The Soul of a Vampire #3
Page 5
And I wanted no part of her.
Was Samantha arrogant enough to think she would get me after she tried to poison Zoey? Samantha would have these explosions of anger when she couldn’t have her way, and then the hunt for more humans would commence and death would reign throughout the castle. No one was safe in her present state.
And everything and everyone especially vampires knew how dangerous she and Aare had become. Samantha would have Aare and his zombies search out newly formed vampires and put a stake in their hearts or burn them in their coffins. No one knew what they would do next.
I was once like Aare. Doing whatever Samantha wanted from me. Going against my family to sleep with her and have her satisfy me sexually in ways I thought wasn’t possible with a human. Samantha wasn’t fragile as all the others had been. But it was their delicate natures linking me to my humanity which was saving me from unspeakable crimes and that humanity connected me to Zoey.
Through Zoey I was able to love again. Without her I am like the monster I had become earlier.
Samantha’s problem was with Zoey existing and when I turned my back on her to be with Zoey and Samantha realizing how much I loved Zoey, I knew she would never be safe and Samantha knew I had bound myself to her to save Zoey’s life.
It was then I came to the conclusion that the world would be a better place if Samantha wasn’t a part of it.
It took a few hundred years before I came to that realization, and I have to be the one to do it. But how could I kill someone I had loved deeply. That is until I looked into the eyes of that child. The eyes of Zoey who made me feel as if what I had been and done in the past was horrendous. I had to make amends for my wrong doings.
The thoughts of causing my death with her crossed my mind. Maybe then I would become the person I had lost so long ago.
After I met Samantha and thought I had fallen in love with her, and after committing atrocities even I am afraid to think about, it was the first time I had taken stock of myself and realized that being who I am, a vampire, wasn’t the way to live, and that I would try existing like a human being. I will no longer feed on the blood of humans but that of animals.
When I chose that path my entire nature changed. I was no longer a slave to killing humans for my existence. Something Samantha didn’t have to do, but made a choice and used me and Aare to carry out her unspeakable rituals.
After our wedding and arriving at my castle in Italy, she accompanied me if only for appearances. She wanted everyone to perceive us as the new rulers of the Vesper empire and throne.
I didn’t expect Samantha to change her ways, but I thought she would hide her depravity. Yet she carried on with Aare in the open. I really didn’t care what she did as long as she didn’t try to hurt Zoey. “I will be leaving tonight,” I said to Samantha.
“I hope it isn’t to find that girl. Because I warned you that I will never stand for you taking her over me. Not this time,” she said to me. Her black eyes narrowing. Samantha didn’t care about me being with Zoey, all she cared about was killing her, and obtaining power and control.
Control over me and Aare and all the power the Vesper name gave her. With power she could control the riches that took thousands of years to accumulate. With power she could perpetrate wicked deeds throughout the world with Aare by her side aiding her.
“And what about Aare?” I said. “Are you going to continue your obscene doings with him?”
“He was just something to play with. How could I want him when I have you?”
She moved in a seductive stroll close to me and passed her hand on the side of my face. I watched at her stone faced and cold, wondering what she would do next, cold as the day I was first turned. She wanted me to believe that she and Aare were no longer lovers, but I knew better. I knew the night we returned she and Aare were together.
Aare brought her a young woman he had drained of her blood and he engaged in sex with her and Samantha joined him, and then when there was nothing left of the body she took it to her laboratory and experimented with it to keep her beautiful.
I watched at them from behind the walls. This was my sanctuary from the horrors that went on in this castle. If I could burn it down I would. And it was then I entertained the idea.
Samantha strutted closer to me, and raked her fingers through my hair, and I moved away from her and turned my back. “Do I disgust you?” she asked. She knew the answer but she wanted me to say no and so I did.
“No. I find you more appealing than I have ever. Since I’ve been drinking the blood of humans I’m more myself.” She approved. Her face softened. She leaned to kiss me and our lips touched. It was as if I had kissed sand. Her pale skin resembled the sand on a beach and her lips were dry and chaffed.
I felt nothing for her when once I would have died for her. How I missed Zoey. But after all this I could never go back especially after what Samantha revealed about our life together. And why Zoey came to be with me.
Now I have tasted human blood again and I know that I won’t be able to resist it.
“I have to leave. I need to go into the village to hunt for food.”
“Now that’s my Sabastian. Bring me some desert if you run across an unsuspecting child roaming the streets without their family.” The thought of what she had proposed sickened me and I just gave her a closed smile.
“My appetite has increased and it may take longer than I want. I’ll probably be gone for a few days,” I said and kissed her on the cheek. We were both pretending and we both knew it because it was a game I had to play, but I didn’t know why she chose to play the game as well.
I anticipated that Samantha would give me all the room I needed to be with Zoey and then one day she would find us. That’s why I had to be careful not to see her, and I pretended to feed on humans to make Samantha think I was strong.
My plan was to find out if Zoey and the baby was ok. I could talk to Robbie and not see Zoey at least that was what I was hoping to do.
When I arrived in Seattle in my jet it was cold and rainy. I had a car waiting for me. I had lost my Range Rover to the Seattle police department and felt naked without it so I bought another. A silver one with a black top. It took an hour to get to Robert and Ann’s place. I didn’t want to announce my coming so I parked at the gate at the side of the road and I walked.
I stood at the door wondering whether to ring the bell or go straight to Zoey’s room. She always kept her window open, but after what had happen between us, I didn’t want to alarm her or Robert or Ann. I extended my finger and rang the bell.
It was Ann who came to answer the door. At first I saw her hesitate and then she slanted her head to the side realizing who she was seeing. She opened the door.
“Sebastian,” she said as a wide eyed look played over her face, “you look different. Come in.” She stepped aside and I walked into her house. “I expected to see you in that cape but here you are all dressed up in a suit.”
All the suits in the world couldn’t transform me. I was never more than anything now than a monster that feeds on humans.
Ann didn’t realize that by welcoming me into her house she could be my next victim. I had crossed over with my feeding to stay as strong as I could to keep Samantha and Aare at bay, but lately I had abstained, if just to see Zoey one last time. I didn’t want a cold dead feeling to come over me if for any reason she was around.
But now I was starving. I was gasping for air as I tried to control my body. I didn’t want to speak for fear that my fangs would disengage as I was talking.
When Ann turned and saw Robert standing eyeing me and her, his eyes hooked on me, and instinctively he knew from my eyes and body movement how hungry I was. He immediately pulled Ann to the side and pushed her behind him.
“Ann how many times have I told you to wait and let me answer the door?” His voice was soft but his words had strong intent.
“It’s Sebastian. It’s our friend, Sebastian,” Ann said with a ready smile and a hug.
When I met Robert I knew about his reputation. He was the member of a murderous pack of werewolves who killed humans for sport, and when all his pack were hunted and killed by humans he was the only one to escape.
He became a fugitive and left for Canada to live in the wilderness, and when he found Ann, he changed. But who really changes? All it takes is one thing to bring them back to the creatures they were. It took one taste of blood to make me feel as if nothing mattered in my life—not Zoey, or my soul I was trying to save.
Robert stood near and watched at me. “Come in, Sebastian. We were sitting down for dinner. It’s important to appear like a real family. Ann’s going to give birth in two months.” Ann pulled aside her oversized sweater and displayed her large baby bump. “The doctor said it’s four of them. Four pups imagine that. I’m beside myself with joy,” Robert said his eyes sparkling with pride.
He did look happy but his face showed his pain because I was there. Robert led me to the kitchen and we sat. “Would you like a steak?” Ann said glancing at me as I raised my left eyebrow at the thought. “I’m sorry but I forgot. But I got Robbie to start eating steak. He takes it rare but that’s a start,” she said beaming at Robert. And she stood in front of him and kissed him.
“Is something wrong, Sebastian?” Robert asked. “Why are you here? I thought you would be with your wife.”
“I came to see Zoey. The way we parted from each other wasn’t good. I had to tell her that I love her and make her understand that I did everything for her and the baby.”
Ann stopped after she placed a large platter with a steak in front of Robert and she said, “I don’t think Zoey wants to see you anymore. She left with Ryan.”
The sound of those words shocked me. At the time I said for her to go with him, and in as much sanctioned the idea by telling him to marry her, I didn’t have time to think. All that concerned me was getting Zoey out of that house and save my child.
“Where have they gone,” I asked. My voice showing my desperation.
“I don’t know?” Robert said.
Standing over Robert my eyes obvious and menacing giving away my anger. Robert stood after realizing that I could do something we both would be sorry for. My eyes glared with murderous rage at Robert, but he stood firm and pushed his hand behind him. “Get out, Ann.”
“I’m not going to hurt you, Ann,” I said. I held out my hand to Ann but she looked at me and rushed out the door behind her.
“Robert you are my only friend. I would never do you any harm. You’re the only one left to protect Zoey and my child. I would never harm you.”
His body calmed, but I saw Robert’s hands transform when he thought I would threaten Ann, and his huge claws extended out like razors. He wasn’t yet convinced by my easy tone. Feeling something passed near my leg, I glanced down at my feet, and there was this young bobcat looking up at me with an unyielding bold look on his face. I knew it for what it was—a shifter.
I went to Robert’s home not with any intentions but to find out if Zoey was ok. I know I was hungry and werewolves knew what could happen around a hungry vampire and I didn’t fault Robert for not trusting me. I had controlled my hunger where I could act like a human. Something I probably couldn’t have done before, but now I was able after starving for three days. I found myself getting better after resisting the temptation of human blood.
Robert looked down at the bobcat and it turned and scampered into another room. “I will try to find out where Zoey went to, but it won’t be easy. I thought when you agreed to marry that witch it was a done deal and that we would never see you again.”
I didn’t answer Robert. I didn’t think I had to. Would he walk away from Ann just like that since she was pregnant? We knew the answer to the statement and we didn’t have to say a word.
“What will it cost for you to find Zoey?”
“It won’t cost anything, Sebastian. I’m your friend and the way you’re behaving you need all the friends you can get. I don’t need anything but peace to raise my family and as long as you and Zoey aren’t together, there will never be peace here or anywhere.”
“I have to go, Robert, give my regards to Ann. Apologize to her for me. I have to learn to control my temper. I’m getting hungry and I’d better leave.”
“You are welcome to hunt in my forest. My herd of deer needs thinning,” Robert said with a smile. He was trying to get me back to feeding on animals and I had an insatiable thirst for human blood and no deer blood will satisfy me now. I knew it, but he didn’t, and so I accepted his polite offer to prevent from having to take another human life.
Hoping I could get back to what I had lost, my humanity, I thanked Robert. “I’ll kill and feed in your reserve. Thank you, Robert,” I said after exchanging a hug with him. I left with Robert thinking he had helped me back to the land of the living.
No one can save a vampire like me after what I’ve done.
Chapter Nine-Zoey
I accepted Ryan’s offer to go with him. I packed my few things and hurried off with Ryan to his island. We stepped out of the boat after hours of staring at each other and silence, and a good dose of seasickness. After I threw up a couple of times I thought he would stop the boat and throw me off side but he never did. We continued on with him looking at me each time I hurled. He even asked if I was okay, which I thought was a good sign.
Even after we set foot on the island he was still into his own thoughts and me forever thinking about Sebastian.
The house was located on the southern part of the island and we had to walk a half mile north before we reached there. Ryan took all the bags. I looked as he slung one across his shoulder and one on his back, and he carried the rest in his hands. I stood back as he turned to see where I was.
“What?” he questioned. “I hunted and camped every year with my father.” I shot him a quick smile, and we began trudging through high grass. The entire trek Ryan pointed and said, “We have a few more steps to go before we get to the other side.” And I would look at him and roll my eyes and he would smile knowing it was a much longer walk.
When we reached the top of the hill, I looked down and there set a large cabin in a clearing facing a beach. “That’s it,” he said. It was as he mentioned. A large white house facing the beach and only one way to the house. “Climb one more small hill and down and walk up the path and we’re there,” he said.
It wasn’t easy for me, but for a man like him who looked like he spent his days cutting down trees when he wasn’t out chasing down bad guys and vampires, it was a walk in the park.
Breathing loud I looked around and saw Ryan ahead of me and I said, “I need to rest.” He raised an eyebrow at me. “I would carry you but as you can see I’m busy?”
He wasn’t ready to sit and rest but ready to get on with the climb. “I’m a city girl, remember.” I bent over holding on to my thighs. Ryan must have taken pity on me and he rushed back and picked me up in his arms after dropping the bags in his hands, and then he sat me down.
Ryan walked around dropping the bags from his shoulders. “I’ll get these later. You really are fragile.”
“Not really. I’m a little pregnant.” He looked at me as if he was hearing this for the first time.
“I’m sorry. I tend to forget that you’re a woman.”
“And what does that mean?”
“It means that I am a man and I don’t know what it is to be a woman. And a pregnant one at that. I hope you can forgive me if I’m not sensitive enough. I try. My mother said that I should try to be a little less rigid in my thinking.” I never thought of Ryan as having a mother. I never thought of Ryan at all before now.
When I looked into his eyes he had a warmth and then it was his smile that made me wonder about him. Whenever I saw him he smiled and that made me open up. Unlike Sebastian who walked around
as if he had the weight of the world on his back. I couldn’t understand how someone who could live so long have so many problems and be so unhappy.
And Ryan who is a mortal seem to enjoy each day. Maybe that was what it was that made me warm up to Ryan. His love of life. Sebastian wasn’t alive in the sense that Ryan was. Was Sebastian looking back and wanting to be mortal again which made him so sad? Did he envy those who could die so easy?
Did Ryan relish his life because he knew how limited it was? I wondered about all of that.
Taking his backpack and dropping it near us, he said, “It’s time for a rest and food.” He pulled out a container with cold sandwiches and warm beer.
“You like this don’t you?” I asked.
“If you spend your days in a police station and looking at dead bodies all the time you would need something to make you relax. On my free days, I take off which isn’t often and I come out here to relax. I used to take a helicopter, but I know how important it is to remain under the radar with you, so I thought we should take a boat and hike the rest of the way.”
“Thanks for doing this,” I said as I reached for the pastrami sandwich and then Ryan handed me a beer. I took the sandwich but I refused the beer.
“I don’t know what it will do to the baby.” He smiled. “Why didn’t you marry?” I asked him.
He looked at me, “I still have time.” It was that look that made me worry. It wasn’t that I didn’t know what he meant, I was sure his intentions were he would marry me one day and it was that which made me wonder about my fate. I had always thought that someday I would marry Sebastian. However, now I felt as if that was the worst dream I could have dreamt in my life. Whoever heard of a human marrying a vampire and as far as that is concerned it is unheard of and totally unspeakable.
Besides it’s like saying when someone ask you who you want to marry when you grow up and you say something outrageous like the King of England.