Duatal

            The rest of the house was making ready for bed. The sun was rising, staining the sky with pale blues and pinks like the nursery of over-zealous first-time parents, but Justin couldn’t get to sleep. Something was bothering him. Was it how shaken Elliot had seemed earlier? Perhaps it was the brief glimpse he’d caught of Cassandra’s room behind the boy as he quickly closed the door. Or maybe that he’d said nothing of it to Byron. Why did he feel so right with Elliot? He’d had decades with his sister, and no one lese had ever caught his attention so much, and held it so well as him. He lay on his bed looking up at the ceiling, hands folded behind his head. Should he tell Byron what he’d seen? Maybe he should talk to Alyssa. He readied a mental strand to send out to her to see if she was still awake, but a soft knock at his door made him drop it like a limp tendril.

            ‘Come in.’

            Alyssa lay on her bed, staring up at the plaster ceiling. She hadn’t seen her brother when he’d gotten back. She’d heard the commotion as they came in, but hadn’t ventured out to greet them. She should go apologize to him. She’d been overly touchy ever since Elliot had arrived. She was being selfish, she knew. She rose from her bed and sat on the edge for a while before standing and moving to the door.

            The door opened and Elliot slipped in quietly. He was clutching something behind his back.

            ‘Uh, hi!’ Justin said, surprised that it wasn’t his sister. He swung his feet over the side of the mattress and sat, waiting.

            Elliot sat beside him, just a few inches between their legs. He looked at him, and then hooked a few loose strands of hair behind his ear. Finally, he asked, ‘So how do we do this?’

            ‘This?’

            ‘This… Us.’

            ‘Like you normally would.’ Justin chuckled. ‘Being a Vampire doesn’t change that.’

            Elliot bobbed his head. ‘Ok. Then I want to get to know you first.’

            Justin smiled. ‘Me too.’

            ‘Ok. Then I need your help with something. I don’t know who else to ask.’ He brought out what he’d been hiding behind him. It was the book he’d taken from Cassandra. ‘I can’t read this.’ He handed it over.

            Justin flicked it open and looked at the first page, and then fingered through several more. ‘Well it’s in Greek for starters. Do you know what it is?’

            He shook his head.

            ‘Cassandra didn’t say?’

            He took some time to answer, and then chose his words carefully. ‘No, she… didn’t give it to me. I took it when I was leaving.’

            ‘Why?’

            ‘It felt… right. I don’t know. I just got this urge that I needed to take it with me. Can you help me read it though?’

            ‘Yeah, I think Byron has some books in the library that will help.’ He took the book and led him through into the makeshift library. He checked this time to make sure there was no one else hiding in the shadowy nooks. He found a thick book in a pile on the floor and spread it out on one of the tables. Together they peered over both, trying to translate the text,

            They worked out that the script on the cover said “Antediluvian.” But when they started on the first page, it was Justin who first realized what it was that they had before them.

            ‘This is about the Ancients!’

            Elliot blinked to show his ignorance.

            ‘The earliest Vampires who rose to power in early history. The ones who formed the clans—the bloodlines, and the council of Elders.’

            ‘The who now?’ None of this made any sense.

            Justin sighed. ‘I can’t explain this well unless you already know about us… about our government and how we work.’

            ‘You have a government? Like not the one in Washington?’

            ‘Hold on,’ Justin dashed to the door, bidding him wait there. He ran to Byron’s door and knocked until the man answered grumpily. ‘Can I borrow the Duatal?’ he asked, before even explaining his disturbance.

            Byron pulled the book from his desk and started to hand it over, before reason penetrated the thick of sleep. ‘What are you up to?’

            ‘Elliot wants to know about our government and history.’

            ‘Well, I suppose if Cassandra made him interested, I guess it’s alright.’ Byron conceded and handed it over.

            Justin decided not to mention his own reservations or exactly why Elliot was curious. He took the tome thankfully and ran back to the library where Elliot was still trying to make sense of the text.

            He placed the heavy book across the others. ‘Read this first.’

            Elliot looked up at him. ‘What is it?’

            ‘The Duatal. It’s like the Vampire Bible. It tells our history and sets out our laws and customs.’

            Elliot took it and moved to a softer chair, and flicked on the lamp. It was thick and official looking. He opened the first page, relieved to find it in English.

            ‘You’re going to read it now?’ Justin seemed surprised.

            ‘Yeah.’

            ‘Aren’t you tired?’

            ‘I don’t want to dream.’ Was all he answered.

            The older boy wasn’t quite sure what to make of it. ‘Umm, Ok. Well I guess I’m going to try to sleep then. Wake me if you need something.’

            ‘Alright.’

            Justin started to leave, and but Elliot called out his name and he stopped, half turning. ‘Yeah?’

            ‘Thanks.’

            ‘For what?’

            Elliot smiled. ‘For this… for the park…’

            He smiled, and left feeling warm inside. As he padded back down the hall towards his room, he thought he saw Alyssa’s door close, as if it had been open a crack. But maybe it was just sleep finally sinking into his brain and his senses becoming muddled. He collapsed into his own bed and pulled the sheets tight around him. He drifted off to sleep, a whisper of a smile playing across his face like a smug cat.

            Elliot curled his knees up under him and lifted open the cover. He turned through the first few blank pages. There was no copyright, no publisher, no authorial credits. The first words he came to, centered on the page in standard, non-descript print, read simply:

“This is why.”