by S. J. Wright
When she turned those eyes on me, I saw that she suffered. It was a raw grating thing that had come up on her over the course of several years; nothing she could correct or control. I discovered later where the pain came from, although it is not a story for me to tell. It is hers alone.
I turned Victoria into a vampire a few days later, after she gave full consent. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. She was unfailingly loyal, grateful for my presence in her life, and incredibly intelligent. Meekah adored her from the first moment they met. I worried occasionally that my seer would try to turn my newest recruit against me. It was unwarranted. Victoria looked upon me as her savior, having rescued her from a life that had ultimately been miserable.
It was a pity that Meekah did not feel the same towards me. But I learned over the decades to placate her, give her what she asked for without too many questions, as long as she told me about her visions. There were times when she refused to reveal what she saw. Back in those days, her gift was so precious to me that I often laughed away her refusals and walked away. Only later did my patience come to its end.
Chapter 10 – Sarah
Alex had tried to see me only once, but his respect for Nelly’s word was absolute. She had told him that I did not want to see him. He had disappeared into the woods while I watched from my bedroom window. Gone like a dark spirit.
In a few days, I had regained most of my strength. One gray afternoon as I was mucking out the barn stalls, Messenger came walking in through the main barn door. I had not seen much of her at all recently, so I propped the shovel up against the wall and smiled when she stretched her neck forward to sniff at my shirt.
“Have you been staying out of trouble?” I rubbed her forehead in short circling strokes, “Did you finally realize that you missed me? Or did you miss the grain?”
Her ears flicked forward at the word, and I laughed.
“I think I know the answer to that one.” I pulled open the half door that led into her stall, “I’ll give you a little extra if you get in there without me using a halter on you.”
I could have sworn she rolled her eyes. Swinging her head around towards the entrance to the barn, she seemed to consider her options. She gave me another look that conveyed a sense of intense boredom and then stepped lightly into the fresh sawdust of her stall.
Sighing in relief, I pushed the door closed and rested my arms on the top board of the door.
“You’re a troublemaker, Sarah.”
Messenger suddenly jerked her head up in surprise and let out a snort. When I turned to see what had frightened her, I found the one person I had not ever expected to see on my property again. Trevor Kincaid stood a few feet from me, his face cold with hate and his right arm encased in a thick cast and sling.
“Where is your friend?” He asked.
That was when I saw the Miller brothers loitering outside the barn, looking around anxiously. They did not look particularly threatening. Neither did Trevor, once I got a good look at him. Sure, he was trying to look tough. However, there was clear anxiety exuding from him, and he was being uncharacteristically fidgety.
I sighed and went back to cleaning Lenny’s stall. “He’s not here, Trevor.”
“What is he, Sarah?”
Pausing, with my shovel half filled with soiled sawdust, I turned to look at him. There was little doubt in my mind that Trevor wouldn’t believe me if I told him the truth. It would also cause a lot of tongues to wag in town, because he would be quick to spread the news that I’d finally gone completely nuts.
“He’s a former friend of mine. I don’t expect to see him again.”
He turned towards his buddies, who seemed to be getting more nervous by the second. I continued scooping manure and hoped he would leave quietly. I should have known better. Strong fingers grabbed my arm and squeezed. Trevor’s voice growled against my ear.
“When I find out what I’m up against, I’m going to kill him.”
When he did finally walk away, I leaned against the wall and released a long sigh. He was capable of doing some awful things, but Trevor would never survive a real fight against Alex. I decided not to worry about it. There were so many other things going on to drive me crazy. Worrying about Trevor’s ridiculous threats was low on my list.
Glancing over at Messenger, I raised my eyebrows, “One more complication.”
She snorted, lifted her head and nose up into the air, and curled her lip.
The call from Michael came at 10:30 that evening. I was in my room, getting ready to put on my pajamas when my cell rang. I didn’t recognize the number, but it was showing up as a Chicago area code. I didn't know how to feel or what to expect.
“Hello?”
“You were probably thinking you’d never hear from me again.”
I sucked in a quick breath of air as I detected the warm tone in his voice.
“Michael? Where are you?”
“Down the road, at the edge of town.” He laughed quietly, “I was hoping I’d be able to get in without any help and surprise you in your bed.”
My toes curled up in my thick socks.
“I’ll be down there in a few minutes. Don’t go anywhere.” I said. I ended the call and stared at myself in the mirror above my dresser. He was really back. Since I’d released him, I’d had my doubts about whether he would keep his word. My trust in him had just risen by several degrees, and I realized that I couldn’t wait to see his face.
With my thoughts focused on the memory of his embrace and the warmth of it, I hopped down the stairs. I almost fell down twice trying to pull on my boots by the back door. By the time I had the truck rattling down the driveway and out onto the road, I was shivering in anticipation.
I was alive. Inside and out. My pulse pounded in my ears, softening the sound of Guns ‘N Roses lashing out from the radio. When the headlights illuminated a single dark figure at the side of the road among the bare trees and dead grasses, my heart leapt. I drove up until the truck was twenty feet from him.
He held up one hand to shield the glare of the headlights from his eyes, so I flipped off the lights and shifted the truck into park. I stepped out into the darkness with fierce hope igniting my soul. All I could think was that whatever horrible moments I might live through later, I wanted more than anything to lose myself completely in the magic that was Michael.
I stepped in front of the truck and just watched him for a few moments. I wanted to preserve this moment somehow. I wanted his image etched permanently onto my brain, my flesh, my bones, so that I could look back and see it all again. I didn’t want to wait another moment to feel his skin against mine.
He stood there at the edge of the road, the trees immobile and pale behind him. They looked like ghosts waiting expectantly for the next move to be made between the mortals before them. What would they see, those half dead wooden beings waiting patiently for spring to breathe new life into their limbs? Would our little play in this dark landscape be enough to entertain them until the undeniable surge of life sprang forth inside them at the end of March?
Spring seemed very far away. I treasured the cold air around me, the spindly bare trees that reached fruitlessly toward the heavens. At that moment, though, my whole being was focused on the vampire before me; the dark wavy locks of hair that brushed the collar of his long wool coat, the intense hooded eyes that sent shivers through me with every glance. I wanted to hear his voice. I would have begged for a word at that moment.
Instead, I gathered the hollow shell of responsibility around me and asked him, "You pushed the field out this far?"
Silence. Only silence from him, the focus of my every breath, thought, and hope. I ducked my head down and felt a painful slice go through the heart of me. Was he rejecting me? After everything that had happened, after the blood I'd spilled and the tears and the awful battles, was he going to turn his back? That kind of heartlessness would destroy me.
I heard a muttered curse issued from him, and he shifted. Those sky
blue eyes closed. His head went back. His fingers curled up into tight, fearless fists. I couldn't drag my gaze away from him. The power behind his every move held me prisoner.
In a few breathless moments, his voice came to me in the numbing breeze.
"If you invite me in right now, it won't just be an invitation into the containment field." It was a simple statement of fact. He wasn't asking me a question. He was declaring what he knew to be the startling truth.
My breath rose in a cloud before me over and over again, as I contemplated this undeniable path we had both stepped onto and rushed along without much planning, without enough caution or judgment. And there it was. Such things happened.
"You won't deny me?" I whispered.
He didn't laugh. He moved towards me with guileless determination, his expression unreadable. A few feet away, he halted and regarded me with a serious expression. It was impossible to see either hesitation or anticipation in the smooth angles of his face.
"Deny you? You honestly think I can do that?" He swore again, the words floating away in the wind before I could discern their meaning.
I turned inward, examining what had come before. I thought about Alex and what he'd done to me, how he'd made me feel so weak. Would it be the same with Michael? Would he infuse me with some of his own power? Would he be able to deny himself the taste of my blood once we had crossed every other boundary? How much control did he have over his desires?
Always doubting. I was tired of the questions blazing through me, sick of being so cautious around him. I wanted to throw myself into the fate that had been assigned to me and let everything fall where it may. I couldn't control anyone but myself. If something terrible happened, would it be my fault? I didn't deserve to put my entire life on hold, dreading what might come.
I dropped my mantle of doubt on the cold road, and I pushed my shoulders back.
"Come in, Michael. Please." Strong words, coming from me.
With his jaw clenched tightly, he stared at me. Then one of his hands came forward tentatively, as if testing some unseen boundary. There was no barrier, so he stepped towards me. The breeze picked up, tousling his ebony hair.
There was a significant change in the air around us. It felt colder. Before his arms came around me, before his mouth descended down onto mine for the first time, I saw the first snowflakes begin to drift down towards us like little angels bestowing a blessing. And that's the moment when I knew where my heart belonged.
It was a chaste little token, that light kiss. His lips were smooth, full, and gentle. The heat of his mouth against mine was heart wrenching, and I felt the muscles in my legs go weak. He had me fully supported in the way he held me; I could have gone totally limp and he would still have me.
His mouth moved down over one side of my jaw, nibbling at my flesh and stroking it. I opened my eyes, my head tilting back. His arms were firm around my waist, his mouth fused to my neck. And the snow was falling on both of us. They were tender, delicate little sculptures of ivory perfection, perching on the fibers of his coat and the long ebony waves of his hair. I wanted to remember this moment forever.
There was increasing strength coming from his arms around me and the pressure of his mouth on my skin. An image flashed across my consciousness that made my blood run cold. Again, I saw Alex kneeling on my bed, his mouth working to pull my blood from me. I saw the way his mouth looked as he pulled away, dripping with crimson. There was no stopping the shudder that ran through my entire body. Michael felt it immediately, and to his credit, he did not mistake it for lust. Somehow, he could sense my fear.
He withdrew his mouth, loosened his grip around me. I heard a deep forlorn sigh issue from the depths of his chest, and his head sagged in defeat.
"You are one hell of temptation, Sarah." His lips tasted mine once more, very gently, before he began to steer me towards the truck. “Come on. You’ll freeze out here.”
I rubbed my hands together and shot him a grateful look, “Thank you.”
“For what? Accosting you in the middle of the road during the season’s first snow?” There was a terribly charming gleam in his light blue eyes.
“No. For stopping before you got carried away.” He had opened the driver’s door and was watching me carefully.
Suddenly nervous, I stammered, “Not that you were the only one who was feeling aroused.”
One corner of his incredible mouth quirked up in amusement. He seemed to be genuinely pleased to have turned me into a bumbling idiot. Jerk. I huffed and threw myself into the driver’s seat. Without another word, he went to the other side and got in. As I was trying to make a U-turn on the road, I felt his gaze going over me.
Having anyone look at me in that way made me crazy. With him, the feeling was multiplied a thousand times. Having turned the truck around successfully, I decided to take a different approach. I could be direct when the situation called for it. Whenever I was feeling embarrassed, that was how I could keep things under control.
“Tell me something.” I snapped. “Exactly how old are you?” I kept my eyes on the road. The snow was coming down steadily. Big, fluffy frozen sparks of light where the headlights shone on them in the darkness.
“As a human, I was born in a small Greek village in 1659. So, technically, I’m over three hundred and fifty years old.” He said it in a light tone, and I dared to look over at him.
“How old were you when you were turned into a vampire?”
“Twenty-seven years old.”
I waited for more information, but he said nothing else about being turned. Frustrated with the lack of pertinent facts about him, I gritted my teeth. Being mysterious might have taken him a long way with many women, but not with me. I still wanted answers.
“Can all vampires be out in the daylight? I thought it burned them or something.” I couldn’t seem to keep the sarcastic, bitchy edge toned down. It didn’t matter. Michael wasn’t offended in the least.
“Some of us are capable of doing so, but it is a very uncomfortable situation to be in. Some vampires are able to use crystals to ward off the pain.” He reached into one of the pockets of his coat and drew out a small red stone, “Victoria gave me this before she left. It came in quite handy the day you were attacked.”
Attacked. Right. I sighed and made the turn into the driveway. The tires crunched over the gravel, like bones being crushed beneath us. I didn’t want to think about Alex, but his face kept flashing back to me. His shining golden hair, his charming smile, the way he made me completely helpless after we’d made love. I hated remembering it all, because at the end, he was looking at me with my blood smeared across his face, and I was lying prone on the stained sheets with my life draining away.
Fighting the urge to shiver, I parked the truck back by the garage and looked over at Michael. His dark eyebrows were creased in an expression that conveyed intense concentration. I placed a hand on his arm.
“Sorry for snapping at you.”
He waved a hand at me in dismissal, “Your temper is good to see. I’d rather have you screaming at me than pale and motionless on a bed.” His eyes skipped away in a guilty gesture.
“Wait a minute…” I stared at him, my mind spinning with the sudden realization that Michael could actually discern exactly what I was thinking.
“You’re a mind reader?”
He pulled that old arrogant mask down over himself with practiced ease, “I’m a powerful vampire. I have many gifts.”
I snorted, “Okay…” As I reached over to open my door, he suddenly grasped my arm.
When I turned to look at him, he was shaking his head. His eyes were closed, but his grip on me got a little tighter. Again, I felt a strange pulling sensation that had nothing to do with where he had his strong fingers wrapped around my forearm.
“Michael, what are you doing?”
His eyes opened, and his hand dropped away from me. He turned from me to look out into the flying snow for a moment before he said anything.
Wh
en his voice sounded beside me, I felt chilled to the bone.
“If I can find a way, I will see him dead. He will suffer for bringing you so close to death.” Then he opened the door, and a thousand icy flakes of snow swirled in towards me. I felt lost among them, as powerless against the currents as they were. I watched one tiny snowflake descend slowly, without a clear direction, onto the surface of my denim-clad thigh.
It disappeared so swiftly, leaving nothing behind. I began to worry that my fate might be the same.
Chapter 11 - Sarah
Nelly was waiting at the front door in her old flannel housecoat when we got up onto the porch.
“Oh, thank goodness.” She held the door open for both of us, “I wasn’t sure what was going on. I heard your truck start and was worried you might have headed over to Bill’s.”
“Who’s Bill?” Michael inquired, his eyes moving from Nelly back to me.
I rolled my eyes at him, “Bill’s is a bar I go to every now and then.”
“The tavern?”
“Yeah, I guess.” I forgot sometimes that he’d been buried in the middle of nowhere since 1945.
“Michael, some packages showed up for you yesterday. They’re out on the back porch.” Nelly said, pushing the front door closed behind her and locking it.
He nodded, “Victoria said she was sending some things to me.”
“Blood?” The hopeful expression on Nelly’s face was almost comical. I turned my face away and covered my smile with one hand.
Michael caught up one of Nelly’s hands and put it on his bent arm, “Lead the way, dear lady. We shall see.” He left me with a wink, sweeping out of the room with my elderly housekeeper on his arm.
I shook my head, smiling again. Then the cell phone rang that I had stashed in my coat pocket. Pulling it out, I pressed the receive button before checking the Caller ID.
“This is Sarah.”
“There is a very important individual who wants to meet you, Miss Wood.” An unfamiliar male voice. That probably wasn’t a good thing.
