Bloodstone Heart

by T. Lynne Tolles

  "Have any family nearby?"

  "No. My family is long since gone - being a made vampire…"

  "Really? I don't think I've ever met a made vampire your age. You must have had a very good teacher."

  "No, actually. I learned everything on my own," she said this matter-of-factly, but Anton sensed a deep loneliness that he thought he could also see in her eyes.

  "I'm impressed."

  "Don't be. Anyone can do it."

  "No. Actually not just anyone, and most especially a woman from the 1600s.”

  She started to bristle, but before she could say anything, Anton said, "Truly. That is not an insult. It is a great compliment. Women were treated as property back then, especially in Europe. You couldn't own land, you couldn't travel alone, and most felt that women were only for breeding. Add on the witch trials, the superstitions, and being alone, it must have been very hard. Is that why you came to America?"

  "You know your history. I stayed for a while watching out for my family and to wait for...well, that's not important, but when my family was gone, it got harder and harder to stay on the outskirts of town and survive, so I came to America where things were new and always changing. They still had their criteria for what women could do or not do, but it was much less formal and the farther west I traveled the better. After a while things changed and it became easier for a lone woman to move around without being noticed."

  "But who taught you the vampire ways? How to control your hunger and all the rest? Didn't your maker stay to tell you anything?"

  She laughed bitterly, "Hardly. Truly though, it's only common sense. If you kill people to survive, you are going to eventually have a trail that leads to your door, so take a little and walk away."

  "But newly made vampires can't control the hunger; they can't pull away when feeding."

  "Well, I know for a fact they can. I'm living proof, or non-living proof depending on how you look at things."

  "You are the exception then - don't you realize? I'd bet 98% couldn’t."

  "Really? Hmm. How do you know so much about made vampires? You yourself are a born vampire, am I right?"

  "Yes. My father is a historian of sorts on the subject of vampires, both made and born. He just can't seem to get enough information. It's almost an obsession with him. Anyway, when you grow up with that kind of person, you tend to learn a thing or two. I can tell you this though, if my father could get you alone for an evening, he'd be the happiest vampire on the planet listening to all you have seen and experienced. Our family, supposedly, goes back all the way to the Ancient Ones. Have you heard of them?"

  "Only in passing - folktales really."

  By now they were both sitting on the floor of the elevator in their opposite corners. They talked for an hour or more, getting to know one another. The elevator made a jerk again and a loud noise came from outside the door. Anton and Jules both stood up as the doors slowly opened slightly above the floor.

  The man above them opening the doors was in navy trousers and a striped shirt that stated his name was "Robert" in red on a patch over the left of his chest. Above the doors he had inserted a strange object into a slot which controlled the doors like a key might. Anton put his briefcase and overcoat on the floor of the building along with Jules'. Holding out his hands to Jules he said, "Allow me?” She smiled and nodded as he put his hands to her waist and effortlessly lifted her until she could sit on the floor between the doors where the man named Robert helped her to a standing position.

  Soon, Anton was also out and standing beside her. He held his hand out to shake Robert’s. "Thank you for rescuing us."

  Robert shook his hand and replied, "Not at all. The real thanks goes to my wife Kimberly. I left my pager at home this morning. When she received your page, she hunted me down to relay the message."

  Anton smiled and said, "Well, please thank Kimberly for us too." A man that could only be the building manager was scrambling down the hallway, arms flailing and making all kinds of apologies to Anton and Jules as they grabbed their items off the floor.

  Anton said, "It's okay. These things happen - we're fine." He looked at Jules and smiled. "In fact, I must admit, I rather enjoyed myself." She smiled coyly.

  Now that they were not confined in the small space of the elevator, neither of them knew what to say and they both seemed suddenly shy. They walked in silence to the exit and stopped at the door.

  "Would you like to me to drive you to your car?" Anton offered.

  "No. That's okay. I have this handy umbrella you gave me," she said as she pulled it out of the side pocket of her attaché.

  "Right. Well, um. I enjoyed it. I mean the elevator. Uh, not the getting stuck part, but..."

  "I think I know what you mean. I enjoyed getting to know you too, Anton."

  "Maybe we..." Anton started, but before he could finish, she had the umbrella open and was smiling as she walked out the door. He felt she sensed the awkwardness of the moment and opted to avoid it, but he had a sudden urge to run out after her. It was pouring rain when he got to her and he tenderly grabbed her arm as he said, "Wait...Jules...I would like very much to see you again."

  She turned to him with her piercing sapphire eyes and a slight smile and said, "You will. We have a statue to buy from you, after all. I will send you the paperwork with the bank wire information tomorrow." She started to turn away, when Anton said, "That's not what I meant. I was wondering if maybe you would be willing to have dinner with me sometime - like say, a date?"

  She turned back and said, "Mr. Larsen, isn't there some kind of protocol that says a widower should wait a certain period of time before dating again?"

  "Well...we were separated for years before she died...besides, Ms. D'Angelo, you don’t seem the type to adhere to such protocols?"

  Jules laughed. "Let me think about that, won't you?"

  "Not for very long, I won't," he smiled. She gave him a most devilish smile as she spun on her heel and walked away, leaving Anton drenched and staring after her in wonderment.

  Chapter 21

  Melanie sat on the bed of the hotel she was going to sleep in that night in Omaha, Nebraska. She dutifully went over her map and added to her cigar box of matchbooks.

  Yesterday she had driven from Mansfield, Ohio to South Bend, Indiana. It had been a pretty spring day after the week of rainy driving she had endured previously. She ran Josh's credit card at a hole in the wall hotel in South Bend then off to Champaign, Illinois. She wrote a note on the match book cover of the hotel in Mansfield that Harry Stevens of Ohio had introduced the first hotdog in the 1900s. On the little diner matchbook cover from South Bend, she wrote "Home of Notre Dame."

  Today she drove through Illinois to Iowa, stopping in Cedar Rapids to run the credit card then driving further to Omaha, Nebraska to sleep. She neatly stacked her matchbooks back into the cigar box as she traced her finger along her journey for tomorrow heading north to Topeka, Kansas then sleeping in Belleville, Missouri.

  The names of cities, the stars, and the rectangles on the map were all starting to blur into an endless destiny of loneliness. Melanie was tired of driving and she was so lonely. Certainly the others had come up with a plan by now. Why hadn't they called her? Weren't they missing her? She wrote on a sticky note the next two cities for tomorrow as she had every night, to stick on the dashboard of Devon's Mercedes.

  She longed to be somewhere familiar and even more so, she wanted to call Josh, even if just to hear his voice, but she knew that would only put both of them in danger. Oh, how she wished this nightmare would end. Maybe she should just head to Massachusetts and try to meet up with Darby. It would be so much nicer to have someone to travel with. She knew though, that she would just be endangering someone else and plus, poor Darby was on her own quest to find Devon. No, she needed to do this alone. Hopefully, it wouldn't be for very much longer. She turned out the lights and closed her eyes and thought about Darby on her lonely journey and then of Josh and his comforting blue eyes the
color of her favorite, most comfortable jeans, and his strong, warm arms enfolding her. Slowly she fell asleep, dreaming of Josh.

  Darby woke in the morning almost in exactly the same position she had fallen asleep in her handsome vampire lover’s, and soon to be husband's, arms. Mrs. Bloomington, Mrs. Darby Bloomington, Mr. and Mrs. Devon Bloomington. Wow, she thought.

  As she had done so many times before, she watched the angelic man next to her sleep, with the gentle morning sun touching his skin. His broad chest moving ever so slightly up and down with each breath. His long, beautiful eyelashes, fluttered for a moment in his dreaming and she wondered what he was dreaming about. Was he happy? Was he dreaming of her? His hand twitched on the small of her back. She tenderly kissed his chest. Instantly this relaxed him. It comforted her to know that she could calm him in such a way, even in his subconscious.

  She studied every inch of his face, wondering what their children would look like. Would they take after their handsome father? Or would they be more like her? Blue eyes? Or brown? She thought back to her school days remembering that brown eyes were dominant and blue eyes would be recessive. More than likely, their children would have his eyes.

  How do you raise a vampire child when you are not a vampire yourself? How will I know what to do? Would the child be a ravenous, bloodthirsty child, like a made vampire? She started to panic. All these questions were popping up in her mind, questions to which she had no answers. What will happen when I start to get old and he doesn't? What did he tell her once; oh yeah, vampires age one year for a human’s four years. So in twenty years, I'll be 47 and he will still look to be early 30's, and it will only get worse. When I die of old age, then what will happen to Devon? He could live hundreds and hundreds of years. How many wives will he have after me?

  Her mind was getting the better of her and a cold sweat was starting to spread over her skin, when the sweet brown eyes opened and looked at her.

  "What is it, Sweetness? Why are you so tense all of a sudden?" He stroked her hair as she laid her head back on his chest and listened to his heart thumping. She closed her eyes for a moment and concentrated on his heart until the tension slowly dissipated.

  "I'm sorry I woke you. I didn't mean to. I just... well."

  "What is it?" he asked again.

  "I started thinking about what our children would look like. Brown eyes? Or blue? Your nose? Or mine? And then I realized I don't know how to care for a vampire child. Will he be biting me all the time? Will he be ravenous for blood? Will he be like a made vampire? Uncontrollable? And what about age? In twenty years I'll be 47 and you will look like you just turned 30. Will you marry again?"

  "I know it is not ideal, our situation, but we will work through the problems together. I can age with you. I can control my aging to match yours. As for children, we will have beautiful, wonderful children, like you. We'll do it together. You won't be alone. It will be OUR adventure that only we share. I can't tell you what the future will bring, no one can. I can't imagine wanting to live a life without you after you pass. If we are lucky enough to have children together, well, I guess I would want to see our children's children, I don't know. I do know I won't feel this way about anyone else. You are the love of my life. One life and one love are more than enough for me if they are with you."

  "Thank you."

  "For what?"

  "For knowing what to say to make me feel better. I know these questions can't be answered with exactness, but you do a pretty good job. But what about our children?"

  "I told you. If we are lucky enough, we'll have beautiful children, like you."

  "No, I mean, can a human properly care for a vampire baby?"

  "Well, it's been done before, so I know you can do it. As for what he/she will be like, we have Dr. Rowe to help in that area when the time comes. I'm sure he will be able to answer any questions we have."

  "Dr. Rowe, yes, that is a good idea."

  "What I think we should discuss is where are we going to live? California? Connecticut? Have any thoughts?"

  "No. I never really have given it much thought. I was just so busy trying to find you. I don't know? I don't really feel like California is home anymore after what's happened. I mean I don't harbor any ill feelings towards Blake and Rowan, but I just can't imagine going back and living under the same roof as if nothing happened either. I wouldn't feel right about living with Dominic and Anton, either. What about you? Do you have any thoughts or feelings on the subject?"

  "Like you, I don't have any pent up anger towards my family, in particular, Blake, but I think with us starting out on our own lives that we should have a place of our own and I would like to provide that for us. I do have one thought, but it would be a HUGE change for both of us."

  "Oh? What would that be?"

  "I was thinking we could open up the house my parents left me in Ireland. When they died, the house in Maine was left to Blake and the house in Ireland was left to me. I always loved it there. It's beautiful and quiet and I think you will absolutely love the house. I mean, it doesn't have to be a permanent thing if we decide later we want to come back to the states, but it's a start. You haven't really said what you would like to do now that you've sold the bookstore to Sally. I mean, you could always open another. Or you could just wait and see what tickles your fancy. You don't have to work. I have plenty to keep us happy for a long, long while, plus, I can work from there. If we decide to do this, I could have the house upgraded electrically along with setting it up so I can work online from there to anywhere."

  "Really? Ireland? Wow! That would be amazing! But what about Harry, my cat?"

  "He is a problem. I believe that when you take an animal from one country to another there is a quarantine period of three to six months. Though sometimes they will let the quarantine be in your own home, it is subjective. Harry would be miserable if he couldn't be with us or with Rowan. I think if we moved there, Harry would be happier staying in California in the environment he's known all his life. Even if we could get him quarantined to our home, he wouldn't be able to go outside, like he does at home."

  "That would make him miserable. I had to keep him inside for a week one time when he got hurt and he was miserable and made everyone around him miserable."

  "Well, we don't have to decide this very second."

  "I know, but Ireland...that's pretty wonderful. I suppose I need to talk to Rowan anyway, so I'll talk to her about Harry too, but aside from Harry, I say we do it. Maybe we could even have the wedding there. I could even look up any O'Riellys that might live there too. This is so exciting, Devon. Ireland? I think it's a great idea."

  "I'm so glad. I really think it will be a nice start for us too."

  "I'm going to miss this house though. If we were to ever move to the east coast, this is the house I'd want to live in. It is absolutely perfect."

  "Then I know you are going to love the house, I mean, OUR house in Ireland."

  "So what's it like?"

  "It's not too far from the coast and it's made of stone and has a sweeping thatched roof. A huge kitchen, with five bedrooms and green fields for as far as you can see."

  "Sounds wonderful."

  "It is and it will be even more wonderful sharing it with you and starting our lives together there."

  She held him and daydreamed of the home he described in Ireland. THEIR home.

  "Since we are both in agreement, maybe we should head back to Connecticut and get some family time in with Anton and Dominic while I make some calls and get the renovations started in Ireland. You should probably get your passport in order too.”

  "Passport? I don't have a passport."

  "Well, then we should get that taken care of right away. I'll give Dominic a call today and let him know that we will be back in a couple of days. I'll start making calls and start the wheels in motion."

  "I love you, Mr. Bloomington."

  He kissed her hand adorned with the engagement ring and said, "And I love you, soon to be MRS
. Bloomington."

  Chapter 22

  Blake's cell phone rang around noon blinking "Dominic" across its screen.

  "Dominic? Hi."

  "Hello, Blake. Good news."

  "Yeah? Great."

  "I got a call from Devon today."

  "Yeah? It's official then?"

  "Yes. She said yes, of course I had no doubt that would be her answer."

  "Yeah. After what she went through to find him, it would be kind of weird for her to say no, huh?"

  "Uh, right. Anyway, they will be back in two days and I was hoping to pull together a small surprise engagement party for them."

  "That's very nice of you, Dominic. I know Devon would like that."

  "You will come, won't you? Along with the others?"

  "Uh, yeah. Rowan and I wouldn't miss it. I can't speak for Dean and Sally, but I'll talk to them. However, there is the issue of Josh, still. We can't leave him here unprotected."

  "Of course not. No, he must come along. I insist."

  "Okay, I'll talk to everyone and let you know."

  "We don't have much time, so do it right away. As soon as I get confirmation from you, I will send tickets for all of you to come to Connecticut."

  "Okay. Sounds great, Dominic. I'll try to let you know by this evening. I'm so glad it's finally out in the open, I was having a hard time keeping it from Rowan."

  "I'll bet. Okay, then I will wait for your response. Talk to you later."

  "Right. Bye, Dominic."

  "Good-bye, Blake."

  As Blake ended the call Rowan walked into the room. "Did I hear you say Dominic?"

  "Yeah, Sweet-cheeks, and I've got some news."

  "Good I hope."

  "Definitely. Devon proposed to Darby and they are officially engaged. He gave her mom's ring and everything."

  Rowan's face lit up and she started jumping up and down, holding her mouth like she was going to explode. "Oh my God!" she screamed over and over again, until the rest of the household came running.