The Vampires of Soldiers Cove (22 page)

I pulled the blanket back up over my head and pushed it out of my mind.
I was going to hide in here until I absolutely had to face the day. I began to feel pangs of desperation due to the sudden lack of control over my life. Sure I had never had full control over my mind, but I was autonomous. Not anymore. I began to think about the ways to kill a vampire. Decapitation? No, can’t do that to myself .

Fire?
Yes I could probably set myself on fire, if my talent would allow me to do it. If not there were other ways to burn, but it seemed like too slow a death. Piercing the heart with something sharp? Yes that seemed reasonable. It seemed like the best way.

In my sadness and frustration I reached for the
stake I had placed under the pillow the night before. Still there. I pointed it to my heart, held my breath and pressed it to my skin as the blood came, pooling around the edge of the wood. I pressed a little harder and the wood sunk a little deeper. Just a little more and I’d be relieved of this life for good. I had died when being made vampire, but I made up my mind I would die a second and final death now.

Just as I was about to give the
stake its final push the door burst open splintering the large dresser into pieces that flew all over the room. Suddenly Gavin was on top of me pulling the stake out. He flung it across the room so hard it wedged itself firmly into the wall. Desperately he licked the deep wound in an effort to get it to heal. I tried to push him off me but he grabbed my hands and held me down forcing the wound to close over.

“You stupid girl,” he said when he was finished.
“You were about half an inch away from dust. It’s lucky I was so close. What were you thinking?” he demanded. I had no answer.

“Go away,” was all I could think of to say.
He seemed to calm a little once the immediate threat was over. He pulled me close and held me against him as tight as he could. “Get off me!” I screamed.

“I created you,” he said not letting me go.
“I’ll know when you are close to death or if you die. My blood is your blood. If you can’t or won’t be my lover, or my wife, you must at the very least stay alive. I can’t live in a world that doesn’t have you in it. It would be death for me too.  Most makers don’t survive the breaking of a blood bond.”

“Everything is happening too fast Gavin.”

“Of course it is. Damn Angus, if he had let me change you when I first went to him we could have avoided this.” He took my face in his hands and forced me to look at him. For the first time I could see that tears were streaming down his cheeks. “You must promise me, Rachel, that no matter what happens you can’t die.” I was still unsure of what I was feeling. I didn’t want to make that promise.

“Promise me!” he demanded.

“I can’t,” I said.

His lips gently brushed my forehead
, and then all at once he became very still. His arms immobilized as solid as a statue, his eyes frozen in horror as if he was seeing some sort of specter.

“What is it?”
I said.  He remained silent and frozen in terror. I tried to shake him but there was no response. “Gavin,” I whispered.   I touched his forehead snapping him back into reality.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he screamed as he grabbed my shoulders and rattled me hard. He jumped up
retrieving his sword from against the wall where he had placed it and bounded for the door. I managed to get in front of him just in time to block his exit.

“Tell me what you saw
,” I said.

“I saw James
. I saw what he did to you.” He was overflowing with emotion. Furiously pulsating with hatred and anger. “He’ll never get the chance to do it again.” He attempted to push me aside; I grabbed his face and made him look into my eyes.

“No.
  He’s mine. Mine to kill,” I screamed at him. “I’m going to be the one to kill James, and not you or anyone is going to take that from me.”

“You can’t kill James, he’s older and stronger than you.
Get out of my way.”

“I was old enough for you to satisfy yourself with.”
The words cut him.. His anger retreated leaving remorse in its wake.

“Is that why your feelings have changed for me?”
I stayed silent. He waited for a moment and then threw his sword across the room. “I won’t touch him, do what you want.” He walked slowly to the door and I moved out of his way. I regretted what I had said immediately, but I needed to stop him. James was going to die but not in a fit of his brother’s rage. It would be over too quickly, he didn’t deserve such an easy death.

As soon as Gavin was gone from the room I
realized the mistake I’d made.  Suddenly the only thing I wanted was to tell him I was sorry. Anger had been my companion ever since the council meeting and I couldn’t explain why.  The clouded uncontrollable thoughts and irrational emotions I’d had all the years I was sick seemed to be resurfacing.

I made my way to the dining hall hoping to find him.
There were a few vampires dining alone, but no Gavin. I went back and knocked on the door of his old room, trying a few times, but got no response. Finally I decided to check the courtyard. On my way out the door I ran into Holly.

“You’re not yourself,”
she said.

“I’ve been feeling horrible since yesterday
.  How did you know?”

“I can see it in your skin, you’ve been blood influenced.
Some of us can see it physically.” Holly rubbed her hands together vigorously, watching them as she did as if she was looking for some sign. She must have seen something I didn’t because a moment later her eyes lit up and she took both her hands and placed them on my temples. She pressed into my head with all the force she could gather.  Her strength was so immense that for a moment I thought my skull might crack under the pressure.

“Jesus!
” I said in protest.

“Shh,
shut up,” she said pressing harder. Suddenly I felt something lift in me, as if a weight I hadn’t known existed was thrown off. I inhaled heavily, drawing as much air as I could. It felt as if this was the first time I had taken in oxygen in days, my thinking was now totally clear.

“I have to find Gavin
.” I was panicking now.

“Why?”

“I said things to him, things I don’t know he can ever forgive me for.”

“Let me come with you.
I can explain it to him. Don’t worry,” she said taking me by the shoulders, “there isn’t anything for which he will not forgive you.” Her reassurance didn’t make me feel any better. I would have to hear it from Gavin himself.

We ventured out into the courtyard and saw that it was empty.
“He wasn’t in the dining hall or his room either,” I said. Holly simply smiled. She was looking up at the tallest tree across the lawn. There was nothing there but a crow. Casually she strode across the field until she was directly under the tree.

“Come down little black bird,” she said.
To my amazement the crow came down and landed in front of us. A strange electrical humming noise filled the air and a moment later the crow was no longer a crow, it was Gavin. This was one secret he hadn’t shared with me. “I really hope you weren’t thinking of flying off somewhere on our big night.” She smiled at him. He forced a sad, tired smile back and shook his head no.

“Oh and hide your shame for Christ sake,” she said pointing to a pile of clothes behind the tree.

“I just had to absolve our new friend here from a blood influence. Apparently she is still human enough for that trick to work on her.”

“Shit!
I should have seen it. I’m so stupid. But who?” Gavin was staring at me now as he quickly dressed.

“Was there any
vampire other than Gavin and myself that you spent time with alone, even if it was very brief, in the last day or so?”

“Not really, well I talked to Mariah for a few minutes after the council meeting but Gavin came along a few seconds later.”

“Mariah?” Gavin was seething.

“That’s all she would have needed,” Holly concluded.
“Don’t spend any time around her by yourself. I have to go find my husband,” she said politely giving us an opportunity to make up.

“I’m sorry,” I said trying to hold back tears
. It wasn’t working.

“No, you listen.
I’m the one who should be sorry. You were acting very strange and it didn’t even occur to me that you might have been manipulated. I didn’t figure anyone here would try to hurt you that way, but I guess I should have known. First James and now this, I’m not proving to be a very good guardian.”

“Stop it,” I said.
  He came toward me slowly; wanting to touch me but not sure if it would be ok. I opened my arms to him and he held me. “I don’t know how you can forgive me for the things I said.”

“I would forgive you anything.”
Holly was right.

“Why would Mariah do that?”

“Well, there’s one possible answer I can think of.  I want to talk to Angus.”

“
What about the training? We should wait until afterward.”

“You’re right.
As soon as everyone goes home we will find him and let him know. I’m sure he’ll want to take some action.” Gavin bit his lip, “I don’t suppose you’d want to tell him about James?”

“No.”

“What do you plan to do? Do you still want to kill him yourself?”

“Yes, when the time comes.”

“Well he’s wronged you and it’s your vengeance to seek. It would be easier if you’d let me help you though.”

“It doesn’t go against all of these crazy
vampire rules to kill him?”

“Not after what he did.
He took your blood, amongst other things, against your will. You are perfectly within your rights to torture him if you wish.”

“Good, then torture is what
he’ll get. Your death for him today would have been too quick I think.”

“You’re probably right.
I’d stake him right now if I could.”

Soon enough night came and we gathered with everyone else who was going to fight on the grounds.
There were only forty of us. Lots of vampires were living out in the world, and of course, they couldn’t be involved. If we were unlucky enough to have a lot of casualties that would be a lot of deaths for the community.

One who insisted on fighting
however was Gavin’s father. He had known Samuel before he was exiled and always felt a personal betrayal over the way things had transpired.

Samuel had promised John he’d give up the idea of on open
hunting ground, but had lied to him. John had even gone to Angus and tried to make peace between them.

Angus listened to John and as a result was almost staked by Samuel.
John was bent on the idea of revenge and I couldn’t say I blamed him. Up until recently I had never known how strong the desire for revenge can be, in fact, I frequently looked down on people who sought it out. Now, however, I knew the need all too well and would soon be seeking revenge against John’s own son.

The
vampires from the other communities did not have pendants to enter our sanctuary so one by one our little group took turns escorting them in. The first to arrive was the group from St.Peters. There were more of them than I had expected; about twenty in all.

Some of them were known to me, but most were not.
Three, I had gone to school with and upon greeting them, they advised me they were actually much older than the teenagers they had portrayed themselves as years before. Malcolm also came over to greet us. Gavin introduced him to me.  Thankfully he acted like we’d never met.

The next group in was from Johnstown.
Johnstown was a smaller community, similar to Soldiers Cove and so I was not surprised to see that only ten showed up from there, none of whom I knew. We exchanged greetings with them as well. Apparently they were all very old vampires, of course young physically, but they had been in their sanctuary for a long time and were a tad reclusive.

The next group that came in was even smaller.
There were only four of them, but I was absolutely shocked when I saw the face of one.

Sandra was a beautiful young native girl who had been killed in a car accident.
The whole community of Chapel Island, along with everyone at our high school, had mourned her loss.

Sandra and I were friends, one of the few I had, and I was devastated
at her loss. I had even gone to her funeral and watched her parents cry.

Sandra skipped the formal introductions and began hugging me.
“I’m so happy to see you.” Her excitement was overflowing. “I’ve missed our movie nights.” I wanted to cry. Sandra was the only person who had truly accepted me with all my eccentricities, I guess now I had my answer as to why.

“I can’t believe you’re standing here,” I said taking a long look at her.

“I know. It’s a trip isn’t it?”

“It sure is.”
We hugged once more and then she introduced me to her group. I didn’t know any of the others. There was one boy she called Jason who looked young and strong, like he could snap you in half just by bumping into you too hard. The other two were an older couple, Angela and George. They seemed frail, although as I had discovered a few weeks ago, looks are almost always deceiving, especially in this part of the world.