“I saw it hit the river,” a man said. “What was it?” a teenaged girl asked. “Was it a meteor?” “There’s no way of knowing who it was,” Anna said, “Especially with this crowd of curiosity seekers.” “We’ll have to wait until everyone arrives back at the loft to know if it was one of our own.” Daniel and Billy arrived. “What happened?”
Anna said. “I’m scared to say if it was Sage or Cristian.” “He gave us the old brush off,” Billy said. “He told us to wait for him at Central Park while he went to the gallery, but he never returned.”
help,” Daniel replied.
“Fool,” Anna said. “We need to check that abandoned church,”
Lisa said worriedly. They took advantage of the crowd’s distraction
and flew in the darkening night sky, coming upon the building
ablaze.” “No,” Anna said, “Sage.” While Cody stared at the burning
building, he had flashbacks of the farm ablaze with his dead father inside. They landed in the grass and began to run toward the building. “Hey,” a police officer yelled. “I can’t let you go anywhere near the building,” he said. “It’s too dangerous.” “But,” Billy started. “You’ll need to step back,” the police officer said as the firefighters were
trying to put out the fire with their fire hoses.
“Another officer walked up to him and whispered in his ear. The
coven pricked their ears to listen. “We found a body,” he said. Anna
looked at the others, stricken. “I believe it was a male,” the officer
said. The officer turned back toward them. “I’m not going to say
this again—” he said, “you’ll need to leave; there’s nothing for you
to see.” He turned his head at the rumble of the steeple collapsing
from the burning building and turned to say something else, but
the coven was gone. He scratched his head in wonderment. Jillian sat beside Cristian who was strapped down onto the
gurney. The doctor opened his eyes to check his pupils. “How
many more injections will he need?” she asked. “Maybe two more
to rid him of all the vampire symptoms,” the doctor said. “It took
me about six injections to cure me of the symptoms.” “But yours
was different,” she said. “You didn’t really become a vampire.” “My
son is a full-fledged vampire.” “He won’t be for long,” the doctor
said. “I’ll make sure of that.” “Are you sure this will work—you
said the drug is experimental,” she asked. “The drug isolates the
tainted cells, the vampire cells, from healthy ones,” the doctor said.
He left the room for a brief minute.
Jillian sighed, taking Cristian’s hand and squeezing it. “I love
you,” she said softly. “This is why I’m doing this.” Christopher sat
across from her staring at Cristian quietly. Cristian began to open
his eyes and looked around. “Sage,” he said. Jillian closed her eyes
throwing her head back. “Sage,” he said, trying to get up. “We’re
here, Son,” Christopher said, taking his hand, his eyes filling with
tears. “Where’s Sage?” Cristian said becoming angry.
“Where am I?” he asked, trying to break the straps. “Doctor,”
Jillian yelled. “Doctor.” He looked at the straps on his arm and
glared at his mother. “What have you done?” he said, jerking his
arms and snapping the straps. “Doctor, please!” Jillian yelled with
urgency. The doctor ran in and took out the syringe as the two
burly men held him down. “I will never forgive you,” Cristian said
forcefully as the doctor jabbed the needle into his arm. “I will never
forgive you!” he hollered.
John sat in the grand living room waiting anxiously for word
of the search when the door creaked open. Running out the room,
he stood in the hallway waiting to see who was arriving. Slowly,
Anna appeared, and behind her were Daniel, Billy, Lisa, and Cody.
“Where’s Cristian, Samuel, and Pedro?” he asked. “We don’t know
where Cristian is,” Anna replied. “Samuel and Pedro went to the
church to look for Queen Sage,” John said. “They did?” Lisa said
looking faint.
“What happened?” John asked, sensing something bad had
happened. “The church was on fire when we arrived,” Cody said
still envisioning the burning farm in Kansas. “That’s not all,” Billy
said, “We saw possibly a vampire engulfed in flames fly into the
river.” “We don’t know if it was Sage or Cristian, and now that you
told us Samuel and Pedro went it, could’ve been one of them also,”
Anna said.
“The police officer said they found a body of a male inside the
church,” Daniel said. “Rafael,” John whispered. “We don’t know,”
Lisa said, “all we can do now is wait and see who comes back
tonight.” Lisa nudged Cody’s shoulders. “I know that was hard for
you,” she said softly. “Seeing that burning building and the painful
memories it brought back to you.” “It was hard,” he said, trying to
keep his composure. “It reminded me of all the time my father lay
in his bed helpless.” Lisa gave him a comforting hug while John stared at them silently.
Randi sat restlessly on her couch looking at her phone. “Please call me soon, Rafael,” she said. “The not knowing what’s happening is driving me crazy. I just have this bad feeling in the pit of my stomach that something went wrong.” Clicking on her television, she saw the breaking news about the burning church, the mysterious ball of fire that went into the Hudson River, and the strange lights the night before. “Please,” Randi said nervously. “A body was also discovered in the abandoned church,” the newscaster announced. “Police are waiting until after an autopsy is performed before announcing the identity of the body that was a Caucasian male in his late twenties or early thirties.” A cold chill went down Randi’s spine at the news. “I need to know,” she said rushing out the door grabbing her car keys.
Samuel laid Sage on a pile of foliage at an empty cemetery. He stared at her as she lay unconscious, looking at the deep lesions on her arms and legs, and the blood caked on her shoulder. “I knew he would torture you, but you fought back valiantly,” he said. He unbuttoned his shirt and tossed his hair from off his shoulder. “There’s no time—you need blood now,” he said. He leaned down close to her lips and whispered in Arabic, “Open your eyes.” Stirring at his voice, her eyes flew open and she stared at him, unmoving. He moved his head so she could see his jugular. “I offer you my blood to restore you,” he said. “Drink from me.” She sat up staring into his amber eyes that spoke of unbridled desire. “I offer you my life blood,” he said.
She lifted her hand painfully and stroked his face, moved by his devotion. Shifting her eyes, she concentrated on his neck, ignoring her pain as she felt her fangs grow and pulling him closer to her. She felt him tremble violently against her as she flicked her tongue against his neck before sinking her fangs into his vein and feeling the blood flow into her mouth like an overflowing river.
She took her fill before falling back against the leaves quivering. Samuel, taking deep breaths in gulps, lay beside her watching as her flesh and limbs began to heal. Kissing her gently on the cheek, he rained a trail of kisses on her face leading to her neck, his bloodlust aroused, and sinking his fangs inside her flesh to drink of her essence. Sage gripped his arms, squeezing tightly as he drank from her before falling back on the ground panting. Exhausted, he took her into his arms holding her close as they both fell into repose together.
Randi ran inside the morgue anxiously. “I need to see,” she yelled. “Let me see him.” “See what,” her friend asked her, concerned. “The body that was brought in from the burning church tonight,” Randi said, “I need to see it. Please,” she pleaded. “Let me work something out,” her friend said. “Just don’t make a scene, alright?” She left Randi in her office while she went to speak to one of the orderlies. “Okay,” she motioned for her to come inside a room that had a body bag on the slate. “I can get into a lot of trouble for doing this,” her friend said. “I just need to see,” Randi said, her voice cracking.
The body bag was unzipped and Randi gasped staring at the sight before her. Rafael was laying dead, his skin ashen and lips blue with a gash on his forehead. “How did he die?” she asked as a tear rolled down her cheek. “He was stabbed with a blunt object,” her friend said. “He also had a deep cut on his leg.
“He didn’t go down without a fight,” Randi thought. “Thank you,” she said solemnly, taking one last look before Rafael’s face was covered as the zipper of the body bag was sealed.