The Vampire's Redemption, A Paranormal Romance (Undead in Brown County #3) (13 page)

There was no need to purge the extra bubbles of air from the syringe. If one of those reached my heart, it would do no damage. My biggest concern was making sure I used the right dosage. My contact in Costa Rica, a witch who had exceptional skills, had told me over the phone that the stuff was called “White Magic”. It was one of the very few natural chemicals on Earth that could render a vampire’s blood powerless. Unfortunately, it could also kill a vampire if too much were injected into the bloodstream. If given the correct dose, a vampire would become very weak and his or her blood would temporarily lose the properties that gave them the powers of strength, speed, supernatural hearing and sight. It could also remove a vampire’s individual gifts, such as the ability to read other’s thoughts or see future events.

The effects generally lasted for a week or so. If I were still alive, I would get everything back. The real challenges would be getting everyone into place, making sure that Alex took the path I’d opened for him, and trusting Jackson to take care of Sarah.

Before I injected myself, I made the phone call that would start the ball rolling.

“Is it time?” Meekah asked.

“Yes.”

“You are sure about Victoria and Jones?”

“Positive.”

“Very well.”

I hit the end button on the cell phone and slid the needle through my skin. As I forced the fluid through the needle, I hoped that Sarah would understand my choice. I hoped that my sacrifice would be enough. Enough to keep her safe and enough to bring me redemption.

CHAPTER 22 – Sarah

I ate a bowl of cereal standing at the kitchen counter. Jones had left. Jackson had gone to his room and closed the door. His face was cold and dark when he passed by me in the kitchen. I didn’t know what to say to him, so I stayed quiet. But I felt like an idiot.

What do you say to a man that you care about right after you’ve had sex with somebody else? What words would have made it better? If I were to try to pretend it hadn’t happened, I would have looked like a bigger fool than I usually did. But did I really regret what had happened? I had thought about it so many times, wanting Michael in both dreams and reality. The physical sensations he’d induced in me were nothing compared to the emotional bond we had forged in those heated moments on my bed. I couldn’t let that go, much less wish it hadn’t happened.

When I took my last bite of Golden Grahams, I turned to the sink and began rinsing out my bowl. The sound of a door opening upstairs was quickly followed by a strange scratching sound at the back door. I set down the bowl and went through the back porch. I expected to find Whiskers out there, pawing to get outside. But she wasn’t there. Neither was Sadie.

I opened the screen door and found Michael in a heap on the back porch, shivering and moaning.

“Oh my God!” I bent down and searched for a wound of some kind, some indication of what might have brought him down. “Michael, what happened?”

“He planned it this way,” said a rough voice behind me. It was Jackson. He was standing on the back porch with a strangely calm look on his face. He had already put on his jacket and had the keys to my truck in his hand.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“He’s doing what I’ve asked him to do.” Michael shuddered, managed to sit up on the steps and wrapped his arms around himself as if fighting off a cold. Jackson moved past me, reached down to Michael and with some effort, hauled him up over one shoulder.

“Sarah, I’ll need you to keep him upright in the truck while I drive,” said Jackson.

Thinking that we were going to go for help, I rushed ahead towards the truck and opened the passenger door. Once Michael was safely inside, Jackson turned to me and took both my hands. “He wanted me to keep this whole thing a secret from you, but I can’t do that. I know that you really do care about him. You should know that he’s doing this to save you.”

“What in the hell are you talking about? What is he about to do?”

“He’s giving himself up to Isaiah in return for Isaiah’s oath that you will never again be drawn into any vampire politics.”

There was a weak curse from inside the truck. “I thought I could trust you!”

Jackson glanced uneasily towards Michael and went on. “He’s made the deal and we have to go through with it. But, I want to stay with you when this is all over.” He cradled my face in his hands and stared at me solemnly. “I want to make this work with you, Sarah.”

But I couldn’t even consider such a thing while Michael was so weak and about to give up his life for me. How could I let it happen? Hadn’t he already done far too much for me? I didn’t want to consider what would happen to Michael once he was Isaiah’s prisoner. Would he be killed immediately or would Isaiah draw it all out and torture him endlessly?

“I can’t imagine how you thought I might go along with this, Jackson,” I sputtered.

His hands fell to his sides and he sighed. “I didn’t think you would. Neither did he.”

“That’s why I’m counting on Alex,” Michael groaned.

“Alex?”

“Forget it,” Michael said. “Jackson, we’ve got to go now.”

Jackson went around to the driver’s side of the truck, got in and started up the engine. I was frantically trying to think of a way to talk them both out of this crazy idea before we reached the perimeter. I got into the truck and put my seatbelt on.

Michael’s face was even paler than it usually was.

“What about Alex?”

“Don’t tell her anything else,” Michael growled towards Jackson, who was driving past the house and down the lane with a fearsome look in his dark eyes.

“I won’t have the strength to get out and check. You’ll need to run up there to make sure the gate stones are still in place.”

Jackson shot him a wary look. “What if they were able to move the stones?”

“Not likely. But before we leave, I need to know they won’t be able to follow us,” Michael replied weakly.

I was thoroughly confused. “Who are you guys talking about?”

“Don’t worry about it, Sarah.” Jackson pulled the truck up next to the battered fence post by the meadow and jumped out. “Stay here. I’ll be right back.” I watched him disappear in the darkness as he made his way towards the caves.

“Michael! What the hell is going on? Is somebody going to clue me in?”

“Not yet. Once it’s done, Jackson will tell you everything.”

I really wanted to punch something.

CHAPTER 23 – Jackson

Everything was in place. Victoria and Jones were in the caves, along with Katie and the others who were still sleeping. The three gate stones, having not been moved for decades up until that night, were solidly locked into place in each of the three entrances to the caves. Michael had done it before he’d injected himself with the White Magic. He’d told me that the stones were so heavy that he could only move them inches at a time and that Victoria and Jones together wouldn’t be able to accomplish an escape in less than a few hours, at least. It was pretty clear evidence of how much more powerful Michael was than his vampire friends.

We both knew that Sarah would be confused and probably pretty pissed off. I had asked Michael why we couldn’t just leave her at the house. He thought that she would find a way to get to us unless we just knocked her out or something, and neither of us were willing to do anything like that. He also said that it was important for Sarah to be there when the deal was finalized. Especially if Alex’s help was needed.

After checking to make sure the stones were still in place, I headed back towards the truck. When I opened the driver’s side door, Sarah was shaking her head and tears were falling down her face. It made me question what we were doing. Wasn’t the point of this whole thing to save Sarah from getting hurt? What if losing him ended up being the more painful of her limited choices?

I put the truck into gear and turned around in the gravel lane, doubts flying at me like rocks.

“Michael, are you sure about this?” I asked him quietly.

He shrugged and shivered again. “It’s better this way.”

Sarah sniffled. “I can’t believe you think it could be better for me if you were Isaiah’s prisoner. This is fucking ridiculous!” She grabbed a clean fast-food napkin that had been abandoned on the dashboard and wiped her nose.

“Isaiah would continue to try to find ways to get to me, Sarah. It puts everyone you love in danger. The Council will be sure he keeps his oath to leave you alone.”

“I don’t trust most of them either, Michael!” she shouted. “Teddy is the only one who wouldn’t lie to me. Everybody else seems to have their own motives.”

“Then trust Teddy,” he said. “You can also trust Charlie and the girls. The girls, especially.”

We had passed the house and were heading down the hill towards the gate at the road. The gate was open. “I don’t know exactly where the perimeter ends,” I reminded Michael lowly.

The moment I turned the truck onto the gray surface of the road, and the headlights of the truck illuminated what was before us, I hit the brakes. About a half mile down the road, six dark SUV’s were parked horizontally across the road with their lights still on. There had to be twenty or thirty figures standing around the vehicles, all dressed in black. There were females and males, tall and short. I thought I recognized Teddy and Vincent in the crowd. I didn’t see the girls.

Michael nodded towards them. “They brought reinforcements.”

With her clear blue eyes wide, Sarah sat up suddenly in her seat and gasped. “Alex.”

I didn’t have to look very hard to find him in that group. Alex was slightly taller than the rest of them and had been the first one to turn towards us when we pulled onto the road. I did remember him enough to recognize his face, but the bright blond hair would have given him away in any group of people.

“Isaiah is going to know something’s wrong with me,” Michael whispered.

“Maybe he won’t take you, then,” Sarah said.

“If he doesn’t take me, then this whole thing has been for nothing. He’ll want you, Sarah.”

I shook my head. “No way. I won’t let that happen.” Turning to Michael, I gave him a once over. He looked awful. He was going to have to put on one hell of a show to convince Isaiah he was getting a good deal out of this.

“Do you need blood?” Sarah asked hesitantly.

“Don’t even think about it,” I hissed back.

Michael’s eyes were barely open. “It would probably help mask the smell of the chemicals in my system.”

Sarah looked at me helplessly. She was really beginning to panic. The tears were still falling freely down her cheeks. She had found another napkin and kept tearing at it, reducing the thing to limp shreds in her hands. The fear in her eyes was tearing me apart.

“Only a little blood, Michael.” I said cautiously.

I turned away before I could see him sink his teeth into her. It was a hundred times worse than imagining him having sex with her. My fingers were locked around the steering wheel like steel clamps, turning white under the pressure. I wanted to kill him.

CHAPTER 24 – Michael

Sarah’s blood was in my mouth. It was a soothing mix of flavors that ran the spectrum from pure sunshine to the most decadent, tantalizing chocolate. It felt like I was floating along with her on some glorious wave. I found that I was grasping at her and hoping to melt into the essence of who she was. Her blood was something more than just a liquid. It contained her courage, her unfailing spirit that always moved ahead, pushing through the drifts of personal loss and coming out clean on the other side.

I didn’t want to let go, but as the unique properties of her began to move through me, I could feel the rising tension in the cab of the truck. Jackson’s irritation was pushing against me on all sides. Withdrawing my fangs from her skin, I touched my tongue very briefly to the two puncture marks and moved away from her. Her hands were trembling.

The strength was returning to my limbs. “They’re right at the edge of the perimeter, Jackson. I don’t want to get any closer than a hundred feet.” I turned to Sarah, who was staring blankly at the dashboard. “Do not leave the containment field.” She still wasn’t listening, so I took her jaw and forced her to pay attention. “Do you hear me? If you get outside of the field, they have you.”

She nodded in a series of jerks and pulled away from my hand. “I get it.” She touched the side of her neck where I’d bitten her. The look on her face was one of shock and disappointment, the blue of her eyes haunted by shadows that I didn’t have the power to chase away.

Sitting in silence, she fixed her gaze on the windshield.

“I’m doing this for you. You may not see it as a good thing right now, but if I don’t turn myself over to Isaiah, you could end up losing everything.” I wanted her to see me and know that I spoke the truth.

She still wouldn’t look at me.

Jackson moved down the road toward the crowd gathered there and stopped where I indicated. He opened his door and got out. I began to slide after him, but Sarah caught my sleeve. The pain rolling across her face was palpable.

“If you can get away, will you come back?”

I touched her jaw and smiled at her. “Maybe one day. If Isaiah is dead and there’s no longer a threat to you.”

“But you’ll have to survive until then.” Her beautiful mouth was a delicate, kissable pink oasis in the beauty of her ashen face. I longed to crush her against me and just run. But there was nowhere to go where they wouldn’t find us. With all their spies and intricate intelligence networks, it might leave us with one day together if we ran far and fast enough.

Pulling away and shaking my head at the thought of it, I told her gently, “Your survival and that of your children and grandchildren are what’s important to me right now.”

She considered that for a long moment or two, nibbling nervously on one of her thumbnails. It was one of her many habits that I would grow to miss. Finally, she looked at me calmly. The only hint that she’d been crying were the beads of moisture still clinging to her eyelashes.

“Hold me for a minute before you go.”

Without a second’s hesitation, I wrapped my arms around her and rested my chin on the top of her head. She smelled like sweet spices, cinnamon, ginger and brown sugar. She smelled like home and love; two words that hadn’t been a part of my vocabulary for a very long time. I didn’t want to ever let her go.