The Vampires of Soldiers Cove

by Jessica MacIntyre

  “Duncan, my name is Gavin MacDonald and this is Rachel Landry, we’ve come to ask for your help with something urgent.”

  “Have you now?” his Scottish accent was so heavy it was almost hard to make out what he was saying at times. “And what would that be?”

  “We have reason to believe that Angus’ brother Samuel is on his way back to Soldiers Cove and is bringing an army of revenants with him.” Duncan looked like he was stifling a laugh but continued to humor us.

  “How do you favor that?”

  “Well Rachel here has unique abilities and has communicated with Samuel telepathically on a few occasions.” That piqued his interest.

  “Is that right?” Suddenly I heard the old vampire’s scotchy accent in my head.

  Can ye really be telepathic? He thought directly at me.

  Yes, I can. I transmitted back.

  “Well...fuck me,” he said using slang that sounded out of place for a sweet old man. He seemed like he was curious and frightened all at once. “I’ve not heard of another like myself in quite some time.”

  “She starts fires too,” Gavin offered. “Telepathically as well of course,” he added when he realized he had just made me sound like a pyromaniac.

  “Merciful Christ! That’s a new one altogether.” A shudder ran through the old vampire. “And you’re only a young one. Imagine the things you’ll do in one and two hundred years.”

  “The reason we’ve come is actually because we need your help to harness that power. Samuel has realized she is listening to his thoughts, which of course makes it useless. The last time she tried he physically struck out at her.”

  “Samuel must be very powerful now if that is the case,” Duncan said.

  “Yes, and so we found this book that mentions you,” I pulled the book out of my handbag and gave it to Duncan. “It says that you helped a woman hear and share the thoughts of a woman with her sister and that it prevented her death.”

  “Aye, I know the story as it is written. Hold tight of this book, you’ll not find another. Even my copy is gone.” Whether it was gone because it had been lost or it had been confiscated he didn’t say. “What you don’t know is that even though it worked and Annie’s life was saved from her husband, the two ended up connected with each other’s thoughts at random. They would catch a glimpse into each other’s minds now and then for years after.” He stopped and stared out the cabin’s tiny window for a moment.

  “I don’t know what it was, but Annie heard something in Adelia’s thoughts that she didn’t like. This caused a rift between them, and they ended up killing each other.” Just then his eyes closed and it looked like he was gleaning information from some unknown source.

  “You want to share your telepathy with him to mask yourself. Is that right?” he looked directly at me.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “And you,” he said to Gavin now, “what makes you think you can even accept the gift from her? I don’t sense any telepathy in you.”

  “Not with people or vampires, but with animals. I can read their thoughts and feelings; I can communicate with them in return by sending them images and emotions.”

  Duncan smiled, “Ahh, a creature talker are you? Yes there’s a few of those down your way. Are you related to Margie and John?”

  “They are my parents.”

  “Well, well, well,” Duncan beamed, “I should have asked who your father was from the beginning. How is old John? And your lovely mother is she well?”

  “Yes very, they are out of the sanctuary for about fifteen years at this go round. They send their best.”

  “Lovely,” he said stopping to think for a moment once again. “I’m not sure if it’s a good idea to see inside the mind of one’s lover. Do you?”

  “Why not?” Gavin asked. The answer seemed obvious to me but Gavin seemed to require an explanation.

  “Love comes and love goes. You go inside the mind of a lover and you might see things you do not want to see in there. Look at what happened with Annie and Adelia. A person’s thoughts should be private from those they are closest to. The only refuge any of us has, vampire or human, is the closed door of our own mind.”

  That was truer than any statement I had ever heard, and I knew it firsthand. Hearing voices and being mentally ill gives you no refuge inside your own mind. That’s how you end up lost and injured in the woods having your wounds licked by a lonely vampire. Gavin looked like he was mulling this truth over. He decided he wasn’t worried.

  “Be that as it may,” he said to Duncan, “we need to learn to do this and do it soon. Samuel has designs not just on Soldiers Cove and the right to clan leadership, but for the whole island. He wants it to become a place where vampires hunt humans openly. He wants to abolish the rules set in place for the killing of innocents.”

  “Well truth be known creature talker, I’ve never liked those rules either. Humans are food, that’s all that they are, and the sooner you realize that,” he directed this at me too, “both of you, the better off you’ll be. That’s why I keep to myself. But I’m too old for anyone to consult or question. I do what I want.”

  My god, was Duncan just admitting to us that he killed whoever he felt like killing for the sake of nourishment? I killed one innocent quite unintentionally and almost got my head chopped off, how was he getting away with picking off random humans?

  “I understand your point of view.” Gavin was trying to be diplomatic. “Things are quite different now from when you were created I’m sure.”

  “Aye, that they are creature talker. Alright I’ll help you.” He got up off the couch and motioned for us to follow him outside.

  We made our way around to the back of the little house and Duncan opened a cellar door in the ground. We descended following him down inside.

  All at once the smell hit me, and I could tell Gavin smelled it too. Something rancid and foul crept up my nose and I fought every urge to cover my mouth with my hand. Soon we were all the way down and standing in a cellar filled with dead bodies in various states of decay. They were stacked against all the walls lying one on top of the other. Some with mouths open in a last silent scream.

  “Sorry about the smell. I’ve been meaning to start composting.” Duncan rummaged through an old bookshelf while I tried to wrap my mind around the idea of a human compost.

  Suddenly there was a noise from behind us. We turned to see a young man tied to a chair, going in and out of consciousness. He lifted his head, his eyes meeting mine.

  “Oh please help me,” he begged. He looked no more than twenty years old and had obviously been tied to the chair for some time as the ropes were deeply embedded into the skin on his wrists and ankles. The smell of infection in him was strong.

  Instinctually I began to walk over to him but Gavin grabbed my wrist and shook his head ‘no’. Tears began streaming down the young man’s face. “For god’s sake, he’s going to kill me. Please…I don’t wanna die,” he cried. “I don’t wanna die in this place.”

  It was taking everything I had to restrain myself. Duncan was still looking through his shelves and I thought perhaps if I moved fast enough I could get him free. Gavin had an iron grip on my wrist however, and turned me back around to face Duncan.

  “The instructions be in here. Easy to follow, straight forward it is. Although I can’t give you a solid gold guarantee,” he said handing us a small, handwritten book.

  “I understand,” Gavin said reaching out to shake his hand. Duncan reached for mine as well presumably to shake it, but he kissed it instead.

  “Hold on to this one creature talker, she’s as pretty as all outdoors.” I cringed. “Thanks for the visit,” he called as we exited “come have a few tunes with me sometime.” Gavin promised he would and we headed back to the car.

  I stopped when we were a good distance from the house and turned to Gavin. “Isn’t there anything we can do?”

  “Rachel,” he said taking me by the shoulders, “he’s a thousand years old.
You would be dead before your hand even touched the knob on that cellar door. I don’t like it any more than you do but we have to leave it alone.”

  “Well that was interesting,” I said as we descended back down the mountain sometime later. “Your father made him sound like he was antisocial. He seemed pretty charming to me.” Gavin smiled a little at my sarcasm.

  “To other vampires maybe. As you probably noticed his opinion of humans is not very charming at all.”

  “True enough,” I agreed. “So he just does what he wants and nobody questions him or holds him to any standards like they do the rest of us?”

  “He could kill us without even touching us. How do you punish a man like that? It would take an older and much more powerful vampire, and well, there just isn’t any. He’s an authority figure onto himself I guess, and is on his own level.”

  Yes, an unfeeling murderous level, I thought.

  “I suppose you’re right.” There really was no way to deal with someone who was more powerful than anyone or anything that could punish him.

  Chapter Twenty One

  We made our way back to the room immediately after arriving back at the sanctuary. It had been a long drive and I felt like I needed sleep. Being a new vampire I was more easily fatigued than the others. Gavin was about eighty years old and had slept the day before, and told me he wouldn’t need to sleep again for three or four days. Duncan was over a thousand years old and I found myself wondering when the last time he slept was. I wish I’d asked him. Despite my distaste for his treatment of humans there was a part of me that was drawn to him. I hoped I’d see him again.

  “You’re exhausted,” Gavin said reading my expression.

  “I’ll be fine. We need to get started as soon as possible on this. I’ll sleep tomorrow.” Just then I yawned.

  “I don’t think you’ll last until tomorrow and you’re no good to anyone if you’re not rested.” The pull of sleep was too strong and I decided he was right.

  “I need a shower before I sleep,” I gave him a peck on the cheek, went into the bathroom, and began to undress as I ran the water. I stood naked under the spray for a few moments before getting down to business.

  The water was as hot as it could possibly be. Too strong for any human to stand without getting at least a second degree burn, but I discovered that now the hotter it was the better it felt.

  I reached down and turned the cold water off completely and let the pure hot water rain down on me. I began to soap up, not realizing how badly I needed this relaxing ritual until I began it. I had planned on a quick shower but now I was taking my time. After I had finished cleansing myself I continued to stand under the water with my eyes closed, reveling in it.

  The sound of the curtain being opened took me out of my peaceful state as I turned to see Gavin standing there, naked. He got into the shower with me, and pulled me close. We stood there for a long time simply letting the water rain down on us while we held each other. After a while he began to kiss my face and was slowly making his way down my neck.

  He raised his eyes to me silently asking if it was ok, I turned my head all the way to the side indicating it was. He drew his fangs ever so slightly and nipped my neck gently. He licked the drop of blood with his tongue and savored it, then turned his head to the side for me indicating he wanted me to do the same.

  I responded in kind and savored the tiny amount of blood I took from him. This, to me, was more erotic than full out sex now. I could have stood here all day under the hot water taking small nips from each other on different parts of our bodies. Each place had a slightly different taste and I wanted to experience every part of him.

  We kissed again, as he was whispering in my ear between kisses. “I need you, I want you.”

  “I love you,” I said. Maybe I shouldn’t have said it, but it felt right, and natural. He pressed me tightly against him and we stood there naked, as close together as any two bodies can possibly be as he gave a deep sigh.

  “I love you too.” Relief flooded over me. For a moment I was sure I had made a huge error in judgment. “So much,” he said, “you’ll never know how much. I want to be with you for as many life times as we have.”

  It’s one thing for a man to say to a woman that he wants to spend his life with her, but for a vampire to say that to you is something special indeed. If he wants to be with you for his whole life that can easily be centuries, maybe even millennia.

  “I feel the same,” I said. Even though I had never had any other lovers I was absolutely certain that I never needed them. I only wanted Gavin, and not just in a human’s forever, but in a vampire’s forever.

  “Marry me,” he said holding me tight. I should not have been surprised to hear those words given that he had just told me he wanted to be with me for as many lifetimes as possible, but I was.

  “What?”

  He pulled me away slightly and looked me directly in the eye. “Be my wife. Be with me for all time. Say yes,” he said.

  “Yes,” I said. Gavin’s bright and brilliant smile lit up his face. It seemed as though the weight of the world had just been lifted off his shoulders.

  “Thank you Rachel. I’m so happy; I’m going to make you happy in every way possible.”

  We made our way out of the shower to find the bed. We made love as only two vampires can. Beautiful, bloody, and violent. I fell asleep naked in his arms, full of joy and hoping that I wouldn’t wake up to find out it was all some beautiful dream.

  Sometime later I opened my eyes and discovered I was alone in my bed. Then I saw Gavin sitting across the room engrossed in the book that Duncan had given us. He had spent the hours that I was sleeping studying the instructions on how to connect our thoughts so we could listen in on Samuel without detection.

  Hearing me sit up in the bed caught his attention and he put the book down climbing back into the bed. He hadn’t bothered to dress when I’d gone to sleep. He pressed his bare body against mine for a moment and it felt unbelievably good.

  “I have something for you,” he said softly. On the table next to his side of the bed was a little red velvet box. He passed it to me and I opened it. My jaw dropped. It was a very large diamond ring. Three diamonds actually, together in a cluster. I didn’t know much about jewelry but it certainly looked expensive. “I had this made for you.”

  “That was fast. God how long have I been asleep?” I put the ring on and it fit perfectly.

  “Not long. Rachel I have a confession to make.” Usually that’s a sentence that always ends in bad news. The tension on his face made him look like a small child who was about to get into trouble. “I know you’ve only known me for a few weeks, but I’ve been in love with you for a long time.”

  Holly had already told me as such but I decided I couldn’t rat her out. And anyway I wanted to hear him tell me himself. “I found you in the woods one night. You were lost and alone, you couldn’t control your voices. You begged me to help you. You were bleeding, you had cut your leg on something and...” he was afraid I’d be angry with him, I could see the fear.

  “And I took your blood.” He paused. “And I’m sorry for that. I took it without really getting your consent, you were so sick. But you weren’t afraid of me even when you saw what I was. You asked me to stay with you, and I did, all night.”

  “Did we make love?” Holly had left this part out of her story.

  “Yes, and then I made you forget.” The guilt was eating him up inside, “I hope you can forgive me. You were so young and so very sick. I did a horrible thing.”

  “I don’t care,” I said. “These last few weeks with you have been the best of my life.”

  “I’m not worthy of you.” Tears were threatening to spill out of his eyes. “I’ve been watching you for years. Waiting and begging Angus to let me turn you. Even if he wouldn’t have given me permission I was going to do it anyway, and soon. I was going to introduce myself, get to know you and take you away from here. My life as a vampire had been filled w
ith resentment, anger and violence. But not after I came across you that night.”

  I probably should have been angry about the violation, but I didn’t remember it and I didn’t care. Now knowing the relationship between blood feeding and sex it even seemed logical.

  “You have to know,” he continued, “this will not be welcome news, if you’ll still have me. I never expected Angus to make me your guardian. I thought he would take that role. This will not be appropriate for us and the reaction may be harsh.”

  “I already told you I don’t care,” I said. “I still want to marry you and I’m ready to take on anything and everything that comes with it.”

  He smiled, “Now I know I don’t deserve you.”

  We lay down together with my head on his chest. Then he took my hand and held it up examining the ring on my finger. “It looks like it belongs there,” he said.

  Sometime later we were up and dressed. Gavin informed me that he had been studying the little booklet Duncan had given us with the information on how to disguise our thoughts from Samuel. He then excused himself for a few moments and retrieved a picture of Samuel from the book room along with some salt.

  He made a large circle of salt on the floor, large enough for us to sit in and we stepped inside. “We need to be on our knees,” he said.

  We knelt down close together and put the picture of Samuel to one side. “Remember how we practiced the first day? We are just going to try this a little at a time, slowly. We’ll try with someone close by first to see if you can filter those thoughts or images to me, and if that works we’ll give Samuel a try.”

  I closed my eyes and cleared my mind, “I’m ready if you are.”

  “Let’s begin.” Gavin placed his forehead directly on mine. “When you’re comfortable try to reach into my mind.” We sat with our heads touching and our eyes closed. The images in his mind were fuzzy at first; he wasn’t having a verbal thought but was sending me a picture. I saw my living room with my cat sitting on someone’s lap. I thought that was strange until I realized it was his lap, this was the way he remembered petting Gizzy.