The Cat Burglar - 4. More L&L and a Gift Given

Once again, I leaned against one of the kitchen countertops and watched Maria hurrying around the kitchen. “Mother is in a very bad mood. She almost killed her favorite blood slave because she wore a turtleneck sweater,” she whispered while she took a soup bowl from the cupboard beside me, making a lot more noise than necessary so no one would be able to overhear her. “We first thought it was because her plan to make you kill Martin during the initiation ceremony bombed, but there are other things.”

I pulled a drawer out and rummaged loudly for a spoon. “Other things? What other things?” I slammed the drawer closed again and promptly winced. It was too damned loud for my updated hearing.

“For one, Konstantin still hasn’t begged her or another clan member for blood,” she told the open fridge.

I shrugged. “And he won’t as far as I know. It’s not necessary.”

“He should think about this. His stubbornness infuriates her. Mother might be getting the idea he’s rebelling against her because he’s after the clan leadership.” Maria slammed the door of the microwave closed.

“I can heat up my own broth.” I had told her this many times.

“I like doing things for you because you don’t treat me as if I were your servant. And if he would ever consider it, I can think of some clan members who would support him,” she said in a very low voice when she passed me the soup bowl minutes later.

“Consider what? Oh–” I was a bit slow that day. I didn’t think Konstantin was planning a coup.

Maria rearranged the broth canisters in the fridge. “And there’s another rumor. It seems Lord Caspian demands a peace treaty between the Night and Delacour clans. He claims human authorities are becoming suspicious about the number of murdered people and missing persons cases.”

“I bet she wasn’t happy about that.” I sipped my broth and promptly burned my tongue. “Fuck! Hot.”

“And because she’s a self-centered cow, she didn’t get that it was his way to tell her to quit with the squabbling. She actually accused the Delacours of allegedly crossing Night territory to provoke her. She wanted his consent to teach the ‘scum’ a lesson, her actual words. That didn’t go over well, I heard,” she told the fridge again.

I blew on the hot broth. “Why does she hate the Delacours so much?”

Maria waved her hand dismissively. “She doesn’t hate them per se; they just control the territory next to ours. She needs an excuse so she can extend her sphere of influence. She’s been trying for a while to annex the surrounding area either with bribery or with conquest. She’s only waiting for a valid reason to send Simone to attack the Delacours.”

“Yeah, but why?”

“Mother wasn’t happy when Caspian took over the city from Lord Matthias. The territories will be newly divided now, and the Delacour clan is slightly bigger than us and has more powerful members. If Konstantin decided to change clans to be with Katherine, they might get an even larger piece of the pie, or Caspian might order the clans to join.” She closed the door and went to the sink to do the dishes. Clankingly.

“That’s possible?” I scraped loudly inside the empty bowl.

“Sure, or he decides on a duel.”

“A duel?”

Maria dropped silverware into the soapy water. “Sure. The rule says the clan leaders and their two strongest soldiers fight it out. Anything is possible.”

“Konstantin is very powerful, but he isn’t a soldier.”

“You already got that, huh?”

“Would he still have to fight?”

“Of course, he would have to fight.”

“So why—”

Maria lifted her dripping hands to stop me. “That question is far beyond my pay grade. I suggest you ask Konstantin.”

It took Emil and Doc a few days to persuade Konstantin, then he publicly begged them at the next clan assembly for blood. He pushed his chair back, went over to Emil, and kneeled down in front of him.

“Elder Emil, may I beg you for sustenance.” Emil pretended to consider Konstantin’s request for several minutes, letting him kneel the entire time. Finally, he pushed the sleeves of his shirt up to his elbow, bit down on his wrist, and allowed Konstantin to drink from the open bite wound.

After only a few mouthfuls, Mother stood up and hit the table with both fists. “Enough!”

If Konstantin hadn’t been drinking from me, it wouldn’t have been enough after having been starved for weeks.

He immediately got up and bowed to Emil, briefly touching his forehead with the back of his right hand in reverence. “Thank you, benevolent Elder.”

Konstantin repeated the whole procedure with Doc. Again, Mother interrupted too early, not allowing him to drink his fill.

The next day began what I always called ‘How to be a vampire 2.0’.

Now that I was an official clan member, Simone demanded I learn to fight so I’d be useful and become a soldier.

To start project ‘Clan Soldier’, Konstantin brought me to a room that reminded me of a gym. Six-meter-high brick walls, some metal cabinets on the left, and strange puppets that I thought might be dummies were scattered around. Emil was already waiting for us. Instead of his usual suit, he wore a black t-shirt and black combat pants. His dark eyes were on me the moment we entered the room.

“Emil was my second in command. He will teach you the necessary things.” With that, Konstantin left me alone with the man.

“Why do I have to learn to fight?”

Emil raised his eyebrows. “Because legate Simone ordered it.” Before I could say anything else, he briefly touched his lips with a single finger, signaling someone was probably listening. “You now belong to an aggressive species. Our hierarchy is built on power. The most powerful is always on top.”

I frowned. I didn’t know how, but I knew Konstantin was the most powerful in our clan. Why wasn’t he clan leader? Emil shook his head slightly. “I won’t— can’t answer that. It’s a question—”

“I have to ask Konstantin.”

“Exactly.” He gestured to a small door on the left. “There’s a locker room where you’ll find more appropriate attire. Come back after you’ve changed.”

I changed into similar clothes as he, and Emil waved for me to come closer. “A vampire has two natural weapons.” He lifted his left hand and extended his claws. “We can do severe harm by using these.” He curled his fingers and gutted a nearby dummy, ripping it open from the pubic bone to the breast bone. I could only stare at the stuffing dropping on the floor. “Now you.”

“O-okay.” I only scraped over its ‘belly’. I was entirely too hesitant, but he didn’t comment on it.

“Vampires can heal from almost everything; however, losing blood weakens us and always slows down our healing.” He opened his mouth and showed me his extended fangs. They were enormous. I had never seen Konstantin’s fangs in full glory before they had been pulled, so I couldn’t tell if his were even more impressive, but these were indeed terrifying.

“As you might have already guessed by now, the second weapon is our teeth. At first, you’ll learn to fight with your teeth and claws.”

“Really fight?”

He grinned at my stupid question. “We start with killing the dummies,” he paused, “then you may try to kill me.”

“W-what?”

He patted my shoulder. “You’re a vampire now Kavan, a baby, but still one of us. You’ll heal. The more it hurts the quicker you’ll learn.”

I gulped.

“Disemboweling is always a good way to slow down, or even kill, your enemy.”

I was still too hesitant at first but after the next few dummies, it finally went better. Next, I learned to rip out throats and bite into the jugular. Emil elegantly danced around the dummies, bit, ripped, and clawed them to smithereens, while I stumbled, had to spew out stuffing, and even broke some claws. When I told him as much, he said that I would get better in time. I didn’t know if he meant it as a threat or to reassure me.

“I’m sure you noticed your body has changed dramatically. You’re stronger, faster, more agile, and resistant. It means you need to get accustomed to your new strength, capabilities, and skills. It’s perfectly normal and requires time—but a vampire has nothing but time. Right?” He winked.

Over the next few days, I killed a lot of dummies. Then we fought for real. Again, I was too slow and too hesitant, but this time I paid for my incompetence with pain and blood. The multiple wounds healed without scarring, but my pride did not. At the end of each session, I felt dumber and clumsier. When I complained about this to Konstantin, the benevolent sire vanished. Holding me suddenly by my throat, he squeezed. “If I wanted, I could rip off your whining head now, and you’d never see it coming. Your life depends on the training with Emil and eventually others. This isn’t a child’s game, Kavan. We are not human anymore. We fight a lot and can recover from almost everything, even a shotgun blast to the stomach, but what we can’t ever come back from is beheading, and you’re learning to avoid that. Understood?”

I tried to nod.

“So, pay attention and be grateful that one of our best fighters invests his limited time to train you.”

One day later, Emil lifted his eyebrows. “I heard Doc and Konstantin took you hunting.”

“Hunting?”

He leaned against a wall and counted on his fingers. “Mice, rabbits, foxes, horses.” Then he narrowed his eyes at me. “You’re very lucky you didn’t hurt Calamity Jane. Otherwise, we would have had painful words.”

“Calam—oh is that the name of Maria’s cat?”

“Oh, is that the name of Maria’s cat?” he mimicked me. I was suddenly very glad Konstantin hadn’t let me hurt her.

“As you already practiced this when you were hunting other people’s beloved pets,” he glared at me, “this should be simple. Climb the wall.”

Using my claws, I did what he said. When I reached the ceiling, smiling proudly down at him, he said, “Now jump down.”

“W-what?”

“Just jump down. Trust me. That isn’t your fragile human body anymore, remember?” He waved at me still clinging to the wall. “It’s a vampire’s body. Only your puny human mind is afraid.”

Puny, how I hated that word and every synonym.

It took me several minutes to persuade my shell-shocked brain, and I dropped down. “Whoo-hoo!” I landed on my feet, only stumbling a little. “How cool is this!”

Emil nodded appreciatively. “Very good. Now follow me.” With that, he ran up the walls with an enormous speed, only he didn’t stop when he reached the ceiling; he scaled the ceiling like a fucking spider!

I needed more than a few tries before I could manage that, but eventually, I did. Afterward, I felt invincible. I expected to be exhausted at the end of the session, but I wasn’t. I was only hungry. Emil remedied that by giving me a bag with Konstantin’s blood.

I gutted dummies and scaled walls, even jumped from one to the other for days. After these so-called warm-up exercises, the real fighting began. I fought with claws and teeth, literally as best as I could, and got my ass handed to me every time. I was silently amazed at what my new body could endure.

When I once again stood in the center of the room, watching a long cut on my forearm knitting itself together, Emil opened one of the cabinets, filled with different swords.

“Are those swords?”

He snorted and chose a short, curved blade. “Very sharp, Kavan.”

I rolled my eyes at him, only slightly embarrassed. “Excuse me, but I’ve never seen a real sword.

He ignored me. “The sword is a very popular weapon among our people.”

Curious, I stepped closer. “Why?”

“Because if you really want to kill another vampire, you need to chop off their head.”

“Yeah, I know. Konstantin already told me that.” I didn’t tell him I had decided for myself I didn’t need to kill a vampire, ever.

He commented on my slightly bored tone, by turning around in a blur and beheading the next dummy. “Dead.”

“Effective.”

“Indeed.” Then he let me try out different swords. I had to swing them around in accordance with his clipped instructions. Of course, I slashed when I should strike, my grip was too firm, then too slack, my position was too stiff, my... In other words, I sucked at sword fighting.

After a while, he put most of the blades away except for one. “I think a scimitar would suit your err...current style best right now; you can simply hack and slay your way.”

“Uh-are we going to rhyme from now on?”

Again, he ignored me. “If anyone ever has the patience to teach you, you may switch to a more elegant weapon.”

It was obvious he thought I was a lost cause. Despite my flippancy, it bothered me. It felt as if I was letting my sire down.

“No beheading other people in the near future, gotcha. What a shame.”

“You’re lucky Konstantin is the best sword fighter I know. He might think it is his duty as your sire to train you, however untalented you are, and however long it’s going to take.” He glared at me. Again. “That, and it would be an embarrassment if his childe of all would turn out to be inept where he shines.”

“But a vampire has nothing but time. Yeah, yeah.”

“As long he doesn’t get himself killed because he couldn’t wield a sword adequately, then you’re right.”

I was very close to storming out and calming down elsewhere when someone said, “There’s always the knife.” A tall woman openly laughed at the way I was holding the dreaded sword thing. “You used to play baseball, I gather?”

With a huff, Emil took the sword out of my unresisting hands. “Does look like that.” Then he gestured to her. “Kavan, this India, our resident knife-fighter.”

She bowed with an exaggerated hand twirl. “Greetings, childe of Konstantin.”

To my great relief, I found out I was way better with knives. On only the second try, I hit the dummy’s core with a throwing knife.

India beamed at me. “I think I can work with that.”

And then she did something unbelievable. She lifted her hand and the knife flew back to her.

I gaped at her. “How did you do that?”

She grinned at me. “Telekinesis. It’s one of my gifts.”

“Can I do that too?”

“If it turns out to be your gift, then yes.”

“My gift?” I looked at Emil.

“Konstantin didn’t tell you about special gifts or talents?”

“Nope.”

He sighed and used his best exasperated teacher voice. “Depending on their age, genetics, and who their sire is—”

“And luck,” India threw in.

“And luck,” Emil repeated. “A vampire can develop special talents, like telekinesis.”

“Okay, what’s your gift?”

“We do not speak about our talents, except for those who like to brag.” Emil looked meaningfully at India.

“Because others could guess your age and/or power level from your gift?”

“Very good. Maybe you’re not a lost cause after all.”

The following weeks were grueling. Not because I had training every day for hours. And not because of the many painful injuries. No, it was because my instructors fought at levels I could only dream of. I felt inferior. I was inferior in every aspect. Even though my skills with the sword improved, compared to Konstantin, I was still a lumbering butcher instead of an elegant dancer. I got better every day, but it was never enough.

If a vampire could just quit being a vampire and go home to be human again, I’m sure I’d have chosen that option. But with the deadly sunlight sensitivity and the pesky blood-drinking, the claws and the teeth, it was out of the question. How would I explain that to Nathan and Rylan? It didn’t help at all that everyone told me my inadequacy was perfectly normal. They had decades, some probably centuries, to perfect their impressive skills, and I was a bumbling baby vamp. I only had to wait. And yeah, yeah, a vampire has nothing but time. I began to loathe that phrase with all my dead heart.

Fighting with a knife, especially throwing them, seemed to be more my thing, much to India’s joy. “A skilled knife-fighter does not rely on brute muscle power, but on speed, timing, coordination, and technique. Maybe that’s why this is more your forte. Some day you will be a highly effective knife fighter I’m sure."

Some day.

One evening, after another long session, I went to Doc’s lab to drink a mug of Konstantin’s blood. The man himself was on a mission with Simone, to his greatest joy. According to Doc’s ongoing research, it would speed up my maturing. I guessed he hoped I would get my ‘gift’ sooner than normal to confirm his theories.

“Let’s go out tonight.”

“I don’t need cheering up, Doc.”

“I beg to differ. Anyway, I’d like to show you a very special um—bar.”

It was indeed a very special establishment. First, we went to the town proper, where we entered a small passageway I had never noticed on my own, leading to a dark courtyard. Then Doc opened a door I’d sworn hadn’t been there before. What we found was a tavern. For a brief moment, I thought I’d landed in a LARP game. The entire room looked like a medieval tavern, or at least from a very cool video game.

“Isn’t that my favorite vamp and— is that Konstantin’s childe?” A tiny, busty woman called from behind the bar. “Welcome to The Tavern!”

Doc waved at her then maneuvered us to a place in the back. “There’s an open table; let’s sit here.”

I’m sure I looked around with wide eyes and a slightly-open mouth. The patrons were strange folks. They smelled strange too, not like humans or vampires. At a table by the door, for example, sat a huge guy with a large dog by his feet. Their scent was dog plus something weird. Moss, damp soil. At another table sat several people that looked as if they lived in a hippie commune, all tie-dye shirts, long skirts, and wide pants. Their hair was decorated with tiny braids, beads, and gemstones. Everyone wore colorful bracelets and necklaces. It looked as if they were trading stuff, like herbs, fruit, and roots. They bargained loudly with lots of hand gestures and slapping on the table. And at the bar sat a guy who was almost ethereally beautiful. He nodded in Doc’s direction when their gazes met. After a while, he came over to us. “Sebastian.”

Doc leaned back in his chair. “Oriole.”

The man wore slim grey jeans and a silvery dress shirt, but somehow, I thought he should wear pants from the finest deer leather and a tunic. Maybe a quiver filled with arrows. He had long blue hair and black slanted silver eyes. He tilted his head and examined me. “Where is Konstantin? I expected to see him tonight.” He turned and looked at someone who sat at a table with two others. They were wearing dark, hooded cloaks. Very mysterious. I snorted.

Oriole turned back to us and leveled his gaze at Doc. “He entrusted you with his cherished childe?”

“Konstantin will be here soon. He is a little delayed by clan business.” Doc didn’t look at Oriole when he spoke to him, but at the three people the other man had watched.

The man stretched his hand out to me. “My name is Oriole; the tavern belongs to me and my—family.”

Something told me, an uneasy feeling, not to take his hand, but only nod. “I’m Kavan.”

Doc immediately relaxed beside me. “He’s a smart one.”

Oriole lifted his eyebrows. “As I can see.” He turned to Doc. “It’s important to introduce one’s childe to the tavern, its patrons, and its rules. I expected to see Konstantin here personally.”

A chair was pulled out beside me. “And here I am.” My sire took me in as if he wanted to confirm I was okay. “Kavan, I can see you already met the owner of the tavern. His species manages this place.”

“His species?”

“He and Hilda belong to the fair folk.” When I frowned disbelievingly, he continued. “The Fae, fairies. Hilda is a brownie; Oriole is a high court Sidhe. Very rare.”

At first, I thought Konstantin was pulling my leg, but when I saw his and Doc’s serious expressions, I knew he meant what he said.

“There are other species? Besides humans and vampires, I mean?”

“I can see he already shows your people’s attitude.” Oriole rolled his eyes.

“You’re one to talk about attitude, fairy.” Doc scoffed.

“What do you think of him?” Konstantin pointed at the guy with the dog.

“He smells like his dog.”

The guy suddenly turned and got up from his seat. Uh-oh.

“Konstantin, your childe talks too loud.”

“I know, I know, Dmitri. He’s never met a son of Silver though, consciously I mean.”

Dmitri crossed his arms over his chest. “Maida isn’t a dog; she is a wolf.”

“A-a wolf?” I looked at Konstantin.

He nodded. “You’d probably call her a werewolf, but I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”

“You’re shitting me.”

“I—why would I do that?

“And those hippies over there are....”

“Jezebel and Kurt and some members of their covens. They’re witches.”

“Holy shit!”

Konstantin abruptly looked at the table where the three hooded figures were sitting and slowly got up. One of them was a blond woman who peered at him, under the rim of her hood.

And I understood immediately who she was. She was Konstantin’s bloodsong, Katherine Delacour. I grabbed Konstantin by the arm. “Are you crazy? Mother’s soldiers are probably following us everywhere we go. When they catch you—”

The hair on the back of my neck stood on end. A moment later the door was pushed open. Warren scanned the room. It would only be seconds until he detected us. On instinct, I pulled Konstantin into a niche beside some old-fashioned china cabinet.

Warren’s gaze was directly on us. But he didn’t react. He saw Doc and Oriole, but not us. “Where is Konstantin?”

Doc shrugged. “He went out back with Kavan a while ago.”

Warren looked at Oriole, who didn’t contradict Doc.

Warren scoffed. “Clan business, right. The question is which clan’s business, though.”

Oriole held him back by his arm. “The Tavern is neutral ground. No clan feuds in here.”

Simon’s lap dog walked directly to us, but he turned away and glared at Katherine Delacour and her soldiers. He totally ignored us. I couldn’t believe the luck we had.

I could tell Konstantin was as baffled as I. Then he whispered in my ear, “You are a shadow melder.”

“I’m a what?”

He gripped me by my arms. “Shush. I’ll explain later. Try to move us slowly from shadow to shadow. Avoid the light at all costs. Luckily the door is shadowed too. We’ll wait until someone opens it; only then do we slip outside.”

No one noticed us hiding in one shadow after the other. Except for Oriole. I had the feeling he could see us or at least guess where in the room we were.

In the yard several clan soldiers were waiting, but they, too, didn’t seem to be able to detect us. Gliding from dark spot to dark spot, we escaped. As soon as we were far enough away, Konstantin stopped abruptly, took my hand, and I felt as if I was taking a too-big step over a yawning chasm and I was falling...until we landed in his room with a loud thump.

“Wh—”

“Quick, remember we’ve been here for at least an hour.”

I felt extremely nauseous and sank into a chair by the fire.

Konstantin sat down in the other. He pulled his shoes and socks off, threw them through the open bedroom door, and leaned back, resting the ankle of his right leg on his left knee. “Relax. I’m going to tell you about our government.” Then he raised his voice slightly. “The cities are usually governed by a lord or a dame. Here, it’s Caspian. He took the reins from Lord Matthias. The city and its surrounding areas are divided into territories. Each territory is controlled by a different clan. Who gets the best parts depends on the size and power of the clan.”

I heard footsteps stomping on the stairs, so I asked maybe a little too eagerly, “What distinguishes a good territory from a bad?”

“The opportunities to hunt and to earn—”

Warren barged inside. “What are you doing?”

Konstantin glared at him. “I don’t know why this should your concern, but I’m explaining vampire government to Kavan. Why?”

“You were at the Tavern!”

“Of course. Oriole contacted me. He wanted me to introduce Kavan to him, tell him about some of the other species, and explain to him that the Tavern is neutral ground and what that means.”

“The Delacour whore was there!”

“Well, then I’m sorry that I missed her. And, Warren? Watch your mouth.”

Warren hissed. “They are our enemies.”

“Your enemies, not mine.” He waved his hand impatiently. “Anyway, I’d like to continue my lecture.”

Warren looked around the room as if he’d expected Katherine to pop out anywhere from behind the furniture. With a last glare at Konstantin, he left.

We decided to tell Doc about my gift. A vampire’s gift is his secret; only his sire and their clan leader get to know about it and maybe a selected circle of close friends. I wasn’t even allowed to tell India. And of course, we didn’t tell Mother.

Konstantin once again put ‘A Love Supreme’ by the John Coltrane Quartet on, a favorite album of his. The music would prevent others from listening to our conversation and purport the idea some friends were meeting for a harmless chat and sharing a glass or two of blood-laced wine.

“What is it called?”

Konstantin looked at me. “What is what called?”

I rolled my eyes, but lowered my voice even more.

“Your gift.”

“Teleportation.”

“How cool is that? How far can you get?”

“Thank you. It depends on my energy level, if I am alone, and whether I have already been there.” He stopped my next question, lifting his hand. “I can’t go to another country.”

“Pity.”

Later, Doc finally explained to me what a shadow melder was and how it worked. “It’s a very rare gift. I heard there is one in Lord Caspian’s clan, but of course, no one confirms it. As far as I know, their aura absorbs the light. There is a similar gift that is even rarer though. Vampires who have it, are called shadow dancers. No one can detect them, even a wolf can’t scent them, because they can briefly step into another plane.”

I had gotten my first gift. I was a shadow melder, and because the others couldn’t detect me even though I was standing right in front of them, Doc thought I was a shadow dancer. We had to test this more to be clear.

My training was officially over. After torturous weeks, I ended with an impressive sleek, muscular body, a beautiful slim sword plus baldric and scabbard given to me by my proud sire, and several sets of knives, a gauntlet to hide them, and two ankle holsters, gifts from my new friend India.

Vampires aren’t allowed to contact their former family and friends. Depending on their clan, they will be killed and or turned with or without their consent, if the new vampire disobeys the rules.

Once again, I roamed the city undetected. Equipped with my new shiny weapons, I sat on a roof watching two men sitting at a table in a brightly lit room, testing out my gift.