The Vampire's Redemption, A Paranormal Romance (Undead in Brown County #3)

by Wright, S. J.

  I moved to Lenny’s stall and put trembling fingers on the stall door latch. “Is he okay? I was coming out to check on him.”

  He sighed behind me, but I couldn’t make myself turn around to look at the expression on his face.

  “He’s fine. He just needs those back teeth filed down. They’re making it difficult for him to chew.”

  Messenger watched us silently from the next stall, her ears forward as if she understood every word we were saying. Lenny came forward and I moved my fingers over the thick hair on his neck and then scratched behind his ears. He let out a huge sigh of pleasure and closed his eyes.

  “I’ll call the vet in the morning,” I said softly.

  I picked up the sound of his boots on the concrete floor as he started to walk away. But I couldn’t let him leave like that, thinking that I was just blowing him off and didn’t care. I had to say something and it had to be real.

  “Jackson, I’m afraid.”

  He did stop by the barn door. There was a wild storm of conflicting emotions consuming us both, and I saw it clearly on his face when I turned back to him. His beautiful eyes were full of all the things he wanted to say but couldn’t. His lips were set in a firm line, holding back the desire that was swiftly becoming something stronger than either of us could control.

  “You’re not the only one who fears getting hurt, Sarah.” He let out a short breath of air and ran one hand through his dark hair, tucking one side behind his ear. “I’m in a strange place. I didn’t come here because I wanted to. I was brought against my will. None of the people that I care about know where I am. Not even my own mother.”

  “I’m sorry.” It sounded like a lame apology.

  He took five swift strides towards me and gripped both my upper arms. “You didn’t plan this. I understand that. But you have done something to me, whether you want to accept it or not. You know exactly what is happening between us. You feel it. You know it.”

  I was trying desperately not to look at his face. Anywhere else. The paint chipping on the barn post next to me. Messenger’s wide, alert gaze fixed on both of us. Anything. Terror of the unknown was rising up inside me and warring with the seductive idea of at last finding a man that I could depend on to stay with me.

  “No. Don’t you dare. I want you to look at my face,” he growled.

  Surprised and distracted by his tone, I did exactly that. The moment I looked, his hands left my arms and settled firmly on my hips, dragging me against him so I could feel every hard muscle of him from his chest down to his thighs. The length of his erection pressed against my belly and sent shivers through my every limb.

  “You want this as much as I do. It scares the shit out of you, and I get that. But I’m afraid too, Sarah. The two of us have been thrown together in this vampire thing without asking for it. If I fall for you, I’m giving them what they want.”

  “It doesn’t matter what they want,” I breathed.

  He slid his hands up my back and dragged in a shuddering breath of air. “They could kill us both, Sarah.”

  I tried not to think about the pooling of heat between my legs. “They can’t afford to kill us.”

  His next words were spoken with lethal intensity. “If anything happens to you, I will personally put a stake in Isaiah’s heart and anybody else’s who tries to hurt you.” I felt the gentle, moist pressure of his lips at my temple and then at the ultra-sensitive spot behind my ear. “I’d do anything to keep you safe.”

  I reveled in the strength of those words. I wanted to soak them up and hold the sound of it with me forever. Some barrier inside me broke apart when I realized the gravity of our situation and I found myself drawing him closer until I was pressing my mouth against his cheek, his neck and the curve of his collarbone.

  When our mouths did finally meet, something primal came over me. It was an instinctual, burning, animalistic urge the likes of which I’d never experienced before. He met every kiss, every glancing touch of my tongue with equal longing and fiery passion. His hands were roving over the curves of my breasts and hips and ass like he couldn’t possibly get enough. Every stroke made me tremble, and when he pulled back I felt like I might die.

  “Easy, beautiful,” he murmured gently against my ear. “As much as I can’t wait to have you, there’s no way our first time will happen in a barn.”

  I nipped playfully at his ear. “In the house then…”

  “What about Nelly?”

  The idea of her walking in on that little scenario made me grin. “She is so not invited. I don’t do threesomes.”

  Playing along, he tightened his grip around my waist and smiled down at me. “Damn it. Thanks for getting my hopes up.”

  “Anytime.”

  We walked slowly back up to the house. At the front door, he kissed me lightly on the lips and forehead.

  “Soon, Sarah.”

  “I wish it could be tonight,” I whispered back.

  He took me as far as my bedroom door, squeezed my hand and turned away to go to his own room.

  I watched him walk away. I couldn’t help it. Every inch of him was beautiful and unique. Little details overwhelmed me; the creases in his faded jeans, the dust on his boot heels, the worn leather of the belt he wore.

  When I was finally able to turn away and go into my room, I felt a distinct loss because he wasn’t there. Over the next few hours, I tossed in my bed and alternately cried and trembled with fear. I couldn’t go to him. And in my head, I was still worried sick about Katie. Where was she? Had she really been involved in that woman’s murder?

  I didn’t fall asleep until after midnight.

  CHAPTER 12 – Michael

  I hovered around the perimeter for hours after she ordered me away. Regret hung over me like a suit of rusty armor. I hardly believed the words that had escaped me in that moment on the porch. Calling to apologize seemed the logical thing to do, but the cell phone I’d been carrying around was destroyed. And my abominable pride was another deterrent.

  Not having a cell phone proved to be a major inconvenience over the initial hours following my eviction from the farm. Not only did I not have a way to contact Victoria, I also did not have any bagged blood. I didn’t completely hate the idea of feeding off a live human. I’d survived that way for hundreds of years. However, I had made an effort towards reform in recent years and was reluctant to fall off the wagon.

  Eventually, I moved north towards Chicago. Finding Victoria and Jones was my goal, but it seemed unlikely without the phone. But I did have a few acquaintances between Chicago and Indianapolis that I could probably draw favors from if they were properly motivated. The obvious risk would be alerting the Council to the fact that I was free. I didn’t want to consider what repercussions that might have on Sarah.

  I dropped in on an old undead friend of mine in Gary. He was able to provide a very limited supply of bagged blood and a new cell phone. I was hurried on my way and had the distinct impression that he wasn’t glad that I stopped by. Hardly surprising, I suppose. I was definitely considered the black sheep of the vampire community at that time. Killing him was an option, but it would draw unwanted attention. I kept my temper and moved on.

  Victoria’s phone number was one that I had punched into my old cell phone a number of times before I figured out how to save it to the address book. I have an exceedingly good memory. I had just finished sucking down my second bag of blood in an alley behind a theater in Gary when the phone rang.

  “Michael?” It was Isaiah’s voice. Instantly, I regretted not having killed the fiend who’d given me the new phone.

  “Isaiah. I suppose the news of my unplanned release has spread rather quickly.”

  “Indeed. I suggest we have a meeting. Would you be willing to come to Dallas?”

  I laughed brightly into the phone. “So you can drain me and then lock me up again? I think not.”

  There was a pause and a sigh before he continued in a droll voice, “I really think you should consider the i
dea of turning yourself in. You wouldn’t want Sarah or her loved ones harmed on your account.”

  Rage blazed through me like a sword. “You don’t have Sarah.”

  “Not yet. But I certainly have an idea of how to persuade her to join me for dinner. A friend of hers is down here visiting me. Perhaps you’d like to speak with him.”

  I froze. Maybe it was just a bluff. I’d certainly known Isaiah to make such low moves.

  The voice that came on the line was cold, deep and put a huge dent in the theory that Isaiah was playing me for a fool.

  “Michael?”

  “Alex, you need to get the hell out of there. He’s setting up a trap for Sarah.”

  He huffed impatiently, “Nothing is going to happen to Sarah, but you and I have a score to settle. Get your ass down here.”

  There was an audible click when the connection was terminated and I swore vehemently. I had been afraid that Isaiah might draw Alex into his web, but I hadn’t thought it would happen that soon. I did know that if I didn’t show up down there at Isaiah’s estate, he might try to drag Sarah into the whole thing.

  I put the cell phone back into my pocket and looked dispassionately at the bags of blood lying at my feet. Giving myself over to Isaiah would be the ultimate act of selflessness. Perhaps I was due for redemption. After all, did sixty-five years of denying myself warm human blood fully make up for the atrocities I’d committed before my imprisonment? Somehow, I doubted it was enough.

  Dark memories swept over me. Memories that I had fought against for decades. Blood, torn flesh the death of innocents. Thousands of them had suffered at my hands over the centuries. I had been a different creature back then. But the changes I’d made in my diet were minute compared to the changes in the lives of people whose loved ones I’d destroyed without remorse. A mother’s loss of a daughter. A husband’s loss of a wife.

  My soul cracked open with a fierce shock that brought me to my knees. Sarah had given me the ability to see what humans could mean to each other. She had opened my eyes to possibilities I never would have considered otherwise. Her courage and affection had opened my eyes. I was free of her, but it was the last thing I really wanted. Because then I was left alone with my many regrets.

  I decided to purge myself of my crimes.

  CHAPTER 13 – Jackson

  “I’m sorry I didn’t ask you about riding Messenger.”

  Sarah smiled at me gently and squeezed my arm. “It’s okay. She needs the exercise.”

  There were more important things for us to talk about, but I hated to disrupt the way the evening was going so far. Nelly had made an amazing hash brown casserole for us and left to visit her sister in Greenwood for a few days. She had even put candles on the small table in the kitchen and set out plates and silverware for us.

  We had finished off half of the casserole, a bottle and a half of blackberry wine and made our way into the parlor to listen to some of her Dad’s old records. She was curled up beside me on the sofa with her glass of wine and the afghan draped over her shapely legs. Sadie was stretched out in front of the fireplace, moving one back leg occasionally and huffing in her sleep. Billie Holiday was on the record player, singing “My Man”.

  “Why haven’t you ever ridden her?”

  She smiled a little sadly and stared at the rim of her glass. “I’ve been afraid.”

  “You didn’t have a bad fall or anything, did you?”

  “No, no. Nothing like that.” I loved seeing her like that, so vulnerable and soft, answering questions with no hint of self-preservation. She was utterly open and so easy to read.

  She tilted her head back against the cushions and sighed cleanly, the line of her throat clear in silhouette with the lamplight behind her. Her head turned towards me and she touched me with another tender smile that made my heart want to stop.

  “I wish I could just let go and be totally brave,” she said. I knew, without being told, exactly what she needed. She needed a stepping stone. She needed someone to hold her, to give her strength for all the challenges that awaited her. She needed someone like her. Someone who understood her.

  Unsure of exactly how to put it all into the right context, I wrapped one arm around her and brought her close to me. “You will one day. And when you’re ready, she’ll be waiting.”

  After a few moments of silence, she leaned forward to put her glass on the coffee table and turned back to me. “You’re afraid of what might happen between us, aren’t you?”

  “I’m afraid that you’ve already made a connection with a vampire. And because I care about you so much, that scares the hell out of me.”

  She took another long swallow of her wine before she replied tightly, “You mean Michael?”

  “Of course.” I rubbed my temples in frustration and fixed my gaze on the fireplace. “You obviously have a serious emotional attachment to him. I don’t know how to take that.”

  “Honestly, I don’t know where Michael and I stand with each other. But I do know that the last time he spoke to me, he said some really shitty things.” The tone of the conversation had brought an edge to Sarah. Her voice, her facial expressions, her body language. Everything was sharper. She was getting rigged up for a confrontation, but I wasn’t going to let it go down that road. She wasn’t going to get the kind of fight she was looking for.

  “Besides, he’s a vampire. He’s killed people, Jackson.”

  “He probably has killed people.”

  “And he can be a total asshole sometimes.”

  “Yeah, it definitely seems like he can get that way.”

  It was slowly stealing her thunder, having someone agree with her like that. I guess I had been reading the signs and making the right moves to calm her down. According to Nelly, Sarah’s temper could get completely out of hand sometimes. The only explosion I’d personally seen up to that point had been her argument with Michael and the ensuing slap (which he had thoroughly deserved).

  With a defeated sigh she settled back against the sofa and crossed her arms. “Even if he wasn’t a jerk a lot of times, he’s still a vampire. I don’t want to be turned. I always thought I would get married, pop out three and a half kids and raise them out here.”

  “Is that what you really want? Marriage? Children?”

  That was when her cell phone rang. Before she could dig it out of her pocket, I had moved. With both hands framing her face, I kissed her as deeply as she’d ever been kissed. I put my soul into that simple gesture of affection. I wanted her to know that she had me before she answered that call.

  Somehow, I knew it was Michael.

  CHAPTER 14 – Sarah

  “Um… Hello?”

  I hadn’t even bothered looking at the caller ID. Everything inside me was still reeling from Jackson’s kiss. I felt hot all over, in every little blood vessel, in every pore. When he backed away and let me answer the call, he was purposeful. The light in his eyes sang of his strength and resolve. It was almost impossible to focus on the phone call awaiting me.

  “Sarah, before you hang up I need you to listen to me. Alex is with Isaiah.”

  I sputtered in surprise, “Michael? Where are you calling me from?” Sadie’s head went up, her golden ears perked up at the familiar name.

  Jackson stood with his glass of wine and left the room, casting one hot glance of promise over one shoulder. My breath stopped for a moment. All I wanted to do was follow him.

  “It doesn’t matter. Did you hear what I said? He has Alex.”

  I tried desperately to concentrate on his words. “Isaiah must be holding him against his will. Wait. Did you talk to him? Did Alex say anything about wanting to join Isaiah?”

  “Not specifically. Look, they’re going to try to get you to go down to Dallas, to Isaiah’s estate. Sarah, whatever problems you have with me right now, please believe me when I tell you that it’s a trap. Isaiah’s using both you and Alex to get me to give myself up.”

  “It would probably be better for everybody if you j
ust came back here, Michael.”

  There was a long pause before he responded, “Better for you?”

  It would certainly make things more complicated. “I don’t know about that. But at least Isaiah could be kept away from you. And if he captures you somehow, you know that Victoria and Jones would both put themselves in danger to rescue you.”

  “I had planned on coming back anyway, if that is agreeable to you.”

  “Yes.” My voice cracked slightly when I recalled the things he’d said and done before he left.

  “But you’ve got to ease up on Jackson. He’s a good man, Michael.” He also had to understand that there were boundaries between us. Otherwise, there was no way we would be able to deal with each other.

  “I know he is. By the way, I have your sister with me.”

  “Is she okay? Does she know what happened to that woman?”

  “It’s a long story, and I’ll let her explain when we come back. She was injured, but I healed her.” His voice didn’t sound the same for some reason. I couldn’t pinpoint the change, but something had definitely happened.

  “You healed her? What does that mean?”

  He cleared his throat. “You know what it means. She’s had my blood.”

  There was something significant in that. Had Michael bonded with my sister?

  “If you have questions, save them for later. I have to get off here and take care of some business.”

  He ended the call, leaving me wondering what the hell I had missed. What kind of business was he talking about? And how did Katie get injured? What exactly did it mean now that Katie had Michael’s blood in her veins? The questions kept rolling through my head endlessly. And Isaiah had Alex? When was this bullshit going to end? When was life going to be normal again?

  “Sarah.” It was Jackson’s voice. A sound that was solid, real, without mystery.

  He was standing in the doorway that led to the kitchen and saying my name. Suddenly, I felt the urge to be reckless and throw caution to the wind. I wanted to forget about vampires. I wanted Jackson beside me, around me, inside the core of me.