“Really? Who killed Emily Samson then?” Reyna fell silent lowering her eyes. “That’s what I thought.”
Holly grabbed my hand pulling me to my feet and escorted me out the door. “Something else my brother hasn’t taught you,” she said.
“What’s that?”
“Restraint. You don’t know how to control your defensive instinct. If we all make it through this I plan to have a serious talk with him about his skills as your guardian.” Holly was fuming.
“Angus lifted the guardianship so we could get married. Remember?”
“Yes, but that was supposed to be on paper only. He’s the only maker you have, he should still be teaching you. He took the lifting of the title much too literally, I see that now.”
“Holly don’t...”
“By not teaching you the things you need to know he’s leaving you vulnerable. He can’t just throw you to the wolves like that.” Her eyes softened and she looked at me with what I could only call shame. “You’re like a wild animal Rachel. He hasn’t tamed you. Young vampires, no matter how docile they look, are like large predators. As vampires we’re always walking the line between monster and human. You can get to a place where instinct takes over and all you are is monster, the kind any human would have the right to fear. We have to be careful, you especially.”
“Holly,” I said, “that’s ridiculous. I’ve never felt like a monster.” I really didn’t, even though I had killed two people without meaning to.
She simply shook her head. “You will if someone doesn’t break you. If he won’t I’ll have to do it myself.” Her eyes were burning with such intensity that it was almost painful. I broke contact.
“Break me? What’s that supposed to mean?” She started to say something but I put up my hand stopping her. “You know what? Never mind. Let’s just get him back and then we’ll worry about my lack of humanity ok?”
Easing up she said, “Yes, first things first.”
Chapter Thirty One
Outside the hunters were combing the woods. Quickly and thoroughly they scouted the area as they moved out, further and further away from the sanctuary.
“What now?” I said. “I don’t see how we can possibly look for him with all the hunters on his trail.”
“They might be hunters,” Holly said, “but you have better hearing than most of them. We’ll have to rely on your ears.”
“There’s so much other noise though. I don’t know if it will work.”
“You have to try Rachel.” She was right. I opened up my hearing. Doing this in the proximity of a lot of activity was always disturbing. It reminded me too much of when I was human. The chaos of the voices always there, always permeating and unending. So much noise jumbled up and too many things to listen to.
Through the crush of sound I couldn’t hear anything useful. So much was going on that one thing couldn’t be distinguished from another. “It’s no good,” I said. “I’m going to try something else.”
I closed my eyes and reached out with my mind. Our connection had been lost before but I hoped that since I had connected with his mind just a short time ago that perhaps I could do it again.
For a few moments all I got was darkness. Then suddenly an image appeared. It came so hard and fast that it was as if someone had shot it from a cannon. It jolted me forward and I was overcome with the sensation of water. It flooded my senses and I smelled, tasted and felt myself being encompassed by it completely. Then I was looking through another pair of eyes, Gavin’s eyes.
“He’s in the water,” I said.
“But that could be anywhere around here. Keep trying.” She was right. There were small streams and a couple of rocky beaches too. We couldn’t possibly check them all in hopes of finding him before the hunters did.
I reached out again, the water embracing me once more. Where are you? I thought. Suddenly a voice came back at me. Gavin’s voice was as clear as if he had been standing right there.
Pond.
“He’s in the pond,” I said. We ran as fast as we could. Soldiers Cove pond was not far or even very large but it might take some time to check it. Every second was going to count. I didn’t even know what we’d do if and when we found him and I don’t think Holly did either, but we had to find him fast so we could figure that out.
The pond was like glass. Not a ripple from a breath of wind or movement of a fish jumping. It was late October and all the beautiful fall colors were reflected in its surface.
That all changed as we made our way down the embankment. The wind from our unnatural movement formed small waves on the calm surface.
“Start looking,” Holly said, “you take everything from here down.” Holly pointed from the center to one side that bordered on someone’s property. “And I’ll do the other end. If you find him take him to that spot over there where we’ll be hidden,” she said pointing to the trees on the opposite side of the pond.
I nodded and spent a moment thanking god that vampires couldn’t drown. I walked into the pond until my head was covered and began looking around. Although it was the picture of calmness and peace on top the bottom was anything but. The floor was a mess of thick seaweed that made it hard to see, and old garbage that people had thrown in here years and years before still lingered.
I walked slowly and carefully, ripping seaweed from its roots to increase my visibility. I stepped on an old goalie mask that that looked like something out of a Friday the Thirteenth movie and shuddered kicking it aside. There were also lost sticks and pucks, even the remnants of a goalie net. The pond was a favorite winter haunt of kids who dreamed of playing the game and beneath the surface it certainly showed. The vegetation was so thick that he could have been lying right in front of me and I never would have known it.
My lungs filled with the brackish water, and even though it didn’t matter, it was still an unnerving sensation. Then from the corner of my eye I saw something strange. Something that didn’t quite belong there. Something red. I darted over as fast as I could only slightly slowed by the water. I wished I could remember what color shirt Gavin had been wearing but of course this morning it hadn’t been important.
Reaching out I grabbed the red fabric, tearing away the weeds to get a better grip on it. Indeed he had been wearing a red shirt, I was clamping onto it right now, and so was another hand. I looked up expecting to see Holly, but no one was there, and upon looking at his shirt again the hand had disappeared. I rolled him over onto his back and detangled the debris from his hair.
Picking him up I began to make my way to the shore where Holly and I had gone in with the intention of walking around on land to the trees she had pointed at. I thought better of it however and decided to walk the length of the pond until I came out at that point. It seemed safer somehow.
On my way there I walked past Holly. Not being able to verbalize as my mouth and lungs were filled with the fluid I brushed her shoulder intentionally as I went past. She fell in step behind me and we walked the floor of the pond together.
With Gavin in my arms I let Holly climb first and then walked out myself. She took him from me as I climbed onto the shore. We went a few feet into the growth and kneeled down next to him. He was unconscious now. Suddenly I felt a huge cramping in my chest and stomach. I turned away just in time to double over and retch out a large quantity of liquid from my body. A moment later Holly did the same.
Gavin sprang to life as well and began vomiting. He was weak and I held his body up as the water made its way out. As soon as he was done he passed out again.
“That was disgusting,” I said wiping the salty taste from my mouth.
“It always is,” Holly said. “Let’s take him back to my place and get him stabilized.”
Picking him up I followed her until we reached the door of the old ranch style farmhouse. Carefully we went up the stairs and I laid him down on the king size bed in Holly’s room. All of us were soaked and the floors and bed sheets were quickly drenched.
We dr
ew the curtains and closed all the windows hoping it would be enough to cover our scent temporarily at least. It was inevitable that they would track us here and we had to figure out what to do when the time came.
Holly sat on the bed checking Gavin over until she was satisfied, then she covered him with a large quilt.
“We have to hide him,” I said. “What if they don’t find Ian? What if they don’t believe us or want him dead anyway?”
“Even if we did hide him, he’d never be safe for very long and he’d spend the rest of his life running. The best thing we can do is pray they find Ian and that he confesses.”
I couldn’t believe Ian had been responsible for the agony we had all gone through in the last couple of months. The days and nights spent worrying, and the benefits he got from it, benefits which I willingly supplied. I had been a fool and a traitor. My only hope was that Gavin never found out, and if he did that he could forgive me. At least the situation with Aries wouldn’t go any further, that was one thing to be grateful for.
“How could he have done all this? I mean how is it even possible that all those people saw Gavin killing, that I saw Gavin killing, when he was buried the whole time?” I said.
Holly mopped up the water covering the floor with all the towels that she had in the house and threw me a dry change of clothes. “I don’t know,” she said, “but Ian has been away a long time. God knows what kind of vampires he’s been keeping company with and what tricks they might have taught him.”
I thought about that for a minute. “Holly, why do we stay here?” I could tell she didn’t fully understand what I was asking. She raised her brows in question.
“What I mean is, if we are immortal and powerful and can be as free as we want to be why do so many of us stay in Soldiers Cove?” I now realized that the place was littered with vampires. Few of the residents here were actually human.
She paused for a moment and I could tell she was thinking about how best to frame her answer. “Security,” she said. “We’re secure here with one another. Protected and safe.”
“Protected from what?”
“Things you can’t even imagine, Rachel. In clans like this one we can live peacefully. Go to any major city and it’s a mess. Sometimes they have an authority, usually a corrupt one, but some places have an ‘every vampire for himself’ mentality, and that is a truly risky way to live.”
“Ian said he lived in the jungle and there are no rules. That he loved it.”
Holly snorted, “Yeah, he would.”
Just then Gavin moaned and doubled over. He was awake and in pain. “He needs to feed,” I said.
“I know, but I don’t know how to do that without drawing attention to ourselves. He’ll have to take some of ours until we can get a human. You ok to donate?”
I had been practically drained and probably was in need of a human myself but I nodded anyway. “Good,” she said, “Let’s see if we can get the pain to stop at least.”
Chapter Thirty Two
We each let Gavin take a large quantity of our blood until the pain stopped. When I was done feeding him I felt sick both mentally and physically. I crawled in bed next to him, hugging him at the waist and placing my head on his shoulder. He was stronger and able to speak now. I curled up next to him partly out of exhaustion but mostly just because I wanted to be close to him.
“Where’s Ian?” he asked, enclosing me in his arms.
“We don’t know, Angus has the hunters looking for him.” Gavin held me as tightly as he could in his weakened state. I saw the look of concern on his face. “They’ll get him. He’ll confess and then you can come home.”
“Confess?”
“Yes, it was him that put you in the death sleep.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, Alexander said he followed you guys and that Ian attacked you and then attacked him,” I waited for a response but he just laid there staring blankly ahead.
“That doesn’t sound right. I wish I could remember,” he said.
“Maybe for now it’s better that you don’t.” I brushed the matted hair away from his face. He had been through the ringer and looked like hell. I didn’t look so good myself. I had caught a glimpse of my reflection in the mirror while changing and I looked like death warmed over.
Holly looked pretty awful too. She had given most of her blood to Gavin and her usually bright skin looked ashen and drawn. “Gavin,” she said, “when Ian broke you out of the cell did he say anything to you? Anything that might help us figure out where he went?”
“He just said he wouldn’t let them kill me. That he was going to keep me alive no matter what it took.” That didn’t sound like the words of someone who was looking to frame his brother for a string of brutal deaths. “You’re sure he’s the one?”
Holly was most definitely ready to believe it. “Oh yes, I don’t doubt Alexander’s word.”
“What if Alexander didn’t see what he thinks he saw? Or what if the blood influence screwed up his memory?” I said.
Holly clenched her fists. “It’s the only explanation that works.”
Gavin let out a deep and tired sigh. “You should sleep,” I said. “Maybe when you wake up you’ll remember.” I gave him my best reassuring smile and tried to make it realistic.
“I don’t want to sleep, I want to be with you. I have to make sure you’re ok, Rachel.”
“It’s you that needs to be ok. Let me take care of you. I’m strong enough to do it, Gavin. Strong enough for both of us. You have to let me be the one to care for you now.”
His weakened and trembling hands reached out for my face and he gently stroked my cheeks with the tips of his fingers. He was sick, weak and facing execution and still had no thoughts for himself. It was only my well-being he needed assured. “Are you ok? Has anyone hurt you while I’ve been gone? I never wanted to leave you alone Rachel, never.”
Had anyone hurt me? Yes. Ian had hurt me. He had hurt me tremendously. Lied and taken advantage of me and tempted me into betraying the one and only person who had ever truly loved me. “No,” I said forcing a weak smile. “Nobody’s hurt me. I’m right here, and I’m ok. I’m fine.”
I could tell he didn’t totally buy it but he smiled back at me anyway, then lay his head back on the pillow and closed his eyes. “I love you Rachel,” he whispered before losing consciousness again. “So much…” I needed to sleep too but I couldn’t let myself. There was work to be done and things to be figured out.
As soon as I knew he was out I pushed myself slowly to my elbows, and then swung my legs over the side of the bed. They felt like jelly and I staggered a bit when attempting to stand. I was going to get blood hungry soon. Taking a deep breath I pushed the looming presence of my primal need down as far as I could and stood up.
I realized Gavin needed a change of clothes too. He was still soaking wet from the pond. Being deep into a willed sleep I figured I could get him changed without even waking him up.
“Holly, he needs to get out of those clothes. Do you have anything he can wear?”
Holly snapped out of the trance she had been in. “Oh, yeah. Check the closet. Daniel is bigger than he is but you should be able to find something.” She turned her back on me and headed for the stairs. “Tea?” she asked.
“Sure.” When she was gone I opened up the large double doors of the walk in closet and began rummaging through Daniel’s clothes. There wasn’t much on the hangers that looked like it would fit but there were some piles of older looking clothes on the floor and so I began to rummage through that. I found a shirt and pants that looked semi decent.
As I lifted the crinkled shirt from its place on the floor something stuck out. Something metal and hard was hidden under the pile of clothes. This was strictly Daniel’s closet, Holly had a much more organized one on the other side of the room that was the same size. I moved the mass of wrinkled garments and realized I was looking at a bicycle. It was red and seemed to be brand new. In perfect condition, except
for a broken chain. It was certainly an odd place for such a thing, considering they had a garage and a barn. There would be no need to store it there. And since when did Daniel ride a bicycle anyway? A motor bike yes, he had one of those, but a bicycle?
Next to the bicycle was something else. A pair of work boots. They looked much too small for Daniel. I lifted them up and examined them, and then a horrible realization hit me. They were Gavin’s boots. The night Gavin had come home from his run with Ian he was barefoot, along with having all the rest of his clothes in tatters. The boots he had been wearing were gone and there could only be one explanation as to why they were here.
Just then Holly came back in the room with the tea. I threw some other clothes over the boots and bicycle and quickly made my way back out.
“Did you find something?” she said.
“Yeah,” I said holding up what I’d found. I undressed and dressed Gavin and then sat down with Holly on the loveseat across the room. All manner of awful thoughts were running through my head and I had to be careful. I needed answers without giving away what I was thinking. There was a possibility I could be wrong and I didn’t want it to lead to any sort of conflict that might result in her withdrawing her assistance. After all Daniel had tracked Gavin for days, perhaps he had found the boots and brought them back here.
“Holly,” I said, “when you and Daniel went to look for Gavin after I saw him kill Nina did you find anything?”
“No, nothing. We would have told you. Why?” She didn’t seem to suspect why I was asking. She just sat and continued to sip her tea and stare sadly into the cup.
“No reason.”
We sat in silence for a long time until Gavin stirred as if something had disturbed him in his sleep. I stood to go see if he was alright when abruptly there was a crash from downstairs, accompanied by masses of shouting. Then the thumping hit the stairs. The hunters had found us.
The Vampires of Soldiers Cove: One Crow Sorrow Page 20
