The Vampire Legacy III; Familiar Souls (20 page)

"If you didn't want this, Justin, you
should have said something."

"Like I said, I was trying to win my
father's acceptance. Nothing was too much for that ungrateful
bastard." Justin said, getting angry. He turned and looked at
Michael. "I'm sorry; Michael, but I can't discuss this right now.
Sage and I are going to the cemetery to visit her parents, and I
want to be in a better mood for her."

"I understand, Justin." Michael nodded
and watched Justin turn and walk away. He sighed and looked out at
the water, wondering what other things could Justin be hiding, and
how much did he not know about his brother.

* * * * *

I walked out of the bedroom and looked
down the hall at Julian, who was walking down the stairs from the
third floor. He stopped, looked at the back of the book in his hand
and walked a bit.

"Julian." I said and watched him stop;
he turned and looked back at me.

"Well, good morning." He smiled. "What
can I do for you, Sage?"

"I had a question, actually, and I was
wondering if you could help me."

"I can try." He smiled, tucked the book
under his arm and looked me in the eyes. "Shoot."

"Have you ever heard of something
called the Kingdom of the Nine?" I asked. Julian thought for a
moment.

"I vaguely remember hearing something
or reading something about that, yes." He nodded. I smiled and
clapped my hands together.

"So, I'm not really a basket case." I
laughed at him. "What a relief?"

"May I inquire why you're asking about
this?" He asked me as he looked at me strangely.

"It's something I heard in my dreams
last night." I replied softly, raising an eyebrow at him to see if
he thought I was nuts.

"Well, I can see if I could find more
information on it if you would like me too." He smiled. I nodded in
agreement thinking that it might help to know what the ghost had
been talking about. "I'll call a friend, maybe I can get more
information that way."

"Okay." I smiled. "I've got to go, um;
Justin and I are visiting my parents today."

"I'm sure they'll approve,
Sage."

"Thanks." I sighed and hugged him, then
waved and disappeared down the hallway. I found Justin sitting in
the "breakfast room" with his eyes closed and I leaned over and
kissed him. Justin opened his eyes and smiled. "Ready?"

"Yeah, I was just relaxing." He replied
and stood up, and then the two of us headed out the
door.

* * * * *

Julian looked up from the large book in
his hand at David, who stood in the doorway then he looked back
down at the book again.

"Can I help you, David?" Julian finally
asked. David, slowly, stepped into the room and closed the door.
Julian looked up one more time and noticed the look on David's
face. "You look annoyed, Dave, what is it?"

"Victor." He whispered, Julian stood
straight and closed the book. David crossed his arms and sighed. "I
can't help but think that there's some connection between him and
this thing with Sage."

"What thing with Sage?" Julian
questioned then looked down at the book, touched the cover with his
fingers and glanced at David. "What's your fascination with
her?"

"It's not a fascination." David said
suddenly. He sighed, put his hands on his hips and looked up at the
ceiling, and then he looked at Julian. "You don't understand that
the dreams of her were all I had for almost three months, and it's
not as if they were nice dreams, the sexual, erotic, fantasy type
of dreams that you have over and over. They were bloody, violent,
hideous dreams and she was evil, pure evil. She tortured me, with
secrets I had kept to myself for years. She knew all about my life,
from start to finish. I did everything in my power to stop them,
but they came, along with the dreams of Victor, every night. Her
face was there, etched in my mind. I almost started seeing her on
the faces of other people."

"That doesn't explain why you want to
know about her now." Julian said softly. "You realize that Michael
will find out about your interest in her and that he might get
mad."

"Julian, listen to me. I don't want
anything from her. I don't...want her, but when I'm near her, there
is a calm in me that I haven't felt in decades." David sighed and
shook his head. "I feel safe near her, not like in the dreams, I
want to be her friend."

"Then, be a friend, David, and stay
away from her." Julian replied. David covered his face with his
hands. Julian shook his head and put his hands, palm down on the
table. "Look, I do think that there's some sort of connection with
her and Victor, with all of them and Victor, and your past dealings
with him might put her in more danger. For her sake, David, stay
away from her."

"What's the prophecy?" David asked,
calmly, and Julian looked at him. "Look, I've seen you in here too
many times with that book you have there. Every time you pick it
up, it's because someone's involved in some sort of ridicules
prophecy. So, what is it this time, people rising from the dead,
witches and warlocks, let me guess, vampires."

"You're pushing your luck, my friend."
Julian said softly. David's face showed his anger and, suddenly, he
turned and walked out. Julian let out a sigh of relief and looked
back down at the book on the table, then reached for the
phone.

His fingers quickly dialed the number
he was thinking about, and he listened to it ring twice before a
quiet voice picked up on the other end.

"Hello?" It whispered,

"It's me, we need to talk." He
replied.

"Why are you calling me?" The voice
asked, amused. "You usually don't give warnings when you visit, why
now?"

"I'm bringing someone?"

"Mortal or immortal?"

"A bit of both."

"This should be interesting." Suddenly,
there was a pause on the other end, then, the voice spoke again.
"Tonight, at eleven-thirty, not earlier, no later. Tell no one
else, bring no one else."

"I know the rules, but I have to at
least tell Michael, they're related."

"This just keeps getting better." The
voice replied sarcastically. "Fine, Michael can know, but no one
else. I mean it, Julian."

I understand, eleven-thirty." He
replied, quietly then listened to the phone hang up. He sighed and
slowly moved the phone from his ear, then set it down, gently,
hanging it up.

* * * * *

Justin smiled at me, as I walked into
the room later that evening. Our visit to the cemetery was quite
interesting but nothing unusual happened. We returned not long
after we left and spent most of the day sitting on the grass
talking. It felt strange to be able to hold him in the presence of
others, considering that we had been so secretive about it for so
long.

He was, at the moment, speaking to
Lauren and Quinn about something that must have been amusing, for
he kept laughing. His eyes had grown quite a bit lighter in the
last few days as if coming to terms and facing Michael had lifted
some of the burden that he had felt in the past.

I was just watching him, taking in all
of his moves when I felt a light touch on my shoulder and turned to
look at David, who stepped back, without a word and gestured to the
hallway. I looked around the room one last time, and then walked
out of the room. David stood, suddenly, at the end of the hallway
looking at the window.

"Why is it," I started and watched him
turn to look at me, and then I continued, "that every time I think
I've finally figured out my life, my friends, and my feelings, some
handsome man steps into the picture."

"So, which one is it this time?" He
smiled.

"You know what I mean, David." I
replied. He shrugged and sat on the bench next to the window he had
just been looking out. "So, what's the matter?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you wanted to talk to me, didn't
you?" I asked and watched him shrug again. "Please, David." I
whispered, sarcastically. "You wouldn't have asked me to come out
here if there wasn't something you wanted."

"That's just it." He snapped and looked
at me. "It's not something I want, Sage, it's something I
need."

"And, what's that?"

"You." He whispered. I stepped back,
looking at him confused, and then I started to back away. I was
ready to leave, but, as I turned, I heard his voice. "Wait, you
misunderstood me."

I looked back at him, suddenly. "You
mean that it's not as it sounded?" I asked him. He nodded. "Please,
explain to me, what you mean."

"What I meant was..." he stood up and
walked over to me, leaned down so that I could look into his hazel
eyes, "that I need you as a friend, nothing more. I know how you
are with Justin, Sage, and my intention is not to break that up. I
would like to be able to be near you, like I said before, you make
me feel safe, calm, and it's been a long time since I've been this
close to being at peace."

"You know Bobbie and I were talking,
last night," I smiled and touched his cheek, "and, you came up in
our conversation."

"Why?"

"Because I needed to talk to someone
about how I felt when I was near you." I dropped my hand and shook
my head.

"What do you feel when you’re near me?"
He whispered as if it were a secret just between the two of
us.

"Nothing." I whispered back. He looked
at me, oddly. "I feel nothing, good or bad, and it's never been
like that before."

"But, what does that mean?" He asked
again. Suddenly, we heard footsteps behind us and I turned to look
at Julian and Michael, who stood about ten feet from us. I looked
at Michael, who gestured to me, asking me to come over to him. I
smiled, and then looked back at David, who looked at Julian, then
back at me, and leaned down close to me again, so that he could
whisper. "Sage, please, be careful. Those two mean well, but
something isn't right."

"I know." I replied. I smiled up at
him, and touched his hand, and then I turned and walked over to
Michael and Julian. We walked away from David, who I glanced back
at, and stepped into Julian's study. I looked at the two of them,
neither of them looking any older than eighteen, and then I sat on
the chair in the corner. "So, what's wrong?"

"Sage, I'd like you to come and see a
friend of mine with me tonight." Julian whispered. I shrugged and
then looked at him.

"Okay." I replied. Julian looked at
Michael, who nodded, then turned and left Michael and I alone.
"What's the matter, Mike?"

"I'm just worried, that's all." He
replied.

"I know you're worried, but, there's
something else, isn't there?" I questioned. Michael nodded and
walked around the room. "You can tell me, you know. I'm a big girl,
I can handle it."

He sighed, thought a moment, then
stopped and looked at me. "Have you had any other dreams of that
man?" I shook my head and watched him, as he looked up at the
ceiling, then back at me. He walked over and knelt in front of me,
then took my hand. "When you go with Julian tonight, try to pay
attention to what is said."

"Why?"

"He's trying to find out if all of this
is connected to a prophecy."

"So, what does that have to do with
me?"

"Listen, Sage, everything happens for a
reason. Julian believes that everything has a prophecy, and this is
what he's going to try and find out tonight. What you mentioned to
him, about the Kingdom of the Nine, made him think that there might
be, well, higher powers involved." Michael sighed. I nodded at him,
thinking to myself that this was all too weird. Michael leaned
closer to me, and kissed my cheek. "Things will be all right,
Sage."

"I know they will." I smiled,
whispering back at him.

Chapter 11

Julian looked from Sage to the black
door in front of him. His hands shook as he reached out and knocked
on the door. He couldn't believe how nervous he felt. After a
moment, the door in front of him opened and his eyes were caught by
silver ones that looked directly at him.

The petite young woman, who stood in
the doorway, looked over Julian; her brown hair falling just passed
her shoulders, then she looked passed him at Sage and
smiled.

"Come in." She whispered. The two of
them walked into the house and the woman shut the door behind her.
Sage noticed the strange affection between Julian and her, the way
their eyes seemed to sparkle when they looked at each other. The
woman pointed to the couches in the room where she stopped and
closed the door. She turned and looked at Sage, who was sitting on
the smaller of the two couches. "You must be Sage."

"Yes." She replied, unsure of how to
answer. She looked at Julian, who was looking at a few of the
pictures on the wall, then back at the woman.

"My name is Caitlyn O'Neal, incase
Julian hadn't told you." She smiled then glanced at Julian,
herself. "Which I'm sure he hasn't."