Noisy bustling, people with luggage and backpacks, overpriced food and ‘I heart London’ merchandise. Yep, another airport. It was time to go home. We hadn’t planned this trip for pleasure, though we were able to see some wonderful sites between our visits with Davor’s progeny.
We were sitting in a terminal at Heathrow International Airport, eating some fast food as we waited for our flight. The table was littered with burger wrappers and stray fries. While the food at the airport was overpriced, it was going to be a long flight and we all wanted to eat something before we took off.
The night outside the windows was lit by airport crew, carting and loading luggage from the building to the planes, and people with glowing batons guided the aircraft to where they needed to take off.
I sipped at my soda, staring out the window but not really seeing – thinking about the visit we’d had with Sava. All of us had talked about how we had felt so comfortable around him. Syla took it to mean that Sava was a good man and one we could count on. Michael didn’t know how to reconcile the erasure that Sava had already done with the kind man that we had met. Antun was unreadable, but I was pretty sure that he trusted Sava to a certain extent.
I understood why he’d done what he had with the records, wanting to help maintain the secrecy that has kept vampires safe for centuries, as much as I hated to admit it. I still debated in my mind about whether manipulating history like that was a mercy to mankind or not though.
Thoughts drifting, they landed on the other vampires he’d mentioned he’d known back then – Zdravka, Rastko, and Razvan. We’d done the research and knew where each of them was. And one was very close to home. The one that Sava had been the most uncomfortable to talk about: Razvan.
Astoria, Oregon was not all that far from Seattle; it was an easy day trip as far as time and distance went. We’d decided that we’d pay Razvan a visit after we got home, then we needed to figure out how best to contact the rest of Davor’s progeny. Three down, six more to go. So far no one had given us any reason to suspect them, and we needed to solve this before it happened again.
A knee knocked against mine – Michael. “What’s on your mind, you’ve got a faraway look on your face.”
What to say? There was only so much I even could say considering our continued need for secrecy. “A lot is on my mind. But its not like there’s anything I can do about any of it right this moment, so I’m trying to not think about any of it.”
“How’s that going for you?”
I gave him a flat look and he chuckled. I couldn’t help the little smile that slipped out from the sound of his humor.
“What’s funny?” Syla asked, wiping her fingers clean with a paper napkin as best she could. Her face scrunched, “Oh, nevermind that, I need to use the facilities to wash my hands. That burger was alright, but now my hand feel all greasy.”
I looked at my own hands, saying, “I need to wash my hands too, they smell like fries.”
“Let’s go,” Syla said, getting out of her seat. “The ladies’ room is right down the hall, I remember passing it on our way here.”
We walked the relatively short distance to the bathroom, and as we washed our hands, Syla looked up into the mirror at me. “Drew?” she asked.
“Hmm? What’s up?”
She turned off the water and grabbed some paper towels to dry her hands. “How are you doing?” She went on, “It seems like you’ve been in your head a lot during this trip. Is there anything you want to talk about? I know the whole… reincarnation thing,” she said quieter, “must be on your mind. I know its on mine.”
“Really?” I said, a bit surprised. This was my problem, it didn’t affect her in the slightest, why was it on her mind? “That’s sweet of you to ask, Sy. Its part of what’s on my mind, but I’ve been thinking more about the… people that Sava knew way back when, the other early progenies. We haven’t met any of them yet, but we at least have a little bit more insight into who they used to be at least. Just nervous about meeting more of them, I guess.”
She looked at me, as if trying to decide whether she wanted to press or not. Ultimately, she let out a small breath just smiled softly. “That makes sense. I’m a little nervous myself. Come on.” She nodded her head to the side, indicating for me to follow her back to where we’d been sitting at the terminal.
Back at the table, the guys were looking at their phones. Antun was looking at his screen with a deep furrow between his brows.
“Antun? What’s the matter?” Syla asked as she sat down next to him again.
He sighed heavily through his nose, pinching between his eyes. “Just once again faced with a decision I don’t know what to do about.” He lowered his hand and opened his eyes. “Got an email from Jones. Apparently, the deaths are continuing to steadily increase. As Jones’ consultant, he was asking for me to ‘work my magic,’ on the bloodless corpse case,” he air quoted with his fingers.
“I’m left with having to decide whether or not to tell him… what I am. I know he’s known somethings been up, with me. Our shared condition,” he motioned to all of us. “Do I tell him what I am and what we know? Or do I continue to let him fumble in the dark on this?”
I let out a low whistle. “That’s a big one. It doesn’t just affect you, it affects all of us if he knows that we exist.”
“Exactly. Is it fair of me to expose our world to him? To you guys? To all v… to all of us,” he caught himself. That wasn’t much like him, to nearly slip up in public like that. He’d kept his secret for centuries, was used to covering up with other vocabulary.
I wasn’t the only one to notice. Michael frowned. “Hey man, it’s been a long few days. I mean, we spent two days in Switzerland and one in England, all a bit of a whirlwind. Do you want my opinion?”
Antun glanced up, looking tired, but he nodded.
“Do you think Jones is the kind to be able to keep a secret?”
Antun’s brows creased in thought. “Perhaps. I only know the man professionally, I don’t know anything about him beyond the badge.”
Michael nodded. “I think maybe you should tell him. How else is he supposed to do his job if he doesn’t know?”
“He’s managed to do fine with his job until now… no,” Antun shook his head. “Not yet. The proof we have doesn’t have context to him at all, he wouldn’t understand the gravity of it. Truth without containment is… contagion.”
I frowned. “Sounding a lot like Stojan right now, Antun.”
He gave the smallest flinch, not liking being compared to someone so cold and ruthless. He thought longer. “Perhaps,” he murmured. “I need to think about it some more.”
“Maybe we hold onto our information for now,” Syla suggested, Michael’s eyes popping open with surprise. “Just until we understand more of what we are dealing with. There’s only so much a normal man could do in the situation anyway.”
After a moment, Michael conceded with a nod, though I could tell by his face that he wasn’t thrilled about the decision. I put a hand on his knee and he looked at me. I gave him what I hoped was a hopeful smile, and it must have worked because his shoulders relaxed and he let out a small breath before covering my hand with his and giving it a squeeze.
We cleared our table and threw away the garbage, taking our bags over to some seats near the windows. But as everyone sat there, reading or scrolling on their phones to pass the time, I felt antsy. “I’m going to go on a little walk. We’re going to be sat for a long time on the plane and I want to take advantage of our current freedom of movement.”
Michael began to stand and I stopped him with a hand on his knee. “I was wanting a solo walk, if that’s okay.” He gave me a concerned look and I hurried on, “I’m not mad at you or anything! I just want a little alone time. Haven’t really had any on the trip and I just need it, you know?”
He nodded, his features softening. “I understand. Make sure you have your phone in case you need something, alright?” I took my phone out of my pocket and flashed it at him to show him I had it, then I got up, kissed his cheek, and started walking. I heard Syla behind me ask if I was alright, and I heard Michael reassuring her as I kept walking.
My mind was full, so much so that it felt impossible to pick out one thing to focus on. Davor’s experiments. The new vampires in Seattle. Going back to work after a long weekend. It was going to be weird going back to work after this. At least I’m not a QCE anymore, though Michael is… he’ll probably have a bit more than usual on his plate since we weren’t in the office on Friday.
I saw a coffee shop, the line surprisingly short, and I thought right then that a coffee sounded good. I got in line, ordered a mocha, and started walking again once I had it in hand. My mind latched onto thoughts of Davor’s Ten… well, Nine, I suppose since Nikola was already dead. We’d met three so far – Stojan, Argir, and Sava.
Stojan had probably made me the most uncomfortable, with how he managed to keep track of everything and everyone. The concept of privacy now felt like a joke. What the hell is privacy when you are being tracked by an immortal on the internet? I took a sip of my mocha and let the bitterness of the coffee and the sweetness of the chocolate dance on my tongue.
Argir I didn’t know what to think of. He’d given me no reason to doubt him, and he was fairly “ethical” when it came to feeding as well, given the profession he chose. And in the end he was helping people, even if it was helping himself in the process. But I wasn’t a hundred percent sure about him just yet.
And Sava. He was the gentlest soul out of them all. Or at least he felt like a gentle person up until it came to what facts survived in the Archives or not. I could understand his goal of keeping vampires a secret from society, though I still had mixed feelings about the whole thing. I was an advocate for truth, and he was editing that truth by omitting part of it.
I sipped at my drink again, my mind sifting through these thoughts as I came back to the gate. I passed the seats and went to the window, looking out over the tarmac. It was mostly dark on the runways, with only small ground lights for guiding the planes. Up closer to the building there were workers driving carts full of baggage, others loading them onto an automatic belt that fed into the belly of the plane, and others still performing various tasks that must’ve been important, but I had no clue what they were.
I felt a hand at the small of my back and jumped, a little startled. Michael grinned down at me. “Didn’t mean to startle you.” His grin started to dip. “Are you okay?”
I nodded, assuring, “Yeah, I’m fine. Just my brain being too busy for me to keep up with is all. I’m wondering if Syla might be right about me possibly having ADHD,” I said with a chuckle.
His eyes softened. “Well, why don’t we go sit? Maybe if you stop moving for a minute your thoughts will slow down.”
I doubted, but I followed him anyway as he tugged my hand. I sat next to him, leaning my head on his shoulder and resting my hand on his knee. I took a sip of my coffee, humming at the flavor and warmth, and laid my head back down.
Michael turned his head, pressing a kiss into my hair. “I love you,” he whispered. “We’ll figure this all out, I know it.”
I twisted a little in my seat, turning my face up to look at his. “I love you, too,” I replied. He bent down and gave me a soft, brief kiss on the lips, pulling away before I could get embarrassed.
Would we figure this all out? I didn’t know, but I wasn’t yet convinced. The symbol from the crime scene flashed through my mind and it latched onto my thoughts. What do you mean, I asked myself. A circle with a cross going through it. I didn’t know what it meant, but it elicited a shiver down my spine. Michael’s arm came around me as he asked if I was cold.
“I’m fine,” I said, already wearing a jacket. “Just a random shiver, no big deal.” My coffee rested on my knee, warming my hands even as my heart chilled further. In my mind, the sigil took up residence and stayed there until the announcement for boarding crackled through the speakers above.
We got in line with everyone else, scanning our boarding passes and shuffling onto the plane. Before long, we were in the air, headed home. I wondered whether this trip answered questions or gave us more.
