The Light Who Shines (38 page)

My senses come alive, and I’m suddenly aware of my body. I
gasp and throw my head back to scream, but before the sound is even out of my
mouth, my brain is so overwhelmed by the pain that darkness takes me
immediately.

Jack Tanner: June 3, 2022, Red Ages

After a full night of searching the river with Ernesto, he
waits in the car as I knock on Maud’s door with a heavy heart in the early
morning light. Maud answers in a green and blue paisley dress and her mussed
blue hair.

Maud looks surprised to see me and says, “Hello, Jack! What
are you doing here?” Then she put her hand to her mouth, and I can see her face
filling with a profound grief and horror. The only other time I knocked on her
door was when I told her that her husband had died in the line of duty.

Quickly I say, “No, Maud. We don’t know that yet.”

Maud steels herself and says, “What do you know, Jack?”

“Blue was taken by Tobias Blackwater. He’s the perpetrator
in the crime we’re investigating. He portaled her away, but we don’t know to
where. This happened yesterday morning. We’ve searched all day and night and
will continue to search until we find her.”

Maud takes a moment to digest this, her skin pale with
shock. Then, apparently remembering her manners, she says, “Would you like to
come in?”

“I don’t have time. I just wanted to ask if she told you
anything about the case.”

Maud steps back a little, and I see her hand is shaking as
she holds the door. She says, “No. Blue is always silent about her work. She
only told me she had a case where terrible things were done to a young boy.”

I nod. Maud knows the bare minimum, which only tells me that
Blue was conscientious about following the rules of a case. I would expect
nothing less from Blue.

Maud looks up at me and says, “How can I help?”

I think about it for a moment and then say, “Varg was with
her, but Blackwater only took Blue; he didn’t take Varg. Varg stayed with
Gambino for only a few minutes, and then he took off. I believe he must be
hunting for Blue. And I don’t know for sure, but Varg may have some special
powers of his own. I’m not sure it was an accident that he just happened upon
her in the alley the other day. If I am right about his special powers, he may
have been looking specifically for her.”

Maud looks at me with intelligent eyes. “And if he found her
the first time, he might find her again?”

“Yes. I can’t chase after him myself, but I think it would
be worthwhile if someone did.”

Maud nods. “I’ll find him. You concentrate on bringing Blue
back. But let me have your number and I’ll give you mine.”

Maud runs into the house, and when she returns she hands me
a slip of paper with her number on it. I hand her my card, then turn quickly to
leave. As I do, I hear Maud whisper from over my shoulder, “You had better find
her, Jack Tanner!”

Jack Tanner: June 3, 2022, Red Ages

Ernesto and I pull up to the library parking lot and get out
to meet with Gambino and Xavier.

I look to Gambino and ask, “Did you find

anything?”

Gambino’s face is drawn, and he looks unusually pale. “No,
damn it! We found nothing but some properties out of state. I still have a guy
sifting through the files for any signs of other local property.“

I walk over to a tree next to the parking lot and pound my
fist on it. The tree shakes root to leaf, and thousands of blossom petals float
lazily down to the ground. I pound my fist some more. Then I straighten and
take a couple of calming, deep breaths. I don’t really need to breathe, being a
Vampire, but it does help relax the body. When I turn around I see Xavier and
Gambino staring at me with looks of concern and grief on their faces.

I flash my eyes at both of them in anger. “Don’t grieve her
yet!”

Gambino realizes that he had been doing just that, and an
abashed look comes over his face.

“Gambino, I know you want to be on the ground with us
searching, but that’s not the best place for you. We are far better suited for
finding a scent trail than you are. But while we’re busy here, we need a real
detective going over Blackwater’s files, searching for any clues.”

Gambino says, “I know. We have half the force looking out
for Tobias Blackwater by car. If we find him, we find her. There are enough men
on the ground.”

I watch as Gambino turns toward his car. He obviously did
not sleep last night and he is tired and worn.

I turn and address Xavier. “We’re going to search the city,
house to house. But we are not entering, so I don’t need your help right now.
What I do need is for you to go into the office and keep it running while
Ernesto and I are out here. We can’t leave it unattended for days on end. You
should call Mike and ask for some assistance with the Dark Vampire cases. He
will send someone out to take over for Ernesto while we are engaged here. Also,
check on Rubalia to make sure she got the assistance she needs to do her
research. Keep her working any aspect of this case that you can think of. She
is an invaluable asset.”

Xavier looks disappointed that he can’t come with us but
also proud that I’m asking him to step in like that. He nods and says, “I’ve
brought a cooler of blood. I’ll move it to your trunk.”

“Thank you.”

I pull out my city map and place it on the hood. I draw a
three mile radius around Phantom Island. I show Ernesto and Xavier. “We’ll
start here. You take the east side, Ernesto, and I’ll take the west side. Now,
we’re going to hit every structure in this area. Circle around each building
looking for Blue’s or Blackwater’s scent. Listen for either of their voices. Go
block by block. We will start on the south end and work our way north. When we
are done, we will go to the Cock and Bull Tap and start over there. But first
we need to replenish ourselves.”

Xavier takes his cue and pulls the cooler out of his car. I
pop my trunk and he places it inside. I pull out four bags each for Ernesto and
I. We drink it quickly as Xavier pulls out of the lot.

Bluebell Kildare: June 3, 2022, Red Ages

I feel myself drifting awake, but the pain is so great, I
will myself back into oblivion. I can’t face it. I drift in and out with the
pain both rousing me and making me unconscious as I become aware of it. One
time I think I feel something gnawing on my foot. I feebly try to kick at it. I
drift away again. Again I feel pain in my foot. I kick again.

A sharp pain in my foot finally drags me to a consciousness
I am loath to enter. I flare out my other sense at it. There are three small
souls gnawing at my feet. I push against their souls, beating them with my
light, driving them back. I drift back into dark again, but this time it’s a
real sleep, not unconsciousness. They do not return.

I wake dripping in icy water again. I stand weakly in my
chains with my head bent, my legs hardly able to hold my weight.

Blackwater says, “Bluebell. I wish I had more time to spend
with you, but I’m afraid you have to leave me today.”

I lift my wobbly head to look at him, curious, but not
hopeful. No, I know better than that.

“I brought a present for you.” Blackwater mocks as he pulls
a gun from behind his back. “Look, your gun! How kind of you to give it to me
yesterday!”

Then he snaps the whip with his right hand. His tone changes
and becomes sharp and angry. “Today is going to be your last day, Bluebell. But
since I’m generous, you have a choice of deaths. You can tell me where the amulet
is and die by your own gun. Think how poetic that would be—a familiar friend
ending your torment. Or you can die by the whip.”

I can sense anger from him, but also fear and panic. I can’t
sense any delight from him at all this time.

I ask with a trembling voice, “What has changed?” I can’t
quite make the sounds come out of my throat the way I want. I am just too weak,
I think, from fever and loss of blood.

Blackwater says defensively, “What do you mean?”

I whisper, “On the outside. Suddenly you are hurried and
desperate. You’re on the run. What has changed?” I breathe heavily after saying
that much. My knees falter and I start to slip, but I steady myself.

Blackwater says, “I have people to answer to Bluebell. You
have made things very difficult for me. Your lover and your dago partner have
also made things difficult. I’ll have to change things today, and that, my
dear, means that we will be ending our little affair first. Either I will have
the amulet and you will die relatively pain-free, or I enjoy one last
therapeutic session with you and then you die. Either way, you are not waking
to the next sunrise.”

I nod and answer, “I’ll not seek to hurry my own death.
You’ll have to use the whip.”

I can feel Blackwater’s fury at this. He wants control, but
every maneuver he makes to gain what he seeks glances off me. He clearly can’t
comprehend why I would seek a death of lingering pain over one of speed. It
appears he thought there was no chance I would deny him.

Blackwater says, “Be that as it may, I will lie the gun by
the wall.” He sets it down about eight feet in front of me. “If you call on me
to stop, as long as you tell me where the amulet is, I’ll switch weapons at any
point.”

I say politely and softly, “Thank you, but you needn’t have
bothered.” I muse at how I had answered him with no more emotion than if he had
offered me a cup of tea. I must already be disengaging from this life.

Blackwater says, “I’m curious Bluebell. What drives your
choices?”

I whisper slowly, “I walk the path of light. I will not
divert. You walk the path of darkness, so you will not understand. You want to
control the Vampires by their mark of Lilith?” I pause and take several
breaths, then continue on. “But you’ve already been marked by Lilith for some
time now, Blackwater. I see the stinking, oily black muck on your soul. How
much more does she own you, who earned her mark so willingly by your own deeds,
than the Daylight Vampires who had her mark foisted upon them? Their mark is
external, but your mark comes from the very center of your soul.”

I pause again as my breath comes in short pants. “It might
be true that I will die by your hands today, Blackwater, but if it is true,
then it is also true that today you will be reaffirming your spot with Lilith
in the Plane of Fire.”

I see something deep flash in Blackwater’s eyes, and I feel
uneasiness from him, then some doubt, and then I feel denial rise up in him. As
I expected, he is too mad, too corrupt to see the truth or change his course.

Blackwater walks behind me. I feel the first lash cutting
across my raw, exposed muscle and slicing through me. It registers as a new
streak of pain racing across my back and into my brain, screaming louder than
the rest of the signals of pain, but not alone. It is a chorus of pain. There
has been no end to pain for so long now.

I don’t wait this time. I push my other self out of my body.
I know my soul is connected too thinly to my body because I move out of it too
easily. I expand outward, desperately looking for strength. I reach up to the
light, sending tendrils of my soul’s light up toward the sky. I narrow my light
so my reach can go further and further. The thin stream of light pours up to
the sky and beyond. I feel that tiny, thin thread of light passing the moon and
the stars and going upward toward the glow until they join as though meeting in
a welcome embrace. Energy shoots back down the thread and starts filling my
soul back up. My soul begins to glow brighter. What was once a thin veil of
light becomes a great glare.

I look back over the room, and I can see myself separated
from my body except for a thin strand of light that connects my body to my
soul. My soul, my real self, seems to be floating in the corner of the room as
I watch Blackwater. I can feel his fear and anger as he drives the lash into me
again and again. I can see the blood coming off my back, splattering Blackwater’s
arms and body.

I turn toward the light in the space beyond the sky again,
and I think about Maud and how much I will miss her crazy hair and her crazy
stories. I think about Alexis and how kind she’s been to me. I think about
Jack, who is so hard on himself. I regret losing the promise of what had been
evolving between us, a promise like a brilliant green shoot popping out of
brown earth in the spring.

As the light from the place beyond the sky continues to fill
me, my light grows brighter and brighter until I can hardly even see the room
anymore. I feel so filled with energy and light. I think of all the people I am
protecting. I think of the countless babies and children who will go on living
a relatively safe life because I am dying. I think of the mothers and the
fathers who will continue being mothers and fathers. I think of all the
Vampires who are without blame and how their torment will not grow worse here
on Earth because of me. I accept my losses and I willingly trade them for these
gifts.

Jack Tanner: June 3, 2022, Red Ages

After searching most of the three mile radius around Phantom
Island, we have moved slightly south of the Cock and Bull Tap. Large silver
clouds reflect hidden sunrays, and I can smell a storm gathering in the air.
The sun is setting to my left. Red streaks the sky as the final rays of light
dip behind the house-lined street. The houses are sparser here with multi-acre
lots dotted with obscure structures. There are plenty of barns, sheds, chicken
coops—a lot of places to hide a small woman. Animals are harder to deceive than
humans are, which makes navigating the country setting in stealth more
challenging.

A call comes in while I’m in the middle of scenting the
perimeter of a large, old farm house about twenty blocks away from the Cock and
Bull. My phone is on vibrate, but still the hound dog sitting on the porch
hears it, then catches my scent. He starts barking and howling as he bounds for
me.

I run a few blocks away as I press the phone to my ear.

“Jack,” Maud says, “we spotted Varg heading north on Swain
Road! He was at the corner of Swain and Gilson. We lost him when he crossed
some properties, and it’s getting dark now. I’m sorry we didn’t find him
earlier.”

“You did great, Maud. I’m headed that way. I’ll see if I can
catch up with him.”

I start to head further west, then north, running between
old homes and over large yards with my sword softly bouncing across my back. I
jump over a stone wall and keep going.

After a minute my phone rings again, and I click it on while
I run.

Gambino’s voice holds a hint of reserved hope. “We found
some old files in Blackwater’s family archive. The family owns several plots at
the Red Wood Cemetery. Of course half the town owns plots at that cemetery. But
it was close to where Jason was found, so it might be worth checking out.

“Thanks,” I say, not wanting to think of Blue and burial
plots at the same time. “Text me the numbers of the plots.”

Gambino says, “I’m already on my way, so I’ll just point them
out for you.”

Just then, Rubalia chimes me. I pop open the cover to open
the line.

“Jack!” she says excitedly. “I called the local cemeteries
and found that he owns a few plots at Red Wood. A large, gray mausoleum sits on
one of those plots.”

My heart lifts a little at this news. Surely it can’t be
coincidence that they both called me at the same time about the same thing.

“Call Ernesto and have him meet me there.” I flip the ring
closed and take off running at great speed toward the cemetery.

As I close in on the cemetery, the final rays of sunshine
disappear. I see a thin but brilliant bluish white beam of light shooting out
from the ground toward the sky. I would know that light anywhere!

I race to the place where the light shines out of the ground,
and the implications stun me. There is nothing but dirt there! Surely she’s not
buried?

My heart screams as I frantically look around. There are
many mausoleums, and I don’t know which one is Blackwater’s. With no other
viable options, I desperately start digging at the earth where the beam
emerges. I feel like I’m losing my mind at the horror of wondering if Blue is
buried alive. With my bare hands I start heaving up huge chunks of dirt when
some headlights drive right up on the cemetery grounds.

Gambino steps out of the car. “Jesus, Mary, and Joseph!” He
runs to me.

Just then a brilliant flash of lightning strikes,
illuminating the cemetery, and a movement catches my eye. Varg’s shiny fur
reflects the lightning with an unearthly glow as he runs across the cemetery
toward us. I keep digging, unwilling to slow down, but keep one eye trained on
him. His nose is low, and he is tracking at high speed. He stops at a large
mausoleum and starts clawing the door and snarling. That is all the clue I need,
so I jump up and run over to it, tearing the door off the hinges. Gambino
pivots and follows us.

Inside I see two caskets. I break the seals and throw them
open, one after the other. Nothing but the rotten scent of the long-dead
remains. I look to Varg. He is clawing at a break in the floor. I see it’s a
hatch, so I rip it open and see a stairway to what must be a crypt below. I
practically fly down two flights of stairs at my fastest speed. Gambino follows
as fast as he can. Varg is ahead of him.

I run down a long, dark hall, pulling my sword out as I go.
I see a light shining from an entrance to the left. Moving faster than the
human eye, I enter the room and see what’s happening. The room is awash in a
bluish white light. Blackwater has a whip raised over Blue, and she hangs
lifelessly in chains. He looks at me, and before he can even open his mouth to
scream I have slashed his entire hand off the end of his arm with the tip of my
sword. His hand, with his fingers still curled around the whip, drops uselessly
toward the floor.

Before it even reaches the ground I have reached Blue. Her
heart is not beating. I rip open my wrist and press it to her mouth. I hear
Blackwater behind me release a high pitched scream of agony. Then a moment
later I feel a rush of wind as Varg flies through the air toward Blackwater
with a savage snarl. I hear the sound of fangs slicing repeatedly through skin
and bone, and more snarling, and I am glad. I am so glad. I know that Varg has
finished Tobias Blackwater. I slit my wrist again because it has heeled
already, and I apply it to Blue’s throat.

As soon as Gambino enters the room, his eyes run over the
chains still connecting Blue to the ceiling and floor. He sees her lifeless
body and me forcing blood down her throat. The look of grief returns to his
face. He stops and calls an ambulance.

I slit my wrist again, deeper this time, pumping my fist to
keep the blood flowing out. Then Gambino walks around Blue as I continue to
work feverishly on her. When he sees her back, his face turns ashen and he
steps back, bracing himself against the wall. He turns to the side and starts
vomiting.

Just then, Ernesto arrives. He rips the chains off the bolts
for both of her arms and legs, careful not to jar her.

I am murmuring, “Live. Live. Please live.”

Gambino eventually looks away from Blue and toward Varg and
the remains of Blackwater. Blackwater’s neck is ripped open, and his face is a
lacework of gashes. Varg is sitting by Blue, whining softly now.

All of this is happening, and it is registering faintly in
my mind, but just barely. My entire being is focused on getting blood into
Blue’s system. I slit my wrist yet again, even deeper this time. I must get
more blood into her. I am sitting with her in a pool of her blood, spread all
over the cement pad beneath us. She has lost so much. I massage her neck,
trying to mechanically get the blood down.

When the chains are fully removed, I gently sit her down,
careful not to touch her back in any way because there are strips of muscle,
barely connected, just hanging from her. I continue pressing my wrist to her
mouth and massaging her neck up and down. Work, damn it! Work!

I look up and see her beautiful light in the corner. She is
slipping away! Something in my heart immediately springs up, and I reject that
completely, with every ounce of feeling that I have. I will not let her go!

I look straight into her shining, brilliant light, and I
start yelling, “Blue! Don’t you dare die on me now. Blue! Come back! Come back!
Blue, Varg needs you. Maud needs you. Please! I beg you. I need you!”