Never Christmas (Thomas Darque)

[Lisa McNally]

Lisa walked into the door, she could smell him here, but it was muted by all the others that came in. Those invited and not invited. She made her way silently to the elevator. Taking a long inhale scenting the barely there scent of him. Leaning her head back against the wall, she took the silent descent with her mind on moments of the past.

Once the elevator bumped to a stop and the doors opened, she made her way to the middle of the room. Here was where his scent was strongest. Not many others came here and even though he had been gone for well over a year, she could still smell him like he was next to her. She stood there doing nothing for what seemed like hours, but more likely only minutes. Her muscles tense with hidden anger and sadness.

Coming back to the here and now she placed the radio with her ipad against the back wall, hitting the play. The sounds of string instruments moving to every corner of the room. Requiem of a dream taking over the sounds that were in her mind alone. She moved from the back to the wall she knew would hold ceiling to floor mirrors. Her free hand touching the glass, while her other hand rested against it with her staff was held in a firm grip. Her forehead met with the cold structure.

“Old habits die hard hmm pop?” Thinking of when he had set up the dance/training room in their home when she had been barely six. He had lead her around the room so she could touch everything he had set up. When her hand had met the mirror, her blond eyebrows formed a frown as her young face turned up to show her displeasure to her father.

“Daddy? Why would you put up mirrors? I can’t see myself dancing. I can’t see anything.” Her young voice hitched, still showing emotions that wouldn’t last much longer after that day.

Christmas was coming up. If it was a few years ago, she would be picking out gowns not worry about any jobs, any blood. Instead the nights would have been consumed with the Opera and some talent Orchestras. Not this year or the past couple. This year though will be filled with her fathers scent and memories.

She could feel the scream clawing at her throat to be released. refusing to give in to the desire, her hand balled into a fist and she slammed it into the mirror. The string of glass cutting her knuckles allowed her to push back the sadness, turn it into anger. Anger she could allow.

Not bothering with the blood that slowly dripped to the shiny floor she turned walking back into the middle of the floor. The song switched the violin hard and angry, fitting the storm inside of her. As the tempo built she let herself be swept away with the sound. Forgetting everything else. She turned and moved on feet fit for a ballerina while her staff swung around her, adding the wind for the musics storm. Drums crashed sounding like thunder and she pulled the blade from the top of the staff. Slicing the air while moving the staff in conjunction. Her body became the storm, her feet flying out as if fending off an attack. Her weapons moving to strike her unseen foe, it all becoming a dance in line with the music.

[Thomas Darque]

"Sleep sweet, baby girl,"

The man finished pulling the protective tarp around the front of the Barracuda and tying it to the bumpers. The car was built for speed and aggression, not the careful pace the weather would soon be bringing to the area. Rather than risk sending the 1971 classic to the junk yard if the accident was bad enough, Radar Love (as he called the machine) got to sleep in the heated garage till early spring. The 4 X 4 would serve him well in the ice and snow, but he would not feel right till he was back behind the wheel of the muscle car. Just like Reganlief and her horse. If she wasn't riding it, she felt weird traveling another way (thought she did scream her head off in fun when he got the Cuda running like a banshee on fire). At least the horse did well in the snow.

The music on the small radio broke his thinking. This would be their first Christmas as husband and wife. He knew that is not what a undead couple was considered, but in his mind that's what she was to him. She was his wife and he loved her-end of discussion. Thomas wondered what his mother (God rest her soul) would think of his 'wife'. As far as his father went, he never gave the idea of his opinion a second thought. 'Dad' was an abstract concept at best to him. Dad was a few phone calls to his mother occasionally and a monthly check. Once he moved beyond childhood he enjoyed one of the few direct conversations with the man, who made him a promise. Whatever he earned over the summers for college, he'd match it dollar for dollar. It was chasing them dollars that brought him here to this town to begin with and just before he returned to school to start his last year towards his Masters, he had his little 'accident' and never returned. Wasn't hard to transfer his credits to the local college and bit by bit he was gathering the last of his classes.

Of course, the idea of who would hire a shadow vampire to teach was almost comedy to Thomas. Night classes only and don't mind the fact the teacher does not cast a shadow.

Who was he kidding?

The Christmas music continued on the radio. Holidays spent with his mother. A comfortable meal and good company. Presents. Love. A few presents in the mail , or more often a check from 'Dad' but never an appearance. No, Lisa got that end of the deal. "What was it like having 'Dad's' attention 24/7?" he asked the garage around him as he sat back against the hood of the Cuda and lit up a cherry cigar. Thomas didn't like getting into these states of mind as the norm. No real answers to be had. Normally he'd just pour himself into work, but work was caught up now. Things had leveled off at the Agency, no cars to work on, Reganlief was off on one of her little forays to who knows where. Right now he'd talk to the horse if it was around to break this mood.

An idea crawled into his thoughts now. "Distraction? Anything?" he half laughed as it took root. He pulled out his cell and made a couple of inquiring calls.

***

He pulled to a stop at the place he had been told would be his best bet to try and find her. Lisa came here a lot for her own peace of mind. How different they were. The only thing they had in common was the male half of their parents mating was the same person. He had never met Lisa's mother and he could not be sure she ever saw his. Thomas could sooth and loose himself in literature and repairing cars. What did she do to relax he had no clue.

As he slipped inside, the sound of music could be heard coming from below. Someone was here at least. Remembering the path she warned him to take, he worked his way to the elevator and slid his key into the slot to call the car.

When he arrived below, Thomas just stood on the threshold watching his half sibling. He had never come down here before, so the layout surprised him a bit. Mentally he bit back the idea of what did a blind woman need a room full of mirrors for and watched her move. It was Mortal Kombat meets the Ballet. The moves aggressive, deadly, yet flowing with a grace only a dancer could have. Apparently he wasn't the only one with issues this night. If this was Lisa's idea of working out aggressions, then she had issues he never was aware of. He just leaned against the door jam to keep the elevator doors from closing and watched her continue to fight and dance. 'Personally, I'd pity the idiot she'd be fighting if this was real,' he thought to himself.

[Lisa McNally]

She her the elevator as it was called to the main floor. Yet she continue her dance, there was only a few who would come down to see her. As the elevator doors opened his scent wrapped around her, smelling slightly of their father with hints of the one who turned him as well as his own unique scent. It made her think of cars and the sounds of wind whipping by her. She move almost without thought, her mind wondering if others knew how much each scent was different or if they knew that the always held a lingering scent of their sire. It was the main way she knew when to be cautious an when she could relax. She could nearly pick out a whole linage from the scent alone. Though the farther down the food chain the harder it is to scent.

As the music ended her moves slowed, coming to stop standing straight, her back toward Tommy. She didn't move for a moment, didn't say anything. Tommy…. that part deep inside, the part that was a chubby cheek blue eyed blonde girl, wanted to wail at the injustice. Wanted to cry out how hurt she was he had left her. Left her in the dark. He had been a super hero in her eyes. Her Tommy… but he left without a goodbye. Turned from her when she became a freak.

She still remembered calling for him days after she woke in the hospital, her world gone dark. She wanted her big brother, he would of make it better. Daddy lied momma was alright and Tommy would take her and make them take off the blind fold. But he never came, how was she going to read their book? If he had come he would read it to her again and for a little everything would be alright. But he never came… Was he there when she was stuck in her own head for months? Is that why he had left?

Shaking herself slightly she spoke softly. “Come to see what the old man has left us?”

[Thomas Darque]

“Come to see what the old man has left us?”

The question took him by surprise for a moment. Calmly he lit the remains of her cherry cigar and stepped forward, allowing the elevator doors to finally close. He came no closer to her. She was still a wound spring and he had no desires to find himself on the receiving end of a reflexive response.

"Hardly," Was his simple reply. He had been here before. The few that knew him could tell others that outside of the antique car he had finished storing away for the winter, Thomas was un-materialistic. He had seen the games others played first hand. Who has the most of this or that, and to him it was counter productive. Between Reganlief and himself that had what they needed, the few things they wanted, and were quite comfortable. He could not expect the same from Lisa. She was, after all, 'daddy's girl'. Money, power and all the toys was a trait he associated with the old man and if she had him full time, then she was probably the same. "I stopped by for the hell of it. See how you was. Maybe talk."

Why did words, his first love, always seem to take a hike when he needed them most? 'Maybe talk'- how lame was that? When he had finally decided to propose to Regan, he had considered several memorable ways to ask her and in the end finally managed to spit it out one evening after they both had awakened.

"It is a nice place," he added. "Nice he left you something." He could have pressed the point. Considering all the cash flow just in his mother's direction alone, this was it? Mentally he shook himself free of such thoughts. Thomas found himself a comfortable spot along the wall and leaned against it.

"I had questions." he finally began. "Questions only you could possibly answer. Questions about...our Father." he caught himself before he said 'your'. Thomas watched her for a reaction.

[Lisa McNally]

She let out a low laugh, but it held no amusement. It was so bitter that she could almost taste in on her tongue. “You’ve come to see how I was doing?” Shaking her head she walked to the ipod, tapping the button with her staff. The silence thick for just a moment until he spoke again.

“Not sure how nice it is… could be puke green as far as I know. And its not just mine either. Only spot I really give a **** about is this one here.” Lisa tuned her head toward her brother. The glasses having come off during her dance. She gave him a full view of her blue eyes with the grayed out pupils. “He left two wills, I assume they the same thing, each made so we could read them.” A gentle shrug of her shoulder. “Though I can’t be sure, since one was written in braille the other not.”

“What questions do you have?” What could he want to know, he stopped coming around. Maybe if he didn’t ant to stay away he would of had the answers already. He was too good to stay with them, thats how her father put it. Sadly he meant every word. Her father thought Tom was the shinning star, the one who was going to make something out of himself. ‘We mustn't drag him down to our level. He can not know of the life we lead’. Another laughed escaped softly. What would their father say to know that both his children end up blood suckers. For her it wasn’t so hard to expect. She had blood on her hands long before she need it to survive.

She held herself stiff for a moment, part of her longed to just cause him a little pain, just a taste of what she felt when she woke up crying for him in the hospital. He was too good for her then, she was no longer the cute chubby cheek blonde. Her hand drifted to her hair almost as if it had a mind of its own. Stopping she moved her hand back down standing ramrod straight. “Ok.. shoot. What questions can I answer?”

[Thomas Darque]

"Two wills?" Thomas had noticed the change in her at once. Perhaps this was not the best time to have this conversation, considering what he saw when he had entered, but too late now. "I don't have a single clue what you are talking about, Lisa. My mother passed on before your father did, and anything like that would have come to our attorney and he still knows how to get a hold of me. Guess what? If there was a second will, it never found me."

His own anger, a rare thing as most could swear to, peeked out a bit. Her laugh an annoyance now as he wondered again why he had even bothered. Just as before, she never sought him out even now in this place. Anytime the two of them spoke it was Thomas who made the first contact, not Lisa. "Look, I get it, okay? One day out of the blue suddenly my mother and I were suddenly an embarrassment or something. You was the princess, I was the ********. All I wanted to know was how the hell did you rate everything. That's all. What was it like to have a father who wasn't ashamed of you and the first thing out of your mouth before I can ask anything is about a will? You think I came here for money?"

Now he laughed as well. He did not need this. It was a bad idea to begin with. "You know what? Screw it. I don't care. I am going to go find Regan, go home, and forget about all of this." He turned his back to her and headed for the exit. "Merry Christmas, princess. Tell YOUR father's ghost I said nothing. Wherever he ended up, I hope it hurts."

[Lisa McNally]

Lisa tilted her head at her brothers small rant. If it had been anyone else she might of laughed, but who the hell did he think he is. Hearing him take steps away, she could feel that heat, that boil that she worked so hard to keep down. Without a word she spun, sending the staff flying out from her, aimed at his back. The sword clutched in her right hand.

“How dare you! You selfish ********. I’m the princess? At which point did I get my crown?” Taking a few steps toward him, the sword in her hand swinging in a circle with each step. “Maybe it was when my mother blew the **** up? Or perhaps when I woke up two months later calling for my ******* big brother?” Stopping just a few feet from him, her body nearly vibrating with the tension. “Oh yes, time with OUR father was nothing but fun and games. The months of rehab, learning to move and read without any damn sight. The years of training, first disguised as dance and self defense. “ Her voice going lower a near feline hiss. “ Maybe my fairy tale you mullet head **** started when I was twelve and killed three grown men. One of which wanted to use any young girl in ways that still cause nightmares.”

She swung the sword in front of him, well aware she was too far to hit. “OUR father thought you the golden boy! Better than us, ‘we can’t taint what he can be.’ Oh yes, I was the Babied”

With that she moved in to strike for real this time. He thought himself better than her and was going to bad mouth her and their father during the one time a year her father showed her fun and care. She would take his tongue before she let him do any more of that.

[Thomas Darque]

He flinched when the staff struck him between the shoulders. One hand in reflex grabbed the hilt of his blade that was hidden under his long oat, but he did not draw it. He stopped and turned to listen to her throw her little fit. 'Typical princess' he thought until the words began to register.

What the hell was she even going on about? Training? Killing people?

Now her sword was in motion and it was obvious she knew how to use it well. Any visual tricks he knew would be pointless if the situation got stupid. He remained still, not giving her a clue where or what he was doing. 'Tommy, ol son, you always manage to hit the wrong nerve. And people wonder why you don't say anything.' he thought to himself as she advanced.

The blade sliced cleanly in the air and left a cut across his right cheek, just missing his nose. Before Lisa could strike again, his own blade was out and blocked the downstroke.

"One is all you get, now stop it!" He shouted, but it was obvious his sister was in full battle mode now. He did not have the benefits of training as she apparently had, but he had good teaches since being turned and learned quickly. He parried the blows but refused to return them till a quick stroke tore the front of his coat and shirt open. Black mist drifting from the wound now as his normal composure finally broke.

When his blade caught hers sooner than she had expected, he smirked. Was she surprised he decided to fight or was she amazed he simply wasn't going to stand there and take it. Either way. He would not even let Reganleif treat him this way, so letting his sibling turn him into undead sushi was not going to happen.

Eyes blazing and fangs exposed, he began to hack like a barbarian to force her off balance. "Okay, you want to fight so bad, wench? You got it!" he roared.

[Lisa McNally]

The feel of of the blades moved up her arm, oh this is what she needed. This made her ‘workout’ seem like a walk in the park. His worlds made that fire burn brighter. His first strike cutting across her arm. She loved the feel of a good fight. Flipping backwards out of his reach, she crouched, a smile spreading across her lips. That smile only a hair nicer than a snarl. “Oh big brother… you seem to know how to use that blade. Good. Now how good are you at it with no eye sight?”

Darkness swallowed her and began to take the very light from the room. Her nostrils flaring as she took in his scent. Grabbing the speaker that had once played music, she threw it toward, him. Barely waiting for it to be near him, she used her celerity to run passed him, sword out to strike mid section. Perhaps she could get a critical hit on him if she aimed at the right spot, but those first memories of him stayed her hand barely.

Not to give him the upper hand, she did not pause once past him, instead ran at the wall using it as a springboard to propel her toward where his back had been. Her body low in hopes to take out his knees and continue past once more.

Those thoughts of him reading to her when she was so young, would not make her push aside the insult. Her voice low as she tried to use her speed, dexterity and knowledge of the dark in her favor. “You know after you chose to not be around, he would tell me how great you had become. How you went to college, while I got good at killing bad guys.”

[Thomas Darque]

He was a brawler-simple. Thomas had held his own in bar room fights and the occasion tempers flaring on job sites easily, but he was no assassin. More of a direct, line of sight type of aggressor. When he saw Lisa summon the shadows to herself, he knew his problems were multiplying rapidly.

She moved-fast! He barely twisted himself out of the way. He ignored the speaker as it came at him. It was a diversion and not the real threat now. It hit his shoulder and clattered to the floor as he tried to keep a general idea of where she was. Despite her shadows, the light coming in from the hallway gave her away at times. A splash of darkness moving past and across the light, but only when she drew near enough. Standing in one spot was suicide.

Running would give him away. No matter how light he was on his feet, she would gain a clue quickly, so when she made another pass he simply teleported to another spot in the room and froze. It would take her a few seconds to find him again, so he decided to mess back in his own ways.

"I chose nothing! He abandoned us!" his Mindspeak filling her head. Since the 'sound' was suddenly in her thoughts and not direction-based, Thomas figured it would slow her down for another second or two. 'One weekend you are at my house. The next I never saw you again! If anyone separated us, it was your father's idea, NOT MINE! I don't give a damn what he said about me, I never saw him or you again!"