Sleeping With The Vampire (Immortal Vampire #2)

Chapter 19

Izzy

A voice is calling me from far away.

“Izzy, Izzy.”

I try to open my eyes but it is as if I am deep underwater, the water is holding me back. It is dark and lovely here, I don’t want to go to the voice, don’t want to open my eyes. The voice is becoming louder now, more insistent and I again make an effort to wake up.

“There you are,” I hear the soft voice of my mother, feel her hand on my arm.

“Mother,” I say and feel a rush of love when I see her face.

“Where are we?”

I can barely make out her face in the low light. The air is cool, almost clammy and I have the feeling we are somewhere far from home. In the mountains possibly, the shelter the people were talking about building.

“Let me see,” a woman says, pushing past my mother to get to me.

“How’re you feeling?” she asks and I recognize the doctor from town.

“Better,” I said, even though I felt pretty awful.

“That stomach wound could have killed you, should have killed you,” she said, looking at me gravely. “There was damage to tissue and organs and fortunately there was some kind of barrier, preventing further blood loss. But I had to operate, and I think I managed to repair most of the damage. We will have to watch you carefully, for a while there will be no eating or drinking as we give your stomach time to recover.”

I noticed the IV drip in my arm.

“There is always a risk of infection in these cases. I had to remove some of the small intestine so we need to watch you. What happened?”

“A vampire stabbed me. Don’t worry, I killed him,” I said in response to the look of horror on her face.

“No wonder it looked like it did in there,” she said, her face serious. “Their weapons are designed to cause maximum damage. You are lucky to be alive.”

“She’s tough,” my mother said, with a wan smile.

“How did I get here?” I asked as soon as the doctor had left.

“About three days ago, I was at the house, packing a few last things before coming up here when a car pulled up. A strange man said he had you in the back and that you needed a doctor as quickly as possible. We drove you to town, where you spent a night in the hospital. The doctor operated there. We brought you here yesterday.”

I was trying to process the fact that I had spent three days unconscious.

“Who brought me?”

My mother whispered, “Someone from King Lucca’s guard. He said they had rescued you from some vampire’s nest.”

“Costello?”

She shook her head, sadly. “He didn’t make it.”

I felt my chest constrict.

“He came to help me, he saved me,” I said, choking up. I fought back the tears. I wasn’t going to cry like a little baby.

“I can’t believe he died there.”

“He loved you, he was looking out for you. It was the best way to go,” she said. “You almost died too,” my mother reminded me. “If Lucca hadn’t brought you here, you would have died for sure.”

I didn’t say anything straight away. I had no memory of Lucca being there or helping me.

“He could’ve taken you to his place, but he brought you here. That was …considerate. To bring you home. He knew you would be taken care of properly here. Among your own people.”

I swallowed hard.

“What is this place?”

My mother closed her eyes. “A kind of bomb shelter. This place has been up here for years, in case we need it. The people from town have spent the past few days rigging it up with generators and bringing water. Everyone in town has been evacuated.

I couldn’t believe it. I tried to sit upright, but intense stomach pain wouldn’t allow it. I could barely breath as the spasms twisted through my chest.

“What about your orchids?” I asked.

My mother looked away. “I rigged a water supply,” she said, her voice small. “But they don’t need that much water. They are hardier than we think.” But her voice sounded soft, the words melting away.

She lay down next to me on a thin mattress. I saw that we had a little corner of what appeared to be a cave. there was a crude ledge carved into rock, onto which beds were made. There were crates and boxes filled with food.

I wanted to ask her more questions but I could see she was asleep and didn’t want to bother her. I lay back and watched people walking past, carrying bottles of water and supplies, making their own little camping areas. I could not believe it had come to this, the world was changing in front of my eyes.

I thought of Lucca and our last meeting, the fight we’d had.

In spite of that, he had come to save me. The bond between us was stronger than I’d realized.

“Hey,” someone said. I looked up and recognized Joe, the man we met in the Citadel.

“Glad to see you survived.”

He sat down next to me, kept his head down. “Word is, you took out Chakrat.”

I nodded. “That is a victory for us.” He nodded and made a fist of victory, shaking it.

“Where is Dominic?” I asked.

Joe shook his head. “He’s safe, for now. But nobody must know where he is.”

“Is he okay?”

Joe looked at me strangely. I told him what I knew and he nodded slowly.

“We need to be ready. Shelters like these will protect us.”

“From what?” I wanted to know but he wouldn’t tell me.

I got a bad feeling.

He must have seen the look on my face because he smiled at me, and like that, he was back, the friendly guy from the house.

“It’s going to be okay, don’t you worry.”

“But Tempesto, he seems…”

Joe winked at me. “The bloodsuckers are not going to be an issue pretty soon, trust me.”

“What do you…” but he interrupted me, “I can’t say anymore, I should get going.”

He gave my arm an awkward squeeze and got up and left.

A few hours later, I tried to get up, shuffle around a bit. I couldn’t believe how weak I was.

I had some broth, which helped to make me feel stronger. My mother was still asleep and I walked through the underground shelter, finding the way out. Nobody paid me any attention as I slowly felt my way out of there.

Outside, the air felt different.

Hot and dry, but there was something abrasive. A sand storm. I turned and looked and saw it happening far away. I had always liked being able to see across the desert plains, the open and clean landscape. I wanted to know what was going on and I wanted to know if Lucca was okay.

I couldn’t help it, I had a feeling Joe was talking about fighting vampires. That worried me. I knew there was a bad faction but they were not all bad. Lucca wasn’t like Chakrat and Tempesto, the vampires who hated humans and saw us as inferior. Lucca had told me that many vampires had little memory of their own life as mortal beings. To them, it faded away as a dream. He told me how he held on to his memories mostly to remind himself of his former humanity. I knew Lucca would do anything to avoid conflict and a return to war.

But what about his sons?

I wasn’t so sure about them. The little I had seen of them had convinced me that they were ambitious and eager for more power. Layrr seemed especially keen to take over the business while Ragnar cared about nobody but himself. I wasn’t sure about Sunil. Luca loved all of them, though. I feared it would be his undoing.

Their avarice was bigger than their love for him.

“Izzy?”

A strange woman stood next to me.

“Yes?”

“I have someone on the line for you,” she held out a mobile phone.

I took the phone.

“Izzy?” It was Lucca. “Are you all right? I’ve been worried.”

“I am. Thank you for coming to get me,” the words didn’t come easily, speaking them felt like having stones in my mouth.

“I wanted to stay but I had things to do and I thought you would be safest with your people.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

Battle lines had been drawn between us. He belonged to one world and I belonged in another. I didn’t know what to say to him.

“Are you safe, where you are now?” he asked me.

“I am,” I said. “Where are you?”

“I am with some Elders.” He paused. “I have been thinking about what you said, I wanted to thank you,”

“I know it’s hard,” I said.

“Maybe… it won’t matter,” he said.

“No,” I said. “The truth will always matter.”

I wanted to be with him but I couldn’t see it happening.

I had to pick a side. It was obvious to me that I belonged with my people, my family. I thought of my mother and slowly made my way back inside, where I found her sitting on the bed with another little potion bottle in her hands.

“Here,” she said, holding it out to me. “This will help more than any medicine.”

I told her how the last one had burnt and she nodded. “It was killing the infection, all the evil on that blade.” She paused. “Perhaps, it had been the same knife that killed your father.”

We were both silent after that.

“You cut out the rot,” she said, smiling at me. “Now you can go on with your life.”

“What do you mean?” I asked confused.

“This is not your life,” she said, pointing at the people huddled in small groups.

“Your life is bigger than this, your purpose lies elsewhere.”

“Where?”

She shook her head and wouldn’t say anymore.

“I’m not going to be here much longer, Iz. Don’t spend your days mourning the dead. Live your life. I have seen your future. It doesn’t end here for you.”

Her words affected me deeply.

I didn’t know what to say.