The Vampire Legacy III; Familiar Souls (18 page)

"More?" Julian smiled. "Who could it
be, I wonder."

"Maybe it's Victor's ghost." Michael
smiled. Julian looked at him as if he were nuts then back at
Walter. "Did they say who they were?"

"Two young women looking for Ms.
Owens." He replied.

"It must be Bobbie and Taryn." Michael
smiled then looked at Walter. "Tell them to let them through. I'll
meet them at the door. Michael turned and looked at Julian. "I have
to find Cristian. Taryn, from what I understand, is his
girlfriend."

Maybe we could discuss my brother's
obsession with marrying Lauren." Julian laughed. Michael nodded and
walked away.

* * * * *

I looked up as the three of us walked
in the door. Ashley went directly to Julian, who she kissed then
disappeared to find her little boy. Lauren walked over and talked
to Quinn, who looked angry and was staring out the window, but who
I saw standing there talking to Michael and Cristian made me stop
and just stare.

Taryn looked over at me and smiled, and
then she walked over and hugged me. I smiled at her then looked at
Bobbie, who walked over and hugged me too. The two of them seemed
to start to ask all sorts of questions, but I couldn't help but
feel that someone was missing, until he walked into the room.
Justin stopped in the doorway, looked over at me and smiled, his
hands casually in the pockets of his pants, and then he walked over
towards Michael and Cristian.

"Sage, do you want to talk about
something?" Bobbie whispered in my ear. I looked at her, fumbled
over the words for a second, then nodded, quickly, and the three of
us left the room.

I stood looking at my fingers as I
leaned on the wall, next to the windows in my bedroom, then I
looked up at Bobbie and Taryn and sighed.

"So, what's going on here?" Bobbie
asked.

I shrugged then shook my head. "I'm a
bit confused."

"About?" Taryn asked.

"Michael, Justin, Julian, Lauren,
Ashley, David, you name them, I'm confused." I said and then
smiled. "Really, I think I'm just worried about everything that's
going on. Like Michael, he doesn't know who is threatening us and
there's no way for him to find out. He seems like he's in a daze
most of the time. I know he has a lot on his mind, but it just
worries me.

"Then, there's Justin, who's so
concerned with trying to make Cristian, who's still insisting that
he's dangerous, see that he's not anymore. Justin seems further
away now than when I left him to come down here, further than he
has been in the last nine months."

"I'm sure it's just that they haven't
been together in so long that they all felt awkward." Taryn smiled.
"So, what about the others that you mentioned."

"Well, Julian looks at me like I'm
something that's never been seen before. He acts as if he wants to
study me, poked and prodded until he figures out why I'm who I am.
Lauren is nice, I mean she's very friendly and wants to help, but I
don't know, there's something else about her. I don't think she
realizes it though." I looked at Bobbie and Taryn and
sighed.

"You're getting feelings from her?"
Bobbie asked. I nodded, that was exactly it! It was what I couldn't
put my finger on.

"Don't you think you should tell her?"
Taryn questioned.

"No, I don't think that's my place.
Everyone has to discover his or her own inner secrets. Lauren has
to learn hers on her own." I replied. "But, I can say that she's
linked to those boys, just as much as I'm linked to
Michael."

"So, who's Ashley?"

"Michael's fledgling, Julian's
"girlfriend"." I smiled. "She helps me understand my link to
Michael by telling me about her link to him. I'm afraid, though,
that there's something else around our link than there is between
the two of them. Like, why my powers are stronger, how I can feel
things about people, and the voices that I hear." I sighed. "This
is all very strange." I ran my hand through my hair and closed my
eyes. I walked over to the chair and sat down then I looked out at
the moon. "Then there's my last problem."

"David?" Bobbie asked. I nodded and
sighed. Taryn looked at me oddly. "What about him?"

"There's a connection between us." I
said softly.

"What?" Taryn asked. "What about
Justin?"

"What about him?" I asked then saw it
on her face. "No, you've got it wrong, it's not a sexual
connection, or a physical connection, but it's something else. I
can't quite place it either, but, from what Lauren told me about
him, he should make me uneasy, and I should feel the danger from
him, but I don't."

"What do you feel?" Bobbie whispered. I
looked at her, thought about it a moment and then shook my
head.

"Nothing."

"Nothing?" She asked. "Like as in
zip?"

"Like nothing, good or bad. He just
feels normal to me." I stopped and shook my head. "Maybe it's
because of the others, being around vampires so long. I just don't
feel anything odd from him. There was one thing though."

"Which was?"

"His dreams. He said he saw me in his
dreams and that's why he came home, to get away from them, but
instead he found me here. He also said that in his dreams, I was
something evil, that he was afraid of me, but when we were there,
earlier, standing together, he said that he felt safe near me." I
said and smiled then looked up at Bobbie. "That's how I feel. The
nothingness was a way of feeling safe. If I couldn't feel good or
bad, from him then I was safe."

There was a knock at the door and
Cristian popped his head in. I smiled at him; he smiled back, and
then looked at Taryn, who in turn looked at me.

"I'm just going to step out for a few
minutes." Taryn smiled. "If you don't mind."

"No, go ahead." I replied and watched
as Taryn left the room. I looked over at Bobbie as the door shut.
"You don't have to stick around."

"Where would I go?" She
asked.

"Michael was asking about you." I
smiled to her. "Asking how you were. Maybe the two of you should
get to know each other."

"Thanks, but no thanks, Ms.
Matchmaker." Bobbie smiled. I smiled back, but couldn't shake the
strange feelings that crept over my body. I turned and looked out
the window.

Chapter 10

Bobbie looked at me, I could see her
reflection in the window and I turned quickly to look at
her.

"What is it, Sage?" She asked, as I
shivered visibly.

"Can I tell you about a dream?" I
smiled, or at least tried to fake one.

"Sure."

"It was the night that I got Michael's
letter. I went over to Justin's and fell asleep on his bed. It was
such an odd dream, everyone I loved was being held prisoner and I
was being pushed aside, to be kept safe. All hell broke loose and
in the end, everyone died except me. I ran, tried to get away, but
a vampire scooped me up and carried me away." I rubbed my eyes and
looked at the bed. "I'm afraid that it might come true. That
everyone will die, that this thing, whatever it is, that's coming
for Michael, will kill everyone in its path."

"Sage, it was just a dream, right?"
Bobbie asked, taking my hand. "I mean, the voices weren't there,
and they didn't tell you anything specific, did they?"

"No, they weren't there." I replied.
Bobbie smiled.

"I think it was just the sudden
realization that we were all going to be together in one place that
made you feel that way. It probably scared you to know that
everyone was coming together." Bobbie smiled at me and looked into
my eyes. "Let's get some dinner, Julian said it would be ready
soon, when we came up here."

"All right." I said softly and the two
of us stood up. We walked into the room downstairs and looked at
all the people there. Justin walked over to me and wrapped his arms
around my waist. I looked up into his eyes and smiled. "I've missed
you."

"I'm not going to go away, Sage." He
whispered back.

"We've just been our own separate ways,
today, and I'd like to spend time alone with you." I whispered. He
smiled and kissed my cheek.

"I've got an idea." He whispered close
to my ear. "I'll come visit you tonight after midnight and we can
go out and watch the moon."

"Sounds perfect." I replied and smiled.
His lips touched mine and I felt the fire as he kissed me. Justin
looked at me as he backed away and smiled. I could see the want in
his eyes. "It's only a few hours away."

"But, it feels like a lifetime." He
replied and looked at the others in the room, then looked back at
me. "We have several pairs of eyes on us."

"So what?" I smiled. "Who?"

"Cristian and Taryn." He whispered,
smiling, probably because he thought he was angering them, but then
it faded. "And, David."

"Why is he looking?" I asked. Justin
shrugged. "Don't worry about him, Justin. I'm sure he's
harmless."

"Quinn said that he was near you. He
told me to keep you away from David." He said softly.

"I've felt no danger from him." I
replied. "I don't think he's a threat."

"Please, be careful around him, Sage."
Justin whispered. I looked at him quickly. "I trust your judgment;
I know you know what you're doing."

"Justin, it’s okay to be worried." I
smiled.

"I just don't want to lose you." He
said, seriously. I touched his lips lightly with my
fingertips.

"You won’t." I smiled. I turned to look
at the many people in the room. Everyone was talking amongst
themselves, but I couldn't help but be caught in David's stare. He
looked down when he noticed he had been caught then looked at
Julian, who seemed to be rambling.

I breathed in deeply, and felt a hand
on my shoulder, turned and looked up at Michael, who kissed me on
the forehead.

"Come on; let's get this group to the
dinner table." He whispered and took my hand, then led me to the
dining room.

* * * * *

Michael looked at the group that
surrounded him. His small family of seven had now gained five more
people, which seemed a lot, but some were still missing. Angel,
Cleo, Jason, Issac and Cecilia, who had been warned about the
posing threat, but none, felt the need to rush home to
them.

Julian also felt the five of them were
safe, that it seemed that only ones totally connected with Michael
were in any danger. Michael breathed in deeply, and looked at Sage,
who seemed quite engrossed in pushing around the one meatball left
on her plate. He smiled at her, although she didn't see him, and he
noticed the look of concentration on her face, in her
eyes.

"What, if you don't mind me asking," he
smiled. She looked up at him. "What kind of concentration does it
take to move that meatball, from here," he pointed to where it sat
to the other side of the plate, "to there?"

"It's helping me not to think." She
smiled lovingly at him.

"May I inquire about what you don't
want to think about?" He asked.

"My parents." She whispered and looked
down at her plate again. "I don't have very many memories of them
and the ones I do have also included you."

"I was over a lot." He
smiled.

"Why?"

"Because I felt the need to protect
you, to be there if certain things developed." He
whispered.

"Like...fangs?" She laughed. Michael
smiled and nodded.

"Yes, like fangs." He
replied.

"Can I tell you about a dream?" She
whispered as if it were some sort of secret that even she shouldn't
be letting out. Michael nodded. "Not here, though. Somewhere
else."

"I know just the spot." He said, took
her hand and excused himself from the table, taking sage with
him.

She walked around the small outside
theater a couple of times before she found a spot on the brick
floor in front of him.

"I believe the man in my dreams is
real." She whispered and watched his face. "Is that
possible?"

"Yes, with this family, I've learned
that a great deal is possible." He said softly. "Is he dangerous,
this man?"

"He frightens me to death." She relied.
"He told me that he was related to you and the other two that your
maker was his, you were his brothers. He also said that he wouldn't
have ever thought of the combination of the three vampires and a
witch."

"What did he look like?" Michael
asked.

"He was a bit tall, probably your
height, and he had black hair, with a bit of wave to it. He seemed
like an old vampire, older than you, but he also seemed like he was
older in age, mortal years." She replied.

Michael touched her cheek and looked
into her eyes. He focused himself on her mind and caught a glimpse
of the man in her dreams. Slowly, he sat back, his face voice of
color, pale white, and he sighed.

"I need to find Julian and the others,
Sage. Listen to me, please." He whispered, not moving his hand from
her warm skin. "If this man should appear to you, stay away from
him, as far away as you can possibly go. Put up mental blocks but
try to stay away from him."