Transforming back into humans Belac’s eyes were wide as he over looked the beautiful mansion and vast lush grounds Caleb called home, part of him was envious because obliviously Caleb had never gone wanting for anything but there was something underlying in his voice a sadness that Belac couldn’t quite place that made him second guess the jealously he was feeling.
“Nice home.” Belac said unsure of how to start given that he didn’t really know Caleb.
“It’s a good house but it hasn’t been a home in a very long time.” Caleb said absently over looking the place himself as if seeing it for the first time.
“What do you mean?
“I grew up here and for much of that time it was a happy and joyous place but that slowly changed, first Lydia’s father died, then Mace’s and just a couple of nights ago my father. With each death the feel of our families changed and this place became less of a home.” He answered motioning for him to follow him inside.
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“No you’re not.” Caleb said flatly surprising him. “You’re trying to be nice and I appreciate it but I know that since you don’t know me or the others how could you possibly really care?”
“You’re right I was just trying to be nice, it’s hard to feel sorry for you looking at the place where you grew up at least you knew your parents.” He answered a little annoyed at being spurned.
“I didn’t mean to offend you it was a nice gesture.”
“Thanks.” Belac frowned awkwardly. “So you said your fathers died what happened to your mothers if I can ask?”
“Lydia’s mother died while giving birth to her, Mace’s mother died when he was ten fighting off twelve vampires and all my dad would tell me is that my mother died when I was young.” He answered turning around to open the door.
“Again I am sorry, were you close to your father?” He asked following him inside.
“Not really, Mace and Lydia were but my father always treated me more like a soldier than a son.” He answered leading him into the kitchen. “You hungry?”
“Starving.”
“I’ll whip us up some grub.” Caleb said driving into the refrigerator.
“So what did you mean earlier about troubling questions?”
Making a couple of sandwiches Caleb took a deep breath. “All over the world there are Spirit Warriors although we are a dying race slowly we are losing this war but that is not the most troubling thing, the warriors of the race protect the light clans or good guys so to speak. The dark clans are lead by the powers twenty of the oldest creatures in creation, they thrive on blood and death wishing to enslave all humanity and anyone who opposes their cause.”
“Cheerful group.”
“Very, but anyway, the dark clans cannot cross the barrier we generate by being alive. The barrier surrounds the clans of light like a force field if and when a dark clan member truly changes sides in their heart they can cross the barrier and if a light member changes heart they are instantly yanked outside of the barrier whether they want to be or not. The fact that the guys we faced were still inside the boundary line means the power is breaking down more than we imagined, if we cannot get more Spirit Warriors here to reinforce it the dark clans will cross and everyone will be wiped out.” He answered gravely.
“Not a very comforting thought.”
“No.”
“Well how can we stop it, after all I just got here I’d hate for my new home to be destroyed.” He smiled.
“This is your house now Belac and we are your family, one way or another we will find out where you came from I promise.” Caleb reassured.
“I’m not worried about it, I’ve gone this long without knowing I can wait a little longer.” Belac smiled finishing his food and placing the plate in the sink.
“We can check the archives and find the information about all Spirit Warrior births in the south west if nothing is in there then we can try to send an eagle to the other warriors but I wouldn’t put to much hope in that seeing as the messenger birds have been killed every time we have tried.” Caleb announced.
“Can’t you just call or email them?”
“No, all lines of communication to the others have been blocked.” He answered standing up from the table.
“Hackers?”
“Hackers and magically blocked.” He answered walking out of the kitchen with Belac following.
“Cutting off the lines of communication, keeping the enemy isolated that is an old military tactic.” Belac pointed out.
“Gee we hadn’t thought of that.” Caleb said sarcastically.
“Don’t be a jerk I’m just saying it’s not looking real good for our side right now is it?”
“No it’s not but that doesn’t mean we will stop fighting.”
“How long has it been this bad?” Belac questioned following him into a room full of weapons.
“It’s been getting steadily worse for some years now but lately it has been really bad.”
“So what changed?”
“The loss of our parents and some new leadership on the other side some new heavy hitters.” He answered frowning at the thought of the trouble ahead.
“So who are these new hitters? Warlocks? Werewolves’?”
“Vampires but from what we have heard not of any species we have encountered before.” Caleb answered.
“How many kinds are there?”
“A bunch, some are hurt by daylight other not so much. Some shape shift and others can’t. Some can fly, but all of them have super strength and speed. There are even those that can turn invisible.” He explains.
“What kinds do you have here?”
“Mainly we have the kind that can survive in sunlight as long as they have feed also they can fly but what I have heard is that these new vampires can steal others powers for a short time when they feed on them and then there is something else but we aren’t sure what it is yet.” Caleb mused looking over the vast array of weapons.
“What powers do we have? I mean I have tried some things on my own but I have never been formally trained.” He questioned.
“Well we can raise and control spirits…”
“Meaning?” He asks for a more in-depth answer.
“Meaning when we raise a spirit we can have it attack or merge with us, if we merge with it then we can take on the full form of the spirits previous body or we can become a combination of human and creature it just depends on what you find most useful at that point in time.” Caleb says showing him pictures in a book of warriors shifting.
Looking at the book Belac notices that some of the pages are ripped out. “What happened to those pages?”
“No one knows for sure, our parents said that our grandparents ripped out the pages of that training because it was too dangerous for someone to try if they didn’t have the power, trying to use those methods strains the body so much that if you don’t have the power of the ancients it will kill you. Or so I was told.”
“That’s a bit unfair not to let anyone even have the choice to try.” Belac said tracing his finger over the rip.
“That was my thoughts exactly another item in the long list of things I argued with my father about.” Caleb huffed.
“Is there anything you and your father did agree on?”
“Killing the bad guys.” He answered flatly.
“Ahh the family ties I missed out on, why cruel world?” He jokes looking at the ceiling.
“The fates have a sick sense of humor.” He laughed.
“I’ll say but we are a little off topic, what other powers do we have?”
“Enhanced strength, speed, agility and healing. Don’t get me wrong it’s not like we can lift a car or anything it is more along the lines of instead of being able to lift two hundred pounds at this age you can lift three hundred. Instead of jumping a three foot vertical you can jump a seven and so on and so forth.” He answered.
“Nice.”
“It real
ly is but it doesn’t do us very much good in the regular world because even if we protect the world the normal humans would have us strapped in a lab or destroyed, that is the nature of humans.” Caleb sighed.
“You didn’t seem to have a problem defending me today.”
“I wasn’t supposed to but there was something about you I couldn’t shake and now I know why.” Caleb smiles.
“I appreciate it, you’re a good fighter.”
“We have trained in many different styles of martial arts since a young age, I’ll begin training you every day from now on to get you up to par with the rest of us the same is true for the powers and how to use them.” He grinned patting him on the back.
“I’ve done some training of my own and survived a long time maybe something I learned along the way could help.” Belac said walking to the door.
“Anything we can learn will help.”
“I should let you know that I’ve already decided we’re going to win.” Belac decided as they walked out of the room together holding some foam for hitting and kicking.
The slam of a door echoed through the house for a moment startling Belac.
“Come on Belac.” Caleb smiled. “It’s time for you to meet the rest of the family.”