A Nightmare of the Future

“How this world turns cold and breaks through my soul. And I know, I’ll find deep inside me, I can be the one. I will never let you fall, I’ll stand up with you forever. I’ll be there for you through it all, even if saving you sends me to Heaven.” - The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, ‘Your Guardian Angel’

 

          A small city of perhaps a few hundred or so. That was Lilac. Though people were beginning to flock here from all over the west side of the American continent. After all, Lilac and its sister city, Silver Arrow, were two of few places which still held their own. Sort of. Kind of. Maybe… People came for the food, for the education, for the safety.

 

         That was all because of Aaron Bones and the Whimsies. The only reason it was still necessary to fight on occasion was simple: faith of the people. It was weak. Nontangible and therefore incapable of reinforcing the spiritual barrier. The barrier behind which Lilac’s settlers had erected walls tall enough to make dragons think twice. It was like they were in a bowl, dry cereal just waiting to be drowned…

Only tolerable monsters like white elves, sprites, were-rabbits, and tree nymphs were allowed for any length of time in the forest of Lilac. Well, usually they were tolerable… kind of like bees. Don’t bug them, they won’t bug you. Outside, it was still a maelstrom of demonic entities. Except out there, things jumped out of the shadows. And they killed you.

          “Alexandria, the fifth is but a week away.”

          “Yes, sir.”

          “We should kill him before he suffers such a terrible fate.” His piercing blue eyes were desperate for her agreement. Desperate for her to give in, give up, a battle for the gate was as hopeless as preventing a ruler change in the first place. If Sisuca failed to have Elijah, then whoever was next in line would take a stab. And so it would go, until eventually he became a ruler.

          A ruler of hell. His destiny outlined in blood and underlined with massacre.

          “I firmly believe that killing this character would result in disaster for both our story and its people.” She said carefully.

          “And what you have in mind is preposterous.” Master Hunter leaned back in his chair, crossing his long legs and scrutinizing her with those eyes. Those pleading, cowardly, powerful eyes.

          Alex shrugged, “Watch him.”

          “Watch him? Watch while he destroys our city from the inside out?”

          “I believe he can be domesticated.”

          “Like an animal.”

          “Since the concept of heartbeats was first discovered, there have been havens able to harness the power of monsters. Tame them, wield them as weapons of mass destruction.”

          “And you believe a mere child, like yourself, will be able to protect the haven.”

          “I believe he can do more than that,” Alexandria grinned slyly, “I believe he can protect the world.”

          “Another dream.”

          “Another nightmare.” She corrected him, “But think of the power endowed upon the rulers of hell. The sheer force of his change alone would be enough to make leviathans tremble in their boots.”

          “You are assuming that such power can be harnessed in the first place.”

          “What other choice do we really have, William?” she challenged boldly, “We are sitting here like ducks. Waiting for the day something decides we’ve plumped enough for dinner.”

          “Aaron and the Whimsies-“

          “Are three people concerned with the inner workings of their own families,” she cut him off as she approached the chair, “And I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of being a sack lunch.”

          He searched her face, but she wasn’t lying. She knew what was going to happen, she was more than a psychic. She was more than the oracles of long ago times, and she wanted her way. Now, “A young, impressionable boy with blood that has inherited the prowess of a unicorn. He, if no one else, is a prince worth domesticating.”

          “You talk as if he’s already changed.”

          She turned and began to walk away, “You have six days to make your final decision, Master Hunter.”

          “And if I decide it is too risky?”

          “Then I will kill him before Sisuca has the chance to revive him.”

          “Alexandria.”

          She rested her hand on the door, “Yes, Master Hunter?”

          “If I decide to go through with your vision?”

          “I will become the heartbeat.” She promised.

          She left him there to mull things over. Knowing he would follow her, because her direction had proved stable for as long as Miss Jennifer had brought her to him. Knowing he would follow her, because there wasn’t a spell nor an incantation in the world that could tame a ruler. Monsters created by changelings, perhaps. But not one given the force of hell. Not one capable of reducing Lilac to the ashes from whence it came.

          No, he would follow her. Because even at three years old, she had the power to warp destiny to her liking and mold it to her ideals. Generally speaking, it wasn’t an exact science. But it was one that had kept greater forces at bay until the day they had what they needed. Wanted, to end this way of existence.

As she walked down the long hallway towards the part of the church reserved for academy, she found herself grinning at the stained glass.

          There was nothing to grin about. What she had proposed was an almost insurmountable task. It meant buckling down and reaching out for the human Elijah while he thrashed against vampirism. And becoming a heartbeat? You want to talk about a commitment? It meant sharing her essence, her soul, her life, with a monster’s whose very existence was meant to snuff it out. Obliterate it.

          And the bond was for eternity.

While he battled the five stages of change, they would have to accept dire consequences.

          Consequences she had not yet been shown, but could assume well enough. The five stages of grief were easy for a mortal on their way to Heaven. But for an immortal on their way to Hell, now that was something noteworthy of textbooks so simple it was in kinder academy.

          Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance. Five years, five hells. And at the end of it all Eli wouldn’t be a child anymore. He wouldn’t even be a man. He would be a monster. A monster in need of a master if he hoped to do any good in this world…

          “You’re late,” he pointed out as she took the seat beside him in Strategy.

          “For a very important date.” She acknowledged and pulled out their textbook, flipping to the indicated page. Today’s lesson was on the art of surprise. Since humans are neither fast enough nor strong enough to beat the more powerful supernatural in hand to hand combat, one reliable tactic was sneaking up on them before they had the chance to sniff you out.

          It was called exchange, a gruesome idea. Switching your blood to blood they wouldn’t think twice about. Stabbing them in the back, before your body rejected the unnatural invasion. Or you turned into a monster yourself…

          Elijah wore deep bags under sleepless brown eyes that already haunted her. His hair combed but otherwise a soft mess of raven feathers. He was already pale enough to reflect light. Yet his veins still pulsed blue and his breathe still required oxygen. That heart still needed to beat, and those hands were not yet strong enough to snap the stake at his belt like a tooth pick.

          What she had proposed was crazy. But what Aaron was doing was crazier. The boy beside her should never have been born in the first place. He was a flaw of mortal design, an accident.

          And that’s why Sisuca wanted him.