Nevermore, the Complete Series

by K. A. Poe

  Without a word, he smiled confidently at me and led me to the edge of the water. He held our intertwined hands over the radiant liquid as I watched the crimson drip and swirl. He cupped some water into his free hand and nodded for me to mimic, then we both drank.

  I gasped and squeezed Salem’s hand tightly as an unexpected heat swarmed through my veins. Ezra failed to mention anything about this in his journal! If I didn’t know better I would have sworn that I was about to spontaneously combust from the inside out. My body convulsed and I fell loose from Salem’s grip. I could hear him writhing in pain beside me but all control over my body vanished. Paul was shouting unintelligible words and the cave fell dark completely.

  Upon waking, I found myself lying against the cold stone floor of the cavern. My heart was racing rapidly as I sat up and recalled the experience with the water. Salem was beside me, still unconscious and muttering something in his temporary coma. My father stared at me with watering eyes when I turned to glance in his direction.

  “How do you feel, Alex?” he asked, observing me very closely. “Did…did it work?”

  “A little cold,” I replied hoarsely and my expression fell blank. “Cold!” I threw my hand across my chest. “It worked! My heart is beating!” I instantly broke into uncontrollable tears. The salty water filled my eyes and the heat of each drip slid down my cheeks. It had been so long since I could cry, I couldn’t believe how happy it made me.

  After laughing and wiping the tears from my eyes I realized that Salem was not up yet. I crawled back to his side and stared transfixed at his unmoving body. Why was he taking so long to wake up? I pressed my index and middle finger gently against his throat and waited for the sound I longed to hear – one I had never heard before – the sound of his beating heart. Moisture welled up in my eyes again as the repetitive thump thump reached my ears.

  “Is he okay?” Paul asked quietly.

  “He’s alive,” I whispered in awe and brushed my hand against his cheek. Warmth. I smiled to myself and felt an indescribable rush of joy. It quickly faded when he continued to cease from waking. “But…but he isn’t waking up…”

  “Give it some time,” my dad said reassuringly. “He was undead a lot longer than you were, so it might take more time for his body to readjust.” He shrugged, not very reassuringly.

  I nodded slowly and kept my eyes focused on Salem. His chest slowly rose and dropped as he let out long, slow breaths. Calmly, I laid my head against his chest and listened to the rhythmic beating of his heart as I waited.

  23. RENEWED

  It felt like hours had passed as I laid in silence beside Salem. Paul didn’t disturb us, although I could tell from the grunts and pacing that he was growing tired. I lifted my head reluctantly, not wanting to miss a single beat, in order to glance at my father.

  “You don’t have to stay and wait if you’re bored.”

  Paul laughed and I arched an eyebrow at his unexpected reaction. “I’m not bored, Alex. I’m worried.”

  “Worried?” I blinked. “About Salem?”

  “And you.”

  “I’m fine, and as far as I was aware, you hated him.”

  My father shook his head and sat next to me. He placed a rough calloused hand against my shoulder and gave me an apologetic stare. “I don’t hate the boy, especially knowing how he has taken such good care of you. He saved your life, so to speak. It was never his fault or yours that Destiny was taken from me, and I understand that now. It was my fault, if any of ours,” he lowered his head and sighed. “These have been some of roughest months of my life. I have been barely surviving on what little money I had in savings. I destroyed your house! I’m the one who became a monster! It is unforgivable, Alex…but I am sorry, beyond what words can express.”

  “I know you are, dad,” I smiled lightly. “We all do things we regret. Things could have turned out a lot worse, so try not to dwell on it.”

  “I’m never going to forgive myself, kid.”

  “Well, you can consider yourself forgiven by me, at least,” I said and touched my hand to his, which was still against my shoulder.

  Paul’s mouth fell agape and he slid his hand from underneath mine and pulled mine close enough for him to get a good look. He stared awkwardly at the silver band around my finger. I swallowed hard, awaiting an explosion to erupt from him at any second – but instead I was presented with a delicate smile.

  “Congratulations, baby girl,” he said and kissed me on the cheek. “You two deserve each other. Pay no mind to what Hannah has to say, life is a beautiful thing and the future can be changed. This water is proof of that.”

  I smiled and wrapped my arms around him. “Thanks, dad.”

  He was about to respond when we were both instantly distracted by the sound of rustling to our side. My eyes grew wide with excitement when I realized Salem was upright with open eyes. I went to his side immediately and pulled him into a tight hug. To my surprise, he winced and pulled away.

  “Salem? What’s wrong?”

  “I am a little…sore…is all,” he smiled reassuringly.

  “You shouldn’t be sore, though…you should be completely fine, right?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know how I should feel,” he laughed awkwardly. “I will be fine, however.”

  I was uncertain whether I believed him or not – the fountain water should have completely cleansed his system to the point that he might as well have been reborn. His appearance shocked me somewhat when I finally looked him over completely. The pale skin that I was used to was slightly darker, but not enough that he looked tan. What stood out the most was the slight purplish hue to his pale blue eyes.

  “Look at your reflection,” I mumbled as I tried to look away from the mysterious addition of color.

  He approached the water’s edge once more and peered into the rippling liquid. I followed behind him, somewhat relieved to see that my hair had returned to its natural brunette. I admired his reflection, from the quizzical look on his face to the wide unexpected smile. He put his hands to his face and ran them across his slightly-flushed cheeks then jerked them away with a startled gasp.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked, alarmed.

  “I cannot recall ever feeling so…warm,” he laughed.

  I smiled. “It’s something we both have to get used to again.”

  “Yes,” he agreed and returned to ogling at the black haired boy staring back at him. He blinked his eyes shut and then reopened them. “This is absurd,” he commented as he stared perplexedly at the purple around his irises.

  “Do you think he can still use his abilities?” Paul asked as he came closer.

  “There’s only one way to find out,” I said and shrugged.

  Salem began focusing hard on summoning something and then shook his head. “I am not sure if I want to even attempt this,” he muttered.

  “Why not?” I asked with genuine confusion.

  “We want to live a normal life, don’t we?”

  “We want to live, no one ever said it was going to be normal,” I replied with a smile. “After all, we both already know so much about what most would consider fake, and I am still a vampire hunter – there is nothing normal about any of that.”

  “I suppose you are right, Alex…” he said, although he looked unconvinced. With a sudden smirk he began focusing on summoning something yet again. My eyes widened at the appearance of a fresh handful of blackberries lain against his palm. His mouth fell agape as he stared at the fruit. “How is this possible?”

  “Like it really matters,” Paul replied. “You should just be thankful that you still have that trick.”

  “Maybe it’s because it is a gift you were born with, something that can’t really be erased from your system?” I suggested, and wondered then if I, too, kept my ability to transform.

  Salem nodded in agreement, although I wasn’t sure he was completely aware of what I had said as he popped a berry into his mouth. He shut his eyes momentarily as he enjoyed the swe
et flavor. “I have so much to get used to,” he said between mouthfuls of berries.

  He leaned forward and began wiping the dark stains off of his hands when suddenly he jumped up and squinted his eyes toward the waterfall. “Do you see that, Alex?”

  I stepped forward as close to the waterfall as I could without stepping into the water and crouched down. There was something behind the rapidly falling water but I couldn’t quite make out what I was seeing. Carefully, I stepped into the liquid and shivered at the sudden coldness. Salem stood up instantly and walked to my side.

  “Let me go see what it is,” he offered.

  “We can go together.”

  “Just be careful, remember how the water also took life. I’m not sure what determines if it heals a wound or spreads it…”

  “I will.”

  He smiled and took my hand. Paul stood idly by on the cavern floor and watched us immerse ourselves in the water. It was barely deep enough to go passed our ankles until we stepped toward the center of the pool. We were waist deep in the liquid when Salem ducked his head under and began swimming toward the unidentified object. I waited at the surface momentarily, and then began to worry when I realized he wasn’t coming up yet.

  I dove under the water in search of him and found him swimming up to the surface. He coughed and gagged, then let out a hoarse chuckle.

  “That makes another thing I need to adjust to,” he said as he wiped a strand of wet hair away from his forehead.

  “Were you able to see what it is?” I asked as I swam over to him.

  “It looks sort of like a really long rectangular rock,” he replied. “It just seems odd, I want a closer look.”

  “Okay,” I replied hesitantly. “Remember to come up for air this time.”

  He shot me a playful glare, smiled and dove back under the water. I watched his head peek up from below a few feet ahead and he gestured for me to come toward him. I swam my way over to him and we both went under. My vision was blurrier than during my brief life as a vampire, but I could still make out the shape of what was unmistakably a stone coffin – a very old one at that.

  I swam back up and gasped for air. Salem joined me shortly after.

  “Do you think we can get it out?” he asked, to my surprise.

  “Why would we want to do that?” I asked, incredulously. “There’s probably a dead body in there! Maybe one of those cultist like people who died or something.”

  “Well, if there is someone in there I want to see who.”

  “Why? And besides…even if there is a corpse in there we wouldn’t know who it was, Salem.”

  “Well, we won’t know unless we take a look. Will you help me or not?”

  I sighed and agreed to help him. We swam to the bottom of the waterfall. Water crashed into us and threatened to push us away with each powerful rush of liquid. We dove underneath the rumbling waters. Salem went on one side while I took the other and we both attempted to push it toward the surface. It was far heavier than I had imagined it would be, even for stone. The water generally made even heavy things easier to manage, but not this. It only took a moment to see what was causing the resistance. There was a thick rope tied around the box and anchored to the bottom of the pool. I pointed it out to Salem before I released the coffin and we swam up to the surface once more.

  “Did you see that?” I asked as I gathered a heap of fresh air.

  “I did.”

  “Did you notice how the rope looks pretty new? Not nearly as old as the box…”

  “I noticed that as well.”

  “Salem, maybe we should just leave it. If those people were guardians or whatever of this fountain then it is probably something of their doing. What if it is a trap?”

  “I doubt it is a trap, and if it is something from the watchers I am even more eager to see what is within it.”

  I huffed once again in defeat, but then realized I had one more shot at convincing him to leave it. “Well, the rope is anchoring it down, we can’t untie it anyway.”

  “That can be easily taken care of,” Salem replied and summoned a knife in less than a second. I was still amazed at his retained ability. “Once I cut it loose, it should be easy for us to push it to the shallows at least.”

  I nodded and quietly watched him disappear under the water again. A few minutes passed before I saw the coffin rise upward and begin bobbing around on the water. Paul shouted something from the other side of the cave but I couldn’t decipher what he was saying. Salem came back up coughing and gagging again.

  “It floats?” I said in amazement.

  “So it seems. Strange though, don’t you think? It looks and feels like solid stone.”

  “I still think we should leave it.”

  “We have come this far, we might as well see what it contains,” he said, then began to push the stone box towards the shallow waters before I could protest further. I reluctantly swam after him.

  Paul came to us and stared, befuddled, at the mysterious white box.

  “A…coffin?” he muttered. “What in the world is a coffin doing down there?”

  “I do not know,” Salem replied and sat down at the water’s edge, breathing heavily as he stared at the beached container.

  Paul shook his head in disgust at the idea of seeing the decaying corpse that might have been dwelling within the casket for years. It wasn’t as if he wasn’t used to seeing dead bodies, however. I ignored his expression of distaste as I helped Salem pry it open with the same knife he had previously summoned.

  The unmistakable aroma of old, swampy water reached my nose as we slid the heavy lid off. I gasped and stepped back in horror when I saw the contents. Lying before me, as expected, was a body – but not at all what I had imagined. It was no doubt that I was looking at a man, as he was somehow not decayed at all. His clothes were tattered and soaked, but his skin was pale and untouched by the effects of death. He was a vampire.

  24. ELEANOR

  “Salem…” I whispered as I continued slowly backing away from the coffin, nearly screaming when I walked right into my father. “Come here.”

  He stared back at me and shrugged. “It is okay, Alex. I am sure he is dead.”

  “I…I’m not so sure. And you’re not the strong vampire you used to be, Salem,” I said. “Just get over here…just in case…”

  His eyes narrowed and he marched over to us with his arms wrapped around his chest. “He isn’t moving at all. He’s dead.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure of that, kid,” Paul said with a grimace and nodded his head in the direction of the coffin.

  The man began rising to his feet, a bewildered expression on his face as he examined his surroundings as if he were a baby seeing the world for the first time. His eyes were not the alarming shade of crimson I had expected, nor did he appear very menacing...but I still wasn’t sure what or who he was. His eyes finally landed upon us and he looked at us quizzically.

  He spoke in a language I did not understand, and when we did not reply he spoke in another. Finally in a thick accent that I was unfamiliar with came something we all understood, “Where am I?” Long curls of dark, wet hair hung at his shoulders, and he had a dark complexion despite the touch of paleness to his skin.

  “You are in a cave. In Florida,” Salem answered, eying the man curiously. “Who are you?”

  “Ah, the English. More importantly I ask who are you? How did you find me? Where is Eleanor?”

  My eyes widened as I stared at the stranger. Had he said Eleanor? This couldn’t be who I thought it was. That was impossible.

  “We came here in search of the fountain,” I explained cautiously. “We found you by mistake, and I don’t know anyone named Eleanor.”

  “You did not make the mistake of letting her free, did you?” his voice was harsh and scared at the same time.

  “I don’t know her,” I repeated. “How were you alive in that box?”

  “The witch!” he growled. “We must find her and put an end to her befo
re she slays more innocent people!”

  Salem’s eyes brightened with recognition. “Eleanor…the lady dressed in the veiled black gown.”

  “Yes, that is she.”

  “She is dead,” came the voice of Paul who now had a crossbow loaded and pointed in the man’s direction.

  The stranger bowed his head and smiled with relief. “You have saved so many people, and for this, I am thankful. I tried to stop her, but…I failed.” A hint of deep sadness clouded his face and I knew there was more to his sorrow than the death of the innocent people.

  “It was either that or die ourselves,” Paul grunted. “Now, I think we’d better have an explanation. Clock’s tickin’.” He tapped his trigger finger on the outside grip of the crossbow.

  “Of course,” the man replied, squinting curiously at the weapon. “You know of the spring’s powers I assume, no?”

  “Yes, we do,” I said.

  He nodded. “Tell me, from where did you learn of them?”

  I walked to the other side of the cavern, collected the journal and offered it to him. He stared at me with amazed, deep brown eyes and his mouth fell agape as he ran his fingers along the spine of the book. “Bahamet,” he said proudly.

  “Bahamet, the Shaman?” I asked.

  “He is the one that I left this book in the possession of,” he explained. “He was the only survivor of the Howlers.”

  My mouth fell agape and I failed to make any words come out of my mouth.

  “Do you mean to say that you are Ezra…Ezra Chase?” Salem asked, perplexed.

  “Ezra,” he said fondly. “It has been a long time since I heard anyone speak that name. I had begun to think I may never hear it again, or the voice of another person for that matter.”

  I shook my head in confusion as I stared at the man who, hundreds of years prior, wrote in the journal that led me to this cave…the man who wrote of his own death. “How are you alive?”