The Undead Heart (#1 in the Blood Thirst Series)

by Stephanie Jackson

  “You can follow my scent from a moving car?”

  “Yes, I can smell your scent stronger than anything else.”

  “That’s so cool,” she said. “I’ll just walk with you to the car.”

  “Sure you’re not too tired?” he smiled. “You look a bit winded.”

  “Oh, shut up!”

  “Where’s your car?” he asked as they were walking down the road. “Who the hell knows. I don’t even know what she drove. I threw her keys and purse away. I don’t want her things.”

  “What about her money?”

  “Let’s not get crazy. It was my money first, and I never told you I had money. How did you know?”

  “When Bev read your letter, she asked me if I married you for your money. How much money do you have that would cause her to think that?”

  “My grandmother setup trust funds for me and Bev when we were born. When we turned 25 years old, we received over six million dollars each.”

  “Six million dollars?,” he whistled. “I can see why Bev might have been worried.”

  “At least we don’t have to worry about money.”

  “I don’t want your money, Beck.”

  “Our money, we’re married.”

  “Not legally.”

  “Close enough, and we can fix the legal part.”

  They walked into Taco Bell’s parking lot, and she saw his car. It was the same car he had had when she left. Every detail about it was the same.

  “Did I ever show you a memory of this car?”

  “No, why?” he asked.

  “Because it’s the same car you had before.”

  “I restored this car myself,” he said proudly, opening the door for her. When she got in she saw a cup of chewed up food in the console and a box of Fruit Loops lying in the back seat. “Have you been chewing up Fruit Loops?”

  “I can’t help it. They smell just like you. I really missed you, Little One,” he smiled.

  “I guess that’s sweet, in a weird, messed up kind of way.” He reached for the keys to start the car, but she stopped him. “I need to tell you some things before we go.”

  “Am I about to find out why Elderson and his clan have been chasing us all over the world?”

  “Yes, and you’re going to be mad at me again.”

  “Let me get us out of this parking lot, and then you can tell me.”

  He started the car, rolled up the windows, turned on the air conditioning, and pulled out of the parking lot. He drove down the road to a gas station and pulled in.

  “What are you doing?” she asked as he was taking his wallet out of the glove compartment.

  “I’ll be right back.” He got out of the car and came back a minute later with a bottle of Coke.

  “Oh! You remembered,” she squealed, opening the bottle and swigging half of it down.

  “Everyone remembered. I bet there’s a six month supply of it at the house,” he said as he drove back out of the parking lot. “So, you didn’t get to know the other Beck at all?”

  “No, I saved her from all the accidents you told me about, but I never spoke to her. You were right. he was Beck, but she wasn’t you.”

  “Alex Whitman?”

  “Died in a tragic car accident the night before her date with him. He was on a dark road when he lost control of his vehicle. When it flipped, he was thrown through the window and crushed by the car.”

  “Car accident?”

  “That’s what they said on the news. They were right about some of it. He was thrown from, and crushed by his car,” he shrugged. “Nice work.”

  “Thank you, he said. “Where is your wedding band?”

  “Oh!” She took the ring out of her pocket and put it back on her finger.

  “Much better,” he said, taking her hand and kissing the ring. He was driving down the street to where the house he had built her had been. “You built my house?”

  “Of course I built your house,” he told her, pulling the car to a stop at the entrance to the driveway. “Alright, what do you want to tell me?”

  “There are a lot of things I didn’t tell you. Do you want me to explain it or give you the memories?”

  “Give me the memories. It will be quicker that way.”

  She took his hand again and gave him her memories. She gave him telling her about her death, and who had done it. She gave him her plan to kill Elderson and his clan with her blood; the fight they had after he destroyed her things. The last memory she gave him was the story Jeremy had told them; how and why Elderson had turned him into a vampyre, and how Elderson had planned to hurt him by killing her.

  When she was done, she let go of his hand and waited for him to speak.

  “You should have told me about all this.”

  “I didn’t want you to hunt him. He’s as crazy as cat shit, and he wants to destroy you.”

  “We have to tell the rest of the family about this,” he said, and drove down the long driveway.

  ***

  Her house was right where she’d left it. All of her family were waiting in the yard for her. When she got out of the car, they rushed over to her. They all hugged and kissed her, passing her from person to person like a party favor. They were all there: Daryl and Rita, Potter and Jenny, Leso and Bev, Heidi, Saphira, Harley, Bruce, and Jeremy.

  “Enough. I need to talk to all of you,” Richard said. They all gathered on the front porch, sitting in chairs and on the steps. When everyone was settled, Richard told them what Beck had shown him. “I’m sorry. This is my fault. You’ve all been running all these years because of me,” he apologized when he finished.

  “No, it’s not. That girl was only fourteen years old. What were you supposed to do, Richard? Leso asked. “Walk away and let him kill her? You could never have done that.”

  “He’s right.” Daryl agreed. “You’re a good man. You could never have allowed something like that to occur.”

  Richard shrugged and turned back to Beck. “I told you not to come to me in the past. You should have listened to me.”

  “It wouldn’t have made a difference. Elderson is evil and sadistic. He would have found another way to torture you.”

  “I know that, but you would have been safe.”

  “Safe and alone. Don’t you get it? I love you, and you love me. If we both have to die for that, so be it.”

  He leaned over and kissed her.

  “I love you, woman,” he growled.

  Bev giggled. “Sorry, I’ve just never seen you with a boyfriend before. You’ve only been on two dates your whole life.”

  “She dated?” Beck asked Richard. “It must have been after she went to college. I know she didn’t date in high school,” Richard answered.

  Bev was confused, “Who is ‘she’? I’m talking about you, Beck. You didn’t date in high school, either. You were distraught after Alex Whitman died in that wreck. That poor boy. You didn’t try dating again until college. But you know all this.”

  “No, I don’t know any of this. You don’t actually know me, not this me anyway. The Beck you knew is gone. Everything up until my date with Alex Whitman is the same as you remember it. After that, my life veered into a direction that your Beck’s did not.”

  “I don’t understand,” Bev said. Leso explained to Bev about how the Beck that had left yesterday was not the Beck that had returned today.

  “Why did your life ‘veer into another direction’ when Alex died?”

  “In my life, Alex didn’t die. I went on that date with him. You said that ‘poor boy’. That ‘poor boy’ took me out and…,” she tried to explain, but Richard stopped her.

  “I’ll tell her.”

  He told Bev everything about that night, the details of the rape and beating.

  “Oh my God!” Bev said loudly. “Do you actually remember this happening to you?”

  “Of course I remember it. I was there when it happened.”

  “This is unbelievable. I’m glad he died in that accident. At least
one Beck didn’t have to go through that,” Bev said.

  “It wasn’t any accident. I was there. Richard snatched the car up and threw Alex out of the window,” Leso explained. “The kid took off running, but Richard flipped the car down the street and crushed him with it. I would have felt sorry for the kid if I hadn’t known what he was going to do to Beck.”

  Bev looked at Richard. “Thank you.”

  “It was my pleasure.”

  “Can all of you pick up a car with one hand?” Bev asked. “Oh, that’s nothing. You should show her your trick with a tree sometime,” Beck smiled at Richard.

  “I can’t,” Richard laughed. “You told me to leave the trees alone.”

  “What are you talking about?” Bev inquired. “Nothing. Never mind. So, has Elderson really been chasing you all these years?” Beck asked.

  “Yeah, through the years we’ve killed over a hundred vampyres that he’s sent at us. He never shows up himself, though. He’s too much of a coward for that,” Potter explained. He looked just as he had when she left; tattoos, Mohawk, and all. She wondered if he made his own silver tattoo needles, she’d never asked him.

  “You really should have told me what you knew, Little One.”

  “I said I was sorry.”

  “No, you misunderstand. Over the years, Elderson’s insanity has taken over. He has now amassed himself an army,” Richard told her. “No! You told me that he was too much of a coward to create more than six vampyres at a time. That’s what you said.”

  “And so he was, but I told you that his insanity is in control now. His clan is now at least forty vampyres strong.”

  “Oh my God! What have I done? What are we going to do? Do we need to leave here yet?” she panicked.

  What had she done? She should’ve let Potter try to kill Elderson the night he had killed Mary Nichols, and let the future be damned. She should have let the whole family know what was going on. There would’ve been a fight, but at least some of them may have survived.

  “Calm down, Beck,” Richard said. “We’re not running anywhere anymore.”

  “But they’ll be coming for us!”

  “And we’ll be ready for them,” Leso said.

  “How? He has an army now,” she snapped.

  Harley laughed, “We have an army too.”

  “There are only ten of you. Ten people is not an army.”

  “You’re right, it’s not,” Richard said. “Potter?”

  Potter jumped off the porch and yelled, “HUNTERS!” They came from everywhere; from out of the woods, out of the house, some even came flipping over the roof from the backyard. She counted seventeen including Potter; all men, most wearing swords on their backs.

  “Are they all hunters?” Beck asked in awe. “Yes,” Richard told her. “How?”

  “Potter found them,” Jenny smiled. “They, like him, are only interested in killing the vampyres that feed on humans.”

  “That’s still only twenty-six people,” Beck said, quickly doing the math in her head.

  “We’re not done,” Bruce laughed. “VAMPYRES!”

  From out and around the house came nine vampyres, five men and four women. Richard put his arms around her waist. “There are thirty-five of us. It will be enough. It has to be.”

  She hoped he was right.

  ***

  “Let me introduce you to my hunters,” Potter said. “This is Damon, Jeff, Gunner, Bane, Christov, Aohngus, Shane, Declán, Liam, Keith, Patrick, Darian, Coner, Séamus, and in the back we have the twins, Seanán and Tiarnán.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, and thank you for being here,” Beck said to all of them.

  “Your turn,” Potter told Richard. “Right. This is Saphira’s husband, Gerold; Heidi’s husband, Levi; Harley’s wife, Alexis; Bruce’s wife, Susie; Jeremy’s wife, Charley; Jonathon and Gabryel Barrett; and Gavin Knight and his mate, Isiah Turney.”

  She said hello to each of them and shook their hands. There were so many new people that it was going to be hard to remember all their names. Some she wouldn’t have a problem with, like Damon. He had to be every bit of 6’10”, and as muscled as a bodybuilder. He had short, cropped, bright red hair, and blue eyes so light that they almost had no color at all.

  She shuddered to think how much he ate. She may not have enough money to feed him. Gunner wasn’t far behind Damon in height, but not nearly as well muscular. Gunner was as black as night, and as bald as an egg. He definitely did not look Irish. She could remember Seanán and Tiarnán, because they were twins. They were both 6’ tall with short, curly, blonde hair, and a muscular build. All the others would take a while to learn. When everyone had drifted away, Richard led her into the house.

  “Where do all the hunters live?” she asked as they walked up the stairs to their room.

  “They live in several houses we have scattered around the property. Jonathon, Gabryel, Gavin, and Isiah live in one of those houses as well,” Richard explained.

  “Is this still our room?” she asked before opening the door. “It is.”

  She opened the door and went in. “The room looks the same.”

  “It should. I used your memories to furnish it. I wanted it to look, as much as it could, like you remembered.”

  “You did a good job. How did you know where to build the house?”

  “I searched until I found our cliff and worked my way back through the woods until the trees looked right.”

  “You have an excellent memory. Half the time, I can’t even find my shoes,” she laughed.

  “You run around barefooted half the time anyway.”

  “Because I can’t find my shoes,” she laughed again. “Do I have clothes here?”

  “Yes, in the chest of drawers and the closet. Jenny and Heidi picked them out for you.”

  “Wonderful. I’m going to grab a quick shower.”

  She grabbed some clothes out of the drawers and went to the bathroom. She found razors in the drawer. It was so good to be home where she didn’t have to risk her life with a straight razor every time she wanted to shave her legs. The hot spray of the shower was heaven. She shaved her legs, washed her hair, and scrubbed her body until her skin was pink.

  She towel-dried her hair, threw her clothes on, and walked back into the bedroom. Richard was gone. She went downstairs but found no one in the house. She went back outside and found Damon on the porch. Richard’s car was gone from the driveway.

  “Damon, do you know where Richard went?”

  “No, he didn’t say. I’m sure he’ll be right back, though. He’s been so anxious for you to come home that I don’t imagine he’ll stray to far away from you for a while.”

  “Yeah, we had a slight disagreement before I came back home. He was probably anxious because he didn’t know how mad I might be.”

  “A slight disagreement? He was mad at you, ran off. I think it served him right to miss you leaving.”

  “He had his reasons.”

  “There is no reason for what he did,” Damon said coldly.“Do you not like Richard?”

  “I like him just fine. I just don’t like the ‘woe is me’ attitude he’s been carrying around all these years. He brought it on himself.”

  “You shouldn’t talk about him behind his back like this,” she said stiffly.“It’s nothing I haven’t said to his face. We’ve all told him the same thing.”

  “Does Richard like you?!” she snapped at him.

  “He must, he appointed me to be one of your guards,” he laughed.“I have guards?”

  “You have four: Jeff, Darian, Shane, and myself.”

  “Do I need four guards?”

  “Not really, not yet anyway. We were chosen to be your guards years ago, just in case you would need us someday.”

  “How long have you been with the Youngs?”

  “I was the first hunter Lugh recruited. He found me in India in 1896. The last two to join us were Seanán and Tiarnán in 1954.”

  “You call Potter Lugh?” she
smiled.“It is his name,” Damon shrugged.“I bet he loves that,” she was still smiling.“Not particularly, but it suits him. His parents named him well.”

  “What do you mean?” she asked curiously. “He was named after the God of Light; Lugh-the Shining One. He was known to excel at everything he did. He was also known to be handsome, strong, passionate, loyal, energetic, and eternally youthful.”

  “You’re right, it does suit him. Why doesn’t Potter carry a sword like most of the other hunters do?”

  “He doesn’t need one. His fighting skills are unparalleled. If you put him up against any two hunters here, he would defeat them without fail. And he prefers hand to hand combat.”

  “Any two hunters? Including you?”

  “Including me,” he said, unashamed.

  “Wow!”

  “Your vampyres are pretty impressive as well. Lugh said they learned their fighting skills from you.”

  “I taught them what I could. I don’t know if it was enough to help.”

  “Come with me. I want to show you something,” he said, standing up and offering her his hand.

  She took his hand, and he pulled her to her feet. Her hand looked like a child’s hand in his. He led her across the backyard and into the woods. They walked about half a mile when they came to a break in the ground. It was roughly twenty-five feet across and twenty feet deep, with a creek running through the bottom of it.

  Before she knew what he was going to do, he’d picked her up and jumped. She screamed, sure she was going to fall to her death. When they landed on the other side, he set her back on her feet.

  “What’s wrong with you?”

  “What’s wrong with me?!” she yelled at him. “What the hell’s wrong with you?!”

  Potter appeared from out of nowhere, picked her up, and placed her behind him.

  “What did you do to her?!” he snapped at Damon. It would have looked comical to see Potter squaring off against Damon if she couldn’t feel how angry Potter was. What would have been funnier was the way Damon held his hands out in front of him as if to ward Potter off.

  “Just a misunderstanding, Lugh. I don’t think she was ready to jump.”