Julien's Immortal Universe Bradly's Story Chapter Four

Copyright © 2025 by Julien Gregg 
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Four

“Are you going to let me in?” he asked, smiling at Bradly.

“Oh, sure,” Bradly said, stepping aside to allow Edward to come inside the room.

“I have been listening to Mary call me for years, but your voice was new,” he said as he entered. “I felt I had to answer you just to find out who you are and what is happening.”

“Well, I’m sorry to call you on such bad news, but your fledgling Tobias is dead,” Bradly said. “Elizabeth killed him.”

“When?” he asked, nodding to the Elan and Jason.

“A week ago,” Bradly said.

“Did you kill her?” he asked, looking at Bradly intently.

“I did,” Bradly said. “After I listened to her tell her friends that they could surprise Elan in St. Louis and kill him. Then they would kill you and Mary.”

“I’m not angry that you killed my sister,” he said. His voice was deeper than Bradly had imagined it would be. But then he’d imagined that he was turned at fifteen. “I couldn’t kill her with my own hand. Sadly, it took Tobias finally breaking down and creating a fledgling to kill her.”

“I am Tobias’s only fledgling,” Bradly said. “And now he’s dead.”

“It's agony, isn’t it?” Edward asked. “I have felt this pain before myself. My sire was killed by what the world calls Dracula.”

“Dracula is real?” Bradly asked, wide-eyed.

“Not the Dracula you’re thinking of,” Edward said. “His name isn’t even Dracula. He’s just the man that Stoker based his fable on. His name is Apollo. The Greek God of the Sun.”

“Apollo?” Bradly asked.

“He’s the father of us all,” Edward said.

“We were spawned by a God?” Bradly asked.

“A cursed God,” Edward explained. “Look, let me tell you the story of Apollo, and then we’ll go from there.”

“Okay,” Bradly said and sat down.

“Apollo was one of Zeus’s favorites,” he said. “He is the twin brother of Artemis. He was cursed by the God Constantine when Darias of Atlantis tried to kill Zeus. Now Apollo cursed Darias, but the curse was split by Constantine, and it touched both of them. That curse was to walk at night, hunting humanity for their blood. Two different kinds of vampires were created.”

“So Apollo effectively cursed himself and made himself a vampire?” Bradly asked.

“That is correct,” Edward said. “The two species of vampires have been at war since their creation because Apollo and Darias hate each other.”

“That’s why they want to exterminate us?” Bradly asked.

“In a nutshell,” Edward said. “Now I’ll tell you my story.”

“Okay,” Bradly said again.

“I was born in thirteen oh six in England in a place now called London,” Edward said. “I was a twin. My twin sister was named Elizabeth. Our older sister Mary cared for us because our mother died in childbirth. Our father was hard to live with because he was passed over for royalty. Our distant cousin was King Henry the Eighth. He named his children after us, though I’m not vain enough to think he called them thus for us.

“I was twenty when I met Thalia,” he continued. “She was an ebony-haired vampire female that I thought was a Goddess. She turned me. I then turned Mary and Elizabeth. Elizabeth went insane with the change. It happens sometimes. It happened with her. It was a gentle madness you couldn’t even tell. But she got it in her head that we all three had to die along with any that we sired. She was so incensed that she was created that she angered Apollo. He killed Thalia in his rage. Elizabeth had escaped.

“I found her several times, but she hadn’t made any fledglings. She was alone. She ran from me because she thought I was there to kill her. Then she got it in her head that we should all die and any that we created should die. Bradly, you were lucky to escape her.”

“I didn’t,” he said. “She buried me alive and thought I would stay there.”

“She was wrong,” Edward said with a smile. Then he looked at Elan and Jason. “Forgive me, but who are you two?”

“We’re Mary’s surviving fledglings,” Elan said. “My name is Elan, and this is Jason.”

“Pleasure to meet you both, you can relax now that Bradly has killed my sister,” Edward said.

“We think she sired a fledgling,” Jason said. “His name was Max.”

“Was?” he asked.

“We killed him, too,” Elan said. “He was in league with Elizabeth.”

“She didn’t sire Max,” Edward said. “Silas sired Max.”

“Who is Silas?” Bradly asked. “We were told that he controlled half of a city.”

“He probably does,” Edward said. “Silas is a ruthless vampire created by Apollo.”

“He turns vampires?” Jason asked.

“He is a vampire,” Edward replied. “The first of us. Were you not listening when I explained?”

“Sorry,” said Jason. “I’m a little shocked that you’re here. Mary’s been calling you for years.”

“I know,” he said. “I haven’t chosen to answer her because I know what she wanted.”

“What was that?” Bradly asked.

“Help killing Elizabeth,” Edward said as he looked at Bradly. “I couldn’t take her life by my hand I said that already. Mary refused to accept that. If she killed her, that was fine with me. I just couldn’t do it. I made her. It is hard for a sire to kill one of his own.”

“She doesn’t need help now,” Bradly said.

“No, she doesn’t,” he said. “But she doesn’t know that unless Elan or Jason has called out to her and told her.”

“How do you call out to her?” Elan asked. “We’ve never done that before.”

“Neither had I, but I instinctively called out for Edward,” Bradly said. “I was shocked that he answered me.”

“I told you I was intrigued,” Edward said with a smile. “I figured you had to be something special if Tobias sired you. What’s your deal anyway?”

“I see the future,” Bradly said. “I could see a few minutes into the future when he turned me. Then I could see months into the future.”

“An awesome gift,” Edward said. “So you were a witch before you were turned.”

“That’s what he said,” Bradly said honestly. “I know nothing of witches.”

“Well, perhaps you and your family are a fringe group of a larger family of witches,” Edward said. “Nonetheless, this is why Tobias turned you. That and you’re a damned sexy creature with your sad eyes and your determined brow.”

“Thank you,” Bradly said. “I don’t know what he saw in me, to be honest. I was a farm boy who was running for his life. He later helped me kill those who wanted to kill me.”

“That sounds about like him,” Edward said. “Tobias loved revenge kills.”

“I’m sorry that he’s gone,” Bradly said, bowing his head.

“So am I,” Edward said. “But you called me here and I have come. What is it that you want from me?”

“I wanted nothing from you,” Bradly said honestly. “I just wanted to let you know that Elizabeth killed Tobias, and I killed Elizabeth.”

“Well then,” he said. “You’ve done that. Yet still I’m compelled to stay here with you. You are bereft.”

“Of course I am my sire was murdered right on top of me,” Bradly said. “I was buried under the post she tied him to with her own hair.”

“That’s dramatic,” Edward said. “Got to love her tenacity.”

“I don’t love anything about Elizabeth,” Bradly said.

“I’m sure,” Edward said. “Be quiet for a minute so I can answer my sister’s call.”

He was quiet for a while, and then he smiled. He looked at Bradly and smiled wider. He just looked at him for a long moment without saying anything. Bradly didn’t know if he was still answering Mary.

“What?” he finally said.

“Just looking at you,” Edward said. “As I said, I never thought Tobias would sire a fledgling.”

“Well, he did,” Bradly said with a smile. “Here I am.”

“So, Elan, Jason, when did Mary leave you?” Edward asked.

“She left us in Chicago almost three months ago,” Jason said. “She said she’d hunt Elizabeth and find you.”

“She never came to the island,” he said. “I’ve been there for seven years.”

“Seven?” Bradly asked. “Don’t they realize you don’t age?”

“There would have to be people there to notice,” Edward said. “I live alone on the island.”

“That has to be boring,” said Elan.

“I don’t need people to validate my existence,” Edward said. “They are merely food. I treat them with respect because they are living things, but I feed on them, so I don’t mingle. I have no need of what they could give me but their blood.”

“I play poker with them,” Bradly said.

“You do that to make money,” he said. “But I invested my money and made a fortune. I can show you if you’d like.”

“I invested some of my money and it’s paying off,” Bradly said.

“I can teach you to make the market work how you need it to,” Edward said.

“I’d like that,” Bradly said.

“So I’d like you to come to the island, Bradly,” he said. “You and I could live there alone. If you want people, I have a boat that takes me to the mainland just fine. It’s how I got to the train that brought me here.”

“I’ll think on that one,” Bradly said. “How long are you staying?”

“As long as it takes for you to decide,” he said. “I’m not your sire vampire. I’m his sire vampire. Maybe a connection could be made.”

“Maybe,” Bradly said with a smile.

“There it is,” Edward said, beaming at him. “I knew I’d get you to smile. I know it hurts, Bradly, but life must and will go on.”

“What do you know about the Illuminati?” Bradly asked him.

“I know enough to let them do their thing and leave them alone,” Edward said.

“I’ve spoken with a man from the Illuminati,” Bradly said. “He interviewed Tobias.”

“Is that so?” Edward said. “So they’re abandoning their observation of the dark realm, but be not of it?”

“Yes,” he said. “He said he would interview me, too, but we left the city before he could. He wanted to sit down and talk to Mary.”

“Probably because he’s heard the story she tells every young vampire she sees,” said Edward with a smile. “I promise you I was never the King of England. Mary and Elizabeth were never queens of England. We are the Tudor children, but we were born centuries before those who were the King and Queens of England. That part of the family lived later in time than where I was born. I was a vampire when King Edward was on the throne.”

“Okay,” Bradly said. “I believe you. I’m just saying that Richard duPoint wanted to interview me and Mary. I sent him my journal to the chapter house in Paris.”

“So you effectively gave him his interview in a way,” he said, as he was scratching his chin with his index finger and thumb.

“Yes,” Bradly said.

“That’s convenient for him,” he said. “He has a few of my journals. Well, maybe not him, but the Illuminati.”

“He said something that I have been thinking of,” Bradly said.

“What was that?” Edward asked.

“That he would find me on the path of illumination,” Bradly said.

“That’s what they all say,” Edward said. “They call the supernatural the path of illumination.”

“That makes my stomach feel funny,” Bradly said. “Why are we on the path of illumination?”

“You’d have to ask a member of the Illuminati,” Edward said. “I’m sure they’d love to tell you.”

“I don’t plan to talk to another agent of the Illuminati,” Bradly said. “I sent them my journal, what more could they want from me?”

“To get to me,” he said. “But I don’t worry about you leading the Illuminati to me.”

“You shouldn’t because I wouldn’t knowingly lead them anywhere,” Bradly said. 

“So all you’ve been doing for the last year is running from Elizabeth?” Edward asked.

“That about sums it up,” Bradly said. “She was a great threat.”

“Yes,” he said. “But did you live in any of that?”

“I took care of my human family,” Bradly said. “We lived on a farm near Woodland in the state of Indiana. I had a relationship with my family and watched over them for a few years. My parents are gone now, but my brother and sister are still with their families. I send money to them regularly.”

“That’s very nice,” said Edward. “My family never needed money or gold. They were moderately wealthy.”

“That’s to the good for them,” Bradly said. “Mary said what I was doing was nearly unheard of in the vampire world.”

“Mary lived on a farm?” he asked, smiling.

“We all did for two years,” Bradly said. “We hired workers to work on the farm and compelled all the workers, but I could sell meat to the butcher and give some to all three branches of my family to keep them fed. Plus, I paid to start my brother's and brother-in-law’s business, and it’s thriving. I check on it now and then.”

“Superb,” Edward said. “You really are a great vampire. Do you feed the poor, too?”

“I do,” Bradly said, offended. “I gave them money and food, and paid for shelter as often as possible. It was almost every day there for a while.”

“Wow,” he said. “And Tobias was all right with that?”

“Tobias didn’t rule over me,” Bradly said. “He referred to me as the vampire saint of the city.”

“Ha!” laughed Edward. “You are a remarkable vampire.”

“Thank you,” said Bradly.

“No, I mean that,” Edward said. “This is why I moved to the island. I could live in the cities and feed the poor, or just get away from them all and not worry over them so much. It seems that you’re having a similar problem.”

“I don’t see it as a problem,” Bradly said.

“You won’t for a few years,” Edward said. “But there will always be more of them coming for money, food, and shelter. You’ll tire of it soon enough. It gets to you, and it becomes too much to bear.”

“I don’t see it that way yet,” Bradly said. “I see more and more of them in the bigger cities, but I’ve been fine so far.”

“You only have so much money,” Edward said.

“I play poker to make the money to give to the poor,” Bradly said.

“That’s laudable, but you need to stop playing poker,” Edward said. “You may love the game, but sooner or later, questions will be asked about the guy who comes and wipes the table with all the players, but never changes and starts to look ageless.”

“I have some time before that happens,” Bradly countered.

“Do you? When were you turned?” Edward asked.

“I left my farm in eighteen seventy,” he said. “I was in Carson City exactly two nights before I met Tobias and Mary. I was turned the night I met them.”

“So almost fifty years ago,” he said. “You should have been changing by now in their eyes. Perhaps they think you are a relative of yourself. I don’t know, but it will be noticed soon. I am speaking from experience here, Bradly. It’s best to find a corner of the world and only venture out into the sea of humanity to feed.”

“What if I decide to sire a fledgling?” he asked.

“Then sire one,” Edward said. “They’ll stay with you for fifty years and then leave. Tell me, were you starting to see that you weren’t interested in the things that Tobias did? Did some of the things that he did sit wrong with you?”

“Yes,” he said. “To both.”

“There, see? The rift between you was already beginning,” Edward said. “You weren’t ready to leave him because you still loved him completely, am I right?”

“Yes,” he said without shame.

“That only lasts for so long before those differences in what you want and do fester and get deeper, and you finally leave, so harsh words aren’t spoken,” Edward said. “Tobias took a bit longer than most, but he left the island at night to have his adventure with Mary.”

“Is that all there is for us?” Bradly asked. “To stay with our sire for fifty years or so and then find a vampire that we can tolerate and take off to have an adventure?”

“Pretty much,” said Edward. “Unless we meet a group of Darias’s vampires. Then we die.”

“Why do we always die?” asked Bradly. “Why don’t some of them die?”

“They have in the past, but unfortunately, they are a lot stronger and much more powerful than we are,” Edward said. “They don’t have to be invited into a human dwelling, they don’t require the same amount of sleep that we do, and they aren’t paralyzed in a coffin when the sun is in the sky. They drink blood less often than we do; they can eat the same amount of food as we do, but unlike us, the food doesn’t sit there in their stomachs waiting to be doused with blood and mixed so it can be passed in sweat and tears. Their bodies process the food, strengthening them much like a human. They translate that into raw power.”

“Wow,” Jason said.

“That’s not all,” Edward said. “They have human drones that they feed blood now and then to keep them connected to them. These drones are just as powerful as their vampire companions and damned hard to kill. They can kill one of us without much effort. Believe me, boys, as vampires we’re the weaker species.”

“So it’s no use with them,” said Elan.

“There are two forms of werewolves in the world as well,” Edward said. “There are those created by Artemis that never change back to humans. We rarely see them anymore because the other type created by Darias’s twin brother, Ren, has hunted them almost to extinction. Ren’s Forsaken are ruthless, fast, and strong. They live in packs and raise cattle. They are born more than turned, and they’ll kill us more effectively than Darias’s vampires. Stay clear of the Forsaken.”

“So all of this is out there and a danger to us,” Bradly said. “I’m surprised that we have any numbers left.”

“We are fewer than we once were,” Edward said. “Darias’s vampires will kill us when they find us. The Forsaken will kill dozens of us when prompted, but if we’re clever and travel in packs when we hunt, they leave us alone for the most part. Those solitary hunters are picked off when either of those two beings is out there. There are other things at night that can harm us. All sorts of Fairies, Genies, Godlings, Demigods, and many others. We stay clear of all of those as well.”

“It’s a dangerous world for us,” Bradly said. “I get that. So why aren’t all of us in some corner of the world that can be protected?”

“Because if you make it to a hundred years of living as a vampire of our type, you become harder to kill, more cunning, and sure of yourself,” Edward said. “I’ve been alive for centuries, so they don’t bother with me much. I’ve seen their kind, and they’ve smelled what I am. Our scent changes the longer we’re alive. It makes them avoid us instead of killing us. It’s just that so many of us never reach one hundred years because of them.”

“So I have to go to a corner of the world and be not of it so that I can reach one hundred years of living?” Bradly asked.

“That’s the gist of it,” Edward said. “It’s a dangerous world until you make it to one hundred years.”

“I don’t know that I agree with that,” Bradly said.

“You will one day,” Edward replied.

There was a knock on the door, and everyone was surprised because the sun was nearly ready to rise. Bradly went and answered the door and returned with Mary and another vampire, young and new. She was a young woman with long flowing blonde hair and eyes the color of the sea. She had a peaches and cream complexion. She was dressed in a simple dress of the not relatively poor but not wealthy or comfortable.

“Edward,” Mary said. “I should have known you’d be with Bradly, Elan, and Jason. Did you help them kill Elizabeth?”

“No, I arrived a week after they’d killed Elizabeth and her companions,” he said. “Tobias is dead.”

“That hurts my heart,” she said. “He was a damned fine vampire.”

“Yes, he was,” Edward replied. He eyed the blonde woman. “I see you’ve made another.”

“Yes, everyone, this is Brooke,” she said. “I found her in New Orleans, of all places, and turned her so that she might live forever.”

“Edward has been telling us what’s out there to kill us all,” said Jason.

“Oh, yes, the host of dangerous beings that have killed vampires like us for centuries,” she said. “Has he told you to find a corner of the world that can be protected and stay there?”

“Yes,” Elan said. “He has such a corner.”

“I’d have guessed,” she said. “Was it too hard to answer me when I called?”

“You knew I wouldn’t kill Elizabeth,” he said. “I was always fine if someone else killed her, but I couldn’t do it.”

“What are you still doing here?” she asked. “The sun is about to rise, and we must all be in coffins soon.”

“You know I don’t sleep in a coffin anymore,” he said. “But to answer you, I’m enthralled with Bradly.”

“I might have guessed that was it,” she said, smiling. “He’s quite the vampire.”

“So I’ve learned,” Edward said. “I’ve invited him to live on my island.”

“Have you?” she asked, looking at Bradly. “And has the vampire saint of the poor and bereft taken you up on it?”

“He’s thinking it over,” Edward said. “I’ll be here until he makes up his mind.”

“It’s not a bad place to live if you can be stagnant,” she said.

“That’s what I’m thinking about,” Bradly said. “I’m tired of running and getting too old for poker night.”

“Yes,” she said.

“I might just go to the island and stay with Edward,” he said.

“You’ll hunt the mainland like him then,” she said. “He doesn’t even employ a staff.”

“I have a man,” he said. “He takes care of things in the house just fine. He hunts and kills his own food. He’s happy there on the island.”

“My my,” she said. “We are going to the room I have rented to bed down for the day. I’ll see you all when I wake.”

“To the coffin with you,” Edward said with a smile. “Majesty.”

“Oh, stop,” she said. “They by now know that it was just a story.”

“They do,” he said.

“No hard feelings?” she asked the room.

“None. Your story is your story to tell, not ours to pick apart,” said Bradly.

“Elan, Jason, it’s good to see you two again,” she said.

“Try not to leave us so suddenly again,” said Elan. “Good morning to everyone, I feel the coffin calling.”

Mary and Brooke left the room and got ready to go to the coffin. Edward just slept in the bed. Bradly meant to ask him about that, but at that moment, he felt more tired than ever and crawled into his coffin.

That night, they all got up and regrouped in the suite's living room. Mary and Brooke arrived, and they all sat down to talk. Mary was a bit put out that Edward answered Bradly’s call but would not answer her.

“I told you I could not kill Elizabeth,” he said. "I knew you wanted my help with that, so I didn't answer. Sister, please understand I’m not at your beck and call. I have a life to live, too.”

“Well, it’s good to know you’re alive, Brother,” she said.

“Don’t be dramatic, Mary, it doesn’t suit you,” he said. “And don’t pout that doesn’t suit you either.”

“I’m angry with you,” she said.

“I realize that,” he said, smiling at her.

“You find it funny?” she asked.

“No, not funny,” he said. “But we’re together now. You can spend the time I’m here being angry with me, or we can have a proper visit.”

“You were on the island this whole time?” she asked.

“For the last seven years exclusively,” he said. “I have other corners of the world to visit when I tire of the island.”

“Of course,” she said. “I’ve decided to find a corner and stay put. I’ll have Brooke, Elan, and Jason with me. You’ll no doubt have Bradly with you. So we’ll get together occasionally to check in on each other?”

“If that’s what you want,” he said. “I’m all for that.”

“Then answer my call,” she said.

“Now that Elizabeth is dead, I’ll answer your call,” he promised.

Bradly, Elan, and Jason went out to hunt. The people were scared of them for some reason. Bradly looked into the future and found that they thought murder came to town when they arrived. They abandoned their hunting party and went back to the hotel.

“That was a quick hunt,” Mary said to them.

“We didn’t hunt,” Bradly said. “No one would come near us. They fear us.”

“What? Why?” she asked.

“Because there hadn’t been a murder in town in twenty years until we came to town,” Bradly said. “There were four in this hotel, and many have gone missing.”

“They’re right to fear you,” Edward said. “You’ve been here too long.”

“We’ve been here like a month,” Bradly said. “Other places we’ve stayed for years.”

“But this time something massive happened, and the people are beginning to put it together,” Edward said. “Come to the island, Bradly. Come where there are no people who will fear you.”

Bradly looked at him for a long moment. He wanted to go to the island but feared that he would miss humanity. He’d have a safer life on the island than he would in the world, but could he handle that life?

“I’ll come, but I’m not saying I’ll stay,” he said finally.

“Then we must make travel arrangements,” Edward said. “You’ll need practical clothing. Those silk suits that Tobias put you in won’t cut it on the island.”

They packed up and took the train to Texas and went into Mexico. There, they bought drab clothing and headed through Mexico and into the water by boat. Edward was good with the boat; he guided the sails to take them to the island that he’d bought. It was a large island, and it was protected by dangerous wildlife. They paid them no mind as they got off the boat at the dock on the shore.

This was a tropical island, and Bradley could hear the night creatures in the trees and on the land. Edward led him up a path in the vegetation to a structure that turned out to be a house. It was large but one story. They went inside, and a dark-skinned man came to stand before them.

“We’ll have wine in the living room Halsey,” Edward said and walked through the hall to the back of the house. There was a large living room with a piano, a fireplace, and comfortable sofas and chairs. “This is my humble abode.”

“It’s beautiful here,” Bradly said.

“Yes,” Edward said. “There are native animals in the trees. I see them now and then. I feed on them when I’m too hungry to go to the mainland and score a human or two.”

“We’ve fed on rats and mice in that instance,” Bradly said. “Usually on boats or ships.”

“The way to survive,” said Edward. “Now we can chat all you want, but understand that no one comes to the island. If you bring a person here, you either kill him or her or turn them. Please don’t turn anyone without discussing it with me. This is my home, and I would like to vet everyone who lives here.”

“I wouldn’t bring people back here,” Bradly said. “If I decide to sire a fledgling, I’ll get your opinion before I turn them.”

“Very good,” Edward said. “We understand each other.”

“Did you bring me here to lord over me?” Bradly asked.

“No,” said Edward. “This is now as much your home as it is mine. I brought you here to love you.”

“You love me?” Bradly asked. “You barely know me.”

“I didn’t say I love you,” he said. “I love that you are Tobias’s fledgling, but I am not in love with you any more than I was in love with Tobias. I turned him because he was a witch. He turned you because you were a witch. I will grow to love you if you allow me to.”

“Oh, I will allow you to,” Bradly said with a smile. “I may fall in love with you, too.”

“Well then, what a pair we’d make,” Edward said.

It turned out to be a big adjustment for Bradly, but he was getting the hang of it as his time on the island continued. Edward was true to his word and didn’t try to lord over him. He was all for it when Bradly turned a sitting room into a library and ordered tons of books to put on the shelves. He read most of them throughout the season.

Then he wanted to go to the mainland and hunt. Edward took him there. Bradly hunted and disposed of the body relatively efficiently. Then they stopped at a bar, where Edward bought several bottles of wine and spirits. They went back to the island, and Edward caught a few different birds and jungle rats. He bled them and mixed the blood with the wine and spirits. Then he stored the bottles in what would have been a kitchen if there had been a stove.

Bradly read most of the time, but he could set his books aside for a game of Chess with Edward. He got good at the game as time passed. Their games sometimes lasted a month.

Mary and the others checked in with them from time to time. They took trips to have adventures and then went back to their corner of the world. Bradly’s feet itched to move, but he resisted and just read more books. He ordered more books and sold some in his collection. Then he read novels by different authors and journals by different doctors and psychiatrists. He knew nothing about medical science or psychology, but he read them anyway. He loved to read.

He got Edward to read some of the books and be interested in some of the things he was interested in. He even got him to go with him to see a show in a language he didn’t know. Bradly had a good time and even tipped his waitress that night, even though he could only drink small amounts of the drinks she brought him with no b[ood in them. Edward didn’t have as much fun, but he admitted that it was a good change of pace.

They stayed on the island for a long time after that. Bradly finally consented to go to bed with Edward. They made love almost all night, and Bradly enjoyed it immensely. Edward kissed him every night, finding him in the sitting room or outside on the deck. Bradly welcomed the kissing and even instigated it from time to time.

Life was going well for them on the island. It was a different kind of life for Bradly, but he learned through contacts that his brother died of old age. He wasn’t sure what to do about that. He was already dead as far as they knew. He would wait a while and then go check on the family.

“What do you mean by checking on your family?” Edward asked.

“I’ll wait until my sister and her husband die and the next generation takes over, and then I’ll present myself as my very own son also named Bradly, but I’ll take on a different last name,” Bradly said.

“Perhaps Tudor,” Edward suggested.

“Well, it isn’t happening tomorrow night or anything,” Bradly said with a smile. It wasn’t lost on him that Edward had basically asked him to take his last name. It meant a lot to him that he’d asked. He kissed him. “But when I go, I will go as Bradly Tudor if that’s what you want.”

“It would thrill me to no end,” Edward said as he kissed him back. “Are you happy here at all?”

“Yes, I’m happy here,” Bradly replied. “I have my books and our Chess games. We go to the mainland now and then to hunt or to take in a show. What’s not to be happy about? I’m a little sad that my little brother is dead, but that’s life, right?”

“Right,” he said. “When you told me you had spent time with your family, I thought you meant to turn your brother and sister. I would caution you not to because of what happened with my sister.”

“The thought never crossed my mind,” Bradly admitted truthfully. “I just wanted to help and make their lives easier. That’s all. I did that for most of their lives.”

“Then you can rest assured that your family lived well because of you,” Edward said.

“Yes, I can,” Bradly said.

“I can’t see worrying about your family the way you do,” Edward said.

“But I loved my family,” he said. “We were close. It was just as good for them to see me again as for me to see them.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt it was beneficial, but I couldn’t have cared less about my father and what he needed. But that’s because he was a tyrant, and we couldn’t wait to escape. Your family sounds much better than mine.”

“Well, I left them human because it never occurred to me that I might turn them,” Bradly said. “I can’t say what I’d have done if it had.”

“Be careful with family that knows you well; turning them can be a bad thing,” he said, no doubt thinking of Elizabeth.

“Well, they’re dying now, so it’s a moot point,” he said. “Their children barely know me and I have no desire to turn any of them.”

“That’s to the good,” he said. “You’ll find a fledgling if that’s what you want.”

“It isn’t,” Bradly assured him. “I’m just saying that when the next generation of the family is up and running, I’ll go and check on them.”

“All right,” Edward said.

They stopped talking about it after that. Bradly didn’t mention his family to Edward again for a long time. He returned to reading his books, ordering new ones, selling old ones, and playing the piano.

Edward loved to hear him play the piano. Bradly loved to play it. They spent many an hour with him playing the piano, and Edward swaying to the music. It was nice, and Bradly really enjoyed those times. He wasn’t sure Edward believed he was happy on the island, but he was almost always. There were times when he wanted out, but he’d successfully resisted those times and stayed where he was.

Then Jason came to see them on his own. It seemed he was leaving Mary and heading out on his own. He wanted to know if there was a corner of the world where he might stay out of the way of the world. Edward told him of two different places. Did he have money? Of course he did. Edward had taught them all to invest the way he did. They all had money. Jason planned to go to the place Edward suggested and stay there for several years.

A number of years turned out to be many more than Bradly had ever imagined. In nineteen twenty-nine, he told Edward that he was going to Woodland, Indiana, to check on his family. He knew from his contacts that they still lived there. Woodland wasn’t a small town anymore. It was a small city now. Bradly couldn’t wait to see it.

Edward took him to the mainland and set him free. Bradly promised to return soon. Edward didn’t believe him. He meant it, but he got on the train and headed for Indiana. He got into Woodland, and there was nothing there that he recognized. A huge house at the end of Maine Street was very well built. It looked like a wealthy family lived there. He checked into a hotel and contacted his man in town. He was told that the Fell family lived in that big house at the end of Maine Street. They still owned Fell Lumber Yard.

The man he was looking for was Reginald Fell. He and his wife Barbara lived in the house with their now close to adult children, Kevin and Rachel. Bradly was beside himself with delight. The family had kept the lumber yard and prospered. That made him happy. He didn't contact them. He merely checked on them. He was surprised that he missed Edward so much. He wanted to get back to the island. Then he saw Kevin Fell, and Kevin Fell saw him. He quickly went back to the hotel to hide from him. He hadn't meant to come into contact with any of them. This was a disaster. There was a knock on his door. He answered it and was faced with Kevin Fell.

"I dreamed that you would come," said Kevin. "You're Bradly Fell."

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