Darlings of Darkness: A Vampire Anthology Part 58

I smiled nonetheless and nodded. Perhaps she was just being kind. Although I couldn't shake the feeling that she knew of my fate.

So I had landed in Canada. I guessed this was my home now. But for how long? When my parents returned, would I go back to London? What if they were never found? What then?

At least for now, Canada was my home.

As I stepped off that plane, I felt helpless. I felt as if I had no control over my life. Perhaps I no longer did.

CHAPTER FIVE.

I didn't have to wait. The moment I stepped out into the arrivals hall with my luggage, I heard someone calling out my name. My eyes searched the crowd until they stopped on a young man who waved avidly at me. I tried to smile but probably failed.

"Lillian? Is that you? I wasn't sure if I'd recognise you from the photo... you look very different! It's the hair, I guess. Although you're a lot younger in the photo. Anyway, Gabriel - I mean your grandfather - couldn't make it as you know and so he asked me to pick you up. I'm Benjamin. It's great to finally meet you," he gushed enthusiastically.

"Hi," was all I could muster as he delved into his pocket and pulled out a photo of what looked a little (and I mean a little) like me from when I was just a baby. He turned the image to show me and I laughed at the sheer ridiculousness of it.

"Er... I'd like to think I have changed, a lot. I'm amazed you recognised me at all," I said, starting to feel comfortable with the stranger, but wondering where the photo had come from. It wasn't one I was familiar with. That said, no photo would be one I was familiar with. We didn't have any family photos at all.

Together we laughed as Benjamin easily lifted my bag from the luggage trolley and asked me to follow him. I stumbled behind him, not sure what to say as we walked through the car park until we stopped in front of a large dark green, slightly rusty pick-up truck.

Luckily Benjamin was the chatty type so I needn't have worried. All I had to do was listen and give the occasional reply.

As we climbed into the pick-up and he started the engine, Benjamin told me a little about Canada, what the weather had been like and eventually he broached the subject I had been dreading: my parents.

"So, Lillian..." it was coming.

"Please Benjamin... call me Lilly. n.o.body has called me Lillian since, since, well probably since that photo was taken."

He laughed and nodded, "Okay, Lilly, but only if you call me Ben."

We smiled and were both silent for a moment but I knew he was going to try and ask me again.

"Lilly. I just wanted to say how sorry I am about your parents going missing. I can't imagine what you must be going through. It must be absolutely awful..."

I didn't really know how to respond. So I chose not to.

"It's okay. I get it. If you don't want to talk about it, that is. You barely know me after all," he said with a sad smile as he pulled onto a busy motorway.

Feeling a little guilty, I nodded, "Why don't you tell me about you then?"

"Not a heck of a lot to say, really," he took a breath before continuing, "my name you now know. I'm 27 years old. I've lived in the same town pretty much all my life. I've recently opened a vet practice on the outskirts of town. Yes, I'm the local vet, in case you were wondering why the truck is covered in dog hair. What else would you like to know?"

"Brothers, sisters?" I queried.

"Oh, yeah. I have a younger brother, Oliver, who'll be 17," Ben looked at his watch, "in about 36 hours," he laughed. "I think your grandfather is hoping you'll join the party, the day after tomorrow. Nothing grand. Just family and a few friends. I guess he's hoping you'll make some friends of your own."

I cringed slightly and Ben noticed. "Sorry, too soon, I guess. You know, everyone will completely understand if you'd rather not join in. You need some time to settle in and chill out and... er... never mind."

I nodded. I didn't think Ben had the slightest clue how grateful I was. At the same time, I wondered who he meant by 'everyone' but I didn't ask. I thought about what he said about making some new friends and I sighed quietly, remembering my sheltered life in England with so few friends. Just December and me. What if people didn't like me? Having never made any other friends it was hard for me to imagine meeting people and being all... well... friendly. But then this life was going to be completely different from my old life. Perhaps I'd fit in perfectly. Perhaps I could change. I struggled with the thought.

It was just after midday and the sky started to cloud over. I hadn't noticed how cold it was. I shivered.

Ben immediately whacked up the heat without saying a word.

We drove in silence for quite a while until I noticed we were approaching a ferry terminal. It dawned on me then that I had barely asked any questions, not even the most important one.

"You know, Ben, I haven't got the faintest idea where we're going."

"I love your accent, Lilly. It's so d.a.m.n cute... just give me a sec while I sort out the ferry ticket," he wound down his window and while he chatted to the friendly lady with a big grin in the ticket booth and paid for our crossing, I read the signs around us and concluded we were going to a place called Langdale.

"Is that where you live? Where I'll be living? Langdale?" I asked as he wound the window back up again.

"No, we need to get a second ferry afterwards up to Powell River that's where we're going."

I felt like such a child asking silly questions. I wish I had known more about this journey before it had begun.

"Sorry, I just haven't got a clue," I choked, as I felt as if those tears might finally emerge.

Luckily I managed to hold them at bay, and offer what was probably my most pathetic smile yet.

"Don't be sorry, Lilly. It's not your fault that n.o.body shared any of this with you. It's such a shame, really. It would have been great for you and your grandfather if you'd been able to meet each other before... and under better circ.u.mstances."

Ben was so kind. Just from this short trip, I knew that we would undoubtedly become friends. My first Canadian friend. I also got the impression that he understood me. More than anybody had understood me since the vanishing. Probably more than anybody had understood me at all. Ever. In my life. Why he could possibly understand what I was going through was beyond me, though. But I just had the feeling that he did, probably more than December had done over the past few weeks.

I hoped that I would find everyone in Powell River as understanding and kind as him. If they were, I would have no problem making those friends I was so worried about.

CHAPTER SIX.

It wasn't until the following day when some home truths finally started to trickle into my head. It turned out that my father and my grandfather hadn't spoken to each other for years. This explained why we never had anything to do with Canada, or why my parents never even spoke of it. Perhaps it was also why my mother had become so irate when I discovered the letter from him.

"You need to sit down and have a proper talk with Lilly, Gabriel. She is totally in the dark. She's been through enough recently. Don't you think she deserves to hear the truth?"

I could hear the voices through the thin walls. I guessed that both Ben and my grandfather a.s.sumed I was still fast asleep because of my jet lag. Actually I had barely slept a wink. I had found it difficult to fall asleep with no noise surrounding me. The silence had kept me awake for hours.

"There is a reason why things happen in this life, Benjamin, and my son must have had a reason not to have told his daughter about our life here. I do not feel that I should break his silence," replied my grandfather.

"But she's nearly fourteen years old, Gabriel. What if Jack never comes back?"

"Don't you say that, Ben... don't even think it."

When Ben and I had returned from our almost five-hour journey the previous day, I felt so nervous about meeting my grandfather for the first time. But I was in for a huge surprise... there was much more to my family than just a grandfather. In fact I soon found out that I had a much larger family than I could ever have dreamed of. It wasn't just Gabriel I was meeting, there were aunts and uncles and cousins I never knew existed.

I needn't have been nervous, of course. I was treated like the long lost granddaughter, cousin and niece that I was.

As soon as we pulled into the long gravel driveway, a group of people bundled out of the house and stood on the porch, awaiting my arrival. All looked more nervous than me, if that was possible.

"Don't worry, Lilly. This is your family. They won't bite. Come on. Come and meet them," said Ben with a smile and a gentle pat on my shoulder.

Tentatively, I climbed out of the truck. Ben collected my bags while I walked up to these strangers who suddenly burst into smiles and rushed over to me and began hugging me enthusiastically. I noticed that one person remained behind them all and stayed quiet while they all made their noisy introductions.

"Hi Lillian. I'm your Aunt Meredith," said a rather short cuddly middle-aged lady with long black hair, and a tear in her eye.

"And I'm your cousin, Cormac. Meredith is my mum," said a chubby and spotty boy in his mid teens, shyly.

"h.e.l.lo Lillian. I'm John. I'm Meredith's husband. It's a pleasure to finally meet you," said a tall grey-haired man with gla.s.ses as he shook my hand energetically. "We have two other sons, Shayne and Bailey, but both are away studying at the moment and couldn't be here, I'm afraid," he added.

An attractive man with an uncanny resemblance to my father stepped forward next. He had long black hair tied at the nape of his neck and was probably in his early 40s. He patted me gently on the back and said, "Lillian. I wish this had been under other circ.u.mstances but it is a great pleasure to see you at last. I wish that you had been able to visit us long before now. I am your father's brother, Wyatt. This is my wife, Sonya." A beautiful slim woman with long bright white hair took my hand in hers and smiled kindly.

"I am so happy to meet you, Lillian. I believe we will be friends," she whispered in the most angelic voice. Instantly, I felt the same way. We would be friends.

"I would like you to meet our daughter, your cousin Josephine."

"Mum... please don't call me that! Hi Lillian, you can call me Jo. All my friends do," said a girl a little older than me with a scowl at her mother. The scowl was given with a laugh so it was easy to see that this mother and daughter had a close bond.

Jo was the image of her mother. Beautiful with long hair that was as black as her mother's was white. Both of them carried themselves with confidence yet neither seemed aware of the incredible beauty that emanated from them.

"And this old boy here is your grandfather, Gabriel," said Ben with a smile. As he said the words, the group parted to reveal a broad old man with short greying hair waiting patiently to be introduced.

"Grandfather," I said approaching him slowly.

He nodded and took both my hands in his, "We have waited many moons for this day to come. Lillian Tulugaq, welcome home. Welcome home," he said pulling me towards him. He hugged me tightly just for a moment before we all bundled indoors out of the cold, at last. My hands and feet were freezing.

As Ben talked to my grandfather the following morning, I jumped out of bed and into the kitchen where they stood, eager for them to see that I was not asleep and that I had heard every word they had said. And that I wanted to know whatever it was that was being kept from me.

"Oh... you're awake, Lilly. I'm sorry if we woke you," said Ben, looking a little embarra.s.sed.

Gabriel just shook his head as if to say, 'Well, now look what you've done.'

"I just popped in to have a quick word with Gabriel about... er... Oliver's party. Yes. Well, I'd better be going now. I hope to see you tomorrow, Lilly," he said as he put on his thick coat and gloves, adding with a wink, "but I completely understand if you'd rather give it a miss." And he was gone, leaving the two of us standing silently in the kitchen.

"Lillian..." said Gabriel. I waited.

"This is your home now. You must treat it as your home. Everything that is here, is now yours."

I waited for the crunch but it didn't come.

"Grandfather?"

"Lillian?"

"Please call me Lilly. n.o.body has called me Lillian since... since before I can remember. But last night you called me something else, after my name. I didn't understand. My surname is Taylor... isn't it?"

Shaking his head, he said, "Tulugaq is the name of our forefathers, Lilly. It is your name, it is my name. It is your father's name as well as his brother's and sister's. It is in you. It is in here," he said, placing his hand over his heart. "It would do you well to remember this. This is where you come from, Lilly."

"But what does it mean?"

"Tulugaq?" he asked, and I nodded.

"It is the great black bird of the sky. The Raven."

"It means raven?" and I gasped without thinking, remembering the two ravens that visited me every night before I came to Canada.

"You are surprised, child?" asked Gabriel.

Unsure whether to tell him or not, while at the same a little irritated at being called child, I walked over to boil some water to bide my time. Maybe he'll think I'm totally mad, I thought. Although I got the strange impression that nothing would shock him. I decided to fill him in on what happened on those lonely nights in England. And so I told him about my two ravens.

It turned out that I was right, he was not easily surprised. The ravens in London, he told me, were more than likely my ancestors looking out for me in my hour of need.

It was difficult for me to know how to react to that. Clearly I couldn't believe that my ancestors had come back from the dead, in the form of ravens, no less, to watch over me. Why would they watch over me? Why was I so special? Surely, if anybody needed to be watched over, it was my parents. Certainly not me. But ravens? Ancestors? Please.

My grandfather took my reaction rather well actually. I guess he knew that I wouldn't, couldn't, believe something like that. Me, a thirteen-year-old girl who had lived her entire life cooped up in a tiny room within an apartment block in a big city on the other side of the world. Nothing out of the ordinary had ever happened to me.

"My dear Lilly... must you keep your hair this way? Black is a colour of magical power. It is not something you should change unless nature requires it to be changed. You are beautiful. You look very much like my son. Your father. Embrace it. Do not hide from it."

There was something weird that he had just said but I couldn't quite put my hand on it. I stood quietly for a moment rewinding what he had said in my head before I discovered the link... a strange link. The colour black. He'd said it was the colour of magical power. The colour of my parents 'office'. That empty room that had been painted entirely in black. Could there be a connection? Surely not, I thought. No, I decided I just had an overactive imagination.

"Oh, and another thing... Lilly.... you can call me Gabriel. Everybody else does." He smiled then, and placed his hand on my shoulder before leaving me alone in the kitchen to my thoughts.

I had hoped that he would have told me whatever it was that was being hidden from me, but he didn't. I would have to wait.

CHAPTER SEVEN.

Later, I felt the need to get out of the house and have a look around. Gabriel had told me not to wander too far and, above all, he warned, "Do not venture into the forest."

I had no idea why I was to avoid the forest, but I did as he said and instead walked towards the water. I didn't have to go far.