Drawing Bloodlines (2 page)

Slowly, Laban followed suit, but not before stopping to shove Lucas with his shoulder. “I don’t appreciate having to clean up your messes,” he seethed, his amethyst-colored eyes scr
utinizing. “Let’s just say I don’t have any problem coming back empty-handed — and I’m not talking about the medallion.”

Lucas gave him a curt smile, followed by a derisive chuckle. “Be careful Laban,” he whispered, angrily. “This isn’t the first time you’ve a
ttempted to cross me — and this just might be your last.”

“Laban!” shouted Lucius, and Laban reluctantly headed toward the blue door.

Laban drew a deep breath and then carefully ran his fingers through his already perfectly coiffed, long, whitish-blonde hair. “This isn’t over Lucas,” he mumbled, eyeing the dissipating blue door.

“Oh, I’m sorry,” said Lucas, sarcastically. “I know this takes away from your constant primping schedule.”

Laban gawked at him through his long dark eyelashes and then quickly walked through the nearly vanished door. There was a brief silence and then Lucius loudly cleared his throat. “I tire of you, brother,” he said in a drawn out huff, “and of your wench.”

Lucas’s ocean blue eyes pleaded with his brot
hers. “B–but, brother,” he stammered.

“I also grow weary of your constant bickering with your brethren — not to mention your co
nstant failures!” his voice boomed, drowning out Lucas. “And, at least for now, the latter will not go without punishment!”

Quickly, and without warning, Lucius snapped the metal-braided rope in his hand, sending a cascading bow of energy down upon Lucas. The growing red bow hit Lucas square in the face. A loud boom followed the blow.

Lucas lay crumbled on the ground in agony as he held his bleeding face. “Brother,” he pleaded as his face quickly healed; leaving behind only the blood in his hand. “Y–you said it yourself that he is only human … so someone else has to be behind this!”

Lucius proceeded to close in on him and frantically, while still on the ground, Lucas tried to scoot away. “Surely Pius would have detected them,” Lucas explained. “Som
eone who knows our ways must be helping them; protecting them. They had one up on us, brother. The prophecy only talks about the one, but there were two of them!”

Abruptly, Lucius stopped in front of him and his ruby-red cloak swayed at his feet. “Who are you alluding to?” he groaned. “The Order?”

“Y–yes,” he explained, frantically. “Who else could be protecting them?” Lucas’s voice trembled as he eyed the metal rope in Lucius’s hand. “Who else has the most to gain if the prophecy comes to fruition? The Order may experience a loss of power, but with us out of the way, it still would be a win for them.”

There was a brief silence and Lucius’s eyes burned a deep crimson color.

Lucas’s hands trembled and he could barely hold himself up from the ground as he warily watched his brother. “And — and we were figuring this all out for you….”

“Your conjectures about the Order may have validity,” he said, abruptly. “But you and your wench have failed me brother; you have failed all of us.”

Lucas’s head and limbs began to shake uncontrollably. “No, no,” he stammered, staggering as he backed away.

“I’ll take care of the Order,” Lucius fumed, tightening his grip around the long, metal rope. “And don’t you worry about the prophecy — I know the prophecy all too well.”

Lucius leaned over his brother and removed his hood; revealing a faint crescent-shaped scar beneath his right eye. Softly, he wiped away the remaining speck of blood that lay on Lucas’s face, the same spot that had bled moments earlier. “Concentrate on helping your half-breed succeed in bringing me back that medallion,” he explained in an angry whisper. “And when she fails again….”

Suddenly, Lucius’s face snarled and Lucas cried out, “Brother, no!”

Blood-curdling screams rang throughout Grimm Cemetery as the long, metal-braided rope repeatedly lashed down upon Lucas.

“Maybe after this you’ll stop insisting on covering for your flawed half-breed!” Lucius yelled, as Lucas’s wounds quickly healed, and were savagely reopened.

2

KISSES INTERRUPTUS

Nathan’s chest expanded heavily as he lay motionless in bed. Instinctively, his eyes popped open while he struggled to catch his breath. Slowly, he blinked, allowing his eyes to focus. Nathan’s head was in a swirl, but that didn’t prevent him from remembering the horrific dream that had awakened him. It starred Lucas and Lauren.

They were at Grimm Cemetery
, he thought to himself.
Well — the Grimm Cemetery in the Space-In-Between
.

Slowly, Nathan pushed his fingers into the palms of his hands. His left hand still tingled from his unlucky encounter with one of L
ucas’s red lightning bolts. It had been about a month since his last encounter with the ocean-eyed Fallen One, but based on his latest dream, he feared it wouldn’t be the last.

Nathan squinted and he avoided concentrating on the fast-moving wooden blades of the ceiling fan in his room. “Ugh. If my head doesn’t stop spinning,” he muttere
d. “I think I’m going to puke.”

Nathan’s head continued to swirl and all he could hear was the humming sound of the spinning blades. It was as if he was in a va
cuum. He tried concentrating on sitting up, but his thoughts quickly took him back to his latest trip to Grimm Cemetery.
I don’t understand why they would think we have the medallion
, he ruminated.
The last I saw it — it lay atop of Pius’s remains on the stone steps
.

He paused as he winced from a sudden searing pain that came from the top of his head, but it quickly dissipated.
But this dream was different
, he pondered.
It’s wasn’t like the other ones, when I felt like I was actually there. It was more like my dreams in the beginning, my dreams about —Leah
!

Abruptly, Nathan forced himself up in bed, his eyes dar
ting around the room. There in front of him, sitting at the bed’s edge, was Leah looking back at him. “Hey you,” she smiled, while placing a few loose strands of wavy brown hair behind her ear. “I hope the screaming and scary music didn’t cause you to have a bad dream.” She chuckled, using the remote to lower the volume to the TV. “Most people normally don’t fall asleep during a scary movie.”

Nathan twisted his mouth to the side as the brown color in his cheeks grew into a bright red. The hum from the cei
ling fan faded away and he could hear the TV now. “Oh,” he said, while scratching his head. His chest still heaved, but he tried not to show that he was breathing hard. “I hadn’t noticed.”

Leah tilted her head, and her forehead slowly formed frown lines as she carefully scrut
inized his face. “Did you have a bad dream?” she asked.

Nathan’s face went blank. He tried not to look caught off guard by her question, so he quickly mustered a smile. “Umm — it’s okay
— just a dream,” he stammered.

She smiled, and then crossed the bed to settle in his arms. “Good,” she said, securing his arms around her. “We don’t want any more bad dreams — particularly the Nathan kind.” She laughed. “Espe
cially if they’re starring me.”

Nathan sat in silence. He opened his mouth to say som
ething, but his thoughts were elsewhere. He hadn’t had a dream like this since camp and, even though it was a little different, he was almost certain that he had dream-walked.

Nathan shivered as the screams from the helpless victims in the scary movie, playing on his flat screen television in front of them, filled the room.
They had failed
, he thought. His thoughts were now on Lucas and Lauren.
And to say the person with the unusual shaped scar beneath his right eye was unhappy with them, would be an understatement
. He shivered again.
I’m pretty sure Lucas called him his brother
.

Nathan sat quietly as he thought about the scar again. He remembered that it looked faded, almost unnoticeable, as if it had happened years before. He took a deep breath. He thought it looked
a bit like a backward letter C.

Slowly, Nathan removed an arm from around Leah to r
etrieve his cell phone from his pocket.
And, if my memory serves me correctly
, he thought.
I’m pretty sure that I just dreamt about the other Fallen Ones
. He looked down at his cell phone again.
I need to talk to Jonathan
.

“What’s wrong, Nathan?” asked Leah, after he sco
oted off the bed and stood up.

What were the names of the other Fallen Ones
? He pondered, while texting Jonathan. He had remembered the story about the Fallen Ones because it was one of the more widely known Cahokia Legends, among people in town. He didn’t recall their names, but he remembered Jonathan had told them their names the night of the first camp bonfire.
I remember that one of the Fallen Ones was supposedly Lucifer, but I think I would remember if he was in the dream
.

“Nathan?” called Leah, shutting off the TV with the r
emote. “Are you sure everything is okay?”

“Y–
yeah,” he responded, after hitting “send” on his cell phone.

Leah smiled, a
nd then stood up from the bed.

“I’m so glad Jonathan is stil
l in town,” he murmured.

“Jonathan?” she asked, still smiling. “You haven’t talked about Jonathan in a while.” She had a playful, but inquisitive look on her face. “So …
why are you texting Jonathan?”

“Oh, nothing,” he stammered, placing his cell phone in his pocket. “I just have a que
stion to ask him.”

“Ah, I see,” she said, with a suspicious grin. “I thought that Jonathan was busy finishing up his research on the new Cahokia Indian Firewalker Legend. So
, that he can publish that article with Dr. Helmsley over at the university?”

“Well —
he is,” said Nathan, nervously, taking Leah into his arms. “But Jonathan can’t complete his research until he deciphers the rest of the symbols — and I guess it’s taking him longer than he expected, since Dr. Helmsley is still in the hospital.”

“Oh,” said Leah, sounding alarmed. “Still?” A look of concern washed over her face. “I thought Dr. Helmsley would have been r
eleased by now.”

“Well,” sighed Nathan. “Lafonda said there were compl
ications from her head injury; she’s basically in a coma.”

Leah suddenly frowned and then looked at him confu
sed. “Uh — Lafonda?” she asked.

Nathan let out a slight chuckle. “Yeah,” he said with a nod. “You know Lafonda. She’s been to Cahokia Falls Ge
neral Hospital to visit her several times already.”

“Yeah — unfortunately, I do,” responded Leah, with raised eyebrows. “In the begi
nning, Lafonda came to see me in the hospital all the time — and I was way in St. Louis!”

Leah smiled at Nathan longingly and then stood on the tips of her toes; moving her face closer to his. Nathan smiled wearily and then abruptly cleared his throat. “So,” he said. “Speaking of Lafonda.” He hesitated and then cleared his throat again. “Did she say anything to you about the proph
ecy — I mean the legend?”

Leah frowned, slowly settling back to her feet. “You mean the Firewalker Legend — what Jonathan has been working on?” she asked, sounding puzzled. “No, we haven’t really spoken, but I just got back into town yesterday.” Leah squinted as she tried to d
ecipher the look on Nathan’s face. “I’ve practically been with you the whole time since I got here. Was she supposed to talk to me about something?”

Slowly, Nathan pursed his lips into a smile. “No, no,” he stammered, sounding relieved. He gently wrapped his arms tightly around her, pulling her face closer to his chest. “Rea
lly, it’s nothing. I’m sure you’ll hear all about it later.”

“I don’t know, Nathan Urye,” she said playfully, while stepping up on her toes again. “Why do I get the feeling you’re not te
lling me something.”

“Hmm … I haven’t the slightest idea,” he said, leaning forward until his
mouth softly brushed her lips.

“Umm — knock, knock,” said a familiar voice, followed by
a loud clearing of the throat.

Nathan and Leah froze, and then Nathan sighed heavily. “Yes, grandpa,” h
e said, slowly releasing Leah.

Leah smiled at Roy and then ran her hands across the wrinkles in her shirt before sitting on the bed. “
Hi, Roy,” she said, cheerfully.

“Leah,” said Roy with a smile. “Please don’t let the ‘grandpa’ fool you — I am way too
young to be anyone’s grandpa.”

Nathan rolled his eyes and then mumbled something u
nderneath his breath. Leah gave Nathan a quick playful glare and then smiled. “Yes,” she agreed. “And way too young-looking.”

“Young!” blurted Nathan after plopping down unto the bed. He grinned. “Please don’t let t
hat go to your head, old man.”

“Nathan!” scow
led Leah, through pursed lips.

“It’s okay,” said Roy, pausing to run his fingers through his full head of white hair. “I’m used to the abuse.” He paused again and squinted, making the age lines around his eyes more
visible. “So, how’s the hand?”

“Good,” Nathan answered, lightly. “No di
fferent than an hour ago.” Nathan chuckled heartily, while flexing his right hand. “I think this might be a record. It’s actually been one whole hour since the last time you asked me. Are you losing your mind old man?” 

“Ha-ha-ha,
” protested Roy, sarcastically. “Hardly.” Smugly, Roy reached into his pocket and grinned. “So, I guess you won’t need this. You know, for the rash you had — at the beginning of summer?” 

Nathan’s face suddenly turned bright red. “Ha-ha-ha, very funny, grandpa.” he groaned. “You can put the bottle of Wool’s Ointment away.” He glanced at Leah and tried not to look embarrassed. “I told you that my han
ds stopped itching weeks ago.”

“Just checking grandson,” he smiled.
“And — the cut on your head?”

Nathan reached up to touch the faint scar on his forehead, another souvenir from his run-in with Lucas. “Same as my hand an hour ag
o,” he grinned, sarcastically.

Roy glared at him and then placed the bottle of ointment on Nathan’s desk. “You know,” he said, nonchalantly. “You really should avoid those caves. I’m surprised that you w
ould take an interest in them.”

Nathan glanced back at Leah while flexing his hand again. He noticed that the bandage on her forearm was gone, but he was sure a
fter what happened that night with Lucas that she still had her stitches. “Yup, grandpa,” he replied, reluctantly. “I think you might be right.”

“Uh — uh, okay,” stuttered Roy. His eyes were wide and he appeared caught off guard by Nathan’s passive-aggressive response. “So — then that settles it. You’ll be stay
ing away from the caves then.”

Nathan huffed and then rebelliously rolled his eyes.
There is absolutely nothing dangerous about the caves
, he thought to himself. He remembered the story he and Jonathan concocted about the caves to explain the night they were all injured. The possibility of a cave collapsing was plausible, but was highly unlikely. The only real danger he could think of was encountering their not so favorite blonde femme fatale out in the caves again.
Unless she’s bored and just feels like destroying stuff — I doubt it she’ll be coming back.

Roy sighed impatiently and then frowned at his grandson as he sat in silence. “And don’t tell me that Jonathan hasn’t learned his le
sson and is still out at those caves,” he groaned. “You two are lucky something more life threatening didn’t happened — just look at what happened to poor Dr. Helmsley.”

Nathan turned to look at Leah again as his eyes glazed over.

“Nathan,” said Roy, more forcibly. “I am serious. More and more kids are venturing out into the caves to go partying and stuff, and it just isn’t safe.”

“Partying?” asked Nathan
, defensively.

“No, not you!” responded Roy quickly, while rolling his eyes. “Other kids. Regardless, I agree with LaDonda that Chief Rosales should just close the Cahokia Caves all t
ogether.”

“Chief Rosales?” asked Nathan, sounding surprised. “Why is he getting involved in this — and what about Jon
athan’s research?”

Roy paused and then folded his arms across his chest b
efore releasing a drawn out sigh. “Jonathan is just going to have to research something else,” he stammered. “Those symbols have been in those caves for years and have gone unnoticed — and it won’t hurt anybody for them to stay that way.”

Nathan sat stunned and then let his eyes wonder around the room. He was surprised that someone finally said som
ething to him about sneaking away from camp to the caves that night. He was more surprised that someone wasn’t LaDonda.
She really hasn’t said much to anyone about that night
, he pondered.