“I need you to look after Sarah.” The snow had started falling, leaving a light dusting of pristine powder on the rough stones in the driveway and in the yellow grass in the front yard. I wasn’t sure if I would remember it all once I left for good, but standing out in the falling snow with Jackson wasn’t exactly my idea of a perfect memory to hold onto. “I’ll be leaving by morning. And I probably won’t ever be back here.”
He appeared shocked. “Does she know?”
“No. And I can’t have anyone telling her about it until after it’s done.” There was a finite edge to my voice meant to warn him, but I really couldn’t tell whether or not he was taking it as I had intended. He was still processing the concept of me leaving and what that would mean for him and Sarah. I could see it in the way he visibly relaxed under my scrutiny.
“What about Katie? Was she responsible for that murder?”
“Unfortunately, yes. But she was influenced by an older vampire to do so.” The house seemed strange to me now, looming there in the dark like a dreaded monster from some child’s nightmare. It wasn’t a pleasant place to me anymore. Not when I had no real trust in Katie, who had unfettered access to everything and everyone inside. “There’s no way to predict what she will do at this point. It’s likely that she’s developed a taste for warm blood.”
He clenched his jaw. “Then Sarah’s not safe with her.”
“Right now, she’s fine. Vic and Jones won’t let anything happen to her. But they won’t always be here, Jackson.”
“What exactly do you plan to do?”
I told him everything involving my plan because I felt very strongly that his connection to Sarah and his fervent hope to keep her safe meant more to him than anything else. I was counting on it. But it left one hell of a bad taste in my mouth to have to hand her safety over to him.
“One more thing…” I said before he walked away towards the house.
He half turned back to me, determination etched fiercely across his face.
“I want one hour alone with Sarah before I go.”
CHAPTER 19 – Sarah
Seeing Katie as a vampire for the first time was startling. When I rushed into the house, she was pacing the den. Maybe pacing isn’t the right word. There is a certain measure of deliberation in pacing, a sedate concentration that gives itself away on the person’s face. But I wasn’t watching a human. I was watching my sister, the vampire. And there was no expression on her face.
It was like looking at a mask. There was no animation in her mouth. Her eyes and all four limbs were certainly alive and working at an unusual pace. Her gaze darted from the windows, to the pictures on the walls, to the doorway where I stood staring at her. But they didn’t stay fixed on anything particular for very long.
“Katie…”
“Shut up, Sarah,” she mumbled.
Victoria moved past me and Jones hovered protectively at my side, his face harsh and grim.
“Katie, what is it?”
“This place! She warned me that nothing was going to be the same. She said that even though I might walk in and out of the front door, that I would never belong here again.” It was as if she were talking to herself, the creature who used to be my little sister. “Amanda was right. I thought I would feel so much better being back home, but it’s not working.”
Victoria turned to me with a frown. “Sarah, she’s had warm blood and now she’s coming down from it. This won’t be pretty. You may want to go upstairs until we get her safely back to the caves.”
“I’m not going back down there!” Katie shouted.
“Yes, Kate.” Jones moved forward to grab one of her arms.
She snarled at his approach like a cat enraged, her eyes narrow in the mask of her white face. Then she took a deep shuddering breath and stared at me. It reminded me of the old doll up in the attic, whose cracked porcelain face always drove me into nightmares and whose black eyes seemed to follow me wherever I moved. Katie was like that broken doll. It was the most terrifying thing to see the way her hollow eyes were fixed on me.
“Why does she smell so good?” My sister wailed, pushing against Jones and reaching out towards me with trembling white hands. She howled like an animal, and despite Victoria’s advice I couldn’t seem to move away. I couldn’t quite believe the wild thing in the den was really my sister.
I felt Jackson’s arms slide around me right as my hot tears began to fall. She was really gone. My sister was no longer here on earth. Just this beastly thing that barely resembled her. I turned and let Jackson lead me upstairs to my room, all the while trying to block out the eerie cries of hunger from the den.
It took me an hour to calm down enough to speak rationally. Jackson had remained with me in my room while Jones and Victoria moved Katie to the caves. My throat and head hurt from weeping so much.
“It can’t end like this,” I murmured to Jackson, who sat beside me with one golden brown arm draped over my back. His fingers were gently stroking my upper arm in a balanced rhythm that was slowly making me more calm and focused.
“Vampires can change, Sarah. You know they can.”
“Did you see her face? There was no emotion there.”
He nodded and squeezed my shoulder. “I know. It was probably very scary for you to see her that way.”
“I know that they can improve themselves eventually, Jackson, but it could take years and years for anything to really change. Where will she go until then? Keeping her locked in the caves for that long is not an option. I couldn’t do that to her.”
He was quiet for several minutes, and I was just enjoying the peace of the moment and the comfort of his body next to me when somebody knocked on the door.
“Who is it?” I asked.
“It’s me.”
“Come in, Michael,” Jackson said roughly, drawing away from me and leaving me chilly. He stood up from the bed just as Michael opened the door.
“Am I interrupting?” The smooth planes of his face were passive, his crystal eyes betraying nothing of what he was thinking.
Jackson shook his head. “No. It’s fine. I was actually going to go down to the barn to get a couple of chores done. I was just waiting for someone to come sit with her for a while.” He squeezed my hand once and turned away. When the door closed quietly behind him, I knew that the two of them had discussed this. Something was about to happen.
“What’s going on?”
Instead of sitting beside me in Jackson’s previous spot, he chose to stand. His hair was still wet from being out in the snow and glistened in the subtle light from my nightstand lamp. For some reason, he wouldn’t look at me.
He studied a photo on my dresser. It was a picture taken of Katie and I when we were little, sitting in one of the rocking chairs on the front porch. Katie’s mouth was turned up in cheesy grin for the camera, and I was laughing at her. She had both arms wrapped around me. We wore matching yellow sundresses and our cheeks were pink from being out in the sun. I couldn’t recall the time it was taken, but Nelly had found it for me several years before and had it framed. It was my favorite.
Michael touched the glass over my little girl face and smiled softly. “You were so happy back then.”
I pushed away from my bed and moved to stand beside him. His presence was still enough to start butterflies fluttering in my chest and stomach. I looked at us both in the mirror. Me, with my face still flush from crying and my hair coming out of my ponytail. And him with his pale, flawless face and blazing blue eyes.
He turned to me. “You can be happy again.”
“Maybe.” I stared at him, sensing some sort of change in his attitude that frightened me. He had me feeling like a child again, not knowing what was to come and fearing the possibilities.
His arm lifted and he drew his fingers through the strands of hair on the back of my neck. I felt the charge of his touch rush over me like a drug, digging into my foundation and holding tightly. “You and I could have had something together, Sarah. Someth
ing temporary, but soul-stirring.”
“If you were human,” I whispered brokenly, “it could have been something real. It could have lasted.”
His full lips curled in a mocking smile as he studied my face. “It would have been a challenge, to make things work with you. You’re rather known for having a difficult personality.”
He was right. I knew that I could be a total pain in the ass at times. Admitting that fact to myself wasn’t something I did very often. The mere accusation of it seemed to stoke my inner bitch and bring her out swinging. That thing inside me raged against circumstance and fate. It was an ugly thing. I didn’t particularly like it any more than most people did. With it boiling inside me unchecked, I had managed to alienate my few friends and possibly damaged forever the relationship I had with my sister.
I had burned way too many bridges, and not made the phone calls that I should have when a friend had a birthday, was getting married or had a baby. I had avoided get-togethers because it had seemed so much easier to just stay home rather than field a dozen questions about how I was doing since Dad passed away. So, it was laziness on my part. And probably a good chunk of fear.
Sometimes fear makes a person want to dwell within themselves and occupy a very limited world. Maybe my bravery was just a front and all my tough talk was just the bitter residue of a hundred burned bridges. Maybe it was closer to a thousand bridges crumbling at my feet with the ashes swirling around me, catching in my hair and coating my skin like chalk. I was guessing that I breathed that filthy stuff and drew it inside me to cling to my very soul.
“I’ve made mistakes,” I said.
“Everyone does.”
“Michael, I don’t want to keep pushing people away from me.”
His hands were on me suddenly, gripping and hard against the flesh of my upper arms. His lips were pressing against mine, drawing me open and leaving me bare. There was nothing else in the universe except for Michael and his unending strength.
I had reached out for just a single moment in time, and he had snapped me up like a hungry wolf. I didn’t care if it was the predator in him. My need had finally overtaken my fear, and I wanted everything that he had to give; every thrust of his tongue and every fiber of urgency that turned him into the beast before me.
He took me there, with the lights still on and muted voices carrying through the heating ducts from downstairs. It was a joining of two heated bodies moving together towards a pinnacle of sensation with clothes ripped off and thrown recklessly to the floor and my name growled roughly through his busy lips a dozen times. Each time he said my name, it brought me up higher and my arms would tighten around his torso to pull him even closer.
When his orgasm arrived, it brought mine.
“Oh, God,” I breathed, staring at him.
He shouted hoarsely, some unintelligible sound that let me know he was experiencing every stunning peak that I was. His movement continued for several minutes, dragging me over and over again into that void of pure physical bliss until he finally collapsed next to me. But I couldn’t let it go. When he started to move away to get his clothes, I climbed on top of him.
“No. Don’t you back off from me now. Not after what just happened.”
He settled back against the bed with a gentle smile. “I don’t want anyone downstairs to be alarmed at the shouting and come up here thinking that I’m killing you.” His arms rose, came down lightly on my back and he stroked me like a cat. I believe I purred.
Then his words sank in. There was somebody who would be alarmed and probably deeply hurt by what I’d just done. I suppose I should have felt like some kind of emotional whore, after having become so close to Jackson and wanting him so badly, only to fall into bed with Michael shortly afterwards. But my need for Michael had existed before Jackson had come into my life. My desire had burned me on the inside and haunted me every time that Michael had turned his eyes on me.
“What about Jackson?” his rumbling voice crashed through my thoughts.
I moved away from him then. I had to. The sharp, serrated edges of regret were cutting through me, and I couldn’t let him touch me when Jackson’s face was swimming in my thoughts. It felt wrong and made me shiver with distaste at my thoughtlessness.
Picking up the shredded remains of my shirt, I avoided his gaze. “I don’t know if this was such a good idea.”
He had risen from my bed and was pulling on his clothes, quickly and efficiently. I watched him from the corner of my eye when he sat down to put his boots back on. When he came and kissed me one last time, I felt empty. When the door closed silently behind him, I sat down on the bench at the end of my bed and stared at the picture on my dresser.
Right then, I had a suspicion that nothing at all had changed. I was wrong.
CHAPTER 20 – Jackson
He that will not apply new remedies must expect new evils; for time is the greatest innovator.
- Sir Francis Bacon
I hadn’t intended to go very far. What I really wanted was to get away from the house. I knew what was happening upstairs. The idea of it filled me with some unnamable darkness that might swallow me whole if I didn’t put some distance between myself and the place where it was happening.
When Michael told me what he had planned, I felt instinctually that he was being honest. He wanted to save Sarah from any further pain or danger, and he understood that the depth of my feelings for her would make me an ally in that endeavor. Even if it meant turning my back while he had his way with her. Michael had also warned me that the entire plan would be shot to hell if Victoria got wind of it. That meant that I had to keep a certain distance from her as well unless I could effectively mask my thoughts.
So I saddled up Messenger and headed towards the woods, trusting her to find her footing in the dark. Sensing my frustration, she strained at the bit and fought for more speed. I held her back until we got to the long fence line that ran from the western side of the property to the north. Once we’d cleared the trees, I let her go. She moved from her smooth four-beat gait into her gentle rocking canter and then into a full tilt gallop that nearly dragged my hat off in the wind.
Sarah had to be kept safe. All the churning, chaotic emotions inside me had to be held back until I was positive that she would be alright. By then, I knew that my feelings for her had grown into love. I knew that I would do almost anything for her, especially if there was a possibility that we might have a real future together. I felt positive that I could make her happy.
Messenger had begun to slow when we reached the northern fork of the creek. I could barely see the inky outlines of the trees there, but again I trusted her to find our way. She snorted, the sound of it carrying through the cool air around us and breaking the soothing silence of the countryside.
She came to a halt suddenly, her head high before me and ears tipped forward towards the trees. There was something there. I felt her stiffen under me in fear and couldn’t help but think back to that day on the ranch when the vampires had overtaken me while I was riding Luna. I could still remember the sound it made when they had snapped her neck. It definitely wasn’t something I wanted to go through again.
We turned back the way we’d come. I wasn’t eager to find out exactly what it was that had begun to frighten the mare after everything I’d been through. Surprisingly, Messenger held steady and refused to move for a moment, even with my heels touching her sides.
“Come on, girl,” I whispered.
She flicked one ear back towards me, then sighed and turned back towards home. I checked behind us once or twice to be sure we weren’t being followed. I still had a bad feeling about whatever was in those woods, but it wasn’t something I was willing to check out in the dark with only a high-strung mare for backup and no flashlight.
Thinking back to a conversation I’d had with Sarah about the boundaries, I realized that whatever had been back in the woods was very likely outside of the border of the containment field. That made me feel a little bett
er and I was able to get back to the barn without looking behind us every hundred feet or so.
Victoria was waiting outside of the barn doors, looking worried. I tried like hell to block out any thoughts of Michael and his plans the moment I recognized her. I could only hope that it would be enough of a distraction for me to concentrate on the horse.
I drew Messenger to a halt about twenty feet away and dismounted. She was a little stiff and nervous with a vampire so close, so I murmured to her gently and stroked her face to calm her down before attempting to lead her past Victoria.
Once I had the saddle and bridle off, I put Messenger back in her stall. Victoria stayed a safe distance away, but even Lenny was snorting and kicking at his stall door in agitation. I put the saddle, blanket and bridle back into the dusty tack room, and shut off the light.
“You need to tell me what’s going on,” Victoria said.
“I can’t.” She watched me pull closed the sliding barn door and followed as I made my way slowly up towards the house.
“I’m worried about Michael.”
I didn’t even look at her, afraid of what she might see in my face. “Don’t be. He knows what he’s doing. And don’t try to read my mind. I don’t like it.”
She paused when we reached the back porch of the house. “I won’t. But I need to know what he has planned. I have a feeling he’s keeping things from me.”
Glancing at her, I nodded. “You’re right. He is keeping things from you. But he’s doing it to protect you and Jones. It’s just better that way.”
“You’re doing this for Sarah.”
It was too much. I lost my temper.
“Of course I’m doing it for Sarah!” I yelled. Startled by my own change in tone, I took a deep breath and gave her a long look. “I’m in love with her. I want to be with her. Not just now, but for the rest of my life.”
The Vampire's Redemption, A Paranormal Romance (Undead in Brown County #3) Page 9