The Vampires of Soldiers Cove: Sacrificial Children

by Jessica MacIntyre

  “Son,” he whispered. Ryan looked up, startled in the realization that he wasn’t alone.

  “I…I don’t know who I am. What’s happening? What is going on here?”

  “You are one of us,” Aries told him. “Lay back and rest. Conserve your strength.”

  “Who am I?”

  Aries felt tears stinging his eyes. This was the moment he had dreamed of all those years ago. The moment he’d anticipated since his beautiful mother had given herself to him. He reached out and stroked the boy’s hand, then held it tightly in his as he folded it to his chest. “You are my son,” he said.

  Part Five

  Rachel

  Chapter One

  Jade lay in a coma, Gavin at her side, stroking her hand. I entered again after having excused myself to go check on Ryan for what would probably be the last time. Holly and Duncan were downstairs, trying to stay out of our way. Nobody had approved when I’d run off, and truth be told now that I was back I was ashamed. As far as I was concerned both of my children were at death’s door however and now that I knew Ryan would survive I breathed a tiny bit easier. All I needed now was for Jade to pull through.

  “How is he?” Gavin asked.

  “He’s going to be fine. We don’t have to worry about him anymore.”

  I knew Gavin could tell I was right but he didn’t move at all, continuing to give all his attention to Jade. “This is our own stupid fault, you know.”

  I didn’t respond.

  “All these years, all this time we’ve wasted trying to figure out a way to stop what was going to happen anyway. Ryan was going to transform. It was inevitable. And we’ve been wasting time trying to stop it instead of just accepting it and giving our daughter what was rightfully hers. We’ve neglected her safety and put her in danger. Now she might die and if she does we will have nobody to blame but ourselves. We aren’t fit to be parents, Rachel.”

  I sat behind him and put my arms around his waist, resting my head on his back. I wanted to disagree with him, to tell him that was only his fear and grief talking but I couldn’t. Deep down I knew he was right.

  “We should never…never have any more children as long as we live. In this we’ve failed.”

  Finally I whispered, “I know. She’ll be the last. But let me take the blame. I set this whole thing in motion the night I let Aries…” I couldn’t finish the thought.

  “You did what you thought you had to do at the time. It’s over now, and as far as I’m concerned it’s him that’s to blame for that, not you. It will all be set right.”

  I knew he was talking revenge again and I had to at least try to put a stop to it. “No,” I said. “You have to let me take the blame. I knew what I was doing, and you running off to kill Aries will only hurt Ryan further. He needs him.”

  I felt Gavin’s body tighten. He was about to say something when Jade’s little eyes fluttered open and she began gasping for air. Before I could scream for Holly she was already standing there, taking Jade by the shoulders and lifting her up into a sitting position.

  “Try to take deep breaths sweetheart,” she said. “You’re going to be just fine.”

  “She is?” I said. “Oh thank god.”

  “Yes, we just needed her to wake up.”

  Gavin and I embraced once more, tears of happiness this time for our daughter and the second chance we had been given to make things right with her.

  Chapter Two

  Another year passed. In that time there were days when Gavin barely left his bed, grieved by the loss of Ryan and awash with guilt over almost having lost Jade in the process. His hatred of Aries had grown stronger over time as well, although I hadn’t seen him make any concrete moves toward making good on his threat to kill him. I had expressly forbid it, but of course, there was really no stopping him if he made up his mind to do so.

  In the last year I’d thought of Ryan often. Wondering how he was and if Aries was taking care of him. A few times when Gavin had been sleeping I’d gone walking but had come across no sign whatsoever of the small herd. I had told them to hide and they had taken my advice to heart it seemed. Aries had not appeared to me as I’d hoped. It had not been hard to find him at any other time when I’d needed him, but those days were over it seemed. I ached for any sign or any word about Ryan, but it didn’t look as if I were going to get it.

  Early one morning as I’d been sitting, sipping my coffee on the porch on a crisp September morning I had the feeling I was being watched. A sensation of icy fingers crept up my spine and made their way to the back of my neck, causing me to shudder with discomfort. Suddenly I felt the need to run, to hide. I was alone after Jade had taken the bus to school and Gavin had gone into town.

  Quickly I dashed back into the empty house and locked each and every door and window.

  What’s wrong? Gavin’s voice said, interrupting the creepy feeling and bringing me back to reality. All at once the sudden paranoia had seemed stupid. I was alone on the property, like I’d been many times before, it shouldn’t be an issue.

  Nothing. I just got a little freaked out all of a sudden. Everything is fine.

  You sure? He asked. It doesn’t feel fine. It feels like you’re scared. You want me to come home?

  I desperately wanted him to come home. For some reason I couldn’t explain I didn’t want to be alone.

  Don’t be silly, I transmitted back. Take your time. I think I’m just tired is all. I’m going to lie down. I’ll see you when you get home.

  With that I cut off our connection and sat on the couch. My words to Gavin had been a complete lie. There was no way I was going upstairs to lie down. The feeling of paranoia had returned and I had no intention of putting myself in a vulnerable position. Silently I kept watch on all the entrances to the house. The front door, the back door, patio doors and windows. I had locked them all in a fit of anxiety. I knew that if I was really under threat it would do no good but some human habits stay with you all your life.

  A few more moments passed and just as I was beginning to talk myself out of whatever this strong feeling was, someone came through my patio door with a crash, sending broken glass and metal soaring everywhere.

  A woman was standing there, a vampire, her skin glowing pale, her eyes burning black and her fangs showing through an evil smile. I responded by blackening my eyes as well, then letting my fangs run out in response to her threat.

  She was beautiful, with long red fiery hair and lengthy smooth limbs that were beautifully shown off by the skirt she was wearing. Something was familiar about her and it wasn’t until she spoke that I began to piece together what it was.

  “Do you remember me, Rachel?” she snarled through her gritted fangs, the weight of them on her bottom lip drawing just a tiny speck of blood.

  “I’m afraid not,” I said trying to keep my voice from shaking.

  Just then another woman walked through the broken patio door. Her demeanor was just as hostile as the first woman and it was clear that whoever they were, they had come to hurt me.

  “She thinks so little of us that she doesn’t even remember us,” the first woman said to the second.

  “Really? That’s quite an insult because we certainly remember you.”

  “The orphans,” I said.

  “But I bet you don’t know our names,” the redhead said, her disdain for me growing more apparent with each word.

  “I’m sorry, I don’t. I wasn’t told most of your names.”

  “Wasn’t told or didn’t ask?”

  I backed up a step as the second woman stalked slowly toward me, her hand outstretched as if to grab me. “I wasn’t told,” I said. “It was decided that it would be best at the time.”

  “Did that make it easier for you to kill the ones in your own sanctuary?” She didn’t wait for me to answer. “I bet not knowing their names or even anything about them made it easier for you to just snuff out their lives so coldly and quickly like you did.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said. I m
eant it. Many times I had wondered if I could have handled the whole situation differently. I had tossed and turned over it as I had many things in my life and finally had decided to add it to my list of mistakes and move on. “I wish now that I hadn’t done that. Ely was right to save you.”

  I’d hoped my words would placate the two of them enough so that perhaps they’d think twice about whatever it was they had planned, but unfortunately they didn’t stop there and the second came at me in a flash, taking me by the shoulders and pinning me against the wall. “I suppose you feel you did them some kind of mercy by killing them quickly do you? Have you patted yourself on the back for your little show of benevolence? I bet you have. Unfortunately for you we don’t feel the need to tell ourselves how good we are.”

  The redhead interrupted. “I want some of her blood,” she said, licking her pouty red lips. “It’s been too long.”

  The brunette smiled. “It has hasn’t it? I guess one bite won’t hurt.”

  She moved aside keeping me pinned to the wall with her forearm as the other woman came closer, both of them looking at me as if they hadn’t fed on the blood of a human, much less a vampire, for years. But before they could sink their teeth into me someone, another vampire by the sound, growled and took me by the waist, throwing me headfirst into the kitchen window. A shard of the glass went through my eye and I felt it pierce my brain with a sharp thrust. A moment later everything went dark.

  Chapter Three

  I woke with a start. A cold hard floor pressing into my back and surrounded by darkness. My eyes took a short moment to adjust and then I was seeing with my vampire sight just as if a light had been turned on. To human eyes it would have been pitch black but with my amped up vision as I looked around I could tell I was in a completely metal room. There were sheets of it being held together by bolts and at first glance it looked like something that with a little effort I might be able to smash my way out of. My eye had healed while I slept and I felt perfectly strong, but decided it would be smarter to figure out the situation before making any kind of noise.

  I opened my distance hearing and after a moment picked up on the sound of two familiar voices. The women who had come crashing into my house were conversing with a man.

  “Rose I expected better of you. I would expect that type of behavior from Audrey but not from you. I thought you had your blood hunger for Rachel under control years ago.”

  Whoever he was Rose sounded desperate to please him. “I did. I mean, I do. But she was there and I just wanted a little taste, just one.”

  “And you can stop any time you want, blah, blah, blah. Save it.”

  I heard her sigh as he berated her. “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “If I hadn’t shown up when I did you would have been sorry indeed. I don’t know if I can let either of you around her anymore. What am I to do with you now if that’s the case?”

  One didn’t have to know this man or see the expression on his face to understand what he was suggesting.

  “No, please. It was my fault,” I heard Audrey plead. “I take full responsibility. If you have to punish someone, please, punish me. It’s not Rose’s fault.”

  The man sighed. “I swear to god if this runs things off course both of you will pay with your lives. This was supposed to happen much more quietly. Gavin’s going to go home and see there was a commotion and will sniff her out sooner rather than later. We can elude him for a little while but not forever. At some point he’ll be drawn here and come looking. We’ll have to be ready.”

  “I swear we will be,” Rose said. “We’ve been over it a hundred times.”

  “Well we’ll go over it a hundred more if need be. I trust the love you’ve found for one another over the last few years will keep you both in line from now on? I think if one of you slips up again I won’t hurt that one, but the other. You owe me your lives and don’t forget it. I did you that favor all those years ago and now it’s time for you repayment. Remember that.”

  “I promise you,” said Rose. “We will not forget. We have never forgotten, and when this is done I trust we’ll finally be free to go our separate ways.”

  “I already gave you my word, don’t insult me by inferring that it doesn’t mean anything. You know I’ll be fair, so long as things go my way.”

  “Of course,” I heard them say in unison.

  “Good, now get out of here. I need to think.”

  With that a door clicked shut and the sound of someone, presumably the man, settling down into a chair was the last thing I heard for a while.

  I thought of Gavin. The man was right, as my maker he’d be able to find me. Sooner or later he’d be drawn to me although whatever they’d done to this room might slow him down. I had no way to know if I’d been locked in the room for hours or days, but the injury I’d sustained made me think it wasn’t any longer than possibly forty eight hours.

  What must Gavin have thought when he’d come home to find the house in disarray and me, missing? Not for the first time I worried for him. I’m sure the entire family, and maybe the entire clan would be looking for me too. Given that fact it didn’t seem like a good idea to try and bust out of my darkened metal prison just then, and god knows if I even could.

  I sat back down on the cold hard floor and made myself as small as I could in the corner furthest from the entrance. If someone was going to come in I at least wanted a chance to see who it was and if they were an immediate threat.

  When I was able to calm down enough I opened up my mental connection to Gavin and called out to him. Nothing. It was like the connection had been broken, or worse, he wasn’t able to pick up on the receiving end. The thought of something having happened to him was too horrible for me to imagine and so I kept trying every few minutes until I fell asleep from exhaustion. Dreams turned to nightmares filled with blood and death. Whatever was going on here was something that even my subconscious mind was unable to process and so horrible fragmented nightmares were all that was there to keep me company until something more happened.

  On pins and needles I waited for something to transpire, but at least a day passed before the door finally opened and in walked a cloaked figure.

  A familiar voice, the man from the last conversation I’d overheard, lowered the hood and looked at me with dark knowing eyes.

  Taken aback I stood and acknowledged the person I all too regretfully recognized. The voice had sounded familiar, and with good reason. “Ely,” I said.

  “Yes.”

  “Why? What have I done to make you angry? I haven’t gone after the orphans and I’ve kept to myself for the last number of years. What reason could you possibly have for kidnapping me?”

  “Oh I have my reasons. Don’t worry, Rachel. It has nothing to do with the orphans. I’m afraid this plan was set in motion a long time ago.”

  “And what is that plan exactly?”

  “Let’s call it a merger of sorts. Once you are out of the way I can take care of Gavin and the rest of your family. Then our clan and what’s left of yours will become one.”

  “Are you going to kill me?” just as the words came out of my mouth, Rose and Audrey were standing behind him, fangs out and eyes black.

  “No. I need you alive, for now.”

  With that both of the women descended on me, knocking me back against the wall as each of them drove their sharp teeth into both jugular veins. Ely laughed as he walked away, closing the door behind him.

  When they’d had their fill I was left weak, drained to within an inch of my life and exhausted.

  My eyes closed involuntarily.

  “I wish we could kill her,” one of them said.

  “Maybe when he’s done using her he’ll let us do just that. She still needs to pay for Angus’ death.”

  “Yes,” the other said coming down to put her mouth against my ear. I opened my eyes for a split second before she grabbed my hair, forcing my face to meet hers. “She does.”

  Rose spit in my face, stood and the
n walked away, Audrey following behind. I tried to summon my fire gift but found that something kept me from being able to use it. Something about this room, probably the same thing that was keeping me cut off from Gavin, made it unavailable to me. As soon as they were gone I fell into another nightmarish sleep.

  Part Six

  Gavin

  Chapter One

  “She’s not dead,” Gavin said, trying to keep from panicking as he spoke to Holly and Duncan. “I’d know it. I’d feel it. Somebody’s taken her.”

  Broken glass crunched under Duncan’s feet and he came toward Gavin, leading him over to the couch to sit while Holly, using her vampire speed, began to sweep up the broken shards.

  “We’ll find her,” Duncan said. “Do you have any idea at all who might want to take her?”

  Gavin felt his face grow hot and was sure his skin was showing as red. “My god, Duncan. Is that a serious question? She and the rest of us have made so many enemies over the years that the list of people who’d want to hurt her, or any of us, would be pretty long.”

  Duncan sighed. “You’re not wrong. Have you tried reaching out with your telepathy?”

  “Of course. First thing. I got nothing. It’s like she’s not there.”

  “Not there?” Holly said, looking up from her work and stopping suddenly to come sit on the chair next to the couch.

  “I haven’t been able to connect. I reach out but nothing comes back. It’s like my thoughts go out into a big void. Our connection doesn’t even exist at this point.”

  “Duncan, you should try,” Holly said.

  Duncan nodded and sat back on the couch, leaning back and letting his head fall over the edge so that his face was tilted up toward the ceiling. He sat, still as a statue, his pupils dancing back and forth under their lids. Finally after about ten minutes he opened his eyes again. “I can’t seem to reach her either, not that it really means anything. I’ve never had any kind of telepathic communication with her at a great distance. If she’s far away I might not have been able to do it anyhow.”