“Oh, we do. Spent some time up on the mountain a few decades ago.”
“He showed up at our wedding you know. Just out of nowhere. He seemed to have taken a shine to Rachel.”
“Of course.”
“What do you mean?”
Ian pushed his hands through his hair and looked nervously out the window. “Well, what I mean is, who wouldn’t. She’s a special girl.”
“Ian,” Gavin began slowly. “Rachel means the world to me. I think she’s in trouble. I’ve made so many mistakes with her, being her guardian. I wish Angus had taken that role like he led me to believe he would. I have a feeling we’re not going to like what we find here.”
“Why do you say that?”
“I was so angry when she left after being with Aries that I blocked her out. I shut off the mental communication we had formed. Even though it drove me half-crazy I thought it would be too painful to hear from her, in any way, so I made every effort to block it out. Sometimes though it would seep through and in those moments I felt a lot of fear and panic. I mean I know she’s scared because of the whole situation, but this was…different.”
“Different how?”
“Well, like last night. I felt a surge of fear and sorrow like I’d never felt before, not even from myself. It disturbed me so much I tried to reach back but when I did it was like she had disappeared suddenly. Like she was gone.”
“You think something happened to her? Could she be…?”
“Dead? No, I’d feel that. She’s living for sure, but somehow I feel that she’s different. She’s in trouble and we need to get to her as fast as we can. We need to get her back to Soldiers Cove and possibly into the sanctuary.” The more he spoke the more real the whole situation became. In the last six weeks he had barely breathed a word about Rachel to anyone, but now sitting here with Ian he finally appreciated just how serious things were, and just how badly he’d screwed up.
“And when we find her, if she won’t agree to go with you, you want me to blood influence her.”
“That’s the idea,” Gavin said, after a brief silence. “Ian,” he said softly, “when she was with you did you…do it then?”
Gavin was hoping for a ‘yes’ to that question. It was a long shot but he had to know. Ian was glaring at him now, insulted. “No. Of course not.”
“Ok.” Gavin’s heart sank. Rachel had been with Ian of her own free will and he would have to find a way to live with that.
Chapter Six
Arriving at the motel where Rachel had been staying, Gavin scoped out the parking lot, looking for the familiar blue pickup. There was no sign of it. “The truck isn’t here,” he said.
“Maybe she’s just out.”
“Maybe,” he said, getting out of the car. Gavin made his way to the door of her room and pressed his ear against it. Silence. The window had been closed so he couldn’t shift and sneak in as he had before. He gripped the handle and gave it a shove with his shoulder while Ian kept an eye out, just enough to break the door in without making too much noise. They slipped inside quickly closing the broken door behind as best as he could and Gavin began to look around. The bed was unmade and the room was in disarray. It smelled of her and he swallowed hard as a twinge of anxiety hit his system. The Blood Bond Syndrome was rearing its head now that he was standing in a space she had not long ago occupied and he had to use all his focus to continue his task.
The drawers were she had stored what little belongings she’d had were empty and the bathroom had been cleared out as well. “Fuck!” he said, giving the chair of the little desk a kick, toppling it over. “She’s gone.”
“We’ll find her,” Ian said.
“How do we even track her in a city like this? We can’t scent her here.”
“Relax. Halifax and Dartmouth aren’t that big, and besides, I have a few connections with the Authority. Old ones but perhaps we can use them. If she’s gone to them we’ll find her.”
“How do we find them?”
“Come on,” Ian said, heading back outside. “We have to cross the bridge to Halifax. Hopefully the person I’m looking for will still be there.”
***
A time later they were knocking on the door of a posh looking home in the south end. A very young looking vampire answered the door, giving Ian a smile as he released his fangs. “Ian!” he, said. “Have you come to apologize to me?”
“Not exactly,” Ian said, amused at the greeting.
“Then why the hell should I let you in? Do you know how long it took for my fangs to grow back?”
“Yeah, about five minutes.”
“True, but I do hate being without them. It was a long five minutes you arsehole.”
“You haven’t changed at all Nathan,” he laughed. Nathan was laughing now too.
“Get in here you piece of shit. I haven’t seen you in more than seventy years. Who’s your companion?”
“He’s not my companion. He’s my brother. Nathan this is Gavin.” Gavin extended his hand and Nathan shook hard.
“Good to meet you Gavin. Your brother here once pulled out my fangs because I stole his girl.”
“Hmm. Really? That’s interesting,” Gavin said, looking at Ian and remembering how good it had felt to punch him in the face.
“Yeah, I did. But don’t worry Nathan. Time and karma have taken care of that.”
“Glad to hear it.” he said, turning to Gavin.
“Yes, and it was well deserved. How is Rosemary anyway?”
The vampire stepped aside finally, letting them into the foyer of the home and then leading them to a small sitting area. When Nathan was seated on the couch he rubbed his hands together and leaned forward. “I’m afraid she’s gone. I lost her over twenty years ago.”
The jovial mood that had come with the reunion now turned sombre. “What? How did such a thing even happen?”
“Well, she was always very sensitive, you knew that I’m sure.” Ian nodded. “When we began having children, and we began outliving them as we do, it was too much. She lost her mind, staked herself. She couldn’t take the pain.”
Gavin clenched his jaw, thinking of Rachel and the pain she would now inevitably feel, then shut his eyes for a moment pushing it back out so as to focus on what they needed to do. Nathan’s eyes were growing moist, then he steadied himself, forcing a smile. “I want you to meet someone. Belinda!” he called out. “Come and meet my friends.”
A beautiful young redhead came to the sitting area and obediently sat down. Gavin could see she was newly born and was obviously being kept under a blood influence, as makers can do during the first year. Most makers anyway, he hadn’t had any luck there either. Ian’s face registered a look of shock. “Wow!” he said. Although the girl was beautiful, Gavin had a feeling Ian wasn’t commenting on just that.
“I know,” Nathan said. “She looks just like her. You know I was barely able to function for a long time after Rosemary died. But now that I have Belinda with me I feel as though I may be happy again. Isn’t that right sweetheart?” he said, stroking her face tenderly. Belinda nodded slowly through glazed eyes and Gavin couldn’t help but wonder if he wasn’t getting a glimpse of his future. If something were to happen to Rachel would he find a replacement? A substitute? Something about the whole situation made him feel ill. This man was so desperate for his old love that he had coerced or perhaps even forced this woman to be here with him. It seemed wrong somehow.
“And nothing will ever happen to you,” Nathan said, clasping Belinda’s hand tightly in his as he spoke. “I will never let you go,” he whispered to her, as if he was whispering to an echo from the past. “Never.”
Nathan seemed to forget where he was for a moment as he looked on Belinda, but finally turned back to them a moment later. “Well now, what is it that brings you to my door after so long?”
“We’re looking for someone. One of our clan has come to the city and we think she might be mixed up with the Authority.”
“How
do you figure that?”
Gavin spoke up. “I was watching her and I saw a man in a suit sneak into her motel room, staking the place out a few times and then finally confronting her. He was following her too.”
“Yeah, sounds like the Authority all right. You could come to the warehouse tonight. There’s a party. No guarantees that Christina will show up though. Lately she’s been MIA a lot. She’s got a new toy apparently. Someone she’s taken under her wing. It’s caused quite a stir.”
“Who’s Christina?”
“She’s the new head. Only been in charge for about twenty years or so.”
“What happened to Jacob?”
“Disappeared. He sent a letter to the people lower down on the council saying that he needed to abandon his post and just left town.”
“After two hundred years he just left with a letter?”
“Yeah. He’d had enough I guess. Anyway, why don’t you come tonight? Maybe she can help you. If she even shows up that is. This new girl she’s got living with her can start fires. It’s the most amazing thing. She was there the night of the mother cleansing and helped with our purge. It’s quite bizarre.”
Gavin opened his mouth to speak but Ian gave him a stern look. “Mother cleansing?” Ian asked.
“Oh yeah, haven’t you heard? We have a small herd of satyrs that have taken up residence here. They managed to impregnate quite a number of women in a short time. Christina is nipping it in the bud though. We eliminated about a hundred or so of the women along with all their offspring a few weeks ago.”
“And this new girl helped?”
“Yeah. She didn’t seem like she wanted to at the time, but I guess she’s come around. Satyrs are a menace. If we let them take over in a few decades it won’t be safe to eat. Fucking dangerous nuisance they are,” he said, wrinkling his face in disgust.
“Yes they are,” Gavin said, his voice hard.
“Well, we should go.” Ian was sensing the hate rising from Gavin and he was right. The faster they could get out of there now the better. “Thanks Nathan, you’ve been very helpful.”
“Of course. It’s the least I could do. I know I did you wrong all those years ago and I hope you find who you’re looking for.”
“All is forgiven,” Ian said, shaking his hand as he stood to go. “I’m glad she was happy with you.”
Nathan seemed like he was about to tear up again, but he simply nodded and held the door open for them as they walked back out into the night.
Gavin got in the car as fast as he could and turned the engine over. “If they are killing satyr mothers and their children that means Rachel is in danger of being killed.”
“If this Christina wanted her dead she’d be dead by now. The fact that she’s living with her and being cared for by her says that killing her is not what she’s after.”
“And she’s after what exactly?”
“Well, they’d have no use for the baby, but lots of use for someone who can do the things that Rachel can do.”
“So, what now?”
Ian checked his reflection in the passenger side mirror, smoothing his hair with his hands. “We party.”
Chapter Seven
Gavin parked the car across the street from the warehouse that was located in a lonely industrial park. It had the silence of a graveyard and seemed like a tomb as opposed to any place where vampires would go to party, let alone feed.
“How do we even get in there?” Gavin said.
Ian straightened his leather jacket, licking his lips as if the thought of this little adventure was making him hungry. “Leave that to me.”
They walked across the street and waited until another group of vampires made their way inside the non-descript door. There was one lone vampire standing guard and it was his job to make sure everyone going in was indeed allowed. Just before they reached him a black SUV drove up and the vampire pressed a button, raising a garage door on the side of the building. After it disappeared through the opening Gavin and Ian made their approach.
“Who are you?” the man said, flashing his fangs.
Gavin watched as Ian’s eyes blackened, locking them in a gaze with the guard that he was unable to break. “You know me. I’m here all the time. So is my friend. We’re friends of the Authority. Let us in.”
Ian’s eyes returned to normal and the mental hold he’d had over the guard seemed to break. Then he looked at them again as if seeing them for the first time. “Oh, hey man! What’s up? Go on inside,” he said, motioning to the door.
“Thank you,” Ian said as they walked past and into the warehouse.
“That’s a neat trick, brother. I can’t even properly blood influence my own progeny. I don’t know how you do it.”
“I’m not gonna lie, it comes in handy.”
“I bet.”
“It’s going to be tricky getting her away from this Christina person. We’ll have to be careful.”
“Can’t you blood influence her to let Rachel go?”
“I can only control one mind at a time. If there are too many other vampires around someone will notice what I’m doing and we’ll be up shit creek. We’ll have to watch our step.”
Gavin was truly frightened now. Perhaps coming to this party wasn’t the best course of action. It might have been a better idea to find Christina somewhere else, someplace quiet and get Rachel out that way. He doubted whether or not they’d even be here because he didn’t sense her anywhere close by. He’d always felt a longing, a warmth in his body when she was near, but he wasn’t feeling it now.
They followed the group who had gone ahead of them until they came to a narrow staircase that led down underneath the warehouse and to another door. When the door opened an all-out party hit them full force. Had Gavin been the same person he was both before and immediately after his turning this would have been his idea of euphoria. Loud music, people going wild everywhere. Drinking and dancing and sex wherever you looked.
A painfully slender female vampire with an eerily pale complexion and pin straight blonde hair sauntered up to Gavin, giving him the once over. “There’s a bed free in that corner over there if you’d like to join me,” she said, in a matter of fact way.
“Oh, ah, sorry. I can’t.”
She rolled her eyes and moved on to Ian. “How about you?”
He gave her a smile and slyly kissed her hand. “Maybe later. I have some business I need to take care of first.” She nodded and licked her lips, fangs protruding, then moved back into the throng of bodies and disappeared.
“Think you can control your libido long enough to find Rachel? I mean I wouldn’t want to disrupt your opportunity to add to your list of conquests.”
“Relax. I’m not going to hook up with her. It was just the fastest way to get rid of her.”
“Oh, you’re not interested? I guess a woman has to be somebody’s wife before you’ll consider it.”
Ian looked wounded. “Ok, I deserve that, but let’s do what we came here to do. Once she’s home with you we can part ways and you’ll never have to see my face again.”
As much as Gavin hated Ian for what he’d done, the thought of never seeing him again wasn’t something he actually wanted. The betrayal hurt bad and cut deep, but he hoped that in time it would heal. He didn’t want him gone forever, he just needed some distance while he figured out what to do with Rachel. “I don’t want that exactly,” he said.
“What do you want then?”
“I just want you to go away for a while.”
“That’s a request I’m used to hearing,” he said, scanning the crowd. “Look! There she is.”
Gavin turned in the direction Ian motioned to and saw Rachel. She was sitting at a large table next to a striking blonde woman who absolutely looked like she was in charge. They were just settling into their seats when a vampire approached the blonde and released her fangs.
The woman held out her wrist to the vampire and they watched as she fed from her. After a few moments the youn
g vampire thanked her and disappeared. It could only be Christina. Once Gavin got a good look at Rachel he could see that something was different. She sat, staring straight ahead, eyes vacant and glossed over. It didn’t look like a blood influence, at least not one that he’d ever seen. It was something else. Something he couldn’t quite put his finger on. She was there, and yet, she wasn’t.
Soon another vampire approached Christina, and then another. She obliged them all. Rachel simply sat, stoic and silent, disconnected from what was going on around her. Then she began to fidget at the table, hands shaking and looking at Christina with an air of desperation. Christina noticed this, smiled and held out her wrist for Rachel too. Rachel took a few swallows of the blood that was offered and then grew calm once again, sitting with her hands folded in her lap, head down and shoulders slumped. Christina reached out and stroked Rachel’s long dark hair as if she were giving attention to a pet.
A man in a suit, who looked painfully out of place, sat down with them and held out his hand. Christina extended hers and he fed from her wrist as well. Instead of departing when he’d finished however, he stayed and spoke softly, motioning to Rachel once or twice as he did. Rachel didn’t seem to notice.
From across the room Gavin opened up his mental connection to her once again. There was nothing on his end but when he made the attempt Rachel doubled over, clutching her stomach like she was in pain. Christina put her arm around her taking her head to her chest, soothing her once more. Gavin immediately stopped, horrified that he was the cause.
“What do you think?” Ian said.
“I don’t know what to think. I try to communicate with her and there’s nothing on my end, but is seems to be painful for her. I don’t know what’s going on here.”
“They’re all addicted. Christina is an effective leader alright. When you have everyone who’s subservient to you addicted to your blood they’ll do whatever you ask. That’s why they’re having this little party. She’s giving them their fix.”
The Vampires of Soldiers Cove: The Unborn Page 12
