Nevermore, the Complete Series (42 page)

A seer among the natives spoke of coming days of darkness, when an intruder would invade these lands and leave death in its wake. There are many legends, tales, and prophecies among these people and I thought little of it. With regret, it appears these stories I took so lightly have come to be.

I found the seer today among the dying, and with her last words she told me this: From the North shall come a raven. From its line the Kaga will meet its equal, and will meet its end.

I do not know what this word Kaga means, and I fear now I may never. If you have found this then I implore you to heed whatever this may warn.

I’ve not the strength to write much more – with the last of my consciousness I can only pray that Eleanor knew I loved her.

“Raven,” I whispered as I re-read the words. 

“Seriously,” Hannah said, “If this fountain was real, we would have heard about it by now. There’s, like, nowhere people haven’t been. It would’ve been found and plastered all over news and science books. It would’ve changed the world. ”

“That isn’t necessarily true,” Salem argued, “There are new scientific discoveries every day. In fact, just look at us. Vampires exist without any sort of empirical evidence.”

“I agree with Salem,” I said quietly, thinking over everything I had just read.

“Of course you do,” Hannah grumbled. “Even if it does exist, you would give up living forever and your abilities?”

“Assuming my fate wasn’t as unfortunate as Ezra’s, then yes,” Salem replied. “Ever since Raziel turned me, I have wanted nothing but a normal life. I want to grow old and experience the life of a mortal.”

“What kind of idiot would want to grow old?
And besides, what if the water is cursed or something? That Ezra guy and the Indians used it and look what happened to them.”

“I highly doubt the water is cursed.”

“Yeah, but you can’t know that it isn’t,” Hannah replied. I glanced upward for a moment and saw that we were passing through Ouray. It occurred to me then that this would be my first trip outside of Colorado, assuming we went out of state…and I was pretty positive we would.

“Anything is possible,” Salem said. “What really matters to me, however, is how Alex feels about it.”

I thought about it for a moment. I had just learned almost a year ago that my relatives were vampire hunters, that the love of my life was a vampire, and that I could turn into a raven. Then Hannah nearly killed me and in order to save me from death, Salem turned me into a vampire. Before all of this, my life was dull and ordinary. I spent the majority of my time with my best friends Jason and Karen, or attempting to study for school. What would I do if I could reverse all of this and be an ordinary human again? In a few short months I would be a nineteen year old drop out with nothing impressive about myself, and the lack of immortality wasn’t ideal. But never having to worry about hunting vampires – unless I absolutely wanted to hunt them still – and giving Salem the opportunity he always wanted…wouldn’t that be worth it?

“I…I don’t know, really,” I said. “One downfall is we can’t go back if we decide we don’t like it.”

“Why would we want to go back?”

“You’d no longer be able to summon things, we’d get sick, and we’d have to get jobs…”

“Trust me, Alex, it would be worth it,” he replied with a smile.

“Jobs?”
Hannah muttered. “Just get Salem here to summon up millions of dollars before he uses that water and you’re set.”

“I never thought of that,” I said and glanced at Salem. He looked uneasy about it. “Even if it was just enough to last until we were able to find a job…Hannah has a point.”

He shook his head. “Summoning money is impossible, I have tried.”

“Well, then just summon something valuable and sell it. Do it enough that we don’t have to work and can just enjoy life doing whatever we want.”

“I suppose,” he said glumly, “but that seems nearly as wrong. It almost defeats the purpose of even being mortal.”

“Just think on it, we’ve got plenty of time,” I said reassuringly. “I mean, we don’t even know if this fountain exists anymore, or if it ever did. I’m not even sure how we’d even figure out where to start looking.”

“If it is the real fountain of youth from history, the one Ponce De Leon searched for, then it is in Florida,” Salem replied.

“That’s just a myth, Salem,” Hannah commented.

“So are vampires,” he shot back.

After that remark, Hannah kept quiet. I stifled a chuckle and returned to skimming through Ezra’s journal. I leaned my head against Salem’s shoulder and almost wished that I could doze off. We had no set destination in mind when we began this trip, just to get away from Willowshire long enough for my father to set his mind straight. But maybe Florida would be our destination. I shut my eyes and imagined life with Salem without the burden of hunting and being undead. While the idea of getting sick, hurt or even dying left a huge impact on me, I couldn’t help but imagine the good parts of an ordinary life. I could see Karen and Jason without worrying that they might suspect something was off about me. Salem and I could get married and even have children if we decided to. The idea of growing old and brittle like my grandfather made me uneasy, but it would be worth it with Salem by my side, right?

Directly after deciding to leave Willowshire, I had left a message on Jason’s phone and shut my cell off so that if anyone called me they wouldn’t try to convince me to come back. I could feel the weight of the phone in my hoodie pocket; it almost seemed to beg for me to turn it on, even just for a glimpse to see if someone attempted to contact me. Part of me wished that we could just turn back and somehow convince Paul that he was wrong, but I knew that was unlikely, if not impossible. Besides, getting away for a while might be just what we need. I had been cooped up in the same little town my entire life without a single vacation, no one was going to change my mind.

Reluctantly, I plucked the phone out of my pocket. Salem glanced down at it curiously but didn’t question me. I turned it on and it played the same old jingle it had when it was first turned on, then it buzzed numerous times informing me that I had several texts, missed calls and voice mail.

“Are you sure you want to do that?” Salem finally asked, looking more than a little concerned.

“I’m just checking it,
it’s fine.”

I skimmed through my text messages but found that most of it was useless junk that didn’t matter at all. There was a brief text from Karen saying that she hopes Salem and I have a good time on our trip and a picture from Mitchell of his car, which was his new pride and joy. I was surprised not to have any messages from Jason, until I checked my voice mail:

“Hey Alex, I hope you have a good time. We’ll all miss you and worry about you! Don’t forget that you have your laptop and can send us e-mails whenever you have a chance. But don’t worry about it if you’re too busy enjoying the vacation,” his voice played through my phone and I felt suddenly overcome with sadness. “Eila says hi and hopes to get to know you better when you get back! I also noticed that Paul shut down the Auto Shop, what’s up with that? Haven’t seen him around town, either, is he okay? But anyway, keep in touch as much as you can!”

This was bad news…

Was there a chance that Paul was following us? Surely he wasn’t that eager to kill Salem for what wasn’t his fault at all…

“You haven’t seen a yellow Jeep Wrangler following us by chance, have you, Hannah?” I asked.

“No, but I haven’t really been looking out for one either…why?”

“I just have this bad feeling that Paul might be trying to follow us. I’m probably just over-reacting,” I said more to myself than to her. “I’m going to give Karen a quick call to let her know that I’m safe and that I’m sorry for not telling her that we were leaving. She’s had to figure stuff out from Jason so much lately, I feel so bad about it.”

The sound of the dial tone buzzed in my ear as I waited for my childhood best friend to answer her phone. It felt like forever since I had seen or spoken to her. What kind of a friend had I become?

“Alex?” The sound of her voice made me smile instantly. She sounded chipper and excited to hear from me.

“Karen!” I exclaimed, my mouth forming into an even wider smile. “How are you?”

“Great! I was actually planning to call you soon,” she began, and then moments later practically yelled into the phone, “I got accepted at Aveda Institute for cosmetology!”

“Wow! That’s awesome!”

“I’ll be moving to Denver in a few months for the fall semester,” she explained, “I‘m sooo excited!”

I laughed. “I can tell. Have you told Jason yet?”

She didn’t reply for a few minutes. “No…we haven’t really talked much since…she…came into the picture,” she grumbled.

“Oh, right…Eila,” I muttered. “I’m really sorry…maybe you’ll meet someone at school though!”

“Oh right, just what I need…a boy who is in beauty school,” she laughed. “Maybe I’ll meet someone outside of school though, Denver is pretty huge.”

“Anything’s possible.”

“I guess. Where are you and Salem off to, anyway? Is this some sort of romantic getaway? Ooh la la?”

“Umm…not exactly,” I laughed. “We’re going to Florida; at least I think that’s where we’re going. He hasn’t really given me a straight answer yet.”

“Oh my god!
Are you guys going to Disneyworld!?”

Another laugh flowed from my lips. “Maybe, I really don’t know yet.”

“Well, let me know and send me pictures if you take any, okay? I really miss you! I wish I was there!”

“Me too, and I miss you too, Karen,” I said with a subtle sigh. “We’ll be back before you know it, and then you can give us a tour of Denver.”

“Sounds like a plan. Maybe you’ll be back in time for your birthday and we can celebrate!”

“Maybe…” The idea of birthdays had no effect on me. I hated the idea of aging, but now that I was a vampire it no longer mattered…but that might all change within the next few weeks. It was odd considering that Salem was technically over one hundred years old and I was only eighteen. A thought popped into my head and I gasped.

“Alex, are you still there? Are you okay?” Karen asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine…just, you know, not very big on the idea of birthdays and all,” I said quickly. “Look, I have to go – but I will definitely call you again soon!”

“Okay, you promise?”

“Promise,” I said and we both hung up after a simple ‘bye’.

Setting the phone down on the backseat, I glanced at Salem with an inquisitive look pasted on my face. He was staring out the window, oblivious to my eyes boring into the back of his shiny black hair. The question that was coursing through my thoughts was unpleasant and perhaps something of a private matter that should wait until Salem and I were alone, so I kept my mouth shut for the time being.

The sun sunk low behind a thick mass of graying clouds and soon night fell upon us. I wasn’t sure what was occupying his thoughts, but Salem hadn’t spoken or turned away from the window in several hours. I spotted a sign up ahead that told me we were entering Silverton. Hannah glanced back at us briefly, giving her half-brother a curious stare before turning back to the road ahead.

I grew tired of glancing at the scenery; it wasn’t that much different from what I saw back in Willowshire. I wasn’t sure how Salem could tolerate staring out at it for so long, but maybe he wasn’t even seeing it at all, stuck in some unknown thoughts. I collected Ezra’s journal from beside me and began glancing through it when out of nowhere I caught sight of something: a large black raven was sketched across the page.

“Salem,” I said, finally breaking the silence. He didn’t turn to look at me. “Salem!”

“Yes?” he said and looked at me at last with a slight withdrawn appearance to him.

“There’s something I don’t get. If this book is so
old, and so important…how exactly did it get to Janet? Out of all the people that could have found it, what are the odds that someone from my family would? And how did she even know to give it to me…it was just a blank book…”

“Perhaps it is just coincidence,” he shrugged. “For all we know, she picked it up at a random book store and thought you might find some use in it.”

“Oh, come on, Salem. You’re the one that’s always saying how there are no coincidences.” I frowned. “We’ve been over this before – she knew I didn’t care for writing, she would have never got something like this for me.”

He shrugged. “I wish I had an answer for you, Alex, but there is no way to know without asking her.”

“Yeah and now that’s impossible,” I sighed.

It wasn’t easy to push away the thoughts of my foster mother. She had been the only one to truly care for me (aside from my best friends) before Salem came into my life. We weren’t incredibly close, but I viewed her as more of a friend than a mother – long before I knew she was in fact not my mom. She had a strong love for animals and attended a college for zoology and animal biology before becoming a full time zoologist. It was amazing growing up with her and getting to experience all of the different animals. The zoo in Willowshire was very small and closed down not long before Janet was offered a job by her boyfriend Mark (a vampire that wound up murdering her) at
the zoo in Denver. That was the day she abandoned me, and not much later she was killed.

I sighed and tried to shake my head free of the miserable thoughts. My life had never been simple, but perhaps this fountain was what I needed to live a life of simplicity. School had always been a bit of a struggle for me – not because I’m not intelligent or because I had a learning disability, I was often side-tracked by the on-goings of my home life that it was difficult to focus on anything else. Having been abandoned by my foster father at the age of six, it took a huge toll on me. I lost interest in practically everything, including spending time with Karen and Jason. Janet forced me into agreeing to have them over for dinner every once and a while to keep me from being cooped up in my room all the time, but it scarcely helped. It only took a few years for me to get over it and I was back to my regular self. I once again enjoyed playing the piano and put my heart and soul into it. That was my absolute passion. But everything went downhill again only eight years later when I discovered that my uncle Paul was in fact my father and a vampire hunter. And now here I am, running away from him because he wants to kill the boy I am in love with – the boy who is supposedly my soul mate.

There is nothing at all simple about that. I kept my eyes peeled for any sign of a yellow Jeep Wrangler, but so far none came into my view. When I really thought about it, it was nearly impossible for Paul to find us. He was unconscious when we left his trailer and I didn’t tell Richard where we were headed. With a satisfied smile, I convinced myself that it was all just paranoia and there was nothing to worry about.

The desire to be able to sleep was overwhelming. I had thought that the lack of sleep would make me incredibly happy because I could spend all of my time doing whatever I pleased – but right now my time was spent cooped up in a small old car. At least if I was mortal I could sleep away the boring hours. This was not at all how I imagined being a vampire would be, but then again I didn’t know what to expect. This trip would simply be more enjoyable if I could doze off for a while, or had I brought something to do. I eyed Salem again, wondering if he would be up to summoning something for me to read…but I didn’t disturb him. Instead, I discarded Ezra’s journal temporarily and pulled my laptop out of my bag. I booted up the computer and brought up the Start menu, then went to Solitaire. I wasn’t very familiar with the game, but I figured it wouldn’t hurt to give it a try.

I lost my first few games, and then shouted excitedly as I watched the cards cascade downward as I won. My excitement waned when I noticed Hannah was turning down an exit lane.

“Where are we going?”

“The San Juan National Forest is over here,” Hannah explained, “I don’t know about you two, but I’m starving.”

“I could use some nourishment,” Salem added, finally coming out of his stupor.

“Oh…” I mumbled, until now completely unaware of the thirst I felt. It was still taking time to adjust to the changes of being a vampire. It was hunger, but not in the same sense as a human would feel. “Is it legal to you know…kill the animals there?”

“Who cares? As if anyone could do anything about it,” Hannah laughed.

She was right. Not only could we defend ourselves against any mortal that might approach us during the visit to the park, no one could prove that we did any wrong. I had scarcely considered the fact that we would need to make a few stops every now and then for “food”. For some reason I had it set in my mind that this would be a quick straight shot to wherever we decided to go and there would be no purpose in stopping because we had no use for bathroom breaks. How could I have completely phased that out…possibly because my mind was a wreck after the incident in Willowshire? I glanced behind us again for a Jeep Wrangler and was once again relieved not to see one. Then I wondered if perhaps Paul rounded up his sister Kim to come after us and they could be in a completely unfamiliar vehicle as I had never seen Kim’s car. Would she be willing to do that to me – her only niece? If my own father was willing to, then I don’t see why she wouldn’t…

My eyes were now fixated on the surrounding nature. The sight of the large fir trees did not shock me as I had seen plenty of them back home. The Victorian that Salem and I lived in had a large forest in the back that was full of them. As we rode closer to the park, the population of trees grew further and wider around us. There was a mild breeze in the air that I could feel through the halfway rolled down windows, it blew my hair wildly behind me and I rolled the window up. Hannah pulled into a parking spot in a vacant lot and we exited the car.

A light breeze swirled around us and pushed a garbage bag down the parking lot. I took Salem’s hand in mine and gripped it tightly.

“Can you give me and Salem some privacy for a minute, please?” I asked Hannah.

“No,” she answered simply, “It’s not like don’t already know what’s up.”

I shook my head. “You best stay out of my head!”

“Well, when there are only two of you in the car with me and I’m bored out of my mind it’s hard not to take a peek. Of course, it’s still not much to look at,” she laughed.

“Well, stay out of mine!”

“Well, I would’ve checked in on my dear brother there but I can’t.”

Salem perked up somewhat and eyed Hannah curiously, “You can’t hear my thoughts?”

“Weird, isn’t it?” Hannah answered. “Maybe it has something to do with your gift or whatever you like to call it, I don’t know.”

“Perhaps,” he agreed then arched a brow. “I thought you could only hear thoughts upon touching your ‘victim’, as you put it?”

“I have been doing a lot of practice lately.” She shrugged and gave a short, melodic chuckle. “One look into Alex’s eyes through the rear-view mirror and voila.”

“I see,” he mumbled and turned his direction toward me. “Now, what is it you need to discuss with me Alexis?”

“Follow me,” I said glumly and led him into the dark forestry. The aroma of the woods was so strong now that I had become a vampire. The trees, the flora, a bee’s nest filled with fresh honey, fecal matter from the hundreds of animals roaming around the vicinity, I could smell and distinguish it all. I could hear hundreds of tiny hearts beating; hear the flapping of birds as they soared overhead in search of rodents to feast upon. I wondered how being bombarded with senses from every direction had never bothered Salem. How could he block all this out?

I led Salem towards the smell of sitting water and before I knew it we neared a vast lake that reminded me somewhat of home. All that was missing was the large white Victorian planted in front of it. It never occurred to me before how much I really missed being home. The comfort of the house’s shelter, the bed we shared even now that we had no use for sleep…would I ever see that place again? It scarcely mattered right now. I looked up briefly at the twinkling stars above us then giggled lightly as Salem scooped me up into his arms.

“Before you ruin the moment with whatever may be on your mind,” he said calmly, “there is something I would like for you to experience.”

“Oh really?
And what’s that?”

He didn’t reply, but a mischievous grin played across his lips and he carried me to the watery depths of the lake. Once he was knee-deep in the water he let me down and I stood beside him, admiring the water as it gently lapped at our legs. The feeling was bizarre – it was neither cold nor warm, almost as if the water had no temperature.

“This is amazing,” I whispered.

“It isn’t quite amazing yet,” he smiled and dove under the water.

As he resurfaced a few feet away he called for me to follow him. I was hesitant at first, having grown somewhat of a fear of drowning after a few close calls during my childhood…then it occurred to me that drowning wasn’t a concern of mine anymore. I didn’t breathe at all now. With a great thrill welling up inside me, I sunk my head under the water and opened my eyes. I could clearly see Salem in the distance and swam quickly over to him, embracing him in my arms and kissing him deeply under the surface.

It was quite possibly the greatest thing I had ever experienced. I felt like a mermaid as I splashed around in the water, dove as deep as I could and watched the fish zip out of my way. The murky liquid appeared almost clear through my vampiric eyes and it was nice not having to resurface for air. I had thought flying was amazing, but something about swimming slowly through the water soothed my soul.

Salem and I met at the top of the water and he gazed momentarily into my eyes before cupping my face with his hands. I still hadn’t grown used to the lack of cold to his touch, but it didn’t make it any less enjoyable or familiar.

“I love you Alex, and no matter what you decide you want to do about the fountain, it won’t change the way I feel for you,” he said as he stroked my cheek. “If you want to remain immortal, don’t put my desires ahead of yours…just being with you is enough to satisfy me.”

“That isn’t what is bothering me,” I replied quietly, looking somewhat abashed, “I just got to thinking about how I am technically almost nineteen and you are well into your hundreds…will the fountain have any effect on that? Will you become a brittle old man, or,” I swallowed hard before continuing, “would you die because your age would instantly catch back up with you or something?”

Salem smiled gently and shook his head. “I might be one hundred and twenty-seven in terms of years, but my body has been trapped in the body of an eighteen year old this entire time. Nothing is going to change that. I will be an eighteen year old mortal, regardless how long I have been on this earth.”

“That’s good,” I said with a sigh of relief. “That’ll make me somewhat older than you.”

“There is nothing wrong with that,” he laughed. “And it isn’t a big age gap at all.”

“You’re right. It isn’t like say…a one-hundred year old and a teenager, “I laughed. “Do you think it’ll be worth it, though…to lose your powers I mean?”

“It wouldn’t take too much time adjusting to it as I only discovered those a few years ago, but I would definitely miss it.”

“I’d miss flying,” I said quietly. “But I guess I’d get used to that too.”

“Then, is it settled? We will do this?” he asked somewhat awkwardly, almost as if he was afraid to hear the answer.

“I think so, unless you can think of any reason not to. I mean, you know…if this fountain is even real.”

“I cannot.”

“Me either,” I said slowly, pondering if I was certain about this or not. “If for some reason we regretted becoming mortal again, we’d always have someone to change us back at least.”