The Way of Escape (16 page)

“No, and I hope I never do,” I chuckled.

“Well, half of Florence did several centuries ago. They never let him forget it,” he continued. “What would be the ultimate revenge for you against your father?”

“I don’t want revenge … or at least I don’t
want
to want it,” I answered. “During some of my darkest days, I’ve wished him dead or hoped that his career as a surgeon would be taken away from him, but holding a grudge never did me any good. It just kept me from moving on and finding joy in my life.”

“What kind of surgeon is he?”

“He’s a cardiothoracic surgeon.”

“So a heartless man spends his time operating on the organ he doesn’t have. How ironic.”

I rolled my eyes.

“I’ve thought the same thing,” I said. “Don’t get me wrong. I pray for him
a lot
and ask God to soften his heart, but his life is going just fine by his standards from what I’ve heard. He doesn’t think anything he’s done is wrong and he hasn’t suffered any consequences that matter to him, so he doesn’t think he has any reason to change.”

“Did you?”

“Did I what?”

“When you had your encounter with that evangelist, did you feel like your life was on the right path?”

I pressed my lips together for a moment as I mulled over his question.

“Well, my life wasn’t perfect, but I didn’t think I was on the
wrong
path until that happened.”

“Then perhaps he’ll have a similar encounter one day.”

I smiled and leaned my head to the right slightly.

“Be careful. You’re starting to sound like you have faith.”

“I never said that I didn’t have faith … I just said that I wasn’t a Christian.”

“Then what do you have faith in?”

“Only a fool would deny that there are supernatural forces at work in this world. I have faith that the entity in charge isn’t without mercy and love. After all, we had to have learned it from somewhere.”

“Where do you think we learned evil from?”

“Isaac Newton believed that every force has an equal and opposite, and I’m inclined to believe that applies to the supernatural as well. Whether that good and evil exists in the same being, I haven’t decided.”

“Do you have any enemies?”

“Of course.”

“Are they more powerful than you are?”

“No.”

“Then why haven’t you killed them?”

“Because either they haven’t irritated me enough to incite my wrath or their deaths will serve me better at a later time.”

“Couldn’t the same be true of good and evil? Good lets evil remain because the time for its defeat hasn’t come yet.”

“Possibly,” he said, “and I suppose you believe good to be more powerful?”

“Of course.”

“Why do you think good is bidding its time if it’s more powerful than evil?”

“We all have evil in us. If good — or rather God — completely eradicated evil, where would he draw that line? Would he start with the murderers and rapists or the self-righteous and judgmental,” I asked. “God hasn’t ended the war because he’s still waiting for more people fighting on the other side to defect.”

“You’ve really thought about this, haven’t you?”

“Considering the bad things I’ve lived through and done, I
had to
think about it.”

“I suppose you did.”

As I waited for Augustus to share more of his thoughts, he simply watched the tiny crab that had scurried into view a few yards away. Despite my desire to find out what he thought about my Christian take on good and evil, I kept quiet. I had a nagging feeling that pressing forward wasn’t the best way to go. I’d given him something new to contemplate, and I had to let it sink in a little.

“So where’s this shelter you wanted to show me,” I asked a few peaceful minutes later.

“It’s not far. Follow me,” he answered as he stood up and offered me his hand.

I let Augustus help me up and he picked up his jacket, dusting the sand off before draping it over his arm. As we walked, he gave me some insight into how he chose the location.

“The other vampires will no doubt seek shelter in the shadows of the trees or risk returning to the house. This area would be too exposed and too far from the house to be a tempting refuge for anyone.”

Augustus and I came to a stop at a section of the beach that was littered with rocks and seashells of various sizes. Some rocks could fit in the palm of my hand, but there were quite a few boulders large enough for two or three people to sit on. After the vampire led me to one of the largest stones by the tree line, he leaned down to grab one of the knobbier parts of the rock. Then, he effortlessly tilted the crag over to reveal a trench. The ditch was about six feet deep with rocks embedded in the walls and a bed of palm fronds and other greenery on the floor. Augustus also had carved a crude handle onto the boulder’s underside, which I assumed he would use to pull the boulder into its original position and shield us from the unusually bright solar eclipse.

“How long did this take?”

“A few minutes.”

“I didn’t realize vampires were that fast,” I admitted.

“We just haven’t needed to show off our abilities in your presence. It’s a shame that you won’t get to see the coven in action on Monday night. Watching them flee from the unusually potent eclipse will be quite the testament to our speed.”

“I bet.”

I wrapped my arms around myself and rocked back and forth on the balls of my feet for a moment as I gazed down at the trench, which seemed no larger than a bathroom stall.

“We’ll have to be down there all day?”

“Yes, but you won’t be conscious until the sun sets Monday evening because of your transformation,” he reminded me. “Even then, I will likely awaken before you do.”

“How will we get off the island?”

“I’ll contact The Vampire League with our exact location after your transformation has begun and they will send a helicopter to pick us up. We will land at a private airfield in Haiti and take my jet back to Dallas. The Haitian authorities will corroborate our story that I spotted you adrift in the sea and brought you back to the island without you ever having to to speak with them. The police will say that they interviewed you at the hospital and, after determining that you truly had no memory of your abduction like the others, they released you into my care to bring you home.”

“And you’ll somehow make sure they believe all of this?”

“One of my colleagues will influence enough key players in the area to corroborate our story. Considering the slaves’ return, their hands will already be full and they won’t be terribly concerned about a single outlier,” he explained. “You will have to do the same if anyone else approaches you about what happened.”

Even though I couldn’t picture myself messing with someone’s mind, I nodded in acknowledgment. Telling the truth about where I’d been and what I’d become was out of the question. I’d wind up stuck in a padded cell with a very unsatisfying diet, running from a crowd armed with assault rifles and stakes, or strapped to a table in Area 51 with unscrupulous scientists poking and prodding me for the next hundred years. I didn’t want to explore any of those options, and knowing about what happened wouldn’t do anyone any good.

“What about the American authorities? Won’t they have to look into it since U.S. citizens were involved?”

“I’ll make sure the local and federal authorities don’t investigate yours and the others’ reappearances. However, you will have to give a statement about your lack of recollection as a formality.”

“Are you sure this is going to work?”

“I’ve covered up scandals larger than this without being discovered. You have nothing to worry about.”

I ignored the disquiet I felt and reminded myself that Augustus clearly knew what he was doing. Even if my well-being wasn’t at stake, he still had to shield himself and The Vampire League from human scrutiny.

“Okay,” I breathed after a moment.

“Will your fellow missionaries still be in Haiti by the time we leave or will they already be back in Dallas?”

“They’ll be home tomorrow unless someone decides to stay longer because of Connor and me.”

“Good. I’ll have my ally find out if someone is planning to stay and convince him or her to leave with the others,” he explained. “I’ll also ensure that you have a change of clothes. If you show up in Dallas wearing a designer dress and diamonds, something will definitely seem amiss.”

“Right. Speaking of clothes, we should start heading back so I can find a dress for the eclipse party.”

“Alright,” he agreed, lowering the boulder back into its original position with ease before we began the trek back to the house.

♦              ♦              ♦

When Augustus and I neared the mansion about twenty minutes later, he laced his fingers through mine and I didn’t question him doing so. Our faux relationship needed to keep blossoming up until the moment we left the party on Monday to end my life as a human. Then, we could take our final bow and get out of character … or I could at least stop stirring up unwanted attraction with forced interactions and intimacy.

The show must go on,
I thought with a sigh as we walked into the house, which had come alive since our departure.

Vampires and their slaves filled every room we passed through … laughing, drinking, talking, and biting without restraint. Emmanuel wasn’t hard to find. The raven-haired vampire sat with Grayson in the same room where we’d watched everyone’s favorite tenor perform to a blood-sucking audience two days before. Anna, Emmanuel’s personal slave, sat at the piano playing a beautiful, delicate song while an unfamiliar female slave played the cello. As I watched the two women play their instruments, I wondered if Emmanuel had intentionally kidnapped them because of their musical talents or if he’d been pleasantly surprised by their gifts.

“Come join us,” the coven leader beckoned. “We were just talking about you, Clara.”

“Oh,” I commented, reluctantly sitting down on the love seat with Augustus.

“Thanks to your
benevolent
request, I’ve been deprived of a slave,” Leah’s former owner said. “Considering the fact that I could have refused to let the girl go or even challenged one of you to a duel, I think I’m owed something in return for my cooperation.”

“If you—”

“What did you have in mind,” Emmanuel interrupted.

“Well, I have no slave of my own to feed from. Though I’ll do so out of necessity, I’m not a fan of drinking after other vampires,” Grayson said. “I propose that you let me drink from Clara tonight.”

“No way. I’m not letting you bite me.”

“I think one drink for a lifetime of freedom is a fair trade,” Emmanuel said. “Your other alternative would be to let him change you on Monday. Though a vampire isn’t necessarily a slave to his or her maker, the bond formed is extremely valuable.”

“What if I compensated you for your trouble,” Augustus offered. “How much did you pay for Leah?”

“Money won’t satiate my thirst tonight.”

“I’m also feeling a bit bloodthirsty,” Augustus mused, draping his arm around my shoulders. “I haven’t fought a duel in a few months, and I could use a little entertainment.”

“Don’t be so cocky, my lord. I’ve bathed in the blood of vampires three times my age.”

“By the time I’m finished with you, you won’t be bathing in blood … You’ll be
drowning
in it.”

“No one is going to bathe or drown in anyone’s blood,” I interjected.

“This could be solved in only a few short minutes,” Augustus argued quietly.

“And in those few minutes, he could hurt you. I don’t want to risk something happening to you because you were defending me.”

“So what will it be, Clara,” Grayson sneered from his place beside Emmanuel. “Will I feed from you tonight or will you drink from me at the eclipse?”

“I’ll let you drink from me tonight.”

“Perfect,” Emmanuel exclaimed. “Grayson will meet you in your room after you pick out your dress for the party. The dresses and some other necessities are waiting for you in the library. Take whatever you need for Monday back to your room and I’ll send the rest back in the morning.”

I nodded in agreement and swallowed the lump that was rapidly forming in my throat. Thankfully, Augustus spoke so I didn’t have to respond to Emmanuel about the unfortunate encounter he and Grayson had forced me into.

“Let’s go,” he said.

“Okay.”

We didn’t waste any time leaving the room and putting some precious distance between us and the two men. Though I’d have to face Grayson again before the night ended, I didn’t want to spend time with him or Emmanuel for a second longer than necessary. Once we were behind the library’s closed doors, Augustus grabbed a paperweight from the desk and chucked it across the room. Destroying the glass decoration apparently wasn’t enough for him because he immediately grabbed the bronze statue from the mantle. Despite my frazzled nerves, I was alert enough to step in front of Augustus and grab his wrist before he could destroy the priceless piece of art.