Katrina, The Beginning (28 page)

Even most of what his
father thought he knew was legend and completely wrong, but he did
know we protected each other and knew enough to stop the feeding in
time, so the victim wouldn’t die. He also knew to try to draw us
out, so we would fall into his trap. What he didn’t know was what
kind of a fight he was in for.

“Okay, we’ve got it. Did
everyone see what Kate and I saw?”

“No,” they all said,
shaking their heads.

“Well, we’ll just have to
explain later. I have to get to Father as fast as I can,” I
rose.

Kate and I ran to Father’s
office, where he was still speaking with Damien.

“Father, I need to speak
with you at once. Kate and I have used our gifts to locate the
rogue vampire, but it’s complicated, so you need to trust us when
we say you must call back the vampire guard right away, or we’ll
all be in danger.”

“I’ll send word at once.
What of the Watchers?”

“Tell them to watch the
abandoned mill at Fardale and track those who come and go. We must
find them all. They are Volator.”

I could see the shock on
both Father’s and Damien’s faces. Father left then to make sure
word was sent immediately, and Kate went back to the library to
tell the girls.

“Damien, I need to know how
much information Luena gave to the Volator leader before they
attacked us.”

“She used her Watcher as a
messenger, as far as I know, and only gave them enough information
to be able to attack your caravan.”

“Did she give names ahead
of time? This is important.”

“It was to be a crime of
opportunity. Her instructions were to get rid your father, but not
to endanger the rest of us, so I don’t think names were important.
Why?”

“This man we saw in our
vision, is the son of the leader you killed. His father left
journals, which the son is using to exact his revenge, and
effectively pick up where his father left off. His goal is to try
to eradicate our race from the earth. So, not only must we find
him, but we must find the journals as well.”

“I’ll do everything I can
to help. What do you need?”

I had to stop a moment to
think about it, and then it came to me. “Maybe you could go out to
the mill with the Watchers. Once you see this man, you could put
the idea into his mind that the journals are in danger of being
stolen, so he will lead you to them. On second thought, I should go
with you, because I’ve seen him.”

Kate came walking up behind
me.

“Oh no, you’re not going
anywhere without me this time. In fact, you promised all of us the
next time, we would all go together. You may need us,” she said
defiantly.

“You’re right, but we
should let the Watchers observe him for a couple of days, but no
more,” I said.

“Why the rush?” Damien
asked.

“Wait until Father returns.
Then Kate and I will tell you everything we saw.”

“And heard,” Kate
added.

When Father returned, we
told them all about our vision and the young vampire.

“You see, Father, it’s not
his fault. They’re forcing him to feed on these helpless humans. He
can’t help himself,” Kate said.

“This isn’t about him
anymore, as much as it’s about the Volator,” Father said, “The
journals must be recovered.”

“Katrina suggested I go
with the Watchers and put a thought into his head that the journal
is in danger of being lost, so he will lead us to it.”

“So, we’ll watch him for a
few days to find out how many others are with him,” I
added.

“No more than a couple of
days, Father or they will bring another victim,” Kate
said.

“We’ll have to send Eleanor
to the mission again, or they will figure out the herbs are not
really working,” said Father. “We’ve assigned a Watcher to the
mission, so we can follow whoever leaves that poor girl there. I’m
glad you had this vision; how did it come about?”

“We…we just wanted to help,
so we used our gifts of sight and scent to detect anything unusual,
and this is what came to us,” I said and Kate nodded in
agreement.

I caught a knowing look on
Damien’s face and had to look away.

“Once again, daughters,
well done.”

Kate and I smiled at each
other and felt relieved, hoping we had saved the young vampire and
protected all of us.

“We’d better get back to
the library. The girls will be wondering what’s going on. I didn’t
have much time earlier,” Kate said.

“I’ll be right there,” I
said.

“Father, the girls and I
want to be included in any plans to eliminate the
Volator.”

“All right, you’ve earned
it, I promise. Be ready, because we may have to move at any time.
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have much to attend to.”

“So what really made you
look for this rogue?” Damien said.

“I think by the look on
your face earlier, you figured that out. It just occurred to us it
could be a young vampire that got addicted to the blood-lust and
couldn’t stop, but I had no idea we’d ‘see’ what we did. Can you
imagine what that poor young man is going through? From what he
said in our vision, he’s been alone as a new vampire for three
years. It’s amazing.”

“You seem infatuated with
him already. Should I be jealous?”

Of what, a vision? I just
think he deserves a chance.”

“He’s going to need a lot
of help to recover from this, as well as some training. There’s no
way of knowing if he will ever fully recover.”

“This vampire is special, I
can feel it. He’ll make it if we can get him out of
there.”

“You saved me,” Damien said
as he came close and kissed me on the forehead.

“I think you can do better
than that,” I said, looking up into his intoxicating brown
eyes.

He leaned down and met my
lips in such a gentle loving kiss; it sent shivers up my spine. As
I ran my hands up his chest and around his neck, the kiss turned
more urgent and I felt tingles other places too.

As the kiss broke I said,
“That was definitely better, ummh.”

He gave me another short
kiss. “I aim to please; you have only to ask.”

“I’d better get back. Care
to walk with me?”

“It would be my pleasure.
After you, my Lady.”

We walked back toward the
library hand in hand.

“I’ll see you at dinner,”
he said and kissed me goodbye.

I sighed as I walked away,
wishing things weren’t always so complicated.

“Did you have a nice ‘chat’
with Damien?” Rosa asked, there was that look again.

“Very nice.” Just for their
benefit, I put my hand to my head and faked a swoon.

“Well while you were
‘chatting’ I was telling everyone what Father said about the things
we learned in our vision,” Kate said.

“Father agreed to include
us in any plans to go against the Volator. He said we’d earned it.”
She paused and looked at each of us for encouragement, before she
began again. No one knows how talented we really are individually
and together how powerful, and I still think it’s important to keep
that to ourselves, at least for now.”

In turn, we all pledged for
now, we would keep our abilities a secret.

Kate began to pace as she
continued. “I can’t stop thinking about the young vampire we saw,
and how he begged that man to kill him. It’s apparent that he’d
rather die than continue feeding off those defenseless humans. It’s
so awful, we have to help him as soon as possible.” It was obvious
she was emotionally invested in this situation.

“Father promised we’d move
before they make him do that again,” I could see how upset she
was.

“Anyone for some work at
the training ground?” asked Letta.

“Count us in , we need to
be ready,” El had moved to stand by Kate and was patting her
arm.

El was the compassionate
one. I asked her. “Did Kate tell you you’ll have to go back to the
mission tomorrow? That young girl needs your help.”

“Poor thing. But since I
told Father Jonas to send word if there were any more victims, I
probably should wait until he does. He might get suspicious if I
just show up.”

“If he doesn’t send word
tomorrow, we’ll think of something you have to bring to him, to
cover up the fact you know he has another sick girl,” Kate smiled
at El as she offered the suggestion.

We walked to the training
area for a complete weapons workout with swords, daggers, and
spears, then we included training sessions on horseback and in
groups, an exhausting regimen.

We rested after our
workout, our forms littering the ground in various poses under a
shade tree.

“Spending hours training
sure makes you smelly,” Kate said as she sniffed herself, her nose
wrinkling.

“To think,” Rose sat up and
struck a simpering pose. “I used to just glow if I overexerted
myself by say. . . walking too fast or dancing with too much
energy, at the very worst I
perspired
a
little. Now I’ve progressed right through to stink,” she flopped
down laughing.

“Have our lives taken a
turn or what?” El joined in, laughing and shaking her
head.

“I don’t know about the
rest of you, but having a purpose in life is exhilarating,” Letta
now serious, voiced what we’d all thought one time, or another
since we’d come together.

“You’re right,” agreed
Rosa. “Before, it seemed as if my days just ran together, but that
life seems so useless now.”

“Well, that’s all changed
forever. We were meant to come together for a reason; I can feel
it,” I said looking at each of them in turn.

“I think we all can,” El
rose. It was time to walk back.

“I hope Sarah has our baths
ready,” Kate said as she stood.

“And a snack. I’m starving,
and we can’t hunt until we’re sure it’s safe,” my attitude now back
to the seriousness of our situation.

Sure enough, as we got
close to our apartment we could see water being carried in and
empty buckets carried out.

“I love Sarah,” I
sighed.

“Me too,” joined the others
in unison.

I reveled in the hot, sweet
water as I soaked in bubbles up to my chin. I normally would be
calling to Damien, but today he was here, and I would see him in a
little while, so I just relaxed and washed the day from my
skin.

After Sarah was done
complaining about my hair as she washed it, I brushed it with
almond oil until it was soft and tangle-free. I dressed in a
simple, but sexy dress of sage-green silk, featuring an empire
waist with a square neckline. I smiled at my reflection, I looked
good and the dress showed just the right amount of
cleavage.

The sun was low in the
west, the breeze made the shadows cast off the forest, dance across
the ground. My thoughts went, once again, to the imprisoned young
man, I had seen earlier today. He’d looked so hopeless, but it was
the anguish radiating from him that still stuck in my
mind.

I wished I could assure him
help was coming. I began to concentrate on his face as hard as I
could. I wanted to see him again. “Show me,” I said to myself, and
then there he was, this time standing in front of the small fire,
just staring into it. I wished I knew his name.

“It’s
going to be all right,”
I said to him with my
mind.

He looked up and then all
around, as if startled by something - as if he’d heard me! That
wasn’t possible; made vampires didn’t have gifts - did
they?

“Hang on
a little longer, help will come soon,”
I said, concentrating
as hard as I could.

He looked around again. It
was
true; he
had
heard me!

“Who are you? Where are
you?” he said aloud.

“I’m a friend. Don’t be
afraid; you have vampire gift that allows my mind to talk to yours.
That gift makes you very special.”

“Ha!
”
he laughed out
loud. “Very special’—that’s a laugh. I’m a freak, a
monster.”

“No, no you’re not. What’s
happened to you is not your fault. Please just hang on a little
longer. What’s your name?”

“Eric,” he
replied.

“Well, Eric, although I
can’t tell you my name yet, I will try to send you my
image.”

I concentrated on the
reflection I just saw in the mirror and then on him.

“You’re beautiful! But how
did you find me?”

“I can’t tell you anything
more right now. Have faith in me Eric, just for a few more days. Be
strong. Now I have to go.”

“No, please don’t
leave.”

“I’ll contact you
soon.”

“That was amazing!” I said
to no one in particular.

“What was amazing?” Kate
asked.