Prologue

Humans are the mightiest beings on earth. That’s all you know.

They consist of a body, mind and soul. That’s what you think.

There are more powerful beings, craving for souls. That’s what you didn’t know.

No one can take your body from you, or your mind. But your soul doesn’t actually belong to you. Without knowing it, you’re sharing it with us. You are keeping us alive with it.

Without you, there would be no ‘us’.

Now that you know about us, you have to be careful. A hunter might be coming after you right now. Maybe he is watching you right now.

Don’t worry, it won’t hurt.

 

Chapter 1

“One of us may not tell outsiders about us at any time. Violators must be punished. Grade 4.”

 

Even though it was only noon, big dark clouds on the sky darkened the streets. I was listening to loud rock music on my iPhone while I watched fat raindrops splash onto the windscreen. I felt uncomfortable in my black Armani suit, like I couldn’t breathe properly. A short glance at my dad who was sitting next to me in the driver’s seat was enough to see that he was feeling the opposite – he looked confident. He also had been smiling for the last few hours, telling me that today was a special day and how proud he was of me.

I had remained silent throughout the whole journey. Suddenly dad poked me in the shoulder, so I turned my music off and.

“Aren’t you looking forward to it?”, he asked without stopping to watch the streets.

“I am”, I replied honestly, “But I’m just not sure what to expect.”

“Oh”, he nodded, “So you’re nervous…”

I smiled. “Well… Maybe a little bit.”

For a minute, dad didn’t say anything. I was about to turn the music back on, when he suggested something incredible.

“Once we’re done with this”, he started, “I’ll probably be too excited to drive, so… Would you like to do me the honour?”

I was astonished for a few seconds. This was a Lamborghini Murcielago, My dad’s absolute favourite car. He wouldn’t even let our driver use it. It usually just stayed in the garage, but as today was a special occasion, dad had said that it was ‘only just good enough’.

“Yeah, I’d love to!”, I said quickly, “Thanks.”

I only just got my driving licence, but dad didn’t seem to care or consider that.

“No problem. Once this is over, you might need your own one anyway.”

I wasn’t sure whether he was joking or serious. I was such a lucky guy anyway.

“We’re here”, dad said seriously.

He parked directly in front of the main entrance. As soon as we got out, a valet came running towards us with obvious amazement in his eyes and a big smile on his lips.

“May I park your car, sir?”, he asked after taking a deep breath.

My dad tossed a brief smile at him. “Sure. One scratcher or one bump, and I’ll kill you. Don’t even breathe inside the car.”

The valet’s smile was suddenly wiped away. “I…”

We just moved on and dad chuckled quietly.

In front of us there was a huge skyscraper, with at least 50 storeys. Its windows were tinted dark so you couldn’t see inside. I had been here a few times before, but never actually been to the conference room or the higher storeys. Something was different today: Next to the front doors there were two security agents with black sunglasses. It was raining.

“The community seems to like their prestige”, I said amusedly.

The people who came inside this building didn’t really need any protection. They knew many ways how to defend themselves.

When the security agents spotted my dad, they both straightened their posture. I could see a mix between respect and fear. Even though they weren’t community members, they seemed to know who they were dealing with.

“Hello, sir”, said one of them and even held us the door open.

“Don’t you ever say your dad doesn’t have street cred”, he whispered entertained once we were inside.

I just rolled my eyes and kept following him. The entrance hall of the building was decorated with expensive paintings and glistening chandeliers. It looked so expensive and exaggerated, it was almost tacky.

We met several community members and they all came towards my dad and me with respect to greet us and congratulate. Some of the members were ranked really high and still seemed to be a bit scared.

“Dad?”, I asked, when we were alone again, “Do you already know which rank I’m going to be?”

He looked at me and smiled. “Yes. But it would ruin the surprise if I told you now.”

We arrived at a white, double-winged door. All of people were entering the room behind it which was already pretty full. Everyone was wearing black, which made it seem like a funeral, more than a celebratory occasion.

“Dad…”, I started, “I don’t really want to speak in front of all those people.”

He put a hand onto my shoulder. “I know you can do it. Now go inside, I’ll see you later, on the stage.”

With these words he left me standing.

I entered the room. It was enormous, with round walls, uncountable rows of seats and balconies in the upper floors for a better view. The most eye-catching thing in the room was the ten meter stage on the other side though. It seemed more like an opera house than a conference hall. I started to scan the room for people I knew, but I couldn’t see anyone. Instead, many people I didn’t even know approached me with questions.

“Are you Mr Kensington’s son?”, I was asked for the fourth time by a young woman with expensive looking jewellery.

“Yes”, I answered briefly.

When the woman was probably about to fire more questions at me, I heard a familiar voice behind me.

“Did I just hear Kensington?”, asked the voice.

I turned around and saw my three best friends, Alex, Matt and Riley. Alex had styled his blonde hair with too much hair gel, but for some reason it still looked good on him. They were all wearing black suits and shirts, apart from Riley, who was wearing a tank top in a neon blue colour.

“We’ve been looking for you for the last twenty minutes”, said Matt.

“I’m sorry… But what’s with Riley? Why aren’t you wearing a shirt, dude?”, I laughed.

“I hate suits… especially with shirts, it looks ridiculous”, he answered and shrugged.

“He’s such an attention whore”, said Alex and plucked on Riley’s shirt.

Suddenly the lights on the stage went on.

“We should really get to our seats now”, said Matt.

We had seats in the front row, as we would have to get up and come onto the stage later.

We slowly made our way through the crowd to the front rows. I could see some of the boys and girls I had spent the last few years with already sitting in their seats.

As soon as we sat down, the lights in the room were dimmed, only the stage lights were still bright. Immediately, silence came over the room.

“I’m so excited”, said Alex next to me quietly, “I want to get more awesome.”

Seconds later, my dad came onto the stage. Everyone clapped and curiously watched him go to the marble podium in the centre of the stage. It was funny how his charismatic smile was enough to influence the behaviour of every person in the room.

“Ladies and gentlemen”, he began when it was quiet again, “Thanks for coming by. Today we want to celebrate the initiation of 23 new members to the community. I’m proud to say that my own son, Joshua, is one of them.”

Almost everyone in the front rows turned their head to me and examined me jealously. It was only a little bit awkward…

“This only happens every 20 years and is therefore a moment to remember. Before we continue, I’d like to ask each new member to come to me onto the stage and answer me two questions… There are lots of middle names on this by the way…”, he said and held a sheet up in the air, “So let’s start alphabetically with Riley Jonathan Ashley Adams.”

Riley got up with an expressionless face. There were a few chuckles when he came onto the stage – probably about his long name – and stood straight in front of my dad.

“Tell me, Riley…”, my dad started, “Is your that your natural hair colour?”

Riley just grinned back at him. His hair was red, and he was proud of it.

“I’m just kidding, said dad, “My question is: How would you estimate your behaviour over the last four years?”

“Very good, sir... Apart from when I had an argument with someone and hit them…”, said Riley and looked to us.

I looked at Alex. “You provoked him that day, didn’t you…”, I whispered.

“It was all for a good purpose”, he replied amusedly.

My dad lifted up a pile of paperwork from the podium and smiled. “At least you’re honest”, he said to Riley, “I didn’t feel like reading all this out anyway. My second question: Which rank would you consider yourself?”

“Twelve”, Riley answered straight away.

“I like your modesty”, said dad, “The council decided to give you rank 14.”

Riley smiled. “Thanks, man.”

“You may go now, man”, said dad and smiled back at him.

After Riley, three other new members were called to my dad. They were less relaxed than Riley, because they had never met him before and had as much respect for him as the older community members. Then it was Matts – or should I say Matthew George Wallace Hawkins? – turn. These rich people really loved long names.

“Matthew… How was your weekend?”, asked my dad.

“Oh”, started Matt, “Very good, thanks. I had fries and a burger for breakfast.”

“Lucky you! Which rank would you consider yourself?”

“Twelve”, he answered, like Riley, but it sounded more like a question.

“Rank 14”, said dad and sent him back.

Matt came down the stairs with a happy grin.

It took a while until we had reached the letter K, so many fancy names were read out and so many scared people had to come up to the stage.

“Oh…”, my dad grinned, “Joshua Edward Henry Kensington.

I got up, readjusted my blazer and went to my dad. The spotlights were really bright so I couldn’t see the people watching me – which was a good thing.

“Joshua, do you who I am?”, he asked me with a grin.

“You’re the rank 20, the decision maker here, sir”, I said, even though he had probably expected me to say ‘you’re my dad’ to show how proud he was.

“And your dad”, he added smiling, “Which rank would you consider yourself?”

“I’ll be happy with whichever rank you give me, dad”, I replied impatiently.

“Well, sounds like low expectations…”, said dad, “For now you’re a rank 17.”

I left the stage as fast as I could. I just didn’t like the attention. Alex got up when my dad said “Alexander James Sterling Kingsley” straight after.

“Sterling”, I whispered and low-fived him when we met in the middle.

Alex stopped in front of my dad with his hands in his pockets. “How are you doing?”, he grinned.

Dad laughed. “I’m asking the questions here. So, what do you enjoy the most about your new perks?”

“That I’m a lady magnet, sir”, he answered confidently as ever.

Some people laughed, even the older members.

“Same here”, dad said, “but we don’t like to brag, do we… What rank would a comedian like you consider himself?”

“I’d quite like your rank, sir…”, he answered.

Dad face palmed. “Rank 15, and now get lost, before I change my mind”, he sighed without looking at Alex at again.

Alex came back and dropped into his seat. “How was I?”, he asked.

“Pushing your luck a bit”, I answered amusedly, “What is your mum going to say about your answers?”

“She’ll be so proud”, he answered and lounged back.

I looked around. The people seemed quite entertained, apart from one blonde woman who was staring at Alex.

“Hey, Alex… Isn’t that woman with the angry face your mum?”, I grinned.

He followed my glance. “Oh… shit”, he said, ducking.

I shook my head and paid attention to what was going on on the stage again. It was Jason Slater’s turn. No one really liked him, he was a thug with thug friends and above-average stupid. Dad had just asked him about his behaviour.

“I’d say my behaviour was very good, sir.”

I could tell it wasn’t. And so did my dad. He took out the paperwork again.

“Well, here it says something different. Do you know our rules about lying, Jason?”

“’Lying to higher ranked kindred must be punished. The punishment will be decided by the deceived kindred.’”, he quoted and went pale.

“I think you owe us an apology”, said dad.

We all laughed. This made up for all the insults he had thrown at us over the last few years. On the other hand I really felt sympathy though. Very, very little sympathy.

“Repeat what I say: ‘I’m incredibly sorry and promise to never do it again. Apart from that the rank 20 is the best.”

Jason stutteringly repeated the apology and went red. At least he got an applause when was done.

“Which rank would you consider yourself?”, asked dad, smiling again.

“I don’t know…”, he stammered, still dumbfounded.

“You may go… Rank six. This was the last new member. We’re going to have a ten minute break now and then we’ll continue.

Jason hurried off the stage; and as soon as the speech was over, we got up and I noticed Alex’s mum quickly coming over to us.

“Alexander!”, she hissed.

Alex turned around and I could see his big grin disappear.

“How dare you talk like that to the rank 20…”, she said but then seemed to notice that I was standing next to Alex.

“Oh hello, Joshua…”, she said a bit quieter.

Then she grabbed Alex’s arm and dragged him away. I could see them argue on the other side of the room where no one could hear them. After something he said, I could see her slap him, softly but angrily. As a reaction, Alex just laughed and went away.

“Hey, naughty boy”, I grinned, “Did mummy beat you up?”

He rolled his eyes. “That was actually the hardest slap she’s ever given me.”

Behind him, I could also see Riley’s and Matt’s mums, hugging and kissing their kids, which they obviously found awkward, especially Riley, who was way taller than his mum. With a height of 1.9 he simply was a giant.

“Oh, my two favourite mums in the world”, said Alex and grinned.

I understood what he meant. Riley’s and Matt’s mums were rather… attractive.

“Look at that black dress Ms Adams is wearing…”, whispered Alex, “I think we should go over to them.”

We both went over to Matt and Riley who didn’t seem very pleased about our company.

“Hi Ms Adams”, said Alex with his good boy voice, “You’re looking stunning tonight.”

She looked at us and smiled happily. “Hello, Joshua, Alexander…”

“Please”, Alex interrupted her, “You know you can call me Alex.”

“Okay, Alex. You can call me Emma as well”, she replied and winked at him.

Alex and I both grinned at Riley. Even though he normally was laidback, he looked like he was about to pull either his mum or us back now.

“I really like the dress you’re wearing”, I said innocently.

“Guys…”, Riley muttered.

“Thank you, Joshua”, she said, and after a short break “I should probably go back to my boyfriend now.”

Alex and I both were speechless for a few seconds.

“Have fun”, Alex said more or less sarcastically.

She just smiled and then turned on her heels and left.

“Please stop molesting my mum”, Riley begged, seeming really desperate.

“I’m not molesting her”, stated Alex, “Your mum is either really naïve or she really wants me.”

Riley seemed to be getting really angry now. “Funny. How would you like it if I did this to your mum?”, he asked.

Alex laughed out loud. “Have fun. Maybe she gets a bit more relaxed then.”

I was about to laugh, but then I realised who the blonde woman standing behind Alex was. His mum was back.

“What is that supposed to mean?”, she asked indignantly.

Alex closed his eyes. “Is it…?”, he asked.

“Yep”, I grinned back at him.

“One more word”, she threatened, “And we’ll send you to that boarding school in Latvia!”

“Fine”, Alex laughed, “The further away from you, the better.”

“Oh hi, Mrs Kingsley”, Riley interrupted the conversation, “You look good.”

Alex’s mum focused on Riley now, so she calmed down a little and a smile actually played around her lips. A few words from Riley, and the day was rescued.

“Thank you, Riley”, she said and then turned to Alex, “At least your friends have manners.”

The lights were dimmed again, so we said goodbye to Alex’s mum and went back to our seats.

“I told you she’d relax if you started hitting on her”, Alex said to Riley with a grin.

This time not only my dad but the whole council came onto the stage. Apart from my dad they all looked serious. They were all rank 19, so maybe they thought they weren’t allowed to be as happy as my dad.

“Welcome back”, dad said, “I’d like all new members to come onto the stage together now.”

Everyone got up, and I was obviously the first one to go up as the others seemed a little bit scared of me.

When we were all on the stage, we were told to stand in a line.

“You will be receiving your marks now”, said dad, “and as you know, you get to decide where. But be warned: wherever it is, I will have to touch you there. So no fooling around, Alex.

I could hear Alex laugh and just imagine how angry his mum was right now.

"Anyway, I would like you to come forward now please starting alphabetically with Riley Adams" dad stated. Thank goodness he wasn't using our ridiculous long names again. Most people decided to have their marks on their forearms and necks, including Riley, Matt had his on his shoulder and Alex wanted his on his upper chest.

The marks looked like tribal tattoos, and for each rank another ornament was rewarded. Therefore my dad’s tattoo was the coolest, and Jason’s was the lamest.

"So son" he began, "where do you want yours?"

"Can I have mine here?" I asked, pointing at the left side of my neck, a little below my ear.

"Haha" he chuckled, "good choice" and pulled his collar down a little to reveal that his was in the same place.

He touched my neck and I suddenly felt a warm feeling around the area I had just pointed to until it began to burn and then quickly cool down again. Now it felt like before, there was no pain at all.

After that, we were allowed to leave the stage again. Alex and Matt seemed to feel even cooler that before, now that they had real ‘tats’.

“I want to see what it actually looks like”, Alex said, “Can I see yours, Josh?”

Without waiting for an answer, he pushed my head to the side to reveal my tattoo.

“Nice! It’s probably a bit bigger than mine, but if it looks similar to this…”

Riley and Matt wanted to see it as well, so I was pushed forth and back.

“If you want to see it so badly, why didn’t you get it somewhere you can actually see it?”, I muttered but let them push me around.

“Can I have your attention please?”

A woman from the council stood at the podium. She was so small that I could barely see her behind it.

“The council would like to make two announcements before you leave. Firstly, as the first bestowal requires a lot of focusing and is rather private, we’re asking all parents to do this for the first time with their children when they are back home. Secondly, they will also be receiving their gift. We’d like you to introduce them to it and remind them of the rules again. Thank you.”

The woman went back to the other council members again and my dad rose to speak again.

“Thank you all for coming. I hope we will meet again soon for conferences or other celebratory occasions. Have a good journey home.”

Everyone clapped for a long time, then we got up and slowly made our was to the double-winged door again.

“I can’t wait to get my ability”, said Alex, “I think I’m getting this calming thing…”

He was right. The ranks six to ten would receive the ability to tell whether someone was lying, Rank eleven to 15 – including Riley, Matt and Alex – would receive the ability to calm people and everyone above rank 15 – apart from the rank 20 – would receive the ability to change people’s actions by telling them what they actually wanted. Only the rank 20 had all of the mentioned abilities and some additional ones no one but the rank 20 himself was too sure about.

Matt, Alex and Riley were all taken home by their parents soon after and they were all excited so I didn’t blame them wanting to get home… apart from Alex anyway.

I found my dad talking to a few of the well-dressed council members near the stage, when he saw me he beckoned me over and introduced me to the older woman and man.

“My son” he began, as any proud father would, “what a son… just like his dad” I smiled a little, but wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like I appreciated the attention.

“He did, very well up there, it must make you proud to have such a high achieving son” the woman commented.

“Sorry” the man apologised, “We haven’t introduced ourselves – I am Max and this is Julia; we are both part of the council”. Well, no kidding.

Dad could tell that I wasn’t happy in the situation, so a final comment of “we’d best head off now for the bestowal” had them nodding and scampering off to the rest of the council.

When we got outside, the valet was already waiting with the car and sort of shaking. My dad strolled up to him, “You haven’t been breathing near my car, have you?” he warned the valet.

The valet just stood there, frozen, and slowly closed his mouth as he handed dad the keys and shook his head.

“Good” my dad smiled, “Here.

Then he threw the keys across the car to me. “Try not to scrape it”, he winked.

I was gobsmacked, I had never known him to be like this, but I guess he was just in a really good mood and tired at the same time, either way, I was very quick to get inside and start it up. I’ll be honest; the ride home wasn’t the fastest, nor the shortest, but I managed not to bump into anything and a lovely surprise was awaiting me when I arrived home, in a very large box which had been gift wrapped.

“There you go”, dad smiled, “As I promised… Maybe you can get a lady with it, he chortled, amused with his own joke.

I am not too sure whether I had been quicker to get into or out of the car, but I was surely so excited with the recent events that I thought my heart would pop out of my chest and run off while I was still opening the ‘parcel’.

I sprinted over to the parcel and began stripping away at in, to reveal a well-placed cardboard door which swung open to reveal a Mazda RX-8 veilside, in orange and black. I noticed it instantly and would have jumped up and hugged my dad for getting me my dream car if it wasn’t the fact that I was frozen because I actually had my own. He just smiled and came over to me, making my life much easier.

“You know…”, he began, “This also counts as your birthday present… And the next five Christmases”, he winked at me.

“Of course dad” I smiled back, knowing he was joking.

“Why don’t you take it out?” he asked me smiling, “Go show it off to your friends”

I studied him for a second before testing him, “Which one?” I smiled.

“Meh”, he answered, “Either… but if you breathe in the other one – I’ll take your soul!” he started laughing uncontrollably, which I partly joined in on.

“Come inside first though” he said, “let’s get you up to speed on the bestowal and then you can do whatever you like” he smiled.

I followed him inside, taking one last look at my new car and smiling again. We sat down on the big sofa in the even bigger living room.

“Are you ready?”, he asked me seriously.

I nodded.

“In the beginning, this will require you to focus a lot”, he said, “Now, put your hand on mine.”

I hesitantly put my hand on top of his. I was quite nervous.

“Don’t worry”, he said.

“Dad, don’t use your abilities on me”, I exhorted him but could feel relaxation start to flow through my whole body.

“Focus”, he said stricter than he usually was.

“On what?”, I asked.

“On what you want. You have to want my soul. You have to want to absorb a piece of it. Just enough to feel a change.”

I took a deep breath and focused on what he told me. In the beginning it was ticklish where our hands touched, but later it started to feel like pins and needles.

“Focus”, dad repeated quietly.

I took another breath. The weird feeling in my hand went away. Instead I could feel something immense abruptly start to flush through my body, from the limbs directly into my heart. I couldn’t describe it. It felt like an extremely strong flow of air.

“Stop”

As soon as my dad said this, my concentration was interrupted and the feeling vanished from one second to another.

“What the hell was that?” I asked, not completely sure of what just happened.

“You just absorbed your first bit of a soul son” he smiled, softly hitting me on the back, “I’m a proud dad.”

“So what now?” I asked, partly confused because of what would happen next.

“Well, now that you have a little part of soul, you can now use your ability” he explained, “with that soul absorption, you can stay looking young, not need to eat and use your ability”

“Wow” was all I could muster at hearing this great news, “So how do I know that my power works if I can’t use it?” I asked.

“You are allowed to use it”, he said, “Unless…” “Unless I use it against other community members or for my own advantage…”, I quoted the rule I was told so many times.

“Well…”, dad started grinning, “If you don’t get caught, I don’t see a problem why you wouldn’t always be able to use it…”

“Are you saying that I can always use it?”, I asked again.

“No” he answered winking – a lot, “I can’t tell you that.”

“Oh, okay, dad” I chucked, “I got it. Thanks for the advice.”

With that, I grabbed the keys for the Mazda from dad and was out of the door and already starting it up with a grin all across my face, with a comfortable seat, the typical new car smell and the loud sound of the engine. As soon as I accelerated, I could feel the cardboard tear to shreds beneath the wheels and as soon as contact was made with the gravel, I was off.

Impressum

Tag der Veröffentlichung: 16.05.2013

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