Nightcap at Daybreak
Sneak Peek
Message in from: Remy
Message: Master… Remy did something bad. He’s sorry…
It was all his fledgling’s text message said. Raenef wasted no time and called him, but the only answer he got was the dial tone. He tried calling him again, but this time, the number went straight to voicemail.
Raenef cursed. A rare thing since the Royal Methuselan Clan Leader normally kept his cool no matter the circumstances. Then again, these weren’t exactly normal circumstances. Remy always answered his calls.
Raenef threw his phone across the room, not even flinching as its life ended against the wall. Reaching for the landline, he called Feilon. The older vampire wasn’t only his best friend, he was also his Makhai, or personal bodyguard.
Feilon only needed a few words before springing into action.
Next, Raenef called Eclipse, his twin brother.
“It doesn’t have to mean anything,” Eclipse said. “This is Remy we’re talking about. Yes, he’s come a long way; Nevertheless, if he broke one of your plates, he’d consider it ‘doing something bad’.”
Raenef knew his brother was right, but there had been something in the message’s tone that had given him an uneasy apprehension, amplified by the fact that his fledgling didn’t pick up his phone.
“I don’t know. The Makhai reported having seen several Methuselah in the area lately…”
“But Remy said nothing about being hurt or in trouble, did he? Only that he did something bad. Perhaps he ran into them and killed them. Knowing him, he’d feel guilty about that.”
Raenef nodded, even though his twin couldn’t see over the phone. Yes, his words made sense; His fledgling had a rocky start to life, and it had fared little better after death. Having fallen into the hands of a cruel vampire, his sense of self had almost been eradicated. It had taken him years to find happiness and trust in his new family again, but it took little for Remy to feel guilty over something someone else would’ve shrugged off.
***
“Master?!” Remy said, shocked when the regal white-haired vampire with blue streaks in his hair—a sign of his pureblood heritage—stood on his doorstep unannounced.
“Did you really think I wouldn’t show up after you left me a message like that?” Lord Raenef Himura, the Royal Clan Leader himself, said.
Remy gulped. The vampire, or Methuselah as they prefer to call themselves, wasn’t only his Clan Leader, he was also his Master. Remy had texted him on impulse when he’d been in a panic. Now that he had time to think things through, he realized that might not have been his brightest move. He smiled. “Ah, Remy’s sorry about that. He didn’t mean to worry you. As you can see, he’s still alive and kicking. You didn’t need to come all the way out here…”
For many years, Remy lived with his Master and his twin brother in the Mansion in upstate New York they called home, but he’d moved out and bought his own townhouse near his new job at the community center.
Raenef wasn’t buying his story. Damn the vampire and his talent to read him.
“Aren’t you going to let me in?” his Master asked. His tone was friendly, but the challenge was there.
“Ah… tonight’s not a good time… This one’s got a lot of work to do still, and~”
Raenef’s eyes sharpened at the use of ‘this one’. He’d accepted it a long time ago that his fledgling referred to himself in the third person, a remnant of his troubled upbringing. But when he regressed into ‘this one’, it meant Remy was minutes away from a complete mental melt-down. He waited a few moments for his fledgling to explain himself, but when the young man kept avoiding his gaze, he had enough.
“Does that ‘work’ relate to the Changeling residing in the house?”
That certainly got a rise out of Remy; the young man’s entire body shot upright, tense as a bow, his eyes filled with a curious mixture of dread, fear, and protectiveness? What the hell is going on here?
“H..how did—”
“I can sense its Mana, Remy. Now quit stalling and tell me what on earth is going on!” he threatened, pushing past his fledgling and stepping into the living room. He urged himself to calm down, not wanting to spook the other any more than he already was. But ever since he’d gotten Remy’s strange text, he’d been on edge. He’d been in their home in Japan when he’d received it, and it had taken him two days to return to the States.
Two days in which Remy ignored his calls.
Forty-two hours and twenty-seven minutes were plenty to come up with more than a dozen worst-case scenarios of what could’ve happened to his beloved fledgling. To finally see him and have the coldest reception ever did nothing for his patience. And with every second Remy stayed quiet, his anger rose.
“You can’t send me a text like that, and then expect me to ignore it. So here I am. Now talk!”
Remy pressed himself against the wall, trying to keep as much distance between himself and the irate vampire.
It hurt to see the fear in his eyes again.
Didn’t we get past this? It had taken Remy years to get over his past, to trust him. What could possibly have happened to reduce him to this state again?
It didn’t go unnoticed that Remy had placed himself strategically between Raenef and the hallway to the upstairs floors. Whoever is up there, he wants to protect them, hm? Even willing to defy me for it.
“T..this one will tell you… just s’il vous plaît, it’s his fault, no one else’s!” Remy said.
Raenef doubted that but kept quiet.
“Remember that warning you gave Remy about there being other vampires in the city?” his fledgling started.
“Yes, I told you the Makhai were handling it. Why? Did they come after you? Did they hurt you?”
Remy shook his head. “Non, not Remy.”