"Music is the language of the spirit.It opens the secret of life bringing peace, abolishing strife."

Kahlil Griban

I rolled on the other side in the silky red sheets. I don’t know for how long I’ve been sleeping I looked outside and it was night. While picking up some new clothes from my suitcase I felt a shock of adrenaline flow through my body. Four vampires were waiting down for me. I think it is some sort of fear, especially that Ian guy. For the moment Charlie is the only person I could really trust, or not even her. I don’t know how she acts when she is with the others and it is disturbing.

I’m hearing my rushed footsteps on the hallways. The lobby isn’t that crowded. I headed towards two doors, where I presumed was the restaurant. My eyes scanned the room. At a round table I saw my companions. They all looked at me and Charlie waved. I shyly made my way to them. Lisa patted the chair next to her. I took a seat. A long minute passed and we all starred at each other.

“Lisa ordered some food for you,” Charlie said.

“Thank you,” I dryly responded. Again, that annoying Ian had a burst.

Charlie looked at him and then he stiffened, his jaw was tight and he gave me a dangerous look. He then raised an eyebrow and smirked at her. The perfection of his face made me sick. I was at the edge of jumping at him and bruising his stupid face, although it was more likely for him to bruise mine.

“So, James, we are leaving tonight after you eat, we are leaving for Munich. Near this town in Germany, Wolf has a house. We are going to stay there for a while,” Charlie calmly explained. I was speechless.

“I think he needs a drawing,” Ian said.

“Ce tout! Ian, I think it’s enough,” she turned at him.

“Yes, this is not a time for joking,” Wolfgang’s firm voice interfered. Lisa smiled at me.

Dinner passed slowly. Everybody seemed absorbed by their own thoughts. From time to time I could spot Ian with the corner of my either glaring at me, or whispering to Charlie. The last one for some reason made my stomach twist in all directions and my blood rush to my temples.

“We should be going now. Schiphol may be very crowded this time of the year with holidays and all,” Wolf broke the silence.

“Right, Lisa could call a taxi for the four of us,” Charlie said.

“I’m going at the lobby to request one,” Lisa replied in almost whisper.

“Make it five,” Ian shot at her. Charlie looked at him confused.

“Seriously, Ian, you are not coming, aren’t you?” she asked.

“I am.”

“But, mon Dieu, what’s the use to it? You can beat us to it!”

“Its better this way, safer,” he stubbornly replied.

“I don’t understand why you are doing this when you can simply fly,” she paused. A shiver ran down my spine and my face grew pale. Fly, Ian was a meta. That explains his slightly pointy ears.

Charlie did mention after all that she knew vampires from Carpatinlock. This is the reason why the community there is so exclusivist, because they are meta-vampires. They could change from vampire to bat at their free will and fly, no to mention that they were faster and stronger. They were Dracula’s descendents.

Just like this morning, the sky was black, it was way passed dusk. Too bad I only got to see Amsterdam only when night falls. The road to the airport was solemnly quiet. At the airport, Charlie was by my side all the time. The others kept a distance; they probably were not used to my presence.

“Here,” Charlie passed me my ticket. “I was thinking you would like to spend some time by your own kind, that’s why the passenger next to you is human,” she smiled.

“Oh…” I was thinking I will be staying with her.

“I and Ian are going to be right in front of you and Lisa and Wolf will be just behind.”

I shrugged even though I was feeling a little strange, since Charlie is my ‘guardian’ or whatever…no…I did not need protection. The hell with it! I painted a careless pout and scanned the seats. Ian protectively guided Charlie to their seats. I just took the place behind her. I felt just like my second year in school. Pansy Thompson was the prettiest girl in our class. She had silvery blonde hair and ocean blue eyes. Everybody wanted to sit next to her. The most exited one of us was Danny. He desperately wanted to impress her, mostly from doing stupid things. She usually accepted his company and defended him in front of the other kids. One day I said I’d help her with her books, she accepted. The next day she willingly wanted to sit next to me and the fallowing ones too.

I annoyingly twitched and clenched my fist. My head to the other direction, because I saw Charlie looking up to Ian and talking with him. I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Next to me came a girl with curly black hair. She shyly smiled and of course nervously blushed. I just nodded. My annoyance got to its apogee when she leaned her head on his shoulder. She had no reason do it. It’s not like she could sleep. After a few more glances I gave it a rest. I started feeling dizzy. I rolled my eyes. I seriously think Charlie has been putting something in my food. I eventually fell asleep, with my head propped against the window. Charlie woke me up by rubbing her hand against mine, just like a mother would to her child. It sent the regular chills up and down my spine.

“Hey, sleepyhead!” she smiled, a pink bang hanging over her forehead.

“Yeah, I’m up,” I accepted her hand and got up.

She still didn’t let my hand go as we made our way through the crowd. Of course, the love sick puppy was waiting us by the door. He shot me one of those deadly glared and continued. Charlie eventually let go of my hand. I wanted to pick it up again, but something inside me knew it wasn’t right.

Of course it was dark outside, so I didn’t see anything. Only when I got out of the jeep I was hit by a stinging wave of coldness. The ground was mild and moist covered in all the colors of autumn. I was surrounded by a compact forest. The sky was clear and I could count all the stars and admire the full moon. I looked around me. Among the aeruginous oak trees I could see emerald cedar trees and their scent was intoxicating.

Our small group moved along towards a hut; a combination between a hut and a mansion actually. It seemed very old, but in very good shape. It was made of thick wood. Wolfgang opened the door. It didn’t even creek. The room was dark. Wolf’s first impulse was to look for a briquette and light the two chandeliers. The hallway immediately was brought to life. The walls were white and full of flaws. There was a stair case just in front of the door. On my left-hand-side there was a closed door, probably a study. The right-hand-side led to a new part of the house. There was a wide open room with a big window, compared to the other small and rectangular ones. It was covered by moth-eaten curtains with a matching rug in front of a fireplace. There were a few tall armchairs, not to mention also eaten by moths. One wall was full of a hollowed bookcase. The smell of old books invaded my nostrils. What really caught my eye was the black piano between the window and fireplace: unscratched. The room next to it was the kitchen. It had suspended cupboards along the wall. They were filled with colorful clay made pots. A thick and long oak table was on the right, but only a few chairs were around it. What didn’t fit in the picture was the gas cylinder oven. In front of the wide living room was a simple bedroom with one bed.

“This could be your room,” the blond German told me. I nodded and entered.

“Well, we’ll let you unpack and get some rest then,” Charlie smiled at me. It was so unfair that she couldn’t sleep, but she still didn’t forget that I had certain needs such as eating and sleeping.

Her eyes shifted to her companions. They left us there.

“Are you okay?” she asked me.

I glanced at the bed. “As I’ll ever be,” I said breathless.

“I know you can’t be just all fine and dandy, but I’m trying,” she helplessly replied as she came closer. Sometimes she could such a prude. She could burst out into tears so easily. A melted silver tear streamed down her cheek. With my thumb I wiped it down and even though it was as cold as ice to me it seemed smelter hot.

I wanted to tell her that she was doing great, but I couldn’t. I just stared at her. She sighted. Could she understand me? I leaned closer, big mistake. I was again breathless, apparently she forgot this was one of my need, or maybe not. She turned away.

“Good night, James.”

“Night, Charlie,” she closed the door behind her.

I took my time to get undressed and prepare for bed. Silence dominated the hut I heard a few voices outside my room. Since it was facing the living room, I slowly cracked the door open.

“Ferras?” I heard Wolf’s voice.

“Yes, James Lucas Ferras,” came Charlie’s reply.

“What about him?” Ian’s harsh and nasal voice spat.

“He may be Ferras’ son,” a shiver went down my spine. How did they know my father?

“His father was also a slayer, so he told me,” Charlie said. “Did you know him?”

“He was one of the peaceful ones I had ever met. But he died,” Wolf replied.

“Maybe he was a little too peaceful,” Ian said in mockery.

“No, actually,” Wolfgang’s voice was clearly annoyed. “He had this encounter with a new vampire. You know how wild they are, but he tried to talk to him; explain that it was wrong. He tried to understand him. Instead, the other vampire killed him, ripped his flesh and buried it,” I was getting paler and paler.

“My God, does James know?” Lisa’s voice was a whisper.

“No…I mean he knows some vampire killed his father, but not like this…” Charlie’s fainted voice replied.

“Who murdered him? Do we know him?” Ian asked. Who gave him the right to? But anyway…

“Robert was on the loose in those times. Robert killed him.”

“No…No!” Charlie’s horrified scream filled the room.

After listening to their little conversation I propped my unstable body against the wall and slowly shuffled my back against it. Cold beads clanged to my forehead. My head fell heavily to my palms.

I couldn’t sleep last night; those red eyes haunted me in my nightmares. I was now even more determined to help. I am just curious if they’ll tell me. I’m not going to ask them or something. I woke up early in the morning. When I got out of my room, Charlie and Lisa were talking in the kitchen. They were so different, but still the best of the friends. Lisa was the first one to notice me.

“Wow, you’re early. Come eat breakfast!” Charlie invited me to the thick table. “Now, all Wolf could get us was some eggs, milk and bred, but tomorrow we’ll have some more food.”

“It’s okay,” I answered as I nervously bit my lower lip.

“Lisa is a great cook, over here,” she motioned towards the girl, who was boiling some eggs.

They were quite good. When Lisa left us alone in the semi obscure room, I looked up at Charlie. Of course she was smiling; no sign that she was hiding anything.

“Charlie?”

“Huh?”

“Are you putting something in my food?” my words surprised her.

“James, I…” she lost her words.

“Don’t do it anymore, I want to stay awake, now more than ever you’ll need me.”

“We can handle things…” she tried to say. “Sorry, I won’t do it anymore.”

I finished my breakfast with a cold cup of milk.

“You can go out and explore or read a book or…” she started.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s way too sunny today for me. I will be resting.”

“Where are the others?”

“Lisa is in the study, doing God knows what and the boys left last night, but they will be coming back.”

“How long are we staying here?”

“I don’t know, until we receive a letter form Carpatinlock,” she answered.

“A letter?” I was in disbelief. Weren’t there phones our other ways of communication?

“Well of course. They need to get things ready and making swords and scouting the enemy’s grounds is really hard,” she looked at me as if I were born yesterday.

I rolled my eyes. “You bloody vampires live for so long, you should be the first ones to adopt or even create new technology.”

“Such as?” she raised a brow.

“All the computer studies and detectors and weapons!” I was really annoyed.

“Rubbish, better our old fashioned ways. Plus, you kill a vampire only stabbing his heart or what organ is replacing it,” she defended herself.

“No, he does have a point,” a heard a voice from behind. Wolf and Ian just entered the room.

“You are not taking this seriously?” Ian was stupefied.

“I am. Tell me James,” Wolf gestured at me to continue.

“Well there are these plasma and blood detectors and special radars. And guns can slow a vampire down,” I said enthusiastically. Ian glared. My heart was savoring a little victory dance.

“Do you have such things with you?” apparently Wolfgang shared my enthusiasm, but my bubble burst. I had nothing of these, but there was Danny.

Danny wasn’t the most reliable person, what with all his too many ‘friends’, but if he could understand the situation. I was willing to risk it. I checked out Charlie’s confused deer eyes and then shifted my eyes to Ian’s obnoxious smirk.

“I could…If you let me bring someone else?” I asked.

“No!” Charlie said. “This is enough!”

“Yeah, that’s right!” Ian came in her support.

“Fine,” Wolf said.

“Thank you,” I replied.

“Wolf!” both Ian and Charlie looked at him as if he was insane. Ian step forward. A dangerous spark in his sea green eyes.

“Ian…” Wolfgang tilted his head towards the study.

“I can’t believe this!” Charlie stormily went up the stairs.

I just shrugged and went back to my room.

Later that night, I had dinner with all four of them. There was a pressuring silence. After finishing my porridge, Wolf came up to me.

“Tomorrow, you can go to the gas station nearby and phone call to England,” he said.

“Thank you,” was all I could say.

Then we went to the living room. The fire was made for me and there was a chandelier on the black piano, but I decided to pass, but when I returned to my door I let the door cracked open.

“Why don’t you play us something, Wolf?” Lisa asked her boyfriend, while she deepened into an armchair. Ian just leaned by the wall in a dark corner.

Wolfgang took a seat on the stool.

“What would you like?” he asked.

“Why don’t you sing ‘A La Claire Fontaine’ with Charlie?”

Wolf started the introduction of the song, and then Charlie picked up with the lyrics.

“À la claire fontaineM'en allant promenéJ'ai trouvé l'eau si belleQue je m'y suis baigné‚? her voice poured like silver.

«¦lt;/iSous les feuilles d'un chêneJe me suis fait sécherSur la plus haute brancheUn rossignol chantaitChante rossignol chanteToi qui as le cœur gaiTu as le cœur àrireMoi je l'ai àpleurer‚?

I had no idea what she was singing about, but it was simply angelic.

«Š'ai perdu mon amieSans l'avoir méritéPour un bouton de rosesQue je lui refusai/Je voudrais que la roseFut encore au rosierEt moi et ma maîtresseDans la même amitié‚?

My eyes flickered towards Ian. He had a warm smile on his face, almost imperceptible.

“À la claire fontaineM'en allant promenerJ'ai trouvé l'eau si belleQue je m'y suis baignéJ'ai trouvé l'eau si belleQue je m'y suis baigné/Il y a longtemps que je t'aime/
Jamais je ne t'oublierai‚?

She finished the melody. It was so magical. I could now go back to bed. Her song was like lullaby. Her voice was so soothing, it always is.

¦lt;/p