The Vampires of Soldiers Cove (13 page)

“You’re not going to travel this time?”

“No, I really have no place left to see,” he said, “like the song says, ‘I’ve been everywhere’”.  The two of them were so engrossed in getting reacquainted I had managed to blend into the furniture. “How rude of me,” he said looking in my direction. “You’re Claude Landry’s daughter aren’t you?” he asked.

“I am,” I smiled.

“Yes I remember you. I believe you went to school with some of my kids.”

“That’s right.”

“And so you’re one of us now,” he said referring to my new vampire status.

“Yes just recently,” I said trying to sound as casual as possible about something that had been the most profound thing I had ever experienced.
If Malcolm had any misgivings about a French Acadian being made vampire he didn’t show it.

“I can tell you’re new by your eyes. You still have the ring on the outside.” He was telling me this from across the room. The glasses he wore were obviously just for show.

“Now,” he said in a more businesslike manner toward Holly, “I suspect this is not just a social call, lovely as it is to see you again dear.
What is going on?”

“Malcolm we may have a big problem on our hands.”
Holly was matching his tone. “Samuel is on his way back to the island, and we have reason to believe he is creating an army of revenants.” Holly paused and let the words hang in the air for a few moments as Malcolm went deep into thought.

“That is quite serious.”
His casual expression turned somber. “What leads you to believe this?”

Holly went on to explain about my gifts, the dreams I’d been having and the string of murders in the northeastern United States.
All the while he listened intently nodding in agreement.

“I’ve heard about those murders,” he said, “now that you mention it
revenants make perfect sense.”

“Is there anything you can do to help?” I asked clumsily.

“You
are
new.” He chuckled. “Although I can see why you’d ask. Even though Samuel is Angus’ brother he is going to possibly bring this hell down on the whole island. Things need to be made clan business to protect ourselves from discovery but if Samuel sets those things loose on the island not only will lots of people die but we all risk being discovered too.”

“All we ask,” Holly said, “Is that you bring it to your council and then contact me directly with whatever they decide.
And of course discretion is of the utmost importance. Angus doesn’t know we’re here.”

Malcolm raised his eyebrows in question. 
“He doesn’t?”

“No, and Rachel here of course has people already looking for an excuse to execute her.”

Malcolm let a deep sigh escape from his lips. “Of course she does, although I’ve never understood why bygones can’t just be bygones.” He looked directly at me, “You’ll discover that vampires can hold a grudge better than anyone you’ve ever known.”

“You’re telling me,” I said.

“I’ll call an emergency meeting for tomorrow night,” he said, “but I can’t make any promises.”

“That’s all we ask,” Holly said standing up.
I followed her lead. Malcolm showed us to the door and once again she gave him a hug. “Good luck with your period of sanctuary.”

“Thank you dear,” he said in a grandfatherly way.
Then he turned his attention back toward me. “Nice to see you new girl. Best of luck to you and your clan.”

“Thank you,” I said.
  He gave us a wink and with that we were back in the car and on our way home.

As the car wound its way through the narrow twisting roads between St.Peters and Soldiers Cove I could tell Holly was in no mood for talking.
She had just broken one of the cardinal rules by going outside her clan to ask for help. No matter how dire the situation was or how much she cared about her brother I could tell she was bothered.

The only time I had seen her eyes light up on our little misadventure was when
she talked about her children.  “So sixty one children huh? That’s a lot of kids,” I said breaking the uncomfortable silence.

She smiled again when thinking about them, “Well, it is and it’s not. When you’re as old as I am it’s really not that many.” The silence permeated the car again as I was busy wondering how old that was. As if to read my mind she said, “Go ahead, I know you’re dying to ask.” So I did.

“And how old are you exactly?” it always felt wrong to ask a woman her age.
That was one of those ‘none of your business’ questions my mother had groomed me not to ask.

“Let’s see, I was made Vampire in 1612 so I’m going to be four hundred and
one come May sixteenth.” That would be one cake I’d like to see.

“Wow, I guess when you put it that way sixty one kids is not a lot.
Are they all vampires?”

“Goodness no,” she said laughing a little
, “only twelve had the temperament and made the decision to do that.”

“What about the rest?
I mean how do you explain the fact that you never get any older or die?”

“You don’t,” she said.
“You only get about thirty to forty years with them. With as young as I look that’s about as much as I can pull off. Then their Dad and I have to fake a human death, once we know they are going to be alright on their own.” I thought I could hear a hint of tears in her voice.

“But I keep track of them,” she said trying to sound cheerful, “each and every one.
I have fifty four boys and seven girls. Can you believe only seven girls? I hope I have a few more this time. I love to buy little pink dresses and braid their hair. Having children is the most rewarding thing you can do with your life. Even though you have to watch them be born, live...and die.”

“That sounds awful
,” I said racking my brain for something uplifting or comforting to say.

“It is, but sometimes you get the opportunity to say goodbye.
Not often but it happens. Last year we went to our son’s bedside in California. He lived a good life but was in his eighties and dying. He couldn’t speak anymore, he’d had a stroke. We said we were his niece and nephew. We sat with him until he died.” Holly wiped a tear, “he was a good kid.”

“I’m
sorry; I didn’t mean to upset you.” I wanted to crawl under a rock now. I had just wanted to converse, not make her grieve all over again for a lost child.

“That’s just the way it is Rachel,” she said reaching over to pat my hand.
“It’s the natural order of things. I made my decision and I knew that would be one of the consequences. My mother has seen a lot of her children die too but we have each other.”

I couldn’t resist asking the next logical question.
“How many brothers and sisters do you have anyway?”

I was thankful that induced a small laugh, “in total Mom and Dad have had ninety nine.
Do you want to have children Rachel?”

“I always thought I did, but if I have to outlive them, I don’t know
. That changes things.”

“I suppose it does,” she agreed
. “No matter how many you have or how long they live it’s never easy to lose even one. It’s a decision you’ll have to make in the coming years.”

“I don’t know, if some of the people around here have their way I won’t last long past this whole thing with Samuel.”

“That will change,” she said suddenly sounding like a kindly old grandmother. It seemed strange coming from the mouth of an eighteen year old.

“I hope you’re right.”

Chapter Sixteen

After returning the car back to her parents we made our way quickly back to the sanctuary. Holly excused herself and I headed down the hallway alone. I had forgotten my Prada glasses and the sun was beginning to make its way into the sky. Even though it was just barely dawn, already my eyes were burning so I was happy to be back into the darkness of my room.

I opened the door slowly and checked every corner of the
area making sure I was alone. Satisfied that I was I sat on the bed and thought about Holly. She had taken a big risk for me and I hoped she wouldn’t get into any kind of trouble for it. I also wondered if I should go find Gavin or wait for him to come to me. I didn’t have to ponder that particular question for too long because at that moment there was a small knock at my door.

“It’s me.” I stood up and straightened my hair and clothes before letting him in.

“Hi,” I greeted him holding the door open. He looked a mess, like someone who had spent the night in the woods complete with crow feathers hanging off his jacket. I picked one off and held it up silently asking where it came from.  He simply gave me a shrug.

“Listen,” he began “I’m sorry that I…” I didn’t want him to apologize.
I decided to put an end to that right here and now. As the story of him sitting under my bedroom window night after night while I was sick and suffering flooded back I put up my hand signaling for him to stop.

I reached for his face pulling his lips to mine and gave him a long, lingering kiss.
We pulled apart for a moment as he looked me in the eyes with a sigh of relief and a smile.

He brought his face to mine once again and kissed me back as he ran his long
slender fingers through my hair.

The kiss ended but he didn’t let go
.  Instead he pulled me tightly to him, holding me like he never wanted the moment to end. “I was so worried,” he said. “I thought I’d made a huge mistake and you’d never speak to me again. I’m so sorry.”

“Stop that,” I said.
“I’m the one who should be apologizing to you. From now on I’ll follow your lead. You’re my guardian after all and I want to learn everything I can. Time is running out, and my time may be shorter than anyone’s.”

He held me tighter still, “I’ll never let that happen.”
I knew he meant it but after my experience with James I didn’t want to be away from his side period.

“Stay in this room with me?” I asked not sure how he would respond.
“Don’t leave me alone. I don’t want to be alone in here.” He pivoted my eyes toward his as if trying to read my mind.

“What is it?”
I wasn’t about to tell him what had really happened, not yet. “You don’t look so good.”

“I just
… I’m missing home I guess. And with you I feel safe. ” He seemed satisfied to hear that and put my head to his chest once again, kissing me on the top of the head.

“Everything will be just fine, you’ll see.”
I snuggled into him. “Hey, I have an idea. Why don’t we take a walk down to your house and feed your cat. She must be out of food by now.”

“My god I totally forgot.
I don’t think I left her any.”

“Oh I was there a couple of nights ago to feed her.
Let’s go see her, and then we can continue our work when we get back. It shouldn’t take long.” I was never so happy to agree with an idea in my life.

We let ourselves into the house and Gizzy was indeed happy to see me.
I sat on the couch and let her rub her face against mine as much as she wanted to. After the last few days I was happy to be in the comfort of familiar surroundings. I filled her bowl and then went into my bedroom to make a call to my aunt. I wanted to both make sure she was ok and also to let her know that I wouldn’t need a ride into town for the next week at least. I didn’t want her to stop by and discover by accident that I just wasn’t there.

I was feeling a lot better when I went back into the living room.
Gizzy was tightly curled up on Gavin’s lap purring up a storm as he scratched under her chin. I curled up next to them on the couch and we three sat there in silence for about half an hour before it was time to get going.

Gavin could see on my face that I hated to leave.
“Don’t worry,” he said, “Soon you’ll be back here and out of the sanctuary all together.”

“Can’t wait.”
I think those were the truest words I had ever spoken. I really couldn’t wait for all of this to be over one way or another. Whether that meant having the imminent threat from Samuel being eliminated, or being killed by James I didn’t care. I just wanted it all to stop.

We locked up the house and made our way back.
I had no desire to go out into the courtyard after our little meeting with the revenant so we went into another part of the building.   A large room filled with different medieval looking weapons, most of which I did not recognize.

“It’s time you learned about swords
.” Gavin went over to a large chest and grabbed four swords, two for each of us. The weapons were quite beautiful and deathly sharp. Celtic knots were carved into both the blades and handles.