Chapter 8 Fleeing

• Natalya was on the verge of turning five years old, while the triplet had turned three a few months back. Her youngest sibling and only other sister were eighteen months old. The island she grew up on was hidden from the rest of the world. Though she had asked why, now that she was five, she understood it to be for their safety. She and her mother would go running through the jungle, constantly training as though something out there was coming for them. Her father taught her with wooden swords, continually training, and if she wasn’t training, she was fishing with Jett, who was always with her. Her mother marked areas where Natalya could go and where it was forbidden. She kept to those markers because she was responsible for taking care of her siblings if something occurred. There was a cave not too far that she was taking her siblings and keeping hidden; that was her role being the eldest. Her brothers were triplets. Only two were identical, but it was Ramirez who was the oddball. He wasn’t as tall as his brothers; even his appearance was different. However, she loved him the most. He was her shadow whenever she was close to the house, but considering he was the smallest, he was also the strongest of the three. Santiago and Diego were always roughhousing with each other, and their father was just as bad whenever he wasn’t doing chores. Vera stayed close to their mother, and though she was the quiet one, Vera was like an old soul because she was the youngest of them all. Natalya believed Vera would take her place, but that was far from the truth. Vera was patient and quiet, not demanding like Santiago and Diego, who would keep everyone on their toes. Natalya sometimes would take them to the lagoon to give her mother a break because the two were energized and always were into something or another. The children followed Natalya whenever she was done with her chores. Still, as time passed, she was given more duties and responsibilities as her training expanded because she had also taught her brothers some of the things she had learned from their parents. Their father taught the children different weapons and even learned how to make their own, which Vera caught on to by the time she was ten; she was making weapons for her older siblings that she crafted like she was meant to be a blacksmith of sorts. Isadora and Natalya went on night trips for Nata to become more like her mother, with the abilities passed directly to her eldest daughter. Soon, Nata’s eyes were more feline than her siblings. Her brothers and sister took on more vampire traits than she did, though they were not as strong as she. She figured it was indeed her job to protect her siblings. Ramirez, now sixteen, was taller than his brothers and almost as tall as their father. He was a gentle giant but wasn’t as hyper as Santiago and Diego; he was more down-to-earth and calming. Vera and Ramirez seemed to have their world, like he was more protective over her than the other two. No, the other two brothers had to follow Natalya, and because they were energetic, they were perfect to help her train. One night Isadora took Nata deeper into the jungle, away from the others practicing with their father.
• “Mother, are we not doing our normal training tonight?”
• “No. We are leaving the island in a few days. Your father and I are going on a hunt, but not just to feed like we normally do. We are going to take you and your siblings back to civilization. You five are old enough to understand about keeping ourselves hidden amongst humans and other creatures. It will be your job to watch your siblings for the next few days until we return for you all. While we are gone, you know how to dissembled everything as though no one had ever lived here, right?”
• “Yes, of course, mother. Why are we leaving now, though?”
• “Much of the world has changed since we came here. We have been keeping an eye out for things. Your father and I have been waiting for the right time to move us back up North. We can’t stay here forever, and it’s time to advance your training, not to mention your siblings. Where we are going will take many days for us to get there, but the way things are advancing is now or never.”
• “Why can’t we stay here though? It’s safe here, and we have yet to explore every part of the island.”
• “Yes, it’s safe here, but not forever, either. You and your siblings need to know how to put your training into use. For us to evolve, we can’t hide here and then expect to blend in when everything around us never stays the same. Tomorrow, when you awaken, take your siblings to the cave, where all of you will stay until we come back. While they are asleep or training, you must take apart everything and ensure everything here doesn’t look like we have been living here. Please make sure we get our things back to the cave. Things we do not take must be brought back in here. Jett will be here with you; if there is something dangerous, follow her and protect your siblings at all cost, you understand me?”
• “Yes, mother.”
• “If we do not return, what are you to do?”
• “Follow the cave to the beach, get into a raft, and return to the mainland. There is a map in the raft; we follow that and look for a vampire named Keane. If you and daddy are still alive, you will find us; if not, I am to protect my siblings and continue searching for Keane.”
• “There are gold coins in the raft and other supplies to help you blend in. Do not use your abilities during the day or around anyone unless you have to hunt and only hunt at night.”
• “Yes, mother. Mother, you and daddy are coming back, right?”
• “It will take the wrath of God for us not to return here, daughter. However, I believe in being always prepared for the worst.”
• “Mother, what if we do not find Keane?”
• “Look at the map; that place where he might be is well hidden like here, only better. You stay hidden and out of sight, then take your siblings further into the Northern territory. Like here, you find them a place where you all can be safe and out of sight. Jett will be your North star, okay.”
• “Yes, mother.”
• *****NEW CHAPTER****
• On the way back from their nightly hunt, her siblings were watching as their parents left for the night. They were leaving Nata to watch over her three brothers and sister once they couldn’t see their parents. She started gathering their things, for they were going to the cave soon before the morning. Though Vera wanted to help, she had her siblings prepare dinner while she continued doing what she promised she would do. It was nearly dawn when they ventured into the cave, where her siblings finally slept. On the other hand, she went ahead and started breaking everything down just as her parents had taught her when she was but a child. She wanted to sleep but didn’t want to waste precious time. Instead, everything that couldn’t be used in the cave was broken down. She returned to the shelter late, when her siblings were waking up. She had Santiago take the others to the spring, where they could clean up and eat breakfast while she rested for a little bit. Jett went with the younger siblings allowing Nata to get some shut-eye. It seemed like hours had passed, but she knew it had only been a couple of hours before she had awakened. She told her brothers and sister that they were not to return to where their home was but stay close to the cave until mom and dad returned. Five days had passed when she thought about taking her siblings deeper into the cave, but she heard a noise, and that was when she saw her parents running towards her, signaling for her to get the others. She came into the cave, alerting her siblings to get up and grab what they could, and though they had no idea what was going on, they scrambled, grabbing everything they could. Jett summoned her abilities, creating a portal that each of them jumped through, and the last one to enter was Caelan, who had been hurt but had his family to protect. The portal had dropped them onto the sand, but it wasn’t purely the desert and wasn’t exactly close to any civilization, either.
• Isadora bit down into her wrist, allowing her blood to drip into Caelan’s wounds.
• “Momma, what happened?” Vera, who was fourteen, was upset seeing her father hurt.
• Isadora looked at her children, “We had a small run-in with a lycan pack. Your father will be fine. They had silver, but he will be okay, won’t you, my husband?” She was trying to save her husband, their father because this was something she had never seen whatever those lycans had used on Caelan. She could see her husband was trying to fight whatever was going inside, though he didn't look to well he was trying to keep his children calmed. “Yes. I am fine. Just caught off guard, is all.” He paused for a moment he could taste the metal in his mouth which he knew wasn't a good sign. This was not how he wanted to go, his family needed him though his children were staying it was Natalya who knew better. He gave her a look to keep her from saying anything, if he was to die she would have to help her mother protecting the rest against Dagen's men. He should have been more watchful, they had grown careless even Isadora was angry at herself for not being vigilant, enough. Natalya knowing her parents longer and for her father trying to cover his pain, she knew something wasn't right. Though he was trying to save face so his children were not worried. The wound wasn’t healing, and she saw the fear in her mother’s eyes when she felt the urge to latch onto the wound. Something was causing her to hunger. Without thinking twice, Natalya sunk her teeth into her father’s flesh, and though he grunted from the pain, they all watched as the poison from their father’s wound was being drained. When Natalya stopped, her eyes were blazing, for her body was absorbing the poison; she was not affected by its lethal dosage. Her father’s wound began to heal on its own even as her mother again poured more blood into her husband’s wound. It took mere seconds before father looked like his old self. Isadora knew her daughter’s abilities were different, something different than her abilities. Whatever Nata was able to do, it saved Caelan’s life.
• *****NEW CHAPTER****
• "Where are we, momma?" Vera asked looking all around which was much different from the island they had grown up on.
• "I don't know baby, let's keep moving until we find either a water source or a nearby town."
• Natalya feeling herself coming off her high, not knowing what caused her to do that, but whatever was meant to kill her father only made her hungry. Her mother thought she would have fed like she did, but Natalya didn't drain energy and she didn't crave blood like her siblings. Until now she was satisfied not really craving anything, though there were times when she went on a hunt with her mother she did eat the heart of the creatures she attacked. None of the others ate the hearts of their kill, but she never questioned it, until now.
• Caelan leading them away from this area, he knew deserts and this wasn't in the States. They were just dropped here unaware exactly where they were, but they quickly hid their scent so in case if someone or others were still tracking them. They were not going to let themselves be an easy mark this time, they were gonna have to be even more vigilant than ever. They couldn't use the bracelet to track them, so whatever was going on they had to be even more careful. Their children though they were teens now had covered their faces as the wind began picking up. Though the desert heat was scorching the ground beneath their feet. It seemed like hours had passed before they finally stopped to rest for a moment. There was no sign of life, just plain sand.
• Isadora finally looking up towards the sun by shielding her face with her hand, she was looking to see what time was maybe in a way she could figure out where they were.
• "We are definitely not in Kansas my darlings." She turned to Jett who was laying down, "Appears we are in Africa."
• Natalya had read about different places in the books her parents had given her when she was training or doing chores, she would pass the time away by reading. Though they didn't go to school, but their father and mother taught them different subjects including foreign languages.
• "Mom, we could be near Egypt."
• "How do you know?"
• "Keket, the nickname you go by. In Egypt it would be Kauket the female counterpart of Kek. It's makes perfect sense why were dropped here. Momma, this would be our ancestor's homeland."
• Caelan looked over at his wife and daughter while the others were enjoying the shade considering they didn't know how much longer they were going to be out here. He had to smile for a second then turning to Jett, "You couldn't drop us at my ancestral home, Jett?"
• Vera finally stood up, "Okay, so what's the plan now then?" This one was normally quiet but the heat was taking it's toll on the youngest of them all.
• "Mom, please I am telling you we are not too far from our ancestors. I think Jett brought us here for a purpose and I also believe we should follow her."
• Isadora turned her head to the side, "Well, Jett. You are up, lead the way."
• Jett sprung up on all fours going in a different direction than what they were traveling earlier. Santiago and Diego started running trying to out run each other as the other family members caught up. Though a few times Diego tried tripping Ramirez who managed to push his brother down the sand hill. Isadora rolled her eyes without looking at her husband, "I blame you for this. You couldn't be serious on our journeys either."
• Caelan grinning, though he would have join in on the fun because he and his boys would roughhouse with them from time to time. However this time he called the boys back because he could feel Isadora giving him the look. Next to her were the girls who were focused on the mission ahead, figured it would be his daughters who had gotten their mother's personality. He however ran up next to his wife, "I think we should make some more babies, since our brood are teens now."
• "You really are a pig, you know that right?"
• "Of course I am. Admit it though, you were thinking about it too?"
• She said nothing but he saw her look changed because he was right about her wanting more babies. They had put off having more because all five of their babies were still very young and they needed protect the babies they had already made. Now that the children were older, she had been wanting another baby, just never voiced it.
• "Yes. I have been thinking about it, but now, I'm not so sure if it's a good idea."
• "Once we figure out where we are, we can discuss this later. Come on, our teens are further up ahead than what we are."
• "Only because you distracted me." She said it with a smile right before both of them upped their speed to catch up. By nightfall, they had reached what appeared to be a pyramid that had been recently dug up and excavated.
• "I read about this site, the ones who were doing research here had gotten sick or something. Apparently, in ancient Egypt they were known to set traps in case thieves ever had found the tombs."
• *****NEW CHAPTER****
• Isadora impressed on how much her daughter had been reading, she watched her daughter eyes light up no longer the molten honey eyes but were glowing brighter. The other siblings were already following close behind Jett. Isadora turned to her husband, "When did our children become more daring than we?"
• "Well, they are our children. Come on, let's catch up before they leave us behind." He seemed way too please that their children were getting more independent. She on the otherhand was missing the times when they were babies. She had to admit, she was having the baby blues bad. They pressed on until they came into a very large chamber room. Already Natalya was looking at the Hieroglyphs, though she hadn't a clue what any of it meant. She couldn't help but press her fingers on the writings. Vera could feel the energy of the room all around her, but she started getting headaches right as she could the past as images were flooding her senses. She nearly fell to her knees when Ramirez picked her up.
• "What is it Vera?"
• "This room, it was as though I had stepped into the past. There's so much energy here, it's like if I touch the walls I am afraid of what I might see."
• He knew each of his siblings, including himself all had abilities. He learned that his two brothers could teleport anywhere, when they practice their training they would use their teleport to get one over him but when they tried to pull the same stunt on Natalya. She was prepared, and they stopped pulling that stunt on her. Vera hadn't showed her abilities until now. He on the other hand could read the minds of others but it didn't stop there. He could do Sanguine Incineration, using his prey's body fluid such as blood and watching them burn from with in before exploding into a million pieces.
• Each of them discovered their powers, their gifts at different times.
• He learned his when he was angry at something that he couldn't remember what it was over. However, he remembered seeing a predator coming towards him and he just felt rage and then next minute there was nothing left of the animal. On one hand he thought it was exiciting but on the other hand, he felt bad he took out his emotions on an animal that he could have easily escaped without thinking twice about it. Natalya crept over to her sister, "I think you should put your hand on the walls because none of us can read these Hieroglyphs. No telling how long we are going to be here so we need to know as much as we can about this place."
• "I'm just afraid that if I do this, that it might be too much."
• "This is how you are going to teach yourself to restraint and how to balance out the energy. This is a whole new training ground, you have this gift for a purpose. Right now, we need you little sister."
• Isadora smiled at her daughters, she too knelt beside her baby girl, "Nata is right my darling. We all have to learn to control our gifts and the only way is to find out our limits and learn to control them. We are right here, and I promise you that I am not going to let anything happen to you my baby girl."
• "Momma, what if?"
• Isadora held her daughter's hands, "Then we will face it together. Your sister is right, the only way to know is to try. We are right here."
• Vera biting her lower lip then she looked at the walls which of them radiated so much energy, she didn't know which one to select. She turned to Jett who was standing at the one wall and pawing at it. Vera taking a deep breath though she was afraid she knew that she was the only one who could do this. She pressed her hands onto the wall, within seconds she was transported from her present into the past through her mind. She could hear her mother telling her to relax and focus. Then she couldn't hear her mother any longer, but listening to her mother's instructions then trying to focus as she watched. What seem like hours were mere minutes and she felt herself coming back to the present and though it took her a few minutes she could finally breath again
• Everyone was around her though they kept some distance as to not crowding her when she finally looked at her parents, "We are in the temple of this place. They performed rituals in this room."
• "I guess we are going to be doing a lot of research in here for a while anyways."
• Diego raising his hand, "So are going to be staying here then?"
• Santiago smacked his brother on the back of the head, "No, we are going to let you stay here while we walk around and come back for you in about a hundred years."
• "Boys, no one likes a smart ass. Yes, it looks as though we are going to be here for a while."
• "What are going to do about food and well you know momma, you have to feed on life-force just as daddy has to feed on blood." Vera looked upset for a moment because she wished they were back on the island where they knew what to expect.
• Santiago smiled, "Dad, we could teleport around here, maybe locate civilization of sorts."
• "Letting you two loose and unsupervised, the world isn't prepared enough for you two. Besides, Vera will be able to locate what we are going to need."
• *****NEW CHAPTER****
• "How so dad?" Ramirez asked puzzled in his tone because he was still trying to understand what exactly what was going on.
• "The excavation site, it's new, well somewhat knew. Vera can use it to help us find out exactly where we are and what's around us."
• Vera looking at her mother, "Momma, is it safe for us to stay here?"
• "Yes. Jett brought us here, so it must be protected. This is a temple area so we should be safe enough in here."
• Natalya smiled, "Finally going to do some researching and exploring."
• "You are a weird one, you know that right?"
• "Wisdom before strength brother."
• "Okay children, take a minute we are going to explore around here before Vera goes outside. Mark each room so that we do not get separated. Vera, you and your sister stay here. See what else you both can learn about this room. Caelan, go with Ramirez and explore the other room where the humans were. Don't touch anything, okay."
• "Hey mom, what If I go with them then?" Santiago replied, because like Diego, he could teleport so if in case they had gotten lost or something was to happen, he could teleport his father, brother, and himself back to this room.
• "That will be fine. Diego you come with me we are going to explore the other chambers."
• Diego groaned because he knew his mom was very serious and at least with dad; they wouldn't be so focused but would be able to goof off some. That was when Ramirez spoke up, "That's why you are going with mom. This is a mission not a game."
• "I do hate it when you read our minds."
• "Normally, I try not to read yours because I like to keep whatever intelligence I have. ."
• "Jerk."
• "Bitch."
• Isadora taking her son by his ear as she dragged him in the direction that they were going. Even though she didn't sense any danger, she however kept her blades close by just in case. She pulled her son beside her before letting go of his ear, they continue down the path. They didn't need a torch for their eye sight allowed them to see in the dark, so they would be able to keep their presence hidden. After Nata could see that everyone had went in different directions, it was just her younger sister and herself, Jett was perched on the table. Natalya began searching through the ruins discovering the work that had been done many hundred of years of ago. Her kid sister still deciphering her vision of the past when Nata knelt down in front of Vera.
• "You need to teach me how to ready these Hieroglyphs."
• "It could take some time because there is a lot in here to go over."
• "Fine, learn what each of these Hieroglyphs mean, so that I can help read them."
• "Why are you so interested in them to begin with?"
• *****NEW CHAPTER****
• "This is the key to our existence, little sister. I mean imagine what we could learn about ourselves, maybe discovering secrets of the past."
• "Is there another reason?"
• "Mom doesn't know anything about her parents or her grandparents. All we know is that we are half vampire and half energy vampire, if that is even the name of what momma is."
• "I thought dad wasn't born a vampire though."
• "I know, he said he had been turned. Look at this, each of siblings have abilities that we are still learning. Mom probably has abilities she may never knew existed. We have nothing but time, but that isn't guaranteed, either. Don't you want to know what you truly are?"
• "Yes, but what if what we learn isn't something we should know about? What if we discover something that makes us the villians?"
• "Then we can learn from our ancestor's mistakes, so that we don't repeat theirs. Not knowing what we are could be just as dangerous as ignoring the facts. This might be our only chance of discovering the truth before we are interrupted. Come on, find out how to teach me these Hieroglyphs, so I can help search."
• "Alright, alright. Just make sure if anything happens...."
• "I will."