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Chapter 3 THE FIGHT WITH THE HIGHER COURT.

It's been three weeks since my introduction to my new family. Tia had told me everything I needed to know about the house; she said they had been living in it for forty years, but she was brought here twenty years ago. At first it was just Jereum and Jhan before Jhan impurified her sixty-one years ago and lastly Leya,who was impurified just nine months ago. She also told me that vampires found it very hard to express emotions as love, care or affection but some found it easier, and these vampires were called living vampires but they have been dubbed Abnormals. They were also visibly less pale than other vampires. We could also recover from grave injuries and could grow back entire limbs. Today was a Saturday, Jhan and Jereum were not at home when I woke up and Leya was at the back of the house—tending to a small garden she took pleasure in.

I was sitting on one of the sofas, waiting for Jhan to come back from wherever he went to so I could bombard him with the mountain of questions I had piled up. I was still in pyjamas, the light blue colour of the material it was made of was gave a nice contrast to my dark skin.

I was still thinking about what Jhan said about me being a Supreme and whatever he meant by that. I hadn't eaten since the day of my introduction, although during the first month I stayed in that attic, (which was now officially my bedroom) Jhan had given me a large jug of thick blood that I drank in less than three seconds. If being a Supreme meant that I didn't need to eat for long periods of time then... No, I hadn't seen any of them eat anything either.

Something touched my shoulders, or someone, startling me. I jut my head to my left where I saw a figure behind me. Tia walked from where she had mysteriously appeared to other side of the sofa and helped herself. She was also still in pyjamas. I looked at her at first, then turned my head to the small table that was in the middle of the three sofas. An ornate vase was set upon it with bunch of fresh flowers I assumed Leya had put there.

"I don't sleep, these are just very comfy," She said, brushing her hands over the silky material of the pyjamas she wore and I completely ignored her.

"How are you doing?" Her voice was soft and caring. I didn't know how to answer the question; the fact that I could not remember anything from my past except for the fact that I was a cancer patient would trouble anybody. Nobody gave me any answers and when I had tried asking Leya, she said Jhan would be able to help me. Now someone asks how 'I'm doing'? 'Well if you must know I think I'm great actually! Yippee!!!'

"I can take you to the playground later... It's this place where many vampires meet to test our strength levels and other abilities."

I pretended not to hear her although I did like the idea.

She heaved out a breath. "You must have a lot of questions... I can help you." I turned to meet her blue orbs. She gave a small smile which I did not return.

But I did have some questions.

"So you—we cannot tolerate sunlight?" I asked, I remembered Leya had told me something like that. She did not answer instead she stood up and headed for the windows. ‘What is she doing?' I asked myself.

On reaching the closed windows she turned around and looked at me. I looked at her, we just stared at each other for about five seconds—she was beautiful. I had almost gotten lost in her pretty blue eyes when she very suddenly pried apart the curtains. Rays of golden sunlight kissed her skin and for a second nothing happened. 'Hmm,' I thought. But before I could think any further she let out an ear defending shriek.

I was entered panic mode; her skin seemed to be evaporating off into the air as some kind of whitish steam.

I rushed to her, skipping over the chair, and dragging her away from the sunlight towards the staircase where I sat her down on the first step. The skin on the side of her face and left arms was burnt away. I looked at the wounds carefully; they were only superficial. She seemed dazed and she rested her head on my chest. I watched the scorched skin start to heal, at first a thin translucent layer of membrane stretched from the sides of her undamaged skin and covering the open injury. Then the translucent membrane started to grow and thicken, taking the colour of her skin as it grew, until it had grew back into mature skin. Not a single drop of blood, I noticed.

"That's what happens when we go into sunlight," she mumbled.

"I'm sorry Tia. I shouldn't have asked that question—"

"No it's okay." She was refilled with energy as she popped her head back up with a very wide smile. "You see? I'm fine."

"The sap from a specific herb prevents the sunlight from damaging our skin, although it only works to a minimal extent."

'Well that explains a lot—I mean a factor like sunlight limiting their movements will be inevitable to escape, except they'd go around wearing five layers of thick cotton under the hot sunlight.'

She rested her head back onto my chest, I hesitated at first but then I put my arm around her to keep myself from falling backwards—only if that was my reason.

"Who was I?" I asked after a few seconds of awkward silence.

'I knew it' I thought. She wouldn't tell me she'd just like the others—wants to keep me here for God knows how long. I turned my gaze back to the ornate vase accepting my defeat when she spoke up.

"If I tell you this, you cannot let anyone know, promise?"

I nodded without even thinking twice and felt a cool draught rush through the windows. She raised her head from my chest and I watched her glanced furtively to either side of the room. She looked back at me. 'You were dying of a cancer when Jereum found you," I was about to ask her how he found me when I was in a hospital but she continued, "It's how we keep up the population, we vampires don't just impurify anyone. You see, we give people a choice," Her voice had dropped even lower than a whisper and I was surprised that I could still hear every word she said, clearly.

"So he was there on purpose..." I reasoned to myself.

"But I don't understand—"

She raised a finger to her lips, clearly telling me to keep my voice down.

"Oh, I'm sorry. So, you ask people before impurifying them?"

"Not just anyone, people who are dying—who want so desperately to live." She said.

"But how could you tell?" I asked her.

"The mind's-eye," She said it as if those three words had magically endowed me with all the knowledge I needed to know.

"Jhan is gifted, he has an ability only very few vampires possess; the ability to read and manipulate someone's mind and memories." She said.

I was still as confused as the time she said 'the mind's-eye' so I licked my lips and darted my eyes to either side of the room. She sighed out a low breath, clearly seeing that I had not understood a word she said.

"He can read emotions?" I asked her, hoping that it had something to do with that. "Well... Yes. But it's more than that. It's actually very complicated we, without it, can never really understand it," She said.

At this point I was actually beginning to understand a little of it. "So what you are saying is that, 'I' decided to be impurified?"

She nodded stiffly with a small smile of contentment.

"But why?" I asked myself.

"That's what you have to figure out." I wanted to tell her that the question was meant for myself but I rather did not bother.

"You know..." She drew closer to me, "I can help you figure out what you want to know."

'Even if I wanted to leave this house to figure it out, Jhan will never let me, unless I sneak out, the thought was satisfying. I will sneak out this night and go to the hospital... I don't remember which hospital it was.'

My heart skipped a beat, and I remembered suffocating on that hospital bed which made me wonder; how did I get to that hospital in the first place? ‘Didn't I have a family? Parents? Siblings? A whole life probably? School, friends? Places I loved visiting, foods I loved eating, TV shows I loved watching. Or was my life always hooked up to a life supporter, had I always had cancer throughout my life?' The thoughts came crashing into my head and I shrunk at the possibility. My mind was racing and I had a sinking feeling in my chest as if a void had opened in me and was swallowing me from the inside out.

"If you want I could ask Jhan about—,"

"No, it's okay I'll ask him myself." I couldn't risk anyone figuring out that I wanted to know about my life, because then, they'll keep a closer eye on me. I needed to gain their trust so I could sneak away and figure it out myself.

I glanced at her, clearly reluctant to ask the question but desperate for a change of topic, "So... Tell me about yourself?" She seemed stunned by the question.

"You want to know about me?" She asked, smiling brightly. 'Please don't make this weird,' I thought.

"Well, when Jhan found me I was a victim of a car crash, a trailer from the opposite direction hit our SUV"—okay, I was beginning to regret asking the question now—"and didn't stop, we were going on a family vacation... My family was killed. I had to watched my sister bleed to death." Her voice had dropped to a very low whisper and she didn't try to hide the sadness in her voice but I wasn't going to start to pat her on the shoulders no matter how sad I felt for her—the last thing I wanted was any form of physical contact what so ever between us—I mean, I had to pull her from those sunbeams, so I can be excused there and I had to put my arm around her when she was resting her head on my chest so I can also be excused there also. "And I couldn't do anything because both my legs were crushed."

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked I—,"

"It's okay." She locked her fingers together and rested them on her thighs.

"I was in so much pain and I knew I was losing a lot blood. I was at the verge of death when all the pain I was feeling vanished and I saw myself looking at my bloody form that was dying on the road. I was so confused and that's when I saw Jhan beside me. By then I didn't know who he was but my first instinct was to ask him for help. He told me that I was dying and that I had less than five minutes to choose life as an impurified vampire or I could die peacefully. He made it so clear that I choose life, I would become a demonic creature and that dying now would even be better than living like that."

She paused and I saw the glistening light of tears at the corners of her eyes—I still wasn't going to pat her shoulders though.

"At that very moment I wanted to die with my family, but then I realized that if I died, I wouldn't be able to remember them. And that trailer that hit us," She hissed the last words, "I needed to get revenge for my family, so I decided to live. And right after I made my choice I woke up in this house; in my room." She finished and there was a long pause. Silence fell between us, I wanted to apologize again but then I decided to ask her another question.

"Did you get your revenge?" I asked her slowly.

She straightened her back, frowning, "Of course I did, Jhan helped me locate him. It was an eye for an eye; he took away the ones I loved, I took away his family and left a note on their bodies," She said.

"What did the note say?" I asked.

She looked at me carefully before answering "I wrote; they really loved you, just as my family loved me."

A tear, that had taken it's time to roll slowly down her face, dropped to her thighs. Was she crying? I thought we couldn't feel love of care, unless she was a living vampire... No, if she was Leya would have told me.

She heaved out a low breath and wiped away a tear.

"I'm so sorry Tia," I said, truly feeling a little hurt for her.

She looked at me. "Do you know what pains me the most? The bastard did not even call for our aid, he just left us to die!"

I did not know which surprised and shocked me more; her clear expression of deep pain and emotion for or the cruel dark nature of what she did to that trailers driver family. I mean, they didn't deserve what came to them, although the trailers driver did. I was confused on the thought of to which side would her actions be justified; killing the trailers driver and putting his innocent family in pain, or killing his innocent family and enacting an eye for an eye justice on him, I knew I wasn't going to figure out the answer.

"I'm sorry Tia." The voice came from in front of us, it scared the colour out of me—I didn't know someone had stepped into the room but Tia did not even jerk. It was Jhan's voice, he stepped into view and then a second person came as well—Jereum.

"I'm sorry." Jereum's voice was rougher. I knew the amount of points of hatred I was earning from Jereum for this. I knew he liked Tia in a way not of love of affection but just of the sake of people liking people—if that made any sense. I knew he was hate glaring at me so intensely so I tried my best not to look at him.

She stood up and climbed up the stairs without another word. Her steps fading as she went higher.

Leya bustled in through the supposed back door holding a wet dripping shrub in left, yellow rubber gloved, hand. Her long blonde hair was dripping water and she was still in a light-blue night dress. She stopped short at the sight of us. I looked at Jereum, whose face was contorted with a mixture of anger and disgust. Seizing the distraction, I stood up quickly to make up the stairs.

"Kaldar."

‘Hell!'

I stopped and turned around to face them. They were both dressed in brown leather jackets, black denim jeans and black boots.

"We need to introduce you to the higher court."

I raised an eyebrow, mimicking what he does, and saw the annoyance start to build up in Jereum's face as he contorted his face in the same way he did with Leya. Leya was still standing at the spot she had been, her big brown eyes looked even bigger today.

Taking advantage of the distraction, (something I had failed in doing) she brushed past me, scurrying up the stairs with the dripping shrub still in her left hand.

"Now? Or..." I asked, hoping that he'd say 'No, tomorrow I was just informing you'.

"Of course now! Or do you have something better to do?" Jereum spat.

‘I do you moron!' The thought was satisfying.

"No, no. We could go when the sun's down," Jhan said, offering a small smile which I happily returned. Jereum just looked pissed all the way. He looked at Jhan with disbelief in his eyes as if Jhan had just decided to kick him out of the clan for me.

"Oh, thank you." I tried to sound as uninterested as I could but it was impossible to hide the contentment in my voice. And Jereum's face at the moment was a sight to see, I wish I had... My phone! Coming to think of it I don't have a phone, I'll ask Jhan about it later.

"It doesn't matter when we go anyway," Jereum said begrudgingly. "Follow me; I'll give you the threads." Jereum approached the stairs and I jumped out of the way in order to avoid him hitting, and knocking me down.

I tramped up the stairs, catching up to Jereum who was already lolling his back against his room door.

At seeing me he twisted the knob and stepped in. I stepped in after him to view a well arranged minimalistic living space. A single wooden table and a chair at the corner, neatly dressed bed, three drawer wooden cabinets with a reading lamp on top. All too arranged for a person like Jereum.

He walked around his bed to the wall mounted wardrobe that was facing us. Pulled the doors open and pulled out identical clothes to the one he and Jhan were wearing.

Tossing the clothes to me he said, "Put those on once it's time." I caught the clothes. He approached the door and I followed him out. I was already on my way to the attic door when he called.

"Oh, and Kaldra."

"It's Kaldar." I corrected. He didn't answer to the correction he just narrowed his gaze on me. "Do NOT be late."

He speed walked past me and started down the stairs.

"Use the bathroom there," He said over the distance. Indeed there was a small door just right beside the main door of his room which I guessed was the door to the bathroom.

Right after that I went back to my attic-room and took a short nap. However, sleeping was not like how it used to be—or how I thought it to be given the fact that I was a dying cancer patient. It was more like shutting down all the muscles in my body, while my brain is still fully active. I could do it for a specific amount of time; an hour or two give or take a few twenty minutes. Leya had honed this skill over time (given the fact that she was the most active sleeper in the house); she could stare at a wall clock, digital alarm clock, watch etc. While in this sleep mode and wait till a specific time to wake up (which of course means that she sleeps with her eyes open... Creepy)

I went into sleep mode for eight hours and when I woke up it was already dark. 'What is the time?... Oh, no. The meet, if I'm late Jereum will finally have a legit reason to scorn me!'

My attic-room was dark but I had realized—some nights ago—that I no longer necessarily needed light to navigate around the house. I could see almost perfectly at dark. I sprinted to Jereum's door and twisted the knob, good, it's unlocked.

The bathroom was tiled entirely in only plane white tiles with a toilet towards the corner. Once I was done taking a shower I wore a black tee shirt with the jacket on top and the black denim jeans. The boots were my exact fit. Hmm, I thought. I laced the boots and sped down the stairs to the parlour.

Everyone was here; Leya, who was wearing a brown rain coat with black leggings and boots. Tia, so engrossed in a conversation with Jereum, was wearing a small brown denim jacket on top of a black crop top, black leggings and boots. I stood at the start of the staircase, looking at them; Leya was fiddling with the buttons on her raincoat and Jhan was staring out of the window.

I took a few steps towards them; Leya noticed me and smiled lightly. Jereum spied me over Tia's head and grimaced. Tia turned as well and—without me even noticing—Jhan was already at my side.

"Where are we going?" I asked, with the hope that we were going to the hospital I was held in to figure out some things about my life... But I knew that was shooting for the stars so I kept my hopes low.

"You need a proper introduction to the higher court and acceptance into the blood," Jhan said.

"Excuse me... Blood!?" I asked.

"Of course 'blood' you dimwit," Jereum sneered and this time it actually got to me... Hurt me.

"Tia will explain to you on the way," He said.

Jhan started towards the small corridor that was beside the start to the staircase. We all followed behind him. He got to the main door, twisted the knob and pulled it open.

I stepped into a small lawn, the moon was barely out and the air was chilly. A few people walked by, totally ignoring us. There was a garage at the left side of the house.

As Jhan walked towards the garage, probably to start their car, I took the opportunity to exchange small talk with Leya.

She was right beside me and was paying attention to a firefly that had just landed on her nose. "Leya..."

She turned her head—the firefly beep-flew away gracefully—and looked at me.

"So... Do you know how old Jhan is?" I asked her, hoping for a straight forward answer.

She looked at me for about five seconds, each passing second only made me regret asking the question.

"He's a hundred and sixty," She said simply.

My mouth fell open but the loud honking of a black minivans horn distracted me from pondering on the mind blowing fact I had just engulfed. Jereum took the front seat—second to none huh? I thought, which left I Tia and Leya to the back seats. The car slowly started to move.

"Kaldar?" It was Tia, I barely heard her the first few times—I was too engrossed in watching the yellow light from the street lamps flash by as we drove down the road.

"Kaldar!" She said more persistently. That was enough to catch my attention.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just... Never mind. Yeah, what is it? Tell me about the blood—that's what you wanted to tell me... Right?" I remembered Jhan telling me that Tia will fill me in on our way there.

"Yeah, sure. The blood." She said.

"Okay, The blood are our higher court, they are the oldest living vampires and also the ones who make our laws. They keep the peace between humans and—"

"Wait, humans know we exist?"

"Not really, but if a human does find out they use their mind's-eye to manipulate their memories."

"Oh, so Jhan can also manipulate memories?"

"The mind's-eye can only be used to effectively manipulate the memories of ignorant humans or vamp-pi-erz—"

The minivan suddenly screeched to an abrupt stop; throwing Leya—who was sleep-moding—forward, and Tia to the left, making her shoulder crash into me. I heard Jereum curse angrily a few times and then I heard Jhan trying to calm him down.

"Is everyone okay?" Jhan asked. His voice was surprisingly calm.

‘Did we get hit or something? Did the brakes fail?'

"All good." Tia confirmed as she pulled herself from me. Leya just looked vaguely dazed by the whole incident.

I heard the front door open and in a flash, Jereum was out of the car, bellowing curses at some figures a distance in front of our minivan.

"What's going on?" I asked to no one in particular. I was beginning to feel either afraid or slightly frightened. My heart was pounding and I did all I could to suppress the fear from my voice but I was already breathing out of harshly.

Jhan exchanged a few looks with Tia who then exchanged the same suspicious look with Leya.

"Tia!? What's going on?" I asked in a more controlled voice.

She looked intensely at me for about five seconds before saying, "It's the dalaz boys." Or at least that's what I heard.

I looked through the right side window—the car had swerved sideways. I easily spotted about seven figures and an angered Jereum drawing closer to them with every curse he threw. The street lamp that shun above, casted gloomy shadows around them. They stood beside each other, giving only about a meter of space between themselves. They hung their hooded heads low, their hands held at their sides wielding wooden stakes.

‘Oh my! Why won't he stop? Can't he see their weapons?'

"They are holding weapons, why won't he stop? Can't they hurt him?" But nobody seemed to pay any attention to what I was saying.

"Jereum can handle them," Leya said, but I wasn't convinced. The odds of the situation—if it excavated into a fight—was not in Jereum's favour. And this did not seem like a friendly encounter.

I couldn't just stand by and let this happen. I pushed open the door towards Tia side and hopped onto the tarred road. The air was chilly—compared to the warmer air in the minivan. Jereum was very close to the one in the middle now—only about a meter of space between him and the black dressed bandit.

"You tyrants better get you Abnormal asses off this road before I tear you to SHREADS!!!" His voice suddenly became inhumane.

He took a quick leap forward, launching the sole of his boot into the mid-section of the unfortunate that was front of him.

The hooded figure went tumbling back towards the ground and finally stopped after a few meters of painful rolling. It surprised me greatly. The attack—which looked like a simple kick—sent the person tumbling a great deal through the air before finally trashing himself and rolling over against the tar.

One of the tyrants—one to the left—tried in an attempt to stab Jereum with the wooden stake he held... But failed; Jereum caught his hand by the wrist, lifting the tyrant off the ground and threw him with an incredible force against the building to the right. The tyrant slammed into the concrete walls, breaking off parts of concrete on collision, and dropping to the ground.

I was amazed by his unexpected skills. Maybe this was the reason the others didn't even bother. Jereum should have been a master combatant.

One to his right swung his stake towards his turned back, I was about to yell a warning when Jereum turned on his heels with the speed of the wind and sent his fist into the tyrants face; the tyrants literally soared through the air and slammed against the same spot the other had—caving deeper into the wall on collision before dropping onto the first.

The remaining four that were still on their feet hissed at him as they took cautionary steps back. All their pupils seemed to be giving off a reddish glint and I could see their prolonged canines.

What happened next all happened so fast; one of the tyrants conjured a small phial bottle. The tyrants threw the bottle at Jereum's face; everything seemed to slow down and I charged forward from the spot I had been standing. The bottle collided with Jereum's face and broke apart, the liquid inside immediately started to burn away at his skin. Jereum fell to his knees and let out an ear deafening shriek, clutching at his melting face.

One of the tyrants sent a big boot into Jereum's chest which sent his head slamming into the tar—cracking the solid ground. The tyrant swung the stake back and then brought his hands crashing through the air and towards Jereum's chest.

I was filled with adrenaline, and I had only one thing I mind; save Jereum. The speed at which I moved was impossible to comprehend, it was like I had warped though space and just somehow teleported in front of the tyrant. I pushed him back with a strength I didn't even know I had. The tyrant was thrown into the air, soaring about fifty meters back.

"Woah!" I exclaimed.

I let out a grunt in agony as a sharp pain lanced through the spot between the base of my neck and my left shoulder.

"Argh!" I screamed. I looked at the area and I saw the latter of a stake that had been pierced so deeply into my body. I felt the skin and muscles there start to burn away. A beast-like power spawned in my chest and it was banging to be released on them.

I looked at the three of them. The red glint in their eyes was gone and all I could see in place was... Fear.

"What are you?" One of them asked.

"Can he be a Su-supreme?" One asked the other that was now acting leader.

At that point I was filled with so much rage my thinking seemed to be clouded.

"WHO DID IT???" I bellowed before sending my fist into one of them who flew just as far back as the first. I grabbed another one of them, throwing him with so much power into the last one. All of them seemed to be unconscious. I spied the first three that Jereum had knocked out start to wake up and dived for them.

A loud cracking sound then a very fast whiff of air and a powerful force sent me flying backwards through the air and slamming hard onto the ground. The force so great I slid across tar, ripping and breaking a path as I scythed backwards against the ground.

I was almost dazed; it was a struggle to get back my on feet and now there was only one thing on my mind; to rip apart whoever had hit me. I saw the others; Tia, Leya and Jhan. They were out of the car and approaching my assailant; the person was dressed in a red robe with golden embroidery designs an a hood over his or her head.

I was filled with so much rage I couldn't even think straight. I got into a squatting position and then with incredible strength and power, I pushed myself off the ground, soaring through the air and towards the red hooded figure. Everything had paused all around me or was just moving too slow.

I was speeding through the air with my fist outstretched to deliver a skull cracking blow. I was only about an inch away from victory but then... The person turned around with an incomprehensible speed, getting below me and grabbing me by the jacket. Pulling, throwing and sending me with my own velocity head first into the hard, cold tar. My skull smashed into the ground, I heard the words, "insolent child," and I instantly lost my grip on consciousness.

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