My Love Forever (The Night Movers Vampire Series Book 1) (15 page)

He was now sixty years old and I asked him why he hadn’t wanted to become immortal like us. He said that as he would not have been a born vampire, he would instead become a made vampire which would mean he couldn’t walk in the sun, as that would kill him.”

“He said it was too late now anyway, as he wouldn’t want to be a sixty year old man forever. “

“The conversation made me want to know more about the differences between being a born or made immortal so one day whilst out hunting I asked father.”

“He told me how to turn a human into a made vampire, by drinking their blood to the point of imminent death then giving them our blood.

He seemed irritated as he said he had told me all this before.

I said I had forgotten and I wanted to make sure I knew the difference in case I had to battle with one.

He said after the exchange of blood the human becomes immortal like us, but they could be killed by driving a wooden or metal stake through their hearts and burning their bodies.

He also said that if a made vampire was exposed to enough bright sunlight they would die a painful death, burning slowly from the inside out, although after many years they too are able to tolerate bright sunlight for a short time.

He said that a born immortal could never be killed by any means and that is why we were far superior than a made vampire.

I did not question him any further and he did not offer me any other information either.”

“One day nearly a year after Freya’s family had died; Anya came running to our home to let us know that Gamall was gravely ill.”

“We hurried over to father and Gamall’s home and the sight shocked us both. Gamall was very pale and his lips were blue.

He was gasping for breath and holding his chest but smiled when he saw us. Sebbi was by his bedside bathing his brow with a cloth. He looked at us both and begged us to convince Gamall to be a made vampire.

Freya Immediately said no, and that we should respect his wishes to pass into the next world, but Sebbi still looked at me to side with him and force Gamall to change his mind. But I shook my head and dropped to my knees beside his bed with Freya.”

“She moved fathers hand from Gamall’s brow and kissed him gently and I did the same. We both told him that we loved him and that we would hold him forever in our thoughts.

Before we could say anything else he clutched our hands, and then gasped his last breath.”

“Father was both distraught and enraged that we had not begged Gamall to become a made vampire and he started to throw furniture and other items around the room. I had to wrestle him away from Gamall’s body but he fought me, like he meant to cause me harm.”

“Freya yelled, “Father we need comfort from you, today of all days, when our uncle has left this life, so be a father to us and not a savage who beats his children.”

“This made my father pause and he looked at Freya closely before saying, “For a year you have not wanted comfort from your father, and you suffered then over your losses. What makes you want your father now?” “It is perhaps on a day like this, time to think about who is important to us. I know you will grieve the passing of your friend father and I will try to give you comfort at this time.” “Daughter,” was all my father said as he went to Freya and held her closely.”

“I looked on at them in this strange surreal moment that I thought may never happen again.”

“And that’s when I knew who held the most power in our family.

She was the smallest of us all, but had stopped us fighting with mere words.”

“The villagers came together to build a funeral pyre as befitting a noble Viking, and each of them left gifts with Gamall’s body to take to the afterlife.

As he was not a warrior he would not go to the hall of Valhalla in Asgard, but to us he was more important than any esteemed fighter and I was touched by the love everyone in the village had for him.”

“A week after Gamall’s passing Freya went out on one of her long daily walks.

I had been concerned about her strange behaviour over the last few days so I followed her, staying far enough away that she wouldn’t be able to scent me.”

“She met with a young man from our village who was a great hunter. I watched as she spoke to him, and then nearly fell over with shock when she started to fight with him. I knew she wasn’t in any immediate danger as she was much stronger than any human, but I was impressed with her fighting skills nonetheless. “

“The way she threw him, pinned him, and then jumped away to let him get to his feet again was quick and practiced, and I knew that Freya had been doing this for some time. When the fighting finally came to an end Freya hugged him and then fed from his wrist.”

“I waited till the young man got into his cart and left before I joined Freya.”

“Sister, what is going on? Why do you need to learn to fight? I will always protect you, and anyway, we cannot be killed Freya, father told me.”

“Yes, he told me the same. Did you believe him Aðalbrandr?” “Why would he lie to us Freya? It serves no purpose.” “Why indeed brother?”

“I didn’t answer her. I couldn’t understand why she was doing this. A woman should never need to fight. She kept home and made babies, although thinking about that statement I could see why Freya had started to choose a new path.

I wondered whether Gamall had known about her learning to fight and I knew he must have.”

“When we got back to the house Freya began to prepare our meal and she asked if I would sharpen the axe as it was getting a little blunt. I did as she asked, then chopped more wood for the fire. I went to change my shirt before we ate and found Freya covering up the woodpile with a wool blanket. I joked that she did not have to keep the wood warm and she laughed along with me, saying that it was nice to cover it up as it made the room look pretty.”

“Father came round as he had done every night since Gamall’s death, we sat and ate a hearty meal, then Freya got up to clear away our dishes.”

“The next thing I knew Freya was stood behind father asking him why he had compelled someone to set fire to her home. Father spun round to face her and denied her accusation but she persisted questioning him about that night and then pushed him so hard he fell to the floor.”

“I felt like I was watching all this from a distance, and in slow motion, but when father leapt back up to Freya I dove forward to grab him.

I heard him scream out in pain.  His feet gave way, and Freya pulled her hand away from his chest, blood covering her fingers.

Freya pushed me out of the way and pinned father to the floor, pushing a long metal tool further into his chest.”

“This tool belonged to my beloved husband who you murdered. It is fitting that I use it to help you meet your end.”

“No Freya,” sputtered father, “you cannot do this, I cannot die, I am immortal.”

“You can die father; I know what I have to do. You killed my husband and children. It isn’t right that you get to live a long life while they are cold and dead in the ground.”

“I didn’t mean for Brisa to die. I loved her. She was blood of my blood. I tried to save her, you know this.”

“But she is dead father, by your hands. Why did you do it? Why did you kill my family?”

“Your husband was stopping you becoming immortal. He would rather you face death as an old lady instead of life still young and beautiful.”

“But I would have rather faced death as an old lady, having known true love, family, children and grandchildren than the immortal life you offered.

I did not want this father. Now I have to mourn the loss of my family forever.”

“With that she stood and lifted the blanket off the wood pile, revealing the axe I had sharpened earlier.

“No,” I yelled and made a grab for the axe, but she kicked my hand away and lifted the axe into the air”.

“Aðalbrandr,” my father shouted, “Stop her son, she doesn’t know what she is doing.”

“Oh I know exactly what I am doing father. I rendered you weak with a stake to your heart and now I shall cut off your head before I burn you until there is nothing left. I studied well with Gamall this past year. He had been informed by Colton how a born immortal who had taken blood could be killed. I used mind control on each of the unsuspecting villagers to find out what they were doing the night the fire had started, and I found the one that you had compelled. I did not kill the man. It wasn’t his fault he just did your bidding.” She said as she raised the axe.”

“Freya, think what you are doing. Do you want to live with the death of your father on your conscience? Once done you cannot take this back.”

“How well I know this brother, for I live it every day. Even though it was not what I wanted. But I will never be able to carry on knowing that my father murdered my family. If I do not do this to him tonight then you must promise that you will end me.”

“No, Freya I could never do that. I only chose this life because father made you take the blood, I cannot live it without you.”

“He took the choice away from both of us that night; he knew what you would do when I had taken the blood. I would bet you tried to stop him.”

“Yes I did try. I knew you would hate him for it.”
“Well now you know everything I hate him for, so you must understand why I have to do this. Please Aðalbrandr, help me finish him.”

“I looked down at my father who had blood pouring from his mouth, and then I looked back to Freya and nodded my head.”

“She removed his head with one swing of the axe and then quickly moved it from his body. She took the same blanket she had covered the woodpile with and asked me to help her wrap his body in it. She told me we needed to burn him until there was nothing left but ash, so I picked up his body and carried it to the cart.”

“I tethered the pony to the cart as quickly as I could and Freya placed father’s head in a basket and covered it up.

She went back into the house to bring a burning torch of wood. She placed it into a metal cone that was attached to our cart as we would need it to start a fire.”

“Then we went far enough from our village so that they wouldn’t see the fire burning. We were lucky that the weather had been warm and sunny recently, so the ground was dry. After fashioning a small pyre we placed father’s head and body on it although we kept the two parts separate.”

“Freya lit the blanket and basket surrounding his body and head and we watched as the fire raged on into the night and all that was left of my father were ashes.”

I had stopped talking at that moment.

That same sickening feeling washed over me every time I relived this night. I still cannot believe I played a part in my father’s death, and I wondered if Julia would be appalled with my story.

She touched my face and kissed my lips. “You are still traumatised about that night aren’t you Alex. How did you face each other after all your fathers remains had gone?”

“It was hard for me to look at Freya. She took my hand and started shaking and saying, “Please don’t hate me brother. I could not live knowing what he had done and not seek revenge for my family. But now it is done I cannot find the peace I thought would come to me.”

“I took her in my arms and held her tightly. She was sobbing and shaking but I could find no words to comfort her. So I just continued to hold her until she stopped crying. Then I lifted her into my arms, put her in the cart beside me and set off for home.”

“Before we got there she asked me to take her to where her family were buried, so I steered the pony in that direction and took us where she had asked.”

“When we got to their grave Freya jumped down from the cart and walked over to the mound. It had flattened out over the year and the wild flowers Freya and Gamall had planted were growing in abundance.”

“Freya Dropped to her knees and touched the ground before she began to wail so loud I thought she would wake the village. She clawed at the earth screaming, “I need you to come back to me my loves; I need to feel you in my arms.”

“I ran up behind her and pulled her away from the earth before she could dig any deeper, and I held her arms to her side stopping her from moving.”

“Please Freya, you cannot do this,” I shouted. “They are gone and you have to leave them in peace. You must let them go. Not in your heart and your mind though. You can keep your memories of them and I can keep mine, but you must let their bodies rest undisturbed.”

“I cannot,” she cried.” I need to be with them. They were my life and without them I have nothing.”

“You have me dear sister, and I have you. You are my only family now. Please do not leave me. I need you to survive this life. I chose it because of you, so that you would not be alone.

Do not tell me what I did was in vain, and that you will try to leave me now.”

“Freya turned and grabbed my shoulders before saying. “I don’t know how to do it Aðalbrandr. I don’t know how to live without reason.”

“I will be your reason Freya. Let us try to live this life that we were thrown into and be good and honourable people.” She sagged in my arms and I lifted her on to the cart and took her home.”

“We talked on the way and she told me how her need for her and Gamall to find out what exactly started the fire that night enabled her to find out about our father although she said she had her suspicions about him anyway.

She told me how Gamall informed her of everything he had learned from Colton our fathers cousin, but how he was worried that she would not be strong enough to finish our father if she wanted to. So they organised for a good strong hunter/warrior to spar with her in fights. The hunter taught her how to fight with fists and weapons, and she gained more strength every day.”