Destiny Demons

Dad had let Casimir, Lothair and Leonidas, yeah, the same Leonidas that I just read about dying, know that the coast was clear. They had been living here since before Dru"s death and they never left. When I told them about Abby and how I thought she was Dru, they left for the night so that we didn"t overload her. But now we were going to reunite her with her previous family and she was so excited to see them. Well, Casimir and Lothair at least.

We were all sitting at the dining table when they arrived. The doorbell rang and Dad gave me a little smirk as Abby jumped up to answer it. As she opened the door, I could hear the excitement in her voice as she saw them. She nearly jumped for joy as she swung her arms around Casimir"s and Lothair"s necks. But when she saw Leonidas she stopped.

"Leonidas," she said as she lowered her eyes to the floor and turned back toward the kitchen. I had just read about how they had loved each other and were to have been married. How she had seen him die and she mourned him. I couldn"t help but wonder if it was because he was a vampire now or if there was something more that happened and I didn"t know about.

I figured I would find out later after everyone went home, so I left it alone. Abby led them all into the kitchen, Mom and Dad jumped up and gave them all hugs. I stood and gave my greetings to them. Aunt Denise and Uncle Leiman waited patiently for introductions. After I was done saying hi to everyone, I turned and looked at my Aunt and Uncle and started, "Aunt Denise, Uncle Leiman, this is Casimir, Lothair and Leonidas, or Leon." I motioned to the three of them. They all bowed their heads as I turned and continued, "Guys, this is my Aunt Denise and Uncle Leiman. They"re Abby"s mother and father in law. Well, former in laws," I corrected. Abby smiled and stood between my Aunt and Uncle.

She put her arms around their necks and added, "Casimir is a Krznik, a warrior of G.o.d. Lothair is a lycan, more commonly known as a werewolf. But don"t worry, he"s tame." She smiled a kidding smile at Lothair and he accepted and he accepted it with a warm smile. He stood not much taller than she with his longer brown hair that had waves throughout. His hazel blue eyes faded into his tan face with his thin lips outlined with a goatee. His frame was small and slightly feminine.

Casimir, on the other hand, stood tall, towering over everyone. His long light blond hair was nearly white and in a ponytail at the nape of his neck. His dark brown eyes were nearly black against his fair complexion and pierced everything he looked at through his thin metal framed gla.s.ses that sat on his thin nose, completing his soft facial features. He slouched in his long, dark blue trench coat, I think to hide how tall he really was.

"And this," Abby continued as she motioned to Leon. "This is Leonidas or Leon for short. He is a vampire, but he doesn"t drink human blood so don"t worry. He won"t bite you." She finished and walked over to me without regarding Leon again. She met eyes with him for a moment then dropped them. I thought I saw guilt or regret wash over her face.

"Dinner"s ready," Mom announced and we all took seats around the large table. Abby sat next to me and Aunt Denise on the other side of her. Mom was on the other side of me, Dad to her left. Leon and Lothair sat across from us with Uncle Leiman at the end of the table between Casimir and Aunt Denise.

Dinner was great, there was steak, baked potatoes, with all the fixings and fried okra that Abby ate her weight in. Leon was the only person who didn"t have a plate of food. Instead, he had a big soup mug of blood in front of him. Lothair didn"t have a baked potato or okra, just a steak, a very rare steak.

We all sat eating, talking and laughing. Abby and Casimir told us about a time that they found a lair of vampires, Dru, being c.o.c.ky, waltzed in casting out her appeal to attract them to her. She let them all come to her thinking that she was just a helpless girl mistakenly finding them. "She extends her arm out to the leader of this coven and he takes it, sinking his teeth into her wrist. The others inch in closer waiting for their turn. The leader pulls back and gives the rest a signal and they all jump on her biting her everywhere, " Casimir explained. "I watched from a distance, knowing that if I jumped in to help, Dru would surely kick my a.s.s." He chuckled and Abby nodded with a smile.

"I watched in horror at the events that transpired before my eyes. Finally, they all go flying away in an explosion of bodies as Dru stands laughing. Her fangs were out and one by one the vampires realize what they all had done. They had signed their own death warrants. The leader yelled or should I say roared and that was when I ran in and struck the leader down in midair as he lunged at her. The fight was on then. Dru and I fought them all off, prolonging the inevitable death of the entire coven."
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"Yeah, Casimir went all Krznik because there were so many of them." Abby chimed laughing.

"I had to. There were easily twenty or so vampires and two of us." Casimir remarked, "It only lasted but a few minutes or so before the first burst into flames. Then one by one, we saw them ignite. G.o.d, I remember the sound of their screams, it was horrifying." Casimir pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers.

"Nonsense," Abby argued. "It only lasted a minute and they were all piles of ash on the ground. It was the silence after that was deafening, though."

"No, it was a relief," Casimir said frankly. He and Dru didn"t always see eye to eye. Casimir saw himself as a crusader of G.o.d, bringing peace with resolution without violence, where Dru loved the violence of being a huntress. She didn"t see peaceful resolutions existing with vampire. She would rather just kill them all. This in itself caused some friction between them. I wondered if it would still be there now that Dru or should I say Abby was a bit more humane now.

"I have a question," Uncle Leiman announced.

"Sure, Leimen, shoot," Abby said.

"You said the vampires burst into flames? Why?" Uncle Leiman asked.

"Any vampire who should drink the blood of a Kethra shall feel the infernal flames rise from within the belly of the beast." Abby announced as if reading from an old library book. Then she continued in a more normal tone, "Basically, Kethra are half demon and the demon blood ignites the dead blood within a vampire."

"What exactly is a Kethra?" Aunt Denise added. "As in, where did they come from? The origin? What makes a Kethra?"

"h.e.l.l, I don"t even know that much," Dad announced. I was surprised that he didn"t know.

"Okay, everyone, time for a history lesson," Abby giggled. Moving to a position that all of us "Mortals" could see her and everyone looked at her as if she were a teacher in front of the cla.s.s.

"About twenty-five hundred years ago, there was a demon named Katheras who had many enemies. Man after man would challenge him and die. But every time he would defeat one, another would come with a bigger army every time. Tired of the constant fighting, Katheras created an army of man"s greatest weakness," she paused and motioned to herself.

"Women?" Aunt Denise asked.

"Yup," Abby answered. "Women were the perfect a.s.sa.s.sins. They could seduce a man and two or three could get to the leader and take him off alone with offers of s.e.x. Once they were alone," Abby finished with a cut throat motion.

"Oh, my..." Aunt Denise gawked.

"Yeah, they were almost like locusts. They would spread like a plague. They had to be stopped." Casimir added.

"Really?! But you said..." Aunt Denise started but Abby intervened.

"Those were the original Kethra. When Ketheras was still alive, the Kethra were bitten and they would drink his blood in return and that would cause them to lose their self and their souls. They became complete monsters." Abby explained, "When Ketheras was killed the originals died with him."

"But..."

"But not all of the Kethra had drank his blood. For those who had not yet tasted his blood, remained immortal, strong and fast, they regained their souls and continued on. Many tried to return to their families and live full lives. Some wandered on, alone, disappearing in time. Over the years, the Kethra"s numbers dwindled away. Without a purpose, so many of them just gave up." Abby looked down. "I guess that was the reason I wanted to be an indestructible master of war. It gave me a purpose." She looked around and smiled.

"So now what?" Denise asked.

"Well," Leon started.

"We take it a day at a time." Abby interrupted, their eyes meeting again and Abby dropped her eyes. I thought I saw a shroud of guilt on her face.

After dinner, Mom and Denise sent us all out into the large poolroom. Abby walked over to a panel on the wall and pressed a couple of b.u.t.tons and a floor panel slid slowly across the pool, covering it with hard flooring. "There, now we have plenty of room," Abby laughed and looked at Lothair, "Thanks to Lothair"s brilliant mind that is." Lothair just smiled.

"You thought of that, Lothair?" Uncle Leiman asked, "That is pretty ingenious!" he finished with a laugh.

"Thank you, but Lena helped a bit," Lothair added.

"Who is Lena?" Uncle Leiman asked and the room went silent and everyone looked cautiously at Abby. I presume they were all waiting for her reaction and answer.

"She was my lover," Abby answered solemnly. "We were companions for over three centuries before we were killed, thirty years ago." She sighed, "She was the one who designed this house. She was brilliant and creative."

"And a bit meticulous. Maybe even a little eccentric." Lothair laughed.

"Yeah, maybe, just a little, "Abby chimed and used her fingers to show quite a bit. We were all laughing when the ladies came in singing, "Happy Birthday," and carrying a cake with lit candles. Dad, Uncle Leiman and I jumped in as Casimir, Lothair and Leon watched. They all looked at each other amused as Abby blew out her candles.

"Thank you, all. This has been a great birthday. I"ve got my family, my memories, my house and now my immortality," she smiled, "I love you, guys." Tears welled up in her eyes as she gazed around the room.

Looking around, everyone nodded their heads with smiles on their faces. Casimir was the one that caught my eyes, though. The look in his eyes as she spoke was of pride and pure joy. I didn"t quite understand it but I a.s.sumed that he was just happy to have her back. Abby cut the cake and nearly everyone took a piece. Leon and Lothair, of course didn"t.

We spent the evening talking, reminiscing and laughing in the pool room. Everyone had pulled lounge chairs to the center to close in a circle. Aunt Denise and Uncle Leiman both seemed to like hearing about Dru. The crazy stuff she had done and survived to tell the tale. Dad chimed in at one point telling us about a time that she had saved him from a group of vampire wanderers.

"He had gotten sick of us, I guess. He wanted to be alone, away from all of the protection. So he went off by himself, sneaking out without anyone knowing." Casimir was saying.

"Yeah, I was being rebellious and stupid, went out into Brisevane Woods. Alone. In the dark." Dad was emphasizing every word. "Very, very stupid!

"Suddenly, I realized that I was totally lost and alone. I heard whispers and twigs snapping. Oh, my G.o.d, I was so scared. Then they stepped into the moonlight and I went from scared to terrified. There were like six of them or so and they were arguing about who was going to get me." He shivered but continued, "Just as I had decided that this was it, Dru comes bounding into view. I couldn"t even really see her clearly because she was moving so fast. All I could see was a streak of red hair and the vampires fall to the ground. In a matter of seconds, all six vampires were dead and Dru"s light green eyes stared into mine. I could see the anger in them like flames and that is when I knew I was in big trouble." Dad said as he looked at Abby.

"Oh, yeah, you were," Abby said laughing. "I was so p.i.s.sed at you but kind of glad that it happened because then you realized why we were so protective."

"True," Dad agreed and we all laughed in agreement.

"Well, we had better be getting home," Aunt Denise said as the night got late.

"Yeah, we should be heading home, too," Mom added.

"Ok, you guys drive careful and call if you need anything." Abby said as she rose to hug everyone and walk them out. Casimir, Lothair and Leon all shook Uncle Leiman"s hand and Casimir gave Aunt Denise a hug; I guess being a soldier of G.o.d makes him a hugger. She accepted it warmly and turned back to Abby.

A few moments later my parents and Aunt and Uncle were gone and it was just the guys, Abby and me. "You already know that you all are welcome to stay, right?" Abby said as she walked back into the room.

"I"m glad to hear it, though," Casimir said properly.

"Well, you just did, Silly," Abby giggled.

Casimir chuckled then walked toward her, putting his arms around her shoulders and pulling her into a hug. "I"m glad you"re back, Dru." A tear welled up in his eye and he corrected, "Sorry, I know, Abby."

"Yeah, and it"s really good to be back where I belong, with my family." She looked at Casimir and laughed, "You know how it is, my home is your home."

"Thank you and welcome back," Lothair added as he pulled her into a hug.

"You"re welcome," she said into his chest.

Leon stood silent this entire time as if he were an outsider. I had never seen him so outcast. He usually did it himself as if he didn"t want to get close to anyone. He never really smiled a lot or really said much. I always thought that maybe he just missed Dru. But now Dru, or Abby was here and he was still the outcast. He stood with his face down to the ground as if it were normal for her to ignore him.

She glanced in his direction before turning to leave the room. She called back; "Good-night" and I could hear a slight waver to her voice. I got up and followed her with questions on my mind.

We got to the room and I couldn"t help but ask, "What"s up between you and Leon?" At that, she froze and turned slowly to look at me. "I know you two were in love like six hundred years ago. I know that you loved him. What happened since then that makes you two so… distant from each other?" I blurted out.

"Who told you that we were in love?" she whispered and narrowed her eyes at me.

"Well," I paused. "I kind of read your diary, the next pa.s.sage, where you wrote about being bitten and then turning. About Ca.s.sondra and you sneaking to the castle, watching and waiting for Leon to show up and when he finally did, you watched him die. I"m sorry, I know I shouldn"t have, but I just couldn"t wait," a small huff of air escaped her as a smile crossed her face.

"Well, if you had continued, you would already know the answer." She walked over to the wardrobe and picked up the diary. She thumbed through the pages till she got to the next entry which was dated five years later. "Here," she said as she sat down next to me on the bed and handed it to me. "You read the next one, alone. I can"t read it," she sighed. "It"s too upsetting to read. Then I"ll be upset and I"d probably run in there and give him another piece of my mind. The last time didn"t go over so well. And I still didn"t tell him." She finished and looked down at her hands that were folded in her lap.

"Tell him, what?" I asked, curious now.

"I have never told him about that night," she said as she motioned to the book. "Just," she started as she stood up and nearly stomped to the bathroom. "Just read the next pa.s.sage and you"ll understand." She quietly closed the door, leaving me alone, at the foot of the bed with her diary in my hands.

Confusion swam in my mind as I stared at the closed door. "I wonder what happened. Was it that bad?" I had to know so I looked down at the diary, cracked it open and began to read.