“Julian.” I raced to my truck and Solomon and Sebastian appeared at my window just as I slammed the door. I quickly rolled down the window and said, “He has her. Julian has Chansey,” I roared, slamming my fist into the dash of my truck, caving it inward. “I’m going to kill him.”
Solomon reached through the window, touching my shoulder. “You must remain rational, otherwise you expose yourself. Remember, you control the rage, it doesn’t control you.”
Sebastian said, “Listen to me carefully, Curry. We believe we have a good idea about where he took her.” They dashed around to the other side of the truck and got inside. “Drive and we’ll explain on the way.”
Sebastian instructed me to drive West, then explained, “Solomon and I began investigating Julian when you told us about the danger he presented to Chansey and you were right. Our Julian is a very disturbed young man, but the good news is he has a very predictable pattern. After he chooses a woman that fits his type, he takes his time and methodically stalks her.”
“Has he taken anyone before?” I asked.
Sebastian answered, “Yes, we searched his apartment and found some rather disturbing videos of him with several young women and we believe one of the women is the missing student from Ocean Springs. It looked like he had them in some type of cabin or vacation home, so we looked at real estate owned by his father and he has a home on a nearby lake. We believe that is where he is taking her.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Solomon said, “You already knew he was dangerous and you were watching Chansey night and day. What would you have done differently?”
“I would have killed him.”
“Of course, you would have and that’s the very reason we didn’t tell you. We just discovered it a few days ago and we needed a plan on how to alert the authorities without tainting a case against him because we couldn’t take a chance of him walking over some legal mumbo jumbo.”
I drove as fast as my old truck would take me and we found the location of the lake house quickly. I parked a hundred yards from the house, trying to not alert Julian to our presence and the three of us raced to the house. “That’s not his car,” I said, panicking at the discovery.
“You aren’t thinking, Curry. Listen to the predatory instincts inside of you. He wouldn’t have put her in his small sports car because they would have been seen. He would need something larger, so he would have swapped vehicles,” Solomon said. “See if you smell her on the vehicle.”
I approached the vehicle and sniffed deeply and was relieved when I smelled her fragrance was all over the large SUV. “I smell her. She’s here.”
Sebastian placed a reassuring hand on my shoulder. “Curry, do what is necessary to safely recover your agápe.”
I needed no further encouragement and dashed for the door. It was locked, so I busted the glass on the door, reached in to unlocked it, and entered the lake house through the living room. There was no sign of Chansey or Julian on the lower level, so I inhaled deeply and listened for the reassuring sound of my agápe’s beating heart, locating them on the level above me. I bolted up the staircase and began unbarring each door I came to.
“Who’s here?” Julian called out, identifying his location.
I made no reply and stood in the doorway, waiting for him to open the door. I wanted to see the look on his face when he realized his worst nightmare was about to come true.
He was startled by my presence when he opened the door. He pointlessly attempted to slam the door on me as I effortlessly pushed through the door, sending him flying across the room, He was stopped by the adjacent wall and slid to the floor in a puddle.
I immediately recognized the difference in Chansey’s familiar essence. It was polluted with something metallic and chemical in nature as she laid dazed on the bed dressed in a long, white satin nightgown. She barely opened her eyes and slowly moved her lips to speak, but no articulation formed and I realized he drugged her.
The monster within me emerged, no longer hibernating, as I roared with fury. I slowly walked toward Julian, daring him to make a move and his expression confirmed his realization that I was something other than human. He pleaded, “I swear, I didn’t harm her.”
I jerked him to his feet. “What part of my warning did you not understand?” I roared in his face as I held him up over my head, squeezing his neck. He scratched, pulled at my iron grip around his throat, and kicked at me uselessly, while I watched his face turn blue. His pulse slowed and I felt his miserable life leaving his body. The monster within instructed me to rip open his neck and drink until he was dry, and while I considered the proposition, I almost didn’t hear the words spoken to me from across the room. “Stop, Curry, you are killing him.”
I turned to see my mentor standing in the doorway and it took a moment for his words to register in my mind because I didn’t want to be stopped. I wanted him dead, so he could never harm Chansey again. “How can you ask me to spare him? He’s a monster far worse than we ever dared to be. Look at what he has done to her and think of the things he did to those other women. It is my responsibility to keep her safe and I can’t let him live.”
He didn’t make a move to physically stop me. “We don’t execute punishment because it isn’t our place. Remember what it is you have learned and what it is you teach. It is the job of the authorities to punish him for his crimes.”
I didn’t want to agree, but I knew he was right. I wanted to throw everything I knew out the window and tear him apart, but it wasn’t my right to kill him, so I dropped his body to the floor, enjoying the sound of the thud on the floor.
Julian sat up on the floor and looked at me. “I know what you are and I want to be like you.”
His words disgusted me. The world couldn’t handle a vampire Julian. “You’re delusional.”
“If you don’t turn me, I’ll tell the world exactly what kind of monster you are. So, it looks like you’re left with two choices. Turn me or kill me.”
“You are either insane or very brave to offer me those two choices. What makes you think I won’t kill you and be done with you?” I asked.
“I know you won’t kill me.” He smiled smugly and looked to Solomon saying, “Because your daddy won’t let you, or is he your boyfriend?”
Sebastian entered the room. “Curry, take Chansey to the hospital, she needs medical attention and I want Solomon to drive you.”
I lifted Chansey from the bed. Her speech was slow and slurred, but she managed to ask, “Curry, what happened?”
I avoided answering her question. “I’m here and everything is going to be fine. You’re going to be fine.”
I carried Chansey through the doorway and noticed Solomon stopped when he saw his mentor wasn’t following behind us. “Sebastian, what are you doing?” Solomon asked.
I stopped and turned to hear his answer, “He is a problem that can only be solved one way. He is a danger to the human race, and now the vampire race, so he sealed his own fate when he threatened to expose us. Both of you, leave this place and don’t look back and we will never speak of this again after this moment. Is it understood?”
Solomon and I simultaneously said, “Completely.”
We walked away, as instructed by our elder and didn’t look back, even when we heard the screams of a monster receiving a well deserved execution, vampire style.
* * *
I entered the doors of the emergency room with Chansey in my arms. “She needs help.” A uniformed man and woman rolled a stretcher toward us and I placed her on it. “She was given some kind of drug.” They rolled her toward an exam room, asking questions as they assessed her. The man asked, “Do you know what kind of drug she was given?”
“I’m sorry, I don’t know.”
The female assessed her vitals and said, “My name is Sarah and this Daniel. Sir, we’re going to take good care of her. Do you know if she suffered any physical trauma?”
“I don’t think so.”
They r
emoved the blanket for further observation and saw the lingerie she wore and asked, “Was she sexually assaulted?”
I struggled to control the rage I felt under the surface. Calm yourself. Remember what you have learned. You control the rage. It doesn’t control you. I took a deep breath, clearing my fury enough to reply. “I don’t know.”
I walked beside Chansey on the stretcher, holding her hand as she was rolled to an exam room and lifted her hand to my lips and kissed her palm.
The physician entered the exam room. “I’m Dr. Kerrigan. If she was given some type of drug, it was most likely Rohypnol, so we’ll start with a drug screen and go from there. If it comes back positive, we will run a rape kit.”
I stepped out while the nurse collected a specimen for the drug screen and Chansey was awake when I reentered the exam room. I walked to the side of the bed and took her hand in mine, kissing the top of it and holding it firmly within mine.
Tears flooded her eyes and spilled down her rosy cheeks. Her speech was still slow, but less slurred. “What happened?”
“Julian drugged you, then took you to a secluded house in the woods.”
“I don’t remember anything, it all seems so fuzzy,” she confessed. She closed her eyes and whispered, “Did you find me?”
“Yes, I did,” I said, as she reentered her world of drug induced sleep.
A nurse pulled the curtain and entered the room. She saw Chansey was asleep and gently woke her, saying, “Miss Leclaire, my name is Lesley. I’m one of the ER nurses. Your drug screen came back positive for Rohypnol, so Dr. Kerrigan needs to do an exam.”
I stood to leave and she shot me a panicked look. “I won’t go far,” I reassured her. I waited in a small room at the end of the hall until the exam was complete and the nurse fetched me from where I waited. I returned to Chansey’s side, returned her hand to mine and raised my free hand to cover my eyes in an effort to hide my anger from her.
The physician returned and reported Chansey’s physical exam was not consistent with that of a rape victim and we both sighed with relief. She explained Chansey would need to be hydrated with IV fluids and observed for a few hours before she could be discharged to home.
Several hours later, she was discharged and I drove home slowly while Chansey slept in the passenger’s seat. It was early morning when we arrived home and I hated to wake her, but didn’t know what she would want to tell Anna and Grady. I gently placed my hand on her shoulder to wake her as I softly said, “Chansey, you’re home.” She opened her eyes slightly and I asked, “What do you want me to tell Anna and Grady?”
She closed her eyes again and said, “They left on a trip yesterday, so they’re not home.”
I carried her from my truck to her bedroom and placed her in her bed, prepared to stay by her side as long as she needed me, before I would return to my place in the shadows.
Chapter 21
I spent the day watching Chansey sleep off the effects of the drug Julian had given her and I closely observed her for adverse reactions to the hypnotic. Many hours passed as I watched the rise and fall of her chest and I wondered if I should wake her.
I leaned forward and buried my face in my hands when I thought about how difficult it would be to leave a second time, actually a third, and I contemplated answers I didn’t have for the questions Chansey would ask me. I heard the rhythm of her breathing change and I lifted my face from my hands to see her awake and looking at me. “You’re awake. How do you feel?” I asked.
She placed her hand to her head and said, “I feel like I’ve been on a month long drunk.” She reached for her hair and added, “I must look a mess.”
“You look perfect. It’s been hours since you had anything to drink, can I bring you something?”
“Yes, I feel parched. A glass of water would be wonderful.”
I brought her a glass of water, then watched her empty it in one large gulp. “Would you like more?”
“No, that is enough for now.”
“You’ve been asleep since I brought you home early this morning, so I’m glad to see you awake because I started to worry,” I confessed.
“When I woke up, you looked so stressed. Is something wrong?” she softly asked.
I smiled at her, attempting to disguise the pain I felt in my heart and less than convincingly said, “Nothing is wrong, you’re okay, so everything is good.”
“You’re lying,” she accused.
Her accusation caught me off guard, leaving me without a reply.
“You’re thinking of a lie to explain away what has happened and how to tell me you’re going to leave me again.”
I rose from the chair at her bedside and walked to the window, turning my back on her as I said, “You’re right, I am going to leave, but I don’t know what you think happened.”
She continued, “Please don’t pretend what happened wasn’t real.”
I continued staring out of her bedroom window as I lied again, “I don’t know what you mean.”
“You once asked me what I was and now, I’m asking you the same question. What are you?” She hesitated, waiting for my response.
I gave her the only response I thought could explain away what had happened. “Julian drugged you with a powerful hypnotic. You are easily confused and it’s not your fault.”
“I used Crosby to make you jealous. Did it work?” she confessed.
There is no way she should know I was with her all this time. I was so careful and I stole her memory of the morning we spent together. “It’s the drug talking.”
“We both know better than that, so try to explain how you’ve been gone, yet never left my side for a moment. Try to convince me I imagined you in my bedroom every night since you went to New York.”
I couldn’t form the words to convince her of anything because I was completely and utterly speechless as she continued, “You said that it was a tragedy I would never know how much you loved me. How could you think I wouldn’t remember?”
I wanted to confirm the things she said, but I had to deny it or forever condemn her. “You know you have incredibly vivid dreams.”
“It wasn’t the drug and it wasn’t a dream!” she argued. “Do I need to repeat the entire conversation between us for you to realize I remember everything?”
“I don’t know what you want me to say,” I lied.
“There hasn’t been a day in my life I didn’t feel you coming for me.” She placed her hand over her heart. “It is what I have always known deep inside, right here. I felt the restlessness of my wait vanish the first time I laid my eyes on you, that’s why I was so distraught when I thought you didn’t like me. Can’t you see I knew all along?”
I felt my protective wall tumbling and saw all attempts to prevent the inevitable were in vain. I turned from the window to face her and surrendered to the the ordained bond between us, trusting in the promising words of Sebastian. “Do you know what I am?”
“I know you’re no ordinary man,” she replied.
How could I say the words? Her potential response terrified me, but I walked to the bed and sat next to her. “You can’t imagine how impossible this is for me because I can’t bear to see myself as a monster in your eyes.”
Chansey leaned in and placed her hands on my face, forcing me to look into her eyes as they begged me to trust her. “Please, don’t hide from me.”
I prepared to say the words that would forever connect and condemn us. “Don’t fear me because I would never harm you.”
Chansey took my hands in hers and said, “Curry, I know you would never bring harm to me.”
I attempted to pull my hands from hers, but she tightened her grip. I wasn’t brave enough to look into her eyes as I told her, “I was made a vampire in 1850 when I was 26 years old.” I waited briefly and lifted my eyes to see her reaction, but found no fear or disgust.
“Is it true that vampires drink human blood?” she asked nonchalantly.
I admitted, “It is true, I did drink th
e blood of humans for many years, and although I don’t require it for my existence anymore, that’s not the case for other vampires.”
“I don’t know what it is you mean,” she said, confused by my contradicting words. “How can vampires need blood for survival, yet you don’t require it?”
“I’m going to start at the beginning, when I was a mortal man, because this is a complex tale. 161 years ago, this was my home.” I gestured at the house with my hands and said, “I walked these grounds when there was nothing here and I began construction on this house in 1849, choosing everything about it and the surrounding land.”
“I believe that has to be one of the coolest things I have ever heard,” she said.
“Although I was born a vampire in Pascagoula, my human birth was in New Orleans, where my family lived and raised me.”
“How did you end up in Pascagoula if you were from New Orleans?” she asked, curiously.
“My trade was shipbuilding. It’s what I grew up around and my father had his own business in New Orleans, so I relocated here to start my own shipbuilding buisiness. Shrimping was a booming business and the demand outnumbered the supply and I started small, but within three years, had a prospering business.”
“My brother, Sully, continued working for our father, but he was growing restless, and even then, New Orleans had plenty of trouble if you knew where to find it. He had begun to keep undesirable company and I worried about him, so I asked him to come to Pascagoula and partner my business with me. My parents were so grateful to me for taking him in and away from the things he had become a part of, but none of us could have imagined the turn of events his arrival would bring.”
“What happened?”
“He was no longer the Sully I knew and I didn’t like the person he became. He often traveled back to New Orleans and stayed for extended periods of time, leaving me without a partner for our thriving business. I came to enjoy his disappearing acts, but the last time he returned, he brought an uninvited house guest. Her name was Marsala Dauphine and she was his mistress. I immediately felt something was wrong with her, but I couldn’t put my finger on it because I had no reason to notice that I didn’t see her during the day or witness her eating meals. I only noticed Sully wasn’t himself when he was with her.”
Vampire Agápe 01 - Blood of Anteros Page 15