I sighed and walked over to stand in front of my empty grave. “And over here was Lois’ stone. Looks like that’s gone now too.”
“Your wife,” Sara said softly.
“The love of my life. Always and forever.”
I turned toward the scattered array of field stones.
“My brother Joseph is over there in the corner. The rest of them are uncles and aunts mostly. I don’t remember exactly, but all family. Back then the Wells family owned all this land. Most families had their own private cemeteries. At least all the families we were close with. The Maxsons, the Burdicks, the Halls, the Babcocks and the Potters, to name a few. That monument by town hall mentions most of the families we were friendly with. It was a small town back then. I mean Hopkinton is still small, but not like it was when I was alive.”
“I think I understand what you mean,” she said quietly as she pulled a small notepad out of her pocket. Scrunching up her face in concentration in that cute little way of hers, I watched as she made notations of our location and the positions of certain stones I’d pointed out before putting the pad back in her pocket. Always the researching genealogist, my little one. I smiled despite myself. Never in a million years did I ever think I’d be standing here with her. As she looked up from my empty grave to meet my gaze, her hair caught what little light the sun gave through an opening in the gray clouds. That amazing shade of red flickered in the light like fire. Poor Daniel, did he ever stand a chance against her charms?
The wind shifted, allowing me to feel the scent of rain in the air. That and the change in the barometric pressure told me it was time to start back if we didn’t want to get wet.
As we walked in silence I tried to block her thoughts out, but it was proving especially difficult. I’d found I was usually able to block out her random thoughts effectively enough, but when her mind was concentrated on turning over something that stirred up strong emotions in her, it was much harder. Finally I spoke to quiet her thoughts in my head.
“None of this land has stayed in the family continuously. It’s sad really. Back when I was your age, the land was your life. You relied on it for the food you ate and the shelter over your head. We believed the land was what bound our family together. You look out over it in the valley below and feel that the bind will extend into the future uninterrupted until the end. I guess if I had lived a normal life span, I would have thought it had. I wouldn’t have lived to see it sold off little by little over the years, and then eventually in the hands of strangers who didn’t even know the name Wells. Only one piece of the original land we owned in my day is in family hands now.”
“Really? Where?”
I pointed up towards the house as we approached the road. She stopped and put her hands on her hips. So like her mother sometimes, I thought.
“You’re kidding me! You’re the mysterious out of state buyer?”
We crossed the road and hopped the fence.
“Yes, when I heard it was up for sale I snatched it up as quickly as I could. I never had any intention of coming here myself mind you, but another buyer had looked at the property, a developer, and I’ll be damned before I let them build condos anywhere on Wells land.”
As I took a step forward I froze in my tracks. Something was wrong, and I immediately threw my arm in front of Sara to stop her from advancing.
“What is it?” she asked in a whisper.
“He’s here. Up there,” I said, indicating towards the house. “Stay here!” I barked as I ran up the driveway leaving her a safe distance behind.
Chapter Twenty
SARA
“Stay here?” I echoed in astonishment, but he’d already run off in a blur up the hill towards the house. I knew I should listen to him, but I didn’t.
As if!!
I slowly started up the driveway, listening to every sound, watching and expecting the hunter to jump out at me from behind a tree like some Halloween prankster.
I began to walk faster and eventually broke into a run. It took me a few minutes to wind my way up the treacherous hill. When I did, I skidded to a stop just short of the last turn. What would I see when I stepped around the big oak tree at the end of that last switchback up the hill? Out of breath, I bent over and breathed heavily trying to recover myself before summoning the courage to find out.
Why was I out of breath already?
It took me a moment to realize its cause was more anxiety than physical exertion. I was desperate to know what was happening, but just as desperately afraid to find out. Listening for sounds of something, anything, I slowly crept up to the big oak at the edge of the driveway. I circled around, hugging it until the front lawn came into view, and then finally revealing the house. Strangely it seemed as tranquil as the first time I’d come here.
Then I heard a muted noise and voices, like part of a scuffle and froze. It was coming from around the backside of the house which I couldn’t see from my current vantage point behind the tree. I wanted to run up, to peer around the corner of the house and see what was going on, but my feet were frozen in place. I heard more noises then saw a black shape come flying out from behind the house only to land in the middle of the driveway between the house and a small barn. It fell in an unrecognizable heap but quickly sprung upright. The tall figure’s hood fell back revealing a mane of long white hair that flowed down his back. I inhaled sharply at the sight of him, causing his head to instantly snap in my direction.
A moment later another blur hit him headlong in the stomach and knocked him at least twenty feet backward into the side of the barn, breaking through the old wooden boards that made up its wall. A cloud of dust came rushing out of the newly created hole. Then as I heard noise after horrible noise issuing from deep inside the rickety structure, more clouds and bits of debris came pouring out. Another blur ran into the hole just before I heard another loud crash and the sounds of breaking wood.
Then it was quiet. The barn suddenly ceased to creak and groan under the stress of whatever had happened inside and an eerie silence prevailed for what seemed like the longest moment of my life.
I took a step back behind the shelter of the giant tree. Leaning against it with my back, I found my eyes closing as tightly as they could. I needed to know what had happened, but was desperately afraid Daniel was dead. I assumed there must be a way for one vampire to kill another, Daniel had said so, but he failed to mention what it was. Heat seemed to be pouring over my body as my heart frantically raced inside my chest. Even with my eyes closed tightly, I could feel the sobs behind my eyes and inside my throat that were only seconds from exploding out of my chest.
Could I move?
Did I have the courage to go see what horrible thing might have happened?
Before I could decide I felt a rush of wind brush my face. I stood frozen for a long second, too afraid to open my eyes for fear of what I’d see. Then, unable to stand it any longer, I opened them only to see Daniel standing in front of me covered in dust, but alive, blessedly alive!
Before I could stop myself, I jumped at him, throwing my arms tightly around his neck as I started to cry uncontrollably. I felt his strong arms envelop me, holding me close as he buried his head in my hair. I think he was clinging to me as desperately as I clung to him.
A moment later I looked up to meet his deep blue eyes, and without a thought in my head, I kissed him. I kissed him with all the passion I’d been holding back since the day we’d first met. Something I’d buried so deep down inside me that even I didn’t know existed whelmed up from within me, over powering my will and the last shreds of my pride.
In that beautiful, wonderful, surreal moment, I didn’t care if he lost control and drained me dry as the sands of the desert, as long as he was alive and in my arms again.
I pulled back to catch my breath, but only a second later he slammed me back against the tree and kissed me without any sense of restraint. To me, it felt like our first kiss, our first real kiss where we both held nothing back, leaving no
thing left on the table for next time. Tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed us, but we had this moment and we embraced it together. In his strong arms, I felt his fire consume me and I wanted to burn, I wanted to feel the full extent of his heat on my body. I’d never wanted anything as much in my whole life.
Our frantic kiss kept growing in intensity. I think in each other’s arms we were working out the complex emotions of the last few days on each other. Or maybe it was that we were losing them in our love for each other.
I felt his hands as they lifted my shirt just enough to slide underneath and brush the skin at the small of my back before they slowly began to travel upward. A moan escaped his lips and it was fuel for my fire. His lips slowly travelled down to find that spot on my neck that drove me wild. Then as my fingers wound themselves in the silken strands of his hair, I allowed myself to get lost in the sensation of his lips on my skin. It tingled, it burned and I hoped to God it would never end. Then needing to feel his lips on mine again, I pulled them back up to mine. Oh, those lips and that velvet tongue.
“Ah Hum.” Randall cleared his throat. He was standing a few feet from us.
Daniel leaned back only an inch from my face. He was staring deep into my eyes as if utterly incapable of being more than an inch from me without physical pain.
“I see the two of you have made up. How about we get her back up to the house now.” Then he started off towards the front lawn leaving us behind.
Daniel hadn’t moved. His eyes still fixed on mine, I could feel the strength in his hand as it gripped the top of my hip, the other one leaning against the tree above my head. I was still trying to recover my breath when he gently pushed me with the hand on my hip out from under him up towards the house. Grasping my hand as I took my first step, he followed right behind me, never more than a few feet from my side.
“I thought I told you to stay put, young lady.” Randall said over his shoulder in an annoyed tone as he started to walk into the house.
“Are you alright?” I asked Daniel as we made our way up the lawn.
“Don’t worry about me, I’m fine.” Then he gently squeezed my hand as if to speak his reassurance with more than words.
A misty rain began to descend on the Hopkinton hilltop, but I didn’t care. The sun had come out for me again, at least on my inside. Before we got to the door, he stopped, gently cupping the side of my face with his hand. I leaned into it. Oh, his touch. How I’d missed it.
“Remember that day in the orchard? When I told you to remember I’d always love you?”
I looked up into his eyes and nodded.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered.
“So am I.”
He raised my hand in his and kissed it tenderly.
“That’s not important now,” he smiled. “Just don’t do it again.”
As we walked in the front door I spied Randall on his phone in the kitchen. Daniel, who’d followed in behind me, went over to the old wingback chair and fell down into it as if drained from his encounter with the blood hunter – or perhaps me. He leaned down and rolled up his pant leg and rubbed his calf as if he’d injured it.
“What happened?” I asked. I’d never seen the bare skin of his leg before and found myself staring at it. Looking up at me he pulled his pant leg down and shook his head with a smile as if to say he was fine and not to worry. But it was too late for that.
“He showed up about twenty minutes after you left. We were pretty evenly matched, or so I thought at first. But when I looked into his eyes I could tell he’d recently fed on some pure blood and was totally high on it. Much stronger than you’d expect and quick. He almost had the drop on me when Randall finally showed up. Then between the two of us we managed to chase him off, but he’ll be back before long. He’ll try again before we can run or build up a better defense.”
I was confused.
“I thought he was fasting or just on animal blood or something like that. But you think he – he killed someone like me?”
Daniel seemed uncomfortable with my train of thought but reluctantly said “I think he knows it’s not going to be as easy as he thought … killing you, and he … well, he can’t just walk away now. He probably killed a pure to increase his strength. That’s what pures do. It’s like their blood temporarily increases everything it is to be a vampire. Increased strength, speed, agility, you name it.”
“But wouldn’t that, I don’t know, lessen how good I’d be?”
He laughed. “Hardly!”
All I could do was roll my eyes at him.
“Thomas and Lily should be here any time now,” Randall said coming in from the kitchen. “They were getting off the ferry a few minutes ago.”
“Wasn’t Lucy with them?” Daniel asked.
“Apparently not.” Randall frowned, sounding annoyed.
Daniel turned back toward me. “So our friend has a name now. Demetrius.”
“Russian?” I asked. I’d never considered foreign vampires before. I was having a hard enough time wrapping my mind around the domestic variety.
“Hard to tell. Eastern European most likely. His voice was so raspy it was hard to detect the subtleties of his accent.”
“Don’t take this the wrong way, but if he’s that old, why can’t you just, you know … take him out.”
“It doesn’t exactly work that way,” Randall snickered. “He looks old because he’s pushing his body to the limits, but he had just fed on powerful blood. I’m guessing since we last saw him he fed on another pure he’d been stalking to bulk up for the fight for you. He’s probably as strong now as he’s ever been as a vampire.”
“Plus we’re always at a slight disadvantage,” Daniel added.
“How’s that?”
“Because we live off of animal blood, not human. It keeps us alive, but we’d be stronger if we fed on humans as we were meant to.”
“That’s why you want the numbers advantage over him?”
“Exactly,” Daniel said with a reassuring smile as he reached his hand out for me. I gladly walked over and took it as I came to stand next to him in the chair. He kissed my hand and held it close to him as he smiled lovingly up at me.
Across the room, Randall made a derisive noise as he rolled his eyes and turned away.
“What’s wrong with him?” I asked Daniel as he guided me to come sit on his lap.
Randall turned back toward us just as Daniel leaned over and kissed the side of my head while I nestled up against his chest. At the sight of this Randall averted his eyes again.
“That’s my daughter, Daniel!”
“Great, great, great, great, granddaughter, Randall. It’s a little different.”
“Only if you see it that way, which I don’t,” he answered sarcastically, still purposefully facing away from us.
Suddenly the front door flung open breaking the momentary uncomfortable silence. Instinctively pulling myself closer to Daniel, I looked up to see Thomas and Lily standing in the doorway. No sooner had they made their way across the threshold than Lucy appeared behind them. She still sported that unattractive grimace on her face as she wrinkled her nose, obviously displeased at having to endure my human odor once again.
Randall still hadn’t turned towards us, and I watched as all three of their gazes uncomfortably floated between Daniel, Randall and I, while they tried to figure out what they’d just walked in on.
Then I heard an unfamiliar female voice say “I’m gone ten years and look what you’ve let happen!”
“Mother?” Daniel muttered as Randall spun around. A woman with beautiful long chestnut hair and fiery green eyes walked in the door. She looked about Randall’s age, forty or a little older, and stared down and Daniel at and I for a long moment before her eyes flashed over to meet Randall’s.
Mother?
“I thought I told you to stay away from the children and leave them be. Now look what’s happened!” She pointed at us.
“Our son – and our daughter? This is sick even for you Randa
ll.”
“It’s good to see you too, Lois,” he answered calmly, but I could see the emotion in his eyes. There was something like joy there.
I glanced at Daniel. “Lois?”
“Your grandmother,” he answered somewhat reluctantly, but also with a warm smile as well.
My gaze floated over to the woman and then back to Daniel. Leaning in closer, I quietly whispered in his ear “Okay, exactly how many members of my family are vampires anyway, because this is really going to screw with my family tree.”
I’d said it in a whisper only meaning Daniel to hear, but of course in a room full of vampires that was a fruitless effort. Thomas and Lily sputtered trying to hold in their laughter. Lucy rolled her eyes while Lois shook her head disapprovingly back and forth. In the meantime Randall frowned as if he’d been caught red handed.
“Just us, dear,” Lois answered. Her tone was now pleasant but she looked up and shot Randall another dirty look. “Daniel, will you please stand up,” she added still staring at her husband.
He immediately put his hand behind my back, lifting me as he stood. I think sensing how confused I was Lois came over and taking my hand patted it lovingly.
“It’s not your fault, dear.” Again she shot Randall a dirty look only to follow by giving Daniel one of his own. “You’re only human after all, but these two. Well, they should know better at their age.”
“It’s not that I’m not thrilled to see you again, my dear, but what brings you here?”
“Lucy, the one with all the intelligence around here it seems, was smart enough to come find me. And just in the nick of time from what it looks like. Thomas, Lily, can you please scout around outside and set up a defensible perimeter so we can watch for any signs of his approach. Lucy dear, go with them and give us a moment alone here. Thank you.”
Lucy frowned. She was obviously disappointed she wasn’t going to see what happened next. Without a word, all three retreated out the front door, each with their own lingering looks over their shoulders.
The Purity of Blood: Volume I Page 45
