Dark Love (12 page)

‘Cheers,’ he
said, and clinked her glass with his.

‘Cheers,’ Sarah
giggled, and took a long sip.

She snuggled
into his shoulder and finished off her drink.

‘Let’s go!’ she
said.

It was her
first time in England and she was eager to see her new
surroundings. She had been in a complete daze when they had arrived
at the house and she had barely taken it in.

Sarah sprang to
her feet and extended her hands to him, and this time it was him
that laughed. But he did take her hands and allowed himself to be
dragged out of his comfort. Sarah opened the front door and
beckoned Daniel out of the house, then shut it firmly behind
her.

She looked
about and could not see another house in sight, just the top of
that steeple she had spotted from her window. It was over the hill
in the next valley. The sky was dark, which added to the moodiness
of the moor, although she supposed it was only about three in the
afternoon. A gentle breeze made the tall grasses sway and dim light
glinted off patches of watery marsh. Sarah breathed in deeply and
did not smell the slightest hint of pine. The air smelt fresh and
damp, like it was going to rain.

She turned and
looked at the house she now lived in. They lived in. Together.

It was as cute
as it had looked in the pictures. The old stone it was made of was
rugged in shape, and grey with an array of colors providing gentle
variation. Every stone was different, giving the house a truly
unique look.

Daniel took her
hand and led her away, and she exchanged a grin as they started to
walk, not down the track to the road, but off onto the wild moor.
The ground was soft beneath her feet. She just had to make sure she
avoided all the pieces of granite that were everywhere.

‘So, did you
pay for this place?’ she asked him while trying not to sound
accusatory.

She was hopeful
for an answer that would not fight within her conscience, or make
her think less of him. She loved it and did not want to have to let
it go.

‘Yes, one thing
you don’t need to worry about is money,’ he answered.

Unfortunately
that did not answer her question.

‘But why, were
you rich before you became a vampire?’ she asked.

He threw his
head back laughing.

‘No, we really
weren’t. Sebastian taught me some tricks early on, before I left
him,’ he said.

Sarah felt
shocked – so it was something bad. She felt he must have seen her
reaction for he continued.

‘Nothing bad –
not very Sebastian! Just ways to make money with stock markets,
that kind of thing. He’d had plenty of time to work it out in all
his long years. . . .’

‘Oh, that’s
great. One less thing to worry about,’ and she gave him a cocky
smile. ‘Sorry for questioning you.’

He did not say
anything, but pulled her towards him and kissed her. Sarah assumed
that meant she was forgiven.

By this time
they were trekking up the hill towards the summit that protected
their house from behind. It felt good to be out, and walking was a
breeze now that she was a vampire. She could just as easily have
run, but she wanted to take it all in and she wanted to see
everything. Daniel seemed in the same frame of mind as she, because
he kept looking around with a look of quiet peace on his face.

A large crow
flew overhead, and she watched as its feathers were buffeted by the
wind. She wondered how easily she would find it to transform into
an animal and looked forward to learning. That could wait a day or
two though as they had lots to see and clues to look for. After all
they did have a purpose in being here; there was some kind of
danger around and they needed to find out what it was, and try to
prevent more people getting hurt. That was, if in fact, anyone had
been. The people in the newspaper article were described as
missing, not dead.

Looking around
at the wild beauty of the landscape it was not too hard to believe
that something bad may have happened. It was so strange here, so
foreign. It felt like a different world.

They reached
the summit and climbed the large granite protrusions that topped
it. Standing at the top she clung to Daniel’s hand – it was
dizzying. She could see a long way in each direction and it opened
up her view of their surroundings. She could see to Princetown, the
large prison was hard to miss. She could see their house and the
church she still wanted to investigate, and could now see it was
surrounded by a graveyard and a low stone wall which was much like
the one around their house. Beyond the church the moor extended as
far as she could see. She turned and realized it was the same in
every direction – an extension of hills topped with granite and
further moor, and the odd area of woodland nestled in a valley. It
would be easy to lose yourself.

She spotted a
stone circle in the next valley.

‘Daniel –
look,’ she said, pointing in its direction as the wind whipped at
her arm. The stone circle had a strange sense of familiarity, like
déjà vu, but she was not sure why. She felt drawn to go and see it,
to see if it stirred some kind of memory. Maybe she had seen it in
a picture? ‘It looks familiar. Do you recognize it?’

Daniel squinted
in the direction of the circle, ‘No, I don’t think so. But you
do?’

‘I think so,
I’d like to go and see it,’ she started moving towards it, but
Daniel pulled her back.

‘Hang on a
minute. I’ve been wondering whether you might be having prophetic
dreams – do you think it’s possible you remember it from a dream?’
he asked.

Sarah thought
hard but she really could not remember any of her dreams since she
had turned.

‘I don’t know,
it’s possible I guess, but if that’s it the memory is entirely
subconscious,’ she said.

‘I was
wondering if you’d mind if I tried tapping into your dream, next
time I think it looks like you’re having one, and see if I could
see if they might give us a clue as to what to do,’ he said.

Sarah felt her
cheeks heating; what if she dreamt about him? But so what? He knows
she likes him now, loves him, so would it really matter?

‘Ummm, that
would be ok – but if it’s obviously not a prophetic dream you have
to stop watching, ok!’ she scolded him.

He nodded with
a grin, ‘Sure,’ he said. ‘But listen, just in case . . . if you do
recognize this place from a dream, it might be relevant as to why
those people are missing, so look out for clues, and danger.’

‘I will,’ she
said, suddenly serious.

They exchanged
a glance of agreement and started to descend the hill towards the
stone circle.

They were
nearly
there, and Sarah took a break from watching where she
placed her feet to look up at the stone circle ahead. It was large
enough for a small party to picnic in, and she imagined witchy
ceremonies being conducted in ages past. The granite stones were
all different shapes and sticking out of the ground at odd angles,
some of them as tall as her chest. They clearly formed a circle.
She wondered who had made it.

On the furthest
stone was another crow. As her eyes fixed on it it flew off and
settled out of reach, yet seemed as if it was watching them.

She shivered,
was it the same crow she had seen before? It looked awfully big,
yet she supposed she was not used to the wildlife around here;
maybe all crows were that large.

She stepped
into the circle and instantly smelt blood.

Her eyes darted
to Daniel’s and he nodded. He had smelt it too.

She watched as
Daniel got down on his knees in the center of the circle and
inspected the ground.

The wind kept
blowing her hair across her face so it was hard to see. Sarah
pulled a band out of her pocket and pulled her hair up into a pony
tail, out of her eyes, so she could see better.

Daniel was
pulling apart blades of grass and poking the ground with his
fingers.

‘There is blood
here – it’s absorbed into the soil. It’s not that old either, maybe
a week or two. I’m thinking that this could have been a sacrifice,’
Daniel said.

Sarah continued
to watch him as he looked about, inspecting the site.

‘I can sense
the traces of magic,’ he said.

‘Looks like
it’s going to be more complicated than a rogue vampire,’ Sarah
pointed out.

She looked
about the site herself. She did not exactly recognize it, but she
still had that sense of déjà vu. And she also had an uneasy
feeling, but was that just triggered by the blood? It sure made her
thirsty, and her senses were heightened.

She looked back
at the crow and met its beady eye, and then it turned and flew
against the wind, disappearing from view.

‘Did you see
that crow?’ she asked Daniel.

‘Hmmm?’ he
said, he was focused on the ground once more.

‘The crow. Did
you see it?’

‘I caught a
glimpse, why? Was there something strange about it?’ he asked.

‘No, I just had
a sense it wasn’t quite right. I thought it looked like it was
watching us,’ she said feeling silly.

In retrospect
it seemed quite unlikely.

‘Really? I will
look out for it. Point it out if you see it again,’ he said.

Sarah was
pleased he took her seriously, although wondered if he was humoring
her. But why would he – he himself could turn into a bird. The crow
could have been another vampire.

‘Can you tell
if someone, or something, is a vampire?’ she asked him.

‘Yes. Their
heart beats slower than a human heart, so it’s not hard once you
get used to it. I’m not sure if I could tell if a bird was a
vampire though,’ he said, picking up on her trail of thought, ‘I
don’t know what happens to my heartbeat when I transform.’

‘So you think
the missing people were killed right here?’ she asked.

Daniel nodded
sadly.

‘I think you
must
remember this place from a prophetic dream. It seems
too much of a coincidence that we would have found this place so
quickly otherwise,’ Daniel said.

He stood and
walked closer to Sarah.

She inhaled as
he stepped very close and brought his hand up to her cheek.

‘How are you
doing?’ he asked.

‘I’m ok,’ she
shrugged her shoulders, ‘A little freaked, but ok.’

She did not
step away though; she leant on him, taking his comfort.

‘I wonder where
the bodies are,’ she said loudly, so her voice carried over the
building wind.

Daniel stepped
away and went back to inspecting the ground.

Sarah continued
to look about, trying to search her recollections, or remember her
dreams.

Nothing.

She did
remember feeling uneasy when she had woken up that morning and
shaking away memories of a dream. She resolved she would not do
that again. She did not want to miss any important clues. It would
be exciting if she was a prophetic, she thought, wondering at what
mysteries she might uncover.

‘Hey Sarah, I
think I can trace a trail,’ Daniel said.

He was outside
the stone circle and beckoned for her to follow.

‘A blood
trail?’ she asked.

‘Yes, and the
odd footprint and flattened grass. It’s subtle and hard to see, but
it is there.’

Sarah followed
Daniel slowly, looking at the ground too. She could still smell the
blood, very faintly on the air. It didn’t smell good as it was too
old for that. It smelt stale, dead. It made her feel sick.

She could see
the odd flattened impression on the ground, and could imagine that
bodies might have been dragged this way. They were walking deeper
into a valley and Sarah spotted a trench ahead. She had a bad
feeling.

Daniel
continued to look at the trail, she was not sure he had even
noticed the trench. She did not say anything as she did not want to
distract him, in case she was wrong.

She knew she
was not.

The smell of
death grew stronger as they got closer, and Daniel shot her a look
of concern. She knew he could smell it too.

They arrived at
the edge of the ditch and looked inside. Sarah could not see
anything at first, and then pointed to a gap in the ground under a
large slab of stone.

Daniel nodded
and went to investigate.

Sarah stayed
where she was.

She kept
looking around for the crow, and then she spotted it far off in the
distance. It was still watching them. She wondered if it had been
the whole time.

‘Daniel – the
crow!

Daniel stood to
look and Sarah pointed him in the right direction, but the crow had
gone.

The sorcerer
settled
on a rock outside his cave and transformed back into a
man. He shook himself so he felt human again, and grounded to the
earth. He thought darkly about what he had seen.

Two
vampires.

What were they
doing here and why were they investigating the deaths?

It seemed most
unlike vampires. Surely all they cared about was killing? They
would not care about what he had planned.

They were
already immortal.

But what if
they planned to interfere?

He could not
let that happen. It was still two weeks until the next full moon
when he would need to perform the second sacrifice, the one that
would complete the ritual and raise Nathaniel.

That was two
weeks that his plans could be thwarted, that his vision could be
ruined.

He paced back
and forth, thinking about what he should do and considering the
most appropriate way to kill them.

He knew where
to find them as he had followed them back to their stone cottage,
while keeping out of sight. But he did not know how strong they
were.