Aris Rising: The Court of Vampires: AN INFINITY DIARIES NOVEL (20 page)

Her knees were weak and her face still flushed as she watched him walk down the hall to the elevator. She couldn’t see his face as he bit his lip until a tiny drop of dark liquid appeared. He licked it away with his tongue as he pressed the down button.

S
ARAH HAGAN, transcript, session 7

Wolsey’s uniformed men saw me to the waiting ship. As they marched me up the gangplank to board, I saw a man who looked like Diego on the crowded wharf below, but when I turned to get a better look, I lost sight of him. I became even more frightened when I was handed off to the captain who locked me securely in my cabin. Beating on the door, I demanded release but to no avail. I could hear men’s voices outside the solitary bolted exit to the small room. I was under lock and key as well as guard. There was no discernable escape from my fate. Curling up on the small, tidy bed, I cried myself into a fit-f sleep.

I have no idea how long I hid in the darkness of unconsciousness. My dreams had been of Aris, riding to the hunt on cold frosty mornings, evenings before the fire in my chamber, our lips touching softly. The desire I felt for him. His tender restraint telling me of his great love, his pledge to make me his wife before he possessed me. How I regretted that pledge even in my sleep. How I wished we had become one in this life. And now, it was too late. My fate was sealed.

Loud pounding on the door awakened me and I sat quickly on the side of the bed. My head swirled in the darkness of the room. “My lady, a squall approaches. The sea will become rough and the boat unsteady.
Take to your bed and remain there until we have safely maneuvered through it.”

I opened the only small round window in the cabin and looked into the ominous night sky. Dark clouds whirled overhead, twisting and coiling like huge, deadly snakes. Brilliant bolts of lightning exploded from them, forked tongues reaching to strike death into any they might touch. Crashing explosions of thunder set a ringing in my ears that brought pain so intense I covered them with my hands to muffle the shattering blasts. Curling once again on the small bed, I drew the cover over my shaking body. Fear gripped me and I felt its sharp relentless talons dig into my broken heart.

The ship was large, laden with cargo yet it was tossed as if it were salt in the wind. I was tumbled from my bed onto the wooden planks of the floor. The deck heaved and floundered as a horse not yet broken to its saddle. Crawling, I made way toward the false safety of the cot.

Without warning, a terrifying explosion shook the vessel. First one, then another and another. The smell of gunpowder, sulpher and fire filled my nostrils. Thick black smoke choked me as I clawed at my throat, gasping for air.

The door was ripped open. Flames silhouetted the form of a huge, torn and bleeding man reaching for me. I screamed as I scrambled to the far side of the pitching cabin. “No fear of me. I come here to save you. The ship is going down. Make your way with haste to one of the waiting boats. It is your only hope.” He reached for me, lifting me into his arms, carrying me as he would a child onto the deck into the open air.

Rain and hail pummeled the bleeding, dying men who were scattered in every direction. The mast lay broken across the deck, men crushed beneath its enormous weight. The great ship was ripped in two. Fires burned everywhere I looked, somehow consuming the soaking wood like kindling. When, at last, the flames were drowned by the raging tempest, the sound of the hot wood hissing in its’ death rattle added to the roar of the storm. The sailor deposited me into a small boat suspended by ropes
hanging next to the bow. He began to lower it into the swirling black water when another explosion rocked all that remained of the only world left to me. The shock sent him flying to the other side of the ship, and blew me out of the skiff into the churning water. My blood froze in my veins as I hit the convulsive, angry waves. My arms and legs grew numb as I fought a battle for my life.

In no more than a moment, I knew to whom the victory would be given. “Aris, my only beloved,” was my final cry as the raging sea filled my lungs with a watery death. I sank into the darkness, my last memory his face before me. And then eternal peace.

#

Sarah lay in the recliner with her eyes closed. She could hear Bonnie’s breath, the therapist’s hand resting reassuringly on her friends arm. “I’m here Sarah. Breathe deeply and just relax. Everything is fine. You’re safe here with me in my office.”

Thoughts raced through Sarah’s mind.
“Safe? How safe can I be with the image of my own death rattling my brain? How safe can I be when I realize that I don’t want to live without the Immortal that returned to my life from a place where fables walk the earth? How safe can I be as my heart lay open, tempted by eternal love?”

#

She curled in the corner of her sofa. A light spring rain shower fell from intermittent cumulus clouds. Occasional narrow shafts of sunlight lit the shimmering drops creating rainbows against the glass of the sliding patio doors. The sound of the drops, so soft, so tender, unlike the terrorizing tempest of her vision. She had been sitting in one spot for what seemed like hours. To see one’s own death, to hear her own final cry of his name. Would that be the cry she heard as she breathed her last human breath in the depths of the Catacombs? Did she have that kind of courage? Did she cherish him enough to give her life for love? He asked her once. She asked herself time and again. The answer seemed just out of her reach but
she feared it as much as she struggled toward it. The voice in her head spoke only one word. “Aris.”

S
he opened the door to her office to find pale sunbeams shining around dried drops of rain dotting the large window. The sun seemed to spotlight a small branch resting in the middle of her desk. As she approached, she saw it was a gnarled bramble full of wicked sharp thorns. “What in the world is Maggie doing now?” She laughed as she picked it up, tossing it thoughtlessly into her garbage can.

Settling into her chair, she kicked off her shoes. She always arrived early before her first appointment to read the records of past sessions with the clients she would be seeing that day. She waited for Maggie to appear with her large coffee loaded with her one vice-several sugars stirred into it to make it as sweet as a doughnut. She hit the snooze button once too often this morning and missed her breakfast at Saul’s. Her stomach growled its annoyance. She patted it tenderly, “You’re just going to have to wait until lunch, little buddy. We have no time for food this morning.” A long disgruntled grumble was her only answer.

She heard the outer door of the office open just as her phone rang. Reaching for it she slid into her shoes in case it was an early client who had just arrived.

“Just me, boss.” Maggie’s voice carried from the outer office as Sarah spoke into the receiver.

A deep accented voice responded to her greeting. “Good morning, Sarah, it is DeMarco.” He waited.

“DeMarco, I’m so glad you called. About last night?”

“A delicious meal and delightful company. That is what I remember about last night.”

She sighed in relief. She had been worried their turbulent moment of passion might interrupt their friendship. Even with her deep feelings for Aris, her time with the Italian doctor meant a great deal to her.

“No more thoughts about it. Now, when may I prepare dinner for you?”

“Let’s make a date.” She had no sooner spoken when Maggie leaned her head around the door motioning to Sarah there was a client in the waiting room. “DeMarco, I have to go, my client is here. I’ll speak with you later.”

“I’ll phone you soon. Ciao, Sarah.”

“Ciao, DeMarco.” She smiled. Her charming friend had smoothed out an uncomfortable moment with his usual diplomacy.

#

Saturday mornings at Saul’s were a madhouse. They waited for a table for almost half an hour and Sarah was chomping at the bit to really talk to Bonnie. She was confused by her own feelings and actions. She really hoped Bonnie could give her some insight as her friend as well as her therapist. What in the world was she doing having DeMarco to her house again? She knew she wasn’t ready to have an intimate relationship with him. Even if Aris had not been in the picture, she didn’t know enough about DeMarco to be emotionally vulnerable to him and sex with him would certainly put her in that position.

Finally when they were settled, their orders placed, their coffee
on the table steaming hot in front of them, she felt able to begin the conversation.

“Bon, I’ve got some questions here so put on your therapy hat, okay?” She chuckled as she watched Bonnie’s expression change, becoming serious and quizzical.

“Yes?”

“Well, it’s kind of embarrassing. DeMarco and I.”

Bonnie leaned closer, “Yes?”

“He came to my house for dinner the other night.”

“Go on,” she urged quietly.

“We got pretty carried away and almost did the deed and I’m kind of scared. I don’t want to be hurt again. We don’t even live in the same country. He says he has feelings for me, but I’m not sure of mine for him. I’m feeling pretty confused and honestly don’t know where this could go anyway.”

“Yes?”

“I invited him over again and I’m not sure why.”

“Are you sure you don’t care for him?” Bonnie waited for her to answer. Sarah knew she would continue to wait for as long as it took to get a response.

“I’m not sure, but my heart just about jumped out of my chest when he kissed me.”

“Yes?” The old therapy trick of agreement, then silence, always seemed to work even when it was used on another therapist.

“Okay, maybe I do have some kind of thing for him, but I don’t know what it is.”

“Sarah, DeMarco and that mindless attorney you dated for a while are the only two men you’ve been associated closely with except Carlos since your divorce. You and Carlos have become incredibly close friends but nothing more, or so you say. Is it any wonder you’re stirred by some exotic, handsome Italian who tells you how much he wants you? Come on woman. It doesn’t take a
rocket scientist to understand that.”

“So you think it’s just hormones, nothing more?”

“Nothing more than hormones? What is wrong with your brain this morning? Hormones are some of the most powerful drivers of human action. He’s gorgeous, he’s here, he wants you. You’d have to be dead not to respond in some way.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Silently her thoughts raged.
“Life, death, immortality. So many choices, so little time
.” Her indecision was becoming tiresome even to her.

#

Sarah held the baby on her lap while Colleen and Bob set the table for dinner. Her heart melted as Collette’s tiny fingers curled around her thumb, holding onto her hand. Her baby eyes held such innocence. Sarah was amazed at the feelings that surfaced looking at the miracle she held in her arms. A new life. So dependent. Sarah was filled with nearly overwhelming emotions.

She felt protective, nurturing. This miniature person was totally vulnerable to everything that surrounded her, so helpless. It almost frightened Sarah to think of having the responsibility of raising a child, teaching it, giving it a solid foundation for life.

As a therapist she understood that parents, without even realizing it, can color a child’s entire future simply by thoughtless words spoken in a moment of anger or fatigue. Time and again she had listened to her adult clients with tears in their eyes and holes in their psyches speak about incidences that occurred in the toddler stages of their development; incidences that still pounded them into the ground even as full grown adults. Insecurity, obesity, a lost sense of self. It is a rare parent that wants to instill such sorrow in their child, yet a common occurrence in families simply through careless statements a child may never forget. A parent is a god to a child. Their pronouncements are taken as ultimate truth in the tiny world of an innocent. “
How can you possibly know if you have what it
takes to be a good parent
?” she thought. “
Would I be a good parent?”

“Hey, little girl, ready to go to bed?” Lost in her thoughts, Sarah was startled as Bob came close, reaching out his arms for his daughter. His eyes lit up at the sight of her and his voice took on a soft sweetness that Sarah had never heard before, not even when he spoke to his wife. He lifted her tenderly and cradled her in his huge arms. Nothing could harm her while this man was near. She smiled as he carried the small bundle from the room. Even his walk was different, special, as he carried his daughter. Slow, small steps, his feet placed gingerly so as not to disturb her sleep. She was a very lucky child to be born to these two caring people.

“Dinner’s on the table. Come on, Auntie Sarah. Let’s chow down.” Colleen made a quick stop in the baby’s room to tuck her in and make sure the baby monitor was working before she settled into her chair.

“Wow, this looks great.” Sarah placed her napkin on her lap as her best friend spooned steaming vegetables on her plate. “You sure have come a long way from ordering in.”

“Yeah, well now that I’m not working like a dog, I have the time to cook.” She kissed her husband on the top of his head. “As well as a reason. I want this guy healthy.”

Sarah watched the couple as the three friends ate a relaxed meal together. Bob and Colleen were so completely comfortable with each other. Their movements seemed to meld into a perfect dance. There was obvious love and so much more: respect, real companionship, friendship. They communicated with their eyes without words. Would she ever know such comfort as they shared? She knew Aris had been the answer to this question even before it was formed. But what of the humanity she would have to sacrifice to consummate her love? With DeMarco in her life, it seemed she might have other choices.