by S. J. Wright
The creek was running a little slower than usual, its banks dotted here and there with gold and scarlet leaves, dry twigs laying like the bones of the damned upon the banks. The leaves of the big oak tree near the creek had begun to change colors. There were sparrows and robins calling brightly to each other in its high branches.
The grass in the meadow was trampled, bent, and battered by the footsteps of the undead who resided beneath it. I looked at it, sadness seeping in through the determination I had forged during my walk out there. I wished I could erase vampires from the face of the earth. Then, I remembered Alex.
A low growl emanated around me, seeming to come at me from all sides. It was followed by an urgent female’s voice.
“Michael, no. Don’t do this.”
Then I saw three vampires standing across the clearing, their silhouettes rigid with tension in the early evening light. One of them turned to me, and I recognized the fierce face of Michael. Beside him, with one hand on his arm, stood Victoria. Three paces away stood my mother, looking annoyed.
Michael’s voice swept towards me like a dark wave, the timbre of it rolling with fury.
“You let him bite you.”
Chapter 5
An involuntary shiver snaked through my body at his tone. I took a deep breath and closed the distance between us. I did not belong to him, I reminded myself. Alex had come to me and I had given myself freely. Surprisingly, I still felt no regret about it. I also wondered where Alex might be and if he might show up to give me a little support. However, I could not wait on him.
“Michael, I know you’re upset.” I began, my eyes skipping over the other two vampires approaching us.
He came to stand directly in front of me, only a foot or so away. I could see the fury burning there, and my confidence began to ebb away.
“You let him bite you.” Michael growled.
“He asked. I didn’t deny him.”
Victoria moved to put her hand on his shoulder, but he jerked away with a low, rumbling laugh, “Well, then. How was it? Everything you imagined?”
Pressing my lips together tightly, I glared at him and said nothing. Victoria approached me, her long evergreen cape trailing behind her. Her serious hazel eyes were hooded beneath thick amber eyelashes and her brows were drawn together in a look of concern. I kept my eyes locked on her. Victoria was one of the few vampires I felt I could trust, and I knew she understood me. I had suspected since we had first met that she was capable of reading my mind. In subtle ways, the first night we stood face to face, she had given me reasons to suspect she was sympathetic to my position.
“Michael, please be calm.” She said tightly, glancing at him over her shoulder.
“Yes, please do show a bit of self control.” My mother had moved closer to the three of us and stood near Michael, one hand on a hip in an insolent pose. She returned my hostile stare with a complacent tiny grin.
“You! This is your fault! It was you who sent him here!” Michael suddenly launched himself at my mother, fury written into his every feature. Before I could draw a breath, he had her down on the ground with his hands around her neck.
“You knew this would happen, didn’t you?” He demanded, squeezing ever tighter against her throat. I watched, fascinated, as she struggled under him. He could not really kill her that way, could he? If he could, did I want that?
“Stop!” I shouted, jumping towards them and grabbing Michael’s shoulder, “It’s not her fault! No one made me do anything! I had sex with Alex because I wanted to.”
Everything stopped. The hands gripping my mother’s neck so forcefully slowly came away. Selena scrambled away from him, a devious smile on her smug face. Beneath my hand, Michael’s broad shoulder stiffened. The anger radiating out from him touched me before he even turned his eyes on me. When I realized what I had done, I stumbled back from him as my mother had. Minus the smile.
“You did what?”
Oh, God. I should have kept my mouth shut. He threw back his head and roared. The sound was unlike anything I’d ever heard. The leaves on the trees trembled with the force of it. I slapped my hands over my ears, trying to mute the haunting sound of his rage. Everything around me seemed to shimmer slightly, blurring and shuddering.
Hands grabbed for me, rough on the bruises beneath my cardigan. I winced and took a quick look to see who was manhandling me. Alex’s concerned eyes met mine. When I looked over at Michael, I realized that both Victoria and Selena were physically holding him back from Alex and me. His fangs were bared, glittering like diamonds in the night. Alex’s fingers tightened on my arms, pulling at me and then pushing me away from the meadow. Panic sliced through me, because I knew they could not hold him. No one could hold him.
Nelly was standing by my truck as we hurried back to the house. She apparently had started the truck and stood waiting with my faded leather wallet in her hand. Tossing the wallet into the truck, she gestured at both of us to hurry. I dove into the passenger seat, landing on the little black toolbox I usually carried around with me in the truck.
Alex wrenched the gearshift into drive, and the gravel under the tires flew up behind us as we made a U-turn in front of the house and went flying down the driveway. I kept turning around, expecting to see Michael rushing at us. My heart was pounding wildly, and each breath felt like it might be my last. When we came over the hill, I saw the gate was closed below us.
“Shit!” I turned to Alex, but before I could say anything else, he put his foot on the brake and stared straight ahead, his golden face dark with determination. I turned to see what had stopped him and choked back a sob.
Michael was in front of the gate, standing there with clenched fists and his head lowered. His anger was a physical force of its own, due to the fear he induced. Looking at him as he stood down there blocking our way out, I felt helpless. I had to get Alex out of there. Michael would destroy him. I was certain of it.
“He doesn’t realize.” Alex murmured softly. The terror that had dominated him only a moment ago had evaporated. He was entirely calm. I could only stare at him. I briefly considered the idea that this beautiful blond vampire sitting so still beside me could be losing his mind. When he reached over and gripped one of my hands, I felt a wave of uneasiness sweep over me.
He bowed his dazzling face down close to mine, his eyes clear and full of some dark, unknown purpose.
“Listen to me. I’ve got this.” He trailed two fingers over the line of my jaw, leaving a trail of chills that spread from my face into my neck and down the curve of my spine. God, I did not want to lose him. What did he think he was doing? Michael was centuries older than he was.
“No, no. Alex, you can’t fight him. You don’t know his power.” I gasped.
He gave me a level look with narrowed green eyes, and I watched a forbidding half smile curl up one side of his mouth. It was devious and something wholly unexpected. When he spoke again, his words were low and ripe with violence.
“He doesn’t know mine.”
“But…” He opened the door and got out. I saw him start striding down the hill towards Michael at the end of the driveway, “Shit!” I sputtered and pushed the passenger-side door open. I could not think straight. Shouldn’t I have anticipated this moment? I should have had a plan. However, no solution presented itself as I stumbled along after Alex, grabbing at his arm and begging him to stop.
A flash of motion in the corner of my eye alerted me to the fact that we were not alone. Victoria and Selena were standing by the truck; both of them looking like Michael had given them quite a fight. Victoria’s hair had fallen almost completely out of its elegant chignon and was blowing loosely around her in tawny tangles. My mother was holding her right arm at a strange angle, and her outfit was splattered with dirt and blood. I assumed it was her own, but I saw no open wounds.
Alex glanced coldly over his shoulder at the other two vampires, “Stay out of this. I’m not going to keep running from him. It ends here.”
A
dark chuckle came at us from Michael. His eyes were entirely black under those exquisitely arched eyebrows. Every ounce of power he was holding back had gathered there in the fathomless depths of those eyes, and they were taking in the scene with hard calculation.
“On a suicide mission, Golden Boy?” Michael said.
“Alex, please. Don’t try to fight him.” I begged, casting furtive glances over my shoulder at Victoria. Do something, I shouted at her in my head. For God’s sake, Michael’s really going to kill him!
Victoria shook her head and then her gaze swiveled back towards Michael.
“I’ll only warn you once, Michael.” Alex advised in a shallow hiss of sound, “Things are different now. My powers have evolved far beyond what you might think.”
His dark opponent laughed, and he lowered himself into a predatory crouch. There was an explosion of sound, like a hard breeze whistling through a narrow doorway. Then a flash of yellow light, so bright in the center it hurt my eyes. I felt a massive shift in the energy around me—some odd vibration that penetrated the layers of my skin and struck me numb for a moment. I could not tell what happened. I only knew that Michael had moved to attack.
When I was finally able to see again, it was only in dull outlines. I rubbed at my eyes, hoping desperately that it was only temporary. The sounds around me were rough and indistinct, but I recognized the light timbre of Victoria’s voice.
“Michael, talk to me. Can you hear me?” She said.
There was a low, mumbled reply. Then I felt Alex’s familiar arms around me, holding my trembling body. I needed something to keep me together in one piece. It was dreadful not knowing what was happening, imagining the worst, and dreading the images that might eventually penetrate into the fog I was living in.
I reached up and grasped Alex’s face in my hands. “I can’t see.”
“You’ll be fine in a few minutes.”
A weary groan rose up a few feet in front of me. Michael.
“What happened?” I demanded, turning from Alex and trying to refocus my vision and my thoughts.
“Sit down for a few minutes until your sight clears.” With gentle hands, he lowered me so that I was kneeling on the grass. The moist earth beneath me felt real and thoroughly familiar. I drew a few desperate breaths and blinked.
Finally, things were beginning to shift into recognizable forms. One vampire on the ground. Another slender vampire kneeling by the fallen. And when I looked up, an enchanting angel standing over me, his green eyes clear and sure. I tore my gaze away from Alex’s face with great difficulty and looked over at Michael.
He was lying on his side, curled up and holding his head in both hands. The ebony strands of his hair were spilling through the gaps between his fingers. He was in agony. He moaned again, a plaintive sound that pierced through the fear he had induced in me only a few moments ago. As the landscape around us became completely clear to me once more, I shuddered.
The urge to try to help Michael was overwhelming, and I crawled forward, casting a quick look at Victoria, who was patiently waiting by his side. Alex hissed a warning at me and moved to intercept my progress, but I glared at him over my shoulder.
“Don’t, Alex. Give me a minute.”
I did not wait for his reaction. When I reached Michael, I laid one cold hand against his shoulder. He was shaking like a frightened child. Michael just did not do that. I looked up at Victoria in terror, “What happened?”
“He tried to attack Alex.” She searched for more words, but ended up just shaking her head. She lowered herself closer to him, like a gray dove settling next to her lifelong mate on a bare winter branch. Hesitation gripped me suddenly as I watched her. What was this between them? Some cruel, dark emotion rose inside me, blackening that rosy image I had conjured of Michael and me moving side-by-side in broad daylight. Like a couple.
I had lost something. But what had been there before I destroyed it? Lust? A blooming love, uncertain and shy? No. Something beyond my own comprehension. It was gone then. If I were to try to fight for this elusive lost treasure, would those witnesses turn away to offer some measure of privacy or respect? No. So I determined that it would have to wait. For some other cold place and time.
Slipping a frosty lid over my fragile emotional state, I rose slowly to my feet. I noticed the stray hairs that swept away from Victoria’s cheek and settled on the fabric of Michael’s dark cotton shirt. Like they belonged there.
“Alex, please help Victoria get Michael back into the caves.” The sound of my voice was bleak. I did not turn to confirm that Alex had heard me. I trudged back to my truck, got behind the wheel, and drove down to the gate. Still closed. Sighing, I started to get out.
Then I saw my mother. She moved very quickly, unhooked the chain from around the post, and swung the gate open without even turning towards me. I didn’t want to see the look on her face anyway. I did not want her to see me, lost and frustrated.
Chapter 6
The trees, fences, mailboxes, and driveways along the road were silent observers to my flight from home. Silent and condemning, it seemed to me. No matter where I looked, I found no solace. Not in the sleepy dark homes that I passed. Not in the music on my old radio. Clapton was singing about how his beautiful blond had been so wonderful. Well, good for her.
As I got closer to town, I saw the neon half-lit sign for Bill’s Bar glowing cheaply in the ebony air of the evening. Perfect. Slowing down, I surveyed the parking lot cautiously. Trevor’s uniquely pimped out black Dodge Ram was not parked in the small gravel lot by the building, so I decided to take a chance. I also saw the dusty hatchback that belonged to my best friend from high school, Kara.
When you go to high school in a small town, you get used to just about everyone you know leaving for college after graduation and not moving back. Nashville is a small town, unlike its namesake in Tennessee. There are not very many jobs to be had around here. All the high-school kids catch the part-time work in the restaurants and gift shops. A few college graduates might get a position managing one of the larger Inns, but for the most part, there is nothing here for college graduates. Therefore, the majority of my friends from high school moved away. Except for Kara.
Kara Beauchamp originally moved into town with her parents and her big brother Matt back in 2002. Their parents were determined to open their own boutique for dogs, selling ridiculous-looking little capes and boots to the upper-class families that make it a point to come down to Brown County several times a year. They called the place Sassy Bitches, a name that raised a huge storm of controversy within the social circles of our little town. Despite the local uproar over the name of the store, the Beauchamps hung on resolutely, and during an off-season slump in sales, Kara’s mom, Carol set up a website and began to sell their products online. It became an overnight success and drew a lot of attention to their tiny little store off Main Street. Kara became an integral part of the business structure, because she knew so much about online marketing. She had decided to stick around Brown County once things really took off. This was great for both of us.
However, when I found out that my Dad was sick and everyone around me was dripping with concern and pity, I began to shut people out of my life. That included Kara. By the time Dad passed away, she and I only spoke when we ran into each other by chance at the grocery store. Those had been awkward, hasty conversations that always made me feel like a complete shit for slamming the door so suddenly on our friendship.
As I sat in the parking lot of Bill’s, I considered not going inside. This was just another relationship that was messed up in my insignificant little world. I was not really in the mood to try to fix anything. However, for some reason, I pushed away the doubts and fear. I found a parking space around the corner from the main entrance, pulled in slowly and put the truck in park.
Grabbing my wallet, I stepped out of the truck into the chilly night air and took a deep steadying breath. It was going to be okay. I’ll just have a drink or two and then go home
. No problem, I thought.
When I opened the heavy wood door, a rush of noise and cigarette smoke assaulted me. Somebody was playing Metallica on the jukebox that glowed in the corner between groups of talking people. There were small explosions of laughter here and there. One of the waitresses was serving pitchers of beer to a group of guys by the pool table.
I looked to the bar where the owner, Bill Gibson, was deep in conversation with the high-school football coach. Bill’s grim expression and the shaking of his head indicated that Coach Morton had probably just been cut off from the Jack and Cokes he reportedly had too many of each night.
There were a few empty bar stools. I chose one closest to the door in case I needed to make a socially unacceptable hasty exit. I had not seen Kara yet, but I had only gone over the crowd for a second to make sure that Trevor was not there. It was always possible that one of his friends might have driven him to the bar. Or one of the dozen or so clueless women who imagined that he was telling the truth when he said he loved them.
“You’re not twenty one yet.” Bill teased gently, snapping me back from my bitter musings. He came over to me with a towel draped across one shoulder. My Dad had been friends with Bill since they had been in grade school together. Both of them had grown up here. A year after my Mom left us, Bill’s amazingly sweet wife, Kathy, had died from breast cancer. It was the kind of loss that draws old friends together in hard times.
“According to my birth certificate, I’m twenty three,” I replied with a faint smile, “But a lot of times I feel like a forty year old.”
He grinned and shook his head, “You have no idea, kid.”
“How have you been?” I asked.
He shrugged and pulled a couple beer mugs from the shelf over his head, “Up and down. Waiting for the fall rush, like everybody else. What do you want to drink, Sarah?”
“I’m thinking it’s a night for hurricanes.”