by K. A. Poe
“Then it is settled!” I said, “You will come with us to Colorado.”
“Colorado…?”
Salem and I both laughed, then led him to the car. It was amazing watching him adjust to the unfamiliarity of the vehicle – it reminded me somewhat of Salem’s first experience in a car, only far worse because Ezra had never even seen a car prior to now. At first he seemed almost frightened to get in. Then after the engine started I thought he may jump out.
I listened to the gentle pitter patter of rain against the car roof and watched the droplets trickle down the side of the window as I fingered around in my pocket for my cell phone. Hesitating at first, I grabbed the slim cellular device and pulled it out. Jason’s name was the first one I went to and I listened to the dial tone. My mouth spread into a wide smile when I heard his voice.
“Alex? Is everything okay?”
“Hey…” I said quietly, calmly, “I’m okay. Human again, if that is what you were wondering.”
“That’s great!” he replied enthusiastically. “Salem, too?”
“Yes. But…not everything turned out as planned...”
“What happened?”
I swallowed back the oncoming outburst of tears as I recalled the incident with my father. “Paul came to find us…and…he didn’t make it.”
There was silence at the other end, followed by a gasp and an uncomfortable clearing of his throat. “Did you…did Salem…you know…have to…”
“No! Nothing like that…he slipped and fell and…I’ll tell you more when we get home, okay?” I said as I felt the tears starting to well in the corners of my eyes. Saying it again made it real.
“Yeah, sure…where are you now?”
“We’re leaving Florida right now. It’ll be a few days before we’re back home.”
“Be careful, Alex…and I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks…” I sighed. “I’ll see you soon. And don’t panic when we get there but we have someone with us.”
“Don’t tell me it’s another vampire?! Are you crazy?”
“No…not a vampire…not exactly. I…I have to go, I will see you soon.”
I hung up and turned off my phone, set it back in my pocket and nestled my head against Salem’s shoulder. To my surprise, he was already drifting off to sleep – something I had never seen him do. I stared up at him as my eyes slowly fell shut, admiring his flawlessness as he dozed beside me. He looked more at peace than he ever had before. The image of his face was the last thing on my mind before I slowly fell unconscious.
When I woke I was startled to see it was daylight out. I wondered if our bodies were trying to catch up. When she noticed I was awake, Hannah informed me that we were on our way through Louisiana. I jumped up in my seat and rubbed my eyes. Salem was still asleep beside me, his head slumped over against the side of the window – he no longer looked quite as comfortable.
“How long have I been out of it?” I asked groggily.
“Almost twelve hours,” Hannah responded and began turning off to a rest stop. “Figure you two weaklings might need a break to walk around, maybe use the bathroom or whatever.”
“Thanks…” I mumbled, ignoring her subtle jab at us. “Hannah…what really made you decide you didn’t want to me mortal again?”
She glanced back at me momentarily, then back through the windshield. “Like I said before, there’s nothing that would make me give up living forever. I will NEVER grow old, or weak.”
“It isn’t like I want to be old either,” I sighed.
“It’s different for you, and anyway you did it for him, because you love him.”
“Would you do the same for someone that you loved?”
She shrugged. “Probably not, and really, can you picture someone loving me?”
“I can,” Ezra said with a polite smile as we pulled to a stop outside of a crowded rest area.
I nudged Salem on the shoulder and he pushed away my hand, fighting off waking up. I laughed and repeated my action until he begrudgingly opened his eyes. He blinked at the bright light blaring through the windows and groaned. “Where are we?”
“Louisiana. Now, hurry up and go do whatever it is you need to and get back in,” Hannah replied.
Without a word, Salem exited the vehicle on wobbly legs. He leaned against the side of the Prius and I met him on his side of the car.
“We’ve been asleep for a long time,” I commented.
“Indeed,” he laughed and stretched his arms out over his head. “That was the best sleep I have had in ages.” He winked.
I laughed along with him and pulled him into a close hug. The sound of his heart reverberated against my ear as my head rested against his chest. I smiled warmly and released him. “I need to get to a bathroom,” I said with a slight chuckle and began sprinting to the restroom.
Salem slowly followed a few feet behind me and entered the men’s room. I wondered to myself as I entered the nearest stall, how bizarre it must have been for him to have spent over a hundred years without using the bathroom, and now to relearn that…technique. I laughed to myself and heard someone in the next stall over cough uncomfortably and I rushed out of the room after rinsing my hands. I met Salem outside and we walked, hand-in-hand, back to the Prius.
“My stomach is rumbling,” he said and placed his hands over his abdomen. “This is a feeling I am not too familiar with.”
“Yeah, mine too, it’s weird how normal hunger is so different from a vampire’s…isn’t it? Well…just summon us something to eat I guess,” I suggested. “We will get used to being human again, trust me. It isn’t nearly as difficult as learning to become a vampire.”
“I for some reason have my doubts,” he said and two bowls of fruit salad appeared on his palms. He offered one over to me and I gladly accepted.
“Salem, why is it you always summon fruit for yourself anyway? I mean it’s good, but aren’t boys supposed to all love steak and stuff?” I grinned.
He shrugged and bit into a small chunk of cantaloupe. “Mother taught me to eat healthily…and besides, I think I have had my share of animal flesh over the years.”
“She was a smart woman,” I replied with a smile and gathered a few blueberries and popped them in my mouth.
“I am sure you will make a smart moth…” he paused and I saw his cheeks redden for the first time.
“Mother?” I finished for him. “Do you believe Hannah’s ‘vision’ at all?”
“There is always the possibility, but we shall experience things as they come…that is what life is all about. It is one long journey that must be taken step by step, and we will overcome every obstacle that we come across, together.”
I smiled and we shared a sticky yet sweet kiss, the flavor of blackberries mingling with strawberries. Hannah knocked on the window to get our attention and we broke apart and reluctantly scrambled back into the vehicle as she watched us with a disgusted look on her face.
The remainder of the trip seemed to speed right by us as Ezra told us stories of his life as a mortal, a hunter, and how he inevitably came to be a vampire. He had once been the son of a wealthy business man, a brother to two younger sisters, and he had barely known his mother – she died upon giving birth to his youngest sister. When he was thirteen, he learned of the undead and became fascinated with the idea of monsters lurking in the night and sucking the blood of mortals – at the time he was convinced it was just a tale his uncle told to scare him and his siblings. It wasn’t until he turned fifteen that he discovered the horrible truth, and his fascination died. A sudden outbreak of deaths erupted around the town he grew up in, all with the same ailments – two puncture wounds to the throat or wrist and their corpses drained entirely of blood, but not a drop on the ground. Everyone became frightened at the idea that vampires had found their way into the town, and by their own mistakes believed that they were incapable of walking during the day. Families would roam freely during daylight, without a care, until an unfortunate servant girl was found dead
in a haystack during mid-day. Men began crafting weapons to fend off the beasts – stabbing them simply didn’t do the trick, it barely fazed them at all, decapitation was successful but not the easiest attack approach. Ezra approached the hunters cautiously with an idea – bullets and arrows to the heart. The men were uncertain at first, but after the initial attempt and kill they crafted weapon after weapon, hundreds of bullets and arrows, and handed them out to every man in the town and taught them how to fight – including young Ezra. He learned all that he could by observing other hunters, and from killing vampires firsthand. Every night, he would write a new entry in his journal relating to everything he learned in order to preserve the knowledge for future hunters – just in case he died before being able to teach a son.
He explained how he had met Eleanor, a servant girl in his father’s estate. He had fallen in love almost instantaneously, despite her being of lesser social status. A relationship that would be frowned upon if brought public, especially by his father.
He delivered anonymous love letters to her, flowers, and jewelry, and eventually grew the courage to approach her on his own and declare his love for her, all in private. She admitted to sharing affection toward him, but desired to get to know him before courting. They became friends, and soon after Ezra proposed marriage to the love of his life without consulting his father or hers.
He then went over the incident in which caused Eleanor’s fierce jealousy and eventual corruption. Roughly a week after their engagement word had spread despite his attempted candor. Eleanor was already suspicious of Ezra’s need to be randomly gone night after night, sometimes for days on supposed ‘business’ trips that no one else ever seemed to know about and that Ezra would not tell her of in detail. In truth he was hunting, but he could not dare to tell her that yet. As widespread as the vampire belief was at that time, there were many more that believed it nonsense, Eleanor among them.
He could not say who began the rumor, it could have been anyone, but soon word was about that Ezra had a mistress in a neighboring town. An English girl, rich and beautiful. Ezra would not have doubted it was his own father who spread the rumor, or one of his sisters who were more than a little prone for gossip. None of them had ever liked the idea of him wedding someone as common as Eleanor.
Soon after this rumor was at its peak and it had time to fester inside Eleanor, Ezra was turned. He couldn’t face her like that – a monster. What if he attacked her? What if he turned her, or worse? He would go to the ‘new world’ for a cure. Eleanor would understand all when he returned. It was safer this way, for her and for him.
How she found out he had sailed to the West was a mystery to him, but she must have thought he and his non-existent rich mistress had ran off. What happened with her from there was a blank aside from when she showed up on his trail in America.
He also explained how the journal worked. Bahamet held Ezra as he lay dying after the ‘Howlers’ attacked, and told him that he had managed to retain some of his abilities. The Shaman could no longer heal, but he did have the ability to charm objects. Ezra requested that Bahamet enchant the journal so that only a fellow hunter could access the knowledge he had gathered over the years – they would have to have the blood of a hunter to release the hidden information. Bahamet fled from the scene with the journal in hand as the two men heard what turned out to be Eleanor approaching, and that was when his life of torment began.
The rest of the trip was a blur. I struggled to keep myself busy with anything I could to keep my mind off what had happened back in the cave. I must have asked Ezra a thousand or more questions along the way. I also did my best to try to explain to him some of the technological advancements since his time. He was taking things far better than I expected, although he still couldn’t understand much of it. My cell phone was near unbelievable to him, and I didn’t even want to try to show him the laptop yet.
We ended up stopping another dozen times on the way to Colorado, mostly for restroom breaks, leg stretching, and gas. At each stop Hannah would disappear for the length of the visit then return with her eyes colored that familiar red. It didn’t bother me as much as it used to, now that I had experienced it first hand as well.
After waking from one final nap inside the confines of the car, I wiped the sleep from my eyes and grinned excitedly as I realized the surroundings were now all too familiar. We had come to Willowshire at last after a grueling thirty or more hours of riding. I was ecstatic to finally be home, just in time for my birthday. The loss of Paul weighed heavily on me as we passed by his auto shop, and knowing that he wouldn’t be present at my birthday nor my wedding broke my heart. Hannah drove us to the cemetery and exited the car, saying that she was going to pay a visit to Raziel’s unmarked grave as it was nearing the year mark of his official death. I was more than a little alarmed by this but I did not question her for now, she was already in a poor mood since Salem and I had used the spring waters. I took the wheel and drove us to the Banner house to celebrate being back home. I couldn’t wait to see my friends again…the last of my friends.
Jason pulled me into a tight embrace as soon as I knocked on the familiar red door, followed by a similar hug from his younger brother. My eyes welled up in unexpected tears as I held onto my closest friends, and I half-expected to spot Karen sitting on the faux leather couch waiting to tell me she had a surprise party planned for me…but I knew that would never be. Instead, there was another girl sitting there. Eila sat in the living room staring awkwardly at us. I let go of Mitchell and approached Eila with my arms out and inviting.
She awkwardly stood from the couch and wrapped her arms around me in a loose hug.
“I’m so happy for you and Jason! I hope you two can work it out with you in Denver though,” I said, hoping it seemed as sincere as I meant it and not sarcasm.
She smiled warmly and released me. “Thanks, but I decided that I’d stay here for now. Jason is going to look into a job in Denver that pays the same if not better than Howard’s in the meantime. He deserves better than that dumb place anyway. Do you know he had to work the last TEN days in a row?”
“Wow…and yeah, I agree. That’s great that you two are working out living in Denver, though,” I replied with false enthusiasm and looked back at Jason. Was he going to leave me here in Willowshire? I felt sick to my stomach thinking about it. I really was happy they were together, but I didn’t want to lose yet another friend…though I suppose he wouldn’t be that far away.
Jason intervened and dragged me out to the front of the house, leaving everyone else indoors, including Salem. I eyed him curiously as he glanced at the windows to ensure they were completely shut and no one would be capable of seeing us through them.
“What’s going on, Jace?” I asked suspiciously.
He grinned. “Look…Alex, I know you’re going to seriously hate me after this and probably hit me or something…but, I just want to try something one last time before it is too late.”
“…I’m not sure I want to know what it is,” I replied and moved to step away but he grabbed my arm and pulled me closer – I wasn’t used to the lack of strength I once possessed and I couldn’t get away.
With one arm wrapped around my waist, he stared deeply into my eyes and smiled widely at me. “We only live once, Alexis…or, in your case, twice? But, when an opportunity comes up, we should take it, before it’s gone.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about Jason,” I muttered, trying to step away again but still transfixed by the look in his eyes.
“I was so stupid not to do or say anything before…before he came,” he said and his eyes changed from excited to saddened and he swallowed. “It was right before me for years, but I was always afraid to take that chance, afraid of rejection, and thought that maybe it would be better if I kept it to myself…”
I shook my head with confusion. “What are you saying?”
“You, and Salem…you’re perfect together,” he said with a frown. “I wish that you and
I could have been perfect together. I…I know we could have. I know we still can.”
“Oh, Jason…” I mimicked his sad expression. “You know that I love you and always will-“
“As a friend,” he finished.
“You have Eila, doesn’t that make you happy?”
“Of course. She is great…but, she isn’t you.”
“I’m sorry, Jace…I really am.”
Without another word he suddenly pressed his lips firmly against mine, dipping me downward slowly as his sudden action grew more passionate. I wanted to pull away, wanted to push him off of me and tell him he was making a mistake, but something stopped me. I enjoyed the feeling of being entwined in his arms, the feel of his soft, warm lips against mine and longed for more as he slowly pulled away and looked away in shame.
“Do you hate me now?” he asked as he cautiously stepped backward.
I shook my head, my thoughts a jumbled mess. “No…I could never hate you…”
“Really?”
“Really,” I laughed lightly. “But…you really shouldn’t have done that. And…and I shouldn’t have returned it.”
“Then you enjoyed it?” he asked eagerly.
“Yes, but that’s not the point. I love Salem, and I am getting married to him…this shouldn’t have happened.”
“I’m sorry,” he said and hung his head. “But, I wanted one last chance before you were gone. Before you were his.”
“I have always been his,” I said with a smile. “But I will always be yours, too, Jason…just not in the same way.”
“I know, but I’ll never get over you.”
I shrugged and hugged him. “You don’t know that. There’s a special girl in your house that gave up college for you, and I can tell that she really likes you. In time, she will replace my spot in your heart.”
“I doubt it,” he replied sadly and pulled away.
As I began to open my mouth to speak, the door opened wide and Salem peeked out at us. Jason gulped and his cheeks grew a dark shade of vermilion.