Volume 1.36: Empty

Type: Series
Genre: Urban Fantasy

Rating: M

Characters:  Bjorn, Luca, Melissa, Sarah, Sonja
Word Count: 1405

Glossary: 

Warning: language

The concrete 

calls my name again

I'm falling

Through the cracks I slip

A destination

A fading smile

Another station

Another mile

Another day gone

The Dirt Whispered-Rise Against

“We can’t.”

Those two words were the last thing Sonja wanted to hear.

“What do you mean we can’t? We have to open the door. We have to get them out of there!” She turned to him, her eyes wide with hysteria.

“I mean, not right now. We have another problem on our hands. Ethan was here…” 

The whole time Luca was explaining the situation with Ethan and Cadence, and the hunters, he was mentally preparing himself for another assault from Sonja.

And his instincts were right.

In a blink of an eye the whole basement was in disarray, and Luca lay right in the middle of the destruction, panting for air, feeling each and everyone one of his wounds slowly close up.

Sonja’s wrath had been unforgiving this time around, if it wasn’t for Warrick’s voice in the cellar, begging Sonja to calm down, Luca knew he’d be a dead man. And he didn’t blame her, not one bit, he deserved every fiery orb Sonja hurled his way, he’d put Cadence in harm’s way. Again. He was starting to believe Rudolf’s statement more and more, he shouldn’t have come back; he should have left her alone.

“Oh pull yourself together! You’ll live,” Sonja glared down at him as she cast an ice blast spell to stop the fire from spreading.

Luca knew she couldn’t read his thoughts, but she must have smelled the self-pity seeping through his pores.

“Get up. We have work to do!” She hissed at him as she helped him up  from the floor.

Luca hated taking orders from her, hated that she was in his basement, taking control of the situation he clearly had no reign over, but he couldn’t help but be grateful that she was there, and she knew everything now. It was a huge weight off his shoulders; he hadn’t realized how much of a burden it was until now.

“Get the others. I need to know everything, about Ethan and Cadence, and how far you are with your plans,” Sonja clasped her hands anxiously.

“Maybe we should go upstairs, I think it’s best we talked there,” Luca suggested.

But Sonja quickly rounded on him. “I’m not leaving Warrick. You kept him from me for twenty years, I will not be denied any more time with him!”

For a second Luca didn’t know what to say. The hurt in her eyes was too much for him. He’d honestly thought he was protecting her, but now he could see just how cruel he was, letting her believe Warrick was dead all these years when he was right under her nose. Maybe if he’d told her right from the start they could have done something much sooner.

Regrets. He’d spent the better part of the last twenty years avoiding them. Suddenly now he had so many, and he couldn’t understand how they could all surface like this in one night.

“I don’t understand half the shit you’ve done, Luca. But now is not the time or place to fall apart. My daughter is missing, the hunters are probably on their way back with reinforcement, and when the wolves and my coven get wind of what happened here tonight, you and your clan will be dead before sunrise. We need to move fast, that means no tears from any of us, no pity party. So get the others, we have work to do.”

Luca nodded before he spun on his heel. There was really nothing left to say, nothing else to argue about. He could see now why Warrick had fallen in love with Sonja, and why he’d never stopped believing in her, she was a shitty mother in some respects, and an even shittier neighbor, but when it came down to it, she was someone he’d want to have in his little corner when hell broke loose.

He’d almost reached the landing when something made him stop. It was Sonja’s tearful voice as she told Warrick about Cadence.

“-She’s beautiful, Rick, she’s funny, and kind, but so strong. And oh, she loves to dance. I swear when she dances, it’s like all the angels are singing in heaven just for her, and the whole world is right again. I’m so happy you’ll finally see her dance, you’ll be so proud of her…”

As he slowly crept up the stairs, Luca couldn’t hear what Warrick and the others were saying, their voices sounded muffled, but he thought he heard them laugh at some of her anecdotes.

Their laughter (if it was that), soft and fleeting, was a miracle, one that hadn’t occurred in the last twenty years…

_______

Moonlight Falls

Bjorn and the two sisters had just pulled into a gas station in Moonlight Falls when he got a call from Samuel.

He placed him on speaker so they could all hear him.

Samuel sounded shattered as he recounted Luca’s retaliation and told them about Ava’s subsequent surgery.

“And the-” Melissa couldn’t finish her question, it broke her to even think of it, but if Ava was in surgery then surely the baby wasn’t fine.

“It was touch and go for a while, but the baby’s fine,” Samuel eased their fears with his reply.

“So what do we do now?” Bjorn asked as he followed the sisters into the diner, they wanted to grab something to eat before they pushed on to Sunset Valley.

They chose the corner booth, as far from the prying ears of the other diners as possible.

As soon as Bjorn placed Samuel on speaker again, Sarah made her thoughts known. She felt they should proceed with their original plan, return to Twinbrook with reinforcement, but Samuel wouldn’t have any of it. He came very close to losing both Ava and his baby in one night, he’d seen enough bloodshed to last him a lifetime. There’d be no retaliation from him, and none from their alliance in Sunset Valley.

“We are retiring and we’ll live our lives, do everything we’ve always wanted to do,” Samuel murmured on his end.

There was silence at the table as they all sat processing his words.

“We always think revenge will make everything okay. But the dead don’t know they’ve been avenged, and they don’t rest any easier-” Samuel’s voice on the speaker broke through their silent reveries. But before either of them could say anything, Samuel spoke again. “I have to go, Ava needs me. Don’t look back. Never look back.” And with that the line went dead.

As if on cue, the waitress waltzed over to their table to take their order. Melissa and Sarah dealt with her.

Annie, as the sticker on her chest suggested, returned with their steaming plates fifteen minutes later.

Melissa lit another cigarette, while Sarah stared blankly at her plate.

Bjorn absently reached for his, but he barely touched his food in the hour they were there. He was stunned by Samuel’s announcement.  Hunting was all he’d ever done. It wasn’t in his family for generations like most hunters claimed; he was forced into the business by circumstances.

Watching his grandfather, the only family he’d ever had, die, seeing his blood all over their living room floor and walls, had hardened his very core. He was fourteen then, overwhelmed by feelings of helplessness and fear, but he’d sworn he’d get his revenge on the vampires. And he did. Month after month, year after year, from Sunset Valley to Bridgeport. He’d lost track of the number of bloodsuckers he’d staked, but his kill shots were high up there with the best in their business. It never eased his heartbreak, or erase the image of his grandfather’s lifeless eyes, but each time he staked a vampire he could swear he got closer to his nirvana. And now Samuel was asking him to give it all up and live his life. He knew how to hunt. He just didn’t know how to live…

A little while later, they were on the road again, heading towards Sunset Valley. Bjorn cranked up the volume on the stereo as he pushed his old truck beyond its limits, he didn’t want to talk, and he didn’t want to listen to Melissa and Sarah’s comforting words.

As he burned more miles between his past in Twinbrook, and the uncertain future looming in front of him, he couldn’t help but steal a quick look in the rear-view mirror despite Samuel’s words.

He always knew there’d be an ending someday, he just never thought it would feel this…Empty…

______

Note: the gas station/diner can be found here. I posted it on Tumblr, I just forgot to share the link on FB.

Thank you for putting up with my sporadic updates, my little one has started primary school this year, and I  don't have as much free time as I used to.