Chapter 8: Moving On

"You're that doctor, aren't you?" he asked. "The one who tended my parents and I, during the night."

"Yes," I replied.

"Where are they?"

I had been expecting a question of the sort. I still hadn't found a way to tell him gently, so I decided on a fact-based approach.

"They died Edward. Your father first, about two days ago, and your mother, just as I came on shift."

Edward grimaced, but he didn't seem very surprised about the news. My instinct told me he'd been expecting thus. "Why did you change me?" he asked.

"On her deathbed, your mother asked me to do everything I could to save you." I thought back to the exchange. "I could've sworn at that moment, she knew my secret. Something in her eyes."

"So you did as she said," Edward continued. "You took me home and made me one of you."

"I made a promise," I reminded him.

"And you're a vampire, who only drinks animal blood and wants to save humans. I don't think I've ever heard of such an animal."

I laughed. I liked Edward already, even though during our first exchange, he'd been trying to rip me to shreds to attack an unsuspecting bystander.

"When I was in Italy, I became the source of a legend, Stregoni Benefici."

"What do we do now?" he asked.

"It's going to be time to move on," I told him. "You're too recognizable in your home city. At least for the next fifty years or so. How do you feel about Wisconsin?"

Edward shrugged. "I've never really been outside of Illinois. My parents were not ones to travel."

"Then I think Wisconsin would be a good place to go," I replied. "I need to wrap up some things here. I can do that tomorrow, take money out of the bank, turn in my letter of resignation, and sell the house." I wasn't really talking to him by then, just going through the familiar list of things to do when I moved to a new place. I had intended to stay in Chicago for a couple more years, but I didn't want any trouble with the sudden disappearance of Edward's body. I could just write personal reasons for the letter of resignation and they would think that I just couldn't handle the pressure.

We returned to the house and I sat down at my desk to write the letter that I had written so many times before. If I didn't have a vampire memory already, I would have memorized the form of the letter by now.

Edward roamed the house, examining my things. In the hallway, leading to my study, I had hung a series of pictures that I collected over time. Pictures of England in the 1630s, a picture by Solimena of a ball that I had attended with the Volturi, pictures of Paris, Madrid, Rome, Philadelphia, Harvard, every home I'd had for the last 255 years. The wall was covered and the pictures became newer as they came closer to my office. At the end of the hallway, hung the cross my father had carved himself for the church. I had returned to the church where my father had preached a little more than a hundred years after leaving. It was bigger. They had expanded the altar, and had added a chapel. That was where I'd found the cross my father had carved. It hung by the confessionals and under it was a plaque that read "Carved by Pastor Robert Cullen, 1631." I had taken the cross, leaving behind a similar cross, blessed by a bishop. I figured that would be enough of a payment for my father's cross.

"One day," Edward said from the hallway, calling louder then was really necessary, "you will have to tell me your entire story. I have a feeling it is very interesting."

"Perhaps one day," I agreed, barely speaking louder than a whisper. I finished the letter, sealing it up and addressing it to the hospital. It would find its way into the proper hands, and I would be far enough away that they wouldn't be able to find me to ask any questions. I glanced up at the grandfather clock that stood in my office. It was 3 AM, too early to do anything, but as a vampire, you can't sleep. I figured now would be a good time to fill Edward in on the particulars. It would be hard moving on at such a short notice, usually I had months to plan, but we couldn't stay for long. I needed to move Edward to a place with less temptation. Wisconsin sounded like a good state to look. A good place to make a fresh start. This time, I would have someone else to think about.