The sun was almost completely set by the time we made it to Doctor Harding’s estate even though we had run the entire way.
The entire time I could only think of my father—Doctor Harding—and Bess, how they both were in danger and I was the one who put them there. My father’s face was all I could see before me, my skin felt cold and as if it was going to crawl off of me.
As soon as I saw my old house—Annalee Harding’s old house—I sped up, running faster than I thought possible. Vincent was beside me, keeping up without a problem at all.
We made our way passed the fountain, which was still working as it had before, the water still beautifully making its way out of it, but it looked different to me—it didn’t look as I remembered it. Everything looked different. The whole house didn’t look right. One of the doors was open that led to the sitting room, something that was uncharacteristic of my old home.
I felt tears build in my eyes as Vincent grabbed my hand. I turned to him.
“Whatever happens, when I tell you to run, you go,” he said.
My brow furrowed, confused.
“Annalee, when I say, I want you to run.”
I nodded as he leaned in and kissed my forehead, turning and making our way into the house. It was dark, none of lights were lit and it was quiet—silent and dark as if it was abandoned.
I listened carefully, trying to pick up that drum. Doctor Harding would be the only one with it in the house aside from Bess. If I heard either one, I would feel a small sigh of relief.
I strained my ears, trying to catch anything but there was silence. I began to cry, frustrated and frightened, as Vincent looked around cautiously.
Suddenly, I heard a faint drum making its way through from the dining room. I smiled and ran as fast as I could towards it, stopping as soon as I saw Sean’s body holding Doctor Harding in its arms tightly, Bess on the floor in a puddle of blood, a lone candle on the table lighting the horrific sight. I put my hand over my mouth stifling a scream, tears welling up at the sight of Bess’ body. She was the only mother I knew.
I stepped forward, Sean’s body tightening its grip on Doctor Harding, who couldn’t tear his eyes away from me, shocked.
“Annalee?”
Vincent walked up behind me. “Let him go.”
It shook its head.
Doctor Harding continued to stare at me. “Annalee? Is that…are you…an angel?”
Tears made their way down my cheeks. “No.”
“Let him go,” Vincent said again.
I looked to Sean’s body, sniffling, trying to contain my tears. “What do you want? What will it take to make you let him go?”
Doctor Harding began to struggle angrily, snarling, yelling at Vincent, “You bastard! You took her away! You lied to me! You bastard!”
Sean kept his grip on him tightly. Doctor Harding was struggling, but would never make his way out. He spoke, “Is this what the hunger feels like for you? Is this what you felt when you were lusting after my blood? I look at your flesh, so alive, so…delicate. I can honestly say I have never wanted to consume you this much before.”
I felt a shudder of revulsion make its way up my spine. Vincent stepped forward angrily.
“You,” Sean said, “do not look as good. I will just make sure to kill you, the more permanent death.”
Doctor Harding’s gaze came to me. “What?”
It looked down to him. “Oh, that’s right, you do not know. Annalee here is not exactly human anymore. Her lover is also not human. They are one and the same, feasting off of human blood, taking lives. Much like those women who went missing long ago, eh Vincent?”
I stepped forward. “What do you want?”
“I want you, you stupid girl!” he shouted back.
“Then let him go! He has done nothing to you, nothing to anyone!”
“Like Dale?” He smiled.
“Please Sean, let him go!” I begged, my whole body heaving, crying as I nearly fell to the floor. The smell of Bess’ blood filled the air as I stepped closer. It was still warm, but there was no heartbeat coming from her.
He looked down to Bess’ body. Sean knew my eyes were drawn to her. “Are you thinking about lapping up what was spilled?”
I kept my eyes on her body, though out of the corner I could see Vincent walking up behind me.
“That beautiful flesh will be just as good as when I almost had my way with you. Perhaps I will do that first, make up for old times.” Sean grinned, but it wasn’t the same sadistic grin I knew. This was something else entirely.
Suddenly, Vincent tackled him down. The movement of his body didn’t even register, the movements were so fast. Doctor Harding was knocked from Sean’s arms, sent crashing to the floor. I ran up to him, grabbing his arm and pulling him to his feet.
“Run!”
Vincent’s voice filled my ears as I grabbed hold of Doctor Harding, breaking into a run and pulling him behind me, ripping through the house, out the sitting room and passed the fountain, running as fast as my feet could possibly carry me.
“Annalee! Stop! Wait, I need to stop!” Doctor Harding shouted over my footsteps. We were barely off his land, barely to the field, which was yards away from the clearing, a place I knew I could hide him while I went back to help Vincent.
“We cannot! Please, we must continue. I have to go back!” I pulled on his hand, pointing towards the field, trying to get him to continue on. “We are almost there, Deirdre is waiting! She will make sure you are all right.” I began to cry. “I need to get back to Vincent!”
He looked me over, really looking at me in the moonlight, the moon sitting in the sky comfortably with the stars twinkling around it. He put his hand out cautiously until he decided to rest it on the side of my face, stroking my cheek.
“Please…Doctor Harding.” I fought back tears, knowing it would have been disrespectful for Annalee Harding to say such a thing, to call him that. He knew she never would have.
He let his hand drop and nodded.
We ran to the clearing, Deirdre’s horse tied to a tree, grazing. We stepped through, Deirdre running up to us.
“Doctor Harding! Are you all right? Where’s Vincent?” she asked as she grabbed Doctor Harding’s arm. “What about Dale?”
“We didn’t get there in time. I need to go back for Vincent. I will be back straight away. Keep him here. Wait for us!” I turned and ran out of the clearing not taking the time to hear what she replied. My worry had shifted from Doctor Harding to Vincent, the other man in my life I loved and needed.
I suddenly found myself at the house again and just as before, when I ran to Whittley, I didn’t notice how much time had gone by. I made my way into the house, where smoke had started to billow through the rooms, a blaze growing quickly in the dining room.
As I ran I looked around, flames licking the walls and making their way around the curtains, glowing off of the wood table and chairs, the heat starting to grow, stifling.
I stopped as I saw Vincent on the floor, lying motionless. “Vincent!”
I was about to run up to him when I felt a ton of bricks hit me, Sean ran up behind me and grabbed hold of me. He sniffed at me. “Oh, you are back! I am so glad.”
So close, he reeked of death. The cold from his undead body seeped right into my bones. I struggled until I was able to get my arm free, my elbow snapping up to its face. He staggered back from the impact, releasing his hold on me for a moment. I turned and pushed him towards the flames, but he fell to the floor in front of it.
I turned back to Vincent, who still lay on the floor, taking one step towards him before my other foot was pulled out from under me. My face hit of the sharp edge of one of the chairs, tearing my lip open and scratching my cheek.
I turned over on my back as Sean began to get up, crawling forward until he was on top of me, grinding into my hip.
“Now you will be mine,” he shouted.
I felt a growl build in my throat as my palm pushed up and hit him in the fa
ce. He turned back to me as I did it again and again, hitting him several times until he rolled off me. I turned on my stomach and began to crawl towards Vincent.
“Vincent! Please, Vincent!” I shouted as loud as I could.
I felt cold lifeless hands grab under my gown at my ankles, pulling me towards him until he could grab hold of my hips. Sean pulled them into his own and grabbed a fistful of my hair, bringing his mouth right up to my ear.
“This is really a position for whores, but it will have to do!”
I felt his hand moving up my thigh as I looked over to where Vincent lay to find his body gone. I gasped as Sean’s body was pulled away from me, Vincent throwing him up against the wall.
“She is mine,” he shouted as he pulled the body forward. He then threw Sean into the growing flames, overwhelming its body and sending it to the floor until it lay motionless. The flames continued to grow around him until they engulfed his body and I watched the bastard burn, slowly, painfully with his screams echoing satisfactorily in my ears.
Vincent turned to me, his eyes starting to glaze over as he grabbed at his side, bleeding out. He walked forward one step, but stopped and fell to his knees.
I ran forward and grabbed hold of his face, pulling my forehead against his. “Vincent! Look at me! Please!”
His eyes opened and his eyes met with mine.
“Good! Now come, get up. We need to get out of here!”
He nodded as I put my arm around his back, his arm going around my shoulder as I helped him to his feet, his body difficult to support. The flames were searing, pricking at my skin, making me weak. I knew then what Vincent meant by fire being our only weakness.
I kept going, making it through the sitting room, where flames were beginning to make their way through, out into the yard and past the fountain.
I tried to get Vincent to walk at a faster pace, but he was too weak. He began to fade in and out, the moonlight bouncing off of the black-looking blood on his side which spilled down his leg.
“I need…I need to stop, Annalee. I cannot…” His body began to put his weight on me, nearly crushing me to the ground.
“No! No, we have to keep going. We need to make it to the clearing. Doctor Harding can fix this! Talk to me, tell me about Christos again.”
He took his weight off of me as he licked his lips tiredly. “In Massachusetts…I killed my father.”
“Yes, keep going, tell me more,” I urged him on. I knew if he stopped talking he would slip unconscious and I would never be able to get him to the clearing in time, not before he bled out.
He shook his head dizzily. “After my mother’s funeral.”
“You took the knife off the table,” I urged again.
He continued on, telling me the story of his turning again as he had done many times before, slowly trying to recall everything as he fought the swirling fog that was begging him to fall into unconsciousness.
We finally made it to the clearing, Doctor Harding stepping forward. “What the bloody Hell happened?”
“You need to help him, he is hurt, his side.” I set Vincent down carefully on the toppled tree as Deirdre began to pace worriedly.
“What happened?” She looked around. “Where is Sean?”
“He is gone,” I shouted at her, turning to Doctor Harding. “Please! You have to help him.”
He shook his head. “Tell me why I should.”
I felt anger building in me, the same anger I had towards him when I was human. “Because that is what you do, you help people! You are a doctor, for Christ’s sake.”
“He is not a person! He is not even human. Look what he did to you.” He pointed to me, shaking his head.
I fought back tears. “What happened to your daughter is my fault, not Vincent’s! He was fulfilling a request she made—that I made!”
I then realized Vincent was wrong—I was still Annalee. I was still Annalee Harding, no matter if I had a pulse or not. I was still Doctor Harding’s daughter.
“You know why he did it?” I shouted, “…Because he loves me. He would do anything and everything for me and I will not let him die because of my mistakes. Now help him!”
He froze a moment, stunned before he nodded, taking off his frock coat and rolling up the sleeves of his blouse. He walked over to Vincent and began looking over the wound until he turned to me. “I do not have my bag. I need something to stop the bleeding.”
I looked down at my gown and began to rip at the petticoat, handing him the long pieces of blue material. I sat down beside Vincent, holding his hand.
He looked at me, smiling tiredly. “That is another gown I need to replace.”
I laughed through my tears, kissing him on the cheek.
Doctor Harding shook his head. “He has lost too much blood, I cannot do much else.”
I felt a worried shudder fly through me. “He needs blood?”
“Yes,” he nodded. “I cannot believe I am going to say this, but I can see the wound already trying to heal, but he has lost so much blood, his body is having trouble recovering. I am sorry, I have never treated the undead before. I am a little out of league.” He stood up, wiping the blood from his hands on a piece of ripped material from my gown.
I looked to Vincent. “He needs blood though, does it matter what type of blood?”
“I do not know Annalee. I just…I don’t know,” his voice was lowering, his lip curling under his mustache.
“Vincent, love, look at me,” I turned his head towards me. “I need you to bite me, I need you take my blood.”
His eyes came to me tiredly. “It is too late, Annalee.”
I shook my head. “No! It is not too late! Vincent you said you would do anything to make me happy. Now do this!”
He took a moment to look into my eyes before he nodded lightly. I smiled, leaning forward and kissing him before I exposed my neck to him. It was the opposite side of where he had bit down previously, but in reality, it never makes a difference. I wasn’t going to put up a fight anyway.
I felt his fangs dig into my skin and the blood start to ooze out. I suddenly wished I had fed—I would have more to give him then. He gulped slowly at first then, as the blood was making its way through his body, he began to grow more intense, gulping faster, his arms coming up and his grip strengthening around me, pulling my shoulders into him.
I grew dizzy, the feeling of the blood escaping making my head spin and the rest of my body weak. I felt myself slipping out of consciousness, black beginning to creep in on me. Vincent’s head suddenly ripped away from me, his fangs painfully tearing away from my skin.
I heard Deirdre’s voice, but it seemed far away from me. “We need to get them back to the old manor.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Deceased
I awoke to the sunlight barreling through the window, my head resting on Vincent’s chest as he slept.
We had made our way back to the manor, Vincent and I on Deirdre’s horse, as Doctor Harding and Deirdre led us back. When we arrived back at Vincent’s old manor, Doctor Harding was able to barter with a servant who was still caring for horses in the stables for water and passage to town to his office where he could pick up his equipment.
Deirdre made up a bed on the floor in the empty parlor, using some linen she found in the closet by the master bedchamber.
When Doctor Harding arrived back, he removed the torn material to see Vincent’s side was nearly completely healed.
His eyes widened, clearing his throat. “Well, it seems you were right on the button with your idea, Annalee.”
I looked at him tiredly and then to Vincent, who was still unconscious as my blood made its way through him as he slept.
“He will be all right?” I asked through the hoarseness of my voice.
He nodded. “I think he will be fine.” His lips thinned out as his mustache curled under as he continued to nod, properly bandaging Vincent’s side.
I felt an overwhelming sadness as I watched him bandage him
up. It felt like forever since I was able to actually look at my father, though it was completely different from when I used to look upon him with mortal eyes. I could see things I had never seen before, the grey in his hair and mustache, the small lines on his face, the dark circles under his eyes.
Doctor Harding took Deirdre back to her home, then went to the authorities, telling them Sean tried to burgle the home, killing Bess and starting a fire, dying in the flames. Doctor Harding escaped just in time. A few hours later, Higgins was found in the field, seemingly following the scent to the copse.
I didn’t sleep the entire night, not only because of Vincent, but because I could not get the image of Dale’s body, skinless, in a pool of blood on Sean’s dining room table.
I didn’t know if they had identified the body, or if there was going to be a funeral, or even if I would attend if there was one. Poor Dale…
Instead of sleeping, I watched as Vincent slept. I was still staring at him when the morning sun gleamed off his bare white chest. He opened his eyes slowly, looking over to me.
I smiled. “There you are.”
He smiled back tiredly. “There you are. Are you all right?”
“Yes.” I nodded as I sat up. I grabbed a cup filled with blood as he slowly sat up, resting his back against the wall behind us. “Here, I got you this.”
I handed him the cup and he took a long gulp of it, cringing as he looked at me. “What is this? It is cold.”
I nodded. “It is cow’s blood. It was all I could get without going too far off. I did not want to leave you.”
He cringed again. “It is disgusting. I never thought I would ever have to drink this filth again.”
“Well, I did not want to leave you for long.” I smiled at him before I looked at his side. “Let me look at your wound.”
I slowly pulled back the bandaging, the wound completely healed over and a light scar forming.
I ran my finger over it. “How did this happen?”
“The candlestick…Sean grabbed it, the candle fell to the floor and well…my side got the brunt of it.”
He emptied the glass and threw it away, turning back to me, his hair falling loosely around his shoulders and into his face in a mass of half straightened waves.
Out of My Grave Page 30