They Come by Night by Tinnean

service, neither here nor at the grave. Grandfather had formed his own church years and years ago, and now Matthew was the only member left. His seven uncles had been killed, one by one.
    Matthew scowled at the people walking toward him, a man in some sort of dress uniform and two women dressed in black.
    “What are you doing here?” And how dare Bethany and Sarah wear mourning ?
    Although at least Sarah had the decency to appear at the wake in a dress that fell past her knees and with her hair scraped back from her pale face, unlike Bethany, whose cheeks were touched with pink and who wore a black pants suit that drew attention to her long legs and narrow waist.
    “We couldn’t let you deal with this alone,” Bethany murmured. She reached out to touch his arm.
    “Why?” He pulled away quickly, and she flushed and let her hand drop.
    “You’re our brother, Matthew, and we love you. And in spite of everything, he was our grandfather. We didn’t agree with how he saw things, but he was still our blood.”
    “Ha! You didn’t care about Grandfather!”
    “Of course we did. Matt, please—”
    “Shut up, Luke! When you left, you as good as betrayed him, all three of you!”
    “How could we stay, Matthew?” Sarah demanded in a low tone. “Grandfather was going to force us into marriage. I could have borne it for myself, but Bethany had just turned fourteen!”
    “And you were only sixteen, Sarah.” Bethany rested her cheek against Sarah’s shoulder, something Matthew remembered her doing as a little girl.
    “It was your task!” He refused to let himself dwell on those days when they’d truly been a family.
    “What, to enter into loveless marriages?”
    “They were fine men! Grandfather selected them himself!”
    Bethany shuddered. “Matthew, they were our first cousins!”
    “They would have kept the line pure!” Unlike the man who’d sired them.
    “Listen to you, brother!” For a moment, Luke’s gray eyes were reminiscent of Grandfather’s. “You’re parroting our grandfather! When did you become a carbon copy of him?”
    When you abandoned me! he wanted to cry, but he kept the words locked behind his lips.
    As soon as Luke had reached adult age, he’d left, taking Sarah and Bethany with him. He’d tried to keep in touch. Matthew knew, because occasionally he’d get the mail before Grandfather. And he didn’t know which he preferred—wondering how his siblings fared, or learning they managed very well without them. Without him.
    Luke had supported their sisters by working as a waiter in some restaurant until Sarah graduated from high school and took a job in a grocery store. Eventually he’d joined some local police force, still setting aside a portion of his pay for them.
    Bethany had done the most with her education. Their youngest sister was now working on her master’s degree in psychology.
    Not that this was something Matthew was proud of, he assured himself. Sarah and Bethany should have married. God had made them to bear sons who would be raised to continue the battle against those who were never to be named, as well as those who served them.
    Luke should have been helping Grandfather and him and their uncles in ridding the world of those vile monsters.
    Instead, they’d ignored Grandfather’s wishes and entered the profane world, and although Grandfather vowed he loved them, he continuously railed against their actions.
    And Matthew strove all the harder to please him.
    “Where’s Mom?”
    “ Mama ,” he emphasized, “is with her husband and the twins.” Grandfather had insisted they change from the ultracasual Mom to the more traditional Mama . “She doesn’t care either!”
    “Matt, you know that isn’t true!”
    “That’s why she’s here.” He glowered at the three people before him. “Go!” he ordered them. “Grandfather wouldn’t have wanted you here, and I don’t want you here!”
    “What are you going to do?”
    “What I’ve been trained to do since I