The Rising Moon (18 page)

Zaria’s eyes and how they sparkled in the moonlight was all I could think about as I felt my life slowly escape my body. As, I stood face to face with death, I only wanted to see her. My thoughts and love for Zaria streamed into his veins as he drank my blood. He saw what I saw, and felt what I felt. My heartache became his and my desire for revenge became his as well. He gave me a choice that night. He said,
‘Die and never see your love again, or accept to live as I do and get your revenge and reunite with her once again.’
I chose to become this monster because I wanted to be with Zaria again---only to discover days later that she was dead.”

Tears filled my eyes. “I’m sorry,” I whispered as I cupped his cool and clammy face in my hand. I couldn’t help but feel responsible for Zaria not only taking her life, but for taking his as well.

“
I was so angry with myself for not being able to protect her from the Lobison’s. I hunted every one of them and killed them all, except for the witch. She got away before I could rip her into pieces as I did with her brothers.” His eyes turned dark with anger.

“
On the night I killed the last remaining one of them, I returned to the cliff from which Zaria took her life. I wanted her to rest knowing that they couldn’t hurt anyone ever again. I apologized for failing to protect her that night.” He took his eyes away from mine, “My life meant nothing without her. My mission was over. I killed the bastards who took her from me and now my only wish was to be with her on the other side. So that night I vowed to stay on the cliff until sunrise. But as the sun began to rise, I heard her voice.” Once again, his eyes were on mine, “She asked me to wait. She said she’d return. And so I did.”

“
And how did you know
I
was Zaria?”

“
You called me.”

I looked at him in surprise. “I did?”

“
I returned to the cliff every full moon since the night she last spoke to me, hoping to hear her voice again. Many years passed since she last talked to me. Until the other night, she told me she had returned.”

“
But how did you know
I
was her?”

“
You pulled me into your dream,” he replied. Suddenly I remembered Sinks Canyon.
It was a dream
. “When I saw you that night at Sinks Canyon, I knew she had returned, because I felt it here,” he placed his long, slim hand on his chest. “A vampire’s heart seizes to beat the night he becomes a vampire, but when I saw you, I felt my heart thump.”

I smiled and snuggled close to the pillows. “Did you ever regret being turned into a vampire?”

“
I did, after learning Zaria was dead. But now I don’t regret it, because if I hadn’t done it, I wouldn’t have met you. The nearly two hundred year wait was well worth it.”

Adam talked about his early days as a vampire. His many travels around the world and how no matter where he was, he always returned to the cliff every full moon and waited to hear Zaria speak to him once again.

I asked him if he drank human blood, and he said yes. I nearly leapt out of the bed when he told me he did, but I didn’t. Vampires drink blood, that’s what they do. He also told me that at the beginning when he was merely a young vampire, the thirst for human blood was greater and so he was vicious in the way he quenched his thirst, but now there were “humane” ways to satisfy the need for blood, like compelling his victims into a deep sleep and taking just enough blood needed to satisfy his thirst and not take their life. He also admitted to buying bags of blood from blood banks, attending donor blood parties and on occasion, drinking animal blood to sustain his thirst.

He asked about me. My childhood, my hopes and dreams. I told him the story Ani told me about my parents, how they died. I told him of my childhood growing up in River View hospital and how I was shuffled from foster home to foster home until I came to live in Lander with the Millers. I told him my hopes were to be able to live a normal life…well as normal a life can be for an immortal wolf. And my dreams were to be able to love someone without the fear of losing them. We talked for hours. It felt like we were old friends catching up on the years we’ve spent apart.

Dawn was fast approaching and although I wanted to continue talking, my eyelids grew heavy. He took my hand into his and brought them to his mouth for a kiss. He closed his eyes, long pale lashes feathered over his hollowed cheeks and then he was gone.

∞
CHAPTER 22 ∞

DAWN BROKE WITH a bright ray of sunshine creeping through the window. I glanced at the empty chair beside the bed. Adam was already gone. I sat up, rubbing my eyes. Cool, crisp country air drifted through the window brushing against my cheeks. A knock on the door broke the lazy feeling I felt.

“
Come in.”

Anne walked in carrying a tray of food, “Good morning Miss Lafosse.”

“
Please call me Lia.” I said as I stepped out of bed and gazed over the large breakfast she prepared of toast, eggs, sausage, fruit and jam.

“
You outdid yourself, Anne. I don’t think I can eat all of this by myself, why don’t you have a seat and join me?”

“
I can’t, Lia,” she said, swinging a cloth in her hand. “I have a lot of chores to do in this big old house. Like I mentioned yesterday, we haven’t had company here for many years and so I have a lot of dusting and cleaning to do.”

I sighed loudly and cupped my chin in my hand. I took a sip of the freshly squeezed orange juice.

“
If you’d like I can help you clean the house,” I suggested. The idea of being cooped up in this room was beginning to get to me.

“
Oh no! No, no.” she gasped, “I have a better idea. Why don’t you take a look around the house? There are a lot of rooms to explore. I’m sure Mr. Ambrose wouldn’t mind, but promise me you won’t enter the last room at the end of the hall.”

My eye grew wide, “Why?”

“
No one is allowed in that room. So please, just promise me you won’t even step near the door.”

“
Ok. I promise.”

After taking the last bite of breakfast, I washed up and opened the large mahogany wardrobe with hand painted cherubs on it. There were only Victorian dresses inside, nothing modern and comfortable like a comfy pair of jeans and a T-shirt. I pulled out a dark blue, cap sleeve dress with hand stitched flowers on it. It fit me perfect. In the bottom drawer of the armoire was a pair of black heeled slippers. Although I never wore heeled shoes before, I slipped them on because there was nothing else I could wear. I glanced at myself on the full length mirror that was nailed on the armoire door. My hair was in dire need of taming. I opened the vanity and pulled out a silver brush with white bristles on it and ran it through my hair, styling it up in a tail.

I placed the empty tray on the table outside the room, as I had done the past couple of days and continued to walk down the narrow hall. I stepped into the next room on the left. It was another bedroom. A large bed rested on the far wall with the same décor as the room I was in, except the color was blue. Anne had already removed all the cloths off the furniture. The dark mahogany wood furnishing was glossy and smooth. I stepped out and continued to the next couple of rooms. Six in all. All of them Victorian with no modern amenities like a phone, T.V. or radio anywhere in sight.

I made my way down the wide curved staircase into, the foyer. To the right of the foyer was a library with hardwood floors, freshly polished furniture and shelves stuffed with old books. Peeling wall paper adorned the walls adding to its aged décor. I pulled out a book of poems and took a seat on the dark blue sofa.

I heard Anne next door. I sat the book down and went to see if she wouldn’t mind some help. The room was a den. Paintings hung on every wall. She was dusting one of the paintings in her hand.

“
Good afternoon, Anne.” I said as I strolled into the room. “I know you said you didn’t want any help, but I’m bored and I really wouldn’t mind helping you clean the house. It’s the least I can do to repay you and Adam for taking such good care of me.”

Her face was pale, as if she’d seen a ghost.

“
Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you.” I said, but her expression was wooden. “Is something wrong?”

“
No, Miss Lia. It’s just that dress you’re wearing…” she turned the frame around. It was a painting of a woman wearing the same exact dress.

“
She looks like me.” I grabbed the frame out of her hands to get a closer look. Her hair cascaded down her shoulders in dark set curls. Her skin was pale and her eyes were two different shades of blue, exactly like mine.

Goosebumps sprung through my arms and down the back of my neck. It was as though I held a mirror and was looking at my own reflection. I ran my fingers on the raised strokes of paint used to capture the portrait of the young girl. On the bottom of the frame was a brass plate with the name Zaria Rohan, 1821 engraved on it.

I whirled and saw Anne staring at me in silence. I felt the flow of blood that gave my face life grow weak and thin.

“
Are you ok?” Anne asked.

I handed her the painting, “I’m just feeling a little tired.”

I grabbed a fist full of skirt and headed upstairs. As I made my way back to the room, I noticed a light creeping from under the door of the room Anne forbade me to enter. A chilled misty breeze wrapped around my ankles as I stood outside the door. My hand automatically reached for the knob and the door cracked open before I could turn it. I heard my heart throbbing past the eerie squeak of the door as I stepped inside. The room was dark, cold and haunting. In the middle of the floor was a large piece of furniture covered in a long black cloth. A large wooden wardrobe dominated the far corner of the room. Frames and mirrors were also covered with black cloth and the curtains were drawn together as to avoid any glimpse of light make its way inside.

I wanted to see what the big deal was with this room and why Anne urged me to stay away. I walked over to the large window covered in layers of flowing black velvet. I reached to pull the curtains apart when a hand quickly stopped me.

“
I thought I asked you to stay away from this room?” Anne’s voice was a whisper, but it rang through my ears as a loud holler.

“
I’m sorry.” I hung my head in shame for being caught disobeying her orders. The room suddenly became colder.

“
Hurry, Miss Lia.” She said shoving me toward the door, “You must never enter this room before sunset.”

I could tell she was frightened by the wide look in her eyes and the panicky tone in her voice. She locked the door behind us and did not move away from the door till she saw me enter mine.

That evening, I didn’t see Adam. Anne informed me that he had to go into town. She didn’t have to tell me what for. His face had begun to grow paler the past few nights. I knew he had to feed. I missed him though. I tried to snuggle up to a good book but I couldn’t read it. I kept thinking about how much I have grown to love him in such a short time.

After breakfast, I tried very hard, to stay clear of the
forbidden
room. No matter how tempting it was to try and take a look at what was beneath all the darkened cloths I stayed away. Anne made sure of it. She asked me if I wanted to help her gather vegetables from the garden. With nothing else to do, I agreed to help her and it used up most of the day.

There were still a few hours before Adam would arrive so I decided to take a nap so I could enjoy the few hours I had with him before sunrise. But my rest was uneasy. The nightmares had returned.

Once again, I found myself running through the woods, but this time I wasn’t human. I was a wolf. A few yards ahead of me stood a black wolf. I stopped running and slowly made my way to him. One look into his deep green eyes and I knew it was Lyle.

“
I’ve been waiting for you,”
he said.

I didn’t answer.

“
I see you’ve met Adam. I can smell his scent on you,”
he shook his head.

“
What do you want?”
I growled.

“
Isn’t it amazing how you knew where to find me? I called out to you tonight and you listened
.” He then began to howl, “Ahwoo! Ahwooo!”

The howling did something to my insides, I felt my chest uncurl and I began to howl as well. Lyle grinned and slowly rubbed his head along the side of mine before disappearing into the nearby bush. He changed back to a man and wore black sweats and no shirt. “I brought some clothes for you too,” he said as he waved a backpack in the air. He threw it on the ground and moved away from the bush so I too can change. “Thanks,” I said, wearing the red dress he brought for me to wear.