“Son, I’ve been thinking about your situation. And all I can tell you is to figure out what you want in life and what makes you happy.”
“Jessica is the one! I feel, I’ve waited for my whole life for her, but I’m struggling with our differences, her being mortal and me a dhampir.”
“I don’t think that’s going to be a problem. Look at your mother and me. We are both happy and I wouldn’t change it for the world.
“But, you and mother will live forever. Jessica can’t be…”
“I see your struggles. Jessica will be forever human, and you a dhampir, but I have done some research on this. Upon your death, you will rise up as a vampire and be forever immortal.”
“What are you saying, I’ll be a vampire like you when I die and I can…”
“Now son, you need to think this through. First, you make sure Jessica is the one you want for the rest of your life…your mate. Second, marry your mate. Third, love her unconditionally. Fourth, give her a child, hopefully a son.”
“Give her a child, why?”
“You keep our blood line strong.”
“What if the child is a girl? What do I do then?”
“Make another one,” Victor laughed. “Let’s hope she has a boy the first time,” Victor said seriously. “You come from a strong line of Mureaux and we need to keep it going forever and ever, son.”
Tony asked, “By any chance if she becomes pregnant, will our child be more like me or her?”
“Good question son and I don’t have an answer for you.
Victor left the room giving Tony a lot to think about. He knew Jessica was the one. That he would love her unconditionally, but “A child,” Tony said out loud.
The more Tony thought about becoming a vampire, the happier he became. He was, after all, going to live forever, and without a doubt he wanted Jessica to live forever with him.
Chapter Ten
Mureaux mansion, outside of London, built in the seventeenth century by Tony’s great grandfather William. The main purpose was for entertaining guests. Today Jennifer Mureaux managed the upkeep. It was a mansion consisting of three floors. The exterior resembled a castle from an old Frankenstein movie, with a wrought iron fence surrounding the property and an arch over the entrance of the driveway leading to the mansion reading: Mureaux.
On the third floor, Victor had built a wall dividing the west side from the east. The east side was used for guests. It was filled with fifteenth century furniture. Resembling an apartment it had a living room, dining room, kitchen, three bedrooms and a bathroom. The west side was the residence for William and his mistress Charlotte.
William had been confined to the west wing of the third floor along with Charlotte per Victor’s orders. They risked being banned from the house forever due to Charlotte’s hatred of dhampirs.
Tony had decided that a month away from Jessica was enough time to clear his mind of any and all doubts about his future with her. He scheduled a flight back to Portland for tomorrow. But today he visited his personal park.
Tony rowed the boat slowly toward the park enjoying his last day in London, before taking a ‘leap of faith’ back in Mayville.
With his mind made up about his future with Jessica he docked the boat and went straight to his grandfather’s grave. Matthew T. Mureaux. Squatting down, he picked up a stick. Gently tapping it on the tree he said, “Grandfather, I’ve made a big decision in my life. I found a girl in the United States who stole my heart. She makes me happy and I plan on marrying her. She’s beautiful and her name is Jessica. I’ll bring her someday to visit. I miss you grandfather.”
Tony got up, walked over to the bench, and sat down enjoying the quiet before going back to the mansion. “Jessica, you’re one of a kind,” he said with a smile across his face. “Return to my mate and spend the rest of my life being the happiest man alive. We’ll spend eternity wrapped in each other’s arms, never letting go. I love you Jessica,” he said and got up. “Now to let her know.”
Tony rowed back to the house with his heart at peace. Tomorrow he would be returning to Mayville.
Bright and early in the morning Tony arrived at the airport fidgeting in the long line waiting for his ticket. The stewardess announced the boarding call to New York and Tony’s eyes lit up. Taking his seat, he closed his eyes and waited for the plane to take off. Once in the air, Tony relaxed, picked up a magazine and thought quietly, thirteen hours and I’ll claim my mate.
Stretching as I sat up in bed. Thankful that today was my last work day before my days off. I hopped out of bed; I showered, dressed and went to the kitchen. My coffee pot set for brewing. I turned it on and then started my breakfast.
Driving to work was a bit risky with the fresh fallen snow, topped with a layer of ice. I didn’t mind though. I left in plenty of time to make it to work. January had the highest record for snowfall, so I was used to driving in it, but the ice caused me to be a little more cautious.
I arrived at work. Getting out of the car, I tip-toed to the front door, proud I hadn’t fallen on the ice. Suddenly, right in the front door, I fell with both legs coming out from under me landing on my bottom. My face turned red and I looked around to see if anyone noticed, they hadn’t. I got up, brushed myself off and went inside. Thank goodness Marcy was on the phone sitting down at her desk and hadn’t seen me fall, so I waved when she looked up.
Pushing the button for ten and waiting for the doors to open, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning around, Mark Malone grinned and said, “Going up?”
“Yes,” I said turning back to the elevator.
“Last day before days off,” he said. “Any plans?”
“Yes,” I lied.
My plans were to relax with a novel and hope I could finish it before I went back to work.
On the elevator Mark asked, “A new war movie opens today in Portland would you be interested in going…..with me?”
“No,” I said strongly.
“Didn’t hurt to ask,” grinning.
The doors opened at three and I wanted to help Mark off with my foot, but chose to be nice and looked at the ceiling as he exited.
“If you change your mind, you know where to find me,” he said as the doors were closing.
Arriving at ten, I heard yelling coming down the hall. Mr. Willard apparently didn’t appreciate Mike’s way of care and was telling him all about it. Stopping in the doorway of his room, he looked at me and said, “See there’s the nice one. Why can’t you be more like her?” he screamed at Mike.
“Mr. Willard, you’re not going to find a better nurse than Mike.”
“Like hell,” he yelled.
“Mr. Willard, I’m not going to tolerate that kind of language.”
“Yes ma’am,” his voice coming down an octave.
“You’ll not be yelling anymore. It hurts our ears when you yell.”
“Yes ma’am.”
“Now apologize to Mike,” I said, calmly.
“I’m sorry, but you hurt me with that needle.”
“No problem,” Mike said.
“Mr. Willard let Mike finish his task so he can go home.”
“Yes ma’am,” he said and stuck out his arm for Mike.
Mike finished changing out the IV needle and taped his arm before leaving the room. I followed him to the nurse station.
“What’s his problem?” Mike asked. “It’s the first time he’s yelled when I was changing his IV.”
“I don’t really know and I’m not going to ask.”
Mike gathered up his magazines and lunch bag and said, “See you tonight. Good luck with Mr. Willard.”
“See you tonight.”
Tony’s plane landed in New York with thirty minutes to spare before his departure to Portland. Taking a seat in the waiting area a young lady sat beside him.
“Hi doll, you’re cute,” she said.
“Hi,” Tony rolled his eyes
“Where are you headed?” she asked.
“Why?”
“Maybe, I’m going to the same place and we could, you know, sit together and get to know one another, you know, talk.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Don’t be like that sugar,” she pouted.
Tony got up and went to the doorway for loading. He leaned against the wall to wait for the boarding call to Portland.
On the plane Tony’s heart busted with joy because in five hours he would be in Portland and closer to Jessica. Anxiously waiting for the plane to take off, the pilot reported a malfunction with some equipment and they’d take off as soon as the problem was fixed. Tony’s heart sank.
Ten minutes later, the pilot announced they were clear for takeoff and Tony was once again ecstatic, especially when the plane was in the air.
The day was quiet and enjoyable with Mr. Willard and having the monitor in his room made it a lot easier watching him from the nurse station. Leslie relieved me for lunch and I warned her about Mr. Willard.
“He loves to yell if he thinks you’re doing your job wrong. Don’t let him get under your skin.”
“I won’t. I’ve dealt with his kind before.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” and we both laughed.
The plane landed in Portland around eight. Tony’s eyes focused on getting to Mayville and fast. Anticipation clouded his thoughts as he entered the parking lot. He started looking for his car. He didn’t have a car waiting for him. His car was waiting for him to be picked up at the dealership. So he couldn’t surprise Jessica if he asked her to pick him up. Back into the terminal, he went straight to the rent-a-car booth.
After lunch as I was getting off the elevator at floor ten, all I could hear was yelling coming from Mr. Willard’s room. This time he had Leslie in tears.
I stopped inside the doorway, folded my arms across my chest and watched Mr. Willard’s eyes turn toward me with Leslie running out of the room.
“Ms. Jessica I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize to me! It’s Leslie who needs the apology. I’m calling to have you transferred to a different hospital.”
“No Ms. Jessica. I’ll be good. I won’t yell at another nurse.”
“I’m going to hold you to that. If you upset, or make one more nurse cry I’m having you transferred.”
“Yes ma’am Ms. Jessica.”
Leaving the room, I found Leslie wiping her eyes with Kleenex. “Leslie, he’ll apologize now.”
“I don’t want to go back in that room.”
“I understand, but let’s go together and let him apologize, okay.”
Leslie nodded and we both went back to Mr. Willard’s room.
“I’m sorry nurse. I won’t yell at you again.”
“Apology accepted,” Leslie said and left to go to relieve another nurse for lunch.
I went back to the nurses’ desk to file patients’ charts. I wanted to get in front before my four days off. Not a major task, but I needed something to do until it was the end of my shift. I had a book waiting for me on my bed. Tonight I would start reading it.
Mike relieved me half an hour before his shift started. I told him about Mr. Willard making Leslie cry.
“Mr. Willard is back to his old self again. Today, he made Leslie cry.”
“He hasn’t yelled at me since you scolded him.” Mike said with a smirk.
“I didn’t scold him Mike. I just gave him some ground rules. I think it’s the only thing he understands. Anyway, I told him he was going to get transferred the next time he yells at another nurse, just so you know.”
“Are you really going to have him transferred?” Mike asked.
“Yes because the nurses don’t want to come up here and relieve me for lunch.”
Mike high-fived me and said, “Way to go, Jess.”
I left the hospital feeling good about Mr. Willard’s changed attitude. Driving home I was eager to start reading my book. I waited months for it to be released.
Inside the city limits of Mayville, Tony slowed the car down to roughly the speed limit. Now was not the time to get pulled over and delayed for a ticket. He headed to Thirteenth Street. His heart sank when Jessica’s car wasn’t home. He drove to the hospital to see if it was there. Sure enough her car was there. Dropping the car off at the AVIS shop, Tony grabbed his luggage and started walking to his house.
The walk home took longer than expected because when he turned onto Thirteenth Street, Jessica’s car was in the driveway. He really wanted to talk to her tonight. Instead he continued his walk to his own house. “Tomorrow would be better time.” He thought to himself. “Give her time to rest after her long shift at the hospital.”
Inside his house he dropped his luggage on the floor and went straight to the icebox. Taking out a bag of blood he downed it. Wiping his mouth he gasped, “Aah” and grabbed another bag.
Satisfied, he went to the front door, looking towards Jessica’s he noticed the lights off. He grabbed his luggage and headed to his bedroom to unpack. After unpacking he returned to the living room. Tony settled in his recliner and turned on the television.
Finally home, I turned off the lamp in the living room, grabbed a soda from the refrigerator and headed straight to the bedroom to read. Opening the book, I found a dedication to a man named Tony and quickly turned the page. The prologue mentioned a hero named Anthony saving his long lost girlfriend from a plane crash before the plane burst into flames. “Great,” I said out loud. “Of all the names you want to forget, a book won’t let you,” I said and laughed.
I read until I fell asleep. The book fell on the floor waking me up. Picking up the book, I turned off the lamp and fell back asleep.
Mayville was celebrating the first anniversary of the new fire station. There were numerous festivities happening all through the night, ending with a live band at midnight. A few businesses were having sales on winter apparel, making room for the arrival of their spring apparel. I wanted to find some good bargains, so bright and early in the morning I went to the diner to have breakfast. I left my car in the parking lot and walked to the main part of town. Casually I strolled along the street looking at all the sales through each shops window. In one window a reflection caught my eye. I thought it was Tony going into the hardware store. Turning to look, I didn’t see anything so I walked across the street and entered the store. Looking around, as if to browsing, I didn’t see any sign of Tony.
“May I help you,” the clerk asked.
“No thank you, I’m just looking,” I said, and left.
Outside looking up and down the street, I saw several people hurrying with their packages to Heidi’s Hand-Me-Down’s and wanted to have a look myself.
Crossing the street to go to Heidi’s, I heard some guys yelling. What caught my attention was when I heard, “Hey freak….” Normally, I wouldn’t have paid much attention, but the word “freak” and Tony came to mind. A crowd was starting to form at the entrance to an alley. I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. Pushing my way through the crowd I heard, “Freak, I’m not playing here, give me your money.” Breaking through the crowd, I was horrified.
There was Tony, backed up against the wall with a guy wielding a knife at him. Blinking twice to make sure it was Tony. My mouth fell open in shock. “What is he doing here?” I whispered. I couldn’t let him get hurt.
My one semester of ‘Karate for Self Defense’ in college clicked in. My instincts told me I could take this guy out.
One of the spectators was Mr. Brier, a friend of my parents said, “Call the police.”
“Hold this for me,” I said, handing him my purse.
Mr. Brier took my purse and said, “Jess, what you are doing? The police are being called.”
No time for the police to get here, I started walking into the alley, the guy with the knife turned to look at me. “Little lady, you need to get out of here,” he said, and then turned back to Tony.
“You need to put the knife away,” I said, walking toward them.
The guy wasn
’t showing any signs of dropping the knife. About an arm’s length away from the guy, he turned around. Grabbing his wrist that held the knife, I twisted it towards him, grabbed the top of the knife and struck him in the throat with my elbow in one smooth movement. Lunging the knife towards him I gained control. I had the knife and he was holding his throat, so I gave him a high kick in the face. The guy stumbled backward and fell to the ground.
“Jess, what is going on?” Detective Sean asked coming upon the scene.
“This guy was holding a knife on him so I stopped him,” I stated, handing Detective Sean the knife.
Detective Cooke helped the guy up getting his handcuffs from his back pocket.
Turning to Tony, who was still up against the wall, I glared at him. Turning my back, I went to get my purse from Mr. Brier. I walked as fast as I could back to my car, wishing I had of parked closer. I was mad, part from the adrenaline, mostly because of Tony. My tires squealed as I pulled out and headed home.
Turning onto my street I noticed a car parked in Tony’s driveway and a woman standing on his porch. Without paying attention to her, I pulled in my driveway, got out slamming the car door and ran into my house. Throwing my keys toward the kitchen, dropping my purse on the sofa I screamed, “No way! He’s supposed to be in England helping his father.” My rage was starting to boil over. “Not one phone call, no text messages. Nothing….absolutely nothing…to let me know… anything. Why did I even bother to help him?” I asked myself. “Because! I would have done it for anyone in the same situation,” answering my question.
Pacing the living room, fists clenched, I decided I wouldn’t talk to him, or even look at his house just like I had been doing for the last month. “You don’t waltz into someone life and then…..How could he….” And for the first time in my life I cussed, “Damn him.”
“Breath Jessica breath, calm down, he isn’t worth it. Deep breaths slow your heart rate, deep breaths,” I told myself. “Don’t let him….”
Dhampir Secrets Page 14