As I leapt back I kept my left hand in front of me, a slightly glowing aura around it as I activated the magic of the ring on my middle finger and, almost without thought, my sword-spell brought my flaming no-dachi to my right hand. As I came down out of the hallway, Akiro was to my right, His no-dachi held in a two handed grip and Keio was to my left with his twin katanas held in a typical twin sword fighting stance.
I heard a rasp of steel down the hall and knew the young man had drawn a sword. I watched as the smaller of the two leaned up, murmuring unheard to him for a moment before turning back to face us. I watched as it stepped over the threshold of the Villa, turning back to gesture to the bigger to follow. It walked slowly down the hall as I heard everyone fanning out behind Akiro, Keio and me. I kept my left hand up between us and my sword-spell in my right hand ready to strike as it stepped into the light of the atrium, pulling the hood from its face fully. I heard Akiro gasp a prayer and Keio choked out a 'No' before dropping to his knees, his katanas slapping the tiny stones of the floor as they dropped from his suddenly nerveless fingers.
"Hello, Tre," Kimiko said. "It's been a long time." She smiled a crooked smile; the fang thus exposed marring the picture that I had seen so often in my dreams over the years.
Suddenly I felt a surge of power and heat behind me and I dropped as a lance of fire shot over my shoulder. "No!" I screamed, looking back at Heidi, who cut off her spell though her eyes continued to glow with fire and her hair kept whipping around her as if blown by a hot wind.
I looked back at Kimiko in time to see the last of Heidi's fire disappearing into Robert's sword, held over her shoulder. The Japanese sigils along the blades length were glowing an angry red and the ones touched by the flame were only now returning to that color from the near blinding white they had turned on contact with the fire. As soon as the fire-lance had been absorbed fully, Robert stepped around Kimiko and placed himself in front of her but out of her line of sight and taking up a stance identical to Akiro's double-handed grip.
I stood back up, lowering my magic absorbing ring and letting its power fade, the shimmer around my hand disappearing. The sword-spell also was allowed to drop and it faded into nothingness. I glanced over my shoulder as I heard Tomas speak, a ball of lightning held in one hand ready to throw. "I tried to tell you, Tre. I checked the door astrally as you opened it. She is a vampire, a full-blooded vampire." Tomas shook his head as he let the lightning ball dissipate. "I'm not sure what he is. He has a human aura, but it's like it is crossed with a vampire's. I've never seen anything like it. He is definitely a mage, though. I can sense that much at least, and a powerful one at that."
I looked over at the one who called himself Robert. An unimpressed smirk was on his face as his eyes roamed constantly around the room. I shifted to my astral perception and gave them both a thorough look, seeing that Tomas had called it right on the spot about them. Robert's aura had the glow of a human's but it was darkened by something. I agreed with Tomas's call that it looked like a human-vampire cross. I blinked my eyes and let my focus return to normal sight, turning to look at Kimiko. "What is he? And how did you get past my wards, vampire?"
She laughed and I almost cringed at the way my heart gave a flip-flop hearing that sound again. "You have not altered the way you make your wards in nearly twenty years, love. I recognized the workings and just came through. Your wards were never meant to keep me out. And Robert's human half allowed him to pass through without triggering them." She looked at her protector. "As for 'what' he is. That will become clear in time."
"Is this how Tre Lloyd welcomes guests to his house?" Robert said in a low growl. "With questions and attacks?" He broke off with a low snarl as Kimiko placed a hand on his forearm. He lowered the sword but did not sheath it. I could see that the sigils along its length had returned to their natural black color instead of the glowing red and white they had been.
"No it is not how I welcome guests to my house." I said, looking at him. "But I am not accustomed to having vampires as guests." I looked from him to Kimiko and then slowly back to him. "I am also not accustomed to having the lackeys of vampires as guests in my house. What I -am- accustomed to is being at war with vampires and their allies for the better part of two decades. So you will excuse my natural response and that of my friends." I turned my back on them and walked back over to Keio, who had not moved since seeing his 'dead' twin sister up and walking around as a vampire, kneeling down beside him to check on him. He was staring at Kimiko vacantly and murmuring to himself in Japanese, his hands resting on his swords as if to anchor himself to sanity.
I spoke to Keio quietly in Japanese until I heard the young man speaking behind me. "I am no lackey of vampires, Mr. Lloyd." I looked over my shoulder, noting his sword fairly quivering in anger as he spoke. He stepped forward angrily and Akiro raised his weapon and stepped to interpose himself between Robert and me. Robert once again stopped as Kimiko put a hand on his forearm, speaking quietly to him. He nodded his head, speaking quietly and with a flash of steel sheathed his sword on his back.
I only caught a portion of what he said but it was enough. I rose and spun to face the two of them, pushing Akiro out of the way as I looked at the two figures. "'Mother'?" I said in disbelief. He is your SON?" I fought back the surge of anger that coursed through me, not very successfully and looked at Kimiko. I waited for an answer, my fists clenched and my entire body tight in anger. Akiro and Keio moved up beside me, their weapons also returned to their sheaths but their hands resting on the hilts. I could tell that Keio was still unsettled when he bumped into me trying to get closer to hear.
Kimiko stepped around Robert and walked into the atrium, the young man now revealed to be her son following close behind. She nodded and reached over with one hand to caress each of her brothers' cheeks while looking from them to me. "Yes, Tre, he is my son." I stepped angrily back from her and she shrugged and took advantage of the opening to hug Akiro who hugged her back stiffly with one arm, keeping his eyes on Robert. When she turned to hug Keio, he stepped back from her to avoid the hug and a look of sadness crossed her face.
"So which of the blood-suckers fathered your son? I want to know if I have killed the bastard over the years or not." I forced my hands to open and almost didn't notice as they once again closed into angry fists as I looked at the woman I had loved nearly twenty years ago. I looked from her to her son and saw a flash of anger in his eyes before it was hidden by the alertness that had been there since he arrived.
Kimiko turned away from her twin with a last sad look and walked slowly back over to Robert, turning to look at me. Her long hair floated around her face like a cloud as she faced me. "No vampire fathered him, Tre." She took a deep breath, sadness flashing through her dark eyes. "His father is human, although from what I have seen, he is quite dead." She looked back at me and before I could ask again who the father was, spoke up. "His father is the young man I was with the night I was taken."
My jaw dropped in shock as her words slammed into me full force. "What? You're saying that I am his father?"
She nodded slowly. "Yes, Tre, you are his father." She looked back at him for a moment before turning to me.
"How? When did it happen? You never told me you were pregnant." The confusion ripping through me was making my words come a mile a minute.
"The how is easy. The same way everyone gets pregnant. It happened about two months before I was taken." She smiled sadly and stepped towards me. Once again I stepped back from her, wanting to know more. "We had both told the other that we had surprises for each other. Yours was to ask me to marry you. Mine was to tell you that I was pregnant with your child. I was about to tell you when the vampires burst in and took me. That is why I didn't tell you. I was taken to a laboratory in Memphis and turned into a vampire. I was bitten and turned by Freyja herself." She turned and rested her hand proudly on Robert's arm. "My son, OUR son, was born roughly seven months later."
Everybody in the room tensed as she gestured towards the triclinium and the feel of a spell being cast tickled those who could sense it. Slowly a glass of wine came to her hand and the spell stopped. I gestured for everyone to relax and she smiled, sipping from the wine. As she lowered the cup she gestured to it, "This is a very good year", enjoying everyone's surprise. She walked over and leaned against a wall of the atrium, putting her foot against the wall. "I was given daily feedings from Freyja herself while I was pregnant. This gave me some of her tolerance for human food and drink. It also served the more important purpose for her doing it. It made both me and Robert very powerful."
I looked back and forth from her to Robert. I was stunned, floored with the news I had just heard. "Why? Why didn't you contact me and let me know... let me know that you weren't dead?" I numbly pointed towards Robert, "Why didn't you tell me that I had a son?" I felt rage beginning to build beneath the shock and fought to control it. "Almost twenty years I have fought because I thought you were DEAD! And now you show up on my doorstep, not only NOT dead, but with someone that turns out to be our SON!" I fought back the rage, only able to spit out one more word, "Why?"
Kimiko lowered her head, her hair falling around her as Robert moved to stand beside her. She looked up and stared me straight in the eyes. "I could not contact you at first. For the duration of my pregnancy I was virtually a prisoner in the compound housing the laboratory. I was allowed two one hour sessions to exercise per day. The rest of the time I remained locked in my room waiting on Freyja to come feed me."
She broke eye contact with me and looked at Robert. "After he was born, he was taken from me and only brought back so I could feed him. I was even guarded while feeding him." She looked around the atrium slowly, still speaking quietly. "Once he was no longer being breast fed, my daily feedings from Freyja ceased."
Robert spoke up quietly, a cold anger evident in his voice. "I was taken from her and not allowed to see her except for a few minutes a day. The rest of my time was spent being educated. I learned everything I was supposed to so far as schooling. I was also taught, as far back as I can remember, the history of the vampires in America, Freyja in particular, magical history and theory, personal combat techniques and how to use my... powers." He scowled. "I think I got the sour end of the deal. I was 'gifted' with all of these powers," his voice dripped with sarcasm, "but I was taken away from my mother, I never knew my father until a few years ago. And then I was unable to contact you because I was watched too closely."
Kimiko placed her hand on Robert's arm again. "Neither of us could contact you, Tre. It took me years to work my way into Freyja's trust so I could even leave the compound alone. Before, I was always forced to take escorts with me. I was told that Freyja had invested too much time and power in me to be allowed to wander off and get myself killed by the 'insane' vampire killing mage' that ran around this area." She smiled at me. "It took me years to even find out who that mage was. And when I did I began planning ways to contact you. Until now, there was no way that I could get away from Freyja's eyes and ears long enough to."
