Pulling her boots on, Ruby rose and zipped the backpack closed before shouldering it. David was to her right, prying loose the final tack that held the blanket over the window. He pulled it free and folded the blanket back up, tossing it on top of the others.
"Ready to go?" Ruby asked softly. She wanted out of here, out of Oregon, out of her past. Everything she'd felt the night before, about staying and settling down had evaporated instantly. Whatever was coming to Santa Cruz, whatever trouble, she had to face it. There was no time for wistful daydreams. David nodded stiffly.
"I'll go settle the bill and return these." He answered quietly, heading out the door with an arm full of blankets. Ruby followed, pulling the door shut tightly after her self. Leaning against David's bike, she waited for him to return.
After a minute he did, walking quietly towards her and the bike. Ruby knew he was fighting within himself; she'd tried to touch their bond link and gotten gently pushed away. She didn't blame him; her meltdown the night before had upset not only her, but David as well.
"Ruby?" the blond vampire stopped in front of her, his face turned towards the small dust cloud his boots had kicked up.
"Yes David?"
"It… it wasn't something I did, was it? It wasn't something during the visit with your parents, something I said…" he looked up at her, his voice dropping low. "It wasn't something… during the sex…" he trailed off. Ruby felt his fear, the deepness of his worry that he was the cause of her pain.
She took his hand in her own, squeezing tightly. "No David. It wasn't anything you did."
David nodded shortly. "I did do something though. I brought you here."
"But with the best of intentions, sire." Ruby sighed. His hand squeezed hers tightly, but said nothing more. Swinging a leg over his bike, he pulled her up behind him and revved the engine to life. In a few minutes they were headed out of town.
--
David slowed the bike just on the outskirts of town, waiting to make a turn until the car on the other side of the road had passed. Ruby, jarred by the sudden slowing of the bike, turned to look where David was headed.
The small town cemetery was to their left. David steadily turned the bike, giving it a bit of gas to make it up the small hill that lead deep among the headstones and graves. Even in the darkness, some of the stones were light enough to read, their pale granite and marble worn from the weather and age. Ruby kept her head down, staring at the back of David's trench coat, her eyes already burning hotly. David continued on, seeming to know the exact route. Finally he killed the engine and came to a stop. His hands gripped the handlebars tightly.
"You need to do this, Ruby. Just as much as I do." He spoke quietly, facing ahead still. Ruby slid slowly from the back of the bike, pausing to wait for David to follow. He continued to sit on his bike.
"David?"
"Go. Go ahead without me. I'll be there in a minute." David still did not look at her, but Ruby felt his anguish just the same. It mingled with hers. Ruby nodded and turned away, heading through the headstones and markers.
--
She came to Jeremy's headstone by rote. There was no need to look at names; this was a path she had taken dozens of times in her old life. Ruby stopped below it, the dark marble slab flush with the green grass and earth. His named carved at the top, his birthday on the left. The date of his death on the right, with an embossed pair of hands joined in prayer, a set of rosary beads looped around them.
Ruby sank to her knees, her hands going directly to trace over the chiseled words. It wasn't as worn as some of the other markers, but it had aged since the last time she'd seen it. Hot tears welled in her eyes, fell and splattered the stone.
"Jeremy…" she choked, her throat tight. She leaned forward, pressing her face hard to the marble, unable to find any words to say. For a long time she just laid there, her silent pain translated into tears that dotted the stone. Finally her body stopped shaking, her heart feeling lightened and much of her grief washed out through tears. Ruby sat up some, still on her knees and began to brush away some of the dirt and leaves that had fallen onto the stone.
"I kept my vow." Ruby turned, startled. She hadn't heard or felt David come up to the graveside. "I protected your sister, like I promised you, Jeremy. She's safe, she's protected." Ruby leaned back as David crouched over Jeremy's grave marker. There was a silver flash in the moonlight, a blade in David's right hand. Again his gloves were gone, the skin of his hands so pale white. David drew the blade over his left palm, without a flinch, squeezing his fist in a tight ball so some of his blood dripped over the marble marker. "Release me, Jeremy. Our pact is complete."
Ruby could only stare at David. What pact! She pressed the question against their mental link.
"Your brother's ghost has haunted me since the night Austin murdered him. This trip was as much for you as it was for me to be released from the vow I made him, for his revenge and to protect you." The wind kicked up bitterly just then, roaring through the trees. David's eyes fell closed and he seemed to lose a great weight on his shoulders before Ruby's eyes.
Squeezing his fist once more, David rose and licked his wound healed. Ruby sat on the grass, silent as her stomach rolled. In a nearby fir tree some crows cawed loudly, awakened from their nightly slumber by Ruby's presence.
"I hid it from you, because I wanted you to understand I fell in love with you independently of what your brother asked of me." Ruby looked up at David. "He certainly wasn't happy the same kind of creature that had murdered him fell for his baby sister. But hey, fate is funny that way."
"You could see him? His ghost?" Ruby knew the question sounded so stupid.
"More…felt him. A heavy, unhappy presence. It's similar to our mental link. Ghosts work on different principles though."
"The wind was Jeremy."
"His presence gaining the peace he sought. He's free now. As am I." David knelt down in the grass before the redheaded vampire. He held her face tenderly in his bare hands, his eyes meeting hers. Ruby could see peace in David's features, his body relaxed. He looked happy, like he did after they made love.
"I love you, Ruby. I will never leave you. I will always protect you. Always love you. This is my new vow, sworn before my childer. My lover. My only heart."
Ruby's arms slid around David's neck tightly, kissing him with such intensity. He held her close, kissing back with the same passion. Ruby could feel eyes watching them, the spirits that wandered restless in the graveyard, those that had not moved forward to what lay beyond the mortal plane, seemed to be applauding. Ruby and David's union, like that between two mortals, was sealed. Their blood bond, their romantic bond, and now their hearts were joined eternally.
"I love you, David." Ruby slid the puzzle ring from her right ring finger and with a bit of work, she freed the platinum band. David's eyes lit up as Ruby handed it to him, her left hand held out. Wordlessly, David slid the ring onto Ruby's left ring finger. He kissed her warmly and Ruby felt his happiness through their bond, singing brightly as the sunrise neither of them would ever see again with their own eyes.
David rose first, helping Ruby to her feet. "I never expected that, Ruby. I'm stunned."
Ruby kissed his cheek, looking one last time at her brother's grave. Taking David's hand in hers, they returned down to David's bike. "I didn't either, sire. But it was right."
"Yes." David nodded. "But even I've got to admit marriage vows in a cemetery between two vampires is pretty cliché." He grinned at Ruby, sliding onto his bike. Ruby laughed, scrambling on behind him.
Her arms tight around her husband's waist, Ruby rode back home to Santa Cruz with David, never to set foot in Oregon ever again. Traveling through the night, they reached their coastal territory before the golden rays of the sun rose over the great Pacific.
