“I cried out, but the nearest neighbor was too far away and my friend must have been almost home by that time. For whatever reason, the vampire decided to turn me. I thought I was dead, then came back to life with a startling set of new sensations. It was as if someone had cleaned out my ears, sharpened my vision, and intensified the odors around me. Boy, I needed a bath.”
Sadie chuckled.
“I didn’t take the time to think about or question any of it. All I knew was the devil had somehow taken the form of this man and wanted to enslave me. I grabbed a pitchfork, and before he had a chance to react, I stabbed him through the neck, which anchored him to the stable wall. When all he did was laugh, I was positive he was the devil himself and that I had come upon a once-in-a-lifetime chance to rid the world of evil. I grabbed the ax I used to split wood and cut off his head.
“Then I was well and truly fucked. I had no idea what the sun had in store for me the next morning and found out the hard way. Someone knocked on my door, and when I opened it, my hand and face burned as if I’d been thrown into a raging fire.”
He stopped long enough to rub his hand, as if he could feel the burn after all these years.
“The young man at the door ran screaming, Meanwhile, I retreated to the root cellar, which had no windows, and experienced my first death sleep. I don’t know if he told anyone what he saw or not, but the next night two men came to my home and asked if everything was all right. They said the stranger who had come to see me had been expected at the inn and never returned. Naturally I was worried that they’d discover him in the stable, so I invited the townsmen into my home. That’s when the hunger for blood became overpowering. I couldn’t stand it.
“I heard the blood pulsing in their veins, and without even realizing what I was doing, I grabbed one of them by the neck and held him so tightly that I heard his bones crack. Then I sank my fangs into his neck until I drained him dry. His friend was trying to pull me off, and when he decided he couldn’t do anything but save himself, he ran. I was so quick that I caught him before his feet touched the grass. I didn’t know I could move like that.
“He started to scream, ‘Devil,’ so I shoved him back into my little house and latched the door. I didn’t know what to do with him. My bloodlust had been slaked, so I didn’t have to feed on him and was so sickened by what I had done that I thought I’d never do it again. Boy, was I wrong. I wound up tying him to the iron grid in my fireplace and left him there as I escaped on horseback.”
At last Anthony stopped and waited for a reaction. Sadie must have some kind of opinion on all of this. He didn’t care if it was revulsion. He just wanted to know how his story affected someone else.
She offered him a sad smile. “It wasn’t your fault, you know. None of it was. I gather you’re blaming yourself for the witch hunts.”
“Not for starting the whole thing. It was well under way by that time, but I contributed to the idea that it was real. A lot of innocent people died during the following months.”
“Where did you go?”
“Back to Boston, but only long enough to stow away on a ship sailing for England. Half the crew lost their lives on that voyage, but it wasn’t due to falling overboard as everyone had thought.” Honestly, how many clumsy sailors did they think there were?
“And you made it to England?”
“Yes. I stayed in the White Chapel area of London while I sought out a doctor who might know what was wrong with me. It was a poor neighborhood and a few of its solitary citizens went missing, but nobody seemed to notice or care. You know what I mean, don’t you?”
Sadie nodded. “You had to feed. By that time you must have learned how to control it somewhat.”
“Yes. I still experienced bloodlust, but I knew better than to let it get so bad that I’d grab just anyone and…” A golf-ball-sized lump formed in his throat. He remembered the faces of the orphans and widows he’d lured into a dark corner. How he’d found out he could mesmerize people, although there wasn’t a word for it at the time. He just stared into their eyes, and their jaws would go slack. Then they’d stand there completely relaxed while he drank his fill.
Sadie reached over and took his hand again. Her gentle touch and sympathetic expression spoke of undeserved forgiveness.
“Did you ever find a doctor you could trust, who knew the truth and could help you?”
“I spoke to a doctor over a few mugs of ale in a tavern. He had no idea I was talking about myself. I said I had heard about this fellow, and he said he had heard about a prince in Romania with a similar story, and eventually I deduced that I’d find the answer there.”
Sadie nodded. “It must have been difficult with no guidance. No one to explain not only how it worked, but what you were.”
“‘Difficult’ is one way of putting it. ‘Fucking impossible’ was a little closer to the way it felt.”
“I’m sorry you had to go through that.”
He nodded, staring at his lap. “Yeah. Me too.”
They say confession is good for the soul. Maybe not so much for the soulless.
It took Sadie a minute or two to retrieve her cards from the other room.
She sat next to him and handed him the cards. “Here. Shuffle them while visualizing her. Stop shuffling when it feels right.”
Nothing felt right. He had called Kurt and Nick and had to leave messages. Tory was still missing, and now Claudia was, too. He had just finished shuffling and laying the cards on the table when his phone rang.
“Anthony Cross,” he answered.
“Anthony, it’s Nick. We’re at the hospital. What’s going on?”
“The hospital?” Anthony’s heart beat a little faster. Okay, maybe four or five beats a minute, but faster than his usual one.
“Yeah. Brandee’s in labor.”
“Oh. I guess this isn’t a good time to bother you with my dilemma.”
“What dilemma?”
“Claudia’s missing.”
“Shit. How long has she been gone?”
“Since she left work early this evening.”
There was a pause on the other end. “Uh, Anthony… She might have just gone out for the evening.”
“I don’t think so. Sadie’s here and she was about to try her cards to find out what may have happened to Claudia.”
“Hang on a moment,” Nick said.
Anthony heard him giving encouraging words to Brandee and then breathing funny. Meanwhile he turned to Sadie. “Go ahead with the cards. Nick’s busy for a minute.”
Sadie spread the cards across the coffee table. “Draw one,” she said.
Absently, Anthony reached for the closest one and handed it to her.
“Hmmm…the Magician.”
“That reminds me. I can’t get ahold of Kurt, either.”
Sadie sighed. “Now don’t get upset, but the way you pulled it, the card is reversed.”
“Shit. That’s bad, isn’t it?”
Nick interrupted. “Okay, I’m back. Brandee had another labor pain. I’m her coach, so I’ll have to disappear every three minutes or so.”
“Sadie was about to read the tarot cards for me, but I’m not so sure I want to hear what they say.”
After another long pause, Nick said, “Buddy, maybe you should wait a while. Claudia might still come home and wonder what all the fuss is about.”
“Hang on, Nick. Sadie, do your thing.”
She tapped the card. “This card is about energy. This card describes an energetic, focused, and dedicated person. A person who practices hard at a craft, ambition, or personal goal. In reverse, as you drew it, it indicates the drawer of the card is spinning his wheels. Personal energy is being misdirected or wasted.”