Blood Gifts (7 page)

She broke away from his gaze and took another
nibble of her chicken.

Chapter 15

"Looks like it's your turn."

She looked up from drawing pictures in the
snow with a twig she'd found. It was the biggest boy in school, a
grade ahead of her. Craig, the most feared bully. His friend Steven
was standing next to him, smirking.

"What do you mean it's my turn?" She was only
seven and he was nine. She thought he flunked a grade. He towered
over her.

"I'm gonna beat up every kid on this
playground," Craig said with a smile.

"Why? What did I do to you?" She tried not to
cry, but she could feel the tears welling up. She looked around for
her friends. They were playing near the swings and hadn't noticed.
Her heart started to pound.

He laughed. "I don't need a reason." He
shoved her so she fell to the ground. She was so shocked she didn't
know what to do. She started to cry. Some other kids on the
playground had stopped to watch, but were too afraid to stop
him.

He jumped on top of her and grabbed the back
of her hand-knitted hat. It was tied under her chin. He shoved her
face into the snow and she couldn't breathe. The icy cold bit into
her cheeks and her chest felt tight. She panicked.

He pulled her face out of the snow and she
gasped. Then he quickly shoved it back into the snow. She thought
she might die. She didn't know what to do!

Then she felt his weight lifted off of her
and she felt a hand pull her out of the snow. She was gasping and
shocked. It was the playground teacher who'd saved her.

Then she felt another hand on her shoulder.
It was Luke. He was shaking her gently. She gasped as she woke with
a start. It took her a while to realize where they were. They were
lying on the floor in a bedroom of the farmhouse. The mattress
across the room was broken and full of loose springs, so they'd
laid a blanket down to sleep on. It was night. Luke was looking at
her with concern.

"What was that?" he asked. "Another
nightmare? You were gasping for breath."

"I had another memory. About a bully in grade
school." She relaxed back into the pillow. She could feel hot tears
roll down her cheeks. She put her hands over her face. "I don't
know why I keep reliving these horrible things in my dreams," she
said. "I'm already stressed enough. What is this?"

Luke looked relieved. "I thought you were… I
don't know what I thought," Luke said. "I guess I thought you were
dying somehow. I wasn't fully awake. I'm glad you're okay." He had
been sitting up, but now lay back down beside her.

"Come here," he said and pulled her into his
arms. It felt nice. Safe. She laid her head on his chest.

***

Her eyes were closed, but she was still wide
awake. Luke's arms were still tight around her. He had not released
his hold.

"Are you still awake?" she asked quietly.

"Yes," he said with a small laugh. "I was
waiting for you to fall back to sleep."

"I can't sleep," she said. "I don't want to
relive another bad memory in my dreams. Though being awake and
worrying aren't the most pleasant either."

She lifted her head to look down at him. He
raised his head to kiss her. She climbed on top of him, her body
resting on his as they kissed. She felt the energy build between
them as the passion grew. Her hair fell around her face as she
leaned over him, kissing him deeply. She couldn't see, but she
heard objects in the room beginning to rumble.

He stopped kissing her. "Wait," he said. He
gently pushed her off of him and stood, holding his hand out to
her. She took it and he pulled her to her feet. He swept her up
into his arms and kissed her as he walked them across the hall into
an empty bedroom. No objects in here to fly around.

He set her on her feet and leaned down to
kiss her. She stopped kissing to look around as he kissed her neck.
No bed, no blanket on the floor.

"Where will we…" she said. He didn't answer,
but started undressing both of them. She helped. Once they were
standing skin against skin, he lifted her up, letting her straddle
his body.

"Oh," she said. She leaned down and kissed
him. He was strong and had excellent balance as their bodies
writhed together in ecstasy. At one point she felt like she was
flying. She didn't know how she managed to hold onto him, but he
never let her go. Pleasure exploded between them and she swore she
heard something hit the wall in the bedroom across the hall as she
calmed down and wrapped her arms and legs around him tightly. She
glanced around the room and saw their clothing scattered farther
away from them than it had been. It must have been a shoe that hit
the wall in the other room. So much for finding an empty room. Her
reach went farther than she thought. She laughed and he squeezed
her tight and kissed her cheek.

They left their clothes lying where they were
and he carried her back across the hall to their room. It wasn't
too messy. Better than it would have been if they had stayed
there.

He laid her down and pulled the warm blanket
over them both, and folded her into his arms. Now she was relaxed
and calm enough to fall asleep. She sighed as she drifted off into
dreamland. Hopefully to nicer dreams this time.

Chapter 16

Luke walked up the main road from the woods
after a hunt. He heard angry voices and followed the sound. There
was a fire. He wiped the blood from his lips.

A young man was standing on a wooden crate in
front of the church, which was burning. He was shouting a message
like a sermon or like a sentence he was reading out. Like the town
criers did.

It was 1816, nighttime. The villagers were
gathered around, shouting and cheering. The young man shouted,
"Father Thomas O'Connell is hereby declared a fiend of the
underworld, a vampire, a demon. He was discovered chasing down a
wolf and holding it to the ground with his demon strength! Then he
fed on the wolf's blood! A farmer tried to shoot the demon, but the
fiend ran away into the night, faster than a mortal man can run! We
have cornered him here, in this house of the Lord he has filled
with his poison! And here we will burn the sin away from this
village. Burn the sin away from this defiled house of God!"

The crowd cheered and men were still lighting
corners of the church on fire, even though the building was mostly
engulfed in flames. Luke prayed Father Thomas wasn't actually
inside. His heart was pounding. A few people were shouting against
the mob, trying to make them see reason. One man was throwing
buckets of water on the church, but then he had to run to get more.
It was useless.

Luke's sire was burning in that fire. He was
sure of it now because he felt their connection sever. He felt
tears run down his face involuntarily. Father Thomas was trying to
help these people. Wolves had been attacking their livestock. He
and Luke normally fed on animals. Only occasionally a human that
they would mesmerize. When the villagers started having problems
with wolves, Luke and Thomas began to feed on wolves. They killed
them, though normally they would let them live. Luke had just
killed a wolf in the woods before he came here. He absentmindedly
wiped his mouth again. Then he went to the front of the crowd and
stood beside the man who had returned with the bucket. Luke took
his long cloak off and began beating the flames with it. Barely
making a difference. He just couldn't do nothing. A few men joined
him. He guessed friends or parishioners. Father Thomas had helped
and counselled many people in this town. And Luke was sure some
people didn't believe he was a monster. They hadn't seen him
feed.

They fought the flames until the humans had
to back away. There was too much smoke. Luke backed away too so
they wouldn't know he was a vampire. He fell to his knees as he
watched the church burn. It felt like the end of the world.

Luke woke with a start. Karina lay peacefully
next to him. His heart was pounding as he sat up. It was only a
dream. A memory in a dream. He got up as quietly as he could and
put on his shoes. He made his way outside and looked around in the
darkness. No humans around. He ran full speed toward the woods and
began to hunt. Listening for large animals. The fear from the
memory dream subsided as he ran, his heart racing from exertion
instead.

Why would he be dreaming of Father Thomas
now? It had been years since he had a nightmare. And Karina was
dreaming of her bad memories too.

Just then Luke caught sight and scent of a
bear and turned to bolt in that direction. But his next thought
stopped him in his tracks. The bad memories as nightmares. He knew
exactly what was causing this. He turned quickly and ran back
toward Karina and the farmhouse.

Chapter 17

"Dammit, Karina!" her boyfriend Jeff yelled
in the other room. She got up from her computer and found him in
the kitchen.

"What?" she asked, very surprised at his
tone.

"I told you to get the dishes done when I
left for work this morning," he said angrily, pointing to the dirty
dishes in the sink.

"I had a lot of work to do today," she said,
still shocked.

"You sit around at home all day and do
nothing, the least you can do is clean the house. And do what I
ask." He glared at her.

"I don't do nothing all day," she said,
starting to seethe. "You know I have an online business to
run."

"That's just a bullshit excuse!" he yelled
and then his hand flew toward her so fast she didn't even know what
to do about it. He slapped her hard across the face and she
stumbled sideways. She couldn't believe he'd hit her. He'd never
done that before.

She stood back up straight, holding her cheek
in her hand. Her face was burning where he'd hit her. She stared at
him. "You hit me," she said, hoping he would realize what he'd done
and feel bad or sorry.

He didn't say another word, just pulled his
arm back and hit her again, this time with the back of his hand on
her other cheek. She lost her balance and fell against the sink.
She saw him grab his jacket and storm out of their apartment.

She let herself slide down the cupboard doors
below the sink as she sobbed. Her cheekbone hurt where his knuckles
had hit. She couldn't believe he was the kind of person who would
do that. They'd dated for a year. Lived together for four months.
She felt a horrible well of emotion in the pit of her stomach.
Panic and fear and sadness and shame. This is how it happened. This
is what it felt like to be one of those women involved with an
abusive man. Her head was pounding from the pain of him striking
her, and from her tears, as she leaned against the cupboard doors
and tried to make sense of this chaos.

Then she felt hands gripping her shoulders
and shaking her gently. "Karina, Karina," a man's voice said.

She opened her eyes and saw Luke. It was just
a dream of a memory.

"Oh, thank God," she said as she sat up and
threw her arms around him. He held her close and she felt safe
again.

"Another memory?" he said.

"Yes," she said, trying not to cry. "I dated
a man who hit me years ago. I moved out after the first time he
attacked me… but the memory was so vivid in my dream…"

"Shh…" Luke said. "It's over now. I'm so
sorry." He held her for a minute then stroked her hair and said, "I
figured out why this keeps happening."

Karina pulled away and looked at him. "My
nightmares?"

"Yes," Luke said. "There is a type of psychic
called a dreamwalker. They can access people's minds when they are
asleep. They probably have a vampire who is a dreamwalker working
for them. Bad memories are more… prominent. They're louder or
brighter. Easier to get to. That's why we keep remembering those
things."

"Wow," she said. "Why would they do
this?"

"I think they are trying to pinpoint our
location through our dreams. I had a nightmare earlier too. They
must not have found us yet. That's why they keep digging."

"Ugh. How horrible. I can't believe they can
get into our minds." She held her head in her hands. Then she
looked up. "How do we stop them? We can't stop sleeping."

"I'm pretty sure we can make a circle of salt
to sleep inside of. That will keep them out of our dreams," Luke
said.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "Salt?"

"It's been used for centuries to ward off
psychic attacks of various sorts. So… pretty sure."

He got up and glanced around the room and
then in the hall.

Karina got up and followed him.

"I'm looking for salt," he said. "Any kind
will do."

They searched the farmhouse and finally found
some salt in the pantry. One bag of rock salt for melting ice on
roads. And a canister of table salt.

"Thank God," Karina said, picking up the
canister.

They took the salt back upstairs and she
watched as Luke poured the salt out in a thick line all the way
around their sleep area. Karina gingerly stepped inside the circle.
"That's it, huh?" she asked.

"That's it," he said, stepping inside. "Why
don't you lie down and try to get some sleep," he said. "I'll watch
you and make sure you don't have any more nightmares. I just want
to make sure it works."

"Okay," Karina said and lay back down on the
blankets and covered herself up.

Luke sat down on the ground cross-legged in
front of her, then reached out a hand to rest on her shoulder.
Karina put her hand over his. Then she smiled a little bit and
closed her eyes to go to sleep.

Hours later Karina woke up with sunshine
streaming through the windows and Luke's arm around her. She turned
to see he was fast asleep.