The Vanishing by Karla Nikole

Ten

Nino opens his eyes and is hit with an overwhelming sense of nausea. His body is like putty, but aches as he flips over against something soft. He groans, his mind in a daze, trying to register his surroundings.

It’s sunset. The window in his direct line of vision is filled with orange clouds against a darkening sky. There’s also a strange tree… He’s never seen anything like it.

“Meu anjo está acordado?”

An unfamiliar voice hovers above him in his hazy state—like a Portuguese-speaking deity. My angel is awake? The sound is close. Too close.

He looks over his shoulder, and a male vampire with very long toffee-brown hair is staring at him with pale, oceanic eyes… not quite blue but not green. His face is gaunt as he smiles. He would benefit from having a meal. Or five.

“Look at how gorgeous and golden you are, and this rich, molten aura…” The vampire raises his eyebrow. “Like dipping my cock in warm honey. Uma delícia…”

Nino throws himself off the bed. He hits the hardwood floor in a heap and his head spins. His perception swirls with vertigo. To make matters worse, there’s a distinct hollowness pulsing in his core. Nino arches his neck in a groan, feeling the severe emptiness within himself where there is usually a deep contentment. In combination with the nausea and disorientation, he might crumble altogether.

“Are you okay? I was mostly kidding… na maioria das vezes.” The long-haired vampire is leaning over the edge of the bed and looking down at him like a curious child looks at a wounded animal stuck in a well. Nino shifts further away, his body protesting in agony while his eyes water. He pulls himself upright to sit against the wall under the square window.

Where the hell am I?One minute he’s at home, and the next… His body had started to disappear. Now he’s in one piece. But his mind is spinning and the emptiness inside him excruciating—

“Hey, honeycomb. Are you alright? Listen, Esqueleto’s vanishing trick leaves you feeling like merda for a day or so… and you slept all day yesterday. Just breathe, okay?”

Nino watches the bony vampire staring back at him from the mattress. Why were we in bed together? What’s going on?

“My God…” The other vampire slinks off the bed and toward Nino. “You look like you’re about to puke. Try and relax—”

As the male reaches out, something inside Nino springs to life. Through the pain, hollowness and confusion, his aura rushes outward. The unknown vampire draws back in haste as Nino’s blood-orange essence expands from his body to form a perfect sphere around him. Nino’s eyes are wide as he looks at the stranger, his image now tinted sunset by the colored filter of Nino’s energy between them.

The thin vampire lifts a hand, hesitant. He presses his palm against the sphere. Nino’s chest heaves from anxiety, but the stranger’s hand rests flat at least two feet away from his face. The surface is solid.

“Uau! Que lindo! This is incredible, honeycomb… beautiful.”

A clicking sound across the small room makes Nino lift his gaze. An old door screeches open. Lajos sweeps inside and moves straight toward him, a tall and young purebred male at his side. Nino narrows his eyes and notices something strange about the younger vampire’s appearance. He is emaciated, just like Lajos and the long-haired stranger, but this new male… He’s also missing an ear.

The vampire with toffee-brown hair rushes to sit on the bed again, scattering like a large rat as Lajos comes and stands in front of Nino.

“Now then, what is this?” Lajos says, bending to examine the bright sphere. His heart pounding, Nino presses back tighter against the wall. He doesn’t know how he’s doing this, but he prays that it holds. Lajos rests his palm atop the solid shape. “Hm. There is more to you than meets the eye. Your powerful mate has taught you something.”

The long-haired male speaks in Portuguese from the bed. Nino doesn’t produce the language well, but his comprehension level is high. “Uncle. It is cruel to separate two bonded purebreds like this.”

Lajos runs his hand across the curve of the sphere, focusing, as if it’s a complex riddle. “These young, modernized purebreds know nothing of true devotion. I imagine their bond was forced for political means or shallow attraction… The number of attempts it took is probably disgusting.”

“A bond is a bond.” Long-hair shrugs.

“Incorrect. And as if you care about bonds. Your sexual deviancy is so atrocious I needed to put a stop to it. Disgrace… My brother taught you nothing about modesty and self-worth.”

“On the contrary, I feel my self-worth is so valuable that I should be shared with as many creatures—”

“Be quiet.” Lajos turns his head, beady eyes focusing on Nino, and switches back to English. “Young male, I realize that perhaps we’ve gotten off on the wrong foot. With your mate asking me to leave, things escalated rather quickly. My temper does get the better of me at times. I would be remiss in ignoring such a fundamental truth.” Lajos blinks, his expression softening as he watches Nino. When Nino remains quiet, he goes on.

“Perhaps we should go to the sitting room and talk? You could tell me a little about this Lore and Lust manuscript that your mate possesses, and I can teach you more about my realm and the great things I’ve achieved here?”

In lieu of responding, Nino shuts his eyes, praying that his aura continues to hold. He doesn’t want to go in another room and talk to this strange old creature. He wants to go home.

Nino’s eyes fly open again when Lajos slams his hand against the thick surface in a loud bang. “Yet again you remain silent! What the hell is wrong with you? Where is your pride as a purebred vampire?”

“Please—pleasejust take me back,” Nino says, swallowing hard. “If you want to talk, we can do it in my home. You don’t need to do this. We don’t do things this way anymore.”

Lajos lifts his creased chin, an arrogant smirk on his thin lips. “Tell me more about the book and I will take you back.”

“Take me back first… then we can discuss—”

“I do not take orders from weak, new-found purebreds.” His eyes glow bright white in his anger. Nino draws even tighter into the wall but nothing happens. Lajos snarls. “When this shield breaks—and it will—the first thing I’ll do is dissolve that useless tongue from your mouth.”

The old purebred stands straight, his white eyes burning out and returning to their darker, hardened state. He turns, the hardwood floor whining under his feet as he walks toward the door. He directs his speech toward the long-haired vampire on the bed. “Make yourself useful for once and watch him. If either of you tries to leave, I promise you won’t get very far.”

Long-hair nods but remains silent. When Lajos and his tall companion with the missing ear are gone and the door closes, the skinny male turns to Nino. “Listen, if he disappears your tongue, don’t worry about it so much, amigo. It will grow back. It’s just… painful.”

Nino presses his palms against his face, then drags them up to grip his hair. He’s terrified and confused, and he wants this hollow, excruciating feeling to subside. How did this happen?

Like a timid cat, the male slinks down to the floor again to meet Nino there. He folds his legs just off-center from the protective sphere. “When Esqueleto brought me here last year… I think it’s been a year? Eu acho? Anyway, he was so angry—he vanished my testicles. Balls and everything.”

Meeting the thin purebred’s gaze, Nino frowns. “What thehell are you talking about?”

“But they grew back!” he says, cheerful. “Everything—it was slow, and it wasn’t pretty… I was like one of those mannequins in the department store. Maybe six months later I was fine? So don’t worry. Não se preocupe com isso. I didn’t pee the whole time. Turns out we don’t need to pee if we’re not consuming human food stuff. Who knew?”

“God…” Nino’s eyes shut tight as he leans his head back against the wall of his energy. Is he trying to comfort me? He feels sick, his body aching in protest of being so far from his mate. He’s starved for Haruka in every way.

“Amigo, what is your name?”

Keeping his breathing slow and even, Nino opens his eyes, looking the male in the face and suddenly recognizing him. He’s staring back with his faded turquoise eyes, expectant. Nino doesn’t think he can trust him… but given his eagerness to reassure, ignoring him doesn’t seem right either.

“It’s Nino. You’re Ladislao Almeida, aren’t you?”

He raises his eyebrows. “You know me? I am still recognizable? Ebaaa.” He smiles and opens his palms in a grand gesture.

Nino blinks in disbelief. Ladislao is much thinner compared with the images and videos of him in the media. The chiseled features, long hair and olive skin tone are the same. Personality-wise, though, he isn’t at all what Nino had expected.

“Where are we?” Nino asks, looking up toward the window and the darkening sky.

“That’s a good question. Geography-wise, I have no clue. But I’m pretty certain that this is my tio’s realm. His ‘perfect purebred society,’ or whatever. I’ve tried to leave this house a couple times during the day, when everyone is sleeping, and, well… I’m still here. There’s nothing but dirt and rocks for miles and miles. Tio gets super mad when I try to run, so I’ve stopped. I like having my testicles attached to my body, you know? He wins.”

Nino sighs, exhausted and stressed and really wishing that he would stop bringing that up.

“My tio abuses his power and old blood,” Ladislao says. “He doesn’t like to kill other purebreds—just teach them lessons so they ‘know their place.’ É horrível.”

“I vanished, but I’m not… I’m here—somewhere.We’re not dead.” Nino tries to wrap his mind around the situation, needing to make sense out of something.

“Yes, correto. You are not alone. There are many of us here. Can you feel their presence? Try concentrating.”

For the first time, Nino turns his focus outward, ignoring the pain and fear reverberating throughout his body. Eyes closed, he breathes in. Ladislao is right. The air around them hums with the energy of purebred vampires. But it’s faint… like a gentle electrical current whispering through the atmosphere. He tries to discern their number, but it’s difficult. The pulse of energy is too weak. “How many are here?”

“Eu não sei. Sem pistas, amigo. Esqueleto won’t let me out of this room, so I can’t say. Aside from my failed escapes, I’ve been stuck in here for a year without food or drinks or sex. No sex. Ahh, so boring. Just kill me already.”

“Why do you keep calling Lajos ‘Skeleton’?”

“Well, look at him—at me.” Ladislao’s seafoam-colored eyes are wide, incredulous. “Everything with my tio is too, too strict. I get blood once every couple days and that’s all. You know, there’s a myth that we as purebreds don’t need to consume food. It’s true that we can survive okay without it, but our bodies are alive. These things help make us strong.”

Nino sits a little straighter within his aura. “Where are all these purebreds I’m sensing? I feel them but… it’s distant.”

“How about you relax, yes? Do we need this bubble between us?” Ladislao reaches up and knocks against the hard surface. The sound echoes as if he’s hitting hollow glass. “I was just kidding earlier… about my cock and the warm honey thing. You are yummy and I’m horny as hell, but I am not your enemy. I respect your bond, I promise.”

Nino bites his lip. Part of him worries that if he keeps this up, it’ll exhaust him and fizzle out, leaving him defenseless in his already distressed state. He also worries that if he withdraws it, he won’t be able to press it outward again. He curses himself for not taking his and Haruka’s meditation more seriously.

It’s a risk, but he isn’t sure how long his body and mind can function while exerting so much energy. He closes his eyes and wills the strength of the sphere back inside him, feeling it fade and dissipate. He’d been warm within his aura, but now the damp, cool and clammy air of the room settles against his skin like a wet blanket. It makes him shiver.

Ladislao smiles. “Much better. You should save your energy. Can you stand? Look out the window above your head.”

Ignoring his aching limbs and the hollowed, forlorn sensation in his abdomen, Nino pushes himself up from the floor. He turns, using the sill of the window as leverage to support himself as he takes in the view beyond the glass.

Their position is high, the precipice of a mountain overlooking a vast, desert-like valley with craggy rocks, wild, scattered brush and the most unique trees he’s ever seen. They remind him of flipped umbrellas: as if the wind blew them too hard and cast all their branches upright, reaching toward the sky instead of outward and down like most trees. The landscape is alien to him, as if he’s on an entirely different planet. The horizon is packed with dark blueish-purple clouds that look like mountains unto themselves, and an orange sunset backlights the broken spaces where he can see the sky. Nothing else is here—no stores, no buildings, no roads or people.

“Look to your right.”

Nino jumps at the closeness of Ladislao’s voice just at his ear.

“Sorry, sorry.” Ladislao holds his hands up in an amicable gesture. “Can you see, just beyond the scatter of trees? Down in the valley waaaay over there…”

Squinting, Nino registers something—squares and rectangles. A large cluster of mud-colored dwellings, darkened and shadowed from the setting sun. If Ladislao hadn’t pointed them out, Nino would never have noticed them because they’re almost camouflaged within the natural flow of rough terrain. “Is it… some kind of town?”

“A large village, I think? It’s where all the purebreds are. They live down there—I see them sometimes at twilight, like tiny specks in this strange place. There’s water around us, too. I could smell it in the air when I tried to escape, but I never reached the coast. Maybe this is an island?”

As Nino observes the barren scene through the window, something strikes him. He turns, meeting Ladislao’s gaze. “I disappeared from my home… and the news said that you ‘vanished.’ Is—is this place… Is Lajos responsible for taking all these vampires?”

“Está certo, honeycomb.”

Nino frowns. “Please stop calling me that.”

“It suits you, celestial creature…” He smiles, batting his eyelashes. “Like a golden angel.”

“Should I reform my aura?”

“Ahh, so strict.” Ladislao folds his arms, pouting.