Dawn's Innocence

"That's what frightens me more than anything. What part the babe inherited from my blood." Carter fisted his hands as Shayla braved close enough to trace her finger down his cheek to wipe away the single tear he shed for her and her baby. "I still thirst for you. What kind of a bastard does that make me that I hunger for the blood of a pregnant woman?"

"Drink if you need to. I can handle it." Shayla shivered as Carter locked his cold fingers around her wrist and pulled her to him. Her heart sped, but not because she was afraid. She'd never be afraid of Carter. He thought himself a demon in the flesh. She knew better. She could never fear him as much as he feared himself. "I'm not afraid."

Carter rubbed his lips across the soft, warm flesh of Shayla's inner wrist. Inhaling the gentle sweet scent of woman and baby on her skin, his mouth watered. The presence was unbearably loud, joyously singing in his mind. He wasn't sure how much longer he could tolerate the invasion and the noise created by such perfect peace. "I'm terrified. Don't ask me to condemn myself even deeper into hell than I already am. I cannot take from you. The child needs you."

Shayla loosed her tears, wrapping her body tightly around his. Praying her warmth would permeate the cold chill that surrounded his soul. "I need you. You can't scare me away. You can't frighten me into seeing you as someone you are not. I've seen your darkness. And yes, it is scary. But, I also have seen your light. It's brilliant and beautiful. Why you choose to ignore the good you've done over the centuries, I don't know. I can only hope that one day, you can see past the dark and embrace who you could be. The man you once were is still in there."

Carter tugged on the hard steel coils that restricted his movement. He couldn't get enough slack in the line to embrace her fully in return. She had such faith in him. Held such an untrue belief in the man he'd once been. He was a killer. He'd drunk more than his fill of life. He hadn't been that boy on the cliffs of his homeland in many, many centuries. That simple child had long since ceased to exist and this shell...this beautiful wrapper of flesh and bone was the only thing that remained. "If only he were."

"He is, Carter. You have to find the strength in yourself to find him once again. Please try." Shayla cupped Carter's face in her hands and lowered her lips to his forehead. The steel coils rasped against the hard rock floor as he struggled to hold her against him. The best he could do was to stroke his fingers lightly across her belly. Her son shifted in her womb. She felt the stirring, the first fluttering of the life that grew in her body and shared her being. "Did you feel that?"

Carter pressed his fingertips to Shayla's belly. The flesh fluttered beneath his palm. For a moment, he forgot that he was an insane, chained vampire. He was a mere man beholding the wonder of a life yet to be born. "The baby."

"He's kicking. This is the first time I've ever felt him move." Shayla squeezed Carter's fingers, pressing them harder against the swollen flesh. Things could be so different...she pushed the thoughts away. She couldn't hope alone. She could help, but she could not save Carter, not if he didn't want to save himself. "I think he likes you."

"Then he is a poor judge of character." Carter withdrew his hand and wiggled out of Shayla's arms. His back pressed to the cold stone behind him. The flutter of life beneath his fingers taunted him and reminded him of what a son of a bitch he truly was. The life he'd forever tainted with his bite and his blood would haunt him for the rest of his days.

Shayla settled back on her haunches, smiling at the wonder of the life inside of her. She'd failed to reach Carter. But, perhaps there was someone else who could. "Evan wants to come and see you."

"No. Not as long as I'm like this." Pathetic. Chained. Terrified.

"I told him that as soon as you felt better you'd see him. I don't know how long the excuse will placate him. Evan is a very clever, intuitive child."

"I know. I'm afraid that I'll harm the boy."

"He trusts you."

"Fools, you all are fools. Leave me." Carter withdrew, straining at the lengths of steel cable until they moaned, stretching beneath the force of his effort to increase the distance between Shayla and himself. "Guard! I grow weary of my guest! Remove her from my presence."

"I love you, Carter." Shayla said as Will helped her scramble to her feet and guided her to the door.

"Don't waste your time."

"Carter, as you once said, Time's the only thing I've got."

Carter stretched out on the hard, cold, dusty, uneven floor. The rough surface of the rock bit into his back as the door slammed shut and the magnetic lock sealed with a hiss. Electricity hummed along the metal surface of the door. He was sealed in his darkened tomb alone. A tear, something unexpected that hadn't happened in decades, welled in the corner of his eye and rolled down his cheek. If only he could be normal for her. How well he understood what a relative term 'normal' truly was. Normalcy was in the eye of the beholder. Unfortunately, her eyes were clouded through the rose colored glasses of love and she could not see past them into the reality of what he truly was.

He could cause her nothing but pain. Why didn't she understand that? The best thing Shayla could do would be to run, take her nephew and his parents, her unborn child and run from him. He tried to see himself through her eyes. Bound. Chained. Confined. Insane. Yet, she claimed that loved him anyway. How? How could she love the despicable monster that he had become centuries ago at the time of his birth?

He tried to remember the feel of warm sunlight on his face. He tried to remember the world as it had looked the last time he'd seen it through human eyes. The memory was buried deep inside of him. So deep that he could scarcely bring it up to the surface.

Dim visions of rolling lush fields and evergreens played behind his closed eyes. He recalled the blue of the ocean and the white of the capped waves as they crashed against the black rock of the shores of his distant homeland. He could hear the shrill cry of seabirds and smell the salt in the air, if he tried hard enough. He could feel the cold, biting chill of the northern air blowing down the coast and the warmth of the fire against his cheeks.

He could almost convince himself that he was on those rocky cliffs instead of confined in a cell, if he tried hard enough. For just a few fleeting seconds, he was free from the bands on his wrists and the dark tendrils of evil woven in to the fibers of his soul. Too bad, his visions were only a memory. Innocence had abandoned him a long time ago. And this shell of him was the only thing left. And this husk of body and of soul was the very thing he had to protect Shayla and that precious, precious baby from.

Shayla turned left instead of right toward the exit from the compound. She found Drew sitting in front of a roaring fire in the fireplace, staring at the flames as if in their orange glow and dancing patterns he'd found some sort of meaning to the randomness. He knew she was there. She saw his shoulders stiffen and his head cock slightly to the side. His right ear twitched and the muscles in his jaw twitched. He said nothing and waited for her to speak. "Give me time to find a way to reach him," she said. Once again making a plea for a life Carter didn't find worth saving.

Drew said nothing. Shayla turned on her heel and left him to his silence. She could try to save Carter. His time was running out. Each minute that passed, Carter slid a little further down a slippery slope. And if he reached the bottom before she reached him further attempts to save his life wouldn't count for shit. Duty would have to be done and it was not a job Drew relished doing.

Chapter 56

Erica settled Fallon into the very bed that she had slept on so many summers ago. The room was compact, but very cozy. The same patterned curtains hung from the windows that had when she was a kid. The curtains were clean and in good shape as were the bedspread and the furniture and the rugs beneath her feet. Her aunt and uncle pinched every penny. They didn't replace things that didn't need replacing. And this bedroom, hell, the whole house was a step back in time.

She'd pushed back the curtains to let a little sliver of light from the flood lamp mounted over the barn door to bathe the bedroom in a pale wash of light. Erica worried that Fallon might wake up a little skittish in the middle of the night. She dug her toes into the thick nap of the shag rug and smiled at the feeling of the house time forgot. Everything was exactly as it had been right down to the feeling of security she'd always had sleeping in this very bed. Erica pushed her daughter's unruly auburn curls back from her forehead and gave Fallon a quick peck. "Goodnight, honey."

"Night mom." Fallon smiled and inhaled the scent of the sheets. She could smell the sun and fresh air embedded into the fabric. A comfortable scent of the sun drenched meadows and babbling brooks that she'd only read about in books. "I like it here."

Erica smiled. "I'm glad you do, honey."

"Mom, are we finally home?" Fallon yawned and stretched, settling down into the nestle of soft blankets. The pillows weighed a ton and were a little bumpy under her head. Her mother explained that they were feather pillows and it was a rare treat to sleep on them. She wasn't so sure about that. The thought of sleeping on chicken feathers was kind of gross.

"Well hopefully, we won't have to impose on your aunt and uncle forever and we can get a place of our own real soon." Erica got up from the bed leaned against the doorjamb before closing her daughter in for the night. She sighed and practically breathed in the quiet. She was so used to the sounds of the city. The noise of the constant flow traffic, the wail of police sirens, and the ceaseless clatter of people living their lives. The country was quiet. Peaceful. The only sound was that of her uncle snoring from the room next door and the soft lulling moos of cows in the pasture down the road. "Want the door open or closed?"

"Closed. I feel safe here."

"That's good, honey. That's really good." Erica pulled the door shut and exhaled in relief. She'd pulled Fallon away from her friends and everything she'd ever known to bring her here to the middle of nowhere. At first, she worried that she had made the wrong decision. Now, she knew, by her daughter's happy smile, she had not.

"Fallon all settled in?" Leigh asked.

"Yeah." Erica sat on the stone hearth at her aunt's feet. Watching the woman work a piece of yarn into a scarf with deft fingers. God, this was too much like coming home. The TV sat in the same place and played the same sitcoms it had back then. Now, the episodes were classic reruns. Her uncle snored in the same horrendous monstrosity of a recliner. Of course, there were more silver strips of duct tape covering the rips in the blue upholstery and holding the thing together my some miracle that defied the laws of physics than there had been back then. There was a pile of magazines in a stack at the side of her aunt's rocking chair, as there'd always been. And her aunt rocked in time with the clacking of the crochet needles in her hands, keeping count of the stitching with a rhythmic tap of her foot.

"First thing in the morning. I'll start looking for a job," Erica said. With things as unchanged as they were she felt like she had been transported back to a kid again. The last thing she needed was her aunt to start crocheting her pink hair ties like she had back in the day.

"There's no rush. Take your time. We're more than happy to have you and Fallon here. We haven't seen enough of each other over the years." Erica was speculative. But, Leigh meant every word she said. The house had been too empty since Alex had gotten married and moved into the compound. And before that, there'd been so much tragedy in this place. It'd do everyone and the spirits in this house some good to have only the happiness a child could bring living under this roof again.

"I know, but I am an adult. I need to take care of myself."

Alexander shifted in his recliner and snorted awake. He propped his feet up on the hearth and felt compelled to add his two cents, for what they were worth, to the conversation. "That little girl is really something. She reminds me a lot of you at that age." He gave Erica a huge grin. God, he could see her sitting there at her aunt's feet helping her count the stitches and Alex sprawled out on the floor beside her with her nose in a book. "You and Alex were so close you were like twin sisters instead of cousins."

"How is Alex? I thought you said she was dropping by today?" Erica asked. The clock on the mantle, the same clock that had always been there, read half past nine. It was getting late and if there was anything consistent about country folk, it was that the porch lights went out a ten o'clock on the dot. Company wouldn't come calling this late.

Alexander exchanged a look with Leigh. There wouldn't be a worry if Erica and Alex hadn't been so close growing up. A stranger wouldn't notice Alex's differences. Erica would catch on. They had to prepare her before their daughter stopped by for a visit. "Alex has...changed a bit since you last saw her."

"Oh no. Her leg is ok. Isn't it?" Erica felt the twinges of guilt kick in. She hadn't been as attentive to her cousin in the past few years as she had been back when the accident first happened. Alex wouldn't call her if something had gone wrong. Alex was too much like her dad, stoic to the point of almost closed off. She wouldn't want her to know something was wrong.

"Alex is healthy enough. NO worries there." Leigh set her crochet in the basket and got up to take a picture frame off the mantle. The picture was a snapshot of Alex and Chance on their wedding day. "That's her husband, Chance." She and Alexander had really had to scramble to take down all the pictures of Alex and Lucien from their wedding. Hard evidence was not easily swept under the carpet and Erica would notice the photographs were recent. Lucien was supposed to have been killed in the accident that injured their daughter. The truth of Alex's situation was a bit more delicate and tricky to explain.

Erica fingered the silver frame with an enameled fingertip. Chance was a good- looking guy. He had dark walnut colored hair, slightly bronzed skin, hazel eyes, and a smile that told of his love of life and his love for Alex. Erica was happy for Alex, grateful that she'd finally gotten over Lucien and moved on. But, she wondered why she hadn't heard a peep about Alex's wedding till now.

Alex hadn't changed a bit, still the petite spitfire with a shook of crimson waves dancing around her shoulders. She looked happy in the picture, happier than Erica had seen her cousin in a very long time. Since, Lucien died. "They're cute together," Erica said as she returned the picture to its resting place on the mantle. "So, what are you trying to tell me?" Erica gasped, "Is Alex pregnant?"

"No. Unfortunately, that's not in the cards for her and Chance." Alexander struggled to find the right words to explain without frightening the hell out of Erica and sending her with her daughter in tow back to DC. "We'll have to use Fallon as a surrogate granddaughter. She'll be spoiled rotten."

"She already is," Erica retorted as she sat on the picture on the mantle. "Uncle Alexander, what is it?" His hesitancy to be out with the truth made her worry more about Alex. Did she have cancer? Was she dying and he didn't know how to tell her?

"Dad, maybe you should let me explain," Alex said as she came in the front door. Chance held her hand and gave her strength as she faced the cousin, her best friend in the whole world besides Janine.

"Alex!" Erica jumped up. From what she could see in the dim light of the living room, Alex looked fine. Better than fine, actually. She looked perfect, flawless and beautiful in a way she hadn't been before. Erica darted across the room, opening her arms to give her cousin a big hug. Skidding to a stop inches from the hug. She noticed the pale luminescence of Alex's skin and the startling golden glow in her brown eyes. "Alex?" Erica stretched out a hand to run her fingers over Alex's pale skin. Nobody was that perfect. Nobody had skin that pale. Alex was real and alive, but at the same time, almost ethereal and ghostly. "Oh my God, what happened to you?"

"Let me explain." Alex caught Erica's fingers with her palm. "I'm still who I was, on the inside. Where it counts the most. Outside, I'm a bit different."

"A bit?" Erica inched her away from Alex, stepping solidly on something that felt like a toe. She screeched in shock as Chance stood behind her, steadying her by the elbow to keep her from tumbling over. He'd moved so quickly that she hadn't even seen him move. His eyes glittered with the same ethereal light as Alex's and his skin had the same translucent pallor. Horrified and confused, she twisted out of his grip.

Erica had read every cheesy book and seen every movie from the blockbuster to the bargain bin in the subject. She knew what stood beside her. The pale skin and the piercing eyes were unmistakably those of a vampire. And her aunt and uncle knew about it. "You did this to her?"

"I did not." Chance winced at the horror in the woman's voice.

"Uncle Alexander? Aunt Leigh, you knew and you didn't warn me? What about Fallon? I...I...we shouldn't be here. You," she said with a pointed glare at Alex, "shouldn't be here."

"Erica, Alex is still our daughter and we love her no matter what," Alexander said. Breaking the news over the phone that Alex and Chance were vampires wasn't one conversation he'd wanted to have. Ok, so they should have told her...prepared her better instead of waiting for Alex and Chance to pop by. But, what really prepared someone for something like that?

Erica trembled horrified, half expecting a pair of fangs to pop out and sink into one of her juicy arteries at any moment. "Do...do you let her...ah..." Erica's hands wrapped around her throat and she swallowed hard. "Drink from you?"

"Of course."

The world tilted on its axis as the reality Erica thought she'd known to be truth all her life shifted to the dark side. Vampires weren't real. But here two of them were, standing next to her, casting, worried, not hungry stares at her. "I think I'm going to be sick," Erica muttered, running for the bathroom.

"Erica, are you ok?" Alex asked through the closed door. She could easily break the lock with her superior strength if she had to. Instead, she waited. Gently knocking until she heard shuffling sounds from the other side of the door and the lock on the bathroom door disengage.

Erica unlocked the door and let her cousin in. Wielding two toothbrushes in the shape of a cross at Alex, she said, "Keep your distance. I'm not afraid to call the wrath of God down to smite you if you so much as smell my blood type."

Alex rolled her eyes and snatched the toothbrushes out of Erica's hand. "Will you cut that out? Really," she said in exasperation. She got the whole creature of the night thing and yeah, she'd been just a tad freaked out to learn the truth herself. But, toothbrushes? The toothbrushes landed on the counter with a clink of plastic against porcelain. "Look, I have a reflection," she said, pointing to the mirror in the medicine chest. "I am still me." She unwound the bath towel Erica had tied around her neck and sat on the closed lid of the toilet. "I'm not going to hurt you."

"Fill up at the all you can slurp blood bank before you popped by?" Erica asked as she backed into the corner as far from Alex as possible. "Why'd you let him do that to you?" She asked pointing a finger to the living room where Chance and Alexander chatted jovially with one another.