B008IFNJZM EBOK (43 page)

             
As she ran she thought about changing into a fast moving bird to close in on the creature but she couldn’t muster the energy to transform.  She kept running and yelling but the werewolf was already into the second valley.  She felt disappointed that no one was on guard duty at the entrance and wondered why no one was there to alert the others topside.  She entered the cave and noticed that there were no weapons or radios and ran down the passage to the next valley.

             
She entered the next valley and found the werewolf stacking the sleeping Bunyips into a pile.  She kept yelling and could do nothing as the beast jumped from the pile and grabbed onto the ledge.  She was following as fast as she kept yelling Tom’s name but the creature never looked back or slowed down.  Again she was irritated and frustrated when she pulled herself up to the ledge only to find it too has been abandoned with no radio or weapons.  Only the power wench, disconnected cameras and the cage were left behind.  As she ran down the three miles or so to the Merat cave, she kept thinking about the pile of Bunyips at the base of the entrance.  Were they knocked out or killed?  Her vampire senses made her think they were just drugged for she did not smell the scent of blood and her fangs did not try to emerge from her mouth.  Her next hope was that someone might hear her at the other end of the passage and be alerted to the danger headed their direction.  Where would Elizabeth be?  Would she be sleeping?  It had to be nightfall on the surface or she wouldn’t be chasing this monster of the night.

***

The creature jumped out of the cavern opening and on to the surface.  It stopped moving and scanned the area for its victim.  It was night and a few of the Sargent Major’s men were down the road at the barricades talking and watching the road in front of them in order to continue detouring any possible traffic usage until their mission was complete.  Iolana had guessed right.  It was going after the love of Tom.  It was searching for Elizabeth.  It examined each of the vehicles and began to search each of the tents in the area.  It was very quiet and with the senses of the distant wolf’s methodology continued its hunt for its victim.  Iolana hadn’t thought about the time it would waste to find Elizabeth, and  her only hope was that for some reason, Elizabeth had left the camp for a nearby city.  She was losing her voice as she panted and kept getting closer to the end of the three mile tunnel leading to the Merat Cave.  Her only hope was that her blood sisters would be able to join her in trying to stop the creature and protect Tom’s sister.

             
Iolana climbed up and looked around.  She could see it circling around behind the command tent and she could see two shadows inside. With the last amount of energy she could muster, she ran again toward the tent trying to yell out a warning.  She fell through the front flaps of the tent at the same time the creature entered from the back.  She looked up and saw Elizabeth standing behind Khu with her arms on his shoulders.

             
She looked up from the floor.

             
“Tom! Don’t do this!”

             
Just as the creature was about to strike, Khu made the sign of the cross.

             
“BE gone beast!”

             
The animal disappeared!

             
Elizabeth came over to Iolana.

             
“It is gone dear.”

             
“Was that Tom?”

             
“No, that was the creature after it was driven from Tom’s body.”

             
She lay there still panting as Chelsea and Hadiya as well as Crosley and Shawn entered the tent behind her.  Chelsea and Hadiya helped her up and into a chair.

             
Khu came over and gave her a towel.

             
“His cure is complete.  The beast was driven from its body.”

             
“So Tom is alright?”

             
“Yes only the physical wounds...  Did you get the Wolf’s Bane for his wounds?”

             
Iolana was so relieved she began to cry.

             
“Yes but I thought I lost him forever.”

             
Elizabeth came over and hugged the woman who truly held Tom’s heart in her hands.

             
“Khu told us this would happen.  It was one of the reasons the cavern and the valley mission was called off for right now.  Now the others with the help of the Meeratts can continue.  My brother loves you.  Part of the reason you were sent to bring back for the plants was so that Tom and the werewolf inside would believe you were not in the area.  That would force the creature to come after me as the nearest loved one in the area.”

             
“So Tom is still back in the ‘red room’?”

             
“Yes, and Chelsea and Hadiya will take the plants to him.  Where are they?”

             
“By the edge of the pond…”

             
Chelsea and Hadiya immediately left with Khu to help the Meeratt with the final step of Tom’s cure.

             
“When will I be able to see him?”

             
“Very soon my dear...  probably before the sun comes up this morning.  I will go with you.  I am like you, I miss him and love him as well.”

             
Shawn came over.

             
“Come I will help you and make sure you have a chance to be fed and cleaned up.”

             
Iolana was about to ask why he and not one of the girls would see to her and then she realized that Shawn was one of them now.  She smiled.

             
“So how are you and Hadiya getting along?”

             
“She still wants me around.”

             
“Yeah, I’ll bet.”

             
Shawn pulled her up.

             
“I want details!  You are going to tell me all about it from the other side of the shower door.”

             
Shawn smiled at the exhausted woman.

             
“Promise?”

             
“Yes.  I promise.”

             
“And I want updates on Crosley and Chelsea too.”

             
Shawn reached up and helped Iolana remove her night roll from her back.  He examined the unusual object.

             
“That is my coffin away from my coffin.  We will make you one.”

             
Iolana unrolled the thin material.  The brown roll had a zipper on the side and she unzipped it to show him what it looked like inside.  She unrolled it and Shawn could see that inside the clear plastic was a layer of dirt.  The soil was trapped in the plastic and it did not move as she opened it up.

             
“The way this is made is a plastic material while it is still wet is covered with a thin layer of home soil.  Then while it is still wet, a second layer of plastic is poured over the dirt and it is like putting a layer of frosting between two layers of a cake.  When it dries, the soil is encapsulated and can no longer move around.  It then becomes a soft pliable covering that can be rolled and unrolled easily to serve as your resting place.  You see here, we trap our initials on the outside to tell them apart and add these light weight shoulder straps.  It is so light and so thin, most of the time I even forget I am carrying it on my back.”

             
“And this works?”

             
Iolana smiled at the newest vampire.

             
“It is not the coffin, it is your home soil that makes your resting place.”

             
Iolana could see that Shawn was not happy as he examined the way it was manufactured.

             
“What is wrong?  Is something troubling you?”

             
“It is hard to believe that by all appearances I am dead.”

             
“You are not dead.  That is a ‘warm bloods’ views of our life form because we have no noticeable pulse during the day.  You are stronger and faster than your old self.  Many of us see ‘warm bloods’ as just jealous of us.  We don’t grow old and we continue to have sharp and clear minds.  Over the years and lifetimes in front of you Shawn, you will become wise and acquire wealth to allow you to live any life style you desire.”

             
“How are your injuries?”

             
“Fine...  They are all healed.”

             
“See, and you will be immune to disease and young and strong forever.  You are for all practical purposes, immortal.”

             
“But does love last and is it really immortal too?”

             
Iolana smiled.

             
“The longer you exist, the wiser you become.  Hadiya knows what her soul needs for fulfillment.  I believe she already loves you and will forever.  I know a couple in Germany that are still as much in love as they were over five hundred years ago.”

             
“But how do you, us, find financial security?”

             
“Over the years you see and experience many things and you truly understand economics as muddy as that subject is… you learn true economics is controlled by greed.  Learning human nature, it becomes simple to predict based on just that one human flaw what events will take place in the future.”

             
“But how did it start for you, I mean acquiring financial security?”

             
“I worked job after night job and kept investing in the market by buying blocks of shares in every new high tech startup company.”

             
“But I have no knowledge of those things.  I am a poor lad from the outback.”

             
“Some of us started our wealth building by selling off small amounts of our blood to build a small nest egg.”

             
“What?”

             
“Our blood to humans is like a form of non-addictive cocaine.  I can introduce you to others of our kind that will market it for you.  But really you don’t have to worry about that.  This little company we have started is going to make you wealthy beyond your wildest dreams.  Tell me Shawn, if money and income was no longer a concern, what would you like to do?”

             
Shawn sat the bed roll down and zipped up the covering.

             
“I thought about a nice house in my family’s town and settling down.  Me Mom owns a pub and I thought about running the business for her so that she could retire and do some of the things she always wanted to do but could never afford.  I know she would like to have me there.”

             
Iolana put her hand on Shawn’s shoulder.

             
“That’s perfect.  You open at sunset, work the pub until closing and then the rest of the night is yours.  You will be able to offer your mother all those things.”

             
“But will Hadiya still want to be with me?  We will be living in a small country town in the middle of basically nowhere and she wouldn’t have the freedom to travel the world.  She knows so many languages and customs…  I wouldn’t want to be the reason she gave up her cosmopolitan life style.”

             
From behind Shawn he heard a voice.

             
“Everyone thinks that traveling the world with enough money to do whatever you want is a dream come true.  I would much rather be a ‘home body’ and have a peaceful and quiet life with someone I cared about.”

             
Shawn spun around to see Hadiya and Chelsea.  Chelsea was grinning as Hadiya fell into Shawn’s arms.

             
“So you wouldn’t mind...”

             
“As long as I was with you and you loved me.”

             
They kissed and went back up the ladder.  Chelsea watched them go up the ladder as Iolana pealed out of her blouse and opened the shower door.  She grabbed a towel and hung it over the door, removed the remainder of her clothes, and stepped in.  As the water ran, Chelsea leaned against the door still smiling at thoughts of the couple that just left.  She was thinking about her and Crosley when Iolana’s question came over the wall.

             
“So how goes it for you and Crosley?”

             
“Good.  Except…”