Just then another face came to mind. I saw Ian in great detail too and for a moment drank in that image as well. After a time I opened my eyes, cursing myself.
Chapter Eight
After what seemed like forever, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Joshua motioned for me to follow him back into the room we had come from earlier. Christina was just finishing up with a human. Looking up at me she smiled and wiped away a trickle of blood that had run down her chin.
“All finished?” Joshua asked.
“Yes, thank you. I’d like to talk to our new friend once more before the night ends.” Joshua nodded and took the man by the arm leading him out. “Have a seat,” she said. “Do you plan to stay in town?”
I thought about it for a moment. As much as I wanted to bolt for the door, head for Cape Breton and never look back, I knew it wasn’t a possibility. “I do. For a little while at least.”
“Ok,” she said. “If that’s the case I’ll have to insist on a sample.”
“Sample?”
“Yes. No big deal. I just need to taste a little bit of your blood so I can track you myself if I need to.” She saw my doubt but continued on. “I know it might seem a little strange to you, but this is a much bigger place than you come from. I need to keep tabs on everyone or things can get out of hand pretty quickly. I’ve had a tail on you and if we do this I won’t have to do that anymore. As long as you stay out of my line of sight you’ll be left in peace. You’re welcome to come see me of course if you need anything. All of my children are.”
The reference to the other vampires as children seemed a little farfetched seeing as how she couldn’t possibly be maker for them all. The city must have been filled with vampires. “Ok,” I said, moving my hair away from my neck.
Christina cleared her throat. “Thank you. It’s just a formality. I just need a small one.”
Then, quicker than could be seen, she was holding me, restraining my arms with one hand and roughly cocking my head to the side at an awkward angle. She slithered her tongue up and down my neck. Once…twice…and then took in a deep breath. A quizzical look crossed her face, but only for a moment. Then she struck. Her fangs found my jugular and she bore down, pressing herself against me. But as quickly as she had struck she let go.
She leaned forward, gagging slightly with her mouth closed forcing herself to swallow what was barely a mouthful. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. I’m overfed is all.” She smiled again and offered her hand. “It was…interesting to meet you Rachel. Thank you for coming. You may go now if you wish. Would you like a ride back to your truck?”
“No thank you. I’ll walk.”
“Do you know the way?”
“I’ll find it. I just feel like walking.”
“As you wish.”
Christina stood and held the door to the stairwell open, nodding formally at me as I walked through it and made my way back up the stairs and out of the warehouse. A rush of cool morning air hit me and I breathed it in, taking in the smell of the city and thankful that the night was over. It wasn’t as pure and good as the country, but I was relieved to be breathing it in none the less. The sun was just beginning to rise over the buildings and after the night I’d had I was glad to see it. I put my protective glasses on and began walking.
Since arriving in the city I had mostly stayed on the Dartmouth side of the harbour. I knew I had to find my way to the McDonald Bridge to get back and so figured I should start looking for it. I could see it off in the distance but had no idea how to get to it so I wandered aimlessly, a million thoughts swirling in my head as I did.
At some point I forgot about looking for the bridge and just walked blindly. I maneuvered up and down streets, brushing up against people on their way to work on a busy morning. So many people and nobody noticing anyone else. Everyone so anonymous and alone. Quite a difference from the snail’s pace of a small town.
Fatigued, both emotionally and physically now, I longed to find a place to be alone. A place of quiet solitude and reflection. Looking up from my haze I realized I had wandered on to Spring Garden Road, and just ahead of me was a very large white structure similar to a sanctuary. An old Catholic church called, St. Mary’s Basilica.
The creaking of the old door echoed in the empty space. It was apparent I was alone and so, walking slowly to the front, seated myself in a pew on the left just in front of the altar. I settled in, sighing and relaxing a bit as I did. A statue of Jesus was positioned directly in front of the pew. He was holding a small sheep, his eyes fixated outward toward where a waiting congregation would normally be seated.
I closed my eyes and heard my grandmother’s voice in my head, quoting the bible about lost sheep.
"Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn't leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance."
It was something that had always stuck with me for some reason and I lowered my head, feeling very much like a lost sheep. No one was looking for me though it seemed.
Just then, as if summoned, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I had been so engrossed in my own thoughts I hadn’t heard or sensed anyone else in the church with me. I lifted my head, and to my shock, Gavin was standing there smiling down at me. He eased his way into the pew and sat down, taking my hands and holding them in his for a long moment. Staring down at his strong fingers beginning to lace themselves through mine I saw the wedding ring back in its place on his left hand. He kissed me softly on the cheek.
It seemed that neither of us knew what to say, and so we simply sat, staring at each other in the quiet.
“I miss you,” he said after a time.
“I miss you too.” My voice broke and he took my face softly in his hands and kissed my forehead. “Where did you come from? How did you know I was here?”
“Come home, Rachel,” he whispered. “Come back to Soldiers Cove with me and we’ll put everything behind us. I love you.”
“How can you love me? I betrayed you.”
“You didn’t. At first I was angry and upset, but I’ve thought about it. I’ve done nothing but think about it. I know you did it for me, and whatever you felt when you were with…Aries,” he said, choking out his name, “you couldn’t help. It wasn’t your fault. I only blame him. Come home, Rachel. Please? We are going to live a thousand lifetimes and someday this will all be a distant memory. It won’t even matter anymore.”
“How can you say that? I’m having his son. I can’t ask you to…”
“This child is everything you are. Come home, Rachel. It can all be figured out.”
He was looking at me with such love and hope. I wanted to kiss him. I wanted to jump into his arms and head for home with all I had in me. He seemed to have reconciled what had happened with Aries, but he still didn’t know about Ian. How on earth could he ever forgive me for that if he knew? I wasn’t even close to forgiving myself.
“I can’t do that to you. I can never go home.”
I could tell he was crushed and he took my hands in his again and held them to his heart. “Please don’t say that. I can’t live without you.”
“Gavin, it would only be misery. Trust me, it’s better this way. I’d only hurt you.”
“Why do you say that?”
All of it was too painful. “How is Holly?” I asked.
Gavin’s eyes grew sadder still. “She’s not well. She’s moved back into the sanctuary so she can be taken care of. I don’t know if she’ll make it. You should be there, she needs you too. We all do.”
I flashed back in my mind to the night I left. Holly had not even been able to look me in the eye.
I was sure she hated me. How could I possibly help her? “I’m pretty sure Holly doesn’t want my help. How is Alexander?”
“He’s doing better. He’s staying with me in the guest room. He’s still not talking and he doesn’t really communicate with anyone. He wants you. Rachel, things aren’t right without you there. Alexander needs you too. Come home,” he said, his voice becoming stern this time. “We all need you, and with Ian in the ground…”
“In the ground?”
“Yes, Rachel. Angus put him into death sleep.”
My hands shook. “For how long?”
“Five years. Rachel…please.”
The weight of all the bad news Gavin had just expunged came down on me, paralysing me where I was. “I can’t Gavin, I’m sorry. I just can’t. Not right now anyway.”
He stiffened in the seat, clenching his jaw and knowing he was defeated. “At least say you’ll think about it. Don’t leave me without any hope.”
He was hurting so much that I couldn’t say no. I could give him that at least. Even if it was false hope it was better than nothing. “I’ll think it over. I promise.”
“That’s all I ask.” There was another long moment of silence and then he stood taking something out of his pocket and placed it on the ledge in front of the pew. Then, bending down he kissed my cheek one more time and quietly walked away. My vision blurred as the tears began to fall and I sat there, all alone again. As the large wooden door of the church creaked open and fell shut once more I bent forward, hugging myself at the waist and sobbing.
Gavin was gone, Ian was in the ground, and Holly was suffering but there was nothing I could do for any of them. At least Alexander was doing better. I was sure in time he’d get over wanting me to be there and come to rely on Gavin and the others to help him. Any help I could try to give any of them I was sure would be useless.
Exhausted and needing to sleep it was finally time to make my way back over the bridge. Standing I looked down at last and saw what Gavin had placed in front of me. Sitting there, sparkling with the tiny bit of light that was filtering in through the stained glass window of the old church, were my rings.
Chapter Nine
Arriving back at the motel around noon, I lay myself down and willed myself to sleep. The dreams that came were not kind. Images of Gavin’s face haunted me. The sorrow in his eyes when I’d refused to come home, and the hope I saw in him plagued me in earnest. I’d told him I would think about it, but at the moment there was no way I could see myself ever going home. I hated myself too much.
I dreamed of Ian too. Cold and alone, buried somewhere beneath the earth in Soldiers Cove. I wanted to see him, I wanted to comfort him. In my dream I roamed the woods until I came to the place where he lay, dormant. I dug him up, clawing at the earth with bare hands, and awakened him, the same way I’d woken Gavin from his death sleep. Then I held him for a long time, neither of us saying anything.
I dreamed of Aries too. I stood face to face with him, filled with both anger and fascination. He spoke to me and his voice was so solid and clear that when I opened my eyes I could still hear what he had said. “Rachel…my love…mother to my son.”
It was the last thing I heard before coming back to reality. The digital alarm clock on the nightstand read ten p.m. and I sat up, both nauseated and hungry. I had passed up the opportunity to feed at Christina’s party and although it had seemed like a good idea at the time, I was kicking myself now. Even a few mouthfuls might have taken the edge off the knives slowly creeping into my stomach. I was hungry for human food too in a way I hadn’t been since I was turned. I couldn’t dare leave the room without having taken care of at least one of those needs, and so I decided it was time to order room service.
I picked up the phone and placed an order for the biggest, juiciest burger the place had. It was a dump but the food wasn’t all together bad. Not gourmet, but passible. Figuring I had some time to kill before the food arrived I quickly jumped in the shower. I let the hot water rain down on me and tried to relax. This was usually a ritual that calmed, but tonight it wasn’t working. I was anxious and fidgety, hanging on by my fingernails to my composure and looking over my shoulder like something bad was going to happen at any moment. Seeing Gavin so unexpectedly had unnerved me. Over the last few weeks I had come to the conclusion I was no longer wanted anymore and had accepted that things between us were finished. My old life was in ruins and things were different now. Now all of a sudden there was an offer on the table to return and go back to the way things were. But what about Ian? And what about Aries, and the baby? Gavin had said we would figure everything out, but none of the problems we’d face if I returned seemed to have a solution.
Ian might be in the ground now, but what we’d done would have to come out eventually. And Aries, well, I was pretty sure Gavin was going to kill him the moment he got the chance, if he hadn’t already. And honestly it didn’t really matter if Aries was dead, his son still grew inside me. What was done could not be undone. I was scared and alone. As much as I wanted to run back home I wanted to run away. Feeling immobilized I decided that staying right where I was, for the time being at least, was a good idea.
I jumped out of the shower, taking no extra time in it as I usually did, and toweled off. Standing in front of the mirror a few moments later, working the tangles out of my hair I heard a familiar voice.
“I know what you’re thinking,” it said. My brush fell to the floor as I turned around. “You’re thinking you should have just let me drive that stake through your heart, and you’re right. Everyone would have been much better off. People can’t say I didn’t try to warn them.”
James was sitting on the edge of the tub, turning a stake over and over in his hand and looking at me with a palpable disgust. “You’re smart to stay away, at least for now, but you’ll go back eventually. And when you do nothing good will come of it.”
I backed myself into the wall and between one heartbeat and the next he was right up against me, his face only millimeters from mine. The anxiety I had experienced a few moments ago now raged and multiplied as hot tears of anger and terror fell uncontrollably. “You’re not real,” I whispered to myself over and over, squeezing my eyes shut. It was no use because upon opening them again he was still there.
“Oh, I’m very real. As real as any nightmare you’ve ever had. And by killing me you’ve forced me to live on. I’ll always be with you, Rachel. I’m with you more now than when I was alive. I’ll be with you forever, and now that you don’t have Gavin or Ian or even Aries, it’s just the two of us.”
He brought his lips toward mine as if he was going to kiss me. “No!” I screamed. James disappeared as the cry echoed off the porcelain in the empty bathroom, laughing as he did. Alone and terrified I made my way to the bedroom as fast as I could, just in time too because there was someone at the door.
Taking a quick glance in the mirror I dried my face and let room service enter. Even though an unknown human would have no way to protect me from anything I was relieved to have another body in the room.
The thirty something man entered and sat the tray down on the desk. He was slightly overweight and seemed exhausted. An average guy. Someone who’d lived a hard life and worked way too hard for what little money he probably made. Still, he was not bad looking. He had a certain rugged handsomeness that a woman could easily find attractive. “Everything alright in here Miss? I thought I heard a scream.”
“Oh that? Spider in the bathtub. Yeah everything’s fine,” I lied. “How much do I owe you?”
“Twelve seventy five.”
I gave a fifty that I’d taken from Charlie Farris. Someone making an honest living could certainly put it to better use. “Keep it,” I said. The smell of the food on the tray was so good that I couldn’t wait to uncover it and dive in.
“You want me to kill it?”
“Kill what?” I asked, confused.
“The spider. You want me to get it for you?” He smiled, looking me up an
d down in my bathrobe. I heard his thoughts distinctly just then. Wow, she’s so pretty.
That made me smile. I had to give him credit. He wasn’t thinking anything vulgar at all, which was both sweet and refreshing, especially for the type of men I’d run into at this motel. There was something else about him too…he smelled good, and not in the ‘wow that’s a nice cologne’ way. More like in the, ‘wow that O positive would really taste good right now’ way.
“Oh that? No, I got it, thank you though.”
He looked disappointed. “Oh,” he said.
“There is something else you can help me with though,” I told him.
Immediately he brightened. “Sure. Anything.”
I could hear in his thoughts that he really was willing to do anything I was about to ask. “Come in and sit down,” I said. “What’s your name?”
Now he was confused, but he wasn’t going to argue. “Oh, ok. It’s Aiden.”
I turned the desk’s chair around and Aiden sat down without a second thought. I almost felt guilty for what I was about to do to him, but he wouldn’t be harmed. I’ll be careful, I told myself as he looked up, smiling at me. He was so sweet and trusting that I took his face in my hands and kissed him once before blood influencing him. Up until that moment I don’t think I realized just how lonely I had been there, shut up alone in that room. For the moment Aiden would appease that loneliness.
“Ok,” I said as I bent his mind, bringing it under my control. “Everything’s going to be just fine.” His eyes glazed over and he nodded slowly. Dropping my robe I straddled his lap and spoke softly to him now. “Put your arms around me, Aiden,” I said. He did as he was told and I kissed his cheek softly. “Kiss me,” I whispered. “Kiss me the way you’d kiss me if we were in love.”
He moved his hands from my back to my neck and brought me to him, then gently he pressed his lips to mine and slowly, methodically, he brushed them softly with his. He moaned slightly and I felt him harden beneath me. I kissed him back, easily at first, and then harder. He mimicked my movements and kept up with me as the heat between us built quickly.
The Vampires of Soldiers Cove: The Unborn Page 4
