The Link (5 page)

I could feel the relief pour out of him. He looked deep in my eyes and I saw incredible passion in his. He weaved his fingers into my hair, gently tilted my head back and began kissing me, hard, parting my lips, his tongue finding mine. I threw off the afghan and pressed myself into him. This was a kiss like the ones in my dreams with him.
My body was instantly on fire.
I wanted it to last forever, but he knew it
couldn’t, not tonight. He gently pushed my face back, smiled at me as I gasped, trying to catch my breath and said, “Tonight, my love.”

He helped me pack quickly then. I wouldn’t need much in the way of clothes.
He said he would buy me whatever I needed on the road, but I wanted to bring a few pictures and mementos. I didn’t know how long it would be before I saw my sisters again.
He saw the pain in my face as I packed my pictures and he said, “Are you certain about this? We can stop right now. You can get up in the morning and pretend that this was all a dream, your life would be as it was.”

“
You’re kidding me, right?” I said softly. “No, my whole life has been about making sure everyone around me was happy and sacrificing my own dreams to make that happen.
I can’t remember the last time I was truly happy, when the last time was that I did something for me. Besides,” I smiled with a twinkle in my eye
.
“I’ve been waiting too long for you to show up, I’m not about to let you go now.”

He smiled and hugged me. When he let go, I flicked on my laptop
.
“I need to send out some
emails to a few folks letting them know I’ll be out of town for a while.” As quickly as I could, with a few tears rolling down my cheeks, but always reassuring him
.
“I’m okay, I’ll be fine
. T
his is what I want
.
”

I sent off emails to my sisters (I’ve been given a sudden opportunity to travel the world, I love you and I’ll be in touch as soon as I can) and my boss (I’m really sorry, sudden family emergency, not sure when I’ll be back), then I closed up my laptop and packed it too. “What will happen to my house?” I suddenly asked.

“
Don’t worry,” he smiled
.
“I’ve already arranged for the mortgage and power bill to be paid automatically, and I have friends who will come by and check on it and keep it maintained and looking occupied.”

My eyes twinkled at him, “You seem pretty sure of yourself that I would come
.
”

“
No,
not sure, just hopeful.”

I turned off the lights, took one last look around the place, grabbed his hand, said
,
“Okay, I’m ready,” and closed the door.

He hid the key under the eave and guided me to
the garage. “We’re taking my car?” I asked.

“
Only over to my house,” he said
.
“We’ll leave it in my garage and take mine, which is already packed with everything I need.”

He drove around the corner to the end of the block and smiled as I realized where we were going. “You live in the Metzinger house?” I asked. It was only the most beautiful house in town
, a
one hundred
year old Victorian mansion that was obviously lovingly restored and cared for. I had envied this house ever since I moved into town.

“
Yes,” he said. “I bought it when you bought your home ten years ago. I always had to be close to where you were, and this was available.”

“
I’ve always wanted to see the inside of it,” I said, the longing clear in my voice.

“
Soon, but there’s not time tonight, we really need to get on the road,” he said.

I sighed, maybe someday, I thought.

He pulled up to the garage and left the car running as he unlocked the side door. Once inside, he pressed the button to open the garage door. As soon as the door was halfway up I slumped down in
my seat and put my arms across my chest. I was completely embarrassed. He noticed my changed mood as soon as he got back in the car.

“
What’s wrong?” he asked
.
“Have you changed your mind?”

“
No
,
” I said. “I just can’t believe that you’re going to park my cheap piece of junk next to that,” I said as I pointed to the beautiful brand new Lexus.

“
Actually, I’d like that to be yours when we come back, a little present for you,” he smiled and reached over to close my mouth, which was hanging open in shock.

“
That’s way too much, Matthew. I couldn’t possibly…” I said, but he put his finger on my lips, stopping me.

He shook his head
.
“There really is no such thing as too much when it comes to you, Sarah. Please don’t say no right now. Let’s talk about it when we come back, okay?”

I nodded but couldn’t answer, I was still in shock.

He decided to change the subject. “We’re taking the older car tonight,” he said.

“
Older car,” I snorted, “What is it,
last year’s
model
?”

“
Something like that
,” he smiled.
He unlocked the Mercedes SUV and put my bags in the back with his.

I climbed into the passenger side and said, “Well, apparently there’s one myth about vampires that is true.”

“
Which one?” he asked.

“
You all have money
,
” I said.

“
Oh,” he smiled
.
“Not all of us. But for me it comes from two hundred years of investing well.”

I looked over at him then a cocked my head to one side, studying him and looking puzzled.
“What is it?” he asked.

“
How old are you exactly?” I asked.

“
Two hundred and thirty two
,
” he said.

“
And how old were you when you were turned?” I asked.

“
Thirty two
,” he said, waiting for the reaction he thought might be coming.

“
Great!” I said, the sarcasm clear in my voice.
“Even if you figure out how to do this now, I’ll always be the older woman! What will people think
when they look at us?”

He took my face in his hands and I swear I felt his eyes penetrate into my soul as he said
,
“Don’t Sarah. First of all, six years is not that big of a difference. Second, and most important, I could care less what other people think
.
”
Then he kissed me again.
A kiss that pressed his lips hard against mine as he passionately found my tongue with his. It was a kiss filled with hunger.
A kiss filled with longing. A kiss that definitely yearned for more as his fingers again found their way into my hair.

He pulled away, though, much too soon, I thought, as I tried to get my breathing under control.
My mind was reeling.
I was thinking - if this is how I felt just from him kissing me then I was really, really going be in trouble if (when, I hoped), it went farther. He smiled at my reaction as he turned and started the car. He backed out of the garage, pushed the button to close the door and we were out on the road. It was 11pm on Wednesday, April 8 and for the first time in a very long time I had no idea where I was going…
and I was incredibly happy.

Chapter Three

He drove through the night, letting me sleep, fitfully, in the seat next to him. But he constantly found the need to touch me and kept reaching over to touch my hand, stroke my face,
and caress my arm, anything to keep in contact with me. And that could explain my fitful sleep, since every time he touched me I got goose bumps and shivered, but he couldn’t help himself. He drove south, through to Oregon. We were in southern Oregon when I woke at dawn
with
the sun just peering over the horizon. I looked over at him and smiled, glad that this hadn
’
t all just been a dream. I brought his hand up to my cheek. “
Good m
orning. Are you hungry?” he said.

“
Are you?” I smiled.

He smiled back at me
.
“I’m fine,” he said

“
I could use a quick stop, a bathroom and maybe some food for the road if that’s okay,” I said.

“
Of course it’s okay,” he said as he took the next exit and pulled into the nearest fast food joint. “Is
this alright?” he asked.

“
It’s fine,” I said.

He started to get out to walk me inside, but I put my hand on his arm and smiled, “I think I can handle this part by myself
.
C
an you just wait here a minute?”

He hesitated because he really didn’t want to leave my side, but then he sighed and said
,
“If I have to.
Can you hurry please? I don’t want to miss you too much.” He leaned back in his seat as I just stared at him for a second.
Wow, I thought, is he for real? I smiled as I grabbed my backpack and went inside.

In the bathroom I used the toilet, ran a brush through my hair, brushed my teeth, put on some deodorant and splashed some water on my face. That would have to do for now. I went up to the counter, aware that I could feel his eyes on me the entire time as he watched me through the window and I felt strangely comforted by that - odd because I usually hated being the center of attention. But with him it was different. With him I didn’t feel self-conscious. I only felt safe…
and loved. I ordered a breakfast sandwich, coffee
and
juice and
headed back to the car, where he got out of his side, and had my door open faster than I could blink. I smiled as I climbed in and said, “I suppose that could come in handy sometime.” He laughed and went back to his side.

We were back on the road in no time. “Do I get to know where we’re going?” I asked.

“
Mexico first,” he said
.
“
T
here’s an old priest there that I’ve heard might have some of the answers we’re looking for.”

I decided to ask some of the questions that had come to me during the night
.
“So, you’ve never bitten somebody and they changed?” I asked.

“
No,” he said.
“It doesn’t happen that way, there
’
s a lot more to it than that.”

“
Have you ever tried to stop drinking before they’re dead, when you bit somebody?” I continued.

“
No, and I’m not sure I could,” he said softly. “When we bite it’s only seconds before they are completely drained, it happens so fast that I
’
m not sure I could stop fast enough for anything to be left, even I
’
m not that fast.”

“
So is that what would happen if you bit me?” I
asked .

I was amazed at the pain and tenderness in his eyes when he looked over at me. “Probably,” he whispered. “But I can’t find out because I can
’
t bite you anyways. You see, the smell of blood does excite us, it arouses us, but it’s the scent of evil that releases our fangs, we can’t force them down.”

“
Evil has a scent?” I asked, thoroughly confused now.

“
Yes, it does. An awful, horrible smell that compels us to get rid of it, to smother it. But this reaction doesn’t happen with innocent blood or what we call good blood.”

“
And, how often do you need to…
feed?”

“
It depends. If I’m overly active, usually every few days or so. If I’m not, I can go weeks without needing to feed,” he said
.