Alpha Vampire Romance: Vampire’s Mate (Paranormal Shapeshifter Alpha Demon Vampire Romance) (Coming of Age Werewolf BBW Shifter Women’s Fiction Short Stories) (4 page)

Chapter 9

The following night, Dallin walked through the town with Gavin, his patrol partner for the night.  Gavin was a few years older than Dallin, but there was a world of difference between the two men.  Gavin, who had never worked in his life and was born to a life of privilege, had spent most of his days playfully wielding a sword in his pursuit of knighthood. 

Within minutes, Dallin realized that Gavin had a greater chance of becoming a king than he did of becoming a night.  He talked incessantly about all things regarding swords, yet the moves he showed off to Dallin as they began their patrol reminded Dallin of games he’d seen the young boys play amongst themselves.

If Gavin were to show his
skills
to a real knight, Dallin imagined that the only reaction would be laughter so forceful that the knight would certainly fall from his horse. 

Dallin let Gavin drone on.  As much as the young man’s bravado annoyed Dallin, the constant chatter was distracting and helped pass the time.

They came to a fork in the road and Gavin went left. 

“Are we meant to go this way?”  Dallin asked and looked down at the map in his hands that outlined the different quadrants to be patrolled.

“It matters not.  All we must do is stay out here for the night, waiting for a vampire to show itself. 
If
we see one, we’ll simply dispatch of it and be on our way.”

Gavin chuckled under his breath and Dallin wondered if he’d gone mad.  What was the point of having a plan if the sentries were incapable of following said plan?

Gavin continued and Dallin was tempted to leave the man to his folly.  But they had been ordered to never separate, and Dallin knew that somehow, Gavin would blame
him
if they were caught.  Swearing under his breath, Dallin followed Gavin north through the heavily wooded forest.

Gavin’s monologue continued and Dallin thought to himself that they would never be able to hear a vampire coming if the man didn’t shut up soon.

Gavin finally exhausted himself nearly an hour into their patrol.  The silence was almost deafening.  Dallin looked at the sky, mentally ticking off the time in his head.

“We’ve been out for more than an hour, I believe it is time to return to the village.”

He looked up to see if Gavin agreed, but the man was standing in place, his feet rooted to the ground and his face slack with fear.  He stared over Dallin’s shoulder with his mouth hanging open, but no words came out.

The hair stood on the back of Dallin’s neck, and too late, he turned.  His hand went to his stake an instant before a large form slammed into him, taking him to the ground.

The stake rolled out of his hand and came to rest just out of his reach.  The large man snarled above him and Dallin struggled to hold him at bay with one hand, while searching blindly in the dark with the other.

“Gavin.  Help.  Quick, hand me my stake.  Or kill him.” 

Gavin stood stock still, staring at the pair grappling on the ground.  Dallin tried to break the spell, but gave up, focusing on fighting the vampire.  Liquid spattered on the hard ground and the smell that filled the air was unmistakable.  Dallin didn’t have to look at Gavin to know the man had wet himself in fear.  The vampire stopped for a moment, looking at Gavin, who screeched in fear at the sight of the monster.

Suddenly, able to move, Gavin turned and fled, leaving Dallin to fend for himself.  The brief moment the vampire was distracted had given Dallin the moment he needed to grab the stake.  He held it tightly in his hand, but the vampire was too close.  He stabbed wildly in the air around the figure, trying to connect with tissue and get him to move so that he could find the heart.

The vampire reared back as Dallin stabbed the man in the neck.  Blood seeped slowly out of the wound and the vampire lunged toward Dallin, mouth wide.  The pain was all-consuming and for a moment, Dallin couldn’t figure out the source of the pain. 

He continued to flail blindly with the stake, but the vampire’s closeness gave him access to his back.  With a scream, Dallin shoved the stake between the vampire’s shoulder blades with all his might as he felt the life draining out of him.

The vampire stopped abruptly, his face bewildered an instant before he dissolved into dust and floated away on the wind.

Dallin stood slowly, wiping the blood from his face and mouth, spitting onto the ground in front of him.  His neck was on fire and his head was pounding, but he was alive.  He stumbled through the woods, heading back in the general direction of the village.

He tripped over his own feet more than once, but he pushed on until he saw the light of his own cottage in the distance.  Dallin was close, so very close, but he was fading fast.

The blood rushed in his ears and he stumbled to the ground.  He felt strong hands on him an instant before he lost consciousness, but he didn’t have time to wonder who it was before the darkness claimed him.

Chapter 10

Dallin awoke hours later, his body on fire and raging with fever.  He blinked away the haze, squinting to see in the bright light that filled his small room.

He was lying on his bed, shirt removed, a soft voice talking to him gently.  When his eyes opened fully, he saw Esther staring back at him, her face tight with concern.

“Dallin.  I thought I’d lost you.”  With that, she burst into tears of relief, dipping a rag into the bowl of cold water she held and tending to his wound.

“What happened?”  Dallin’s voice cracked and his mouth was dry.  He was incredibly thirsty, and when he swallowed, he felt as if the lining of his throat was sandpaper catching itself.

“Gavin came back to the village, screaming that you’d been killed and blubbering like a buffoon.  He’s still with the town doctor.  His mother said her son was addled and would never be the same again.  Oh Dallin, I was beside myself with grief when I saw you in the dark, stumbling toward your home.  Your father carried you here and I slipped away from the crowd, undetected.”

She grabbed his hand, held it to her lips and kissed him tenderly.

“Dallin, I have never been so frightened in my life.  I’m so glad you’re all right.”

Dallin pulled his hand away from her, struggling with the thirst building within him.  The sound of rushing blood filled his ears, even as his heartbeat slowed.

“Dallin, what’s wrong?”

He motioned to the bite on his neck, shielding his eyes against the morning sun with his other arm.

“It’s alright, Dallin.  If you were going to turn, it would have happened by now.”

Dallin sat up, putting his feet on the floor and trying to stand.  Esther protested, but he pushed on, stumbling toward the door and pushing through it, into the sunlight.

His skin felt afire and he fought to stay upright.  He moved quickly, heading for the gate and the forest beyond.  Esther followed him, shouting his name and trying to keep up.

From the other side of the square, Dallin heard the collective gasp of those gathered, though hearing something that far away should have been impossible.  Almost as one, the crowd realized that something was wrong and the single shout of “after him!” echoed in his ears.

He ran.  His steps quicker than before.  Dallin could hear Esther behind him, and close on her heels was the crowd, screaming for his blood.

Dallin ran for his life, heading for the one place that stuck out in his mind; the clearing where he and Esther always met.  Stumbling, running and nearly falling, he could hear her calling to him.  He was running from her as much as the crowd, trying to protect her from himself as his body transformed beneath his flesh.

He burst through the thicket and into the clearing, but Esther was right behind him, heedless of the danger that she’d placed herself in.

“Esther, you must leave.  I am a danger to you.”

She stood before him, defiant, her red hair framing her face like an angry flame.

“I will never leave your side, Dallin.  You would never harm me.  Our love is stronger than this evil, you
must
fight it.”

He tried, the pain of his need for her life’s blood physically draining him.  He fought the hunger, and the tremendous thirst. 

Behind her, the first villagers pushed through the trees and into the clearing.  Stakes held high, their faces full of fear, they advanced on him.

Someone shouted for Esther to move, but she refused.  The group stood in a half-circle around them, both too afraid to advance on Dallin, and much too afraid to let him escape. 

Dallin’s throat was on fire, the smell of so much heat and blood overwhelmed him.  He wanted to grab the nearest man and drain him of every drop of blood within him, but he wrestled against the need and held fast.  He had Esther to think of.

Gavin stood in the front of the group, his face twisted with rage.  Dallin caught his eyes and sneered at him.

“I thought you’d gone daft with fear.  Did you tell the others how you wet yourself and ran like a frightened girl?”

Gavin roared with anger, shouting, “Liar!”  He lunged at Dallin.  Gavin aimed his stake at Dallin’s heart, and Dallin closed his eyes, ready for the sweet release of death.

A sickening, wet sound filled the air and Dallin was shocked that he felt no pain.  He opened his eyes, wanting to watch Esther’s sweet face for his last moment before he burst into ashes and into oblivion, when he heard a heavy thud. 

Esther lay on the ground in front of him, stake protruding from her chest, light already fading from her eyes.  The metallic smell of her blood assaulted his nostrils and he railed against his need to drink. 

His hands reached out, cupping Esther’s face as Gavin’s wail sounded, more distant than it should have been. 

Esther reached out, her cold hand against his cheek, her eyes locked with his.

“Dallin Upchurch, I will wait for you, from here to eternity.”  With a shudder, her heart stopped and her head fell limp.

Dallin stood, rage exploding within him.  The midday sun burned his skin, but it was nothing compared to the pain in his heart.

He lashed out at the villagers gathered there, grabbing the closest one and tearing into him without drinking a drop.  He cast the man aside and reached out with both hands, plucking two men from the small group and slamming them together so forcefully that they died instantly.

Only three men remained and one was Gavin.  Gavin, who had left him for dead in the woods.  Gavin, who had killed his one true love. 

Dallin focused on Gavin, and the other two men took the moment to flee, neither looking back.  Dallin picked Gavin off the ground and threw him against a tree, leaping into the air and closing the distance between them. 

He moved in until he was inches from Gavin’s face and kept his voice low and menacing.

“I will not kill you today, but someday I will.  I will come for you when you’re least prepared.”  He took a breath and waited, enjoying the terror he saw in the coward’s eyes.  “And I will take my time with you.  You will know the pain that you’ve caused me today, and you will never sleep soundly again.  I will come after you.  Until then, never forget that all of this death-this is all because of you.”

He turned his back on Gavin, his eyes settling on his sweet Esther as she lay on the ground where they’d shared tender kisses so recently. 

Gavin ran through the woods, heading straight for the village.  Dallin didn’t pay him any mind.

He knelt beside Esther, holding her wrist against his mouth.  He bit her, draining, pulling all the blood from her before he sliced his own wrist with one sharp fang. 

He held the wound against her lips, tears streaming down his face as he begged her to take a sip.  Only one drop of the vampire’s blood had entered his mouth, and it had been enough.  If he could get her to drink just a drop, she would live for eternity.

He yanked the stake from her breast, screaming in anguish before he attempted once more to force his blood past her lips and down her throat.

But she was long dead, and nothing he did would revive her.  He laid out beside her, willing the torturous sun to end his life and release him from his pain.

Still hungry and fading fast, he fell into blessed darkness beside his love.

Epilogue

A soft voice called to him in the distance, and he blinked in the waning afternoon sun.  His skin was hot, but he was still very much alive.

He shook his head, trying to shake off Esther’s voice calling to him.  But it wasn’t Esther. 

With a start he jolted awake, dragging Esther’s body backwards as he moved away from the cloaked figure before him. 

Her face was barely visible in the shade of her heavy garment, but something about her seemed so familiar.  Confused, he looked down to see if Esther was still there. 

She was as dead as he’d left her, and the pain welled inside him once more.  Unimpeded by the stranger before him, he wailed softly and buried his face in Esther’s hair, inhaling the scent of her.

A hand touched his shoulder, and he was surprised by the contact.  He turned, looking again into the large hood and trying to see the face in the outline.

“Shh, Dallin.  Don’t weep.”

“Do I know you?”

The woman chuckled, reaching out with her gloved hand to wipe the tears from his cheeks tenderly.  A memory pulled at him, but his head was spinning from the grief and hunger.

“Sweet Dallin, do you not recognize your own mother?”

He sucked in a breath, watching with trepidation as she slowly pulled back the hood.  The sunlight hit her skin, which immediately reddened with the contact.  She replaced the hood, but he’d seen enough.

Genevieve Upchurch was indeed sitting before him, looking very much like she had the last time he had seen her.

“You’re a vampire?”  His voice was incredulous, and he almost laughed at himself.  It wasn’t hard to believe, considering what he was becoming.

“Come now, my child.  We don’t have time to dawdle.”

Dallin stood, bending down to scoop Esther up.  Genevieve shook her head.

“We can’t take her.  I know your heart aches with a pain that won’t be healed, but there’s nothing to be done for her.  She is gone from this world and beyond saving.”

She looked around, grabbed his hand and dragged him further into the clearing and north, toward the part of the forest that was forbidden.  Dallin could hear movement in the woods behind him, but the source was impossibly far away. 

Their legs moved swiftly beneath them, and already they were miles away from where he’d left Esther’s body.  He tried to stop, but Genevieve pulled him.

“We cannot pause.  We’ve more dangerous enemies than mere humans.”

“Where are we going, Mother?”  He tried to yank his hand from her grasp, but she was impossibly strong and his heart wasn’t truly in it.

“Home.”

THE END