by Tate Jackson
***
What was he going to do with this woman in his arms, this fragile human? He’d just found her and already she wanted to go gallivanting around the city, alone, after dark, in search of a hunter. She really didn’t know that much about him if she thought he was going to let that happen. He would find a way to keep watch over her while she searched for her hunter, no matter how angry it made her. He wouldn’t allow her to put herself in danger, no matter how well she could take care of herself.
He wanted to go find Leso and tell him what he had learned from Beck, find out what he thought about what had happened. He also needed to tell his family about Beck, but he was loathed to leave her alone. He would have to leave her with Leso when he went home. She already knew Leso, so she should be comfortable with him.
He needed to tell his family about Beck, and what she was doing here. How was he going to tell his family that they were supposed to die? He had a hard time believing it himself. He finally left her sleeping and went to search for his brother. He found him on the road leading to their home, waiting for him.
“Well, what did you find out?” Leso asked. Richard took a deep breath. “She is my wife. I saw the nuptials take place myself. I will not marry her for many years, but in every other sense, it has already occurred. I feel that she is my wife already. She wears a band on her finger that I, myself, placed there.”
“And did you consummate this marriage last night, brother?” Leso asked smiling.
“Be quiet, Leso, mind your own,” he cautioned. “My apologies, please continue.”
“I need to tell you other things, as well. She has shown me the fate of our family, and the story is grim. Our family is at this moment fated to die. Of some, I know not how. Others will be taken by hunters until only Jenny, you, and I remain. She has come to keep this from happening, to help us save our family.”
“How is she going to help us? She’s human, is she not?”
“She is human, but she is different than any other human I have ever seen. Her skin smells of sweet fruit, but her blood smells of poison. She would be toxic to any of our kind that dared drink her blood.”
“Have you thought of drinking her blood, brother?” Leso laughed.
“You know I never would.”
“So, what is her plan for helping us?”
“She plans to teach us to fight.”
Leso threw back his head and laughed. “Are you serious? She will teach us how to fight?”
“Do not laugh, brother. I’ve seen some of what she can do. It has great potential. I would like you to sit with her today while I talk to the others about this before I bring her home. She knows you. I don’t think she will mind.”
“I‘ll find out if she is telling the truth.”
“I know she is telling the truth. Do you think her memories lie to me?” he snapped. “Do you think me that easily fooled?”
“Of course not. Again, my apologies. I meant no offense.”
Richard nodded. “I only want you to keep her safe while I am gone.”
“Are you expecting her to be attacked, brother?”
He shrugged. “I do not know what to expect anymore, Leso.”
“Well, let’s go back then.” They walked back to the hotel.
When they got there, Richard turned to Leso. “You wait here.”
“Why?”
“Beck was undressed when I left.”
Leso asked, “Is she shy?”
“Not in the slightest, so I will be shy for her. Besides, if you see my wife nude, I may have to kill you,” he said, only half joking as he opened the door.
***
She woke up to Richard blowing his cool breath across her back. She rolled over to find him holding her dress in his hand.
“You have to put this on,” he told her.
“Why?”
“Leso is outside the door, waiting to meet you.”
“Oh, okay, but I can’t wear that dress.” She picked the next dress out of her bag and started putting it on.
“Beck,” he said, and she looked over and saw him holding the corset.
“Ahh, come on, it’s only Leso. That thing kills me!” she whined. “Just put it on. I don’t want him to see you in an indecent state.”
“It’s a bit late for that,” she said, remembering the night Leso had rushed into their room.
“What is that supposed to mean?” he asked suspiciously.
“Nothing, never mind, just help me put the damn thing on!” It looked like she was in for another miserable day.
“Don’t tie it up too tight. Unlike you, I actually need to breath. Just tie it back down the way D.J. had it. I can live with that.”
“Who is D.J.?” he asked while he tied her up. “The guy who sent me here,” she said and felt one of the strings on the back of the corset snap.
“A man helped you put this on?” he asked in a strangled voice.
“Oh, calm down. It’s not a big deal, and I can’t wear this now. You broke it,” she said gleefully, and threw the corset on the floor.
“You are going to have to explain to me how a man helping my bare breasted wife into her under things is ‘no big deal’, because I don’t understand.”
“It’s not like that,” she said as she buttoned her dress. “You’d like D.J.”
“If he’s the man who helped you put that on, I dislike him already,” he growled.
“My time is different than this one. Someday, you’ll understand that.”
He shook his head. “I highly doubt that, Little One.”
“Oh hush, and let Leso in.” When Leso came into the room, she gave him a big hug.
“Hello, Leso. I’m your sister-in-law, Beck.” His smile split his face from ear to ear. “You really are, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I really am,” she smiled back at him. “I don’t know what to say. It is very nice to meet you, Beck.”
“This is so strange, meeting you for the first time… again.”
“Well, now you only have two more people left to meet again,” Richard said. “Leso is going to stay with you while I go home and prepare my family to meet you.”
“I don’t need a babysitter, Richard. You should both go and talk to your family. I’ll be fine here.”
“He’s just going to keep you company until I get back,” he said, and kissed her before walking to the door. “ I won’t be gone very long.”
“Well, what would you like to do while he’s gone?”Leso asked when the door closed behind Richard.
“If you don’t mind, I’d like to get my shopping done. I was going to wait and go with Jenny, but I’d rather get it over with.”
“Your wish is my command. Where would you like to go first?”
“Well, I need clothes and shoes.”
“Follow me then,” he said and guided her out of the hotel and through the city. “There’s a nice ladies clothing store down this street.”
“Actually, I’d like you to take me to a men’s clothing store.”
“As you wish. Are you shopping for Richard as well?”
“No.”
“I won’t ask why, then,” he told her, leading her in the other direction. “Do you think we should have left Richard a note?” she worried. Leso laughed. “Following your scent through the city is not a problem for him. I have to say, I’ve never seen my brother this flustered before. Could I ask you to tell me what you showed him, or would I be overstepping myself?”
“I’m sure Richard already told you everything. I’m not stupid, Leso. I know you just want to know if I’m telling the truth,” she laughed. He looked a little ashamed. “Hey, don’t worry about it. We kind of share the same skill. I know when someone is lying, too. I guess you can say I read people’s emotions the same way you do. I don’t blame you. If some man showed up and told my sister a story like this, I would want to know the truth too.”
“You really are amazing. So, will you tell me the story of how you came to be here?”
All through their shopping trip, she told him of her childhood, her time in college, the vampyre attack in Durham, their run to Clarksville, and the house they had built her. She also told him the edited version of the death of his family, and how she had gotten to the past. Over her lunch, she told him about Bev.
“Your sister will be my mate?!” he asked in an awed voice. Beck nodded. “Yes, she will, but you have to wait until I say to approach her. Promise me?”
“I promise.”
“So, what do you think? Am I telling the truth?”
“No, you’re not, not all of it anyway. You are purposely leaving parts out of your story. o you want to tell me why?”
“It’s for the safety of your family. There are things that could cause Richard to get himself killed if I told him. Please, don’t tell him that I’m keeping things from him. Please, just trust me,” she begged.
“I do trust you, and I’ll keep your secret.”
“Thank you.”
The rest of their afternoon passed pleasantly. She’d gotten five pairs of pants, eight shirts, several pairs of socks, a pair of flat-bottom riding boots that were similar to moccasins, and a pair of woman’s shoes to wear with the dresses. They had turned to walk back to the hotel when Richard came out of nowhere and grabbed her.
“You were gone,” he told her, hugging her tight. Looking at Leso, Beck said, “I told you we should have left him a note.”
“And I told you he would find you, and here he is,” Leso smiled. She stuck her tongue out at him, and then turned to Richard. “I’m sorry. I went ahead and did my shopping while you were gone. How did it go with your family?”
“They are anxious to meet you. I told them I would bring you back with us.”
They got back to the hotel, and Beck threw the packages she was holding onto the bed. Richard scooped them back up and grabbed her bag off the floor.
“What are you doing?” she asked. “You’re not coming back here. You’re going to stay with me.”
“Are you sure that will be alright with your family?”
“Yes, it was their idea. I told them that we would be perfectly content to stay at the hotel, but Daryl and Rita wouldn’t hear of it.”
“Wow, southern hospitality in Jolly Old England, who knew? Well, as long as they’re fine with me staying, then so am I. Let’s go.”
Chapter Eight
Leso was waiting outside with a two-horse carriage. Richard and Beck sat inside while Leso drove.
Richard turned to Beck. “You’re not scared at all, are you?”
“Of what, your family? Not at all. The only thing I’m scared of is this not working. What if I can’t help, and they die anyway?” she worried. He pulled her over into his lap and nuzzled her neck, “Don’t worry so much. You don’t know how much it means to them that you are here to try. You literally traveled through time to try and help them. How many other people can make that claim?”
“I hope that what I teach them will be enough to at least help. But after I’m gone, you and your family have to run. You can’t stay here. There’s one other person I want you to find after I’m gone, and then you need to disappear. Please listen to me and run,” she almost begged. “Calm down Little One. I will do whatever you ask of me. If you say we need to run, then we’ll run. I promise. Now relax, we’re almost home.”
They were traveling down a long lane in a wooded area. When they stopped and Richard helped her out of the carriage, she was shocked to see a replica of her house standing in front of her.
“My house,” she whispered.
Richard laughed. “You must have really liked this house for me to have recreated it for you.”
“You have got to build me my house again,” she said softly. “I was already planning on it, Little One.”
She stared in wonder for a few more moments before Leso landed beside them.
“Let’s go in, shall we?” Leso said, breaking her trance.
Richard’s family was waiting in the living room when they entered.
“Let me introduce you to everyone. This is my father, Daryl; my mother, Rita; my sisters, Heidi, Saphira, and of course, you know Jenny. You’ve met Leso, and this is my brother Harley.”
Beck shook hands with everyone and Rita gave her a hug and said, “It is wonderful to meet you child.”
“I’m happy to meet you, too.” she said, looking around the room for the one face she didn’t see. “ Richard, where’s Bruce?”
“Did somebody say my name?” Bruce asked, coming through the front door behind them.
“Bruce!” she screamed, launching herself up into his arms and kissing him all over his face. He looked just like his ghost.
“Beck, what the hell are you doing!?” Richard yelled.
“Aww, leave her alone Richard. I don’t know what this was all about, either, but I like her,” Bruce said smiling, and wrapped his arms around Beck waist.
She realized that she hadn’t given Richard any of her memories of Bruce. She leaned back in Bruce’s arms and grabbed Richard’s hand. She quickly ran through most of her memories of Bruce, and looked back at Richard. His jaw dropped open when he realized the Bruce in her memories was a ghost.
“Well, go ahead then,” he said, and she kissed Bruce several more times on the head before she jumped back down.
Richard looked at Bruce. “I hope you enjoyed that, Bruce. It will be the only time it happens.”
“Well, I guess that’s just as well since she’s my sister-in-law, but yeah, I did enjoy it.” Bruce smiled.
Beck looked at Daryl and Rita. “I hope you don’t mind that I’ll be staying here. I don’t want to put ya’ll out.”
They looked at each other in confusion. After a few moments, Richard laughed.
“I think she means that she doesn’t want to be an inconvenience.”
“Oh! Don’t be silly, Beck. This is your house too.” Rita said.
Richard laughed again, and she knew he was thinking of the identical house he had built her in her time.
“Behave, Richard.” Beck
Daryl smiled at Richard’s laughter. “Let him laugh. He doesn’t do it often enough. We’re just happy that he’s happy.”
“What do you mean ‘he doesn’t laugh often enough’?” she asked. “Richard laughs all the time.”
Heidi looked surprised. “Does he? We don’t see if very often.”
“Well, the Richard I left in my time laughs a lot.”
“It’s because of you that he laughs. There is a complete difference in his emotions since you have arrived,” Leso said..
“Really? Once he got over the shock of what I showed him, he feels pretty much like the same Richard I left.”
“You know, I am standing right here. I can hear you,” Richard stammered.
“Sorry, brother,” Leso stated. She talked with Richard’s family until after dark. She adored them all. Harley was the funniest, teasing everyone in the family.
Saphira giggled all the time. Heidi was the curious one, and had a constant stream of questions.
But, Jenny was not at the Jenny that Beck had known. Richard had said that Jenny hadn’t been happy, but this was more than sadness. It was cold, hard, depression.
She couldn’t stand to see her like this anymore, and got to her feet. “I have to go.”
“Go where, child?” Rita asked.
“There’s someone I have to meet.” Harley was surprised. “You know someone else here?”
“Yes, and it’s time to go get him. aryl, Rita, do you trust me to bring someone else to your home?”
“Bring whomever you wish,” Daryl said.
“Thank you. Leso, will you take me back into the city?”
“I’ll take you,” Richard said.
“If you take me, you have to drop me off and leave. Can you do that?”
“I won’t like it, but I can do it.” Outside she turned to him and said, “I mean it Richard. You have to drop me off in the city and go home. If Pot
ter senses you nearby, it will make it harder for me to convince him to come with me. I love Potter, and I trust him. He won’t hurt me. So don’t follow me, like I know you’re planning on doing.”
Richard’s mouth turned down on the corners in a frown as he drove the carriage down the lane to the road.
“He is a hunter, Beck. He already knows we’re around.”
“Yeah, but knowing you’re around and having you standing outside the door are two very different things. This is for Jenny just as much as Potter. Try to remember that.”
“You can’t be sure he won’t try to hurt you, Beck.”
“Yes, I can. Potter is not a danger to humans anymore than you are.”
“I can be a big danger to humans, Little One. I have been,” he said quietly.
“You only fed on humans that were suffering and dying. You were more of an Angel of Mercy than a true murderer.”
“An Angel of Mercy?”
“Yes, its people who take, or help take, the lives of people who are dying.”
“That’s how you see me?” he asked, stunned. “That’s what you think of what I’ve done?”
“I know that’s what you did. You had to feed, so you took the dying. You could have just as easily fed from healthy victims, but you didn’t.”
“True, but were still victims of me, Beck.”
“Maybe, but you knew that in the long run, what you did to them was better than they would have gone through had their illnesses been allowed to run their course.”
She knew he would have argued further, but they had made it into the city. “This is good. I can walk from here,” she said stopping him. She jumped down from the carriage and looked up at him. “Go home, Richard. I’ll be there soon” she said as she turned and walked away.
***
He left, but he didn’t go all the way home. He stopped and pulled the carriage into the woods outside the city and waited. He could feel his guts twisting in his stomach with worry. His human wife was in the city alone, looking for a hunter. She didn’t seem to understand the danger she was placing herself in. Hunters were dangerous, merciless creatures, wanting only to take as many heads as they could before their own was taken.