“Should’ve brought her some hairspray,” John joked as he held his new granddaughter.
“Now John,” Margie said, “Just leave her be. She doesn’t need to be picking up your bad sense of humor. Give me a turn.”
John passed Jade over to Margie, who was sitting next to him on the couch and shrugged. “I have a fabulous sense of humor. She should be so lucky to be as funny as I am. And you, young fella,” he said patting his lap. Ryan took the signal and came over to have a seat. “What do you think of your new baby sister?”
“She’s cute. I love her,” he said in typical five year old boy fashion. “She doesn’t do much though.”
“No,” Margie said. “She’ll be more fun when she gets bigger. When you can play with her and chase her around the house and make noise together, then you’ll really love her.”
“I hope so,” Ryan said.
“What do you mean you hope so?” Margie said, rocking the baby back and forth. “Of course you will.”
“Yeah, if she’s still here.”
I froze. There was an awkward silence while everyone looked at me, waiting for me to respond to Ryan. “Well, it’s not like she’s going anywhere. She’s your sister. She belongs here.”
“Yeah. Unless someone takes her away. You won’t let anyone take her away, will you Daddy?” he said turning toward Gavin. “If she goes away she’s never coming back. She’ll just be gone. Then we’ll all be so sad because we’ll really miss her.”
Gavin didn’t fully know what to say, but strengthened his voice as if he did. “Nobody’s going to take her away from us. Ever. She’s ours forever. She belongs here, and here is where she’ll stay.”
Ryan nodded, and then unceremoniously climbed off John’s lap and made his way upstairs, his head hanging low.
“Everything alright?” Margie asked, keeping her eyes firmly fixed on Jade.
“Everything’s fine Mom,” Gavin assured her. “Ryan is just…I don’t know. Protective of his new sister I guess.”
“Yeah,” she said unconvinced. “I’m sure that’s all it is.”
They stayed for another five minutes before making an excuse to leave. “Call me if you need anything at all,” she whispered in my ear before heading out. “Day or night.”
I assured her that I would. When they left I sat on the couch to nurse. Gavin cuddled in next to us, his arm around me, cupping her little head in his palm as she fed. “You’re going to have to blood feed soon. My blood just isn’t going to cut it if you’re nursing. You’ll need more.”
I knew this. He was trying to avoid the subject. I didn’t blame him for it seeing as how we were at a loss as to what the subject actually was. “I don’t want to leave her though,” I said.
“Well, it’s not like we can take her with us. A blood den is no place for a human baby. Maybe Holly will watch her. It’ll only be for a few hours.”
“No,” I said right away. “I mean, Holly has enough to think about right now.”
“Like what?”
“Like…” I almost spilled her secret. “Nothing. Perhaps Alex and Leiv will watch her. They’re coming for a visit tomorrow. Maybe I can talk them into staying with her for a little bit.”
“I’m sure they would,” he said.
***
The next day we left a sleeping Jade in the arms of her Uncle and headed for the blood den. I had pumped enough milk to last for a couple of feedings so we’d have to hurry back. I could have done more but I intentionally didn’t pump much so that we’d have to get back quickly. The blood den was a place one could easily lounge in once the feeding began and Gavin and I had spent a few days there, losing track of the time and getting lost in each other and the blood.
“Six more months,” he said out of nowhere. I had been staring out the windshield, lost in my own thoughts so deeply that when he spoke it startled me.
“What?”
He took a deep breath. “Six more months until Ian’s exhumation.”
“Yeah, you’re right. God, Holly was talking about it right before the wedding. Saying how she was going to apologize and make everything right. She’s going to be crushed. Everyone is. It’s going to be awful.”
“Yeah, it will be a shock. It’s the same as finding out someone committed suicide. There’s no way a vampire as old as Ian would accidentally starve to death in the ground. He’s gone into death sleep before and knew how to survive it. The only way he’d have turned to ash would be deliberately.”
Starving to death was a horrible way for a vampire to die. I had experienced blood hunger on a deep and primitive scale. I couldn’t imagine dying like that on purpose.
“It’s going to be hell having to stand there and watch them all realize he’s gone.”
“Yes,” he said. “It will.”
We made it to the blood den, fed as fast as we could and got out of there. Like a lot of new mothers I didn’t like leaving my helpless little newborn in the arms of anyone else for too long. I had certainly hated leaving Ryan for any length of time, this was different however. It wasn’t just the discomfort of leaving a child, or the ache to see them and hold them in your arms. It was fear. Pure, raw, naked fear. And the longer we were gone the more intense it became.
By the time we pulled in the driveway my mind was racing. I had the door opened before the car was parked. I ran into the house, looking around for my baby and everyone else. The house was empty and quiet…too quiet. Gavin came in behind me and saw me panicking. I was speeding around the room, looking out all the windows, then flitting up the stairs, checking in every room.
“Gavin they’re gone,” I said.
“Ok, I’m sure there’s an explanation. I’m sure everything is fine.”
“Why aren’t they here?” I was practically yelling, and on the verge of tears. Gavin was about to say something else when the backdoor popped open. Alex, Leiv and Ryan came in from outside, Alex holding the tiny bundle in his arms.
Emotion poured out of me as I snatched Jade from Alex’s arms. She had been sleeping but the jarring motion in which I yanked her from her Uncle woke her and she began crying. “Where were you guys?” I said.
“Leiv and I built a snow fort. I wanted to show Jade,” he said looking up at me with a smile. His expression changed upon seeing me. “Why are you crying? Mommy?”
I couldn’t answer and simply turned my head, “Mommy’s alright buddy,” Gavin told him.
Rachel, what’s the matter? Did we do something wrong? We just took her outside for a minute.
“Its fine, Alex. I’m just not used to being away from her. She’s only a few days old. I guess I’m just…overly emotional. I’m sorry everyone.”
Alex rested his hand on my shoulder as I sat in the rocking chair in the corner, clutching my tiny daughter as she wailed. I could see him shoot Gavin a questioning look and he simply nodded that everything was ok.
Soon everyone left. Leiv and Alex headed back to Sydney and Ryan settled in at the table to color. “I’m never leaving her again,” I said to Gavin.
“At some point we’ll have to. We just had a scare today, Rachel. We totally overreacted. We can’t be doing this, we’ll drive ourselves and everyone else crazy.”
“I know, but I don’t know what else to do.”
“I do. We’re going to ignore the crazy warnings that Aries has put into our heads. He’s probably messing with our minds anyhow for god knows what reason, and we’re going to live like a normal family, well as normal as people like us can be.”
I fingered the pendant around my neck that Zale had given me, wishing I could simply decide not to be fearful, but I knew it wouldn’t be that easy. Aries was a bastard, yes, but something told me he was being sincere. Surely he wouldn’t use his son as a means to start trouble. He had a great love for Ryan that was apparent, if only to me.
I agreed with Gavin to ease his mind but knew that when it came to Jade, I was going to have to be diligent and, for the most part, I was going to have to do it on m
y own and in a way that nobody else could.
Chapter fifteen
Six months passed and I had yet to leave Jade with anyone beyond Gavin’s parents, and then only when I had to. She was growing fast, becoming more smart and beautiful by the day. Her dark hair had come in with thick beautiful curls and her eyes were the same blue as Gavin’s. She looked just like him and when she smiled, you could see all her teeth, which as of the six month mark consisted of two up top and two below.
I hadn’t left the house without her except to go to the blood den to feed, and only when necessary. I was still nursing but not as much so my need for blood had begun to return to a more normal level.
Sitting nervously at the kitchen table I was holding Jade on my lap as she cooed and gurgled. Today was the day everyone else had been looking forward to, but that Gavin, Alex and I were dreading. Ian’s exhumation. I was jealous of Duncan who wasn’t part of our family officially and didn’t have to be there. I’d have given anything to skip it. When everyone realized he was gone it was going to be hell.
Leiv was going to watch Jade and Ryan all by himself as everyone else was going to be at the ceremony. This was the first time he was going to be with Jade since she was a few days old. I didn’t feel good about having a human stay alone with her, but I felt even worse about having any of the other non-related vampires watch her as well. In the last six months I had become quite paranoid. All who came near me were under suspicion to one degree or another.
Gavin came up behind me, resting his hand on my shoulder. I could see he was as anxious as I was. Alexander was fighting to appear normal too. “You ready to go?”
Everyone else was meeting us there. I glanced up at him and we all exchanged a look. “Ready as I’ll ever be I guess.”
I surmised that Leiv couldn’t possibly have known what was going on because he was totally at ease, unlike the three of us. I kissed Jade goodbye and Ryan too, hoping to be back here sooner rather than later. It occurred to me that I was being selfish. Everyone else was in for a shock and it would be my job to comfort them when they realized Ian wasn’t going to be coming out of the ground.
Arriving at the burial spot we greeted a smiling Holly along with Margie and John, who were also in a jovial mood. “It’s wonderful isn’t it? By this time tomorrow hopefully I’ll be able to talk to him. I can’t wait to see him. I have a lot of things to say. It’s been hard to focus on anything else.”
Kenzie smiled, putting his arm around his wife, who was very much showing off her baby bump, and said. “Are you looking forward to seeing your brother-in-law, Rachel?”
Luckily I didn’t have to respond because Angus appeared just then and called the ceremony to order. “Welcome everyone. Let’s get things underway, shall we?”
Everyone gathered around the small white stone that had been used as a place marker. To anyone else it wouldn’t have looked unusual, but all vampires knew what a white stone in the forest meant. It meant one of their own, someone who had either needed disciplining or was just tired of walking the earth, lay in sacred slumber below.
Close by were all the tools needed to exhume a vampire. Shovels, a small stretcher to carry him back on and white sheets to wrap him in to protect themselves from the dried holy water. The plan was to bring him back to the sanctuary and use the exhumation room there. Holly and her mother had arrived early in the morning to prepare the room. They had asked me to join them but I made an excuse about Jade, telling them she wasn’t feeling well and that I felt like I needed to keep an eye on her. They knew how protective of her I was and so left it alone. Multiple times both of them had tried to talk to me about it, but I brushed them off. They hadn’t pressed so far but I wasn’t sure how long that would last.
After a few minutes spent talking in Gaelic (which I still hadn’t taken the time to learn) Angus motioned to the shovels. Gavin and John each picked one up and began to dig. Not long after they started the exhumation the dreaded moment came. John drove his shovel into the dirt and hit the shroud. Realizing there was no body and only ash, he looked up at his Margie and Holly, his eyes filling with tears and simply shook his head, ‘no’.
Holly was devastated. “What? That can’t be. He wouldn’t do that!” She sobbed openly into her husband’s chest as looks of shock and grief were shared all around. I couldn’t look at either Gavin or Alexander and opted instead to console Margie, who was shedding a few silent tears of her own.
Angus bowed his head and asked everyone to join hands. Slowly we came together and did as he asked. Prayers were offered and when we dropped hands, Gavin and John filled in the hole once again. John and Margie sadly placed the white stone back on top of the now permanent burial spot.
Holly turned to me, her eyes wide in disbelief. “I don’t understand,” she said. “Maybe I was too hard on him. It wasn’t fair. I spent most of his life hating him and blaming him for things. I didn’t forgive him soon enough and it killed him. It’s my fault.”
My heart broke realizing that Holly was going to spend the rest of her life blaming herself for Ian’s death. I wanted to breakdown and tell her everything right then and there. How Ian had saved me, and how his last words to me had been to ask that I take care of her, and make sure she was ok. I could never tell her though and it was eating me up. I put my arms around her drawing her into a hug. It was the only thing I could do.
“It’s not your fault at all, Holly. You can’t blame yourself. Maybe he didn’t mean to do it.”
“A vampire that old doesn’t starve to death by accident. It wasn’t his first time in the ground. Maybe he was just tired of living. After a few hundred years some of us are,” John said.
Kenzie’s phone went off just then and he took a few steps away to answer it. “That was work,” he said coming back. Kenzie apparently had an extensive medical background and had taken a job as a paramedic. “They are in desperate need of someone to fill in tonight. I’m sorry sweetheart, I have to go,” he said drawing her close. “Rachel, can you look after her? I’ll be back as soon as my shift is over.”
“I’ll be ok,” Holly said, “You’re needed. You can’t avoid your job any more than I can avoid mine.”
“I’ll take her home,” I said. Although I was itching to get back to the house and be with Jade and Ryan, I really did want to be there with Holly. She needed me and I was determined to care for her, like Ian had requested. Without a second thought, both Gavin and I walked her home. I got her some tea and convinced her to will herself to sleep. By the time she woke up Kenzie would probably be back.
After we got her settled Gavin and I began the walk for home, taking our time. “That was awful,” I said.
“Yeah, it wasn’t as bad as I expected though. I think everyone’s in shock right now. Once it sinks in it might be worse.”
“God, I feel so guilty. Holly blames herself.”
“I know, but don’t you worry about Holly. She’s tough. Look at everything she went through with the breaking of the blood bond. She’s been through worse. In time she’ll see that it wasn’t her fault.”
“I suppose, but still, I was tempted to tell her.”
“That would be bad, Rachel.”
“I know. I never would, but still…”
He put his hand on my shoulder in a gesture of understanding. Alex was just getting there as well after having walked his parents home.
The tell-tale smell hit us all at the same moment, so strong it was wafting through the yard and rising in the air. That scent, unmistakable and undeniable to vampires…the perfume of freshly spilled human blood, and not just a little bit, a lot. Somewhere nearby a huge quantity had been lost to someone. It only took half a second to realize where the smell was coming from. The odour was coming from our house.
Chapter sixteen
Three of us bolted at the same moment, crashing through the door and looking around. There was no sign of Ryan, Jade or Leiv downstairs and we rushed up the staircase looking around to see what was going on.
<
br /> Gavin’s head turned sharply in the direction of Ryan’s room at the same time I did upon hearing a noise. A soft sniffling was coming from underneath the bed. Gavin reached under and pulled out our trembling little boy. His face drained of color and his entire body reverberating with fear. Gavin looked him over from head to foot. He didn’t appear to be injured at all, but began sobbing as he threw his arms around Gavin’s neck.
“Are you ok, buddy?” he said pulling him away so he could continue to look at him. “Are you hurt?” Ryan shook his head ‘no’. “What happened?”
“There was a monster,” he said. “I ran and hid under the bed, Daddy. I didn’t want the monster to get me.”
“A monster? Did you see anything? Where are Jade and Leiv?”
Ryan’s breath became ragged and he hiccupped, gasping as he spoke. “I don’t know,” he said.
Gavin stayed with him as I ran from the bedroom, frantically searching the house for any sign of the others. The smell of blood was strong upstairs and following the smell to the source, I discovered, to my horror, that I was following the trail in the direction of the nursery. “No,” I whispered to myself as I got closer. “No, no, no.”
Pushing the door open, afraid of what I’d find, I finally saw the blood. The floor was saturated with red liquid, it was also crawling all over the walls and had splattered around the crib. I held my breath as I looked over the top. Jade wasn’t there, Leiv however was splayed out on the floor, his throat sliced open, Alexander holding him in his arms, his mouth opened in a silent scream as tears streamed down his white cheeks.
I bent down, listening for any sign of life. There was a heartbeat, very faint and unsteady, but it was there. Alex looked at me with more fear than I’d ever seen in him before, realizing that the person he loved more than anything else in this world was dying right there in his arms. He was unconscious, on death’s door and unable to speak.
The Vampires of Soldiers Cove: Progeny Page 10