Chapter 4
After a couple hours of running, we were finally there. We were finally in our home town again.
I looked around in wonder. So much had changed it was unreal. It was so much more modern.
Larten seemed to be thinking the same thing.
I stared around me, letting Evra off my back. I barely noticed Evra and Darren stretching.
Larten was staring around us in shock.
"I cannot believe how much it has changed." He whispered.
"I know." I whispered.
I glanced at him.
"We should get inside soon." I said, looking up at the sky.
Larten nodded. "Let us go."
We found a hotel, and checked in. I watched as Evra and Darren stumbled into the room.
I felt bad for them. I was sure they would crash as soon as they got into a bed.
The hotel room was big. There were three bedrooms. One for me, one for Larten, and on for Darren and Evra to share. Larten was obviously thinking about comfort more than anything else right now.
Larten sighed. "Mr. Tall has not sent my coffin yet."
I rolled my eyes. "The curtains are dark; you can sleep in a bed for a couple nights.
He sighed again. "I do not enjoy sleeping in a bed."
"Suck it up." I said as I walked into my room and climbed into my bed.
I fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow.
When I woke up, I felt super refreshed and not tired at all.
I went out to the main "living" room to see Darren and Evra looking tired.
I smiled. "Tough day?"
Darren just glared at me.
"What did you guys do today?" I asked, getting a glass of water, and sat at the table.
"Walked around." Evra shrugged. "Explored town."
"Nice." I said. "Where's that old bat of a brother?"
"He hasn't woken up yet." Darren mumbled.
I rolled my eyes. "I should go throw cold water on him."
Darren shrugged. "He'd skin me alive if I did that."
I giggled. "No he wouldn't. He needs someone to cook his dinner."
"And I was hoping that person would be you, Samantha." Larten said.
I snorted. "Maybe when hell freezes over."
He sighed as Darren and Evra retreated to their bedroom.
He rooted through the fridge. "They went shopping."
"Yea, I left some money out for them to buy groceries." I explained.
Larten pulled an apple out of the fridge and bit into it.
"We have some things to do." He said.
I held a finger up to my mouth, silencing him.
"They aren't asleep." I whispered.
We waited until we heard light snores from their bedroom before Larten started talking again.
"It is obvious there have been vampaneze attacks here." He said.
I gritted my teeth. "Lovely."
"We will have to find out who it is, and dispose of them before we leave for the mountain." He said.
I sighed, and stood up. "Let's go."
Larten groaned as he stood up.
"You're getting old." I teased.
He glowered at me. "I know that I am getting old. Do not remind me of this."
I smiled. "You old bat."
He and I left the hotel. Larten put the 'Do Not Disturb' sign on the doorknob.
I walked with him outside, and we slowly made our way through the streets. At an alleyway I paused.
"There's a body there." I said quietly. "I can smell it."
Larten and I slowly made our way into the alley.
I glanced at Larten, he was looking around us, and making sure we were safe, while I walked up to the body.
I looked down at it, and felt a pang through my no longer beating heart. It was a child. She was no more than ten years old, drained of all her blood and life.
I gulped, and glanced at Larten. He was staring down at her with a strained look on his face.
I sighed. "We have to stop this."
"He was clumsy." Larten whispered.
I looked up at him oddly. "What?"
"He didn't hide the body." Larten explained. "He didn't try to cover it up."
I nodded. "What should we do?"
"Leave her here." He decided.
"Shouldn't we hide her?" I asked.
"Then how will the police find her and give her family peace of mind?" he snapped. "If we hide her, her family will think she is out there somewhere, and will keep hoping she will come home. If we leave her here, the police will find her and then her family will stop worrying."
I sighed. "I don't like just leaving her here."
"Well you have to." He said. "We must go before someone sees us here and assumes something."
I sighed again and left with Larten.
We quietly made our way through the streets when something fast-moving caught my eye.
My head whirled in that direction, but whatever it was disappeared.
"What is it, Samantha?" he asked.
I shook my head, trying to clear it. "I thought I saw something."
"Let us keep going." Larten said uneasily as we began walking some more.
After about five minutes, I glanced around me and realized where we were.
"Larten, do you realize where we are?" I whispered, looking at the house in front of us.
He looked up at the house, and realization seeped into his features.
"They have rebuilt it." He whispered.
"Obviously." I said. "Did you expect anything different?"
He shrugged slightly.
"It is strange to see it again." he said.
I nodded in agreement. "After all these years…"
"Do you think any of our family members live here?" he whispered.
I shrugged. "Are our parents still alive?"
"I do not know." He said quietly. "We did not have any other siblings, did we?"
I shook my head. "But I did have a daughter…" I took a deep breath.
"You what?" Larten asked.
I looked up at him. "She was born before I was turned, after you 'ran away'." I explained softly.
"How old were you when you had her?" he asked.
I shrugged. "Eighteen."
He glanced at me. "How long ago were your changed? How old were you?"
"I was changed when I was eighteen, after she was born. And it was about fifteen years ago." I said.
"She is fifteen." Larten whispered.
I nodded, looking up at the house that Larten and I lived in as children.
"Let's go." I said softly.
"What?" Larten whispered.
"Let's go." I repeated.
"Do you not want to see if she is okay? Do you not want to see if our parents are alive and well?" he demanded.
"Do you?" I asked. "Do you want to have to say goodbye to them when we leave? Do you want to put them in danger by knowing we're alive?"
He seemed to consider this. "I would like to know that they are safe. You will hate yourself for not checking."
I stared up at him for a while, debating with myself.
"She is your daughter, Samantha." He said softly.
"I left her." I spat bitterly. "She doesn't know who I am. Our mother is more of a mother to her than me."
"Come, Samantha. She will be asleep. It is late, all you have to do is see her, and make sure she is okay."
I shook my head. "I can't, Larten."
"You can." He said.
Larten pulled me to the house, and he opened the front door by clicking open the lock.
We walked into the house and looked around. It was quiet, and dark. I could hear the sounds of the family sleeping upstairs.
"I can't." I whispered.
"You can, and you will." Larten growled softly.
I sighed as we made our way upstairs.
We found my daughter's room and Larten disappeared from my side.
I quietly pushed her door open and poked my head inside.
There she was, curled under the blankets of her bed, fast asleep.
My breath caught in my throat as I looked at her.
I could see myself in her. Her hair was browner than mine, but even in the dark I could see the slight red tint to it. Her pale skin stood out in contrast to the dark blankets covering her. On her bedside table was a picture of a very pregnant version of me smiling for the camera.
I took a deep breath and closed her door.
Larten emerged from our parents' room, looking slightly upset.
"They are perfectly safe." He said softly. "But we must watch over this house in order to ensure their full safety."
I nodded. "I know."
Larten nodded. "Is she safe?"
I nodded again. "She's perfect."
Larten and I left the house, and made our way back to the hotel.
I felt like breaking down and crying for some reason. I had seen my daughter. The daughter I hadn't seen since she was born. The daughter who I was forced to leave.
I sighed as I crawled into my bed, and thought back to when I was changed.
It was right after my daughter was born. She had come early, and I wasn't in the hospital. I had given birth to her in my bedroom with the help of my parents. As they left to take her to the hospital to make sure she was okay, a vampire climbed into my window and blooded me, seeing I was almost dead from the pain of going through an early labour. When I woke up I was being carried through a forest, going at an inhuman speed.
When I asked where we were, the vampire didn't answer me, just kept going and wouldn't answer me.
When I asked where my daughter was; again he wouldn't answer me.
After that, all I can remember was waking up in the ground, and clawing my way to the surface.
After that I was on my own. The vampire who had blooded me had abandoned me.
Until I found Larten again.
How surprising it was to know that he was alive, let alone a vampire. Larten, the brother I hadn't seen since I was twelve, when he was twenty-three years old. And yet there he was a vampire. Standing right there in front of me.
And how surprised he was to know that I was a vampire. I had kept the identity of my daughter a secret. What did it matter to him?
He took me to Vampire Mountain to meet with the princes where I went through the trials and met my mate Mika Ver Leth, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Seeing my daughter tonight scared me, but also put me at ease. Nobody but myself knew about her. I hadn't even told Mika about her. I had a feeling Desmond knew about her, but I would never ask him about it.
I said, and fell asleep as the sun rose.
