Angus seated himself on the side of the bed just as Rachel’s eyes fluttered open. Her neck was now healed and she was coming back to life. Groaning and trembling in great pain as she did. Taking her head in his hands and forcing her eyes to meet those of her clan leader he said in his stern commanding tone, “Be still. In your mind and in your body…be still child.”
Rachel settled down, laying with her head on the pillow. With expressionless eyes she stared at the ceiling. “Gavin,” he said, “tell me everything you saw and leave nothing out.” Gavin swallowed hard knowing there was a big chunk of it he had to leave out, largely the fact that Ian had been dug up and was sitting in his kitchen right now.
“I took her from them. She was screaming and I had to break her neck to get her back here. Angus, Holly said her blood is unclean and we need to induce a fever. How do we do that?”
“I’ve never heard of a vampire even having a fever let alone have one induced on purpose. How was she behaving?”
“She was docile, it was like she didn’t even recognize me. She sat with the leader and was totally obedient.”
“And she fed from her? Did the others feed from her as well? Were any of the others acting this way?”
“No, they all seemed relatively normal. Everyone fed but only Rachel was in this state.”
“That sounds more like hording. It’s supposed to induce obedience and dependence but not in this way. The goal is to make them think they are in control of what they take from you but they really are not. Whatever the queen of that horde did to her is not something I’m familiar with. If she was a regular blood addicted vampire she’d be ok for a bit until she needed a hit again which wouldn’t be for another three or four days. If she fed just a few hours ago she shouldn’t need to feed right now, but she’s starving, I can see it.”
Gavin immediately sat down on the opposite side of her and opened his wrist, placing it just above her lips. Rachel instinctively opened her mouth to catch the drops on her tongue as the wound began to close, but as soon as they came into contact with her tongue she began retching. She was spitting and shrieking like someone had just given her a drop of poison to taste. Gavin’s heart wrenched as Angus compelled her to be still again. He wiped the tears from her cheeks as they fell quietly. If he couldn’t do something as basic as feed her how was he supposed to save her?
“How long do you think she has?” he said.
“It’s difficult to say. I’m not even sure what’s going on. I’ll have to consult my books. In the meantime between all of us I think we can at least keep her comfortable.”
“Do that,” he said heading for the door.
John grabbed his son by the arm and turned him back around just before his hand hit the knob. “Where are you going?”
“To get her father.”
“What?” his mother said, turning a slightly whiter shade of pale than she already was. Suddenly everyone looked very uncomfortable.
“How did you find out? Who told you?” Angus said quietly.
“Not the people who should have.”
“Gavin,” his father said, now seeming to panic. “I don’t like the idea of that. He’s unpredictable. He might decide to help you, but he might decide on a whim to kill you. I think you should stay here until we can figure this out.”
“Dad, there might not be time for that. And besides, if she can’t be helped I’m doomed anyway. Look at Holly. You want me to end up like that? I’m not going to just stand here and let time run out. I’m going to get Duncan and I’ll bring him back or die trying.”
Chapter Nine
“Let’s go,” Gavin said to Ian as he burst through the door.
“Go get Duncan? You better let me go alone. I’ll bring him back.”
“Not a chance,” he said, taking the car keys out of his pocket and motioning to the car. “We have to hurry. Holly said…”
“Said what?”
“She said Rachel is dying. She tasted her blood and said we have to induce a fever.”
Ian was silent for a long moment. “Be faster if we run.”
***
The journey to Kelly’s Mountain took about an hour of running full out. As they ventured through the woods at a speed faster than could be seen by human eyes, snow kicked up and swirled at every turn. At times there was so much that it simply looked as if they were running in an all-out snowstorm. On the contrary, the night was quiet and still. The early winter air that would normally make for a peaceful and calm interlude was more like a weight on Gavin’s chest. As he thought about Rachel he ran faster still, desperate to get to Duncan, but unsure of what he’d say to him when he arrived.
Finally they reached the spot they were looking for. Duncan’s tiny cabin stood just as it had on the day he was here with Rachel, only now at night, it looked more menacing. The tiny window to the right of the yellow door was lit up by a small flicker of what Gavin presumed to be candle light and he and Ian looked at each other for a brief moment before walking up to the residence to knock.
Gavin was about to stretch out his hand when he felt himself being knocked to the ground, something as heavy as a truck laying over his body. “Well, well, well. You two have a lot of balls showing up here, I’ll give you that.” Gavin turned his head to see Ian on the ground next to him, Duncan pinning him down with one hand as well.
“You killed her and now you’ve come to kill me, have you?”
“Kill you? No! And I didn’t kill Rachel either.”
“Ah save me your horseshit creature talker. Rachel told me you tried to kill her. Looked me square in the eyes and said so. Bad enough she’s dead, but you’re calling her a liar too?”
Duncan’s eyes blazed with anger as he pressed Gavin’s body down even harder, forcing an imprint in the ground. “No, she didn’t lie to you,” he winced.
“So you did try to kill her then. And you think you’re smart trying to kill old Duncan Archie? Good luck to you. Better vampires have tried.”
“Duncan!” Ian screamed. Rachel’s not dead but she will be soon if you don’t come with us.”
“I don’t know what kind of nasty trick you’re trying to pull but I know she’s dead. I felt the moment she went away.” Duncan’s eyes reddened. “I felt her spirit go, just like my poor sweet Phillipine. She’s gone, it’s cruel of you to say she’s not.”
Duncan reached out with his long bony fingers, grabbing both of them by the throat, one in each hand. Gavin was choking and trying to talk at the same time. “Fever,” he sputtered. “We need to induce a fever to save her. Please…Duncan…please come if you can help her.”
All at once Duncan let go. A look of horror overcame him and Gavin knew now that he believed them. “A fever?” he said, looking directly at Ian. “No, that can’t be. Not again.”
“It is. You have to come, Duncan. She needs you.”
“I can’t. No, not again, not again,” he kept repeating the words over and over, rubbing his forehead in anguish as he did. “I can’t watch it happen. I can’t watch again,” he muttered under his breath.
“If you want to see her you need to come now,” Ian said. “You’ll regret it if you don’t.”
“Wait,” Gavin interjected. “Are you saying he can’t help her? That he doesn’t know how? Duncan that’s not what you’re saying is it. Please tell me you know what to do.”
Duncan slumped to the ground next to them, burying his head in his hands. “I cannot help her. Would that I could boy, would that I could.” His demeanor changed just then and he stood, helping both Gavin and Ian up as he did. “But I can be with her. I can help ease her from one life to the next. Take me to her. I want to taste her blood for myself.”
***
Gavin escorted Duncan onto the sanctuary grounds and showed him to Rachel’s room. With a heavy heart he opened the door to her quarters to find everyone, except his mother and Holly, gathered around her. Angus was sitting at the table in the dining area with just about every book he owned opened, pouri
ng through them with immense concentration. He looked up at Duncan as he entered. “I don’t know what to do for her,” he said to him.
“If it’s what I suspect there is nothing you can do.”
Duncan took a place next to her on the bed and Angus got up to see what was going to happen. Rachel was laying quietly, staring at the ceiling as if catatonic. She didn’t acknowledge anyone or even flinch when he sat down. Duncan whispered a few words in Gaelic that Gavin couldn’t quite make out as he brushed her hair from her face, kissing her tenderly on the cheek. Then, quickly and efficiently he released his fangs striking the exposed flesh of her forearm. He bit hard and sucked in a large mouthful of his daughter’s blood, holding it in his mouth for a moment before spitting it on the floor beside him in disgust. He wiped his chin with his sleeve and turned to face everyone else.
“There’s nothing to be done.”
As old as Duncan was and as much as he knew, Gavin refused to believe that all hope was lost. “Why the hell not? What is going on here? Would somebody please explain to me how and why this is happening? No more secrets, please, I’m sick of it.”
“She is poisoned creature talker. Poisoned by the same demon that took her mother from me. Her spirit is already gone. She’s not there. Only her body. My child,” he said turning back to her, taking her hand in his and kissing it. “My poor, poor child. I should have kept you with me instead of letting you go. I asked you to come to me in times of trouble, but it was me who should have been coming to you. Forgive me,” he whispered, tears beginning to fall.
“Duncan, Holly said if we can induce a fever that it might cleanse the blood. That she might get better. How do we do that? You have to know,” he demanded through clenched teeth.
“There’s no way to do it. It’s simply not possible for a vampire.” Just then he licked his lips and as he did a tiny drop of the blood graced his tongue causing a peculiar look in his eye. “Oh no,” he said. “It can’t be.” Duncan pulled back the covers, pressing his hands gently to her stomach and the tiny but now visible protrusion of the new life within her. “Gavin, is she with child?”
That was the catalyst that had set this whole series of events in motion as far as he was concerned. He had resolved to kill Aries and now if Rachel was going to die he’d have to find him and do it fast before the same sickness that had claimed his sister would strike him down as well. “She is.”
“Just the same as her mother was when it happened. The cruelty of it all,” he said, squeezing her hand ever tighter. “She shouldn’t even be full blooded enough. How happy and surprised you must have been. Did you know she was able to conceive?”
The room fell into an awkward silence, nobody wanting to say a word. Everyone except Duncan knew what had transpired, but Gavin was loathe to say it out loud and so instead, he turned away.
John came toward Gavin, gently placing his hand on his shoulder as he spoke. “I’m afraid Gavin didn’t father the child, Duncan.”
“I see. Must have been that other little prick,” he said, his accent and voice becoming harder and more pronounced. “He’s a rat bastard. Not that it matters now. The poor babe,” he said.
“Duncan, I’m afraid it’s not Ian’s baby either.”
Gavin turned around to see a stunned Duncan staring a hole right through him. “What in the name of the devil happened then?”
“She did it to save me. She asked Aries to find me and bring me home when I was missing. He did and this is what he wanted in return.”
Duncan’s eyes lit up all of a sudden. “You’re telling me that this child she carries is the child of a satyr?” Gavin nodded, unable to find any words as he reeled in his disgust and grief.
Duncan crossed the room grabbing him sternly by the shoulders. “Do you know where to find him?”
“I’ve been looking, but he’s gone into hiding. Trust me, when I find him he’ll wish I hadn’t.”
“Listen to me and listen well. There’s a chance we might save her.”
“How?”
“You’re not going to like it.”
“I don’t care what it is. I’ll do anything. What is it?”
“We need to find that beast and get him in here. I know how much you must hate him boy, but he might be the only thing that can save her now.”
Gavin clenched his fists so hard that his nails embedded themselves into his palms, drawing blood. “How can he help her? He’s responsible for all of this in the first place.”
“She’s still human enough to have a human reaction to him. If he can get close to her he might be able to induce that fever she needs. When the boys transition they have a wretched fever first. Perhaps he knows some way to induce it in the mother.”
“You’re saying he has to…”
“No, no not that! Just being near her should be enough.”
“You’re right I don’t like it, but I’m desperate. I can’t live without her.”
“Good. Then screw up your courage and also your patience. I know you want to kill him, but you can’t. At least not yet.”
Chapter Ten
Gavin and Duncan came to the edge of the sanctuary grounds and taking Duncan’s hand, escorted him back outside. “I used to run into him just up ahead, but he’s not coming out anymore. I haven’t even seen much of the others. Only some young ones.”
“He’s scared of you then alright. We don’t need him directly. If we see any of the others we can capture them and have him lead us to Aries.”
“True,” Gavin said, walking onward. They walked for at least half an hour before Gavin threw his hands up in frustration. “What if we don’t find him?”
“Then truly, Rachel’s no worse off than she is now. We may lose her in the end even if he does come back with us.”
“All of this is his fault. This wouldn’t be happening if…” Then Gavin felt a pang of guilt. “No, it’s my fault. I shouldn’t have let her run off that night. I kept close to her when she went to the city but not close enough. I had to care for Alexander too. I should have done everything differently.” Gavin ran his hands through his mane of curly hair, scowling as he did. “I shouldn’t have turned her in the first place.”
“It was only because you didn’t want to see her suffer. ‘Tis understandable.”
“Duncan, why did you not keep Rachel with you after she was born? Where the hell have you been all these years? Couldn’t you have eased her suffering instead of leaving her alone? She’s your child.”
Duncan lowered his head. “All you say is true. I have failed her too. My own suffering from losing Phillipine was too great. The loss of the bond rendered me helpless. I could barely stand. Once I was well enough I should have come back for her.”
“Phillipine. What was she like? That sounds like a French name.”
Duncan gave a sad smile. “Aye, it was. Dear Phillipine was as French as they come. That’s why I told Ian to give her to a French family. That and I figured she’d be safe there. There’d be no hope of someone down this way turning her. She’d live as a human and hopefully never know. Then she ran into you. I felt her blood rise up the moment she turned. The blood of my blood came into being and I’ve felt her ever since. Until it ceased. It seems she may meet the same end as her mother.”
“Duncan,” Gavin said. “What happened to her?”
“Shortly before Rachel was born, Phillipine began acting differently. She was a feisty woman with a bit of a temper, and then suddenly she became quiet, subdued. She stopped hunting, stopped blood feeding. She began going for long walks alone and one night I followed her. She was feeding from another vampire. I had stopped feeding from her because of the baby but when she came back that night I took a little taste. It was sour and tasted, just wrong somehow. So I restrained her and tried to make her feed on my blood. All it did was make her sick. She was thrashing around, screaming bloody blue murder. It was awful.”
“Who was the vampire she was feeding from?”
“No vampire. A demon who
had taken over the body of a vampire. That’s what they do you see. They use up bodies and when they are about to give out they transfer themselves from one body to the next but they have to prepare the body first by having them drink their poisoned, dirty blood.”
“And this demon was going to transfer itself into Phillipine’s body?”
“Yes. They will inhabit humans too, but of course, easier to sucker a vampire into feeding off you than a human. Once Rachel gets better…or doesn’t…we will have to find this demon and put it down once and for all. At least it won’t overtake Rachel. She’s safe in the sanctuary now.”
“What happened after it took over Phillipine?”
“It wasn’t her anymore. Phillipine ceased to exist and this creature, this thing, tormented her body. She was evil and murderous. I tracked her for a while but lost her. That’s when I called Ian in to help. He’s a good tracker and had cared for Phillipine in the past so I asked him to help. We found out much later on, after some research, that if we’d just been able to induce a fever she’d have come back to us, but of course with a vampire that’s impossible.”
“If he helped you why do you hate him so much?”
“Because, creature talker, I can read minds. I can read his filthy thoughts. He wanted to steal her away from me. He was in love with her, he wanted her for himself. Phillipine didn’t want him though. She was too good for him, but when we captured her and held her in that little house I could hear every one of his disgusting thoughts. He even considered blood influencing her to get her to leave me, if she would have gotten better that is. He’s nothing but pure selfish.”
The Vampires of Soldiers Cove: The Unborn Page 14