Choices of Fate (Fate Series) (17 page)

“My wife, Josephine, she had a vision. Lucias’ men have found my facility. She only saw them outside, the spell keeps her from knowing what happens after that. We have some time, maybe a few hours, it was almost light out when they were here, but it is best not to linger. I will not risk a fight with you and my granddaughter near,” he proclaimed protectively.

“Amor, I must go move your car away from here, we do not want to leave any clues to your identity for them to discover.” Elijah said passing Chloe to her. “Stay here with my father, I’ll drive it to the parking garage around the corner, it will only take a few minutes.”

“Then where are we going?” She asked of no one in particular.

“To my home, to Josephine,” Elijah said.

“No, we have to go back to my house first,” Alexa said defiantly, her voice cracking, “we have to get Tilly, I can’t leave her there locked up alone all night.”

“It may not be safe, if they have found my father’s office, and Chloe’s dentist, it is possible they already know where you live.”

Tears began to well up in Alexa’s eyes. “Ethan, I can’t just leave her there. Elijah said we have a few hours. If I leave her there and they come, she will try to protect the house, they’ll kill her. Please, she is my only friend. She has been there when no one else has.”

Ethan squeezed his eyes shut as the guilt her pointed words evoked washed over him. It would take more than a night for her to forgive his terrible mistake in leaving her, he knew that and he had to do whatever it took to earn her forgiveness.

He wrapped his arms around her and Chloe, pulling them close. “Then we will go and get her.”

“Father, take Barb and go to mother, we will meet you there shortly.”

“Be careful, my son, and be quick, your mother will not like us separating. You know how she worries.”

CHAPTER 14 -
Tilly's Rescue

Alexa was silent as they started their drive back to her house in Fishers. Every couple of minutes she would glance over at Ethan in the driver’s seat of her Lexus 570 SUV to assure herself that all of this was real. Ethan was really back in her life and she was in love with him. Even if he wasn’t technically human. Who was she to judge? If she believed everything she had learned over the past few hours, neither was she. As much as it should scare her, she accepted it, this was her life now.
 

“Tell me more about your, um, our people.” Alexa said, breaking the silence and trying to ease some of the tension. She knew she was asking a lot of Ethan to go back to her house for Tilly and she felt guilty about how she had gone about it. “Where do they live?”

“All over the world, anywhere humans live. Our people can exist among them completely undetected, but many choose to live in large communities, colonies. The war sent many away from that way of life, but over the last few decades they have started to rebuild. Unlike what is suggested by the myths, we eat human food, go out in the sun, go to church, have children and most live fairly ordinary lives whenever possible.”

She tilted her head back and asked, “So I could have met others? How many are there?”

“I do not know an exact number, but the last I knew our population was nearly one million, spread all over the world. We have a government, my father mentioned it, the Agency, that administers our laws and keeps all of our records.”

Though she already knew the answer, there was another question that was burning into Alexa’s brain. “You said you eat food, but you need blood too. How often do you have to feed?”

Ethan sighed. “Yes, all of our kind requires human blood to sustain us. As a result of the mutation, it is nearly impossible for our bodies to generate new blood cells. We feed on humans as a means of transfusion, and because we crave it,” he said glancing at her hungrily.

She nodded, looking down as she whispered, “Do you, um, kill people?”

Ethan placed his hand on her shoulder, keeping the other on the steering wheel. “No, Amor I have never killed an innocent human. We only need to feed once a month, sometimes less, unless we are injured or allow another to feed on us. When we do feed, we only take what is needed, usually what one would give if they donated blood.”

“And the people that you feed on don’t remember it because you can erase their memories,” she stated recalling the information from earlier.

“Yes, but if a human did happen to leave with their memory of a feeding or some other interaction intact, there are those of my kind in positions to intercept reports of the information. The Agency constantly monitors the internet and other news outlets. We have people in human government, police and the military to help protect the secret of our kind.”

“Wow, that’s impressive, and a little scary.” Alexa said shifting nervously in her seat.

“Are you alright, Amor?”

“I’m sorry, I just need a minute.” She waved around pointing at Ethan and Chloe. “All of this, you, everything is a bit overwhelming and it is beyond disconcerting to think that you have lived among us, among humans that is, for so long without being discovered. It makes me wonder about all of the ridiculous conspiracy theories I’ve ever heard. Maybe all of it is true.”

“It is possible that many of those things are true. That is something I have learned over many years. Myths, legends, rumors, whatever you want to call them often have some basis in fact.”
 

She sat there for a moment, processing everything, then asked. “Exactly how old are you, Ethan?” Not certain what it mattered at this point, but she wanted to know. She wanted to know everything about him.

He looked a little nervous as he replied, “Two-hundred and four.”

“Well, shit.” Alexa sat there for another moment..
 

“Ok, so what about your accent? Your dad said you lived in a Spanish villa, is that where you are from?”

“Yes, España, Spain. My mother was born there and my father traveled there for work. They met, fell in love and were married within a few months. That was well over two-hundred and fifty years ago, they waited quite a while to have children. My father wanted to keep my mother all to himself, for a while at least.”

“You know, that day at the diner you told me before you hardly spoke to your parents anymore. I actually thought they were the big secret you were so concerned about telling me. I figured they were really old fashioned and wouldn’t approve of me because I was American or something.”

“That was true. As I told you, we had not spoken in many years until I went to see my mother that night after we swam with the dolphins.”

The reference caused Alexa to grab her necklace. “Why did you make me promise to wear this?”

He glanced at her hand briefly before returning his eyes to the road. “For protection. After I saw my mother, I went to Barb and asked her to make a charm to shield you. There is a spell on it, much like the one in my tattoo. As long as you wear it, your future is blocked from those with the ability to view it. I had to know you were protected.”

Alexa couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face at his declaration. “So what about the other vampire stuff? Is it only the infected that the common myths apply to?”

Ethan chuckled slightly. “Yes, only the infected suffer from such strange afflictions. I suppose you would expect our kind to be allergic to the sun, silver, garlic, crucifixes and holy water? These are the things you have learned from, how do you say, popular culture, about vampires.”

“Actually, right now the popular vampires sparkle in the sun and drink the blood of animals, but I learned the other things when I was younger. It’s kind of ironic; I’ve always loved movies and books about vampires. I even fantasized about being one.”

“And now how do you feel about them?”

She pondered for a moment before answering. “I love them, at least some of them,” She said reaching over, placing her hand on Ethan’s thigh. “I know how I feel about you, despite everything that has never changed. I tried to hate you, I wanted to hate you for leaving me. Perhaps it is foolish, but no matter how hard I tried, I could not erase the love I felt for you. Maybe I’m just a hopeless romantic, but I believe that true love can conquer all things, even a broken heart.”

Ethan placed his hand over hers and laced their fingers together. “I believe this too, Amor. I will forever regret losing sight of that belief when I left all those months ago. I thought I was doing what was best for you. I am a fool. I hope that one day you can forgive my mistake.”

He pulled her hand up to his face and gently kissed her knuckles.

✧

Alexa looked up and saw they had entered her neighborhood. Ethan killed the headlights and eased the car into her driveway as he turned to her.

“Wait here for a moment, Amor. I want to get out and look around before you go inside.”

Alexa opened her mouth to protest, concerned for Tilly considering how long it had been since she was last let out to relieve herself, but Ethan was gone before the first word escaped her lips.
 

Tilly hadn’t had an accident in the house since she was a puppy, but Alexa wasn’t keen on the idea of cleaning up a Great Dane sized mess so she hopped out of the car, opened the back door and started unbuckling the straps to Chloe’s carseat.
 

Ethan was just being paranoid. He had been gone for months and nothing had happened. His mother’s vision showed the men at the clinic at first light, they still had several hours.

With a very drowsy Chloe on her hip, she moved around to the drivers side and reached through the window to hit the button to open the garage door. Feeling a little on edge, she was thankful that she had purchased a new garage door and opener a couple weeks ago. It was practically silent as the beige door slid upwards revealing her compulsively organized garage. The prior set up would have alerted everyone within five miles that she was home.
 

Shit.
It occurred to her that with their supercharged hearing, any member of the race within five miles would probably still be able to hear it.
 

She stood there in the driveway just outside of the garage, listening. She didn’t hear anything, not even the crickets that were normally singing on such a clear July night. Even Tilly remained silent, evidence that the garage door was as quiet as she thought. One of the only things that could get the big couch potato excited was the sound of her family coming home.

Ethan must have startled the crickets while checking out the yard.

Alexa quietly moved through the garage over to the door that led into the house. Holding her breath, she reached out with her talent, searching for that now familiar feel of a vampire’s presence. Not finding anything unusual, she grabbed for the handle, her hand sliding off from all of the sweat on her palm. She held her hand up in the moonlight to see it shaking with her anxiety. Letting out a half-hearted laugh, she thought to herself,

I really have to get a grip. Everything is fine, I’m just freaking out because of all the insane shit I found out in the last few hours. All of it existed before I knew about it, so what has really changed? I’m just being paranoid, but God they weren’t kidding when they said ‘ignorance is bliss’.

She leaned her head back trying to peek around at Chloe who was fast asleep. Steeling her nerves, she quickly twisted the knob and stepped inside her home while she reached out and flipped the light switch.

✧

As the light chased away the darkness, she glanced around seeing everything in its place. Everything seemed perfectly fine, except Tilly hadn’t come sliding across the hardwood floor to greet them as was her custom.
 

“Come, Tilly. Let’s go outside girl.” Alexa called. Still nothing. Her heart started pounding as she rushed down the hallway towards her room, more specifically her bed where Tilly loved to snooze. Maybe she was sick, or worse. Great Danes didn’t have a very long life expectancy, six to ten years was the norm, and Tilly was rapidly approaching that range. Just a couple of years ago they had a major scare when Tilly developed a case of bloat, something typical of large deep-chested dogs. Her stomach had twisted in her abdominal cavity, cutting the blood supply off completely which would have killed her if Alexa hadn’t noticed something was off as she was getting ready for bed. Having fully educated herself on the potential problems with owning such a large dog, Alexa immediately recognized what was going on and rushed Tilly to the emergency veterinary clinic. After several hours, an emergency surgery, and several thousand dollars in vet bills, Alexa was gratefully driving home with a rather groggy and confused Tilly. That night had taught Alexa just how precious life is and had further cemented the bond with her canine companion.

Just as Alexa reached the doorway to her bedroom she slowed, thinking she had heard something off to her left in the living room. Realizing her mistake too late, she felt the strange presence of the vampire’s mind just as he spoke.

“Ah, finally. I’ve been waiting a dreadful long time for you love.”

Alexa froze as the stranger’s strongly accented voice sent a chill up her spine that went as deep as the marrow.
 

Slowly turning to face the intruder, while simultaneously moving Chloe as far away as she could in the moment, Alexa straightened her spine and asked, “Who are you, what do you want? I don’t have much cash or jewelry in the house. Take anything you want and just leave. I won’t call the police if you leave now.” She knew he didn’t want money or any other material possession, but she needed to buy some time.

The responding laugh that echoed around the room was nothing short of sinister.

“Sorry, poppet, but what I’m after is right there in your pretty little arms.”

Instinctively, Alexa took a step back, her mind racing, trying to find a way to escape.
 

In a flash, the stranger was standing directly in front of her, moving the distance across the living room in an instant.
 

Alexa’s heart kicked into overdrive as the truth barreled down on her. This was a member of the race, too fast and strong for her to defend herself against on her best day. But this vampire was vastly different from Ethan and Elijah. The irises of his eyes the color of blood, and his skin was as pale as if he had never stepped into the sunlight.