Without turning around, I could feel their eyes watching me from the window and wondered how I could possibly know this. It wasn’t like the kind of feeling you get when you have a hunch. I knew it for fact. It was obvious that Randall could read my thoughts, but was it also possible that I had some sort of weak connection to him as well? When I thought about our brief history together, I realized this wasn’t the first time I’d had a feeling like this.
If what he said about being my grandfather was the truth, then what about all the things he’d said about Daniel? Had he tried to break us up for our own good? If so, I’d sure made it easy for him. An image of Ben flashed through my mind, the heartbreakingly beautiful smile he’d worn after he’d backed away on the bench.
Without meaning to, I found myself wandering around the yard. Hands deep in the pockets of my jeans, I kicked at stones and pondered not only the events of the morning, but how they fit into the empty pieces of the puzzle that made up the last few months of my life. I was trying these new pieces of information into the empty spots to see how they fit. I felt the Professor’s hand affectionately brush my hair as I half slept on his sofa. Saw his eyes flash to Daniel in the lecture hall when I’d looked at him questioningly. How many other empty holes were there that I didn’t even know existed?
As I circled around the house for the fourth time, Daniel cautiously sauntered out the back door and fell into step beside me. He didn’t say anything as we walked along. I guess he had a lot to think about as well. After a while I worked up the courage to look over at him. His brow slightly furrowed, he appeared as deep in thought as I had been.
Two laps later, he finally spoke.
“I knew Randall was against our relationship, but I had no idea he’d go that far.”
“Why was he against it to begin with?” I asked in a surprisingly civil tone.
“I’m not a hundred percent sure, but if I had to guess it was partly because he wants you to live, and being with us will always endanger you. But I think it’s also because he wants you to eventually marry and have children someday, so his family will continue.” He stopped walking. “And if we should marry, I wouldn’t be able to give you a child.”
His words stopped me in my tracks. I think my mouth might have fallen open as I stared up into his sky blue eyes. Shaking it off, I closed my mouth and began to walk again. As we walked along in silence, I pondered the meaning behind his words.
Suddenly Daniel stopped again.
“Look, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but Lucy and I were never involved. Yes, she’d wanted to be, but I turned her down decades ago and well, she’s still a little touchy about it. I do love her, but that’s because she’s like family, like a cousin. I care about her, but she is definitely not my type.”
I stared up at him blankly for a long uncomfortable moment then resumed my walking. He caught up a second later and we continued to circle, the Professor still watching from somewhere inside the house.
We slowly circled in silence for another hour or so before the Professor finally came out the back door.
“I’m going to take a run and see if I can pick up any sign of him. You two stay near the house.”
Then he disappeared in a blur. I’d never get used to seeing them run so fast that they just blurred out in front of me. Especially the Professor, or Randall, or whatever his name really was.
Shaking my head in silent resignation, I walked over to the back porch and sat down on the edge as I looked at the big barn across the wide expanse of the backyard. Daniel slowly followed behind and took a seat a few feet away from me.
“Do you think he tracked me here? The hunter?”
“I don’t know, it’s possible. Randall will pick up on him if he did. When you get to be as old as he is – well, he’s the best.”
When I leaned back, I felt the butt of my gun uncomfortably digging into the small of my back. Reaching around, I pulled it out and felt the reassuring weight of it in my hand. Taking a moment to examine it, I pulled the magazine out to check that it was fully loaded. I hadn’t checked it since I’d brought it with me to school, and had been in too much of a hurry when I’d pulled it out of its hiding place in my room to check it as I should have. The day I’d first arrived at NPU, I’d quickly squirreled it away under my bed knowing I’d get expelled if anyone ever found it. Guns on college campuses aren’t generally considered a good idea. That said, my father had insisted I take it. We’d actually had a fight about it when I first refused. I shoved the magazine back in with the butt of my hand like I’d done a thousand times before thend laid it down beside me on the porch.
“You never cease to amaze me,” Daniel said as he stared at the gun on the gray slate of the porch.
“Why, because I know about firearms?”
“Yes. And because you ran all the way here only to try and pull a gun on your hunter. Sometimes your motivations baffle me.” I think he was smiling despite himself.
“Well, I like to maintain a certain air of mystery. It’s a human thing.” It had sounded less sarcastic in my head than coming out my mouth.
“You succeed admirably,” he replied with a smirk.
Wanting a change of subject, I asked “Tell me more about hunters.”
He sighed as if he’d rather have talked about anything else.
“Like I said before, some vampires, not many but a small handful of us, will become blood hunters. It usually starts when they come across their first pure and taste the power they have. Once they go back to regular human blood, they realize what a downgrade it is. In the end, hunters choose not to go back to their old ways of feeding. They choose to wait until they find another pure to fully satisfy themselves.
“Of course they have to feed at some point. In between pures, a hunter will survive on as little as possible, animal blood mostly. Let me tell you, if they thought regular human blood was bad, animal is almost repulsive to them.”
“Then why do they do it?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I’m not really a hundred percent sure. But I do know they’ll fast as much as they can, keeping their bodies as pure as possible.”
“Pure?” I raised my eyebrow.
“Untainted by anything but the blood of someone like you.” He half smiled as if to try to comfort me from the thought that had crossed my mind.
“I mentioned before that we age slower on animal blood than on human. Not only that, but the less blood we consume, regardless of what kind it is, will also slow down our aging process. So a blood hunter will live longer than your average vampire. But fasting like they do pushes them to their physical and psychological limits. They seek clarity to search out pures and forgo our natural way of life. I think they also prefer animal blood over average human because it probably offers a certain level of mental clarity they wouldn’t get otherwise. But in the end, the longer they go without feeding, the worse the thirst becomes and the harder it becomes to keep the animal instinct to feed at bay. When they’re like this, they become even more dangerous and unpredictable.
“As vampires, we all share the same instincts to a certain extent. If you are one and know what our instincts are, we’re pretty predictable creatures most of the time. A hunter is different. His amazingly low intake of blood gives him a mental clarity, but his need for blood gives him a nearly uncontrollable drive even we have a hard time comprehending. Right before a kill when they’re at their emptiest blood wise, they are completely unpredictable. That’s what makes them the most dangerous of my kind.
“Hunters love the hunt almost as much as the kill. They love to see fear in their victim’s eyes.” He paused as if reluctant to continue. “Vampires, for the most part – well, when your human body dies, so does your – human sexual desires.” He paused again as he uncomfortably shifted his weight around. “For a blood drinker, they get their … gratification from blood, from quenching their thirst. A hunter’s a little different. They get off on the fear they can inflict as well as the purity of your b
lood. For them, that gratification replaces any desire for intercourse.”
I was a little stunned – well, more than a little really. Daniel was staring at me as if waiting for his words to sink in.
“You mean you … that when we were … that you never desired me the way – a man desires a woman?” It was humiliating in the extreme to ask, but I had to know.
Unable to look me in the eye, he suddenly looked away.
“No, I wanted you. You’ll never know how much. It was very confusing.”
“Confusing how?”
“I’ve always tried to suppress my human desires and I had for the most part. I was afraid to unleash anything inside me that could lead to my monster slipping the tight bonds I’d chained it up with. You have to understand, before you, Sara; I hadn’t wanted a woman for over a hundred years.” His head turned in time to see the crimson blush overspread my cheeks. “So yes, Sara, I wanted you very much.”
Wanted? Was that in the past tense now?
“Why are you different than a blood drinker who gets his jollies terrifying someone?”
“Because I take my blood intravenously.”
“Oh.”
“We seem to have gotten off topic,” he said as he looked out over the yard again. “Your hunter has been stalking you for a long time. He’s been feeding on animals in the mountains around campus to survive while he’s been waiting.”
“What is he waiting for?”
“He wants to wait for the moment when his attack will elicit the most fear. The anticipation of the high he’ll get off you is also – arousing to him.” Again, Daniel shifted uncomfortably. “He’ll prolong it as long as possible so as to be able to enjoy the moment he takes you to the fullest extent. He probably also hopes you’d lead him to more pures he could move on to after he’s killed you. Not necessarily your family though. They respect blood lines and don’t wipe out whole families. They want you to breed and create more pures to hunt.
“Normally you’re a little young to be hunted. Usually women are about fifty, past child bearing age, when they start to hunt them. But your blood was probably too strong, too tempting for him to just pick up and move on and hope you’d still be here in thirty years’ time. You are more pure than anyone I’ve ever heard of. It’s almost unnatural.”
After a moment I asked “Is it just me or are you not as bothered by me as you used to be?”
“I feel – the pull of you. It used to be that just the scent of your blood in the wind was almost overwhelming, but now –”
I looked at him to finish his sentence but he seemed hesitant to continue.
“Now, I think I’m too overwhelmed by the thought that I’ve already lost any chance to get you back. I think the human emotions you reclaimed in me have won out over my vampire instincts.”
I had no idea how to respond to this, so I looked straight ahead and watched two squirrels dance around at the base of a big oak tree on the far side of the yard. Part of me wanted to punish him for what he’d put me through. I wanted him to suffer as I had. I wasn’t proud of it, but there it was. I was only human after all.
Suddenly Daniel reached over, grabbed my hand and roughly dragged me to my feet.
“What is it?”
“Get inside the house,” he ordered in almost a growl. It was the look on his face that made me obey without question. It was deadly serious.
I jumped on top of the porch and went in the back door. He quickly followed behind me and crossed the house to look out the front windows as if searching for something.
“Go upstairs.”
When he turned and pointed in the direction of the stairwell in the back, I hesitantly started that way.
“Is it the hunter?” I asked in a whisper as I paused at the corner of the fireplace.
His head whirled around to stare me down.
“Up stairs. Now!” he whispered as if he was angry with me. This time he watched as I retreated out of sight, then turned back to the window.
I had just started to slowly climb the stairs when I felt his hand on my back propelling me forward faster.
“What is it? Is he coming?” I was starting to freak out at the look in his eyes.
“I don’t know. Someone is and I’m not sure it’s Randall.”
Once on the second floor, he hurried down the hallway to the second door and hastily pushed me inside, pulling the door closed behind us. He looked around the empty room then pointed to a door in the corner.
“Get in there,” he ordered as he went to the window and looked out again.
I opened the door, but it was the tiny closet I’d stored my camping gear in. I was stepping over my sleeping bag to straddle it when he pulled the bag out and opened it up. Holding it out like a sack, he said “Get in.”
“Why?”
“There’s no time. Just do as I say.”
His insistent tone demanded my obedience and once I stepped in, he pulled it up to my neck. Then he picked me up and put me back in the closet and closed the door behind us.
We’d stood there in the near dark for over a minute when I asked “It’s getting hot in here. Can you tell me why –”
“Shh!” He looked like he was listening to something I couldn’t hear. “It’s a pitiful attempt to mask your scent and the sound of your heart.”
“What can you hear?” I whispered.
“I’m not sure, but someone’s out there and he’s getting closer. Randall would have warned of his approach. If he were here, we’d have a fighting chance, but with only me to protect you, we’d be better off trying to avoid a confrontation until Randall can return to help.” For the first time since I’d known him, I heard a hint of fear in his voice.
In the tight quarters of the dark closet I could feel Daniel’s strong arms around me, holding me tightly through the flimsy sleeping bag.
Why had I been so insensitive to him before? It wasn’t my job to punish him for any misdeeds he’d committed, if indeed he’d committed any at all. If I were to die in the next few minutes, I didn’t want this to be how it ended between us. I looked up at his face. The dim glow from a crack at the edge of the door allowed me to faintly see his worried expression as he intently listened for sounds of the intruder.
“Daniel?”
He didn’t rouse from his concentration.
I could feel my heartbeat rise as I forced my stubborn pride deep down inside. My sense of emotional control was beginning to slip away. Inside I could feel the tide of emotion I’d kept tightly bound for so long starting to rise within me.
“I just wanted to tell you that … nothing happened.” I heard my voice crack inside my choked out whisper.
He looked down at me, confused.
“Nothing happened between me and Ben. I mean we did kiss. Well, I kissed him, but it was only because I was so mad at Lucy … and you. After that he took me back to my room and … he put me to bed and left.”
His eyes flickered with emotions I couldn’t read in the dark.
“I’m sorry … so sorry that I allowed you to believe something else happened.”
I wanted to put my arms around him but the sleeping bag prevented it, so instead I leaned forward and placed my head on his chest. As he pulled me close and began to gently stroke my hair, I heard a noise come from the other side of the door. Wishing I still had my gun for whatever good it might have done, I felt the tears start to make their hot trails down my cheeks. If this was how I was to go, I was happy I was at least with Daniel.
Then the door flung open.
“What the hell is going on in here?” Randall demanded.
We both breathed a sigh of relief.
“You didn’t give me your usual signal. I didn’t know if it was you,” Daniel answered, annoyed at the question.
“Why is she in a sleeping bag?”
“I thought it might mask her heart beat a little longer.”
Randall laughed. “Well, all you had to do is ask her, if that’s what you wanted. You didn�
��t need the old sleeping bag in the closet excuse if you wanted to get her alone in the dark. I think she’s about forgiven you.”
I blushed as Daniel scrunched up his face in a question mark. “What do you mean she could have if I’d asked her too?”
“I made sure my girl was prepared for life,” Randall said confidently. “Let’s go downstairs and she can show you herself.”
I settled into a comfortable position sitting Indian style in front of the hearth on the living room floor. Randall and Daniel sitting a few feet away, both were watching me closely. Daniel especially so. Ignoring them, I closed my eyes and started to breathe deeply.
In, out. In, out.
“What’s she doing?” Daniel asked.
“Like I said, ever since the day she was born I’ve known she was going to be in danger. I took – certain precautions to make sure she’d have the necessary skills that would serve her well in life.”
“I think that means that while my friends were lucky enough to be shipped off to spend summers with their cousins down on Virginia Beach, he was responsible for the summer my parents shipped me off to a monastery in Tibet to learn about meditation.” I didn’t bother to keep the sarcasm out of my voice as I shot Randall an especially dirty look. “So exactly how much of my life are you responsible for anyway?”
“We’ll get to that later. Show him what Shau Lang taught you.”
I closed my eyes again and began breathing in and out, each time deeper and deeper. I controlled my thoughts and centered myself as Shau Lang had taught me all those years ago. I felt my heart beat Thub Thub inside my chest, and listened to it as its sound reverberated throughout me. I let go of every part of my body except that sound and let it fill me. Then I wrapped my mind around it and started to push it down.
Thub Thub – Thub Thub.
Without willing it, without the conscious thought of it, I pushed it downward.
Thub Thub – –Thub Thub – –Thub Thub.
The Purity of Blood: Volume I Page 42
