Bite, page 62
She hugs me back but something changes in her face. She looks around until her eyes are back on mine and with urgency she mutters, “I need to get out of here. Can we go please?”
I nod as I say, “Of course love.”
I take her hand, as I get ready to lead her outside. With the scent of Sara’s blood still thick in the room, I could use the fresh air. I start to move but stop when I get a message from Charlie where he says Get ready to grab her because she’s going to flip out in a second.
I’m not sure what he means until Harry lets out a sigh as he softly says, “Gina sweetheart, I’m sorry. I know you’re angry now but I hope you’ll soon understand why I did what I did.”
Gina’s deadpan face slowly turns to face him. Malice enters her voice as she says, “I will never forgive you for what you did. You sat there and let my mother die! I hate you Harry! I will hate you for all of eternity!”
She tries again to lunge for him but I wrap my arms around her and while trying to break free of my hold on her, I drag her outside while she screams more obscenities at her father. What I find more shocking is Harry just stands there and takes every venomous word that’s thrown at him with a sad expression on his face.
Once we get out of the house, I move us far away so she can calm down. I still feel apprehension from her and I wrap my arms back around her when she begins to cry. It is still shocking that Gina is able to do that but I stand there as she lets it all out as I hold her tightly. I stroke her hair as she sniffs a few times and mumbles, “How could he do that? How could he just let her die?”
“It was his choice love. But understand that it was a hard decision for him to make.”
“But she was the love of his life.” She looks up at me as she adds, “When I was dying on our wedding night, you choose to save me. Didn’t Harry love her enough to save her?”
“Of course he did Gina. Harry loved your mother very much and I’m sure he’ll love her until the end of time.” I kiss her forehead while murmuring, “Sometimes when you love something, you have to be able to let it go. That may not make sense to you now but in time it will.”
She thinks about my words as she whispers, “It’s so unfair. It wasn’t only his decision to make.”
“She was his wife so yes it was. If anything happens to you, I would be the only one who could decide your fate. I wouldn’t want anyone else to interfere.” She shrugs and I feel her mood beginning to pacify. I calmly ask, “Love, you don’t really hate your father do you? Harry is suffering and he doesn’t need to lose his daughter right after he lost his wife.”
Sighing in defeat she replies, “No I don’t hate him. I was just angry. I shouldn’t have said what I said and I didn’t mean to take it that far. In fact, I think I should go back so I can apologize to him.”
I kiss her forehead and say, “Come on, he’ll be happy to hear it.”
We walk back into the house where I see how the others fixed it up to make it look like a break in gone wrong. Some of the furniture is even turned over (even though Gina had a hand in that) so it’ll appear that a struggle occurred before Sara died. I hate that we have to do this but cover up is always our number one priority.
I watch Gina’s reaction as she surveys the living room and I nervously wait for what she is going to say. Evan walks up to her and with sorrowful eyes he says, “I’m sorry Gina but we had to do this so the police wouldn’t suspect anything unusual happened here. I promise you we didn’t touch your mother.”
She just nods as David asks, “How you doing kiddo?”
“I’m okay,” she replies. She turns to Harry and says, “Pop I’m sorry for blowing up at you. I know that must have been difficult for you and I should have been a better daughter and understood that.”
Harry crosses the room and they both lock into a touching embrace as he responds, “it’s okay sweetheart. You are an amazing daughter to forgive me so quickly. I just couldn’t bring myself to allow Charlie to change her. But the last thing I wanted was to upset you so I’m sorry too.”
Gina slightly smiles and I’m relieved that the two of them are on good terms again through this difficult moment. I look around the room to make sure Evan has everything covered as Amber blurts out, “So, when are we gonna kick that red headed bitch’s ass?”
Slight anger crosses her face as Gina responds, “You guys aren’t going to do anything. And next time when we tell you to do something, I would appreciate if you do it!”
Tiffany huffs as she says, “You’re welcome for helping you out and allowing you to enter the house. You know Gina we were only trying to help but next time you need to get access to a house you can’t enter, I’ll just keep my mouth shut.”
That shocks Gina and she sighs as she says, “Yes you’re right. Thank you Tiffany. I did appreciate your assistance.”
“How were we able to enter with her invitation? This isn’t her house right,” Charlie asks with a raised eyebrow as he stares at Tiffany.
A fresh tear falls from her eyes as Tiffany replies, “When we were in high school, I was always here. I slept over so much that Gina made room in her closet so I could start leaving clothes here. Sara said to me that this was my home too. I will always remember that and I thought that would be good enough to invite you all in.”
Charlie smiles as he says, “Yes it was. Smart girl.”
“Again I’m sorry Tiffany. What you did was incredibly brave,” Gina says.
Evan walks up to me and softly says, “Sam, we have to call the cops now. We have to get them out of here as well. Carla knows who they are.”
“I know,” I say with a frustrated grunt. Carla will surely send word to Ursela about Gina’s friends and she’ll use them to get to my wife and might even hurt them or worse. I give it some thought and suddenly an idea pops into my head. I look at them with a confident smile as I say, “I think I know what to do with them since leaving them here is no longer safe.”
The room is silent while everyone listens to our conversation. Diane looks at me with curiosity as she asks, “What are you talking about? Are you saying we’ll have to leave?”
“Yes,” I say bluntly.
“For how long,” Steve asks.
Knowing what I’m getting at, Gina sighs as she answers, “Depends on what happens with Ursela when I see her. I doubt she’ll do anything aside on just talking but if I can get in her head without her knowing then maybe I can get an idea of what she plans to do.”
I sense hesitation coming from Gina and I start to feel a little anxious. When I try to look in her mind, I see she is blocking something and I begin to get frustrated. What is she hiding from me?
“Well I know what my brother is getting at and where they can stay. We have a friend who will keep an eye on them for us. We sent Harry to him so he knows to curb his appetite so you don’t have to worry about him trying to take a bite out of any one of them,” Charlie says to Gina reassuringly.
She raises an eyebrow but I just smile. Charlie is referring to our friend Alex O’Mara who I met many years ago when I went through my rebellious stage for a while. Alex is dependable and despite his humorous nature, he can come through in a bind. He even enjoys fighting when the time calls for it but I have to admit he knows how to take care of business. I just wish I had listened to Alex when Ursela was awake back then. He wanted to run away and I choose to stick around to see what all the talk was about with her. Maybe if I listened to him instead of being stubborn about it, we wouldn’t be in this situation now.
I nod in agreement as I say, “Yes you guys will be safe with Alex. I’m sure he won’t mind watching you all for us.”
“Do I look like I need a fucking babysitter,” Tiffany asks with annoyance. “Why can’t we just stay here and the moment trouble is brewing, we’ll find each other and hide?”
“Because Tiffany this town is where trouble is going to be! Ursela is coming here and you guys are going to get caught in the middle. Now you’re leaving and that’s that,” Gina declares while Tiffany continues to pout. She straightens her clothes and takes a deep breath as she says, “Now I’m going to get ready to see Ursela and Sam you are staying here.”
Has my wife totally lost her mind? I’m standing behind the couch and after she said her words, I grip it so hard that as I lift my hand up, the fabric easily rips off. I try to calm my nerves, as I say, “Absolutely not. I will not let you walk up to her alone. I’m going with you.”
With panic in her eyes Gina responds, “No you can’t Sam! That is exactly what Ursela will be expecting. She knows you won’t let me out of your sight and if you come with me, she’ll be able to grab you. You have to stay as far away from her as possible.”
“She’s right Sam. If you get too close then she’ll really be able to stir up that venom inside you and who knows what else Ursela will do to you,” David adds.
Damn I didn’t think about that. The moment she feels I’m within the area, Ursela will put me back under her spell. It already feels like each day I’m fighting harder and harder to keep from letting it get the best of me but even I know that if I’m with her, there will be nothing I can do to stop the venom from completely taking over me. But I cannot let my wife go alone.
Gina smiles as she says, “I’m not going alone baby. Harry and Joseph are coming with me.”
They both look surprised by her volunteering them as her chaperones as I ask, “Why them?” Well my real question is why Joseph but I wait to hear her response.
“Well Joseph is the fastest so if I need to get a message back to you, he will be able to get away. And Harry, well I just want my dad with me.”
Fuck I can’t deny she’s right about that. Joseph is the fastest in our coven and if something was to happen, he’ll be able to get back to us in a heartbeat. Ursela may be over two thousand years old but I doubt even she has ever encountered a vampire with Joseph’s speed. “Yeah I guess that does make sense. It’s good you’ll have both of them with you,” I reluctantly agree.
Joseph still stunned whispers to Evan, “How did I get suckered into this?”
Evan chuckles as he replies, “Blame your speed man.”
“Wait shouldn’t David or Evan go too? You’re going to need one of them just in case something happens. You need someone strong Gina,” Mark says with fear in his voice.
While smirking, Gina slams into David and holds his neck to keep him up against a wall. He struggles to move but her firm grip makes it hard for him to break free. He’s growling with his fangs out as she looks at Mark and responds, “You mean take this strong guy here with me? Or maybe I should see if Evan can stand up to the task?”
We look over at Evan who is also pinned but we know Gina is mentally holding him there. Her friends can’t believe what they are seeing as I say, “Apparently Gina is the strongest out of all of us. She’ll be fine Mark.” At least that’s what I want to believe.
She finally releases them both and David goes outside to calm down since his eyes are bright red from anger. Gina gets right in Mark’s face and sarcastically asks, “You were saying?”
“Yeah well I guess I can see that you’ll be able to handle yourself just fine.”
“Gina, that was totally amazing,” Amber shouts while Diane and Tiffany still have their mouths hanging open.
She gives them a slight grin as Steve says, “So you’ll go, talk to this chick Ursela and leave with no problem or else you’ll kick ass. Doesn’t sound so hard right?”
“Let’s hope it goes that smoothly,” I say quietly.
“Well if we’re going, we better get moving. I wanna get this over with quick,” Harry says with Joseph nodding in agreement.
Gina walks over to me and as I hug her she says, “This is only to talk baby. Ursela is not going to start a fight now. She’ll know I took a heavy blow with my mother dying so all she wants to do now is just feel me out. I promise I’m coming back to you.”
“Oh no, here it comes. The mush,” David yells from outside.
Gina lets out a laugh as she says, “See, I am definitely coming back so you and I can continue to annoy David.”
“I hope so,” I murmur.
She looks around at her friends and whispers, “Make sure you get them to safety.”
“You have my word.” I don’t want to let her go. I want to hold onto her forever so she doesn’t have to go anywhere near that bitch. But I know my wife can handle herself and at least Harry and Joseph are going with her. “Take care of my heart.”
She kisses me as she responds, “You take care of mine.”
“Told ya,” David yells.
I slightly laugh as I look at Harry and Joseph and I say with extra intensity in my voice, “Bring her back to me.” I especially look at Joseph when I say, “to me.”
“We will,” he says through clenched teeth.
Gina waves to her friends and gives me one more quick kiss before she runs out the door with Harry and Joseph right behind her.
The rest finish up with making sure everything will collaborate with what we want the police to think happened here and I decide I better not put off making the call. I walk into the kitchen with my cell phone in hand to call Alex. I have no doubts that he will help me out but I just need to be sure that he can handle being around the humans for a few days. He picks up on the third ring and says in his natural good-humored tone, “If you are interrupting me during my meal then it must be very important Sam.”
I chuckle as I ask, “How are you Alex?”
“Well hurt because the mailman still hasn’t delivered my invitation to your wedding yet but otherwise okay.”
“Please forgive me my friend. I had no control over the guest list. I just threw on my tux and showed up.”
He laughs. “I’m just busting your chops man. If there were a lot of humans there, I might have caused some trouble anyway.
“Still can’t handle a lot of them,” I ask while concern grows in my head.
“A few yes but a large warm blooded group, not so good.” I sigh with relief and feel confident that Alex can deal with five humans for a few days. I feel Alex’s smile though the phone as he asks, “So when do I get to meet your better half?”
“Well it depends on whether you still want to meet her after I explain our situation to you.”
“Lay it on me man. What’s going on?”
In rapid speech, I tell Alex everything from when I met Ursela years ago up to Sara’s body still lying on the floor. When I get to the part about Gina’s friends, I say it to him gently because I didn’t want Alex to freak out. Of course, he still did.
“Dude, you want me to baby-sit your wife’s human friends? You’re kidding right?”
“I wish I was Alex but we’re in a jam and I know I can trust you with them. One of them is like a daughter to Harry so I know you’ll take extra care of them.”
He pauses for a moment and answers, “Of course man. I’m not going to leave you hanging like that. I’ll watch your humans for you.”
“And no drinking from them whatsoever,” I say firmly. “One of them is clearly marked but you cannot feed off the others.”
“Okay, okay no feeding; got it. Which one of you is the lucky vamp with a marked human,” he asks while I hear him lightly chuckle.
I start to laugh as I reply, “Can you believe its Charlie?”
“No way,” he says and we’re both in hysterics.
We chat for a few minutes more and I finally let him know they will be dropped off later this evening. After I hang up, I return to the living room and I say to them, “David is going to take you home so you can pack a bag. He’s only going to give you ten minutes max so make it quick. Then he’ll bring you back to our house.”
“Hold up, shouldn’t we wait for Gina to get back and see what she says before you ship us off,” Tiffany asks.
I shake my head as I reply, “I promised her I would get you all to safety and I’m keeping that promise. David, take them now please.”
Without any further argument, they follow David to his Hummer and I feel better when I hear the engine roar as he pulls away. Evan is already on the phone calling the cops and as I prepare to finish this off so we can get to the house, I hear Gina’s voice in my head. I stop in my tracks as I hear her voice almost begging for me to help her. She is in trouble and my wife wants me to come to her.
This put me in between a rock and a hard place. I know staying away from Ursela is the smart thing to do but hearing Gina silently call for me is hard to hear. So that’s my decision; no matter what the risk is I have to go help her.
I see Evan is occupying himself with making sure everything looks okay when the police arrive so I use that opportunity to sneak out. Of course it is hard to do anything sneaky around a vampire and knowing Evan is an excellent tracker, I am willing to take the risk so I can get to my wife. I inch my way towards the window and with his back turned, I hop out and quickly start running.
When I feel confident that I am far enough and Evan isn’t following me, I stop so I can focus. Since I didn’t know where Gina had gone to meet Ursela, I have to hone in on her voice so I can get an idea of where she is. I close my eyes and silently call her name. I pray that she is still in the same state so I can find her and I let out a sigh of relief when I hear her say my name. She is a bit upstate so I begin running. I keep searching for more clues to where she is and I smile when an image of a waterfall enters my head. I pick up the pace as I acknowledge where she is.
Niagara Falls.
The speed I am going gets me there in no time. The moment I get within the vicinity, Gina mentally yells with panic No Sam! Don’t come closer! She’s looking for you!
I nod as I say, “Of course love.”
I take her hand, as I get ready to lead her outside. With the scent of Sara’s blood still thick in the room, I could use the fresh air. I start to move but stop when I get a message from Charlie where he says Get ready to grab her because she’s going to flip out in a second.
I’m not sure what he means until Harry lets out a sigh as he softly says, “Gina sweetheart, I’m sorry. I know you’re angry now but I hope you’ll soon understand why I did what I did.”
Gina’s deadpan face slowly turns to face him. Malice enters her voice as she says, “I will never forgive you for what you did. You sat there and let my mother die! I hate you Harry! I will hate you for all of eternity!”
She tries again to lunge for him but I wrap my arms around her and while trying to break free of my hold on her, I drag her outside while she screams more obscenities at her father. What I find more shocking is Harry just stands there and takes every venomous word that’s thrown at him with a sad expression on his face.
Once we get out of the house, I move us far away so she can calm down. I still feel apprehension from her and I wrap my arms back around her when she begins to cry. It is still shocking that Gina is able to do that but I stand there as she lets it all out as I hold her tightly. I stroke her hair as she sniffs a few times and mumbles, “How could he do that? How could he just let her die?”
“It was his choice love. But understand that it was a hard decision for him to make.”
“But she was the love of his life.” She looks up at me as she adds, “When I was dying on our wedding night, you choose to save me. Didn’t Harry love her enough to save her?”
“Of course he did Gina. Harry loved your mother very much and I’m sure he’ll love her until the end of time.” I kiss her forehead while murmuring, “Sometimes when you love something, you have to be able to let it go. That may not make sense to you now but in time it will.”
She thinks about my words as she whispers, “It’s so unfair. It wasn’t only his decision to make.”
“She was his wife so yes it was. If anything happens to you, I would be the only one who could decide your fate. I wouldn’t want anyone else to interfere.” She shrugs and I feel her mood beginning to pacify. I calmly ask, “Love, you don’t really hate your father do you? Harry is suffering and he doesn’t need to lose his daughter right after he lost his wife.”
Sighing in defeat she replies, “No I don’t hate him. I was just angry. I shouldn’t have said what I said and I didn’t mean to take it that far. In fact, I think I should go back so I can apologize to him.”
I kiss her forehead and say, “Come on, he’ll be happy to hear it.”
We walk back into the house where I see how the others fixed it up to make it look like a break in gone wrong. Some of the furniture is even turned over (even though Gina had a hand in that) so it’ll appear that a struggle occurred before Sara died. I hate that we have to do this but cover up is always our number one priority.
I watch Gina’s reaction as she surveys the living room and I nervously wait for what she is going to say. Evan walks up to her and with sorrowful eyes he says, “I’m sorry Gina but we had to do this so the police wouldn’t suspect anything unusual happened here. I promise you we didn’t touch your mother.”
She just nods as David asks, “How you doing kiddo?”
“I’m okay,” she replies. She turns to Harry and says, “Pop I’m sorry for blowing up at you. I know that must have been difficult for you and I should have been a better daughter and understood that.”
Harry crosses the room and they both lock into a touching embrace as he responds, “it’s okay sweetheart. You are an amazing daughter to forgive me so quickly. I just couldn’t bring myself to allow Charlie to change her. But the last thing I wanted was to upset you so I’m sorry too.”
Gina slightly smiles and I’m relieved that the two of them are on good terms again through this difficult moment. I look around the room to make sure Evan has everything covered as Amber blurts out, “So, when are we gonna kick that red headed bitch’s ass?”
Slight anger crosses her face as Gina responds, “You guys aren’t going to do anything. And next time when we tell you to do something, I would appreciate if you do it!”
Tiffany huffs as she says, “You’re welcome for helping you out and allowing you to enter the house. You know Gina we were only trying to help but next time you need to get access to a house you can’t enter, I’ll just keep my mouth shut.”
That shocks Gina and she sighs as she says, “Yes you’re right. Thank you Tiffany. I did appreciate your assistance.”
“How were we able to enter with her invitation? This isn’t her house right,” Charlie asks with a raised eyebrow as he stares at Tiffany.
A fresh tear falls from her eyes as Tiffany replies, “When we were in high school, I was always here. I slept over so much that Gina made room in her closet so I could start leaving clothes here. Sara said to me that this was my home too. I will always remember that and I thought that would be good enough to invite you all in.”
Charlie smiles as he says, “Yes it was. Smart girl.”
“Again I’m sorry Tiffany. What you did was incredibly brave,” Gina says.
Evan walks up to me and softly says, “Sam, we have to call the cops now. We have to get them out of here as well. Carla knows who they are.”
“I know,” I say with a frustrated grunt. Carla will surely send word to Ursela about Gina’s friends and she’ll use them to get to my wife and might even hurt them or worse. I give it some thought and suddenly an idea pops into my head. I look at them with a confident smile as I say, “I think I know what to do with them since leaving them here is no longer safe.”
The room is silent while everyone listens to our conversation. Diane looks at me with curiosity as she asks, “What are you talking about? Are you saying we’ll have to leave?”
“Yes,” I say bluntly.
“For how long,” Steve asks.
Knowing what I’m getting at, Gina sighs as she answers, “Depends on what happens with Ursela when I see her. I doubt she’ll do anything aside on just talking but if I can get in her head without her knowing then maybe I can get an idea of what she plans to do.”
I sense hesitation coming from Gina and I start to feel a little anxious. When I try to look in her mind, I see she is blocking something and I begin to get frustrated. What is she hiding from me?
“Well I know what my brother is getting at and where they can stay. We have a friend who will keep an eye on them for us. We sent Harry to him so he knows to curb his appetite so you don’t have to worry about him trying to take a bite out of any one of them,” Charlie says to Gina reassuringly.
She raises an eyebrow but I just smile. Charlie is referring to our friend Alex O’Mara who I met many years ago when I went through my rebellious stage for a while. Alex is dependable and despite his humorous nature, he can come through in a bind. He even enjoys fighting when the time calls for it but I have to admit he knows how to take care of business. I just wish I had listened to Alex when Ursela was awake back then. He wanted to run away and I choose to stick around to see what all the talk was about with her. Maybe if I listened to him instead of being stubborn about it, we wouldn’t be in this situation now.
I nod in agreement as I say, “Yes you guys will be safe with Alex. I’m sure he won’t mind watching you all for us.”
“Do I look like I need a fucking babysitter,” Tiffany asks with annoyance. “Why can’t we just stay here and the moment trouble is brewing, we’ll find each other and hide?”
“Because Tiffany this town is where trouble is going to be! Ursela is coming here and you guys are going to get caught in the middle. Now you’re leaving and that’s that,” Gina declares while Tiffany continues to pout. She straightens her clothes and takes a deep breath as she says, “Now I’m going to get ready to see Ursela and Sam you are staying here.”
Has my wife totally lost her mind? I’m standing behind the couch and after she said her words, I grip it so hard that as I lift my hand up, the fabric easily rips off. I try to calm my nerves, as I say, “Absolutely not. I will not let you walk up to her alone. I’m going with you.”
With panic in her eyes Gina responds, “No you can’t Sam! That is exactly what Ursela will be expecting. She knows you won’t let me out of your sight and if you come with me, she’ll be able to grab you. You have to stay as far away from her as possible.”
“She’s right Sam. If you get too close then she’ll really be able to stir up that venom inside you and who knows what else Ursela will do to you,” David adds.
Damn I didn’t think about that. The moment she feels I’m within the area, Ursela will put me back under her spell. It already feels like each day I’m fighting harder and harder to keep from letting it get the best of me but even I know that if I’m with her, there will be nothing I can do to stop the venom from completely taking over me. But I cannot let my wife go alone.
Gina smiles as she says, “I’m not going alone baby. Harry and Joseph are coming with me.”
They both look surprised by her volunteering them as her chaperones as I ask, “Why them?” Well my real question is why Joseph but I wait to hear her response.
“Well Joseph is the fastest so if I need to get a message back to you, he will be able to get away. And Harry, well I just want my dad with me.”
Fuck I can’t deny she’s right about that. Joseph is the fastest in our coven and if something was to happen, he’ll be able to get back to us in a heartbeat. Ursela may be over two thousand years old but I doubt even she has ever encountered a vampire with Joseph’s speed. “Yeah I guess that does make sense. It’s good you’ll have both of them with you,” I reluctantly agree.
Joseph still stunned whispers to Evan, “How did I get suckered into this?”
Evan chuckles as he replies, “Blame your speed man.”
“Wait shouldn’t David or Evan go too? You’re going to need one of them just in case something happens. You need someone strong Gina,” Mark says with fear in his voice.
While smirking, Gina slams into David and holds his neck to keep him up against a wall. He struggles to move but her firm grip makes it hard for him to break free. He’s growling with his fangs out as she looks at Mark and responds, “You mean take this strong guy here with me? Or maybe I should see if Evan can stand up to the task?”
We look over at Evan who is also pinned but we know Gina is mentally holding him there. Her friends can’t believe what they are seeing as I say, “Apparently Gina is the strongest out of all of us. She’ll be fine Mark.” At least that’s what I want to believe.
She finally releases them both and David goes outside to calm down since his eyes are bright red from anger. Gina gets right in Mark’s face and sarcastically asks, “You were saying?”
“Yeah well I guess I can see that you’ll be able to handle yourself just fine.”
“Gina, that was totally amazing,” Amber shouts while Diane and Tiffany still have their mouths hanging open.
She gives them a slight grin as Steve says, “So you’ll go, talk to this chick Ursela and leave with no problem or else you’ll kick ass. Doesn’t sound so hard right?”
“Let’s hope it goes that smoothly,” I say quietly.
“Well if we’re going, we better get moving. I wanna get this over with quick,” Harry says with Joseph nodding in agreement.
Gina walks over to me and as I hug her she says, “This is only to talk baby. Ursela is not going to start a fight now. She’ll know I took a heavy blow with my mother dying so all she wants to do now is just feel me out. I promise I’m coming back to you.”
“Oh no, here it comes. The mush,” David yells from outside.
Gina lets out a laugh as she says, “See, I am definitely coming back so you and I can continue to annoy David.”
“I hope so,” I murmur.
She looks around at her friends and whispers, “Make sure you get them to safety.”
“You have my word.” I don’t want to let her go. I want to hold onto her forever so she doesn’t have to go anywhere near that bitch. But I know my wife can handle herself and at least Harry and Joseph are going with her. “Take care of my heart.”
She kisses me as she responds, “You take care of mine.”
“Told ya,” David yells.
I slightly laugh as I look at Harry and Joseph and I say with extra intensity in my voice, “Bring her back to me.” I especially look at Joseph when I say, “to me.”
“We will,” he says through clenched teeth.
Gina waves to her friends and gives me one more quick kiss before she runs out the door with Harry and Joseph right behind her.
The rest finish up with making sure everything will collaborate with what we want the police to think happened here and I decide I better not put off making the call. I walk into the kitchen with my cell phone in hand to call Alex. I have no doubts that he will help me out but I just need to be sure that he can handle being around the humans for a few days. He picks up on the third ring and says in his natural good-humored tone, “If you are interrupting me during my meal then it must be very important Sam.”
I chuckle as I ask, “How are you Alex?”
“Well hurt because the mailman still hasn’t delivered my invitation to your wedding yet but otherwise okay.”
“Please forgive me my friend. I had no control over the guest list. I just threw on my tux and showed up.”
He laughs. “I’m just busting your chops man. If there were a lot of humans there, I might have caused some trouble anyway.
“Still can’t handle a lot of them,” I ask while concern grows in my head.
“A few yes but a large warm blooded group, not so good.” I sigh with relief and feel confident that Alex can deal with five humans for a few days. I feel Alex’s smile though the phone as he asks, “So when do I get to meet your better half?”
“Well it depends on whether you still want to meet her after I explain our situation to you.”
“Lay it on me man. What’s going on?”
In rapid speech, I tell Alex everything from when I met Ursela years ago up to Sara’s body still lying on the floor. When I get to the part about Gina’s friends, I say it to him gently because I didn’t want Alex to freak out. Of course, he still did.
“Dude, you want me to baby-sit your wife’s human friends? You’re kidding right?”
“I wish I was Alex but we’re in a jam and I know I can trust you with them. One of them is like a daughter to Harry so I know you’ll take extra care of them.”
He pauses for a moment and answers, “Of course man. I’m not going to leave you hanging like that. I’ll watch your humans for you.”
“And no drinking from them whatsoever,” I say firmly. “One of them is clearly marked but you cannot feed off the others.”
“Okay, okay no feeding; got it. Which one of you is the lucky vamp with a marked human,” he asks while I hear him lightly chuckle.
I start to laugh as I reply, “Can you believe its Charlie?”
“No way,” he says and we’re both in hysterics.
We chat for a few minutes more and I finally let him know they will be dropped off later this evening. After I hang up, I return to the living room and I say to them, “David is going to take you home so you can pack a bag. He’s only going to give you ten minutes max so make it quick. Then he’ll bring you back to our house.”
“Hold up, shouldn’t we wait for Gina to get back and see what she says before you ship us off,” Tiffany asks.
I shake my head as I reply, “I promised her I would get you all to safety and I’m keeping that promise. David, take them now please.”
Without any further argument, they follow David to his Hummer and I feel better when I hear the engine roar as he pulls away. Evan is already on the phone calling the cops and as I prepare to finish this off so we can get to the house, I hear Gina’s voice in my head. I stop in my tracks as I hear her voice almost begging for me to help her. She is in trouble and my wife wants me to come to her.
This put me in between a rock and a hard place. I know staying away from Ursela is the smart thing to do but hearing Gina silently call for me is hard to hear. So that’s my decision; no matter what the risk is I have to go help her.
I see Evan is occupying himself with making sure everything looks okay when the police arrive so I use that opportunity to sneak out. Of course it is hard to do anything sneaky around a vampire and knowing Evan is an excellent tracker, I am willing to take the risk so I can get to my wife. I inch my way towards the window and with his back turned, I hop out and quickly start running.
When I feel confident that I am far enough and Evan isn’t following me, I stop so I can focus. Since I didn’t know where Gina had gone to meet Ursela, I have to hone in on her voice so I can get an idea of where she is. I close my eyes and silently call her name. I pray that she is still in the same state so I can find her and I let out a sigh of relief when I hear her say my name. She is a bit upstate so I begin running. I keep searching for more clues to where she is and I smile when an image of a waterfall enters my head. I pick up the pace as I acknowledge where she is.
Niagara Falls.
The speed I am going gets me there in no time. The moment I get within the vicinity, Gina mentally yells with panic No Sam! Don’t come closer! She’s looking for you!
