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“How could I do that to him? Mihal would not wish to live without Cleo. You are being selfish to try and deny Mihal the chance to be with Cleo again.”

Inka flung away from me and looked at me, filled with rejection. For the second time that night, I froze, unable to believe Inka’s hate filled expression look.

“You hate him! You want Mihal to die!” Inka screeched, hurting my ears.

“Inka, no!” I exclaimed.

Before the conversation could go any further, a medic, Jaxe rushed into the room, holding a tray of medical instruments.

“We have devised a cure and are administering it to those affected. Mihal’s one of the first,” Jaxe cried.

Anxiously, I watched as Jaxe picked up a bottle of amber fluid and injected a syringe into it. Worried, I put out a hand to stop her.

“Has it been tested?” I asked, concerned.

“Only in the lab, Jacques. We have to try this,” Jaxe argued, slapping a band on his Mihal’s arm to make the vein stand out.

“You’re not doing it,” I said sternly. “Mihal is not a lab rat.”

Jaxe ignored me and carried on, saying over her shoulder, “Mihal’s dying, anyway. Don’t deny him this chance.”

Jaxe injected the needle into Mihal’s vein before I could voice further arguments and withdrew it.

“Only time will tell now. Excuse me, others need of this.”

Jaxe left the room, and I gazed at Inka crouching by her son’s bed. I put my hand on her shoulder, intending to reassure, but she threw it off.

Inka made it clear I wasn’t wanted, so I left.

While leaving, I ran into Pari.

“You are right, without Cleo, Mihal’s life is empty,” Pari said, agreeing with me as he, too, left the home of his dead daughter.

Grieving the loss of Cleo, I slumped onto a cushion and prepared to wait. Just before dawn came, Mihal’s fever lessened, and he began to come around.

I returned to Mora and curled into my coffin, hurt and angry that Inka could have thought such a thing of me. The next night I refused to talk to Inka, and she showed no inclination of interacting with me.

I was still furious when I visited Mihal at home.

“You are right, Father,” Mihal said.

“What?” I queried.

“Without Cleo, my life feels meaningless, and I question my wish to continue living. Mother loves me as much as I love her, but she is not Cleo.”

On mentioning Cleo’s name, Mihal broke down into quiet sobs, and I comforted him as best as I could. Inka walked in on us at that moment of time, and she pushed me to one side to gather Mihal in her arms.

Inka’s glare followed me out of the room, signalling that the damage was done. Refusing to help Mihal had not endeared me. Over time, Inka would forgive, but not straight away.

???

Nathan dropped a bombshell a few nights later when he walked into Mora (the name of our cave system) with another woman. Christa was reed thin and tall, and I recognised her as a member of the council. A few eyebrows were raised as no outsider was allowed to enter Mora, let alone know where we lived.

“By the Creator’s soul!” Julia exclaimed, noticing before everyone else. “Christa’s a Vam’pir!”

In the pandemonium that followed. Nathan and Christa tried to talk, but the hall was full of shouting and accusations.

“How did this happen?” Ricardus asked, panic-stricken.