Deadman's Blood (14 page)

“We’ll see with time. It will take a lot of self discipline for him to control changing. Probably much like it was for Rowan and Dean in the beginning. As to WHAT he can change into, well, we’ll just have to see. I’m sure Alyssa will need your support as this will be as hard on her as it is on Mark,” Dominic said.

“Speaking of Alyssa, we don’t really know what power she attained either,” Darby said. But as she finished her sentence, Mark and Alyssa re-entered the dining room.

“Move over, Dean…I’m starving,” Mark said as he started grabbing hordes of food and filling his plate. As he did this, he continued, “As for Alyssa, oh, she has a power, all right…” He looked over at Dominic and said, “What is it when you can float in the air?”

“Levitating?” Dominic said.

“Yes. Levitation…that’s what Alyssa’s power is,” Mark said.

“What? What are you talking about?” Alyssa asked.

“You. When I turned back into a person this morning, I walked into the bedroom and found you sleeping above the bed - two to three feet above the bed. I made some stupid comment to myself about a mon…I mean a furry little creature and ‘poof’ I turned again,” Mark explained.

“What were you before you were a monk…”Blake was interrupted by Mark sticking his fingers in his ears and singing “LaLaLaLaaaaaLa. I can’t hear you saying anything. Laalaaaalalalalaaaaaalaa.”

“Okay. Okay….I get it.”

Mark took his fingers out of his ears and continued, “I was a …” then he put his elbows tight to the sides of his body and with his hands near his shoulders he made a waving motion, like he had some kind of strange wings.

Dean said, “You were a Faerie?”

“No, you moron…Faeries aren’t animals. I was an insect that….” Then he continued the strange motion with his hands.

Blake said, “An insect that…flies?”

Mark touched his index finger to his nose.

“Didn’t I swat at a...” Rowan started to say and Mark raised an eyebrow at her with a warning. “Didn’t I swat at something at dinner last night?”

Mark answered, “Yes, you did and you nearly knocked me out cold. So from now on, if you see an insect or animal and I’m not standing right next to you, don’t kill it, smash it, or swat at it. It could be me.” His voice almost squeaked as he made his point.

“That’s good to know, Mark. We will have to be more careful. I’ll inform Bernard that there will be no bug killing or mouse/rat traps set without checking your whereabouts first - at least until you can get a handle on this. I would guess that Dean and Rowan can be useful in advising you how to control your transitions.

“And Alyssa, we’ll have to see if you can levitate something when you aren’t sleeping. This is really turning out to be quite a day,” Dominic said.

Darby, suddenly pale as a sheet, stood and ran from the room with her hand over her mouth. By the time she had cleared herself from her chair, Devon was standing at the door with it wide open. Everyone in the room was stunned as the two were out of the dining room in a flash.

“What was that about?” Blake asked.

“I don’t know, but did you see how fast Devon was at the door? Even for a vampire that was incredibly fast,” Anton said in amazement.

“Indeed. Maybe like Josh has strength, Devon has obtained speed,” Dominic interjected.

“Well, that would account for Devon’s scaring Darby. If he has that kind of speed, it could seem that he was no where around and then instantly there,” Anton replied.

“Yeah. That would take some getting used to,” Blake added. “Do you think Darby’s okay?” Blake directed to a concerned Rowan who was watching the door for any sign of Devon and Darby’s return.

“She said she wasn’t feeling well this morning. You think I should check on them?” she said.

“I’m sure Devon would let us know if something was wrong,” Blake reassured her.

“Well, it seems we all have something to get used to,” Dominic continued. “Seems my theory was right about the Bloodstone Heart; it’s just a matter of learning how to control and use these new powers. If we are in for something big on the horizon, we’re going to need all the strength and abilities we can find.”

“Anything new in your research on the prophecy or the altar room?” Mark asked as he gobbled down a hunk of ham that even had Blake a little disgusted.

“Nothing solid as such, but in looking at the artifact once more, the center medallion came off. At first I thought I had broken it, but after examining more thoroughly I feel certain that it may serve as a key to something much more important,” Dominic said.

Blake asked, “So what’s your next step?”

“Well, I’m hoping that with Mark’s help in the research, we may come across something that ties the medallion to the altar room under the castle,” Dominic said.

“You still think there is something significant there?” Josh asked.

“I do…It’s more of a gut feeling, but I’m quite sure it hasn’t revealed all its secrets,” Dominic said.

“Is there anything you need us for, in helping?” Blake asked.

“Not at the moment. Why? Do you need to get back to California?”

“Well…” Blake looked around the table guiltily, “It’s just we have obligations there. I need to check on some possible work and I know that Sally’s probably wanting to check on the progress of the rebuilding of the bookstore and well…there’s Harry. I’m sure he likes having the house to himself, but he’s got to be getting lonely. I mean, if there is something you need me to do, I could check on things from here, but it would kind of be nice to get home.”

“Yes. I can certainly understand that. I wish you didn’t live on the other side of the country. I’ve been enjoying having such a full house. Go and take care of your obligations. We’ll keep you posted on anything that arises.”

“You’re sure, Uncle Dominic…It’s okay if you need us to stay,” Blake clarified.

“Don’t be silly. We’ll call if we need you,” Dominic assured him.

“If you are sure. Would it be okay if I took a bit of “red elixir” with me?” Blake said as he winked at his uncle. It took a second for Dominic to register that Blake was talking about the new shipment of blood that had arrived that morning.

“Sure…sure…take what you need.”

“Thanks…we’re out and with all the excitement I’ve not been able to get a call in to Dr. Rowe for a shipment.”

“Not a problem at all,” Dominic obliged.

“Thanks…then I should start making arrangements for flights,” Blake said. As he looked back at Mark, who was still shoveling food into his mouth at an astonishing rate, he continued, “Slow down there, Mark, you’re eating like a pi….” As the word started to come out of Blake’s mouth, Mark looked up in despair as he knew what Blake was about to say, and before the last letter of the word rolled off of Blake’s lips, Mark’s body started to convulse and blur around the edges. “….piiigggg.”

Mark dropped to the floor and the whole of his body blurred. As all looked on in astonishment, he turned into a full grown hog. He squealed in frustration at his onlookers and all their dropped jaws.

Alyssa got up from her chair and said as she herded the large swine out of the room, “This is going to take some getting used to.”

Nobody replied to her comment, but all agreed.

“Well, this was an enlightening meal, but I think I will take my leave check on Darby and maybe do some more research,” Dominic said as he excused himself from the table. With that, the rest of the attendees filtered out of the room and onto other matters of the day.

Dominic headed for his study, hoping to find more information about how Katarina was progressing as she came off a couple of decades of medication. He felt almost obsessed. Every chance he got during the day, he ran to the computer to check if there were any email messages from the doctor he has procured for her.

Ever since Darby and Devon’s engagement party when he and Josh first talked about his mother, he hadn’t been able to stop thinking about those carefree fall days on the Minnesota campus when he fell in love with a bright and beautiful grad student. He never thought his heart would warm again after losing his sweet Sophia, but he had never expected Cupid’s arrow to pierce his soul with such impact, and he was most certainly not looking for it when it happened. Never had he had such a rapport with someone so young.

But it was his love for her that made him leave so many years ago. He had thought he would be doing her a disservice in getting her wrapped up in a world of vampires. He wanted her to have a normal life - one that would enable her to have a normal love, a normal family, and all that comes with it. If he had even suspected that she had been pregnant, he would have never let her endure it alone.

Now that he’d found her once again, all the feelings from before came flooding back, stronger and more intense than he ever thought imaginable. Was it that he had loved her all this time, but just wouldn’t allow those feelings to surface? Or was it just the anticipation of confronting her with the truth in hopes that she might feel the same for him after all this time?

He felt sure that was wishful thinking. How could she possibly be happy about being locked away, having her child taken from her, and missing out on life? After all, this was all his fault. If he had kept tabs on her, he might have suspected the pregnancy and could have intervened. He wondered how everything had gotten so complicated. Chances were that she might not recover from the years of being locked away and so heavily medicated. Even with this specialist he’d found for her, it might be too late.
Poor Katarina
, he thought.
How could I have done this to her?

A knock at the door jolted him from his thoughts of Katarina and his computer email box. “Come in,” he said as he closed his laptop.

Josh entered, “Is this a bad time?”

“Not at all, my boy. Come in. Sit down. What can I do for you?”

“Well, it’s not really what you can do for me; its more that I wanted to let you know something,” Josh said.

“And what might that be?” Dominic asked.

“Well, I wanted to let you know that I’m making flight arrangements for Lanie and me to visit my parents in a couple of days.”

“Oh. Everything is okay, I hope,” Dominic replied, a little concerned.

“Oh no…everything is fine; I just want to introduce them to Lanie,” Josh answered.

“That’s a big step in a man’s life. Bringing a young woman home to meet the parents usually means you plan on making her a permanent part of your life,” Dominic said.

“Exactly. She has no parents for me to ask for permission…” Josh started.

“Whoa…permission? Are you planning on asking her to marry you?” Dominic asked.

“I am,” Josh announced.

“Don’t you think it’s a bit soon for that? I mean, what’s the rush?” Dominic wondered.

“No rush. I just think it’s right, so why wait?”

“This doesn’t have anything to do with the ‘virgin’ issue does it?” Dominic asked.

“The what? No. I can’t believe he told you. No,” Josh said in a huff and started to get up.

“Josh. Wait. I’ve handled this badly…please sit down,” Dominic apologized.

Josh turned reluctantly, and then plopped down in the chair once more.

“Please don’t be upset with Anton. He revealed the contents of your conversation mostly because he was so thrilled to have you confide in him and well, when he said you confided in him on a most personal matter, it just kind of came out. It was not intentional.

“You are a grown man, and you certainly don’t need a wanna-be dad telling you what you should do with your life; you already have a father for that. I adore Melanie and I’m glad you’ve found each other. I think you match up well and I have no doubt that she will be wonderful and caring wife.

“I’m sorry for stepping out of bounds. If you should ever want my opinion, I will be here for you. I promise to try and not be too fatherly. If you will, though, allow a suggestion?” Dominic asked.

Josh shrugged in agreement.

“No worries. This has nothing to do with Melanie or marriage.” Dominic smiled, hoping to get Josh to smile back. He did. “Instead of flying to your parents, why don’t you have them fly out to Connecticut? They can stay here. It would be for purely selfish reasons on my part, as I am dying to meet them and hear about your childhood. Do you think that they would agree to such a thing?”

“I’m sure they would like to meet you too; I just don’t want to put you out. You’ve already done so much for me and Lanie already,” Josh answered.

“Well, whether you think of me as family or not, I would like to be a part of your life and meeting your parents would mean a lot to me,” Dominic relayed.

“I don’t see how I can say no to that…except…what about the vampire thing?” Josh asked.

“Unless you want them to know, I don’t see why they have to be told. It’s up to you on what you think they can handle, or what you want them to know about us,” Dominic assured.

“Okay. I’ll ask them and let you know,” Josh said. “And I’m sorry I acted defensively to your questions. Maybe there is some truth to me rushing things a bit for the reasons you mentioned. I want to do the right thing by her. She deserves that.”