Chapter 2 - Part 16: Placebo Effect

Flora was unconsolable.  Confused, scared and alone, she found herself crying in front of the family member she'd lost.  The one she cared for most in the world.

"Grandpa," she sobbed uncontrollably, "I don't know what to do!"

Her words echoed off the marble walls, repeating the confusion back to her. "Please help me," she pleaded, "it can't be too late.  There has to be something I can do.  Someone?  Anyone?" she begged.

Her spine tingled and for quick moment she thought she'd heard something. Could it have been a whisper?  Then a cold breeze swept through the room, like a hand gently touching her shoulder.  It chilled her to the bone, yet it felt familiar. Where have I felt that before?  she thought to herself.

Then the answer came to her.

"Thank you for coming, Drake," she said, quietly.  

He hadn't hesitated a moment when she'd asked him to come over - even though the sun hadn't set completely.  Anything for the Cagley's he'd said, showing up less than two minutes later.

Now that he was here, she continued, "I didn't know who else to go to, Mom and Dad are a complete disaster.  They're barely speaking.  You were the only one I could think of.  Please tell me there's something you can do?"

It didn't take a Vampire to tell her that Vincent was in trouble.  He was so pale it seemed there wasn't a drop of life left in his body.

He'd been drained, for sure.  But that didn't explain...

...how Julius was also drained.

It was clear that Vincent had been the one which was bitten, the marks the fangs left in his arm were a clear sign, but Julius had no such markings.  Why was the twin also affected?

Drake couldn't take his eyes off the motionless boys, "I have never seen anything like this in all my years.  It seems to be impossible that one's draining could have an affect on the other.  These twin boys are entwined to each other much more deeply than any normal humans, as if they were split from the same soul."

Flora shook her head in exasperation, "I don't care about all that metaphysical crap, tell me about my brothers!" she yelled, "Are they going to be alright?  What's going to happen to them?"  Tears started to well in her eyes.

The Vampire looked toward her and said in a quiet voice, "I am afraid there is nothing that can be done for them.  They have been too far drained.  It appears by a very skilled Vampire, who knew they would be left in this condition to elongate their suffering.  Or your family's."

"I am truly sorry, Flora," he finished with empathy in his voice.

She was too stunned to even move, so Drake let himself out of the house while Flora had to tell her parents the painful news.

When the call came two days later, Drake knew before she had to say a word.

"They're gone."  She said it so quietly you'd have thought it was meant to be a secret.  "My brothers are gone."

He pulled the trembling girl into his arms, where she cried softly into his shoulder.

"I am so sorry," he told her, smoothing her hair, trying to comfort her the best way his cold body would allow.  "Is there anything you desire?  How can I help?" he asked.

She pulled away from him in a sudden angry rage, "I want to find the monster that did this!  I want to make them burn," she clenched her hands so tight her nails were beginning to draw blood from her palms. "I want to stake the bastard!" she seethed.

Drake put his hands on her shoulders to calm her, "Quiet, be still," he soothed.  "We will find out who did this.  Together.  I vowed to watch over this family, on that I have failed, but I will do everything I can to make sure your brothers are avenged."

She looked the Vampire in the eyes and could see there was truth behind his words.  "Thank you, Drake," she told him.  "What would we do without you?"

Several days later was the wake.  The twins' bodies had been left at the hospital for additional testing due to the strange nature of Julius' death.

Faith tried her best to keep strong, a fake smile planted firmly on her face, as she prepared food for the guests.

"You don't need to be strong for me, Sis," Cecil told her.  "It's a terrible, terrible thing that happened to them boys.  A tragedy," he finished softly.

When she didn't respond, he continued, "I can't imagine what you're going through right now.  I don't know what I would do if something happened to my girls."

A few more moments of awkward silence passed while Faith busied herself with the preparations.  He continued, "Will you let me know if there's anything I can do for you?" he asked.

"Can you tell me if you think I've used too much salt?" she replied distantly.

In the other room, Pete was staring off into space as his brother-in-law Augustine was giving his condolences.  The loss of both their sons was hitting the couple extremely hard.

I'll never get to see them grow up, Pete thought to himself, never see them graduate, get married...  have kids.  How do I face that?

"Pete," a voice said.

So consumed by his thoughts he didn't realize he was being spoken to, his sister Amelia tried to gain his attention again more sharply, "Peter!"

Jarred by her voice this time he looked up, his face full of grief, "What do I do?" he said, not necessarily to  the woman in front of him, "How...?" his voice faded away.

His sister gave him her politician look and spoke matter-of-factly, "You stay with us, here, in the present," she said, not unkindly.  "You have a family who needs you, a daughter who lives, and a wife who is feeling just as confused and alone as you are."

Pete could only stare down at the floor in response.

Amelia pointed toward the kitchen where Faith stood staring blankly out of the window.  "Go to her.  Be there for each other."

He nodded and walked slowly away.

"Faith?" He said as he stepped up to her side.  "How are you doing?"

She rounded on him, "I wish people would stop asking me that!" she yelled.  "How do you think I feel?  My boys are dead!"  Her voice cracked, "I lost my boys!"

Unable to control his feelings, Pete lashed out back at her, "they were my boys too, you know!  You aren't the only one in pain here, I have feelings, too!"

Flora, sitting in the other room, could overhear everything her parents were saying.  Everyone in the house could overhear what was going on in the kitchen.

"They're in such pain," Khalilah said, sitting next to Flora.  "How do you cope with losing your child?  It must be so difficult."

Flora faced her cousin, "They aren't the only ones who lost someone!" her own voice started to rise.  "Ever since my brothers died it's like I'm dead too, I don't even exist to them anymore!"

She jumped up from the sofa and ran from the stunned woman toward the front door, fleeing from the arguing that was still issuing from the kitchen and the responsibility of being the only surviving child.

"No, Pete, I don't think you understand," Faith was shouting.  "Did you give them birth?  Did you wake up in the middle of the night to feed them?  Did you help them with their homework?  No!  You were too busy fiddling with your bench in the basement to pay us any attention!"

Pete couldn't believe what he was hearing, "whatever you say, Faith.  I don't want to fight, not today."

He slowly made his way through the living room, toward the staircase while the awkward faces of his guests passed by unnoticed.  Doubts about himself grew with every step, have I been a terrible father and husband?  Has my work taken me away from the lives of my family?  I've lost my sons and I never made an attempt to really know them.

The guests let themselves out of the house as Faith made her way upstairs to find her husband sobbing in the bedroom of their dead sons.

"I'm so sorry," Faith cried into his shoulder, "I shouldn't have said those things."

Pete pulled her close, unable to hold in his grief any longer.  "It just hurts so much," he said through heaving breaths and tears.

Now that they were finally alone and the long silence between them had been broken, she looked into the eyes of her husband and confessed, "I don't know how we're going to get through this.  I'm so scared, Pete," she said, her body starting to tremble. "What if he comes after us?  What if he tries to kill Flora next?"

He grabbed his wife, pulled her into a hug and held her close, "we're not going to let that happen.  The bastard might have taken our sons, but he can't have our daughter."

Flora found herself standing outside an unfamiliar door.  Not exactly sure what brought her to this place, she hesitated briefly before ringing the doorbell.  It was almost as if another hand was guiding her own as her arm outstretched and the button was pushed.

"Flora," the Vampire stated, almost as if she had been expected.  He glanced over her shoulder toward the street behind her and questioned, "did you come alone?"

Title / Siouxsie and the Banshees