Chapter 22: Here Comes the Sun

  Amelia’s ghostly form snuggled against my new body as the two of us lay inside my coffin. One of her legs hooked under one of mine and an arm draped over my stomach. It would have been a nice feeling if we were outside under the stars and she wasn't a ghost. Even still, it was nice just being in her presence. She had that effect on me. With Amelia here I didn't have anything to worry about. Between my voice and shadow powers, and her vampire tracking skills, there wasn't a vampire we couldn't defeat. Well, with my sire’s help. And that was a sore subject.

  Amelia hadn't taken the news well when I told her that my sire’s own fledglings were the ones to hunt me down. Why? she asked.

  I truly don't know why. It was as strange a concept as it sounded. As far as I could recall, it was not how we used to interact. Isabella would always smile and dote upon me, and help with any troubles I was encountering that night. So for her to send Eva and Dustin to kill me was unusual.

  We had no disagreements. Only the fact that she stopped drinking my blood once I became Mayor, but her reasoning was that she needed a clear head to think. And even that wasn't unusual, as the two of us were off and on when it came to exchanging blood. Usually as part of a deal like when I killed a more powerful vampire and she wanted a ‘share’ of the boon.

  “You are forbidden from leaving the house,” Amelia said, breaking my thoughts and drawing my attention to her worried face. “Until the storm passes. Please…”

  “I was not planning on leaving. Shall I put myself in torpor until it passes?”

  “That is advised, but I do not recommend it in light of this new information about Lady Isabella. It was odd, my love. She visited you all the time and left you flowers and candles. I do not think she knew I was watching. I detected no malice from her actions either. Have I been blinded by time?”

  “Perhaps we both were. Or maybe something else is going on that we do not see.”

  I wanted to lay in the coffin and have Amelia shut it again. That way I could sleep through the next century and awaken once all of the nonsense had passed. But Lyra needed me to teach her fledgling things. I needed to teach Caleb fledgling things. I had two fledglings who were relying on me, and Dinner, who apparently thought I was cute.

  I looked over at Amelia, having remembered something I should have mentioned earlier. “Amelia, darling. Lyra and I shared a wonderful night of companionship before she was embraced.”

  “I spoke with her through a notebook she set out.” Amelia nodded a few times and patted my stomach as best her form allowed.

  “Oh…”

  “Mhm.” She nodded her cold ghostly head against my shoulder. “We talked the evening after you brought her home.”

  “I see.” I shifted around and rolled over to face the ghost in the tight confines of the coffin. It would have been fine had Amelia been alive.

  She shifted and pressed her ghostly lips against mine. It felt odd. Cold. Normally she’d be very warm as her hand moved along my side and scratched at my hip, but she wasn't anymore. I returned her kiss with a gentle one of my own and frowned when it was done.

  “We need to do something about you being a ghost.”

  “Dryad,” she corrected, nodding. “And the druids will be here next week. I shiver in anticipation of getting a new body.”

  “You think they can help you?”

  Amelia grinned at me. “Yes! We talked to them on the phone.”

  “And no one told me…?”

  She shrugged. “There wasn't any time. You woke up, said you had somewhere to be and left the house with Lyra.”

  I frowned. We spent the rest of the night talking about my adventure through South Encinar with Amelia occasionally stopping me to ask questions. Such as what a cell phone store looked like, so I described it as best I could.

  She tried to play with my new bosom, but her hands were so cold I recoiled. Only then did I realize my heart was making me feel warm and fuzzy inside. It beat slowly and steadily with each breath I took as I stared at my loving partner. Amelia giggled at me and again she reached to hold my hand. I locked my fingers around hers and closed my eyes with a smile.

  *** ***

  The next few nights went well with Amelia and I staying in the basement while the strange storm howled and whistled outside. I used a charging bank to keep the phone topped off, not wanting a repeat of last time, but that was getting low as well. I needed to get electricity in my house or build a new one entirely.

  Dinner brought Lyra back to the house on the second night along with three cases of canned blood for us to share. It was a nice gesture to be sure. The cans were larger than the ones Caleb bought and they were a bit more filling. Lyra stared strangely at me when she saw me for the first time since the other day. The fledgling checked over my ears, my face, hair, and attire. It took her a few long seconds to recognize me.

  I switched out having just the leggings for having leggings underneath one of my old skirts. We still kept the denim jacket, because I just didn't have any tops that didn't make my shoulders look like a door frame. They weren't so bad when they were made to fit my old body, but now? I needed to cut and adjust them. So I used Eva’s sewing abilities, and help from Amelia’s supplies, to adjust the fit on a skirt and clean up the hem, so it was a bit more ‘modern’ looking. Modern as in boring and less frilly.

  Even though I wanted to dress how I used to, I couldn't commit fully or people would notice something was wrong. Eva just didn't dress like I did. Hardly anyone did in fact. Unless I was going to dress like I was going to a convention, I would have to adjust my clothes to the current world.

  And it finally came to picking between Eva’s rifle and pistol or my boomcannon. Eva’s assassin class gave her few perks toward moving silently and remaining undetected as she went about her missions. Most of the skills were tuned toward the long rifle and helping with aiming and reading the wind.

  It sounded annoying to me, but I had to learn how to wield the newer long rifle and hope no one noticed I was a poor shot with it. However, one look at my face and hair would tell anyone that Eva had done something she shouldn't have. Over the last few nights, her once lush skin had withered to resemble the way mine used to look before I went into torpor. While her jaw and body shape remained the same, everything else shifted. It was a strange process that the others pointed out to me.

  With the cell phone camera showing a blurry image of myself, I had nothing concrete to rely on, except for Amelia’s flowery descriptions. They were colored by her love of me. She described my skin as looking like the moon on an autumn night just after harvest. And how my hair looked like snow capped mountain peaks once more with strands of golden wheat running through them.

  I listened to her description as I tried to picture it in my head, but all I saw was a soul stealing monster disguised as a woman. It made me frown and look down at my wrinkled hands. I knew the void wouldn't allow me to look like a beautiful half-elf for very long. Dinner and Amelia both agreed that yes, I was beautiful even if I didn't see it.

  The magma haired Lyra likewise thought I was 'fine'. She sat nearby and showed me her book, since I was not that good at reading sign language yet. ‘You do not look as bad as you think, sire.’

  I nodded slowly to her words. They might not think so, but I see otherwise. A thought occurred to me, causing me to tilt my head as I asked, “Where is Dustin?” It was a distraction at least.

  “Police,” Lyra repeated the motorcyclist's gesture from the other day. She impressed upon me that gesture at least. It was the first one she showed me, because if I had noticed the meaning earlier we might not be in this mess.

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  A frown crossed my face as a lump in the back of my throat prevented me from replying.

  She cocked her head and threw her hands out to her sides. “What?”

  “I was hoping to ask him for the truth of what my sire said.” I turned to look at Lyra.

  “That is not wise, my love,” Amelia said as she looked up from her own notebook. Lyra bought her one along with a pencil. Dinner picked up colored pencils at my request. The half-elf wasn't asking me for payment just yet, but I knew they'd eventually want it. “Hold still,” Amelia added. "If you want me to show you an accurate portrait, then please, my love, do not move a muscle!"

  I took a deep breath and went back to the pose she asked me to hold. A simple portrait of me sitting with my legs crossed over each other and the rifle resting across my lap like it was a hunting weapon. Amelia wanted an updated portrait of me to show the world who she loved. In truth, I was surprised the ethereal woman even acknowledged I was me, because sometimes I felt like I was Eva impersonating Cassandra.

  We spent the rest of the night with Amelia doing her sketch of me, Lyra working on melding with shadows, and me staying as frozen as a corpse. I only spoke on occasion to give Lyra tips here and there, which she used to actually wreathe herself in shadows just as dawn was approaching.

  I patted her on the back and smiled. “Good. Now that feeling you had when you were in the shadows is what you need to focus on to call them to you again.”

  The elf shivered visibly and glanced at me. She her book with one hand and drank from a blood can with the other. ‘It felt weird. Something was calling my name. What was it?’

  "Mother Moon. She heard your call and is wanting to speak with you, fledgling. Up to you if you wish to reply. Some do, some don't.” I shrugged. "I did. Her embrace is what protects me. She gives me my powers, She allowed us to escape the police at the club because Mother Moon has a plan for us. I do not know what they are, but considering She is fractured, I believe Her desire is to become whole again."

  Lyra nodded slowly. 'I will think about it. I still have my businesses to run.'

  Then it became a question of sleeping arrangements, as Lyra took an upstairs room before I went on my little adventure. I hadn’t initially wanted to have her in my basement, because Amelia might have been upset, but the roof wasn't fully whole and Lyra mentioned it was uncomfortable. Since they talked with each other about it, I pointed to the coffin.

  “You can sleep there,” I said. “It's very comfortable. I'll take the floor.” Even though I did not like sleeping on hard ground.

  She held both of her middle fingers in an obscene gesture that needed no explanation. Of course my fledgling was too proper to sleep in the most comfortable of beds. She had to have a regular bed like a mortal and Eva. It will pass in time and she will soon get a coffin of her own.

  *** ***

  The storm broke on the 15th as predicted. It was calm enough that I could receive messages from people. Isabella had sent a few to Eva’s phone and one to mine while we were staked in the trunk. I initially hesitated to read the one she sent to my phone, but my curiosity got the better of me even though Amelia warned me not to. "It's stupid to read them," Amelia hissed. "No good can come of it."

  "I have to know," I replied.

  Amelia threw her arms in the air and floated off to another part of the basement. It made me frown, because she was upset and I didn't want to make her upset, but something was telling me to look at Isabella's messages. Something deep down I couldn't suppress. I had to look at them. I just had to know the reason why.

  The message was only three words: I am sorry.

  I frowned deeply as I stared at the message. I had nothing for Isabella even though I wanted to say something. I couldn't. That would give the game up, but… I hadn't turned off the phone’s tracking. She would know the instant she checked the tracker! I was a fucking idiot.

  So I looked over at Lyra and Amelia for a moment before I hit the call button and waited. If Eva could speak through phones, then perhaps I could. Truthfully, I don't know what I was hoping for until Isabella picked up the phone.

  “Listen to me, Cassandra,” Isabella said quietly, pausing to see if I would respond. I held my breath, but for some reason I listened in on what she was saying. “I know you survived. Listen. I didn't want to do it. The Council of Three pushed to call a hunt on you and there was nothing I could do. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I don't know how you survived, but please listen to my words. Come alone. You will find me at my office as soon as you can. I swear it's just to talk.”

  She hung up before I could form the words to speak.

  I looked at Amelia as she floated over, phasing right through a box. “She wants me to find her," I told Amelia.

  Both Lyra and Amelia shook their heads. I wasn't planning on searching for her, but something told me I should find my sire. It wasn't a voice. It was a strange deep rooted feeling that I had to find her. There wasn't a question of if. It was a question of when I went and saw her, because she wanted me to see her and I couldn't disobey. An odd thread in my mind wanted me to go right then and there.

  I slowly rubbed my forehead and shook my head. “I have to find her…”

  “No.” Amelia folded her arms across her chest and glared. “It will be a fool’s errand if you do. You’ll be right back under her thumb!”

  ‘You can leave town or move somewhere else,’ Lyra added with her book.

  “What about Caleb?” I looked over at her. “She may use him.”

  “He is his own vampire and can take care of himself,” Amelia said. She reached out to pat me on the shoulder, nodding. “I have survived this long and will continue surviving if you choose to leave. I just…” her voice trailed off as her brows furrowed. She frowned, turning away from me so she could hide her face. "You need to leave town. For your own safety."

  I attempted to rub her on the back as I said, “I cannot leave you. I will not leave you to be killed again! The plan is simple. We take my phone and Eva’s and have Dinner drive them somewhere in the city for Isabella to find. She will think I am dead.”

  “But she knows where you live!” Amelia spun around as she waved across the basement. “She’ll come here tomorrow, or the next night and stake you again! And then what? Another two hundred years asleep?"

  I shook my head from side to side. “I do not think she will come here.”

  "She is smarter than you think!" Amelia hissed. "Do you presume that your sire is staying as second fiddle to the council because she was voted out? No, my love, that woman is in charge of the city and the council is her puppet." The woman floated over to a box and sat on top of it to pout. "Something is different about you. I know it deep in my soul, but I cannot for the unlife of me figure out why."

  "I am in Eva's body and you're a spirit."

  "This is different! There's something in the way you feel when I touch you. It... I need time to think about it."

  Lyra slid her book over to me and nodded. 'I know a place that doesn't ask questions. We can do your plan and you can move there.'

  "I don't know..." I shook my head as I rubbed at my shoulders, ignoring the flickering System map showing me the layout of my basement. It blinked out and said, Real-time local terrain scanner temporarily unavailable due to atmospheric interference. Reverting to most recent backup.

  I dismissed the notification and decided to talk it out with the others. We spent the next hour and a half talking through the conundrum of whether or not I should stay, if Isabella should be dealt with, arrested, or if I should get a new house. It was determined, with prodding from Dinner, who showed up halfway through and was filled in. That I would be moving from my home of two centuries. Dinner, or one of their underlings, had already filed a petition for Amelia’s tree to be declared a burial site. Which would hopefully prevent her death, because Isabella was the one to bury Amelia. If everything she said was true...

  This would take time to come into effect and the manor’s demolition was halted only because they had to wake Dinner in the early morning hours when they arrived. The half-elf explained to the workers that vampires were sheltering from the storm and they couldn’t risk removing us until nightfall. They could, but Dinner didn't want to say who I was. We were just some 'random vampire'. I didn't want the council to know I was alive, so I had to let the demolition go through.

  I left the basement and headed upstairs with Amelia in tow, our hands held once more. Dinner and their employees had already cleared out all of the boxes my things were packed into. Most of it was junk that was being taken to a charity to be sold off to people who needed clothes and knickknacks. Not a whole lot would be useful, as it was an older style people didn’t wear anymore. Eva’s rifle was slung over my shoulder as I walked up the basement steps to the first floor and my boomcannon was in the chest holster underneath the denim jacket.

  Each step upstairs was accompanied by a bounce in my chest I had to get used to. I couldn’t move up at the same speed without feeling like something was trying to pull my bosom right off my torso! I asked Amelia if she felt the same way when she had a physical form. Both her and Lyra agreed that yes, that was actually normal to have weight slinging around and tearing at my skin.

  Through the windows, a strange, bright yellow machine called an excavator loomed silently before the house. I never laid eyes upon anything like it, so as I left the house with Amelia in tow, I walked over to the massive yellow monster. It towered before me, causing me to crane my neck as I looked up at the near room-sized body. The gargantuan singular arm lay curled up and just waiting with its bucket-hand resting gently on the ground. Even though I knew what an excavator was thanks to Eva’s memories, it was still awesome to see one up close. They were noisy creatures whose singular purpose was to dig, but this one was going to destroy my home and put the remains in the nearby dump trailer.

  I glanced back at my broken home for the last time. A feeling squeezed at my heart and gut, willing me to stay with the home as it was destroyed. I’d just burn up when the sun rose if that were the case. Which was a good idea. I turned to Dinner and held a hand out. “Do you have anything flammable?”

  They shook their head. “No? What are you thinking?”

  “We burn the house down before they can demolish it.”

  “Not worth the headache.” Dinner waved in the excavator’s direction. “They brought it out. If they don't get to use it they will bill you for the cost of transport and lost wages.”

  I nodded firmly and held my hand out for Amelia. Even though Dinner could not see the ghostly woman, they followed my movements as Amelia took my hand and pulled me into a hug. Amelia rested her head on my shoulder and shut her eyes, gently turning us from side to side. I wrapped my arms as best I could around her ethereal form and rubbed her back.

  “I’ll miss you…” she whispered. I had a feeling Amelia meant she would be devastated like she was when I first came across her.

  Dinner’s employees were gently removing my coffin from the basement and were almost out of the house when an idea came to mind. I turned my head to look at Amelia’s tree and asked, “Would it be possible to bury the coffin near Amelia’s tree?” Preferably with me in it, but I didn't want to tell Dinner that. I knew Lyra’s answer already, and Amelia’s.

  They wanted me to keep going, but I was feeling the heavy weight of uncertainty bearing down on me. From Amelia’s death to her subsequent transformation into a tree. From the world being so different that even life changed to Dustin being arrested because of my actions. I just didn't want to keep going. Amelia was devastated already. If I buried myself underground and went into torpor until someone accidentally found me, then I’d be right back where I was a couple weeks ago; waking up in a new world as a confused old woman. Only this time I’d likely stay buried and Amelia would…

  I glanced at the others before whispering in her ear, “Did you ever phase inside my coffin while I was in torpor?”

  She nodded slowly and smiled. “You were lonely, so I snuggled up to you and closed my eyes a few times over the centuries.”

  “Was there a stake in my chest?” I gently squeezed her in the hug, careful to not push my arms inside her ethereal body.

  “Yes. I pulled it out and you slowly awakened.”

  Did she really stake me?

  “What happened to the stake?” I cocked my head.

  She snapped her fingers at something, eyes widening. "Oh! There was period of a few years where your coffin just... vanished. I don't know where it went or who brought it back, but it came back and you were still inside it."

  "Really?" I blinked a few times.

  Amelia nodded. "Yes. Nothing was different. The coffin was still the same, but cleaned. It was odd. I will look for the stake and await the druids."

  "Good." If we had the stake we could see what the design was and maybe prove that it was Isabella. But if Isabella was telling the truth about the council, which she might not be, then it didn't matter. I’d have to run. Maybe flee with Dinner to wherever they live.

  But we already came up with the plan. We agreed to go across town and start over as Sandra, the elder vampire priestess of Mother Moon. However, all vampire licenses went through the council. And by going through the council that meant I’d have to deal with Isabella and the others. Unless I went through Dinner’s contacts in the Horizon Rangers, or Eva’s contacts she knew. Either one of them could set me up with a new identification card and license that would hopefully pass scrutiny and background checks.

  The System finally interrupted my thoughts, saying, New Quest; Survive the coming nights.

  With one last hug for Amelia's sake, I whispered, "Stay safe, my lovely rose. We'll meet again in a week." Then kissed her and closed my eyes. Everything was turning to shit and it was all my fault, but I will fix it. I will survive. For them.