Revisited (Redemption Series) (3 page)

Even though I told all of them not to follow me, my daughter, Becca, my boss, Sam, and my ex-boyfriend, Ian, set out to find me. They made it as far as Renee’s pub before Liam, the last man of the Ahbmonite line, abducted them. Becca’s ex, Abe, was just a tad late and didn’t get to Liam before he took off with my friends. Abe and Renee found me in Rome and explained what had happened.

Liam wanted me, plain and simple, and he would use anything to get me. Becca was his ace in the hole. Anyone who knew what she meant to me knew I would die a thousand deaths to protect that girl. That was what Liam was counting on.

He wanted me to turn him into a vampire, like so many of his ancestors before him had been. He wanted me to perform the ritual and then drink him dry, leaving my venom in its place. One problem was the chip The Manchester Group had implanted in my neck. It monitored how much human blood I drank, and gave off electrical pulses to simulate human bodily functions, including a heartbeat. If the chip were to detect the intake of human blood in the amount it would take to change a human into a vampire, it would set off a kill switch. Once I found Liam with a knife held against Becca’s throat, I didn’t care what happened to me as long as she was safe. I performed the ritual, and as expected, the kill switch activated and slowly destroyed the inside of my body. 

The next thing I knew, I felt like I was having some sort of seizure. When I awoke, Becca and Ryan were with me in my bed at Leatherby Manor. According to Becca, who had witnessed his transformation, Liam is now a vampire. Ian is still missing. Sam is safe, but thoroughly confused. Becca is a Nephilim, which I never suspected for some odd reason. Then, to put the cherry on the top of the gargantuan cake, they think Gideon is behind it all.

So, this year has had its ups and downs. Now I’m left with so many questions. Where is Ian? What will Becca do with her newfound heritage? Why is Gideon back? Will Ryan and I be able to stay together? Why am I even still here? Who saved me?

I’m in no state to answer anything right now. Since I was resurrected, I have had a depressing lack of energy. I think I know what is happening, but I can’t be sure.

I guess I’ll just have to wait and see what comes my way. I hope I’ll be ready by then.

Lily recapped her pen and closed the journal. After she placed them on the nightstand, she retrieved her mug. The combination of human and animal blood, along with what she swore to be nutmeg, settled in her stomach. Her eyes drifted closed and she welcomed any thoughts of her uncertain future. 

Ryan wandered into the living room where Sam and Abe were seated.

“How is she this morning?” Sam asked.

“Still a bit weak, but better I think.” Ryan sank into the couch with a sigh.

“I’m sure she’ll perk up soon.” Abe sipped his coffee.

“I don’t have much experience to go by, but she seems . . .
off
.” Ryan rubbed his hands across his stubble-covered cheeks.

Abe snorted, which caused Ryan and Sam to turn and glare at him. “What? It’s not as if she’s always a ray of sunshine. She gets moody when she’s stressed.”

Ryan responded with a nod. The memory of the whirlwind courtship they’d experienced in the weeks before their wedding, and the franticly beautiful mess Lily had become, filled his mind. He thought that now, since Lily was a vampire, stress would be the last thing to plague his wife. Still, he had so many questions, and to move forward he knew he would need answers. “I don’t know if it’s a Lily mood, or a vampire mood. I don’t know much about her life. Would you two mind filling in some of the blanks?” 

Sam shifted in his chair to rid himself of the slight unease the conversation made him feel. “What do you want to know?”

Ryan took a deep breath, and hundreds of questions swirled in his mind. He picked through a few before narrowing it down to the most important ones. “First off, I’d like to know about Manchester. What is your agenda and what does it have to do with Lily?” He directed the question to Sam, but saw that Abe was deep in thought

Sam cleared his throat and sent a look to Abe, letting him know he would handle Ryan’s inquisition. “I should start by explaining what The Manchester Group is.” 

Ryan nodded. 

“Like you, the members of the group are a physical presence of God on earth. Abe and I both have transgressions in our pasts we’re determined to find redemption for. Sometimes even the mightiest of us fall, and that’s where Manchester steps in. We work together fighting the world’s evils to redeem ourselves and serve God’s will.”

“And Lily? How does a vampire fit in with God’s will?” Ryan asked.

Abe waved his arm in front of him when Sam turned to him. “This is your show. I’m just here for the coffee.” He sipped from his mug with a smirk on his lips.

“Even I don’t know how vampires came to be, but God has always held them in the same regard as anyone else. They are
His
children just as much as the rest of us.
His
belief is evil does not come from what you are, but who you are.” Sam smiled and shook his head as the next thought came to him. “You know, Martin and Lily were the first vampires I had ever met. I knew they existed, of course, but had never come face-to-face with one. They were a minority in the community of vampires as they mainly drank animal blood. They both had their humanity very much intact, and the thought of harming a human by drinking the blood from their veins, willing participant or not, just wasn’t . . . appetizing.”

Ryan and Abe both laughed softly at Sam’s word choice before he went on.

“Martin had been very religious while he was human, and had a strong faith that was not marred when he was changed into a vampire. I met them at a little chapel, if you can believe it. I went to meet with Peter when I was introduced to two of the newest members of The Manchester Group. I worked with both of them for many years. After Martin died, I took Lily under my wing, and we worked side by side in Boston. She’s always been like a daughter to me, not a vampire, just Lily.”

“So, nothing nefarious then?” Ryan asked.

Sam smiled. “No. She is a magnificent woman whose main motivation for decades was to make it back to you.”

“Me?” Ryan laughed as his head hit the back of the couch and he directed his gaze upward. “I don’t know what I am anymore.”

“You’re an earthbound angel, just like Abe and I, are you not?” Sam knew the answer to his question. Due to the good deeds he had performed in his life, Ryan had been gifted with a physical body to hold his spirit and powers while he carried out God’s will. Just as Abe and Sam, Ryan was the physical proof of God’s presence on earth.

“Yes, but what do I do now? Lily and I have spent so much time looking for each other and now that we’re together, where do we go from here?”

Sam smiled a fatherly smile. “I’m confident you’ll discover your path, together.”

“Just be grateful you
are
together,” Abe whispered as his own feelings came into focus.

Sam and Ryan both turned to Abe and saw the sadness that enveloped him.

“Have faith, Abaddon. Your time will come.” Sam picked up his own coffee and took a long, languid drink. “Maybe sooner than you think.”

Abe stood outside Becca’s bedroom door for over twenty minutes, contemplating his next move.

“Just knock.” Jefferson laughed and elbowed Abe in the back, which pushed him closer to the door. “It’s easy. Look.” Jefferson knocked on a door down the hall and within seconds, Renee answered. Jefferson winked in Abe’s direction before taking Renee’s hand and entering the bedroom.

As Abe heard the soft click of Renee’s door, he gathered his courage and lifted his fist to knock.

“Come in,” a soft voice called to him.

Abe opened the door and saw Becca curled up with the television remote in her hand as she watched BBC News flash pictures of Ian across the screen. “Hey.” He came over and sat at the end of the bed. Her pink painted toenails stuck out from beneath the blanket and with an unconscious movement, he began to massage her foot.

“Mm. That feels good.” Becca turned to lie on her back. She closed her eyes as she took in the familiar sensation.

“That’s kind of the point.” Abe let a genuine grin sweep across his face and pressed into her arch with his thumb. He felt the familiar stir in his gut, like so many mornings before. He wanted it to be real and he knew she did, too.

He turned his attention to the television when he heard Senator Holt’s voice. His head slumped and he stopped the massage. He had hit the brick wall: Ian Holt.

“What?” Becca asked, sitting up as her foot left his grasp.

“I suppose you want to get back to work on the investigation.”

She looked down at her hands resting in her lap. “I promised him I’d find him. I can’t just leave him out there when Gideon is behind this.”

“I know. I’ll help you however I can.” He would. He would do anything for her.

“You will?” 

Abe crawled up to the head of the bed to sit beside her. He laced his fingers through hers, and he took a deep breath. “I know none of this is what you need to hear right now, but I love you. I love everything about you. If you care about him, then it’s important for me to help however I can. Gideon has taken so much away from me . . . I can’t let it go on any longer. With us working together, I’m positive we will destroy him this time.” He brought her hand up to kiss the back of it tenderly.

“We keep hurting each other, don’t we?” Becca attempted to giggle, but it came out more like a soft sob.

“You know, I took you to him because I was so desperate. I wanted to protect you, but I ended up playing right into his hands.” Abe shut his eyes as the pain of the last three years filtered through every cell of his body.

“Hey.” Becca’s hand cupped his cheek. “I know you just wanted me safe. My fear is what has kept me away. If Gideon could take over you, he could be anywhere.” She brought her hand down to rest on top of his. “If I’m going to be able to do this—move on with this investigation—I’m going to have to know what it was like. You have to tell me what happened to you while he possessed you.”

The pain in Abe’s chest intensified. If he hadn’t known it was impossible for him to have a heart attack, he could swear he was dying from a myocardial infarction. “I don’t know how to explain it. I was there. I could see, hear, and feel everything, yet I couldn’t control my body. I screamed the entire time for him to stop, but I think it just spurred him on.” 

Becca wiped a tear from Abe’s cheek. 

“Right before he left me, he looked in the mirror and talked right to me. He heard everything I had said. He knew every thought I had ever had. He brought forth memories of things only you and I knew. I couldn’t keep anything from him, and he relished in the fact that when he went back to his own body, he would know yours as well as I did. That gave me the strength to get you away from him.”

Becca sobbed louder than she intended, and Abe pulled her into his arms. “I’m sorry I pushed you away. I was so terrified. The only place I knew I would be safe was with Nathaniel.”

Abe pulled back to look her in the eye. “That’s where you went?”

She nodded with a sniffle, thinking of all the magic spells protecting Nathaniel’s home. “His house can keep anything away.”

“Nathaniel doesn’t have a very good track record of keeping you safe, either.” Abe was racked with concern. He knew Nathaniel would walk through fire for her, but her so-called brother had his own faults when his protection turned into tragedy.