The Purity of Blood: Volume I

by Jennifer Geoghan

  Lois paused for a moment looking around the room curiously. I suddenly remembered that this had been her home as well. Then I watched as her eyes fell on the addition off the kitchen and her hands found her hips.

  “What on earth did they do to our house?” she asked in astonishment. Randall just shrugged in agreement.

  Daniel and I exchanged our own look and deep in the middle of all our drama we started to laugh. Unable to stop my cathartic laughter, I felt this hand cover mine again and in that small gesture of his touch, I felt how much he loved me. Was he truly forgiven? I’d think about that later.

  “Very well now, enough of that,” Lois said curtly. “It’s good to see you again, Daniel, even if it is under these circumstances. You’re looking well.”

  “Thank you, Mother. So do you. – We’ve missed you.”

  I watched as Daniel nodded toward Randall who seemed to have disappeared into the kitchen.

  She sighed. “I know, dear. I know.” Then she walked over to follow after Randall.

  “You call her mother?” I asked when she was gone.

  “Sometimes. She and Randall are very much like parents to me. My own mother died young. I had Sophronia, my grandmother, but after I died it was Lois who really helped me through it all emotionally. Randall is the head, but she has always been the heart of our family.

  “Why did she stay away so long?”

  “It’s a long story. Suffice it to say theirs is a very complicated relationship. I’ll explain it one day when we have the time.”

  The rest of the day was spent preparing themselves as best they could. They knew Demetrius would try some sort of sneak attack to get through their defenses and I watched as they did what they could to eliminate any holes he might try to take advantage of.

  I on the other hand, had little to do. When I’d asked how I could help, I was curtly told to stay out of their way. Annoyed that I was allowed to contribute nothing, I sat on the back porch and cleaned my gun for a while, ate when I got hungry, then sat down at my computer and played another game of solitaire. I kept my mouth shut, but quite frankly I was a little insulted by their treatment of me. Especially Randall who knew full well I had something to offer their endeavor.

  Eventually I got bored and walked out onto the front stoop to stretch. As I looked over the front lawn, Randall came out to stand beside me. I was watching Lily, Thomas and Lois talking some ways down the driveway. I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but from their gestures, I guessed they were discussing ways to anticipate my hunter.

  “I feel useless,” I mumbled. “This is ridiculous.”

  I was still watching the three vampires down the way, wondering why Lucy wasn’t with them.

  “It’s for the best,” was all he said in reply.

  “Why teach me all that if you won’t let me use it. I mean, I probably know more about this sort of thing than – ”

  “Yes, yes, I know,” he cut me off with. “And I hope you never have to use it,” he said as he patted my shoulder and headed back into the house.

  I’d forgiven him.

  I don’t think I’d really realized it until that moment. How did that happen? How could he have done all those things to the helpless little girl I’d been, his own flesh and blood? I knew what his answer would be; I’d already heard it, but still … What kind of a man, or vampire, had it within himself to even consider those things? I didn’t know, and that was what made my forgiveness of him all the more puzzling. Perhaps it was because I knew the enormity of the hate I could have had if I hadn’t chosen the high road of forgiveness. That kind of hate consumes a person, destroying their humanity little by little. Perhaps it was because in this sea of near immortality, I felt the need to hold on to every last scrap of humanity I still had left.

  A while later, Randall settled down to work at his microscope to examine the latest blood sample he’d taken from me. From my spot in the living room, I could see Daniel watching him from across the kitchen while he took a transfusion of blood. They talked off and on, mostly about my blood. It all sounded very technical and I couldn’t understand half of it. Considering what I had flowing through my veins, maybe I should start taking some bio-chem classes.

  Lois had taken up station by my side in the living room, and while I concentrated on my game, she sat in the chair reading the newspaper I’d bought. Periodically she’d shake her head, making derisive noises at articles she’d read concerning the stranger sides of human behavior.

  Needing a break from the game, I leaned back and stretched my shoulders. It was getting cold in the house, but I doubted any of them had noticed. When I got up to stretch some more, I started piling wood in the fireplace.

  Looking up from her paper, Lois called out “Daniel, come start a fire.”

  “I could have done that,” I said quietly to her as Daniel obediently came in and did as he was told.

  I sat back down near her feet and started to play my game again. A moment later she leaned toward me and quietly whispered in my ear, “A lady doesn’t start a fire when there are men in the house. That’s what they’re here for.” After imparting her words of wisdom, she leaned back and resumed reading the paper.

  I found myself staring up at her.

  Wow, Lois Maxson.

  How many times had I seen her name in my genealogy computer program? I’d never have guessed she’d have such beautiful green eyes. Suddenly they looked down and smiled at me before returning to the newspaper.

  After a few minutes of playing and losing a game, I asked “Where were Thomas and Lily that they took a ferry to get here?”

  “At your house. They were keeping an eye on your mother. There was no sign of the blood hunter there so they were on their way here via the ferry to New London.”

  “My parents?” I asked in a worried tone.

  “They’re fine, Sara. Demetrius is still here in the area. But you have to understand that it’s important that we finish this now. He’s been to Wading River stalking your mother. Even if we chase him off here, it’s only a matter of time before he goes after her or Roger. That’s why we have to end this now.”

  I heard Daniel’s voice in another part of the house and sighed. She must have seen my distraction.

  “As your grandmother, Sara, I feel obligated to tell you that a relationship with Daniel is probably not a wise course of action on your part.”

  I looked up at her and saw a look in her eyes I’d seen in my own mothers many times before. Her tone wasn’t as judgmental as Randall’s, but it was obvious she was deeply concerned. Such a strange sensation to feel love from someone I’d known for only a handful of hours. Strangely enough, I think I loved her in return, although I wasn’t even sure how that was possible. Randall? No, I harbored too much resentment to love him as a grandfather. But Lois? Yes, somehow I could sense what she felt for me was a pure, selfless love.

  “However, I should also tell you that if ever a man was worth the troubles, it would be Daniel.”

  I studied her eyes trying to figure out which she would have preferred, us together or us apart.

  “I want you both to be happy is all. Yes, I suppose it’s possible you could be happy together, but it’s not as simple as it sounds. I wouldn’t expect you to understand, but his heart is layered with the many burdens we carry as vampires.” She sighed as if pondering her own burdens for a moment. “God took the rib to open up the way to man’s heart, Sara. That’s why he gave it to woman. Who’s to say you’re not the woman to find your way into his.”

  She smiled a cryptic smile then went back to her reading. I wasn’t sure I found any encouragement in her words. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if they were meant to be. She seemed confused herself as to what to think about us. But whatever she thought, I believed her motivation to be purer than Randall’s. I didn’t know much, but it seemed I knew enough to recognize that none of it was in my control anymore. Taking a deep breath, I sighed and returned to my game as I tried to distract myself for as l
ong as I could.

  Conversation in the kitchen soon ceased, but I still thought I heard Randall’s voice, as if he was softly talking to himself. I wasn’t really listening; I was trying to tune him out by concentrating on my game. Then in the white noise of his musings something caught my attention. As my head snapped up, I found myself staring at Randall in the glow of the lantern on the kitchen table. From behind me, the paper fell to the floor as Lois suddenly leapt to her feet.

  “Randall!” she shouted.

  Over the top of my computer I saw him jump up and hastily rush into the room.

  “What is it?” he asked, his voice laced with concern for the urgency in her tone.

  “What could you possibly be thinking! There is no way on God’s green earth I’m letting you try any such thing with this girl!”

  He stared at her in disbelief.

  “What? – How did you know? I never said a thing, I was just working –”

  “I know because I heard her!” Following the point of her finger, they both looked down at me just as Daniel came in from the kitchen. Feeling ill prepared for what was coming, I scampered to my feet.

  “At first I thought you were talking out loud, but now I realize you weren’t,” she said.

  “You heard her? Well, how did she hear me?”

  “What’s going on?” Daniel asked walking between them.

  Lois looked at me closely. “How long has this been going on?”

  “What?” I asked confused by the conversation.

  “Yes, what are you talking about?” As Daniel came over to take my hand, he appeared even more confused than I was.

  Lois’ eyes flashed back at Randall. “I know what you’re thinking because she’s hearing your thoughts, Randall. Why is she hearing you? What have you been doing to her?”

  It was an angry accusation and in unison their heads all turned back to me.

  “I asked how long, young lady, and I’m not going to ask again,” Lois demanded of me.

  “I – I don’t know,” I stammered. “I guess I first noticed it a while ago. A week, maybe more. I wasn’t sure at first, but it seems to be getting a little easier especially when you’re so close to me. It comes and goes.” I looked at Randall. “Do you really think it would work?”

  “I don’t know, it’s only a theory at the moment.”

  “One we’re not going to test!” Lois interjected strongly.

  “Will someone tell me what the hell is going on?” Daniel pleaded as he placed his arm around my waist protectively, pulling me to his side.

  “Randall thinks I may be poisonous. That if Demetrius bit me, it might kill him.”

  Daniel’s eyes flashed up to theirs. “Yeah, we’re definitely not testing that theory!” Then he looked down at me and gently asked “You can hear his thoughts? Why didn’t you tell me?”

  “At first I wasn’t sure if that was what it was. Things have been a little unclear, fuzzy up here.” I tapped the side of my head. “Especially since the whole heart thing.”

  Lois rolled her eyes. “Tibet, Randall? Really? Shau Lang must have loved that.”

  “Never underestimate the power of a disciplined mind,” he answered back. “She’ll thank me some day, mark my words.”

  “In what way unclear?” Daniel asked as he ignored them.

  “I saw things when I was in meditation. I saw Randall, and I saw you. You were in my room at school. You were talking to me I think, but I wasn’t answering you. It was kind of fuzzy.”

  Daniel’s face went stiff, as if I’d said something to upset him.

  “What?” I pleaded. “What did I say?”

  “I know what you’re talking about. It’s true, I was there. It’s the first night I watched over you in your room. You talked to me in your sleep.”

  “What did I say?”

  I was shocked. No one had ever told me I’d talked in my sleep before.

  “But it wasn’t you, Sara. At least not the you I’m talking to right now. It was a part of you, like your subconscious or something. I’m not sure, but it knew I was there and recognized that I wasn’t Randall. It seemed to know him.”

  We all looked at Randall as a guilty sigh escaped his lips.

  “Like I said, I’ve been keeping watch over you and your mother your whole lives. But when you were born, Sara, I knew you were special. I could sense your blood even though I shouldn’t have been able to. I’ve watched you closer than any of my other descendants. Your mother, your grandfather Elliot, your great grandfather Williams and so on.

  “I’d visit you all the time,” he said with an affectionate smile. “I’d stay with you in your room at night, and while I watched you sleep I’d see your thoughts and dreams. As I probed your mind, I’d watch for signs that you were in danger, making sure you hadn’t been approached by – well, by the wrong sort. In hindsight, I think there may have been some unforeseen consequences. So much psychic energy directed into that small, developing mind,” he mused aloud as if still pondering the possibilities. “It may have triggered something, awakened some normally unutilized part of your brain. I think perhaps the part that deals with things while we sleep, well it seems to have a voice. I can’t understand it, – but I’d love to study it when all this is over.”

  “Randall!” Lois scolded him.

  “Do you think this is why she’s able to hear you? Because she’s developed the ability to hear what called to her so often?” Daniel asked, I think too worried about me at this point to be angry. Me? I was in too much shock to feel anything.

  “Quite possibly,” Randall replied considering Daniel’s idea. “She’s an anomaly in the physical world even without these abilities, so I can’t say anything for sure.”

  All of a sudden I needed some air and without a word, I walked outside leaving them to continue their discussion about me. I didn’t need to hear it. I’d always known I was something of a freak.

  It was almost dark now. Looking around the quiet hilltop I found myself wondering where the others were. Off in the woods somewhere I imagined. I sat down in the tall grasses of the front yard, pulled my knees up to my chest and tightly wrapped my arms around my legs.

  I thought back to the moment I’d pulled up behind Capen Hall the first day I’d arrived at NPU. Now here I sat.

  I sighed.

  These two worlds bore no resemblance to one another. How had my life changed so dramatically, so fast?

  Sitting there alone in the grass, I had the sudden urge to steal Daniel’s car for a second time. My sense of self-preservation said I should just pick up and run away from everything. I should leave all my problems behind as I sped down some highway heading who knows where, feeling the wind in my hair. But I knew that wasn’t the answer anymore. I didn’t know what was happening to me, and was even less comforted by the fact that the people who inhabited this new world I’d moved into had no more of an idea than I did.

  And Daniel. Would he accept me if he was ever to see the real me? The me underneath the mask I showed the world?

  Unable to block him out of my head at the moment, I heard Randall’s voice say “Don’t worry, she’s not going anywhere.”

  I didn’t want to hear him now and tried to concentrate on pushing the sound of his voice to the farthest recess of my mind. It seemed to work for the most part. But I knew he was fascinated by this new turn of events. What was this voice Daniel heard? I was a little freaked out that there was something or someone inside me I’d been completely ignorant of up until this moment. Where was it now? Maybe it was really just me talking in my sleep. That must be it. It had to be. Yet deep down, I think I knew it wasn’t.

  Taking a deep breath, I concentrated on the sound of the crickets nestled in the grass with me, and how the breeze wrapped around my shoulders and gently pulled through my hair like cool fingers. I tried to be still, as still as I possibly could, but my heartbeat always pulled me back. Would my heart always be my weakness?

  I’d expected Daniel to follow after me but
when he didn’t, I was glad of it. As much as I loved him, he was part of this confusing new world I so desperately needed a break from. I laid my head down on my knees and tried to think about what it was I really wanted.

  Did I want a life with Daniel and all that would entail?

  Did I want to leave him and try to have a normal human life with someone like Ben?

  Was that even possible now? Somehow I didn’t think so. I’d seen the looking glass, and had I not stepped through, perhaps I could have walked away. But now I’d seen my wonderland and there was no way to regain the innocence I’d had such a short time ago.

  I heard voices and looked up. Thomas, Lily and Lucy were standing a ways off in the field on the other side of the rock wall. Their heads together, like they were talking something over. As I watched them, they suddenly stopped and in unison turned to look in my direction for only a moment. Then they turned back to each other to continue their discussion. I didn’t have to be a vampire to guess what they were talking about.

  Getting up, I started back towards the house. Hearing Randall, Lois and Daniel’s voices carrying from the kitchen, I purposefully avoided them as I walked around to the back of the house and up the stairs to the second floor. I pulled my sleeping bag out of the closet in the small furnitureless bedroom, spread it out on the floor and laid down. I wasn’t sleepy, but closed my eyes and tried to relax and ease away the knot I’d developed in my stomach.

  I tried not to think about how much I wished Ben was here with me. About how he was the only one left of my old world who I thought could somehow comfort me in this crazy situation I’d found myself in. About how he’d probably just walk in and put his arms around me and not even ask what was wrong. He was just like that, he didn’t need to ask questions.

  I tried not to think about him for a few reasons. One was because I felt like it was somehow wrong, as if I were betraying my love for Daniel by thinking about another man. But it was also because I knew I was most likely broadcasting my thoughts to Randall and Lois downstairs. I was quickly learning that it was a lot harder to censor your thoughts than your mouth.