My steady Zen like calmness returned. “You’re dead,” I said turning my attention back toward the old man.
“I’m here to tell you a story.” He had always had a slight Scottish accent but tonight it was much more pronounced. “One that I hope you will take to your heart because we are going to offer you a gift.”
“Are you going to kill me?” I asked outright. They paused suddenly exchanging a look. “Oh my god.” Their lack of response sent me into a panic once again and I began sobbing uncontrollably. “Please don’t kill me.”
“Nothing bad will happen to you,” Gavin said forcing me to look him in the eyes once again.
“Rachel,” Angus began, “we have been watching you.”
“I haven’t done anything wrong.” I didn’t know what was going on but I felt the need to plead for my life just like the woman whose voice I knew so well, the one who lived in my head and seemed to be at the mercy of constant brutality.
It crossed my mind that perhaps this was all an elaborate hallucination. A final last hurrah for my brain before it gave out on me for good, leaving me someone who was so ill I’d never be able to function on my own.
“Of course not,” Gavin said putting his arm around me.
“Tell us about the voices Rachel,” Angus said.
“The voices? They’re awful. I hear them all the time, even now.”
“Do it,” he said to Gavin.
This is it I thought. I’m going to die alone in the woods with these two sickos or just freeze to death out here on my own and nobody will ever know.
Gavin took my head in his hands. I was shaking so hard I thought I would fall off the old log before he’d have a chance to snap my neck.
Then, gently, he pressed his forehead to mine and closed his eyes. For the first time in years the noise inside my mind got more and more distant until it was finally gone. I was in the core of full blown silence. Beautiful, peaceful, and blissful silence. The sound of sanity, which I had almost forgotten, had returned.
“They’re gone aren’t they?” Angus said. I nodded. “They can go away forever if you wish lass. Tis a gift and you never have to hear them again unless you want to.”
“Why would I want to? What do you mean it’s a gift? Wait...” I said realizing that Gavin had just done what years of doctors and drugs had not been able to accomplish. “How did you do that?” He smiled warmly but didn’t answer; simply letting Angus hold the floor.
“What you’re hearing is real. It’s people. Their thoughts, their incessant chatter. It’s a rare gift but it’s making you batty because you can’t control it. Do you want to control it Rachel?”
“I do.” Whatever this mind trick Gavin had performed on me was, I would have given anything to be able to perform it on myself.
“You can,” he continued, “but you have to become what we are.”
“What are you?” I asked. Angus took a step closer and all at once his face changed. The black of his pupil overtook the blue of his eyes and he seemed to grow taller and broader. No longer a frail old man, he seemed strong and his features sharp. He grew younger and the grey in his hair was transformed into a shock of red.
Then I saw them. Two sharp fangs slowly emerged from his mouth like a cobra opening up to strike. I recoiled in fear turning my head away, and then suddenly I began to laugh. Peals of laughter overtook me and I was bent over on the log holding my stomach.
“They’re putting me away for good this time,” I yelled at the top of my lungs at no one in particular. When I looked up Gavin was smirking.
“She’s going to be lots of fun this one. She’ll make a good vampire,” he said.
“I’m glad you feel that way because I’m going to make you her guardian.”
“Angus no!” The absurdity of their conversation made me cackle again. Swiftly Angus came at me and pinned me to the nearest tree faster than could have been seen with the naked eye. His hand around my throat, feet not touching the ground, he squeezed.
“Do you think this is some kind of joke?” he said with a roar that I’m sure woke up the entire cove. “We need your help. Vampire and human alike will be dying all around us soon.” This was the point when I realized I wasn’t hallucinating at all. My hallucinations didn’t usually come with pain but right now I was choking.
“Angus please, you’ll hurt her. She’s no good to us dead.” He let go and I braced myself for a hard fall against the damp earth, but Gavin caught me before I hit the ground. He put his arms around me in a protective stance against the old vampire.
“I need an answer. I won’t do it against her will.” Gavin’s eyes were silently pleading with me to say yes. I didn’t know if a ‘no’ would result in them having to kill me and I didn’t want to risk finding out. “We offer you immortality as one of the vampires of Soldiers Cove. Will you accept it?”
“Yes,” I said hoping that just going along with whatever these two had in mind would simply get me back to the safety of my own home as quickly as possible.
“Then it’s decided.” I heard the relief in Gavin’s voice. He pulled me close to him pressing our bodies together with one hand as he moved my head to the side with the other exposing my neck. Angus leaned in close and whispered in my ear.
“Sleep, and when you wake you will be immortal. Caide Mille Falte,” he uttered in Gaelic, “one hundred thousand welcomes. Serve us well child.”
As Angus walked away Gavin’s eyes turned to black and his fangs emerged. Lowering himself slowly to my neck I watched and waited for him to strike, every second feeling like an eternity. I was breathing fast now and my heart was pounding so hard that all I could hear was the sound of blood rushing in my ears. He licked the exposed skin up and down closing his eyes in bliss as he did so. A large sigh slipped from him as he threw his head back, his breath rising in the cold night air.
“I’ve been waiting for you.” And with that he struck hard and fast, sinking his fangs into exposed flesh. I heard myself scream as he held me tighter.
“Wait,” I tried to say, but the words wouldn’t come. The world around me blurred and a cold sensation, like being plunged into the cold Atlantic on a winter night, came over me as I sank to my knees.
Gavin lowered himself with me and continued to drink. The night went from a blur into complete churning blackness, and in that moment, I died.
Chapter Three
Somewhere off in the distance the phone was ringing. Lying with my eyes closed I fully resisted coming out of the milky darkness I was reveling in. It was peaceful and quiet inside my mind for once and I wanted to savor it.
I sat up cursing at the disruption and opened my eyes. 7:15pm. That was late waking up even by my usual high school dropout standards. I was usually up and at ‘em by the crack of sundown. Finally, picking up the phone next to the bed, I got a dial tone…too late. Not much of a loss because I didn’t want to talk to whoever was calling anyway.
I had a headache and my neck was hurting for some reason, my next thoughts were of Tylenol. Making my way to the medicine cabinet I was passing the bedroom mirror when something caught my eye. On my neck there was a large red patch that looked inflamed. Standing for a moment I stared at my reflection in confusion.
“Oh my god!” There was barely time to verbalize my reaction when I heard a pounding at the back door and it all came flooding back.
Running into the kitchen I craned my neck out the window to see who was knocking. Sure enough the man from last night was standing on my back deck. I couldn’t answer it. Sliding down the wall to the floor I put my hands over my ears praying he’d go away and leave me alone. This guy thought he was a vampire and had actually bitten me. I tried to get my legs up under me so I could make it to the phone to call the police but in my terror I had no coordination.
The screen door opened and the inside door handle jiggled this way and that. He was forcing his way in with a series of clicks and twists. I froze. Finally the door opened and Gavin stepped inside.
“Were you ever go
ing to let me in? Oh now what’s this?” he said noticing me cowering. “Jesus Mary and Joseph get up. Nobody is going to hurt you, least of all me.” He extended his hand to me and smiled. “C’mon.”
I took his hand as I rose and we came face to face. “Wow,” he said. “Have you looked at yourself?”
“Yes, my neck…”
“No, your eyes. Have you looked at your eyes yet?” without waiting for an answer he led me into the bathroom. “Look.”
I leaned in and knew right away what he had seen. My eyes were different. There was a big dark ring on the outside of my iris and the light brown color had changed to pools of dark liquid coffee.
“New vampire eyes. Quite beautiful actually.” He was smiling at me in the mirror.
“What the hell did you do to me?”
“Denial is such a human trait. You’ll still be in between for a while; it takes about a year to fully adjust. Don’t worry, you’ll get over it.”
“Over what?”
“Over being human.” I took a step back from him and put my arms in front of me to keep the distance.
“Stay away,” I said.
“Easy there girl. Look, I know we didn’t give you much of a chance to say no. Normally there’s this whole process but we made an exception for you. You should be honored. You’re very special.”
“Look, I don’t get to say this to other people a lot, but you’re crazy. I think you should go. Please go.”
He didn’t go. He simply smiled and asked, “How are the voices Rachel?” The voices…there weren’t any. “That’s what I thought,” he said knowing the answer. “You’re not crazy, you never were. You can do something we’ve not seen in centuries. You can hear over long distances, perhaps even read thoughts. That’s why we need you.”
“For what?”
“Something very bad is coming. Something that if we don’t stop, human and vampire alike will be at risk.”
“What kind of risk could there possibly be for a group that is supposedly immortal.”
“You’d be surprised,” he said. “An old enemy of Angus is on his way back here and if he is allowed to take over it’s going to be open season on the humans and anyone who disagrees with him.”
“What can he possibly do this…?”
“Samuel. Samuel and Angus started this clan here. Samuel was thrown out by Angus about 150 years ago because he began killing at will. Angus decreed that we would only feed on those deserving to die. Criminals, child molesters. If someone is dying a long and painful death sometimes we will do them a kindness, but that has to go before the council. We’ve been keeping ourselves alive here for centuries very discreetly. There’s safety in a clan as opposed to being on your own in a city, that’s why we’re all here. Now Samuel wants to challenge Angus for his leadership and since he created a large number of the vampires here they will follow him if Angus dies.”
“Why would they do that?”
“If your creator wants to control you they can, once the clan leader dies,” he said. “They won’t have any choice and there are enough of his children left to wipe out not just Soldiers Cove but a large part of Cape Breton Island as well. After that who knows.” All of this sounded pretty outlandish but Gavin continued on as solemn as Sunday morning.
“The good news is you might be our ace in the hole. We might be able to see him coming and be ready. We’ll all stand together to protect Angus when the time comes, but not knowing when or what exactly Samuel plans to do makes it very difficult. That’s where you come in.”
Talk about going down the rabbit hole.
“So let me get this straight. Vampires exist and last night you turned me into one so that I can hear the thoughts of another vampire who wants to kill our peaceful leader, put himself in charge and go on a feeding frenzy with other vampires who he can brainwash?”
Gavin laughed making him look even more handsome, which up until that moment hadn’t seemed even remotely possible. When he smiled his whole face lit up, his eyes danced and his square jaw quivered. He had the kind of smile where all his teeth showed making it seem that much bigger.
“So smart this one,” he said. “We’re going to make a good team you and me.”
“I’m glad you’re convinced.”
“I am.” And he was. He had all the confidence in the world. “Now we just have to convince the others.”
“Others?”
“There’s a meeting tomorrow night. I’ll collect you at midnight. We’re going to visit with our neighbors. You know them, pillars of the community all of them,” he said rolling his eyes at his own statement.
“You don’t like them?”
“Let’s just say I’m not as much of a pillar as they are.”
“Now,” he said, “you had a lot of blood already so you should be good for a couple of days at least. We’ll have to find someone for you to eat in about 48 hours I think. In the meantime continue with your human diet. You’ll still need to eat human food and get sleep every few days or so. You’re not a machine and we need you well rested.”
“What do I do about the daylight if I only need sleep every few days?” I was remembering every vampire movie I’d ever seen.
“Oh you’ll be fine. You won’t turn to ashes or sparkle or anything like that, but you will need these.” He produced a pair of very expensive looking sunglasses with ‘Prada’ written on the side. “For sure you don’t want to go out during the day without them.”
“You’ll need this too.” He produced a little box from his pocket and presented me with a small transparent charm that looked like it was filled with dirt. “Allow me,” he said. I turned around and he slipped it around my neck, the tips of his fingers almost brushing my skin ...almost. “Keep it on at all times ok?”
“If you say so.”
“And one more thing. Please, please...do not go out and be around the humans by yourself right now. If anyone comes to your door pretend you’re not home, we both know you’re good at that,” he said winking. “We can’t have you slipping up. Be a good girl and stay on the wagon for Daddy ok?”
“Alrighty,” I said trying to sound casual about the whole mess.
“Excellent. Well, until midnight tomorrow then. Just keep that necklace on and stay away from the humans and we’re in business. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to feed. You were quite the little eater.” He turned to go, and then pivoted on his heel to say something else.
“One more thing Rachel.”
“What?”
“Enjoy the silence.” And with that he turned and disappeared.
Chapter Four
The March night was clean and still. As I sat on my back step waiting for Gavin I watched my breath rise through the icy air. Since awakening I felt confined by being inside, something that was my preference before. I knew I shouldn’t be outside by myself but despite the warnings given to me I decided it would be ok to sit outside and wait. Soldiers Cove is not exactly a hotbed of activity after eleven pm.
I realized I had forgotten to turn the porch light on and stood to go back inside when it dawned on me that I didn’t seem to need it. Without the light the yard is pitch black, but I was sitting there looking at everything perfectly lit up. My eyes had adjusted. The images in the night were sharp and concise. I could see every tree, every branch, and every leaf. The smallest details were as clear as the big picture. Every plant seemed to breathe and every gust of wind, no matter how small, was visible as it swished its way through the vivid blackness.
In a strange way these new eyes seemed more accustomed to darkness than to daylight. Earlier I had made the mistake of looking out the window without the Prada glasses, and although it was a dark overcast winter day, I felt a burning so intense I had cried out in shock. I wouldn’t be making that mistake again.
Off in the distance a man was talking. Suddenly I was frightened at what I might do. Standing to head back inside I realized I recognized the voice. It was the male half of my hallucination. So much for th
e voices disappearing I thought. I closed my eyes and focused in on the man as the sounds of the night disappeared into the back ground. Soon he was the only thing I could hear.
Stupid bitch. You’ll be lucky if I let you live. You’re such a dumb cunt.
The familiar unease took over and I shook my head to focus on the other elements of the night once again until he was gone. I lowered my head into my hands. Why was I still hearing this? Hadn’t Angus said I never had to hear anything again if I didn’t want to? There had been enough of this man’s nasty tirades in my ears to last me a lifetime.
An eerie feeling of being watched was with me for about half a second before I saw him. Gavin was standing in front of me. He had either appeared out of nowhere or come up on me very fast when I turned my head, I couldn’t figure out which. He flashed his brilliant smile and plunked himself down on the step as close to me as he possibly could. Did vampires not get the concept of personal space?
“Miss me?” he said. I looked at the clock again. Midnight exactly.
“That’s impressive,” I said.
“I pride myself on my punctuality. People have such bad manners these days. I think the least you can do is to be where you say you’re gonna be when you said you were gonna be there. Know what I mean?”
“I’ve never really thought about it.”
“Well I guess when you’re a recluse you tend not to notice those things. I’ve had my decades where I hid from the world too. Sometimes humanity just gets to be too much.”
Decades? How old was he exactly?
“How have you been feeling?”
“Well I looked out the window today without those glasses.”
Gavin scrunched up his face. “Ouch,” he said. “Anyone come to visit you?”
“No, I’ve been alone and I haven’t answered the phone.”
“Good girl. You’re good at following orders. That will come in handy.”
“Yeah about that,” I said turning to look him straight in the eye. “I’m not sure about all this. Are you sure we should be taking on an old angry vampire? I mean, couldn’t Angus go into hiding or leave? He can’t kill him if he can’t find him right?”
The Vampires of Soldiers Cove Page 2