Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ A Matter Of Choice ❯ The Truth ( Chapter 18 )

The Truth

 

When morning came Tegan woke late, her head throbbing. She opened eyes but closed them quickly, the light through the curtains too much for her to take. The door opened and her aunt walked in.

 

“So you're awake.” She said brightly. She saw Tegan struggle to sit up. “Come on, let me help.”

With her aunt's help they got her out of the dress she had been wearing the night before and into a pair of pyjamas. Lynn helped her back into bed once more.

 

“I feel awful.” She moaned.

 

Lynn felt her forehead.

 

“You still have a fever darling.” She soothed. “The doctor will be here soon. We will get you sorted out soon enough. You rest now.”

 

Tegan found herself drifting in and out of fretful sleep. Random images from the night before invaded her sleep, sensations, emotions both real and imagined. She tossed and turned as she was lost in the tumult in her mind. It all seemed so fantastical, could that really have happened. She woke suddenly and found herself wondering if it was real or whether it was a fever-fuelled dream.

 

* * * * *

 

The doctor came and went, prescribing rest, lots of fluids and iron tablets. Tegan was in bed with the fever for the next two days, the fever finally breaking on the third day. Feeling weak she pulled herself out of bed. She spent half an hour trying to make sense of what had happened on the way home that night. She staggered to the mirror, pulling the plaster away from her throat. Running her fingers over the wounds she knew she needed some answers.

 

She pulled on her dressing gown and made her way slowly downstairs, feeling more and more sure of her balance with every step. When she got downstairs she saw Stuart at the kitchen table, brooding over a mug of coffee. Unusual as he was normally asleep at this time of day. She walked in, still a little unsteady and sat down opposite him.

 

“Tegan, you shouldn't be out of bed.”

 

“I've already been in there too long. Much longer and I will have forgotten how to use my legs.” She joked weakly.

 

He smiled. “Not much can keep you down.” He agreed.

 

“Has it ever?” She smiled.

 

“How do you feel?”

 

“Getting there. A little unsteady and dizzy, but I don't feel ill.”

 

“That's a start. You should be right as rain in a few days.”

 

Lynn walked in and was surprised to see Tegan there.

 

“Oh, I didn't expect to see you up.”

Tegan smiled, and while it was returned by her aunt, it looked strained. She looked to her uncle, to see that strain echoed in his expression. Tegan felt forced to look away, a tense silence falling between the three.

 

“So.” Stuart said rising, trying to break the tension. “Can I get you anything?”

 

“Some answers would be a good start.” She paused, realising she had been overly terse in her response. “And some of that coffee wouldn't go amiss.”

 

The three smiled, the tension broken, but Tegan could not be denied what she deserved. Stuart sat once more and Lynn attended to coffee.

 

“So where should we start?” He asked, resignation in his voice.

 

“Well, how about cutting the crap about me having an infection and a fall on the way home.” She began sharply, and saw him wince at her language. “Oh come on, I am eighteen.” She snapped at his reaction. “And by what's happened over the last couple of weeks I think I had best grow up fast as the world doesn't seem to be waiting for me.”

 

Lynn put a mug of coffee in front of her, squeezed her shoulder gently, and then left the two to thrash things out.

 

“Right.” Tegan began. “Let's get what out of the way. Correct me if I am wrong, and if these holes in my neck are anything to go by, then I was attacked by a vampire.”

 

He sighed, narrowing his eyes in displeasure at her attitude. “Yes.”

 

“So lets move on to who. You know him.”

 

“I do, though I wish I didn't.” He closed his eyes, fingers rubbing at the bridge of his nose, wishing he didn't have to do this. “His name is Demetriov. He has been alive since the 13th century, though many have tried to kill him.”

 

“So what the hell is going on?”

 

Stuart sighed. “For the best part of a thousand years, no-one knows for certain how long, or when they first came into being, there have been vampires. It may be much, much longer. It was in the 13th century that one our ancestors made a choice to stand up and fight for the rest of us, and he began to hunt the hunters. Eventually they sought each other out and a pact was made.”

 

He looked to Tegan who was listening intently, her expression cold. He suspected that she had guessed where this was going and was trying to take it all in.

 

“From that day on, a male of the family took on the task to destroy them as best he can, the hunters becoming the hunted. Eventually, he would be killed and the responsibility would be passed on. That's the way it has been for hundreds of years through an unbroken family line. As you might have guessed it's my task, and that's how I know Demetriov.”

 

“You have a problem don't you?” She asked after a time.

 

He stayed silent, closing his eyes and sighing.

 

“Unless you have any more skeletons in the closet…” She paused as his attention snapped back her quickly. “…then you are the last aren't you.”

 

“I'm not a young man Tegan; I wasn't when it was my turn to do this.”

 

“So was my dad the one before you?”

 

“No.” Tegan was puzzled; he suddenly couldn't look her in the eye. “No-one knows who your father is or was.” He paused and she could see pain enter his eyes.

 

They sat in silence for a long while. She itched to press him, but the pained expression persuaded her to bite her tongue. It was obvious that this was hard for him.

 

“I hadn't seen my sister, your mother for years when she turned up at my door, eight months pregnant and desperately ill.” He began, his voice quiet and low. “She practically collapsed when I opened the door and was delirious with fever.” Tegan nodded as he paused, not wanting to disturb this revelation. “We did everything we could for her but when you came early a couple of days later she wasn't strong enough. We never did find out who had fathered you.”

 

She saw tears in his eyes and well as hate, a look she had never seen before. She hung her head, not knowing what to say or think. He saw the sudden self doubt in his niece and softened, aware that he had let his feelings affect her.

 

“You must never blame yourself.” He reassured her, taking her hand in his. “Your mother had been sick for some time before she had made it to us, though god knows why she hadn't gone to someone for help before. It was already too late for her when she made it here.” He sighed, looking away, drifting into his own thoughts now. “And so at last the family line is broken.”

 

“But I'm here.”

 

“No Tegan, I would not put this on your shoulders.” He replied firmly. “The tradition has been therefore a reason. The line has been unbroken because the men went out to fight and the women survived. The line has been carried through them. If I would ask anything of you it would be to pass this on to your own son when the time comes and don't let what we have done for hundreds of years be forgotten. But I feel I could not ask you to do that. I want so much more for you.”

 

He got up and leant against the kitchen worktop. Silence fell for a while, Tegan not knowing what to say, coming close to tears.

 

“It was unfortunate that I never had children of my own, you could have been free, but I was happy with my lot in life. When I am gone there is no one to keep these monsters in check, that in itself frightens me.” He admitted softly.

 

“I can't just ignore what has happened, and now I know, what am I supposed to do? I don't know if I could do that to my child, bring them up to that.”

 

“I know, and that's why I won't ask you to. You are right; I look at you and see how much you have grown up recently. This shouldn't be a choice you have to make. I am so sorry that this has happened to you, especially at his hands.”

 

Tegan swallowed hard, she knew she had to say what was on her mind about Demetriov.

 

“When… you know, it happened, I felt so out of control, as if I was watching it happen. I went to him, but it was if it wasn't me doing it. And by the point that the time came, it didn't matter. I just didn't want to fight it.”

 

“He is so strong, and is such a danger to you.”

 

“But why?”

 

“Because of his age which has given him his strength.” He paused for a moment, debating with himself before deciding to reveal his real concern. “That and the fact that for some reason he has developed an obsession with you.”

 

Tegan was stunned, feeling a strange numbness wash over. She didn't know quite what to feel, what to think about this revelation. She couldn't quite take it in, it all seemed so strange, but it might explain his behaviour that night. There had been a look in his eye, a fondness that shouldn't have been there since they had just met.

 

“I blame myself.” Stuart continued, rousing her from her thoughts. “When you were around a year old, I made plans to send you away, to keep you from discovering all this, for it all to end with me. I knew it was only a matter of time before it would be my turn. I had found a family to adopt you, and you could have grown up and taken your own path. I would have but shortly before you were to go to them he tried to snatch you from Lynn one evening.”

 

“What!” Tegan could hardly believe what she was hearing.

 

“I was completely shocked, well being honest, his action terrified me.” He admitted. “I had no idea what his motives were, but I knew that I had to protect you. Once you were gone I would have no way of doing that. I couldn't risk him coming for you again. He tried it again when you were around three. After that I banned you from going out after dark.”

 

“I remember.” She heard herself say almost automatically, feeling strangely detached from this conversation at this point.

 

“I have done all I can to protect you, but as you grew up I had allow you your freedom or it would have choked you. And yet after all that I failed you nevertheless.”

 

“Why? Why does he want me so much?” Her voice trembling, trying to hold back tears.

 

“I don't know.” He breathed.

Again she noticed he couldn't look her in the eyes. She had a feeling that he was hiding something. But that matter would have to wait for a while, there was question in her heart that just had to be asked.

 

“So what now?” She asked, almost frightened of the answer.

 

“You have to make a choice, though I would have you go, go far away from here and all of this”

Silence fell between them once more, Stuart massaging his temples, feeling helpless with the whole situation. She spent a while considering her options.

 

“So.” She began. “I either have to run and keep running for the rest of my life, or stay here and wait for him to try again.”

 

Stuart nodded, sighing heavily.

 

“Or I can stand and fight.” She stated resolutely.

 

“Tegan no!” There was a twinge of panic in his voice.

 

Tegan stood feeling dizzy but managed to steady herself. She felt it within herself that need to stand up to what she feared.

 

“Why should I have to run? Why should I have to sit and wait? Either way I am never going to know when, where or how he will come. Will I be ready when he does?”

 

“No. You won't be strong enough.” He breathed, his voice cracking with emotion.

 

“Train me.” Her tone said that she would brook no argument; it was a command.

 

“You can't be serious!”

 

“You know I am.” There was anger in her voice now and as their eyes met they could see each other's fear. “You're the only one that knows how to fight them. Give me the skills to hold my own. I'll start training at the gym; get strong and as fit as I can. At least give me a ghost of a chance, then I don't have to feel helpless if he comes for me. At least then I might escape what he plans for me.”

 

Stuart hung his head. Her words stung him, and the reason they hurt so much was because they were true. How could he let her go, knowing that one day he would not be there. He had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to do this much longer, he was too old. She would be alone and helpless against one of the most dangerous vampires alive. It was a nightmare that he had prayed would not become a reality for a long time. It disturbed his sleep and had done since she had turned sixteen. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands.

 

“I'll do it.” He said finally, Tegan breathing a sigh of relief. “On one condition. I am going to show you what you are up against, and then we shall see if you really want to stand and fight. Then and only then, will I train you as best I can.”

 

“Okay.” She said quietly.

 

She suddenly burst into tears, unable to hold them back any longer, full of fear. Stuart went to her and held her as she cried. He held her tight as she shook against him, tears forming in his own eyes, rolling silently down his cheeks, determined not to let her see.

 

“I'm sorry. God knows I'm sorry Tegan. I am so sorry!”

 

She let go of it all, all the emotions she had hidden and held back since that first incident, all the emotions on the night of Demetriov's attack. It all came in an overwhelming flood like a dam bursting. He held her for a long time, knowing that while she was growing up so suddenly; she was not yet ready for all of this. As her tears started to slow she started to fall against him having no energy left in her. He lifted her up, carrying her upstairs to her bed. She was almost asleep as he laid her down; she was exhausted, still so weak from her ordeal. He brushed her hair away from her face and she took his hand, their fingers entwining. He held her hand long after she had drifted into sleep, watching her for a long time. He wished he could change everything, make it all right, and stop her from having to make these choices. But no matter what he did it would change nothing. All he could do now was make her as ready as he could.