Vampire Forgotten (12 page)

“He’s not my boyfriend.”

A grin followed a saucy wink.  “
No?  Too bad.  I’m thinking that one could give you a run for your money or,”
the grin turned slightly evil, “
the ride of your life.”

“This is surreal.”

“Got news for you, Sis, so is sleeping with a vampire.”

How could she know that? Had she watched? Mischa wouldn’t put that past her sister.  “How did you know about that?”

“I didn’t till just now.  You always were gullible.”
  Rianna’s face became somber.  “
I have to go now.”

Panic set in.  “What?  No.  Wait.  We haven’t had enough time.  Are you coming back?  Where are you going?”

Floating backwards, Rianna shook her head.  “
Mischa, I’ll always be with you. You know that, but it’s time.  I can’t stay any longer.”

“Why didn’t you come to me sooner?  We could have had more time.”  Mischa heard the accusation in her own voice.

“
My time started the moment I talked to you. Before that, I was just sneaking away, watching you. I saw the two of you together and knew you wouldn’t be alone. Believe it or not, it helps.”

“You don’t know I won’t be alone.”

“
No, I don’t, but he does.  I love you.  Thank you for being my big sister.” 
She blew a kiss into the wind, and the moistness touched Mischa’s cheek.   

With tears streaking down her face, Mischa watched until Rianna faded into thin air, and long after the silver mist had disappeared, she clung to the tree holding her aloft. 

She had never felt so alone.

At dusk, Rhad awakened and found Mischa sitting just outside the cave, her knees close to her chest, her arms curled around them.  Her tousled hair hung down her back, and from the way she sat, he knew she’d spent the better half of the day crying.  He couldn’t explain why he felt her pain inside his chest or why her devastation crippled him like it did.

He climbed to his feet and brushed the dust off the back of his jeans, but before he could walk out of the cave, Mischa rose and turned to face him.  He didn’t take his eyes off of her as she walked toward him.  

Words failed him. There was nothing he could say to make any of this better. And he certainly wouldn’t ask if she was okay.  The look on her face gave him the answer to the silent question anyway.  He simply held out his arms, and she walked into his embrace, burying her face against his neck. 

Holding her tightly against his chest, he hoped she could miraculously absorb some of his strength.  He whispered against her hair in the language of their country, offering reassurance and hope.

“My sister is dead,” she whispered as if he didn’t already know.

“I’m sorry, Mischa,” he responded.

“She died too soon.  I didn’t even get to tell her about our…” Mischa broke off, her head popping up so suddenly, she almost bumped it on Rhad’s chin.  “Our grandfather!”  She struggled to free herself from his arms.  “Rhad, I didn’t tell her about our grandfather!”  Half-sobbing, half-laughing, she bounced back toward the position she’d just vacated.   “We have to go.”  When Rhad didn’t move, she shot him an irritated look.  “What are you standing there for?  We have to go!”

“Where exactly is it that we are going?”

“To find my grandfather.  I thought Rianna was my only family and that I was going to be alone in this world, but now I know my grandfather is in Romania. He’s probably even close by. My father said he always loved these mountains.”

Rhad walked toward her slowly so as not to startle her.  “Hamrick said the shaman was your grandfather.”

“Yes, he is! Now, come on. We have to go!” She pointed a finger to where Hamrick sat tied to a large fir. His head remained slumped forward, and he hadn’t stirred since they’d crawled into the cave. “He’ll be all right for now, won’t he? I mean, I know we need to get back so that he can get some help, but I don’t want to waste anymore time.”

Silently Rhad cursed the Fates for the cruel twist Mischa had coming.  If only he’d known her grandfather and the shaman were one and the same, he could have spared her some of this agony.

“Mischa,” he called after her in a solemn tone of voice.   He wondered if the news he had for her would cripple her.  

Shaking her head in robotic fashion, she froze.  “Don’t.”

He approached her, his boots crunching over the frozen forest floor.  “I have to.”

She held up one hand.  “Rhad, I don’t know if I can take any more devastation.”

His hands gripped her shoulders, and he turned her around slowly.  “You already know, don’t you?”

Her face crumpled.  “How long?”

“Six years now.”

Mischa remained silent for a long, ponderous moment and then Rhad watched as her face became stoic.  She stepped away from him and began walking in the opposite direction, back toward the path which led toward his castle. 

“Where are you going?” he called after her.

“I have no reason to stay in Romania now.  I’m going home.”

Rhad fell into step beside her.  “Do you really believe you have no reason to stay here?”

“My family is gone.” Her lower lip wobbled. “My sister died for nothing, and now I find out my grandfather is dead, too. I thought…” She broke off and shook her head. “Never mind. It doesn’t matter now.”

“I’ll be your family.” His quiet words stopped her in her tracks.

“Don’t say that. We barely know each other.”

He gave a short laugh.  “I daresay we know more about each other than most married couples.”

“Because we had sex?”

“Do you really think it’s important to know what my favorite color is or what I like to eat for breakfast in the morning?” His index finger traced the line of her lip.  “I know what you are like in here.” He tapped the wall of her chest which her heart beat behind.  “You’re the first person I’ve told about the shaman and what happened to me.  You experienced the pain anew with me, and though you knew I was a vampire, you didn’t run away from me. Why do you think you really came to Romania?”

“What do you mean? Rianna called me here.”

“And how do you think she was able to reach you across time and distance? Don’t you think she probably had some help?”

She tried to shake off his hands, but he held fast.  “Does it matter?”

“Mischa, I found your unconscious body on my steps.  You were half-naked and frozen, and you don’t remember a thing about it.  What’s more, someone or something knocked on my front door to call attention to your arrival.  Who do you think wanted us to meet?”  He saw the confusion cloud her eyes, and he pushed his point.  “Do you really think you were brought all this way simply to discover the news about your sister’s death?”

“I found out about my grandfather as well.”

“True, but how does that benefit you?”

“Who said it has to benefit me?  Maybe it’s all some kind of cosmic joke.”

“You don’t believe that.  That’s not who you are.”

“How do you know that?  And furthermore, how can you look at life and not think it’s all some cruel joke with a master dealer cheating at the cards he’s dealing?  You were transformed into a vampire, Rhad, a hunted creature with a price on your head.  Doesn’t that test the limits of your optimism?”

His temper began a slow boil.  “You’re very good with that sharp tongue of yours, but even sarcasm isn’t going to get you out of this dose of hard, cold reality.  This isn’t about what I am.  It’s about you and what your next step is going to be.  Do you really want to go home to an empty apartment, or do you want to stay here and live with the hunted?”

Mischa walked away from him.  “I can’t think about this right now.  I need,” a sob caught in her throat.   “I didn’t even ask Rianna where she was buried.”  The words came out as a half-plea.

Rhad caught up with her and wrapped his arm around her waist.  “I know.”

That stopped her forward progress. “You know what?”

“Where she’s buried.”

“Of course you do.” Mischa’s laugh held no humor. “Because you’re psychic and all. Your vision shows you were a grave is but not who’s in it? Didn’t you know she was already dead?”

He let the silence speak for him, waited for the anger that never came.

“You
did
know, didn’t you? Why didn’t you just tell me instead of allowing me to continue to look for her?” She sounded broken, fragile even, if that could be a word attributed to Mischa.

“Because I didn’t know how to tell you. And I didn’t
want
to have to tell you. I never wanted any of this, Mischa. Not my psychic visions. Not what I am. Not this life. None of it.” He turned her in his arms, pressed her face into the curve of his neck. “But I was handling it…until you came along.”

“Maybe things will go back to normal when I’m gone.”

The idea squeezed his still heart. He kissed the top of her head.   “Do you really believe that?”

“I’m not sure I know what normal is.”

Rhad pulled back to search her face and easily identified the fear.  “Then stay. This life might not be normal, but we have something here. I’m not sure I know what it is, but we won’t be able to find out if you leave.”

“How can you want me to stay with you? You don’t even know me,” she said almost desperately.

He captured her hand and held it over his chest.  She couldn’t feel the warmth of his skin as he could hers, but he wanted her to know where the words were coming from. “We’re connected, Mischa.  You can’t deny that.”

“This is not happening.  My sister is dead.  The grandfather I never met is dead, and I’m supposed to believe my soul is connected to a vampire?”  Shaking her head desperately, she managed to free herself.  “I just want to…”

“What?  What do you just want to do?  Go back to Boston where nothing awaits you?”  He sifted her hair through his fingers.  “You have nothing to go home to, my love.  Here you have everything.”  He pulled her closer.  “I’ll give you the world if you’ll give this, whatever it is between us, a chance.”

“Will she be happy, Grandfather?”
Rianna asked in a heartsick tone of voice.

The white-haired man moved to stand beside her.  He wrapped one arm around her waist.  “
If she follows her heart, my sweet.  I can only lead her to her heart’s desire.  I cannot guarantee her happiness.”

“Mischa never has been one to follow her heart.”

The Shaman chuckled.  “
You might be surprised.”

“How did you know the two of them belonged together?”

“I recognized their souls. They were two halves of the same whole, both of them searching for something, someone. Each needing to feel loved, to feel accepted. Rhad has been here so long the world has forgotten who he is.”

“Or maybe it was because they never knew him to begin with. He’s been sequestered here for a long time.”

“I knew when I saw Rhad through your eyes that he would save your sister’s life and forever become a part of it in the process.”
His arm squeezed her.
“What I didn’t know was it would take your death for that to occur.”

“You couldn’t have known.”
 She leaned her head on his shoulder. “
I should have recognized the desperation in Hamrick and warned Mischa.”

“Life is full of if only’s, my child.”

“How do you think he found out about you, Grandfather?”

“Is it really important now? With Mischa staying here, our family is safe once more.”

“How can you be so sure she’ll stay?”

He gave her a sly smile.
“You still doubt me?”

She lifted her head to peek up at him with a smile of her own. “
It’s not doubt. Just curiosity. That day Hamrick killed me and I looked up to see you standing there with your hand out for mine, I can’t remember the last time I felt so safe. I hope Mischa feels that now.”

 “If she doesn’t yet, she will.  Now, come. Let us leave these two alone. They have a destiny to discover.”

“You know, he really is smug sometimes.” Mischa placed the hand-picked flowers on Rianna’s grave.  She patted the stems into place and sat down on the fresh cut grass next to the marble tombstone.  “Someone takes very good care of you.”  From behind her, she sensed Rhad’s presence, but he stood back, allowing her the time she needed to talk with her sister for the final time. 

“He wants me to stay with him, Rianna.”  She rested her hands back behind her and looked up at the sky.  “I’d convinced myself that Boston is where I belong, but now, being here with him, I just don’t know.” 

She wiped the tears from her eyes.  “He makes me feel…alive again.  Could I really be falling in love with a vampire?  You always said I was the level-headed one.  This certainly doesn’t sound very level-headed, does it?”  In spite of the pain in her heart, Mischa had to laugh.