Authors: Lorraine Kennedy
Nicole had to agree with him. Cassie had seemed to fit the profile, and it was rumored that her family may have had some involvement with vampirism in the past, but it had been just rumor. The girl and her family were as normal as you could get.
“Well … you still think that the girl we are looking for is on the coast?”
Ethan nodded. “According to my source.”
“Well why doesn’t this source just come out and tell us who and where she is?”
“I don’t think he knows for sure, and he cannot interfere with the immortals too much, or he risks a war between his kind and ours.”
Nicole bit at her bottom lip. “If Omar finds her before we do … “ Her words trailed off when Dash stepped through the open office door.
Dash took a seat in front of Nicole’s desk. “What … you talking about those mysterious vanishing sisters?”
She nodded. “Were you listening at the door?” she asked with a half smile.
Dash put his thumb and index finger together. “Well maybe just a bit.”
Nicole rolled her eyes.
“I’ve heard that Omar has found one of them, and he has sent an assassin to take care of her. At least that’s the whisperings among the vamps,” he told them.
“Oh no!” Nicole felt her heart skip a beat. “Are they saying where she is?” she asked.
“Nope.”
“This is why it would have been best if Alec had not revealed his opposition to Omar. He could have gotten this information.”
“Well he wasn’t given a lot of choice,” Nicole reminded Ethan.
“Where is that dark sadistic lover of yours anyway?” Dash asked, the amusement obvious in his voice. Dash never missed an opportunity to let her know how odd it was that her lover was a vampire.
Nicole didn’t care. Alec was the light in her soul, it didn’t matter what others thought. Thinking of Alec made her crave his touch. She really missed hearing the sound of his voice, especially when she was feeling down. Every moment away from him was like an eternity.
“Romania,” she told Dash, trying to force her thoughts into another direction. Thinking of Alec was too hard when he was so far away.
“There is an ancient manuscript that has been hidden away, and it supposedly tells the story of our species. Alec is searching for it,” Ethan explained.
“Your father already knows these things. Why are we chasing after old manuscripts?” Dash asked her, narrowing his eyes.
“Maybe so, but he thinks that we are not ready to hear about these secrets. He doesn’t know that Alec went to search for this book.”
Dash whistled, shaking his head. “You two are really out to piss your father off!”
Nicole smiled. Her father had been furious when Alec returned to New Orleans, and even more enraged when Nicole put down the law. She’d told her father that unless she had his blessing to be with Alec, she would go away with him and never return. Donavan had given in reluctantly, but not without a promise from Alec that he would always put Nicole’s safety first.
“My father believes that the truth would be too destructive … to all species on earth.”
Dash shook his head. “He’s a vampire! Doesn’t he know that it’s not his duty to worry about the fate of earth’s population?”
Nicole lifted her shoulders. “We have other things to worry about right now, like how we are going to find my sister.” Nicole shuddered to think of what might happen if this assassin got to her sister before they did.
Sarah felt his presence. She felt him watching her before she lifted her eyes from the wet sand to see him standing near the dark - gray cliffs behind her. The breeze played with his wavy brown hair, blowing it into his face to hide his eyes - those strange alluring eyes.
She had been so engrossed in her thoughts as she pulled clams from the sand that she’d failed to see how far the sun had set. It was now only a red sliver over the dark waters of the Pacific. Sarah quickly picked up the pail that held the harvested clams, and the small hand shovel that she’d been using. Getting to her feet, she started for the path that wound around the steep cliffs. Her aunt’s house was situated at the top of these cliffs. The impressive structure was like a sentry standing watch over the sea.
Sarah took a quick peek at the man from the corner of her eye. She saw that he still stood near the cliffs - still watching her. He was sticking to the shadows. Every few seconds, he would glance at the sun and then look back in her direction. Sarah tried to walk faster, but she wasn’t going to make it to the path before the sun had completely vanished from the horizon.
One moment he was standing in the shadows, and the next instant he was blocking her path. He moved so quickly that she barely had time to blink.
Sarah stopped and looked up at his face. Now that she was so close to him, his presence was overwhelming. He was so beautiful - so enchanting that it took her breath away to be near him.
“Excuse me,” Sarah muttered, when she was finally able to find her voice.
He didn’t move, but continued to stare at her. She had to look away to keep from drowning in those fascinating eyes.
Sarah waited, but he would not let her pass. Stepping to the side, she tried to walk around him, but again he blocked her way.
“Just to talk … that’s all.” He placed his fingers beneath her chin and forced her to look at him.
His brown eyes burned with hunger - a hunger that pervaded her senses, sending fear straight into her heart. Sarah took a step back.
For just a second, a look of confusion entered his eyes and they lost their power over her. Sarah took the opportunity to run, but the sand made her progress slow - painfully slow.
Then he was there again, knocking her to the ground. The pail flew out of her hands and the clams spilled onto the sand. He was lying on her - his face only inches from hers. Again she was pulled into his eyes. Sarah fought to break free of his hold, but her struggles were in vain. He was much too strong.
His eyes glowed with an inner light that drew her in and terrified her at the same time. He drew back his lips to reveal long - white fangs. Sarah panicked, her mind screaming the unbelievable truth that this was not a man at all, but a vampire. She would succumb to a creature of the night.
Squeezing her eyes shut, she waited for his teeth to pierce the artery in her neck, but the seconds passed and she felt no teeth - no pain. Sarah opened her eyes. He was still staring at her, but his eyes had lost the ravenous look of a moment ago, and his fangs were no longer visible.
The look in his eyes was soft, almost whimsical. Sarah was startled when she felt his cool lips against hers, and even more surprised to feel her body responding to his touch. His tongue was in her mouth and he was kissing her, but his kiss was so demanding - so voracious that it was frightening. Despite her fear, she wanted him to kiss her. Sarah’s heart craved his kiss - her soul knew his touch.
Sarah wrapped her arms around his neck, returning his kiss with a passion that matched his. When he pulled back to look down at her, she saw a deep pain in his eyes that tugged at her heart.
He got to his feet and started to walk away. He was going to leave her there in the sand - longing for his touch.
“Wait a minute!” she called after him. “Who are you?”
He continued walking, refusing to turn and look at her.
Sarah got to her feet and ran after him. “Who are you? What is it that you want?” she asked, breathless from running to catch up with him.
“You need to run Sarah. Run as far away from here as you can get … run far away from
me!
”
“Why didn’t you do it then? Why didn’t you kill me?” she asked.
He stared at her for a long time. “I don’t know,” he told her. Turning away, he started walking again.
“At least tell me your name.” She fell into step beside him.
He stopped suddenly, and when he looked at her she saw fury leap from his dark eyes. “Did you not hear me? I was sent here to kill you. You should be running away from me, not following me!”
Sarah stopped and watched him walk away.
What was wrong with her anyway?
He had just admitted that he was going to kill her, and she was still chasing after him. Even more bizarre than this was the fact that she actually wanted him to come back.
* * * *
Sarah took what clams that she’d been able to save and dumped them into the kitchen sink so that they could be cleaned. Aunt Jeanie watched her with open curiosity. Her aunt was smart. She had always been good at picking up other people’s thoughts and feelings. Sarah had never been very good at hiding things from Aunt Jeanie.
“He came for you again,” Jeanie stated.
“He is a vampire.” Sarah turned from the sink to look at her aunt. “Is that one of the big secrets that I’m not permitted to know? That there are vampires?”
Her aunt clucked her tongue. “Girl, you do look for the sinister in everything.”
Sarah shook her head. “I just want to know who he is and why he came here to kill me. That’s what he said … that he came here to kill me.”
“You do remember that I told you to be back before dark,” Jeanie said, shaking a finger at her.
“Do you know who he is?” Sarah asked.
“What did he look like?” Jeanie asked as she stepped over to the sink to start the task of shelling and cleaning the clams.
“He had brown hair … about to here,” Sarah said, pointing to the top of her shoulders. “And he had brown eyes. He was a lot taller than me.”
“Well it doesn’t sound like the one I thought it might be.”
“Who is it that you are talking about? What about this vampire thing? I’ve seen some strange things, but vampires? Really?” Sarah was getting impatient.
“There are some things that you just don’t understand yet,” her aunt explained while she attended to the clams, running cold water over them.
When she was done, she dried her hands on a dishtowel and flung it over the towel holder. “Come and let’s have a chat.” Jeanie grabbed Sarah’s arm and led her to the kitchen table. “How about a nice cup of lavender tea?”
Without waiting for a reply, Jeanie stepped over to the stove and put the teapot on to cook. When the pot started whistling, she removed it from the stove and poured the tea into two cups. After setting a cup in front of Sarah, Jeanie took the chair opposite of her.
“Sarah, you’ve lived among witches long enough to know that things are not always what they seem.”
Sarah nodded but said nothing.
“Though most people can’t see them, there are always spirits around us. Sometimes when that picture falls off of the wall, or a glass is knocked from a table, it isn’t just an accident. But you already know this stuff don’t you?”
“I know auntie, but vampires?”
“Like I said, there are many things in this world that you simply are not aware of, but that doesn’t make them any less real.”
“Why do you think he wanted to kill me?”
“That’s another question.” Jeanie placed a finger to her cheek, which she often did when she was thinking. “More importantly, why didn’t he kill you?”
“I asked him. He told me that he didn’t know why he didn’t do it. And then he just left.”
“Vampires! They’re a secretive bunch. You could go through your whole life and never even know that they existed. Chances are, if you did run across one, you would not live to tell about it, which makes this situation all the more curious.”
“I want to find out who he is?”
Jeanie looked over at her niece with narrowed eyes. “Now tell me why do you need to know that? I would think you would be more concerned with the why … than the who?”
“There was something about him. Something almost familiar.” Sarah tried to explain what she couldn’t understand herself.
“Hmm.” A look of concern clouded her dark green eyes. “It’s settled. You must join us for Midsummer’s Eve. You will need the protection of the coven.”
How could Sarah argue with this? Even the one that had come to kill her had basically told her that she was still in danger.
“Do you remember Clyde from the fishery?” Jeanie asked, changing the subject abruptly.
“The family was wondering that since you were in town and all … maybe you could come and visit after the viewing? You know … like you would do for some of the people in town when you were younger?”
Sarah drew her brows together. What her aunt was asking was if she would go to the viewing and see if she could communicate with the deceased. Sarah had been able to communicate with the dead for as long as she could remember.
While growing up, some of the locals would frequently ask her to attend viewings so that they could have one last conversation with their loved one. Her talent was often misunderstood. She could not contact the dead at will. They chose when and where, or even if they would communicate with her. But the one place that they would almost certainly be present, was their own funeral. The thought of attending a viewing or a funeral made her feel sick.
It’s not that Sarah minded helping the bereaved. It was just that when you touched death too often, it had a way of creeping into your life in unexpected ways. This was why she’d turned her back on the craft and everything paranormal. You never knew when something or someone might come back to haunt you.