A Chance for Charity (The Immortal Ones) (20 page)

“
Vampires do exist,” I
whispered.

“
I figured that might be
so. Do you know any?”

“
Yes a few. There is one
I’d definitely consider a friend of the family. But he doesn’t come
around as often as the Witches. We probably share a genetic link
with the Vampires too. James theorizes that Immortals and Witches
share ancestry. At one point in history an Immortal or a Witch was
able to create a Vampire by giving a mortal enough of their blood
that a metamorphic event occurred. James attempted to experiment...
years ago... He tried to collect enough of his own blood to let
somebody drink it. But even with a syringe, he can only extract a
small amount. The veins push the needle out. The need to self heal
is too strong,” I paused, studying Link’s face.

“
Are there good ones? ...
Vampires I mean, or are they all evil blood suckers?” He sighed in
defeat. Link had reached his limit of new information.

“
Just as there are good and
bad people, there are good and bad Immortals, Witches, and
Vampires. All beings make choices in this world. Yes, Vampires need
blood to survive, but they can choose where that blood comes from.
A person can offer a portion willingly, an animal can be
sacrificed, donated blood can always be found, and then sometimes
it is taken without permission and death occurs,” I
explained.

“
Do they go up in flames
and burn up in the sun?” he asked.

“
Myth,” I answered.
“Sunlight burns their eyes. Then they are blinded until they have
time to heal. That can take days. It just makes more sense for them
to avoid the sunlight altogether,” I explained.

“
There are more things that
go bump in the night, aren’t there? Link gravely asked.

“
Yes there are, but I think
that’s enough information for today,” I said, reaching my arms out,
beckoning him to come closer.

He stood up and walked over to the bed, to
stand in front of me. I tilted my head up and tugged at his arms.
He bent forward to receive the kiss that was waiting on my lips. I
was eager to replace the confused and worried look on his face with
something more pleasing to my eye.

He responded to my touch immediately, with
his own ardent embrace. He leaned in further, so that his arms
rested on the bed. My neck extended so far that I was forced to lie
down or break the embrace. I scooted back toward the pillows and
Link followed, crawling across the bed with me, his lips never
leaving mine.

My arms moved upward, my hands lingered on
his hips and then travelled up the sides of his body. I pulled back
and he raised his head no more than a few inches. I traced his
entire face with the tips of my fingers. When my fingers reached
his mouth, he kissed them and then lowered his head to kiss the tip
of my nose, then my chin. His lips worked their way from my chin to
my ear where he softly whispered my name.

I turned my head so my lips could find his
again. His hand moved down my side and slipped under the small of
my back, as we turned onto our sides. We stayed that way - a mirror
of each other, face to face, chest to chest, knees touching,
sweetly kissing – not long enough it seemed, until my head began to
swirl and my breath became ragged.

His hand moved from my back, to my hip, and
rested on my thigh. I twined my leg around his, pressing my body
closer. He grew suddenly still.

“
Did I do something wrong?”
I worried, trying to pull back my leg.

“
No, you are doing
everything right,” he held onto me tightly. “I just remembered a
promise I made to Catherine last week, while you were in school.”
He murmured softly between kisses.

“
What did she ask you to
do?” I groaned, knowing the answer.

“
To take things slow,
because it has been so long since Roger. And that there has been no
one in between,” he said.

“
I could have guessed. She
is worried about me,” I said.

“
Did you ever... with
Roger?” He asked the question I was dreading.

“
Would it matter to you?” I
whispered, hiding my face in his chest.

“
No, but I want to do the
right thing here,” he said moving his hand to the small of my back
again.

“
I want this,” I breathed,
“I mean I think I want this. I don’t know. My head starts to spin
and my brain goes on vacation, and it feels so right. But to answer
your question, I never have - not with Roger – not with anyone. I
am probably the most experienced inexperienced person on this
earth. I am a really,
really
, old virgin,” I admitted, and
quickly turned my body to face the opposite direction.

“
Charity,” he whispered in
my ear, pulling my back against his chest, never letting me out of
his embrace. “There is no shame in that.” He moved my hair and
gently kissed the back of my neck.

“
But you’re not,” I
assumed.

“
No, I’m not, and it was a
mistake. Since the day that I met you, I knew that you were
something extraordinary. In these last few weeks, I’ve realized
that my whole life has been a journey that eventually led me right
here, to you. I should have known you were out there. I should have
waited for you,” he said holding onto me even tighter.

“
I’m so glad you’re mine,”
I whispered, my voice breaking.

“
I am yours,” he whispered
back. “But this can wait. Neither of us is going
anywhere.”

I closed my eyes for a moment, and
wondered... How did I get to be so lucky?

I snuggled further in toward his chest, not
yet able to speak. The last of the delicate threads... the ones
that had well guarded and protected my fragile heart for several
decades... were beginning to unravel. For the first time, in this
very long life, I didn’t feel the need to strengthen or repair
them.

chapter twelve

OZ

We stayed that way, in each other’s arms,
just a few minutes more. We seemed to get into these long
conversations right around the time we should be eating. Link’s
stomach started gurgling quite loudly and I dragged him downstairs
to forage for food.

I stood at the stovetop toasting up two
grilled cheese sandwiches, drowning them in fact, with tons of
butter. Link sat at the counter, waiting patiently.

“
Ever get the feeling that
we are not in Kansas anymore?” Link asked, after a few
moments.

“
I can hardly remember what
Kansas ever looked like,” I admitted. “This life is really all that
I know anymore. I don’t want to do that to you. I feel guilty about
opening your eyes to the world that is really out there. Sometimes
I think you would have been better off if you weren’t acquainted
with all of this.”

“
But if I didn’t know
this,” he mused, “then I wouldn’t know you and I’m completely
unwilling to give you up. So, I’ll just get used to where I am, and
say goodbye to Kansas. It’s not as if I can turn back time and
prevent the tornado from coming. It already tore through here. But
don’t worry, it didn’t destroy anything irreplaceable. I think I
was pretty lucky. It brought you to me,” he smiled.

“
Yeah well, we’ll see how
you feel about your lucky tornado tomorrow – after you meet the
next group of people it is bringing to you,” I said as I placed the
sandwiches on two plates and the plates down on the
counter.

“
Speaking of tomorrow... Do
you have any Christmas Eve traditions that I should be aware
of?”

“
Nothing out of the
ordinary,” I said after I had swallowed my first bite. “I always go
to church. It was something that I did with my parents. James and
Catherine joined me after I came to live with them.”

“
Church...” Link mumbled,
through a mouthful.

“
I’ll put it this way - it
is the one part of Kansas that I still like to visit. I’ve gone to
every kind of religious meeting imaginable during this life of
mine. There is a comfort that I get from it, from hearing that a
part of me will go on when my time on this earth ends. There is no
guarantee that I will live forever,” I explained. “You don’t have
to go with me.”

“
It’s just that I haven’t
stepped into a church since Grandma died. Grandpa shut down after
she was gone and I shut down after he was gone,” he shrugged. “I’d
be happy to join you.”

“
Thank you,” I beamed, but
quickly straightened my face. I hated myself sometimes for allowing
another person to affect me so much. I was becoming too attached to
him.

“
Anything else?” Link
asked, breaking the silence.

I put a smile back on and answered, “After
church we come back home and finish trimming the tree that James
will be bringing home any minute now,” I finished.

“
I was wondering about a
tree. I’m glad you guys do one. That was one thing that I loved to
do with Grandma, trim the tree. I saved a few of her favorite
ornaments. They’re in the bedroom closet, back at my apartment.
We’ll have to stop by there when we go into town tomorrow,” he
said.

“
Absolutely,” I agreed. “Oh
goody, James just pulled onto the driveway. Let’s finish up quickly
so we can go outside and help bring the tree in,” I said and took
an enormous bite.

“
That super-hearing still
creeps me out,” Link said as he stuffed the last of his sandwich in
his mouth.

James had brought home a hulking monster of
a Christmas tree which was slightly dwarfed by the size of the room
we placed it in. The four of us managed to get the tree up and
partially trimmed in less than an hour. I saved the Angel that
would adorn the top, for Christmas Eve. It had been a tradition of
my mother’s.

The scent of the evergreen wafted through
the air and mixed with the cinnamon laced cider we drank. Soon, the
room was filled with the sweet aroma of Christmas.

“
It’s looking so
beautiful,” I sighed as we finished for the night.

“
Why don’t we settle in for
a traditional Christmas movie?” James suggested.

“
It’s a Wonderful Life!”
Catherine exclaimed.

“
Grandma and Grandpa loved
that movie. We watched it at least once a year,” Link smiled at the
memory.

“
Perfect choice. I remember
going to the theatre to see it when it first came out. There were
some great movies that got me through the rest of the Forties,” I
sighed.

“
Man, you
are
old,” Link
teased.

“
And you are a young pup,”
I cried, and smacked him soundly on his back.

“
Stop fighting children,”
Catherine playfully scolded.

“
I’ll put the movie in.
Link, why don’t you start a fire? There are some logs in the
fireplace already. You’ll find matches in the silver case on the
mantle,” James instructed.

“
Got it,” Link said,
flashed me an exaggerated scowl, and crossed the room to the
fireplace.

I smirked back at him as Catherine and I
each sat on one of the overstuffed leather sofas, waiting for our
partners to join us. I grabbed the blanket that rested on the back
of the couch and draped it across my lap, tucking it under my legs.
I wiggled my toes, enjoying the feel of the soft fuzzy material
against my bare feet.

James inserted the DVD and took his place
beside Catherine, remote in hand. She immediately snuggled herself
into his side.

Link knelt down in front of the fireplace,
removed a long match from the silver case, and was about to strike
it - when it happened.

A ball of glowing red whizzed between the
two couches. My hair stirred and my cheek grew warm as the breath
of hot air blew by. The fireball streamed through the room, barely
missing Link’s left shoulder as it landed in the fireplace. The
logs were instantly bathed in flames as a roaring fire appeared.
Link fell backward, bracing himself with his hands, abandoning the
silver case to let it fall, clanging onto the floor. I jumped
up.

“
Marcus,” I cried out with
joy, turning around to find him, “and Eve,” I smiled when I saw the
two of them, standing in the back of the room. “You’re early!” I
exclaimed as I rushed over to give them each a hug.

I stood there a moment, taking the two of
them in. Marcus was the perpetual stylish, modern young man, no
matter the decade. He wasn’t a tall man, standing around five foot
ten. But if some thought he lacked height, he made up for it in
sheer confidence. Simply the way he walked through a room, and his
well maintained frame, turned heads wherever he went, I was sure of
it. But he only had eyes for Eve.

Eve had cut her formerly waist length hair
much shorter. It now fell just below her shoulders, like mine.
People had often mistaken us for sisters, and now the resemblance
was even greater. We had the same hair color, eye color, were
roughly the same height and weight. She rarely packed a bag when
they came to visit. She loved to raid my closet.

“
We decided to surprise
you,” Eve giggled.

“
How
did
they surprise you? Couldn’t you
hear them?” Link wondered aloud as he stood and straightened
himself back up.

“
Yes,” James puzzled. “How
did you do that?”

“
Eve gained a new power.
She can block sound now,” Marcus glowered. He cocked his head
toward Link, raised an eyebrow, and asked with the ever present
hint of an English accent. “What’s with the mortal?”