House of Sighs

The two groups of luxury cars, about fifteen or twenty each, were arriving at the agreed area on the outskirts of the city and on the grounds of an abandoned industrial complex. They stopped at a safe distance from each other, face to face, and after a few seconds their occupants began to descend. From the first car of the group that had arrived from the south a tall, blond man, elegantly dressed and around fifty-five years old, got out of the rear seat, who buttoned his suit as he stood in front of his vehicle. On the other side of the car, another blond man got out, about sixty-five years old, who, unlike the first, was not in a suit, but was dressed casually. He stood next to the first in front of the vehicle.

“I still have a bad feeling,” said the older man, named Christopher. “Are you sure about this, Darius?”

“Zander assured me he wants peace too, brother,” Darius replied. “We won’t have a better time than this.”

“I think you are risking too much. You shouldn't have brought your family.”

Darius turned to the vehicle and in the back of it he met the gaze of his wife Amira and his son Daniel, a five-year-old boy. She looked at him expectantly, while the little boy looked curiously at everything around him.

A young man about forty years old also dressed casually but with black clothes, got out of the car behind and stood next to the first two. A black man with a robust build also got out; he quickly joined them.

“The men are ready, sir,” said the man dressed in black.

“Mine are too,” said the first newcomer.

“You told me you weren't expecting confrontations, sir, but I still enlisted them”, the man dressed in black justified himself.

“Thank you, Jerome,” Darius said, “you are my greatest warrior and I appreciate that you are always prepared to defend the pack, but we only came to negotiate, not to fight. I say the same to you, Brandon.”

“We still have to be prepared,” said Brandon, the first newcomer. “You know that I’m not and will not agree with what you are doing. That guy has wiped out almost the entire pack, and you shouldn't be negotiating anything with him.”

“It is precisely because I want to protect what is left of the pack that I’m going to negotiate with him.”

For many years now, Darius Ranlone's pack of werewolves has been at war with the vampire clan led by Zander Udimov, with many losses on both sides, but more on the side of the lycanthropes led by Darius. The domination of a city as big as New York was one of the reasons for this confrontation, since both groups, fiercely territorial, wanted to have control to provide their members with everything they needed to live a relatively quiet life, without realizing that that purpose could not be fulfilled as long as the fighting continued. Both groups had managed to succeed in mixing with man, coming from a centuries-old tradition and many generations that had managed to carve their way around the world, and where their leaders built large companies and profitable businesses with effort, dedicating themselves to them and giving them his followers the advantages and benefits of living in society. Seeing this, Darius Ranlone considered that perhaps there could be some kind of pact with the vampires to put aside the confrontations and dedicate themselves to their own without harming his packs or clans, and having a little tolerance for the benefit of everybody.

That on the one hand. On the other hand, the vampires, now perfectly adapted to daytime life thanks to the experiments and research of one of them named Dansk, took advantage from his work to strengthen themselves, to the point of becoming practically invincible, and hence they had a small advantage over the lycanthropes, who in turn had also made great progress through the research of Christopher Ranlone, brother of Darius, who had mastered the lycanthrope gene that made them transform into wolves through their studies and prevent the full moon from wreaking havoc on them every time it appeared.

For these reasons, both groups could now live perfectly camouflaged among the city's inhabitants, without raising suspicions of their true essence. When vampires needed blood they turned to unconventional sources for it, all under the control of Zander Udimov, who sought access to those sources on a regular basis, controlling the anxiety of his group.

From the group of cars that had arrived from the north, a man of about sixty years got out of the first of them; he was wearing sunglasses and a short-brimmed hat but it could still be seen that he was completely bald. He was also smartly dressed. It seemed to Darius, from his pale skin, that he was an albino, but he knew he wasn't.

It was Zander Udimov, the leader of the vampires.

Watching him expose himself to the sunlight unaffected, she frowned and inadvertently looked up at the blue sky for a second, then turned her attention back to him. Christopher realized this, and moved a little closer to his brother.

“They developed some kind of compound that creates a membrane on their skin that protects them from sunlight,” he told Darius quietly. “That’s very clever.”

“How do you know that?” Darius asked.

“I just know,” Christopher answered with a shrug.

Christopher knew of the advances of the vampires thanks to Dansk, the vampire scientist, with whom he had secretly developed a close friendship despite the fact that their groups were at war. Both agreed that the studies and research they shared were worth the risk, and on more than one occasion they collaborated with each other seeking mutual benefits.

Zander took three steps in front of his car. Darius did the same.

“Here we are, Darius,” Zander said in a low voice, but one Darius could hear perfectly. “As I promised you, I came in peace. I would have preferred if we didn't come with our men, but you wanted it that way. Do you distrust my word?”

“I'm glad you came in peace, Zander. It's not that I distrust your word, I just wanted our clans to witness what will be discussed here so that there are no misunderstandings in the future. They will be the witnesses of the agreement we reach, and they will know how to act accordingly.”

“It seems reasonable to me, it’s the best way for them to find out about our agreement.”

“Then you mean that you agree that we make a truce... indefinitely?”

“More than a truce, I would dare to say that, being a reasonable man, we would be talking about peace. And I think that’s the best thing for you, since you no longer have so many people with whom to continue this long war that we have waged for so many years.”

Zander's words, loaded with arrogance, seemed an insult to Darius, who preferred not to take them as such, maintaining his usual composure.

“We are both aware of everything we have lost in this war, Zander. A war that for me is no longer relevant, given the advances we have had and that we can see right now.” Darius raised one of his arms, indicating the men around him and around his interlocutor. “We are successful members of society, each in his own way, and that should mean we can live in peace and tolerate each other from now on. Many governments may have marked differences, but they tolerate each other and rarely go to war when tolerance is no longer possible and different interests are affected. We can do the same, live in tolerance and peace. Don't you think so?”

Zander thought about everything Darius had told him. He glanced at the men behind him, then at those accompanying his enemy. It would be easy to defeat them all in a quick battle and be done with it all at once. Thus they would be the undisputed owners of the city and they would have no one to oppose them.

For his part, Darius, knowing his enemy, appealed to the last resource he had left to finish convincing him to accept peace. With a small movement of his hand, his wife Amira and his son Daniel got out of the car after him. It was the sign she was waiting for to support her husband.

“As you can see, Zander, I have come here with my wife and son, trusting that we will achieve a peace agreement here and now. I wouldn't risk them if I wasn't convinced of it.”

Zander looked at the woman and the child. He also at some point would have wanted to have children, despite not being able to given his vampiric nature, and that ended up convincing him. He had lived at least three hundred years, through which he had had and experienced passionate loves, which had never borne fruit in the way he wanted, since he cannot conceive children like any mortal, and that frustrated and saddened him in certain moments.

Still watching them, Zander approached them, brushing past Darius, who, fearing a backlash from Brandon, grabbed his arm firmly, preventing him from moving. Brandon glared at him for being held back, but calmed down a bit when Jerome and Christopher surreptitiously moved closer to the vampire, who continued to stare at the woman and child as if he were mesmerized. Zander's men took a few steps forward seeing him so close to the werewolves but he, raising a hand, ordered them not to move, which they did on the spot. He looked at Darius's family for a few more seconds, and then a sudden, almost insane idea flashed through his mind. Turning to him, he faced him and removed his sunglasses. Darius met a cold, emotionless gaze that peered into his soul through what he thought were contact lenses. Later Christopher would explain to him that they were special glasses so that the sun would not damage his sight.

“I'll accept your peace proposal,” Zander told him, “if you give me an offering that honors it.”

“And what would that offering be?”

Zander stared at him in silence for a few seconds, before continuing to speak.

“A son of yours,” he finally said.

Darius looked at him confused, but he thought he understood what the man was asking of him.

“Do you want some kind of sacrifice?” Christopher asked, also confused. Darius looked at him and raised his hand asking him not to continue speaking.

“And why would you want a son of mine?” Darius asked, though he already thought he had the answer. “Some kind of guarantee that I won't attack you in the future?”

“You're a smart man, Darius,” Zander said, still staring at him. “You know what I want it for. I'm not going to pretend that you give me this one, which is already something big for what I want. He will be the next, regardless of whether it is male or female, which you will give to me at birth, and while I wait for him, I guarantee you a truce. When you have given it to me, then you will have your long-awaited peace. What do you say?”

“I see you want to raise a child too,” Darius said quietly. “Are you aware that it would be the son or the daughter a werewolf? From an enemy?”

“If I've learned anything from you, it's that you're strong and powerful just like us,” Zander said. “He would be a good son to a vampire. Or a good daughter. Doesn’t matter.”

Darius looked at him for a few seconds into his eyes, which remained cold and impenetrable. He never thought a vampire wanted to be a father, even though they couldn't. He came to think at one point that those ideas were ruled out for them, but apparently Zander was not the same as the others. He thought a few more seconds before giving him his answer.

“If you give me your word of honor that you will raise him as your son and that he will never be in any danger, I will fulfill your request.”

“Darius!” Amira exclaimed, implying that she did not agree with the request that Zander was making to her husband.

Zander looked at Amira and the boy for a few seconds, then at Darius, and with a smirk he turned his back on them.

“I'll be waiting then,” he told him as he headed back to his car, boarding it later and ordering his men to retreat.

Despite the unexpected request, Darius thought he had gained something from this encounter.