A little less than an hour later I crossed the border into Connecticut and seeing the Ferrari was almost on E pulled off at the first exit to get gas. Careful not to use any credit cards, I went inside and paid cash. No use in making it any easier for anyone who might be looking for me. All part of Keeping off the Grid 101.
After filling up the car, I parked off to the side of the station, pulled a pair of jeans and a sweat shirt out of my duffel and changed. When I finished, I took a moment to lean back in the super plush leather seat and just breathe. My hands hurt from the intense grip I’d had on the steering wheel for the past hour. As I breathed, I could smell Daniel. His seductively masculine scent lingered in the car like a pleasant memory I wanted to forget. I missed the way I’d feel when he’d held me in his arms, when I’d inhale deeply, drinking in this scent right before he’d kiss me. It was intoxicating, way more so than the schnapps had ever been.
Would I ever feel that way again?
With Daniel? … With Ben? … With anyone?
I pulled out the map I’d purchased in the station and plotted a route that would take me to Hopkinton the fastest. For a moment I wondered if it would be more prudent to take a more circuitous route there, but since I couldn’t imagine anyone would guess that was where I was heading, I didn’t see the point.
Picking up my cell phone, I saw a missed call from Tabitha. I quickly texted her back saying I’d left school for a few weeks, but would call her soon and explain. I wasn’t sure what I’d say. Somehow saying that a serial killer vampire was stalking me and I was trying to protect her by going on the lam didn’t sound like a good thing to say. Unfortunately, neither did telling her that my ex-boyfriend was part of a vampire clan whose house I had just escaped from.
I put all that out of my mind and pulled back onto the highway. I still had a ways to go and hoped to find a place to get settled in before I lost the light. As I merged into traffic, I put all my focus on the road. Emotional distractions were a liability I couldn’t afford right now, so inhaling deeply I purposefully exhaled them out.
“Remember who you are, Donnelly,” I muttered as I passed a hundred and twenty miles an hour on the speedometer and zoomed towards the open highway ahead.
A few hours later I pulled off of Interstate 95 in Mystic. It was just a couple of exits before the Rhode Island border, but once you crossed over there wasn’t much for a while except a lot of trees.
Looking for a place to stay, I parked in front of a hotel I’d spotted coming down the exit ramp. It perched on a hill overlooking the exit and a quaint shopping village across the street. High ground, I thought to myself. Always preferable.
The Ferrari drove great, but I was used to my Aveo and immediately got out and stretched my back and shoulders. I guess first class takes a bit of getting used to when you’re a coach frequent flyer. Either that or I was just never meant for that life to begin with, which seemed more likely in my opinion.
From my vantage point here on top of the hill; I could just make out the aquarium down the road. I had fond memories of that place. My family had taken my brother and I there numerous times when I was younger. It had also been a popular destination for field trips when I was in grade school. Of course, back then half the excitement had been the ferry ride over from Long Island. I loved boats. Maybe I should steal a sailboat and sail away for a while. That would be nice, almost like a vacation. Besides, I had to imagine I’d be harder to track over water than on land. It was a thought anyway.
I went inside and got a room, again being careful not to use my credit card. When I handed the cash over, the desk clerk gave me something of a dirty look like no one paid cash anymore. I guess maybe people didn’t much these days, but I was raised to always have plenty of cash on hand for emergencies. I’m just not sure this was what my father had in mind when he used to say that.
After getting my key, I pulled the Ferrari around back where it would be hidden from the view of passing traffic, but still within sight of my window. Before heading up to my room, I walked over to the convenience store across the street and picked up something quick to eat, then went up to my room to settle in for the night and decide what was to be done next.
I sat on the bed and looked at the sandwich I’d bought but couldn’t stomach food. Instead I put it in the mini-fridge and curled up in a ball on my side. I still couldn’t understand. I really thought he’d loved me. How could I have been so wrong?
Maybe he did, maybe it was all a misunderstanding.
No, the kiss I saw was no misunderstanding. Even if Lucy did kiss him, he didn’t exactly push her away, he’d received her kiss. I’d seen it with my own eyes. No, it wasn’t as steamy a kiss as ours had been, but it definitely wasn’t a brother sister kiss either.
There in the darkness of my hotel room, the tears finally came. I didn’t try to stop them; I didn’t have the strength left in me to even try.
“Oh, Daniel.” I heard through my choked sobs into the pillow. It kept repeating in my head and in my heart over and over again. How was I supposed to let him go?
Time passed, an hour or two I think. It hurt in my soul but somehow it felt a little better now that I wasn’t repressing it as I had been since I’d discovered the truth.
When the tears finally stopped, I crawled under the covers and texted my mother a quick hello so she wouldn’t call the phone in my room at NPU looking for me. The last thing I wanted was for Darcy and her to compare notes. Right after I hit send, the phone rang in my hand. I instinctually answered it, cursing myself right after I said hello for being so stupid.
“I didn’t see you today. I was hoping I would.”
It was Ben. The sound of his voice was like a balm on my soul. I hadn’t realized how out of control I’d felt until I heard his tranquil voice pulling me back to my safe place.
“I’m so glad it’s you,” I said thankfully.
“Not that I’m not gratified to hear that but who did you think it would be?”
“I’ve just … had a bad day is all.”
“You sound exhausted. Where are you? I went by your room, but no one answered the door.”
“I left town for a bit. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but it came up kind of suddenly. – I may be gone for a while.”
“Is everything alright?” he asked, sounding alarmed.
“It will be – I hope. Look I don’t really want to talk about it if that’s alright. Do me a favor?”
“Anything, Sara.”
“I’m going to lie down. Can you just talk until I fall asleep?”
He paused and then started to tell me about his day. He talked about the research he’d done on our project, of how Professor Walker hadn’t shown up for class today and how terrible a substitute Rodney was along with other odds and ends that had happened over the past few days.
“Sara, are you still awake?”
I mumbled a response.
“Please be careful,” was the last thing I remember him saying before I lost my battle with unconsciousness.
When I woke it was still early. Needing to hear noise, I switched the television on for company then went in to take a shower. As I pulled off my shirt, I examined myself. My black and blues were only faintly visible now and my shoulder, while still a little sore, probably wouldn’t even be noticeable by the end of the day. I’d never have admitted it to Thomas, but he’d been right. If past experiences held true, I’d probably torn something in there and not simply popped it out of joint. But I could never admit it to them the same way I couldn’t tell them how quickly I healed from almost any injury.
I washed my hair and toweled it dry while watching one of the morning shows. After a while, I got up and turned it off. They were always a little too cheery at this hour of the morning for my tastes.
Pulling back the drapes, I looked out the window at the cloudless morning. Daniel’s car was still where I’d parked it yesterday. I’m guessing he hadn’t reported it stolen. I half wondered if he would. It would be one
way for him to track me down if he hadn’t been able to follow me himself. Since he hadn’t been sitting in the chair over in the corner of the room when I’d woken up, I had to assume he wasn’t able to yet. Was he even trying? Maybe he’d moved on already.
If he really wanted to find me, I had the feeling he probably could, but that didn’t mean I was going to make it any easier for him or the others. All things considered, I had to think it was for the best if I never saw him again. Of course, that was the logical side of my brain thinking. My heart, however, ached far too much to even consider that as a possibility.
Eager to leave, I quickly dressed and headed down to the car where I dropped my duffle in the passenger seat. When I closed the door, my stomach started to growl so I walked over to the lobby and sat down to have breakfast before heading over to Hopkinton.
As I pretended to read the newspaper, I watched the movements of people in and out of the lobby. At the same time, I also kept an eye out the front windows to see who was coming and going while I picked at the waffles on my plate. I half expected to see Daniel or my shadowy hunter stride through the front doors, black cloak flowing behind him as he strolled up to the desk and asked for me.
In my head, I heard his raspy voice saying ‘Stupid girl’ over and over again. If the New Paltz vampires were to be believed, he’d been watching me for a while now. Maybe the schnapps wasn’t the only thing he’d been talking about.
I knew I had to find a good place to lay low for a few days until I figured out what to do next. The question was, where? If only I knew what the hunter was up to. Had Professor Walker and the others gotten rid of him? After I left town had they even bothered to try? I wondered if they’d figured – I was gone now, so the problem was solved since no blood would be spilt on their territory. It bothered me to think they would react that way – that anyone could be so callous about human life. But they weren’t human, and I wasn’t sure how they would react to anything really. I knew they were probably glad I wasn’t around anymore to stink up the house, but how far would that reaction extend? Thomas and Lily seemed like nice – vampires, like people I would have been friends with under different circumstances. Was the kindness I saw in their eyes just a layer to be peeled away to reveal their true personalities? I hoped not.
And Daniel. I didn’t know what to feel when it came to him. I passionately loved the Daniel I’d known, but now he seemed like a person who’d never existed at all. He’d been a figment of my over active imagination, one that had pretended to love me for some sense of amusement while he waited until he could be with Lucy again.
It might have been easier if my rival had been Lily, who was a kind soul. I would have understood him preferring her over me. But Lucy? No, she was spiteful and vindictive, not the one any woman wants to be replaced with. Yet he chose her over me and that alone spoke volumes about his character.
I turned my mind back to the problem at hand; that I needed a place to hide that was secluded and private. I thought of a few places I was familiar with, but none that I could be sure I wouldn’t be discovered at eventually. After a while I decided I’d just drive around and see if I got any ideas once I got off the highway in Hopkinton.
I definitely have to hide this car quickly, I thought as I backed out of the parking space and noticed two guys standing about twenty yards away, eyeing the black Ferrari with envy. As I’d told Daniel before, it wasn’t the best car if you were trying to hide in a crowd. Ironically in this instance, I think I’d picked it for the same reason he had. It was the fastest I could find at the time.
I was on Interstate 95 for less than fifteen minutes when I started up the rise of Pendleton Hill, the last rise before the descent down to the state line. After passing the 0.6 mile marker, I got off at Exit One in Hopkinton, Rhode Island, my ancestral home for about four hundred years or so. That is until my mother left to marry my father and moved to Wading River.
I’d always thought they should have called this hill on the Rhode Island side of the valley Wells Hill after our family. Most of the land it stood on had belonged to my family at some point over the last four hundred years. It wasn’t much of a hill anyway, just a slight reprieve before it started to tumble down into the Tomaquag Valley back behind Diamond Hill Road.
As I turned left onto Route Three in Hopkinton, the only thing visible at the bottom of the exit were trees and more trees. I headed south towards Ashaway and Westerly, driving past familiar landmarks of my youth, the fire house, Crandall Field and the church to name a few.
All of a sudden I felt myself breathing easier. For some reason this little hamlet always felt like home whenever I found myself here. I just found something reassuring about being in a place where my family had lived since the 1600’s. As one of the original founding families of the town, we’d owned pretty much all of the land I’d just driven over at one time or another, though sadly we didn’t own any of it now.
As I was about to turn into picturesque downtown Westerly, I thought twice about it. Daniel’s Ferrari would draw too much attention on its crowded streets so I did a U-turn and decided to drive north of 95. I knew there was an old boy scout camp up there that might be deserted this time of year. I wished I was a good camper. I was sure you could disappear in these woods for a long time if you wanted to, but I’m the first to admit I don’t do tents well. I’d much rather sleep as God intended, in a bed, under a roof, and as far away from insects, reptiles or any other woodland creature as possible.
I was about a mile south of 95 when I passed an almost hidden dirt lane with a padlocked chain link fence across it. I vaguely remembered my cousin taking me up there some years back to see an old family house built back before the revolutionary war. It was a beautiful old home that people had lived in up until just a few years back. I recalled my mother telling me a while ago that the house had been bought by some investor from out of state and had been sitting vacant ever since.
On a whim, I pulled over and parked off to the side of the road and walked back to the gate. There were no tire tracks either in front or behind the gate that I could see and no footprints either. I turned the lock over in my hand. It was starting to rust over. Peering through the chain link, I looked up as far as the trees and curving roadway beyond would allow. Thankfully I didn’t see any signs that anyone had been up there for some time.
Heading back to the car, I quickly pulled back onto the road and headed north on Route Three towards a nearby market up in the village of Hope Valley. I picked up some food and supplies, enough to get me by for a few days, but not enough to look suspicious to the clerk. After that I drove down to the edge of town and stopped at Ma & Pa’s market to pick up the rest of the items I wanted, then walked across the street to the RUE Outfitters to purchase some camping gear.
Hopefully I wouldn’t need anything else, as after I filled up the car with gas, I was just about out of cash. Seeing no traffic on the road, I pulled over in the turn out in front of the gate. After making sure the coast was clear, I walked up to the gate, took the lock in one hand and pulling a couple of metal picks out of the back pocket of my jeans with my other, went to work. This was one of those skills I didn’t get to use very often and was hoping I wasn’t as rusty at it as the lock was. After a minute of fiddling, it reluctantly popped open, allowing me to lift the chain away and push the gate back.
After quickly pulling the car far enough up the driveway that it couldn’t be seen by passing motorists, I used a branch to sweep away any tracks I’d left visible from the road then ran back and re-chained the gate. Thankfully I was pretty sure no one had seen me.
The driveway was about a third of a mile of switch backing twisty turns up a rocky hill to the house. The stately home sat in a clearing of tall grasses with a rock wall running along the edge of the front lawn, separating it from some fields and pasture to the right as you drove up. The house was two stories with a high roof, brown wooden shingles and bright white trim on the windows and doors. Even though it had been sitt
ing vacant for some time now, it still looked like an inviting home nestled among the tall sheltering oak and maple trees. It wasn’t the only structure resting on top of the hill. In the back were a series of barns ranging from small to very large in varying degrees of age and deterioration.
After pulling the car around the back of the house, I deposited my duffle bag and supplies on the back porch before opening up one of the dilapidated barns to find room to hide Daniel’s car. Just inside the barn door I found an old canvas tarp piled up in a heap. After shaking the many layers of dust off, I used it to cover the Ferrari once I’d safely parked it inside the barn. The barn was filthy and who knew what was living in there. Hopefully they wouldn’t find a way to take up residence on the fancy leather upholstery. Daniel’s car was in the same shape that I’d – well, stolen it in and I wanted to return it in the same condition if at all possible. Well, at least have him find it that way. I had no intention of personally handing the keys back to him.
Straining my shoulder, I pulled the huge barn door closed and turned back towards the house. It really was beautiful up here. You could almost have believed you were back in the 1700’s if it wasn’t for the slightly more modern addition on the far side of the house.
As I walked across the back yard, I heard nothing but peaceful silence punctuated by the songs of a mockingbird in a nearby tree. Interstate 95 wasn’t more than a mile or so north of here so I was surprised I didn’t hear the sounds of passing traffic.
Relieved and anxious at the same time, I walked across the yard and onto the covered back porch. When I stopped in front of the door, I pulled out my picks again and carefully unlocked it. Shaking my head, all I could think was Boy, these people really need to install some kind of security system. I chuckled at my thought. It wasn’t like I couldn’t get around those as well. As I turned the knob and slowly pushed the door open, its rusty hinges protested the intrusion by giving an ominous creak.
The Purity of Blood: Volume I Page 39