Ravenswood

Here's the next chapter of this series, one that continues to put a different, more unique Sci-Fi spin on the age-old vampire myth. By the way, as a reminder, the term 'vampire' is one of a human construction and not one of the Terrian lexicon. Therefore, they don't call themselves vampires, regardless of any similarities in their abilities.

Because it's science fiction there are aliens, good ones and bad ones, and yes, the good ones are here to stand against those who would suppress the more fragile human race. In this chapter, Maura learns more about her friends and finally tells her story, the one that led her to Earth.

This chapter could be rated PG-13 for action, but I still like to caution my readers. I hope you enjoy it, leave a comment once you've read it. Good feedback is the lifeblood of any writer...dreamweaver594.

8-A Fireside Chat

An hour later, Maura sat in the hearth seat silently looking at the flames licking the logs in the fireplace. She held a metal rod and idly poked at the base of the fire. Vera opened the back door that led from the outside into the kitchen. She was carrying a sling filled with firewood. She walked over to the hearth and deposited the wood in an old box well worn by years of use.

"What was I talking about? Oh yes, the council... They serve Lord Vaida and was sent here to this world to protect it from all who would subdue and enslave humanity." Vera walked to the kitchen and washed her hands. "It's a heavy responsibility that none of us take lightly. Humans are precious to us; all life is precious. There are others in this universe that don't view it that way and we have to fight that battle every day."

Maura was amazed at this revelation. She glanced over her shoulder at Vera standing at the counter. "Then you are not human?"

"Humanoid, like you, yes, but human from this world, no. We are Sirin. We're a very ancient race of energy weavers. We came from our galaxy through a portal in the Sirius star cluster."

Maura got up and walked over to sit on a stool at the island counter. She picked up a knife and began to peel and dice some potatoes.

Vera continued. "My ancestors arrived here more than ten thousand years ago, sent by Lord Vaida and the Council of the White Brethren. We were sent to create an energy barrier to protect humans from others in this galaxy who would prey on their frailty. The weave has lasted all that time."

"Until now?" said Maura.

"Yes," she nodded, "until now."

Maura paused then pushed her cuttings to the center of the wooden counter. "Are you angry that I came?"

Vera walked past her to the hearth and grabbed a log from the wood box to place it on the open fire. She turned and moved to sit next to Maura at the counter. "At first, when you and Jason met, I admit I was concerned. Jason is a very trusting soul and, while it's one of his most endearing qualities, it also can lead him into trouble. He wasn't able to fully protect himself so I had to take a few precautions. The protective charm you encountered was one of the precautions I placed on him without his knowledge."

Maura nodded as she touched her lips. "I will admit it was very effective."

"I do my best work protecting my grandson," Vera's eyes twinkled as she hugged Maura's shoulders. She stood up and walked around the counter. "But when he brought you to see me and I looked into your heart I knew that the charm wasn't necessary."

"What did you see?"

"Confusion, anger, pain...love, compassion, and a gentleness I had not seen in your kind before. And there was something else I had not expected."

"Huh?" Maura looked up, puzzled.

"It's something I'm not quite sure of yet, and I need to ask a friend before I can say more."

Fear crept back into Maura's expression. "Will I be killed, Vera? There were members of the council that seemed quite determined."

"Fear motivates them right now and you're under my protection. We've lost many weavers lately to raiders from your world and they're just reacting out of anger and frustration. Soon they will see you for who you really are. Besides, when you shared your blood to give my grandson back to me, I knew that a bond between us was made that will never be broken."

Maura's eyes glistened with Vera's words. She nodded and began to peel more potatoes. A moment later she looked up. "What do the Sirin know of us, of Terrians I mean?"

"Well, we've been aware of your existence since you arrived in this part of the galaxy several millennia ago. The weave that keeps the worlds apart does so for the safety of both. We know that your life span is longer than humans and similar to Sirin. We know that animal blood protein is part of your diet but not your sole diet. That need was developed, we assumed, from the fact that your bodies cannot maintain blood plasma. You have to replenish it periodically from other sources. It must have been some sort of genetic mutation in your distant past and was probably what drove you into this part of the galaxy in the first place."

Vera got up and walked over to the sink to wash more potatoes. "We know that you've developed a technologically advanced society that rivals most worlds of your age, including Earth's. And along with that, you've managed to develop synthetic blood, or synth-blood as you call it, to reduce your dependency on natural sources."

She turned to Maura and smiled. "The one aspect of the Terrian abilities that always intrigued us was your capacity to purge humanity of its baser elements. It appears to be a natural instinct of the Terrian to seek out the darkest energy and to eradicate it, a very noble instinct. It's as if you're drawn to negativity like a magnet. Nonetheless, there are Terrians, and other races from other worlds, that through laziness, or greed, askew the noble cause for much baser desires and intent. I suppose as there are good humans and bad humans, and the same can be said for Terrians."

Vera brought the bowl with washed potatoes to the counter. She retrieved a large stew pot and placed it on the stove, then lit a match and started a fire under the pot.

"Some of your kind managed to slip through over the millennia that you've shared this part of the galaxy with Earth. You've become the stuff of legends in human folklore dating back for thousands of years because of that. They even invented a term for you, the vampire, based on ancient folklore."

Vera smiled as she dumped diced potatoes into the pot. "We also found that Terrians are a secretive race. I suppose they have to be that way just to survive and compete amongst all the worlds that exist in this part of the galaxy. They, like so many others, found it easy to take advantage of the physically weaker human form. What many from other worlds don't understand is that the physical weakness in the human form is made up by the strength of their spirit. Unfortunately, negativity is so addictive for the human as well. They are easily susceptible to outside forces whose intent is to dominate and destroy. If a balance could be sustained between Terrians and humans, and it was ever handled properly, it would be a way for both races to coexist symbiotically for the betterment of both. But," She paused and sighed. "Negativity breeds contempt."

Maura stood and crossed the kitchen to toss several more diced potatoes into the stew pot. "As you said, there are good Terrians and bad ones."

"Just like good humans and bad ones," nodded Vera. "It's late daughter, why don't you stay with Jason for a while. He's asleep but I'm sure he'd still enjoy your company."

Maura nodded and crossed the room to open his door. She slipped into Jason's room as quietly as she could. She could hear him breathing gently and sensed that he was healing quickly. Her Terrian blood, now mingling with his own and coursing through his veins, was working swiftly to heal the wounds in his body. She quietly pulled a chair alongside his bed and reached up to place her hand at his side. "I miss your foolish grin," she whispered.

Maura looked back at the bedroom door. Family, she had a family once again. With that thought she laid her head down and fell fast asleep.

In the morning the sun poured through the window and filled the room with light. Birds were singing brightly and Maura slowly became aware of a buzz of conversation outside the bedroom door. She raised her head and looked into Jason's broad smile.

"Hey," he whispered, "good morning."

Maura wiped the sleep out of her eyes. "How are you feeling?"

He took her hand, and pulled her gently into bed beside him. "I'm feeling much better than I did yesterday, thanks to you."

Maura scrunched her mouth into a pout; the words almost fell from her mouth they were so rushed. "Not funny Jason, you almost died. I thought I'd lost you. I shared my blood with you. I didn't know what else...Vera said that it was the only thing I could do..."

He stroked her hair gently. "Hey, hey it's okay," he said to calm her. "You've given me a gift I can never repay. Stay here, I want to feel you close to me."

Maura snuggled close to Jason's body and held him tightly.

He squirmed a bit as she hugged him. "Ooh, just a little less tightly, it's still a little tender there."

"Sorry." She reached up and kissed him on his cheek then buried her face beneath his shoulder.

Maura stuck by his side as Jason drifted in and out of consciousness for the rest of the day. Towards the evening a grumbling stomach finally brought her out to the kitchen.

Lisa turned as Maura emerged from the bedroom and walked softly across the floor to sit quietly on a stool next to the island counter. Lisa smiled gently. "Hungry?"

Maura nodded.

"I'll fix you something just stay put. Life put you through the wringer a day ago didn't it?"

"Yeah."

Lisa stirred the large pot on Vera's stove. "You'll be better once you've had a bite to eat."

"Don't say bite to a Terrian," snorted Maura with an ironic smile.

Lisa laughed the same hearty laugh she'd heard so many times before. It made her feel safe. "Well, at least you haven't lost your sense of humor. Here, this soup will warm you up, it's grandmother's favorite." As Lisa pushed a bowl towards Maura, she reached across the counter and lifted Maura's chin with a finger. "Hey...he's going to be okay. Like I said, he's tougher than you think."

Maura spirits seemed to brighten considerably once she finished the soup. "That salve that Vera uses, what's in it?"

"Oh, lots of local herbs." Lisa ladled another bowl of soup for herself. "It's a recipe that has been with us for thousands of years. Healers use it for all sorts of things."

Lisa stopped stirring Vera's soup for a moment and looked up at Maura. "You know, this world is so bountiful; everywhere you go there are so many amazing plants and insects just waiting to be used for healing. It's truly remarkable. Legend has it that the world our people came from was not nearly as abundant."

Maura paused a moment, her spoon rested in the bowl. "Did all the Sirin come here or was it just a small group?"

"No, they all came. They had to."

"Why?"

Lisa set down the ladle and came around to sit next to Maura. "One of the two suns our world revolved around was about to supernova. Our world was going to be obliterated in a matter of seconds when it happened. The White Brethren knew that. So, as they say, fortune smiled on us. The Brethren were able to bring my ancestors here and in return we were able to protect others from some pretty sinister characters on the other side of the weave."

Maura nodded. "I can relate to leaving everything you know and arriving in a whole new world. I suppose I can relate to sinister characters too."

Vera stood at the back door holding a basket filled with herbs. "Perhaps it's time you told us your story, Maura."

Lisa stood up and retrieved a mug of tea for Maura. "I know, right. These past few months have been such a whirlwind. We've barely had time to have a cup of tea!"

Of all the women that she ever met on Earth or Terrus, Lisa was by far the best. Maura felt she could trust her with her life. She never believed that she would think that about anyone let alone all of the people that have come into her life since she met Jason. Maura took a big breath, turned and walked over to the fireplace. She settled into the comfort of the hearth seat and Lisa sat next to her. Vera sought the comfort of her favorite rocker.

Maura turned from Lisa to Vera and then began. "For most of my life my father was all the family I had. My mother died when I was young, around ten. She was a teacher and he was a research scientist. He had been working with crystalline structures before the D'liache clan approached him. They're the most powerful clan on Terrus; they controlled everything and everyone. Well, almost everyone. Somehow they found out that my father knew a secret. A secret that was more important than anything else in our whole world and he discovered what they wanted to do with that secret."

Vera leaned over and picked up her needles and yarn. "Come through the weave."

Maura nodded. "If they had succeeded they would have had free rein of this world and possibly many others."

Vera sat her knitting aside and began to wrap a ball of yarn.

"So we ran," Maura continued. "We went underground. You couldn't stop the D'liache; they were too powerful. They owned the government. They owned everything. We could only run. We were able to elude them for almost a year but someone who we thought was a close friend betrayed us. When I discovered the deceit it was too late. I was drugged and left to watch them torture my father to death."

Lisa drew a short breath. "Oh my."

"For some unknown reason the drug didn't affect me as much as it did other Terrians so it wore off quicker than they anticipated."

Lisa glanced at her grandmother who only nodded and smiled.

Maura's eyes turned cold as she remembered that moment. "I found my weapon and killed them...all three of them. One of them was Ren, the youngest son of the chief of the D'liache clan. I killed them all for what they did. I built a pyre for my father's body and burnt the whole structure to the ground. They would get no secrets from my father's ashes."

Lisa's eyes widened at the ferocity in Maura's voice. "Damn."

"After that all I could do was flee because they would have tortured and killed me too. I knew too much, I had seen too much. I ran for weeks on end, hiding in vacant buildings, ancient ruins, wherever I could find a hole to crawl into."

"One night I finally escaped from the city and fell asleep after I tumbled onto a ledge. It was part of a rock wall that connected to a canyon ravine in the wasteland, far from those ancient city walls. I awoke suddenly when I heard voices. There was a team of mercenaries searching for me and they were very close. Fortunately, it was dark and the starlight made it easier for me to evade them."

"For some reason, as I looked around, I felt that I knew this place, like I had been there, when I was younger. The feeling nagged at me as I looked desperately for a way out, but the canyon ahead was closed off at one end, and offered no escape."

"As I looked frantically for a way out I noticed a small cave near the ridge in front of me. I crawled along the rocky floor of the ledge until I entered the cave. I ducked out of sight as their vehicle rounded the corner and swept the walls of the canyon with a powerful searchlight."

"I was safe for the moment but it wouldn't take long for them to notice the cave entrance just like I did, so I crawled further and further back. It was pitch black and filled with the smell of dead animals and animal waste. In the distance I could see that they had found the cave entrance. The light from their searchlight was beginning to flicker across the opening and along the cave walls. I drew my blade. At least I was going to take as many of them with me as I could. I continued to scramble further back. The cave became smaller and smaller until I was crawling on my stomach. I figured that a tighter space would help me somehow."

"Suddenly I slipped and fell through an opening in the floor. I must have skidded several hundred feet down a steep slope. Rock and gravel was falling around me as I landed on the smooth floor of what, from the echo, sounded like an enormous cavern. At first, I thought I had fallen through an animal trap, so I stayed motionless for what seemed an eternity, but the searchers didn't follow. I was finally alone."

"I wasn't sure where I was or even if I could get out. Then I noticed a slight breeze and an oily smell. I struck a match and close by I could see a torch. It looked ancient but when I held the match near, it ignited with a whoosh and the whole cavern came alive with light."

"It was at that moment the nagging feeling became crystal clear. This was my father's secret! I remembered why I felt I knew this place. When I was very young, my father had taken me here after my mother died. Although, at the time, he had led me through a gate and that was different than falling through a hole in the floor of the cave above. But I was still in the same place. As I looked about the cavern it was obvious that the entrance he used had been destroyed, a huge rock fall confirmed that for me. He told me to always remember this place. 'It's your path to freedom if you ever need it,' he told me."

"I began to follow the movement of the smoke across the cavern floor. There was a narrow passageway off to one side and I entered it still following the meandering smoke. As I walked down the passageway I began to notice a flickering of light in the distance. Near the end, I walked up to a large archway carved into the stonewall. There were some sort of letters or images carved around the archway but it was in a language that I had never seen before."

Vera stood and pulled a leather-bound book from behind a stack of plates and handed it to Maura. "Did they look like this?"

Maura looked up, excited. "Yes! What is it?"

"Gaele, the language of ancient wisdom. You found a portal." She said returning the book to the shelf.

"I had no idea. In the center of the arch was a shimmering waterfall but there was no splash or nothing seemed to be spilling away from the wall of water. It was like a wall of ice and yet it wasn't frozen. I was fascinated. The waterfall glowed an eerie incandescence and the reflected light danced and played among the shadows on the far wall of the passageway."

"It seemed to be an impassable barrier and yet the smoke was flowing freely through it. As I stepped forward, the symbols carved in the stone face began to glow. This frightened me so I fell back against the far wall and the light around the symbols faded."

"I realized at that moment that I didn't have any other options. I couldn't go back so I had to try going forward. I stepped forward towards the waterfall and stuck my arm into the shimmering cascade of frozen water. It was as if my arm drew me into it. With a 'pop' I peered through the opening to a night sky. It was above the ground a few feet so I sat on the bottom of the portal and reached down with my feet. Feeling safe, I moved through the threshold and reached back to grab my backpack and weapon. I found myself standing on a grassy knoll in a park near the edge of a city."

Vera leaned forward. "What was on your mind as you stepped through the portal?"

"Escape."

Lisa gazed off at nothing in particular. "So that's why the portal took her there instead of the gathering place?"

Maura turned to Lisa. "Huh?"

Vera interrupted. "The portal is a living thing, Maura. It understood your need to escape so it took you to a place on Earth where you would be safe."