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

by Wright, S. J.

  “Do you need blood?” Sarah asked hesitantly.

  “Don’t even think about it,” I hissed back.

  Michael’s eyes were barely open. “It would probably help mask the smell of the chemicals in my system.”

  Sarah looked at me helplessly. She was really beginning to panic. The tears were still falling freely down her cheeks. She had found another napkin and kept tearing at it, reducing the thing to limp shreds in her hands. The fear in her eyes was tearing me apart.

  “Only a little blood, Michael.” I said cautiously.

  I turned away before I could see him sink his teeth into her. It was a hundred times worse than imagining him having sex with her. My fingers were locked around the steering wheel like steel clamps, turning white under the pressure. I wanted to kill him.

  CHAPTER 24 – Michael

  Sarah’s blood was in my mouth. It was a soothing mix of flavors that ran the spectrum from pure sunshine to the most decadent, tantalizing chocolate. It felt like I was floating along with her on some glorious wave. I found that I was grasping at her and hoping to melt into the essence of who she was. Her blood was something more than just a liquid. It contained her courage, her unfailing spirit that always moved ahead, pushing through the drifts of personal loss and coming out clean on the other side.

  I didn’t want to let go, but as the unique properties of her began to move through me, I could feel the rising tension in the cab of the truck. Jackson’s irritation was pushing against me on all sides. Withdrawing my fangs from her skin, I touched my tongue very briefly to the two puncture marks and moved away from her. Her hands were trembling.

  The strength was returning to my limbs. “They’re right at the edge of the perimeter, Jackson. I don’t want to get any closer than a hundred feet.” I turned to Sarah, who was staring blankly at the dashboard. “Do not leave the containment field.” She still wasn’t listening, so I took her jaw and forced her to pay attention. “Do you hear me? If you get outside of the field, they have you.”

  She nodded in a series of jerks and pulled away from my hand. “I get it.” She touched the side of her neck where I’d bitten her. The look on her face was one of shock and disappointment, the blue of her eyes haunted by shadows that I didn’t have the power to chase away.

  Sitting in silence, she fixed her gaze on the windshield.

  “I’m doing this for you. You may not see it as a good thing right now, but if I don’t turn myself over to Isaiah, you could end up losing everything.” I wanted her to see me and know that I spoke the truth.

  She still wouldn’t look at me.

  Jackson moved down the road toward the crowd gathered there and stopped where I indicated. He opened his door and got out. I began to slide after him, but Sarah caught my sleeve. The pain rolling across her face was palpable.

  “If you can get away, will you come back?”

  I touched her jaw and smiled at her. “Maybe one day. If Isaiah is dead and there’s no longer a threat to you.”

  “But you’ll have to survive until then.” Her beautiful mouth was a delicate, kissable pink oasis in the beauty of her ashen face. I longed to crush her against me and just run. But there was nowhere to go where they wouldn’t find us. With all their spies and intricate intelligence networks, it might leave us with one day together if we ran far and fast enough.

  Pulling away and shaking my head at the thought of it, I told her gently, “Your survival and that of your children and grandchildren are what’s important to me right now.”

  She considered that for a long moment or two, nibbling nervously on one of her thumbnails. It was one of her many habits that I would grow to miss. Finally, she looked at me calmly. The only hint that she’d been crying were the beads of moisture still clinging to her eyelashes.

  “Hold me for a minute before you go.”

  Without a second’s hesitation, I wrapped my arms around her and rested my chin on the top of her head. She smelled like sweet spices, cinnamon, ginger and brown sugar. She smelled like home and love; two words that hadn’t been a part of my vocabulary for a very long time. I didn’t want to ever let her go.

  The passenger side door opened. Jackson stood there in the road, waiting for me to release Sarah. Waiting for his chance. This wasn’t a man who would use Sarah and never call her again. He was a human with strength and admirable character who would stand by her side through every challenge, through every tear she might shed. He would be there to cheer her on when she was doing the right thing and winning against all odds.

  I kissed her once on the forehead and nodded slightly at Jackson, meeting his eyes.

  It was time.

  CHAPTER 25 – Jackson

  I should have known that Sarah wasn’t about to just let Michael walk off without some kind of showdown. I saw her face change when he got out of the truck after her. The corners of her mouth turned white with unresolved rage. I knew it wasn’t Michael she was angry at. Isaiah was about to get his first look at Sarah Wood’s temper.

  There were two distinct groups near the SUV’s in the road. The first group was composed of about a dozen or so vampires, including Teddy, Charlie and Vincent. I didn’t recognize anyone else. Teddy’s group seemed nervous. Some of them, including Vincent, were openly angry and shooting glares towards the other group, which was significantly larger than the first.

  A gray-haired bearded man stepped forward from the second group. He was well dressed in a professionally-tailored navy suit coat and slacks. There was a chilling luminosity in his eyes and an arrogant twist to his hard mouth, as if he alone knew the secret answer to some ancient question. Nothing in my memory pointed him out as Isaiah, but it seemed clear that’s who I was looking at.

  He came to a slow halt a dozen feet or so away from Michael and smiled coldly.

  “I see you decided not to wait for me,” Michael said casually.

  “I am not known as a patient man. Neither is my friend.”

  Isaiah turned and motioned towards a tall blond man who I thought looked vaguely familiar. This one moved differently than the rest of them. When he stepped forward to stand at Isaiah’s side, I realized that this must be Alex. I saw his green eyes lock very briefly on Sarah, who had positioned herself on Michael’s right side. Her long hair drifted behind her in the cold wind like waves in the ocean. She was still furious and kept staring at Isaiah as if she would like to cut his head off.

  “What are your intentions here, Alex?” asked Michael, arching one eyebrow at the blond giant. “You could have crossed over the perimeter at any time. Why wait for Isaiah?”

  “We have a deal,” he replied crisply.

  Sarah glared at both Alex and Isaiah, “You have a deal? What do you think this shit is? Some kind of game show?” Isaiah’s eyebrows rose in surprise. She wasn’t finished, though. She took a step towards Alex, prompting a warning growl from Michael. I grabbed her arm before she walk over the perimeter line. She ignored me for the most part, but she did stop before she got too close.

  “Alex, what are you thinking? What do you have to gain by working with that piece of shit?” she indicated Isaiah with a jerk of her pretty head.

  “Stay out of this, Sarah,” Alex said.

  “No, I’m not going to stay out of it.” She jerked her arm away from me and took another step forward. “The last time Isaiah made his demands, I was flat on my back and barely conscious. That’s not the case this time.”

  “Sarah, do not cross the line,” Michael hissed at her.

  She did exactly that. She is Sarah, after all. In a move that surprised everyone there, Sarah spun around, lifted her leg outwards halfway through and then the toe of her hiking boot connected solidly with Isaiah’s groin. There was an audible crunching sound when she made contact. Like every other male present, I cringed in temporary sympathy.

  When he bent down in agony, she grabbed his head with both hands and slammed one knee into his face. Pushing his incapacitated form back from her, she smirked and tossed her
head.

  “That’ll teach you to fuck with a country girl, jackass.”

  Michael pulled her back across the perimeter line. She couldn’t keep the victorious smile off her face. Isaiah’s guards were poised for attack, crouching around him as he slowly got to his feet. They all looked completely shocked by the fact that a mortal woman had just attacked their master. When Isaiah finally turned back towards us, the hatred on his face was well-defined.

  Alex hadn’t moved at all, although I did see a brief smile of satisfaction cross his face when Isaiah had first hit the ground. I looked over at Michael, whose barely noticeable nod towards Alex was cordial. They also had a deal.

  Michael stiffened suddenly. Another vampire had stepped out from behind one of the SUV’s; a female with long red hair and an exceptionally beautiful body. I definitely did not remember her. Whoever she was, she was having quite an effect on Michael. He couldn’t seem to drag his eyes away from her.

  “Michael, lovely to see you again,” she purred. The redhead smiled at him intimately and I could feel waves of anger radiating out from Sarah yet again. I grabbed her hand to try to discourage her from any further attacks.

  “Amanda,” Teddy said, stepping forward. “One moment, please.”

  “I was just saying hello to an old friend.”

  Teddy ignored her and turned to Isaiah, “You never explained exactly what you intend to do with Michael once you have him. I think the Council would all feel a little more comfortable with all of this if you were to explain, brother.”

  Isaiah’s expensive pants were ruined after having fallen to his knees on the wet roadside. Nevertheless, he managed to maintain some measure of dignity when he replied, “Frankly, I don’t see why the Council has chosen to become a part of any of this. He would have been released soon, based on the Council’s investigations into his recent behavior. I’m merely pushing up the date.” He tried to brush some of the mud from his coat.

  “That still doesn’t answer my question. What do you plan to do with him?”

  Vincent had come forward, followed closely by Charlie. They looked eager to hear Isaiah’s answer as well, and it wasn’t long before they got what they were after. Isaiah dabbed at the mud on his sleeve with a red silk handkerchief and said dryly, “I’m going to do what no one else has ever done before. I’m going to create a race of vampires so powerful that we won’t have to hide from humans anymore.”

  Looking directly at Sarah with a wicked gleam in his eyes, he added, “The mortals will be hiding from us.”

  “Absolutely not, Isaiah,” Vincent protested. “You’ll put every vampire on the face of the earth in danger if you pursue such action.”

  “You know what, Vincent? I never did particularly care for the way you try to dictate the behavior of others. Especially those who are more powerful than you are. It’s rather foolish, actually.” Isaiah turned his head slightly to the side. “In fact, I think I’ve heard more than enough. Michael, are you ready?”

  Michael had wrenched his gaze away from the redhead long enough to take in the fact that Isaiah’s guards were again moving. This time, they all seemed to know exactly where to go. They had scattered themselves around outside of the other vampires. Three of them had drawn long, gleaming swords from under their dark coats.

  “Jackson?” Michael looked at me just once, but that was all it took. I knew the time had come to get Sarah away from there. A long look passed between Alex and Michael. There had been an agreement between the two of them, the details of which had never been revealed to me.

  “Your oath, Isaiah,” Michael growled quietly. “You swear to never pursue or try to harm Sarah Wood or any of her family?”

  The Council members, already on edge because of Isaiah’s minions and their swords, looked from Michael to Isaiah with wary anticipation.

  “You have my oath. Neither she or any of her family will come to harm at my hand or direction.”

  When Michael heard those words, he turned to Sarah for just a moment. His expression was hard to decipher, but his words were clear, their cadence rising like a tidal wave in the hard breeze.

  “You’re a remarkable woman, Sarah. Don’t ever give up. Hold onto that courage inside you. Hold onto those you love.” He glanced darkly at Isaiah. “No matter what happens to me, no one can take away your spirit. Remember that.”

  He looked to me.

  “Michael, you may go,” I said.

  He stepped across that invisible perimeter line and right into the clutches of the enemy. The moment they had him, Alex exploded into action. There were surges of flashing energy too fast and powerful for me to even follow with my eyes. The night lit up in a symphony of violent sounds and bright light that was completely unnatural.

  I knew what I was supposed to do. Dragging Sarah backwards, away from the swords and noise and clear possibility of getting hurt in the crossfire, wasn’t exactly an easy task. I was stronger than she was, but it took nearly everything I had to get her back to the truck. She kept shaking her head and moaning.

  “No. We can’t leave him. We have to go back, Jackson.”

  It was reassuring to know that Alex was the only one of them that could get through the barrier to follow us, but I still put the accelerator to the floor once I got the truck turned around. Sarah cried out repeatedly and tried to open her door, but I held her back against the seat with one arm.

  “We’re not going back, Sarah! It’s what he wanted. You know that.”

  By the time we reached the house, she had crumpled down in her seat with her face in her hands.

  CHAPTER 26 – Sarah

  TWO WEEKS LATER

  The snow was falling again, gently drifting down to the yellow lawn in fluffy white flakes that didn’t quite look real to me. Of course, nothing seemed real. Everything around me seemed to lack substance for some reason. Sadie leaned her weight against my leg, begging for attention. I wrapped one arm around her and sighed.

  “Alex called.”

  “I know. I heard the message.” I did at least owe him a call back after all he’d done to help us. Not only had he kept the rest of the vampires occupied while Jackson was dragging me home, but he also had moved the boulders that had kept Jones, Victoria and Katie locked up in the caves. All of it had been part of Michael’s plan. Jackson told me everything the day after Michael left.

  I don’t think I really said more than two words to Jackson for a week after he explained it. Having Michael gone and not knowing what was happening to him had been hellish. Jackson gave me my space. He didn’t force me to talk to him or try to be annoyingly supportive. He kept to the background, doing chores around the farm with Joe supervising, riding Messenger every afternoon and eating his meals by himself in the den.

  I turned and looked at Katie, who looked warm and comfortable in a brand new red angora sweater and designer blue jeans. Her vampire instincts had mellowed over the past few weeks. She had begun hanging around the house more, much to Nelly’s delight. As for the missing hiker, Katie admitted she’d taken some of the woman’s blood, but said that Amanda had actually killed the woman. The more I heard about Amanda, the more I hated her.

  Katie sat beside me on the step, muscling Sadie to one side. The dog whined and got up. She wasn’t Katie’s biggest fan right then. But at least she didn’t cower and cry every time Katie was within smelling distance anymore.

  “I know what you’re doing, Sarah.”

  “What am I doing?”

  She wrapped one of her long brown curls around her finger and gave me a sideways look. “You sit out here for hours every day, hoping to see him walk up the driveway.”

  I shook my head. “Nobody knows what happened to him, Katie. How can I not worry?”

  “Because he’s Michael,” she said lightly. “If anybody can escape a situation like that, it’s him.” She got up, hesitated, and then touched my shoulder gently. Surprised, I stared up at her. It was the first time she’d tried to touch me since she’d changed.

/>   “It’s going to be okay.”

  She smiled at me softly, then turned and walked back into the house. The screen door closed loudly behind her. Inside, I briefly heard Nelly’s laughter and the sound of the TV before Katie closed the heavy inner door against the cold air.

  The snow was picking up, coming down faster and faster in the early evening light. I felt the buzz of my cell phone in my pocket and pulled it out. Three snowflakes landed on the bright screen, melting almost as soon as they made contact.

  It was a text from Victoria.

  He’s alive.

  THE END

  I hope you enjoyed the third book in the Undead in Brown County series! You can learn more about the series, characters, and S.J. Wright at www.sjwrightbooks.com.