Nocturne

Chapter 1-3

Crap. I averted my eyes—the best thing to do when a vampire tries to put the whammy on you with eye contact. Vampire's hunger for blood was far more complicated than I thought before I began working with them. I'd learned quickly, but there was a lot I still didn't understand. A chemical imbalance in their brains and their body's need for sustenance caused the vampire's craving, and only blood gave relief. I had worked to educate myself about it, but I admit, I still didn't quite understand. The hunger, or thirst, originated in the brain, not their stomach, and needed satiating every few hours depending upon how much energy the vampire used during their nightly activities. s****l desires played a strong roll, but it depended upon each vampire's own make-up what they needed to appease their “hunger.”

“I've got Organic Red in the cooler, next to your feet,” I said, extremely happy I had thought of this one thing to bring. I hoped the driver had not checked out what I had put in the cooler I had placed in here before the ceremony.

Leif reached down and opened up the Styrofoam cooler. He handed both Darla and Jeanie a bottle, and then handed one to his brother, taking the last for himself. Darla popped off the top of hers and began to chug it down.

“Sorry if it's cold,” I apologized. Sometimes vampires didn't wait to warm the bottle. It didn't seem to matter if they were hungry enough.

“Actually, it's almost at a perfect temperature,” Leif said between sips.

My companions enjoyed their liquid refreshment and had them drained in less than thirty seconds—that's how needy they were. Tremayne Inc. produced these bottles of real blood. Some of the brands were completely animal blood, Organic Red was fifty-fifty human-animal mix, and the Real Red was 100% human. I now wished I'd gotten the good stuff when I noticed Darla had drained hers and still held a hungry eye trained on my neck.

“Why did you go there? To that other world,” Heath asked, taking polite sips, instead of gulping his blood.

“Heck if I know. I thought I was going to have a vision. But this was totally different.” I paused to regard them. “Did I really disappear?”

“Yes!” they all chorused.

Jeanie described what everyone had said and did during the ten seconds I had disappeared. “Everyone made one huge gasp. Vasyl called out your name and the preacher turned completely around looking for you. He even looked behind the curtains, like you fell through a trap door somewhere and would reappear behind the drapes.” We all chuckled.

The limo slowed to make a turn onto the gravel road. I noticed we were nearing my house. The ride hadn't seemed long enough, and yet it did, considering I had four hungry vampires with me.

In a matter of a few minutes, the limo drove smoothly up to the front of my house and stopped. “Well, I guess I'll let you guys get back. I'm going to bed,” I announced.

“What? No party?” Jeanie whined.

“No. I'm beat, and really not in the mood. I'm beginning to feel regret. What did I do?” I'd broken off my marriage with a master vampire who was as hot for me as I was for him. I remembered the look on Vasyl's face when he hit the floor after I… What had I done exactly? It wasn't as if he'd forced me into this. I had jumped into it without thinking it through.

Jeannie cooed sympathetically.

“Yeah, sorry, but I think I need my space tonight.” To mope.

The limo pulled up in front of my front porch. I gathered the material of the wedding dress. Jeanie and Heath helped scoop up the train and flopped it out the door of the limo.

“Thanks guys.” I waved at them in the limo. Four hands went up to wave back at me through the open door. The door shut and I slithered inside like a big white slug. Before the limo drove smoothly out of my drive, I was suddenly concerned for the driver. Too exhausted to do more, I hoped they had all taken the vow—as had Tremayne—not to hunt humans. Closing the front door, I turned with a sigh and pulled the train over one arm. I couldn't wait to get out of this ridiculous thing.

“Cherie.” The voice startled me, and I stifled my shriek when Vasyl appeared in the room with me. I hit a light switch, flooding the room with bright light. His arms went up to shade his eyes. Because I didn't turn them off fast enough, he swooshed into the darker living room, uttering French swearwords like a sailor. You'd never suspect he'd once been a priest by such language. Jeanie had taught me every one she knew, since she had taken French, and I hadn't, but I'd forgotten most. I guess I was getting new lessons.

I flipped off the ceiling lights in the dining room, but left the small table lamp on, and took him in. He had rid himself of the cummerbund and overcoat, and had the white shirt un-tucked and unbuttoned revealing a paper white chest and stomach that I'd so wanted to lick and touch—among other things. His bare white feet were stark against the dark green of the carpet. He was the only vampire I knew who couldn't stand shoes. I never knew why. That would have been one of my questions at some point. Probably not tonight because I would have been too… busy.

“Sorry,” I said, “About everything.”

“You did not have to throw me like you did,” he said steadily. Anger simmering just below the surface, I could see it in his hooded eyes. That was a first—Vasyl angry with me. Seems I had accumulated quite a lot of firsts tonight.

“I never meant to. I don't know why that happened. I still don't even know how it happened. I only put my hand out to you, like this—” I went to put my right hand up.

“No!” He threw his own hands up and backed away.

I dropped my hand. “I'm sorry. I don't know what happened.”

Relaxing, he shook his long, wavy black hair out of his eyes and straightened up.

“What is wrong? Why did you stop the ceremony and leave?”

I glanced away. “I-I'm not ready for this. I can't do this.” I shook my head, looking down. I couldn't look at him.

“Then you go against the prophecy.”

“Screw the prophecy!” I said, my face burning. “Who says I have to do what the stupid prophecy says? It was around before your lifetime in the first century—you told me that yourself. That's a long time ago. Things change. People have their own will. They make choices. My mother was dying of cancer, but she found you and you turned her before she died. She was supposed to die, come back as a ghost and give me the mystic ring and reveal the prophecy.”

“This is all true,” he agreed solemnly, looking chastised.

“I might not have gotten the ring if it weren't for Mrs. Bench,” I added. “The prophecy be damned! I have my own life to live yet. I'm not going to have anyone's baby if I'm not ready.” The prophecy had to do with me being the sibyl, and I was to have the child of a vampire. Our child would be called a dhampir— half-human and half-vampire. This being would be able to walk about in the daylight, not needing blood to live, and destined to become king of all vampires, living an extraordinarily long life. Suddenly, this whole thing seemed like too much of a burden for me to handle—what kind of a burden would it place on a child?

We stared a long while at one another. Then he said, “You still love the shifter.”

I looked away. He knew. I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn't have to tell him how I felt. My eyes misted. “Dante…” I couldn't continue, and covered my mouth. My lips trembled at the thought of never seeing him again. I couldn't stop the devastating feeling I got every time I thought of how he died trying to save us from Ilona Tremayne's plots.

“I feel him, his presence. He is always near you. Hovering.”

“Who?”

“This one who was a shift changer. Dante. Your former lover. The one who died.” My heart contracted painfully at his words. I turned away from him, half expecting him to grab me by the shoulders, but he didn't.

“I would be careful, if I were you, Sabrina,” his voice gently warned.

“Why? He's a ghost. That's all.” I turned my head slightly, and sensed him move closer up behind me. His hands slid up my arms, and then his lips tantalized the sensitive skin of my bare neck. This was the vampire's feeding pose, but I wasn't afraid of Vasyl. He had sworn to never bite me.

“There are more dangerous things than ghosts that exist alongside us, Sabrina, mon amour,” he whispered in my ear.

“Like what? Vampires?” My smirk surprised me. A mirthless chuckle rose dryly from my throat.

“There are some of us who are more than vampire, more than ghosts. Be careful, cherie.”

“Dante is a wayward spirit,” my voice guarded, my eyes down.

“He still loved you when he died—this I know is true—and that is exactly what holds his spirit to this earth plane, and he stays—clings to you like an invisible mist.” He turned me around, found me in tears, and held me close, comforting me. “Surely you must feel him?”

“I do. I'm sorry, but I just need to—” my lips shuttered on a whimpering cry. “I'm still getting over him,” I quietly said into his shirt, which I now soiled with my tears, mascara and makeup. I swallowed more tears remembering how Dante had shifted too quickly in too short of time, and became sick. Soon after, he had returned to his reservation in South Dakota, but they couldn't heal him, and he died. His spirit appeared to me while I lay in the hospital healing from wounds I received when I was a prisoner of Mrs. Woodbine and her son one horrific night. (Fortunately, they were now in jail for murder, attempted murder, arson and many other things). Dante's spirit had explained to me he was a “Wayward Spirit,” and unable to leave the earth plane. His essence now dwelled in the stone I wore around my neck. So, he remained with me, in spirit. We could never be together as we had once been. Although I didn't believe it was possible, he had promised me he would continue searching for a way. I didn't think it was possible, but a small hope inside held on desperately.

“I understand, mon amour,” Vasyl whispered and dragged his thumbs over my cheeks to wipe away the remaining tears, and then pulled me into a tender hug. I clung to him and cried for a few moments while he made hushing sounds, ran a hand over my head, and spoke in French to me in his wonderful way. It soothed me. He could sooth me this way because we had shared blood.

He had certainly had experience soothing me this week. Vasyl had remained nearby after the Woodbines had tried to kill me last week in an especially diabolical, horrifying way. I was still suffering with nightmares, and, although I wanted to be with him, I really did, he refused to be with me in an intimate way until we wed. He was just an old-fashioned guy, I guess.

“I'm sorry. About that thing I did,” I pulled back to look up into his gorgeous face. “I don't know what happened. It was the ring.” Uncertain of how I made it work, I held up my hand careful not to make a quick motion.

His finger came up to touch my lips lightly. “I do not care about that. I care about you. What happens to you, and, just so you know, I was not going to bite you, cherie.” He dropped his head slightly, and used his eyes in a hypnotic way. Even if he were not a vampire, I'd have trouble resisting him. His eyes were a deep violet blue. His lips met mine feather light. I melted into his intoxicating scent, touch, and maleness. He stirred me, sexually, mentally, every which-way, but my heart stood in the way. Dante's death had been a huge blow to me. I had only known him a few weeks, but I had fallen in love with him. Now I knew that Dante had loved me—he'd never told me before he died. He waited until after, and came to me in his Astral Shell (something left after the body dies—it lasts for a few days up to a few weeks after death). It is why some people see ghosts, have hauntings from loved ones, or have vivid dreams of them. They are visiting us in the only way possible after death.

“I'm sorry, Vasyl. I—” what could I say? I'd wanted this to work, but my feelings for Dante lurking in the background held me back. I needed time to address them.

“I too am sorry. I was so looking forward to tonight when we could be together.”

I gave Vasyl an apologetic look. “I was too,” I admitted.

“You need time,” he said. His head jerked up, eyes alert. His body grew rigid. I looked up at him expectantly.

“What—?”

“Someone is approaching your door,” Vasyl said.

I turned with a start to look at the door as though I could see through it. A shadow appeared in the small window against the headlights in the driveway. My Knowing kicked in at once. What was my brother doing here?

Vasyl stepped away from me. “Take care, Sabrina.” And he vanished.

The knock turned me back to the door, and I shuffled toward it. Flicking on the porch light, Randy, my brother, stood there blinking at me.

“Open up, Sis. It's me,” he said. He sounded odd. Odd because he wasn't yelling at me for not answering my phone messages in the last few days—or whatever.

I opened the door. Dressed in his usual jeans, a bright orange hunting jacket, and a camouflaged hat on his head, he paused and didn't say anything right away. With the bright orange jacket, I thought the camouflaged hat was a bit silly. The deer would see him coming a mile.

“Going hunting?” I said.

“Going to a wedding?” he shot back disgruntled, as he pushed past me giving me the up-and-down look.

I looked down at myself and realization hit me. Oh, s**t. The wedding dress.

“What's that?” he pointed to the dress.

“What's what?” I worked at a coy look.

Hands on slim hips, he let his head drop with frustration. When he lifted it he said, “I don't have time for games. Never mind,” he said. “Lindee is missing.”

“What?” I gasped unable to grasp this news. Lindee was our eighteen-year-old cousin. She was three years younger than I was. “How? I mean, when? Are you sure?”

“Yes, I'm pretty damn sure since the police have been out looking for her since last night.”

“What happened?”

“She went out on Thursday afternoon to go to a park with her friends. They stayed after dark. Had a fire, and well, she had to go—you know—in some nearby bushes.” He stopped and we stared at one another.

“You mean pee?” Amazing. I'd heard him swear like there was no tomorrow, but he couldn't say the word pee. “So, then what?”

“She hasn't been seen since.”

“You mean she went to pee and she disappeared?” I demanded, a lump of fear and sorrow forming in my throat.

“Yes. It happened just last night. Uncle Roger called me in the middle of the night.”

“No one saw or heard anything?”

“No. She didn't scream or even call out. The kids she was with looked everywhere when she was gone too long. When they couldn't find her, they called 911. The police have been searching the area ever since.”

“Where? What park?”

“Beau Park, over in DuKane,” he said. “They even brought in canines to help the search. They seemed confused.” he scoffed, shaking his head with his hands on his hips. “I don't get it. I mean how do you go take a leak in the woods and just up and disappear?” He scratched his head of wavy dark brown hair.

“You know as well as I do bad people take people all the time—it makes me want to explode!”

“Hell, Sabrina. We both know you could find her in a second if you went there.”

I bit my lower lip. “Yeah. Yeah,” I agreed, a determined scowl etched on my face. “Let me go and change.”

“What's with the wedding gown anyway?” he asked as I slithered passed him.

“Uh, just trying it on for size. You never know…”