Chapter 30-Reunion (3)

The three siblings sat at the dining table silently as they stared at each other. Tiffany had already gone back to her bedroom to clean up, she now looked presentable. Brittany on the other hand was no longer hostile but looked more curious and pensive.

"When did you come back?" Tiffany asked in a thick voice. It took a lot for her not to break down again.

"I arrived in Ny a week ago, but I only just met our parents earlier this noon." Rhydian had a thick Russian accent. He spoke slowly to get his words out clearly.

When he was anxious or nervous his Russian accent would become more pronounced. It was rarely seen for him to speak in an intelligible way. He cleared his throat several times making his face flushed crimson. His usual calm and cold demeanor have changed dramatically since his retirement.

"Yes, we met him at the police station about an hour ago." Mrs. Blair finally came out of the room. She had waited for her children to calm down before she came out. Mr. Blair still hasn't come out of the bedroom; he must still be busy at the moment.

"Mom, so you're here?" Brittany asked with a puzzled expression. It was clear from her expression that she was both curious and warily of this new older brother. "Is he really our eldest brother?"

Mrs. Blair sat down next to Rhydian, running her delicate hand over his spiked hair. The gel he put into his hair was supposed to make his hair stiff and sturdy. Unfortunately, it didn't stand up against his mother's grooming.

"Yes, he is Rhydian." Mrs. Blair's eyes became blurry again. She smiled as she held back her overwhelming emotion. "We have been searching for him for over a decade. Although we don't talk about him, it doesn't mean that we didn't miss him all these years."

"Oh?" Brittany's mouth fell into the shape of a 'O' in stunned silence.

Tiffany remained in a daze as she looked at her elder brother. Complicated feelings of nervousness, happiness and sorrow swirled all into one.

"Does…our 2nd brother and 5th brother know he has come back?" She asked once she came out of her stupor.

"No not yet, I asked Jr to pick up little 5 from his after-school programs early." Mrs. Blair smiled in a warily way. She licked her tired lips, her eyes darting back to her bedroom.

"I can…" Rhydian had just started to speak when his sense of smell caught similar scents as his own.

 Since he came in contact with his parents and walked into his old home, he had felt and sensed something was different. But because he was too out of sorts, he couldn't pinpoint it until now after he had already calmed down. His frozen expression and his shocked eyes made Mrs. Blair stops breathing. She had instantly regretted bringing her son home so soon without gradually integrating them in their new life.

"Blood!" Rhydian looked at his parents' bedroom in astonishment. He could hear another heartbeat in their room beating rapidly.

Soft moans and sobs entered his ears. He could hear his father taking something metal and slicing into flesh. Fresh blood perforated the air. It made Rhydian, Mrs. Blair and Brittany freeze in place.

He looked at the females sitting at the table and realized that his mother and 4th sister, Brittany's eyes had gone red, and their faces were tense attempting to retrain themselves. 

Rhydian sniffed the air once more; his eyes bulged out as he looked at his third sister Tiffany. How in the hell did he not notice before, when they first met. It was clear that his tense emotions made the obvious slip her mind.

Tiffany's eyes grew panicked as she watched her eldest brother sniff the air and then stare at her with knowing eyes. She bit her bottom lip nervously as she twisted the hem of her sweater. Her blue eyes flickered golden as she looked around.

"Sister, your Lycan has come in early." Rhydian stated, "I wonder, what happened that made that happen?"

"Lycan?" All of the females at the table echoed each other in puzzlement.

"Do any of you know…" Before Rhydian could continue speaking the front door banged open. 

A tall and well-built young man walked in wearing ripped jeans and a collared button-down shirt. He had curly brown hair and sparkling green eyes like his mom. He held a little boy who was the spitting image of their mother Mirabella Thompson.

The smile froze on the young man's face when his eyes meant that of Rhydian's. He stared at those familiar eyes, features and the chaotic emotions that he had held back all these years rushed out without a filter.

"Rhydie!" Micheal Blair Jr cried out; tears flowed down his eyes as he used his vampire speed. He rushed over, knocking Rhydian off his chair in surprise. Loud sobs echoed throughout the dining room.

"I am sorry brother. I am sorry. It was my fault!" Micheal Jr bawled out; his body shook with emotion.

Rhydian helplessly held his brother tightly as his own eyes turned slightly red. He set up with difficulty with his overgrown younger brother still in his arms.

"Okay, okay… There seems that there's some things we need to talk about." Rhydian sighed helplessly. "Come…stand up."

"We need to have this conversation in a secure location." Rhydian slung his arm over his brother's shoulder in a consoling manner. "Mom, go get father and clean up the room; I'll take you where we need to go."

Mrs. Blair nodded her head with a stoic expression on her face. She slowly stood from her seat and then entered her bedroom. It took the couple nearly an hour to clean up the mess in the bedroom and store everything in a hidden frozen freezer. Then they changed clothes and came back out to their children. The children were either crying or looking at each other quietly.

Rhydian led them to his new home that was 11 minutes away in walking distance. He took the group up on the industrial elevator and then opened the door to his unit. Before he left, he had installed surveillance and a retinal scanner.

"This. is your place?" Brittany asked in awe. She had hearts in her eyes as she stared at the open space living room.

"Yes, before we get started let me get you and mom something to drink." Rhydian walked into the kitchen. 

He grabbed six glasses, pour lemonade in three of the glasses. He went to his refrigerator, pulling out three plastic blood bags. He poured the contents in the remaining three glasses and then passed them out one by one.

 "You three look like you've been starving for a while." Rhydian smiled as he sat down on the sectional.

Mrs. Blair, Micheal Jr and Brittany stared at the glasses filled with O negative with hunger in their eyes. When they looked into Rhydian's comforting eyes, they immediately took their glasses and chugged the contents.

"When I first decided to contact you, I thought I was your biological child. Then afterwards, I thought you were only humans. But now, I'm very confused. You don't seem to know what you are?" Rhydian crossed his legs in amusement.

 "Can I ask were you two born this way or did this infrastructure appear out of the blue or did something happen that caused your transformation?" Rhydian asked tentatively. I was unsure if asking this would step on their sore spots.

"Well, we became what we are a couple of years after adopting you." Mrs. Blair murmured.

"I gained an odd ability, and your mother had an insatiable thirst, although we didn't know what she craved exactly." Mr. Blair explained sheepishly.

"At 1st I didn't know what that thirst was until one night I was walking home in a bad neighborhood. During that time, I was 2 months pregnant, though I didn't know it. I chanced upon a murder/ rapist. I lost my rationale and attacked the rapist. I drained him and the woman ran away. Luckily, she didn't see my face, but it was then that I finally understood what I was feeling." Mrs. Blair told her story.

"What ability did you receive?" Rhydian's asked, "So you were in the midst of transformation but haven't fed yet…Interesting."

"Uh, when you were 2 1/2, I was able to make difficult types of poison with just a thought. At first, we didn't realize that it may have something to do with you until the kidnapping. We thought a mutant apocalypse had started, but then after a couple of years nothing happened." Mr. Blair thought for a moment before answering.

"The kidnappers were after me and my sister; they had not noticed you. That day you placed us in a transparent bubble of sorts. That bubble lasted almost an hour, we watched as they took you away, kicking and screaming." Micheal Jr croaked.

"Then a force envelope us, preventing the kidnappers from getting to us. They had no choice but to leave." Tiffany sobbed as she spoke. She clutched at the glass in her hand.

"It was my fault, if I had not run away with my little sister, they wouldn't have cornered us. I didn't want to leave so I thought of hiding. It all turned out wrong." Tears streamed down Micheal Jr S face.

"I am guessing you did it subconsciously." Mr. Blair said thoughtfully. He scratched his head helplessly.

'I have to find out exactly what I am.' Rhydian thought to himself. 'I'll think about it later."

Rhydian looked into the distance, thinking hard about his childhood, He scanned every inch of his memory until a certain immaterial flashed past his consciousness.

"You're right, I think it was me that made you that way." He frowned, "When I was a child, I accidentally cut my finger when I made hot cocoa for you two. Blood dropped in both mugs and because I was only a toddler I didn't think much of it." Rhydian tapped on his fingers on his knee rhythmically. "I believe that was my first time making anything for you two."

"Hehe, you remember that long ago?" Mr. Blair asked incredulously.

"I have a photographic memory. I remember everything after 1 year old, oddly…" Rhydian reminisced.

"What's wrong, dear?" Mrs. Blair asked in concern. She stretched out his hand to squeeze his hand.

"I- I seemed to have remembered my birth. I have younger siblings. Three of them." Rhydian hugged in annoyance." At least I think so."

"That -are you sure?" Mr. Blair asked tentatively.

"Not really, I have a vague image of opening my eyes and looking over to see another baby being pulled out, swaddled in a blanket and laid next to me. I could hear murmurs of "There's another" but I can tell how many times that was." Rhydian said in frustration. Why did he suddenly have those images flashed past? Or was it a figment of his imagination?

"Will you go looking for them?" Brittany asked the most crucial question.

"I haven't decided yet, maybe one day but not anytime soon." Rhydian smiled after thinking about it.

"Any way's; Tiffany what happened to you? As a Lycan, you only mature and transform at age 19-22. You're too young but yet I can smell that you have transformed."

"Is that true?" Mrs. Blair asked worriedly, "We only knew that one day she could transform into some sort of animal when she was 15 years."

"Extreme fear or any negative emotion can trigger the change early." Rhydian looked directly at his younger sister. 

She fiddled with the hem of her sweater as she coughed awkwardly. They waited for a full five minutes before Tiffany was ready to tell her story.

"I went to a summer camp once a long time ago. The counselors were not good people, especially Mr. Parker and Mr. Riddle. Mr. Parker liked adolescent girls and Mr. Riddle preferred young boys. That summer, numerous children were defiled.

At first, I was blissfully unaware because in the daytime, everyone including the children acted as if nothing happened. But, one night, Mr. Parker came for me. If it wasn't for that transformation, I would have… would have. Anyways, I killed him. That was why the summer camp ended early and also why I never went to another camp again." Tiffany explained slowly and nervously. It took her nearly an hour to finish her story without crying. The entire time she was tense, afraid of being judged.