A Perfectly Normal Human Night
Chapter Three
I was driving much too fast. The last thing I needed was to be pulled over by a cop.
On pure vampire instinct alone, this feeling that Sookie was approaching an impending danger, had filled my senses. It had me traveling in the opposite direction from Bon Temps which was heading me west of Shreveport.
I was then leaving Shreveport and ascending onto the highway, going across the Cascade River Dam and into the valley on the other side of the city.
The 'alarm' within that that surely told me that something was wrong with Sookie, kept ringing through my entire body. Even though I knew I was stretching the outside boundaries of the local speed limits, I pushed the peddle down, recklessly speeding up as I went across the long expansion bridge over the dark river. I topped the highest point of the structure, then looking downward, I could plainly see the little hamlet of Monroe laying below the bridge in a cluster of twinkling lights to my right.
My vampire senses guiding me, I knew immediately that is where I would find Sookie.
After I had crossed the bridge, I swerved my car into a parking lot located in front of a bait and tackle shop. The little store was closed. No other cars in the lot. I thrusted my car keys into the pocket of my jeans and at vampire speed, I started running into the blackness of the nearby woods. There was a slim gravel pathway that snaked down along side the rushing waters of the riverbank. The water made a deafening sound as it surged by, making it very difficult to hear any other sounds. Even for me, with vamp hearing.
My 'radar' was telling me to leave the gravel path and hike on above it, and move up between the trees. As I ran, I could smell the pronounced smoke in the air. And momentarily I saw the flames ahead of me climbing and flickering on the same riverbank. The smell of the burning wood and hot embers was coming back into my face, carried by the warmth of the breeze.
I began climbing higher, upward through the trees, creating my own zig-zag patterned path through the cedars, the oaks and the pine brush. The feeling grew stronger and stronger within me, until I had finally topped the hill, coming out of the vegetation and onto an asphalt surface. Another parking lot with yellow florescent streetlights.
I stood still for a moment looking around. Probably fifty feet in front of me I saw an ambulance with its lights flashing. And a small group of people gathered around it.
Someone shifted their position in the crowd, parting the way.
And finally the blond ponytail became visible to me.
"SOOKIE!"
I ran up to her at vamp-speed, as Sookie turned around with surprise and shock across her lovely face. I embraced her before she could even completely turn.
"Bill?!" she called my name in total confusion, grabbing onto my arms, my torso, then burying her forehead against my chest in relief. I squeezed her against me. I was relieved as well that she had not been the person in the waiting ambulance. The feeling washed over me when I finally had her in my arms again, safe and unharmed.
I knew without a doubt in that instant that no one…no one could ever take her place. I knew that the very core of who Sookie truly is -her smile, her mannerisms, the way she thinks, the very essence of the unique human things that set her apart from every other person on this earth-would always make her important to me. Her well-being mattered a great deal to me. There was no mistaking that now.
I could not deny the depth of my involvement to myself any longer.
Then, we looked at each other and we were both trying to speak at once.
"Bill, what are you-"
"Sookie, I had the feeling that you were-"
"….doin' here?" she said, looking up at me. Her eyes were so red and weary. She had been crying. She had a little smudge of mud on her right cheek and across the front of her white tee shirt. I noticed that she was no longer wearing the little light purple sundress with the fabric bows. Now she had on a pair of cut-off shorts, a tee shirt and tennis shoes. Her hair was still up in the ponytail, but disheveled and pulled off center a bit. I held onto her, massaging her back. She looked happy to see me, but she was very much concerned.
Now that I knew Sookie was physically alright, I was anxious to find out what was going on there. I pulled her a little to the side, a few feet away from the people that were standing there next to the ambulance.
"Sookie, remember when I told you….now that you've had my blood, I can find you fast," I whispered so the others nearby could not hear me. I searched her eyes.
"I can find you anywhere now. I left you latching your screen door a little while ago. Sookie, I saw the fire. Is someone in trouble? What's goin' on here?"
Sookie sighed heavily.
"I know…."she shook her head, speaking very quickly;"After you left Jason got a call and came upstairs to tell me that one of the guys he works with -a guy I used to go to school with, his name is T.J. Carpenter-was down here campin' with his family, his wife and kids, and a forest fire broke out! His kids got missin', Bill! It's just awful! It's so damned dry around these parts right now. Anything can start a fire, if people aren't payin' attention. But any way, their campsite was so near when the blaze was set. And there's a bout close to hundred families down here tonight. Jason said everybody around started waking up and screamin'. Everybody got up and just started runnin'! Trippin' all over each other. I'm sure it was sheer panic down here. Families got separated. And …T.J.'s kids-ran into the woods out there with some other people! And everybody was trying to round up everybody. I'm sure it was chaos in the darkness!"
Sookie broke down crying in my arms. I could not bear to see her so upset, so sad.
"They-they got separated from their momma and daddy somehow!" Sookie cried;" ….T.J. was askin' for volunteers…to come help look for his babies…you know…their both little kids, been missin' for hours…." Sookie looked through tear-stained eyes over to the ambulance.
"Oh God, no…" I said slowly;"dear…God…"
Sookie grabbed my arm. "Oh Bill, they found one of the kids! Her older brother, Tyler. He had slipped down a hillside in the darkness. He's the one in the ambulance with his mother and grandparents."
"Well, thank God for that," I said, my lips brushing the top of Sookie's head.
"Yeah, they say Tyler's gonna be fine," Sookie said;"He just got a big ol' bump on his head, is all. But Bill, the search party and the police haven't found his little sister yet. Melissa. She's…she's still out there, Bill. We've all been out there trying to find her. She's only three-years-old…."
Sookie broke down again. I hugged her. I looked around at the crowds of people gathering in more clusters. A lot of them were just curiosity-seekers. I looked across the asphalt lot and I spied Jason's pick-up truck.
"Sookie… where is Jason? With one of the search parties?" I asked her.
She nodded, her head still resting against my chest.
"This is Jason's third time out there. They wanted more people to go down near the river to search,"Sookie said. Then she looked up at me;"I couldn't go near the water. Bill, I just couldn't! I tried. I tried awfully hard. I got as close as I dare to but… I -I'm too afraid of the water. I could only search the woods…"
Sookie was very disappointed in herself. She had no reason to be.
"Sookie, you are doing all that you can," I said quickly, trying to comfort and reassure her:"I remember what you told me about your parents. About the water. Sookie, no one expects you to go near the water, or into the water, if you cannot do it. Please. There are scores of people here joining in the search."
"Bill, I just want to help all I can," she said gloomily.
"You are doing that. Don't be so hard on yourself,"I said;"You are here and helping asll you can to find little Melissa. And now…I am here,too." I gave her a little smile, tenderly touching her cheek with my thumb.
Looking at me she slowly lifted her hand, bringing her fingers over mine. She smiled.
"Yes, you are here,"she whispered, the tears still rolling down her cheeks;"And Bill, I am so glad that you are here with me."
She was genuinely happy to see me there and it lifted my spirits to know I could help her feel better.
I brought my lips to her forehead and gently kissed her. I doubt if Sookie could have said anything else that would have touched me more at that moment.
Then I fully understood why my vampire senses had been triggered where Sookie was concerned. She must have been trying to go as close to the water's edge as possible while looking for the little girl. And it had upset her to the point where she just could no longer handle it. But she had tried. In spite of her fear of the open, turbulent water, Sookie had tried to search with the others near the raging river.
Sookie had shared with me how her parents had died in a flash flood. And after that she had grown up always terrified of any lake or stream or huge body of water. With that kind of trauma in her own childhood, how brave it was of her to attempt such an endeavor. Even for the little child's sake. The more I learned about Sookie-her heart, her soul-the more powerful my feelings grew for her.
The Monroe City Police Department, the sheriff's office, the local fire and emergency responders squad, the main hospital personnel and T.J. Carpenter's family and friends were all out searching for his little girl in the darkness of the vastly wooded area adjacent to the campgrounds. It was incredible to me, and everyone else, that this 3-year-old little girl had apparently wandered away so far, so fast. If that was indeed what had happened.
Everyone was baffled by her complete disappearance. No one knew for sure how the children had got separated from their family, nor from each other.
I was remembering, of course, from my experiences with my own children, Sarah and Thomas, that children have an uncanny knack for being just where they should not be. And they are the masters of doing the absolute opposite of what you tell them to do. Say the most embarrassing thing. And run in the most opposite direction.
They would not be children, if they acted otherwise. This knowledge is ageless and timeless.
It should have come as no surprise to anyone that in the moments of confusion as the forest fire was discovered, the children did the wrong thing. Everybody was asking questions, trying to figure out what happened and trying to lay blame somewhere. But what would that accomplish? It was a very moot point at that junction. All that really was important was finding the child. She had been missing for a few hours before I had arrived. And instead of in-fighting, the most fervent searchers were still out there in the darkness hoping they could retrieve Melissa before the dawn. No one could reach either Jason or little Melissa's father, T.J. Carpenter. The cell phone reception in the forest was completely sketchy. Few people, if any, had cell contact with any of them.
No question, even with the news that close to seventy-five people actively looking for the little girl, I was going to join in the search. But, right or wrong, my first priority was Sookie. I wanted to make sure she was okay. And not going to blindly take off into the woods and near the fire and possibly hurt or injury herself. She looked dazed. Tired. And feeling so guilty about not being able to search close to the river with the others. As if she may have missed a clue or something to the child's recovery. I did not want to leave her feeling so forlorn.
I sat Sookie down on a nearby park bench. I could absolutely discern just how exhausted she was, but I doubted she would ever admit to it. We were now far enough away from the yellow streetlamps in the parking lot, that the light from the moon cast over the park bench like a spotlight covering us both.
Someone came over to us, a teen-aged boy from the Red Cross tent, carrying a ham sandwich wrapped in tin foil and a bottled water. Sookie thanked him. He then handed me a ham sandwich and a bottled water, too. I thanked him. He updated us on the latest word circling the camp about the forest fire. The fire fighters who were immediately down river from us, nearly ten miles east of the campground and only thirty miles south of the Mississippi River, had finally been able to control and contain the spreading of the flames. We thanked him for the information about the fire and he left us.
"Oh my stars, Bill!" Sookie sighed; "how did it spread so far?"
"There's been no rain,"I said; "Everything will strike up just like kindling wood in this heat."
Sookie nodded in agreement with me. Her shoulders were hunched forward.
"It could have been a tossed off cigarette butt, or anything like that,"she said leaning back on the bench. I looked down at her. I was standing next to her. I gently put my hand on her shoulder. Sookie put the hand sandwich in its foil wrapper on her knees, not even attempting to open it. She just stared down at it.
"I gotta get back out there, Bill" she said in a tiny voice. I knew there were girls, women
out there in the woods searching just as desperately as the men. But my sensibilities -certainly old-fashioned by today's standards-could not help but kick in. I did not think that it was wise. How could I say this to Sookie without her being offended? I just decided to say it….because time was of the essence. And because this is how I truly felt.
"Sookie, I want you to stay here. You've been out searching with the others for the last couple of hours,"I said;"You are hungry and you are exhausted."
Sookie looked up at me.
"So is everybody else, Bill. I'm goin' back in the woods,"she said stubbornly. But very weakly. I shook my head, no.
"I must insist that you don't, Sookie. You need to eat something. And you need to rest," I went on sternly; "Please. I don't want to have to worry about you, too, while I'm out there."
"That's not fair," she said, with tears welling up into her eyes; "how can I just sit here?"
I sat down next to her then, taking her hands in mine.
"Because, Sookie…I am asking you to, And your energy to continue in this is completely gone, I can sense it,"I said quietly. Then I put my hands on her shoulders, looking into her eyes; "Besides…you have two ham sandwiches to eat now."
I said this with a very straight face. I watched the little smile spread across her lips inspite of herself. A weak smile. But she knew I was right. Or maybe she was just too tired to argue any further with me, for once. But I won that one.
She suddenly moved forward into my arms, lifting her arms upward, hugging me closely around my neck. The smell of the oak and the hickory forest wood was in her hair.
"Bill….please be careful…."she said hoarsely.
I touched Sookie's soft cheek, her eyes were filled with unshed tears. I vowed then to myself that I would kill anyone who ever tried to harm her.
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God help us, the media had arrived.
And I knew it was time for me to disappear into the woods with the other searchers. Sookie and I walked up near to the ambulance. Two television SUVs had turned into the entrance of the High Rock Lake Camping Grounds. It was always a mixed blessing whenever the cameras start rolling. And so it was for the Carpenter family.
Of course they wanted the the 'coverage,' as the more volunteers, the better. But, oft times what follows with the reporters, the lights and the cameras, is an insidious intrusion into the family's peace of mind and a circus-like atmosphere begins to surround the whole tension and uncertainly of what could become a tragic situation. It was now approaching 3 a,m, Understandable, with a little girl missing, no one wanted to call off the search. With the arrival of the press, it seemed this was only the beginning.
Through the open ambulance door, Sookie and I could see Alice Carpenter sitting next to her little son, holding his hand, as he lay stretched out on one of the portable cots. He looked to be six or seven years of age. Around the same age that my Thomas had been. The EMT was monitoring his blood pressure and had applied an IV solution into his left arm. The boy's head was bandaged all around. He must have taken quite a tumble.
People were steadily coming back from the forest in shifts. Exhausted. Their jeans and shoes covered in mud where they had been climbing up and down the steep hills of the dark terrain. Snatching food and drinks when they entered the campground again.
I left Sookie standing with some Red Cross volunteers near their huge tent. Sookie had told me she was feeling better after having a short rest and some bottled water. She still could not eat anything, she said. And there was plenty for her to do in the camp site helping other people who had survived the earlier stampede and the forest fire. I was so glad Sookie's focus had changed.
She promised me that she would stay on the campgrounds and out of the woods themselves. She promised me that her attempts at searching were completely over.
Before I left, she had held onto my hand very tightly before letting me go. She innocently asked me if I was going to search along side some of the other volunteers? I think she already knew the answer to that question. I told her honestly, no. I was going alone. My own way. I reminded Sookie that a vampire did not need any assistance in the dark.
I kissed her soft cheek then let go of her hand. As I walked away from her, I resisted the urge to turn around and look back at her.
I crossed the asphalt parking lot again and walked briskly into the darkness of the woods.
A sudden change of direction and velocity in the warm night air had brought the grey smoke from the squelched forest fire back towards the campgrounds. The woods all around us were then being blanketed by shrouds of gray smoke, making visibility even more difficult than before for the many volunteers as they searched on. I had heard there was at least a 10 to 12 square mile area that was being patrolled. Surely, Melissa could not have gone that far.
The dry leaves and bark crunched under my feet as I walked halting down a gravel pathway, my vampire hearing tuned for any odd noise or whimper. The pathway ran parallel along side the tumultuous river. In unison with the roaring sound of the water, I heard the cries of the volunteers, family and friends calling for Melissa, calling her name, over and over again. Their voices reverberated from the tree trunks, echoing in eerie vacuum of the smoke-covered wooded area.
As I advanced, I thought it particularly ironic that less than fifty miles away, in Shreveport, there was a vampire club…..full of supernatural beings. With extraordinary sight. Extraordinary hearing. Extraordinary sense of smell. But, I suppose, the search party really only needed one vampire.
The smell of burning wood was very strong as I rounded one hillside further east. I thought maybe that had thrown off my sensory skill for a bit in the darkness. I could see in front of me the path along side the rushing river growing slim and slimmer still until it disappeared under my boots.
I traveled onto dust and dirt again, strewn with fallen pine needles, branches, acorns and tree bark. I had hope against hope that the little girl had not slipped down a muddy hill and into the water. If she had, it was altogether possible that she had floated down stream into an estuary, on her way to the great Mississippi River by now.
I was also concerned, like everyone else I am sure, about the prospect of wild animals. Small ones. Possums. Raccoons. Snakes. If the child had wandered away from the campgrounds this far, it was a distinct possibility that she may have encountered some curious wildlife that was not put off by her small size.
I could see very far up the river's edge and there were few people walking as far away as I was. I spied people walking around on the tops of the hillsides, above me. No rescue effort could be made in those rapids. Not in the dead of night without the proper equipment. There was no descent visibility for humans. Which was absolutely required for any water rescue at the murky river banks. That type of search would have to be accomplished in the light of day. And by then, it would mostly likely be too late for little Melissa.
As I walked on, I noticed a steeper embankment to my left. It spied a clearing on the hillside, in the smoky haze between some trees. It was higher and much more verticle than the others. A sheer drop right to the river. Something told me to investigate that hill.
I climbed up the steep incline, effortlessly, at vamp speed. I stood in what appeared to be the midway point of the treeless part of the escarpment and looked down the hill, which had not one branch, not one bush protruding from the earth to hold on to. Nothing to stop someone from tumbling down into the river below. As I focused my eyes downward into the darkness….. I faintly smelled something….
I literally dug in my heels, dug in my boots into the soft, dry earth as I bent my knees, leaning slightly forward coming down the dark hillside, one step at a time. After a minute or two…I stopped. I saw it. A hole in the hill. Approximately a foot across. I had no idea how deep it was. I crouched down over the hole, peering inside, I started scooping back the dry and then the moist dirt and mud. Digging it away with vamp speed with my bare hands. Immediately, while clearing the hole, the distinct smell of human flesh and human blood began invading my senses more and more.
Then I heard a little human whimper. The cry of a baby.
Melissa had done the same thing as her brother had. She had tumbled off the hillside. A steeper one. But unlike her brother, she had fallen into a hole.
The very instant I realized that she was there, I was digging furiously. The bone-dry earth gave way to softer, moister dirt the deeper I dug. The weight of her little body as she had tumbled down the hillside must have been enough to sink her into the depths of the shifting soft ground. There had been nothing whatsoever to break her speed as she had probably somersaulted right down into the small crevice of the hillside. The baby was at least twenty feet below the surface. The hole appeared to be some animal's abandoned nest. Most likely a raccoon's den. With the dryness of the dirt and food hard to find, the raccoon family had not returned.
The other saving Grace was, judging from the speed in which Melissa must have tumbled into the hole, if she had missed the hole, she surely would have kept falling into the unforgiving river below. That would have been a much worse fate by far. All things considered, Thank Good, the crevice had been there and she had fallen directly into it.
Continuing at vamp speed, I had pretty much leveled the earth. I was kneeling in a substantial amount of dirt, nearly up to the knees of my jeans.
I gently lifted the child into my arms. She was covered in scratches and beetle bites.
Her brunette hair and clothing were matted down with dirt and twigs.
But she was alive.
Melissa had surely been unconscious for a time while down in the hole. She did not appear to have any broken bones but…I did not know for certain at that moment. I continued handling her very, very gently. She was just coming around to full consciousness in my arms, whimpering and fighting for her survival. I watched as she struggled for every breath, her little chest heaving to take in the warm but fresh air.
All of a sudden, I felt the tears welling up into my eyes, as I cradled her tiny body against my chest. I was fighting for her, as well…..hoping that she would not perish.
Within seconds, I was standing at the edge of the asphalt parking lot again, with little Melissa Carpenter in my arms.
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While lying there in a semi-unconscious state, bound in chains on the slaves quarters floor, I had stirred a little in that twilight state of mind at the memory of moving in vampire speed. Then suddenly stopping with the baby resting in my arms.
Was I still dreaming? Was I going mad? Here was only a brief respite from my reality.
A brief separation from the pain. Not the physical pain of torture -because my body could no longer feel anything anymore -but from the pain of knowing that I was going to meet the True Death without ever looking into Sookie's eyes again. And knowing she was at that very instant in dire circumstances up in Russell's house. The sharp, unmistakable warning about her despair, pounding at my core. It was a sarcastic comfort just to know that as long as I could 'feel' her fear, at least that meant she was still alive.
My arms still pinioned back over my head in heavy silver chains, I tried to discern if Lorena was near to me at that moment. I could not see or sense her. Perhaps she had finally retired for the morning. I tried to feel my arms and relax them back onto the canvas tarp that lay beneath me. I closed my eyes again. What was the use in struggling any further?
Much better to just lie still… and go back….to the campgrounds…and Sookie.
And experience again, that glorious night when I first began to feel truly a part of humanity again after many years. When I first began to feel again the emotional craving behind all human impulse. It had been deeper than anything I had felt in decades.
A night that had woven me back into the fabric of a human existence. I had saved a tiny human life, with God's help.
I could not save Thomas, or Sarah, or Caroline. But I had saved this child.
Up to that point- everything before I had met Sookie - had only been a type and shadow of a life. Because what I really had was a death. And even though I am vampire, that night I was using my supernatural skills to right a wrong. To help avoid something that could have spiraled, manifested and ended in a horrible tragedy. That night…I felt my humanity shining through. And a very huge part of that had been because of Sookie.
I will never forget the look on Sookie's face when I returned.
She had been climbing down out of the ambulance, probably for the hundredth time, trying to be of some comfort to T.J. Carpenter's immediate family. Her eyebrows knitted together in a worried expression, a frown cast across her lovely face. Thankfuly, when I returned there were only six people at the ambulance. Melissa's mother, the maternal grnadparents, Melissa's little brother Tyler, one EMT aide and Sookie.
Sookie had glanced over across the asphalt lot as she came down the step from the ambulance. She gave me a fractured double-take when she saw me approaching with Melissa in my arms. Her face changed dramatically of course. And the smile I would have walked at human pace from Bon Temps to see, spread across her cherub face, lighting up her eyes at last.
I watched as I closed the distance between us, her mouth fell open and out of sheer surprise, relief and joy, Sookie said my name, over and over.
"Oh Bill…Bill….Bill!" She reached out her arms, but she stepped aside, then bringing both her hands over her mouth, as I hurried up the ambulance with the child and climbed straightaway inside the open door. Alicia Crawford, Melissa's mother, looked up at me.
Everything happened very quickly after that. The squeals of surprise and delight went out in the ambulance, followed by tears and hugs. I rested the child down onto the opposite portable cot where her mother had been sitting watched her son Tyler. Alicia Carpenter looked at me as if I were a vision. She threw her arms round me and hugged my neck tightly, completely overcome with emotion.
"Thank you…..oh Jesus….thank you!" she whispered, kissing the side of my face.
After a few seconds, Alicia could no longer stand. Her legs gave way in relief and I was holding her up. The EMT had quickly started examining Melissa, as Her mother leaned over her, I brought her down to sit on the cot next to her little daughter. She brushed the hair back from her forehead. She was fully awake now and crying for her mother.
The grandparents had invaded the tiny space as well, and started patting me on the back and both of them were crying and exclaiming loudly,"Oh my God! Oh my God! Thank you! It's a miracle!"
"What's your name,son?! Who are you?" the grandfather had grasped my head and was pulling me forward. The grandmother was trying to pull me into her embrace, away from Alicia Carpenter's side, and wrangling me into a full bear hug reaching up, kissing my cheek. I put my arm around her to keep her from pulling me to the floor in the tiny space. I was rapidly losing my balance. Everyone had grabbed a different part of my anatomy and would not let go.
It was more than I could take really. I turned and glanced down outside the ambulance looking for Sookie. There she was, only a few feet away standing on the asphalt. She was looking up at me, smiling with tears rolling down her face. But there was something else in her eyes as well, as she looked at me. All I wanted to do was take her into my arms. Sookie wiped her tears, now caught between crying and a chuckle of happiness. And so was everyone else. I hesitated to respond. Sookie sensed that I did not want to divulge a great deal about myself.
"He's…he's my friend,"Sookie said shyly;"He is a friend of mine…."
Everybody was laughing and crying now. Except me. I had to hold back those dreaded, bloody vampire tears. It was more difficult than I had imagined. I could not tear my eyes away from Sookie. As joyous as it was, I wanted no more of this. I just wanted to leave with her. Luckily after a minute or two, all the focus was back to little Melissa and her brother Tyler. The EMT asked everyone to please exit the limited space inside the ambulance. Every one except for Alicia Carpenter. I was happy to oblige. I stepped down and stood next to Sookie. We immediately held hands while looking back into the open door of the ambulance as the EMT went about a brief examination of the child.
After a few moments, the EMT declared that except for a few cuts, a bruise on her arm and some bug bites, Melissa appeared to be doing fine. She had fared much better than her older brother. No broken bones. And the EMT agreed that Melissa's short stature and being so supple and so young probably saved her from some injury.
"Excellent news,"I said, looking to my side at Sookie as she nodded.
Everyone started clapping and the tears of joy from her mother and the grandparents continued. Sookie finally came into my arms. We hugged each other tightly. Sookie was up on her toes giving me the most wonderful, most welcoming hug. Her heart was beating remarkably fast. There was so much joy and excitement. She stroked the back of my head with her palm and caressed me around my shoulders, as if she did not want to let me go. She kissed the side of my neck, then my cheek.
"My God Bill, where did you find her?' Sookie asked. She stood back slightly and we looked deeply into each other's eyes.
"She was on a hillside not very far from here," I explained;"she had fallen into a little hole in the hill. That's why no one could see her…"
Sookie shook her head. Her eyes continued looking at me with wonder, so kindly, as if I had performed some magic. "Bill…I am so proud of you!" She smiled.
I was truly speechless at that moment. Sookie's approval and acceptance was all I wanted. I stared at her, knowing that her words, her feelings, had touched the deepest part of me.
Suddenly the grandfather came up to us and slapped me on the back again.
"We can't thank you enough! Thank you, son! My name's Ed. Ed Wadesboro! And this is my wife Delores, she's Alicia's momma. This is so amazing! We still had hope. You saved my granddaughter's life! I remember Sookie. A friend of T.J.'s from school. Did you go to school with them?" he asked.
Sookie shook her head. "No, no. Bill didn 't go to BT High, Mr. Wadesboro."
"Oh, alright. Are you with the fireman's rescue squad or….?" he laughed nervously;"You gonna tell me your name, son?" Ed was trying to hug me again.
"Bill…" I said reluctantly;"just Bill."
Delores Wadesboro wrestled in between me and Sookie, grabbing hold of my hand and kissing my left cheek again. "God Bless You, Bill!," she said loudly;"Ed, we have to get in touch with T.J. somehow!"
Yes, the search needed to be halted. And there was limited cell reception in the valley of the campgrounds and the woods.
"Actually," Sookie said;"I was able to get a brief call from my brother Jason a little while ago. His voice faded in and out. But let me see if I can get him back again." Sookie moved away from me and the grandparents, reaching into the pocket of her shorts and quickly whipping out her cell phone.
"Come one now, Bill!" said Ed;"Let's walk over to the WIXY van over there! We need to let everybody know that Melissa's been found and Bill, you are a hero-"
"No!" I said more sharply than I meant to;"No media…please…" I shook my head trying to smile at the both of them. Ed and Delores Wadesboro looked at me a little in shook. I knew the t.v. and radio people would be descending upon us very shortly. Sookie was at my side in an instant, rescuing me from the Wadesboros. She took the cell phone from her ear, grasping my hand again, lacing her fingers through mine for support. She could tell I was completely serious about not wanting to get caught up in any publicity spotlight.
"I don't think so,"Sookie smiled;"he really wouldn't want it." She looked wistfully at the Wadesboros. "Listen, we appreciate it. But, really, the most important thing, after all, is that melissa is safe and sound and back where she belongs. Would you please do us a favor? Would you walk over there to the rescue squad tent and the Red Cross? Let them know that melissa has been found. They can get the word out to everybody much faster than we ever could. Me and Bill….we're not gonna stay. You understand?"
Sookie gave them both a sweet smile.
The Wadesboros looked at each other, then back at me and Sookie. They slowly closed their gaping mouths, nodding that they understood.
Sookie's solidarity with me further surprised and uplifted me. I stared into her eyes knowing our moods we were in complete harmony together.
"Thank you, yes," I said turning to the grandparents;"I appreciate it so much. I was happy to have been there for your grandchild. But we are not going to stay any longer."
After another moment both the grandparents had finally acquiesced. I was sure Sookie realized I had received all the recognition that I was comfortable with and then some. I did not need or want to occupy any space as the lead story on the morning news. The family's thanks and well-wishes were quite enough for me.
Most important to me was the look in Sookie's eyes.
Time was running out and we needed to make a hasty retreat. When the Wadesboros had walked back to the ambulance, Sookie turned to me.
"I 'll call Jason later and let him know where I am,"Sookie said;"Can I hitch a ride?"
She was squeezing my hand.
"Are you sure?" I asked her. She nodded.
"I am very sure. Let's go," she said. I looked down at her hand in mine.
"You shouldn't hold my hand,"I said;"it's a little dirty," I frowned.
Indeed my hands were dirty from digging in the soft, dry earth of the hillside for Melissa. I had not noticed it before. Sookie looked down at our hands together. She looked back up into my eyes.
"I don't care," she whispered;"not a problem…"
I thought about us riding back to Bon Temps together. Alone again.
The Carpenter and the Wadesboro families were all reunited now. The rest of it was merely details.
Sookie and I crossed the parking lot together in the direction of where I had left my car. We looked back briefly and watched as more and more people were crowding around the ambulance as the word filtered out that both of the Carpenter children were alright. Melissa had been found. Sookie and I had tried to briskly make our getaway, in the opposite direction of the impending hoopla, across to the other side of of the asphalt parking lot. My intentions were to disappear wit Sookie into the wooded area, taking us back the way I had first come.
"SOOKIE!"
We heard a voice echoing loudly across the asphalt space. It was Jason. We had made it to the very edge of the lot. We both turned around at the sound of his voice. He approached us in a great hurry. The black curtain of the forest was just ahead of us.
Jason had someone running with him. I knew in an instant it was T.J. Carpenter, Melissa's father, coming up behind him. His had was outstretched towards me as he ran, before he had even caught up with us. I looked into his eyes and saw the greatest of gratitude. I extended my hand back to him.
"Thank you, man, thank you! There are no words really….or deeds that can express…" T.J. was completely choked up. He looked like he had been through hell. And of course he had. Both his children had been hurt. And his daughter's fate had been unknown for over six hours.
The handshake turned into a bear hug. He held me for a few moments. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sookie and Jason eye-balling each other. Sookie was looking defiantly, her eyes pinned to her brother.
"What-what can I do for you, man? Bill…" said T. J. grasping my shoulder and looking me in the eyes with tears in his eyes; "what can I do?"
I shook my head. "I was happy to help."
"You saved my little girl's life," he said.
"I don't want anything…really. I'm just thankful that your family is all back together," I said;"that's the most wonderful. And your family needs you now."
T.J. nodded, very humbly. "God Bless you, Brother." He held me by my forearms and shook me. Then he turned away, seeing there was nothing I wanted, except for him to enjoy his family. Jason patted T.J. on the back. Then Sookie came forward quickly giving T.J. a hug.
"Take care, T.J.," she smiled at him;"I'll see ya real soon."
T.J. his head down, still overcome, glanced at me once more, turned and walked away back towards the ambulance.
"See ya, in a minute, Teej," said Jason, as he watched him walk away.
The three of us were alone then.
Jason regarded me and Sookie. His posture changed. He seemed to be sticking out his chest. Like an authority figure. He looked from his sister to me, then back to his sister.
"Jason, before you get started, this is not the time or place," said Sookie; "I'm ridin' back home with Bill." Her eyes never left her brother's face.
Jason nodded as if he was not surprised at all. He looked at me.
"Well, I guess I shouldn't even ask how it is that you knew where to find my sister, right?" Jason said, curling his lips.
Neither Sookie nor I said anything to enlighten him.
"O.k.,"Jason said, letting out a deep breath;"You did a real good thing here tonight, Bill. Real good. But that don't mean I want you datin' my sister!"
Sookie tugged on my shirt sleeve. "That's it! Let's go, Bill," she said hafl turning away from Jason;"I ain't gonna listen to this again. You have nothin' to say about it, Jason. Just like the last fifty times I told ya."
Jason shook his head. "God knows….you got the mind of a mule, Sookie Stackhouse. This…is…not…right! And it ain't never gonna be right!"
"That is for me to decide, Jason. Me and Bill. Not you" said Sookie; "Now, you are gonna stay out of my personal business. 'Coz, if you keep on with this crap against Bill, just because he is a vampire well….if you keep it goin', Jason, we ain't gonna have a whole lot to say to each other in the future. You got that?"
"He needs to stay with his own kind!" Jason shouted, looking at me.
Sookie shook her head. "And you need to stay with yours, Jason Stackhouse! Dumb-ass prejudiced mother-fuckers! Bill, we are so done with this horse shit!"
I had never stopped looking at Sookie's brother.
"Your sister is over twenty-one" I said; "She can and will make her own decisions."
Jason just stood there, fuming. I really was not even angry. I knew Jason had a certain frame of reference about most vampires. And he spoke through the knowledge he had. And most of the time, he was right about the things he assumed. But not about me. Jason and I were on the same side when it came to protecting Sookie. Part of me was rather sad, as I knew Sookie's brother and I would never have a congenial relationship as long as would not afford me the benefit of the doubt where his sister was concerned.
I hated his attitude and the tug of war that he and Sookie were having because of me. I hated it for Sookie's sake. But just listening to Sookie defend me against her own brother, as she so ardently had over and over again, just knowing that I had arisen in her esteem so much….it meant everything to me.
For good measure, as a parting gesture, I swept up Sookie off her feet and into my arms. It was the very first time I had carried her like that. Days before we had gone to Fangtasia for the first time. My sudden move had startled her a bit. But then she gave me a timid smile and brought her silky arms fully up around my neck. Jason looked at me as if I were a ghost. No, Jason. I am vampire.
I turned my back to him and without another word, I took off at vamp-speed running into the black interior of the woods, carrying Sookie in my arms.
-end of Chapter 3- To Be Continued….
