12

he last leg of their journey took them to another small airport. No car greeted them here. Jack, however, knew the owner very well and used one of the cars to drive his clients to their destination. Almost twenty four hours ago, Evonne was in the Jeep with Gabriel, heading to meet Demetrius. The final flight north was spent in anticipation for her. She wasn’t sure where the car took them, but most of the area had farmland and pockets of forests. The houses in the area ranged from the simple to the extravagant. The house they finally pulled up to looked like an estate from the 1600s.
Gabriel was the first to step from the car. Demetrius followed, wearing a new set of clothes given to him by Gabriel: a dark, long sleeve shirt and jeans. With a change into the simple attire, Demetrius was beginning to look normal.
Evonne followed him to the front door, while Gabriel remained by the car to speak with Jack. Evonne’s muffled senses were unable to pick up their conversation. She waited by the large door, her arms crossed over her chest and her eyes closing longer with each blink. She looked cold. But it wasn’t the cold she fought against. She felt Demetrius brush the loose hair from her face. Her eyes fluttered back open.
“No more traveling,” he said, his hand dropping to her shoulder.
She wanted to smile.
His hand then pulled her close as his arms wrapped around her. Evonne was too tired to care about anything in this moment, but the small embrace comforted her. She rested her head on his chest.
Evonne heard the car leave the driveway, and then Gabriel approach. She lifted her head to see him set their bags down and raise the metal knocker. He let it drop. The loud clang jolted Evonne.
They waited. A long minute passed before the door clanked open. A man in his late sixties answered. The look of annoyance left his face as he saw Gabriel.
“I wasn’t expecting you until spring,” he said, opening the door further and stepping to the side. “You should have informed me.”
The sound of his accent placed Evonne even further at ease. Moving from Demetrius, she followed Gabriel inside. The large foyer was met with a curved staircase that led to the bedrooms upstairs. Though the exterior of the house was trapped in the past, the interior shown more of a modern look.
“Something unforeseen has happened,” Gabriel informed as the man closed the door. “Philip, I would like you to meet my guests, Demetrius and Evonne. They will be staying here, as well.”
The man nodded at them. “A pleasure to meet you.” He then addressed Gabriel once more. “I shall prepare the house for your arrival.”
“That will not be necessary.”
Philip went to speak but stopped. He finally said, “I’m glad you have returned,” and then bowed and left the room.
Turning to Demetrius, Gabriel waited for his analysis.
“His grandson is staying here,” he whispered. “He fears your reaction to this.”
Gabriel muttered as he walked toward the stairs, carrying the bags, “Why must he always fear me?”
Evonne caught up to him. “Is this your house?” Even though she knew where they were heading when they began this trip, she was still shocked to finally see his house.
“Not since 1866,” he answered, reaching the top of the stairs.
Demetrius walked behind them.
“I gave the house to the Bennett family,” Gabriel continued. “They’ve been taking care of it for me ever since.”
“With Eden’s resources in SEVEN,” Demetrius began, “it won’t be too difficult for them to trace you here.”
“My name no longer appears on the property.”
“Information about a property’s former owners can be easily located.”
Gabriel looked annoyed at Demetrius’ attempts to play Devil’s Advocate. “I’m not too concerned about that. In all honesty, do you believe SEVEN would come looking for a werewolf hunter in the middle of a pack’s territory?”
Worried, Evonne’s eyes went from Demetrius to Gabriel. “Is it safe for us to be here?”
Gabriel stopped to face her, trying to ease her alarm. “I gave the house to Abraham Bennett, a human liaison to the Alpha at the time. As the pack’s territory expanded west, I gladly handed over my house and the property.”
“But why do that?” Evonne asked.
“Anonymity. I can come and go as I please, as long as I draw no attention to myself and keep my weapons aimed away from their pack.”
Demetrius smiled. “I’m amazed to see that you listened to me all those years ago.”
“Did I have a choice?” said Gabriel as he continued walking. “The caretaker and his family live in the downstairs bedroom, once the head servant’s quarters. The bedrooms on this floor are empty. Take your pick.”
Leaving them for the nearest room, Demetrius entered without closing the door. Evonne, however, stayed with Gabriel as he entered the room at the end of the hall. He placed the bags on the floor and began the brief task in removing the sheets from the furniture. Gathering them all, he sat them in an antique chair.
Evonne watched him ready the room.
“Take your bag and pick a room,” he said, double checking the heavy drapes.
She stopped herself from questioning him; instead, she picked up her bag and headed down the hall. She found Demetrius standing back at the top of the stairs, looking toward the area Philip scurried off to.
Approaching him, Evonne listened as well. She could hear the mumbling of voices but nothing more.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“The old man is speaking to his grandson,” he said. It was difficult for him to pick up anything else besides the words. “It’s not Gabriel he fears. He carries much respect for him. But having his grandson here, the man sees it as a breach of trust. But Gabriel could not care less that the boy is here.” With nothing else left to see or hear, he turned to Evonne. “Have you settled on a room?”
She shrugged. “I haven’t really decided… I thought—”
“That you’d be sharing a room with him?” He moved away from the stairs. “It’s not that he doesn’t wish for you to stay with him, he wants you to have some time to yourself. Ever since you left Eden, you’ve rarely been out of his sight. There’s no need to take his actions personally. He wants you to feel safe here, with no real reason to constantly remain at his side.”
Evonne looked away and freely admitted, “I feel like a burden to him. He’s doing all of this because of me.”
Demetrius took her free hand. “Let us find you a room to your liking.” He led her down the hall.
As they passed one door, Evonne stopped in her tracks. The strong, musty scent of old books beckoned to her curiosity. She released Demetrius’ hand and opened the door. Sheets upon sheets covered the dozen or so bookcases. Off to the side sat an old desk, it too covered with a sheet. Evonne sat her bag on the floor and began to strip the sheets from the bookcases.
Demetrius stepped into the room. “For someone who has yet to finish reading a single book, you find great interest in this room.”
Standing back to look at all of the books, Evonne admitted, “I don’t know why.”
On the desk, still covered in a sheet, a single book sat. Demetrius picked it up, flipping the pages to stir up the faded scent. He looked at the cover, amused.
“Wolves,” he scoffed, tossing it back onto the desk. “They have a strange sense of humor.”
Curious, Evonne went over to the desk and looked at the book. An old copy of Bram Stoker’s Dracula stared back. She laughed away the obvious insult.
“Why read it when you can watch the movie, right?”
“Béla Lugosi or Gary Oldman?” he asked, glancing over the books in a nearby case.
“You watch movies?” It was the oddest thing she had heard him say.
“From time to time,” he said as he picked out one book and scanned through its pages. “Which portrayal do you prefer? Lugosi or Oldman?”
“Honestly? I never watched them. The genre never interested me. I like sci-fi and fantasy. Give me aliens and dragons any day.”
“I found Oldman’s portrayal to be the most intriguing. But there are many who would argue my choice.” He looked at her and smiled. “But I’ve never read the book.”
Placing the book back into the case, Demetrius took Evonne’s hand once more. “You are still in need of a room, and I think Gabriel wouldn’t like you sleeping in here.”
As they neared the door, Evonne grabbed her bag and followed him down the hall. She mentally counted six rooms upstairs, one being the study filled with books, and the other a bathroom, equipped with a large shower and bath.
Demetrius opened the curtains to the last bedroom they entered. The room was large, but not as extravagate as the master bedroom. Below the window, in the yard behind the house, an old building and barn sat. The moon’s light shown the true scope of the surrounding land. A series of fences lined the fields, sectioning them off into three areas, but no livestock could be seen. Beyond the fields, a dense forest blanketed the land, concealing their real source for blood during their stay. Evonne mind grumbled at the thought. More deer.
“How long are we going to stay here?” she asked, setting her bag on the floor. Her eyes remained on the scene outside the window.
“As long as Gabriel wishes.”
She rolled her eyes. “That really answers my question.”
“A month or so. Perhaps longer.”
“What are we going to do about… you know.”
Demetrius looked at her, amused. “Still embarrassed to even mention the words?”
Evonne squirmed as she searched for a response. “It’s just… I don’t know how to explain it.”
“You see it as an intimate act,” he said for her. “Even the occasional act of tasting Gabriel’s blood stirs embarrassment for you. Why this alone? The intimacy between you two goes further than that. Yet you shudder at the very thought of using your teeth.”
She looked away and sat on the bed. “Why can’t it just go away?”
Demetrius sat on the bed beside her. “The feeling you are talking about is remaining threads of your humanity. Even though your true humanity ceased the night you were turned, your mind has trouble accepting mortal death. It took Gabriel more than forty years to shed his humanity.”
“Why so long?”
“It isn’t my place to speak of his past. This is something he must tell you when he is ready.”
She sighed. “I wish he would. I don’t know anything about him.”
“You found nothing within the information you stole from SEVEN?”
“Nothing really,” she said, keeping her eyes from him. “Only the dates and places he’d been seen at.”
“Nothing about his past? I find that hard to believe. I thought SEVEN knew everything about us?” He laughed.
“I didn’t find anything about you, either,” she tried to cover-up.
“You don’t have to lie to me.”
Evonne gave a weak smile as she looked at him. “I didn’t believe any of it.”
“Humor me.”
Giving a shrug, she tried to recall what she read. “Most of the information was based stories and rumors. Myths, basically.”
He took interest in her words. “What you read was true. I am myth.”
Evonne stared at him in shock. Her mind scrambled to fully remember the entry on him. “Is she real, too?”
“You speak of Laurel, my wife.”
Confused, she asked, “The information mentioned the name ‘Dianthia.’ ”
“Her name from birth was Dianthia. She goes by the name Laurel now.”
Again, she looked at him in shock. “She’s alive? It mentioned that she died a long time ago.” She studied him in disbelief. “Wow. A wife. I never would’ve guessed.”
“Why is it so hard to believe?”
“I don’t know. I guess…”
“That marriage doesn’t apply to our kind?” He paused, choosing his next words carefully. “Marriage is union between two individuals. Though not a true marriage as seen through the eyes of a church, our union goes beyond fragile paperwork or a simple ceremony. And in a marriage such as ours, there is no discrimination or divorce. We are forever.”
“That takes real commitment. No divorce?”
“Divorce was created by man. There are some human rules we follow, but that is not one of them.” He looked around the bedroom. “Now on to other matters. This room, is it to your liking?”
Evonne gave a small shrug. It mattered little to her about the rooms. All she needed was a bed for the day. “It’s nice,” she finally said.
“Then this will be your room.”
“And the other thing?”
“We will hunt animals.”
Looking at him, her eyes shown worry. “On land belonging to werewolves?”
“Gabriel hunts here, as well. We will follow his lead. But since dawn is nearing, it’s too late for a hunt tonight, you will have to take what you can.” Demetrius began to roll up his sleeve. “This will calm your hunger for one day.”
She shook her head. “I can’t. Last time I did something like that… I’m still regretting that mistake.”
“I will not be taking yours, so there will be no bond.” He gave her his wrist. “A blood bond with a werewolf. How very ambitious.”
“How very stupid,” she scolded herself, looking at his wrist.
“Curiosity, that’s all.”
Taking his hand, Evonne’s embarrassment waned as she placed her mouth to his wrist. Biting down, the taste of his blood entered her. Through her closed eyes, she envisioned a kaleidoscope swirling to life, filling every corner of her mind. Though Evonne knew this to be the taste of vampire blood, the differences between Demetrius and Gabriel, similar in some ways, stood out in contrast to each other. Was this the result of their heritage? Would the blood of a vampire from Jharell’s line taste differently?
Evonne withdrew. Her hunger quieted almost instantly.
Standing from the bed, Demetrius pushed his sleeve down and went over to the window and closed the curtains. “Conserve your strength and rest now. If you need anything, I will be in the room next door.” He leaned down and gently kissed the top of her head, then left the room.
Evonne curled up on the bed and forced herself to sleep.