The Book of Elbourne - Chapter One

I know there to be seven. We were too slow and too arrogant to prevent their arrival, though I was fast enough to see the product of our mistakes. Seven dark souls hurtled into our dimension and fled, infecting those in their wake.

-The Book of Elbourne

Chapter One

They were eating dinner. A mom, a dad, a sullen boy, and a little girl in a high chair. Seven crouched beneath the windowsill, the rectangular bushes pulling at his jeans.

He wasn't meant to be here. The king had been unmistakably clear on that. But so long as he did not utter a word, the king would never know.

Seven risked another peak. A half eaten casserole in a glass baking dish. Salt and pepper shakers labeled S and P. Dark green lettuce in a large yellow bowl with long wooden serving forks.

The girl mashed banana pieces into her mouth. The boy turned over a leaf of lettuce with his fork. The father took a long drink from his glass. The mother chattered away happily about little Lydia's first swim lesson and plans to watch Jack's yellow belt test, her plate untouched.

He imagined where he would be seated at that table. There would be another chair. He'd slide it up between his mother and Jack. He'd roll his eyes when mother asked how school had gone and he'd lightly shove his little step-brother when a girl of interest was brought up.

The phone rang. His mother stood and plucked the corded phone off the wall.

"Matheuws Residence."

Her chipper expression melted into concern.

"What? Outside our window?"

She hung up the phone and left the room.

He needed to leave. Seven squirmed under and out of the bushes. He crawled out of view of the window and stood. The front door hung open. She was standing feet away, staring. She didn't say a word.

He saw her see him. His white scarf trailing down to his torn jeans, his bulging backpack, the smudge of blood on his forehead from earlier. He saw her see him. His dusty brown hair like hers, his thin nose like hers, his eyes like hers. He saw her see him: the baby she had given to the vampire king over a decade ago.

A question burned on the tip of his tongue. The question was not why. He knew very well why, and he understood.

Did it hurt - that's what he wanted to ask. Did it hurt when you asked him to take me away? But he couldn't ask. If he spoke, the king would know he had been here.

"Is there something wrong?" called the father from inside the house.

"No, nothing."

"Say goodnight to your mother," the father said.

"You're not my mother," said the boy Jack from inside. Seven heard him run up the steps.

His mother turned back to him. Seven's heart trembled. Yearning for her to say something; anything she said would make everything better.

She looked down.

Seven felt his heart go limp. The air moving in and out of his lungs felt coarse and thick.

"What is it dear?" said the father.

"Nothing, nothing." She turned, walked back inside, and closed the front door behind her. He heard the lock click.

Alone on the dark lawn, Seven stumbled backwards.

In the lit dining room his mother unbuckled Lydia from her highchair.

"Who's ready for a bath?" She swooped the giggling toddler into her arms.

The rejection burrowed deep, coming too close to what slept beneath. He took deep breaths as the king had taught him. He imagined waves receding, leaving a smoothed glistening shoreline. This idyllic beach was bright and empty. Empty of his sadness. Empty of his hurt. Empty too of his inner darkness. The feeling subsided. The king was right to forbid him from coming here.

The dinning room light went out. Seven turned away from the house. He wanted to leave. He looked both ways down the lit street. No one would be about at this hour in such a sleepy town.

Seven pulled the mandarin garnet encrusted ring off his left index finger.

The green lawn with perfect corners fell away to reveal a flawed stone floor. The two story houses with attached garages, the street, and the night sky all melted into a curved stone ceiling and walls. The light from the cresting moon and the high efficiency street lamps dimmed down to the meager light provided by a single torch bolted to the wall of the small storage room.

Transportation charms always made Seven feel that perhaps his stomach had been left behind. Swallowing down his unease, Seven pocketed the ring and poked his head into the passage.

Three vampires wearing the stiff collared guard uniform crouched over a game of dice ten paces away. The one with the smallest pile of chips looked up.

"Oh look." He nudged his friends. "The human's back."

Seven turned away and headed the opposite direction down the passage.

"Where've you been human?" The guard had followed him.

Seven kept his pace steady and gripped the straps of his backpack. The king's study was in a separate chain of caves. Even if the king hadn't been ignoring him of late, he was too far away to help.

The best way to avoid an incident would be to give this guard the slip. They passed an intersection of passages. Seven slid the ring in his pocket back onto his finger.

"What's in the bag?" asked the guard. He yanked on Seven's backpack.

Refusing to let go, Seven stumbled backward and grabbed a rock jutting out of the wall to steady himself.

Seven looked into the vampire's craven eyes. It was so easy for these guards to pick on him when they believed he was only human.

"A confidential package for the king," said Seven, pressing his backpack against the wall to shield it. "He'll be expecting me." Seven felt the tracking spell in his throat resonate. Now the king would know he had returned to the mountain and would ideally intervene before this guard did anything rash.

The guard punch the wall inches from his head and laughed when Seven shook. Bits of rock came loose from the wall and skittered onto the floor.

"What makes you so special human?" The guard slid his frigid fingers under Seven's scarf, his fingernails testing the recent scabs from the vampire king's bite.