Page 75 of The Diary of the Vam'pir Jacques

Rahmon was the quieter of the two, but he was as handsome as the devil. Kit had a temper, and he was peace on earth. The twins were one person split into two, and they adored each other.

They never questioned their parentage, but they’d been told when old enough to understand adoption. Kit and Rahmon still called Pal and Mera their parents and loved them dearly.

The twins also never asked why they didn’t see them during the sun, although they had both picked up on it. Both had sharp minds, and they devoured any teaching that came their way.

The tutors praised them highly, giving the proud parents glowing reports. Inka and I used to take the children with us on our travels sometimes. Of course, we always returned them home to their parents, and we both loved them dearly. It was a joy seeing them grow up, and I would not have missed it for the world.

Then, one day, everything changed.

Returning from a night out, a maid noticed something. As she approached, she was attacked, and her screams brought the four of us running from the villa. The two sisters stood there in shock as we gingerly approached her body. The girl lay on the ground, covered in blood and shaking so badly I thought her teeth might fall out. What frightened me most was her expression.

Sheer terror, the like of which, I had not seen for an age. Pal bundled her up in his arms, and I rushed to find a healer. As shelaid on the bed, Mera bathed her wounds and found what looked to be long, deep scratches. We were puzzled, but she could not speak for the shock of it.

We couldn’t work out what had attacked her. The sisters saw nothing until she had screamed out.

I turned round and found Rahmon and Kit standing in the door. Ushering them away quickly, I was relieved when they seemed more curious than afraid. It was my turn to be scared when Kit asked if the man in the shadows had done it. I started to leave, then stopped abruptly.

“What?”

“The man who hides. He’s been there for as long as I can remember,” Kit stated.

Rahmon nodded, and I stared out the window.

“What are you talking about?” I questioned, sitting down on Kit’s bed.

I had stopped calling Kit by her full name.

“There has been a man outside for as long as we can recall. He stands in the shadows and watches. He does nothing else,” Kit explained, screwing her face up.

I brushed her long hair away and smiled.

“He has never tried to harm us, Uncle Jaq,” Rahmon added.

“Is he a dream, or is he real?” I asked.

“Of course, he is real, as real as you are,” Kit retorted, and I looked sharply at her.

Kit grinned, and I realised then that they knew what we were.

“He is like me?”

“Yes,” Kit replied.

Worried, I soothed them back to sleep and walked out of the room.

Silently, I left the villa as I didn’t want anyone to realise where I was heading. I turned down the winding streets ofAbydos, keeping my senses fully open. That was when I caught it.

Determined, I chased the shadow down a street and then finally cornered him.

“You!” I said in surprise. Oh, I recognised him, all right.

“Hello, Jaques, still the same I see.”

“What’s going on?”

I knew better than to ask anything else, and he wouldn’t tell me, anyway.

“The children are marked. They were marked when they were born, and priests have been searching since Pal rescued them. Now the twins have been found.”

---