Found (Book #8 in the Vampire Journals) (23 page)

As Caitlin felt herself grow even lighter, losing touch with her body, she knew the time had come. The time to say goodbye, to let it all go. She knew she had succeeded. She had found the keys, had found her father, had found the shield. She had found the antidote, the cure for vampirism for all time.

But this didn’t feel like success. She just wanted to be here, alive, with everyone she loved. With her father.

She tried to hold onto something that might ground her, keep her here. Something tangible.

But she found that the only thing she could hold onto, the only thing that was real anymore, was love. Love for Caleb. Love for Blake. Love for Aiden. Love for Polly. Love for Scarlet. And love for her father.

She desperately tried to hold onto this; but even this slowly released from her grasp. Her world was turning white, too fast, and she knew, before it all ended, there was only time for one last thought. And as she closed her eyes, one last thought came to her:

I only wish that I see Caleb again.

resurrected

(book #1 of the vampire legacy)

morgan
rice

Copyright © 2012 by Morgan Rice

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior permission of the author.

This
ebook
is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

“I grant you power and authority over every demon,

power and authority over every disease.”

—
Jesus,
Luke
9:1

PROLOGUE

Rhinebeck, New York (Hudson Valley)

Present day

Caitlin Paine hurried through her house as night began to fall, trying to get everything ready in time. It was almost six o’clock, and in moments, everyone would be here. She rushed through her oversized, old Victorian house, feet creaking on the floorboards, as she hurried from room to room, tidying things. She wanted everything to be perfect for tonight.

Caitlin hurried into the large kitchen, grabbed the cake plate which she had been hiding, and hurried with it through the double doors. As she did, her large Huskie, Ruth, followed at her heels, sniffing the cake and wagging her tail. As she set it down in the center of the dining table, she only hoped that Scarlet hadn’t seen it yet. After all, tonight was Scarlet’s big 16
^th
birthday, and even though it was a weeknight, Caitlin had a special surprise in store for her.

Caitlin had been looking forward to this all week. Scarlet still thought they weren’t going to celebrate until the weekend, since Caitlin had tricked her, had told her it would be more festive to wait until then. Scarlet had actually believed it, and Caitlin had secretly summoned the whole crew to be here, to surprise her when she got home from school. Not only did she make sure Caleb got home from work early to help her prepare, but she also made sure her brother, Sam, left work early, too—and that he brought his wife, and Caitlin’s best friend, Polly. The four of them were as close as two couples could be—like one family—and Scarlet’s birthday wouldn’t be the same without them here.

The doorbell rang and Caitlin jumped. Ruth barked, and Caitlin ran through the house, praying Scarlet wasn’t home early. Thankfully, she wasn’t: Caitlin opened the door with huge relief to see her little brother, Sam, standing there, smiling, Polly on his arm, grinning and radiant as always.

“Did we make it on time?” Sam asked excitedly, as he stepped quickly into the house and gave Caitlin a hug.

“Barely,” Caitlin answered.

“Sorry,” Sam said. “Got stuck at work.”

Caitlin was proud of her little brother. Only two years younger than she, it was hard for her to believe he was already 31. And even harder for Caitlin to believe that she, herself, was 33. That Polly was 32. And that Scarlet was turning 16. Where had the time gone? It had all flown by so fast. It felt like only yesterday that they were all teenagers.

Caitlin felt so fortunate to have so many people in her life who she loved. Life had been good to her, she had to admit. Or at least, lately it had. She and Sam’s early years had been hard, raised only by their mother, in a dingy apartment in a bad neighborhood in New York City, with an absentee father they’d never met. Her mother died right after high school, and Caitlin and Sam had basically been left to raise each other on their own. Which was actually nearly an improvement from their unloving mom.

Sam, naturally, had gotten into a lot of trouble in his youth. How couldn’t he? He’d even been thrown in jail once or twice, for misdemeanors, bar fights—once, for hitting a cop. He had a real issue with authority.

But when he reached college-age, after their mom died, Sam, with the help of Caitlin, finally turned his life around. He got into college, graduated, and had been a model citizen since. Now he worked in a great job, as a mentor, helping troubled youth at the local school. It was the perfect job for him, and Caitlin was so proud. In some ways, she felt like she raised him.

Polly stepped up and gave Caitlin a hug, and she hugged her back. Ruth barked and whined, and Polly and Sam knelt down and hugged her, too. Caitlin felt so lucky to have Polly in her life. In some ways, life had been a dream, working out so perfectly, her best friend marrying her brother. Their marriage was what had really grounded Sam, was what had really set him on the right track, had given him the sense of stability and purpose he’d never had. The only thing missing from their life was a child; they had been trying to get pregnant for so many years, but so far, with no luck. But still, she was beaming. Her whole life, as long as Caitlin had known her—since high school—she had been beaming.

“I’m so excited!” Polly screamed, bursting into the room, rushing right to the table, setting down an armful of presents and helping to prepare.

“I found those candles she loves!” Polly said as she emptied a paper bag and stuck thick, decorative candles all over the cake.

“Does she know yet?” Polly continued. “Does she have any idea? Oh my God, do you think she’ll like this dress I got her? I was looking for it all day. You don’t think it will be too small do you? Will she like the color?”

Caitlin smiled. That was Polly, always asking ten questions at the time, always in such an excited rush.

“I’m sure it will be perfect,” Caitlin responded with a smile. “Thank you for everything.”

Caleb hurried into the room, through the double doors, carrying a platter of carved turkey.

“Careful, it’s hot,” he warned, as he set it down on the table. Caleb’s muscles rippled through his tee-shirt, the product of years of training.

Every time Caitlin looked at Caleb, her heart soared. She had married the man of her dreams. Here he was, the model of a husband, tall, strong, with broad shoulders, a proud jaw, and beautiful blue eyes. And every time he looked at her, his eye were filled with love. She reciprocated. There was no one she loved more, even after all these years. He was the one and only true love of her life.

They had met the day Caitlin graduated high school, and she had fallen in love instantly. It was the strangest thing, but she’d felt, from the moment she’d met him, as if she’d known him her whole life. She’d gotten pregnant at 17, before they’d married, and back then, Caitlin had been terribly worried about it. Her mother of course didn’t help, only having negative things to say.

But Caleb was never worried. He said he’d already decided he wanted to be with her, and was just grateful they had a child so soon. She took solace in his strength, and after all, she loved him as much as he did her. Nine months later, she gave birth—oddly, on the same day that her mother died of a heart attack. And shortly afterwards, Caitlin and Caleb married.

After they married, Caleb entered the Air Force. A fighter pilot for the Marine Corps, one of their best, Caitlin would watch him in awe as he would fly jets on a military base. It was incredible for her to watch him flying through the air like that at such speed, with such power. Sometimes she felt as if it stirred some memory, deep inside of her—but she was not sure what. It was an odd feeling that didn’t make sense, as if somehow, she expected him to be soaring through the air. She knew it didn’t make any sense, and she tried to push it out of her mind. But somehow, it lingered.

As they had gotten older, into their late 20s, Caleb had retired from the force, and had become a domestic pilot. He traveled a lot, though lately, he’d been home more often, which made Caitlin happy. Sometimes, on the weekends, he flew daredevil shows in small, local airplanes, to the delight of thousands of onlookers. He would soar in huge circles in the sky, dive down, then rise at the last second. Kids loved watching him, though Caitlin’s heart sank every time he got in the cockpit. She just wanted him to be safe.

Sometimes, though, she would accompany him in the cockpit of a small, two-seater plane, and it would be just the two of them, flying locally, together. For their last anniversary, he took her up at night, during the summer, in a full moon: as the two of them glided through the night, it had felt as if they’d had the whole world to themselves. She loved it. It made her feel a sense of nostalgia, of belonging, though she didn’t know why.

Caitlin was fine with the fact that Caleb traveled a lot, that he was busy. She liked having her space, and she was busy, too. After all, she had built an incredible career for herself. Her dysfunctional upbringing had made her use her studies as a way of escape. The worse the neighborhood was that her mom dragged her to, the worse the school, the more she applied herself, the harder she studied. Through sheer force of will, she managed to get straight A’s. She also managed to get herself a scholarship to Columbia University. Ironically, it was only 15 blocks away from the bad neighborhood she was raised in—and yet, it was a universe apart.

In Columbia, Caitlin applied herself even harder, and after four years graduated with near-perfect grades, getting herself a scholarship to graduate school. She pushed herself even harder, until, at 26, she graduated with a dual Ph.D. in History and Antiquities. Caleb always joked with her, always would ask with a smile:
How many Ph.D.’s do you want
?

But he was so proud of her. She could see it in his eyes.

What she should do with her all of her knowledge was a question she’d asked herself many times, too. She still didn’t know what she wanted to do, even after all the school, even after all these degrees. She knew that, for some reason, she was interested in history, antiquities, archaeology—and most of all, rare objects and books. With all her scholarship, she could have had a job anywhere she wanted. But instead, she chose to pursue her one great passion: rare books.

Caitlin didn’t know why she felt so drawn to rare books; it didn’t even make sense to her. But, for as long as she could remember, that was always what she loved. She still felt a thrill every time she picked up some ancient, dusty book, tried to decode it, figure out where it was from. How old it was. Who wrote it. What language it was in. How rare it was.

She’d held books that were worth tens of millions of dollars, one-of-a-kind, ancient books that had been seen and held by few people throughout history. She’d held original, first edition Shakespeare volumes, ancient Greek scrolls. She could feel a connection to history as she did. It made her feel alive.

She also couldn’t help feeling, every time she picked up a book, that it held a riddle, a clue, some mystery to be solved. And that thrilled her. For some reason she felt, deep down, that there was some mystery lingering in her consciousness, something she needed to solve. She didn’t know what. It didn’t make sense to her, and that bothered her. And when she worked on a rare book, she felt she could solve clues that she couldn’t put her fingers on in real life.

While she was raising Scarlet, Caitlin had worked part time in rare bookstores, and now that she was settled, she worked here, at the local university. They had a vast library, and an endless collection of rare books that had to be classified. They told her frequently how lucky they were to have someone of her caliber there, locally, to help them. It was true: Caitlin, with a mind like hers, could have worked anywhere in the world. But Caitlin didn’t mind. She was happy to be here, locally, in this quiet town, to be able to raise Scarlet in a safe place, to give her the sheltered childhood that she’d never had, and longed for, herself.

Looking back, having Scarlet had been the best decision of Caitlin’s life. She was the joy of her life—and of Caleb’s, too. Caitlin firmly believed that even without a child, they would have married anyway. They had tried throughout the years to have more kids, but for some reason, they’d never been able to. So it ended up being just she and Caleb and Scarlet, just the three of them in this big house. Sometimes she wished they’d had more kids to fill the house. But she was grateful and happy for what she had.

They had both wanted to get away from New York City, wanted a wholesome life for Scarlet, so they’d headed two hours north and settled in a small, idyllic town in the Hudson Valley, a place where they could live in peace and tranquility. Caitlin had been thrilled when Sam followed them, and eventually, when Polly did, too. Life was finally coming together for her, all the pieces fitting. She felt so blessed to be able to live tranquilly in a small town, her family close by, with an adoring husband, a best friend, an amazing brother, and a child she loved more than anything.

Sometimes, she looked back at her childhood and felt pangs of anxiety and upset. Looking back, she wondered about her Dad. Who he was. Why he had abandoned them all. Why her mom had always been so mean to her. Why she couldn’t have had a more normal upbringing, a less dysfunctional family.

But whenever these thoughts overcame her, Caitlin forced herself to just push it all to the back of her mind, to focus on what she had, on all the good in her life. She didn’t want to linger in sorrow and guilt and upset. After all, it didn’t do any good. She could just as easily choose to focus on all the blessings she had, all she had to be grateful for.