Chapter 51
When the plane landed it didn't take Keir long to get a hold of
me and drag me down the corridor. Bram was helpless to stop
him. We all knew the King was not happy with me, so he probably
kept Bram from helping me.
Keir substantiated the thought with his words. "You know
you've broken your word. The King will have your head for
this." He leaned in closer almost nipping my ear. "He might
even have Bram be the executioner. How would that be for
justice?"
I tried to squirm away from him but there was no where to go.
Then he put the nail in my coffin. "Before he does I'll be sure
to have you one last time. Just so on your way to your grave
you'll know who is in control of your doom." Oh I knew and I
would remember this moment for a very long time. I would
remember who set me up to be killed by those vampires. It had
to be him. There was no other reason for them to attack me like
that.
"Leave her be Keir." Bram snapped.
"And what are you going to do about it?" He sneered. "You're
just as responsible as she is. Not to mention you failed in
your mission."
"I will let the King decide our fate. He is the only one that
may."
"You don't think he'll listen to my advice? Your weakness for
this ill-bred half-wit nearly got you killed and the rest of us
exposed. You're as much of a danger as she is. Perhaps the
King will do the right thing and rid us of the both of you."
"Stop it!" I thought about slapping Keir but I knew better.
It didn't matter. He hit me and knocked me against the wall
before I saw his hand move. Not long after he threw me into the
stream face first like I was last week's trash.
Without pretense or even a glance in my direction the King
probed my mind. He was not gentle about it either. Had he just
asked I would have given him what he wanted. This was personal.
He wanted me to suffer. After a couple of minutes of this
painful intrusive probing, he stumbled upon the memory he was
halfway looking for. He watched my mind's eye as I threw the
money on the counter and begged for a ticket to England. Then
Keir appeared out of no where and I ran from him. That would
have been enough to convict anyone. It nearly convicted me.
Though the King pretty much held all control of my mind at that
point, I managed to bring another memory forward. The one where
I ran willingly into Bram's arms. He punished me for trying to
supersede his control and thus he took from me all control of my
bodily functions. He made it feel as if my stomach as well as
my intestines were ripped from my body in the worst possible way.
Then it stopped. Just like a leaf blowing in the wind is
stopped by a redwood. I took this opportunity to bring my head
above the water and gasp for air.
"Is this true?" The King spoke aloud to me. I wish I knew
what he had been talking about so I could continue the
conversation. I pulled myself up to my knees that was as far as
he would let me go. I looked up to him sitting dry and
pompously upon his throne. Bram, not Keir, stood beside him now
looking for all the world as if he was at "at the happiest place
on earth." I wanted to know why he was grinning so, the King
had too much power over me and all I could do is stare blankly
at them. "Did you save Sir Bram's life?"
What an odd question. Certainly he had saved mine on a couple
of occasions and that was just in the past 48 hours. I didn't
and somewhat ashamed I shook my head no. The King looked
somewhat displeased and forced his way into my mind. This time
there was no pretext to hurt me. He went in and fished up
rather quickly the memory he had been looking for. There was a
bullet, pierced skin and bone, and then flowing blood. Then the
memory moved forward. I ripped my arm open and he drank from me.
I had no idea. Seeing it this second time I now saw it in his
eyes, he had been dying. He had lost a lot of blood and
drinking from me renewed his stamina to fight against the acid
in the bullet. A few minutes longer and I really wouldn't have
had a reason to live. "You gave up your life for his. This is
what we've tried to train you to do. Finally you have learned.
For that reason alone am I sparing your life now."
"Thank you, your Majesty." What else could I say?
Keir protested. "She saved Bram's life. She would not do this
for you or I!"
The King leaned towards me and asked, "Would you?"
I had no choice but to be honest. "I don't know."
He sat straight again. "I believe she would. Now," The King
sneered down at Keir. "Would you like to test that theory?"
"No your Majesty." Keir took a humble step backwards.
I thought it was all over, that I'd be able to limp out of the
throne room on my own for once. I was wrong. The King invaded
my thoughts and memories one last time and landed on the face of
the cop who shot Bram.
"You failed in your task." At first I thought he was yelling
at me. I didn't know what to say so I risked a glimpse at him
and saw him standing over a now kneeling Bram. I feared he was
about to take Bram's head and I tried to stand to protect him.
Alas, I still couldn't move. The King obviously was powerful
enough to control me as well as Bram. "I want this sircius
tracked down and killed. I will tolerate no more mistakes."
"Yes your Majesty." Bram said through clenched teeth. He was
obviously in pain. I shed a tear for him.
Keir on the other hand snickered. Then there was a splash
behind me, some gurgling, then gasping. "And you Keir, were
within feet of this sircius. Might I suggest from now on you
stick to the task at hand rather than pursuing your own
objectives."
The King dismissed me with a wave and I slinked my way off down
the stream. There would be no dark rooms for me this time, I
had learned my lesson and the King knew it. At the moment the
only thing I dreamt of was laying on a bed in the infirmary for
the next few days. Bram met me before I reached the water's
edge and pulled me onto dry land. I knew Keir still watched us
from behind me and I didn't care. I wrapped my arms around Bram
and allowed him to carry me away from there.
Bram set me gently onto one of the beds and I thanked him. I'd
be dead now without him intervening. Instead I was nearly
unconscious and in incredible pain. The last few days were
starting to catch up with me. Mercifully Doc Wendel came around
and gave me a sedative so I could sleep through the worst of it.
When I woke Bram was right there by my side. He talked to me
softly and made sure I didn't strain myself. He petted my hair
and reassured me everything was all right now. He held my hand
and looked lovingly down at me. "You scared me." He whispered.
"Me too." I said softly.
It didn't take long for Doc Wendel to notice his solicitousness
and investigate my condition. From afar he saw that I was fully
awake and checked my vitals. He then approached Bram who stood
to talk with him. "May we have a few moments?" The doctor
asked the towering vampire.
Bram conferred with me as a good lover would and when I nodded
he moved away.
Doc Wendel briskly got to the point. "How are you feeling
today?"
"Tired. Of course I did just wake up so..."
"You'll feel weak for some time. You're blood count is still
low." He examined the computer by my bed. "Your resting heart
rate is down to 102 beats per minute which means it's almost
back to normal. Have you had any more hallucinations?"
"No."
"Any suicidal urges." Doc asked as if he was going down a
checklist.
"Not since I woke up." I tried make him smile but it was kind
of like hitting a brick wall. "Difficulty thinking, racing
thoughts or confusion?"
"All the time."
"Right now?" He insisted.
"No, not really." I admitted.
"Have you had anymore blackouts?"
I woke up a little more to think about it. "Besides vampires
making me forget things?"
"Are you sure it was always the vampires?" He asked looking
towards Bram.
"Yea-... No, but I thought it was."
"But you have not had any since your return?"
"Not that I know of, but really how can I tell. I mean I've
been sleeping most of the time anyway."
He nodded. "Of course. Now, what about before your trip?"
"Not recently."
"Even when you skipped your scheduled shots?"
"Nope."
"While we're on the subject why didn't you come in for them?"
He attempted to make it sound as if this wasn't the question he
was really leading up to.
"Doc, you know I hate drugs."
"These are to help maintain your chemical stability."
"The chemicals in my head aren't what caused me to run away
don't you understand that?"
"Yes I do, but they do effect your every day life and that's
what leads to decisions of running away, or worse."
"I don't like how it makes me feel. Kind of fuzzy. That alone
is worth running away."
"You should be thinking straighter with it."
"I don't think so. It's hard enough to concentrate without
that crap."
"Antoniette, I'll let you in on a little secret. The way you
perceive things is not the way everyone else does. These drugs
are the only thing that stand between you and the rest of us
going crazy trying to handle you. Do you understand?"
I nodded. I didn't think I was that bad off. He injected me
with the drug. I didn't feel anything at first but I knew
within the hour I'd be staring at the ceiling in my own little
world. "Why don't they just let me die and save themselves the
trouble?"
"When are you going to stop asking me that question?"
"Probably when I'm dead."
"You don't really want to die do you?"
I thought about Bram sitting by my bed endlessly while I slept.
I couldn't disappoint him. "No."
"Good. I want you to stay in bed and get your rest. I'd like
to keep you under a mild sedative for now. You will feel
'fuzzy' and rather sleepy for the next few days. After that I'm
keeping you under surveillance until we're sure you're through
the worst of it and won't have any more episodes. I need you to
promise me you'll come in for your medication."
I didn't want to. I wanted to not deal with the events around
here any more. That would keep me stable. I knew there was no
way around it so I agreed. "I promise I'll come in for the
shot."
"All right then. You may have time with your visitor but I
don't want him, or anyone else to stay very long. You need
rest."
"Yes sir."
He waved Bram over, told him not to stay very long and then
walked away. Bram made sure I was all right. He avoided
talking about my actual condition. I'm not sure he could handle
it. He kept things light and as promised, to my dismay, only
stayed about ten minutes.
***
Weeks went by. I don't know how many. I wasn't really
counting. I was in horrible shape. For the first few days I
slept. Doc Wendel again marveled at my speedy replenishment of
blood. Bram hadn't drained me as much as he did that first time
but I was still fairly low going into the infirmary. The Doc
only let me get up for a few minutes at a time a few times a
day. He informed me all my running around and such complicated
my injuries I had incurred on the trip. My ribs would take the
longest to heal. In the meantime he wanted me to stay put, just
in case.
In this time I had quite a few visitors, we even had a poker
game. Yes, we made sure it was on Dr. Hilltop's watch. There
was one visitor who was the highlight of everyday. He appeared
leaning in the doorway out of nowhere. His eyes landed on me
and did not waver. He would stand there for some time with
those sharp, dark, nearly black, blue eyes and just a crack of a
smile, much the way he had what seemed ages ago. To say he was
handsome would be a wild understatement. He is more so now than
he was back when I first laid eyes on him.
One day he walked in with arms loaded. With a few clicks a
small table folded out before me and a chess board placed on
top. Bram leaned over it and kissed me then started setting up
the pieces.
"What's this?"
"Chess."
"Duh! I was wondering if there was a special occasion for it.
We haven't played in a while."
"Sounds like as good a reason as any to me."
"You sure this isn't some sort of psychological game?"
He laughed. "I leave that sort of thing to Doctor Wendel."
"I've said it before." Doctor Wendel walked up behind Bram.
"I'm not a psychologist."
"No, but you are our resident physician. In your expert
opinion how is she doing?" His tone was not as stinging as his
words.
"She has improved since your return. I can't fully give her
the treatment she needs. The drugs aren't completely effective,
especially if she misses dosages."
"Hey, I haven't missed a dose since I've been chained up here."
To which the Doc responded; "And her attitude hasn't improved
much either." Bram suppressed a giggle. "There is only so much
I can do for her."
Bram asked, "What do you want us to do bring in a therapist
just for her?"
"No, I want you to bring in one for everyone. This place is a
regular loony bin."
"I'm certain it's not that bad."
"Look, I can cure a lot of things with the material you give
me. But what you do to their minds... I'm not that good.
There's nothing in the physical realm for me to work with. I
can keep giving her drugs for chemical balance. It's not a long
term solution and I'm not sure how long before she adapts to the
drug and needs something more to keep her feeling normal. And
who knows what will happen once-" He stopped himself, or
someone else did, either way he changed his tone a little. "To
be honest, what these people need, is what she's been begging
for since she got here."
"I know going home, even for a visit would do wonders, but you
know that's impossible."
"Some of us have no one to go home to." His eyes burned into
Bram.
I watched Bram. He showed no signs of remorse or pride. He
simply acknowledged the Doctor with a nod. I tried to get some
kind of feeling from him on what was happening but there was
nothing. To try to diffuse the situation a little I said. "You
know an actual therapist would help. Someone we could talk to
about our problems who would listen and give advice. Someone we
can trust."
The Doc pointed at me. "That sounds a lot like your role here."
"Yeah, but who heals the therapist?"
"Honestly," the Doc said, "we do need a professional in here."
"I understand. I will speak to the King about this. Just keep
her stable for now."
Doc Wendel said thank you and left. Bram is a man of his word
so if he wasn't already in contact with the King he would speak
with him soon. At the moment he was sticking by my bedside,
after all we had a chess game to play.
Sometimes I do wonder about the authenticity of his game play.
He has always been a better chess player than I. Oh I do win
every now and then and this time would be one of those times. I
just am not sure how valid that win is. Frankly, that goes for
just about everything in my life. I just never could be sure
how much was planted suggestions and how much was my own
thoughts.
As the game progressed, I became agitated as I believed I was
digging myself into a hole. Then I got to the point where I
only had a couple moves I could make, only one of which would be
of any help and it was an extremely risky one at that.
"What are you thinking?" Bram asked as he stared at the board.
"Like you don't know." I snapped more than I should have.
"No, I don't. I don't pry if I don't have to."
With a sigh I acquiesced, "I don't want to put my Queen at
risk. It'll block your king. No matter what I do, you'll still
win in a couple moves."
"I will?" He said it so innocently, as if he wasn't sure about
that fact. How could he not see it? Was there something I
wasn't seeing? Listening to my gut, I moved the queen.
It didn't take him half a second to capture my queen. He had
tricked me! I couldn't believe I fell for his trick or that he
would do such a thing to me. It was over. I was doomed. There
was no way around it.
Or was there? What was that over in the corner? Wait a
minute. He knew about it, didn't he? He knew I had my bishop
behind his ranks in unprotected territory waiting for the right
moment. I had forgotten about it. Had I moved it before it
would be dead, but once I moved the Queen it freed up and now I
had a straight shot at the pawn that protected his king. I made
the move and asked, "That's not checkmate is it?"
"Yes it is." He said with a wry grin. Was this one of those
times where I was setup to win? "And here I thought you trusted
me."
"Only when my life is on the line." I quipped.
He started putting the pieces away. "What, we're not going to
play again?"
"No. You're about to have visitors." He nodded towards the
door.
"You can stay." I reached for his hand.
He held mine and kissed me. "Don't worry, I'll be back
tomorrow." He left before I heard them coming.
"These vampires are driving me crazy." Kenneth said as he
approached my bed.
"You're driving me crazy." Lacey answered back as she skipped
in behind him. "You know what he's doing?" She asked me and
before I could answer. "He snores loudly all day so I can't
sleep, then when I'm awake he goes on and on about Kama. When I
ignore him, he starts in about how badly the others treat him
and how he should just end it all. At least when you were at
your bunk you'd keep him from bothering me. When are you going
back?"
"I don't know, ask Doc." I said half aware. I was still
watching Bram walk out of the slave court.
"She's not much better." Kenneth spoke over me. "She starts
it by asking about Kama and how Kama never invites her in
anymore, or any other vampire. How she's been rejected and
wishes she could go back home. Like a little whiny baby, you
know what I mean?"
"I do not!" Lacey squealed.
I couldn't help laughing at their bickering. Neither of them
thought it was very amusing and seemed to become offended when I
thought it was. It's small things like this that made staying
with the vampires worth while.
***
"You trust him?" Doctor Wendel asked me, referring to Bram
after the doctor shooed him away again.
"Yes. You don't?" He hesitated and I prompted. "Is this
about your wife?" His eyes scorched me. "If you don't want to
talk about it, I'll just shutup."
He stood silently and I took it as a hint. After he finished
unwrapping my last bandage, he said, "You should be dead by now,
you know."
"I know."
"I don't understand why the King spared you. You made a
promise and then broke it. Anyone else he would have killed
immediately."
"He almost did."
"Oh yes, then your savior stepped in. Hard to believe you ran
away from him in the first place."
"I tried to escape because no one likes being locked up here."
"Seems a bit ungrateful, after all we cured your cancer.
Really, why do you keep fighting them?" It was as if he wanted
me to give him a reason why he should continue to fight them.
Kenneth crossed my mind. He had gone off more than once about
how his imprisonment here was much like those of his ancestors.
"I just hate the idea of people keeping anyone as slaves for any
reason. It's unfair and unnecessary."
"Well they are superior to us."
"They are no more superior to us than the white lord was to his
black slave. Just because the white guy had money didn't mean
the black guy couldn't make money given the opportunity."
"So given the opportunity you could drink blood and become
powerful?"
"Power is in the eye of the beholder. I could drink blood.
Not that I would want to. I don't think it's the blood though,
I think it's us who give them that power. If we weren't so
willing to give into them they wouldn't have power over us. One
day humans may evolve to be greater than any vampire. Then what
would they do?"
"You don't think the vampires would evolve as well?"
I thought about it a little while. "I guess they could, I mean
look at Bram. He was a knight a thousand some odd years ago and
now he's a polite civilized man. I just think we could evolve
faster."
"You call that evolution?" Dr. Wendel asked almost under his
breath.
"Other's like Keir," I continued as if I didn't hear him, "have
remained barbarians who beat their women and fight with their
own kind."
"Keir is civilized. He just has a temper. He is more learned
then most people I know."
I wasn't done. "Lucifer had a temper, Keir is a destructive
animal. You wouldn't have any patients at all if they were more
evolved."
"How absurd. I'd have patients. They'd just be in my ward
because other humans did worse things to them than these
vampires will ever do. Have you ever seen a six year old girl
raped and beaten by her father? A drug addict who had lost his
arm because of some bad heroin his dealer gave him?" I shook my
head. I understood him a bit better now. "I have. This is a
dream job for me. Most of my patients get up and walk out of
here in a matter of minutes, a few weeks at the most. Those few
that are here that long are not normally that bad off and are
just for observation as you well know. As for deaths, very few
people die in my ward."
I perked my ears up at this, but I feared asking him about them
now. I had upset him enough. Instead I asked, "And what about
births? How many times have you experienced that wondrous
event?"
He looked a bit downcast. "None."
"You know it's not all bad out there."
"It's not all bad in here either. It just depends on how you
decide to live right?"
I stopped arguing and said resignedly, "The truth is, it
doesn't matter. Nothing I do matters. So you're right, why
fight them?" I shook my head. "I'm done. They've taken all
the fight out of me."
"That's it?" He sounded disappointed.
"I thought that's what you wanted."
"What I want, is for you to recover and free up one of my
beds." Obviously he was joking; there were five other empty
beds. I could take the hint though and I slid off the bed.
"You know, just because I've given up, doesn't mean you all
shouldn't."
"Good bye Antoniette and try not to get yourself killed."
"Just imagine what your wife might think if she knew you had
given up."
"That's a good way to get killed." He snapped. "You don't
know how my wife might have thought?"
"It just seems like she's the major driving force behind what
you do and why you dislike the vampires. Are you really
honoring her memory?"
He grabbed my arm and dragged me aside out of ear shot of
anyone nearby. "You really want to know about my wife? How is
this: I killed her, not Bram. All right? Bram's the only one
who knows the truth, well, now you. I'm still here because of
her, but that doesn't mean that I believe the rest of the people
should stay here."
"I don't understand. Bram told me-"
"What did he tell you?" He asked accusingly.
I guess I shouldn't have opened my big mouth. I know, I do
that a bit much and I that curse would follow me to my grave.
"He didn't say exactly... He implied that he drained her."
He glared at me but I think for the sake of my sanity he didn't
admonish me. "Yes, he drained her, but not until after I- Why
am I telling you this?"
"Because I'm someone you can trust." I fluttered my eyelashes
at him.
"If I finish will you go away and never mention this again?"
"Sure."
"My wife had cancer. I tried to treat it and made it worse. I
knew Bram and Erik for some time, though I didn't know what they
were. Bram revealed himself when my wife was on her death bed.
I asked him to take her pain away. He did." He turned to leave
me. "Now, I hope not to see you in here again anytime soon."
"Yeah, me too." I said solemnly. I was halfway into the slave
court when I thought I should tell him I was grateful for him
curing my cancer as well as the hundred other times he kept me
from bleeding to death and mended my broken bones. I went back
to tell him. Alas he had disappeared.
***
The stationary bike shrilled as I pedaled it harder up an
imaginary mountain. I wouldn't say I was in the best shape of
my life. I recovered from my trip and kept myself in shape like
a good little slave. Of course the Doc's drugs helped, I wasn't
getting depressed and did what I needed to do to make everyone
happy. I went around serving any vampire who asked without
hesitation. It was strange. I really didn't have a problem
with it.
Now that I had fully given into my slavery, I found a whole new
world open to me. My computer room, I found now fully connected
to the outside world. There was no way in hell I would post a
message about being held captive by vampires. I could search
freely through all the information out there.
It was nothing compared to the searchable splendor that was the
vampire intranet. I could spend the rest of my life sitting n
front of that monitor. I could learn about how they discovered
the cure for cancer or the inner workings of their innovative
generator that used only the stream to power the entire town.
I could, but you know every once in a while you have to get up
and move. In this case a little leg exercise was just what the
Doc told me to do otherwise he'd come after me with a needle.
He ordered me to not over do myself. Well, I can't always do as
I'm told.
A large blob moved in beside me and I slowed down enough to
clear my vision to see who had mounted the bike next to me.
Bram started pedaling about as fast as I. He didn't say a word
and I didn't want to interrupt my breathing to talk. He did
start to pedal faster and looked to me as if challenging me to
keep up.
I did. Well, at least I tried. Each time I reached the speed
he was at he upped the difficulty on his bike and pedaled that
much faster. Just to get a jump on him I switched mine two
settings higher and nearly came to a stop when I encountered
more resistance. I pushed on and in no time was back up to
speed. Not to be outdone he found the maximum setting and
slowly at first managed to get the bike to its top speed.
The bastard wasn't even sweating!
I finally slowed to a stop before I had a coronary and watched
him pedal for another minute before he too stopped. "What ...
The... Hell..."
It would have taken me a while to get all the words out between
gasps so he answered, "Just trying to see if you could keep up.
You did very well."
"Yeah... Right." I grabbed my towel and took a swig of water.
After my heartbeat slowed and I had toweled off a bit Bram took
my hand. "Come on, time for your first lesson."
"Lesson?"
"Well, more workout actually, you need to learn to defend
yourself better. Self-defense, swordsmanship, that sort of
thing."
"Huh?" It wasn't enough that I was improving my mind and body.
Besides, why teach me this now? It wasn't as if I'd be much of
a threat to a hunter. Unless... "Vampire 101?" Were they
intending for it to happen so soon that they thought I would
need it before long?
Bram didn't answer and I took this as confirmation. I could
have tried to pry it out of him but I really didn't want to.
He tugged on my hand and I expected him to pull me towards the
sparring room. Instead we exited the gym. He led me to the
garage and to a plain white van.
While I drove, I asked him about Doc Wendel. True I was
breaking my promise to never mention it again, but I just had to
know Bram's side of the story. "May I ask about Doctor Wendel's
wife?"
"I believe he's already discussed this with you."
"Yeah, but I don't get why he's upset with you if he asked you
to kill her."
"Wouldn't you resent me being around if I you had asked me to
do something similar? I'm a reminder of what had happened to
her and how Dr. Wendel failed to save his own wife."
"So you weren't ordered by the King to kill her in order to
bring the doctor here?"
Bram sat silently as he always did when I touched on a bit of
truth he didn't want me to know. It took him a few minutes to
decide to answer. "We had been observing another doctor in that
hospital who had more experience and a better bedside manner.
Patricia Wendel's death made Dr. Wendel conveniently free to
come with us. There was no conspiracy, no order by the King to
kill anyone. The truth is; the doctor came here willingly even
if he wasn't happy with the situation. He was eager to know
what we knew about cancer treatments among other things. Until
recently, he has never looked back."
"Oh." I said softly and let the matter drop completely.
He had me drive to the pasture where we picnicked before. He
slid from the front seat to the back of the van and opened the
doors. He handed me a picnic basket while he jumped down with
what looked to be a heavy duffle bag. This was the first time I
thought to examine the back of the van and noticed it was
armored and there was an assortment of weapons arraying the
walls. I hoped no cop would bother to check out the van while
we were away from it. In this day and age who knows what they
would think of it or its driver.
We walked to about the same spot as before and watched the
horses while we ate. He tried to get close to me but I pushed
him away as I hadn't had a chance to shower after my bike ride.
After we had a quiet meal he dug in his duffel and produced two
long wooden swords.
He held one out to me. "It's called a waster." I sat there
staring blankly at him. I didn't have enough energy for this
kind of thing. Besides, I've already killed with a sword,
that's all the sword fighting I care for in my life.
"Come on, take it."
"Can't we do something less ambitious?"
"You need to learn to defend yourself. You don't want a repeat
of Gregory do you?"
"That wouldn't have happened had I had a sword to begin with."
I snapped. The little gun they had given me was no protection
against vampires. Why now was it vampires I was learning to
defend against when it was hunters that would be my future
threat? Sometimes these people made no sense at all.
"Do you think they wouldn't have killed you had you had
something as life threatening as a sword. Toni, I don't wish to
belittle you, but nothing you could have done would have stopped
their attack."
"Okay." I said defeated. I took the wooden sword from him
knowing I would be defeated with it as well. It was similar in
weight to the swords I've handled before and it was balanced
well. It was about the size and shape of a bastard sword, small
enough to be handled with one hand but the grip was long enough
to accommodate both hands. The blade wasn't quite wide enough
to be considered a broadsword. Honestly, it was a good fit for
me.
Bram started me by getting me into a defensive standing
position then showed me a couple of the basic moves. Over and
over again, one step forward, back to resting position, one step
back, back to resting position; it got rather tedious. Lift the
sword up over my head that's the roof guard. Put it down in
front of me, that's the fool guard.
Then came the tricky part, slightly turned to the left with
sword straight out that is the window guard. It kept going. He
had yet to show me anything I could use to attack him. It was a
couple of hours before we even touched swords. Still it was
nothing more than slowly walking me through a couple of hits and
rehearsing the positions he had shown me earlier.
Before I knew it his stick was smacking mine harder and harder.
Soon after, I wasn't able to block any of his blows at all.
His stick just kept flying by and it was all I could do to keep
it away from me. He must have noticed for he stopped.
"Toni, you need to stop watching the sword and start watching
me." That isn't hard to do. I like watching him. In fact all
he had on at the moment was pants and a loose fitting T-shirt
that was beginning to stick to his body. At least I was making
him sweat a little. My mind started wandering to other ways I
could make him sweat when he said. "Okay, stop watching me like
that. Watch my movements, especially my waist. One can
anticipate moves by the twisting of the waist. No Toni, above
the belt." I giggled a little and shrugged. That would have to
wait I suppose. "From watching your opponent you not only get
an idea of how he will move next but also what his state of mind
is. You don't need to be telepathic to tell if he's aggressive
or defensive, or even unsure of himself. The weapon isn't
important, how your opponent handles the weapon is. If you can
anticipate his mood, you can anticipate his moves."
He took a leading left step forward showing me how his waist
twisted as he brought his arms up for an upwards cut. I saw it
coming and put my sword in an ox guard position where the hilt
was at eye level and the tip of the blade was down towards his
abdomen. "Good, again." He performed the same exact move, only
this time I changed up with a window guard and stopped his sword
again. He nodded his appreciation.
After blocking a few more hits, I found my sword slipping a
little even on his softer blows. My wrists weren't holding up
the sword as well as they had been. In particular my right, as
that was the arm with recently healed bones. It really made it
hard to keep putting pressure against his forceful cuts. They
began to break through my defenses and his wooden sword smacked
my shoulder then my knee.
I decided it was time for another tactic. He may not have
shown me individual stances for attack, but I had been watching
him, just as he said to do, and have learned from his attacks.
So as his sword swung downward, I slipped inside making him
overextend himself and used the window guard to strike.
I wasn't too successful as Bram moves much more quickly than I.
He stepped backwards dropping under my guard then knocked the
sword out of my hand. "Argh!" I shook my pained hand. I
hadn't expected it to sting so much. Angered I picked up the
waster and doubled my effort.
Sometime later Bram knocked the wooden sword out of my hand for
the hundredth time. I looked at it all lifeless and lonely
amongst the weeds. This time there was no anger, a bit of
depression maybe and a lot of stinging in my hand. "Come on
pick it up."
"I'm tired." I whined.
"Just a few more rounds."
"I have no chance of beating you, especially now."
"I don't expect you to beat me, just hold your own against me."
"And how exactly am I even to do that against a vampire?"
"You have your own skills you can use."
"Oh, am I supposed to write you a love letter that will so stun
you that I'll be able to knock the sword from your hand?"
"Ha, ha, I'm sure you'll think of something."
"Yeah sure, why not? I Killed McKenzie and stabbed Heremon."
"You know I'm not that easy. McKenzie and Heremon are not
fighters. They never were any good with a sword. I on the
other hand was born with a sword in my hand... well at least I
did subortum that way."
This comment stirred something in my mind, though I wasn't
quite sure what. Had I seen him recently with a sword in his
hand? The memory wasn't coming forward so I changed the
subject. "When are you going to show me how to attack you, so I
at least have a chance."
He laughed. "I think maybe you have had enough for today."
"Come on. What, the King won't let you show me how to hurt any
of you?"
"No, I just think it's time for something else. You rested
now?" Bram didn't ever give me a chance to rest. He was
already digging in the dufflebag for something else. As soon as
he stood, he put a pistol in my hand. "I've set up some targets
over there. You need to learn how to aim better."
"Why do I need to learn at all? The hunters are gone."
"There will always be another hunter. It's best to have these
skills even if you may never need them. Learn how to defend
yourself in case one day you really need to." He showed me
where to stand. In the darkness I had a hard time seeing the
targets. "Take a couple shots, let me see what you're doing."
I raised the gun to eye level and fired a couple of times. As
expected there was no plink of bullets hitting the metal cans.
"Okay, your stance isn't bad but your arm isn't straight
enough. Lock your elbow but don't stiffen your muscles. Like
most things it's more mental than physical, let your mind do the
work." He moved my arm a little then stood behind me placing
his face right next to mine. "Level your head a little." He
moved my head so I wasn't hunching over to see the target. "See
you can sight along the gun better now. See how the front and
rear sights are even? Focus more on them than on the target.
Try now."
I squeezed off another shot. This time there was a plunk as
the bullet entered the wood below the cans. "Better!" He
kissed me on the cheek. I didn't understand as I wasn't even
close to where I aimed. "Again. This time measure your
breathing. Try to hold your breath while you aim and fire." I
raised the gun trying to remember to keep my arm a little loose.
This time as I aimed I felt a little tickle in my mind and a
little nudge in my arm. Bram sited through my eyes. I paid
attention to where he had moved my arm. I thought I was aiming
a little high but when I pulled the trigger there was a ding and
a clunk as the can flew off the fence.
"Sometimes you have to adapt your aim as the gun may not be
calibrated." He gently took the gun from my hand, "You can
adjust these screws. I'll show you how to adjust it another
time. For now it's just easier to change your aim."
He handed me back the gun then took a step away. I tried to do
everything he told me, including sighting higher. When I fired
there was no sound. "Good!"
"How the hell was that good? I didn't hit anything."
"You just barely missed the top of the can. You aimed just a
bit too high."
Argh! I raised the gun quickly and fired off the rest of the
rounds quickly. There were two dings. I think they were just
lucky hits as I wasn't really trying. I dropped the gun and
fell onto my buttocks. I sighed. "I don't want to do this."
He knelt down beside me. "I know. You don't have a choice.
It's not really that bad, being a vampire."
Yes, that was really what I meant. I didn't think my destiny
was what I wanted to do with my life. "How can you say that? I
do have a choice."
"Runaway together right now?" He turned melancholic. "You and
I both know not only wouldn't it work, but neither of us are
willing to do it."
He is right. I couldn't face the disappointment of tasting
freedom just to have it ripped from me again.
"Why are they doing this? Why can't they just make me a
vampire already? Either get it over with or stop torturing me
with the prospect."
"He's waiting until you're willing to suboriri."
"Didn't you just here me. I'm willing."
"Do you feel so in your heart. Do you really want to be like
me?"
"Yes, no. I don't know." He wrapped his arm around me and I
fell into him. "Can't you do it? Right here, right now.
There's no one here to stop you."
"I... can't" Something wet fell onto my cheek and it took me a
few seconds to realize it didn't come from me.
"What's wrong?" I looked up to him, there were no more tears
but his eyes were wet.
"Nothing. I wish to make you happy, but in this I cannot."
I remembered Mona and Sinclair. Both were dead now because he
made her one of them without the King's permission. "Why won't
the King let you do it?"
"I don't know he hasn't discussed it with me." He said
sharply.
"Do you think it's because we're in love?"
"I suppose that could be a piece of it."
I moved his head, forcing him to look at me. My mind pictured
a wooded area and Bram being dragged down a path. I don't know
why I thought of it, or why it reminded me of the prophecy but I
asked, "Are you part of the prophecy?"
"Huh?"
"You know, I wasn't told the full prophecy. Are you a part of
it? Maybe that's why he won't involve you."
"I seriously doubt it."
"But there was something about going down the right path in the
prophecy isn't there?" He hugged me so that I couldn't see the
shame on his face, unable again to do something I asked of him.
"I understand."
We went back and laid on the blanket watching the stars. It
was a little uncomfortable as neither of us wanted to speak for
fear of bringing up the subject again. Still, there was no way
around it. He finally got the courage to ask; "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine, a little tired though." I knew what he meant,
though I was still afraid to talk about it.
"You look sad."
"Yeah." Slowly I got over it. "I was just thinking how nice
this area would look in the day time. Do you ever think I'll
see daylight again?"
"I'm sure this won't be your last outing. Even so, think of it
this way, you wouldn't be able to see all these stars in the
day."
"You're right and I do love the stars."
He pointed to one in particular. I had to lean in closer to
follow his arm up. "That one is Epsilon Robney, it has three
inhabitable planets around it."
"Oh really, any intelligent life there?"
"I have no idea, I've never been there. I just know what our
computers tell us."
"I see, so has your computers found other intelligent life out
there?"
"Not to my knowledge."
"You're just full of answers tonight." I said a little
dejectedly. It had always been my hope to go into space and
explore those stars. Either way as soon as I got back to the
complex I was heading straight for my computer lab to find out
exactly what all these people have learned about space so far.
Who knows maybe one day I'll go with Bram out there. "Tell me
more."
I already knew the basic constellations. Still I didn't mind
him walking me through them. He pointed out Omicron2 Eridani,
Scropii, Alpha Centauri and dozens of other stars they believed
would support our life. It was just a matter of getting there.
He told me they were much farther along than any known
technology in the world to reaching the stars. They just needed
a reason to go there and within a few decades we could be eating
the fruits of another planet.
For now, we enjoyed the stars from this distance. We had
fallen silent for a time as we watched the stars slowly slide
across the sky. The very edge of the horizon had turned a light
shade of grey. Soon some orange would be peeking over the
mountains. I knew it must be getting close to the time to
leave. "What are you thinking?" I asked him as I caressed his
arm that stretched across my stomach hoping it wouldn't leave
too soon.
He laughed softly.
"What you don't want me to ask you that?"
"No, I'm just surprised you didn't try to find out for
yourself."
"Well, I think it's rude to probe someone all the time."
"Good answer. And to answer yours; I was just thinking how
much I love you."
"I love you too."
"Oh yeah? How much?"
I thought about it. How much did I love him? I could give him
some corny line like he would no doubt give me. As I thought, I
stared at the crisp clear night sky with thousands of twinkling
lights full of energy and life. "More than the stars." I said.
Thought about it more, it didn't seem enough. "More than the
universe." He leaned over and kissed me. I turned to look into
his eyes. "More than anything."
By: Christine Schnell
