Sunaria followed us into the living room. Here, some normalcy, though it offered no comfort. I placed Jacob down and allowed him to crawl.
“If we’re leaving, then it will have to be soon.” Sunaria glanced at the window.
“You think more soldiers will come?”
“If there are any left, yes.” She drew the curtains and turned to face me. You’re more magnificent than I imagined you’d be.
A wave of dismay, realizing her thoughts seeped into mine. “Your voice is in my head.”
“It’s the mind gift.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“We can hear each other’s thoughts.”
If it were true, it would explain the awful babbling of the soldiers. I don’t understand.
She gave what looked like a practiced smile. “In time, you will.”
“What’s happening?”
“You’re adjusting.”
“I’ve gone mad?”
“No.”
I ran my fingers through my hair and paced. “Is there a cure?”
She gave me an incredulous stare.
I tried to keep up with my racing thoughts. “This fogginess—”
“It’s different for everyone. For you, some memory loss.”
“I feel drunk.”
“It’ll pass.”
“You’re the daughter of the woman from the mausoleum?”
“I am the woman from the mausoleum.”
“That’s not possible.”
“My name’s Suna.”
“Sunaria,” I whispered.
She gave a smile.
“Then it was you who rescued me in that carriage outside the senator’s?” I searched her face for the truth.
She nodded.
“I don’t believe you.”
She shrugged, or at least I thought she did.
“Why don’t you age?” I brushed my fingertips across my smooth jaw, where stubble should be.
She peeked out of the window. “You have the potential to live for eternity.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Right.”
“Unless the sun—”
“How long before I can face it?”
Her gaze lowered and she knelt close to Jacob and offered him a stuffed toy rabbit that she’d found on the floor. It had been Eduardo’s.
I held back tears. “Can you bring my son back? My wife?”
“It doesn’t work like that.” She waved the floppy, well-loved rabbit before Jacob.
“Don’t.”
“But he likes it.”
“I’m not asking you. Now step back.”
“I saved you.”
“Is that what you call this?”
“You’re here because of me.”
“But not my family.”
“I was watching over you.” She turned away.
“Why didn’t you show yourself?”
She sighed. “I can’t interfere with your first steps.”
“You’re not making any sense.”
She sat down on the couch, her movement so sleek that it verged on supernatural.
“I don’t want this,” I murmured.
“Then you’d be dead.”
“Turn me back.”
She stared at me for a long time with a painful brightness in her eyes. “I can’t.” She stretched out her arms along the back of the couch. “Once a vampire—”
“Don’t call me that.” I glanced at my stained shirt. “What if I can’t control it?” And then I stared at Jacob, fearing he’d one day recall seeing his father covered in blood, or worse, the bloodbath.
“I’ll teach you.” She swept her hand up in a casual gesture.
It was as though she’d reached out and touched me, even though she still sat a few feet away.
“You have all the answers, don’t you?” I fought my desire.
Come to me willingly, she seemed to say and then broke the silence with that purr of her voice. “I’ll show you the way.” She rose so effortlessly that even Jacob stopped what he was doing and looked up.
“Dear God.” I leaned against the back of a chair.
“He can’t help you.”
“Maybe he can.”
“Think about it. Already you have an aversion to holy artifacts.” Sunaria pointed to the Bible resting on a side table.
I approached the book and placed my hand on the time-worn cover. Anxiousness twined with guilt, but nothing else.
Sunaria’s stare held me intently. “Perhaps you’re one of the few.”
“How convenient.”
“Myth tells of those of our kind who are drawn to the Church, even serve it.”
“You contradict yourself.” I stepped back. “How can I trust you?”
“I’m here to help you.”
“Hell has been unleashed under this roof and I wasn’t here to stop it.”
Her gaze burned through me as though something possessed her. “Don’t look at me like that. I had nothing to do with this.”
Whatever it was, it threatened to take me, too. “Convenient though,” I tried to shake it off, “my family dead. You’ve been pursuing me.”
“Watching over you.”
“Stalking me.”
“You’re a hard man to keep track of.”
“Why are you here?”
“Because you’re out of control.”
“No, something else.”
“You were destined to die young. A free will existence that was faulty from the beginning.”
“You offered no guidance,” I shouted. “No advice.”
“Your stubborn ways—”
“Your demonic ways.”
“Don’t talk to me like that.” Her hands rested on her hips.
“You’re crazy.”
She came closer, close enough to touch, and her gaze lingered on my lips. I found myself staring at hers. My breathing was so fast, I feared my ability to control myself, and act out of character in a way that felt carnal, as her scent stirred a desire which was out of place. I had to will myself not to punish her with a kiss and I fought the strongest urge to drag her out into the corridor and take her by force.
Her fingertips traced over my lips, as though she dared me to do it.
“Get out,” I snapped.
“I risked everything for you.”
“I don’t want you near me or my son.”
“I saved your life.”
I stepped back. “That’s what you call this?”
Her fists clenched in anger.
My rage welled, and I struggled to contain it. “Looks like we’re both mad.”
She slapped me and the force of her assault jolted my head back. Jacob looked stunned.
“This thing was done to me.” Her voice cold and controlled. “No one asked me.”
“I don’t recall a conversation with you asking for this.”
“You agreed to this.”
“Half-dead, hanging by a thread!”
“You said yes.”
“Well, perhaps if I’d have known what was actually being asked of me, I wouldn’t have.”
“And what of him?” She pointed to Jacob. “I could have turned you sooner. But I waited, let you have a life.”
“How considerate.”
“You have no idea what I’ve risked in turning you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m being hunted.”
“Can’t imagine why.”
“By my own kind.”
“You best get going then.”
She held her head high, her gait proud.
“Close the door on the way out,” I rasped.
Jacob wailed.
“How am I supposed to take care of him?” I whispered.
“Like a father.” Sunaria dropped a small object at Jacob’s feet.
He stopped crying.
I sighed. “I have to get to my sister.”
“She’s safe.”
“You know where she is?”<
br />
“I’ll show you.”
I dismissed the idea with a wave.
“She gave me something to give to you that will prove she’s safe.”
“Why should I believe you?”
Sunaria stepped closer. “Because you belong to me.”
“The hell I do.” I stared into those perfect, almond shaped eyes of hers, so very close to surrendering to the spell she’d cast. “When your elders come for you . . .” I neared her. “I’ll tell them where you are.”
“I’ve watched over you all your life.”
I pointed to the door.
“This is not how I saw it. You were to run into my arms, tell me that I’ve haunted your dreams.”
“Those would be nightmares. I want my life back!”
“But I love you.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Sunaria stormed out.
Jacob was enthralled with the metal box. I eased it out of his hands and prized it open, immediately recognizing Salvador’s medal, the crest of his old regiment emblazoned upon it.
My thoughts turned to Alicia.
I’d just sabotaged any chance of finding her.
I approached the mirror hanging above the fireplace. The terrified moan escaped my lips before I could stop it.
Chapter 23
DARKNESS IMMERSED the manor.
After searching for answers in almost every book I owned, I braved the mirror again. With my hand tracing where my reflection should be, I kept expecting the view to change. Unable to shake off the dread, I smashed the mirror with my fist without thinking.
Jacob wailed.
I brushed off glass fragments from my hand and licked at the small cuts.
Jacob frowned up at me and his cries worsened.
I calmed him down, having successfully hidden my own terror from him, and returned to the kitchen, leaving him outside.
I tried to keep my eyes off the massacre. The stench forced me to breathe through my mouth. Jacob’s cries grew more insistent, so I quickly grabbed what I needed for him and withdrew.
Denial came easily. After all, no one man could take on so many soldiers and live. Examining my hands, I was amazed to see the cuts had gone, yet blood stained the edge of my cuff.
Loneliness had me by the throat.
Talking words of comfort to Jacob, I was really trying to draw strength from my own voice, but even that sounded altered, the tone deeper, bestowing an enticing quality.
I was just tired.
After gulping his third cup of milk, Jacob fell asleep in my arms. I found us both fresh clothes and then carried him through the house into what had once been the nursery. Unaware of the horrors that had unfolded, Jacob beamed up at me with that sweet smile of his. Lying beside him, I tucked my feet beneath me to fit his bed and hoped to find peace in the presence of sleep.
Despite all that had happened, I had Jacob to think of. I drew strength from his unwavering affection and as he snuggled to me, I was consoled by his breathing, a sure rhythm against my chest.
* * * *
I awoke, stirred by a presence in the house, and leaped off the bed.
The door burst open and I was immediately faced with a sword pointed directly at my face. The tip neared my right eye. Jacob was still waking up. A guard had him and I could do nothing about it. More men rushed in and, just behind them, strolled Felipe.
He stared at me, aghast. “Impossible.”
I was trapped.
“One wrong move and he dies.” Felipe leaned in, his stale breath too close. “Bury him, alive.”
I wanted to grab Jacob and run, but we’d never make it out the door. The men restrained me and dragged me outside. The knife in my back that persuaded me to comply, cut into my flesh.
Wanting to fight back, wanting to tear into all of them, I feared what would happen to Jacob if I showed any resistance.
With a shove, I tumbled into the deepest hole.
My hands were bound together, and I struggled to free myself as crushing soil pressed against my chest, oppressing me.
Thrashing, terrified, I cursed myself for not leaving the house. I’d outdone myself with my arrogance. The rope wrapped around my wrists gave, but even more mounds of earth were being shoveled over me.
Encased, the dirt poured into my nostrils. With my mouth prized shut, soil blocked my airway. I shook my head from side to side until the weight of the resistance held me still, a last ditch effort to claw my way out.
Suffocating, or so I thought, I willed Sunaria to save Jacob.
And yet, despite the lack of air, I didn’t lose consciousness. My chest rose and fell as though I were breathing.
“Jacob!”
Sunaria, save my son.
I gagged and choked, angry that I’d allowed Annabelle to persuade us to stay, believed as she had done once, that we were free from Felipe’s intimidation. Though if I faced the truth, it was me who hadn’t wanted to leave the home I’d built. This place was more than just bricks and mortar. But my pride yet again ravaged everything in its wake and now I’d risked Jacob’s life since I’d not thought it through. Felipe had not found my corpse where he’d left it, and I suspected that was what brought him here.
Sunaria, I need you.
Above me, Jacob’s faint cries were eaten up by the night.
My whole life had been one mistake after another. Everyone close to me was now dead, or missing.
Sunaria!
* * * *
Trapped.
Nights came and went.
Another valuable lesson was Sunaria’s stubbornness.
“Whatever you want,” I relayed to her. “Whatever you want me to be to you, I will.”
Buried deep within the earth, I unraveled. My initial hyper-arousal settled. Despite resisting introspection, I had nowhere else to go but within, into unfamiliar territory. The first few days, I had only sleep to be grateful for and when awake, denial eluded me.
After the fifth day, I yielded.
Like a fleeting shadow, Sunaria’s presence swept over me, offering a moment of solace. News that she had Jacob caused me to sob pitifully. I relayed my thanks, but feared that she might disappear with him. I begged her not to.
Jacob, I’ll find you.
Quiet again.
Terrified of earthly creatures munching on my flesh, I dreaded my mind disintegrating. Madness lingered but soon scurried off, lurking not far enough away. Deep within my burial ground, I knew Sunaria’s true punishment. She haunted my waking hours as well as my dreams.
And then silence.
I let go, a sublimely surrendering to the isolation, and gradually what had been a suffocating trap became a safe dwelling. All that I’d known slipped away. Rules no longer applied down here, in here. Thoughts that had served me well in the past had no use now. A new way of seeing my world begged for discovery.
Sunaria offered me hope, dependence impossible to deny.
“Forgive me,” I conveyed.
She came to me in thought, utterly possessing me, and I gave myself over to her.
* * * *
Sunaria deemed me ready.
I ascended out of my dark grave and, as though I needed it, I sucked in the fresh air.
Sunaria’s hair was pulled up behind her head. A few trailing strands fell over her face. She stared through me with those almond eyes of hers, pouting with full red lips, exotic features that I’d once tried to disregard. Now though, I realized her devastating beauty and felt beholden to her.
Unable to make eye contact, hesitant to view her austere expression, I fell to my knees.
I panicked when I didn’t see Jacob.
Sunaria stared down at me with her arms folded. “Jacob’s safe with your sister.”
These were the words that I needed to hear more than anything.
“Alicia and Miranda are safe in Nuevo Portil, near Palos,” she continued.
I wanted to ask why she’d waited this long to tell me this, but I didn’t want to rem
ind her of my arrogance.
She sent me a mind message, a vision of Jacob safe with Alicia, proof that Sunaria told the truth. I marveled at this ability to convey without words.
She stared off. “If you ever displease me, I’ll personally put you back in the ground.” She tugged on my locks, insisting I stand. I was slightly taller than she. Despite her closeness, I wanted her closer. Thoughts of her enslaving me were exhilarating. Never before had I been dominated and never before had I desired subjugation. Yet here, now, I yearned for it and craved to please her, pleasure her. The shudder came and went, confirming the wisdom of relinquishing. The tone of her voice was stunning.
Glancing back at the hole in the earth, I dissociated with the man who’d been buried there, my new life reflecting nothing of the old.
Leaving behind all resistance, I followed.
She commanded me to keep up with her and as my confidence increased, so did my ability to run with a mind-blowing, lightning speed. The land opened up to reveal a vast nightscape and I pursed my lips, afraid to swallow something other than air.
“Imagine yourself already there,” she said.
Though I had no idea where ‘there’ was, I followed her direction nevertheless, trying to free my mind of preconceptions of how fast I believed I could actually sprint, bewildered with the pace which she maintained. We raced across land, over hills, and through valleys, my teeth chattering from the excitement.
Within minutes of arriving at a creek, I stood dazed from our supernatural trek, sans clothes, grateful for the thick forest, surrounded by dense trees, their leaves hanging low.
A moment of calm brushed over me.
I shuddered from the rush, hesitant whether this ability to move so fast could be considered a benefit. Sunaria took a moment to admire my naked physique, her gaze lowering and then settling. For the first time, I allowed myself to envision how those lips would taste, or what I could get away with doing to her.
She shoved me head first into the shallow stream.
* * * *
I knew the mausoleum she led me into, the very tomb where I’d first seen her, the eerie place stirring terrifying memories, though here with her now, I sensed that new ones would replace the old. Even the cobwebs had gone.
Fresh clothes awaited me, a gentleman’s attire. She’d even gotten my size right. Sunaria had removed the coffin and replaced it with reams of material, rich silks and soft velvets that softened our bedding, luxuriating our place of rest.
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