The shock of sensing a vampire, and the thought that it could be Eric close by, sent my heart beating faster in my chest. I closed my eyes and tried to focus harder, turning around and around on the spot until I got an idea of the direction I needed to follow before I stepped forward, edging closer and closer to the void of the vampire mind. I didn't think I'd gone very far, maybe fifteen or twenty feet, when I knew I was very close. I opened my eyes and looked down.
To the right of where I was standing the ground was raised ever so slightly, and though a fresh layer of sand had covered most of the evidence of any disturbance, it was clear to me that someone was buried under all that dirt.
"Eric?" I whispered. I dropped to my knees and pressed my palms against the sand. "Eric, you down there?"
Of course, he, or whoever else it was, wasn't going to respond. They were dead for the day. I remembered the time in Rhodes when I'd rushed to wake Eric and Pam while the bombs were exploding, how I'd shouted and screamed right in Eric's ear and slapped him harder than I'd ever slapped anyone in my life, so hard that I thought my hand was going to fall off. It wasn't easy, waking the dead. Even when he'd realized the danger, it had taken every single ounce of determination he had to move. I'd seen Bill in the daytime, too, in a similar state. You had to really put some effort into rousing them to get any response from them. I knew I was in no danger.
I knelt there for a moment, gathering my thoughts. I fought the urge to dig with my hands, since digging up a vampire in full sunlight was a definite no-no. I thought about doing it anyway; maybe I could expose a little just to see whether it was Eric, and then quickly cover them with dirt again. But I had no idea how far down they were buried, how they'd react to being exposed to daylight, or whether I'd do any serious damage. The temptation was still strong. If I knew for sure it was Eric then Pam and I could be ready when he rose, to pick him up and get him out of there.
Having a sudden brainwave, I fished my cell phone out of my pocket, and dialed Eric's number. I hoped I might hear it ring underground, but whether or not it was on silent, just buried too far down, or he and his phone were somewhere else entirely, I heard nothing.
This wasn't the first time I'd had regrets about severing the bond I had with Eric. Though it had annoyed the hell out of me at times, and it had made me question my true feelings toward him, too, I had to admit our blood tie had had its uses. But there was no point in dwelling on that now.
I had no evidence to suggest that the vampire below ground was actually Eric. Maybe it was Freyda, or one of her people, or worse, one of Felipe's. I even considered the possibility that it might even be the king himself. That really got me wondering. Maybe I'd find me a hardware store nearby, buy myself a shovel and dig 'em up, after all.
After thinking it over a little longer, I stood up, slung the backpack over my shoulder, and set off back the way I came. As I went, I remained focused, but sensed no other voids. I couldn't be certain that there weren't others, further away than my mind could reach, but the area surrounding the airplane was so vast and desolate that I could be searching all day long, and even if there were others out there, I could still do nothing about that right now. I decided that I would just work on the premise that there might be other vampires buried underground nearby, and that there was only a chance that Eric was one of them.
I walked back up the steep rock and looked out over the area again. I retrieved my cell phone from my pocket and took a couple of pictures, so that I'd know the right spot to show Pam later.
I decided that the only useful thing I could do before dark was to go to the hospital, and see if I could speak to the woman who survived the crash. The fact that she'd survived at all seemed a true miracle, and it made me suspicious. I didn't really believe in miracles anymore. While some people might see her survival as divine intervention, I wondered whether someone had in fact helped her. If this were the case, what might be the motive for doing such a good deed? Vampires were hardly known for going out of their way to assist a human in need, out of the goodness of their cold, dead hearts.
Something didn't sit right, and I wanted to know more.
I was pretty sure I'd heard Maurice thinking of Woodford or Woodfield hospital, and when I got back to the van I pulled out the map again to check for which hospitals were close by. It took me a little while, but finally I found one in the nearby town of Woodward.
So far, so good.
While I drove, feeling strangely weird having Pam lying dead in a coffin in the back, and trying not to go over too many bumps (not that she'd feel them), I thought that maybe, just maybe, I might be able to pull all this off.
Woodward was just another quiet, small Southern town like so many others, and Woodward hospital was nothing out of the ordinary. There were plenty of parking spots, and before I got out, I gave a quick glance behind me in Pam's direction. I knew she'd be okay, but I still felt bad leaving her alone. I told myself to stop being an idiot.
As I made my way through the door and up to the front desk, I realized I had no idea what I was going to say, or who I was going to ask for. But it didn't feel right, just waltzing straight in and wandering about the place, snooping around. I was sure to look more suspicious that way.
A middle-aged lady in a dark blue pants suit smiled at me, as I neared her desk.
"Hi there," she said pleasantly. "Can I help you?"
"Hi. I'm here to see the lady who came in not so long ago, from the plane crash. I'm sorry, I don't know my way around here."
She narrowed her eyes, but her smile remained fixed in place.
"You family?"
"Uh-huh, I'm her sister."
She looked down at a book on her desk, and then at a computer screen. She wasn't easy to read, this one, but I heard her thinking 'Kimbler, Kimbler, Nicole Kimbler', as she searched the records.
"I'm real worried about Nicole," I said immediately. "I just thank God that she survived that crash. Is she alright?"
"You'll need to speak with the doctor about that."
I nodded, and tried my best to look like a deeply concerned and anxious relative. I pushed past the guilt I was feeling from lying so blatantly.
"Can I see her?"
She picked up the receiver of the phone on her desk, and punched in a few numbers. She had a short conversation with someone at the other end, and I had a moment of panic when I realized some of her friends and family might have already arrived.
"No, just her sister," she said, before looking at me again, putting her hand over the phone to speak to me. "Your mom, she was going to be driving from Texas?"
"Oh, yeah. I don't live too far away, so I told her I'd make it here as soon as I could and see her when she made it here later."
She took her hand from the mouthpiece again.
"Yeah, her mom is still on her way. Alright. Thanks." She put the phone down and pointed to her right. "Take the elevator to the second floor and turn left and left again. Her room's a few doors down on the right hand side, Room 212."
"Thanks."
I smiled at her and hot-footed it down the corridor.
I found my way without a hitch, thankfully it wasn't one of those vast hospital complexes that you could so easily get lost in. I had a quick look around the corner, peeking to check who might be around outside her room, and for a moment I felt like I was in one of the spy novels I'd been getting into recently. Absurdly, in that moment, I realized I had a number of library books which were due back that day. Dammit.
Satisfied that the coast was clear, I turned the corner and walked to Room 212. I waited outside for a moment, listening to see whether anyone else was in the room with her before going in. When I was satisfied there was only one brain signature inside, I gave a couple of light taps to the door, before opening it.
Inside, a young woman with curly brown hair was sitting up in bed, propped with lots of pillows. She was wearing a neck brace, but other than that, she appeared to have no broken limbs or even any cuts or bandages, that I could see.
She caught my eye, turning her head awkwardly in the brace, and I smiled.
"Hi."
"Oh, hi," she said uncertainly.
I decided to come clean with her. It wasn't as if I could keep up the pretense of being her sister anymore.
"I'm really sorry to bother you, I know you've been through a lot, and I'm real sorry about that. I knew someone on that flight, a vampire."
"Oh."
"Anubis hasn't been able to provide much information about what happened to the vampires, or why the plane crashed at all. They said you were the only one who survived."
"Yeah, that's what they told me," she said. "I never saw any other survivors."
"Well, I was wondering if you could tell me anything about what happened."
She was still looking unsure, but after a moment, she nodded.
"I guess."
"You're Nicole, right?"
"Uh-huh."
"I'm Adele," I said, willing to give up my motive for coming but not my true name. "Adele Du Rone."
I stepped forward and held out my hand, and she slowly reached out and shook it limply. Touching her helped me to read her better, but her mind was a jumble of questions about me, and also she felt pity, because she didn't think that anyone but her, including all the vampires on the flight, had made it. Of course, she was also still in shock at having gone through such a terrible ordeal.
"You can sit down, if you want," she said.
"Thanks."
I took a seat in the plastic chair beside her bed.
"What do you want to know? I already told everyone everything that happened."
"Do you know what caused the plane to crash?"
"No. At some point the captain told us we'd need to take a longer route, because of some weather problems, although the weather looked fine to me. Then a little while later we started dropping, and we were told to strap in, and then the panic started. The vampires, they got up, some of them went forward, into the cockpit, I don't know why, maybe to see if there was anything they could do, but others started fighting."
"What?"
"Yeah, a big tall one, with long blonde hair, he was going crazy. He was fighting with the other vampires. He had him a stake, and he took down everyone in his path, vampire and human. He killed two stewardesses, and I thought he might kill me, too. There was a load of coffins strapped to the walls towards the back, so I got in one of those and locked myself in. They told me that's how I managed to survive.
"Wait, you saw a tall, blonde vampire kill all the other vampires, and some of the humans, too?"
"Yes. I'm so sorry."
I guessed she was feeling sorry for me because she thought that the big blonde one had killed my vampire. Little did she realize that the killing machine was mine. Eric taking out some of the other vamps, maybe I could understand, but all of them, and humans too?
"How did you know he was a vampire?"
"Huh?"
"You could tell the vampires from the humans?"
She raised her eyebrows, seemingly surprised at the question, and shrugged.
"I don't know."
I concentrated my mind on her thoughts, and realized she was telling the truth, she really didn't know. I addition to that, there was also a fuzziness to her memories that got me wondering. I leaned forward in my seat.
"Did anyone try to open the door? Maybe the vampires tried to get out?"
She frowned, concentrating, and shook her head.
"I don't remember."
"Do you remember being inside that coffin at all?" I asked her.
"Sure." In her mind, there was a complete blank. "It was, dark, I guess. Maybe I passed out."
"Probably. It must have been so traumatic." I took the opportunity to put my hand on top of hers, in a gesture of sympathy. "And after the crash, what do you remember?"
Now her mind was a real blank. This wasn't her trying to block out the trauma, though, I'd witnessed this before. She'd been glamored.
"I... I only really remember being found. Wait, maybe I don't remember that. I think I remember being in the ambulance. It's hazy."
I nodded and patted her hand.
"It's okay. I appreciate you telling me what you could, Nicole." I stood up. "I should tell you, I told the lady downstairs I was your sister. I'm sorry I had to lie. I just needed to know what happened first hand. I hope you understand?"
She looked at me for a moment, before giving a little nod.
"I understand. Like I said, Adele, I'm real sorry your friend didn't make it."
I smiled at her, and made my way out, taking the steps down this time.
When I got back to the van, I sat for a moment and went over in my head what I'd just learned. Nicole had survived the crash, apparently by locking herself inside one of the coffins on board, though her memory of it was blank, as though it had been planted that way. She had told me that a vampire matching Eric's description had gone on some kind of crazy rampage, but lots of things about that didn't sit right with me.
If Eric had made it through the crash and glamored her, what reason would he have had to do that, and why plant that particular version of events in her mind?
I realized that I now had even more questions than answers. Great. Pam was going to be so pleased. I felt the void of her brain behind me, and sighed.
Since I was hungry and only had a jumbo pack of Cool Ranch Doritos to eat, I decided to find somewhere to have lunch. On my way back to the crash site, I found a diner called My Way Cafe and ordered the chicken fried steak. While I waited I made some notes on the pad and paper I'd brought, but writing it all down didn't help me understand anything any clearer.
My lunch was good, and I felt ten times better once I'd eaten. They had a small TV above the counter, and the news was reporting on the plane crash. Local people coming and going expressed their shock to each other about it happening so close by. There were a few comments about vampire flights being extra dangerous, though I don't know where they got that idea from. Then, when I thought about it, it was highly likely vampires had been the cause of the crash, so I couldn't really stand up and defend them.
I hung around a little longer than I usually would, drinking coffee and watching the news, since I had nowhere else to be before sundown. I listened in on the people around me, but none of them had any information which was of any use to me.
I freshened up in the restroom, before paying for my lunch and leaving a decent tip, and thanking the waitress. Then I headed back to the van parked outside. I checked my watch and looked up at the sky, and decided I would drive back to the crash site, and wait close by, until dark.
When I arrived there, there were still other vehicles around, and people around the plane. A fence of yellow tape now surrounded the area, and it seemed as though security was even tighter now that the public knew about the accident. I turned on the radio and hummed along to some old country songs, and waited.
I must have drifted off to sleep, because the next thing I knew I was awoken with a start, and some loud bangs against the panel behind me. I fumbled to retrieve the keys and open the door, before practically falling out of the van.
"Alright, alright, Pam, I'm coming."
I unlocked the back doors, and Pam immediately jumped out.
"What happened? Did you find anything?"
Her hair was all flat and crumpled at the back, but then, mine probably was too, so I didn't say anything about it.
"There's a vamp buried out there, but I don't know whether it's Eric or not. A human survived the crash and I went to see her at the hospital. She told me Eric had gone crazy and basically killed everyone on board, before the plane went down."
Pam looked at me with more confusion than concern.
"All twenty-something passengers and crew?"
I shrugged.
"That's pretty much what she said. Her memory of the whole thing was hazy. I think she was glamored, Pam."
She stared at me for a moment, taking the information in, before shutting the doors.
"Where is this vampire? We need to take a look. If it's Eric, I should feel his presence, the closer we are."
I nodded and went to retrieve my rucksack. Pam downed a bottle of blood and I drank some water. She pulled a stake from the larger bag and tucked it down her pants, and I took the gun, sticking it in one of my jacket pockets, and shoved the flashlight in the other. The moonlight would be good enough, I hoped, as I didn't want to draw too much attention with the beam. Then we were on our way. I found my bearings again, not needing to check the picture on my phone. We strode out quickly, but stayed sharp.
"Do you feel him yet?" I asked her, as we got closer to the spot.
"No. Do you?"
I opened my mind fully, but could sense no voids. I placed my hand on her arm, stopping her.
"Wait, I need to just focus."
Pam made an impatient sighing noise.
"Is this the wrong place?"
"No, it was right here, just a few feet away, I'm sure. I can't feel anything though."
Pam took a few strides forward, and pointed ahead. I stepped forward too, pulled out the flashlight, clicked it on, and looked down.
I was staring at an empty grave.
A/N: Just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone who continues to read this story and for your support and reviews, I really appreciate it. I also want to give a special shout-out and chest-bump to Stacey (RubySun03), not only for her help as a beta but also for her input and awesome ideas for this story. You're the best, Stacers! x
