Redemption (Dawn of the Damned Book 1) (4 page)

I never healed, Jon,
she said to herself, as her eyes found his warm gentle ones.
You let me scour the world alone for a century, and I still never healed. I’m broken forever. They broke me!

“Jon!” She finally managed as a whisper.

“Hallo, Anja dear,” he said to her smiling, seeming as happy to see her as she was to see him. But unlike him, who seemed to have been expecting her, she was very much surprised to find him here.

They appraised each other with reserved expressions and happy smiles, and unlike the arrogant Kjeld that had not stopped to think about it, Jon never moved to touch her. He never even got too close, standing at arm length’s away from her as she always preferred it, gauging her with those beautiful eyes of his that reminded her once again what it meant to be loved, to matter so much to someone.

“I missed you so!” He exclaimed in a low whisper, the two of them shutting out all around, even Jon’s half-brother standing uncomfortably close to her.

“I missed you too,” she confessed in as low a whisper as his, her eyes behind her contact lenses mirroring her passion.

She longed to touch him, show him how much she had missed him. Her muscles just wouldn't work though, and she knew if he attempted to touch her, she would just recoil away involuntarily. She could force herself to stand his touch like she’d come to learn to do this past century, like she’d been forcing herself to do each time master.. Governor Kjeld took it upon himself to touch her so as to restrict her movements. But Jon wouldn’t like that. He’d prefer it if she was honest about it all, if she did that which she felt most comfortable doing. And in this case, standing at arm’s length from him felt most comfortable.

Kjeld soon noticed the distance Jon and Anja were keeping from each other, and with that took a step away from her, and yet another, leaving ample space between them, and she sent him a quick grateful look, before turning back towards the only man she’d ever loved.

¨I like your hair.” She ran her hand through the said hair nervously. “You look good,¨ he went on to say. She smiled sadly at his compliment.

¨And you look good too,¨ the quick sweep she passed over him did not hide the appreciation in her eyes.

Kjeld shuffled impatiently beside her.

“Did he capture you too?” She asked him nervously in the old Germanic language that had been spoken in the Gunnarsen home where they’d all grown up. To her surprise, he shook his head slowly in answer, the half of a smile she once depended on so dearly to uplift her humor playing at his lips.

“Then.. why are you here? I don’t understand.”

“Your beloved Jon is my second in command.” A shocked expression on her face followed those words tumbling out of Kjeld's mouth. She looked back up at Jon with disbelief.

“You are..?” She drew off, unable to finish the question. Not wanting to believe that Jon, with whom they’d suffered so much under the hands of the Gunnarsen family, would so willingly work for them.

“Yes,” he confirmed with a shaky smile. “I am Area One's Commissioner.”

“Why?”

“Because my brother asked me to..”

“Your brother? He fed on..”

“Yes,” Jon easily admitted, forcing her words to dry up on her lips. “Yes, my brother. We are reconciled now.”

“How..? Why would you..?”

“I resurfaced back into society on the next general assembly after you left. I forwarded myself to the council and carried out my punishment. It wasn't so bad..” Jon cut off when he saw her shake her head.

“I do not want the same things as you do, Jon. I do not want to go back! I can’t..”

“No one will hurt you anymore,” Jon said to her in his caressing voice. “You are an independent adult now. You are no longer a child needing a family for protection.” She continued shaking her head at him sadly.

If he of all the people did not understand her need to stay away from all this, then who would?

“I must leave. I cannot live under Draugr customs anymore..”

“You only lived under them for sixteen years- the first sixteen years of your life when you’d been yet too young to protect yourself..” Kjeld was saying, but she was still shaking her head, refusing to listen.

“I can’t.. I won’t go back..”

“Anja,” Jon pleaded with her.

“Will neither of you let me go?” She asked, this time her voice faltering a little, for she had an inkling that their minds were set.

They both shook their heads at her in answer, Kjeld’s face unreadable, Jon’s looking back at her with so much concern that she was certain he truly empathised with her. She just couldn’t understand why he wouldn’t let her go, being that he was the second most important man in the Americas.

She had only one option left- runaway, or keep trying until she finally got away, or society finally decided to leave her alone.

“When is my arraignment?” She asked, feigning surrender.

Both men that she’d grown up with now looked back at her with relaxed expressions on their faces, obviously pleased to know that she’d chosen to give in.

“We could arrange it for some time early summer,” the governor spoke up. “There’s to be the High Council’s yearly summit, and I’m hosting it.

Anja nodded thoughtfully, as she looked outside through the large glazed walls.

“What kind of sentence should I expect?”

“You have been away for almost two hundred years..” Kjeld started.

“I know. I never stopped counting!” She said with controlled hostility, her eyes flashing from behind her contact lenses. The two men before her looked back at her with deepened concern.

“And in all that time, we have no idea what you have been doing, how many humans you have killed, or if you have told any humans of our existence. And if so, how many?” Kjeld went on to say.

“I can answer all that now very easily,” she told him in defiance, meeting his gaze with her own steely one. “I’ve been working for the humans to buy food and have a place to call my own, and have been keeping to myself. I’ve never killed anyone, Draugr or human, nor have I told anyone of us. All I ask is to be left alone.”

“We cannot let that happen. If we let you go, others too will want to be allowed to live out of our society. Most are not like you, they have no discipline. Without someone to look over their shoulders, they would feed irresponsibly, treat humans like sport and who knows what else. The council must always appear strong- and impartial!” Anja edged away from the two slightly, keeping her gaze fixed outside, staring at the sprawling city below. Her home. Her freedom, just beyond her grasp.

“So what kind of sentence should I expect?” She asked again.

“I got two decades in clean-up. You will probably get a little more than that. Maybe five,” Jon chose to answer her.

The clean-up team was responsible for wiping out evidence of the Draugrs existence from humans. Each of the four governing divisions had a fully functional clean-up team, arguably one of the most important arms of government. Should a Draugr over indulge while feeding, the cleaners came in and wiped out the evidence, making it appear more like an animal attack. Sometimes the bodies were so dismembered that it was necessary to burn them all together and let the human society assume the person missing.

She could never be a cleaner. This would be a torturous sentence for her, as it would involve a lot of abused women. Anja doubted if she could handle such a job for a whole five decades.

“I.. I can’t be on clean up. You know it Jon,” she said, turning her eyes his way. “I’d rather die..”

“Anja..” he started with deep-seated concern, but she shook her head, stopping him from saying anymore.

“I can’t handle it, Jon. Is there an option for execution..?”

“Anja!” Kjeld called out in a surprised outcry.

“Anja?” Jon’s voice was softer, devoid of any shock. He wasn’t entirely surprised to know that she’d much rather die than face her past, and all the fears that came with it.

“Let me go, Jon. You have to, or else I’ll ask them to give me the maximum penalty.”

“You’ll ask for your true death?” Kjeld asked with disbelief, but she paid him no attention, keeping her gaze fixed on Jon.

“I can’t live under them again, Jon. I can’t go back to being a slave..”

“You were never a slave. We lived like brother and sister..”

“I can’t go back to that kind of life, Jon,” she said, pleading with the only man she’d ever loved, ignoring their deluded brother beside them. “Help me,” she finished, her voice so quiet and scared.

“Anja, I can’t..”

“There you are, honey!” A sweet voice called right then.

Anja watched as a beautiful pure-blood woman adorning a braided head walked over to them. Kjeld always had good taste in women! She thought to herself, eyeing the small round face and the rings of deep brown eyes. She couldn’t help it but smile hesitantly at the warmth on the woman’s radiant face.

“Cody’s on line one- a security breach in the Western frontier..” Anja froze in place, her whole body going cold as she watched the woman tiptoe and place a kiss on Jon’s lips.

Her Jon
’s lips!

“Give me a moment, Pendo,” Jon said nervously, turning away from her and moving to face Anja again, a most apologetic and piteous look on his face.

Jon had moved on.. without her.

“Anja I.. you’ll finally be able to stop running when you resurface back into society,” Jon was now saying with clear discomfort, the woman he’d referred to as Pendo having walked away again and disappeared into an office.

Her mind however was still fixated on the less than chaste kiss she’d just witnessed.

“You moved on..”

“I’m sorry..”

“Don’t be. I’m glad you found someone.”

“I..”

“Does she make you happy..”

“Anja?”

“Does she?”

“She does,” he admitted with open unease at this line of questioning.

“A pure-blood!” She spat out the accusation, a question in itself, ignoring the uncomfortable shifting beside her from Kjeld.

“Yes, she is a pure-blood,” Jon simply answered her.

“You feed her..?”

“Anja..?”

“Well, do you..?”

“That’s none of your business..”

“Don’t tell me that’s none of my business when it is for the very same reason that we ran away, and we swore to never let it happen again.”

“I swore to never be forced into it. However were I to do it willingly, I’d gladly..”

“Would you listen to yourself, Jon! You have forgotten how it made your skin crawl..”

“It didn’t. That was all you. I hated been forced to do it, that was all the problem for me. It was more of a psychological torture for you because of your father..”

“Shut up!” She called out with anger, instantly losing all her cool. “Don’t you dare mention my father.”

“I’m sorry..”

“Do you love her..”

“I always loved you.

“But not anymore..?”

“Ummh.. Anja we need to talk about your re-entry into society..” Kjeld attempted to interrupt again, but she ignored him.

“Do you love her?”

“Come on, Anja dear..”

“Do you?” The violence with which she uttered that last question shocked all at earshot, who now look back at them with deeper interest.

“Yes,” he finally admitted quietly, but she heard him clearly. “I do. But I still care about you, enough to know that it’s time you faced your demons. This is a good thing. Let us take you in, let your case be heard and receive your sentencing. Do your penance and move on. Move on, Anja. Please, just move on,” he pleaded with her, so much so that she almost pitied him.

“I moved on already..”

“No. You kept running away, you kept hiding from your past. You’ve got to stop running, Anja! Please, just let us help you..”

“Alright!”

“What?”

“I said alright! I’ll face the High Council at their next summit.”

The two didn’t look like they believed her, but they showed her into a room, a conference room, and watched as she found a place to seat, closest to the window as possible.

Two pairs of wary eyes looked her way, while a human rushed in with a coffee cart and some sweet treats. She was in no mood for the delicacies at the moment. She was in no mood for anything at the moment. All she wanted was to curl up somewhere in a dark hole, and envision herself safe.

But that was never to be anymore. Even the endearing image of Jon that had kept her alive and hoping for so long was now marred by the brown ball of beauty that had leaned into his arms and kissed him.

Jon had moved on, and she knew without a doubt that she could never compete with the new woman in his life. How could she, when she’d never hugged him? Even kissed him- the very premise of his touch causing her to recoil with so much intent, as she would from a viper.

She lost him even before she had him, she now realised, looking up into his eyes.

“I know it’s a shock..”

“I’d rather we didn’t talk about it,” she rushed to tell him with the most unaffected voice she could muster.

“What am I to do then for the next months before I can appear before the council?” She asked of Kjeld, turning his way.

“You’ll be under house arrest..” She’d expected as much, being that they knew she’d attempt to bolt the moment she could. “..At our home..”

“You live in a tiny apartment,” she reminded him solemnly.

“We both know it’s not a tiny apartment. Your whole apartment could fit in the entrance hall.” She did not argue with this, it was true.

“However, that is not my home. We have a home..”

“You live with Jon?” She asked with heightened curiosity.

“Yes, among others.”

“With Pendo too?” This she directed to Jon, who in turn nodded.

“And others,” Jon then went on to inform her. Her eyes narrowed with dread.

“A coven! Jon we always said we could never live in a coven! Covens make us..”
vicious,
is what she stopped herself from saying.

“But they also keep us protected.”

“Protected? You fool! You still kneel before a pure-blood for protection?” Though her words were sharp, her voice remained calm and controlled, her burning eyes the only communicator of her emotions.

“So what do you pay the pure-bloods for their protection..?”

“None of that goes on at our home!” Kjeld went on to put hurriedly. “If any half-blood is fed on, it is because they willingly allow it..”

“I’m sure that’s what you and your family told each other as you milked my blood each night!”

“Anja..”

“What, Jon? Isn’t it true, or have you been so brainwashed to have forgotten it?”

Jon now looked at her defeated, seeming to have so much to say but unsure on whether it would do them any good.

“You’ll be safe,” is what he finally opted to say in answer. “I’ll ensure of it, I promise..”

“I wonder what Pendo would say about that?”

“She’d be pleased with it, and she’d help to keep you safe too,” is what he’d answered her, causing any further retorts from her to remain unvoiced.

“We swore we would never go into coven life,” she chose to tell him instead.

“We didn’t know much about society life then. A family is good to keep around..”

“Not a family that feeds on you..”

“No one feeds on anyone!” Kjeld rushed to say again.

“Unwillingly,” Jon added, holding her gaze. “Trust me, I’d never let anything happen to you. I’d sooner find myself in father’s home again.” And with that solemn swear, she knew she had his word.

However she found it hard to take the news of her impending imprisonment with ease, because freedom is the second thing she cherished most about her life after Skovborg Fort, right after the fact that she never had to feed another Draugr again- not without a fight.

She’d sworn to herself on that day when they ran away from Skovborg Fort that she’d never let any pure-blood that forcefully fed from her get away with it again. They may be stronger, but she’d hunt the culprit to the ends of the world, and when she found him/her in a compromising situation where his/her strength would be compromised, she’d tear his/her fangs out and leave them to an eternity of sapping up blood like toothless children.

A most fitting punishment, if you asked her.