Esme had become a vampire at the age of twenty-one, the same day as Tristan, who’d been twenty at the time. With Earth now fully aware of supernaturals’ existence, they’d spent the past decade earning Harvard and West Point degrees, before they moved on to study various tribes of Earth. After that, they’d even done several trips to the In-Between and the Supernatural Dimension during periods of peace—specifically, after Azazel had been defeated, and after we’d gotten rid of Ta’Zan.
Ariana and Julian had occasionally entertained us with stories from their trips, often aided by photos and videos sent via satellite and email servers. Most recently, Tristan and Esme had been living with the Amazonian tribes, including the one discovered by Taeral and his crew—the strange combination of humans and werewolves, not far from Earth’s pink water cave.
“Do you need us to do anything?” Tristan asked, looking at Derek and me. We both shook our heads.
“Nethissis is doing her thing. So is Amal. We’re just patiently waiting,” I replied.
Esme smirked. There was a devilishness about her, an aura she’d inherited from Ariana, whenever she smiled. It reminded me of Kyle. Esme’s hair was long, dark, and curly, much like her mother’s. Tristan fell within the same physiognomy, his shorter curls occasionally falling over his forehead. They both had deep green eyes. Sometimes, I felt as though I was looking into Anna’s eyes, not theirs.
Character-wise, however, Tristan and Esme were polar opposites.
“Okay, so, it’s you and Derek, Tristan and me, Amal and Nethissis, right?” Esme said, recapping yesterday’s discussion. During that GASP meeting, we’d made our selection, insisting that the team be kept small. As expected, most of the officers present, including my father, had not been too happy about it.
“Yes. Few but mighty.” Derek chuckled.
“I still think you should at least take a dragon with you.” Julian sighed. “And a sentry.”
“And a white witch. And a werewolf. And a Perfect. And I could keep going,” Derek shot back, slightly irritated. It was nothing against Julian, but rather against the mindset. “We’re going to visit a new world. We’re not going to invade it.”
“They might mean you harm,” Julian insisted.
“Dad, not everyone is out to get us,” Esme replied. “Besides, Nethissis is more than capable of holding them off, should things get rough. But we’re not giving them any reason to behave aggressively toward us.”
“Ta’Zan got the day-walking protein from them somehow. I don’t think we’ll have issues communicating with them,” I said. Julian looked at me, his brow furrowed.
“You don’t even know what they are. What species. What kind of people. What culture they have.”
“But that’s the beauty of it!” Tristan replied, smiling. “We’re exploring. We’re going over there to meet them. We’re making contact with a new civilization, and the last thing we want is to appear threatening. We want them to consider us benign, perhaps even friendly.”
Derek cleared his throat, his attention briefly drawn by Lumi, Nethissis, and Kailani talking, somewhere at the back of the shuttle. “Julian, I don’t want us to go there, guns blazing, demanding their blood. The Hermessi ritual has taught me a valuable lesson about the universe and its natural balance. I don’t want GASP to become some kind of world police, where we consider ourselves entitled enough to just walk into a new civilization and ask them to give us things—especially blood, the very life force that allows us to exist.”
“As we explained yesterday, we’re going for a more cultural and diplomatic approach. We want to meet them,” I said. “We want to get to know them, to understand them, and most importantly, to figure out what made their day-walking protein stick so well to Derek’s DNA.”
“You think they might be some kind of vampire,” Ariana replied, reminding me of a theory we’d floated during yesterday’s meeting.
I nodded briefly. “It’s a possibility, yes. Either way, we want them to give us what we need, willingly. Unless there’s a direct threat to our planet, we’ve decided not to consider any kind of armed or supernatural interference.”
“That means your asses are on the line,” Julian said, scowling at Tristan and Esme. “Did you both get that part during yesterday’s briefing?”
The siblings nodded in perfect unison. “It means that, should one or more of us get hurt, no one else from GASP is to engage these people,” Tristan said. “It’s a risk that Esme and I are both willing to take, especially if it gets us closer to a day-walking cure. I don’t know about you, Dad, but I’m kind of tired of hiding from the sun and living in darkness. I think I speak for the entire species, at this point.”
Ben shook his head. “Dad, if you and Mom get hurt out there, we won’t just sit back and do nothing. You know that, right?”
“I need you to at least consider it,” Derek replied. “Haven’t our worlds been through enough, already? If the worst-case scenario comes to happen, and we find ourselves in danger on Trexus-2, then so be it. We can’t start a war with another civilization over the day-walking protein. It’s ridiculous. I will not have the blood of any other Shadian or GASP agent on my hands for this, okay?”
Esme smiled. “Besides. We’re assuming the terrible version of possible events, and we haven’t even left Earth yet.”
“That being said, it’s why Sofia and I are leading the mission,” Derek said. “Should we be successful, we’ll return with enough blood samples for Amal and Amane to synthesize a cure for our sensitivity to sunlight. If we fail, then that’ll be it. I have faith that our children, our grandchildren… our family and friends will be able to take over.”
“God, Dad, stop being a drama queen,” Rose muttered.
I had to laugh, just to defuse the swelling tension that threatened to cloud an otherwise beautiful, moonlit morning. “You’re right, it’s not going to get to that. We just wanted to make the protocol clear, that’s all. We’ll know when to leave and what to do once we get there. It’s truly unhealthy to start speculating now,” I said, looking at Julian and Ariana. “Tristan and Esme will be fine. At the first sign of trouble, we’ll reassess our situation.”
“But the data we’ve gathered so far did not yield any information about them being a hostile nation,” Tristan replied. “The few images we got from the telescopes did not reveal any conflict zones or other indicators of violence. That says a lot.”
Things didn’t look grim at all, from my perspective. We were leading a small team into a new world, hoping we wouldn’t have to steal the blood we needed for the day-walking cure. Naturally, resorting to such methods was still an option, in case the creatures didn’t want to give it willingly, but this, too, required that we make ourselves look friendly and trustworthy in order to get away with it.
Frankly, I was looking forward to putting this mission behind us. Achieving a cure for the sun would make our lives incredibly easier. Getting this out of the way would then allow Derek and me to go back to our plan for another child. We hadn’t abandoned the idea at all, but we’d agreed to put it on hold, at least until after the trip to Trexus-2.
We’d been through so much that we needed to take our time, going forward, regarding our decision to adopt. The universe felt different, after we’d almost lost everything in our dealings with the Hermessi.
But if we got through this mission without a hitch, then I knew we’d be in a good position to finally raise another Novak in The Shade. A clear sign from the universe that we could truly move on.
Esme
I didn’t want to be afraid of what we’d find upon reaching Trexus-2. Compared to what our people had been through in the past, I was really happy with a plain exploration mission. To be fair, after GASP’s dealings with the Hermessi and Ta’Zan’s programmed Perfects, I had a feeling we wouldn’t be dealing with such extremes.
This was important for Tristan and me. Our grandmother had been a revered and beloved immune. The gene had skipped over our mom, as well as my brother and me. But if there was anyone who understood the value of blood as life force, it was us. This was our opportunity to make vampirism more comfortable. For too long our kind had lived in the shadow of night, slaves to darkness and fearful of the sun.
Personally, I didn’t care that much for the day-walking protein itself. I’d become accustomed to my nature. I’d grown fond of the night and the moon. But my brother longed to walk in the daylight again, and so did my parents. I was doing this for them. I wanted to see them happy.
Besides, from a tactical perspective, the fewer weaknesses that our species had, the better positioned we’d be in the future. Vampires could live forever, if they were careful, and being able to live in both daylight and darkness would be an extraordinary advantage. In my family, I was the only one who applied a military approach to pretty much everything. Unlike Tristan, I’d loved my time at West Point, and I’d enjoyed every second of GASP training as well.
Not that my brother couldn’t hold his own—on the contrary, Tristan could be a fierce fighter when he wanted to. But he never exhibited my passion for combat. No, I was the soldier among the Vaughns. I took after Great Uncle Xavier.
“How long till we take off?” I asked, glancing back at the shuttle. Douma and Dmitri were both inside. I could see their figures through the smoky windshield, fiddling with the control panel. Lumi, Nethissis, and Kailani were preparing the spell paraphernalia, their proprietary blend of herbs, minerals, and powders, which they would place in ceremonial bowls at different points across the pentagram. The symbol was to be drawn in the sand, around the shuttle.
“I’m not sure. Maybe an hour or two, tops,” Sofia replied. “I’d rather we take our time with this and make it to our destination safely.”
“No, I agree,” I said. “Sorry, I’m just anxious.”
Tristan shot me a grin. “Relax, sis, we’ll get there.”
I probably wouldn’t have done this without Tristan by my side. My brother and I shared a deep, unbreakable bond. He was my courage, and I was his comfort. We’d always been like this—to the outside world, I was the warrior and he was the scholar. But there was more to us. Tristan had a tendency toward violence when it came to protecting the people he loved, so having me around tempered that part of him, because I was more than ready to kick and claw at anyone who dared to try and hurt us.
At the same time, I drew my strength from him, especially in new situations such as this. We were going to another world, a foreign place about which we knew little to nothing. All I needed was to look my brother in the eyes to know that I could pull through, no matter what. Derek seemed to understand the dynamic between Tristan and me, perhaps better than most people outside our family.
“You two are so tight,” he said, smiling. “You remind me of Ben and Rose.”
The vampire twins chuckled softly, giving each other loving grins. I could only imagine what they’d been through, especially after the Hermessi incident. Ben had returned from the beyond twice, now. I was in awe of the guy, all starry-eyed whenever I looked at him.
“I’m serious,” Derek added. “Not all siblings I’ve come across are so close to each other. Ben and Rose have a good reason, being twins, but you two… I’m a little stumped.”
Dad laughed. “They’ve been like this from the moment Tristan was born. Only a year in this world, and Esme already knew that she’d be looking after him for the rest of her life.”
“As they both grew up together, the feeling became mutual,” Mom said. “The small difference in age must’ve played a part, but Julian and I think it’s mostly due to their characters. Tristan and Esme simply love each other beyond everything else.”
Sofia smiled at us, and I felt like one of the tribespeople my brother and I used to study in the Amazon jungle. Like we were the ones being observed, in our natural habitat, with our bonds and habits and such. “That will get you both a long way,” she replied. “A good brother or sister can make all the difference in the world, when it truly matters. I mean, look at Lucas, Derek, and Vivienne.”
