Microsoft Word - TheStormyLoveLifeofLauraCordelaisSusanCfinal Read online

  "You bit me?" shouted Donovan. "I can't believe you bit me. You said you would never bite me." A thin line of blood trickled from his neck.

  "I'm sorry. I..." David tried to explain.

  "Papa," interrupted Laura. "I asked him to."

  Donovan's eyes went wide with horror. "Why did you do that?"

  She spoke in her gentlest voice, which reminded Donovan of her mother. "Papa, you were out of control. You could have had a heart attack. We just wanted to help you get your control back, that's all."

  He stood up and punched David in the jaw.

  Falling against a wall, David reached out to steady himself. He could hear every single word Donovan was thinking about him, and it wasn't good. He rubbed his jaw and gazed sadly at Laura. She heard it too.

  She sighed and reached out to her father. "Papa, it's my fault, not David's.

  Please, don't blame him. We didn't want anything bad to happen to you."

  Donovan took a step and wobbled.

  She put a hand on his shoulder to steady him. "Breathe slowly. Give yourself a few minutes to let your body adjust."

  Donovan took a deep breath and exhaled. Then another.

  "I promise you'll feel better in a few seconds."

  "Why would I feel better?"

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  "He nipped you to infuse his saliva. You'll begin to feel the euphoric effect, both healing physically and emotionally," she explained.

  He finally began to calm. Donovan took Laura's hand, and they continued following the Mach. David couldn’t help but be keenly aware of Donovan's anger toward him. The man was swearing in his mind. Laura shook her head. If only I'd had the courage to bite him myself.

  The tunnel opened up into a huge cavern of gray and black flecked stone. Along one wall, a waterfall shimmered down into a pool and disappeared beneath a white stone that sparkled with light. Round, gray stone houses surrounded the pool.

  Hundreds of the Mach made their home here. They flocked around the newcomers welcoming them with cheers and songs, dancing and laughter, which climaxed with a feast in a very large stone hall. Orange mold on the rocks in the center of the room generated light and heat. A large tray of food was placed in front of Donovan, and they entreated him to eat. In front of Laura and David, they placed goblets of blood. Even though she longed for a drink, she could not forget the Greek myths and wasn't willing to test them. She stopped her father before he took his first bite.

  "In Greek mythology, Hades, the God of the Underworld, fell in love with Persephone, daughter of the Goddess of the Earth, Demeter," said Laura. "He stole Persephone and took her to his world. When Demeter appealed to Zeus to get her daughter back, he said she could return to the living world as long as she hadn't eaten anything in the land of the dead. It turned out she had. For the four seeds she ate, she had to spend four months of every year in the Underworld. During that time, her mother mourned Persephone and made the Earth mourn with her with the end of the 209

  growing season and the barrenness of winter. Though it may only be a tale, why take chances."

  They thanked their hosts for their generosity, but explained they could not eat until their purpose was complete. Cob and the others seemed eager to talk, and Laura found it a good time to ask questions.

  "Do you know the Shining One?" asked David.

  Cob shivered. "You don't want to know him. He is the new King of the Keres, a shining countenance with an evil heart."

  "Do you know of a door leading to another world?"

  "Yes." They all nodded. "We've heard there are doors like that in the Black Palace," said Cob, "but you don't want to go there."

  "The Keres will eat you," a young Mach said.

  All the small heads nodded.

  After the feast was cleared away, Cob gave them thick green fur blankets and led them to a quiet spot in the stone hut to sleep. Laura and David chose a place close to the wall. Donovan chose a spot only a few feet away, closer to the heat source. He looked so old to her eyes. Even wrapped in Laura's coat, he shivered.

  ***

  David and Laura had just settled in, when David got up.

  "Where are you going?" she whispered.

  "I'll be back in a minute."

  He went over and sat beside Donovan. "Can I talk to you, please?"

  "Why?" Donovan grumbled, still laying down and facing the other direction.

  David cleared his throat. "I'm sorry about breaking my word to you."

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  Donovan sat up and looked at David. "How's your jaw?"

  David smiled and rubbed it. "You caught me a good one."

  Donovan chuckled then his tone grew serious. "I was mad at you. But then I got to thinking. We've been through a lot together. I know you love Laura and would do anything for her. I can understand that kind of love. I loved her mother that way. I know what you did was to help me out, and I should probably thank you for it." He paused. "Are you going to bite me again?"

  "No."

  "I guess you couldn't have used your mind control thing on me instead?"

  "I tried and you were too far out of it."

  Donovan nodded his understanding. "So is there any advantage to you biting me?"

  "Other vampires will stay away from you thinking that you're a servant of the blood. And we can mind talk."

  "Mind talk? What's that?"

  "Remember when that huge vamp attacked you at the gas station, and I spoke inside your head?"

  "Yeah."

  "Well, I could do that because I could see you. With mind talk, you could be halfway around the world and still hear me inside your head."

  "Will I be able to talk back?"

  "Yes. It's because we now have a blood tie."

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  Donovan smiled. David got up to leave, when his father-in-law added, "You know I thought about asking you to make me a vampire, but when I think of living forever without my Juliette that would be unbearable."

  David nodded. He truly understood. David went back to his place with Laura and arranged their blankets again. Just when they were all cozy, he nuzzled her ear.

  ***

  She turned slightly to look up into his eyes, which had returned to the familiar deep brown color that she found so comforting. "How are you feeling?"

  "Better since apologizing to your father."

  "I don't mean that."

  "Oh. I'll be better once we get back home. The blood of the Keres keeps trying to take control of me. It pulls at me and makes me weak. I keep fighting it. First my hand becomes a claw, then it's a hand again. The fangs keep enlarging, then shrinking. It hurts. I haven't known physical pain for over a hundred years, but I know this. Their blood cuts and burns. Laura, I don't want to be a Kere. If I change, I won't be able to go home with you when we find that door."

  Laura kissed him, and she felt his normal sized fangs with her tongue. Her hands caressed the beginning of a beard. David embraced her, pulling her tightly against him, a blanket folding over them both. Laura gazed out at the clusters here and there of sleeping Mach. It was strange to be sleeping in a large room surrounded by others. She and David were used to their privacy, and she wished she could show him how much she loved him.

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  Chapter 20

  The world shook. Stones crashed down, and the Mach screamed. Lights went out all over the cavern.

  "Something hurt the lilith," shouted a young Mach. "Run for your lives. The lilith can't protect us."

  Laura caught sight of Cob, the Mach leader. She took her father's hand and with her husband, she followed Cob and several other Mach down a long dimly lit tunnel. All of them ran from the rumbling darkness. Someone shrieked in the tunnel up ahead.

  "Please, help us. We cannot lift the stone," a female voice cried.

  David flew past and over the small people until he reached the cave-in. Carefully, he moved the large boulder. Several Mach were injured but managed to get up and continue. One lay still.

  "Can you help him?" c
ried a woman holding a sobbing child.

  Laura looked down. The boulder had crushed the Mach's head.

  "He's dead. I can't do anything for him."

  "Then for my daughter," she begged, holding out the child's flattened foot. The very small Mach screeched uncontrollably. The tunnel shook and rumbled. In their panic, people crawled over them to get away.

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  "I don't know if this will work." Laura removed the foot's covering. Her fingernails extended into talons, and she made the smallest cut on the child's foot. Then she licked it and covered the foot again. Within seconds the foot reformed.

  "She is cured."

  "Yes, but carry her," Laura said to the woman. Several Mach nearly knocked them over in their rush to escape.

  A deep roar thundered through the tunnel. Dirt and stone fell. People screamed, falling into each other in the flickering light. With each pause between the shaking, the underworld exodus continued with frantic speed as hundreds of Mach ran headlong into the darkness. David and Donovan were right behind Laura when they finally emerged, meeting the gray sky. Laura had forgotten that this world didn't know night and day, only gray.

  Climbing out onto the grass excited her. "Look! Green grass! I can't believe it's green." She sat down on it.

  "No," shouted Cob. "Get up before you take root."

  David and Donovan pulled her to her feet. Far behind them in the distance was the city and ahead a dark forest. Whenever Laura paused and looked down at her feet, the grass moved like a million squirming worms. She stepped lively again.

  The grass died at the forest line. The Mach continued their trek along a well-worn path into the dark wood. Laura caught up with Cob.

  "Where are we going?"

  "To beg shelter of the Latt."

  "But we need to go to the Black Palace."

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  "I can't take you there. Perhaps the Latt will know another way you can return to your world." He rushed away from her into the growing expanse of dark roots and limbs. Pausing for a moment was like standing still in time, as hundreds of Mach raced into the uninviting weald.

  The Mach scurried like rabbits from bush to tree leaving the path often when something frightened them. They were right to fear. Huge monsters emerged from the shadows picking off one here, another there. Even Laura's keen vampire sight could not distinguish the exact forms of these beasts that blended with the gloom.

  When a three-eyed monster leaned over her, one hiss and a bearing of fangs sent him fleeing instead. After that the Mach huddled around the three, seeing that the beasts feared Laura.

  The wood grew darker. Thousands of tiny glowing creatures danced around them. The Mach laughed, skipping with joyful abandon as they pursued the tiny beings.

  Some left the path in their good humor jaunting after the flittering sparklers, and they didn't come back.

  One sparkler buzzed David. He swatted it. It fell to the ground, and he stepped on it. "Just because something sparkles, doesn't make it good," he grumbled pressing on.

  A sparkler caught in Laura's hair.

  "Hold still," said David, as he removed it.

  On closer inspection, the sparkler was a cross between dragonflies and glowworms. The most distinguishing and disturbing feature was its rows of shark-like teeth. David squashed it between his fingers. Grabbing Laura and her father, he urged them on faster.

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  Screams erupted in the darkness.

  Some Mach ran out to rescue their kin. Cob went too, and Laura moved to follow but David stopped her.

  "Stay on the path," he shouted to the others. But they didn't listen.

  A mad cacophony of wild stomping and yelling surrounded them on every side.

  Those that remained on the path quickly distanced themselves from the horror.

  The cries faded to whispers and then to nothing at all.

  The sparklers settled on the boughs high above the ground, providing a false starry sky. The remaining few stepped carefully over tangles of roots and through burrows of vines. Everything grew very quiet. Then every light went out. Laura turned around and with her vampire's sight realized that the Mach had vanished.

  "Laura?" Her father bumped into her in the dark and held onto her arm.

  "It's all right, Papa. Where's David?"

  He flew down and held his wife securely around the waist.

  "What's happening?" she asked.

  Before he could hazard a guess, all life paused. Laura wasn't sleepy or even tired but her body relaxed against David's as if somewhere it was daylight. Their bodies slumped together as if controlled by a light switch that someone turned off.

  Then she heard voices.

  "The Shining One wants her."

  David growled in his sleep, tightening his hold on Laura.

  She squinted. They were enclosed in a vine cage, above them dangled a flickering light source. Just outside two slender, translucent creatures stood near her. They were only slightly taller than David. Just looking at them made her cringe. Eyes stretched 216

  into two narrow, black slits. Long, narrow faces pulled into pointed chins and ears.

  Their bodies too were overly elongated and with the thin wings on their backs, they reminded her of dragonflies, fluttering nervously.

  "We should take her now before the others awaken," one said.

  "And how do you propose to do that?"

  "We could call the other Izes for help."

  "No. Then we'd have to share credit. We caught her. We alone should get the riches promised by the Shining One."

  David's eyes snapped open, still holding her.

  Laura bared her fangs. "I'm not going anywhere with you." She nudged her father, who suddenly alert sprang to his feet. Lightning tingled her fingertips. Pushing David gently away, she rushed at the face of one of the fiends. Sparks flew as she approached. Emitting a high pitched squeal of terror, they fled plunging into the darkness beyond the cage.

  Donovan trembled. "Perhaps it wasn't a good move to frighten them that way."

  "It's better that they fear us," said David. "It gives us a chance to plan our escape."

  "We're going to make plans in the dark? For all we know those things could be hovering over us listening," her father complained.

  "No." Laura looked around. "They're not here. The openings between the knotted vines are too small for even me to squeeze through. What if . . ." Laura snapped her fingers and a bolt shot out. One side of their vine cage caught fire.

  "Whoa, now we've got to get out," yelled Donovan.

  Staring at the flames, Laura smiled. "Don't worry. Hold on to me."

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  "I have a better idea," said David.

  Holding onto the two, he flew toward the top. His fangs grew into the tusks of a Kere. He bit out a large chunk of the cage, and they were free. The sky beneath the forest ceiling was dark but pinpointed by light. With Donovan between them, Laura and David flew off. The creatures pursued them, almost touching them, crying and lamenting, "Come back. Come back. The Shining One will punish us."

  As if I care, thought Laura.

  David laughed.

  They flew faster until the shrill voices of their pursuers faded. After flying for miles under the tangled canopy trying to find an opening, they stopped and rested on the high branches of a tree. Donovan struggled to hold onto a bough. He slipped, and Laura caught him just before he touched the squirming ground.

  Laura let loose a few sparks to clear a path without burning down the jungle. The terrain grew rugged as the elevation increased. Turning a corner of even denser growth, something crunched underfoot. David paused and looked more closely at the forest floor. He held up a very small skull.

  Donovan shivered and shook his head.

  "I don't understand," said Laura.

  "This is where the Mach moved on to." David threw the skull down. A ball of lightning revealed the grim landscape. As far as the eye could see, tiny skulls and bones littered the land.

&n
bsp; "I don't believe those wimpy Izes killed the Mach."

  "Maybe it was something else," said Donovan.

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  The idea of something worse out there was too much. Laura looked around.

  Delicate, fernlike tendrils sprung from the ground. David stomped on them. They squeaked and retreated beneath the soil.

  "It's never simple." She sighed.

  David picked up a bone and examined it. "Something gnawed on their bones."

  "And why are we standing around here?" asked Donovan.

  The gray sky of this world provided a welcome escape from the dark forest.

  Mountains fringed the distance, and they soared in that direction. When a white cloud grew on the horizon, they landed and moved warily up the mountain using rock and shrub for cover. Laura watched the cloud.

  "Hurry," she urged.

  Every step higher became more dangerous for Donovan, and Laura held on securely to her father. When the climb grew impassable, they joined hands and floated close to the mountain's face to avoid being seen by the Keres. The plateau above was broken by outcroppings and unexpected crevices, supplying convenient shadows in which to take refuge. But one rock jutted out into open sky where a man sat.

  The three stopped. The man did not appear to see them, his gaze set outward.

  He looked human and normal, which was unusual here. Wearing a blue flannel shirt, jeans, and oddly enough sneakers, he appeared young. His short, dark hair framed his face. His hands were callused but open.