Dark Corner Part 3

Before, she always had led him to believe that his father was dead and had died before Kyle was born. She finally revealed that his father was in the United States, entombed in a cave in a rural town in the state of Mississippi, alive, but submerged in a Sleep that had, so far, endured for over a century and a half.

His father was alive. Throughout his life, he had wondered about his father, his male co-creator. Although, as Mother tried to explain, most vampires lived happily without full knowledge of both their parents, Kyle did not believe that he was like other vampires. His gift-and perhaps his burden-was his capacity to feel emotion. He was not a cold-blooded predator, a heartless creature of the night. He was capable of a vast range of feeling that surely rivaled what any human could experience.

He wanted to understand his place in the world. He wanted to be guided and taught by one who could understand him in a way that Mother could not. He had yearned for a connection to his father, and had thirsted for knowledge about him, even though Mother had deceived him into believing that his father was dead. And in Mother's opinion, one who was dead was not worth discussion; she'd told him little about his own father.

Mother had lied to "protect" him, she claimed. It was only when she realized that he was going to leave her, to live his own life, that she confessed. He hated her for lying to him, though he understood her intentions in concealing the truth. She knew what he would decide to do once he had learned the truth. She knew.

"You are correct, I am not surprised at your intentions," Mother said. "I told you the truth at last because I had hoped you would handle the knowledge wisely. I warn you to leave the past alone, my son. Let your father rest, in peace"

"You ask the impossible," he said. "All my life I've wondered about what he was like, how it would have been to know him. Do you think I could ever rest, knowing that he's alive?"

"How do you think I feel?" she said. "He was my companion. I loved him deeply-more than you could ever understand." She closed her eyes for a moment, drew a breath to compose herself. "Leaving your father to follow his unfortunate fate was one of the most difficult decisions I've ever made"

"But that was almost a hundred seventy years ago!" Kyle said. He slammed his fist against the back of a chair, and it creaked under the impact. Mother watched him, patiently enduring his tantrum. But a tall figure swathed in black appeared across the room, at the door.

"Is everything all right, madam?" the vampire said.

Kyle hissed. This vampire was his mother's newest companion. He annoyed Kyle, but then, virtually all of her companions annoyed him. Kyle had sufficient self-awareness to admit that he was jealous of the attention that Mother lavished on her lovers.

"Mother and I are having a private discussion," Kyle said. He raised his hand, and the parlor door, propelled by an invisible force, swung shut in the vampire's face. Kyle glimpsed surprise in the creature's eyes before the door slammed; his mother's companion was a new vampire and had yet to learn the extent of a vampire's talents.

Mother had calmly watched the brief exchange.

Kyle paced across the hardwood floor. "As I was about to say, times are different now. The American slave trade has long since ended. There is no Civil War. My father could live in peace"

"Child, those points are irrelevant. Diallo was born and raised as a warrior. When he was taken to the United States as a slave, his taste for violence only grew more intense. If I had not intervened, he would have died at the hands of his slave master"

"You've told me all this. But that was so long ago"

"I'm telling you again because you must listen to me. For Diallo's entire life, as both a man and a vampire, his hunger for violence has been insatiable. After he left me in New Orleans, when I was pregnant with you, he roamed the countryside and murdered hundreds-not for food, not for vengeance, but because he enjoyed it." She gave him a level gaze. "Do you understand me, Kyle? Your father was a monster. A Sleep of a thousand years would never diminish the bloodl.u.s.t that rages in his soul."

Kyle stopped pacing and slumped in a chair across from his mother. His hands trembled.

"I can change him," Kyle said. "When he learns that I am his son, his heart will change"

Mother laughed bitterly. "Change Diallo? Even I could not change Diallo. He is more iron-willed than you can fathom. It is fortunate for us that the humans imprisoned him. He had awesome potential as a vampire. If he had been allowed to cause mayhem much longer, he would have tapped the range of his gifts, and in the end, brought destruction on us all."

Kyle could not bear to look at her. She was so keenly perceptive, and he hated it. She had lived so long and learned so much about the paths that life followed that she could predict what would happen long before such events came to pa.s.s. "Life is a Byzantine labyrinth," she had told him once. "But after you have lived as long as I have, you no longer dwell in the maze. You hover above it, and regarding it below you, can discern each twist and turn, far in advance"

Mother reached across the distance that separated them and put her hand on his arm. Her long, slender fingers were warm.

"Let your father sleep, Kyle. It is better for all of us for you to let him be. He is at peace"

He shrugged off her hand.

"I can't," he said. "I have to know him, and see him. I have to."

She folded her arms across her chest. "You are too human, just as he was"

"Excuse me?"

She spat out the words: "Stubborn, short-sighted, emotional. Too much like a human. It was your father's undoing. Unfortunately, it may be yours as well."

"Mother, I don't wish to offend you-but you don't know everything."

Her eyes were not angry, only melancholy. "If you pursue this endeavor, I cannot a.s.sist you, or intervene. You can take our aircraft, but that is all the a.s.sistance I will offer."

"I'm not taking our airplane," he said. "I'll get there myself. Mamu and I will do everything. I don't need you."

Mother flinched as if slapped, and he felt sorry for what he had said. Then his regret faded. He wasn't sorry, not really. He was tired of her dictating his life, offering her sage advice about everything. He wanted to choose his own course of action, and if it proved to be wrong, then that was his burden to bear, and he would learn from the experience.

He realized one reason why he wanted to leave Mother and seek out his father: Living with an ancient being like her robbed him of experiencing the peaks and valleys that were a part of life. Life with Mother was smooth, predictable, safe. She lived in a heavily fortified compound, her every need provided for, her global network of connections ensuring her prosperity, her wisdom s.h.i.+elding her from making mistakes that would cause dangerous conflict. Life with her was, in a word, boring.

But as he thought about his unknown father, the mighty vampire whom Mother had failed to tame, his heart throbbed with excitement.

"You seek to be free of me," Mother said. "You desire to learn on your own, to taste trial and error. I know your heart, my son"

"Then you know that you can't change my mind. I am going to do this, without your help."

She nodded, slowly. He rose and kissed her cheek.

"I am leaving in the morning," he said. "Good-bye, Mother."

A tear coursed down her face. It gave him pause. He could not recall the last time he had seen her cry.

"You've been a wonderful son," she said. "I've had many sons, but I've loved you the most, Kyle. Please, remember that, always."

He took her hand in his and squeezed it. "You talk as if I'm going to my death. I'll come to visit on occasion. You'll see me again."

Mother did not reply immediately, and as he walked out of the chamber, he heard her words, which she spoke in a whisper.

'No. I never will. "

After an hour and a half in the air, the airplane touched down in Amsterdam. Kyle was grateful for the opportunity to stretch his legs. He sipped another packet of blood before getting on the next aircraft, which carried him on a tedious, ten-hour voyage to Memphis, Tennessee.

It was late evening when he finally met Mamuwalde-or "Mamu," his preferred nickname-his personal agent, at the terminal gate.

"How was the flight, sir?" Mamu asked in French. He took Kyle's bag and carried it over his broad shoulder.

Kyle responded in English, a subtle signal that they would not speak French here.

"Absolutely awful. I'll never fly commercially again. We will charter a private jet when we depart. We can discuss the details later."

It was Friday, August 23rd. The terminal was only sparely populated. They did not need to wait at baggage claim. Kyle had sent all his necessary clothes and items in advance. They walked out of the airport.

"It's humid here," Kyle said. He felt as though he had wandered into a suffocating cloud of heat. He had read about the summer climate in the American South, but experiencing it firsthand was a different matter altogether. He slid off his gloves, unb.u.t.toned his jacket.

"It is warm, indeed," Mamu said. He was attired in navyblue slacks, a tailored white s.h.i.+rt, a somber Italian tie, and polished black wingtips. Mamu dressed for his work as an agent with the same attention to detail as an executive laboring in a corporation. Kyle believed Mamu would've been wearing his suit jacket if not for the stifling humidity.

Mamu led the way to the parking lot. He was a stout man, in his thirties, bald-headed and clean-shaven. Born in Paris, of African lineage, he was a member of a family that had been quietly serving as agents to vampires for generations. Mamu and his sister had been in the employ of Kyle and his mother since they were teenagers; before them, his parents had served the family.

The relations.h.i.+p between a vampire and his agent was one of the most important relations.h.i.+ps a vampire could establish. An agent could handle matters during daylight hours: business transactions, errands, and the endless, miscellaneous details of daily living. Traditionally, an agent was a.s.signed to a single vampire for much of the agent's life, from adolescence through late middle age.

For their devotion to the care of vampires, agents were rewarded with comfortable, prosperous lives, and, more compelling, the opportunity to learn ancient secrets to which few humans throughout history have ever been privy.

On rare occasion, a vampire decided to take an agent as a companion-and made them a vampire. But the practice was frowned upon because it disrupted the balance between vampires and the available pool of agents. If all vampires took their agents as companions, they would have to acquire new agents, and it required years to select and train a capable agent. Agents volunteered for the role with the understanding that they would never become vampires.

Kyle trusted Mamu implicitly, in a way he would never dare to trust another human. He had told Mamu of his plan to find his father before he had told Mother about his mission. Mamu enthusiastically supported him, though it did not matter whether he agreed with Kyle's wishes or not. An agent was sworn to obey a vampire's commands. Still, Kyle was relieved to have Mamu's earnest a.s.sistance. He regarded the man as a friend, not an obsequious servant.

In the parking lot, Mamu headed toward a silver Lexus sport utility vehicle.

"Excellent taste," Kyle said. "Of course, I would expect nothing less from you, my friend."

Mamu smiled. He placed Kyle's bag in the vehicle's cargo area.

They settled inside the cabin.

"How far are we from the town?" Kyle said.

"Approximately forty minutes," Mamu said in his precise English.

Although, after being conscious throughout the day Kyle needed to sleep, he was too excited to doze. He was going to find his father. b.u.t.terflies fluttered in his stomach.

"What do you think of the town?" Kyle said. "Mason's Corner?"

Mamu shrugged, his dark eyes scanning the highway. "It is not much of a town. Small, rural, working cla.s.s. We would be wise to maintain a low profile. The residents appear to pay undue attention to strangers"

"I see. Any incidents?"

"When I was in the hardware store acquiring supplies, the clerk, an elderly man, asked me where I lived, and I indicated the estate that we are renting. He regarded me as if I were insane. 'The Mason place?' he said. 'It's haunted, man, don't you know that?' "

"Haunted? What do you think of that?" Kyle watched his friend closely.

Mamu's fingers tightened on the steering wheel. Mamu, though he had lived around vampires for his entire life, was deeply superst.i.tious and frightened of the world of the unseen.

Monsieur, you know me well. I am not one who is easily disturbed. Yet I have found it difficult to sleep in the house."

"Because you believe it to be haunted?"

"I do not know. It is beyond my ability to investigate. Perhaps you will be able to discover why."

"I'll check it out when we arrive," Kyle said. He did not doubt that the mansion was haunted; he had seen tormented, restless spirits before. They did not particularly interest him or trouble him. What harm could a ghost cause to an immortal being?

But Mamu was only a man. Kyle patted his friend's shoulder.

"Do not fear, my friend. Besides, the residents' belief that the house is haunted could benefit us. The people will leave us alone and allow us to perform our work undisturbed."

"That is an excellent point, monsieur. I had not considered it."

Kyle smiled. "Can we have some traveling music?"

Mamu found a contemporary jazz radio station on the stereo. The lulling voice of a saxophone hummed from the speakers.

Kyle reclined in the seat and looked out the gla.s.s, watching the wooded countryside race past. A fat, pale moon cast milky light on the land. Kyle sensed the creatures of the night roving through the thick forests: predator and prey, engaged in their ageless game.

Father, I am coming to free you, Kyle thought. When he re garded the deep night, it was easy to believe that his father would receive his telepathic message. Your son has arrived, and I will save you ... from yourself, if I must.

The Lexus shot like a silver bullet through the darkness.

Chapter 3.

he next day, Sat.u.r.day, began as a busy one for David.

I In the morning, he dropped off the trailer at the U-Haul center in Hernando, fifteen minutes north of Mason's Corner. Upon returning home, he finished unpacking.

He spent a couple of hours opening boxes, sorting through items, and placing them in rooms throughout the house. King awoke from a nap and trailed him, whining. David ignored the hound for a while, then finally relented.

"Okay, I know you're bored," David said to the dog. "How about we go to the park?"

King barked his approval.

The town park was located off Main Street. It was eleven o'clock. The sun rays sizzled mercilessly, and the humidity was cotton-thick. He was thankful that he had brought a cold bottle of water with him.

He clipped the leash to King's collar, and they walked across the gra.s.s at a brisk pace. Magnolia trees bloomed, waxy and lush, their flowers emitting a sweet aroma. In the distance, a small lake gleamed in the sunlight, and a red sign warned "No Swimming."

David didn't see anyone there-most natives probably stayed inside at that hour to avoid the heat but then a black Labrador darted around a maple tree ahead. David was so startled that he let go of the leash. King, thrilled to see another canine, took off after the Labrador, barking.

"King, come back here!" David chased after the dogs.

Moments later, he found the hounds playing in the gra.s.s, near a young black woman who lounged in the shade of an oak tree. Sitting Indian-style on a blanket, she didn't seem troubled by the dogs. She watched them, giggling, as if viewing a funny cartoon.

David approached, panting. He was in good shape, but the humidity sapped his strength.

The woman turned and smiled at him. He suddenly found it even harder to breathe. She had the most beautiful smile he had ever seen, with dimples so deep his fingers could disappear in them.

"Come enjoy the show," she said, and indicated the dogs. King was striving mightily to sniff the Labrador's rear end, and the Labrador nimbly eluded him. "Is he yours?"

It took David a second to realize that she had spoken to him. In addition to her smile, she possessed sparkling, honey-brown eyes. He easily could have looked at them for hours.

What's wrong with me? he thought. I never act like this when meeting a woman.

"Uh, yeah, he's mine," David said. "King, uh ... hasn't had any female company in a while. I didn't mean to let him escape the leash. Your dog startled me"