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April 20, 1999
Dear Thalos,
A friend of the academy brought a sick ten-year-old boy in and asked us to make him into a vampire. He’s at the end of the road in his battle with Leukemia, and suffers terribly. This boy is an orphan in the custody of an elderly great aunt. Of course I told her we’d never put the vampire curse on one of the living. There’s one other option for us to help him. I think you know where I’m headed.
His eyes are beautiful, Thalos. He made me think of you and how lonely you are.
I know you haven’t taken a familiar in decades, and normally giving a child to you might be unthinkable. Thalos, given the circumstances, I think it’s okay to claim this boy as your servant. He’ll die a slow and torturous death if you don’t put him under your power.
You’re probably dubious right now. Let me be clear, I’m not suggesting you take a little boy as your familiar. Save his life with your magic for now, and leave him in our academy. I’ll take responsibility for him. In ten years’ time you can come to collect a full-grown man. He’s sure to be beautiful and full of devotion for you.
I’m dedicated to helping this boy, Thalos. We want to do right by the humans and my heart is set on helping this boy. I just need your powerful magic to pull it off. No other vampire has your abilities. You’re my only hope for him!
Please come to the academy as quickly as you can. I don’t know how much longer he’ll live. Vampire Poison is monitoring us, as always, but you know they can take up to a half hour to mobilize. You can get on the grounds, perform the blood ritual with the boy, and be out of here before they get the first hunter to the gate.
I’m counting on you! So is Ryan Blake, your familiar-to-be.
With Love,
Luka Harlequin
Headmaster
Thalos Tabula Rasa Academy
Manhattan
Luka greeted her friend with a boisterous hug in the school library atrium. Thalos squeezed her while trying not to disturb her wide cat’s eye glasses.
“You came so fast. Thank you, sweetheart.”
Thalos leaned back and took a look at his headmaster. She’d added more punk-rock accessories to her ensemble. Her eternal sixteen year old form could scarcely be seen beneath it all. He took a colored tress of hair from her straight black locks.
“I like the blue.”
“I like your black trench,” she said looking up and down him. “Trés gothique. You’re not very discreet, though. The hunters could pick you out a mile away. You look like a vampire.”
Thalos smiled. “Looking like a vampire is the fashion.”
Luka ushered him up a broad staircase. They entered a residence area closed off from the library below. Thalos sat on an antique velvet settee.
“Wait here, love.” Luka disappeared through a door.
Thalos soaked in the ambiance of Luka’s Victorian parlor. Luka strove for the luxury she never knew while alive. He found it at odds with her style of dress.
A boy came around the sofa from behind him. Thalos’ lips parted. He could see why Luka found the child so striking. His large olive green eyes had flecks of jade. The way his wisps of blond hair framed his face looked angelic. What a beautiful man this boy would grow into.
“You’re Thalos, aren’t you? The oldest vampire in the world.”
The accusation in his voice caught Thalos off guard. He clutched him by both arms, making the child jolt.
“Yes, Ryan,” he said in the most soothing voice he could muster. “Don’t be afraid.”
His face registered the opposite of Thalos’ command. He tried to pull free. Thalos fixed on his eyes and entranced him. The child froze with his red lips parted.
“There. That’s it.”
He drew him close to bite his neck. Children tasted so ambrosial—he had to force himself to break away after just a sip.
Thalos stabbed his thumb with a fingernail to draw blood. He drew a red stripe on the boy’s tongue and made him close his mouth.
“Swallow, my dear.”
The mesmerized child obeyed.
“Nothing will hurt you now.”
Thalos considered a moment while staring into the beautiful eyes. He touched his lips to the boy’s. This added the imperative of love to his devotion enchantment. He felt a flutter of excitement in his middle. The decade it would take for his fruit to ripen suddenly became an eternity to him.
“What are you doing?”
Thalos darted his eyes at Luka. Her eye makeup had run down her cheeks. She made a loud snuffle while wiping tears on the back of her hand.
“That’s not—“
“Oh dear God.”
Thalos ripped his hands off the boy and scrambled away from him. He stood beside Luka in horror.
“Ryan’s dead.” She snuffled again. “He must have just passed.”
“Who is this?”
“Dusty!” She both screamed and pointed. “Dusty Hollbrook!”
Thalos’ stomach felt like it sank. “Hollbrook?”
Luka stomped a short path away from him. “Yes. Fuck! It’s Deb’s son.”
“Deborah Hollbrook?” he uttered the name of Vampire Poison’s leader in abject terror. “You can’t be serious.”
She continued pacing. “Yes, I’m serious! She enrolled her son in here as a spy. We’re too fucking prestigious for our own good and she knew I wouldn’t dare reject his application. Fuck! I was happy she did it. You know—friends close, enemies closer? Plus I figured if Vampire Poison had a student here they’d be less likely to raid us and kill all my staff. It was like a peace treaty.”
Thalos shook his head in disbelief. The boy’s accusation now made sense. “This is insanity.”
Luka stopped pacing and jutted the palm of her hand at Dusty. “What’s wrong with him?”
“I put him in a trance for the blood ritual.”
Luka grabbed him by both lapels. Her eyes turned wild. “You didn’t do the fucking ritual, did you?”
“I did!”
“Undo it!”
“It can’t be undone!”
Luka dropped onto her knees. She put her face in her hands. “Oh fuck, fuck, fuck!” Her voice cracked with sobs. “What the fuck are we going to do? We’re all dead!”
Thalos swallowed down his own panic. “It’s going to be okay, Luka.” He heard boots stomping up the library stairs. “I’ll take responsibility.”
Luka rocked while crumpled on the floor. “Now you’re talking crazy. You want to die over something so stupid?”
“They don’t know how to kill me.”
Soldiers clad in black fatigues kicked open the door. Luka bolted up. They flung what looked like 100 rosaries at Thalos. He turned into mist. The crosses dropped through him. One of t
he men went to Luka and put a crucifix on a chain around her neck. She screamed. The metal of the cross sizzled against her skin.
Deborah Hollbrook came through the cluster of soldiers wearing the same black military uniform.
“Harlequin’s neutralized,” a bald solider said. “Thalos misted.”
Deborah put a hand on Dusty’s catatonic face. She screamed at Luka. “What the Hell did you do to my son?”
Luka held up the chain so the cross wouldn’t touch her skin. “It was a mistake!” She looked at a soldier loading a cross bow with a wooden stake and groveled closer to the floor. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!”
“I did it,” Thalos said. All eyes focused on his hazy floating shape. “If you stop throwing crosses at me I’ll take him out of the trance.”
Deborah considered with narrow eyes. Thalos never regarded her as motherly. She looked like an aging hippy, with scraggly blond hair and widening waistline. Thick glasses confirmed to Thalos she’d had her son late in life.
“Fall back to the landing,” Deborah said. “Thalos is a no-go.”
The soldiers retreated out of the room. The last one closed the door.
Thalos solidified and broke his spell on the boy. He clambered into his mother’s arms. She squeezed him, but set her narrow eyes on Thalos.
“Did you do a fucking blood ritual on my boy?”
Thalos felt his legs weaken. He forced himself to meet Deborah’s eyes. “I came here to take a sick child as my servant.”
Deborah’s eyes widened. “Your servant!”
“When Luka went to get the boy your son snuck into the room to confront me. I mistook him for the sick child.”
She moved Dusty’s hair aside to look at the bite marks on his neck. “You fix this, vampire. Fix it or I will exterminate every fucking vampire in this fucking school.”
For a sublime moment Thalos’ fear transformed into calm. “Okay.” He lifted both his hands and wiggled his fingers. “There. He’s no longer under my power. No harm done.”
Luka mouthed, ‘What the fuck?’ to him from the floor. Thalos shook his head slightly to clue her in to his fraud.
Deborah leaned back to look at Dusty. “You okay, baby?”
The child wiped his tears and nodded.
Thalos eyes widened. He saw his astonishment reflected on Luka’s face.
Deborah stood with Dusty. “You scarred my child.” She pointed at Luka. “And you’ve got a reckoning coming Ms. Vampire Headmaster.” She threw open the door. “Thalos is a go!”
A wave of soldiers ran past her.
“I’m sorry, Luka. You meant well.”
He turned to mist as the flurry of crosses flew at him. This time he floated into the ventilation. Once outside he solidified and manifested demonic wings to disappear into the night sky.