Healer (The Healer Series) (18 page)

I
lie back down and close my eyes. If only I could escape back to my field in my dreams. Unfortunately, I have to face this world. I force myself up and make my way to the bathroom. Two shopping bags sit on the floor in front of the sink. I pull out the articles of clothing, picking a pair of jeans and a white V-neck t-shirt to wear. They’ve even provided me with a couple of bras and underwear. I shower, taking my time, trying to delay the inevitable. In the bags, I also find a brush, deodorant, and a tooth brush which I am grateful for. After I finish, I make my way to the bedroom door and open it slightly. I can see down the hall to the stairs, but there are no guards.

S
lowly, trying not to make a sound, I inch my way to the stairs. The house is silent as I descend down the stairs, but soft whispers emerge the closer I get to the bottom. At the base of the stairs, I make my way back towards the rear of the house and follow the sound of the voices. Rhett and Sarah sit opposite of one another in the kitchen, and they both stop speaking upon my entrance.

“Good morning
, Aldo.” Rhett smiles cheerily, as if we’re best friends. I nod acknowledging him, and walk towards the table where he motions me to sit. “You remember Sarah, of course?”

“Yes.” I nod again, but
Sarah ignores me, lost in a distant stare.

“Please sit.”

I’m placed at the end of the rectangular table with Sarah and Rhett seated on each side of me. A plate of eggs, bacon, and toast waits on a place mat with a glass of orange juice.

“I haven’t eaten real food in years, but this was pretty standard for breakfast back in my day.”
Rhett smiles. He is dressed in jeans and a t-shirt today, somehow making casual look stellar. It reminds me of Thomas momentarily and I have to swallow the urge to cry.

I quickly sip my orange juice in an effort to mask any expression
that might give my almost breakdown away.

“So
, Aldo, tell us about yourself.” Rhett leans back and eyes me with curiosity.

“What would you like to know?” I
stare down at my food.

“Well, what is your favorite color?”

I screw my face at the ridiculousness of the question. “Green,” I shrug, annoyed.

“How profound, green is the color of energy.
Of life and fertility.” He smiles as he looks at Sarah who stares straight ahead with no emotion on her face.

“Sarah’s, favorite color is black.” He leans
forward. “Guess what that means,” he dares me, his eyes widen with humor as if making a joke.

I shrug
, having no idea what it means.

“It means she is
dangerous.” He smiles at her, but she still has no reaction. “No, black means something else—”

“And wha
t is your favorite color?” My annoyance obvious in my tone.

Rhett eyes me as he sits back, his wide grin fading. “Guess,” he
dares me again.

“I don’t like games.”

“Oh no?” he questions.

“No,
” I confirm.

“Well, well. She wants to get down to business
, Sarah.” Rhett looks to Sarah again, who rolls her eyes.

“You
’d better eat up. You’ve got a long day ahead of you.” Rhett walks towards the hallway. “Sarah will assist me in training you. You will follow her instructions no matter how silly they may seem to you. She is your best friend now, and you are her shadow. You will follow her every order. Do you understand?”

I nod
, even though I don’t understand what he means by
training
.

“I’ll see you at din
ner.” His footsteps recede down the hall. I start shoveling food in my mouth as fast as I can and wonder if this will be my last meal. After about five minutes of silence, I place my fork on my plate and wipe my mouth. I sit back and meet Sarah’s gaze, then look away, afraid of setting her off.

“Red.” H
er lips curve slightly.

“I’m sorry?”

“Red,” she repeats.

“What about it?”

“His favorite color is red.” She exposes a full-fledged smile for the first time all morning and stands.

I
stare at her blankly.
Red is Rhett’s favorite color
? What is she telling me? Red? Then it occurs to me.

Blood.

Blood is red.

That’s why Rhett likes red. I feel my breakfast start to rise up.

“Come,
” she orders, like I’m a dog.

I
swallow down the urge to lose my breakfast and follow her out onto the large plantation porch. The day is warm and a wide field extends out to a wood line.

Sarah unbuttons her black suit jacket
, revealing the white tank top she’s wearing underneath and tosses it to the side, then slips on a pair of boots. “Get those over there.” She nods towards a bench opposite her where an older pair of boots sits.

I’m relieved to find the boots fit perfectly. I follow Sarah off of the porch toward a huge wooden barn made of aged wood. My fear seems to subside momentarily, and I can’t help but enjoy the beauty of the day. The house overlooks land that goes on forever. Fields of tall wheat surround the property and to the left there is a huge fenced field that sits beside the barn. As I gaze upon the property, I can’t help feeling like I know this place, like maybe I’ve seen it before. As we near the barn, those thoughts vanish as fear rises within me once again. What waits inside? Will I be tortured?

Inside, stalls line both sides,
several with beautiful horses poking out their massive heads.
Thank God!
  Relief washes over me.

Sarah approaches
up to the first stall on the left and brings the horse’s head to hers; speaking in a hushed voice as if telling it a secret I’m not allowed to hear. She then continues to the end of the barn, grabs a shovel, and holds it out to me.

I eye her as I take it. “What is this for?”

“It’s for shoveling shit,” she replies coldly. I stare at the wooden handle in my hand. They brought me here to clean out horse stalls?

“I
’ll take the horses out, and you’ll start cleaning. Get that wheelbarrow over there.”

I follow her
instructions and clean the stalls. The rich stench of manure makes me gag, but I push through it. It takes me almost two hours to clean all six stalls, and by the time I’m done, I’m soaked with sweat and stray strands of my hair cling to my wet skin. I sit down and lean against the last stall door, thumbing the blisters on my hands.

S
arah hands me a bottle of water, but I have no idea where she got it from. I quickly open it and chug, enjoying the cool water.

“Come.” She
walks out to the fence surrounding the field, where she released the horses and leans against it. “To become a blood healer, we must prepare you.”

“How does shoveling horse shit prepare me?”

“It doesn’t. I just hate doing it.” She snorts a quiet laugh, as if she just heard a funny joke. “When you are transitioned, you will never change. You will always look just as you are. That’s why it’s important to be in your best shape.”

“I’m in pretty
good shape.” I shrug.
Shut up, Aldo!
I’m arguing my way into being turned. “I mean I guess I need some toning up.”

“Listen!” Ice blue eyes cut to me
. “I am stuck training you. So you make this easy on me, and I’ll make it easy on you. Got it?”

“Got it,
” I agree, too afraid to argue even if I wanted to.

“
No matter what, you will do what I say. Do you understand?” She pushes a strand of loose hair behind her ear.

“Yes.” I pause. “
So what happened to you?” I ask a little frightened of what reaction she might give me.

“
I don’t like to talk about it.” She stares out into the field.

“Was it
Rhett?” Was she taken just like me?

“No
.” She laughs condescendingly, rolling her eyes. “I wish someone like Rhett would have been the one to change me. You couldn’t handle what I went through.”

I didn’t bother asking what she meant as she obviously wanted to be vague.
“Was it painful?”

She pa
uses and smiles. “Yes, but it was also freeing.”

“Freeing?”
Not exactly the answer I was expecting.

“
From all the pain I felt.” She shrugs.

“Yeah, but you’
re a vampire. Your soul—”

“Forget everything they have told you about it. We’re not all bad. They make us out to be some sort of soulless creatures with no will, but it’s not true.”

“What is true?”

“It’s my job to show you.” She walks along the fence, and I follow, trying to understand what she means.

“You see
, Aldo, Rhett wants you to choose this life. He doesn’t change anyone against their will.”

“No, just take them against th
eir will,” I reply under my breath.

“You know nothing!” She whips around
, and I stumble backwards. She recoils and takes a deep breath.

I freeze
, too afraid to move.

“He wants you to
decide to become a blood healer,” she states calmly as she continues her walk.

I hesita
te but follow after a moment. Choose to be a blood healer? “I would never choose that,” I state plainly.

“
I think you can be persuaded.”  Her voice hangs with the sound of a smile I can’t see.

“How so?”
I follow closely behind, my shirt clinging to my skin, still damp from my workout of shoveling horse manure.

“Once you
see what we do, you may feel otherwise.” She shrugs.

“Dou
bt it,” I mutter under my breath.

She turns quickly and faces me.
“We’ll see.”

She leans
against the fence, letting her arms rest on the top beam, staring out into the field.

I lean my back against the fence
, facing opposite of her. The afternoon sun hangs high and covers the property, gorgeous raw land, like something out of a magazine. From where I stand the house is about five hundred feet away. Tall massive trees are scattered sporadically throughout the field that blanket the earth around them with their shade. I find myself day dreaming about Thomas and I sitting under the shade of one of those big trees as we watch our little one chasing butterflies. My heart aches at the thought.

“So,
you have a child?” Sarah questions as she stares out into the field.

I freeze
, trying not to react. How did she know? Is she reading my mind, or has she known all along?

“A child?
” I try to fake my best confused expression, which is pointless because she doesn’t look my way to see it.

“So, here is something you might want to know about me.” She smiles and turns leaning her back against the fence. “I know everything.”

I stare at her blankly. What world have I entered where no thought or dream is safe? How can I play this off? Maybe I could say I was day dreaming about the child I wished I could have.

“Calm down.
We are not in the business of kidnapping children. Your brothers would be of no use to us either. There are no guarantees they could establish their abilities after they were changed.”

“
So his threats are all a bluff?” I ask confused.

“The
one you love. I’m not sure what the dynamic is, but Rhett didn’t want him here even though he had certain gifts.”

“Why
does he want me?”

“H
e will tell you in time.”

“How much time?”

“However long it takes.”

“For what?”
Desperate for answers, fear rises inside of me. Would he hurt Thomas?

She
shrugs and ignores my question, then walks again towards the house.

Her nonchalant dismissal of my fears is infuriating.
Just because she has embraced this way of life does not mean I will. Has she forgotten what a beautiful thing life is? As healers, it is the one thing we are taught to treasure above all else. We see how easily life can come and go. Here she walks among the living, possessing no life herself and suspends the energy of life like it is nothing. It has lost its magic to her.

“How do you know so much?  Are you psychic?”

“I can see what was or has been. I cannot predict the future.”

“I
s it by transfer of energy, or do you just meet someone and see things?” I ask, genuinely fascinated.

“
I have to touch them.”

“That’s amazing.”