Isaiah didn’t know how he could possibly get to sleep, lethargic as he was. But just as he was about to succumb to unconsciousness, he heard a loud crash. He jolted up in bed with a start, his heart hammering in his chest. Staggering toward his door, he threw it open and bolted down the hall. Isaiah could see the flicker of a candle under his parents’ bedroom door, but its reflection on the wood floor danced wildly, as though heavy movement was inside. Something was amiss.
Isaiah threw open the door just in time to see Dante land a punch square in Mathias’s jaw.
“Dante!” Isaiah shrieked. “Stop!”
“He deserves to pay for what he did to Mother!”
“This isn’t the way to accomplish that!”
“Stop it!” Serrina cried from the doorway. Isaiah hadn’t even noticed that she wasn’t in the room. She was wearing the same clothes as before, but her face wasn’t the distraught one from the earlier hours. Now, her face flickered in the candlelight, and there was no trace of fear or remorse there. “What are you doing, Dante?”
“He’s being a coward,” Mathias sputtered as he stood up shakily. “He waited for me to fall asleep to exact revenge on me for what I supposedly did to you. Then he lit candles to wake me up, hauled me out of bed, and now this. I have no idea what he’s talking about.”
“You liar!” Dante roared. “You had an affair with another woman! Right under Mother’s nose! You’ve stained our name beyond repair!”
“Son, you’re mistaken...”
“Shut up!”
Dante landed another punch to his father’s face before Serrina screamed, causing Xander to stumble into the room next.
“What the hell?!” he blurted before he could stop himself. Serrina, however, didn’t seem to notice her youngest son’s slip of the tongue. She stormed over to the two brawling men and tried to pry them apart. Somehow she succeeded without getting an elbow to the face.
“I’ve had enough!” she snarled, even more furious than she’d been earlier in the day. “Mathias, Dante is right about one thing – you’ve stained our family name due to your inability to remain faithful to the one you exchanged vows with. But there’s no need for a physical confrontation. I promise you, Mathias, that I will get justice for what you’ve done.”
“How do you intend to do that? Serrina, you have no proof of the allegations you’re making toward me.”
“I know what I saw with my own two eyes. I realize I’m not as young as I once was, but what you did is beyond unforgiveable.”
“Are you going to request a dissolution for our marriage?”
“No, Mathias. Because I took an oath to stay with you for as long as we both shall live. And I, unlike you, will remain true to that fact. It would have been more noble of you to file one against me, however, if you were considering being unfaithful. I will no longer share your bed.”
“Serrina...”
“Get out.”
Serrina pointed her finger toward the door, indicating that she wanted Mathias out of the bedroom. He didn’t even protest, the coward that he was. Dante didn’t get his temper from their father; it came from their mother. But sometimes, even when she was at her most calm, Serrina could be a formidable foe.
After three weeks of walking on eggshells around the house, with Isaiah spending as much time as possible in the village or just out and about to escape the turmoil at home, he finally decided that he was ready to venture out on his own. He began looking for a home to buy for himself, perhaps even start a family with a special woman should he ever find one. After finding what he considered the perfect abode for him, Isaiah was prepared to make the announcement to his parents. Usually men of his age were married with families of their own, but the Cavanaugh boys had never been the type to pursue ladies. Isaiah was ready to start, and he knew Dante was as well, if his attempts to flatter maidens were any indication.
After entering the house, prepared to tell Serrina and Mathias that he would soon be leaving, Isaiah was surprised to find the manor eerily quiet and dark. It was early evening in the fall, and the sun was setting sooner than usual, but he couldn’t shake the ominous and foreboding feeling that seemed to ensorcell him as he traipsed up the stairs.
It appeared as though no one were home, but Isaiah saw that the door to his parents’ bedroom was closed. Doors in the Cavanaugh home were always left open unless the occupants wanted privacy. Bewildered, Isaiah knocked lightly on the mahogany door. No answer. He knocked twice more before finally turning the doorknob and stepping tentatively inside.
It was pitch black. Isaiah couldn’t see three feet in front of him. His pupils dilated so that he could make out the shadowy shapes of various furnishings, but he had no idea what exactly he was seeing. Fumbling toward the candelabra, he struck a match and lit the three candles. It was still dark, so he stalked toward the nightstand to light the second candelabra.
Suddenly, his foot struck something, causing him to momentarily lose his balance. He quickly lit the other candles and stared down. What he saw made him lose his balance once again.
Isaiah didn’t know if he screamed like a woman or not, but at the moment, he didn’t care. What he saw was the grotesque, disheveled, grisly corpse of his father. Mathias’s eyes were gazing up at him resembling two glass marbles, his body was in disarray, and he wasn’t moving or breathing.
There was no mistaking it – Mathias Cavanaugh was dead.
As Isaiah stooped closer, he saw something else that equally surprised him. Two puncture marks, both oozing blood, right on Mathias’s neck.
He must have been screaming, or bellowing some horrific noise, because his brothers both charged into the bedroom, demanding to know what was going on. But Isaiah didn’t need to say anything – they understood when they saw their father’s dead corpse on the floor.
“What the hell happened?” Dante sputtered. Even he was in shock, a rarity for the fierce elder child.
“I have no idea,” Isaiah replied. “But I don’t like it. This is just...”
“Traumatizing,” Xander contributed.
“Boys?” Serrina’s voice asked from the hall. “What’s going on?”
“Mother, don’t come in here,” Isaiah warned. In this era, women were considered more fragile than men, and thus were protected more from anything that may harm them, either physically or mentally.
But Serrina wasn’t one to back down. The boys tried to prevent her from entering the bedroom, but their mother wouldn’t be deterred. She shoved past her children and gazed upon the spectacle before her. Her hand fluttered to her chest, then to her mouth, as she took in the ghastly scene.
“What in the name of the creator...?” she gasped.
“Mother, sit down,” Xander insisted. He gently steered Serrina toward one of the chairs, and she fell into it in a distressed heap.
“This is beyond barbaric,” Dante affirmed. Isaiah stared at his father’s corpse once more before turning to his mother.
“Dante, Xander,” he said, “did you notice his neck?”
His brothers looked at him dubiously before stooping down to scrutinize Mathias’s punctured neck. Xander’s face turned a deathly shade of pale and Dante’s normally hooded eyes went wide as they returned to their mother’s side.
“You don’t think...” he said.
“It can’t be...” Xander added.
“What?” Serrina demanded from the chair. “What is it?”
Neither sibling knew what to say to their mother. But they were all equally surprised that she was so calm about this. They’d presumed she’d be inconsolable after seeing her husband in such a state, regardless of how upset she was at him for his infidelity.
A dark thought crossed Isaiah’s mind, but he pushed it to the side. Serrina had now stooped down to inspect Mathias’s neck, and what she saw there made her eyes go wide.
“This isn’t...it was a...”
“We all know they’re real, Mother,” Dante said quietly. “It explains the lack of blood. But how could they get in here?”
No one knew how to respond. The room descended into silence as the candles flickered, casting eerie shadows upon the wall.
“What do we do?” Xander finally asked, piercing the silence.
“We can’t inform the authorities,” Serrina ascertained. “All that would do is provoke the creature that did this. We’ll have to bury him ourselves.”
“Bury him? But Mother...”
“I know, Xander. But we have no choice. I won’t risk us being devoured by vampires.”
The frightening word made everyone look around the room, as though Mathias’s killer were still inside, just waiting to strike once more. But alas, they determined that the room was uninhabited.
The determination in Serrina’s voice was indisputable. Though it pained them, in their hearts, the boys knew she was correct. So under the moonlight, they shoveled a hole in the earth, placed their father’s decaying corpse inside it, and filled the hole back in. Isaiah felt this was more strenuous than any physical labor he’d ever undertaken. He didn’t condone what his father had done to his mother, but he didn’t deserve such a harsh death.
The dark thought once again made itself prominent in the forefront of Isaiah’s brain. He once again shoved it away, but couldn’t restrain a shudder as he returned inside the house.
Serrina was waiting for them in the kitchen. Three glasses were on the counter.
“Here,” she said to her children softly, “drink this warm milk. It will help you sleep.”
“How can we possibly sleep in the same house our father was murdered in?” Xander asked in a whiny tone.
“We have nowhere else to go,” Serrina replied. “Please, just drink it.”
The boys were in no mood to argue. Isaiah wouldn’t mind a good night’s sleep, but he failed to see how that could possibly be accomplished after finding his father dead.
The three brothers downed their milk in one gulp. Isaiah thought it tasted slightly off, but he chalked that up to being upset about the evening’s events.
Little did Isaiah know, that drink that was meant to allow him a good night’s sleep would alter his life forever.
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