Chapter 5

‘So what is this story of revolution that you speak of?’ asked Dayren. He had sat down at the stone throne located at the other end of the table of the Counsel, looking into Ender’s eyes intensely.

‘It is no matter to concern yourself with, father. It’s just the rambling of two young boys that seem to have forgotten their place’. Valiren had walked towards her son and his friend and was pushing them towards the exit of the room, gesturing to them to disappear quickly. ‘Now we all must focus on you. You have awaken after almost a hundred years, there is much for you to catch up on.’ She swiftly closed the door and turned around, gesturing for the rest of the Counsel to sit down. She walked towards her father and held his hands in hers, smiling warmly. ‘But we can do that tomorrow if you want to rest’

‘Rest, my dear daughter, is what I’ve been doing for the past century.’ He replied.

A small laugh escaped Valiren’s mouth. She nodded. ‘Very well, so we shall begin the reunion again, this time with you.’

Ender and Raynor had walked silently to Ender’s quarters. Once there, not a word was said for a long time; they were of course thinking about the same thing. Why had Dayren awaken so early? Elders slept for many centuries in an attempt to pass the time. Immortality had proven too long for some of them, living the same events over and over again, stuck, unable to move forward. So they turned to hibernation, to simply jump to a different time, with new things to learn, new members of the coven to meet.

Usually, the Elders were left to sleep while their descendants ruled the covens, and would only awaken when an important event was about to take place. But in this case, there was no event. No death of an important member, no new coven to introduce, no trouble with humans that was significative enough. So why was he here?

Finally, Raynor broke the silence.

‘It must be because of the revolution’. Raynor said.

‘Don’t be stupid, he doesn’t know anything about it. In fact, there is no revolution. It’s only an idea, our idea, nothing has been planned yet, no one has been informed outside the Counsel, and they didn’t take us very seriously’ replied Ender, who had taken place next to the window, staring into the night, playing with a tall glass full of blood, but not drinking it.

‘Maybe it’s only an idea now, but that idea has been planted in their minds Ender, I know you believe so too. He must have seen it coming. There is no other explanation to his awakening otherwise.’ Raynor couldn’t hide the excitement in his voice.

‘There is no explanation we know of, you mean. We’re not part of the Counsel, they won’t tell us anything we do not need to know’

‘Oh come on Ender, you saw their reactions, they were not expecting him. They were frozen in place, if it wasn’t for your mother we’d all still be there standing, looking at him. Besides, awakenings are a cause for big celebrations, they don’t happen this way’. Now Raynor was pacing the room from one end to the other, looking at Ender, who was still standing next to the window. He had a triumphant smile on his face, like he had discovered a big secret.

Ender just hummed at him, still playing with the glass, rotating it to make the blood stick to the sides of the glass. His sight was lost in the woods in front of the castle. He only realised the sun had begun to rise when his hand burnt slightly when the rays hit his fingers. He jolted awake at the slight pain, blinking a few times, and backed away from the window, closing the dark, heavy curtains. He gulped the glass and looked at his hand as the small scar left by the sun disappeared. He felt tired.

‘Well, I’m sure we’ll find out sooner or later what the hell is happening, but for now, I want to sleep’, he said as he faced Raynor, who had stopped pacing the room and was now standing next to the big fireplace, almost in a trance watching the flames.

‘Sleep? You can’t be serious, we need to go back and ask what’s going on’, he replied, his voice displayed a hint of annoyance at his friends’ indifference on the matter.

‘We just got kicked out of the reunion Ray. We’re not Counsel members yet, we can’t just walk in and ask questions’

‘So wait for the reunion to be over and then go ask him yourself!’, Raynor was determined not to let it go.

Ender, however, had taken his shirt off and was already laying down on his bed. ‘I can’t do that’, was his short reply.

Raynor walked towards the bed and sat at the end of it, facing Ender, who opened his eyes the moment he felt the weight shift the bed.

‘He’s your grandfather, I’m sure if you ask him nicely he’ll tell you. Just go visit him and try’,

‘Raynor, he’s been asleep for a hundred years. I wasn’t even here when he was still awake last century, remember? And he’s the oldest vampire in the coven, the one who invented all the rules, you think he’s going to break them for me?’ he said, sitting down and facing his friend. He took a deep breath in an attempt to control his anger. ‘Listen, I know you want answers, I want them too, but this is not the way we get them. We’ll have our chance. In the meantime, we need to come up with a better strategy. And right now, I need to sleep, and so do you’, he said, smiling at his friend faintly.

Raynor looked down and took a sharp breath, closing his eyes and massaging his temples for a minute, taking in his friend’s words.

‘Yeah, you’re right. I got carried away, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have suggested you go talk to him like that. I’ll leave you now, we’ll talk when you wake up’. He got up from the bed and walked towards the door. He turned around to say something to Ender, but realised he had already closed his eyes, and decided against speaking once more, understanding his friend’s tiredness. He too, was exhausted. He hadn’t realised before. He was also thirsty.

He walked towards his chambers, crossing the empty main hall. Most vampires were already asleep, and silence ruled the entire castle. He entered his room and ran across it to close the curtains, an intense light entering them and mildly burning his arms in the process. He’d deal with the burns tomorrow, he thought to himself as he laid down to sleep.