An eerie silence descended on them as all eyes rested on Nicole’s pale form. The stillness of the moment was shattered when the mobile phone in Nicole’s pocket began to ring.
Chapter Eighteen
The sound of the phone seemed to spur the priest into action and he turned to the two slayers. “In the chapel is my emergency bag. Get it quickly!”
Both of the men took off and Father Rovati turned to Alec. “There is a chance we can save her.”
Alec shook his head. “She is already gone.”
“We have a small window, but I must act now,” Rovati began performing CPR on her.
“It is important that we get what blood she has left, circulating.” Father Rovati told them as he was pushing down on Nicole’s chest in an effort to get her heart to work.
The phone kept ringing, but it was ignored. Dash and Alec were engrossed in watching the priest. A moment later, the two men returned with a large black bag.
The phone had become silent.
“Take over!” the priest told Alec.
Alec did as he was told without a second thought. He did not believe it would help, but he was ready to grasp at any chance of saving her, no matter how small that chance was.
Father Rovati pulled a small cooler from the bag and opened it quickly. Inside were several IV bags of blood. He hooked the bags to an IV tube with a flow chamber and a needle. The priest then inserted the needle and started the blood flowing while Alec continued to perform chest compressions.
“What if it is the wrong blood type?” Dash asked.
“It’s O Rh negative. It won’t hurt her … anymore than she already is in any case.” Rovati told him while motioning for Alec to stop.
The priest quickly checked for a pulse, before continuing the chest compressions himself.
Again the phone began to ring.
“Will someone get that?” Rovati panted, obviously the effort to resurrect Nicole taking its toll on the old priest.
Alec pulled the phone out of Nicole’s pants pocket. “Hello.”
A female voice came on the line. “I have a message from Nicole.”
Alec frowned. “Who is this? What kind of joke are you trying to pull?”
“No … wait! Don’t hang up,” she said just as Alec was ready to end the call. “She said to tell you that your blood can reanimate her, without turning her.”
Alec was silent.
“Do it now!” the girl yelled.
Alec dropped the phone. “Give her my blood,” he told the priest.
Rovati looked at him. “I cannot be responsible for turning her.”
“She won’t turn. Please … just try it.”
In a flurry of movement, the priest quickly inserted the transfusion line into one of Alec’s veins, so that Nicole would begin getting his blood.
Within seconds Nicole was gasping for air, and the color slowly started coming back to her face. When Nicole’s breathing was steady, Rovati stopped giving her Alec’s blood and returned to giving her the blood from the IV bags.
Alec caressed Nicole’s face softly. “Is she okay?” he asked, worried that she would turn despite the girl’s words.
Father Rovati shrugged his shoulders. “As far as I can tell she will live, and there are no signs that she will turn, but why?” The priest eyed Alec curiously.
Alec shrugged. “I don’t have all the answers. That is why I came here … to seek answers. The only explanation I can offer is that she is the daughter of an immortal.”
“Who was on the phone? That is the person that told you how to save her.”
“I don’t know. She said that she had a message from Nicole.”
Shock and disbelief entered the priest’s eyes.
“Call the number back,” Dash suggested. “And do you think you can see fit to untie me yet? That is unless you still plan to kill me.”
Alec’s eyes narrowed with suspicion. “Why did you bother to save her? And why didn’t you kill us?” he asked the priest.
Rovati frowned. “She is human, it was my duty to do what I could for her … and she was with you. I suspect that you are different, and maybe even important in preventing a vampire infestation.”
“And you just happen to have blood with you?” Alec arched one brow.
“You do not fight vampires without bringing a supply of blood with you,” Father Rovati pointed out.
“Untie him,” Rovati directed the order to his companions.
The priest’s two companions did as they were told without comment.
For the first time, Alec took notice of the men. To most, the slayers would have appeared to be the average everyday people. Maybe even someone you might meet while having coffee in a café, but Alec knew better. These men were professional vampire hunters. He’d met their kind many times.
Father Rovati was no longer paying attention to the others in the room. He was checking Nicole’s vital signs. “I think she is comatose,” he told them.
“Shouldn’t we like … get her to a hospital or something?” Dash asked, kneeling down beside her.
Just then the phone rang again and Alec flipped it open to answer it. Suspecting that it was the same caller, he put it on speakerphone so that everyone in the room could hear the conversation.
“Hello.”
“Nicole is still with me,” the girl told him.
“Who is this?” he asked.
“I am Sarah … Nicole’s sister.”
At first Alec was too shocked to say anything, but he quickly recovered as a torrent of questions stormed through his mind. “What do you mean she is still with you? We brought her back.”
“But she is in a coma … right?”
“Yes,” Alec told her.
“Then she is still separated from her body. I can communicate with those who are between worlds … or on the other side,” she explained.
“Well what can we do for her?” Alec didn’t care how, or why the girl knew what she knew. All that mattered to him was Nicole’s recovery.
After a long silence Sarah told him, “Don’t take her to a hospital. Bring her to New Orleans. I might be able to help her.”
“How do we know that you are not working with Omar?” Dash asked loudly.
“You don’t, but keep in mind that they are hunting me too.”
“So what then? What do we do when we get her to New Orleans?” Alec asked.
Again there was a short silence before Sarah answered. “Nicole is telling me that you should take her to Donavan. I will meet you there.”
The line went dead and Alec looked to the priest. “How can we get her back there?”
“I can use a private jet to take her back. Of course it would be too risky for the two of you to travel. It will be light soon.”
Alec was disturbed by the idea of these vampire hunters taking Nicole and leaving him behind, but he did not see where there was much choice. He and Dash could take the first flight out of Rome when night returned.
“Okay,” Alec nodded.
“But what about the book you came for?” Father Rovati’s smile was hard, but not really malicious.
“It will have to wait for another time,” Alec told him.
* * * *
Sarah ended the call and turned to Darrien. “We have to get to New Orleans as soon as possible.”
Darrien stared at her. “Who was that on the phone and what’s going on?”
“Something’s happened to my sister, and I need to get to her,” Sarah explained, stepping closer to Darrien so she could wrap her arms around his neck.
“I’m still confused,” he said, shaking his head.
“She died for a short time, and during that time she came to me and asked for my help.” Sarah got on her tiptoes and kissed him lightly on the lips “One of my talents is that I can communicate with the dead.”
“You failed to mention this before,” Darrien frowned.
“It just never came up.” Sarah told him with a sly smile. “I am entitled
to a few secrets of my own you know.”
“You should hurry.” Nicole interrupted the moment, but her voice was weaker now that part of her soul had returned to her body.
“I will. We’ll get there as soon as we can,” Sarah said, turning away from Darrien.
“You are talking to her now?” he asked.
“Yes,” Sarah nodded.
“But I thought she was in a coma?”
“She is, but when someone is in a coma, a part of their soul can still separate from their body.” Sarah was already walking away. “We should get some sleep so that we can get as far as possible tonight. I think we can make it all the way to New Orleans before sunrise.”
Darrien smiled. “For someone who has never traveled until recently, you sure have become quite the expert.”
Entering the tomb, Sarah grabbed the ragged blanket that they’d brought with them, and curled up in a ball on the ground. Within moments she was asleep.
Disappointed that they would not be making love that night, Darrien lay beside her. Though he sought sleep, the memory of the night’s hunt still haunted him.
He had not been feeding as much as he should be, and he was growing weak. Tonight he’d been unable to resist his urges, and he’d fed on a human for the first time in weeks.
He was not troubled because he’d killed his victim. The lady would live, as long as she did not have a reaction to the vampire’s venom. He’d been careful not to take too much from her, but he could not banish the memory of her face or the horror in her eyes when she’d realized what he was.
She’d pulled her car to the side of the highway. It was the emergency flashers that caught his attention. As soon as he’d approached the car, he’d seen that she had a flat. The right front tire was blown. She stood near the front of the car - wringing her hands anxiously.
Darrien came out of the darkness. “Is there a problem?” he asked, giving the woman his most charming smile.
At first she’d been cautious - backing away from him. “Flat tire,” she explained in a small - uncertain voice.
The battle was won as soon as she peered into his eyes. He pulled her in - disarming her with little effort. The vampire’s eyes were the most useful of his weapons. With a simple glance, he could hypnotize his prey, and they would become as compliant as a child. Like the deer that stared into the headlights of an oncoming car, his prey would become paralyzed - unable to run or even think.
This ability had served him well in the past, and it did so again, but Darrien had hesitated to take her life. Instead, he’d taken only the blood he’d needed, and then put the woman back in her car. His conscience nagged at him, and he’d hoped to ease it by changing the woman’s tire for her.
What good would that do in the end?
He had broken yet another law of the immortals. He had fed on a human, and then let her live to tell about it. Sure, many wouldn’t believe her, but some would. It would get the attention of the vampire hunters, and Omar.
And some people would believe!
The vampire often disguised his victims by tearing out the throat to hide the marks left in the neck. The medical examiner would find it curious that there was little blood left in the victim. Ultimately it would be determined that it was the work of a serial killer with a strange taste for blood. Every once in a while a victim survived, and they would rant about vampires. Of course no one believed, the marks were covered with other injuries.
The woman Darrien had left would still have her marks. He had not added another injury to cover his tracks. Some would believe that the marks were the work of a vampire.
Darrien’s thoughts turned to Sarah. It would soon be time to say goodbye to her, but when that time came, could he do it? He could no longer picture an existence without her, and there was always the possibility that she would not let him leave. Sarah now had full possession of Caroline’s memories and emotions. She had vowed not to be parted from him again.
Suddenly it occurred to him what he must do. It was the only way that he could save her from the pain that his love would bring to her.
Darrien wrapped his arm around Sarah and spent a few moments simply enjoying the sound of her breathing while she slept peacefully. He was thankful that she had returned to him as she had promised, but at the same time, the pain of what he must do was overwhelming. He would have much preferred a cold - emotionless existence, to the agonizing torment of being separated from the one person that made it possible for him to feel anything at all.
* * * *
The small boy ran through the sprinklers, squealing with delight when the water sprayed his face. Like many children, for this boy a hot summer day was a day made just for playing in the water. Finding relief from the heat was just another way to enjoy life. His fair skin was burnt from the sun, but he didn’t seem to notice.
It occurred to Sarah that she shouldn’t be standing in front of this boy’s house to begin with. She was asleep - somewhere on the road to New Orleans. But here she was - watching as the boy soaked himself with the spray of the sprinkler.
Suddenly he seemed to notice her watching him. With a lopsided grin on his face, he walked to where she stood on the sidewalk.
“Thanks for saving my sister.”
Sarah shook her head in confusion. “Who is your sister?”
“Nicole.”
“Oh … she’s my sister too,” Sarah told him, reaching down to ruffle his wet hair.
“I know.”
“But she’s still very sick,” Sarah frowned.
“You know what to do,” he said, winking at her.
Sarah laughed, but then a deep sadness came over her. What happened to this small boy that he should be among the dead? Sarah realized that she was dreaming, and that it was no ordinary dream. Nicole’s brother was communicating with her through her dream.
Suddenly she felt a tingling sensation on her skin. When she looked down, she could see the boy’s hand resting on her arm. “Nicki is so sad. She thinks it was her fault but it wasn’t. You’ll help her feel better, won’t you?”
In that instant Sarah was consumed with a grief so crushing that nothing she had ever felt before even compared. She was feeling her sister’s pain, and her loss.
“Won’t you?” he asked again.
“Yes, I will do what I can,” Sarah told him, her heart crying out in pain. More than anything, she wanted to wrap her arms around this child and bring him back into the world of the living.
“Tell Nicki that the tangled serpent represents the truth that she searches for.” The boy’s words echoed through her head, before dying away.
Sarah jumped up, her heart racing so fast that she could hear the blood pounding in her ears.
“A bad dream?” Darrien asked, pulling her into his arms.
Sarah shook her head. “No not really … but it was a strange dream.”
“You should try to get some more sleep. Nightfall is still an hour or more away.”
“Does the term tangled serpent mean anything to you?” she asked.
“No … should it?” he asked.
Sarah shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s probably nothing.”
She didn’t really believe her own words. When she had these types of dreams, it was for a reason. But until she knew more, she thought it might be better to keep the dream to herself.
Chapter Nineteen
Father Rovati swatted at an insect that persisted in buzzing around his face. Though the sun was setting, the humidity and heat of Louisiana was unbearable for anyone not accustomed to it.
Pulling a handkerchief from his pocket, the priest wiped the perspiration from his forehead. Now he knew why New Orleans was infested with vampires. These creatures needed heat. They had no way of regulating their body temperature. The cold would not kill them, but it would slow them down. It was the reason you would find many more vampires in warmer climates, and so few in places like Alaska. Contrary to popular belief, there were not all that many vampires in Romania
, at least not during the cold season. Not that they would not go to colder regions, they just preferred the warmth. The vampire hated extreme temperatures, cold or hot.
The ride from the airport had been comfortable, thanks to the limousine he’d prearranged before leaving Rome. But as soon as he’d left the air-conditioned limo, he’d been hit with a blast of heat.
Staring at the house, Father Rovati was not surprised by its elegance. It was just like Donavan to setup his base of operation in such luxurious surroundings. He’d known the vampire for decades, and had actually tried to kill him once. What he’d discovered was like Alec - Donavan was different.
A vampire was a vampire, he had no doubt about that, but he knew that a few sought redemption - a different way. Though Donavan accepted what he was as the natural order of things, he had a conscience. This was something that Father Rovati found to be different.
It was after his encounter with Donavan that he’d gone in search of the truth, the beginning of the vampire’s curse. What he’d found had shaken the very foundation of his faith. At first he’d been devastated, but then he’d realized that nothing was simply black and white, not even the creations of God. There were always shades of gray between black and white. There had to be negative if there was to be a positive. There were those that lived in the light, and then there were those of darkness - the night breed. It was the law of the universe - the law of God.
From behind him he could hear the two men preparing to move Nicole into the house. One of them would carry her while the other held the IV bag. She was no longer getting blood, but it was necessary to give her liquids to keep her from becoming dehydrated.
At first his companions had hesitated to come with him. But he’d managed to convince them that helping these vampires was for the greater good. Vampire hunters could help control the death that was being spread by these creatures, but they could not cure the problem. That would come from within the ranks of the vampires themselves. Rovati felt that this girl would be part of that.
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