A Child's Dream

Chapter 10 Father\'s Rights

These last few nights were quiet. Not a thought came from little Aceline. D had tried several times to reach her, but failed. Neither one had to say they were worried. They knew that just by looking at one another. They rode straight through four days, and four nights, D carrying Kale with him when she nearly fell from her horse, exhausted. Finely they\'d reached little Aceline\'s home, but there was no sign of her, or anyone, accept the mother.

Rebecca was hanging sheets on the line, the finally, spring weather tossing them on the breeze. Behind her the garden started growing, little rows of lettuce heads, broccoli, and other vegetables pushed up through the soil. The house stood quiet, all its windows open, the fresh air coursing though its halls. \"Where is she, you bitch!!!\"

Rebecca pushed the sheets as to to be greeted by a tall brown haired woman in a green cloak. The same woman she\'d tended a few weeks prior. \"I didn\'t expect you to survive this long,\" she said straightening the sheets. \"Thought that cold, and the weather, would have done you in by now.\"

\"I don\'t give a shit if you\'re pregnant or not, if you don\'t tell me where she is, I\'ll knock you on your ass!\"

\"She ran off!! Again! Shortly after her brother died, she just disappeared.\"

\"Her brother? Peter?\"

\"Yes. Her fault he\'s dead. She hadn\'t been messing around with those horses, he\'d still be here.\"

\"She\'s here!!!!\" she cried, pulling the sheets down to the mud.

\"Now see here!!\"

\"Where is she!!!!? I meant what I said!!!!!\"

\"Kale!\" the two turned to see the pale man riding around the house. \"I can\'t sense her. She\'s not here.\"

\"She has to be. SHE HAS TO BE!!\" The two watched as the woman ran into the house, calling for Aceline.

\"I remember you,\" he said, turning to Rebecca. \"I met you six years ago. A vampire had bitten you. If I remember right, you were dying.\"

\"My husband found me. They managed to save me. Thankfully I didn\'t change.\"

\"Because two nights later, I killed the vampire that bit you. Then nine months later, you gave birth to Aceline. You never knew for sure who\'s child she was.\"

\"The little cretin should have died.\"

\"Dhampire offspring are remarkably strong. Though their true heritage isn\'t evident till after puberty. But something else happened here, other than your son\'s death, to bring Aceline\'s powers to the surface. I\'ll not be as dismissive as my wife,\" D\'s eyes glowed angrily red, his fangs extending from his gums. With a thought he reached out and took the woman by her throat. \"Where is the child!?\" His voice was deep, deeper than it usually was, a hint of an echo behind each word. With each syllable, the thought grip on her neck tightened. \"I won\'t ask again!!\"

\"I don\'t know!\" she gasped. \"Hadn\'t seen her....several days....my husband said...she\'d run off. Good riddance...bad rubbish\"

\"...She\'s your child!!!!\"

\"Never...mine...not unless I knew...for sure...\"

\"Then she never will be!\" The woman dropped to the ground, D\'s horse walking passed her. \"You\'ll stay here. You won\'t move till I say.\" She had little choice. His power, his influence was on her. She had no choice. D had never been so angry over a child. He felt like he\'d snap her neck with just a thought. How could anyone, wanting a child or not, be so heartless?

She ran out of the house, no sign of the little girl. She could see a wagon approaching in the distance, she knew it was the rest of the family. The father most likely returning the children from classes. If not the father, the older siblings. She ran from the porch to her horse, there had to be some place. Maybe she was hiding at Mr. Colaros\' house. Just as she was about to mount up to ride off and check, something drew her attention to the barn. Slowly she made her way over, and pushed the door open. A few horses and a pony poked their heads over stall doors, wondering who was here to feed them. Slowly she made a circle of the stalls, looking in to see if Aceline were hiding inside with the horses. Nothing. She climbed to the loft, and moved the hay bails around, looking for a small fort built of them. Again, nothing. \"Aceline?\" she called, hoping the child would know her voice, even though her cold had cleared. There wasn\'t a sound. She climbed back down and checked the feed room, nothing there but the feed bins, and a cat with her kittens.

\"Kale?\" the cat hissed and growled. D shot the thing a look, and it disappeared through a hole to the outside, it\'s young helpless kittens left behind.

\"I thought...\"

\"I know. She doesn\'t like the barn Kale. Not after what I saw. Come. We\'ll check with Colaros. Maybe he knows something.\"

Slowly she followed him to the door but stopped, just before she passed it\'s threshold. Behind her she could hear D mounting up to wait for her, the young voices of the older children drawing his attention, enquiring why he\'d returned.

There was a room at the back. One she hadn\'t noticed before. Inside she found tack stacked on saw horses, bridles on hooks, and shackles. But something wasn\'t right. She carefully examined the shackles that for some reason hung very low on the wall. The inside of them were crested with dried blood. She looked to the floor to find it covered in sawdust, but only where the shackles hung. She kicked it aside, to find the boards stained with blood. \'Oh god. No! Aceline...\' quickly she looked around, but there wasn\'t anywhere that one could hide a little girl in this room. She had to be close. She dropped the shackles back to the wall, and was about to leave, when she noticed that the sawdust had an odd pattern to it. Kneeling down she looked closer to find that the shavings had fallen between the boards of the floor, but they didn\'t fill the cracks. She took a chunk of mud off a nearby boot, and crumbled it through the crack. It was hollow beneath. Franticly she brushed the sawdust to the wall, pulling boards away. There. \"NNNNOOOO!!!!!!\"

\"You there!!!\" called the young man\'s voice, as the dark cloaked figure climbed aboard his horse. \"Why are you here? I\'d heard you\'d ridden on.\"

\"I had to return. Where is your sister, Aceline?\"

\"Gone. The little bitch took off after she killed my twin brother, Peter.\"

\"I doubt she\'d harm anyone.\"

\"You weren\'t there!\"

\"Were you?\"

\"LEAVE NOW!!! Or so help me, I\'ll get my gun and shoot you!\"

\"I will leave, when I have what I came for.\"

\"NNNNOOOO!!!!!!\"

It didn\'t seem that the man had moved his legs at all, but he was off his horse and running into the barn, followed closely by the young man who\'d confronted him. They followed the woman\'s screams to the back room where the horse tack was stored. There in the back corner, they saw her pull a little girl out of the dirt through the floorboards. \"Kale!\"

\"D, oh god! D! Please you have to do something!\" She wouldn\'t ler ger go, he didn\'t dare try to take her. He brushed away sawdust and dirt, to find that her face was badly bruised, a gag tied between her teeth, her hands tied behind her back, her ankles tied, and then drawn up, a rope tied to her hands and feet. Furious, D cut them away, daintily pulling the gag from her mouth. Her teeth were showing, not just her human teeth, but also her fangs. Long, and had punctured her lips from the inside. He lifted her eyelids, but found her eyes had turned inward. \"She\'s not breathing D!\"

\"She\'s alive. Barely. She\'s hibernating. Like I had been. But she\'s not been properly prepared. Give her to me.\" Instantly she clutched the child closer. He couldn\'t blame her. \"Please Kale, trust me. If we don\'t act soon, nothing will save her.\" Reluctantly she let her go, but closely followed him as he pushed passed the shocked and dismayed brothers and sisters. Again he mounted his horse, Kale following him on Max.

\"Was she dead?\" asked Linda, of her oldrothrother.

\"I - I don\'t know.\"

\"MOM!!\"

\"O \"Ok, bring him in. Careful now.\" Colaros watched as yet another of the ordered cyborgs were offloaded from the operating table. Again, it was black. They all seemed to come out black. He\'d only once been fortunate enough to build six white cyborg horses. They were of special stock, brought down from the far north, across the great wall. There was only one time he\'d been able to cross without having to go over the constructed barrier. An earthquake had ripped the ground open, and sunk a huge chunk of the wall. Before it was rebuilt, he was able to secure a shipment of eight hundred horses, mostly mares, a few stallions, and some geldings. A few, not many, were ponies. It was quite an equitable trade. Eight hundred horses of the north, for eight hundred from the south. Though they got more geldings than he did, and only half the number of mares and stallions, that he\'d been given, it was still a nice bargain. But that was years ago, and the horses that he\'d converted were all gone, the mares were still with him, though getting older, their offspring sent around the country to the other farms for breeding.

The first six geldings he\'d converted turned out white. He was quite shocked, the horses went in brown and mahogany, and yet came out white as snow. His fame of this spread rapidly, and within a year, he received a bid of three times the horses\' worth, from a rich buyer on the Far Shore. At the time, he was greatly in need of money, and the offer would more than put his plant back in the black again. So he took the offer, and sent the horses over the crossing. Within the next year he received a picture of a young coachman driving an elegant wagon down a town street, six prominent white horses proudly trotting at the driver\'s commands. The note with the picture read: They are beautiful, a worthy investment. Thank you. He\'d tried to repeat the event several times, but so far, no solid white horses came out. There were brown, yellow, deep gray, and black, but no white. He had a purple one come out once, but that shade quickly molted to deep gray. Still it was quite an interesting shade to behold he she stable.

Carefully he went over this horse\'s construction. The drugs used on the horse slowly wearing off. It was true in a way that the horses died in this place, but not permanently. Their brains were the first to be operated on, much of the gray matter removed to make way for the micro processors, andircuircuitry package that would be controlling all the rest of the mechanical implants. It was to a point that they could turn out a cyborg horse a day, and have the place cleaned up before nightfall. \"Good,\" he said. \"Be sure to watch for that infection. We nearly lost the last two.\"

\"Yes sir.\"

\"MR. COLAROS!!\"

\"What? Good God!! You again!\" The man from the paddock was quickly followed by the man in the dark cloak who\'d come through weeks before. But something was greatly wrong. Behind him he could see the young woman who had visited them before the man arrived at the property. \"What are you doing here?\"

\"Where do you keep the live horses, once you bring them inside?\" D asked.

\"What?\"

\"D, why, what is going on?\"

\"Please sir. I believed Aceline to be your daughter when first we met, because you treated her as a father would. Please, be that father now. Help me save her.\"

Colaros was appalled when the man moved his cloak aside to reveal the little girl in his arms. She was so pale. Her lips were blue, and her eyes were surrounded with crusted dried blood. \"What happened?\"

\"Please. The horses.\"

\"This way,\" he said directing them down the hall. \"But what she needs is a doctor, not a horse.\"

\"No doctor can save her now.\"

\"What are you going to do?\" Kale demanded.

\"She\'s feeding off her own blood Kale. Her fangs have pierced her mouth. Essentially she\'s starving, there\'s only one thing I can think of doing.\"

\"Your blood pills. You can...\"

\"No. It has to be fresh, and it has to be real.\"

\"What are you talking about?\"

\"Aceline is a Dhampire. Only a child, but her heritage would have shown as she grew. Only something happened, she\'s drawn on her Vampire powers far too soon. Now she\'s paying the price.\"

\"Can you help her D?\" Kale cried, as he handed her over, leading a horse from the stall.

\"Maybe. If we\'re in time. I need a clean bucket.\" Abruptly Mr. Colaros emptied a water bucket and handed it to D, the best he could do on such short notice. \"Thank you. Hold him still. This will weaken him.\"

\"Get the operating room ready. We\'ll make another tonight.\"

\"Ye sir.\"

\"God, she\'s so cold.\"

\"Try and warm her. Wrap her up with you. The heat should help.\" The horse squealed as D\'s blade dug into it flesh, its blood pouring down into the bucket.

\"Hurry please, D!\"

\"Almost there. I think I hit the vein.\"

\"Don\'t worry about that. Is what you say true? Is she really like you?\"

\"Yes. Where\'s Peter\'s father?\"

\"I sent him to town for supplies. He should be back any time.\"

\"When he returns, I want him!\" He left the horse and joined Kale, the bucket only half full. Colaros let the horse be led away, and watched carefully the two with the child. This was all his fault. How could he have not seen what would happen after Peter\'s death? Why did he believe Montel when he told him that Aceline had run away?

Carefully but firmly, D pulled the child\'s mouth open, the wounds in her lips were deep, they\'d take longer to heal than most he was sure. He dipped his blade totally in the bucket, quickly bringing it to the girl\'s lips, letting the blood run off the tip of the knife. There was no reaction. Not that he\'d expected one so soon. Again he brought the dipped knife to her lips. Nothing. \"Aceline? Comehonehoney, please,\"

\"Sing Kale. Sing for her. If she dies, let her be happy.\"

\"Don\'t say that! She\'s not gona die! Don\'t you DARE let her die!!! She never gave up on me!!! I\'m not giving up on her!!!\"

\"She thinks you\'re her mother,\" he said softly. \"Sing for her.\"

\"Sing what?\"

\"It\'s in your heart, Kale. She needs that now. Sing for her, as you would for our own child...Sing.\"

She looked down at Aceline. If it were not for the blood and bruises, she would have been mistaken for being asleep. How could she sing for a child that was dying? She couldn\'t. She pushed back her hair to reveal a deep wound along her brow. D handed her a cloth dipped in warm water, handed to him from Colaros, what little help he could provide. Gently she wiped away the blood, caked sawdust, and dirt. The child had fought so hard for Kale when she was sick, found lost and nearly frozen in the snow. The only song she could think of right off was Amazing Grace. But that wasn\'t going to do. Then she thought of another. One she\'d almost sung to KD, while they were waiting for D to catch up to them. Thinking of her now, and Aceline lying in her arms just as quiet, the tune played again in her mind, and she gently sung the words.


\"For all those times you stood by me
For all the truth you made me see
For all the joy you brought to my life
For all the wrong that you made right
For every dream you made come true For all the love I found in you
I\'ll be forever thankful baby

You\'re the one who held me up
Never let me fall
You\'re the one who saw me through
Through it all

You were my strength when I was weak
You were my voice when I couldn\'t speak
You were my eyes when I couldn\'t see
You saw the best there was in me
Lifted me up when I couldn\'t reach
You gave me faith cause you believed
I\'m everything I am because you loved me

You gave me wings and made me fly
You touched my hand and I could touch the sky
I lost my faith, you gave it back to me
You said no star was out of reach
You stood by me and I stood tall
I had your love, I had it all
I\'m grateful for each day you gave me
Maybe I don\'t know that much
But I know this much is true
I was blessed because I was loved by you\"
Before she could finish her song, the facility\'s doors flung open, Montel, pulling his wife beside him, his children following. Colaros rose to meet him, but D got in his way. \"You had no right!\" the man seethed.

\"No right?\" D asked. \"What right have you? Look at her. LOOK AT HER!!! She\'s dying because of you! You stuck her under the floor of your barn, tied and gagged, suffocating!!! And you say I haven\'t the right!!!!\"

\"She\'s my daughter!!!\ yel yelled.

\"Not any more,\" D turned back to Kale. He\'d never heard her so quiet. He couldn\'t explain what he felt when her words reached his ears. It was like a storm raging out of control, and yet, all in the distance. \"D, would you please continue. There\'s still a chance isn\'t there?\"

\"Very slim.\"

\"Then give her that chance. Like you\'d given me the chance, those six years ago. Please?\" Gently he took the little girl, laying her across his knee, slowly pouring the blood into her mouth. \"Do you remember what I told you, the day I left?\" she said getting to her feet, slowly advancing on the man. His children spread out behind him, keeping their distance from him, but their mother remained where she was, though not by choice. \"Do you remember? I don\'t make promises lightly. If you don\'t, I\'ll be happy to refresh your memory.\" She pointed back to the little girl. \"I told you, that if you laid a hand on her, I\'d come back. Do you remember now? Do you remember what I said I\'d do when I did? Hum? I told you that I\'d make damn sure you\'d never get it up again to make another. Woman, prey your next baby isn\'t a girl!\"

\"Don\'t do this miss Kale. Please!\" begged Colaros. \"Let the law handle him.\"

\"The law! What law have you got that protects a child from being RAPED!!!!\" D shot her a cold look. Had he really done that? He never thought to look, or ask. He\'d only acted.

Colaros glared back at Montel. \"Is that true?\" he seethed, willing all to well to turn away at that very moment.

\"She\'s mine!\" Kale belted him, and he barely moved. \"That all you got bitch? Back off, before I really hurt you.\" Kale spun around and landed her foot to the side of faceface, the hardest she\'d ever done. Still he stood. \"That\'s it! Shit I\'ve had worse muscle cramps than you. Back off!\"

\"Kale...he\'s mine.\" She turned and saw D just standing there, Aceline at his feet. His blade, still covered in blood, dropped in the bucket.

\'She can\'t be. Please no.\' She took the little girl in her arms, and rocked her, as D went forth.

\"There are two sets of laws in this world,\" hean. an. \"One for Vampires, set forth by the Ancient Ancestor, thousands of millennia ago. Every Vampire, regardless of age, is educated on them in the first years of their existence. The punishment is swift, and always deadly. Carried out by the oldest of them at the time. Then there are the laws of humans. Twisted sometimes it seems, and geared to help more the people with power and money than innocent lives like children. Dhampires are hated and despised by humans and Vampires, because of our mixed blood, yet we are expected to follow both sets of laws. Somehow that seembit bit unfair, but even we must live in this world.

\"Six years ago, your wife was bitten and raped by a vampire. I found her nearly dead, and though her thoughts were convinced she\'d die, she said you\'d found her, and managed to save her. Two nights later, I found and killed the vampire that attacked your wife. I though she were dead, so it never occurred to me of other consequences. When I saw Aceline, I knew then what she was, but you did not. When today I saw your wife, I knew who the child\'s father was. Aceline is a Dhampire. She is bound by the laws of both races. And for that she is fortunate. Because there is a law to protect her, and a law to avenge her. Kale. Are you sure, she\'s been...\"

\"YES!!!!! I saw the shackles. I saw the blood.\"

\"Very well. Montel. I don\'t know, nor dcarecare, what your last name is. I find you guilty of raping a Dhampire child. You will take your punishment. Regardless of your excuses.\"

\"Colaros. You just gona stand there and let this happen?!\"

Colaros turned to Kale. \"What can I do?\" he asked gently.

\"Warm. She needs to be warm,\" she shuddered, wiping her nose with her cloak, trying to maintain herself, if only for Aceline.

\"The only things I have are horse blankets. I\'ll get one.\"

\"YOU BASTARD!!!!\" The man barely moved his feet, when D struck out. His full fury in his power. The man flew back several meters, his oldest son diving out of the way. D slowly advanced, his eyes blue as the sky, his hair flowing outward, as though walking in a head wind. He paused but a moment, and glance sidelong to the woman.

\"I release you,\" he said, and the woman sank back freely. \"You Montel, will die. I\'ve never killed a human, I don\'t wish to start now...\"

\"He\'s not human D. No one who does this can be human...\"

\"Is that your view love?\"

\"YES!!!\"

\"Then so be it.\" Again the man flew back, but this time the doors stopped him rather than the floor. D drew up his hands, and the metal covering of the doors pealed away, turning and buckling upward, slowly turning to points, torn and curled onto themselves. Montel watched as the metal was bent towards him, like giant teeth closing from massive jaws.

Kale turned away, shing lng little Aceline\'s eyes from the horror. She was only a baby. She didn\'t need to see this. \"M - mom - mmy - ?\" Kale looked up, Aceline\'s skin was beginning to darken and become flesh tone once more, but she was still q pal pale. Her lips were pink, though still too light for her to be out of danger.

\"D!\" The points stopped, just inches from the man\'s midsection, as D turned to see Kale smiling, tears running down her face.

D went over and knelt down to her, running his hand over Aceline\'s brow. \"Daddy - \"

\"Yes,\" he said, \"We\'re here.\"

\"I knew - \" she said, swallowing hard, \"You\'d find her...I knew, she\'d want you back.\"

\"Hush Aceline. You need to sleep?\" Kale whispered.

\"I want to ask you something,\" she said, wiping the tears form Kale\'s cheek. \"What are your names?\"

Kale laughed softly. \"You already know. He\'s your father, and I\'m your mother. And we\'re going to take you away from here. I\'m just really sorry that we took so long in getting here.\"

Aceline smiled lightly. \"No you didn\'t. You were always here,\" she pressed her little hand to her chest, over her heart. \"Just like I was always there.\" Again she pressed her hand to Kale\'s breast, right where her heart would be.

\'Aceline, can you hear me? Think your answer, I don\'t wish to upset your mother.\'

\'I can hear you daddy. Did you hear me?\'

\'Yes. It was very brave of you to draw on your powers so soon. I need to ask, it\'s important. Did Montel hurt you?\' Aceline began to shudder violently. Fear ripped through her tiny body, memories of pain and beatings, it was still all too real for her to face. Kale held her close as Colaros returned with a horse blanket, and draped it around the pair, then left, saying something about a cup. \'It\'s alright baby. It\'s alright. He won\'t ever do that again.\' As he kissed her tiny brow, D threw back his left hand. The points dove inward, but there was nothing there for them to pierce but the wall. D had not noticed, his attention totally on Aceline.

Montel had managed to slip out of the trap D had set him in, with the help of his children. Slowly he crept up to the Dhampire, a blade from his belt held in one hand. Just as he was to bring it down between Kale\'s shoulders, something large and furry, leapt at him, knocking him to the floor.

D and Kale turned to see Montel struggling with a dog. Then they realize it wasn\'t a dog, but a large gray wolf. Savagely it tore into his arm, then dove for his neck. In seconds Montel was no more, a fitting end to such a beast.