B00528UTDS EBOK (11 page)

Sarah was shocked by his words, though she knew she should not have been. Even as he had brought her such pleasure, in his mind - she was Caroline. She got to her feet and turned away from him. She shook with the effort it took to keep her anger and hurt from erupting.

“I’m sorry Sarah. I know you don’t believe that you are Caroline, but I know that you are. I can feel it whenever I am with you.” He tried to reason with her.

“You are delusional,” she told him, her voice hard and unyielding. “Go away Darrien. Go dream about Caroline and leave me be.” Sarah walked away, without looking back at him.

Sarah left him in the shrub maze and ran to the comfort of home. With each step she took, another piece of her heart seemed to fall away from her.

Glancing at her watch, Nicole saw that it was nearly 9:00 PM. Already late, she took the stairs two at a time. The French Quarter building where Ethan kept his office was beautiful, though she wished that she lived a little closer. Having a boss that was a vampire had some advantages, but having her nights free was not one of them. She often worked long hours at night, helping Ethan with whatever project he was working on. Right now that happened to be the disappearance of a little boy.

Ethan’s contacts in the police department thought the boy’s disappearance might be connected to vampires, but Nicole didn’t think so. This crime had predator written all over it - the human predator variety. That wasn’t to say that there were not plenty of deaths that could be attributed to vampires.

Most of the members of the New Orleans Police Department were unaware of the vampires that roamed their city, but there were a couple of officers that knew, and they would seek out Ethan’s help. Those in the police department that knew the truth about the death that plagued their city, welcomed Ethan’s expertise.

Ethan was a Light Seeker, a vampire that fed on animals while searching for a way to end their curse. Ending the curse of the vampire, and finding the Place of Light was one of Ethan’s ongoing projects, and the one that Nicole spent most of her time on.

She knew Ethan was busy right now with the boy’s disappearance, and she hoped that he wouldn’t have a problem with her leaving for Romania.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Nicole frowned. The office door was shut. Ethan always kept it open when he was in. From behind the door she could hear the soft murmur of voices. She brought her hand up to knock, but hesitated. If the door was closed, Ethan obviously didn’t want to be disturbed.

“I thought we would leave right away,” Ethan started pacing the floor. “If we know where she is, Omar probably does too. We’ll have to get to her soon … if it’s not already too late.”

Nicole didn’t respond. She knew that her first obligation was to ensure her sister’s safety, but her fear for Alec made her pause.

“I may have a solution.” Lex said as he stood up. “I will go to Sutter Point and see to the girl’s safety. It would do no good to bring her back here to New Orleans. She’d just be closer to Omar here. Let me convince her to go someplace where she can safely wait until the time that all three of you can be brought together.”

“Where will she go?” Nicole was hesitant. Lex seemed like an ally, but she could not forget that he was a lycan, and an enemy of her kind.

“Don’t worry, I have a place in mind. In the meantime, you can go fetch your friend. Soon you will need all the friends you can get.” Lex’s voice held a cryptic note.

“You’ll contact Ethan as soon as you’ve found her?” Nicole asked him, still unsure if she should leave the fate of her sister to a stranger.

“I know you think he’s odd, but Dash is a great friend. He’s someone I would like on my side,” Nicole said, draping an arm over Ethan’s shoulder. “Besides, I told him we could help him market his recipe if he came with me.”

* * * *

A shroud of darkness wrapped around her - squeezing at her chest until she felt as if she would smother. Though she could not actually see the dark entity, for Sarah it was real. The darkness was the heartache and despair of yearning for an immortal - someone that could never come into the light. There was despair in knowing that she may herself, be forever destined to darkness.

With her legs drawn up to her chest, Sarah huddled in the corner of the dank cellar. No light could reach her in the earthen basement. She’d reached the house just before dawn, and had gone straight for the basement. It was the only safe place to hide from the light.

She could hear Jeanie in the kitchen, the floor creaking as she moved about, probably preparing breakfast. Her aunt would not realize that she was gone until she went upstairs to see what was keeping Sarah from breakfast. Jeanie would be frantic.

Though it was only a short time, it seemed like an eternity before the basement door opened and a sliver of light penetrated the darkness. Sarah scrambled away from the light, terrified that it would burn her if she came into contact with it.

“Sarah, are you down here?” Jeanie asked, the uncertainty in her voice making it sound feeble.

“I’m here. Shut the door quickly!”

Jeanie switched on the light that hung from a fixture above the stairs. Stepping onto the top stair, she pulled the door shut behind her.

“Sarah, what are you doing down here in the dark?”

“I have to talk to you,” Sarah told her aunt, her voice shaking.

Jeanie started down the stairs, her hand grasping the rail. When she was halfway down the staircase, she saw her niece huddled in the corner. Sarah knew she was a sight with her feet bare, and her nightgown torn and dirty.

“I’m just turning … becoming a vampire.” Sarah told her, squeezing her eyes closed so that she would not have to see the disappointment on her aunt’s face.

Sarah didn’t answer. She didn’t want to tell her aunt about what had happened between her and Darrien. Jeanie picked up on Sarah’s reluctance, and guessed why she was unwilling to show her where she’d been bitten.

Clucking her tongue, Jeanie shook her head in annoyance. “You didn’t listen to a word I said about being careful.”

“I’m sorry,” Sarah sobbed. “When I’m with him … it’s like nothing else matters.”

“It’s the vampire’s spell,” Jeanie told her sternly. “This is why I told you that it was dangerous for you to be with him too much.”

“But I didn’t feed on him! This shouldn’t have happened,” Sarah insisted.

“Maybe it hasn’t happened. Maybe it’s all in your head,” Jeanie suggested, a look of hope in her eyes.

“I’ve hungered for his blood. It’s like … it takes control of me and I don’t know what I am doing. But he stopped me before I could feed from him.”

“There isn’t much you
can
do … if indeed you have been turned, but I have my doubts.”

The uncertainty in Jeanie’s eyes was like a ray of hope to Sarah. She did not like the idea of being condemned to a dark cellar for the rest of her life. “How can we know?”

“Come upstairs into the light. That is the best test I can think of.”

Sarah shook her head violently. “No! He told me that the sunlight could kill a vampire.”

“It is true that too much sunlight can kill a vampire, but if there is only a little exposure, it could make you ill, but probably wouldn’t kill you.”

“No. We need to find some other way.” Sarah was adamant.

“Very well.” Jeanie stood up. “I’ll bring you some food and water, and you can stay down here until I can figure something out.”

* * * *

It was nearly midday, but the murky clouds coming in from the sea were like a blanket of night covering the sun. It might as well have been twilight. The old Victorian mansion almost appeared to watch him, as if it had a life of its own. With his enhanced senses, he could hear it breathing - daring him to come forth and save the witch. At least this is what he sensed, but he realized it wasn’t the house at all. It was his self-doubt.

Was he worthy?

Did he really have it in him to be selfless enough to save the witch and find redemption for his efforts?

Lex closed his eyes, trying to block out those images that haunted his every waking moment.

He knew firsthand how darkness could cloud one’s judgment and eventually take over. This was what was happening with Omar. Lex didn’t know what drove the darkness within the ancient vampire, but the result would be the same. Evil would eventually consume Omar, like it had almost consumed him - eating away at his soul until he had nearly killed his own daughter.

Lex had not spoken with Kayla since he’d been banished from
Outerlands
, nor had he gone near his adopted granddaughter - the girl that was the third sister. The one he most needed to protect. Although this self-imposed isolation from his family was punishment enough to bring him to his knees, it came nowhere near to the anguish or self-loathing he felt for the things that he could never take back.

His darkest hour was as clear today as it had been that night years ago. The scene replayed in his mind a hundred times a day. Even now the memory intruded and he lost focus of his purpose for being in Sutter Point. The house faded from his sight, replaced by those haunting memories.

The flames that leaped out from the pit, cast the large earthen chamber in deep orange and red light. It was hot - so hot that it could have been the entrance to the underworld.

Lex’s dark hair hung in sweat soaked strands around his head. Shedding his robe, he stood naked, except for a black cotton breechcloth.

In his hands he held a golden cube. The cube bore markings similar to Egyptian hieroglyphics. With the square shaped box tightly clenched in both hands, he raised it high above his head and closed his eyes. “With this key … Lord of Darkness … I call on you to close the door to
Ourterlands
from all other worlds.”

The earth rumbled within the rock chamber, sending stones flying toward him. Then there was only silence.

At that point, he still had not been strong enough to draw the dark energy into the Rostin, that magic key to all dimensions. Even after years of preparing, somehow his energy was still being drawn away from him.

Lex was back in the present. He squeezed his eyes shut and tried to block out the picture of evil that he had once been. It didn’t work. Once again he was cast back in time to that night.

He remembered thinking that the reason that he had been unsuccessful in his endeavor to close the door to
Outerlands
was because Vance had betrayed him. Vance had been one of his fiercest warriors, and he also happened to be the man that his daughter loved.