Vampires 101 (Twilight Hunters Book 1) A Vampire Romance (23 page)

I placed my hand on his back, savoring the feel of the rippling muscles beneath the thin material of his shirt. “Damian … don’t leave me again. Don’t take away my memory of you.”

“I have to.” The agony in his voice tore at my heart. I knew that by asking him to stay, I was making it more difficult for him.

When I was with him, I could remember everything about him - the nights he’d sit by my bed to keep the shadows away. I could recall the way he’d take me for walks by the river and talk about his life and what it was like to be something other than human. 

When I was with him, I could remember every single moment I’d ever spent with him, but as soon as he was gone, so were those memories.

He came to me often, but always at night. The sunlight makes them ill. They come from a place where there isn’t much light.

Up until that moment, he’d never touched me, and I’d never dare touch him, though I’d wanted to for a long time.

“I love you Damian,” I whispered.

Slowly he turned around to face me. The need I saw in his eyes set my pulse racing. Before I could react, he pulled me into his arms and was crushing me against his hard chest.

I could feel him burying his face in my hair. “And I love you Princess.”

Sweeping me into his arms, he carried me to my bed. He was staring down at me with the light of hunger in his eyes. After that there was nothing beyond the heat of his kiss and the feel of his hands on my skin. His searing flesh entered me - taking away my innocence, but at the same time he was giving me my first taste of womanhood. From that instant, I knew there would never be another to take his place.

After our passions were spent, he lay close to me, whispering words of love in my ear. But I wanted more. I wanted him to promise to stay with me. It didn’t matter to me how he did it, only that he did.

But that wasn’t possible. He couldn’t let me retain memories of his world. If the Anunnaki found out that I could remember, they would terminate me. He couldn’t take that chance.

But if he came to me in my world, he could be with me, and I would remember. Damian had told the truth. It had been my idea that he come to me as other men. I would remember our encounters, but since I wouldn’t really know who he was, the Anunnaki would never find out. We would be free to love, and we would be safe.

But it didn’t work out that way.

Too often the Anunnaki came close to discovering our secret, and he would have to end our relationship for a time. In my world, all I knew was that I’d just ended a relationship with someone I loved. Again and again, I would go through the heartbreak of separation, until Damian could stand it no longer. After Blake, he refused to do it again.

That’s when he decided he would never again take away my memory of him, no matter the consequences. He’d been true to his word. I could not remember him before that night in the cemetery, but I could remember every encounter since then.

My eyes flew open and the first thing I saw was Sean Taft and Riley staring at me; the look on their face placed them somewhere between worry and full blown panic. As I saw relief wash over them, my face grew hot with embarrassment. I desperately hoped that I hadn’t revealed too much of what I’d remembered during the session.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. “You two look like you saw a ghost.”

“You wouldn’t come out of it,” Riley told me. “It was like you just stopped talking and went into a deep sleep.”

“What’s the last thing I said?”

“You were talking about an apocalypse or something … and then you just stopped,” Sean told me.

I was immensely relieved that the two men hadn’t discovered the rest of what I remembered.

I sat quietly for a moment, trying to pull myself together. The more I thought about it, the more I was remembering. I now remembered what happened the night I found myself waking up in my car by the cornfield. They’d taken me again. While I was with them, they’d healed my arm and leg. That’s why it hadn’t hurt when I was returned to my car hours later.

Turning my attention to Riley, I asked, “What do you think he meant … I mean when I was talking about my mother?”

Riley shook his head. “I have no idea. The only thing I can think of is that she must have had the same ability as you. Maybe they were using her for something and it backfired, but what I would suggest is that you ask the one that said it.”

Hmm, that was going to be easier said than done. Damian would probably never talk to me again.

“But wow did we get some good stuff.” Sean was so excited he was nearly jumping out of his skin.

Riley turned to Sean and offered his hand. “I appreciate your help on this, but I have to ask you not to reveal anything that you heard here today. When the time is right, you can … but not yet.”

Sean’s excitement faded. “Why not? This is some big stuff. There’s going to be some kind of apocalypse.”

“Not if we can help it,” Riley smiled. “But if you cause a panic, it’s going to make our job a lot harder.”

“Ok … but you have to keep me up to date on what’s going on,” Sean told him.

Riley nodded. “We can do that.”

When Sean Taft was gone, I jumped on Riley and asked him what I’d been dying to know all night. “So was Shadow right … was there a body where she said?”

“There was. From the looks of the body it has been there for over a week.”

I let out a big sigh of relief. At least that was one less thing I’d have to worry about. “What did you do with it?”

“Another Hunter took care of disposing of the body. Of course the cemetery murders will go down in the books as being unsolved.”

I knew that was sure to frustrate Dad, but it was better than him knowing the truth. If he knew what had really happened, it would only give him another heart attack. One day soon I was going to ask him about my mother, and if he remembered exactly what happened the night she disappeared, but that would have to wait. Dad was doing better, but still wasn’t in any condition to revisit the night Mom went missing.

Besides, finding out what really happened to my mother could be an extremely painful experience, and pain wasn’t something I needed more of at the present time. I was already feeling more than enough despair.

Damian had been a part of me for so long, I had no idea what life would be like without him. All I could see ahead of me was a cold - empty void.

Suddenly the pain in my heart soared into full bloom. It took every ounce of willpower I possessed to keep from giving into my tears in front of Riley.

The sweet scent of roses hung heavily on the warm summer breeze. As the afternoon wore on, the heat lifted, but I still felt stifled by the black clothing I was wearing. Standing between Riley and Dad, I listened to the minister speak of heaven and life everlasting.

For the first time in my life, I listened to those words and knew for an absolute fact that they were real.

Olivia Swanson’s white coffin was covered with a beautiful spray of pink roses. The Pine View Police Department had taken up a collection to buy flowers for Olivia’s funeral. So few people were in attendance, that I could not stop my heart from aching for the young woman.

No one remembered the beautiful young singer who disappeared from the Junction Hotel, at least no one that was still living. There wasn’t anyone to say goodbye to Olivia, except for Riley, Dad and myself, along with the mayor and a few police officers.

It was a bittersweet victory.

After Olivia Swanson’s body was discovered, the pieces of the puzzle fell into place quickly. There had been a lot of gossip that pointed to Olivia and Jeffery Baker having an affair. Since Jeffery was the Mayor of Pine View at the time, the gossip had to be hushed up quickly. Of course when Olivia became pregnant, it became necessary to make her disappear, especially with the elections coming up.

Once the investigation into Olivia’s death was concluded, there was little doubt that Jeffery killed her, though there was no evidence to prove it. I didn’t need the evidence; I’d seen it happen.

Jeffery Baker’s descendants still lived in Pine View - still occupied the mansion up on Snob Hill, as it was known locally. Jeffery’s family had been adamant that the police keep their theory under wraps, After all, they couldn’t having anyone soiling their great grand dad’s reputation, especially without evidence.

I wasn’t going to let that happen. As far as I was concerned, putting things right involved more than just laying Olivia to rest. Rectifying this wrong meant letting the world know what really happened to her.

Doing this wasn’t too hard. I simply leaked what I knew to the local newspaper. The next day it was front-page news. The current mayor wasn’t real happy about it, and the Bakers were furious. But that would all pass. What mattered was that Jeffery Baker be held accountable for his evil deeds, even if it were a little late. At least I could be fairly certain he’d probably gotten his just deserts in the afterlife.

A sudden movement in the distance caught my eye. When I looked up, I saw Olivia standing near a large statue that depicted an angel ascending to heaven. The young woman’s ghost smiled and nodded in my direction, before turning to walk away. She’d only gone a few steps and the image began to fade. She was gone.

As the minister concluded the final prayer, the small crowd began to disperse. Dad started walking towards his car, but turned back when I didn’t follow.

“I think I’ll stay here and spend some time with Mom,” I told him.

He frowned, the worry lines around his eyes becoming even more pronounced. “Are you sure? It will be dark soon.”

I nodded and gave him a reassuring smile. “I’ll be ok.”

Riley also didn’t look too enthused about leaving me behind, but to his credit he said nothing that might have caused Dad more worry.

“Don’t forget our plans for tomorrow,” Riley reminded me with a curt nod of his head.

How could I forget?

Tomorrow I would officially become a Hunter. It was ironic, considering how much I’d fought with my dad about becoming a cop. Now I would do something very similar.

I watched until both Riley and Dad drove away before starting my walk to the little marble stone that served as a memorial for my mother.

Though the case had never been officially a homicide, the state had still declared my mother dead, ten years after her disappearance. It wasn’t until then that Dad could bring himself to put up a memorial. To him, putting Mom’s name on a cemetery stone was the same as saying goodbye to the love of his life, forever.

Though there was a headstone as a tribute to my mother’s life, Mom wasn’t in the cemetery. I knew this. Even if she were dead, she was someplace else - someplace better.

As I weaved my way through the memorials of the dead, some ancient - others not so old, I kept seeing my mother on that final night - her sad smile - the tears glistening in her eyes. I couldn’t help but wonder if she’d known what was coming.

She never finished the story like she promised.

Reaching the memorial, I ignored the bench that had been placed near Mom’s empty grave. It was mostly for Dad. He’d had it placed there so he would have a place to sit during the endless hours he spent at her grave.

Kneeling down, I ran my fingers over the smooth engraving of my Mom’s image. It had been done with lasers and was so life-like; it was like staring at a photograph. She was so beautiful - so graceful, that it was incomprehensible to me that she could be anywhere but in heaven with the angels.

As I lifted my face to the sky, a hot tear rolled down my cheek. For the first time since that night, I let my heart cry out to her.

Why did you leave me?

There was no answer except for the sound of a soft breeze whispering through the trees.

I tried to hold back the tears, but I lost the battle. After years of burying my feelings, the grief finally burst through. As I released those tears, I also released all of the anger that I’d kept stored up inside of me since I was a child.

She hadn’t abandoned me.

My mother had loved me.

Now that I could remember, I could no longer doubt her love.

She’d never finished the story.

But maybe one day she would.

I was suddenly jerked back to the present by the sound of Chaz’s voice. “Cheer up Dude. You’re going to be fine.”

When I turned to see where the voice was coming from, I saw him sitting on the bench. I was a little startled to see him. He hadn’t made an appearance since that morning in my kitchen.

“Where have you been?”

“I’ve been around.” Though he was smiling, there was sorrow in his eyes.

I stood up and stepped over to the bench so I could sit with him. “What have you been doing?” I asked, wiping the last of the tears from my eyes.

“I’ve been listening … watching … waiting to see if I’d be needed again, but now it’s time for me to go. I just came to say goodbye.”

My heart lurched. I wasn’t sure I was ready for another goodbye at the moment.