The Vampire (THE VAMPIRE Book 1) (88 page)

Once in the privacy of his room, Jason gave full vent to his amazement and excitement about what they had all seen, and had, in part at least, captured. Then Jason could not help laughing out loud. What they would never know, the one thing they had totally missed out on was the well over 200 year-old vampire, the more present, truer and even more constant phenomenon, in Jason’s estimation, who had walked right past them. They had all but ignored him and nearly pushed him out of the way! He thoroughly enjoyed that part almost as much as all the rest of it and he laughed out loud again. “Unbelievable.” He kept laughing, shaking his head. He got ready for bed, crawling in under the inviting covers. Sleep would be especially welcome now. He yawned several times as he plumped his pillows. He would not have to chase sleep down tonight; almost immediately he was in a deep slumber.

He had slept ten minutes perhaps. Or maybe two hours. He had no way of knowing how long it had been, when he felt himself being pulled reluctantly toward wakefulness. He turned over on his other side, and snuggled back into the covers, having turned to face the wall opposite the bed, toward the darkest part of the room. He drifted again toward sleep, only to be brought back to a waking state. He was so tired he felt an almost painful need for rest. He closed his eyes tightly and began rhythmically breathing until sleep quickly overtook him again. But the restlessness returned and woke him. He pulled the blanket up to his neck. The bed was so comfortable, so inviting; the room pleasantly cool, the pillows as soft and comfortable as he could possibly want; everything just the way he liked it; everything was in place and conducive to lulling him into deep sleep. If only he could achieve that.

He drifted off but once again he awoke from certain sleep. He opened one eye, seeing only the wall opposite in the darkened room.
What keeps waking me up?
He yawned broadly, then turned and lay on his back, with his eyes closed. His eyes were so heavy from lack of sleep he could barely keep them open.

But it was no use. He restlessly raised himself up on one elbow, and then rubbed his eyes. When he yawned and looked toward the other side of the room, he was startled fully awake by the sight of Augere sitting in a chair not far from his bed.

Jason sat fully upright then, glancing wildly around the room, looking for—he didn’t know what. His eyes rested again on Augere, or what he could see of him in the dim light. Augere sat in a casual, languid pose; his legs were crossed, and as far as Jason could tell, he was just sitting there watching him.

“Mr. Augere! What is it? What’s going on?” Jason asked, his sentence ending in a yawn he had no chance of stifling. He sleepily lowered himself again to rest on one elbow.

He could not make out Augere’s features in the dark. He thought he saw brief movement. Augere shrugging his shoulders possibly.

“I thought perhaps we could have conversation.”

Jason raised himself to a sitting position again. He focused on Augere’s mostly hidden features for several moments.
Talk? Augere is seeking me out? Wanting to talk?

Now he was fully alert. This was great! This was fantastic. His immediate thoughts gathered in recollection of the words Terrance had recently spoken to him: “He will come around; he will want to talk to you; don’t worry about that.”

Of course, they had been talking. But mostly Jason asked the questions and initiated the conversations. But this was exactly what he had been wanting and hoping for, and for such a long time. To have access to him so they could just talk, about—anything, everything. For Augere to want to seek him out for company was exciting and so totally welcomed! It was immensely satisfying. It was absolutely great! He glanced at the bedside clock. It was 2:00 a.m..
Does it have to be right now? Does it have to be right this minute?

“Okay. Well,” Jason yawned again, “what did you want to talk about?”

Augere might have shrugged again.

“Did you want to tell me some things about yourself, or—”

“I do not wish to talk about myself.”

“Oh…okay.” Jason strained to discern Augere’s features in the darkness. Not that seeing his expression could help him to determine Augere’s mood. It rarely had before.

“Well, why don’t you start with whatever is on your mind then.”

Silence was now in collusion with darkness.

“Do you want me to talk about myself?”

“Is that your desire?”

“No,” Jason admitted. He paused, thinking. “Do you want to talk about New Orleans?”

“What about it,” Augere said tonelessly.

“Anything. Whatever you want to say. Like why you chose to come and live here and what you—”

“Are you so certain it was a choice?”

Jason detected a sharpness to the words, an edge to his voice. This could go downhill very quickly. Jason was too tired; he needed to avoid tension and stress right now. Mostly he just wanted to sleep. But he also did not want to let this golden opportunity pass by with no advantage taken.

“Really—I’m open to whatever you want to talk about. Only, please—I just want to know, finally—what happened? What caused—this change—you weren’t always—right? Where and when and how did this happen to you—what were the exact circumstances? I’ve wanted to ask you…I just want to understand…and there never seems to be a good time to approach you about it…” The words came out in a rush. He hadn’t given any real thought about saying any of this until a moment before he said it. But it was out now.

Augere sat, silent in the darkness. Jason could just make out his pale cheek in profile now; not his eyes, not his facial expression. Jason waited, nervous.

“Not here.” Words were finally whispered out of the darkness. “Get dressed. Meet me in the lobby.” Augere was gone after the last word was spoken.

Jason sighed. He really, really just wanted to go back to sleep. But he could not. Not now. He dutifully got up and got dressed and then went to the lobby. A moment after he met Augere’s eyes he was following him out of the hotel into the night.

Jason walked at his side for two blocks in silence. Augere attempted to hail a taxi.
We’re going to need a taxi? Now what? Where are we going at 2:30 in the morning?
A cab pulled up and they climbed in.

Augere gave the driver a slip of paper, presumably with an address on it. The driver shook his head. “You want to go
here
?
At this hour?”

This was Jason’s first clue that maybe this was not such a good idea, especially right now. But his suspicion was already too late.

The cab took them quite a ways; they were out of the city, maybe ten miles or so, at least, in an unfamiliar area. They had passed residential homes in well cared for neighborhoods and pleasant surroundings. But now they were in a rundown, isolated, and somewhat dangerous looking location. Jason locked the car door.

Finally the cab driver pulled over near a vacant lot. Boarded up buildings and the dimly lit, trash strewn streets were deserted.

“This is as far as I can take you,” the driver said. “You got to walk the rest of the way.”

“Walk?” Jason said aloud, feeling a rising panic. “We’re not getting out here?”

Augere reached over the front seat and paid the driver, and they exited the cab, which quickly sped off.

Oh no,
Jason thought.
This cannot be good
.

Augere seemed confident of the direction and walked briskly toward his chosen destination. Jason stayed close behind, taking wary glances in all directions.
Hopefully,
he thought,
there won’t be any of those portals here
. But at least he was with a supernatural being who could not be harmed.
Hopefully that means I’ll be safe too. No one in their right mind would be out walking in an area as isolated and run down as this, not at this hour. Only someone deranged, suicidal maybe, or hopelessly lost. Or with an enigmatic unpredictable vampire
. He sighed.

Jason grew increasingly more nervous as they continued to walk, for six more blocks at least. He thought he could smell the river now…but could see no signs of the river. They arrived at another vacant lot, looking much like others they had passed. Two dilapidated buildings stood at a distance and the foreground showed remnants of what might have been a park once: two old wrought iron benches sat short distances apart near a scraggly patch of lawn; a path overgrown with weeds. One still working streetlamp stood close by, which cast a cheerless dim glow; some rusted equipment that might once have been part of a playground stood apart in isolation. Mostly there were open spaces for several blocks in every direction. Trees grew in the distance, around the perimeter. And little else.
Why on earth are we in this forlorn, desolate place?

Augere stood quite still, gazing in the area of the trees. Several minutes passed. Jason grew restless. A cold breeze blew over them, and Jason shuffled from one foot to the other, nervously watching. Several more minutes passed.

Augere began to speak very softly in French, never taking his eyes from the trees in the distance. It was as if he were speaking to himself; as if he had forgotten Jason was even there.

“Il y avait un petit maison, seulement trois chambers, ici… J’y ai sejourne seul, après le deces de l’autres…ma famille. J’ai ete loin de la ville. Il n’y avait personne, sauf moi. J’ai ete sejourner jusqu’a ce que les affaires pourraient etre conclus…”

The words were spoken in hushed tones and slowly enough for Jason to translate what he heard, though he was weary and his translation skills at 3:00 in the morning were not as sharp as they could be. He understood most of the words, if not the significance. There had been a small house…he stayed after the death…he was alone…far from the town…What was going on?

He moved so he was now in Augere’s line of vision. “Please—my French is not as good as yours.” He gave him a weak smile. Augere did not look at nor acknowledge him for several minutes.

When Augere finally looked at him, or through him, it seemed to Jason, he seemed focused at some distant point. He had a vacant look in his eyes now, one that scared Jason a little. But then he began to speak softly in English.

“When I arrived here, my English was not good. My father had requested that I come here to be of assistance to my aunt, his sister, and her daughter, my cousin. She was a young widow, who had recently remarried to a merchant from Paris with a business in New Orleans. My aunt was not over thirty-five and my cousin was but fourteen.

“They had traveled by ship from France to join her new husband. Soon after they had arrived, we learned in a letter received from her weeks later that her husband had fallen seriously ill.”

Augere continued with his narrative, hesitantly relating the details, pausing for several moments now and then.

“New Orleans was a rough place then, and life was cheaply held. Sickness spread throughout the city. The new husband had secured a cabin, outside of the city, so they would all be safe away from town, until the illness had passed over. My father was concerned for the women’s safety, with their male protector compromised by illness. He wished me to go and be of assistance to them, and to bring them back to France, if necessary.”

The words—he had never heard Augere say so much at once—fascinated Jason; he was finally hearing details about Augere’s personal life directly from the man himself.

“I sailed from Bordeaux on the
Esperance
in February of 1800.” Augere’s gaze remained fixed on some point in the distance—and the past.

“The voyage took five weeks in those times, and by the time I arrived, her husband had since died, leaving her a widow again. He had died before he could get them to the supposed safety of the cabin. And by then, my young cousin was ill also.

“Within three weeks of my arrival, both of the women had died. I sent word to my father. I had to make the arrangements for two more funerals. They were all to be placed in crypts above ground as was the custom here.

“I needed to stay to see to the details and to make claim to the assets left to my aunt by her husband. These had been signed over to me when she had become ill. The deaths were very tragic and it was difficult for me to have to focus on business affairs. I wished only to return to France, and be gone from the misery of this place. Already the heat was oppressive. I had moved into the small isolated cabin intended as safe refuge for the small family, and I was there alone. It became necessary to delay booking the journey home until June, when all of the business affairs were expected to be concluded.”

He paused then and began pacing, looking off toward the trees. Jason had become absorbed in the story and for a few moments he actually forgot his surroundings. Then a sudden cold breeze once again returned him to the here and now. But Augere was still in some other time and place.
Why did he bring me here, in the middle of the night? I don’t understand…why did he come here to tell me his story…?

Jason wanted him to continue; he needed to hear the rest. He didn’t know how much longer they would be out here, but the sooner they could leave, the better. He glanced around warily. From which direction had they come?

And how would they even get back from here—there had been no sign of anyone else around, much less any taxis. The thought of walking, for blocks and blocks in the middle of the night did not appeal—

“One night, late, something outside the cabin was distressing my horse.”

It appeared to Jason now that Augere was not simply remembering these events, but reliving them. He seemed less present now, scarcely in a physical sense, and mentally, even less so.

“I went outside with a weapon in hand to investigate the cause. The horse was quite frightened and I had to secure the animal further to keep it from running off.

“It was a mild spring evening in late May. Finally there had been some slight relief from the heat; a heavy rain had left the air cooler and fragrant. I had come out earlier to bathe and shave, to refresh myself after the excessive heat of several days.…Now I stood outside again for a long time, still seeing no cause for concern for the frightened animal. Yet its nostrils flared and there was a wild look in its eyes. I stayed to enjoy the fresh air, lingering longer than I might have.