CURE THE NIGHT By Harry Ubhi

CHAPTER SEVEN

Its been 30 minutes since Ethan has been rescued or kidnapped, he saw it from both perspective. The journey had been quiet so far, the car light shone overhead, killing the darkness in the van. Ethan watched Amber who sat directly opposite to him, she was avoiding his gaze, he contemplated which of the thousand questions in his head right now he should ask first. The fact he was on his pajamas was the last thing that came to his mind.

Ethan kept his gaze on Amber, she looked everywhere except at him, he needed an explanation. Amber let out a sigh, accepting defeat, she looked at him straight in his eyes

“I know you have a lot of questions…” Amber started

“hell yeah” Ethan cut in “will you start by telling me what the hell are you all?”

The dark skinned guy cast a glance on him, Ethan saw this from the corner of his eye but ignored him.

“okay, you want to know? Fine, we are vampires, half blood vampires” Amber answered.

Ethan took that as a joke, he looked for a facial expression on her face to prove it, but found none, was she being serious?, the laugh died down in his stomach as he gulped, he thought of Darris, how he was unhurt by the bullets, his great speed, his superhuman strength, there were no logical explanations for those.

“everyone at the party is a vampire, when I said we meet once a month, I was talking about us vampires, and the symbol? That signifies us and..” Amber continued

“hold on!” Ethan cut in, it was too much for him to process. “ah! This must be a fu*king dream, yeah that’s it I’m dreaming, I’m still cozy in bed, all I have to do is wake up, that’s it” Ethan said, laughing.

“you are not in a dream, we are real, vampires are real” Amber said

Ethan widened his eyes, his heart already at a pace. He searched for a word to say but his brain failed him, he only ever heard of vampires in stories and see them in the movies. The new knowledge made him ever curious about their destination

“okay..okay… lets say you are all blood sucking freaks, what’s with me? How does this relate to me? Why do I give a f*ck!?” Ethan asked, his eyes already scanning around for a weapon or anything he could use for his defense just in case it got down to that.

“two reasons” The dark skinned guy replied, “one you are the cure”

“what cure?” Ethan asked, never looking at him.

“you can cure vampires Ethan, your blood’s the anti-dote” Amber replied.

“you’re fu*king kidding me”

“no I’m not, you can cure vampires, full bloods, not half bloods like us”

“like I fu*king know the difference between the two sh*ts, what the hell does that mean?”

“I can’t explain that, leave that to the person we are taking you”

“and who the f*ck is that?”

“my dad”

“let me guess, he is a blood sucker too”

“he is a vampire too”

“bloody-F*cking family! What’s the second reason?”

Amber flushed, looking away, noticing he wont get an answer, Ethan looked in the direction of the dark skinned guy who also looked away.

“she marked you! Of all people on earth, she marked you!” Darris shouted form the driver’s section.

“what does that mean?” Ethan asked

Amber was still all red cheeks, she shyly raised her gaze to look at him.

“i..i.. the other night I saw you all beaten up, I took you home and i… kind of….”

“she marked you dude, that means you’re her mate, all vampires mark their mate, it creates a link between the two, something bad happens to one, the other is poof!’ the dark skinned guy explained. “oh, and you get to breed with a mate” he continued, smiling sheepishly. “I’m Richard” he grinned.

Ethan looked back at Amber, who was already in a shell.

***

The digital clock read 2am, it was already two hours on the road, the rest of the journey had been as silent as a graveyard. Sleep fleeing from Ethan as he chewed on the revelations. The van got into a bumping frenzy before grinding to a halt. The engine died and Darris yelled “we’re here”.

Richard opened the rear door, the sky showed little hint of light, Richard stepped out of the van beckoning on Ethan. “come on Ethan”.

Ethan hesitated, the hand of Amber halting him as she handed him a bag, “change into this” she said without looking at him, climbing down the van and closing the rear doors for his privacy.

Ethan looked into the bag, observing its content, a green T-shirt and a trouser, the words ‘I’m rich’ printed on the shirt, Ethan smiled. She had a sense of humor, the smile fading almost immediately. Ethan got into the clothing in record time, they fit perfectly, she knew his actual size, how the f*ck does she know these things, oh yes, she isn’t human. She must have some psychic ability, Vampires had those stuffs right?

Ethan opened the Van’s rear doors, climbing down to meet the waiting party of Darris, Amber, Richard and the blonde guy.

“thanks for smashing my head, such instinct might just keep you alive in this fight” Darris remarked.

Fight?

“by the way in case you’re thinking of telling me a little sorry, it gone” Darris joked as he pointed a torchlight to his head, no visible signs of an injury. Ethan was sure he caused one when he shattered the bottle on his head. “we heal pretty fast, you can close your jaw”

“let’s go” Richard signaled.

It was an open space, sky met earth East, West and South, the elbow tall weeds covering most of the surface, they spared a path though, clearly visible under the moonlight, the path led to a distant building, afar off several meters below the height of where Ethan observed from, the crickets sang loudly, shutting up as they walked the path, Continuing their songs behind them. The building which Ethan observed to be a barn was bigger as they approached, bigger than when seen from afar. A wind mill rotated to the soft wind, squeaking as it does. The weeds bent in the direction of the wind, the cool air soothing to the skin.

The barn was dark, no sign of light, it was fenced round by barbed wires. As they approached the fence, Ethan could see it was heavily guarded. Darris whistled, the huge spiked gate pulled open by some guards. Ethan looked around as they entered the territory, nothing felt right about this place. Darris pushed open the door of the barn. Ethan could see nothing in the barn, it was dark and the earth rumbled beneath his feet.

“why the f*ck is it dark in there?” Ethan asked

“look, if we’re gonna be in good terms, you’ll have to trust us” Darris replied.

Ethan turned at Amber who didn’t utter a word as she went into the barn, swallowed by the darkness, Richard and the blonde guy followed suit. Darris gestured, urging Ethan to go in. Ethan had anything but trust for this lot, but he had come this far to seek answers to his many questions, he stepped into the barn, taken aback when the lights came on, illuminating the whole place. Ethan looked around, several people stood , some on the upper decks, some sat on the tractors, on the ground, they were of different ages, from young kids to grown men and women, Ethan felt all those eyes on himself as they all looked at him, with piercing gazes.

Ethan stood, clueless, Darris walked past him towards the crowd to a man, sitting on a finely crafted chair, his eyes were different, it was as red as blood, just like the men from his dreams, his fangs visible, preventing him from fully closing his lips, his nails modified into claws. He looked like the leader here, he must be Amber’s father, Ethan thought, Amber was not within sight as Ethan scanned.

Darris whispered into the man’s ears and walked away. The man rose to his feet prompting every other person to stand in unison. His red lined robe flowing to the ground.

“Ethan” the man spoke, his voice deep and thunderous, “I am Victor, Amber’s father”

“yeah, I noticed” Ethan replied

“do not be afraid, we do no harm” Victor said as he gestured to the people around him.

Ethan nearly laughed to the irony in that.

“I know you have many questions but before that let me explain firstly why you are here, I was made to understand you know what we are” Victor continued

“yes, vampires” Ethan tried to be polite, the sight of victor was threatening.

“good, good. 1394, the first vampire on earth came into being. How he became a vampire remains a mystery, some say he made a deal with the devil, other said he fell sick, who knows?, this vampire by the name, ‘Draco’, spread this affliction to five other men, his brothers. They became the first vampires, the originals. More and more mortals were turned into this….creature, myself involved, we were the full blood vampires. But something happened that has never happened before, a full blood vampire fell in love with a human, she conceived and bore him the first half blood vampire, half human, half vampire. 1642. Darris was born, Amber three years later”

“what the…?” Ethan quickly held back the word, 1642?, “that makes them?.....”

“age 22 in many years, they stopped aging at the age of 22. Back to my story, the success of this full blood vampire led him to convince others to break the code, the code of Draco. The atrocity as Draco saw it continued many years behind his back, we were mixing the races. It wouldn’t be hidden forever though, nothing under the sun is. Draco found out, but it was too late, the half bloods had already increased in population, scattered across the land, the half bloods already had half blood sons and daughters of their own. Draco was vengeful, he killed almost all full bloods who cross bred with the humans, I only survived.”

“okay, I know that’s some big sh….” Ethan cautioned himself again. “but where do I come in?” he asked

“Nature always has its way of checkmating the unnatural, once in a 100 years, a child is born, this child has a peculiar gene, the blood of this child can cure any full blood vampire. Draco saw this as a weakness, a flaw, for every 100 years, he has searched for and killed every curer but there was a pause. For 500 years, no curer was born, Draco dropped his guard, he assumed they had ceased to exist, he didn’t search anymore. My daughter, Amber just a fourth-night ago, choose her mate. This mate as fate had it, was the curer. She had found in one night what Draco searched for years. The full bloods has waged war against the half bloods, but with you Ethan, we have hope, we can win this fight, we can spread fear amongst them.”

“wait…wait… before the drum roll. How do you know I’m the curer?” Ethan asked, unconvinced that someone like himself was of much importance.

“The curer always has visions of the originals, some of the future, some of the past and some, warnings. I believe you see them in your dreams”

Ethan gulped down, no denying that

“And also, the scent of the curer’s blood is unique; it is like the red roses, a fragrance so strong. I can smell it from here, it is like a trap with cheese, drawing a rat to its end. You attract the vampires.”

Ethan felt like smelling his armpits, fragrance? What fragrance? Ethan observed this man called victor, he sensed a change of mood in him, his feature has brighten a little from when he first saw him. He looked like a man with great joy. “if I can cure the full bloods, why can’t I cure the half bloods?” he asked

“that is one advantage the half bloods have in this fight, as we do have sunlight on our side as well. Half bloods can walk in the sun as you must have noticed, full bloods cannot.” Victor replied, taking his seat once more. “so Ethan, the choice is yours, my daughter’s life might be in your hands but I shall not force you into this, will you join this war on the side of the half-bloods? Will you help defend the half-bloods against Draco and his brothers?”

Ethan could sense the anticipation around. He had isolated himself ever since he lost his treasures, he never thought he had anything to offer, he thought he was condemned, trashed, but here he was, he was needed, important, he has the opportunity to prove himself even to himself. He never thought these things were real, he never thought he himself was a kind of freak. He was in many ways same than different as these people around him. He felt he belonged, this must be his destiny, this must be what fate was trying to push him to when he lost everything. But was he ready to care again?, To love again?, To take this huge responsibility, this mantle.

The crowd gave way behind Victor’s seat, Amber walked out behind her father, her eyes locked firmly on Ethan as he looked into her eyes, he felt her in his head.

“please” she said to him without even moving her mouth, she spoke into his head. Ethan could feel all her emotions, like it cruised through his vein. He felt how much she needed him, how much she loved him, how far she would go to protect her family. It was like nothing he had felt before. At that moment, he felt his defenses break. The barrier he had built around his heart, shattered into pieces.

“I’m in” he said like a tamed lion.

The whole place erupted into cheering and applause, the hostile and gloomy faces, all lightening up as the half-bloods celebrated his acceptance. Amber smiled at him as she walked back into the midst of the crowd, loosing Ethan’s eyes.

“You have made the right choice, son” Victor said with a fang exposing smile.