“Well it isn’t the Ritz, Rainey, but you’re too tired to care,” she said out loud, but to no one in particular, as she checked into the town’s finest motel. She took a quick shower and headed for the bed that in no way could be comfortable. It had restless written all over it. Sleep arrived swiftly, regardless.
Rainey sat straight up in bed when her cell phone rang, nine hours later.
“Hello, Abe,” she said without even checking the number on the screen.
“Have you found her yet?”
“Finding her isn’t the problem. I know exactly where she is, and she’s not about to go anywhere without me. I just had to get some rest, or did you want me to crash the plane on the way back with your sweetheart on board? I’m not a vampire; I can’t stay up for days at a time, like some people can.”
“Oh. Right. Didn’t think of that. I was worried because I hadn’t heard from you since you left.”
“Worried? About me, or Ariana?”
“Damn it, I was worried about you both! Am I not allowed to be?” his voice rang loud and clear as Rainey held the cell phone a foot away from her ear.
She giggled and then clapped her free hand over her mouth. Too late, he’d heard her.
“Just get the job done and get your ass back, and try to get her to come willingly. I don’t want anyone, including her, to know the real reason she is coming here.”
“I’ll call you as soon as we’re on our way back.”
“You make sure you do that.”
She ended the call and stuck her tongue out at the phone. She knew it was childish but she was the only one in the room and it made her happy.
Twenty minutes later Rainey parked in Livenbrook Mental Hospital’s parking lot. The man behind the reception desk looked half asleep. Good, she thought, that should make it easier.
“Hello,” Rainey said, startling the man.
“Huh? C-Can I help you, miss?”
“Actually, you can.” Rainey focused on the man’s eyes. “I need to see the girl in room 303, and you are going to let me in, tell the other nurses I am Ariana’s sister and that I just found out about her condition. I will be taking her with me tonight.”
Rainey was strong in compulsion. All people could do it, but humans were too weak to figure it out. It was just a quick hypnosis trick that she happened to be a master at.
“Yes, miss…” He handed her a visitor’s pass then buzzed her in.
“Thank you and have a nice night,” she said, almost skipping to the elevator.
Rainey made her way up to Ariana’s room without seeing a single nurse. There was a light above Ariana’s bed and someone had turned the television on. She guessed they thought the noise would wake her up.
“Good luck, people. You aren’t going to get her awake without my help.”
She moved what looked to be Ariana’s only bag of belongings to the door, so she could grab it quickly on their way out. No time to check for travel clothes in there, and no need, either; she’d brought some clothes for Ariana with her, just in case. As she walked up to the bed, she pulled a small velvet bag out of her pocket. Rainey poured a small amount of the dust in her palm and sprinkled it above Ariana’s face.
She spoke in a low voice. “Ariana, I am your friend and I am here to help you. When you wake, you will not be frightened. I will count to… Oh, and you will concentrate your thoughts on what I’ve got to tell you. I need you to focus; we don’t have time to dilly-dally. Right. I will count to three and you will slowly open your eyes. One, two… three.”
Ariana’s eyelids began to flutter. She opened her eyes and looked directly at Rainey.
“Good morning, sunshine!”
“Who are you?” Ariana managed to get out.
“My name is Rainey, and I have been sent here to wake you and escort you to the place where you will spend the rest of your life. You are in a mental hospital and you have been in a coma for a long time. Now, you have a choice to make. You can come to Eternal Island with me and you can live and eat for free. I’ll find you a job – as a maid, I think – and that is how you’ll be able to pay for room and board. Any extra money from your wages you can spend as you wish. You will have three days off one week and four, the next. You will be free to do whatever you wish with your free time, but if you leave the island you cannot ever return. You see, it is a very private island, off the map, as they say – at least to you, humans – and we would like to keep it that way.”
Ariana closed her gaping mouth and asked, “Excuse me, are you a patient in this hospital?”
“How did I not see that one coming?” Rainey chided herself and rolled her eyes.
“You’ve got to admit it – none of what you just said makes sense. And since you said this is a mental hospital…” she left the sentence hanging.
“I should have included ‘and you will believe me’ right after ‘you will not be frightened’ in my spell,” Rainey mumbled under her breath.
“And you’re talking to yourself,” Ariana pointed out. “I rest my case.”
“Ariana, we don’t have time to sit and chat forever, you know?”
“Summarize. And speak fast, I can follow. If you want me to come with you to your special island, I would say you owe me at least that much.”
Rainey sighed in defeat. “Okay. Please don’t go into shock again; my wake up dust is really hard to make. You had some bad news, you fainted and never woke up. Now, hurry, hurry, hurry. Get up, get these clothes on and let’s go.”
“Bad news? What news could have been bad enough to make me pass out?”
“Ariana, listen. Look at me. Focus! Snap out of it. Hey, no fainting. You know you can’t handle that one. And we don’t really have the time, right now. I’ll tell you more on the plane.”
Ariana had started to tremble. Rainey could see her blankets quivering.
“Oh, no, you’re not going into shock on me. We haven’t got time for that, either.”
Rainey grabbed hold of Ariana’s arm and shook her, then grabbed her face and forced her to look straight into her eyes.
“Listen, I’m really sorry, but we gotta get going.”
“I’m not going with you anywhere! How do you know so much about me? I thought you were just some crazy person from another room.”
“I told you, but you wouldn’t believe me.”
“I believe you. I mean, I don’t believe you.”
“Can you make up your mind on the go? Here, put this on,” Rainey held out a shirt. “I haven’t even begun to tell you the unbelievable things yet. That could take weeks, the way you’re reacting.”
“Like what? Humor me,” Ariana demanded, momentarily sidetracked, but she took the shirt and slid her arms through the sleeves.
So this is a trade, Rainey thought. She gets dressed, I speak. “Like the fact that I am a witch.”
“Ha, this just keeps getting better.”
Rainey held out some pants. “There are many witches on the island. We put a spell on it so that humans can’t see it unless they know the magic word; which, of course, is secret.”
“The doctors here really need to up your medication.”
“Look, let’s just go and I’ll show you what I mean. I realize this is a lot for you to take in, but it’s imperative you return with me.” Rainey shook her head in frustration. “Please Ariana, just… please.”
“Even if I agreed to this crazy plan of yours and went with you to the land of the witches, how would we just walk out of here? I’m sure they don’t let the patients come and go as they please.”
“Oh, that’s simple. I’ll just put a spell on them. And it isn’t the land of the witches. I said there are a lot of witches; actually, it is the land of… something else entirely different. And it’s an island, Eternal Island, and it’s a long way from here, so could we please get going already, before I get in trouble?”
“And if I don’t want to go with you?”
“I will put you back to sleep and you will never wake
up.”
“You can’t do that!” Ariana exclaimed.
“I woke you up, I can knock you back out. You’ll never know I was ever here. Believe me, Ariana, you will be happy you came.”
“And if I want to leave, I can?”
“After I bring you back and erase the memory of the island and everyone on it, yes. Here are your flip flops.”
“And who is everyone, exactly?”
“I’ll tell you on the way.”
Rainey took Ariana’s hand and pulled her resolutely out of the room before she could change her mind, snagging the bag in the doorway as well, as she passed through. They got all the way to the elevator before they were noticed.
“Excuse me, but it is after lights out and you will have to return to your rooms immediately,” a nurse said as she walked toward them.
Rainey turned around and smiled at the nurse. “Oh, I’m sorry, you must not have been informed. This is my sister and I am checking her out. I’m not a patient here, see? Here is my visitor’s badge.”
“No, I wasn’t aware of this and I am the Head Nurse on this floor. No one leaves without a supervisor’s approval. Please come with me.”
Rainey stepped in the nurse’s path and looked her in her eyes. “Clearly, you don’t understand me. I am taking my sister out of here tonight. Are we agreed?”
“Yes,” the nurse nodded, “I agree, your sister leaves with you tonight.”
“Thank you, have a nice night,” Rainey said as she bundled Ariana into the elevator.”
“How’d you do that?”
“Do what?”
“What do you mean, do what? You did something to that nurse to make her agree with you!”
“I told you I would.”
“Would what?”
Rainey rolled her eyes. Were they going to play twenty questions all the way home? “Oh, good grief, put a spell on her – that’s what.”
“You’re a witch?”
“Finally! You should play Jeopardy; someone’s got to lose.”
“I am crazy.”
Rainey didn’t comment. She wasn’t in the mood for any more twisted conversation, at least until they were airborne. Once outside, she put a spell on the whole hospital, to be sure, and then rushed Ariana to the van.
After dropping their beautiful transportation outside the airport/auto rental office, now in darkness, Rainey led Ariana to the plane.
“We’re flying?” Ariana asked, her face a mask of terror.
“Yep.”
“Ooohh, I hate flying.”
Rainey took Ariana’s hand and pulled her up the steps. “Just buckle up and quit whining. You’ll be fine. I’m a pro. Or do you want me to knock you out for the duration?”
“I’ve had enough of being out, thank you very much,” Ariana mumbled, fastening her seat belt with shaky fingers.
She leaned back in her seat and looked out the window, trying to focus on calm thoughts so she wouldn’t pass out in fright. Rainey was right – she didn’t seem to handle fainting all that well.
The plane took off and they were on their way to some place she had never heard of. She didn’t know anyone there or even what they were, for that matter. Ariana wasn’t sure what she was getting into, but she had a feeling it was something very big. Despite having been in a coma for so long, she found she was simply exhausted by the recent events. She rubbed her stiff neck and shoulders and her eyes drifted closed. A dreamless sleep consumed her.
CHAPTER 4
She woke to Rainey singing along to music coming from the cockpit speakers. It was now daylight and she wondered as she blinked from the glare how long she’d slept. “Tell me more about witch-land,” she said as she sat up a little straighter in her seat.
Rainey tapped one of the controls, and the tunes of Matchbox Twenty subsided. “About what? Oh, Eternal Island?”
“Yeah. I mean, I can’t back out now, so you may as well tell me everything. If you expect me to live there, I’ll need to know as much as possible about it.”
“It’s a big kingdom, and there are a lot of humans that live on the island; I don’t want you to think that you are the only one. You will make friends fast and… What’s wrong with you? Are you crying?”
Sniff, sniff. “No.”
“Why are you crying, Ariana? I told you – you will be happy there.”
“But I will never see my friends or my husband ever again. Janie will be so upset when she finds out I’m gone.” Suddenly she stiffened, her shoulders tense. “My husband! Michael! That’s the bad news that put me in a coma, isn’t it? Michael’s dead,” she wailed.
Rainey passed her a tissue and stayed silent, waiting for Ariana’s sobs to quiet down. When the tears subsided, Rainey spoke again.
“Well, I can’t do anything about your husband’s accident, but there might be a chance your friends could come, too. But first we’ll have to ask the King.”
“Who’s the King?” Ariana asked, her body still quivering with dry sobs.
“One very nice specimen of the other beings that inhabit the island.” Rainey shot a sideways glance at Ariana, to make sure she had her full attention. Her breathing was almost back to normal, a good sign. Oh, well, here goes, she thought. “Eternal Island is run by vampires.”
“What? So they’re ready for dinner and you suddenly thought of me? Thanks a bunch, but I’m not fast food.”
“Chill out, they aren’t monsters, and they’re not going to eat you. They look just like you and me. Sheesh, Hollywood has a lot to answer for, scaring people like that. Honestly. Vampires are nothing like the movies. Well, not exactly like the movies. They can’t go out in the sun and they do drink blood, but apart from that… most of them have a soul and are nice. Well… some of them aren’t. But they can love and be heartbroken, and feel emotions, just like us. For blood, they use the island’s meekers – humans or witches who give them their blood willingly. They get some kind of high when a vampire takes their blood. I wouldn’t know; I’ve never tried it.”
“Is that what I am supposed to become? A meeker?”
“No, no.” Rainey thought fast. She couldn’t tell her the real reason she was being brought to the island. It would have to appear Ariana was no different than anyone else on the island. “You will be a maid in the palace, unless you choose otherwise.” She breathed a sigh of relief, glad Ariana had said ‘meeker’ and not ‘vampire’. She moved on quickly, to keep Ariana’s thoughts from straying to alternatives.
“The King and High Vampire’s name is Abe and he is over nine hundred years old. He is respected by all who live on the island and I am his personal psychic witch.”
“Vampires don’t exist!” Ariana mumbled quietly, shaking her head.
She put her hands on either side of her face, trying to stop its dizzying spinning from the information she’d had to digest in just the past few hours. She wondered vaguely if this plane was some sort of new model of mental hospital, and she hadn’t left at all. Memories of the nurse’s stunned and blank expression weaved their way through and she was forced to concede that there could be witches. Rainey had proven that much. But could she be right again, about vampires?
“Vampires are everywhere, and some of them are bad. You might have been living next door to one, you’d never know. Abe doesn’t tolerate bad behavior. He already has and will again kick vampires, witches, and humans off the island for insolence and insubordination.”
“Is he gross looking? Really wrinkly? I mean, he’s so old.”
Rainey laughed. “No, Abe was thirty-four when he was changed into a vampire and he still looks thirty-four.” Rainey glanced at Ariana and gave her a wink. “You’ll see.”
“I am actually going to live on an island with real witches and vampires,” Ariana spoke, eyes unfocused, as if she was trying to convince herself she wasn’t crazy. “This is so freaky, I must be still in a coma, having medication-distorted dreams.”
“You’re perfectly healthy. Now, do you want to hear more?”<
br />
Ariana didn’t answer, so Rainey kept going. She wasn’t sure how much of this would actually get through to her, but it would keep her calm until they landed, hopefully.
She cleared her throat and spoke in a calm, soothing voice.
“Eternal Island is very large. We have all the modern conveniences there: electricity, restaurants, clubs, even a shopping mall. There are tons of things to do. There are a lot of humans, witches and vampires and they all act like normal people. You will make friends fast, I promise, Ariana.”
“The vampires made the island theirs about four hundred years ago because some of the human population found out that vampires and witches weren’t just a fairy tale. They started burning people at the stake, even innocent people who merely looked or acted different, and there were gangs of vampire slayers searching every settlement in every country in the world. An old vampire from Europe named Calsonic traveled the world and found a large piece of land about a hundred and fifty miles off the coast of California and he called it Eternal Island. He invited vampires from all over the world to come live on his island. He swore it was safe. He laid down the law, that humans could come but they couldn’t leave. They would live among each other in peace. He didn’t want the slayers to find out where the island was. If a human was insolent, they were given a choice to die or be turned.
“Eventually, the slayers did find the island and murdered many vampires, but they were all killed before they could get away. Then Calsonic had the idea to invite witches to stay on the island, as well, so they could protect the vampires during the day while they slept, and the vampires would protect the witches at night.
“The strongest witch, Magnagail, told Calsonic of her special power, which was to make things appear as if they weren’t there, and so he approved of her idea to make the island invisible to humans. She also said she could erase memories, and so he agreed to let humans leave if they so wished, but only if their memories were erased first. A lot has changed, and there are witches living with vampires, humans with witches, even humans with vampires.”
Eternal Island (Book 1 in the Eternal Series) Page 2
