Endless Days (The Firsts) (12 page)

She slipped on the icy snow covered pavement, but recovered before she could fall.  She hoped that would be her closest call for the day. 
Didn’t believe it for a minute.  Time to get back to base and pretend she was still on the team.

Cherise would have thought there couldn’t be any other surprise to knock her off balance.  She’d been wrong.  The woman in her bakery…what the hell?  She’d sensed something odd about her from the beginning.  It was apparent she knew Cherise...what she was…and not for a good reason.   The stoic hard jawed woman had made that clear…there were secrets.  She
hated
secrets.  And she knew.   It had something to do with her vampire.

She was distracted all day.  Made one small error after another.  When her favorite customers, a sweet family of five who came routinely for dinner, stopped for a take-out instead, due to concern for the increasing snow amounts, she made so many mistakes, she packed everything into a large bag and
gave
it to them.  Over and over, she stepped out into the cold wet snow to find her calm…it cooled the burn inside her.  She had felt barely in control as it was since Kav left.

He moved across the stunning landscape quickly.
   After centuries of compelling people to his will, he was a slave to the same self compulsion…he had to keep moving north.  Passing Montreal, and back out into endless tree-lined, snow covered vistas, the urgency continued to grow.

The hardest part was making sure he had a safe place to sleep off the daylight.  But he was managing well.  His mind was clearer and clearer as the days passed…his health extraordinary.  He was certain he was as well as he had been before…well, whatever the hell it was that had happened to him.  He still had flashe
s of memories.  But that was all.  Nothing solid, nothing specific, just patchwork images and feelings.  Flashes of moments.  He still had no sense of who he was.  And he still missed Cherise so intensely there were moments he nearly turned around and headed back to her.  But he would overcome the pain and remember why he left her.  Besides, he felt certain that he was well and truly on the mend and that someday, he would be complete again.  And then he would return to claim her.  He did not intend to spend the rest of his life without her.  There was little of his “fractured” life he remembered, but
that
he did know.

The need to go north was so
strong, he knew his spirit amulet was guiding him.  Cherise said it channeled his powers, protected him, and he knew it was taking him home.  It seemed to know that was the only place he would be able to really heal.  So he followed his own personal magnetic north.   And had already surmised, because he somehow knew he would fly across water, and the occasional memory of the northern lights, that it was taking him near the top of the world…to Iceland.  Once he determined that, even in the face of the urgency, he found a calmness he hadn’t felt before. 

S
itting in a diner after midnight watching an obnoxious young woman being really rude to an overtired waitress, he decided to go over and compel her to leave a huge tip.  Once done, glancing at the table, he saw she had been looking at a computer tablet, so he picked it up, told her she’d lost it, and carried it back to his table.  It had internet access and he spent the next two hours eating almost everything on the menu and looking at images of Iceland.  It was a raw and stunning island world, and although it still sparked no further memories in him, he knew this was home.  Just…well…it would take time.  He was immortal…he could afford to be patient.  But Cherise was not.  Every day he lost, he lost with her.

When it was time to get some rest, he asked the waitress for a doggie bag filled with hot
french fries and three chocolate milk shakes.  She was kind and sweet, just the other side of half a century in years, but looked frazzled and exhausted.  Tough job.  He leaned toward her.

“Here, you have a smudge on your cheek. Let me.”  He leaned in to touch her cheek lightly, leaving behind a deep compel of contentment and health.  She brightened immediately.

“Thank you for all your hard work tonight,” he said, and compelled a business-suited man behind him to give the waitress a couple of twenties.  Then he picked up the computer tablet and went back to his windowless hotel room.  He would finish this journey the next night from the Jean Lesage International Airport in Quebec City, and cross over the sea.

Lauren finished reading the latest reports on David and Cheris
e’s relationship.   Wow…she would have liked to have been here for that.  Two powerful, passionate supernaturals…intensely drawn to each other sexually…it had to have been very stimulating.   It had been…how long?  Years, maybe three, maybe four…since she herself had been intimate with a man.  Archived reports had shown that Cherise had a similar sexual history…rare dates that culminated in even rarer hookups.  But with David, surely they had gotten together.  He was so hot…there were times Lauren wished that she herself had been able to have him.  Just once.  Well, just once, but maybe all night…

The village usually had a few good snowfalls by early December, but this one was actually the first that accumulated this year so far.  By close of business that night, Cherise leaned out the door to assess at least eight or ten inches had fallen through the day.  She breathed deeply of the clean air and pure snow.  God, how she loved winter.  Her people were from high in the mountains, so as a child she played in the snow often with her brothers and sisters.  It reminded her of the innocent days before her gifts had come.

Well, innocence was long gone and she had a date in a few moments to face yet another trial.  A stranger who knew her…and shouldn’t.    Who had news for her that would not be
welcome.  Just when she’d righted her apple cart once more, she could see the wind coming over the trees again to tip it over.

Margaret was gone, early, to get home safely.  Cherise never worried about travel…this morning she had walked in, just as usual.  Even though they expected the snowfall, she knew she would make it home safely on foot.  By now, this time of night with this first big snowfall, the village was deserted and she would have the entire trek home completely to herself.  She was finishing clean-up when a light knock on the back door interrupted.

With a deep sigh, Cherise opened it to a tall bundled figure.  Stiff wind and frantic snow flew in with her.  Once the door closed and the scarves came off, Cherise stared at the face of a woman who had yet to be revealed as friend or foe.  She beckoned her on into the kitchen and then into the front room, where she motioned to a table.

“We may as well be comfortable while you pull the rug out from under me.”

The woman who said earlier today her name was Lauren, winced and pulled out a chair.   Cherise took the one opposite her, but did not pull in close to the table.  She captured Lauren’s eyes and stared at her.

“Tell me,” she said simply.

Lauren nodded.   “It’s why I came here.  I just didn’t know I would feel a connection with you.   But after I met you today, I knew I had to tell you what’s been going on.  You deserve to know.  Cherise Devereaux, someone has been screwing with you and the man you call Kav.  Well, the vampire.”

Cherise raised her eyebrows.  Okay, this woman certainly
did
know her.

“Hmm.
  Well.  This is interesting.  I left that old identity far away…and yet here you are bringing it back.  And I know his real name is David Patric.  I’m
fascinated
to hear your explanation of what’s been going on.”

“Okay, but keep in mind, I’ve been involved with this, but I’ve never approved.   And when I realized what was really going on, I tried to leave.  It wasn’t possible.  But I’m here, now, Cherise, and I want to help.  The only way I know how to
do that is to disclose secrets that I may be killed for doing so.  But…I feel I don’t have a choice.  Through my actions with them, I’ve hurt you.  And what they did to the vampire…it’s really horrible.”

“We know that. 
He and I.  We have seen glimpses of what he’s been through.  You better start with details, and fast.  I find I am violently interested in what you have to say.”

Now Lauren nodded.  “Okay.  I am a genetic researcher by profession.  They recruited me two years ago to help study what they told me was a previously unknown form of life.  I was excited, and of course, signed on immediately.  Then they introduced me to the vampire world.  I didn’t believe it at first, but once I realized it was all true, I was staggered and fascinated.   I worked with a couple of them covertly at first,
then they told me they needed my help with a long term experiment called Project V.  It was David Patric.  Cherise, I had no idea when I accepted the position that they had been torturing him…killing him and watching him come back, over and over, for three decades.”

Cherise tried not to react, but her heart stuttered, the pain immediate and intense.  She nearly doubled over, tears spilling
from her eyes.  Oh, god, no…thirty years of torture…no wonder he was so damaged…he had to be practically insane after all that time.

Lauren leaned forward and touched Cherise on the hand.  “I’m so sorry…I know how much this hurts you.  You are connected to him.
”

Cherise slid her hand back and folded it into her lap.

Lauren flinched, just a little.  She understood.  It hurt like hell to have this lovely woman think she was one of them. 

“
But, that’s not all.  They burned him with UV, let him heal and did it over again to see how much his skin could take.  And they cut him, same way, over and over.  He was deprived of food, of blood, of light, of any sensory input at all, for years at a time.  I’m so sorry, but I have to tell you. I was told vampires are vicious…they kill indiscriminately and often.  I know now that’s not true.  And I learned what a gentle man he really was. He was always kind with me, even after they tortured him.  They told me it was just to gain my sympathy and get me to free him…then he would kill me brutally and escape to do the same to many other people.  But I know that’s not true.  Now.”

Lauren paused to see how Cherise was bearing this, but she looked her dead in the eye.

“Continue.”

“So, you need to know what the Project was doing.  There is a group of people who know about vampires.  Well, supernaturals, period.  They know that vampires are super strong, don’t age, are nearly immortal, and need to live off of human blood.  They wanted to know to what degree…how much
they could take, how many times they could be killed and yet not die, what it takes to hurt them, how the virus that created them worked, if it could be manufactured, cured, or mutated.  They knew that David was a very rare vampire, one of the first vampires, basically a parent to all changed humans who have been made vampire since.  So they’ve been studying every element of his life, death, nutritional needs, medical history, mental health, everything, for thirty years.  And Cherise, it isn’t just David.  They also have several other supernatural species caged for the same purpose.  At least fifty other subjects.  It’s appalling.”

Cherise was expressionless now.  This went beyond anything she could have imagined.  What kind of monsters could do this?   And one more question…she was afraid of the answer.

“How did he get here, to this village?  Where do I come in?”

“Uh, well, they’d completed most of their trials.  Now, they wanted to use him to study the abilities of one more supernatural.”  Lauren paused.

“Me,” Cherise said, her stomach turning.

“I’m afraid so.   They wanted to know if you could heal him. 
If your power was strong enough to heal a powerful first vampire, to make him well again.  They wanted to know how much the physical sexual act would heal him.  And what it would do to you.  They are very familiar with your biology and your ability to bond with someone.  They wanted us to monitor and study the bonding and level of sexual involvement.”

Well, there went her apple cart…forever.  Innocence shattered beyond any hope.  There was much greater evil in this world than she would ever have believed possible.  How dare someone think it was okay to destroy lives like this?  They wanted to see power? 
She would give them power!

Cherise blew out of her chair and paced, her eyes wild.  She wanted to say something, but
there were no words big enough for betrayal on this level.  She should want to strike out at the odd looking woman just a few feet from her, but even in her rage, she saw Lauren was only there to try to help. She sat back down and recaptured Lauren’s eyes.  She let herself connect with her on a deeper level, feel what Lauren was feeling.

Oh, her pain was intense…she was taking full responsibility for her part in this heinous act…and she could see that it was not Lauren who hurt them.  Her heart was pure and her soul was clean.  She was there to make amends and find a way to earn her humanity back.

“It’s okay,” Cherise assured her. “Just tell me where you go from here.”