The Vampire Legacy III; Familiar Souls (24 page)

Justin turned and left the room. He
walked down the hallway, his arms crossed in front of him and his
head down, until he felt Michael. Justin turned and looked at the
blond haired man, who stood in the doorway where he had
stopped.

"I let you see her on one condition, a
very simple condition, Justin." Michael said; anger in his voice.
"What possessed you to do that?"

"She was dying, Michael." Justin
replied. "Would you rather I had left her lay there and die? I'm
sorry, but I couldn't do that. Her life means too much to
me."

"She would have healed fine on her
own." Michael yelled.

"Not fast enough to survive." He
answered. "There were other reasons, Mike, other circumstances that
brought me to my decision."

"Which are?" He asked. Justin thought
about telling Michael about the child, but he couldn't, not before
Sage knew.

"They're unimportant now." He replied,
and then looked up the stairs. He suddenly looked back at Michael.
"I'm too involved to leave her now, Mike. I love her too much to do
that, so, with or without your approval, I'm not
leaving."

"I never asked you too." Michael
replied. "I never implied that I wanted you to end this with her.
What I said was, at the time, I let you continue on one condition."
He paused, then, as he rubbed his head, he continued. "You saved
her, David saved her, and for that I am and always will be
grateful, but it was just the way you did it that struck me. I've
always feared that it would come down to that, and I knew that her
reaction to it might not be pleasant."

"She took it well. She's a bit
nauseous, but right now, she's sleeping." Justin replied. He wanted
to go on and let it all out of the bag, but he just sighed and
turned to go upstairs. "Goodnight, Michael."

"Goodnight, Justin." Michael replied,
and turned away from him. Justin looked down the hallway towards
David, who nodded and disappeared himself, and then he continued up
to the room where Sage slept soundly on the bed. He stripped down
to his boxers and climbed under the covers.

Justin pulled Sage close to him and
placed a hand on her little belly. He smiled, kissed her neck, then
closed his eyes and tried to sleep. His dreams were full of images
of a tiny baby and Sage.

Justin slipped out of the comfort of
his bed shortly before sunrise three uneventful nights later. He
stood by the window, glancing back and forth between Sage and the
slowly setting moon. He caught a glimpse of movement down by the
beach and he turned and walked out of the room.

Slowly, taking his time, he made his
way across the lawn and stood looking down over the dune at the man
who stood up to his knees in the water.

"What are you doing?" Justin asked as
David quickly dipped his arms into the water and came up empty
handed. David turned and smiled at him.

"Fishing." He replied.

"Don't you think that's a bit
dangerous?" He inquired.

"How is she?" David asked, changing the
subject. Justin shrugged.

"As well as can be." Justin sighed.
"You know that I don't care what Quinn and Michael say about you,
right." David looked back at the water. "She needs you."

"Like she needs a hole in the head."
David sighed. Justin shook his head.

"That's bullshit and you know it."
Justin argued sitting down on the lawn. "You're her friend and I
know how she feels about you. You can't tell me you don't feel the
same, and isolating yourself from her is not going to help
her."

"Aren't you jealous?" David asked,
looking back up at him. "I mean Cristian doesn't want me anywhere
near Taryn or Bobbie."

"I'm not my brother. I have more
confidence in my relationship, besides, I would be worried if she
didn't tell me about your friendship and continued to sneak around
seeing you." Justin looked at his hand. David splashed down into
the water, came up empty handed and decided to give up. He climbed
up onto the grass and sat by Justin.

"So, how long have you known?" David
asked, rolling his sleeves down.

"Oh, since that day she cornered you in
Julian's office." He smiled. He looked at David then at the moon.
"Neither of us is powerful enough to take her on. I never thought
she was in any kind of danger from you."

"She'd probably rip my head off if I
had tried anything anyway. Not that I would." David smiled, then
sobered up and sighed. "Listen, since the other night when Victor
attacked her I've been thinking about something."

"That we're all nuts for even staying
here." Justin replied.

"Have you ever heard of Larado's
Prophecy?" David questioned. Justin looked at him
quickly.

"The nutty little verses that Julian's
so fond of looking up?" Justin asked. David nodded. "I've never
really thought of them." He looked out at the moon. "Do you really
think this is connected to something, that it has something to do
with the baby?"

"Well, she said that Caitlyn mentioned
a baby in their discussion, doesn't it make sense that maybe there
really is something at work here beside, well, vampires and
witches."

"You’re talking about a higher power?
David, that's just ridiculous." Justin said and stood
up.

"Look, I know it sounds strange but I'm
going into town to check it out in a few days. A friend of mine is
opening up the occult archives in the lower level of the library. I
can't look through Julian's book, I wouldn't know what to look for,
so if you want your more than welcome to come and look with me."
David said and looked up at him. Justin shook his head and put his
hands on his hips. "I'm doing it for her."

"David." Justin said sternly. He looked
down at the hazel-eyed young man. "If you want to help her, talk to
her, hold her hand and be her friend. She doesn't need you to find
a prophecy; she needs you to be there for her."

"I know." David said and sighed, then
looked out at the water again. Justin patted him on the shoulder,
then turned and walked away. David looked back at him as he walked
away then he closed his eyes and looked at the water.

* * * * *

I opened my eyes and glanced over at
the chair in the corner of the room. I smiled, and then stretched
out on the bed. Justin, who had been sleeping beside me only about
an hour ago had snuck out to eat a short while ago. I watched the
figure sit forward and turned back on my side.

"Does Justin know you're here?" I asked
him, softly. David smiled, widely, and then sat back in the
chair.

"Actually, he does." David whispered to
me. "He asked me to come in and keep an eye on you while he was
out."

"Ah-ha." I replied as I sat up slowly,
pulling the covers with me. I watched him as he sat there, very
calmly, biting on his small finger. "I've missed you." I whispered
to him, David sat forward and sighed. "Where the hell have you
been?"

"Hiding." David sighed. I shook my
head,

"What on Earth would you have to hide
from?"

"Everything."

"David." I sighed and slipped off the
bed. I knelt on the floor in front of him and put my hands on his
knees. "There is nothing to be afraid of, and even if there is, you
have me, and Justin and the others to help you with it."

"I'm not afraid, Sage." David replied
his voice seemed barely audible. He put his hands on mine and
squeezed them gently. "I should have killed him that
night."

"Who?" I asked.

"Victor, he almost killed you." I sat
up straight, and looked at him as he rubbed his
forehead.

"Is that what this is all about?" I
asked and watched him nod. "You couldn't have stopped him,
David."

"I should have at least tried." I
reached up and put my hands on the side of his face.

"You saved my life, maybe not like
Justin did, but think about it, Dave, he let go because of you." I
sighed and put my forehead against his, then watched his eyes
close. "You saved my life, David, you are my friend, and for that
I'll always love you." He opened his eyes and looked at me. "What
is that look for?"

"What did you just say?" He asked. I
laughed at him.

"David, believe it or not, people do
care about you. I care about you, you’re my friend. Is that so hard
to believe?" I smiled at him. David smiled and sighed, and then he
nodded. "Why? Because of what happened in the past, because of that
Ashley thing?" I watched him nod. "Okay, here's the deal. I could
care less about what happened before I got here, all I care about
is that you stop trying to avoid me."

"I'm sorry about that." David sighed,
and then rubbed his face. "I just wanted you to be safe, and I
thought staying away would do it."

"My family is made up of vampires,
Dave. Almost all of you boys have been around long enough for me to
feel quite safe, thank you." I smiled and got up. I leaned down and
kissed him on the forehead, and then I climbed back in bed. "I'm
going back to bed; you can stay in here tonight, if you want, or
until Justin gets back."

"Go to sleep, Sage, I'm not going
anywhere." David smiled at me then came over, pulled the covers up
to my neck and kissed me on the cheek. "Sweet dreams."

I closed my eyes and slowly drifted
into the blackness of my mind.

* * * * *

Late October

Julian flipped through the large,
ancient looking book in front of him. He was looking for a
prophecy, and the book in front of him was one of Larado's older
volumes. He read several verses on one page, and then flipped to
the next until he found one that seemed awfully familiar, one that
mentioned the Kingdom of the Nine, the only one he found so
far.

He read it over then gathered the book
up and walked out of the study. Julian walked up to the second
floor and knocked on the double door. Slowly, he walked in, after
hearing the faint, but obviously aggravated voice of his brother
asking him to enter. Julian stopped in the doorway and looked at
the desk, which was full of planners and organizers.

"What are you doing?" Julian
questioned.

"I'm planning my wedding." Quinn said,
as he shuffled through the mess.

"I didn't realize that you set a date."
He laughed. Quinn looked up at him.

"She said to surprise her with the
date, because we couldn't make up our minds, so, I decided to
surprise her with the whole package." Quinn replied. He sat down in
the chair and sighed. "Who would have thought it would be this
difficult." He looked over the books then up at Julian. "So, what
brings you here?"

"I need your help with something and I
couldn't go to the others, some of them might be involved." Julian
replied, found a clear spot on the desk and set the book down,
opened to the page he had marked. "Okay, now listen to this and
tell me who you think it might pertain to?" He cleared his throat
and began: "An Enemy, of blood, who was once thought gone, will
rise again to break the ties, of a bloodline that has withstood the
test of time. He will cast a shadow, that blocks the sun, so that
darkness will engulf each one, but within the darkness, there is a
light, three familiar souls will make it right. One, who's darkness
is fading away, and has come to see the light of day. One, who
carries the hurt of his past, and wishes to be at peace at last
and, finally, the one who holds the keys to how this all unfolds, a
barrier who carries, within her womb, a child of prophecies
foretold. If together they stand, tried and true, then this Enemy
will be forever entombed, in the fiery hell of eternal doom."
Julian looked at his brother, who looked up at him and
shrugged.

"Could be any of them." Quinn replied.
"I mean, think about it. The one with the darkness could be either
Justin, David, or I, for that matter, we all have our own darkness.
The one with his past could be Justin, David, Michael or Cristian.
It's the last one that confuses me, but, at least we have the enemy
figured out."

"Yeah, Victor." Julian sighed and shook
his head. He looked at Quinn, who had gone back to his wedding
planners, and then he picked up his book and walked to the door.
"Thanks for your help."

"Anytime." Quinn replied, softly,
without looking up. Julian walked out of the room and closed the
door.

He walked down the hallway thinking
about what his brother had said, about who might be involved, and
realized that Quinn had mentioned, with two of the three in the
prophecy, that Justin and David could be possibilities. This made
Julian think that it might be them. It was just figuring out the
last one that baffled him.

* * * * *

I turned and looked at the three girls
in the room. Bobbie, who sat on my bed, had the look of worry on
her face, which always made me feel as if I was her child instead
of her cousin. Taryn was just as she always looked, content and
probably thinking about

Cristian, and Lauren, who had suggested
that I do this whole thing to begin with.

I looked down at the little white stick
in my hands, and closed my eyes. This was not what I had expected
when Lauren had suggested a pregnancy test, in fact, I had laughed
at her for even bringing that up. Justin was a vampire, unable to
have children, what were the odds that he'd be the once in a
lifetime one. I looked up again, this time; the shock wasn't so
much there.