Heart of Ashes

No Walk in the Park

Caine had donned a plain attire - black pants, a purple button down, no tie, his boots - and, of course, his travelling coat, hat and gloves. He entered the dining room and held his arm out to her.

"Shall we?"

She looked up from her coffee, "How's your knee."

"It feels like a small entrance to hell has opened up inside my knee but no matter, shall we go?"

"The bodies?"

"Later."

"Are you feeling alright?" she asked.

He nodded, "Absolutely, the wolfsbane helps with the pain. Not much but it helps."

"Are you..."

"High? Yes, a little bit. It does that too. Are we going or not?"

Evelyn rolled her eyes put the newspaper she was reading down and grabbed her bag, "Okay."

Caine led her out the door and stood on the street and they walked a good distance before she spoke.

"Caine? May I ask you something?" she asked.

"You may," he replied.

"My dad, what was he like as a child?"

She looked at Caine, he was frowning, "He was a lovely boy," he said, "always tasteful and well mannered. He was very passionate about music, hence my teaching him to play the piano."

"I'm sensing a but."

He nodded, "He changed. For some unknown, to me, reason, he got it in his head that I didn't love him. I came back from a trip to Romania and he'd changed so much. He was seventeen at the time. Your grandmother noticed it too, we worried about him."

"What happened?"

"I have died a thousand deaths and know, all to well, the cold of the grave but to this day I do not know what turned your father against me. Vlad says that's when he started changing but I would've seen it in his blood. Lillith says it was a territorial thing but Vlad and I have lived in peace for many centuries. Evelyn, I couldn't tell you what it was that turned him so bitter."

She shoved her hands in her pockets, "You knew he was bitter but you didn't expect him to betray you?"

Caine shook his head, "No, his hostility only lasted a year or so. I assumed it had all to do with adolescence and nothing to do with actual resentment but I was mistaken."

"What about my grandmother? What did she think?"

"She was worried about him especially towards the end when he turned. We didn't really expect that."

They entered the small park gates, there weren't many people there as silver clouds loomed overhead. A few joggers bobbed up and down and an old woman in a headscarf, that obscured her face, threw seed to the pigeons at her feet. There was something off about her but Evelyn couldn't put her finger on what. Caine noticed it.

"Evelyn?" he said, "Is something the matter?"

She shook her head, "No, it's probably nothing."

If he hadn't picked up on the strange vibe the old lady was giving off, it was probably nothing.

"Don't look at her," he said, "just ignore her."

"Why? What's wring with her?"

"She's a sorceress," he said, "she has no ill intentions but she is aware of our presence."

She was only a few steps away and Caine told her to walk on the other side of him so that when they passed her, he'd be closest to her.

"Why?" Evelyn whispered.