The morning came and went and still no sign of John. The day passed into the the night and still no sign. I ran through the forest, picking up his scent along the highway and following it back to the Toads Wallop. A flurry of scents met my nose, blood being the strongest.
A large crowd had gathered round and a few soldiers stood off to the side talking amongst themselves. I picked up pieces of their conversation as my eyes swept the place for John.
From the many conversation going on, I could piece together what had happened. Someone had told the soldiers they knew the highwayman would be back for Bess. The soldiers had marched to the inn and burst through the Inn door. The held the innkeeper at bay while they drank his ale and tied Bess up. They planned to use her for bait. They had made her wait, tied and gagged to stand watch out through the window and had cruelly placed a rife so that it stood against her, the barrel up against her chest. Then, the soldiers had waited, getting drunk off the ale. They hadn't noticed that Bess had managed to free a finger, tearing through the rope so that it cut her fingers, to reach out to touch the trigger. While the soldiers laughed drunkenly amongst themselves, Bess went unnoticed as she kept a constant vigil out the window. At the very first sound of John's horse approaching, she had pulled the trigger. The rifle blast had scared his horse and it took off running back into the forest.
Bess had shot herself through the heart to warn the man she loved that the Inn was full of King George's Redcoats waiting for him to take him to be hanged. What Bess hadn't known was that those Redcoats would've been no match for John. The blast had made the soldiers rise out of their drunken stupor, but by the time they got out the door, John was gone. They had split up to go find him and hours later, those soldiers had not yet returned. I knew those soldiers, if they had caught up to John, would never be coming back.
I spotted the stable boy. He was lurking off to the side, a look of horror on his face. I knew who the informant had been. He was responsible for the death of Bess and he knew it. I thought about killing him for John, but I figured the hell he would go through for the rest of his life would be enough punishment.
I stole from the scene and began a race to pick up John's scent. It came to me very faintly at first, but as I grew closer, I could sense him and the scent of others on him. I knelt beside him.
"KILL ME CARLISLE!! I beseech you, if our friendship means anything to you, you will kill me now." The words tore from the broken man in front of me. He had fallen on his hands and knees. Completely broken. Blood stained his hands and clothes. I knew he had exacted revenge for Bess and her father. A loud, primal growl escaped from deep within him to fill the whole forest with its sound. Birds scattered from the trees, nervously calling out to each other to flee.
I didn't know what to say to him, how to comfort him. I had never experienced this sort of feeling before, of losing someone so dear to me. Could what I say to him make any difference now? His body was shaking violently with the dry tears of our kind, his hands beating into the ground, grabbing onto the earth and tearing it away it clumps. Almost as if he was trying to dig himself a hole. He tilted his head back and unleashed yet another loud cry, this time it surely rang out to the heavens. It echoed through the forest, reverberating through the trees and shaking the leaves as if a strong gust of wind had blown through. He cursed everything and nothing at once. Cursing God above and all mortal men below.
His eyes found mine, the wild crazy eyes of a mad man and he rushed at me, springing forward so fast I was taken off guard. He knocked me to the ground.
"Kill me. Kill me now. I swear if you don't kill me to put me out of my misery now, I will make you kill me out of self-defense and possibly kill us both." His crazed eyes showed me no recognition. The man I had known had been replaced by some monster intent on ending his life.
I pushed him off of me and he growled and struck out at me again. I darted away from him.
"Enough! This is madness John! Calm yourself!" I yelled but it did no good. He raced toward me again and this time I reached out and grabbed him and threw him on the ground. The ground below shook as he hit the earth. "Calm yourself man! Think of Bess! What would she say about all this?" I held him by the throat and looked into his crazed eyes. A quiet yell escaped as he tried to roll away from me. I let go of him and stepped back.
"She's gone Carlisle. I was such a fool." he sat up now, looking at the ground. "I cannot bring her back. I am too late."
"Yes you are. Although I doubt even if you had tried to change her, it wouldn't have worked my friend, there was simply too much damage done to her heart...for the venom to properly flow through her veins. I'm sorry."
We both were quiet for a long time. The birds returned and filled the forest with a quiet chirping and the leaves gently rustled under a slight breeze. I looked down at the broken man before me. Stained with the blood of the soldiers, dirty from our fight, he looked breakable, not like an immortal vampire. This is what love had done to him.
"It was the stable boy wasn't it?" his sneering voice hissed from behind a clenched mouth. He quickly rose and began to run towards the Toads Wallop.
"John, stop this madness. I've seen the boy. He will be paying for this the rest of his life. Let that be his punishment, not an easy death at your hands."
John stopped and turned to me. "I won't make it an easy death. He will feel everything to the very end." The wild look was back in his eyes.
I shook my head. "His death won't bring Bess back. Let this day be a constant reminder for him, to torment him for many years. Even you can surely see the justice in that long sentence versus your shorter one. This longer one will be much more painful for him then anything you could do to him." Why I was even bothering to save this despicable human was out of my reach, but I knew his death would not satisfy John.
"You compassion for these miserable humans astounds me Carlisle." he glared at me.
"Our kind was once human, don't forget that John. We were imperfect creatures then and we are imperfect creatures now. Do not make a mistake you cannot take back. You've exacted your revenge on her real killers. Let this coward go." I gave my final defense for the stable boy. I left his fate with John. I would not interfere any more.
I parted ways that day with John and never again sought him out. What he had chosen to do after I left remained a mystery until one day in 1921 when I ran into him into him in Wisconsin on my way to work at the local hospital. We had a long talk and caught up with each other over the years. John had gone on to find another mate, a vampire named Grace. He was now a lawyer, who worked primarily with wronged clients. I was not going to bring up the last time we had seen each other. I didn't want to bring those perfectly clear vampire memories back. He had volunteered it on his own.
"You know, on that day, your words led to my eventual career path." he said as I raised an eyebrow at him. "I didn't go back for the poor boy. Your words saved him and me." We both rose from the table we were sitting at and shook hands.
"We shouldn't wait so long between visits." I said to him as I grabbed my overcoat and hat.
"True my old friend. But you will glad to know, my reputation is still intact." he joked as he walked out of the small restaurant. "It's all about fitting in with these humans. Even letting them live."
I once again parted ways with the Highwayman. My old friend. The one who had shown me that a deep love for another was possible. I placed my hat on my head and wondered if I too would ever be as lucky as he was to have found that true love. Suddenly aware that I was going to be late for my shift, I rushed to the hospital. Not even I could have known what awaited me there on that day. My love. Esme. Left behind as dead. But unlike John and Bess, I would be able to save her.