The Vampires of Soldiers Cove (25 page)

“I didn’t know what was going on at first.
And then I saw the wing.”

“So you just wished for it and it happened?
Sounds like when I wished for fire,” I said.

“Exactly, sometimes you stumble on your talents by accident or necessity.
I started flying and just kept going. But then I realized I didn’t know how to undo it.”

“That must have been scary,” I said.

“Oh yeah, so I just kept flying. I ended up in Port Hawkesbury,” he laughed to himself. “I had to call Dad to make the forty five minute drive to come and get me, I was too exhausted to change back and fly home. So there I was, naked and huddled behind the shopping center.  Over time I’ve been able to get better at it, but sometimes I still have trouble.”

“Do you think you’ll be able to do it tonight if you have to?”

“I think so, if I get some sleep.”

“Well as much as we don’t want to, I guess we better sleep.
  I’ll need it to be able to use my hearing.” We hesitated but eventually we drew back the covers of the bed and lay down together, and with our arms around each other we fell into sleep.

I had the urge to kill. I wanted to feed on as many humans as I could for as long as possible. The overwhelming urge to gorge myself on human blood controlled me as I fed, leaving a trail of bodies as I progressed. I saw myself walking down a street as it ran with the warm red liquid. Other vampires joined me, and the humans cowered, or ran. It did no good, they were slow and pathetic compared to us. We were clearly the superior species.

A young woman was about thirty meters from me.
She saw me eyeing her and knew what I was thinking. I was hungry for her to run so I could hunt her. I longed to feel the beating of her frightened heart as she begged for her life.

My mouth watered thinking of her fear soaked adrenalin.
I was ravenous and she would taste so good after being so frightened.

She was trying to decide on her best option, to run or to hide, I could see it in her eyes.
It didn’t matter; there was no hope of escape for this pathetic animal. She decided to run and I threw my head back in laughter, elated at the sport I was about to partake of.

Clumsily the human moved her legs one in front of the other.
I let her get a good head start.  She looked back at me and for a second I could see the hope in her eyes. Perhaps I was letting her go? Not a chance. With one swift burst I took off and was in front of her. She screamed in terror and tried to run the other way. I caught her by her mid length blonde hair and turned her to face me.

This was the moment I longed for.
Her heart was pounding so hard I worried she might pass out from fear and exhaustion. I needed her to be awake when I killed her. My fangs ran out and I made sure she was facing me as they did. The fear in her now was delicious; this was the moment she realized she was going to die. Tears began to fall down her cheeks as I whispered in her ear.

“Would you like to say a prayer?” She looked at me with confusion
. “Go ahead, I’ll let you have your final plea for salvation. If you have any sins, you’d best confess them to your God now.”

The woman began to pray and as she did I moved slowly to her neck, allowing her to comprehend
that her insignificant existence on this earth was almost over.  She tried to break away, but I held her tightly.

Her prayers were taking too long, “That’s enough
,” I said. “Now, death.” The woman began screaming in protest. Hard, loud screams that came from somewhere deep inside.

I ripped a gaping hole in her neck and pressed my mouth
to the sacred red fountain that poured out of her. She had a good and steady heartbeat, and I listened as it slowly came to a stop. Her screams died into whimpers, and soon she was limp in my arms, unconscious at first, and then dead a few moments later.

I discarded her to the ground and looked down at my hands.
They were long and slim and full of blood. I was wearing a large oval shaped black onyx ring, which was also covered in blood. I held them up and admired them with pride.  A symbol of my strength.

When I woke up Gavin had already showered and dressed. He was loading his swords into their sheaths.

“Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“
If things don’t go our way it might be the last chance you get to sleep for a while.”

“How much time do we have?”

“About an hour,” he said.

“Just an hour?
I wish you’d woken me up sooner.” I stared at the floor not wanting to move. “This is all happening too fast.”

“Hey,” he said.
He sat down on the bed next to me taking me by the shoulders. “Everything is going to be alright. We’ll take care of Samuel tonight, and tomorrow you can go back to your home and to your life.”

“And what about you?”

“I’ll be wherever you want me to be,” he said, “and whatever you want me to be for that matter. As much or as little as you need.”

I had taken off the ring he had given me when I had been under the blood influence and had made the snap decision that I didn’t want to accept his proposal.
I reached over and slid the drawer of the bedside table open and took it out.

“I’ll be needing you to put this back on me then,” I said.
His eyes grew large and round.

“Really? You’re sure?”

“I’m sure, and I’m sorry I ever took it off.  Can you forgive me?” He smiled and breathed a sigh of relief.

“There’s nothing you need to be forgiven for.”
He kissed me between small happy laughs.  Gavin took the ring out of the box once more and placed it on my hand. “We can face whatever comes,” he said.

“I want to marry you as soon as all this is over
.” I didn’t think it was possible for him to look any happier than he just had, but he did.

“Oh Rachel,” he said holding me close to him, “Thank you.”

There was a knock at the door so I grabbed some clothes and headed for the bathroom to change.

“Send them away,” I said.
I could tell he thought I was kidding but I wasn’t. If we only had an hour left I would have liked to spend it alone with him. That wasn’t to be, however, because when I came out of the bathroom Gavin was sitting in our little living room space.

He and Gavin shared several features, and biologically looked almost exactly the same age. You’d never know John had about four hundred years on his son.
They both looked up and smiled at me at the same moment. I reciprocated and joined Gavin on the couch.

“How are you doing my dear?”

“Nervous. How are you Mr. MacDonald?”

“Oh please, call me John.
I’d be lying if I said I was calm, cool and collected.”

“What do you think our chances are?” I asked.

“Well, if we can keep them from getting on the grounds I don’t think our chances are too bad altogether. That’s the trick though isn’t it? We still don’t know how the lone one got in, if we did that would help us a lot.”

“There’s a lot I don’t understand about this,” Gavin said chiming in.

“I think we all know how it happened, but very few want to say it out loud,” John said.

“You think we have a traitor here too?” I couldn’t say I was shocked to hear his thinking had gone along those lines.

John nodded and quickly changed the subject.  “I’m afraid your mother is not too happy with me.”

“She’s not?” I had assumed they were in agreement about him fighting tonight.

“I’m afraid not. It’s very likely some of us won’t be coming back. We’ve been together for over four centuries; she threatened to not speak to me for a century after this if I survived it.”

“It’s going to be a silent century of farming for you then Dad.”
Gavin was trying his best to be positive, but the worry reflected on his face.

“They tell me you’re going to be inside the
sanctuary with Angus, is that right?”

“Yes,” I said, “that’s probably where I can do the most good.
If I can follow the thoughts and feelings of all of you outside I’ll be able to warn him of danger. He feels that would be a good way to get a head start if he has to make a quick exit.”

“Have you spoken to Holly?”
Gavin asked, “Where have she and Daniel been placed?”

“On the inside of the
sanctuary. The courtyard, just on the outer ring.”

“What does that mean?” I asked

“It means that if Samuel and his army get through, Holly and Daniel will be our first line of defense.”

“Yes, and they
have placed far too few on the courtyard in my opinion. Most of us are on the outside. Hopefully if they get in we can get enough of our people inside without too much of a delay.” He looked at me, “If we can’t, well, you may want to pay close attention to Angus when he briefs you on his escape plan.”

I swallowed hard.
The long awaited nightmare was coming to pass. We were really going to square off against Samuel, who was as ruthless as the devil himself by all accounts, and his army of ‘zombie vampires’.  I had almost been killed by just one of them; I didn’t want to think about what horrible damage a whole army could do. He was coming with at least a hundred, maybe even more by now. I was very tempted to leave the sanctuary for the safety of my little bedroom in my house. Although if we lost, how safe would it really be?

“
I didn’t mean to make it harder for you,” he said patting my hand. As he did so he spotted the ring. “Oh, and what’s this?” he was being coy. Gavin put his arm around me and beamed at his father.

“I’ve asked Rachel to marry me, and she’s said yes.”

“Well, well, well. You’re a brave one you are.  I do hope Bossy won’t be too upset. You might have to get her permission first. When is the big day?”

“As soon as possible
. After tonight I’m going to ask Angus to lift the guardianship.”

“So you’ll finally be coming out of this stale old hole in the woods?”

“Looks like it.” Gavin’s father seemed like he had been waiting a long time to hear that.

“Thank Heaven.
I think fifty years in here is enough. Do you still want to work on at the logging company? I can’t hand it over to you right away of course because that would look fishy, but if you still want to run it I’ll hand it over to you in a couple of years.”

Gavin’s eyes grew thoughtful, “I don’t know.”

“Well you take your time and think about it. I started it for you. If you want to sell it off and keep the money you can do that too.  Not worth what it used to be of course but you’re welcome to whatever you can get out of it.  Of course you’d still have to put in an appearance on the job.” John could tell his son needed more time to think it over. “No rush,” he said, “let me know.”

“I will.”

“Well I’m going to be getting out of your hair now. I’ll see you in about half an hour Gavin. And you missy, I guess I’ll be seeing you after this is all over at a wedding.” He bent and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “You’re marrying up son,” he said. “It worked for me, but don’t tell your mother I said that.” And with that he left us alone again.

“I didn’t think he’d offer me the business.”
Gavin seemed to be in shock. “I thought he had given up on me.”

“I don’t think parents ever really give up on their children,” I said.
Then something he had told his father came back to me. “What did you mean when you said you had to ask Angus to lift the guardianship?”

“Oh, you can’t marry your guardian.
That would be, well, incestuous, in the clan’s eyes.”

“What if he says no?” this was a bump in the road I hadn’t been prepared for.

“We’ll convince him. If we can’t, Dad can convince him. They go back centuries. It’s just a formality, nothing to worry about.”

“You think so?”

“Of course. I’m over eighty years old. I’ve waited decades, just short of a century, to find you. I won’t let anything stand in the way of our marriage. That you can count on.”

“Angus didn’t want to turn you, and I convinced him of that and it’s turned out t
o be very good for the clan, whether some of them want to admit it or not. If you hadn’t seen what was coming we’d all be sitting ducks right now.”

I looked away but he pulled my face back to meet his.

“He’s going to owe you,” he said. “He has no right to ask you to help protect him, give you minimal time to prepare, and possibly save his life. It wouldn’t make sense for him to deny you any happiness you had coming after that.” It sounded iron clad.

“You’re right,” I said.

Chapter Twenty Five

Everyone had already gathered in the courtyard when we arrived. The vampires from all four clans were in one group, and the satyrs stood off to the side with the four nymphs who had asked to be included at the last minute. When they saw us enter three satyrs stood directly in front of Aries so I couldn’t see him. Hermes gave me a slight nod of courtesy which I politely returned.