The Vampires of Soldiers Cove (17 page)

Gavin looked around the room and spotted a crowbar on top of one of the shelves, “well that would have come in handy a second ago.”
He reached the curved end into the crawlspace and hooked it onto the box.  A moment later we had it on the floor between us.

It was sealed and Gavin punctured the seal with the sharp edge of the crowbar. We opened the box and sure enough there was a black leather bound book with gold embossed writing that read, “The Cape Breton Book of The Dead.”

“You’re so smart
,” he said leaning forward to give me a kiss. We put the crowbar back and placed some cleaning supplies in front of the crawlspace door to conceal the fact that we had broken the lock on purpose and then headed back to our room.

We sat on the bed and flipped through it.
I questioned why someone wanted to hide it because it was simply a book of stories, it read more like an old children’s book than a book that contained any useful information on how to ward off a deadly attack by zombie vampires.

We came to the story that Angus must have been talking about.
It was called simply: “Annie and Adelia”.   As Gavin listened I read aloud.

Annie and Adelia: A Story of Betrayal

Once there were two vampire sisters named Annie and Adelia. They were very close in age but Annie was the oldest and when their father had begun looking to marry them off; he of course wanted to pair up Annie first. Their father, Joshua, met a man on the road who had been stranded when his horse died. The man’s name was Alphonse and as it turned out he was quite a wealthy doctor. Thinking this would be a suitable mate for his daughter he turned the man into a vampire and insisted he marry Annie.

The man felt obliged and married the older sister, but after the wedding he began to make advances at the younger sister, Adelia.
Adelia told her sister and her father what had happened but they did not believe her.

Alphonse continued to pursue the girl and told her she was the one he wanted for his bride.
He planned to stake Annie through the heart in her sleep and tell her father she had run away, and then ask for Adelia’s hand in marriage.

Fearing for her sister’s safety she once again went to her sister and let her know that her new husband planned to murder her.
Again, she was not believed. Knowing that the time for her sister’s death was quickly approaching Adielia went to see the oldest vampire on Cape Breton Island. She made her way to the top of Kelly’s Mountain and sought out a vampire named Duncan.

Duncan had special mental abilities that allowed him to hear the thoughts of others. Duncan and young Adelia exchanged blood and then sat very close together.
He took her head in his hands and she did the same to him. He chanted the man’s name over and over again until he connected with Alphonse’s thoughts. Through their blood and physical connection Adelia saw his thoughts for herself.

Duncan informed her that she now had the ability to read minds
and show others her thoughts, but only temporarily. Adelia thanked him and hurried home as fast as she could before the ability would wear off.

When she arrived at Annie’s house Annie was reluctant to believe her once again
, but she agreed to do the ritual. Annie saw her husband’s awful thoughts for herself and now believed her sister. They knew the only way to keep Annie safe was for Alphonse to die, and fearing their father would not forgive an unprovoked attack against him they hatched a plan.

Annie went to bed that night as her sister hid in the closet with a sword.
Sure enough some time later Alphonse approached with a stake in hand. Just as he was raising the stake over his head to kill his young wife, her sister leapt from the closet and swung the sword, decapitating and killing him. He fell to the floor dead with the stake still in his hand, then turned to ashes.

The girls ran to their father who came to the house and saw Alphonse’s ashes and the stake for himself.
He forgave them for the killing and apologized to Adelia for not believing her. He resolved from then on that he would allow the sisters to pick their own mates.

Soon after Annie met a humble farmer and married again.
Adelia married the farmer’s brother and the two lived many centuries after in peace.

“Do you think it’s a true story?” I asked Gavin who was deep in thought.

“I guess it could be, but there’s no way to find out since both Adelia and Annie are no longer with us.”
He grew quiet.

“What?” I asked.

“That book, it bothers me. I feel like I’ve seen it somewhere before. It’s familiar to me somehow, but I can’t place it.”

“Do you think it was out on a shelf
in that room at some point, and maybe you looked at it once?” This seemed like the obvious choice.

“It may have been, but I don’t ever remember picking it up in there and reading it.
It’s something else.”

“I’m sure it will come back to you.”
I was trying to be helpful but couldn’t think of anything more comforting to say. I thought more about the story itself. “I know the sisters are dead, but what about Duncan?”

“I’ve never heard of him.
I’m sure if there were really a Duncan who was the oldest vampire on the island that we’d know of him. He must be dead as well.”

“But you don’t know for sure, or if he ever existed at all?”

“No, I guess I don’t. But it’s worth a look into. My parents are pretty dang old though,” he laughed. “Why don’t we pay them a visit and ask them if they’ve ever heard of this Duncan guy?”

“
That sounds good, but why not just ask Angus?”

“I think if Angus knew
about a Duncan and that he was someone who could help us in any way he’d have told us already.”

“That’s a good point
,” I said. We stood and made our way out of the sanctuary and began our walk down the steep decline with book in hand.

“Hey, why don’t we run?
You wanna race newbie?” he said.

“Hey yeah, why don’t you show me that bullshit two hundred
miles an hour you can run,” I teased.

“There you go hurting my feelings again.”

“Poor muffin.”

“That’s how it is then huh?
Alright. On your mark,” and without saying get set, go, he took off.

The trees whooshed as if a great wind had howled past them
, their branches shaking all around, but Gavin was nowhere in sight. I began running after him, the first time I had run at great length since I had changed. I was surprised how fast I picked up speed. Suddenly I was running with the wind in my ears sounding like the roar of a jet engine. It was exhilarating.

I spotted his parents driveway and turned sharply, stopping just in time to avoid the parked car which Gavin was leaning against.
He stood there looking up at the sky like he was bored from waiting.

“Finally
,” he said not turning his face away from the stars, “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming.”

“Oh shut up!” I laughed playfully punching him in the arm.
He didn’t flinch in the least.

“Oh Rachel, violence is never the answer.”
Finally he faced me with a grin and brushed his lips softly against mine for a moment.

“Gross
,” a young voice said. Gavin’s younger brother, Alexander, was watching us.  “Get a room you two,” he said.

“Hello
Alexander,” Gavin said a little too formally to be talking to his own brother. “Are your folks home?” Alexander was only about seventeen and not yet able to know the vampire secret. He thought he only had five siblings and in the interest of normalcy for their current young children that’s the way his parents had to keep it.

“Yeah, come in
,” he said. We followed him into the old farmhouse and he yelled up the stairs. “Mom, Dad. Gavin is here.” And with that he bounded up the stairs himself.   Gavin’s parents came downstairs and into the kitchen.

“Hello sweetheart
,” she said greeting Gavin in the most motherly way possible. “And hello Rachel,” she said addressing me. Not as warmly as Gavin, but she didn’t spit in my direction which I was happy for. I never knew when meeting vampires individually how they were going to react.

“Hi Mom
,” Gavin said in a low whisper. “We have something we need to discuss away from little ears.” Gavin’s parents were both very youthful looking. To the human community they were simple dairy farmers in their forties raising a family, although they looked more like a couple in their twenties. Gavin’s request however seemed to age them as their faces took on a more serious expression.

“Let’s go see the cows
,” his father said picking up his hat.

A moment later we were standing in the barn which was across the field from the house. His father closed the door and glanced around all the corners of the stalls to make sure we were alone. Gavin came in range of a large cow and she got as close to the end of her stall as she possibly could, stretching her head out to be touched.

He stroked her nose lovingly, “Yeah I know, it’s been a while eh?” he said to the cow.
The cow, not able to contain her excitement, stuck out her large tongue and lapped him across the face with it.

“Bossy has an awful crush on Gavin I’m afraid
,” his father said.

“Should I be jealous?” I asked.

“We’re just friends,” said Gavin. “Isn’t that right Miss Bossy?” he cooed to the cow. “You’re a pretty girl,” he said as he kept stroking her nose. Bossy was in cow heaven. The smell in the barn was very strong and I wondered how come vampires opted for this kind of life seeing as how they are smelling it ten times more strongly than they would if they were human farmers.  But standing there in their plaid shirts, hats and rubber boots they could not have looked more at home.

“What is it you’ve come for son?” his father asked.

“Have you ever heard of a vampire that lives on Kelly’s Mountain named Duncan?”

“Duncan? Oh my yes!”
his father said. “I’ve not laid eyes on him in almost two centuries but he’s probably still there. Bit of a recluse, can read a mind you know, that’s why he doesn’t like people.”

“Where did you get that?” his mother said noticing the book in my hand.
She reached for it and I handed it over.

“In the
sanctuary,” I said.

“I didn’t think there were any of them left.
We had one but it was taken from us years ago. The council said they were dangerous. I didn’t see how but I had to go along with it.” She said sounding frustrated. “Sometimes there are just too many rules for my liking.”

“Mom, are the stories in this book real or just fairy tales?
Duncan is mentioned in here.”

“They are real for sure
.  I’ve heard things have been left out but the stories are real for the most part.”

“What do you mean?” Gavin asked still stroking the cow’s nose thoughtfully.

“I’m not sure, Duncan would know though.”

“He’d be the only one you can ask
,” his father chimed in, “everyone else who’s mentioned in that book is gone.”

“That’s quite a coincidence considering it’s a book about immortals.”
We were all thinking it; Gavin was the only one who had the nerve to say it out loud.

“Yes it is
,” his mother continued, “but who are we to ask any questions. Just underlings is what we are.” There was definitely a note of resentment under that statement.

“Are you going to see Duncan son?” his father asked.

“You up for a road trip?” he said.

“It’s worth a shot
,” I knew sitting around here wasn’t going to do any good.

“Well, if you find him give him my best.
I know he used to have a little bitty cabin on the mountain somewhere. Good luck finding it. If I know him he’s well hidden.”

“Thanks Dad. We better get going then.”
We turned to walk away but before we could leave Gavin’s mother pulled him to one side. It was obvious she didn’t want me to hear what they were talking about so I didn’t listen in. It didn’t feel right given the fact they had just helped us out and she hadn’t seemed too repulsed by me.

When they finished talking Gavin met up with me
at the door and grabbed my hand. We were taking our time and enjoying the night air, even though we really shouldn’t have been. We should have been in the McLauren speeding toward Kelly’s Mountain, but here we were like two school kids on a Friday night, strolling and enjoying each other’s silent company. A few moments went by and I was waiting for Gavin to say something about his mother. I knew it probably wasn’t right of me to pry, but I did it anyway.

“Everything ok?”

“Yeah,” he said with a bit of a question mark in his voice.

“Was your mother upset you came here with me?”