Chapter 6

Now.

Jennifer has ordered us chinese for delivery, neither Lillian or I mention that we do not require food in the strictest sense, I can eat just do not need to, Lillian prefers a liquid diet. We have been discussing Jennifer's life as a student, she is in her final year of college, she hopes to go on to teach. It is when Jennifer has gone to order the food that Lillian nods to me.

"I can see the attraction she is a charming young lady." Lillian says keeping her voice low.

I smile.

"You noticed." I say in an equally low voice, so much so that you would need to be sitting next to me to notice I even made a sound.

"I also noticed she likes you, every time she looks at you her pulse raises, her pupils dilate a little bit." Lillian says.

I shake my head.

"Where is the fun of the chase if I am monitoring her vitals Lillian?" I say.

"Idin that is the best part of the chase, stalking your prey." She says with a twinkle in her eye.

Like it or not Lillian and I are both hunters, me born out of circumstances, Lillian because of her nature, as I think this Jennifer walks back into her living room smiling.

"We have 45 minutes." Jennifer says sitting back down.

"Now you two know most of what there is to know about me, neglecting some child hood stuff, yet I still know very little about you guys." Jennifer says smiling.

Lillian laughs.

"This could take a while, Idin can fill several encyclopedias worth. The crusades alone could have several books to them selves." Lillian smiles and leans back.

So I lean forward, and begin to tell the two women everything I have been thinking about the past two days, starting with my the beginning, waking up in the field, Jora, the plague, meeting Lilith for the first time, the food has arrived causing me to stop my tale, Jennifer seems disappointed at the interruption, she sets about plates in the dinning room, we all join her.

I notices Jennifer silently saying grace, I wonder if she normally speaks it out loud but is refraining due to Lillian and I, when she finishes she looks at Lillian.

"So its true what Idin said? That you can not have male children?" She ask.

Lillian nods.

"Yes we daughters can only have daughters, as Idin has said we tend to be a more ordered bunch, you have nothing to fear from us Jennifer or from me, we would never harm a soul." Lillian says.

I shake my head.

"That is Jennifer unless you where dying of illness, or injury, or volunteered, or a violent criminal or perhaps not so violent. Tell me Lillian has your mother managed to squeeze in jaw walking as a crime deserving becoming an appetizer." I ask.

Lillian flinches.

"Idin you know its not like that, Mother has grown harsh in her old age but you know her intentions are pure." Lillian says.

"Yes yes, very pure." I say flipantly.

Lillian is frowning.

"Idin you know I don't feel the same as her." She says.

And for a moment I am sorry I spoke, but no Jennifer needs to be aware of the danger of them, she can not be lulled by Lillian being cordial.

Jennifer interrupts trying to be the peace maker.

"Tell me, what is with these sons of cain?" Jennifer ask.

Lillian watches me across the table.

"They are more like Idin imagines us to be, in fact they would match what you probably view as a vampire, they prey on people, kill with out a care, they turn people to swell their ranks, they are a most distasteful bunch." Lillian says.

I nod.

"True, but they have quotas they stay with in to keep the rest of us unaware, they do have rules just limited." I say.

Jennifer looks at me.

"Why haven't you and the Daughters stopped them if they kill people?" She ask.

"Jennifer, I am but one man, if I tried that I would spend every moment of my long life fighting, they fear me so they take my wishes into advisement. I am sure Lillian will tell you the same, her people are much stronger than the Sons, but they don't have the numbers that they do. So they keep the slaughter down to a minimum, we nip at each other when one gets careless, and when it gets bad I act as a mediator, I can bring both clans to the table, much like I suspect I will have to do now." I say.

Lillian is watching me ominously.

"How often have you done that?" Jennifer ask.

"Too many Jennifer, far too many times to count." I say.

"4 times in my life Jennifer, 4 times he has brought us to a compromise in the 200 years I have been alive." Lillian says.

"That doesn't sound too bad?" Jennifer says.

"Lilith claimed to be the first of her race Jennifer, she claimed to be something far older than the human race, she was alone for a long time. She once suggested I try hibernation, she told me that she would hibernate for thousands of years simply to pass the time. You see if they admit it or not they are predators, and to sustain a population of predators you need a supply of food and Lilith when not sleeping always had to search for food, she hunted all forms of early humans, she was a predator, and like many she picked the weak and sick to thin the flock." I say.

I see both of them are raptly waiting for me to continue, I had not shared this with Lillian first hand.

"For a long time Lilith didn't know she could create more of her kind either by turning people or birth she discovered her ability to turn her victims around the same time she met Cain. Lilith was begging to spend more time awake as people became more numerous, That was when she found Cain. She had told me he was the first of his kind she had ever seen, more like her than the early humans, Cain claimed to be among the very first of his race what we call Homo Sapiens." I say.

Lillian is watching me wide eyed, Jennifer has put down her fork and is waiting for me to continue.

"My point is if she met Cain at the dawn of modern humans and I came in at the Dusk of the Neanderthal, Jora and her people slowly disappeared from the earth around 24,000 years ago Jennifer, modern humans showed up about 150,000 years ago, so if Cain and Lilith are to be believed than the feud between them is at least that old." I say.

Jennifer gasp at the numbers involved.

"Still Idin no one kept track, you are the worst about the passage of time, it could be way more or way less." Lillian says.

I nod.

"So Jennifer it took me a few millennium to get the respect of both clans, you do the math it is a long time to be mediating a feud, I watched time pass and the original parties died off, few remember the origins, many still think of it all as an origin myth, Lillian who is the oldest Daughter right now?" I ask.

"Idin mother is now, she is 4000 years old as you know. Jennifer Idin serves as an anchor, a common link between the two clans, as long as he is around we know that we share the same origin, neither side wishes to completely be rid of the other, we simply jockey for territory, hunting rights, and where we can operate." Lillian says.

Jennifer is shaking her head, I can see she is having trouble taking it all in.

"Why Idin?" She ask.

"Why what Jennifer?" I ask.

"Why me? Why are you even paying me any attention? I am 24, I am no body, I have done nothing, I have gone no where. Look at Lillian, shes 200, she is powerful, hell I am straight and she makes me horny for crying out loud. Why would you even want to know someone like me?" Jennifer says, I can hear the confusion raise in her voice.

Lillian is watching her, I can see she is amused.

"Jennifer, let me answer that, In all the years I have lived not as long as Idin, I have learned that humans are unique no two alike, each one is a world onto themselves, each one a treasure one of a kind never to be found again. It is that uniqueness that drew me to my husband, I know no matter how long I live I shall never find another person like him. I can tell you from this brief time Jennifer that I can see what Idin likes about you, you are smart, witty and for a human you are very open to new ideas. Idin simply recognizes the uniqueness inherent in you Jennifer. " Lillian says smiling.

And in that moment I knew Lillian had said the one thing that would not comfort Jennifer, in my retelling of my history I had left out how much Jennifer reminded me of Jora, something I had already said to Jennifer, I watched as Jennifer made the connections, she put her fork down.

"I am sorry Lillian, Idin, it has really been a pleasure meeting you but I have class in the mourning, I neglected the time." Jennifer said coldly.

Lillian looked kind of shocked.

"Jennifer did I offend you? I am sorry I didn't mean to?" Lillian said.

"No Lillian you where great, like I said I just need to get some rest." Jennifer said.

Lillian looked at me confused, I simply nodded.

"Jennifer I am sorry." I didn't know what else to say.

Jennifer escorted us to the door, we said brief good nights, as I turned to leave Lillian stopped.

"Jennifer, I don't know whats going on, but this man despite his age can be the most inept person relationship wise I have ever met. As well as oblivious to things that are right in front of him I loved him for the first 70 years of my life Jennifer, the whole time he treated me like I was his daughter, so I know how blind he can be first hand." She said.

I politely moved off to let them talk, my hearing however made it hard to miss the conversation, I could hear Jennifer laugh at that.

"I just need time to absorb all this." Jennifer said.

"I know, its a lot to take in, heres a tip you would think that living so long makes us patient, it doesn't if anything it makes us hyper sensitive to the passage of time, so try not to torture him to long." Lillian said.

"How long will you be in town?" Jennifer asked.

"Until this matter is resolved." Lilian answers.

"Oh right, I am sorry about your husband, I would of liked to meet him." Jennifer says.

"Yes you would of enjoyed his company he was a good man." Lillian says.

"If you get a chance and if you want we can hang out while you are in town." Jennifer says.

"I would like that Jennifer, just remember it has to be at night." Lillian says.

"OH thats true than? The sun thing and all?" Jennifer ask.

Lillian laughs and it is like music.

"Unfortunately it is, good night Jennifer, it was a pleasure" Lillian says.

I can hear Jennifer say her good byes and shut the door, Lillian was to wear I am standing down the hall.

"What the hell did you do Idin." She asks me.

"Nothing." I say

"Its not nothing when I said that little speech it looked like I dropped a ton of bricks on her." She says.

"Its nothing." I say.

"Idin you are going to have to tell me if you want me to fix this problem between you and her." she says.

"You will do no such thing." I say.

"Yes I will, one of us has already lost a loved one, no point in both of us doing it." She says

I sighed.

"You know why can't you be like the weres? They never bother me." I said.

"Idin thats because you have no scent to them you are a non-entity." She said.

Thats what I meant I thought silently

We rode the rest of the way down the elevator in silence.

Now.

Sharon

Sharon rode with her partner, they had gotten a tip that a homeless person was claiming to have seen the the incident with the two attackers, she certainly hoped it wasn't the case.

"So whats this Noah guy like?" Williams asked from the driver seat.

"Business like" Sharon answered.

"You know his family has been in San Diego since the first mission?" Williams said.

"Really?" Sharon said feigning interest, she knew her father had been in the americas since the fifteen hundreds.

"Yeah wikipedia, its great, looked it up he comes from a long line of entrepreneurs." Williams said.

"How interesting." Sharon said.

"Thats old money Sharon." Jones said.

"Okay" Sharon said.

They arrived at the alley where the homeless man was known to stay.

"Yeah so this Idin guy right is like Idin Noah the like 6th or something like that, father and son are always pretty consistent to, they marry, have one child, weird if you ask me." Jones said.

"Is there a point Jones?" Sharon asked.

"Well with that kind of money its easy to hide things, hes connected all the way to the top if you know what I mean, past even the governor." Jones said.

"Geez rook everything is not a conspiracy" Sharon said getting nervous.

"Well thats true, at least what I found was not hidden to well, just conveniently omitted." Jones said.

"Bobby what are you talking about?" Sharon said, unbuckling her seat belt.

"Sharon, Idin Noah sr. it seems had two children not one, one was adopted" Jones said.

Sharon felt the pit forming in her stomach.

"He adopted one Sharon Williams after her parents died in a fire." Jones said.

Sharon slumped in her seat looking out the window of the crown vic.

"I guess thats the answer than, your this guys sister why didn't you tell me?" Jones said.

"Its none of your business" Sharon said.

"It is when he is a suspect in this case." Jones said.

"Bobby." Sharon said.

"Look Sharon, its cool I get it, your family is well connected, you don't want the rest of the guys knowing that you probably are on a first name basis with the mayor and all that. Whats not cool is letting that interfere with your job, you should have had me interview him at the very least, and you should of told me." Jones said.

"Bobby I am sorry, but its not interfering with my job." Sharon said wishing it were true.

"Sharon its okay just next time don't keep secrets this big from me, I am your partner." Jones said.

"Thanks for understanding Bobby, and don't spread it around will you?" Sharon said.

"Sure thing, come on lets go round up a vagrant." Jones said.

They both left the car, it was dark in the alley so they had to pull out their flash lights, Sharon walked by Jones side, she saw a foot sticking out besides a trash can.

"There" Sharon said pointing.

They walked over to the man.

"Sir can you get up its the police." Sharon said.

He didn't move.

Jones made the universal chugging of the bottle motion, Sharon shook her head, she knelt down to wake the man.

"Shit." Sharon said when her flash light fell on his neck.