by Devin Morgan
“They were not lost.” He smiled. “They made good fare and their blood will sustain us until we come to rest.”
Turning to look behind them, Mariska could hardly see the herd being driven forward by her coven. Their own food was strapped to their backs as they staggered through the waist- high drifts.
“You were brilliant to collect them from the villages that we circumvented.”
“And you, my Queen, were fast thinking to steal a supply of the blood taken from blood banks and stored in DeMarco’s vault.”
“Yes, without it we would not have the sustenance we need. It is tasteless and there are no death throes that are so delicious, but it will keep us strong and able to fight.”
Stopping in his tracks, Esteban turned, raising his hand to halt the bedraggled army behind him. “There.” He pointed to a huge sharp overhang of rock. “That is the cliff. Come, the caves are just below.”
Far behind them, one of their captives fell to his knees. One of the guards swooped down upon the fallen human and began to feed. When he was satiated, he passed the dying man to his comrade. Once drained, the limp form was tossed aside as the vampires forged ahead through the blizzard.
Thick fog surrounded the castle as DeMarco sat on the window ledge of the highest turret. Gazing out over the dense forest below, his thoughts were of Sarah. Raw feelings of love and hate filled what should have been an empty heart. A battle raged inside his head. Her denial of him drove him to the brink of murder. He dreamed of draining her to her death as a captive Aris watched, powerless to save her. His mouth watered as he imagined the smell of her throat, the taste of her blood. He remembered the look of fright in her beautiful blue eyes as he told her who he was and who he had been to her.
Memories of their life in a past century flooded his mind and his heart filled with sorrow that she was so unfaithful to their love. He knew his true wish was not for her to die. His true wish was to have her a vampire, ruling by his side, Queen to his King.
“Sire?” DeMarco turned to face the aid that had entered his chamber. He nodded to Julian to speak. “The plan is in place. I have chosen the two who will travel to London to kidnap the woman.”
CHAPTER 3
Sitting in front of the fireplace in Aris’ flat, the two Immortal men waited while Sarah bathed. Exhausted by the ordeal she had suffered, she slept most of the airline flight from Spain to England. Once their plane was on the ground, her first conscious thought was a hot shower. As their car sped through the night to Aris’s apartment, all she could think of was a cascade of tiny drops of hot water pelting her skin, washing away the un-Godly experiences of the last few days.
Her legs quivered as they rode in the elevator of Aris’s building. Wrapping his arm tightly around her, he steadied her as the door opened and they made their way down the hall.
Once inside, she kicked off her shoes, falling onto the soft sofa with a sigh. “At last.” She spoke in a barely audible whisper. Overcome by exhaustion, her eyes closed as she began to drift into sleep. “No. I can’t allow myself to sleep until I’ve washed that awful castle off my skin.” She pushed her exhausted body off the couch, standing and stretching her arms toward the ceiling. “I’m going to take a shower, then I’ll sit with you.” She turned and left the room.
Gabriela sat with her while Sarah scrubbed and put on fresh clothes. As she entered the sitting room, she was dressed in comfortable gray sweats and her clean blond hair was still moist. Settling in on the sofa next to Aris, she felt truly safe for the first time since her kidnapping. He wrapped an Afghan around her as Richard handed her a China cup filled with her favorite Earl Gray tea. Smiling, she smelled the bergamot fragrance as she lifted it to her lips.
“Ummm, so good. I wasn’t sure I’d survive to ever have another cup of tea.”
“That is behind you. You are here with us now, safe and warm.” Gabriela squeezed her human friend’s hand, then brushed a damp blond curl off her forehead. “We are here to make sure you are safe. One of us will be constantly with you until this madness is settled once and for all.”
Panic filled Sarah’s blue eyes as memories of the dark King flooded her mind. “You must warn the Immortals. DeMarco wants the Infinity Diaries. He wants the power of the knowledge of life and death so he can rule over all the humans on earth.” She shivered as she spoke, drawing the blanket more closely around her. “He wants to breed them for food and worse.”
“We assumed as much, Sarah, however, your evidence will prove to all below ground that we must march on Spain. DeMarco must never get his hands on the Diaries. Knowing the past and the future of every being on the planet would enable him to control the whole human race. Through the Diaries he would be able to locate and recruit the vilest of the human species to aid him in his slaughter. He would know who was weak and frightened; who he could easily control. No, he must never possess them. We must stop him.” His voice was confident as he spoke, but deep inside his soul the nagging doubt as to what the true outcome of the war would be reared its nasty head.
Determined to keep his eyes on winning the battle, he changed the subject of conversation. Aris reached for Sarah’s cell phone, smiling as he handed it to her. “But before you do anything else, you must telephone Colleen. She phoned you on the second day of your abduction. I answered when the caller ID registered her name.”
“Good grief, she must be worried to death.” Sarah hadn’t thought of her Chicago friends since her kidnapping. She had no idea what she would say to them. “What did you tell her?”
He grinned. “Your practice of yoga gave me an easy story.” He refreshed her tea then leaned back, wrapping his arm around her, drawing her close.
“What story? Just what did you tell her?”
“I told her that you and Gabriela were on a yoga retreat for a few days. I said it was a cloistered affair and that you were not even allowed to have your cell phones with you. You were to have no contact with the outside world.”
Sarah was amazed at how quickly he came up with such a plausible deception. “Did she buy it?”
“Luckily, she did. I told her you would call her when you returned so you had best decide what you are going to tell your best mortal friend before you telephone. We are just fortunate that we found you so quickly. Had it taken longer, I have no idea what would have been my next tale.”
“It’s almost four o’clock in the morning in Chicago right now. I’m sure she’s sleeping. And I’m simply exhausted. I can’t think straight, much less give a credible report about a fictitious yoga retreat.” She yawned while leaning forward to place her empty cup on the coffee table. “I think I’ll just go to sleep and call her when I wake up. It’ll be afternoon for her and I’ll be rested and able to make some semblance of sense when I speak with her.”
“Excellent idea.” Aris got to his feet. Taking her hands in his, he helped her to stand. Gently, he guided her through the bedroom door. Holding the comforter for her, he waited while she crawled between the clean, crisp, sweet-smelling white sheets. He covered her, kissing her gently before turning out the light and slipping silently from the room. She was fast asleep before he crossed the threshold. Leaving the door open, he positioned his arm chair so he could easily watch her as she rested.
Gabriela gave Richard a knowing nod. They both knew Aris had no intention of letting her out of his sight while she was above ground and the evil King and Queen still walked the earth.
After Gabriela and Richard left the apartment, Aris watched Sarah as she slept. His sensitive ears could hear the soft whisper of her breath and the slow, quiet beat of her heart. Even in the dim light his Immortal eyes watched the rise and fall of her chest, the pulse of her blood just beneath the tender skin of her throat.
He was filled with a burning human desire and as he watched the steady throbbing of the artery in her neck, his vampire nature began to surface even through his measured restraint. He ached to hold her, to make love to her in time to the rhythm of her pounding heart.
Yes, and to drink her blood as it pulsed through her beautiful throat. As he thought of their coupling, a deeper more beastly yearning raised its ugly head. He struggled to resist with all his Immortal strength, yet the same vile phrase haunted him over and over. “Take her. Make her Immortal. Do not wait. Take her now. Take her while she sleeps. Take her now.”
He knew he could. He could make her his. For a moment, he was overwhelmed by his own dark vampire drive to taste her blood, to drink her, to possess her. As if in a trance, he rose from his chair and moved toward the bedroom door.
Reaching the threshold, he stopped abruptly as if an invisible wall stood between him and the trusting woman sleeping peacefully in his charge. “What am I doing? What am I doing?” Grasping either side of the doorway, he closed his eyes as he fought for control of his dark nature. A battle between love and evil raged within him-ripping at his very soul. His limbs quivered as he fought to silence the beast that demanded her human life. After what seemed to him an eternity, his blood rage subsided; he was able to open his eyes to gaze at the human he adored. She slept soundly, trusting him completely.
Devastated by the thought of what he might have done, his shoulders slumped as he buried his face in his hands. He could have taken the only human life that truly had value to him. He would have betrayed his Immortal Queen and his society. He would have broken the Blood Oath for the third time. He swore to Queen Akira he would never break it again. She would have turned from him for a last time.
Slowly he returned to the chair. He sank into it, his long legs stretching out in front of him. He knew in his deepest soul he could never have Sarah while she was in her human form. But eternity without her would be an eternity without meaning. Would she ever care enough to give up her human life for love of her own free will?
Hours or perhaps only moments passed while she slept, but to Aris it was all the same.
CHAPTER 4
The gray morning fog hung like heavy drapes pooling on the streets of London as Aris lit a fire in the fireplace for the still sleeping Sarah. After she was in bed the previous night and before Richard and Gabriela left the flat, the three Immortals devised a plan. The two women would spend the day together, freeing Aris and Richard to meet in the Catacombs with Bartholomew. A soft knock on the front door announced Gabriela’s arrival. She laid her coat across the arm of the sofa, then busied herself in the kitchen. Catching her attention as she opened the refrigerator, Aris waved good-bye, before quietly closing the front door behind him.
Sarah woke as the fragrance of freshly brewed coffee permeated the air. She wrapped a soft robe around her as she walked into the sitting room and curled up in the brown wing-back chair in front of the fireplace. Leaning against the velvety upholstery, staring into the dancing flames, her mind floated in that sweet place between sleep and wakefulness. There were brief moments when she wasn’t even sure where she was, London or her condo in Chicago.
Memories of her life in Illinois flooded her mind. She thought of Carlos Havarro, the handsome young Latino man who had changed her life. Without his hypnotherapy sessions with her as his facilitator she would never have met Aris. Carlos died to save his family from gang violence and there was still a deep ache in her heart for her lost friend.
Thoughts of Colleen Stevens-Drake, her best friend in the states, made her smile. Colleen’s cocky attitude and her sensitive heart had helped Sarah through her messy divorce and without her suggestion, Carlos would have never begun his sessions with Sarah. As his parole officer, Colleen’s recommendation of hypnosis for anger management brought him to Sarah and therapy.
She remembered all her friends and her life before Aris. She had found stability and contentment through her work. Her successful book added clients to her practice and rebuilt her confidence after her husband ended their marriage for another woman. Bonnie Petrillo, not only a dear friend, but her therapist, had been instrumental in helping her find herself once more.
Before Aris life had been predictable. Calm. When he first spoke through Carlos she thought he was a figment of her client’s imagination. How could there be such a thing as he claimed to be. Vampires just didn’t exist, not in her world anyway. But as their sessions progressed and she grew to know him, her disbelief turned into curiosity, then acceptance, and then something much more.
When Carlos died and Aris took over his body, her initial thought was to run away, but his kindness and understanding drew her to him. Her trust in him led to friendship and as she learned more and more about him, ultimately to love. With him life was magical, full of passion and adventure, a tight-rope that spanned fantasy and reality. She couldn’t imagine being without him.
Returning to the safe life she had lived before him was simply out of the question. She was convinced he was her soul-mate and she would be safe with him no matter the circumstances. Yet try as she might, she couldn’t see into the future with him. Vampire or human? A decision she knew she would one day be compelled to make. Even though she knew she wasn’t ready to decide just yet, she also knew she would love him as long as she lived. Now here she sat in London after having been kidnapped by evil vampires and taken to Spain. How could it all be possible? And yet it was.
She had no idea how long she had been staring into the fire when a muted sound close to her startled her wide awake. Her eyes opened to see Gabriela was carefully placing a tray on the table in front of the fire. On it rested a steaming mug of black coffee, a sugar bowl, a spoon and Sarah’s cell phone.
“Coffee to wake you up and the phone to call Colleen once you’re awake.” Gaby kissed her friend’s cheek. “Take your time. I plan to sit in the corner to study Shakespeare as much as I can during ‘Sarah Watch.’ Frankly, this is the first quiet time I have had in days. I look forward to it.”
“It appears I’m going to need a little while more to recover. I’m not always sure where I am.” She spoke slowly. “I feel as if I’m still in a dream. It was pretty awful.” She turned to Gabriela. “I was so worried about all of you and I didn’t know how I was going to get out so that I could warn you.” Sarah trembled, wrapped her robe a little closer around her, then smiled. “But I’m here now and I’m sure this coffee is going to be the best I’ve ever had.”
Gabriela sat on the edge of the chair facing Sarah and leaned toward her, gazing directly into her blue eyes. “I want you to know I am here if you wish to discuss your ordeal and I am silent if you wish to be silent. I am your friend.”
“I know that and I’m so grateful to have you in my life. To have all of you in my life.”
“Now just rest.” The tall dark woman rose from her chair, picking up a leather bound volume of Shakespeare from the coffee table. “I will not leave you. I will be right here on the other side of the room if you need anything.”
Sarah sipped her coffee and felt greatly comforted by the genuine affection of her Immortal friend.
Colleen laughed into the phone when she heard Sarah’s voice from across the ocean. “You are the only person I know who would go to London and take off on a yoga retreat.”
“I know; it seemed like a good idea at the time.”
“Poor Gaby. How did she fare?”
“She was great.” Sarah glanced at the Immortal curled in a chair across the room, the volume of Shakespeare resting on her lap. She appeared to be sleeping, but Sarah knew she was repeating the memorized lines of one of his plays to herself. “How are you and Bob? And how’s that sweet baby girl of yours?”
“We’re all fine. What is going on with Carlos and the art world of London?”
It had been days since Sarah heard anyone refer to Aris as ‘Carlos’. It was only humans who called him by that name, the name of her dear dead friend who had become host to the essence of the bodiless vampire. For months she thought in vain of ways to have everyone call him by his true name. In conversation she caught herself time and again remembering to refer to him as ‘Carlos’ barely in the nick of time.
She answered her friend, “
He’s doing really well. He’s being courted by an art agent who actually deals with members of the royal house.”
“What’s up with that? Is he going to stay over there?”
Sarah could hear her friend’s baby laughing in the background. For just a brief moment she felt homesick. “No, not permanently. But he won’t be able to come home as soon as we thought. He’s going to be touring.” She laughed at herself. Touring was a strange word for vampire war. She wondered what Colleen would say if she were told he was training an army of the undead to do hand-to-hand battle in the Pyrenees.
“When are you coming home?”
“That sort of depends on Bonnie. She said she could work with my therapy clients for a couple of weeks. I don’t know what she has on her agenda, but I’d like to stay a bit longer, so, if she has the time, I’ll be here until the end of the month. I’d like to travel with him for a while. I’ve never really seen much of England and it’s a perfect season.” Sarah was silently grateful she had a colleague such as Bonnie. She had gladly taken over Sarah’s practice while she traveled and Sarah knew she could trust her friend to treat her clients well.
“Well, we miss you. I know you’re having a ball but don’t forget to come home.”
“I won’t. Miss you too. Take care of that handsome husband of yours and kiss the baby for me. I’ll check in soon.”
“We all love you. Don’t forget that.”
“Same here. Talk to you soon.” She placed the telephone on the table and stared into the glowing embers of the dying fire. She pondered the dual life she was leading. “How can I choose one over the other and yet, how can I continue to live in two completely separate worlds simultaneously.” She found no answers in the glowing coals.
CHAPTER 5
Shouting and the clash of metal against metal could be heard from the courtyard at the foot of the tower. DeMarco hurried to the window. In the rubble below, he could see two vampires battling to the death. A huge crowd surrounded them laughing and shouting and pushing one another. Before his eyes and without cause, another fight broke out and, within a minute, all of the spectators had become combatants. Knives were drawn and vampires fell dead in the dust.