Shroud of Darkness (Eternity Series Book 1)

Chapter 5

Beau's heart was pounding as he stared up at the panel of twelve. He began to try and struggle to break the shackles, but it wasn't working. This should've been no problem for him.

"Don't bother. Those chains are imbued with blood magic specifically designed to nullify vampiric powers. At this moment, you can do little more than you could as a human.", one of the females said with a slight chuckle.

Beau fell still as he looked down at the floor.

What the hell do I do now? He questioned himself.

"You face your judgment, you insignificant wretch.", The Vampire, who Beau had the original altercation with, said.

"Calm yourself, Enoch; this is a professional trial, and I expect you to conduct yourself accordingly. Not to mention this 'wretch' did indeed almost claim your life.", This time, the man in the middle of the bunch spoke.

Enoch's face twisted into one of annoyance, but he backed down.

"Now, my friend.", he said, looking back down at Beau, "I am Talos, your current head of council. Today, we are to pass judgment on..." he fell silent.

It took a second for Beau to realize Talos was waiting for him to say his name.

"Beau Hayes."

"We shall pass judgment on Beau Hayes for assaulting not only a member of one of the royal bloodlines but also a fellow council member. How do you plea?" Talos questioned.

Beau didn't know what to say. He did indeed attack Enoch, but the man wouldn't back off. Not only that, but he had no idea the man was of royal decent or a council member.

Guess this is another way my creator screwed me. Beau thought.

Talos sat forward and looked at him with a questioning look, "Is that so? Please, boy, tell us who is your sire."

Beau looked at Talos with concern.

Talos chuckled, "Your thoughts are no secret to anyone in this room. We can all see into your mind."

Beau had forgotten Lauralye's words of warning, and he had screwed up.

Beau sighed before standing up and accepting his fate.

"I am an illegal, and I don't know who sired me.", Beau said.

In a split second, the room erupted with shouts. Every panel member screamed for Beau's life, but Talos held up his hand to silence the room.

"Brothers. Sisters. Please calm yourselves. There is no need for all this barbaric behavior.", Talos said with a calmness that could put anyone at ease.

"Talos, the boy, is illegal.", one of the other females said, her voice lined heavily with a Russian accent, "We declared five hundred years ago that the creation of any more of our kind would be punishable by death."

Talos sighed, "I am aware of that, Galina, but I am curious. The boy displayed powers on par with that of myself and everyone else in this room. If he is as new as I suspect, then he hasn't even reached his full potential. That then begs the question of who sired him."

"All the more reason to kill him now.", Enoch spat, "If we allow him to reach maturity, what stops him from coming to kill us all?"

Talos looked at Enoch, becoming increasingly annoyed, "I believe the only one of us here who need fear Mr. Hayes is you." he turned back to Beau, "Now, Mr. Hayes, how familiar with our laws are you?"

Beau shrugged, "Not very. Lauralye hasn't told me much other than I'll be put to death for a decision I didn't make."

"Hmm, I see. Well, under decree one hundred and sixteen, any vampire who sires or attempts to sire shall be put to death along with their offspring. This law was created to create peace between us and the werebeasts.", Talos explained.

Beau gulped as he waited for the sentencing to leave Talos's mouth.

Talos looked at his fellow council members, "While I know you all feel strongly about the decree and the peace, I feel Mr. Hayes deserves a chance to live after his admirable display of power and courage as a newly made vampire."

The female who informed Beau about the shackles spoke up, "Talos, you risk war with werebeast by giving the boy his life. Our numbers aren't as high as they used to be, and royal bloodlines are near extinction."

Talos looked at her, "My dear Ahna, we only discovered the boy because of his audacious nature. If he is coached and taught the ways of our kind, then the werebeasts shall not learn of his illegality. To add on, I do not see his sire here, so if we are to take his life, it seems only fair to do so if he dies alongside his sire."

Ahna sat back in her seat. All other council members had the same look on their faces. It was one of hatred and anger due to Talos' thoughts on the matter.

Talos asked, "Does anyone else have anything they like to add? Any objections at all?"

No one spoke. It was so silent you could hear a pin drop.

"Very well. Please bring in Miss Garnier.", Talos said to someone behind Beau.

"Right away, sir.", the person snapped back.

With that, a door opened and closed. This repeated several minutes later, and a person was brought to stand beside Beau. It was Lauralye.

"Miss Lauralye, Mr. Hayes has informed us that you were giving him guidance. Is that correct?" Talos asked.

"Yes, sir.", she responded, her voice full of fear.

Talos nodded, "Then I declare that you continue to coach him in our ways. Help him to reach his full potential and, if you can, his sire. With that, this trial is concluded."

Talos snapped, and two vampires came up and removed the shackles from Beau's wrists. The remaining council members proceeded to file out of the large room and disappear while Talos made his way to Beau and Lauralye.

"I shall check in on your progress on all matters from time to time. I am ever so curious about how strong you'll become and what qualities you will bring to the table. While I know most won't agree with my decision, I feel it is fair, and maybe you can continue to live even after you find your sire, but implore you, do not make me regret my decision.", he said before taking his leave.

Beau sighed as relief settled in. He had somehow, by the luck of the universe, been set free. He looked at Lauralye, who was fuming.

"So uh, we're alive and okay. Plus, the council knows about me now, and they let me go.", Beau said, doing his best to break the tension.

She slapped him hard. There was no breaking the tension today.

"Let's go, now.", she hissed at him.

Lauralye ripped Beau a new one all the way back to his house. Everything from 'you're an idiot' to 'do you understand the added stress you've put on me' or her personal favorite 'I swear I'm gonna kill you.' Beau sat quietly the whole time so she could rant. They eventually pulled into his driveway, where all the lights were off. This meant Beau's mom had gone to bed.

Good thing too. If she saw what time it was, she'd kill me. Beau thought as he read the time. 4:22 A.M.

Lauralye turned to look at him, "What school do you attend?"

Beau raised an eyebrow at her, "I'm sorry, what?"

"So you don't speak English now?" she said in a condescending tone.

Beau gave her a look of 'What the hell,' "No, I do. I just don't see why you need to know where I go to school."

She rolled her eyes, "Because I'm going to enroll in your school to keep an eye on you, so hopefully, you won't cause any more trouble. Plus, it'll give me more time to go over vampiric laws, history, and customs."

"Oh, uh, okay. I go to St. John.", Beau said.

She nodded, "Okay."

"Alright, I guess I'll see you at school then.", Beau said before he exited her car.

As soon as he shut the door, she placed her car in reverse and backed out. Beau gave her a small wave as she began to drive away. Once she was out of sight, Beau headed into his house and straight for his bedroom. He needed some rest before tomorrow.

Beau opened his eyes to find himself being drug through a corridor. It was dimly lit and very old. The structure couldn't have many more years left before it crumbled. He wasn't sure how he got here.

Maybe they changed their minds on the verdict.

That was his thought pattern, at least until his captors opened a familiar door. It was that cell again.

Ok, so maybe I'm not dreaming. He was so confused about what was going on.

Once the two men finished dragging the woman inside, one proceeded to kick her in the face so hard her nose crunched, breaking from the impact. This caused her to let out a small whimper, but from what Beau could tell, she refused to cry or scream.

"Your kind is so pathetic, they don't even know you're gone.", one of them said as they both left, cackling maniacally as they shut the door.

When the door locked, she broke. Tears began falling down her cheeks. She was so miserable, and Beau couldn't understand why they were doing this to her. Why was she so important? If she mattered, someone would've noticed her disappearance, but Beau couldn't distinguish her from any other vampire. Another thing that puzzled him was why he kept seeing things through her eyes or how he could help her. It wasn't like he could go to the council or Lauralye and tell them.

"Please help me.", she whispered as she wept.

I will, but how? He thought.

Beau felt exhausted all morning, and by the time he got to school and sat down for his first-class keeping his eyes open was almost impossible. He didn't understand what was sapping all his energy. He hadn't really done much last night, or did he exert more than he thought? Maybe he was overthinking it, and the problem was the weird dreams were preventing him from getting some good rest. Either way, it was aggravating. Even the ridicule after yesterday's mishap couldn't phase him. On the other hand, when a girl wearing a thin black sweater and black skirt stood before him, Beau immediately shifted from exhausted to downright 'lost the will to live.' He really didn't want to deal with Lily today because there was a lot to explain and no way, to tell the truth.

Why the hell can't I be normal again?

Lily coughed to get his attention even though she was the only thing on his mind. Beau looked up at her, unsure how to approach this situation.

"Hi, Lily.", he said nervously, "How are you?"

She raised an eyebrow at him, "Really, that's all you got. You tell me to stay away, ignore me, have some weird freak episode, and then completely ghosted me by not answering a single text or call, and that's all you have to say.", there was a fire in that tone hot enough to roast Satan himself.

"To be honest, Lily, it's all I can manage. I still think you should stay away from me, but I won't force you.", Beau said, praying for her to walk away.

He could hear her teeth grit as she pinched the bridge of her nose. Beau could see she was definitely fighting herself as she remained silent for several seconds before releasing a breathy sigh.

"I should walk away, but I won't. I'm not sure what you got yourself into, but I'm going to keep digging till I find out what and how I can help you.", she said with a more relaxed demeanor.

If you could, I'd let you. Beau thought.

He looked down at his hand before responding, "Trust me when I say you should leave it alone. There isn't anything you or anyone else can do to help me."

"Why not?" she groaned.

He shrugged, "Because. Think of it this way, my ticket to hell has already been bought and paid for, and the only thing that can be done is for me to sit back and ride."

She rolled her eyes at Beau and was about to speak when someone else called out for Beau. They both looked in the direction of the voice to find a young woman dressed in jeans and a red t-shirt walking over. Lily side-eyed Beau as Lauralye reached them.

Great! It wasn't like getting Lily off my back wasn't hard enough. Beau was now beginning to feel the same irritation that Lily felt. Why is this happening to me?

"Hi, Beau! How are you this morning?", Lauralye said with a level of enthusiasm he had yet to hear from her.

The act utterly dumbfounded him she was putting on. He thoroughly expected her usual rude personality that she had no problem displaying. She slid into the empty seat beside him and gave him a concerned look while Lily observed, her face screaming with the anger building up inside.

"Are you ok? You look tired.", Lauralye said as she placed a hand on Beau's shoulder, "I'm sorry if I kept you out too late last night."

Lily expresses her frustration by storming off to her desk and knocking Beau's bag into the floor. He could feel the chills going up his spine as Lily's ice daggers stabbed him figuratively in the back. Beau glanced at Lauralye with a face of 'What the hell are you doing?

She clearly understood his expression as she answered his question, "Since I'm going to be stuck in this hell hole with you every day, we might as well keep up with the dating act. It'll make things easier for us and explain why we spend so much time together."

"Or we could just say we're excellent friends.", he responded.

She pinched his arm, "It's the story we told your mom, so we're sticking with it. Plus, it'll help make people like her stay away from you."

Beau sighed, "Fine, but when I make a complete fool of myself trying to act out something I've never done, I'll make sure to drag you down with me."

She looked at him with that murderous glare.

"On second thought, I'll drown alone.", he said.

She smiled at him before turning to face the front of the class, just as Mr. Jones took his spot in front of the class.

"Good morning, class. I hope you all read up on last night's chapters. Before we begin today, I want to introduce a new student. She just transferred here today. If you would please stand up and introduce yourself.", he said with a bright smile on his face.

Lauralye stood up, wearing a smile of her own, but Beau knew it was just a facade.

"Hi, everyone; I'm Lauralye Garnier. It's nice to meet you all!" she said joyfully.

"Welcome to St. John, miss Garnier. I hope you enjoy your senior year with us.", Mr. Jones said, "Now on with the class. Last night you should have read up to chapter four last night. If you didn't, then shame on you, and good luck with today's assignment. I ask that you all write me a two-page summary so that I can understand both chapters three and four. This will be due by the end of class. Obviously, miss Garnier, you are exempt from this, but I do expect you to catch up."

"Yes, sir.", she said, still cheerful.

Beau obviously didn't get to read any last night, but he already knew the book front to back. Pulling out his notebook, he began to write. By the end of it, Beau had written four pages filling his summary with as many details as possible. This wasn't even his intention, and he was surprised he remembered this much.

Holy crap. He thought.

Lauralye leaned over and whispered in his ear, "Your memory has become enhanced because of the transition. You can recall even the most minor of details."

The bell rang, signaling the end of the class, to which Mr. Jones stood up and spoke, "Please place your work on my desk. I will read through them tonight, and then we will discuss the chapters tomorrow."

Beau walked up and placed his four pages on the stack and was about to head to the door. Mr. Jones held a hand out in front of him to stop him.

"Can I have a word with you?" he asked.

Beau looked at him uncertainly, "Uh, yeah, sure, Mr. Jones."

"Are you okay? I heard what happened yesterday, and I wanted to make sure you're doing alright.", Mr. Jones said, his voice full of concern.

Beau did his best to come up with a lie, "Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just a rough day got to me."

He definitely wasn't buying it, but he didn't push it, "Okay, well, if you need someone to talk to, my door is always open."

Beau nodded as he began to head for the door, "Okay, thanks, Mr. Jones."

He gave a small wave to his teacher before stepping out the door and turning right. Beau jumped as he came face to face with Lauralye.

"What are you still doing here?" he asked, his heart pounding.

She raised an eyebrow, "I was waiting for you, so you can, ya' know, walk me to my next class. I am new here, after all, and you are my boyfriend."

Beau groaned low in his throat.

She spoke again, "Also, don't worry, I had my schedule arranged, so we have all the same classes."

Oh great! I guess I won the award for 'get fucked loser.' Beau thought.