Sleeping With The Vampire (Immortal Vampire #2)

Chapter 21

Izzy

We stay in the shelter for a few days.

One morning, the news of the military strikes reach us and there is victorious cheering and clapping throughout the caves. We have been asked to remain here for a while longer, to ensure that it is entirely safe for us to go back out. Apparently, some rogue forces need to be subdued and this is taking time.

I focus on my own recovery and try not to think of anything else.

On the fourth morning, my mother does not wake up. She had been quiet, not getting out of bed the day before. When I asked her if she was not feeling well, she’d said she wanted to sleep, closing her eyes and not opening them the rest of the day. At night, I had tried to feed her some broth and she had looked at me with tired eyes, saying,

“It’s time, Iz.”

I hugged her and told her I loved her and she said she loved me too. I lay with her a while, checking her pulse and it was there, though faint.

But in the morning, I could see she had gone.

Her loss affected me profoundly. Everyone was gone now. My entire family, even Costello. I had not realized how much my mother had rooted me to the world and without her, I felt completely lost.

I asked some men to carry my mother’s body down to our house, I wanted to bury her there. She was so light, one man was able to do it on his own. A few of our friends came to help me dig the grave. I chose a spot in the greenhouse, thinking that she could rest among the orchids. I was pleased to see that they had managed to survive without my mother’s care and thought of what she always liked to say, that we are hardier than we know.

After the burial, some of her friends stayed around, but I kept to myself. I couldn’t interact with anyone. I stayed in the greenhouse and didn’t go back to the shelter, even though a few people tried to convince me to go back.

The next morning, I went back to the house, swept out the dust and made a fire for coffee. There was a knock on the door and when I opened it, it was Joe.

“I’m sorry for your loss,” he said.

I offered to make him some coffee too and we went outside, to sit on the bench. It was still early and not that hot. He filled me in on news from the capital and the Citadel.

“What do you hear from the West?” I asked.

He smiled. “You mean the Fallon D’Valleira family?”

I nodded.

“They are safe. For now.”

“What does that mean?”

Joe looked at me. “I don’t know how much you know…” he seemed to consider what to tell me and then with a sigh, decided it didn’t matter.

“There has been a vampire uprising in the east. Some families upset by the action taken against Tempesto. They refuse to accept that he had become corrupt and had become a threat to peace. The capital is deploying force to bring it under control.”

“They aren’t trying to eradicate all vampires?” I asked, because this had been a topic I had heard discussed frequently and with much eagerness by people in the shelter. Humans were tired of living in fear, they felt we would always be in danger of falling prey to vampires. If all of them were gone, the world would undoubtedly be a better place for us.”

“We couldn’t even if we tried,” Joe smiled. “There are too many of them. And besides, they are powerful, they have wealth. We need to work with them, bring them under our control.”

I nodded.

He said, “Lucca is part of the new order, but there are some in his family who are fighting back.”

“His sons,” I said. “I’m guessing, Layrr?”

“And Sunil,” said Joe. “They have joined a faction of vampires called the Ancient Ones. They have retreated to an icy plateau that is inaccessible by our forces.” He paused, “We could nuke ‘em but there is some hesitancy around causing that much damage to the environment. Not to mention, the civilians that are injured and killed as a result.”

“What is the alternative?”

“We wait them out. They will come out sooner or later.”

Joe paused. “Someone should talk to Lucca. Tell him there is a spot for him on the Council. Tempesto’s position. Helping to restore order, build bridges between their kind and ours. Restore the peace.”

I lifted an eyebrow. “Someone? You mean me?”

Joe laughed. “Of course? Who better? He will listen to you.”

I wasn’t so sure.

“But he will have to agree to Layrr’s execution. That will be the stipulation.”

“Where is he now?” I asked.

“As far as I know, he is at the castle. While we were launching the attack on the compound, he was at Fort Ferney, fighting off vampires trying to attack the refugees. It was a sensitive situation but he acted with honor. Protecting the defenseless. This is what we are looking for in a councilor.”

I nodded.

“I’ll go see him.”

I didn’t have anywhere else to go anyway.

“Mobile networks will soon be restored,” Joe said, asking me to call him after I’d met with Lucca. “Do you need a ride?” I shook my head and waited for him to go.

Then I packed my things and walked down to Costello’s workshop. It didn’t look like much, an old building with a greasy floor and broken cars. In the back, his rooms were bare and contained little of interest. It didn’t look like much of a life, but I had loved him, and I was sad for him. I called one of his workers, told him to keep coming in and taking care of business until we had the time to decide about the future.

He had left everything to me in his will, including his motorbike collection. I picked one of the biggest metal beasts, snapped a helmet on and drove out of town.

But first, I stopped at the graveyard.

I slowly made my way to my father’s headstone.

Then I took off the helmet, placing it carefully on the ground.

I closed my eyes and cleared my head, waiting for the image of my father to appear. It took longer than it usually did, as if he was further away and harder to reach.

But finally, he did appear and he was smiling.

“Your mother is here,” he said.

“I know,” I said, feeling tears pricking my eyelids. “Listen, Father, I want you to know that I’m going.”

“To see him?” I couldn’t place his tone.

“Yes.”

“Why?’

“Just to have a conversation.”

“Vampires are the enemy,” he said.

“Not all of them,” I amended. He didn’t say anything to that and I realized that it was probably as close as he would come to accepting my decision to see Lucca.

“I need to move on,” I said and I could see he was nodding. But his face was fading away.

When I walked out of the graveyard, my face was wet with tears.

The trip west was a bit of a blur. The roads were dangerous, filled with car wrecks and even bodies. As I entered the western territories, there was more signs of carnage, houses burnt down and entire villages, deserted. I saw mangled bodies of people everywhere. Many of them had slashed necks or bloody wounds and bore the tell-tale signs of vampire attacks.

When I reached the castle gates, nobody would open for me. No guards seemed to be at the gates. The property was large and walled all round. I tried to find a way of getting in. Finally, I hid the bike in the bushes and simply scaled the wall. My stomach wound was still sensitive so I had to be careful. I didn’t want to go busting my stitches, but I had to get into the castle. Once I reached the top of the wall, getting down was easier. I had barely started walking up the road, when the gates opened behind me and a sexy sports car stopped next to me.

“Give you a ride?” Ragnar called to me through the open window.

“Sure,” I got in, furious that I had climbed a wall in vain. If I had waited five minutes, he could have opened the gate for me.

“Coming to see Father?” he asked.

I nodded.

“I’m glad,” he said.

I looked at him, surprised.

“He’s been very down lately,” Ragnar admitted. “He hasn’t taken Layrr and Sunil’s betrayal well. I tried to warn him, but, he can’t accept it.”

“I always had you down as the worst son,” I said with a smile, still unwilling to let go of how he stole my bounty before.

“That is what I want people to think,” he said with a laugh.

“On a serious note, though, what do you think their plan is?”

We had stopped outside the castle. Ragnar turned the ignition off and sat back in the driver’s seat.

“They won’t give up without a fight,” he said. “Sunil will, he has no stomach for violence. But Layrr has come too far. He can’t back down now.”

“Yeah, I think you are right.”

Ragnar shook his head. “I think they are kidding themselves. The military will blow them up too. But Layrr says death is better than living like this,” he pointed at the castle.

“You don’t agree?”

“Are you kidding?! We are royalty here, living the life!”

I told him about Joe’s proposition and Ragnar immediately said he thought it was a great idea. “My father should always have been on the Council, he believes in it, totally.”

“But he will have to give up Layrr.”

Ragnar shook his head. “I don’t know if he can.”

“I know.”

“If anyone asked me what my dad cared about, I would say it was family. I mean, this is literally all he is ever talking about. Our family, our name, our legacy. And what is this, except him, and us, his sons? But the fact that Layrr killed Tanata and conspired with Tempesto? He can’t get his head around it.”

We walked into the castle.

It appeared deserted. I couldn’t help noticing that it seemed no one had been tidying inside or cleaning up.

Ragnar said most of the staff was at Fort Ferney, helping the refugees. He was trying to take stock of what was happening at the blood banks, get supply out to those who needed it. There was a big demand and Jock had gotten some refugees to make donations, but a proper station needed to be set up as well as mobile clinics for processing and packaging.

I waited for him to go see his father first, to talk about a few things. After he came down, I slowly made my way up the stairs. Lucca was in his rooms, in his favorite corner in the Eyrie. He seemed very alone and at the sight of him, I felt my heart constrict. He was deep in thought and didn’t notice my arrival.

I walked up to him, put my arms around him and felt him startle.

“Izzy! When did you get here?” His joy at seeing me was real.

I smiled, “Ragnar gave me a ride,” I said.

He leaned down to kiss me, a long, tender kiss that I didn’t want to end.

“I tried calling you a few times but couldn’t get a connection,” he said.

“I know,” I said, “after the first attack, all mobile networks went down for hours.”

“Then, things went to shit around here,” he said, his voice low and sad.

“I heard,” I said. His arms pulled me back in for an embrace.

“I’m not sure how to go on,” he finally admitted.

I pulled back a bit, looked up into his handsome face.

“I’ve got some ideas,” I said, and was pleased to see interest pique in his eyes.

The king was not dead, yet.