Disclaimer: Highlander does not belong to me or any of the series' ideas and characters. I just do this for fun and not to make money, so please don't sue me!
Chapter Nine
Sarah had no intention of stopping. She was not about to let anyone get away after hurting Richie. However, her feet faltered his attacker turned her way. Her anger had not diminished, but a confrontation with Edmund is not something she wanted Richie to see right now. Reaching out with her mind, Sarah telepathically warned the other vampire.
"Get away from him, Edmund. I will fight you if I have to. And you know I'll do it to the death."
"Still as protective of him as before, eh Sarah?" came the amused reply as Edmund himself used his mind to talk to the woman.
Richie's heart hammered against his chest as the other two secretly talked mentally. He watched Sarah and the stranger glare at each other for what seemed like forever. He didn't know what was going on, but finally the other man resheath his rapier and with a final glance at Richie walked away.
Sarah kept her eyes on Edmund's retreating back, his voice echoing in her head.
"What difference does it make if he's not Nathan Stanton. He's still one of them. Nothing good came of your relationship with the mortal and you're deluding yourself if you believe it'll be any better with an Immortal."
A soft groan caught Sarah's attention and she hurried to Richie's side as he struggled to his feet.
"Take it easy and let the wounds heal," she said softly.
She looped on of his arms around her shoulder for support and quickly regretted her action. The blood from his cuts called out to her senses, the smell making her heady for a taste. Remembering that she hadn't had a proper feeding yet, Sarah turned her head away and forced down the hunger.
"Come on, let's take you somewhere safe," she offered .
Richie held back a bit. "Wait. A girl's hurt back in that alley, We have to help her. I think that man is a vampire and was drinking her blood. Could you go and check on her while I call for help?"
Sarah groaned inwardly and debated whether to do what Richie said or just go. She didn't know if she had the will power to resist the temptation of blood. She led Richie towards the phone both before making her way back to the alley. She knelt by the girl's body and her eyes were instantly drawn to the two puncture wounds on her neck. The girl was still alive so the blood was still fresh. Richie must have gotten here just after Edmund began his feeding, Sarah thought. The girl was lucky, Edmund usually kill his victims after taking their blood. Sarah never understood why he does it. She, on the other hand, only kills when necessary and would only take just enough blood to stave off the hunger. And right now, instincts were telling her to feed. Her fangs automatically slid out as she reached for the girl's writst.
"The paramedics are on their way."
Sarah quickly backed away from the unconscious girl when she heard Richie's voice. Forcing her fangs to retract back into place, she turned and tried to act casual.
"I checked the girl for other injuries," she said softly. "The only ones I found were the ones on her neck."
Richie knelt by the body and examined the small wounds. "They're sending some police too, but I don't know what we're suppose to say about this."
"Don't worry," Sarah said as she stood up. "There's cases like this all over Europe. I doubt they'll be surprised about hers. Probably just put the incident along with the other unsolved files."
Richie watched Sarah as he listened to her. She appeared unfazed by the whole thing. But then again, she did know about Immortals, so something like this would hardly freak her out. And that made him wonder if there's more to her than he thought.
He stood up to fully face her. "You act like you've seen something like this before," he slowly. "Come to think of it, it looked like you weren't afraid of that vampire when you saw him. Do you know him, Sarah?"
Sarah did not want to lie to Richie, but telling him the truth was out of the question, at least for now. Okay try to act nonchalant. "I've read accounts like this everywhere. As for the vampire, I'm not the type of person who's easily scared off by the first sign of trouble. You were in trouble so I stayed to help."
"Yeah," he said with a small chuckle. "Josh did say you actually came to his rescue when he was being mugged."
Sarah tensed slightly and asked, "What else did he say about that night?"
"Nothing. Just what I told you."
The paramedics chose that moment to come, causing Sarah to sigh inwardly with relief. She did not like how this conversation kept turning into unexpected surprises.
********
Richie opened the front door and stepped aside to let Sarah walk in first.
"Glad that was over," he said as he closed the door behind him. "Hey Josh, you home!"
"He's not here," Sarah automatically answered. Her ears hadn't picked up a heartbeat as they approached the house.
"How do you know that?"
Sarah gave herself a mental kick. She saw Richie giving her a puzzled look. Why do I always let my guard down whenever I'm around him? "His bike's not on the drive way."
He continued to watch her. "Well, yeah. It's in the shop, remember?"
"I didn't see the bike or the car, so I assumed he wasn't home." He still looked unconvinced. "Besides, it's too quiet, you know how Joshua is with his music."
Finally the blond just let it go and headed for the kitchen. "You want something to drink?"
"No, that's okay," she answered distractedly. She stayed where she was debating whether to stay or to go. I can't believe I'm actually nervous, she thought.
"Hey, I thought Josh said you were working tonight?" Richie asked from the kitchen.
"Um … I got off early."
"Good," Richie said as he came back in the living room and gave her a charming smile. "Then you can stay and hang for a while."
Sarah absently took the can of soda he held out towards her and nodded. I forgot how good he looks when he smiles like that. They both sat down on the couch and talked. Richie did most of the talking. And for once Sarah was actually focused on something else other than the gnawing hunger within her. She even caught herself laughing a few times. Something she had not done for a very long time.
"You know what," Richie said suddenly. "Something just occurred to me. Remember Cyrus?" At Sarah's hesitant nod, he went on. "Well, he said something about another Immortal aligning himself with a vampire. Do you think that man was the vampire Cyrus was talking about?"
I thought we've finally left this behind, she thought wearily. Sarah lost her jovial mood as the conversation again touched a subject she loathe to talk about. It also reminded her painfully that she was the vampire in question, even though people seemed to conveniently forget to mention that she had rejected Ferrington's offer. Richie was getting way too close to that truth and she did not know how the Immortal will react once he finds out. Sarah panicked. What if he found out about her and believed the rumors. He'll probably end up hating her. She did not want to lose him a second time, specially not this way. Not after finding him again.
"Can we not talk about this right now?" she pleaded and quickly thought things over.
Richie saw her troubled look and dropped the subject. "Okay, how 'bout we talk about our plans for tomorrow?"
Sarah frowned. "I'm sorry. What?"
"Why don't we go for a ride somewhere- anywhere you like," he said with a smile. "And maybe have some dinner before I drop you off to work? Sound good to you?"
Problem momentarily forgotten, Sarah asked with a smile. "Did you just asked me out on a date?"
His expression became serious. "Yeah. I really like you, Sarah. Something about us being together fits so right. Please say yes."
Now it was her turn to become serious. "I'd really love to, Richie, but … I can't." She quickly got up, thinking things were moving way to fast and that she still have to figure out a way to tell him.
"Did you say something?"
Sarah realized she must have mumbled her thoughts out loud. "Nothing … it's nothing."
"You sure? I thought I heard you say something about things moving too fast. Is there something you want to talk about first?"
Both of them heard the front door open, a sound that made Sarah sigh in relief and Richie curse in frustration.
"Hey guys, what's up?" Joshua said casually.
"You got lousy timing, you know that?" Richie told his friend.
"It's alright," Sarah said as she quickly headed for the door. "I have to go anyway." And with a hurried goodbye walked out the house.
Richie sat there with his head in his hands, groaning quietly.
"Sorry, man," Joshua offered. "Did I ruin something?"
"Nah, it's okay." Richie leaned back on the couch and looked at his friend. "It's just that I can't help but notice that Sarah seemed to be hiding something from me. You're her friend, right? Is there something in her past that's keeping her from getting to close to anybody? Did she get hurt in the past? I mean you must know something about some of her past relationships?
Joshua saw the desperation on Richie's face and took pity on him. "From what I know, Sarah has only loved one man in all her life. But don't worry, I could tell that she really like you, though."
"So what happened to this guy? Did he leave her?"
The other man was silent for a while before continuing more softly. "No, he died. Killed right in front of her eyes."
"No kidding," said Richie in shock. "So who's this guy anyway?"
Joshua yawned and walked towards his bedroom. "No body you know," he said tiredly over his shoulder, thinking nothing else but sleep. "Some English man named Nathan Stanton."
Richie frowned, why does that sound familiar. Suddenly it struck him. Didn't the vampire keep calling him 'Stanton.'
Author's notes: Okay, I know I said this was the second half of the previous chapter and it is. But after editing it, I ended up adding more stuff to this and decided to just turn it into a chapter of its own. Anyway, hope you guys like it. Don't forget to review. Thanks to: MorganaPendragon: thanks so much for another review. I really hate cliffhangers, but I seem to be doing a lot of it lately. By the way, I had trouble e-mailing you, and other readers, for updates, so if it's not any inconvenience on your part, could you maybe tell me if the one on your profile is the right one. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this chapter.
