The Vampires of Soldiers Cove: The Unborn

by Jessica MacIntyre

  “Not exactly,” I said. “I didn’t know it would happen like that.” I needed to sit down and made my way to a downed tree, perching on its trunk to think.

  “I’m so sorry to have to tell you this. I would have thought your mate would have told you. But I’m sure he will be back for the boy. None of us would willingly abandon our son. Did he at least pledge to take him?”

  “He did.”

  “You see? Then you have nothing to worry about. What is your name vampire? I can see that you are very young yourself.”

  “My name is Rachel,” I said.

  He extended his hand to me and we shook. “An honor to meet you, Rachel. Why are you here?”

  In that moment I had a decision to make. Christina had sent me to track this man, but now I felt a certain loyalty to him and to his kind, considering I was carrying one of his race. But Christina was a vampire and had said Zale was a threat to vampires. He looked at me with his kindly eyes and touched my shoulder gently and smiled. “It’s alright,” he said. “If there’s something you need I will do my best to help you, sweet mother.”

  I knew I had to fess up. “Do you know who Christina is?”

  His eyes hardened. His mouth drawing down into a straight line. “I do.”

  “She sent me to follow you. She didn’t tell me you were a satyr.”

  “I see. It only makes sense I guess since she probably figured we wouldn’t see you coming so to speak. She’s been trying to trace me for months but I always lose the ones she sends. How can someone who carries a satyr child inside her be associated with one who wants to see them extinct?”

  “Extinct?”

  “Yes. Christina is committing acts of genocide.”

  “She told me you were a threat to our kind.”

  “Some vampires see it that way, but we don’t cut into your food supply that much. A human woman’s blood becomes poisoned to vampires after they carry a satyr child. Feeding off a mother or former mother is now like feeding off an animal. It’s dangerous because by the time a vampire realizes they have ingested too much, it’s usually too late.”

  “Oh my god,” I said horrified, remembering the motel ballroom. “All those women. They were all carrying your sons weren’t they?”

  “Gods mother!” he cried out in anguish. “You were there and you lived to tell about it? Thank the gods you weren’t harmed. Tell me, did they…suffer?”

  Although I didn’t want to cause him any pain I knew I couldn’t lie. His large blue eyes were turning red, his jaw beginning to quiver. “I’m afraid they did.”

  Zale put his hand to his heart as tears began to fall. “We failed to protect them. So many mothers lost. We failed to…see it coming.” He sat silently for a few moments contemplating his grief and then softly placed his hand on my shoulder. “I will protect you if you need to be protected, Rachel. You and your child would be safe with me. I swear it on my honor.”

  I’m sure you would Zale, but I’m not sure protection is what I need at this point. I think if I went into hiding now Christina would know something was wrong. She expects me to report back and tell her where you go.

  “You mustn’t tell her where we are. There are only a handful of us here. A lot of us didn’t survive the transition out of the wilderness. We’re dying out. I can’t stay in my human form for more than a few hours and so it’s tricky for us to get up and move. Plus, we have many other mothers here we have to protect and sons to collect when the time comes. We can’t just go into hiding. That would be leaving them all to die, and enough have died already.”

  “On that we are agreed,” I said. “So now what?”

  “Go back to Christina and tell her that you lost me tonight. After that you will have to get out of her sight so that she doesn’t call on you again. Either come to me and I’ll hide you, or go join a clan and ask for protection in their sanctuary. Do you belong to any group? Where is your maker? Shouldn’t you still be with them anyway?”

  “Yes, but, it’s complicated. I can’t go back.”

  “If it’s somewhere you would be safe than you should consider rethinking that. Did your maker reject you somehow? Was it something to do with us?”

  “You could say that. I’ll figure something out though don’t worry.” I had no idea what that was going to be but I didn’t feel like I could let him know that.

  He rose and took my hand, helping me to stand. Then, gallantly, he kissed it, covering it with his own. “Gods protect you, Rachel. Please, go to where you are safe and when the time comes make sure the boy gets to his father. Call on us if need be.”

  “I will,” I said. “Goodnight.” He nodded and watched as I walked back out of the park toward the truck. Gripping the steering wheel I sat there for a long time, trying to think of every possible scenario that may happen once I met up with Christina. I pulled the address out of my pocket and stared at it, then put it back and started the engine. It was time to go tell one of the riskiest lies of my life.

  Chapter Eleven

  The address was for a building on the corner of Spring Garden and Summer Street. It was easy to find, being that Spring Garden Road was probably the best known street in the city. Accommodations here were not cheap and as I stood at the bottom of the building craning my neck to see the top I surmised that Christina certainly wasn’t hurting for money.

  I entered the building and punched the apartment code into the intercom system. “Yes?” a male voice answered.

  “It’s Rachel. I’m here to see Christina.” The door made a buzzing noise as it came unlocked and I went to the elevator, passing a security guard seated at a desk, as I did. When the elevator completed its ascent the doors slid open and I came face to face with Joshua.

  He clasped his hands together as a smile spread across his face. “Rachel! So nice to see you again. I hope you’ll stay with us for a little while. It would be much nicer to talk with you in the quiet. I know the party was a bit loud for my taste. I prefer smaller gatherings.”

  I had to agree with him on that. Loud, boisterous parties were never really something that held my interest. Not that I had been invited to many, and perhaps that was why. “I agree,” I said as he led me inside.

  Christina was waiting there, lounging on the couch, a glass of red wine in hand. Her hair was swept up and she was wearing a beautiful red dress. She looked like she was more ready to go for cocktails than to have a meeting with the likes of me. Every time I met her she looked like a different person. Business woman, bad ass, average woman, and now socialite.

  Her demeanor was much more formal than the exchange we’d had earlier at the motel. “Hello Rachel,” she said. “Please sit down.”

  “Thank you.” I took a seat on a large chair directly across from her and she reached for her glass, drinking the last of the wine. Joshua noticed and came quickly to refill it.

  “I’d offer you some, but of course, in your condition it wouldn’t be wise. Alcohol is not good for human babies now is it?”

  I sat, folding my hands in my lap and used all of my wits to maintain some semblance of composure. It certainly was work because on the inside I was screaming. “No, it isn’t,” I said.

  “So, tell me, how did you make out with our friend? Did you have any success?”

  This was it. Screwing up all of the courage I could summon I looked her in the face and lied. “He was at the restaurant just like you said he would be. I followed behind him in my truck but lost him in traffic. I think he knew I was following him. It seemed like he lost me on purpose. It felt like he was aware.”

  “Damn!” she said, putting her glass back down. “I was really hoping we’d get him this time.”

  “I’m sorry I wasn’t more help to you, Christina.”

  “There’s no need for an apology. You did the best you could. Others, older and more experienced than you, have failed at this as well. I just figured since you’ve been hunting men so successfully that your luck would hold out with this one. Nothing lasts forever thoug
h I suppose.”

  “I suppose you’re right,” I said. “What will you do now?”

  “I’m not sure. We’ve been after him for a while but he seems to know when we’re coming and outsmarts us at every turn. It’s very frustrating. He needs to be taken care of and soon.” She relaxed again, taking her wine glass in hand once more and continued on. “But, that’s neither here nor there now.” She took a sip. “Tell me, these other men you track, they all have something in common don’t they?”

  My hands clenched together. “Do they?”

  “Come now Rachel, we’ve been watching you, remember? This is my city and I know every criminal in it. Where they go, what they do and what makes them who they are. They belong to me just as much as the rest of the city belongs to me.”

  “If you know what these people are doing why don’t you take care of them? They’re hurting the innocents here. You could have a much better city if you’d just feed on them.”

  Christina smiled as if she was deciding to let out some terrible, yet wonderful secret. “No, I wouldn’t do that. Every urban center needs its chaos. It keeps us safe. Trust me, living in a city with violent criminals keeps us hidden. It’s not like in a small town clan where we all cover for each other. We work together to an extent, but we also like to remain autonomous. The criminal element helps us do that.”

  I had to admit what she was saying made sense to a certain degree. “You could take out the predators though. I don’t see any reason to let someone walk around hurting children.”

  “No, of course not. And we have taken them off the street if they get too aggressive. We’re not totally heartless. We need people to still feel safe when they’re out and about so that we have easier access of course. Halifax really is perfect in that regard. It’s not so big that people are afraid, but not so small that the criminals don’t have a certain role to play.”

  I nodded. “You’ve certainly cleaned up a bit since you arrived though haven’t you? Your victims have almost exclusively been sexual predators. Why the distinction? Do they taste better to you?”

  “No.” I said. “Blood is blood.”

  Christina held her glass up, swirling the contents around and examining it. “I guess to some,” she said. “So what is it then?”

  “Well, let’s just say, it makes me feel better.”

  “I understand what you’re saying,” she said, her eyes softening. “Men will take whatever the fuck they want, won’t they? They’re the same across all species too. If there’s something they want they just take it, no matter how it hurts you. No matter how you suffer, or bleed or cry or beg. They just go on hurting you and hurting you until they get what they want and then toss you aside. When you’ve been used in that way it’s a pain and an anger that lives with you forever, isn’t it Rachel?”

  I stayed silent for a moment as she stared at me, boring a hole right though my very being. Joshua, seeing that I was feeling awkward, came and sat on the couch next to Christina and put his arm around her shoulders. “Christina speaks in general terms of course. You don’t think that way of me do you?” he said to her.

  Christina’s attention shifted to him, her eyes now fixed on him she delivered a warm smile. “There are a few exceptions.” The two exchanged a sweet lingering kiss. “Go see about dinner would you? I’m in the mood for something sweet.”

  Reluctantly he rose from his place, not wanting to leave her side, and slipped on his jacket. “I’ll get something nice. Be back shortly.”

  The door clicked as Joshua left us alone. “Don’t let him fool you. He’d send me down the river so fast it would make my head spin. If he actually had the ability to do it that is.”

  “Then why do you keep him around?”

  “Oh I do like him, but like I said, a man will make you suffer to get what he wants. He’ll sit on his throne and you’ll pay the cost. I have a feeling you know that already though, don’t you?”

  I nodded. “I guess I do.”

  “I know you do. I’m very old Rachel. I know you a lot better than you think I do. I know you in ways that might surprise you.”

  In that moment her eyes lit up like fire. They flooded with a dark red color for a brief second and then went back to normal. I squeezed my own eyes shut wondering what the hell I had just seen.

  “Everything alright? You don’t look so good all of a sudden.”

  “I think I’m just tired,” I said, rubbing my forehead.

  She stood and took me by the hand, then walked me to the door, her arm wrapped tightly and possessively around my waist. “Of course you are. I’m sorry to have kept you. That little one is sapping all of your energy. You’d best get home and grab some sleep. Make sure you get enough. We want that baby to be good and healthy, now don’t we?”

  “Yes,” was all I could say. Christina opened the door and I stepped out.

  “Goodnight Rachel. We’ll talk again soon, I promise.” Before I could say anything the door closed and I was alone in the hallway. I took the elevator back down and as I made my way out of the lobby and back to the street I saw Joshua leading a young man of about twenty inside. He’d obviously been blood influenced. He walked absently, his footsteps heavy on the tile.

  Joshua nodded politely before the elevator door closed. I got back in the truck as quickly as I could, my hands shaking as the anxiety I had been holding in finally came pouring out. I needed to think, and the hunger for food was making itself known with a heavy growling in my stomach. On the other side of the bridge there would be food and solitude. It was too late to go back to the motel and order room service and so I set out in search of an all-night place where I could collect myself. I needed to think.

  Chapter Twelve

  It hadn’t been easy to find a restaurant that was open all night but around 2 a.m. I finally met with success. It was a truck stop in Enfield, out by the airport. The place was practically deserted and the waitresses, most of them over fifty, looked like they were about to fall asleep. My exhaustion matched theirs and so the line of one way communication to my brain was open and flowing. I was too tired to shut it down and nobody here was having any major mental drama, they all just wanted to go home to bed. I decided to ignore it and took a table next to the large windows, watching the late night traffic slip by. It was sort of comforting in a way to just listen in on the worries of everyday people. Their thoughts were so simple it was almost like listening to a waterfall, or a babbling brook.

  A very pretty waitress, of about twenty-five, with a long blonde ponytail and large blue eyes smiled wide and approached my table. “What would you like?” she asked.

  “Cheeseburger with bacon and everything on it. Does that come with fries?”

  “Sure does,” she said, scribbling on her order pad. “Anything to drink?”

  “Do you have milkshakes?”

  “You bet. Just the standard, chocolate, strawberry or vanilla though.”

  “Standard is good. I’ll have a standard vanilla.”

  “Wow, somebody’s hungry. What did you do to work up an appetite like that this late at night?” She winked at me. Her thoughts were coming through loud and clear, but even if they hadn’t been, it was obvious I was being flirted with.

  “Nothing. Just maybe fueling up for later,” I said, flirting back. Her eyes widened in surprise as her cheeks reddened. I had surprised the hell out of her. Now she was thinking of ways to try and take me home.

  “In that case I’ll put a rush on it.”

  I laughed. “Yeah, you do that.”

  The food arrived and I was left alone to eat. I finished every bite and my mind emptied while I did. It felt good to appreciate food. That was one thing I was actually enjoying about being pregnant. Food was almost as satisfying as blood once again and I reveled in it. The moment I was done the waitress, whose name tag said, ‘Kira’ was there to clear the plates.

  “Did you want some dessert? We don’t have much at this time of night, but I could find you something if you want it
.”

  “No, not here.”

  Kira tilted her head to the side, her ponytail swinging behind her with a sly smile. “You want to eat desert at another restaurant?”

  “No. I’d like to eat it back at my place though. What time do you finish?” I said, hoping the direct approach would work. I was blood hungry again and she smelled like dessert to me. I could have blood influenced her of course, but I had a feeling I didn’t need to do that to catch this particular meal.

  Her eyes lit up. “I’m done in twenty minutes.”

  “Perfect,” I said. “I’ll just have some coffee until then.”

  ***

  After Kira got off work she followed me to the motel in her car. Luckily it was close because she was doubting whether or not going back to a motel with a perfect stranger was a good idea. She had never done that before and was getting slightly nervous. Once we were alone, however, all of her fear seemed to go out the window and before I knew it we were on the bed, kissing and undressing each other, slowly and carefully. Her hands explored every part of me and I moaned with pleasure from her touch. Just having a warm body in the bed was enough to comfort me. She was here because she wanted to be, not because I had coerced her in any way. We truly had a connection. It may have been purely sexual, but it was an emotional relief just the same.

  I missed true intimacy and in a way the act made me even lonelier than I already felt. We lay side by side, Kira kissing my neck and then working her way to my ear, biting it hard when she got there. I groaned.

  “You like it when I bite you?” she giggled.

  “You have no idea.”