stood there in stunned silence surveying the gruesome scene before me as if I were an outside spectator.
With my ears feeling like they had been stuffed with cotton and my breathing escaping in rugged gasps, I staggered over to the body of the male victim and dropped to my knees next to him to check for a pulse on the unravaged side of his neck. He was dead. He was dead and I had been too late. I don’t know how long I knelt there, it could have been minutes or hours. Who’s to say? A sound close by had me on my feet and in a defense stance quicker than any normal human should have been able to move.
“Sage? Dear God, are you hurt?” Some sane part of my brain registered the voice as someone I knew so I lowered my dirk a fraction and focused on the person standing a few feet away from me. Elaine stood there, one hand on her chest, the other raised slightly palm out, as if to appease a wild beast. I looked around myself at the carnage and down at the dirt and blood splatters on my arms and dress. My hair had come undone and hung around my shoulders and in my face. I must have looked like an insane asylum escapee. My body felt all wrong so I sat back down on the ground next to the man I hadn’t saved as a single tear tracked down my cheek.
Somewhere close by I heard Elaine saying something, but I had no idea what it was. I couldn’t bring myself to really care.
I swept my eyes over the back garden, feeling as though someone was watching me, but I could only hear my own raspy breathing. Aldwin and Travis then burst through the back door. Travis stopped just outside the door and surveyed the scene grimly. They made plans to clean up the mess as Aldwin walked over to me and held out a hand. I looked up into his understanding eyes and grasped his hand, allowing him to pull me up off the ground and into his embrace. The daze I had found myself in melted away and all the sounds around me came rushing back as if someone had flipped a switch and unmuted the world.
Aldwin threw a black velvet hooded cape over me, tied it under my chin and grasped one of my arms to lead me across the lawn and avoided the decapitated body of the vampire. Unfortunately he couldn’t shield me from remembering those now sightless, red-rimmed eyes. He exchanged a few quiet words with the others and then led me along the back of Mrs. Sebast’s home. The carriage was waiting on the side of the house with Zachary in the driver’s seat. Aldwin helped me into the carriage and before the night’s events could sink in, we were entering the townhouse through the back door.
I fell into bed exhausted in body and mind. Aldwin stood outside by bedroom silently as I’d allowed Marie to help me wash wash off and change into clean clothing before bed. I knew that all I had to do was say the word and he would have held me and let me cry my eyes out on his shoulder.
I almost went to him, but I could barely stand myself at that moment and I truthfully didn’t want to be held, I didn’t deserve to be comforted, I wanted to be alone. Eventually I came out of my room clean and dressed for bed after I’d dismissed Marie for the night. I couldn’t bring myself to meet his worried gaze and when he started to speak to me, I cut him off with a quick slash of my hand.
I lay numbly in my bed wide awake most of the night. I don’t know if my lack of tears was because I was still in shock or because I had become heartless, but I would have given anything to cry. Instead, I just felt hollow.
Chapter Eighteen
The next day I had my important interview with the vampire, Soren, and my stomach churned at the thought of having to work in close contact with another vampire. I had been told that the majority of vampires were not as savage as the two I had dealt with, but I thought it more likely they only hid it better and didn’t make a public spectacle of themselves. I had already formed a prejudice after two unpleasant
With my ears feeling like they had been stuffed with cotton and my breathing escaping in rugged gasps, I staggered over to the body of the male victim and dropped to my knees next to him to check for a pulse on the unravaged side of his neck. He was dead. He was dead and I had been too late. I don’t know how long I knelt there, it could have been minutes or hours. Who’s to say? A sound close by had me on my feet and in a defense stance quicker than any normal human should have been able to move.
“Sage? Dear God, are you hurt?” Some sane part of my brain registered the voice as someone I knew so I lowered my dirk a fraction and focused on the person standing a few feet away from me. Elaine stood there, one hand on her chest, the other raised slightly palm out, as if to appease a wild beast. I looked around myself at the carnage and down at the dirt and blood splatters on my arms and dress. My hair had come undone and hung around my shoulders and in my face. I must have looked like an insane asylum escapee. My body felt all wrong so I sat back down on the ground next to the man I hadn’t saved as a single tear tracked down my cheek.
Somewhere close by I heard Elaine saying something, but I had no idea what it was. I couldn’t bring myself to really care.
I swept my eyes over the back garden, feeling as though someone was watching me, but I could only hear my own raspy breathing. Aldwin and Travis then burst through the back door. Travis stopped just outside the door and surveyed the scene grimly. They made plans to clean up the mess as Aldwin walked over to me and held out a hand. I looked up into his understanding eyes and grasped his hand, allowing him to pull me up off the ground and into his embrace. The daze I had found myself in melted away and all the sounds around me came rushing back as if someone had flipped a switch and unmuted the world.
Aldwin threw a black velvet hooded cape over me, tied it under my chin and grasped one of my arms to lead me across the lawn and avoided the decapitated body of the vampire. Unfortunately he couldn’t shield me from remembering those now sightless, red-rimmed eyes. He exchanged a few quiet words with the others and then led me along the back of Mrs. Sebast’s home. The carriage was waiting on the side of the house with Zachary in the driver’s seat. Aldwin helped me into the carriage and before the night’s events could sink in, we were entering the townhouse through the back door.
I fell into bed exhausted in body and mind. Aldwin stood outside by bedroom silently as I’d allowed Marie to help me wash wash off and change into clean clothing before bed. I knew that all I had to do was say the word and he would have held me and let me cry my eyes out on his shoulder.
I almost went to him, but I could barely stand myself at that moment and I truthfully didn’t want to be held, I didn’t deserve to be comforted, I wanted to be alone. Eventually I came out of my room clean and dressed for bed after I’d dismissed Marie for the night. I couldn’t bring myself to meet his worried gaze and when he started to speak to me, I cut him off with a quick slash of my hand.
I lay numbly in my bed wide awake most of the night. I don’t know if my lack of tears was because I was still in shock or because I had become heartless, but I would have given anything to cry. Instead, I just felt hollow.
Chapter Eighteen
The next day I had my important interview with the vampire, Soren, and my stomach churned at the thought of having to work in close contact with another vampire. I had been told that the majority of vampires were not as savage as the two I had dealt with, but I thought it more likely they only hid it better and didn’t make a public spectacle of themselves. I had already formed a prejudice after two unpleasant
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