B00528UTDS EBOK (25 page)

“Of course I did. I went out after him.” Ethan removed his jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt. There were blisters up and down his arms and on his hands.

Now that she thought about it, she realized that she hadn’t seen his hands while he was talking to them in the parlor. He’d kept them in the pockets of his jacket.

“Your face isn’t burned,” she stated.

“I keep a ski mask nearby just in case I need to go out quickly, but I did burn some anyway.”

Sarah buried her face in her hands and cried. How could he have done this? How could he have left her just when she was beginning to find happiness?

“Where is he? Darrien deserves a proper burial,” she cried.

“I don’t know,” Ethan told her. “I contacted the police and asked the people that I usually work with if they would keep an eye out for a body, but so far there hasn’t been one. I also asked Lex if he would look for him. That is why he isn’t here tonight.”

“Well he has to be somewhere. He couldn’t just disappear, could he?”

“He will turn up sooner or later,” Donavan reassured her. “Then we will do what you believe to be right.”

“I don’t just believe it to be right, I
know
it is the right thing to do,” she responded, her emotion making it impossible to think straight. “I knew him as a child. His family believed in heaven, and in God. Darrien did too … once.”

Sarah stared at the letter she held in her hand. She needed no more encouragement. She would experience her last moments with Darrien through the words in his letter, but it was all that she had left of him.

Nodding to her father and Ethan, Sarah left the garden and ran up to her room. Shutting the door behind her, she fell into her bed and let the tears come. She kept seeing him on his horse - beneath the sunshine. The way he’d smiled at her, so tenderly but so full of mischief. That was back when he was mortal, and could be in the light. It was when she was Caroline, instead of Sarah.

Sarah’s body shook uncontrollably as she wept.

Now he would be in the light - that light that so many of the immortals craved. But Sarah - she was in a place of darkness that she may never emerge from. There had not been a hint of what was to come from the spirit world.

But that was not really true. Gina had warned her about the pain of death, but Sarah had assumed that the ghost had been referring to her own death - the process of death - not Darrien’s death.

Finally her tears slowed. Sarah left her bed to go into the bathroom that was adjoined to her room. She splashed cold water on her tear-swollen eyes, and then dried her face.

It was several moments before she felt calm enough to confront the letter that he’d left. Finally she picked it up from the bed where it waited for her. Taking a deep breath, Sarah carefully opened the envelope and pulled out a single piece of paper.

Sarah My Love

Yes I am calling you Sarah and not Caroline. You are Sarah now, and I love Sarah. Maybe one day you will forgive me for what I am about to do. Please believe that what I do, I am doing for you. No, maybe it isn’t just for you. I just cannot live without you. Not again. For over two hundred years I have lived in the darkness, wanting to feel your warmth and see the light in your eyes. I don’t think that I am strong enough to go through an eternity without you.

I brought you death once. I will not do so again. I know you don’t believe that this would happen, that I would be responsible for your death again, but even if this is true, eventually you will die. You must. It is inevitable for all mortals. This time when you die, I will be waiting for you on the other side. Even though I am gone, my love for you will live on forever. Always remember that.

I love you Forever

Darrien

Again her tears came. This time they were not just tears of grief, but also tears of anger. How could he have been so selfish and so thoughtless? He had released himself from pain, only to bring it to her.

In the fading light of dusk, the headlights did little to illuminate the road. Even with the keen sight of the wolf, the dirt road could be hazardous and difficult to navigate. Though there was still some light in the sky, the woods were dark and ominous. His aging eyes were not what they once were.

Spotting his destination up ahead, Lex pulled off to the side of the road. He switched the ignition off, but left the headlights on. When he opened the car door to get out, he was surprised at how cool it was. Though it was only late summer, the night air already had a chill to it.

With the spare set of keys that he kept in his pocket, Lex opened the trunk. He pulled out a flashlight and switched it on. The beam of the light was directed toward what at first appeared to be a pile of green wool blankets, but at closer inspection, it was obvious that the blankets were wrapped around something.

Lex leaned over and pulled the form from the trunk, flinging it over his shoulder. At least he could be thankful that his strength was not fading like his eyesight. With the light directed in front of him, Lex made his way along the steep path that would take him further up the mountain.

After several moments of climbing, Lex finally came to a gaping black hole in the side of the mountain. It was one of many caves that could be found along the Wind River mountain range. Though he pointed the flashlight into the opening, it could not penetrate the darkness in the cave. He entered regardless. If there were a bear hidden by that darkness, he would deal with that threat when the time came. Right now he wanted to relieve himself of the burden he carried on his shoulder.

Lex didn’t stop in the main cavern, but took another tunnel to a smaller cavern, deeper within the cave. He then placed the wrapped body on the earthen floor. For a long time he just stood there, staring at the heap he had deposited on the ground. Finally he knelt down and began unwrapping the form hidden within the blankets.

The body was burned badly. Wherever the skin was exposed was nothing but a mass of oozing blisters. The skin on one side of his face almost appeared to be melted plastic.

He left the cave but returned shortly, his arms laden with supplies. Lex then took some scissors from one of the bags that he’d been carrying and began cutting the clothes away from Darrien’s body. When the clothes were cut away from the burned flesh, he then took a jug of water and began pouring it over Darrien’s burns.

Lex shook his head. “You foolish boy.”

He next opened a cooler and grabbed a plastic IV bag full of blood. He attached a tube to the bag and placed the other end of the tube in Darrien’s mouth, so that the blood would slowly drip.

Stepping back from the body, Lex could not believe what he was doing. Helping the vampires was one thing, but this was really going above and beyond the call of duty.

Why was he doing it?
’

It was for Sarah. She was important to the big picture, and Darrien was important to her.

Getting the blood hadn’t been easy. He’d had to steal it from a blood bank, and was nearly caught.

Keeping Darrien out of the sun was essential, but there was no way to do that in New Orleans. Not without putting him in some filthy crypt. Lex had decided he would take him away from New Orleans - away from the threat of other vampires and the prying eyes of the humans.

The boy had problems, and even if he lived, he may decide to find another way to end his existence.

Lex shook his head again. He had a lot of work ahead of him to take care of this problem.

* * * *

Sarah eyed the black vehicle that Ethan had parked in front of Donavan’s Garden District house. It was definitely out of place in this neighborhood. Truthfully, it would look to be out of place just about anywhere.

The vehicle was a large van that had been converted into something else. What that something else was, Sarah wasn’t sure. The windshield and the front door windows were darkly tinted. It had no other windows.

“So much for blending in,” Sarah commented dryly.

“It is exactly what we need,” Ethan told her and the others that were gathered at the curb to see it. “We will not be limited to only traveling during the night. With this piece of machinery, we can travel whenever we want. During the day, those of us that can’t be in the light will remain in the back, and one of you girls can drive.”

“How do you keep the light out of the back?” Alec was unconvinced.

Ethan walked around to the back of the van and opened the doors. A light came on so that they could see inside. On one side of the van was a couch, on the other side there was a flat screen computer monitor, hanging from the wall of the van. On the floor was a small refrigerator. The front of the van was completely closed off from the back with a sliding metal door.

“You see. There is no way for light to get in here unless the doors are opened. There are cameras hooked up around the outside of the van and in the driver’s area so that we can see what’s going on from back here. We can also communicate through an intercom system that I’ve installed.”

“Very innovative,” Dash smiled. “Do you think we could like … hook up a video game system to that monitor?”

“It’s that kind of frivolous thinking that is going to get you someday,” Donavan’s voice took them by surprise. He had not come out with the group to look at the vehicle as he’d been closed up in his study for hours with Father Rovati. The two of them had been in a heated discussion about something that the others weren’t permitted to know about.

Dash shrugged. “It was just an idea. You know … break the boredom of the road.”

Ethan pointed to the refrigerator. “We can carry an emergency supply with us … and soda to if you want,” he said, looking at Nicole and Sarah.

The truth was that at the beginning she’d been unable to accept the reality of Darrien’s death. Even with the letter he’d left her, it just seemed so impossible - so unreal. As the days went by, she did begin to accept his death as real, and to accept the fact that he was just gone. Darrien was no longer a part of her life, and never would be again.

Acceptance had not brought her relief from the pain, nor did it ease her anger. She almost felt as if Sarah no longer existed. She was just a shell, going through the motions of life.

Jeanie was watching her, pulling Sarah’s thoughts from her head.

“I wish you wouldn’t do that,” Sarah told her.

“I’m worried about you. I know you cared about him, but you still have your whole life ahead of you. Please don’t let me lose you like I did your mother.”

Sarah forced a smile. “Really … I’ll be okay.”

Jeanie didn’t seem to believe her, but instead of pressuring her further, she changed the subject. “Tomorrow morning I’m leaving to go back to Sutter Point.”

“Why?” Sarah was shocked by this new development.

Her aunt shrugged. “I don’t really belong here. I know that this is something that you must do, but I just think that I could be more useful back home.”

“Are you sure that it isn’t because a certain gentleman is no longer here?” Sarah asked with a smile. It was the first time in two weeks that her smile was truly genuine. She was happy that her aunt was feeling the first pangs of romance.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Jeanie scoffed.

“It’s okay auntie,” Sarah told Jeanie as she grabbed her hand and started walking toward the front porch. “I’m sure there will be plenty of opportunity to meet up with him again.”

* * * *

Sarah was sure that the little two-lane highway would go on forever. They’d been traveling for nearly two days with only short stops to sleep for a few hours. On both sides of them were nothing but sagebrush and hills, but in the distance she could make out a mountain range.

The speaker in the dashboard came alive. “This looks familiar,” Dash told them. “I think there is a rest stop not far from here. Pull over there.”

Nicole leaned forward and pushed the button on the intercom. “Are you sure? The sun isn’t completely down yet?”

“Yes. I need to get my bearings,” he answered, but a burst of static made it difficult to understand what he was saying.

Sarah shrugged. “Well I guess he wants us to stop anyway.” She’d be glad for the opportunity to get out and stretch her legs. Besides, it was Nicole’s turn to drive.