Dominus stopped to lean against a tree. He glanced toward me in obvious pain. “What’s troubling you?”
“Ah, I worry too much.”
“About your father?”
I nodded.
He pushed off the tree and forced himself to keep walking. When we came around the bend, father was standing at the woodpile sharpening the wood ax. I was happy to see that he was alive, but surprised that he was outside working so early in the morning. After seeing him unharmed, a weight lifted off of me.
By the time we got inside the cottage, Dominus wasn’t any better, but he didn’t seem any worse. Exhausted and hungry. Father fed him and insisted he get some sleep. I set my hunter box right inside the door.
Jacques had not returned from his trip, and according to my father, he didn’t expect Jacques to be back before the next morning.
I grabbed some cheese and stale bread, leaving Dominus in my father’s care. I walked down the road, heading to Bucharest. I had never journeyed there alone, but I knew the directions to where I needed to go. I didn’t know why, but Rose continued to be on my mind. The way that she had run off the last time I had seen her still bothered me. I wished to talk to her again. I needed to know that she was okay.
Chapter Twenty-nine
Even though I was tired from being up all night slaying vampires and ghouls, my mind refused to rest until I saw and talked to her.
While I walked, I studied the lines on my hand, remembering the warmth of her hands touching mine. I thought of the way she had looked into my eyes and how she had smiled when she did. I felt a rush inside, thinking about that.
I recalled the words that she had spoken when she had studied my hand. She had insisted that my eyes were filled with innocence, but she predicted that I’d eventually become cold and filled with pain, never resting or staying in one place. After last night, I knew she was correct. One didn’t kill undead creatures without changing inside.
I didn’t plan to remain in Bucharest after I killed Baron Randolph. I needed to move on and leave the hurt of my mother’s death behind. Sadly, that meant I had to leave Rose as well. She was safer by not being around me anyway. But I felt a tear in my heart that I couldn’t understand. The only explanation was love and affection, but I was too young, at least I told myself that I was, to feel that way. But my mind was growing. I looked at the city and the surrounding people with renewed confidence, my inner child shrinking with sudden manhood rising in its place.
Without my father, I made the journey to her shop in less than half the time it had previously taken. It’s true his slow walking ability would have slowed me down, but I got to the shop even quicker because of my desire to see her. In other words, I didn’t walk at my normal gait. I was almost running.
On the street outside of the shop were the same entertainers wearing strange makeup and doing their tricks. I hurried past them, careful not to make eye contact and ran down the stairs.
I shoved the door open and nearly screamed. The loud parrot welcomed me. I’d forgotten about the screeching bird. Believe me, the squawk was almost as bad as the wailing ghouls burning in the fire. But I’d still take the bird over the ghouls any day.
From behind the small table, Rose stood with excitement in her eyes. “Forrest?”
I smiled; relieved to see her.
She rushed across the room and embraced me. She clung to me. I put one arm around her back and my huge left hand on the back of her head. She held me for several minutes, and I wondered if she’d ever release me. In a way, I hoped that she never did. I had forgotten how good a hug made me feel.
Rose eased her hold enough to look up at my face. She smiled and looked into my eyes. But within seconds, sadness came to hers, and she frowned slightly. “What happened?”
She leaned back and took my hands into hers.
“When?”
Rose looked down, avoiding eye contact. “After we last spoke. I don’t . . . I can’t . . . even now, I can’t say what I saw, but it was horrible and it reflects in your eyes and part of your innocence is gone now.”
I nodded toward the table. “Perhaps we should sit down?”
She gripped my hand hard and led me to the table. After she sat down, she still refused to release my hand. I caressed the back of her hand with my thumb. Her eyes held pain and worry. I knew she didn’t really want me to tell her, but she needed to know. She was torn inside, but she wasn’t going to ask me again. She was fine if I volunteered the information or even if I didn’t. At least, that’s what I sensed from her.
“My father and I returned home that day,” I said.
Her free hand covered her mouth as she waited for me to finish. Perhaps she could tell by the tone of my voice or by the pain in my eyes that my news was what she had seen.
“To find that my mother had been murdered.”
Her eyes closed. Tears etched at their edges. She shook slightly. “I’m so sorry, Forrest.”
“Is that what you saw?”
Rose nodded. “Do you know who killed her?”
“Yes. He’s dead, but the person who sent him to kill her is still alive.”
“Who?”
“You’re safer not knowing.”
She cocked a brow. The tears broke free and meandered down her cheeks. “And why is that?”
I almost told her, ‘the same man who killed your mother,’ but then I remembered her father had warned me not to tell Rose that the baron had killed her mother. I had nearly slipped up. Telling her was dangerous because I sensed she was like me. She wouldn’t rest until the baron was dead.
“I cannot say.”
“Can’t or won’t?” she asked.
“To be frank, both.”
“You’re a hunter.” She said it as a statement without any hint of a question.
I nodded. “You saw the hunter box your father had made for me when I had left.”
She shrugged. “Father makes boxes for lots of different reasons. But you being an actual hunter explains a lot.”
“What do you mean?”
“My readings of your palm. It explains a lot.” She studied my eyes. Unlike our previous meeting, I didn’t look away. I no longer feel intimidated or shy. “And, you’ve changed since we last talked. Not from your mother’s death, but from something else.”
I took her hand into both of mine, never looking away from her brilliant blue eyes. “Rose, everything you had said to me is true. I recognized that when you first said it that your reading was accurate. I had no doubts then and I don’t now. I’ve accepted what I am.”
“A hunter?”
“Yes.”
“Have you killed any vampires?”
“Six last night, one of which was a master vampire. Two, the night before. And six ghouls last night.” I wasn’t trying to be boastful, but I figured there was no reason to lie to a fortuneteller. After all, she could tell, couldn’t she?
She licked her lips and then she swallowed hard. “That explains the hardness growing in your eyes. It will only become worse if you continue the life of a hunter. You can stop, you know?”
I shook my head. “No, I’ve been told by several people that a true hunter cannot deny his calling. Doing so is death.”
“Not doing so will kill your compassion and make you as coldhearted as the undead. Is that what you wish, Forrest? To not be able to love?”
“No, it’s not what I wish. It’s what I am.”
“Not fully yet, you’re not. I didn’t see that in you when we last talked, and I don’t see it now, provided you’d be willing to denounce the calling.”
I studied her eyes for a moment. Her insistence that I denounce my calling struck me as odd. “Why do you wish for me to decry what I am?”
She bit her lower lip and placed her other hand atop mine. “Because . . . I’m rather fond of you. You’re different than other men your age.”
I laughed.
“What’s funny?”
If you only knew.
I shook my head. “It’s nothing.”
“Don’t you want a normal life? Instead of this killing vampires?”
“It’s far too late for that. I can’t deny my calling and I won’t.”
Rose frowned. “What do you mean that it’s too late?”
“In two days, I will kill a powerful master vampire.” Confidence grew in my voice, being more a prophecy than a guess. “After which I will be forced to leave the city, possibly to never come back.”
Sadness came to her eyes. “And why exactly must you kill this particular one?”
“Because he is the one who sent the man to kill my mother.”
“You have proof of this?”
I nodded. “Yes. On my way out of the city that day, a different human servant of this master vampire approached my father and I. He gave me a message.”
“What kind of message?”
I explained all of the events that had happened next.
“That still doesn’t explain why you’d need to leave,” she said sadly. “You’d simply remove an evil undead. I’d think people would praise you for such a feat.”
“When he dies, great calamity will occur throughout Bucharest. Because of those consequences, I will be sought. The city council will want me dead.”
“Why? Who is he?”
“Baron Randolph,” I replied.
Her eyes widened, and she shook her head. “No. He can’t be.”
“You know him?”
Rose looked away. “I know of him. Everyone in Bucharest knows his name.”
My mother had recognized his name when Jacques informed her of who had attacked my father. She had been shocked to learn that the baron was a vampire. So, I supposed what Rose was saying was true. Of course, people living in the city might know the baron with a different sort of reputation. It seemed unlikely that he’d display evil actions openly if he valued his prominence in the city.
She glanced into my eyes again. “Are you certain he’s a master vampire?”
“He is. I have no doubt about it.”
“If that is true, Forrest, why would he kill your mother?”
“It’s a long story.”
Rose waved a hand toward the shop, devoid of any patrons. “It’s not like I’m going anywhere. Come now, Forrest, continue. Please tell me.”
I explained how my father had been hired to kill Bodi, and then everything that transpired afterwards. By the time I had finished she sat dumbfounded. If she thought any differently about me, it was hard for me to tell.
She kept her hands entwined with mine. Finally, she smiled. “May I read the cards for you?”
I shrugged.
Rose released my hands and took her Tarot cards. She began flipping cards, placing them into different sequences, occasionally frowning or making an odd expression; depending upon what card she turned up. None of it had any real bearing on me because I didn’t know what each one stood for, and even if she told me, I doubted it would make any difference.
She shook her head with a worried expression on her face.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Two days from now? That’s when you plan to slay the baron?”
“I do.”
“I’d advise against it,” she replied.
“Why?”
“The cards indicated that you’ll fail miserably. Please, Forrest, I’d delay, for at least a few days more.”
“Do you have any way to predict when a better time would be?” I asked.
Rose picked up the cards and placed them into a neat stack. “I could check the crystal ball.”
I gave a slight nod.
She stood and reached for the ball on the shelf, which was covered beneath a black cloth. She lit several candles to add more light to the corner. After she sat down, she leaned toward the glass ball and extended her delicate hands toward me. I wrapped my huge hands around hers.
Her eyes grew distant as she focused upon the ball. Spellbound. Watching her transformation made me uncomfortable. Her innocence and beauty shriveled, and were replaced by a darkness that she had predicted would befall me. I wondered upon what power she drew upon.
Her fingers tightened inside my hands. She swayed slightly and her eyes turned back with only the whites visible. She remained like that for nearly a minute before she violently shook and yanked her hands from mine.
“Do you plan to face the baron alone?” she asked.
“Of course not.”
“How many will be with you?”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure yet.”
She shook her head. “Forrest, you mustn’t go.”
“Why not?”
“You will be betrayed.”
“By whom?”
“Unfortunately, such answers aren’t given,” she said, nodding toward the crystal ball, “but be assured that you will be betrayed. Please, don’t go after him.”
Rose reached for my hands, but I stood. “I will consider what you’ve said.”
“You’re leaving?”
I nodded.
“Why? Is it because I’ve given you bad news again? I—I can’t control what I see or how the cards fall.”
“No, it’s not that. I’m needed elsewhere.” I turned toward the door.
Rose lifted the hem of her dress and rushed around the table to get between me and the door. “Please visit for a while. Thanks to those tricksters outside, I seldom get a visitor anymore.”
“I need to go, Rose. I’ve been up all night. I needed to know that you were okay.”
I read the hurt in her eyes, more from her loneliness than anything else. As much as I wanted to stay, I did need to get back to the cottage. I hoped that Jacques had returned with the other werewolf. I agreed with Dominus. We needed more than four people before we entered the lair. Having another vampire hunter or two would be even better.
I tried to step around Rose, but she wrapped her arms around me tightly. I hugged her back. After a couple of minutes, I realized she wasn’t going to release me. Still hugging her close, I picked her up and spun her around, exchanging places with her. After I set her down, I backed my way to the door.
“Forrest,” she said.
“I’m sorry, Rose. I need to get home.”
I opened the door while facing her. She pouted her lips. I gave her a gentle smile and shook my head. “Until next time.”
Closing the door behind me, I looked to the top of the stairs where the odd entertainers called and catered to the passersby. I ignored them and hurried down the street to avoid them and hoped to be out of sight in case Rose emerged from the shop and came after me.
I doubted she would pursue me.
While she had insisted something horrible had happened when my father and I had been in the shop previously, she had never actually told me what had happened ahead of time or what she had seen. In fact, she didn’t even tell me when I had returned and insisted I reveal to her what had happened when I had returned home. My skepticism spurred suddenly. Had she seen anything at all? Or was she as deceitful as the festival folks in the street outside of her shop?
Chapter Thirty
Late in the evening, after I had slept fitfully for several hours, a knock came at the cottage door that awakened me. My dreams had been of a darkened lair where I’d never been before, but possibly a place I’d enter in the near future, or simply this den was from the memories of a vampire that I had already killed. It was difficult adjusting and sorting through memories that weren’t mine. But gleaning any useful intelligence was much better than nothing at all.
I placed a hand on my dagger and eased the door slightly open. It was Jacques. I pulled the door wider, inviting him and his two guests inside.
“Cousin,” Jacques said with a broad smile. He squeezed my shoulder firmly. “I’d like for you to meet Zsolt and Rusk.”
Jacques went around the room, making the introductions to my father and Dominus.
Zsolt was a husky man, slightly shorter than myself, but his eyes held
every bit the coldness that Rose had predicted mine would eventually become. It chilled me to look into his eyes and to think that one day my eyes reflected the same. There was an instant when I took to heart what she had forewarned.
He was fair skinned with eyes of blue. His hair was blonde as was his short-cropped beard. He was hardened with two deep scars that slashed across his left cheek. He was a hunter, if the hunter box he carried signified anything. He wore a silver cross around his neck. His tall hat and long coat was similar to Dominus’.
Thick black sideburns covered Rusk’s cheeks. Long black hair coiled down his back, much prettier than most girls, but I’d never make such a comment aloud in his presence. His eyes were odd, brown with rich gold speckles. Thick black wiry hair protruded from the neck of his shirt. And like Jacques, the backs of his hands were covered with bristly hair. If this man wasn’t a werewolf, I’d fight the baron with my bare hands.
With only the six of us, I didn’t know how much that aided us in our pursuit to kill Randolph, but it was definitely better than four. Not knowing their strategies or their kill numbers, I hoped they’d share that information with me. I had learned a lot from Dominus, and I needed to learn from other hunters as well. While there wasn’t one definite strategy, sharing our tactics bettered all of us. At least, I thought so.
Father lowered extra chairs down from our loft. We formed a near circle where we could sit and see one another as we talked. Energy pulsed amongst us. The hairs on my neck and arms bristled. I liked being in the company of other hunters. We had two werewolves, three of the Chosen, and my father, the self-appointed hunter.
Even though it was preliminary—our hunt to kill the baron—excitement rose inside me when I should have been nervous due to my actual age. But I no longer mentally felt like an eight year old. Dominus had been correct. My vampire kills had boosted my knowledge, thrusting my mind forward to catch up with my outward appearance.
Forrest Wollinsky: Vampire Hunter [Book One] Page 22
