Sacrifice (Absent Shadows Trilogy Book 2) (5 page)

‘The boy was very weak. He hadn’t been able to eat or drink, and his skin was getting more and more translucent every day. His mother broke down a few times while telling me the story. When she finished, she just looked at me with tears running down her face, and begged me to help him.

‘That’s when Mladen asked me to hold the boy. I hesitated, but Mladen urged me so I gently reached forward expecting the boy to recoil, but for some reason he seemed to accept my touch. I took him in my arms, like you would do with an infant. He was so light—there was nothing to him. I rocked him and hummed a little lullaby which seemed to give him some comfort. And as I did this, I began to cry. I’d never cried before, Lili. The sensation was unfamiliar, but it felt right. So I just continued to hum while I rocked this poor boy. Eventually, a tear made its way down my cheek and dripped onto his face. When this happened he closed his eyes and went very still. I thought the poor boy must have died, even though I’d been told it wasn’t possible for a vampire to die from hunger. But when he opened his eyes, they were blue, and then his skin began to regain some of its colour.’

Crystal smiled, seeming to enjoy the memory. ‘I looked at Mladen, hoping for some sort of explanation, but he shook his head and simply told the mother to take her boy home and give him food and water. He said that he’d be fine, once he’d eaten and rested. Needless to say, the woman was overjoyed, and thanked us over and over again.’

‘I don’t understand Crystal. So, what happened?’

‘It was my tears—the tears of a dhampira. You knew that dhampiras are rare, didn’t you? Well, not only are we rare, but it seems
some
of us also have rare powers. This was very old magic, and something that is not well known, even in our world. As I said, I’m pretty sure Michael knows nothing about it, and so I can only put it down to Erranase. He has lived many thousands of years, so it is possible that he’s come across this before.’

‘And Sam has been spending time with him.’

‘Yes, Sam has been spending much more time with Erranase than ever before.’

‘But if you can … I mean, if he can be human, then …,’ I couldn’t even bring myself to say it.

‘Lili, that mother was going to die of a broken heart. And the boy would never have been able to understand his condition. He was truly pathetic. That was what brought me to tears. That was what saved him—his own pathetic condition, and his mother’s heartache.’

‘Oh, so you can’t just cry any old time … so you couldn’t just, you know, sit down with Sam and change him?’

She shook her head, and looked down at the table.

But she could at least try, couldn’t she, for Sam’s sake? I mean they were such good friends and all. I took a deep breath, and tried to keep my voice calm. ‘So, Sam found out about this power, and asked you to help him become human.’

‘Yes, Lili, Sam asked me to make him human so he can be with you and lead a human life,’ she said, looking at me now—her eyes wide.

‘And why … I mean, does this scare you? So, maybe it won’t work in every case. Is that what you’re worried about? But you could at least try, couldn’t you?’

‘I’ve only ever done this twice in all my years, Lili. And the second time was very much like the first—a young girl—she was only thirteen.’

‘And you’re afraid because … Sam isn’t as young as they were?’

‘I’m afraid because both those times, the change had only just happened. With the boy, it was weeks. With the girl, it was a few months. But with Sam, if I remove the contagion, his body may be cleansed but it may also be a body that is ... I mean, the vampire contagion is what keeps him looking as he does, as he did when it entered his body. If the contagion is cleared from his blood, his human body could simply turn to dust.’

The significance of her words hit me like an avalanche. He could die. Really die. Cease to exist. Now I understood why she was frightened. But she was only guessing, right? It mightn’t work that way at all.

‘Crystal, have you spoken to Mladen to see what he knows?’

‘Yes, of course I have. I went to see him immediately. He doesn’t know any more than I do. Like I said, this ability is extremely rare. Mladen had never seen it before I cured the boy, he had only heard of it. He was nearly as surprised as I was when that boy opened his eyes and they were blue again.’

Her distress unsettled me. I was used to her being the calm one, the one that took everything in her stride. ‘So, what can I do, Crystal? You want me to talk to Sam, and talk him out of it?’

‘Yes. That’s exactly what I want. He has been pressuring me, begging me. Seeing him in such a distraught condition pulls on my heart strings. Then, knowing that he could die, well, it might be enough to bring me to tears. I can’t discuss this with him; in fact I try not to be alone with him. I’ve been careful, but he’s so determined.’

‘Okay, I’ll speak to him. Don’t worry, it’ll be fine. He’ll listen to me.’

My words sounded much more confident than I felt, but I would certainly do everything in my power to make him see reason.

‘I hope so. I mean, if he’s going to listen to anyone, it will be you. It’s been so hard. And to be honest, I think he’s been getting encouragement from Elizabeth.’

‘Elizabeth? What makes you say that?’

‘Well, it’s just something he mentioned once. He said Elizabeth thinks it will work.’

‘But why would she want him to take the risk? That doesn’t make any sense.’

‘Elizabeth only knows what Sam has told her, so she mightn’t have any idea of the risks involved. But when you think about it, regardless of whether it works or not, she wins. If he becomes human, then he will age and eventually die and then he’ll be with her. She will finally be able to leave, and take him with her. But if it doesn’t work, and he dies straight away as I fear he might, then she still wins, just sooner. So, you see?’

‘Oh, I see what you mean.’

‘So, you’ll speak to Sam, today?’

‘Yes, but first I think I’ll go see Debs. I need to take a shower and change out of these clothes. Then, I’ll ring Sam.’

Crystal smiled, back to her beautiful, calm, collected self. She stood and came over and gave me a big hug. ‘I’m so glad you’re home, Lili.’

~~***~~

When I walked into the apartment it was as if I’d just been gone for a weekend, rather than nearly two months.

‘Your room is as you left it. We haven’t had any guests so it hasn’t been touched. Welcome home,’ said Debs, grinning as she added that last bit.

We sat in the kitchen, and she made us a cool drink—lemon lime and bitters she called it. The weather was very different to what it was when I’d left, and even though it wasn’t hot yet, it was certainly warming up. The drink was refreshing—I hadn’t realised how thirsty I was.

After a few minutes she asked about the reason I’d come back so suddenly, so I had to explain. I figured I could tell her the same thing I’d told Mom.

‘You had a vision?’ she asked, but in a very different voice to the one my mother had used when she’d asked the same question. I could tell she believed me. And not only that, she was excited about it.

‘Yes, a vision. It was, well, very odd. I’ve never had anything like that happen before.’

‘Well, well, well. I did say you were sensitive, didn’t I? I knew you had some special talents, I just didn’t know quite what they were. So, you’ll have to tell me everything.’

I told her the whole story—the same thing I’d told both Mom and the police. And having told it like this so many times, I began to wonder if that might not be how it really happened after all. But then the memory of that smile haunted me—that wicked smile Rachel had given me, just after she’d said her father would be locked up for killing her.

‘You look tired. Why don’t you go have a shower—you’ll feel better afterwards. I’ll take a rain check on the rest of this story. I want to hear more about the vision. And about how you felt, before, during and after. And exactly what happened.’

Great, she wanted more details. But I had to put it out of my mind for the moment, knowing I’d deal with it later. I thanked her, then went to my room, closed the door and sat down on the bed. I opened my phone, found Sam’s number and pressed the call button.

He answered on the second ring.

‘Hey, beautiful—I take it you’ve arrived safely?’

‘Yeah, of course. I’m gonna take a shower and change, then I’ll come see you.’

‘How about I come get you? How long do you want? Tell me when you’ll be ready, and I’ll be waiting for you out front.’

‘That would be awesome. Give me forty-five minutes. No, make it a half hour. That’s plenty of time.’

~ Chapter Five ~

His shiny black car was parked at the front of the building. As I walked up, he leaned across the seat and opened the door for me. When I got in, he reached across and lightly stroked my cheek.

He smiled, and I melted right there in my seat. His hair seemed darker and his eyes bluer than I remembered. And his face … well, he was a man, not a boy like David. I still marvelled at how I’d been lucky enough to meet him. I suddenly felt quite shy in his presence—completely out of my comfort zone. But then he spoke.

‘I’ve missed you. I’m glad you’re here,’ he said, his voice melting away all traces of my discomfort.

When I answered, my voice was a harsh whisper. ‘I’ve missed you too. I couldn’t believe it when I got that call from the detective—I was so excited, you know, to have an excuse to come back sooner.’

He leaned over and kissed me, and my whole body tingled. When he let go and straightened back in his seat, I felt weak—like I had been drained of the last bit of energy.

‘So, you said a detective rang you? What’s that all about anyway? Why do the police need to see you? I’m sure you never said anything about this before,’ he asked, his voice mesmerising me even though it was filled with concern.

I struggled to get my mind to focus on his question. All I could think about was how good it had felt when he’d kissed me. I shook my head, and answered.

‘Yeah, I know. I mean … I know I never said anything. Maybe I should have, but you were all so busy getting ready for the meeting with Zunios. Then, well, the whole thing seemed to just go away. I gave my statement to the police and they were satisfied with everything so I just sort of put it out of my mind.’

‘What statement? Were you a witness to something?’ Now the frown returned; the one that had always been a part of his face when I first met him. The way he looked at me chased away the memory of his kiss. He was serious now.

I told him the truth. The whole truth—well, most of it anyway. I didn’t mention the wicked smile. I didn’t quite know how to explain that, so I left that part out. Even so, the longer I spoke, the darker his expression got.

‘Lili, I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about this.’

I looked down at my lap and squeezed my hands into a knot. I felt like a scolded child.

‘I’m sorry. I really didn’t want to bother you with it, that’s all. And then, well, it just didn’t seem all that important anymore—after I made my statement and that. Like I said, I sort of forgot all about it.’

‘Well I don’t like the sound of all this. It’s my fault—I should never have taught you how to see Elizabeth.’

‘It’s fine … really. The police just said that the lawyers for the defendant want to question me. It’s no big deal. I didn’t touch the gun—my fingerprints aren’t on it or anything. Nothing bad can happen.’

‘It’s not the lawyers I’m worried about.’

Something about his voice made the hairs on my arms stand up and I suddenly felt sick. I could feel the colour draining from my face. ‘No?’ I whispered.

‘Ghosts rarely get people involved in their issues. Most people, as you know, don’t see or hear them. And the people that do see them, well, you know, they’re often a sandwich short of a picnic.’

‘Does that mean you think there’s a problem?’ I wasn’t sure what he meant, but the tone of his voice scared me.

‘There might be. We’ll need to have a word to Elizabeth about this. We’ll see what she thinks of it.’

I hadn’t heard him sound so worried since the lead up to the meeting with Zunios. The sick feeling in my stomach got worse, and I suddenly regretted ever having seen that ghost. Not that I’d exactly had any choice in the matter.

Sam looked over at me, then reached across and touched my cheek again. ‘Hey, don’t look so worried. I’m sorry if I sounded angry just then. I’m not angry with you. I’m just concerned. But it’ll be fine. Now, let’s go somewhere fun, and put this behind us for a while, okay?’

‘Sounds good to me,’ I said, relieved by his change of tone, and more than happy to drop the subject.

He pulled the car into the road, then headed up towards the gardens, but turned right at the top of the hill.

‘I thought maybe we could head over to Southbank, and take a walk along the river. I can even buy you an ice-cream cone if you’d like one. We can catch up on what’s been happening. How’s that sound?’

‘Perfect,’ I said, smiling, trying not to think about ghosts.

It was a short drive but the commute traffic was starting to build already, and there were people milling around everywhere.

Finally he parked in an under-cover parking garage. We walked up a circular staircase that took us up into a busy mall. Right in front of us was an ice-cream shop.

‘What takes your fancy?’ he asked as he pulled some coins out of his pocket.

‘Hmmm—mint chocolate chip I think, but if I can have a double I’ll have vanilla too.’

‘You, my dear, may have whatever your heart desires. And I mean that in every way you can imagine,’ he said, his beautiful blue eyes twinkling, and all traces of the frown now long gone from his face.

I ordered my cone, and he watched me eating it, a smile in his eyes and on his lips. He took my hand, and we walked along the promenade, and then under St Kilda Road and along the track that hugged the river. I was once again amazed at how he was so adept at hiding the fact that he had no shadow—years of practice no doubt.

It was quite warm, promising to be a balmy evening. There were people everywhere; runners and cyclists as well as people just walking, like us. There were large electric BBQs with tables near them, each with a group of people gathered around it. I thought it seemed odd for so early on a Friday afternoon, even if the weather was nice, and I commented on it.

‘Melbourne goes a bit nutty this time of year. It’s the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday. This must be one of the only cities in the world with a public holiday for a horse race.’

‘Really? For a horse race? And people start celebrating already?’

‘Yes, well some anyway. A lot of people take Monday off, and make a long weekend of it. Even those that don’t know anything about racing get caught up with Melbourne Cup Fever.’

We continued to walk hand in hand along the shady path, under a canopy of trees full with spring leaves. It seemed that neither of us felt the need to speak. Finally he found us a shady spot on the grassy bank where only a few groups of people sat watching rowers going past on the river.

After we’d been sitting for a few minutes, he moved closer to me, put his arm around my shoulders, and brushed the hair back away from my face. Then he pulled me close and kissed me. I’d missed his kisses so much. My whole body tingled in response.

It was a quick kiss, then he sat back and sighed. I wanted to think that he felt as I did—that he’d missed me as much as I’d missed him. Surely the feelings I had couldn’t be so strong if it wasn’t the same for him.

‘So,’ he said, turning to look straight at me, ‘tell me … why did Crystal want to see you so desperately? You realise she practically begged me to allow her to pick you up at the airport.’

There was no point in lying to him. In fact, I didn’t think there would ever be a reason that I would lie to him, unless it was to protect him.

‘She told me what you want her to do. And why she’s afraid to do it.’

‘Hmmm … I thought as much,’ he said, turning his gaze to the river. When he spoke again, his voice sounded far away. ‘I wish she hadn’t. I wish she’d just done it when I asked. Then I’d have gone over to America to find you.’

‘Sam, look at me,’ I said in as forceful a voice as I could.

He turned, giving me a crooked smile.

‘She can’t do it. It’s far too risky. Didn’t she explain that? Didn’t she tell you what could happen?’

‘Yes, but I think her fears are unfounded. She isn’t talking from experience you know, just from her own insecurities. Besides, Elizabeth thinks she’s wrong,’ he said. The crooked smile was gone, replaced by a look of determination.

I frowned, not entirely sure what to say, but knowing I had to continue. ‘Yeah, well, with respect to Elizabeth. Look, I know she means well, but you see, she wins, either way. You die later, or you die now. Either way, she gets you back. So of course she wants Crystal to try. But I don’t. I don’t want to risk losing you. Not now. Not yet. Not ever.’

‘But we could be together, without all these complications.’

‘Yeah … or you could be dead,’ I said, trying to keep my voice from cracking.

‘Look, I want you, Lili. I want you now, and always. And if I stay the way I am, we’ll have some time together, but then you’ll leave me, and I’ll be alone again. And I don’t know if I can bear that. If Crystal can change me, then we can have a normal, human, life together.’

‘And what if it doesn’t work? What if Crystal is right? Then we won’t even have this time. All will be lost,’ I said, feeling a lump growing in my throat.

His arm tightened around my shoulders, and his voice softened. ‘But she might be wrong.’

‘And she might not be,’ I said, anger giving me strength. ‘She doesn’t want to take the risk, and I don’t want her to. She’ll leave if she has to. She’s afraid that if you keep pushing she might give in. Please Sam, stop asking her—for me. We’ll be fine the way we are, for years and years. Maybe we’ll think of something. Who knows, maybe I’ll change, to be like you.’

‘No. That isn’t the answer. That can never be the answer.’

He bowed his head, looking defeated, so I leaned closer and put my arms around him and held him as tight as I could.

‘Maybe later, you know, when I’m getting older. At least then, if it doesn’t work, we will have had years together. And if it does work, we’ll have the rest of our lives together. How’s that sound?’

‘That sounds like someone who is trying to compromise, and I love you for that. Let’s leave this discussion for another day. I promise not to do anything about it for the moment.’

If there was a way I could attach myself to him, become one with him, right now, I would do it. My whole body ached with the need to be close to him.

‘Take me home with you,’ I said without even thinking.

He leaned back just enough to look into my eyes. He seemed to be searching for answers to questions he hadn’t asked. Then he stood, and taking my hands in his he gently pulled me to my feet.

Standing there, looking up into his eyes, I felt as though I was no longer connected to the earth, no longer ruled by the laws of gravity. I felt empowered by this sensation, and I knew, without hesitation, that this was right for me; for us.

We walked hand in hand back to his car—neither of us speaking. Everything felt surreal, yet at the same time, so right.