Heart of Ashes

Living Death

Evelyn blinked. She couldn't believe it. She started to run through the morning's events. My best friend was making out with my vampire grandfather, there was a fight in my house in which my door was kicked in, my vampire grandfather and I decided to take a walk... in broad daylight. Ah ha! I'm dreaming.

She looked at the two of them and opened her mouth to speak but Caine held up a finger, "Evelyn, dear, I swear, if you ask whether you're dreaming I will hit the bloody wall."

Evelyn closed her mouth and nodded, "Okay. I won't, but how the hell is this possible. Dad killed her didn't he?"

Caine raised an eyebrow and made a dramatic, sweeping arm movement to indicate the woman next to him, "Obviously not."

"She could be a ghost. I wouldn't be bloody surprised."

The woman - supposedly her grandmother, Mercedes, laughed, "She is standing right here and she is very much alive, thank you."

Caine nodded, "I saw your body, Mercedes. Alastair killed you."

Mercedes rolled her eyes, "Caine, you know our son had the fighting abilities of a burnt wooden spoon. In fact, a burnt wooden spoon might be more useful in battle. He's even more useless now that he's dead. Care to fill me in on that?

Evelyn smiled, this was going to get interesting.

"Ah, yes," Caine said and began to relay the events of the battle at Castle Dracula.

Mercedes listened. The further Caine got into the story, the further her smile and the light in her eyes retreated until her eyes were fixed on empty space and her brow wrinkled into a frown.

When he'd finished, she took a moment to mull it over until she said, "Bastard."

Caine tilted his head, "Now, Mercedes, as I recall a great deal of money was spent to ensure that he wasn't."

Evelyn's eyes widened, Caine had a halfway decent sense of humour after all. He told a joke. Caine told a joke to make light of a situation.

"Mm, speaking of wedding ceremonies, did Freya give you my message?"

Caine nodded, "She did, with a healthy dose of venom. What did you tell her?"

Mercedes laughed, "I gave her a message. The rest she figured out on her own, that is, after all, how you do it. Isn't it?"

Evelyn raised an eyebrow, "Do what?"

Caine waved a hand dismissively, "When a non-human is killed, we end up in an odd state that is half way between life and death and eventually we can walk on Earth again. In my case, however, I just... regenerate, if you will."

Evelyn nodded, "Kay, I'm going to pretend I understood that and let you two explain what's going on now. How are you still alive? Caine said you were mortal."

Mercedes glared at Caine and he raised his hands, "It's what I do. You know that."

She backhanded his chest lightly and returned her gaze to Evelyn, "I'm like Caine. I am a true immortal. I cannot truly die. Like your grandfather, I have endured many trips to that nether world."

"I did know this, by the way," Caine added.

"Yes, he did," Mercedes continued her explanation, "it was the reason behind our union. You see, Caine is the immortal dead and, essentially, I am immortal life. What we were trying to do is..."

Evelyn recovered from her shock to finish the sentence, "Create living death."

Mercedes smiled, "Exactly."

Evelyn swallowed, her throat was dry, "You two are sick. Your marriage, it had nothing to do with love or... or the fact that my dad... ugh... you married to create your... strange..." she searched for a word, "alchemy."

Caine tilted his head from side to side, "Well, that's a new term for it. Alchemy is actually an old philosophy or..."

"I know what it is!" she cut him off, "I'm the daughter of a vampire,.of course I'd be curious!"

Caine blinked, "Evelyn. You've just helped me find an answer that has evaded me for over a century."

Evelyn tried so hard to contain her anger, "Oh, have I?"

He nodded, "What have you concluded from our conversation here?"

She blinked, "I'm the third in a line of abominations! That makes me an abomination! I'm your living death, aren't I? I'm your bloody plan B."

"And that, my wife," Caine said to Mercedes, "is why our son did What he did. Someone else knows."

Mercedes shook her head, "I didn't tell anyone."

Caine nodded, his eyes were glowing bright red. He was angry, "That means someone came back."

Mercedes' face fell, once more, "No."