The Vampires of Soldiers Cove: One Crow Sorrow

by Jessica MacIntyre

  “Thanks Rachel,” he said, planting another tiny kiss on my cheek. “Alright, I guess so. I can be back in a flash I’m just a phone call away if you need me.”

  “I know.” Just then I heard a strange scratching sound coming from across the yard that no human would have been able to detect.

  Gavin saw the look on my face and knew I was picking up something on the ‘long range scanners’ as he sometimes called it.

  “What is it? What are you hearing?” I padded to the kitchen window and looked out to see Maggie digging a big hole on the other side of the driveway.

  “Um…Gavin. Come look at this.”

  “Ah shit,” he said, making his way over to stand behind me.

  Ian’s curiosity got the better of him and he joined us at the window. “What are you guys looking at?” he said. Then he saw the dog. “You heard that from all the way in here?”

  “That’s nothing,” Gavin bragged, “she can hear from one end of this cove to the other and much farther out when she wants to. Picks up peoples thoughts and starts fires just by thinking about it too.”

  Ian’s face was a mixture of fascination and fear. “No kidding? Can you read vampire thoughts?”

  “Yes, but it takes more effort,” I said. “I usually leave it shut off. I’ve heard enough to last me a lifetime.”

  “That’s how she was able to tell us what Samuel was up to before he got here. She got inside his mind.”

  “I can sure see why they made the exception and turned you if that’s the case.” Ian was talking about my French Acadian roots. Descendants of Acadian people are almost never made vampires due to the mess it caused in 1755.

  Although history tells people the Acadians were deported from Port Royal because of their reluctance to sign over their allegiance to the king, that hadn’t been the real story. They were deported because most of the Acadians who had been made vampire had refused to feed. They preferred starving to death in agony as opposed to taking human lives. Their English makers saw this as an insult. So much so in fact that when I was turned some in the Soldiers Cove clan had wanted me staked immediately. Not the least of which was Gavin’s own brother James, who was now thankfully dead. Death by fire from the inside out after skewering me to a tree. My only regret about killing him was that I could only do it once. Every time I had nightmares about the horrible disgusting thing he did to me, I woke up wanting to kill him all over again.

  “Gavin you better have a talk with that dog before she digs the hole any deeper.”

  “I’m on it,” he said as he stepped outside.

  “He’s got a bad case of Blood Bond Syndrome doesn’t he?” Ian said when we were left alone.

  “I’m afraid so, he’s been really bad lately. He can’t seem to be alone at all.”

  Ian gave me a reassuring pat on the shoulder and smiled. “Don’t worry, I’ll get him out of your hair for a bit today. I’ve seen worse cases. It’ll pass Rach.”

  “I hope so. I think he’s suffering more than he wants to admit and I feel like I’m the cause.”

  “No, don’t think like that. You’re not. It’s just something that happens. He’ll be ok. I’ll get him running today, might clear his head a bit.”

  “Thanks Ian. That’s kind of you.” Even though I didn’t know him I could tell he cared about Gavin a great deal and wanted to help. I was grateful for that because I was at a loss as to how I was going to help him myself, and even Holly and the rest of the clan didn’t seem to know what to do.

  Squeezing my shoulder, he turned and looked out the window to where Gavin was knelt in the yard, the little dog’s head in his hands in silent conversation. “I’ve always been fascinated with the way he does that,” he said, referring to Gavin’s ability to communicate with animals.

  “Yeah it’s pretty amazing.”

  “Not as amazing as being pyrokenetic.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, it’s definitely come in handy. What about you? Any special talents?”

  “Oh, I have one or two,” he winked.

  A few moments later Gavin was back in the kitchen and Maggie was settled on her blanket with a chew toy. “She won’t do it again. I’m just glad she didn’t tear the bandage.”

  “We better get going,” Ian said. Gavin kissed me and reminded me once more that he had his phone with him and it would be on.

  “Honestly, I’m fine,” I assured him. “I might go into town later to run some errands. You guys have fun.” With that they were out the door. I spotted them just as they went into the tree line shoving each other like teenagers. No matter how old they get boys like to rough house, and these boys were plenty old. Gavin was over eighty, and Ian, well, I wasn’t sure how old Ian was. I’d have to remember to ask him tonight just for curiosity’s sake.

  I walked by Maggie on my way to the computer. “No more digging you.” She gave me a guilty look but it was a face you couldn’t stay mad at. I laughed and patted her on her fury little head.

  Sitting there staring at a blank document screen I tried to think of a way to sum up my Aunt Sarah’s life. The words wouldn’t come. Beginning over and over again only to delete it a moment later was starting to frustrate me and so I decided to take the truck into town instead. Gavin had a McLauren, a very fancy expensive car, which he was now letting me drive but I wasn’t the best driver, given that I had almost no experience. Years of hearing voices and being a recluse will stunt you like that. I knew I’d never forgive myself if anything went wrong. The way Gavin treated that car was almost like a mistress. Lady McLauren had the best of everything.

  I felt more comfortable behind the wheel of the old pickup truck his Dad had given us. It was rough looking but the blue and white Ford ran like a top. I put on my special sun glasses, Prada no less, which completely blocked out the harmful effects of the sun on my eyes and hopped in. As a new vampire the sun still bothered me, although not as badly as it had six months ago. I could stand a little bit of exposure now, but not enough to drive a car. The sun coming in through the windshield would have been too painful, rendering me helpless.

  I stopped at the little house in St. Peters that served as our town’s funeral home to see how the arrangements were coming along. The old undertaker assured me everything was coming along fine and would be ready for the first day of the wake tomorrow. He squeezed my hand and sent me on my way. Knowing now that he was another vampire made sense, seeing as he had buried everyone I’ve ever known, and he never aged.

  I stopped at the grocery store as well to get a few things. A wake involved food and although most of my Aunt’s friends would probably bring some I felt it was only right to contribute too. I only planned to be a few minutes, but the grocery store in St. Peter’s has a notorious way of keeping you there because you always manage to run into everyone you’ve ever known, especially when you are in a hurry or you look like hell.

  A girl I went to high school with approached and decided to start a conversation, which was strange because I never thought she liked me; in fact if memory served me well, she was someone who had openly railed against me after discovering my illness. It seemed like a hundred years ago and I couldn’t even remember her name anymore.

  “Sorry to hear about your Aunt, Rachel,” she said.

  “Thanks,” I said, trying to sound like I really cared that she had come over. It was good practice because I’d have to endure this from everyone over the next few days.

  “I bet you’ll really miss her. I bet you’re happy you went and got married though. I saw you with that gorgeous thing in town a few times. What’s his name again?”

  “Gavin.”

  There it is, I thought. The real reason she wants to talk to me. She wants more information on how the town nut job is suddenly doing so much better and married to the most handsome man she’d ever seen. I knew that because I had opened up her head and was rummaging around in her thoughts now.

  “How did you ever find that?”

  “Um, the internet,” I said, thinking
fast.

  “Jesus! I’ll have to get me a computer. Well take care.” With that she was off. As she walked away she was wondering if he knew about my mental problems and if she shouldn’t just tell him herself. She could offer him a shoulder to cry on when he found out, and lots of other body parts too. I shut off the sound coming from her self-entitled, snotty mind and got my stuff before high tailing it out of there. I had an obituary to write.

  Chapter Six

  I went home to stare at the screen for another half hour before finally putting together a decent obituary. I read it over once and emailed it right away, not wanting to think about it too much more or I’d be hitting delete and starting from scratch yet again.

  Then I began preparations on the food. Sandwiches and cookies mostly. I had not really cooked much since being turned but I liked to do it and threw myself into it. All of the chopping, mixing and prepping was kind of therapeutic. Before I knew it the sun had gone down. It was ten o’clock when Gavin walked in the door. He stood there covered in dirt, clothes ripped and barefoot.

  “What the hell?” I said.

  “Hey,” he said, wobbling on his feet a little. “No worries. We ran full out almost all day.”

  “Did you have a good time?”

  “Yeah it was great. Perfect in fact.”

  “Well that’s good,” I said turning around to put some dishes in the sink. “You feel any better?” I began to fill it with water when suddenly Gavin’s arms were around me and he was kissing my neck. The familiar feel of his lips and teeth pressing against my skin before the bite still made me shudder, it was a pleasure sensation that I hoped I’d never get used to.

  “Much better,” he growled in my ear. I moved my hair out of the way to give him easier access, but as his hands slid over top of mine I noticed something was off, his wedding ring was gone.

  “Your ring,” I said. Gavin looked down realizing for the first time that it was missing.

  “Oh no. I must have lost it when we were running. I’m sorry. I’ll look for it tomorrow. Are you mad?”

  “No, not a big deal.” It did make me a little sad. Our rings were solid platinum and perfectly matched in everything except size. “Maybe it’ll turn up.”

  He planted another small kiss on my neck and then backed away. “I need a shower and new clothes,” he said.

  “Is Ian staying again tonight?”

  “No, he’s at the sanctuary. He’ll come back for his things tomorrow.”

  “That’s too bad. I was really looking forward to talking to him again. How old is he anyway? He said he knew my mother.”

  “He’s about three hundred and fifty years old, give or take. You think he’s a good guy?” Even though I had told him so last night, Gavin seemed to still need my approval on his brother.

  “Sure, you obviously think a lot of him so if you like him he must be.” Gavin’s expression changed, turning thoughtful all of a sudden.

  “Yeah, I trust him,” he said. Without another word he turned and headed for the bedroom for his much needed shower.

  I didn’t bother sleeping that night but I did lay in bed tossing and turning for some reason. Old habits die hard, especially under stress. Gavin stayed in the living room watching TV.

  He wasn’t much of a TV person so I figured something good must have caught his attention. The next morning I was packing up the food for the wake when I heard Gavin stumble into the kitchen and sit at the table behind me.

  “Wanna help me load all this stuff into the truck?”

  “No,” he said. That was strange. The man who was always ready to jump when I asked him to had turned sullen out of nowhere. I spun around to look at him.

  “Everything alright?” Just then he doubled over as if he was having some kind of cramp. I went to him and kneeled down putting my hand on his stomach. “What’s wrong?” A vampire feeling sick was definitely unusual and cause for concern.

  “We had some deer blood last night is all it is.” Animal blood was potentially deadly to vampires. Not only that but it seemed odd that Gavin would drink it, given his affinity and connection to animals.

  “That wasn’t very smart,” I said.

  “I don’t need you to tell me that,” he snapped back. Gavin rarely got angry with me and he must have seen the look of shock and hurt on my face. He steadied himself realizing what he’d done. “I’m sorry Rach. I didn’t mean it.”

  “It’s ok,” I said. It wasn’t. I felt a slight lump in my throat but swallowed it so it wouldn’t show. “You want me to call Holly? Maybe she can help.”

  “No, I just need to go for a walk.”

  “A walk? Maybe you should lie down.”

  “No, I’ll be back later,” he said and quickly crossed the room to the door. Maggie was standing there hoping someone would let her out and when she blocked Gavin’s way he gave her a kick, causing her to yelp. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. I wanted to say something but thought better of it and so just stayed silent. I watched from the door as he made his way through the backyard.

  Crossing the property he disappeared into the trees. I thought about going after him but he didn’t seem like he wanted to be bothered. I reasoned that he must be very miserable to treat an animal that way. It was a shock to have him be so unkind, but I told myself that it had to happen sometime. Maybe the honeymoon was over and not only had the Blood Bond Syndrome subsided, but perhaps the sweet talk was about to die down as well. My parents were madly in love with each other until the day they died, but they sure knew how to fight. I gave Maggie a pat on the head.

  “Don’t worry, Daddy’s not feeling well I guess.” She gave a slow sad wag of her tail as if she understood.

  Even though I knew he didn’t want me to, I called Holly anyway to see if she had any suggestions. “They did what?” she said. “Fucking stupid! Gavin knows better than to follow Ian’s lead on anything.”

  “Is there anything that will make him feel better?”

  “No, just time, and willing yourself to sleep helps. It’s like a major hangover. He’ll probably sleep it off in the woods. He’s slept in worse places I’m sure,” she laughed.

  Holly was right. Given that Gavin had the ability to turn into a crow he had probably slept in many places I’d never even thought of.

  “Thanks Holly. I guess I’ll just leave him be for now.”

  “That would be best,” she said. “Daniel and I will see you later today at the funeral home. Do you need anything?”

  “No. Thanks though. I made enough food to feed everyone who shows up and then some.”

  We said our goodbyes and hung up, and then I finished packing up the truck and headed into the shower to get ready. I hated wakes in general but when I had to play hostess at one they were particularly dreadful. I don’t know who came up with the idea of propping the dead person up in the center of the room for everyone to look at, but I was sure that if I ever found him I’d choke him.

  Chapter Seven

  Wakes are exhausting. In the middle of your grief you are expected to receive people in a line like they are congratulating you for something. I spent most of the day in the little room on the couch next to the coffin having to talk to everyone that came in. It’s a constant barrage on the senses. I spent most of the day thanking god I could now control the voices. If I had still been human I’m sure this would have been a day that I’d be curled up in the fetal position in the corner taking extra doses of anti-psychotics.

  Holly and Daniel appeared about three hours in. She was the closest thing I’d ever had to a sister and her presence was always comforting. I had leaned on her a lot over the last few months in trying to adjust. Gavin too of course, but there are some things only other women understand and as nice as it is to have an attentive husband, there were times I felt a little crowded by the blood bond. Holly was someone I could go off with and not have Gavin sit alone suffering while I was gone. He trusted her with my life and so did I.

  “How you holding up?” she
said

  “Been better. I wish Gavin was here though.”

  “Trust me the way he’s probably feeling right now I’m sure he’d rather be here too.”

  Daniel laughed at the thought of Gavin hung over on deer blood. “I done that a few times,” he said through his thick Cape Breton accent.

  “Why does anyone do it if it makes them so sick?”

  “Because, if you can drink just the right amount it’s like being drunk. Tricky though. Too much and you die. Gots to be careful you does,” he said. Daniel was a big burly man with long black hair halfway down his back. He looked like a cross between a biker and a rock star. He was the total opposite of Holly with her small stature and pixie face.