 months old and my mum never spoke of him. At first I thought it was too painful for her but then I found out it was because she hated him. All I knew was his name, Andrew Mason. I tried to look him up in our local library, but mum had moved as far away from his family as she could. I mean wasn’t it a little too much to move all the way to another country? At the time I had no idea of what they were talking about but now it was all starting to make a little sense.
I did what my mother asked and went and got ready for dinner. I sat at my dresser and stared at myself in the mirror, nothing had changed on my face that I could see. The only thing I noticed were the bags beginning to build under my eyes, I needed sleep. We had the spring dance in a month and at this rate I wouldn’t be able to pay someone to take me. I finished putting my books away and walked back down to the kitchen.
“She’s not even eighteen yet…. Don’t tell me to calm down… This is not happening to MY daughter!!! Well that’s just too bad.” I heard my mum on the phone. “Listen to me, if we have to pack up and move again don’t think I won’t do it.” Ah, she was talking, or rather yelling, at Aunt Elizabeth. But what about?
I stormed into the kitchen slamming the door into the wall. “Mum I am so not moving, all my friends are here and what about school I only have six months before I graduate.” I yelled at her. If she thought she could make me move she was out of her mind. I was eighteen in a month so I would be able to live where ever I wanted.
“Kaylee this is not your decision, I am your mother and I tell you what to do not the other way around. I am trying to have a conversation with your Aunt Elizabeth, your dinner is on the table go and eat before it gets cold. I will be in shortly.” she snapped back.
“Fine,” I mumbled under my breath as I sulked my way to the dinning room. As I sat playing with my casserole, I tried to listen to mum but she had closed the kitchen door and was trying not to raise her voice. I could hear her thoughts but they were just single words, words I felt a little embarrassed to be hearing from my mum. It felt like an hour had passed before mum walked into the room and sat at the other end of the table. Her eyes were red and swollen so I decided that I would let her talk when she was ready. She was beautiful to look at my mother, with her big green eyes and chocolate brown hair. Her skin was olive and she had this little beauty spot above her top lip that was almost the shape of a heart if you looked hard enough. Thankfully I had inherited the beauty spot and the green eyes, the only difference was that my hair was darker than hers and my skin was milky white like my fathers, or so I’d been told, I had only see one photo of him a long time ago.
“Listen to me Kaylee, something I don’t understand is happening to you. Elizabeth is on her way here to explain. When she is finished we are leaving, I need you to understand that this is for your safety and to please not argue with me.” she spoke quietly, staring down at her hands on the table. “We don’t have time to argue, just go upstairs and pack your things. Only pack important stuff like your clothes. We can send for the rest when we settle into our new house.”
“What? No way. I can’t leave now, I have friends here and I am nearly finished school. Whatever it is that I have done I’m sorry and I won’t do it again. Please don’t make me leave.” I begged her.
“It’s not you baby” I heard her thinking. “It’s HIM. It’s always been him, god how I hate him.”
“Like I said we don’t have time for this. You haven’t done anything wrong, it’s my fault. Elizabeth will be here in an hour. Pack your things now.” she replied, as she got up from the table and headed towards the stairs.
I got up from the table, pushed my chair over and stormed out of the room. I was so angry! How could this be happening to me? I finally felt like I belonged, I was one of the most popular girls at my school. And I had friends, Megan. What was I going to tell her?
I made it to my room and collapsed onto my bed. I started rubbing my forehead, it hurt so bad. It felt like my head was going to explode, it just kept throbbing. I could hear the despair in my mum’s thoughts from her room. I thought about ambushing her and forcing her to let me stay here, but maybe that wasn’t such a good idea. I got up off my bed and walked to her room.
“Mum? I need to tell you something.” I said while looking down at my feet.
“Kay, whatever it is it can wait. Go and do as I asked.”
“I hate this. Why her? Why now?” Mum thought.
“I don’t know why, mum. But I still need to tell you something, I am not arguing with you.” I answered.
She turned around and stared at me horrified. She dropped her clothes in a heap on the floor. “What did you say?”
“That’s what I wanted to tell you. I can hear what you are thinking.” I whispered, embarrassed.
“Well…. What? When?” mum sat on the edge of her bed. Her thoughts were just as incomprehensible as her words.
“I don’t know Mum. It happened today when I saw that man at the mall. I could hear him. And then with Megan as well.”
“What was it like when it happened?” she asked.
“It felt like a huge rubber band was being pulled away from me and then it just gave out and snapped. I didn’t even know it had happened until I answered Megan’s thoughts. I still feel strange, my head is throbbing and it’s hard to concentrate on anything.” It was a relief to get the words out, if I was losing my mind at least my mum could call someone to help me.
It took a while for her to say anything, aloud, to me. All I could hear were the same words over and over again in her thoughts. Why? How? Impossible!
“I don’t mean to, mum, I cant turn it off. And what is impossible?” I blurted out in a rush.
I walked over and sat on the end of the bed next to her, I reached out and tried to hug her but she cringed away. I looked down at the floor and tried to stop the tears that were welling in the corner of my eyes, with no luck. It felt as though the hole world had ended and that I was all alone, I must be horrifying if my own mother didn’t want to touch me.
“I am sorry that I disgust you, Mum. But I didn’t ask for any of this. I can’t help it. I will go and pack my stuff and go with Aunt Elizabeth if that’s what you want but please just tell me why,” I sobbed.
“Honey, I didn’t mean to pull away from you. I love you, it’s just that…” she answered.
“What Mum?”
“Well I didn’t think that this would happen if you were away from them. Of course Elizabeth knew, that’s why she followed us when we moved, I thought that I could stop this. That if you didn’t know anything or if they weren’t any where near you that this would stop with you. I am so sorry that I failed you, I never meant for this to happen, I wish I never met your father.” She dropped her face into her hands and started sobbing.
I felt the rage boiling in the pit of my stomach, how dare she say that. “You know, I never thought I would live to see the day when my own mother would wish I was never born. You haven’t failed me, you just haven’t been honest with me. I am sorry that I disappoint you, I will leave without you so that I can stop hurting you. Then you can go on with your life and forget I exist.” I got up off her bed and went to storm out of her room, but I couldn’t. It felt like my feet were glued to the floor, and my legs couldn’t pull them free. I turned and looked at my mother, I could see myself in her eyes. My face was twisted, my eyes red and swollen it was the strangest feeling seeing myself this way. The rage was still boiling up my throat and couldn’t seem to stop it.
What have I done. My own daughter thinks I hate her. In that moment I felt like a horrible monster. I had hurt my mum, without thinking about what I was saying. I stood here, in her room, and tried to get the courage up to apologise. I tried to move my feet to see if I could move, and they seemed to have come un-glued. I walked back over to the bed and sat on the floor at mum’s feet. I put my head on her knee and just stared up at her face.
“I’m sorry mum, I don’t know where that came from. I don’t think that you hate me, I just need to know what is going on. I feel as though everything is crashing down around me and I can’t stop falling.” I blurted out through my tears.
“Kay, baby, I am sorry if I made you think that I hated you. My words came out all wrong, the only good thing I ever got from your father was you. I will try to explain everything but you should probably wait for Elizabeth, she knows more about it then me.” she replied.
I read her face and knew that it was true, but I wanted to hear it from her. “Mum, I would really like to hear what you know before she gets here. If that’s okay?” I asked.
“Okay, well, I met your father when I was eighteen. He saved me from a man that had me in an alley, I was walking home from my friends house and it had started to rain. I wasn’t looking where I was going because I was in a hurry to get out of the rain, I walked down the same alley I used every day, it was a short cut to my house, I could hear that someone was behind me, footsteps in the puddles of water on the ground, I didn’t look back I just walked quicker. I could see the end of the alley and felt a rush of relief wash over me, I was in such a hurry that I didn’t see the milk crates on the ground in front of me. I tripped over one of them and landed on my right arm. I felt a burning pain searing in my arm but by the time I looked at it, it was too late.” she shuddered at the thought. I could see a dark alley and the pouring rain, it felt like I was there. It was cold and wet and the wind was whistling through the alley. I saw my mum on the ground in the rain.
“All I remember is hearing this growl and then feeling something warm dripping down my arm. I looked down and saw blood gushing out of my arm, I had sliced it on some broken glass. It wasn’t even a second before I felt an icy cold hand grab my chin and pull my head to the left. That’s when I saw him, he had this grin on his face like he knew something that I didn’t, his eyes were black and were glaring at me as if he was staring into my soul. He tilted my head to the side and leaned into me, I tried to struggle free but realised that no matter how much I tried I couldn’t get free of his grip. I closed my eyes and waited for death, then I heard a gurgling sound. I opened my eyes and saw the man looking at me with a look of desperation on his face. He coughed and spluttered and then let me go and collapsed in a heap beside me. It only took a few moments before he was silent. I looked at him and he had a piece of wood sticking out of his back, I scrambled to my feet terrified and not quite sure what had just happened, when I heard someone clear their throat behind me. I turned to see the most beautiful man I had ever seen in my life.”
She sat there for a moment trying not to think anything so I couldn’t understand her thoughts, and then she looked at me and continued.
“He was standing there with his hand reached out in front of him. I thought I was dreaming until I felt the burning in my arm again, he looked like an angel, he had these dark green eyes that seemed to gleam from the water and the same colour hair as you. But he was pale white as though he had never seen daylight. I reached out and took his hand, it was hard not to trust him after he had just saved me from who ever that was.
“Are you alright?” He asked me, “I didn’t think I was going to be quick enough to stop him from biting you. I was following him but I lost him two streets away.” I wanted to speak to him but I was frozen, in shock. “He didn’t bite you did he? Oh my look at your arm, we had better get you to a doctor.”
“I am okay,” I blurted out to him, “What do you mean bite me?” I asked him.
He just smiled and looked at my neck, “I’ll take that as a no.” He answered.
“I couldn’t think straight, what the heck had just happened, who was that and what did he want with me. I was full of questions but I couldn’t find my voice. I suddenly felt light headed and the alley was spinning in circles, I fainted.” She looked at me and pulled her sleeve of her shirt up. There was a jagged scar on her arm just above her elbow, I traced the outline of it with my finger and then hugged her.
“I woke up to find myself in a strange room that I had never seen before. I tried to get up but my legs felt like lead, I laid there staring up at the ceiling, trying to will my legs to move when I heard footsteps in the next room. The door creaked open to reveal in the light that I was in a bedroom, lying on a huge four posted bed with purple silk sheets. The room was lined with paintings of the ocean and there was a massive bay window with ruffled white curtains. It was light outside, I could see a beam of light shining through a crack in the curtains, so I knew that I must have been out for a while. I swung my legs off the side of the bed and stood up, my legs were shaky so I grabbed hold of the bed frame to steady myself. I looked toward the door to see who had came in and I saw that same beautiful man standing in the door way with a tray of food.”
“I thought you might be hungry,” he said to me.
“I think I am, where am I? What happened, I can’t remember.” My words were slightly slurred and I wasn’t sure if he understood what I was saying.
“Well you were loosing a lot of blood and you fainted, so I brought you here to my house so that I could fix your arm. As for what happened last night, how about you eat some breakfast first and then we will talk.” He replied.
I was so hungry once I smelled the eggs that I didn’t object. I followed him down a hallway that was lit by windows that were about a metre apart. The curtains were all pulled to the sides held by gold rope. We walked to the end of the hall and then down a double staircase. There were portraits of beautiful women and men hanging on the off white walls, staggered all the way down the staircase, I couldn’t help but to stare at them. The man stopped at the bottom and waved his arm towards the kitchen. I followed him closely until I got to the table. He pulled my chair out and set the tray in front of me.”
As my mother spoke I could see everything clearly in her mind as if I were there. It was a strange feeling, to feel as though I were sitting there in that room with her.
“I ate all the food on the tray and immediately felt better. ‘Who are you?’ I asked him.
“My name is Andrew Mason.” He answered while removing the tray from the table.
“There were so many questions I wanted to ask him but I couldn’t think of which to ask first.” She explained to me.
“So… what exactly happened last night. All I remember is tripping over the crate and then that man’s cold hand touching my face, and then he made a sound and let go. I looked up and there you were.” I took a moment to look at my arm, it had been bandaged up, it was throbbing. I touched it and winced, it hurt so bad.
“Well like I said before, I was following him but lost him a few streets away from the alley. That’s when I heard the crash of you falling over the crates. I only just got there in time to stop him, I’m surprised that he was stalling what with all your blood everywhere. He mustn’t have heard me coming.” He started.
“Hang on a minute, why where you following him and why would my blood do anything to him?” I asked interrupting him.
“I don’t know if you noticed but he wasn’t human, Lee.” I didn’t know how he knew my name, I hadn’t told him what it was, but at that moment that was the least disturbing part of his sentence.”
Mum stood up and moved to her dressing table, she opened the top draw and pulled out a small album. I had never seen it before. She walked back over to the bed and passed it to me. It was old, it had a black cover that was worn around the edges and ‘Our memories’ written in gold across the front.
“What is this, Mum?” I asked curiously.
“Open it and have a look,” she replied with a smile.
I did as she said and opened the album. There was a photo on the first page of my mum, and I think, my Dad.
“Is this you and Dad? When was this taken?” I asked.
She smiled, “Yes. This was taken about a month after I met Andrew. It all happened so fast. I didn’t even have time to get my head around his ‘job’ and next thing I knew we were in love and inseparable. We got married about six months after that picture, and then I fell pregnant with you.” She looked at the photo and smiled again.
“When you say ‘his job’ what exactly do yo mean?”
“Well not long after breakfast that morning he told me that we were not alone in this world. That there were things that existed that were not safe, and it was his job to find them and to kill them. I can see by your face that you are confused,” she answered.
“Well….yeah a little.” I admitted. “Do you think that’s what I saw in the face of that man today?”
“Yes, that’s exactly what you saw. Your father had the same ‘gift’. He could see people for what they were. He used that extra sight to hunt and kill all sorts of creatures, all over the world. That is why I have called Elizabeth, she is his Sister and has been trying to tell me that this would happen to you as it is your birth rite, as they call it.”
“Elizabeth ‘is’ his Sister? I thought that Dad died after I was born?” I pried for more information.
I saw her memories come flooding back before she had a chance to speak. “Are you kidding me! He is not dead, why don’t I know him? How could you do this, I don’t understand!” I demanded.
“Kaylee, you don’t need to know him. We decided it was too dangerous for you for him to be in your life. It wasn’t an easy decision but it was the only one that gave you a chance at a normal life. You have no idea what kind of things hunt your father, it’s just not safe.” she explained.
I was furious! How dare they decide this for me. It could never be too dangerous for child to know their Father, could it? I got up off the bed and threw the album on the floor, as soon as it hit a picture fell out. I leant down and picked it up. It was Dad and I at what looked like my fifth birthday, but I don’t remember him being there. I don’t remember even meeting him.
“Mum, is this who I think it is?” I asked.
“Yes, he was there. I didn’t know that he knew where we were living but after Elizabeth found us, he did too. He only stayed for that photo and then left. Even he knew the risk but he just wanted to see you. I thought you would be too young to remember, I forgot about that picture.”
I picked up the album and handed it back to her. I didn’t need to hear the rest of her story, I had seen it, as if I was there. I walked to the door and turned around to speak to her but I couldn’t, I was too upset and angry. I went back to my room and slammed the door shut. I grabbed my ipod off my desk and turned it up as loud as it would go, so I could drown out her thoughts. She kept apologising over and over but I didn’t want to hear it.
I laid on my bed and stared at the ceiling, replaying what I had seen in her head. I always thought I looked like mum but now that I could see Dad, I saw that I was just like him. In more ways then one apparently. I woke to see Mum and Aunt Elizabeth standing next to the bed looking at me.
“Kaylee, Elizabeth wants to talk to you,” Mum said as she pulled the headphones out of my ears.
“That’s great but I am busy right now. Why don’t you come back, in say, oh I don’t know, twenty years.” I snapped, rolling over to face the window.
Yes just like her father. What a temper! I heard Elizabeth think.
I rolled back over and glared at her. “Well I wouldn’t know what he is like, would I. No one thought to give me that chance!” I spewed at her.
“Well, now, isn’t that a nice gift you have there. Lee, you didn’t tell me this on the phone.” Elizabeth proclaimed.
“That’s because I didn’t know about it when I called you. Kay only told me last night.”
Last night! How long had I been asleep. I jumped up off my bed and went to the window, yep it was morning. I must have been tireder then I thought. “You know that it’s rude to talk about someone as if they are not in the room,” I walked back over to where they were standing and sat on the edge of my desk. “Well, is someone going to tell me what all this is about, and where we are supposed to be moving to.” I asked.
Neither one wanted to start, I could hear it in their thoughts.
“Let’s go downstairs and have some breakfast. Then we can talk.” Mum suggested.
She left my room and started to walk downstairs, I got up off my desk and started to follow her when Aunt Elizabeth stopped me. I turned and looked at her, she was smiling. She was rather pretty for her age, she had dark brown, almost black hair, and bright blue eyes. Her face had laugh lines around her eyes and mouth, so at least she must have a sense of humour I thought to myself.
“Kaylee, it’s been too long. I have missed you.” she said while hugging me.
“Aunt Elizabeth, is my father really still alive?” I asked.
“Yes, he is in England, we will be seeing him once we get there. So to answer your previous question, you will be moving to England to your fathers house.” she answered.
“Oh,” was all I could get out before Mum called out to us.
“Are you two coming or not?”
I looked back at Aunt Elizabeth and walked down stairs to find something for breakfast. It didn’t take long to get my cereal and to go to the dining room, Mum and Elizabeth were already sitting, waiting for me. I walked to the opposite side of the table and sat down.
What am I going to do? I wish I had of told Kay about this when she was younger, I thought we were doing the right thing. Oh my, I am going to see Andrew again, I wonder how much he has changed? I heard from my mother. I tuned her out as soon as she started thinking of my father, her thoughts were becoming embarrassing. Maybe she did still love him after all.
She is extraordinary! Her gift’s are beyond anything I have seen. Andrew will be so surprised to see how much she resembles him. Let’s get this over with so we can leave. Elizabeth was thinking, although I wasn’t entirely sure she didn’t want me to know this.
“Why don’t you just say it aloud. You know I can hear you anyway. Why waste time if you are in such a hurry.” I demanded.
“Okay, what has your mother told you and what do you want to know?” Elizabeth answered. She turned and looked to her left at my mother and raised an eyebrow.
“I told her most of how I met her father and what his job is, the rest she saw through my memories. I didn’t explain anything about the inherited ’gifts’, I thought I would leave that up to you.” she answered.
“Okay then, well our family have always been protectors of mankind. Each generation someone is chosen and given the gift of seeing. I see however that you have also inherited hearing as well. No one has had this ability for a century, you see it is the strongest that it chooses and you must be extraordinarily strong to get both gifts. Anyway, whoever it chooses is the new hunter.” she sighed and looked at her watch. “Can we finish this while you pack, our plane leaves in six hours.”
“What! Six hours, I need more time than that. How am I going to pack and say goodbye to my friends in six hours?” I demanded. “This is such crap!” I picked up my spoon and continued to eat my cornflakes. I knew from their thoughts that was no way I would win the argument so I quit while I was ahead.
“Kaylee, I really need you to go and pack your things we have to leave soon. You can call Megan when we get to England. Please.” my mother begged.
“Fine.” I got up from the table and stormed upstairs. I heard Elizabeth think something about my temper but I turned my ipod on again so I didn’t have to listen to them any more.
I had packed all my clothes and shoes, gotten everything important out of the bathroom and was about to go back to my room when I felt all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. I shivered as I turned around to see who was behind me, I pulled the head phones out of my ears as I turned.
“What are you doing in my house, how did you find me?” I asked the man from the mall.
His face still had the same shock value to me, only this time I knew what to expect, the only thing I didn’t know was what kind of evil he was.
“I told you on the phone that I knew how to find you. You really have inherited the sight haven’t you, otherwise you would recognise me under my real face. I knew that the only way to get back at Andrew was through you, so I got a job at the local High School teaching History and lucky me, who should be in my class but you.” He was grinning as he spoke, again.
“Mr Warner?” I asked.
I tried to look at his face underneath the horror that I saw. He was standing between me and the door of the bathroom, I could smell a strong scent of lavender coming from his jacket, it seemed to me to be fresh which was a scary thought as my mother had planted lavender along the back of our house a year ago.
I saw flickers of our house in his thoughts, it looked as though he had been stalking me for a few weeks now.
“I’ve told you once before and I won’t say it again, Get out of my head!” He growled at me. His eyes were almost black, only the slightest tinge of red around his pupils. “I have been waiting and watching you for a while, waiting for any sign that you were going to learn about the ’Mason’ traits. For a long time now I thought that maybe it was going to skip you and that I had wasted my time tracking you down, but now I see that it has chosen you. I have been waiting fifteen years to get my revenge on your father, and in that time you will not believe the things I have thought of to best for fill my dreams.”
“Um…. I think I can. Remember I can see inside your head,” I tapped on my temple. “I don’t believe that anything he has done would warrant the disgusting things you have done to all those innocent girls you freak.”
He just stood there with his head tilted to the side, a growl erupted from his throat. I could see from his thoughts what he had planned for me, there was no point in begging and I hadn’t even been told about the different creatures I was supposed to kill or how to do it yet.
Kaylee, I am coming. Don’t move an inch and keep him talking. I heard Elizabeth think. He is a vampire and he wants to kill you. They are extremely fast so don’t give him a reason to pounce.
A vampire! What, did she think I was stupid? There are no such things as vampires! Only if I looked at him hard enough I could see that he was. From his red eyes, to his bright white teeth. Just looking at his teeth made me shudder.
“Look…. I don’t know what you want,” a lie, “but whatever it is you think I know, I’m telling you I don’t.”
He started to walk slowly toward me as if he was trying to decide whether or not to get it over with or not, I closed my eyes wishing for it to be quick, when I heard a gurgle come up his throat. I opened my eyes in time to see Elizabeth standing behind him, piercing his back with a wooden stake.
“William, it really has been too long,” she said to Mr Warner.
He spun around and glared at her, he opened his mouth to speak but all that came out what a growl and then he fell to the floor like stone.
“Kaylee, he didn’t touch you did he?” Elizabeth asked anxiously. The look on her face let me know she was truly worried. She walked over to me and started grabbing my T-Shirt and pulling it up to look at my skin.
“No… he was just rambling on and on about my father and revenge. He was a teacher at my school, and by the looks of his thoughts he has been watching me for at least a week from our back yard.” I said, still shaking. “Who or what exactly was he?”
“As I said before, he was a vampire. Your father killed his mate a long time ago but William ran off, Andrew has been hunting him for fifteen years. We thought that he would come back for revenge but we never knew that he would come after you.” she replied. I sat on the edge of the bath and put my head in my hands.
I saw the memories of the past flash through her head. There was an old house with a long driveway lined with willow trees. It looked like no one had lived there for years as the grass was overgrown and where the garden was supposed to be was overgrown with weeds. It was raining so everything was grey, I could see that she was not alone but I couldn’t make out who was with her. They walked around to the back of the house, I heard screaming coming from inside the house and wanted to run and help, only this was just a memory and there wasn’t anything I could do. I watched them open the door and walk into what should have been a kitchen, but everything had been torn out. There were holes in the walls where the stove and sink were missing, the only thing that was in place was a refrigerator. I wondered what they would need a refrigerator for.
The screaming was getting louder and I realised that there were more than one. I watched Elizabeth and her friend glance at each other and then continue through to the dining room. There were lit candles everywhere and a huge oak table in the middle of the room. The candles made shadows on the walls and roof, as if there were tiny waves licking the wall paper. The room had a strange scent, it smelled like rust and salt, it wasn’t until I looked at the floor that I understood what the smell was. There was blood everywhere. Pooled up in a huge spots under the table and along the side boards. I looked harder at the shadows on the walls, they weren’t shadows - it was blood. It was everywhere!
“We have to hurry, they have three more girls in the basement.” I heard Elizabeth say.
“Okay, you go through the lounge and I will double back through the kitchen.” Ah it was my father with her.
I watched my father turn and walk back into the kitchen as Elizabeth pulled her jacket aside and pulled out a wooden stake. She leant up against the wall and slowly looked around the corner, it was funny she reminded me of the cops from the TV shows checking that there was no one around the corner waiting for them. If there were vampires here, I would imagine that they would already know that they had company. Once she was sure that it was clear she moved slowly around into the lounge room, it was dark but not hard to pick up the same smell that was in the dining room, this room was also lined with lit candles. There was also a huge stone fire place at one end with a portrait of four beautiful women hanging above it, I guessed these were the same women I could hear screaming before.
Elizabeth was stalking toward the open door at the other end of the room when she stopped suddenly. It took me a moment to see that she wasn’t alone in the room, William was crouched down in the corner opposite the door. Elizabeth took a step backward and bumped the side table that was behind her, all it took was the second that she had her eyes on the table for him to make it across the room to reach Elizabeth. I felt like shouting for my father but that wouldn’t help, I was seeing memories, I wasn’t there.
“We have been waiting for you, Elizabeth. Margaret didn’t believe that you would follow us here but I always had faith.” He reached out to grab Elizabeth but paused and spun around to face the open door. “You are not alone are you?” He asked, shooting a worried look towards the open door.
“You know, William, for someone as old as you are, you don’t pay attention do you.” Elizabeth answered. She gripped the stake and lunged at his back, he was too quick, he was gone through the door in a flash and Elizabeth was on the floor. She got up and started to run toward the door when she heard growling and then the floor shook like someone had just ripped out a wall from the house.
I watched her pause and sweep the hair out of her face, she took her jacket off and threw it on the floor, that’s when I saw that she was wearing a pant suit that looked as though it was made from vinyl. I felt embarrassed looking at her dressed like that and at the same time I was getting ready to tell them that there was no way I would wear anything like that.
I heard another rumble and saw Elizabeth run for the door. She had made it halfway down the stairs when she saw my father standing over someone curled up in a ball.
“Everything alright little brother?” She asked.
“Of course sister, Margaret is under the stairs, William ran off but he’ll be back. The girls look okay. We made it in time to save three but they had already drained one.” He replied.
I looked closer at the girl curled up at his feet and saw that she was one of the women from the portrait upstairs. Poor girl’s must have been through hell tonight. I turned to look under the stairs and saw Elizabeth crouched down staring at a white blonde woman lying there. She was gorgeous, pale white skin and blood red lips. Even with the horrified expression on her face she was still the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
“Do you understand now, Kaylee?” Elizabeth asked, pulling me from her memory.
“Yeah I think so. William wanted revenge because Dad killed his wife?” I questioned.
“Yes, that’s what they are like. You know an eye for an eye. Except William didn’t know about you until a year ago, he was searching for your mother. He broke into your father’s house while he was hunting and found a picture of you, that’s when he decided that it would have to be you.” she answered.
I sat there shocked for a moment, then I stood and stepped over the body on the floor and hugged my Aunt. “I heard you, I knew you were coming but I was still terrified. I didn’t know that you were a hunter as well. I wasn’t sure what you were going to do to help, I was tempted to jump out the window so he would follow me and leave you and Mum alone.” I explained, as if that were even a possibility.
Yes…exactly like her father. She thought as she smiled and shook her head. “Are you finished packing? We really have to leave.”
“Yeah, but what about him?” I asked as I pointed at the body on the floor.
“Leave him. Once the sun reaches his body he will burn up and turn to ash.” she replied, she reached and opened the curtains and let the sun come in.
I could see the rays just touching his fingertips on his left hand. There was already steam coming from them as they went from pale white to brown and then black. I held my nose as I got up and left the bathroom, the smell was sickly it reminded me of when Mum and I had attempted to make toffee and we had left it on the stove too long and it burnt. It was sweet and strong like burning sugar.
I walked back to my room with the things from the bathroom and threw them in my bag. I stepped back from my bed and stared around my room, I wanted to have one last look at my things before I had to leave them behind. I walked over to my cork board to where all my photos of my friends were pinned. I started pulling them down so that I could take them with me, if I wasn’t allowed to say goodbye at least I would have these photo’s. I never thought my room had so many memories until now, my school books in a heap in the corner of my room, the quilt that my nana had made me, my porcelain dolls lined up on my bookshelf. Even my bed, all of it had some sort of memory that I didn’t want to leave behind. It wasn’t fair, but then again life isn’t fair, I would have to suck it up and do what I needed to, to keep Mum safe.