by Karen Payton
Rebekah could still remember falling asleep to the low rumble of the hushed conversations lasting long into the night.
Harry’s foresight saved twelve men and four women when they took the decision to move out. Rebekah, three-year-old Leizle, and two-year-old Thomas were the only children. Harry had taken some persuading on that, but Leizle and Thomas’ father was a structural engineer. He convinced Harry that building a long-term underground habitat relied on his expertise, but then early on in the construction work, he died suddenly of a burst appendix.
As a result, Rebekah found she had others who needed her. Rebekah and Leizle explored their strange new existence together and became surrogate sisters, sharing the responsibility of tag-along baby Thomas.
Relationships evolved; each community member rose to the top and carved their place in the order of things. Greg’s military background took him outside the eco-town more than the others, and he became their eyes and ears, impressing upon them the dangers they all faced. The challenge of keeping the children quiet fell upon the shoulders of George, the oldest man the childhood Rebekah had ever seen. But he could spin a demon tale and had the children in the palm of his hand for hours at a time. Even now, thinking of George, and the way his eyes, embedded in a walnut-like complexion, lit up as he wove a world of fantasy brought a glow to Rebekah’s heart.
Rebekah remembered the buzz of excitement when Uncle Harry brought a box of old library books into the meeting cavern one time, and an evening reading routine quickly evolved. For all of us, adults included, it was glorious escapism. Uncle Harry regularly read from one book, ‘The Day of the Triffids’ by John Wyndham; no one could accuse Uncle Harry of being an optimist. The message was clear; do not think for one moment that the human race will ever be in ascendance again. Vampires are here to stay, and the best we can hope for is to survive. As depressing as the warnings sounded, over a decade later, Harry had been proven right, leaving Rebekah better equipped to deal with the new order as a result. Until now.
Now, meeting her first vampire had upended her preconceptions. As she reluctantly rose from the bath. The water she sluiced from her hair ran down her neck, and the downpour in the meadow replayed in her mind, bringing with it an image of Connor’s face.
Stepping out onto the tiled floor of the bathing area, Rebekah inspected the rose-tinted marks on her skin. Taking a deep breath, she savored the feeling of tenderness inside her belly, the soreness between her thighs a tangible reminder of what her heart already knew, she was Connor’s woman.
Rebekah had always thought of the eco-town as home, but now, she felt something she had never felt before, the hollow ache of defeat. She missed Connor.
Feeling as though she was walking the plank, an hour later, she entered the spacious dining cavern, the second largest in the eco-town’s chain of caves, which had slowly grown longer over the years. Now, it was all about maintenance.
She waved at three men seated at the far table and made her way over to Leizle. The sight of the younger girl’s hunched shoulders stabbed guilt through Rebekah. She’s been waiting. Rebekah had eaten in her den, and she ruefully acknowledged the pain in her chest was indigestion. Even though it was her personal space, Douglas was not beyond paying her a visit. Eating on a stomach knotted with tension was a bad idea. There was safety in numbers, and she realized that eating here, with Leizle, might have saved them both some anxiety.
Rebekah slipped onto the polished wooden bench opposite Leizle and waited for the interrogation to begin.
“You’re back.” Leizle beamed, bouncing in her seat as she pushed away her plate. “What happened? I was so worried. We all were. Tell me what happened.”
Rebekah stared at the cavern wall, pretending to study the mosaic of rocks covering its surface which, like keystones in an arch, gave the structure incredible strength. “Is that a damp patch there?” she teased. “What do you think?”
Leizle snorted and said, “You’re not going anywhere until you tell me. So, you might as well spill.”
As she digested the ‘not going anywhere’ notion, Rebekah’s pretense at being cheerful dimmed, and the faint buzz of the electricity generator irritated her for the first time. Although, the glow cast by the flickering bulkhead lamp picked out cheerful copper-bright threads in Leizle’s long chestnut hair, and the aura of happiness surrounding the younger girl was hard to resist. Some of Leizle’s warmth penetrated. So, I’m happy to see Leizle, at least. Rebekah indulgently watched the girl plant her elbows on the table and lean closer.
Her green eyes were keen as she said, “I’m glad you’re back, but look at this. I’d stopped too, but now, down to the quick again.” Leizle scowled, holding out chewed fingernails for Rebekah to see. “I blame you. Don’t ever scare me like that again.” She held on to a cross face for a moment, and then her frown gave way to a luminous smile she couldn’t suppress.
“I promise I’ll be more careful in future.” Rebekah could tell by the look in Leizle’s eyes that her own smile was not convincing.
Before the questions she saw forming in Leizle’s mind found a voice, Rebekah quickly launched into her tale. A version of it, at least. She repeated the details she had already shared, but, even from Leizle, she kept Connor a secret.
“So, that was a stroke of luck, finding a car with some gas.” Leizle’s tone was flat. Hungry for drama, she could not hide her disappointment that Rebekah’s adventure was woefully dull.
Rebekah pasted a wry grin on her face, “Sitting here, running out of gas may not seem very dramatic, but it certainly felt like the end of my world.”
“Of course.” Leizle reached across the table and squeezed Rebekah’s shoulders. “It must have been terrifying out there alone. But you made it, and that’s all that matters,” she said firmly.
Rebekah swallowed a sigh. It’s not all that matters, not any more. Saying his name out loud felt like admitting she would never see him again and she was not ready to let that thought in. She set her chin. Maybe, our paths are destined to cross once more. Who knows?
“Leizle, leave Rebekah in peace, I’m sure she must be tired.” Douglas’ voice oozed practiced concern, and ice filled Rebekah’s belly.
He had crept up on them, he was good at that.
Leizle’s encouraging smile melted as she rose quickly and left.
Rebekah felt relieved. I’m glad she sees through him, too. Both girls had talked about Douglas, of course, but knowing and feeling were different things. It was feeling that would keep Leizle safe. It was the sixth sense thing where a woman detected danger before it was too late. If you didn’t have it, you couldn’t learn it. Thank goodness, Leizle has it.
Douglas sat down on the empty bench opposite Rebekah and settled his oppressive, ash-gray gaze on her face. Her skin prickled when she realized they were alone. Lifting her chin, she met his stare head-on with a look of blank inquiry. She could not help but notice the yellowed light which brought warmth to Leizle, made Douglas’ doughy complexion appear jaundiced.
Hooking a strand of damp hair behind her ear, Rebekah folded her hands on the table and waited. Though she had bathed and eaten, instead of feeling back to her old self, she felt abandoned. She scolded herself for that thought. He may have woken up my heart, but Connor is not to blame for this. Douglas’ face melted out of focus as her mind wandered, and when he reached across the table and gripped her fingers she registered it too late.
A frown folded his slack features as Douglas pulled her hand closer, pushing up her sleeve to inspect the purpling bruises on her arm.
“What’s this?” he asked quietly.
She tugged her arm away. “It’s nothing. I fell, stumbling across the fields. It was nothing.”
“Mmm.” Douglas looked into her eyes, narrowing his gaze. “They look like fingerprints to me. Well, Rebekah?” He jerked to his feet, stepping out around the table and pulling her up with him. His hand spanned her back, cutting off her retreat. He jerked her closer. “Are there any other marks
hiding under this?” he asked, grabbing a fistful of her sweater and yanking at it.
Fighting to hold the fabric in place, Rebekah glared. Connor’s ‘love bites’ on her skin seemed larger and more succulent when the sudden surge of anxiety made them throb. Fighting back her panic, she pulled away, and flushed with anger, she muttered, “Leave me alone.”
The moment Douglas’ glance over her shoulder locked onto the cavern doorway, Rebekah instantly knew why. His breath hissed sharply through his teeth and his hands fell away.
Chapter 10
Connor remained in the shade of the trees long after Rebekah disappeared, contemplating the undulating swells of the South Downs of Kent which appeared to be untouched by human hand. When he had watched her progress through the grass, even from hundreds of yards out, he noticed her worried frown. He almost pleaded with her to stay with him, but to what avail? The danger is too great. But I wouldn’t change a moment of the journey that led us here, to this.
In their final embrace, when he took in a final deep draft of her scent, it grated over his throat, desiccating it one moment and choking him with venom the next. But he enjoyed suffering it. It reminded me I’m not as dead as I always thought.
He did not say half of the things he had wanted to. It would only have made letting her go harder. She could not stay unless he turned her, and watching her suffer an eternity of regret, missing the family she left behind, that he would never do. But now, after seeing the ‘reunion’, he wished he could turn back the clock.
An older man, ‘Uncle Harry’ she called him, appeared from what, at first glance, seemed to be a gash in the hillside, and walked forward to greet her. He had been followed by a younger man, but still a good fifteen years older than Rebekah, by Connor’s thinking.
Uncle Harry seemed harmless enough, but the other man… The scene left Connor feeling uneasy. Hundreds of yards away, across the meadow, he had gathered each word and each expression on the younger man’s face like a collection of poison darts. Douglas.
The possessive cast on the man’s features ate into Connor’s brain like a maggot into an apple. He easily picked up on Douglas’ tightly clawed grip around Rebekah, exerting control rather than comfort. Maybe, I should be grateful. She clearly can’t stand him. But, the man’s hold seemed sinister. Or is my imagination in overdrive? Just jealousy.
But then, Rebekah did the one thing he could not ignore. She glanced back towards the tree line, as if she felt him there, and the crawling distaste on her pinched face tore his heart out. Then the hillside had swallowed her up.
Intense loathing curled Connor’s lip and rumbled an impending thunderstorm inside his chest. “Ah, damn,” he muttered. I knew this was going to be tough, but Hell, I can’t leave now.
Like a sentinel in the woods, he hunkered down to wait. Listening to the hum of voices, he stared at the blackened gash which looked like an angry mouth on the face of his green-eyed monster. He concentrated on locating her, and finally, he isolated her scent and tuned in to the intonation of her speech. He eased the tension from his shoulders, reassured by the faint sound of her voice, a low subdued note, but her voice nonetheless.
Marking time went against the grain for Connor, and when the sudden waft of her anxiety-ridden scent reached him, he needed no further excuse to cross the meadow and enter her world. It was his invitation to throw caution to the wind.
Pausing long enough to dry wash his face in the sun-baked soil at the edge of the forest, staining his hard white skin with a human tint, Connor took flight across the meadow. Blending in had been easy when humans did not know vampires existed, even under close scrutiny they only saw what they wanted to see. But now, he needed the makeshift camouflage and some careful acting, when becoming a pretend human.
He moved with determined grace towards the entrance to the human habitat. Entering the tunnel mouth, he walked along the pitch-black passageway at a human pace, and slipped behind the sack cloth curtain. Connor filled his lungs with the medley of human aromas, and made his way with the unerring accuracy of a predator, to the arched doorway of the dining cavern.
Connor’s eyes swept over the two standing figures, taking in Rebekah, recoiling, caught in Douglas’ white-knuckled grip as he pulled on her sweater. Her face was pinched with disgust. As the flint-hardened spite in Douglas’ eyes turned in his direction, Connor considered his options. His quick assessment of the heat signatures scattered throughout the tunnels confirmed that for now, at least, only this man knew he was here.
How do I play this? Connor considered tearing Douglas’ throat out. He had many shades of anger fighting for his attention at the thought of the man’s hands on his Rebekah.
“Who the hell are you?” Douglas croaked.
Connor breathed in the thick cloud of human nervous sweat.
He has guessed then, that I’m not just another guy. Connor was six feet and three inches of hard muscle, his deceptively casual demeanor ruined by a ferocious calculating glare. The dim artificial light played shadows across his uncompromising features and pretense slipped away as his brittle smile thickened the air inside the cavern with menace.
“I’m a friend of Rebekah’s,” he murmured as he advanced smoothly into the room. He read the concern for his safety on her face and smiled.
Connor stopped five yards away and locked eyes with Douglas, waiting for his next move. I came here to warn him off, but now, it’s tempting to just kill him.
“Ah, we have company.” Connor’s tone lilted with the conversational subtext of ‘saved by the bell’. Things are getting interesting.
Minutes slipped by in which no one moved, before eventually human ears also detected the approaching footsteps. Uncle Harry stepped into the room, his stride faltered and he stopped short and surveyed the unexpected scene. Some of the tension dissipated as Douglas clearly chose to believe there was safety in numbers.
“Rebekah’s friend.” Douglas’ confidence grew and he addressed Connor at last. His tone became calculating as he looked down, and his fingers stroked over Rebekah’s wrist.
“I looked out for Rebekah at the safe house. I have a place in London...” He let Douglas fill in the blanks in his half-truths, and he enjoyed the moment when Douglas’ eyes sparked in understanding and he came up with a rival.
“Funny, she never mentioned you.” Douglas’ knuckles blanched when his grip tightened. “Well, I am Douglas. Rebekah’s fiancé.” Extending his arm in a dramatic manner which would have made Shakespeare proud, he said, “And this is Harry, Rebekah’s uncle.”
The word fiancé buried itself like a dagger in Connor’s chest. His eyes darted to Rebekah for confirmation. Not in her mind. But, Douglas’ smug expression still stung. Connor flexed his diaphragm and took the measure of the man. Undercooked dough. Okay, we both know he knows, so let’s see how big a fool he really is.
“Nice place you’ve got here, Rebekah,” Connor said, faking idle curiosity. Even though he was struggling to ignore Douglas’ firm hold on her wrist, and the urge to snap Douglas’ fingers like twigs was hard to contain, Connor exuded relaxation. He had no doubt how the game would play out.
“Maybe, we can give you the tour. I’m sure you must be curious about how the other half lives.” Douglas pointedly met Harry’s surprised look.
Communication passed between the two, and Connor’s confidence grew. This Douglas is a lone wolf, and Harry is too weak to fight him. The encounter would remain their secret.
Rebekah started to speak, and Harry cut in. Waggling his eyebrows in an ‘I know what I’m doing, follow my lead’ gesture, Harry said, “Rebekah, now that you’re refreshed, we must do the debriefing. We can’t risk another mistake like that one.” Turning to Connor and avoiding eye contact, focusing his stare on a point three feet to Connor’s left, Harry added, “I’ll leave you in Douglas’ capable hands, for now.” He jerked his head towards the doorway. “Rebekah?”
Connor almost smiled at the painful acting. A stranger must be unsettling, esp
ecially one who makes his flesh crawl because somewhere deep inside he knows he’s scared.
Rebekah slowly followed Harry out of the room, and glancing at Connor’s deliberately casual expression did not dim the anxiety in her gaze.
He wished he could tell her Douglas’ ploy was transparent; his odor of excitement stank like stale beer, and Connor could almost hear his hatred fermenting.
“Looks like it is just us, then.” Douglas’ face froze in a comical grin.
Connor mimicked the gesture, but then he spoiled it by licking his lips.
Douglas swallowed loudly, and, committed to making his play, he moved out of the dining cavern and into the fluctuating light levels ranging along the length of the tunnel.
They set off down the painstakingly excavated passageways, and Connor enjoyed stalking Douglas, flanking his shoulder. His deathly silent progress made Douglas nervous and spawned a satisfyingly fear-drenched pheromone cloud.
“Very clever, Douglas, how you have provided the ventilation to use naked flames for light this far underground.”
“Plastic pipes through the hillside, with filters on the top,” said Douglas quietly.
Connor doubted he would find them, even if he did a fingertip search on hands and knees through the lush meadow overhead. “And the generator for the electric lights, how does that work?”
“Um, it’s based on flywheel technology, using magnets. A battery spins the wheel, and then magnets switching on and off keep it rotating at the right speed for the generator.” Douglas threw his words over his shoulder. He rushed onward.
“You seem in a hurry, Douglas. Are we going somewhere in particular?” Connor asked casually, as they passed a succession of tunnel entrances.