The Purity of Blood: Volume I (61 page)

Somehow I had to
wonder if Ben would still be interested in me.
 
Our major interactions always seemed to be in response to something
Daniel was involved in.
 
The incident in
the bushes, the trip to the caves, our kiss – were all because of Daniel.
  
I smiled as it occurred to me that Daniel
didn’t like me spending time with Ben, yet strangely he always seemed to be the
one that pushed me towards him.
 
If I
ended up with Ben, we would only have Daniel to thank for it, and it pleased me
immensely knowing that this would piss Daniel off something awful.

I ached inside
for
my
Daniel, but some small part of
me felt freed.
 
I was free from the
nagging doubts I’d carried around ever since we’d first met.
 
He was so superior to me in beauty, grace and
intellect that I’d always known it was only a matter of time before he left me
for someone like himself.
 
He professed
undying love, but realistically I didn’t see how that could possibly be.
 
It’s amazing the capacity we humans have to
lie to ourselves.
 
I guess I wanted to
believe that he loved me so badly that I allowed myself to completely ignore
how utterly illogical it was for him to do so.

As my worst
fears had found their confirmation over the past few days, it was somehow a
relief to know that I had been correct.
 
That even though my feelings would remain forever unchanged, I no longer
had to carry around that ticking time bomb of a burden that made me hold back
parts of my life from him.
 
If he were
going to leave me someday, – and even while my heart happily lived in denial,
in my mind I’d always known this to be true – then why lay bare my inner most
being to someone, who in the end would only leave me in his wake?

Much to my disappointment, when all was said and done, I
agreed with the Professor.
 
Good things didn’t
happen when vampires got involved with humans.

Just as the sun started to peak
through the windows, I found myself awake.
 
Rolling over, I looked around.
 
The room was chilly and dimly lit by the faint light filtering in
through the windows.
 
I’d survived the
night.
 
Now I had to face today.
 
I leaned up and stretched.
 
The house was filled with stale air while the
distinct smell of ashes from last night’s fire clung to my hair and
clothes.
 

Dragging myself
from the protection of my warm sleeping bag, I changed, ate an apple and took a
bucket of water onto the back porch to wash up.
 
After I finished I spent some time putting my sleeping bag, duffle and
miscellaneous odds and ends into an upstairs closet, then put my food supplies
away in an upper kitchen cabinet.
 
Not
that there was much chance of it happening but if someone did happen by, I
didn’t want it immediately obvious that someone was squatting in the
house.
 
The only items I left out were my
laptop, the newspaper and my backpack full of what I’d want to take with me if
I needed to make a run for it in a hurry.
 

When I finished,
I took a bottle of water and the paper and sat down on the front stoop to get
some air.
 
It was a still morning.
 
Not even a breath of a breeze could be found
to rustle the tall grasses that covered the front lawn.
 
It was more than peaceful.
 
It was as if this place had no memory of the
horrific series of events that had brought me here.
 
Which I suppose it didn’t.

After reading
the front page, I looked out over the remains of what was probably once a
nicely mowed field of green.
 
The tall
grass and weeds that had taken over hid crickets who seemed to have just woken
up along with an owl in a tree on the other side of the rock wall.

The paper was
full of depressing news.
 
Like local news
on television, it seemed more like a crime report than reporting anything that
seemed really news worthy.
 
I had just
started on the crossword puzzle when the peacefulness of my morning was
interrupted by a sound.
 
It wasn’t an
animal; it sounded more like a distant car.
 
That seemed strange since I hadn’t heard the sound of even a single car
since I’d arrived.
 
I had to assume I was
too far from any roads to hear them, so where was this sound coming from.
 
Getting up, I went back into the house and
pulled my handgun out of my backpack on the kitchen table.
 
The
Glock
32 had
been a birthday present from my Dad on my eighteenth birthday.
  
Only Dad would have it engraved
Sara, Don’t shoot yourself in the foot –
Love, Dad
on the barrel.

Not taking any
chances, I quietly went out the back door and crept along the back of the house
to where I could easily peak around the corner.
 
From this vantage point I could see anything that decided to come up the
driveway.
 
I held my breath as I took the
safety off my
Glock
and listened for any signs of
life in the vicinity.
 
It was quiet, but
in my gut I illogically could feel something approaching.
 
I gripped the weapon with both hands and
prepared myself for I wasn’t even sure what.
  
All I knew was that I had to be careful not to shoot a stray hiker or
real estate agent that might come up for a look.
 
But I also was well aware that even a second’s
hesitation with my hunter would most likely leave me dead in the tall grass
without even the luxury of time to consider what mistakes I’d made.
 

Standing there
with my back against the old wooden shingles, I prayed for help from
above.
 
It’s hard to live with yourself
after you’ve shot someone even if you didn’t kill them, but most especially
when you had.
  
They were experiences
that can haunt your dreams with dark images you’d just as soon forget as they
often did mine.

Closing my eyes,
I held my breath and tried to listen again.
 
Again I heard nothing, but I felt the ominous approach of something
strangely familiar.
 
Was this the hunter
whose movements I was unlikely to hear before it was too late?
 
The silence said it probably wasn’t a human
coming up the driveway and crossing onto the lawn.
 

I desperately
wanted to peek around the corner to look with my eyes, but knew that if I was foolish
enough to do so, that it would most likely be the last thing I did.
 
I closed my eyes again and didn’t listen to the
sounds in the air, but felt compelled to reach out with my mind.
 
It was coming towards the house.
 
Whatever my fate was, it was quickly
approaching me here on this hilltop in this place with no memory.
 
Perhaps it would make one today.
 
I smiled an inappropriate smile when it
occurred to me that its first may well be my last.

No matter what
was coming, I wasn’t going down without a fight, that much was for
certain.
 
It was about to come around the
corner now.
 
I didn’t need my eyes to see
that.
 
Acting purely on instinct, I
suddenly opened my eyes and flung myself around the corner, weapon held out in
front of me aimed chest high at the oncoming attacker.

My finger was
about to pull the trigger on the dark figure in front of me when his hand came
up in a blur and wrenched the gun out of my grasp.

“What the hell
are you doing?” he exclaimed in a mix of surprise and anger.
 
“You’re going to hurt yourself with that
thing.”
 

With Daniel staring
down at me, eyes a blaze with some dark emotion, I found myself breathing a
sigh of relief, although I wasn’t sure why.

The Professor
walked around him in his usual casual way, took the gun out of Daniel’s hand
and handed it back to me.
      

“She knows what
she’s doing,” he said calmly as he walked past us looking around at the yard
and barns beyond.

Taking the gun
from him, I put the safety back on and tucked it into the back of my
jeans.
 

“You know, that
wouldn’t have stopped a blood hunter,” Daniel said angrily.

“I know, but I’d
hoped it would slow him down long enough for me to get to the car.”

“Yeah, where’s
my car by the way?” he shot back

He was
pissed.
 
I’d messed with his baby.
 
The car, I knew he loved.
 
Me, it seemed doubtful.

I nodded in the
direction of the barn where I’d stashed it and watched as he stalked off in
that direction.

“How did you
find me?” I asked a beat later, trying to catch up with his quick step.

“Your
laptop.
 
We traced your IP address when
you connected to the satellite internet.
 
Your computer has a built in GPS.”

Damn
, I thought to myself shaking my
head, should have known better.
 
Daniel
pulled back the huge barn door with ease and lifted the tarp to inspect his
car.
  
I watched from just outside the
door as he circled the car with an irate scowl on his face.
 
He hadn’t asked me if I was alright yet.
 
He didn’t even seem to care.
 
So why was he here?
 

I looked over my
shoulder to see the Professor walking around the backyard with a disapproving scowl
on his face.
 
He seemed to be inspecting
the barns and the rest of the yard with a strangely critical eye.
 
What was he up to, I wondered.

Daniel,
satisfied that I hadn’t damaged his car, walked out of the barn to stand by my
side.
 
He followed my gaze over to the
Professor, and we both watched as he seemed to inspect the property inch by
inch.

“Why did you
come?” I asked, without looking up at Daniel.
 

“Why do you
think?
 
I couldn’t let you run off to be
slaughtered.
 
We wouldn’t let you.”
 
He still sounded mad as hell.

My eyes still on
the Professor, I asked “Why does he seem to care about me so much?”

I looked up to
see Daniel take a deep breath, but he didn’t answer.
 
He didn’t look as angry as before, maybe more
worried.

“This is why I
wonder why you’re here.
 
You say you
care, but you don’t seem to care enough to tell me the truth.
 
What could possibly be so horrible that you
can’t tell me after telling me you’re vampires?”

Confused and
angry at his silent response, I turned and stalked off towards the house
leaving him standing in front of the old barn.
 
Letting the back door slam shut behind me, I walked through the kitchen,
into the living room and over to the fireplace.
 
Raising my hand, I placed it against the cool stones and felt their solidity
beneath my soft flesh.
 
This was real,
this love for my history, my family.
 
It
was one of the things that gave me strength, and in that moment I leaned on it
for support.
 

Behind me I
heard the hinges of the back door creak open, but I didn’t move.
 
Why couldn’t they just go away and leave me
in peace?

“Sara?”
 
Daniel’s voice echoed softly in the
rafters.
  
He didn’t sound angry
now.
 
I didn’t turn, but I heard him walk
over and come to a stop beside me.
 
Out
of the corner of my eye I saw him raise his hand as if to place it on my
shoulder, but he stopped himself before it made contact.
 
I hated myself for what I was feeling.
 
What I wanted to do more than anything was to
whirl around and bury my head in his chest like I had so many times
before.
 
I wanted to find my safe place
inside his arms one last time.
 
But I
knew it was only an illusion now, and I needed to hold my ground against the
overwhelming pull of my feelings for him.
 
Again, I felt the pain in my heart ebb forward like a relentless tide
that threatened to overtake me.
 

I guess unable
to verbalize what it was he wanted to say, Daniel turned and started towards
the back of the house.
 
But before he got
more than a few steps away, I heard the knob on the front door twist, and
turned to see the Professor.
 
Opening the
door, he stopped in the doorway for a long moment and peered into the house
with a wary eye.
 
We watched as he
hesitantly entered and looked around the room with a dubious almost disgusted
expression on his face.
 
I didn’t
understand what was wrong with him, but I could feel a strange malevolent anger
simmering just below his surface.
 
He
walked into the center of the room and, putting his hands on his hips, we
watched as his expression turned suddenly sour.
 
When he turned towards the newer addition onto the house his jaw
dropped.