The Purity of Blood: Volume I (66 page)

“I’ve been back
here before,” she finally said.
 
“I was
looking for your grave.”
 
She stopped,
realizing what she’d said.
 
With a
peculiar smile, she shook her head and continued along.
 
“I didn’t get quite this far back though.”

“We used to call
this place Chimney Orchard.”
 
I said,
lost in the memories of times spent here as a human.
 
It had been over a century since I’d last
retraced these steps and I wasn’t the man I’d been back then anymore.
 
I wasn’t even the same vampire.
 
With the passage of time things continuously
change forcing us to evolve whether we want to or not.
 
My many years on this Earth had taught me
that time stands still for no one, human and vampire alike.
 
Being a vampire, I was keenly aware of this
fact, certainly more so than Sara.
 
These
woods around us were evidence of this inescapable fact of life.
 
Nature was not immune; it has its own
progress separate from that of the human race that tramples upon it.
 
Trees grow and die like humans.
 
Some fall from age while others are cut down
in their prime.
 
Either way, they change
like this forest and can become almost unrecognizable over the course of
time.
 
I might be lost myself if it weren’t
for the rambling stream that guided my way just as it had over two hundred
years ago.
 
The stream … me … we were the
same in so many ways.
 
We were guides set
apart from time.

“Chimney
Orchard, I’ve heard that name before.
 
It’s a peculiar name.
 
Where did
it come from?”

“I’m not
sure.
 
It was old even when I first heard
it.
 
I think it may have been a name the
Narragansett’s had for this rocky hill.
 
But don’t hold me to that.”

I stopped to
help her follow me up and over the remains of a rock wall.
 
On the other side were the stream and a grove
of dead spruce trees.
 
Their bare bones
combined with a lack of undergrowth gave the eerie appearance of some haunted
forest out of a children’s storybook.
 
It
was ethereal in the half-light that filtered down through the surrounding
trees.

She followed me
as I walked away from the stream, past a large boulder and stopped just short
of another rock wall.

“Is this it?”
she asked, looking around seemingly at nothing.
 
Finally she spotted the rows of field stones poking up through the
blanket of leaves and moss.

“Who else is
buried here?”

I pointed to a
pair of them.
 

“This is where
we buried my parents.”
 
I pointed to the
opposite corner.
 
“My grandfather and
grandmother Wells are there.
 
And I’m
supposed to be there,” I said, turning toward an unmarked spot.
 
“The headstone is gone now, but it was here a
few years back I understand.
 
Not sure
what happened there.”
 

I sighed and
walked over to stand in front of my empty grave.
 
“And over here was Lois’ stone.
 
Looks like that’s gone now too.”
 

“Your wife,”
Sara said softly.

“The love of my
life.
 
Always and forever.”
 

I turned toward
the scattered array of field stones.
  

“My brother
Joseph is over there in the corner.
 
The
rest of them are uncles and aunts mostly.
 
I don’t remember exactly, but all family.
 
Back then the Wells family owned all this
land.
 
Most families had their own
private cemeteries.
 
At least all the
families we were close with.
 
The
Maxsons
, the
Burdicks
, the Halls,
the
Babcocks
and the Potters, to name a few.
 
That monument by town hall mentions most of
the families we were friendly with.
 
It
was a small town back then.
 
I mean
Hopkinton is still small, but not like it was when I was alive.”

“I think I
understand what you mean,” she said quietly as she pulled a small notepad out
of her pocket.
 
Scrunching up her face in
concentration in that cute little way of hers, I watched as she made notations
of our location and the positions of certain stones I’d pointed out before
putting the pad back in her pocket.
 
Always the researching genealogist, my little one.
 
I smiled despite myself.
 
Never in a million years did I ever think I’d
be standing here with her.
 
As she looked
up from my empty grave to meet my gaze, her hair caught what little light the
sun gave through an opening in the gray clouds.
 
That amazing shade of red flickered in the light like fire.
 
Poor Daniel, did he ever stand a chance
against her charms?

The wind
shifted, allowing me to feel the scent of rain in the air.
 
That and the change in the barometric
pressure told me it was time to start back if we didn’t want to get wet.

As we walked in
silence I tried to block her thoughts out, but it was proving especially difficult.
 
I’d found I was usually able to block out her
random thoughts effectively enough, but when her mind was concentrated on
turning over something that stirred up strong emotions in her, it was much
harder.
 
Finally I spoke to quiet her
thoughts in my head.

“None of this
land has stayed in the family continuously.
 
It’s sad really.
 
Back when I was
your age, the land was your life.
 
You
relied on it for the food you ate and the shelter over your head.
 
We believed the land was what bound our family
together.
 
You look out over it in the
valley below and feel that the bind will extend into the future uninterrupted
until the end.
 
I guess if I had lived a
normal life span, I would have thought it had.
 
I wouldn’t have lived to see it sold off little by little over the
years, and then eventually in the hands of strangers who didn’t even know the
name Wells.
 
Only one piece of the
original land we owned in my day is in family hands now.”

“Really?
 
Where?”

I pointed up
towards the house as we approached the road.
 
She stopped and put her hands on her hips.
 
So like her mother sometimes, I thought.

“You’re kidding
me!
 
You’re the mysterious out of state
buyer?”

We crossed the
road and hopped the fence.
 

“Yes, when I
heard it was up for sale I snatched it up as quickly as I could.
 
I never had any intention of coming here
myself mind you, but another buyer had looked at the property, a developer, and
I’ll be damned before I let them build condos anywhere on Wells land.”
 

As I took a step
forward I froze in my tracks.
 
Something
was wrong, and I immediately threw my arm in front of Sara to stop her from
advancing.

“What is it?”
she asked in a whisper.

“He’s here.
 
Up there,” I said, indicating towards the
house.
 
“Stay here!” I barked as I ran up
the driveway leaving her a safe distance behind.

SARA

“Stay
here?” I echoed in astonishment, but he’d already run off in a
blur up the hill towards the house.
 
I
knew I should listen to him, but I didn’t.
 

As if!!

I slowly started
up the driveway, listening to every sound, watching and expecting the hunter to
jump out at me from behind a tree like some Halloween prankster.
 

I began to walk
faster and eventually broke into a run.
 
It took me a few minutes to wind my way up the treacherous hill.
 
When I did, I skidded to a stop just short of
the last turn.
 
What would I see when I
stepped around the big oak tree at the end of that last switchback up the hill?
 
Out of breath, I bent over and breathed
heavily trying to recover myself before summoning the courage to find out.
 

Why was I out of breath already?
 

It took me a
moment to realize its cause was more anxiety than physical exertion.
 
I was desperate to know what was happening,
but just as desperately afraid to find out.
 
Listening for sounds of something, anything, I slowly crept up to the
big oak at the edge of the driveway.
 
I
circled around, hugging it until the front lawn came into view, and then
finally revealing the house.
 
Strangely it
seemed as tranquil as the first time I’d come here.
 

Then I heard a
muted noise and voices, like part of a scuffle and froze.
 
It was coming from around the backside of the
house which I couldn’t see from my current vantage point behind the tree.
 
I wanted to run up, to peer around the corner
of the house and see what was going on, but my feet were frozen in place.
 
I heard more noises then saw a black shape
come flying out from behind the house only to land in the middle of the driveway
between the house and a small barn.
 
It
fell in an unrecognizable heap but quickly sprung upright.
 
The tall figure’s hood fell back revealing a
mane of long white hair that flowed down his back.
 
I inhaled sharply at the sight of him,
causing his head to instantly snap in my direction.
 

A moment later
another blur hit him headlong in the stomach and knocked him at least twenty
feet backward into the side of the barn, breaking through the old wooden boards
that made up its wall.
 
A cloud of dust
came rushing out of the newly created hole.
 
Then as I heard noise after horrible noise issuing from deep inside the
rickety structure, more clouds and bits of debris came pouring out.
 
Another blur ran into the hole just before I
heard another loud crash and the sounds of breaking wood.
 

Then it was quiet.
 
The barn suddenly ceased to creak and groan
under the stress of whatever had happened inside and an eerie silence prevailed
for what seemed like the longest moment of my life.
 

I took a step
back behind the shelter of the giant tree.
 
Leaning against it with my back, I found my eyes closing as tightly as
they could.
 
I needed to know what had
happened, but was desperately afraid Daniel was dead.
 
I assumed there must be a way for one vampire
to kill another, Daniel had said so, but he failed to mention what it was.
 
Heat seemed to be pouring over my body as my
heart frantically raced inside my chest.
 
Even with my eyes closed tightly, I could feel the sobs behind my eyes
and inside my throat that were only seconds from exploding out of my
chest.
 

Could I
move?
 

Did I have the
courage to go see what horrible thing might have happened?

Before I could
decide I felt a rush of wind brush my face.
 
I stood frozen for a long second, too afraid to open my eyes for fear of
what I’d see.
 
Then, unable to stand it
any longer, I opened them only to see Daniel standing in front of me covered in
dust, but alive, blessedly alive!
 

Before I could
stop myself, I jumped at him, throwing my arms tightly around his neck as I
started to cry uncontrollably.
 
I felt
his strong arms envelop me, holding me close as he buried his head in my
hair.
 
I think he was clinging to me as
desperately as I clung to him.
 

A moment later I
looked up to meet his deep blue eyes, and without a thought in my head, I
kissed him.
 
I kissed him with all the
passion I’d been holding back since the day we’d first met.
 
Something I’d buried so deep down inside me
that even I didn’t know existed whelmed up from within me, over powering my
will and the last shreds of my pride.

In that
beautiful, wonderful, surreal moment, I didn’t care if he lost control and
drained me dry as the sands of the desert, as long as he was alive and in my
arms again.
 

I pulled back to
catch my breath, but only a second later he slammed me back against the tree
and kissed me without any sense of restraint.
 
To me, it felt like our first kiss, our first real kiss where we both
held nothing back, leaving nothing left on the table for next time.
 
Tomorrow wasn’t guaranteed us, but we had
this moment and we embraced it together.
 
In his strong arms, I felt his fire consume me and I wanted to burn, I
wanted to feel the full extent of his heat on my body.
 
I’d never wanted anything as much in my whole
life.

Our frantic kiss
kept growing in intensity.
 
I think in each
other’s arms we were working out the complex emotions of the last few days on
each other.
 
Or maybe it was that we were
losing them in our love for each other.
 

I felt his hands
as they lifted my shirt just enough to slide underneath and brush the skin at
the small of my back before they slowly began to travel upward.
 
A moan escaped his lips and it was fuel for
my fire.
  
His lips slowly travelled down
to find that spot on my neck that drove me wild.
 
Then as my fingers wound themselves in the silken
strands of his hair, I allowed myself to get lost in the sensation of his lips
on my skin.
 
It tingled, it burned and I
hoped to God it would never end.
 
Then
needing to feel his lips on mine again, I pulled them back up to mine.
 
Oh, those lips and that velvet tongue.

“Ah Hum.”
 
Randall cleared his throat.
 
He was standing a few feet from us.

Daniel leaned
back only an inch from my face.
 
He was
staring deep into my eyes as if utterly incapable of being more than an inch
from me without physical pain.

“I see the two
of you have made up.
 
How about we get
her back up to the house now.”
 
Then he
started off towards the front lawn leaving us behind.
 

Daniel hadn’t
moved.
 
His eyes still fixed on mine, I
could feel the strength in his hand as it gripped the top of my hip, the other
one leaning against the tree above my head.
  
I was still trying to recover my breath when he gently pushed me with
the hand on my hip out from under him up towards the house.
 
Grasping my hand as I took my first step, he
followed right behind me, never more than a few feet from my side.
 

“I thought I
told you to stay put, young lady.” Randall said over his shoulder in an annoyed
tone as he started to walk into the house.

“Are you
alright?” I asked Daniel as we made our way up the lawn.
 

“Don’t worry
about me, I’m fine.”
 
Then he gently squeezed
my hand as if to speak his reassurance with more than words.

A misty rain
began to descend on the Hopkinton hilltop, but I didn’t care.
 
The sun had come out for me again, at least
on my inside.
 
Before we got to the door,
he stopped, gently cupping the side of my face with his hand.
 
I leaned into it.
 
Oh, his touch.
 
How I’d missed it.

“Remember that
day in the orchard?
 
When I told you to
remember I’d always love you?”

I looked up into
his eyes and nodded.

“I’m sorry,” I
whispered.

“So am I.”

He raised my
hand in his and kissed it tenderly.
 

“That’s not
important now,” he smiled.
 
“Just don’t
do it again.”

As we walked in
the front door I spied Randall on his phone in the kitchen.
 
Daniel, who’d followed in behind me, went
over to the old wingback chair and fell down into it as if drained from his
encounter with the blood hunter – or perhaps me.
 
He leaned down and rolled up his pant leg and
rubbed his calf as if he’d injured it.

“What happened?”
I asked.
 
I’d never seen the bare skin of
his leg before and found myself staring at it.
 
Looking up at me he pulled his pant leg down and shook his head with a
smile as if to say he was fine and not to worry.
 
But it was too late for that.

“He showed up
about twenty minutes after you left.
 
We
were pretty evenly matched, or so I thought at first.
 
But when I looked into his eyes I could tell
he’d recently fed on some pure blood and was totally high on it.
 
Much stronger than you’d expect and quick.
 
He almost had the drop on me when Randall
finally showed up.
 
Then between the two
of us we managed to chase him off, but he’ll be back before long.
 
He’ll try again before we can run or build up
a better defense.”

I was confused.

“I thought he
was fasting or just on animal blood or something like that.
 
But you think he – he killed someone like
me?”

Daniel seemed
uncomfortable with my train of thought but reluctantly said “I think he knows it’s
not going to be as easy as he thought … killing you, and he … well, he can’t just
walk away now.
 
He probably killed a pure
to increase his strength.
 
That’s what
pures do.
 
It’s like their blood
temporarily increases everything it is to be a vampire.
 
Increased strength, speed, agility, you name
it.”

“But wouldn’t
that, I don’t know, lessen how good I’d be?”

He laughed.
 
“Hardly!”

All I could do
was roll my eyes at him.

“Thomas and Lily
should be here any time now,” Randall said coming in from the kitchen.
 
“They were getting off the ferry a few
minutes ago.”

“Wasn’t Lucy
with them?” Daniel asked.

“Apparently
not.”
 
Randall frowned, sounding annoyed.

Daniel turned
back toward me.
 
“So our friend has a
name now.
 
Demetrius.”

“Russian?” I
asked.
 
I’d never considered foreign
vampires before.
 
I was having a hard
enough time wrapping my mind around the domestic variety.

“Hard to
tell.
 
Eastern European most likely.
 
His voice was so raspy it was hard to detect
the subtleties of his accent.”
 

“Don’t take this
the wrong way, but if he’s that old, why can’t you just, you know … take him
out.”

“It doesn’t
exactly work that way,” Randall snickered.
 
“He looks old because he’s pushing his body to the limits, but he had
just fed on powerful blood.
 
I’m guessing
since we last saw him he fed on another pure he’d been stalking to bulk up for
the fight for you.
 
He’s probably as
strong now as he’s ever been as a vampire.”

“Plus we’re
always at a slight disadvantage,” Daniel added.

“How’s that?”

“Because we live
off of animal blood, not human.
 
It keeps
us alive, but we’d be stronger if we fed on humans as we were meant to.”

“That’s why you
want the numbers advantage over him?”

“Exactly,”
Daniel said with a reassuring smile as he reached his hand out for me.
 
I gladly walked over and took it as I came to
stand next to him in the chair.
 
He
kissed my hand and held it close to him as he smiled lovingly up at me.

Across the room,
Randall made a derisive noise as he rolled his eyes and turned away.

“What’s wrong
with him?” I asked Daniel as he guided me to come sit on his lap.

Randall turned
back toward us just as Daniel leaned over and kissed the side of my head while
I nestled up against his chest.
 
At the
sight of this Randall averted his eyes again.

“That’s my
daughter, Daniel!”

“Great, great,
great, great, granddaughter, Randall.
 
It’s a little different.”

“Only if you see
it that way, which I don’t,” he answered sarcastically, still purposefully
facing away from us.