Cherishing Destiny (A Dangerous Destiny) (12 page)

“Sara,” he called to her, and she acknowledged.  That’s a
good sign, he thought. “What’s your safe word?”

“Destiny,” she replied immediately, with only a little
slurring. “Are you going to make me beg, now?”

“Of course I will, my little dove.”  

He spent approximately another hour playing little games of
pain and ecstasy all over her trembling body.  In the end, she had cried out many
times and definitely squirmed, but she never did beg him to stop and she never
used her safe word.  Her tolerance inflamed his Vampire cruelty, exciting him
immensely, but he knew he should save any rougher play for a more appropriate
time. 

As they were getting dressed, he stood behind her, zipping
up her dress and he put his lips to her ear and whispered softly.  “Will you
let me touch this part of you again?”

She knew he wasn’t talking about her ear.  The thought of
being with him again, made her feel flushed and aroused all over and she just
nodded without speaking.

They ran back to the barn in a rain storm, remembering to grab
some jars of fruit to bring with them.  She was famished, but it was so late
when they returned that Ryan was already sleeping, and she did not want to wake
him to eat. 

Aurora was also lying quietly in the loft with her eyes
closed, but Alex could tell that she was not asleep.  He lay down next to her
and put his arms around her.  She smiled faintly without opening her eyes as
she could sense his satisfaction and pleasant mood. It made her truly happy to
know that he had honored her wishes with regard to Sara, and she was mildly
surprised at how well Sara seemed to have pleased Alex.  Sara was definitely
getting more fascinating by the day. 

Sixteen

In the morning, Sara woke alone in the loft.  She could
hear the others, so she was not concerned.  It sounded as if Aurora was moving
things around below in the barn.  Probably packing, Sara thought.  She knew
they were planning to leave soon.  She could hear the horses outside the barn
in the yard and from their low voices, she knew that Ryan and Alex were out
there with them. Hearing his voice made her think of Alex and their evening
together.  She was still sore in many places, but the afterglow had not entirely
left her yet.  She was so exhausted by the time she climbed up into the loft
the night before that she barely remembered laying down to sleep.  She had a
vague recollection of seeing Alex holding Aurora and a couple of feet on
Aurora’s other side, Ryan was sleeping soundly.  Ryan was on one edge of the
blankets, and Alex was on the other, so she settled in the small space between
Aurora and Ryan and fell into a dreamless slumber.  She thought she might have
stirred a couple of times in the night, perhaps trying to ease some of her soreness
because she had a faint recollection of snuggling against Ryan and then later
with Aurora. She was just a little uncomfortable with the stirrings that accompanied
her thoughts about each of them.  She did not dwell on it, but roused herself
to climb down the ladder and join the others.

She had been correct that the men were outside with the
horses.  They had saddled all five and were trying to rig together some
makeshift saddle bags and packs to carry as many supplies as they could.
 
Aurora was trying to find ways to pack some of
the jars in straw so that they could take some of the food with them without
breaking glass.

 She handed a jar to Sara and said, “Good Morning, sleepy. 
Have some breakfast.” 

Sara took the jar and, with just a hint of sarcasm,
exclaimed, “Oh, great! Peaches! My favorite!” 

They had discovered that peaches were the primary item on
the shelves of the cellar.  There were a few pickled tomatoes and jars of jams,
but so far Sara had eaten mostly peaches for two days. 

Eating reminded her. “Aurora, you still need to feed too.” 

“Finish your breakfast, little dove, there is plenty of
time.” She went back to her packing.

Sara ate and watched her.  She tried to put a finger on
what it was about Aurora that she was so drawn to.  Sara liked Alex and even lusted
after him. She had fantasized about him for literally years. She knew that
wasn’t going to change, especially after last night.  She was totally aroused thinking
about their time together, but it was Aurora that she was having real feelings
for. 

She thought that she was starting to understand what Aurora
meant about loving her women friends over the years.  Sara had never truly had
any close women friends, and her budding relationship with Aurora was making
her feel things that she had never experienced.  She was starting to realize
that she had tender feelings for the beautiful Vampire, but she did not know
exactly what those feelings were or if she should let herself get too involved. 
She decided to take things as they came.  She knew that Ryan was already angry
with her for getting personal with the Vampires.

They were almost ready to go, and Aurora still hadn’t fed. 
They went into a stall for a little privacy, and because they were a little
rushed, Aurora drank from Sara’s wrist.   

“I promise to make it up to you next time, but we need to
hurry and get on the road,” she explained. 

Sara felt the euphoria that went with a Vampire bite, but
not nearly as intensely as she had the night before.  Aurora explained to her
that it would always be much stronger when combined with arousal and other
sexual pleasures.  Sara felt a mild thrill when she wondered what pleasures
Aurora had in mind for next time.

They joined the men outside and mounted the horses. The
plan was to ride West to Sacandaga Lake and turn North on Hwy 30.  They figured
that they could make it that far on the first day and camp somewhere along the
lake that night. 

Ryan made a slight alteration to Alex’s plan. He said,  “I
have a cache of supplies including hunting weapons in an area about 8 miles
West of where we are going turn on to the highway.  I will split off there and collect
the supplies. I will rejoin you where you stop to camp.”

  He told them to wait for him for half a day, and he would
catch them.  From there, they would all travel together toward Lake Pleasant
and on into the West Canada Lakes Wilderness. 

Alex estimated that the trip would be about 70 to 75 miles
and that the horses could do about 30 miles a day if they walked, and the terrain
was easy.  He knew that the last 15 miles or so would not be easy terrain, so
he figured at least three full days of travel to get to the cabin. 

Most of the morning passed quietly.  They had to watch
closely for the fissures and other obstacles that could injure the horses. There
were areas that the horses had to be led around because the debris or uneven
ground made some spots impassable.  They hadn’t come across any other people so
far, but they had seen the bodies of a few motorists that had crashed into trees,
ditches and each other, most likely during the earthquakes. 

One car had driven into a crevasse. The front wheels had
dropped into the opening and the car must have come to an abrupt halt because
the driver had been thrown from her car through a gaping hole in her windshield
and lay decaying in the roadway with a crushed skull.  “Buckle up,” Ryan said
in a mock announcer’s voice. “It’s the law.” No one laughed, and he stayed quiet
after that.

At about mid-afternoon, they came across the remains of a campsite
at the side of the road.  There was a small tent next to a makeshift fire pit,
but the wind, that was growing stronger again, had partially collapsed the
nylon shelter and the zippered flap on the front was open and whipping in the
breeze.  Alex dismounted and went to investigate. He looked briefly in the
tent, but it was obviously unoccupied, and there didn’t appear to be anything
useful in it.  He put his hand down close to the coals that were left in the
fire pit and felt a slight warmth. Something must have still been smoldering
down in the ash.  He knew that those coals could have remained warm like that
for more than a day. 

Ryan joined him at the fire-pit and said, “We should put
this out before the wind catches a spark and burns down the whole forest.” 

“We can’t waste our fresh water. The horses will need it,”
Alex replied, squinting at the trees, the wind making it difficult for him to see.

Ryan grunted at Alex in acknowledgement and proceeded to
unbutton his fly and whip out a respectable length of fire hose from which he sent
a stream of urine spattering on the coals that hissed and steamed in response. 
Alex rolled his eyes and started stalking toward the trees, shading his eyes
with one hand.  He was sure that there was something at the edge of the forest,
but the wind was making his eyes water so badly that he could not tell what it
was until he was almost on it. 

Alex stilled and he heard Ryan approaching behind him. 

“What the fuh--” Ryan voiced as he stepped up beside Alex.

They were looking at the bodies of two men, nailed to the
trees at the edge of the forest.  Each man was upside-down and fastened to a
tree by a heavy spike driven through his overlapped bare feet.  Alex thought
that it looked like a crazy perversion of a crucifixion.  Their throats were cut,
obviously sometime before they were hung on the trees as there wasn’t much
blood below the bodies.

Ryan sniffed the air and Alex knew that he had shifted
enough to aid his senses.  He was impressed with the speed at which Ryan had
accomplished the shift.  He did it almost instantly, and Alex made a mental
note not to underestimate Ryan’s abilities. He watched Ryan approach the
bodies, still scenting the air.

“They’re
Weres
,” Ryan said.  His face looked as if
it had turned to stone. “Wolf clan, but I don’t know their pack. I’ve never
seen these guys around this area before.”

“Do you know all the wolves around here?” Alex inquired. 

“I know enough.”  Ryan still looked grim. 

“So tell me something, Ryan.  You have mysterious military
connections, a cache of weapons nearby and you know the area
Weres
.  So,
how close to us have you actually been this last couple of years?” Alex turned
his piercing gaze on Ryan.

“Close enough to make sure that Sara was not being abused
by you,” Ryan growled. “For all the good that it did, now that you’ve turned
her into a blood whore right in front of me.”

Alex grew very quiet, and Ryan was starting to think he had
pushed too far.

“Sara is not a whore.” Alex’s voice was low and rumbling.
“She is a good person, and we are all doing what we must do to help our
friends.”

“Oh, Sara is your friend, now,” Ryan mocked. “I thought she
was your maid.”

Alex’s eyes glowed red with his rising anger.  Ryan’s were
silver, and his canines were growing.  The two men looked on the verge of
tearing each other apart when Aurora was suddenly there between them. 

“Someone’s coming,” she hissed.

Aurora used her Vampire speed to get back to the road and
at Sara’s side in an instant.  She watched as four men on horseback approached
from the direction that their group had been heading in. They were still some
distance away, but Aurora’s sight was good enough, even in the dusty, windy
conditions, for her to tell that they were armed with rifles.

Alex was at her side before she could remount her horse,
but Ryan was nowhere to be seen.  Alex mounted his horse and Aurora did the
same.  They wanted to be ready to ride if necessary. “I think we should just
move on past them if we can.  We don’t want any trouble, and something weird is
going on around here.”  He spoke calmly to them trying to keep Sara from being
too scared.  He knew that Aurora could take care of herself, but his instinct
was to protect her, as well.  He knew she wouldn’t appreciate being babied, so
he kept his concern for her to himself. 

“Where’s Ryan?” Sara was looking around for him.

“Don’t worry about him and don’t say a word,” Alex said as
quietly as he could over the wind because the men were fast approaching. Alex
was pretty sure they were human men.  The wind was making it hard for him to scent
them, but he saw no signs that they were anything other than they seemed.

As the men approached, they un-slung their rifles and held
them casually across their laps, but with one hand wrapped around the grips and
a finger resting near the trigger.

“Look here,” one of the men said, glancing back at his
companions. “A couple of vamps and a blood whore out for a ride.”

There was no hiding the nature of the Vampires, not after a
person got a look at their eyes.  Unlike the
Weres
, Vampires could not
pretend to be human and get away with it. 

Alex bristled. 
Why did everyone think they needed to
call little Sara a whore today?
 Alex was feeling protective, and Sara
looked a little frightened.  Unlike Aurora and Alex, Sara was much more
vulnerable to the firearms the men were carrying.  Alex decided that it
wouldn’t be prudent to start anything without Ryan.

“We don’t want trouble,” he said. “I think maybe you should
just go your way, and we will go ours”

The men formed up, side by side, in front of Alex, Aurora
and Sara. “What’s your hurry, blood sucker?”  The same man spoke up.