A loud hissing noise filled the room and a smell, like that of sulfur, filled the air. Green smoke began to rise from Christina’s body as she began to disintegrate, right into Ian’s skin. She was gaining her access to his body by way of his pores.
Ian began convulsing and contorting underneath her, bending and twisting at unbelievable angles as the popping noise of bone breaking and shattering rang out. Suddenly Christina was all gone, and only Ian was left, alone and naked on the floor covered in a green film and screaming in anguish. He was suffering and I wanted right then and there to jump up and end it for him. I moved forward but Duncan touched my arm. “Not yet,” he said.
Ian rolled over on his side, continuing to scream, clutching his stomach as hot tears streamed down his face. He suffered in a way I had never seen anyone suffer before, and it went on for what seemed like a very long time.
As we continued to watch in horror I couldn’t help think of Phillipine, my mother, and how she had suffered. Duncan simply turned his head away. “It will all be over soon, child,” he said, reaching out to squeeze my hand.
Ian’s screaming settled into a moan and then a few moments later he grew quiet, as if sleeping. “Get ready,” Duncan said. We went to Ian and Duncan held his arms over his head, pinning them. “The transformation won’t be complete until he wakes up. The moment he opens his eyes you have to strike. Don’t hesitate, just do it.”
I nodded. Taking him in one last time I felt my heart breaking. I had loved Ian in his own way. It wasn’t like the love I had for Gavin, but it was a feeling of warmth and comfort. I had given him my heart, and if Gavin would never have returned I most likely would have spent eternity with him. My heart ached for all he was going to lose, especially the opportunity to make things right with Holly. As long as your family is alive and breathing there is a chance to turn things around, but once they are gone the opportunity is forever lost. I stroked his cheek one last time. He looked so peaceful, almost happy.
Then all at once he began to stir. “This is it,” Duncan said. “Steady your hand, child. You will only get one strike. Make it true.”
I raised the stake above Ian’s heart and focused on his eyes. My mind was reeling but my hand was solid as a rock. Ian’s eyes flickered open, as red as the fiery gates of hell, and he looked directly at me with a growl that came from someplace deep inside. Someplace distorted and evil.
“Goodbye Ian,” I said. I brought the stake down onto his chest and drove it through his heart as hard and fast as I could. His fangs emerged and he let out one final scream before his body became grey and hardened like stone, taking on the appearance of a statue for half a second before finally turning to dust.
The grey particles ran through Duncan’s fingers like sand, landing on the floor with a soft whoosh. Both of us just sat there in silence, heads bowed, not knowing what to say.
“We have to take his ashes back,” I said after a time. “I want to bury them properly in the space they laid him in before. That way nobody will ever know.”
Duncan nodded solemnly. “Yes, we should do that.”
“We need to hurry. Joshua will be back any minute.”
“No, he won’t. Trust me, he and all the others who were addicted to Christina’s blood are off getting sick somewhere right now. They’ve got a long hard detox ahead of them, but they’ll survive. Well, most of them.”
I nodded. “Duncan, why did he do this for me?”
“We fall on the sword for those we love, Rachel. We die for them if we have to and we give them up when we have to, even if it means pain and heartbreak, or even death for us. We do it for no other reason than because we love them. He loved you.” Duncan stood and helped me up. Suddenly he embraced me in a way he hadn’t before. As if he was meeting me for the first time after a long absence, and in a sense he was.
His voice breaking he said, “Your mother can finally be at peace now, and so can you.”
I wanted to believe him, but I knew with everything else I still had yet to face that peace was something I may not find for a very long time
Chapter Five
“Let’s get going,” Duncan said.
“Wait. There’s something I need to get before we go.” I headed into the room that had been mine and opened up the top drawer, retrieving the little box that held my wedding and engagement rings and slipped it into my pocket. I also found a beautiful wooden jewellery box in Christina’s room and emptied the contents before scooping up Ian’s ashes and transferring them into it.
We left the complex quickly and quietly. The vampire at the desk was doubled over, retching violently onto the floor.
In the car I stroked the box containing the ashes and thought of Ian as Duncan drove. The sun was beginning to rise as we crossed the Angus L. MacDonald Bridge, and on this cold morning it looked as if smoke was rising off the water. The temperature had dropped below freezing and now with the sun beginning to shine, the light reflected and danced off the harbour. It was going to be a beautiful late autumn day, early December, and as I reached into the glove compartment for my Prada glasses I wished Ian was here to see it. After four hundred years of sunrises and sunsets he would see no more. I hoped that wherever he was, he was at peace. I thought about everyone I loved who was now gone. My parents, my aunt, my mother whom I never had a chance to meet, and grief settled into the pit of my stomach, eating away.
Duncan pressed his hand gently against my shoulder. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I had hoped you’d never find out.”
“Why?”
“I just wanted you to be happy. And I was so miserable after your mother died that I didn’t want to expose you to that. I didn’t want to pass my misery on to you. I had hoped you’d just live a happy life as a normal human, and when that didn’t happen I hoped you’d at least live as a well-adjusted vampire. I did you more harm than good though. Maybe…I don’t know…maybe I was trying to protect you, but then again, maybe I’m just a selfish old bastard. I hope you don’t hate me, Rachel.”
After having run through the list of everyone I’d lost I decided that even though I was upset at having been kept in the dark, hate was not something I could afford. He was here, alive and breathing and he was my father. I was going to make the most of it.
“I don’t hate you at all.” Duncan seemed so relieved he looked as though he might cry. “And I want to know everything,” I said. “I want you to tell me all about my mother, and about you. I want to know you.”
He smiled. “I’ll go you one better girl. Let me take you to the mountain and I’ll show you. Stay with me for a few days.”
I knew exactly what he had in mind. I texted Alexander to see how Gavin was doing. He replied that he was a bit distraught, but was keeping very busy with something. I was happy to hear that and asked him if he could handle things by himself for a couple of days. He assured me he could and with that we turned the car for Kelly’s Mountain.
***
Duncan had been closed off and alone for so long that he didn’t know where to start. We spent the first day and night just talking. “What do you know of Scotland’s history?” he asked me.
“Nothing I’m afraid,” I said. Duncan went to a shelf lined with old leather bound history books. Angus had a similar shelf back at the sanctuary filled with books that had looked ancient to me, and these looked even older than those. He opened one up to a marked page in the center and pointed to a picture.
“You recognize that fella?” There, with the words, ‘Duncan I King of Scotland from 1034 to 1040’, was a drawing of a very familiar man. Younger, but there was no mistaking his identity.
I covered my mouth with one hand and took the book with the other. “Duncan, it’s you. But it says here King Duncan died in 1040.”
“And yet,” he said spreading his hands wide, “here I am.”
“Wait…Duncan, King Duncan as in the King Duncan from Macbeth?”
“Macbeth was an arsehole, and that play is, well, just fucked.”
“Well, he tried. I would have died but I got scooped up by a vampire who had been living undetected among us. He took me away and hid me, but I could never go back of course.” His eyes grew sad.
“If I had known I would have practiced my curtsey.”
This made him laugh. “Oh child, I’m not royalty anymore. It’s nothing more than a pain in the arse anyway. A crown is a dangerous accessory. It means someone is always plotting to kill you. I don’t need that horse manure. I’m too old for that.”
“Where did you go after you were turned?”
“Oh we lived modestly among the people. Once I became a vampire I had no need of money or rank. I only had the need for blood. I didn’t even feel I needed the companionship of anyone else. I broke ties with everyone after a time, even my maker. I was alone, until I met your mother that is.”
“How did you meet her,” I said, gently closing the book. I was curious about his time as a king of course, but this was the story I really wanted to hear.
He took a deep breath and moved to the little love seat, his massive frame filling the other half of it and took my hand. “I want you to see. I think it’s time I showed you. If you want to see that is.”
“Oh yes,” I whispered. “More than anything.”
Duncan’s lips pulled up into a small smile. “Though you’ll never meet her, at least you can get to know her this way, but I warn you. It won’t all be pleasant. Are you ready?”
“I’ll take it however it comes. Show me. I want to see my mother.”
He nodded and closed his eyes, squeezing my hand as he did so. I followed his lead and suddenly I was there with him.
***
Standing on the edge of a riverbank are a large group of Acadians. They’ve broken off from the others and are watching their homes burn from a distance. They talk in French, panic in their voices. I’m watching them as if from above as they flee in the opposite direction, into the woods. I move through the treetops and begin following them, leaping from tree to tree to see where they go. I don’t have any stake in this fight, or desire to help so I’m merely curious and bored as to what these humans are doing. There’s been some kind of commotion between vampires and humans here. Whenever vampires try to come out to humans en masse it’s never good. This mistake has been made here and the humans are running for their lives as they usually end up doing.
One lone girl falls and is separated from the rest as they continue to run. They don’t seem to notice she’s fallen and she tries to get back up, but she’s hurt. A group of British soldiers is coming and they are almost upon her. They’ll see her in a moment if she doesn’t hide. She should be crouching behind a tree at least, but she probably has a broken leg, and can’t move.
Sure enough they spot her and come barreling down the path. One of them grabs her roughly, picking her up. She screams in pain, but spits in their face, cursing in French. The Acadians are such loving and gentle people, but this one is different, she is fiercer and is not going down without a fight. They all gather round shoving her back and forth between them, laughing at her. One of them puts his hand over her mouth, but she opens it a second before he does and bites him. She’s drawn blood. The smell of the blood along with the fight in this woman stirs something primal in me. I feel my eyes darken and suddenly, without thinking, I am on the ground, killing each of the soldiers, vampires, one by one in quick succession.
Her large dark eyes are looking at me in terror as I come toward her. Her head covering has fallen off in the struggle and a mass of curly dark hair is falling down around her shoulders, giving contrast to her pale skin, which is growing paler by the second as she takes in the large vampire stalking toward her.
She puts her hands over her mouth but does not cry. This is the end. She makes the sign of the cross and begins to pray. I stand for a moment watching her, and then pick her up gently. I know of a place I can take her, a place she’ll be safe. I walk with her for only a few moments before she passes out. We come to a small shack that looks like it is falling down and I lay her down on the straw bed, covering her up with a thin blanket. I look around wishing I had something better, but there’s nothing.
I examine her leg and see that it is most definitely broken. Bone is sticking out in two places and there’s nothing I can do for that. If it was just a flesh wound I could heal it, but I can’t heal this. The girl is as good as dead.
Her eyes flutter open and she sees me again. Terror fills her eyes, and yet, she does not scream. “Don’t be afraid,” I tell her in French. “I’m not going to hurt you. Believe me.”
Her eyes soften a bit. I read her thoughts and she knows that if I wanted her dead she’d be dead already. She knows what I am and is horrified but believes me just the same. Her thoughts turn to her family. They are all dead and she is alone. Suddenly the terror is clouded out and she comes to the conclusion that there is no reason to be afraid. Soon she will be dead, soon she will be with them. Her mind is now at peace and she lays back on the bed waiting for her time to come.
“I’m ready to die,” she tells me. “If my maker wills it, I will go with a happy heart.”
I’ve had a long life already and am not ready to die, not by a long shot. I am jealous of my life and guard it by killing anyone who would kill me. I am both moved and confused by her courage. “But you’re so young. Surely there was more you wanted to do. You’ve had such a short life.”
“I would not want to live any longer than right now if I am to live my life alone. Life is nothing without someone for you to love and to be loved in return.”
The truth of her words shock me. I have been alone for so long that I didn’t realize the extent of the despair it was causing me until I heard her speak it. She is beautiful, she is brave. I want her to be mine. “I will die tonight,” she says. “That is my destiny.”
“No!” I say sternly. “You will not die tonight.” My decision is made and my fangs release in a quick snap. She jumps. “What is your name?”
“Phillipine,” she says, her chest rising and falling hard as her fear returns. There is something else though, the smell of excitement grows in her as well.
“It is not your death that is destiny tonight, dear Phillipine. It is me. I am your destiny.”
Phillipine flushes and touches my cheek. “If that is so, then strike me fast and make me what you are. If my makers wills it so, I am accepting of my fate.”
“Now and forever you have but one maker…that maker is me.”
Phillipine understands and tilts her head back, her neck exposed to me she breathes harder still, clenching her teeth in anticipation of the bite. I strike and feel her stiffen underneath me. With a small whimper she goes unconscious and I listen continuing to drink. Her blood is so rich and sweet, and I know she is meant for me. She was born for me, born to this life and to be mine.
I give her my wrist as her heart stops and she springs to life moments later, drinking from me, bearing down and taking my life force into her. I have never turned anyone and this feeling that is taking over now is so raw, so intimate that it frightens me, causing me to tremble. Soon she has had enough and drops into her transforming sleep. I am weak and need sleep myself. I wrap my arms around her and draw her close to me, feeling her body start to change already. I am so close to her, closer than anyone I have ever been in contact with and I know that even though we have just met, Phillipine has changed my entire world.
We wake up together three days later when her transformation is complete. We say nothing to each other, no words are needed. We stare into each other’s eyes in silent understanding and then I kiss her. Sweetly at first, but soon passionately, and then roughly. We make love without so much as a word. Talk is unnecessary, we are bonded, we are one.
Flashes of the next few hundred years pass before me and I see only snippets of time. The only emotion I feel here is joy. The joy of being with her as we travel the world together. We hunt, we run, we ma
ke love. We are whole and complete. And then the sadness comes. Not my own, but Phillipine’s
She is longing for a child. In as long as we’ve been together it is the one thing we haven’t done, and Phillipine is in her fertile time. I have been dragging my heels, believing that the world is an unsafe place. We don’t belong to a clan, preferring to be alone with each other and so we have no protection to offer a tiny vulnerable human. We are familiar with them and have contact with them as need be, but mostly we keep to ourselves, here on our mountain in our little house. Simplicity is comforting to us. Besides, Phillipine is beautiful and I prefer to keep her all to myself. Other men have tried to steal her away, and right now there is one from Soldiers Cove who has been sniffing around. He’s in exile, he’s supposed to be in Africa but he comes back periodically and visits the island, not being able to stay away for too long. He’s a good storyteller and Phillipine likes to listen to him talk. He wants her, he fanaticises about her. He doesn’t know that I can hear every disgusting word in his head. He knows I hate him but doesn’t know why.
But now Phillipine wants more, and she has been such a good companion to me. She is my world and I want more than anything to make her happy. I agree and feel the warmth flowing through her. She is happy again. We make love and then sometime later she is telling me the good news. She comes to me with her dark eyes, all lit up as if she had been touched by god himself and lets me know she is pregnant. I have never seen her more beautiful than at this moment. To my surprise I am thrilled as well. Maybe now that other vampire will back off a bit too.
A few months go by. Ian’s visits have become sporadic. He’s roaming the mountain by himself, killing game and drinking from the odd tourist. As long as he stays at arm’s length I am happy. Phillipine’s belly grows and she looks down smiling at it. I come over and touch it, feeling the life move within her. “It will soon be time,” she tells me. “A few more weeks.”
The Vampires of Soldiers Cove: The Unborn Page 19