I considered it an auspicious day to travel. A tiny crescent would be hiding herself in the day’s blue glow. She had just begun again but remained in lightless peace.

I had to leave the dog. I had to leave everyone I knew. This was a journey meant for me and me alone.

Against my better sense, I took my car.

I did not despise driving but it was not a simple task. It required my active attention.

It was entirely providence that I noticed I was being followed. She was driving a small grey thing, constantly swerving and avoiding traffic to keep up with me. She seemed to be straining the limits of her ability, a number of her maneuvers rather dangerous and bold beyond reason.

I stopped at a diner.

STRAUD

TABLE FOR TWO, PLEASE.


But she did not follow me into the building, no matter how I reached out with the tendrils of my consciousness.

She had parked in the lot.

I walked up to the car to find the woman idling on her phone. She was idling on her phone and did not show her face until my presence cast a shadow over her field of vision.

It was Lucia Ekstrom.

STRAUD

WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE, MISS EKSTROM?


It was at this time that I realized how she’d been trailing me. A technological bug, a tracker, a GPS locator, something like that, I imagined. She’d placed it some time I was outside my home. There was no other explanation.

She gets out of her car but barely grants me eye contact, and yet, has an air of confidence.

LUCIA

FINALLY, I GOT YOU ALONE.

STRAUD

I’M TRAVELING.

CAN I HELP YOU?


Kevin had told me of the girl. I’d had my suspicions.

LUCIA

I NEEDED TO TALK TO YOU.


It was times like these I truly despised what had become a sort of fame, renown, that I’d accumulated. Knowledge of who, and what, I was, preceded me even out from underneath the curtain of Kindred.

STRAUD

I CAN’T IMAGINE WHAT YOU’D NEED TO SPEAK TO ME ABOUT.

LUCIA

I’M IN LOVE WITH YOU, LORD COUNT.

STRAUD

I HAVE NEVER BEFORE THIS MET YOU.

LUCIA

BUT I KNOW YOU!

STRAUD

WHY DID YOU FOLLOW ME OUT OF TOWN?


She still has a dreamy lack-of-focus that seems to gloss over the present scene.

LUCIA

I NEEDED TO FREE MY HEART FROM ITS BURDEN.


Perhaps it was true. Perhaps she had heard some old war stories that had blown about among those in-the-know. But he did not want this confession. Not here, not now, and perhaps not ever.

STRAUD

I’M OUT OF TOWN ON AN IMPORTANT TASK. IT DOES NOT CONCERN YOU.

I CAN’T HAVE YOU FOLLOWING ME WHERE YOU DO NOT BELONG.

LUCIA

LET ME COME WITH YOU.

I CAN HELP.


Three simple words that translated to something very different than what they meant.

STRAUD

YOU CANNOT HELP.

LUCIA

BUT I CAN.

STRAUD

I ADVISE YOU TO REENTER YOUR CAR AND NAVIGATE BACK TO THE CITY FROM WHENCE YOU CAME.

LUCIA

I HAVEN’T COME THIS FAR TO GIVE UP NOW.

STRAUD

YOU’VE COME NO DISTANCE AT ALL.

NOT TODAY.

LUCIA

I WANT YOU TO TAKE ME ON AS YOUR PROTEGE.

STRAUD

THERE ARE NO OPEN POSITIONS.

LUCIA

THAT’S NOT TRUE!

I’LL SERVE YOU AS I AM, YOU DON’T EVEN NEED TO TURN ME.

STRAUD

THAT IS ADVANTAGEOUS.


She seemed to believe that she were in some position from which to bargain.

LUCIA

I’M SORRY I TAILED YOU.

I JUST DIDN’T KNOW HOW ELSE TO TALK TO YOU.

STRAUD

PERHAPS YOU OUGHT TO PAY MORE ATTENTION TO PROPER ETIQUETTE.

LUCIA

WELL IT’S NOT AS IF YOU WERE GOING TO INVITE ME TO ONE OF YOUR PARTIES.


The fixation of others upon things that very clearly did not matter was infuriating.

STRAUD

I THOUGHT YOU WERE SERVING THE HOUSE MARSCAPONE.

LUCIA

THAT WAS BEFORE I DISCOVERED YOU WERE HERE.

STRAUD

I’M NOT HERE.

LUCIA

BUT YOU VERY MUCH ARE.

STRAUD

I CAN’T HAVE YOU FOLLOWING ME TODAY.


I could have forced her to leave. I could have commanded her to go. But something in me told me to try diplomacy. She stood silently, looking me over in the lamplight.

STRAUD

I’M GOING AFTER A PACK OF WEREWOLVES.

IT’S NOT SAFE FOR YOU.


But my words fell on deaf ears as she did not seem dissuaded from her goal.

LUCIA

WEREWOLVES?

I CAN HANDLE MYSELF.

STRAUD

YOUR MIND IS CLOUDED.

LUCIA

I WANT TO PROTECT YOU.

I CAN.

STRAUD

YOU CANNOT.

GO HOME.


She makes to get back inside her car. As she eventually drives away, I feel a sinking feeling that I haven’t seen the last of her. So much for diplomacy.



I taught Avelina everything she knew about astronomy. It was I who taught her the fine art of polishing mirrors. She laughed that I should be so good at it. I told her that it was simple once distractions were eliminated.

Perhaps I should have brought Ben with me. But I thought the presence of someone foreign would spook him.

That is why when I realized Lucia was still on my trail that I began to lose my patience. My attempt at respect failed, I began to contemplate what my next course of action should be.

I had settled on utter command when a guttoral growl came from ground cover in front of me. Suddenly a dark form bounded from the bush and toward the young woman who’d been trailing me.

STRAUD

LUCIA! BRACE YOURSELF!


I morphed into a dire wolf and ran toward the rustling motion.

GREG

OUTSIDER!


The woman was mauled, laying broken on the ground. Why hadn’t she listened to my advice to stay away?

Greg had already fled the scene. I knew I had to say something to him, but what? Words escaped me.

STRAUD

GREG!!

WHAT OF CONTROL? WHAT OF DUTY?


But the only response he granted me was that of a low, warning growl.

STRAUD

I DID NOT INTEND TO BRING HER HERE – I INTENDED TO COME TO YOU MYSELF.


I changed back into my humanoid form as I approached the body. There was nothing I could do for her.

I knelt on the ground and cradled her head on my lap.

STRAUD

LUCIA…

IT’S ALL GOING TO BE OKAY.

LUCIA

LORD COUNT…I’M SORRY I FAILED YOU.


Her voice was trembling and weak.

STRAUD

YOU DIDN’T HAVE THE CHANCE TO FAIL ME.

LUCIA

I SHOULD…HAVE LISTENED TO YOU.

STRAUD

WHERE DO YOU WANT TO GO?

LUCIA

THE OCEAN.

TAKE ME TO THE OCEAN.


We sat there in silence as her soul drifted from its pinnings. In time I heard Greg approach.

GREG

FRIEND?

STRAUD

FRIEND.



FROM: VLADISLAUS STRAUD (personal)

TO: GERTRUDE FULTON (personal)

Gertrude,

I’ve met with Greg. You may relay to your higher-ups that you’ve done everything within your power to help him.

All of your kind will begin to suffer nightmares and increasing anxiety. There is a great evil on course for our planet and we’ve only just been able to feel the ripples of its approach in the Spirit Realm.

You must warn your people of the impending arrival of the enemy. The Earth must be rallied to fight, something I find myself working toward each and every day. I hope I will be able to count you and your people among my friends in the coming days. The long shadow of the colonizers’ warships stretches far through the peaceful places adjacent to our world. I hope, with work, that the darkness remains a distant nightmare.

STRAUD