by Calista Fox
Chapter Sixteen
Weather-wise, March was a tricky month for Ryleigh. The sun could break through the clouds on a day when the snow didn’t fall and help to melt the drifts. The temperature overnight, however, would turn everything icy. Yet if there were enough sunny days, the banks slowly diminished. Only to be rebuilt when another storm hit.
It had been all Jade could do to keep from shoveling a path from her house to the church, tunneling her way to the snow level that had been about mid-calf deep the night she’d lost the necklace. But doing so would have increased her chances of moving the pendant unwittingly and tossing it aside with a shovelful of snow.
The white mounds, though, had succumbed to a week of unseasonably warm weather, and only barely covered the ground. So the search was on.
She traded her day shifts for night ones with Tanner and scoured the area in front of her cottage, hoping the rays from overhead would catch the diamonds and make them sparkle enough to signal her of the necklace’s whereabouts.
Three days later and still unsuccessful, she branched out to the east. She was in the woods after the sun set when she heard footsteps behind her. They were so light and perfectly measured, she didn’t reach for her sword.
Standing, she turned and faced Sheena. “Hi.”
“Hi,” her vampire friend said, a contrite look on her beautiful face. “I’m sorry I’ve waited so long to see you again.”
Jade swallowed a lump of emotion. “I figured you’d given up on me.” As Darien clearly had. She tried not to dwell on that excruciating thought.
“No, of course not.” Sheena seemed to fight to conjure the right words before saying, “I’ve been struggling with the difficulty of having a mortal friend. It’s…challenging.”
Jade didn’t dispute that fact but said, “It’s not my blood that bothers you.”
Sheena shook her head.
With a sigh, Jade said, “You think I’m reckless and that disturbs you.”
“No. I think you’re determined and that disturbs me. Plus you’re a trouble magnet. It’s unnerving.”
Temporarily giving up her search for the necklace, she said, “I have to be out on patrol. Do you want to join me?”
Sheena nodded. “I’d like to spend time with you, yes.”
They headed back to Jade’s cottage for her to start her counterclockwise routine, which she and Tanner changed up regularly. Not that they’d had any indication they were being watched, but it was a guideline Walker had implemented long ago.
As they started the patrol, the vampire asked, “Do you enjoy this?”
“I’m usually on horseback, but the exercise this evening is nice.”
“I meant, do you enjoy being out here alone. At night?”
She glanced up at the clear sky and the near-full moon. “It’s peaceful. I like how quiet it is. If I put all my concentration into hearing something—like the snap of a twig in the distance from an animal—I don’t have to think about anything else.”
Sheena strolled alongside her. “What would you think about if you didn’t have something else to distract you?”
With a shrug, Jade said, “Everything.”
“The king?” the vampire ventured.
Jade let out a long breath. “What would be the point?”
“I don’t know, the fact that he loves you?”
Her stomach twisted. “That seems unlikely. I haven’t seen him in over a month.”
“He’s been busy.”
“Right.”
They continued in silence. Jade typically diverted her route every other night to cover more territory. The intent of the patrols, Tanner had explained, was to search for any sign of a demon inhabiting the woods. Or more than two of them crossing the boundaries.
She wondered how the checks-and-balance system worked at the castle. She surmised the demons had to report to someone that they intended to go into the village to ensure they kept to the king’s law. She had no doubt Sheena possessed enough clout to supersede another demon’s request. Not that they came into the village all that often. They didn’t hang out at the tavern and shoot the breeze. But they seemed interested in seeing how the humans fared in this new world.
Sheena eventually interrupted the quiet respite by asking, “When you accepted the king’s marriage proposal, which I heard about from Morgan, did you do it simply to keep the mortals from feeling threatened by his army encircling the village, or because you really wanted to be his wife?”
“First,” Jade said, “since you and I are friends, you can call him Darien in my presence. I really don’t need the constant reminder he’s the king. Believe me, that fact is never far from my mind, and when he’s mad at me, he makes a point of reiterating his authority.”
“Fine.”
“Second,” she added as they wandered through the west woods, Jade’s gaze scanning the area, “I wanted to say yes to him the night he asked me. I was completely taken aback when he gave me the necklace, but that ring meant even more to me.” She didn’t bother mentioning the inscription.
“Is that what you were doing in the forest by your house this evening? Trying to find the necklace?”
“Yes. I still can’t believe I lost such a valuable piece of jewelry. A family heirloom, no less. I’m sick about it.”
“Darien would never hold it against you, Jade. Despite the fact the pendant is priceless, he wouldn’t fault you. In fact, he was more concerned about you being hurt by the fire wraith than the fact the necklace had fallen off during the attack.”
“That’s very kind of him. Doesn’t make me feel any better though.” They wove their way south. “I’m going to search on hands and knees until I find that damn thing.”
“I’ll help you,” Sheena said. “I can look at night while you’re out on patrol. I have excellent vision and the moonlight will catch the diamonds, which the star is reported to be covered in.”
“You’ve never seen it?”
“No.” She looked fascinated by the prospect. “I’ve heard it’s stunning. But that’s really all I know about it. There are some hush-hush rumors from centuries ago, yet no one has ever confirmed anything. Except that it’s striking, of course.”
“That it is.”
The icy ground-covering crunched under their feet. Jade asked, “How long have you been a vampire?”
“Not long at all. Sixty-nine years. I was born in 1982.” Though she appeared no older than twenty-eight or nine.
“Born? Or is that when you became a vampire?”
“I’m a purebred. Most vampires born at the turn of the twentieth century are.”
Jade had no idea. She said, “Your parents were both vampires then?”
“Yes. We come from a long line of them. The coven I belong to is mostly composed of my relatives. But when the king—Darien,” she corrected for Jade’s benefit, “built the castle and needed an assistant, I didn’t mind leaving my family because so many demons from his alliance intended to settle close by and within the castle walls. I’ve told you before, I prefer company.”
“Interestingly, I’ve been enjoying it more than isolation recently. I suppose it was easier to not get too close to anyone after my parents died.”
She stopped abruptly. They’d reached a road cut through the forest. Jade glanced over her shoulder, back toward the direction from which they’d come. She’d veered off course while talking and they’d ended up at the one place she’d avoided for fifteen years.
“What’s wrong?” Sheena asked, alarmed. “I don’t hear or see anything. What is it, Jade?”
Her insides tightened and her breathing picked up a few notches. “This is where my parents were killed. I subconsciously brought us here.”
She turned to the woods they’d just exited, bewildered.
Sheena asked, “This isn’t your normal route?”
“Not at all. I haven’t been here since…” Her voice trailed off.
She walked back to the edge of the trees. Her stomach coile
d. With a shake of her head, she said, “I hid right over there.” She pointed to a thick patch of tall pines. Nausea suddenly welled inside her, but she fought it. “My parents took this road to a neighboring village one night. I was supposed to stay behind, with Michael’s family.”
Sheena instantly appeared by her side. “Of course, you didn’t do as you were told.”
“Of course not. I followed them. I was just about to pop out onto the road, knowing I was far enough away from Ryleigh that they wouldn’t send me back, when two wolves came out of the forest on the opposite side of the road. I crouched down, shrouded by foliage.”
Unable to stop the flow of memories, Jade suddenly felt transported to that gut-wrenching day when she’d witnessed her parents’ brutal murders.
Yet she felt slightly detached from the recollection and her voice sounded far off as she said, “My father shoved my mother behind him as the shifters moved toward them. He reached for his sword. She had one too. Mine. But I think she was too scared to pull it from its casing.”
Sheena asked in a soft tone, “What did the shifters want with your family?”
“My father was the leader of the village,” Jade told her. She had no concrete answers but surmised, “I suppose they wanted to start at the top and work their way down. If they eliminated him and the slayers, the people within the borders would be easy to kill and they could take control of the village. Set up camp at the base of the castle as they awaited their army to arrive and take on the king’s men. At least, that’s what the slayers suspected, and I’ve always subscribed to that theory.” Further consideration made her add, “This is probably the reason I was so adamant about following Tanner when the fire wraith’s army arrived before Darien’s.”
Jade crossed to the patch of trees she’d gestured to. She reached out a hand and her fingers grazed the bark of a wide trunk. A chill ran down her spine.
She said, “I remember thinking I should run away. Find a slayer. But I couldn’t move. I was literally paralyzed with fear. I wanted to scream.” The burn in her throat now was as strong as it had been fifteen years ago. “I opened my mouth, but no sound came out. And I know why.”
Sheena didn’t speak.
“I knew there was nothing I could do,” Jade continued. “If I did cry out, the shifters would come after me too. If I ran, they’d follow me and kill me. Yet in my mind, I was yelling at myself to do both of those things to distract the shifters’ attention from my parents. I wanted to get the wolves to chase me, but I was completely immobilized. Something I’ve never forgiven myself for.”
The vampire’s hand rested gently on her shoulder. “You simply can’t accept you’re not always the target.”
Jade’s eyes flashed to Sheena’s concerned face. “I never thought of it that way.”
“Why must you always first think that you should be the savior?”
Their gazes locked. Jade’s heart beat a bit faster. She had no answer for her friend’s question, other than to say, “I have abilities others don’t. Doesn’t that mean I should try to save those weaker than me?”
Sheena looked stricken. “You’re not invincible, Jade. You’re human and mortal. So even if you had distracted the shifters, you wouldn’t have gotten away from them or survived their swift attack. They would have circled back for your parents. Then, Jade, all three of you would be dead.”
Tears crested her eyes. “I know this, Sheena. But it doesn’t comfort me. Can you understand that? I cowered here, and while my mind raced with all the things I should do—all the things I wanted to do—I couldn’t physically move, other than to turn my back and cover my ears and close my eyes when my mother started screaming.”
Her body jerked at the memory and her tears came faster.
“Eventually,” she managed to say, “the ground vibrated and I peeked again, seeing a rider descending upon the shifters with fury. They’d already…dismembered…my parents.” She swallowed down the bile that rose in her throat. “They took off and the rider followed. I only recently learned who he was—Morgan. He killed the shifters.”
“And then came back for you?” her friend asked, her voice suddenly soft and soothing.
“No,” Jade said. “Walker found me. He took me back to Michael’s parents’ house and I had a horrific couple of weeks there, with nightmares and sobfests.” She shook her head. “Nothing and no one could console me. I wanted to be alone. I hated how everyone kept trying to calm me. I didn’t want to be calm. I wanted to scream, but I couldn’t do that with all the people around me. So I decided to go to the cottage.”
“And they just let you?”
“I left when they were at the town hall on a Sunday. Michael’s father came to the cottage and tried to persuade me to return with him, but I refused. I think he had it in his mind to forcefully remove me, but couldn’t bring himself to do it. He let me stay.”
“How awful.”
Jade considered the first few years and had to agree. “It inevitably got better. The solitude was somehow helpful. And the fact I felt a connection with my parents when I was at the cottage—that got me through some very tough times. That connection has never gone away.”
“I’m sure your neighbors checked on you regularly.”
“They did. Everyone found some way to assist me, though I’ve always had an independent nature, so I didn’t have trouble fending for myself.”
Sheena considered this then admitted, “I suppose that’s a good thing. Here we’ve been criticizing you for being so autonomous, yet it’s a characteristic that has obviously seen you through difficult situations.”
Jade thought of how she’d recently opened up to her human friends, and how she’d mindlessly brought Sheena to this sacred spot she’d never come to on her own—nor had she ever shared this much detail of the worst day of her life with anyone else.
Brushing away her tears, she asked, “Do most vampires prefer being in groups?”
“Yes. That’s likely why there are a number of them who live within the castle. The shifters prefer the woods, of course. The other demons don’t seem to have a specific inclination, though most of them live outside the castle walls.”
Sheena was quiet a moment then said, “I won’t lie and say all demons want harmony with humans. We still have the desire to be the dominant species. And we want the freedom to not live in fear of slayings.”
“Humans want that for themselves as well.”
“I understand.” The vampire smiled. “I believe that’s why we’re all able to inhabit this world at the same time, with the exception of the offshoots, of course. They do set back our progress when they rise up. But for the most part, the demons in Darien’s alliance are tired of fighting and want to enjoy the fresh air and the green land and the untainted waters.”
“Your kind would have made great environmentalists decades ago.”
With a shrug and a remorseful sigh, she contended, “It’s unfortunate we’ve cared more about the ecosystem than human life.”
“Maybe that’s where a balance can come into play. Isn’t there a way to provide creature comforts without polluting the world again?”
“I don’t know. But it’s something to consider.”
It seemed to Jade each race had much to offer, and the possibility of making those advantages mutually beneficial was certainly a notion to explore.
“Well,” she said, “I need to make a sweep along the eastern boundary and then north to my cottage.”
They continued with minimal chatter, both lost in their own thoughts.
When they returned to Jade’s house, Sheena said, “I’ll come by at dusk tomorrow to search for the necklace if you haven’t found it during your hunt in the daylight.”
“Thank you. I appreciate the help.”
“We’ll find it.”
Jade suddenly felt compelled to do something very uncharacteristic of her. She hugged her vampire friend.
With a laugh, Sheena said, “Oh! That came as a surprise.” But
she hugged her back. “I suppose we both still have much to learn about being a good friend.”
“I’m going to work on it.”
“So am I.”
Sheena bid her good night and Jade entered her cottage. She toed off her boots and settled on the sofa in front of the fire. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. Then she let out a long breath and allowed her mind to wander. Thinking of her past and comparing it to her current life caused yet another shift within Jade.
Closing her eyes, she released her tight hold on her emotions and they flowed through her, knotting her stomach and tugging at her heart. She neither ignored nor fought them. Rather, she gave in to them.
Tears instantly stung her eyes, but she didn’t push those back either. Her gentle crying turned into violent sobs that made her body convulse. She wept for her parents and all the things she regretted and the fact she’d lost one more thing that had meant the world to her—Darien.
But in the back of her mind, she knew expelling all of the emotions was the right thing to do. The necessary thing. Regardless of how painful it was, she needed the cleansing experience. Desperately.
Hours slid by and eventually the tears stopped flowing and her body ceased shaking. She sniffled and wiped away the stream from her flushed cheeks with the sleeve of her sweater. A few hiccups had a strange effect on her. She actually laughed.
Following some deep breaths, she told herself it was time to move on. Time to stop living one day at a time and focus on her future and her new role within the village. Time to allow her friends into her life, and be an integral part of theirs—human and demon alike.
She even decided to invite Morgan to dinner, the way her parents once had. Unfortunately, he’d have to suffer through her less-than-stellar cooking.
As for Darien… Jade couldn’t help but wonder if it was possible to win him back. First, she’d find the necklace. Then she’d take it to him at the castle and gauge the emotional climate. She’d force herself to weather any storm with him…as long he was interested in engaging, that was.