CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE – A Prayer for the Dying
Coraline and Hank sat in miserable silence as they waited for whatever their fate held. She had given up trying to talk with him. He seemed to have retreated into himself and didn't appreciate any attempts she made at conversation.
Twice a day, the door to their prison opened, and a hooded figure handed them more stale blood, which they drank gratefully, even though in real life, they'd have never touched anything so rank.
As Coraline began to doze off, she was startled to high alert by the door crashing open and four men carrying in a tall figure shrouded in the same silver chain mail they had worn during their own capture. While two men held the stranger, two others removed the chains and the mail, revealing a very pissed and very naked Josef Kostan. Coraline drew in her breath. She dared not say a word with the captors in the room. Josef seemed a little disoriented, but looked unharmed, outside of suffering from exposure to the silver, which any vampire hates because it renders him weak and helpless. Still, he yelled and tried to kick his captors as they fitted him with his collar and chains. They picked up the mail and paraphernalia, and one of them handed Josef what Coraline thought was probably the same old stale blood they always gave to her and Hank, and the heavy door slammed behind him. Josef devoured his meal in an instant, then looked around at his surroundings. Surprise registered in his face as he recognized Coraline.
"How long have you been here?" he asked in the vampire lower voice register, inaudible to humans, but perfectly audible to Coraline.
"They got us the day before yesterday and drove all day to get us here. She nodded at Hank. He was with me, but they took us by surprise. We had no way to fight them, really."
"I hear 'ya," Josef said. "They got me right out of my freezer! Geez!" He shook his head, remembering the surprise attack. "Man, that silver took a toll on me—I'm not sure which I hate worse—the silver or a stake! Ah, well, I really hate stakes!" He made a facial expression of disgust.
"When did they get you?" Coraline asked him.
"Yesterday. I've been lying in the back of a truck for hours."
"How long was the trip from where they got you to here?"
"It wasn't too long, but I had the impression that they were circling around so I wouldn't be able to figure out which direction they were going."
"So we're probably somewhere in the greater L.A. area then."
"That's my guess."
"Why do you think they took us? Why are we here?"
"It's the Legion, Coraline. They've been hunting you and Hank for a long time. You should have stayed in Europe! They want Mick too. We had a little fracas with a killer vampire plastic surgeon who was draining his patients and killing them to sell their rare blood types. Nice guy."
"Who won?"
"Mick, mostly. I helped a little, but he pretty much wiped them all out. I guess the Vampire Nation doesn't take kindly to killing other vampires merely to save two human lives, so I'm guessing I'm here to explain the reason behind my actions."
"Who were the two humans?" Josef could tell she was trying to be nonchalant, but he could feel her curiosity, and it was more than mild.
"Well, I think you can guess, and you're right, it was Beth, but it was also her boss, ADA Talbot. They had all gone to question the doctor when all hell broke loose and he tied Beth and Talbot up to kill later.
"Well, if that doctor was into rare blood types, he'd definitely want Beth." She stopped and the light dawned. "OH! Is that the rescue Mick made where he had to give up being human to go find Beth? They told me a little about that! Omigosh! He knew the doctor would kill Beth, so he had you turn him back, then you two went and rescued her! Oh wow!" Coraline felt a twinge of jealousy. Mick would have never sacrificed so much for her, would he?
"That's the way it went! We kicked royal vampire ass that day, though! I'd forgotten how fun a good fight can be, even though I'm more of a lover than a fighter!"
Coraline sighed. "So now you and Mick are in trouble for saving two humans, huh? That's pretty sad."
"I guess I'd have felt that way before, but I really like Beth. I'm glad she's okay."
"You really LIKE Beth? Josef! Are you, ah--?"
"Are we lovers? Oh no! She and Mick are the Monogamous Couple of the Century! There's no WAY I'd get in the middle of that! Besides, Mick is my best buddy. You don't do your best buddy's girl, even if you are a vampire."
"I'm not so sure about that, Josef. It seems I recall a time when you. . ."
"And I paid heavily for that one! Coraline, that was over a hundred years ago! I've grown up since then!"
"That's not what I hear. But let's get to the important stuff. How are we going to get out of here?"
"I really don't know, Coraline. Unless you're a shape-shifter, I don't see a way."
--
I woke, surprised to find that Mick was not in bed with me. I got up and used the bathroom, then looked in the freezer, looked in his bath, went out on the terrace, and then ran all over the house, but couldn't find him. I shivered with fear and saw that his computer was still on, so I touched the keyboard, which turned on the monitor, and that showed me pictures of several well-known vampires in the city. Dr. Mineo was one of the pictures, I noted. Mick's cell phone sat on the desk, and his shoes were under it. Fear crashed into me like a cold bucket of water thrown in my face, and it doused me so well that I couldn't breathe for a moment. I felt my knees getting weak and grabbed onto the back of Mick's desk chair.
"M-I-C-K!" I screamed, but no one answered. The silence echoed and I wanted to scream again, but that wouldn't help anything. Neither would crumpling into a heap and crying all day! Now Mick's life depended on ME, and if I died trying, I'd save him from the thugs who took him! My thoughts were a frantic blur running through my head—who to call? The police wouldn't have a clue! I picked up Mick's phone and looked through his directory. The first call I made was to Logan.
"You've heard they took Josef, Logan, and now I'm sure they have Mick." I told him how the house looked—like nothing had been touched, no sign of struggle, no blood, exactly like Josef's place looked!
"You're calling from his phone, so we can't use that to track him. I don't suppose he has a GPS chip in him anywhere?"
"No! Oh, my GOD! Logan! Is there anything we can do?" I was barely hanging on. I sank into Mick's chair.
"Let me call some people and see if I can find out anything. We've been looking for Josef, though—I'm not too hopeful. I have an idea, though—I'm going to turn on satellite surveillance around that place where we went to the meeting. I'll keep you posted."
"Thanks so much, Logan. Whatever you find, let me know."
I sat at the desk and looked at the pictures on the screen. Some were large, like Josef's and Coraline's. Others were smaller, like Dr. Mineo and Guillermo. What did it mean? Who would know? I picked up my own phone and ran through my phonebook, not thinking, just wondering if there was anyone I wanted to call. I had never felt so completely alone!
Ben Talbot. The name popped out at me from my phone list. Ben! Of course! He knew something about this! I hit the speed dial and listened as his phone rang, once, twice, and on the third ring he picked up, sounding half asleep. I looked at the clock. It was only five-thirty in the morning, but I was too panicked to be sorry about waking him.
"Yes?" Is all he said.
"Ben?"
"Beth?"
"Yes, Ben, it's me, Beth. I need to see you and it's urgent."
"Why, what's happened now, Beth? Is somone trying to kill you again?"
"No! I wish! Mick has been kidnapped. Well, so has Josef, and we've been looking for him. I think this has something to do with that list. Ben, I can't think of who else to call."
"I'll be right over. Try to stay calm."
Calm! I was so frantic I couldn't even think! I made myself a cup of tea with shaking hands, then took the mug over to the window and looked out at the city, just waking up, the sun pale in the horizon, the start of a new day for everyone else, a continuation of a nightmare for me! I was about to crumple into a chair when there was a knock on the door. I hit the buzzer without even checking to see who it was, but thankfully it was Ben. I thought he looked odd in blue jeans and a white long-sleeved shirt rolled to mid-arm, but then I remembered it was Saturday.
I walked up to him as he stood in the doorway, no doubt taking in my disheveled appearance. I had managed to slip on sweatpants and a sweater over my nighttime attire of a tee shirt, but I hadn't bothered to brush my hair. I still held my mug of tea in shaking hands.
"Thanks for coming, Ben," I said as I motioned him into the room. "Can I get you anything? I can make coffee—you probably haven't had any yet."
"I don't want you to go to any trouble. . ."
"Oh! Don't be silly! Staying busy is the best way for me to keep from crying! Come on over to the kitchen and have a seat."
He sat at the counter where I should be sitting now, watching Mick make me breakfast. Instead, Ben was here, watching me as I measured coffee into Mick's coffee press while the teapot heated up on the stove. The more I let myself think about Mick making me breakfast here every morning, the more miserable I felt. Soon I felt the tears welling up again, running down my cheeks. I sniffed and flicked the tears off of my face as I took out a mug and put it in front of Ben.
"The water will be hot in a couple of minutes. Are you hungry?"
"Just the coffee will be great, Beth. Thanks."
His eyes were piercing, and mine met his, watery and red. I thought I saw a subtle change in his expression as he took in my misery which was evident, I imagined, not only in my face, but in the way I couldn't even make myself stand up straight, as though my body wanted to reflexively curl into a ball of pain. I wondered if he didn't know what to say, but he was definitely scrutinizing me. The lawyer in him, I guessed. Josh used to get that same look when he was trying to figure out my moods.
The teakettle began to whistle, and I carefully poured the water up to the line in the press, placed the plunger gently on top, and carried the apparatus over to Ben.
"Give it a couple of minutes to steep, then very slowly depress the plunger. It's good coffee."
"Thanks. How about if you sit too? You look pretty frazzled."
I walked around to the other side of the island and sat on a bar stool next to Ben, rotating it so I was facing him. When I looked at him to speak, I found him staring at me. I could feel my lips trembling!
"I'm absolutely terrified, Ben. I don't know who I can talk to or what I can do to help Mick. I can't call the police, but he's gone, and I'm so afraid for him." My voice was raspy from crying and choking and now my voice caught in my throat. I tried to swallow, but my mouth was dry, so I took a shaky sip of my tea. I looked back at Ben who was staring at me with that mostly unreadable, but vaguely surprised expression on his face.
"I'm really glad you called me, Beth," he said, turning to push the plunger down on the press, then pouring himself a steaming cup of the brew.
"I called you because I don't know who to trust—I thought I could trust you—but what do you think about this list thing? Do you think they're going to kill Mick?"
Just asking the question caused me to burst into tears once again. I apologized and jumped down from the stool to go fetch a box of tissues. I brought them with me back to the chair, but I was too shaky and upset to climb into it, so I held onto the chair back and wept into my handful of tissues. I was starting to get frustrated with Ben, who wasn't saying anything to help me feel better!
When I looked back up at him, still holding the tissues to my mouth, I saw genuine astonishment. What in the heck was he thinking?
"Beth, honey, you're acting like this is the end of the world. Come on, Beth. Things will turn out okay."
I threw the wad of soaked snot rags on the counter. "What in the hell are you talking about, Ben? Tell me HOW this will turn out okay! Mick has probably been kidnapped by people who want to KILL him! What do you know about it?!"
He shrank back a few inches from me, staring again as if he didn't even know me.
"I don't know much, but I'll try to help. I've gotta say, though, Beth—you're acting like you really care about this guy!"
I was so dumbfounded that I actually felt my mouth drop open. I said softly, but vehemently, "What is THAT supposed to mean? Are you suddenly a MORON? Mick is my HUSBAND! I not only CARE about him, I LOVE HIM! I love him more than anything in the world! Don't you get it? I'm pregnant with his baby, for God's sake! I don't get what's wrong with you, Ben! How can you be so cold and uncaring? My heart is breaking and you think I don't care about him? He's my whole world, and right now I'd gladly trade my life for his! If I could just—see him—just one more time--I'd. . . I'd die peacefully."
My voice was shaking and tears ran down my face. I didn't even go after them. I looked down at my hands. For some reason, Ben's odd gaze wasn't helping me feel better. At least he didn't say anything stupid. I was so angry I could have kicked him!
"Beth! Honey, don't overreact here!"
Okay, that was more stupid than I could take! I was definitely going to kick him!
"First of all, STOP calling me HONEY! I'm not your honey anything!"
"Fine."
"Ben, it's not knowing if I will ever see him again that's tearing me up inside." I hiccupped softly. "I didn't even get to say good-bye!"
When I looked back at him, he looked as if he'd been punched in the stomach.
"I'm sorry—I—Beth—I thought you married him because you were pregnant. I didn't know you loved him! In fact, I can hardly believe you do! Do you even know what he is? I do! Beth! He's a monster!"
My hand reacted so quickly I didn't even think about what I was doing, and I slapped him very hard across his left cheek—hard enough to leave a red welt. He didn't look angry, though, only sad and puzzled.
"Don't you DARE call him that!" I said it so scathingly that he had the decency to look ashamed.
"I'm so sorry, Beth, I. . .don't know what to say. . ."
"Say how we can get him back! I don't want to hear you speak unless it's to tell me how to get my husband back! Do you get it now? I want him here with me and his child! I do NOT want him killed by lunatics! BEN!!! Help me!" I was pleading and desperate. I had no idea why he was acting the way he was, but I was trying my best to get through to him.
"But it's not his baby, Beth. . ."
Once again, my knees felt suddenly weak, and I sank down onto the floor. I held onto the leg of my chair and wept.
"It is his baby! It's our miracle child! He wants to be here with me to raise our baby and you won't help me! You just sit there like some kind of asshole and say mean things to me! Why won't you help me, Ben? Why? I don't know who else to ask!" I let the tears fall into a puddle on the floor. I was beyond caring. My nose was running and I was choking on my tears. I knew I'd be sick soon if I didn't get a hold of myself.
Finally Ben got off his chair and sat down beside me on the floor. He handed me the tissue box and let me blow my nose and dry my eyes. When I looked back at him, his face was tender and caring. If I didn't know better, I'd think he was looking at me through eyes of love, but I was misreading him—he must finally be feeling pity for me—and that was okay. It might spur him on to help me out.
He reached over and laid a hand on my arm. "Beth. I'll help you. I don't want to make you feel worse, but I've had some misconceptions about this pregnancy and marriage, and you haven't talked much to me since you got married. I'm so sorry for what I said—let me make it up to you by helping you find Mick."
I was so relieved that I flung myself at him and hugged him, and he put his arms around me, not minding that his shirt was soaking up all of the new tears that fell on it. He held me gently, as though I were some precious artifact, and I was comforted, both by his words and his physical presence. He stroked my hair and said nothing as my tears wet his shirt thoroughly, to the point of transparency. When I finally got a hold of my emotions, I let go of him and backed up. His face was a study in conflict, showing both distress and some unreadable thing that almost looked like desire! I was confused.
"Ben, please tell me all you know about this list, and then tell me how we're going to get Mick back."
"I'll tell you, but Beth, I'm not sure we can get him. . ."
"STOP! I cannot listen to anything negative from you right now! Tell me how to get my husband away from the kidnappers or get out of here!"
He was silent for a minute, then got up and pulled me up by the hands. He took his coffee mug in one hand, and led me with the other into the living room, where I sat at one end of the couch and he sat at the other. I felt more comfortable with him at a distance for some reason.
He chugged a few gulps of the coffee, then set the mug on the coffee table. "This is what I know, and I don't claim to know the whole story, but this is it: Mick and Josef were probably taken by a group known as 'The Legion.' They are a group of watchdogs, basically, who keep tabs on the vampires in this area."
"Why? What are they watching?"
"They keep the vampire population under control by eliminating individuals whom they judge to be in violation of the Vampire Nation rules."
I was listening with rapt attention. "Oh—like Emma Monaghan. She was executed because she threatened to expose every vampire in the Los Angeles area! It was treason, they called it! They killed her!"
"Ah," Ben said, shaking his head. "That I did not know. I have been trying to figure out what happened to her and Jackson for a very long time! It was terribly embarrassing for us that she escaped from our transport vehicle, and then simply vanished! I wish you'd have told me this sooner!"
"It's a vampire secret. I'm only telling you now because you seem to know something about this Vampire Nation and how it works—and that's how it works! Vampire justice demands a life for a life! It demands execution if a vampire betrays another. Mick always walks a fine line with them due to his job, and I'm so afraid they are finally going to try to put him out of commission!"
"Let's talk about that in a second. I still want to know about Jackson and Emma--do you know anything about Jackson's whereabouts? He's been missing ever since Emma vanished."
I looked at him and hesitated. How much should I be telling him, I wondered?
"This is quid pro quo, Ben. I tell you what happened to Jackson, and you tell me what you know to help me find Mick. Is that a deal?"
"Only if you tell me how we got out of Dr. Anders' office too."
"Fine. I'll get to that. Jackson and Emma had been together for about a hundred fifty years."
"What? That's not possible!"
"It is when you're both vampires."
He looked incredulous. "Emma and Jackson were vampires?"
"Yes. They fell in love when Emma had just arrived in America. She had been turned on the boat from Ireland, then met Jackson, a human, and they wanted to be together forever, so Jackson asked Emma to turn him. He voluntarily became a vampire to be with her! They had a hundred and fifty years together as a happy couple! It was only at the end when she had an affair that the love story crumbled. When Emma was sentenced to death, Jackson chose execution too. He held her as they were burned to ashes. I guess that is a love story after all."
Ben was honestly dumbfounded, I thought. "Let me see if I have this right—vampires live to be very old?"
"They supposedly can live forever. Josef is four hundred years old. Mick is only eighty-five. Some are a thousand. Coraline, Mick's ex-wife? She's a couple hundred or more."
"I'll be damned. I've never heard of such a thing. I always thought there was no such thing as vampires, and here they are, all over the place! And they live forever!"
"Unless they are killed, Ben, and I don't want that to happen to my husband. Please help me."
"I'm having a very hard time wrapping my head around this, so please forgive me if I sound really stupid."
I merely shrugged my shoulders. "It was difficult for me to understand as well. It's a whole different world they live in." I wondered what stupid question he'd ask next--he probably wanted to know if the baby was a vampire!
"How is it that you, a human, can marry a vampire. Aren't they technically dead? How does this work? I'm really puzzled!"
"They're not really DEAD dead, just in an altered state of animation, I guess you could say. Some call them the 'undead,' and some think they ARE monsters, but many of them are good and kind. Mick never wanted to be a vampire—he hates being a vampire! He hated himself for so long and thought he was a monster. You see, he married Coraline, not knowing she was a vampire, and she turned him on their wedding night without even asking him if he wanted it. She took his life and she took his happiness. It was so cruel, what she did to Mick! All he wanted was a normal life with a wife and a family, and at last he has that, after waiting for so many years!" I began to cry softly again. "Now he may never get to see his child!"'
Ben sat there, looking shocked. "So you're saying they aren't really dead, so they CAN have children? I've heard differently."
Here is where I took the time to explain the cure and Coraline and her bloodline to Ben. He ate up the story and begged for more.
"So you're saying Mick was human for a time? Back when we were held hostage by Dr. Anders? He was human then?"
"Oh, he was human. Apparently you didn't notice the cuts on his face from the fight he had with Lance. Vampires don't have cuts—they heal spontaneously. Mick was a human for only six days, Ben. He'd hoped it would last for six MONTHS! He had Josef turn him back into a vampire so they could rescue us! Remember? All the fighting we heard when we were tied up together? It was Mick and Josef killing those bastards in Anders' office! It was the only way to save our lives!"
Ben fell back against the cushions of the couch and put his thumb and forefinger to his closed eyes. "This is more than I can take in. Mick was human, finally, and he turned back into a vampire to save us. And that's what they talked about at the meeting we went to. They said they wanted Mick and Josef to explain why they had killed vampire lives to save human lives, like that's not a fair trade! Oh, God. WE got them into trouble."
He looked so upset that I almost reached out to him, but stopped myself.
"WE didn't get them in trouble, Anders did. He was killing some of his patients when he drained off too much of their blood."
Ben looked vexed, so I tried to explain.
"See, vampires need blood to survive because their bodies no longer manufacture their own blood, so they drink or inject blood from humans to stay alive. Apparently, there is a demand for rare blood types."
"Why would that be?"
"I understand that the different types taste different, and a vampire's favorite type is usually his own type—I mean, the blood type they had before they were turned—and some just acquire a taste for certain blood types! So, Anders used his patients without their knowledge by draining off a little extra blood during surgery if they had a high-demand blood type. He sometimes went too far—and some patients died! The one we were investigating was a simple liposuction, but she died from the blood loss. Anders killed her!"
"Wow. I didn't put that one together, but then, I didn't know Anders was a vampire."
"He wanted my blood—remember? He licked blood from my mouth immediately said I had AO negative blood—Ben—that blood type is VERY rare! He wanted me for my blood, and you were just collateral damage to him. He'd have killed us for sure."
"So because Mick and Josef killed those bastards, now they could be executed? Because they killed vampires to save us humans?"
"That's it. From what you say, they are really mad at them for killing Anders and his office workers who processed the blood for sale."
"Oh, Beth. If only we had talked about all of this before!"
"Well, we have to deal with it now. What do we do?"
"Okay, one more question—you got pregnant when Mick was human, right?"
I hesitated. This wasn't exactly his business. He must have realized this all of a sudden.
"Oh—I don't mean to be nosey. It's just the thing about vampires not being able to have children, so I just surmised that—"
"That I had to get pregnant when he was a human. Well, that was a few months before I got pregnant, actually. He was a vampire again when it happened, but somehow in the short time that he was human, he, ah, developed the ability to, ah, make a baby." I was blushing furiously now, and I felt really uncomfortable discussing our sex life with Ben!
"Okay, so the baby is genetically his."
"Yes. It really is a miracle, you see. It's a fluke, and we're elated that it happened."
"Wow. That's a story!" He shook his head. "I appreciate that you included saving me as a reason Mick gave up being human, Beth, but I'm sure if it had been only me, he wouldn't have done such a thing!"
"You know, I'm not sure about that, Ben! He's so focused on doing the right thing. He's always putting other people before himself! He was always trying to make up for things he says he did in the past, when he was first turned, and he was probably pretty wild. He didn't want to have a relationship with me because I was human."
"So he thought it was wrong to be with a human when he was a vampire?"
"He did. See, we'd only started dating after Coraline gave him the cure and he was human again. I think the only reason he agreed to date me was because he WAS human! He loved re-joining the "mortal coil," as they say! It was a huge sacrifice he made to save us--it came down to going back to the life he hated, or saving me, and he chose to save me and sacrifice himself."
"That's love, I guess."
"It is love, and I'd give my life for him as well. That's why I'm so frantic here."
"I get it now. I'm so sorry I didn't get it before, Beth. I truly didn't know you had married him for love, or that this was his baby—I feel stupid now for what I was thinking."
I could see sadness in his eyes and in his face. Then I got it too. Duh! Mick was right after all! Ben was in love with me! Empathy flooded through me as I patted him on the knee.
"I should have talked to you, Ben. You're a good friend, and I didn't trust you enough, and I should have. Especially when I knew you were in on the list thing. Oh, and you have a file on Mick too! Pictures of him!"
"Pictures of him being hit by a car so hard that he should have been road kill."
"Now you understand. He should have jumped, but he was still getting over the human experience, and I think he forgot to jump out of the way after he pushed me far enough to keep me from being killed!"
"So he's saved you at least twice, and now you have to save him."
"More than twice, but that's too long a story, but yes, I have to save him!"
"I don't know where the Legion would take him, but I'll get people working on it today, Beth. Don't lose hope. Mick's a strong guy with a lot to live for, and I know he won't give up, so don't you give up either."
He rose and handed me his empty mug. "I'll get working on this right away, and I'll call you to give you updates. In the meantime, we don't know where Coraline is, and after you told me about her, I was pretty upset about her being on the loose. Promise you won't go out by yourself. Promise you'll call me if you need anything. Beth. Please."
"You sound like Mick now." I went to him and gave him a quick hug, then backed away. "I'm sorry if I gave you any wrong impressions, Ben."
"No, you didn't—it was all me. I just imagined things that weren't real. I'll get over it."
In my heart, a warm spot grew for this friend of mine, and I could see determination in his face now—determination to help Mick, even though Mick had what he had wanted for himself.
"I'll be waiting to hear from you. I trust you, Ben, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart for helping us."
He nodded and walked to the door. With one last look of regret for what might have been, he said good-bye and let himself out. I stood alone in the silence and prayed again earnestly for the safe return of my husband.
--
Mick had been lying alone in the back of a truck for what seemed an eternity. Now he heard someone getting into the vehicle and heard the engine turn over twice before it started. He was so weak from being bound in silver that he couldn't move; he was hypersensitive to silver and it always made him feel awful. Nausea wasn't a feeling he had very often as a vampire, but that was definitely how he was feeling now, sick and nauseous. He had a new respect for Beth going through her morning sickness!
Beth! The thought of her all alone with Coraline on the loose intensified his pain. 'Oh, God,' he prayed silently, 'Please protect her! Please keep her and the baby safe!'
He didn't care so much what happened to him as long as she would be all right, but the thought of never seeing her again made him ache inside. Needing her was a physical thing, and the emptiness he felt now was as bad as anything he had ever felt in his life. To have had her for these few months was everything! To live without her would be worse than death, and he fervently hoped they would kill him swiftly to end this gnawing, aching pain of loss. He was sure he was on a journey to his death. Cold tears ran from his eyes as his lips moved soundlessly in petition to God and the Universe to help him get through whatever was coming, but mostly he prayed for his wife and the baby she carried.
The truck bumped along a rough road now, and Mick's already aching bones cried out for some kind of relief. He needed blood badly. He had missed his morning feeding—they had grabbed him very early, and though he had no idea what time it was now, it had to be near dark. The need for blood, he thought, must be something like withdrawal from alcohol or drugs. His body hurt from head to foot, and his thirst was worse than the day he'd been caught in the desert. He would die if left like this for much longer, and he almost welcomed the thought, but he longed to see Beth just once more. He'd never had a chance to say "good-bye."
--
Beth was kneeling by their bed, weeping. She held her mother's old rosary in her hands, but wasn't praying it; simply holding it, knowing how much her mother had treasured it and prayed it every day was of some comfort, though comfort was hard to feel tonight. Tears dripped onto her hands and rolled over the pearly beads.
"God in Heaven," she said out loud, "Send your angels to protect Mick. Take me if you want to, but please don't let him get hurt. If it's possible, please bring him back to me. I know it's selfish, but I need him, and our baby needs him too. Our love for each other is a gift only you could have given us, and we cherish it. So please, protect that love, protect him. Cover him and shield him from harm. Please give him comfort, and help him not to suffer. Tell him I love him. . .and please, Lord. . .could you hold him for me tonight? Put your loving arms around him and hold him close. Amen."
--
Mick felt so ill he wanted to vomit, but knew he couldn't. He wanted to be out of pain, and the bumpy road seemed to go on and on and on, making him feel worse with every jostle. He wanted to cry out in pain, but didn't have the strength, and just as he was thinking he could take no more, he felt comforting arms wrap around him, holding him gently but firmly. "Beth!" he tried to say through parched lips, but there was no sound. He lapsed into unconsciousness, feeling her arms holding him close to her heart.
--