by M. D. Bowden
Daniel reverses out, and takes his leave of the airport slowly. No matter how much he wants to be a father for her kids, he still wants to treasure these final moments alone—to make the last night of their epic trip count. And if that means not getting any sleep, so be it.
“How were your parents—when you told them you were coming back?”
Sarah laughs out loud. “Relieved. I don’t think it’s been easy for them. However much they love their grandchildren, I think they’ll be happy to pass them back to me.”
“That is because they belong to you.”
“I hope they still feel that way. What if—”
“They will—you are their mother.”
“But Bea—she’s so little. What if she’s forgotten me?”
“You know she hasn’t. You’ve been seeing them every day on Skype.”
“I know—I’m being silly. It’s just . . . I need to be the best mother ever now, to make it up to them. All that they’ve been through . . .”
“You will be able to,” he said, breaking into a grin. “You have super powers.”
He watches her, out of the corner of his eye, as she shakes her head in amused disbelief, and then places her hand on his thigh. He shoots her a dazzling smile, at which she chuckles. He then returns his eyes to the open stretch of road, just in time to see a blur coming straight toward their car. Sarah gasps. Heart soaring, he slams on the brakes, and an instant later something smashes straight into the hood of their car.
Chapter 3
The car buckles under the impact, and Daniel whips on the hand brake. The car spins, but doesn’t knock off the person who’s just coming into focus before them. A VAMPIRE. Its jaws are open in a feral snarl, hissing as the car comes to a halt. Out of the shadows spring more blurs, and he quickly counts—ten—ten vampires.
He can hear Sarah’s heart rate peaking.
“Sarah, we’ve fought worse—we can do this.”
“I know,” she said, resigned. For a second her eyes leave the vampire on the hood, and turn to Daniel. She gives him a weak smile. “I didn’t expect coming home to be easy.”
With that she turns and wrenches open her door before the other vampires have a chance to trap them inside. A second later Daniel is whipping through the cold night air to Sarah’s side, and the first vampire is leaping toward his throat.
After months without fighting, he still reacts on instinct. He jumps toward the vampire, determined to protect Sarah. He pulls a stake out of his inner pocket, always prepared, and drives it directly into the vampire’s chest. He pulls the stake free, and then kicks the dead vampire away as it’s consumed by flame.
He is knocked to his chest as two impacts simultaneously hit his back. His breath leaves him as he’s pinned to the ground by the weight of two heavy vampires. He struggles, trying to get free, and drops his stake in the process.
“Let them stand,” a voice, whose source he can’t see, orders.
Daniel is wrenched to his feet in a swift motion, and his eyes seek Sarah. Two vampires are holding her firmly in their grip, her arms pinned behind her back like his. Her eyes beseech him for an answer as to what they should do.
He tries to tell her to ‘wait’ with his eyes, to reassure her that they will be OK—he still has his magic, it’s simmering in his blood, ready to be used. But first he has to know—why they are being targeted?
He takes his eyes from Sarah and brings them around in search of the vampire commander. He spots him at once, a tall and imposing figure, cast in silhouette by the headlamps from their rental car. Daniel strains his eyes until he spots a familiar face.
“Hello Demetri,” Daniel said, his tone resigned—he should have guessed something like this would happen.
“Daniel. Where is Sebastian?”
Daniel smirks, he can’t help but taunt the vampire. “Where he is doesn’t matter. What does matter is his state—he is very much dead.”
The vampire’s eyes flash, and he roars. Daniel sees Sarah wince. However, he makes sure he doesn’t react—he doesn’t want Demetri to get the upper hand in this one.
“Where is his body?”
“That; I will not tell you.”
“We want to see the body. We want proof,” Demetri taunts.
Daniel shoots him an enigmatic smile. “Is that all then? Can we go?”
“No,” Demetri hisses.
Demetri whips a stake out of his pocket and lunges for Daniel. Daniel channels the magic he has been storing in his cells, his blood, and sends fire through his hands into the grip of his captives. He is immediately released, and, arms freed, he brings them around and shoots blue flame at the approaching Demetri, as Daniel leaps sideways to Sarah’s aid.
Once again his actions have put her in danger, and he won’t let her get hurt, not when she’s this close to being reunited with her family. It’s a good job he took advantage of their quiet time to train her to fight.
As Sarah strikes one of the vampires in the stomach with her elbow, Daniel swings the flames toward the other one, as something grabs hold of his legs and wrestles him to the ground. As he goes down he seeks Sarah with his eyes and is relieved to see she is free. The flames missed the vampire, but the distraction helped Sarah to escape their hold. He spots Sarah stake one, as another vampire jumps on his back.
He focuses his power on his legs and core muscles and uses every ounce of strength to spring back, tossing off his enemies. They are strong, but young. Daniel knows he has the advantage in age over most of these vamps, but their numbers are far higher, and Demetri is at least twice Daniel’s age. Fortunately Demetri is no-where near as old as Sebastian was, and Daniel did manage to kill him. But, Sebastian didn’t have a small army to back him up.
Daniel braces himself and takes a microsecond to scan the road. There are eight vampires left. The two vampires he made let go of him with flame must have managed to put it out. Sarah is fighting four, all at once, but she looks like she’s struggling.
Daniel was about to tackle his opponents, but he sees one of the vampires who’s fighting Sarah pull a stake free. Instead of fighting, he leaps high over their heads, and lands behind the offending vampire, a young woman with virtually fluorescent blue hair. He swiftly reaches for her neck and snaps. As the girl falls to the ground Sarah succeeds in staking another vamp. Daniel kicks yet another vampire away as he slams a fresh stake into the chest of the blue-haired girl.
He meets Sarah’s eye, and glances upwards. She gives a brief nod, and simultaneously the two of them jump. They land together on the tarmacked street, forest at their back, and face the remaining six vampires.
Demetri stalks toward them, leading the group. Sarah’s heart is pounding at his side, igniting his protective instincts.
“Where is Sebastian’s body?” Demetri hisses once more.
“Somewhere no-one will find it, I assure you,” Daniel said.
The remaining vampires step closer slowly, hesitant now. Daniel raises his arms, and fires flame in an arc, setting four of the vampires alight before the others have the sense to get out of the way.
He failed to hit Demetri.
Chapter 4
Demetri steps forward, his eyes fixed determinedly, hungrily, on Daniel. Daniel catches sight of a nervous vampire bolting into the trees.
“Follow him,” he whispers to Sarah.
When he and Sarah get away, he doesn’t want anyone alive to gather a stronger force. He wants this over, before they have children to protect.
Sarah doesn’t hesitate. She hurries into the forest, on the trail of the vampire.
The four vampires Daniel hit with flames are now fully ignited, and still moving, floundering dangerously close. Daniel leaps to fresh ground—and Demetri spins to face him afresh, sneering in anger.
“Where the fuck is Sebastian?”
Daniel remains silent, considering his best strategy. He quickly makes a decision: he will try something that’s worked for him before. But, before he does that he needs
to finish off the two vampires who are flanking their leader.
Daniel eyes the vampire on Demetri’s left. He is scruffy and dirty, and looks drunk. Daniel quickly appraises the other vampire; maybe forty when he was turned, older than your average vampire, and his eyes look suspicious. Daniel decides he looks like the most intelligent of the two.
As they all take another step forward, Daniel goes from still as a statue to faster than a cheetah in less than a second. He rams into the older vampire and jams a stake straight into his chest, all before Demetri has a chance to respond.
Demetri emits another great roar, making the ground shake. He lunges for Daniel’s throat, and Daniel lets him, but he intentionally falls back, so his back is to the ground and his chest is protected by Demetri. The scruffy vampire won’t be able to use this opportunity to stake him.
“Tell me now, or I will finish you.”
Daniel stays silent.
Demetri’s grip tightens on the bare skin at his neck, allowing Daniel to take advantage of a trick he used on Sebastian. He recalls a spell he learnt on the net, and focuses with all his might on drawing energy out of his opponent.
For a second Daniel fears it will not work this time, that he’s forgotten a part of the spell, but then he feels the energy of Demetri surge into him in a giant wave of power, taking his breath way.
Demetri panics as he weakens. He is obviously not used to magic, and has no idea what’s happening to him. Demetri tries to wrench away his hands, but once the energy letting has started, the connection is difficult to break. As Daniel watches, Demetri pales. His skin dries, then it wrinkles.
The last ounce of power enters Daniel, restoring the energy he’s depleted by using so much magic, but Daniel is distracted by retreating footsteps.
Demetri flops on top of him, mummified, the bond broken. Daniel quickly pushes him aside and jumps to his feet. It’s as he thought, the last vampire has legged it. Daniel runs in the direction he thinks the vampire took, hearing a trace of rustling in the forest.
It doesn’t escape his notice that Sarah is not yet back.
Daniel shifts, feeling his body change in a wonderfully smooth motion into that of a buzzard, and he soars into the forest after the vampire. He refuses to let it escape.
He uses his fine instincts to smell out the hint of wrongness in the forest, and finds it not too far ahead. He follows the trail, but the vampire is faster than he expected, and it takes a huge amount of concentration to keep track of it.
He puts on an extra burst of speed, and catches sight of a blur ahead in the darkness. He’s so nearly there. He pushes harder, swooping and gliding through gaps between the trees as the blur gets closer.
He extends his claws and lands on the shoulders of the vampire, changing back into himself without letting go, and rolling over on the ground until he’s pinning the scruffy vampire to the earth.
“Please, let me go . . .”
Daniel cuts off his words by snapping the vampire’s neck, not trusting that he wouldn’t have killed him if he’d had the chance. He picks up a branch off the forest floor, snaps it, and plunges it into the chest of the vampire.
He quickly gets back up, feeling a pang of guilt as flames start to consume the body. Should he have given him an opportunity to go? To redeem himself?
Daniel shakes his head in despair, knowing in his head that he did what was right, but not in his heart. He’s had enough of killing, enough of danger and drama. He just wants to escape it.
He changes back into his buzzard form, and soars high above the trees, back toward the body of Demetri, in search of Sarah.
Chapter 5
His eyes pick out Demetri’s body within seconds, and sitting on top of it, guarding it, is his little white owl. As he lands he meets her eyes and they both take on their human forms.
“Success?” Daniel asks her.
She nods. “Yes, I had to chase him some-way, but I caught up in the end, and used a branch stump to my advantage. And you? What happened here?”
“Demetri. He was sired by Sebastian, long before me. After I killed Sebastian I considered whether anyone else he’d sired might track me down, but what with everything else that happened after that, I guess I forgot all about it. I’m sorry.”
Sarah rises to her feet and steps up to him. She strokes his hair away from his face, and then leans her head against his chest. He holds her tightly, so glad to be with her, that they’ve survived this. He runs his fingers down her ever so long blonde hair, and as he does her heart rate slows to a steady rhythm.
She leans back and looks into his eyes. “But . . . why is Demetri like that?” she said, gesturing to his wrinkly form.
Daniel steps away from Sarah and takes a moment to locate the stake he dropped when he was being attacked. He tracks it down next to a pile of ash and returns to the body, and Sarah’s side.
“I mummified him, like I did to Sebastian—the first time I killed him that is. Now I need to stake him.”
Sarah steps back as Daniel drives the wood into Demetri’s chest. Then Daniel glides back to Sarah’s side to watch Demetri burn.
“So . . . could this Demetri come back too?”
“No, he was older than me, but still just a normal vampire. He hasn’t been in this world for long enough for his spirit to be tied here.”
“Good.”
As the flames die away Daniel draws Sarah back against him, and wipes a smudge of blood from her cheek. “Did you get hurt?”
“Only a scratch, I’m healed already,” she said, smiling softly.
“I was worried, when I saw how many vampires there were, but I can see I needn’t have—you were marvelous. You’ve really grasped everything I taught you.”
“Thank you,” she said, and then grins. “I was not worried—you are one talented vampire.”
She grabs his neck, laughing, and kisses him hard, making him forget the fight, forget everything but her. He starts to lose himself to her, getting carried away with their kiss, tasting her lips, her tongue.
She jumps and wraps her legs tightly around his middle, and he pulls her hard against him. He kisses her lower, and she leans her head back, giving him access to her breasts. He pulls up her fragile top and kisses the delicate area of her tummy, just below her bra.
The sound of an engine breaks the moment, and Sarah herself breaks into giggles. She holds onto his shoulders and lets her legs drop to the floor, hastily pulling down her top before headlights blare into sight.
Daniel glances around, worried about how the scene will look to the eyes of humans, but then realizes that in this light nothing will look out of place, apart from the dented hood of their rental car, which is half blocking the road.
As the new car approaches, it spots the damage and slows to a stop by Daniel and Sarah.
A bearded man lowers his window and asks—“Everything OK here, you need a tow?”
“No, thank you. We’ve already called for help, but thanks for stopping.”
The man nods and drives off, wishing them a swift rescue.
Sarah turns to Daniel, eyeing their car. “Do you think it will still work?”
“It should be fine. Let’s find out.”
A second later he’s in the driving seat, and Sarah is giggling at his side. The engine starts without a glitch.
“What a homecoming,” Sarah said, sighing. “Do you think we’ll meet anymore hostility before the night is over?”
“Not from me you won’t,” he said, shooting her his most wicked smile as he hits the gas pedal, speeding away, scattering the dust of their enemies into the darkness.
Chapter 6
Sarah wakes at the first hint of dawn, and opens her eyes to a sky streaked with purple, above the tall conifers surrounding their parking spot. She yawns quietly, feeling very thirsty and weak after the night of fighting. Sarah sighs, and takes a peek at Daniel who’s breathing heavily in the reclined driver’s seat.
He looks as sexy as ever, and she just can’
t help but kiss his appealing lips, ever so gently. He smiles an infinitesimal amount, but doesn’t wake, so she nuzzles at his neck until he responds and wraps her up in his arms. She smiles happily as he sighs with contentment and kisses her hair, still half asleep.
Last night was quite the wakeup call, she thinks. She already knew that they would never be one hundred per cent safe, but she had no idea danger was lurking so nearby. If she had, well . . . she probably wouldn’t have done anything differently. But . . . what if something like that happens again . . . when she’s with her kids?
At least now she is strong enough to protect them, she hopes, should anything like that happen again. The main thing she will have to protect them from is herself, her hunger.
At least she now feels in control. Discovering how to direct her power into her will to resist helped enormously in mastering her blood lust, and she accomplished it far sooner than Daniel had anticipated. But then, her determination was so strong—without her kids she’s been empty.
“Daniel,” she whispers, “I’m just going to go out and feed.” He stirs, as if thinking of joining her. “No, you just rest. I’ll be back soon.”
Daniel relaxes his arms and continues to sleep, while she quietly opens the door and climbs out into the crisp morning air. Immediately she lets her senses expand, trickling into the forest in long tendrils of power, searching for the very essence of life: blood. Her ears catch the slow ‘thump, thump, thump’ of an idling animal, and she picks up the heady scent of its life force on the breeze.
She leaps into the air, channeling her power, letting her cells swirl and morph into her preferred form; a small white bird of prey. As she flies into the forest toward the animal her throat burns, and she lets herself soar, using barely any energy to silently descend, basking on the pockets of air, basking in the freedom.
Her senses fire in anticipation as she nears her meal, and then she spots it. A bear. It is slowly wandering on all fours, between the trees. She reaches for its mind with her power, and it responds immediately; stopping, waiting.
