Haven’t read Chapter One yet? Click here to read it!
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine

 

Christine spent most of the next day sleeping. She hoped that she could regain her strength enough to try to escape in a few days. She ate and drank everything that Giselle brought her, smiling brightly at the woman every time she arrived, hoping that her friendly overtures would soften Giselle’s harsh demeanour towards her.

During the times when she was awake, Christine examined her room more thoroughly. She looked through the clothing in the closet for something more appropriate for an escape attempt than a ball gown or night gown. Surprisingly, at the back corner of the wardrobe, folded neatly, she found her own clothing. Instead of putting them on, however, she left them where they were, deciding that it was more important for her to continue her subterfuge of being overwhelmed and swayed by the opulence of the castle.

The dressing table held no further information for her, and Christine shuddered every time she happened to glance over at the macabre tapestry on the wall.

Looking out the window, however, did provide a bit more insight into the area. The castle was located at the top of a high hill, with smaller cottages scattered below, between the hill and the great body of water that she recognised as Lake Superior. She could see people walking between the buildings and she longed to be out there with them. She hoped that once she escaped she would be able to find someone who knew the whereabouts of her sister.

Thinking about her own experiences with Lord Radek, she hoped that Sarah was okay. While she was happy to hear that Sarah wasn’t alone, she was worried that if Lord Radek had been telling her the truth about this Hillard character, then Sarah could be in just as much trouble as she was.

Christine examined the door to her prison carefully. She saw no way for her to pick the lock (she had only ever seen such things on television) and the hinges were on the other side. She went back over to the wall containing the secret door and inspected it carefully. She could see where the door was, now that she knew it was there, but could find no hidden switch or lever to open it. Finally, in frustration, she slammed her fists against the wall letting out a cry of aggravation, no longer caring if Lord Radek could hear her. If she couldn’t get out of the room, there would be no escape.

“Christine? Are you okay?” a voice whispered through the door to her room. She recognised the voice as Gervis’ and, while elated that the one person sympathetic to her cause was so near, she was afraid of causing him any more trouble. She rushed over to the door and pressed her ear against the hard, impenetrable wood.

“Gervis? You shouldn’t be here,” she whispered.

“I only have a moment, but I have to tell you that Lord Radek will be leaving the castle tonight to search for your sister. I will come to you then and help you to escape.”

“But Gervis, you’ll get in trouble. Lord Radek might kill you this time.”

She heard Gervis’ heavy sigh through the door. “I’m coming with you Christine.  I can’t do this any more.  Lord Radek is keeping me here as a form of control over my parents.  We can go and get them and all escape to somewhere else.”

“But my sis…” Christine broke off as she heard footsteps approaching. She heard Gervis scramble quickly away from the door. It sounded like another man had approached from downstairs.  Christine was relieved that it wasn’t Giselle, not wanting to feel the brunt of the woman’s wrath again. Pleasantries were exchanged and the other man didn’t sound suspicious at all. After a moment, Christine was relieved to hear two sets of footsteps retreating down the hall.

Christine was relieved that she would finally have a way to escape her room. However, how could she possibly leave the castle now? Lord Radek was going after her sister! The last thing she wanted was to be free outside the castle and have her sister trapped in here.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Sarah and Hillard spent the rest of the day talking. She learned about the many differences between this blood-based society and her own.

She quickly reasoned out why the level of technology in this world was so far beneath her own. It seemed that the Geshenk kept people fairly weak and that the average life span was still only fifty years. It was difficult for people to be creative and innovative when daily life was a struggle. In addition, the Vampire Lords discouraged innovation, feeling threatened and worried that the humans might find a way to overcome their rule. The lack of communication prevented the exchange of ideas that was so important to technological advancement. Technology in this world had barely advanced from the level that had existed during the fifteenth century. It made Sarah see so clearly how much her own world depended on technology – the telephone, computers, even plumbing and running water – and how much she had always taken it for granted.

However, while the Vampire Lords stifled innovation, they obviously realized the value of at least a basic education. Children went to school from the age of six to sixteen, learning reading, writing and basic mathematics, as well as several languages. In addition, they also learned about the ruling system, called “Blood Governance” and basic information about the key trades that could be learned in the area.

Once a child turned sixteen, parents could pay for their child to serve as an apprentice and learn a trade, or teach them a trade themselves if they were so skilled. The other option, if a family couldn’t afford the apprenticeship fees, was for the child to join their Vampire Lord’s household as a guard or house servant. By joining the Lord’s household, they wouldn’t have to pay their one Geshenk a year, which they could do only after turning eighteen anyway, because they didn’t own any land. They would also be fully provided with food and clothing. In this way, someone who wanted to buy land and build a house on it, could do so after saving for a year or two. Another option was to learn a trade in an apprenticeship and then serve in the Vampire Lord’s castle for a year or two to save enough Geschenk to build their own shop or farm.

Geschenk could be earned by going to the bank and giving a Geschenk of blood up to four times a year – including any yearly Geschenk fee.  A full Geschenk could not be given more than once every three months, or the person giving would be weakened to a point where they could be vulnerable to illness. In that way, everyone between the ages of eighteen and fifty were guaranteed a yearly income of four Geschenk, or four hundred Stück. One person could theoretically live on such an amount, but Stück, being traded for goods as well, could also be earned through one’s trade.  A trade, or some other way to earn extra income, was necessary if you wanted a family, however, since children couldn’t earn Geschenk themselves.

It was all very interesting to Sarah, but she was hoping that they would not be staying in this world, with its dependence on blood, for very long.

“Hillard,” she suggested, shyly. “Why don’t you come with us? You said yourself that you’re a wanderer. Come wander with us for awhile.”

The truth was, she didn’t want to say goodbye to Hillard. She liked being around him. Besides being handsome – she was especially fond of his emerald eyes – he was smart and had a sweet sense of humour. She knew he probably wasn’t interested in her romantically, but she wanted his friendship, if nothing else. She wasn’t really interested in a relationship with anyone right now. It hadn’t even been a week since she’d caught her bastard of a husband cheating on her with their neighbour, and she wasn’t about to make the same mistake again. For some reason, she just wasn’t good enough for any man. Even before her jackass husband, her prior boyfriends had all had a habit of cheating on her. She’d thought things with Paul had been different, because he’d married her, but they obviously hadn’t been. Whether it was her flabby thighs, big behind, or something else, she obviously wasn’t good enough for a real relationship with anyone.

Sarah realized then that her mind had wandered off and Hillard hadn’t answered her question. He was just staring at her, with a wistful look on his face. He met her eyes and shook his head slowly.

“I can’t Sarah. I would love to – I really would – but I have other commitments here.”

Sarah’s mind automatically went to Adalaide and she felt a blush crawling up her face. Of course he wouldn’t come with them! He had Adalaide, with her long legs, firm stomach, and stunningly long red hair. There was no way that Sarah could ever compete with that. She should have guessed, but her hopeful mind had been working overtime again, seeing meaningful glances and gentle touches between herself and Hillard as something other than concerned friendship.

Hillard saw Sarah’s face turn red and knew that she had come to some faulty assumption. He wanted to correct her, to tell her that he would love to go with her, to spend more time with her, but he had important things that he had to finish here first. Plus, he could never risk introducing vampirism into another world, no matter how dedicated he was to never siring another of his kind himself.

Adalaide came rushing in at that moment, breaking up the tension. “Lord Radek is coming out to look for you tomorrow,” she gasped, breathing heavily. It was obvious that she’d been running. “We have to get you out of here! He knows you are with Hillard and he also knows that Hillard and I are friends, so he is sure to come here to look for you!”

Sarah looked over at Hillard, forgetting about the tense moment earlier, and saw from his expression that he was thinking the same thing that she was.

“If he’s out here looking for you,” Hillard said, a mischievous glint in his green eyes, “then we should go into his castle to find your sister.”

The three of them began discussing potential plans. Adalaide insisted that they get Sarah out of the cottage immediately, because Lord Radek wasn’t known for his patience or for giving accurate accounts of his plans to his house servants. Adalaide had also heard about the problems that had occurred with Gervis because of his involvement with Christine, but didn’t mention them as she didn’t want to provide Sarah with any more reasons to worry about her sister.

They quickly packed up some food and left the cottage, heading north-west. The castle was to the south-west of Adalaide’s cottage, but Adalaide said that she had a place where they could hide overnight and resupply.

Hillard just nodded when Adalaide mentioned the hideout, and Sarah realized that he already knew about it. She felt a flash of jealousy at their obviously close relationship but suppressed it, reminding herself that she was just friends with Hillard, after all.

It took them almost three hours of hiking through the bush to reach the hiding place. Sarah was exhausted when they finally reached it, but Hillard and Adalaide had done all of the carrying and had kept to a very slow pace, keeping in mind that Sarah had been very ill for the last few days and had not had much time to recover.

Sarah almost had to stop a few times, but the thought of the monstrous Lord Radek catching her before she could rescue her sister kept her going. When they finally stopped walking, Sarah was confused for a moment. She didn’t see anything that looked even remotely habitable, not even a rabbit hole.

Adalaide walked to a small space between a cluster of trees and reached down into some brush. Sarah was amazed when a door, big enough for a person to pass through, opened into the ground.  Stairs led down into darkness, and Adalaide lit a candle before venturing down the stairway, motioning for Hillard and Sarah to follow. Sarah was glad for the dim candle light when Hillard pulled the door closed behind them.

The stairs descended for a short distance and then opened up into a rather large dug-out room.  There was a bed against one wall, a shelf containing various foodstuffs and, Sarah was astonished to see, an entire wall covered with a vast assortment of swords, axes and other weapons.

“You seem prepared to go to war,” Sarah said, trepidation in her voice. She didn’t know what, exactly, she had expected Adalaide’s hideaway to look like, but she hadn’t expected this!

Adalaide just smiled grimly over at Sarah.  “Lord Radek and I are not the best of friends.  I expected that I would need a place to hide from him at some point or another.”

When it appeared that Adalaide wasn’t going to expand on that revelation, Sarah decided to just help a bit with the unpacking.  She sat down on the bed and helped to go through Hillard’s pack, taking out his tin dishes and blankets.  Hillard spread his thick canvas ground cover on the floor of the room and began making a bed for himself.  Adalaide pulled a chest out from under the bed, removed some thick woollen blankets, and began making a sleeping place for herself beside him.

“I can sleep on the ground. I don’t want to take your bed, Adalaide,” Sarah offered, then was mortified when she realized that they were probably used to sharing a sleeping place.

“Sarah, you’ve been ill for days. You shouldn’t be sleeping on the ground, you could get sick again. You need to gather your strength for tomorrow,” Hillard admonished.

It made sense to Sarah, but she still felt some slight jealousy that the two of them would be laying side by side all night. The image of it was so strong in her mind that she almost didn’t notice that Hillard had not stopped speaking.

“I’ve been thinking about that information that Adalaide got at the castle. It really makes no sense to me for Lord Radek to be leaving the castle to look for you in the daylight hours – when he is at his most vulnerable. It would make more sense for him to be out now, in the dark, when you are likely to be sleeping somewhere and he is at his top strength. I more than half think that he is either trying to send you a message that you are safe tonight, so that you are easier to catch unaware, or that he knows that we are planning to rescue Christine and is setting a trap for us tomorrow.”

Sarah couldn’t believe that she hadn’t thought of that. Of course, she didn’t have as much experience in this world as the other two, but she thought of herself as someone who was at least decently intelligent. It seemed so obvious.

“Then what do we do now?” she asked in frustration.

“Well, I think we’ve already done it. We’ve taken you somewhere for the night where he won’t find you. This place is sufficiently hidden so that he could walk down the path right above us and not see it. And vampires are not all-powerful. They do have an increased sense of smell, but they aren’t tracking dogs. We have the rich earth all around us, insulating against our smell. We should be safe here until tomorrow.”  Hillard explained.

“And tomorrow? If he’s expecting us then we can’t just go in to get Christine.” Sarah felt extreme frustration and helplessness. She just wanted to see her sister again.

“Oh, we are still going in tomorrow. We know he’s expecting us.  That will give us the upper hand. We just have to make sure we do things in a way that he isn’t expecting.” Hillard looked thoughtful.  “Get some rest, Sarah. I’ll think about this and come up with a plan for tomorrow. Don’t worry. I’m not going to let him keep your sister. I think Lord Radek’s reign of terror over this area is almost finished.”

Sarah felt some measure of comfort at Hillard’s determined expression, but she couldn’t help but worry. There was still that knot in her stomach that had been there since they had first driven through the fog. She wondered if her life would ever be normal again. What was normal anyway? She’d just discovered that her husband was cheating on her. Sarah wondered what Paul was thinking about her disappearance. Was he missing her, or was he relieved that he hadn’t had to face her? A single tear rolled down Sarah’s cheek as feelings of helplessness and worthlessness washed over her. With her thoughts running in negative circles through her brain, she finally fell asleep.

 

Read Chapter 11 next Wednesday, December 7th, 2011 . . .

 

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Title:  Kiss of Death

Author:  Rachel Caine

ISBN:  978-0451229731

Pages:  256

Release Date:  April 27, 2010

Publisher:  Signet

Genre:  Urban Fantasy

Source:  Library

Rating:  4.5/5

 

Summary:

Vampire musician Michael Glass has attracted the attention of a big-time producer who wants to cut a demo and play some gigs – which means Michael will have to enter the human world. For this, he’s been assigned escorts that include both a dangerous immortal as well as Michael’s all-too-human friends. And with that mix of personalities, this is going to be a road trip from hell…

 

Review:

I love a good road trip story! Seeing the crew get out of Morganville really highlighted to me the extent of their isolation from the outside world. Claire might be new to the vampire-ridden town, and Shane may have escaped for a few years, but for Michael and Eve, this is their first foray beyond the city limits. To top keep them from enjoying their freedom, they’re assigned a babysitter in the form of the-never-know-what-to-expect Oliver.

I can truly say that this story sucked me in (no pun intended, I swear) and kept me reading right through to the end with as few interruptions as I could manage. Getting the action to move outside of Morganville for a change was justbthe change of pace that the series needed.

My only issue with this book is that the story didn’t seem to be quite as cohesive as Caine’s other books in the series. In fact I think I was more than 50% through before I felt like I had reached the main plot behind the story. Despite that, the story kept me captivated right until the end.

 

Haven’t read Chapter One yet? Click here to read it!
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight

 

After Hillard had left the room, Sarah just stared at the door he had closed behind himself. He had provided her with very few answers – instead asking her more questions of his own. She mulled over those questions, trying to make some sort of sense out of what had just happened. Vampires? Germany? How were the two related? Germany was relatively close to Romania, but both were far, far away from Canada. Maybe she was not in some alternate universe. Maybe she was in some part of Germany. Maybe she had been kidnapped and taken half way across the world. To what end?  Nothing made any sense.

Adalaide came back into the room, carrying another bowl of soup. “How is your stomach? Is it ready for a bit more nourishment? We need to try to get your strength up,” she said brightly as she entered.

Sarah recognised that the soup she had eaten earlier was no longer making her stomach feel full. She could definitely eat again; her growling stomach was testament to that. She pushed herself into a more upright position, and was pleased to discover that the dizziness had abated.

Adalaide sat quietly beside Sarah as she ate. She looked as if she wanted to say something. After a few uncomfortable minutes of Sarah sipping on her soup and Adalaide simply sitting there staring at her, Sarah put down her spoon and looked directly at her hostess.

“What?” Sarah asked irritably. She knew that she should be nicer to Adalaide, who had helped to nurse her while she was sick, but she found herself annoyed by her just the same.

“I have never met a fog traveller before. What was it like? Did it hurt?”

Sarah just stared at Adalaide. “I have no idea. We were just driving. We drove through some fog. Sure, it was thicker than most fog, but it wasn’t like we fell through some wormhole and ended up in outer space. The only difference I noticed was that the road wasn’t paved anymore.”

Adalaide nodded, but from her confused expression, Sarah got the idea that Adalaide hadn’t understood everything that she had said. Adalaide had a thicker German accent than Hillard did and Sarah had the idea that she didn’t speak a lot of English. She made a mental note to speak in more simple terms with her and to be careful to speak a bit more slowly.

“Is this your house?” Sarah asked. She figured that it was, but it seemed polite to make conversation with someone who was feeding her and who had been apparently taking care of her for three days.

“Yes. I was born here. I have lived here all my life.”

There was a knock at the door and Adalaide looked up, with what looked like an expression of regret on her face at being interrupted while getting to know her guest. Hillard peeked in.

“Can I come in?” He sounded almost like a little kid, asking permission to come sit with the adults.

“Of course,” said Sarah. “I want to finish our conversation as soon as possible. I have to admit that I’m more confused now than ever.”

Hillard chuckled a little. “I’m not surprised. You’re the first person I’ve had this discussion with. I’ve seen other fog travellers, of course, and spoken to a few, but this is the first time I’ve tried to explain all of this to anyone. I don’t want to make things any more confusing for you than they already are.”

This surprised Sarah a bit. She wondered where he had learned to speak English. She had assumed that he had learned by speaking with other people like herself. She asked, timidly, “If you and everyone else around here is German, why do you all speak English?”

“Well,” he answered, seeming relieved to be asked a slightly less complicated question, “when the fog travellers come through, they don’t all speak German, of course. As children, we’re taught several of the main languages in school so that we can communicate. I’m pretty fluent in English and French, as well as my native German.”

Sarah was amazed that he knew so many languages. She had been forced to learn a bit of French in school as a child, but would never consider herself to be fluent in anything except English. Although she was curious about the type of schooling the children here received, she decided to turn the conversation back to what was really on her mind.

“So, have you come back with more questions for me,” she asked, unable to keep the note of sarcasm out of her voice, “or are you finally going to start answering some of mine?”

He nodded. “I know it hasn’t been fair to you. It’s just difficult to explain if I don’t understand the differences between our two worlds. I want to give you an explanation that makes sense to you.”

“Well, you haven’t done a very good job of it so far,” she exclaimed in frustration.

“Okay, let me just clarify a few more things. I promise not to walk away again without explaining everything, okay?” Hillard’s bright green eyes looked pleadingly into her own. She found it hard to resist his earnest expression.

“Okay. Fine. Does that mean you have more questions for me?” Sarah tried to remain patient with Hillard, but it was difficult facing the prospect of answering more of his questions when she had so many of her own burning within her brain.

“Yes. First, what do you know of the history of the country you call Germany?”

“Well, I know that they have been in a lot of wars over the years. In fact, they tried to take over other countries several times in the past. I know that they were the main cause of World War II and a leading player in World War I. I don’t know a lot about what happened before then, though.” Sarah wondered where this was all going to lead.

“Well, that’s a start. Our … Germany … here has had a long history of war with other … countries. About five hundred years ago, there were many small wars between different groups in that country. One leader came to the forefront, his name was Charles the Fifth. Do you know that name?”  Hillard looked searchingly at Sarah.

“I’ve heard of leaders named Charles in the past, but I have to say that I don’t have a lot of knowledge of history,” Sarah admitted.

“Well, our Charles the Fifth stood out in many ways. He fought many battles, always coming out victorious. What really made him famous, however, was the fact that he received many supposedly mortal wounds, yet always managed to survive. In fact, he quickly gained a reputation of being almost immortal.”

“The how of the matter is unknown now, at least it is to me. But Charles somehow became infected with vampirism. He essentially was immortal. No one was his match on the battle field. And it soon became obvious that many of his soldiers were obtaining his same abilities.”

Hillard paused for a moment and Sarah let her mind run back over what he had been saying. She found it interesting the way Hillard had said that Charles became infected with vampirism, almost as if it were a disease.

He began again. “Sarah, what do you know about vampires?” He looked almost afraid to hear her answer.

She waited a moment before answering, then began to list the traits that were commonly discussed when the topic of vampires was brought up. She felt kind of ridiculous, listing off a bunch of what she had always thought was superstitious nonsense.

“Hmmm.  They don’t like garlic. Holy water burns them. The sign of the cross scares them away. Their reflection can’t be seen in mirrors. And they can be killed by shoving a wooden stake through their heart, or by lighting them on fire. Sunlight will kill them as fast as fire. And, of course, they drink human blood.”

Hillard looked amused through the recitation of most of her list, but the last item caused a pensive look to pass over his face. He paused a moment, thinking before he spoke again.

“Well, most of that isn’t true. They have a history of war with the church, but holy water and crosses have no effect on them. They also have no problems with garlic. A wooden stake doesn’t kill them, but can paralyze them if placed properly, and if they catch on fire they will burn until nothing is left. Finally, while they can’t stay in the sun for long periods without becoming very weak, sunlight doesn’t kill them.”

Sarah stared at him blankly. “So what you’re trying to tell me is that vampires are real?”

He took a deep breath. “Yes, Sarah. And your sister is being held by one.”

She shook her head. She felt like her heart was beating too fast. She was also having trouble breathing and it had nothing to do with her cold. “I don’t want to hear any more of this. I think I need to rest. I just need to sleep for a bit.” She pulled the covers up to her chin and rolled over, her back towards Hillard.  She heard him sigh.

“Okay, Sarah. I understand. I’ll be in the other room if you want to talk some more. I want to answer all of your questions, but I understand that you need some time to process all of this.” She heard the door shut quietly behind him as he left the room.

Sarah tried to block her conversation with Hillard out of her mind. This was all just too much to deal with. How much craziness was one person supposed to be able to handle? How was she supposed to just accept everything at face value when it all went against everything she knew logically?

She lay in the bed for over an hour, trying to both block everything out and find the escape of sleep, but was successful with neither. Even though most of her mind resisted any idea of this being real at all, a tiny voice inside her head told her that she had to accept this, that it was real, and that her sister was depending on her.

Sarah thought about her sister then. If all of this were true, then Christine was in grave danger, if she was even still alive. Sarah knew that she had to get out of bed, pull herself together, and do something to help Christine – but to do that she would have to take a leap of faith, perhaps a leap into madness. She felt so weak and tired – both mentally and physically. If she weren’t still so ill, maybe she could think more clearly. It seemed like everything just fell apart all at once – the destruction of her marriage, her illness, the fog, the craziness.

Suddenly, without any conscious effort on Sarah’s part, her mind found a way to accept the unacceptable.  Perhaps none of this was real after all. Maybe she was laying in a bed somewhere, delirious from a fever. In which case, it didn’t matter if it were real or not, she could get out of bed and play along. Part of her felt like, no matter if this were real or not, she had to help her sister. She and Christine had been through too much together – their father’s alcoholism, their mother’s slow death from cancer – for her to leave Christine alone, even if this was just delirium.

Sarah made a conscious decision to play along with Hillard, no matter how unbelievable this all was and she finally sat up in bed and swung her legs over the side. So, vampires were real, were they? Well, she would be going in opposition to one to save her sister. She needed all of the information she could get to prepare herself. It was time to find her key source of information – Hillard.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Christine awoke the next morning back in the beautiful prison that was her room. She had a hard time remembering anything at all at first, but then the images of Lord Radek kissing [biting!] her neck came back to her all too clearly. He had drunk her blood! He’d been drinking her blood for days! That would explain her lethargy, her inexplicable weakness. She thought carefully over the events of the past few days. Last night had been the third time she remembered that [exquisite] kiss on her neck. A vampire! As if finding herself in another world were not enough! She had to find a way to escape from here. Gervis had seemed so eager to help her, but Christine hadn’t seen him since Lord Radek’s return to the Castle days ago. She hoped that he was okay, that Lord Radek hadn’t punished him too harshly. She decided to ask Giselle about him the next time she saw her.

Christine got up out of the bed and realized that she was no longer in her beautiful scarlet gown, but was now dressed back in the cotton nightgown she had been wearing since she arrived. She was happy to see that at least it was now clean and no longer smelled of old sweat. One thought struck her though – who had changed her clothing last night? Christine hoped it had been Giselle and not Lord Radek. The thought of him caressing her unconscious naked body nauseated her.

There was a brief knock on the door and then Giselle entered the room. This was the first time she had ever knocked before coming in and she seemed more subdued than her normally haughty self. Christine remembered the look of fear on Giselle’s face when Lord Radek had chastised her the night before. Perhaps Christine’s situation in the castle was improving. If Lord Radek was treating her differently than the other visitors he’d had before, it was possible that it could provide her with an opportunity. Perhaps, if she played her cards right, she could find a way to escape.

She looked thoughtfully at Giselle as she placed the breakfast tray on the dressing table and began busily making Christine’s bed.

“Giselle, I know you don’t like me, but I want to ask you a question.”

Giselle turned to her, a look of surprise on her face at having been spoken to. Just as quickly, the look turned to suspicion. “I won’t be helping you to leave this place,” she snapped at Christine.

Christine thought carefully before she spoke. “I don’t want to leave. I feel safe here. Lord Radek has explained that he just wants to take care of me. And I have everything I could ever want or need.”

“Then what’s the question you want me to be answering?” The suspicious look on Giselle’s face only increased.

“Well, I haven’t seen Gervis since my first night here. I know I mustn’t see or speak to him, but I want to make sure he’s okay. I don’t want to cause him any more trouble by asking Lord Radek.”

The suspicious look on Giselle’s face softened for a moment and then hardened again before she answered. “He’s getting better now. Lord Radek drained him near to death out of anger at his treachery. If it weren’t for the pact he has with Gervis’ parents, that fine young man would be dead right now, thanks to you!”

Giselle straightened the covers on Christine’s bed with a final, abrupt tug and then she stormed out of the room, first slamming, and then locking the door behind her.

Christine pondered this new bit of information. At least Gervis was still alive. But this meant she could not depend on him for rescue. In fact, she decided firmly, she would follow Giselle’s initial advice and avoid any contact with him at all. She really liked him and would deeply regret it if any lasting harm came to him because of her. It appeared that she was on her own.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

Sarah opened the door to her room and peeked out into the rest of the cottage. Having been unconscious when she arrived, she was curious as to the appearance of the rest of the dwelling.

There appeared to be only one other room. It was bigger than her bedroom, with a makeshift wooden divider blocking a small part of the room off and the rest open. There was a wood-burning stove to her left, with a wooden shelf providing counter space beside it.  There was a comfortable-looking couch on the other side of the stove, made of wood and covered with pillows, and a wooden table, surrounded by four chairs, right beside a thick wooden door that appeared to lead outside. Sarah saw Adalaide and Hillard sitting at the table, deep in discussion. From what she could hear, they were speaking in German. The conversation broke off as Hillard noticed Sarah peeking at them.

“You okay?” he asked, concern on his face.

“Yeah. I have more questions,” she said, realizing that she had so many questions at the moment that she didn’t even know where to start.

“Want some more soup?” Adalaide offered.

Sarah nodded absently as she sat down at the table, still trying to wade through the myriad of questions swirling around in her brain. Adalaide walked over to the old-fashioned woodstove and spooned some soup out of a pot resting on top.

“Are you feeling any better?” Hillard asked, obviously aware that Sarah was not yet ready to begin with her questions.

“I feel tired and a bit weak, but better,” she admitted, trying still to maintain some of the illusion in her own mind that this was all some kind of fever delusion. She slowly sipped the soup that Adalaide had placed before her on the table.

Hillard spoke after a few moments. “Adalaide is going to go to the castle in a little while to ask around about your sister.”

Sarah looked gratefully at Adelaide. “Can I come?” she asked eagerly.

Hillard shook his head. “Not a good idea, Sarah. We don’t know how much Lord Radek knows about you. We wouldn’t want to have you trapped in there with your sister. Plus, in your weakened state, you’re in no shape for the walk there. Give it least a few more hours before you decide to run out to rescue your sister.” He smiled at her, reassuringly. “Don’t worry. I don’t think she’s in any danger at the moment. We’ll get to her before anything bad happens.”

Sarah felt some relief at his words and had to admit that he was right about her health, but her instinct was to jump up,  march over to the castle and demand that this Lord Radek release her sister immediately. She had to agree with Hillard, however, she’d probably pass out in the woods before she even got within sight of the castle.

“Who is this Lord Radek?” she asked.

“He is the self-proclaimed Lord of these parts,” Hillard explained. “He is the Vampire Lord. All of our cities and towns are ruled by vampires, but most are not as cruel, nor as crazy, as Lord Radek has proved himself to be over the years.”

“Your people are ruled by vampires?” Sarah was confused. This didn’t sound much like the stories she had heard about vampires in her world. Those vampires lived in castles, sure, but they avoided people for the most part.

“I explained earlier that Charles the Fifth was the first vampire and that he created a vampire army for himself, remember?”

“Yes.”

Hillard paused, and Sarah stood up as Adalaide appeared, ready to leave. Adalaide hugged her, slung a knapsack over one shoulder, and left the cottage. Sarah mentally wished her good luck as she watched Adalaide march into the forest through the window. She hoped that Adalaide would return with some good news about her sister. Then, finally tearing her eyes away from the window, she turned back to Hillard with a look of expectation in her eyes. After a moment, he continued.

“Well, over the next fifty years, Charles the Fifth managed to unite all of the German leaders under his rule. At the same time, other world leaders had become infected by vampirism. The king of France, Francis the First, and the King of England, Henry the Eighth, were the most notable. Those two had begun a war during the 1530’s that was beginning to rage throughout Europe, involving huge vampire armies.”

Sarah just sat quietly, listening to Hillard, enthralled by this alternate history.

“At that time, the numbers of vampires had swelled to enormous, nearly unsustainable proportions. One side, lead by Francis the first, felt that it was their right, ordained by God, to rule the Earth. They were starting to believe that they were gods themselves and that the humans were merely cattle for them to consume at will. The other side was lead by the more pragmatic Henry the eighth, who felt that religion held no part of the vampire existence, but felt that the Earth should fall under his leadership alone.”

“It was at this time that one of Francis the First’s high councillors, called DaVinci, decided that it was time to take matters into his own hands. He could see the devastation that was occurring as well as the inevitable outcome – the extinction of the human race.”

Sarah gasped in recognition. “Leonardo DaVinci?”

“Yes, you know of him?”

“Yeah, he was a wonderful artist and inventor in my world.  He was a vampire?” Sarah was stunned, but in a way she wasn’t that surprised. DaVinci was a very colourful historic figure, and he was known to be a dominant figure in many historical conspiracy theories. Being a vampire as well was not really that huge a leap.

“In this world DaVinci was converted to vampirism by Francis the First himself. Francis was intrigued by DaVinci’s ideas and inventiveness. But, somewhere along the way, that freedom of thought led DaVinci’s beliefs down a road that was different from that of Francis. DaVinci recognized that the vampires needed to develop a more symbiotic relationship with the humans, rather than one of pure dominance. He saw the only survival of the vampire race as coming from a culling of their numbers. He had a large number of followers himself, and joining forces with the army of Charles the Fifth, they determined to somehow cull the numbers and bring some sort of peace to the vampire race. The battle between the Symbiots and the Dictators lasted for nearly a century. DaVinci’s vision of culling the numbers of the vampire race was satisfied during the war, but at the expense of nearly all of his followers. Near the end, it is said that DaVinci fled into the mountains in the Far East.”

Sarah was so enthralled by the story that she hadn’t even realized that Hillard had stopped for a moment and was watching her face with a speculative look. She wondered how it must seem to him, telling this story to someone who had never heard it before. She wondered how he felt about her intense interest.

Hillard took a deep breath and continued. “You should know that the vampire race was not the only casualty of the Great Vampire War. The human race was also decimated in the process. Vampiric healing takes a great deal of energy, and humans were used as the main power source to continue the war. The rumour is that DaVinci, while working against the mentality of both Francis and Henry, saw the beauty of the vampire and did not want the race to be completely destroyed. On the other hand, he also knew the beauty of humankind as well. He feared that the human race would be extinguished and tried to find some way to increase their numbers. It was while DaVinci was in the eastern mountains that the fogs began. Humans came through the fog – not every time, but often enough to begin to replenish the numbers for a time – if the vampiric numbers remained low. These fogs occurred in places scattered all over the world, and on a fairly regular schedule. To this day, no one knows exactly what causes them – at least no one I’ve ever spoken to. All that is known is that the people who come through the fog are from worlds similar to our own, but they don’t always come from the same world.  That’s how you came to be here.”

Sarah just stared at Hillard for a moment. There had been a few disappearances on the road from Thunder Bay to the United States over the years. Of course, it was also a common route for drug runners, so not all of the disappearances would necessarily have been reported.

A thought struck her then. Had she and Christine been brought here as food?

“We’re supposed to be food?” she asked, unbelievingly.

Hillard smiled wistfully at her. “Not necessarily. You were brought here to replenish and strengthen the human numbers on this world. Some vampires see that as simply food replacement, but others see it as an opportunity to learn about other worlds and technologies.”

“How did DaVinci create the fog?” Sarah asked. She had never heard of any technology like that. She was a bit of a science fiction buff, so she guessed that the parallel worlds were something like those suggested in the old television series Quantum Leap – where infinite worlds existed in parallel to our own, the only difference being that at some point in time a different choice had been made. For example, in another world, she and Christine might have decided to drive to Winnipeg instead of to the spa in the United States. They would still be in that world, because they never would have encountered the fog. Or someone else might have come through the fog. If so, where were those other people? The infinite possibilities were giving her a headache.

“No one knows how he did it – or even if it was really him. He was just thought of as the most likely suspect because of his intense studies in science, magic, and technology, and his interest in replenishing the human race.”

Sarah stared into space for a few moments, trying to take it all in. Here was a world history very different from her own.

“And is DaVinci still alive?” she asked.

“No one knows that, either. The histories say that he never came down from the mountains. Charles the Fifth declared him dead after a year or two and declared himself to be the victor in the war. A few good things resulted from the Great Vampire War, despite the great destruction involved. First, the numbers of vampires were greatly depleted, leaving just over a thousand still in existence. Also, the human race was able to begin to grow again. Finally, both Francis and Henry came to realize that a more manageable power structure was required, because immediately after the Great Vampire War they began to explore the world. Other continents were discovered, with more humans to feed on. Charles the Fifth decided to form the Vampire Council – with him at the head – which would act as world rulers. Most vampires still saw themselves as gods, you see, and felt that it was their right to rule the world. The members of the Vampire Council are like the ultimate gods, to whom every other vampire must answer. The Council quickly decreed that the making of new vampires was forbidden without their permission. Any new vampires created without this permission would be immediately destroyed, along with their creators. In that way, Charles ended up fulfilling DaVinci’s vision.”

“So is there still a Council?” asked Sarah.

“Yes, and Charles the Fifth is still at its head. Other vampires have tried to challenge him over the years, but have failed, unable to match the power of the oldest known vampire.”

“Does that mean that they get stronger with age?”

“Apparently so. Although some also think that it’s related to the amount of blood consumed. For that reason, whenever someone challenges Charles, there is usually a human massacre somewhere in the world first. The Council watches for just such occurrences.”

“So human beings are just cattle for these monsters?” The story was starting to lose its appeal as Sarah started to focus again on the human role in this world.

“Not so. Over time, the Council developed methods to create blood sustainability. Blood is our main form of currency, measured in Geschenk – which originally meant ‘gift’ in German. Each vampire rules their own area – often a few towns or a city – and they collect yearly taxes from all of their citizens who have reached adulthood. Several people travel to a Blood Bank every day and provide blood there. The blood is then stored chilled in glass tubes, with a few herbs added to decrease the clotting effect, and the Lord consumes them within a day or so. Each citizen who owns land is required to make this sort of contribution once a year. They also have the ability to go to the Blood Bank to provide Geschenk up to three more times a year, which can then be used as currency to buy food, supplies, or whatever is available. Each Geschenk can be divided into one hundred Stück. Citizens use Stück to pay for food and clothing and other necessities. It’s the Vampire Lord’s job to keep his or her citizens happy and healthy so that the population is sufficient to provide for his or her needs.”

Sarah was amazed that an entire monetary system had been developed based on the vampiric need for blood. It didn’t sound nearly as evil as the vampire novels of her own world made it sound. In fact, it actually sounded as if there were no reason in this world for anyone to be homeless or to go hungry.

“It doesn’t sound as bad as I thought it would,” she admitted.

“It isn’t, if the Vampire Lord runs his land the way he’s supposed to, as set out in the Vampire Code. In fact, it can provide a comfortable existence for many. The problem here in Donner is that Lord Radek is not following the Code. He keeps a number of humans in his castle as a constant food supply. Instead of receiving his Geschenk as deposited in the Blood Bank, freely given, he often takes the blood forcibly from his victims.”

Sarah realized suddenly what Hillard was telling her. “So Christine is being held in the castle as his food?”

Hillard nodded grimly. “Yes, and we need to rescue her soon. Lord Radek’s victims rarely last more than a few weeks before they are too weak from blood loss to survive.”

Sarah abruptly got up from the table, walked over to the door, and stared outside for awhile, almost willing Adalaide to appear with news about her sister. She knew, however, that it would be hours before Adalaide returned.

“So,” she asked finally, sitting back down across from Hillard, “how do we rescue my sister from this monster?”

“I’ll think of something,” he said reassuringly. “Adalaide and I have many friends inside the castle.”

“Do you think Christine is being treated all right?” Sarah shook her head at the ridiculous question and then restated, “Well, aside from the fact that he’s drinking her blood?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen any of Lord Radek’s victims after they’ve been taken to the castle, and I’ve never asked anyone who works there. Sometimes it’s just easier not to know.”

Sarah looked over at Hillard in surprise. “Why are you helping me then? If you’ve never helped anyone before, why do it now?”

Hillard’s intense green eyes stared into her own for a moment and then he looked away quickly before saying quietly, “I like you Sarah.” He looked at her again and smiled. “I think it was the angry look on your face when you were beating on that car horn. You looked so determined and angry. I liked that fire you showed.”

Sarah blushed and looked down at the table. She was known for being as stubborn as a mule sometimes. She looked back up at Hillard and smiled back at him. “I like you too. I don’t know what I would’ve done without you.”

Hillard felt very drawn to Sarah. In some ways, she seemed very fragile, and in others she was as stubborn as an old horse. He did like her very much, especially when she smiled at him like she was doing right now. He just had to remember to keep his distance. Above all else, he needed to keep her safe, and part of that meant not letting her get too close.

Trying to change the subject, Sarah asked, “Why does the Vampire Council let Lord Radek get away with breaking the rules?”

“Well,” replied Hillard, “the lands of different Vampire Lords are far apart from each other. Communication between different lands is rare.  There is some trade, carried out by independent merchant groups.”

“I guess that explains why my cell phone didn’t work,” Sarah smiled ruefully.

“Yes. I’ve seen other fog travellers carrying that kind of technology, but we have nothing close to it here. We can send letters and messages with the travelling merchants, but Lord Radek has an agreement with them. They are paid well to ensure that no negative messages about Lord Radek get through.”

Something struck Sarah strange at that point. “If the vampires live so far away from each other, how can the Vampire Council meet and tell the rest of the vampires their decisions, especially those across the ocean?”

“That is some kind of vampire secret, but I think it must be some type of mental communication. They have many mysterious powers.” Hillard didn’t like keeping things from Sarah, but he didn’t want to appear too knowledgeable about the vampires, in case that aroused her suspicions.

The mention of mysterious powers caught Sarah’s interest.  It would be important to learn as much as she could about the strengths of Lord Radek before she went after him.  “What other powers do they have?” she asked eagerly.

“The most important, and the most dangerous,” said Hillard, “is their ability to affect human emotion. They can’t control your thoughts, but they can implant false feelings of security in their victims – or increase their terror a hundred times.”

Sarah thought about that for a moment. No wonder the vampires were able to maintain control. Any time a human came near, meaning them harm, the threatened vampire could theoretically transform any feelings of hostility into safety.  “Can they do it to more than one person at a time?” she asked curiously.

“Yes, normally. As long as the vampire is not in a weakened state, they can control anyone within their range of sight. If they are weakened, however, by a need to heal or a prolonged exposure to sunlight, they could have difficulty controlling even a single person.”

“So that’s a weakness we could exploit,” Sarah suggested eagerly.

“Yes. That’s what I’ve been thinking. And we have a secret weapon, as well. For some reason, there are a few individuals who are immune to the emotional influence of the Vampire Lords.  I happen to be one of them.” Hillard felt uncomfortable telling Sarah this lie, even though it was just a lie of omission.  Again he told himself that was safer if she didn’t know. He didn’t know how she would react if she found out he was one of those ‘monsters’ they had been discussing.

Sarah’s eyes lit up. “Seriously? So we actually have a chance of rescuing Christine! This could actually work!”

Hillard tried to temper Sarah’s enthusiasm. “Just remember, Lord Radek is a very old, very powerful vampire. He has been ruling this Land for more than two hundred years and drinks much more blood than the average vampire.”

Sarah’s eyes widened. “Does he drink more than just the Geschenk and the fog travellers?”

“Yes,” Hillard replied grimly. “He drains any criminal. No matter what the crime – stealing a piece of bread or killing another man – the punishment is always the same.”

Sarah was shocked. “He would kill someone even for stealing food for their family?”

“Oh, yes. He sees it as one more excuse to increase his blood consumption.”

“He really is a monster! He needs to be stopped!”

“Yes, but that’s not an easy thing to do. It’s been tried many times and no one has ever succeeded. For now, let’s just focus on rescuing your sister.”

“I know. But what happens after we rescue her? Can we go back and wait for the fog to come again so we can go home?”

Hillard shook his head ruefully. “It doesn’t work that way Sarah,” he said, his voice thick with regret. “You never know which world you would be going to.  The only constant is that the fog always comes here.  If you tried to go back through it, you would most likely only end up trapped in another world that isn’t your own.”

Sarah thought about that for a moment. “But we could escape Lord Radek that way.”

Hillard considered that. “True. In fact, that would probably be the safest option for you two after we rescue Christine. The only problem would be keeping you safe until the next fog.”

“How often do they come?”

“Once a month, with the full moon. So, we would have to hide you for about three weeks. I have some friends who could give us food, but we’ll have to hide in the woods.”

Sarah could see their plan slowly developing. Now they just needed Adalaide to return with some information about Christine.

 

Read Chapter 10 next Wednesday, November 30th, 2011 . . .

 

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Title:  Fade Out

Author:  Rachel Caine

ISBN:  978-0451228666

Pages:  256

Release Date:  November 3, 2009

Publisher:  Signet

Genre:  Urban Fantasy

Source:  Library

Rating:  4.0/5

 

Summary:

Without the evil vampire Bishop ruling over the town of Morganville, the resident vampires have made major concessions to the human population. With their newfound freedoms, Claire Danvers and her friends are almost starting to feel comfortable again…

Now Claire can actually concentrate on her studies, and her friend Eve joins the local theatre company. But when one of Eve’s castmates goes missing after starting work on a short documentary, Eve suspects the worst. Claire and Eve soon realize that this film project, whose subject is the vampires themselves, is a whole lot bigger-and way more dangerous-than anyone suspected.

Review:

After my so-so review of the last book, Carpe Corpus, I was happy to realize that in Fade Out I was getting back into the world of Morganville. I don’t think I’m all the way in yet, but I’m still enjoying the series. I’m especially glad that Bishop is out of the picture – I really hated that guy. I think my big problem is that I like a bad guy I can relate to a little bit, and in Fade Out, we get that.

I got some good giggles out of this book. Absurdity abounds in Morganville and a semi-insane vampire running around in bunny slippers with fangs epitomizes what I really enjoy about this series. Oliver playing a major part in a theatre production also tickled me.

As usual, Claire is dodging death throughout this book.  It’s a lucky thing that she’s so smart – she barely has time to run to class in between attempts on her life.  When Eve’s friend Kim goes missing, I was sure that it was the work of one of the usual suspects – after all, she had been doing a film project digging into the pasts of the vampires of Morganville. Caine managed to keep me guessing until the end and I really enjoyed the conclusion.

This book is a great addition to the series and I can’t wait to read the next one – Kiss of Death.

Haven’t read Chapter One yet? Click here to read it!
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven

Sarah regained consciousness long before she opened her eyes. She remembered just enough from before she fainted to want to hang on to the comforting blanket of sleep that she was wrapped in. She knew that waking up would force her to remember, and she didn’t want to face everything quite yet.

“Okay Sarah, I know you’re awake. No use faking.” Sarah recognised Hillard’s voice and groaned.

“I don’t want to wake up. I’m happier asleep.” She didn’t want to face all of the confusion she knew was waiting for her when she finally opened her eyes.

“And how are you supposed to help your sister if you’re asleep? I thought you wanted to help her. You’ve been sleeping for two days.” Hillard knew that the last bit would catch her attention.

Two days! Sarah’s eyes flew open and she sat up quickly, and then just as abruptly lay back down. Her head was spinning.

“Okay, settle down,” Hillard was still worried about her. He had considered giving her some of his blood, but waited to see if she would rally on her own. He had to admit though, he had been sorely tempted the night before. “I just wanted to get your attention.  You’ve been pretty sick for the last few days. Last night I even wondered if you were going to make it until your fever broke.”

Sarah had a vague memory of someone holding her hand, keeping her anchored to reality, as she drifted in and out of consciousness. She remembered dreams of being transported to another world, where Thunder Bay didn’t exist and a castle stood at the top of Hillcrest Park. Was that a dream? She wasn’t sure. That part was more vivid than the others. She remembered standing on the shore of Lake Superior, seeing the Sleeping Giant and turning back to see a castle. The castle where Christine was being held! It hadn’t been a dream!

“Hillard? What’s going on? How could any of this be possible?” she asked weakly, not really sure if she wanted to know the answer.

“I’m not really sure how to answer that right now. I mean, I know the answer, but I have to think about this for a bit. I can’t have you fainting on me again. How about you let Adalaide give you some soup, and then you can show me that you’re feeling better before we start throwing any more craziness at you. Okay?”

Sarah nodded. Part of her wanted to know the truth right now, but the other part of her just wanted to crawl back under the covers and pretend that she was at home safe and sound. Hillard looked at her intently for a moment, almost as if he wanted to come back and say something more, but instead he spun abruptly on his heel and left the room.

Sarah looked around the room. She was in a spacious, comfortable bed. The mattress was soft, if a bit lumpy, and there was a homemade quilt covering her. The other furniture in the room was also simple. There was a dresser, made of wood, and a small mirror that hung from the wall above it. A wooden brush and comb set rested on the dresser but nothing else cluttered its surface. There was a shelf on the wall opposite her bed, holding some knickknacks, mostly made of wood and carved to resemble animals. A wooden chair was positioned at the head of the bed, presumably so that Hillard and his friend could take care of her while she had been unconscious. There was also a single window and it had thick, heavy dark blue curtains which were now closed.

A tall redheaded woman entered the room at that moment and saw Sarah staring at the window. “I think you could use some light,” she said, smiling. She laid the tray she had been carrying down on the dresser. Then she walked over to the window. She spread the curtains wide, allowing the bright sunshine outside to stream into the room, then turned and smiled at Sarah. “We were trying to keep things as dark and quiet for you as possible. You were very ill.” The woman, who Sarah guessed was Adalaide, walked back to the dresser and brought the tray with the soup on it over to Sarah. Sarah tried to sit up again, but the dizziness was too intense, and she lay back down, sighing resignedly.

“No problem. I will feed you. You have not eaten anything for two days. I am not surprised if you feel a little dizzy. We shall get some food into you and then see how you are.”

Sarah nodded gratefully. Her stomach was rumbling. Adalaide grabbed some extra pillows from the floor beside the dresser and helped to prop Sarah up into enough of a sitting position on the bed for her to eat. She stood back and looked at Sarah, as if ascertaining whether her patient was really well enough to eat or was going to collapse into unconsciousness again. Finally she nodded to herself, apparently satisfied. She picked up the soup and sat down on the chair beside the bed.

She fed a few spoonfuls of soup to her patient. Sarah ate absently, still trying to understand what was going on. After a moment, Adalaide put the spoon back into the bowl. She looked at Sarah for a moment, seeing that she seemed to be lost in thought.

“Do you need some time by yourself?” she asked, as if she really understood the mess of chaotic thoughts that were whirling through Sarah’s mind.

Sarah looked up at Adalaide gratefully. She really wasn’t in the mood to be talking to anyone. What she really needed was some time alone to think. Adalaide tucked the bed covers around Sarah, making sure that she was safely sitting up in the bed, then handed the soup to her and left the room.

Sarah slowly sipped the delicious soup. It was a delightful vegetable mix – not hot enough to burn her mouth, but warm enough to sooth her still-irritated throat. It wasn’t all that different from something she might have eaten back home when she was sick. Laying here, eating soup, she found it very hard to believe that there was anything out of the ordinary in her current situation.

Sarah finished her soup and lay back on the bed, pushing the extra pillows to the side. Her thoughts were tumultuous and wandering back and forth between worrying about her sister and trying to make sense of the differences between the surroundings in which she found herself and the Thunder Bay she knew. Her thoughts kept chasing themselves in circles and her tired brain eventually could not keep up anymore and she fell asleep.

When she awoke, she found Hillard once again sitting in the chair beside her bed. They just stared at each other intensely for several minutes before Hillard finally spoke.

“What do you know about vampires?”

Sarah was taken aback by the truly unexpected question. That was the last thing she had expected to hear when Hillard finally decided to explain to her what the hell was going on. There was a very long pause while Sarah contemplated how to answer before she finally spoke. Finally, she took a deep breath and decided to just list what she knew, rather than try to figure out where Hillard was going with this bizarre line of questioning.

“Well, I know the stories started in Romania. And there was a book about Dracula, who was apparently the first of his kind.”

Hillard smiled, seeming simultaneously relieved that she had recognized the word and amused at her use of the word story. “Well, I’ve never heard the story of Dracula. Are there any real vampires in your world?”

There it was – out in the open. This was not her world. Sarah focused on those last three words for a moment before actually processing the rest of the question.

“Real vampires? Well, I don’t think so. Of course, there are always those people who read novels by people like Anne Rice because they find the idea of being outcast and undead very appealing. They seem to want to believe. But real vampires? No. I don’t believe in them.”

Hillard stared at her intently for a moment. “Well, that tells me something. What is the ruling structure like in your world?”

The phrase ‘ruling structure’ seemed like a strange way to describe politics. Sarah again had to

“Well, I guess it depends on the country. Canada has a democratic system, as do a lot of countries in the world, to varying degrees. Some still have monarchies with kings and queens, and others have dictatorships with only one ruler. I think there are also a few ruled by various religious bodies.”

“And are there many different countries?” Hillard asked.

“Of course,” answered Sarah.

“And do you know of one called Deutschland?” Hillard spoke carefully.

Sarah paused for a moment. She didn’t know any countries by that name, but it sounded vaguely familiar. It reminded her of her college years, when she was taking courses to be a medical secretary. But it clearly had nothing to do with medical terminology. The only other classes she had taken were her electives in Human Sexuality and her German course. German, of course! Deutschland was the word for Germany in the German language!

“Germany is what we call it in English, but yes, it’s a country in Central Europe.”

Now Sarah recognized the strange accent that pervaded Hillard’s speech. German!

“Are you German?” asked Sarah.

Hillard smiled, “Almost everyone around here is.” He stopped again for a moment, and then stood. “I must think about what you’ve told me before continuing,” he said, “I’ll return soon.”

Sarah just stared after him as he walked out of the room.  She felt more confused than ever now!

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Christine just sat at the table and stared at Lord Radek. She didn’t know how to react to his revelation that her sister was in the company of a supposed vampire. She was more shocked and horrified, however, to recognize the resemblance between the ‘dinner’ scene depicted on the tapestry in her room and the scene in which she now found herself.  In fact, aside from the fact that the other guests were missing, she could almost imagine that she had stepped, in true Alice in Wonderland style, into the tapestry itself.

Lord Radek sipped the thick dark red substance from his glass and chuckled.

Christine didn’t know how to respond to him at all. This situation was becoming more and more bizarre.

“A vampire? Are you kidding me?” she asked, unable to wrap her mind around the concept, or around what she saw even now right in front of her.

Lord Radek smiled. “Do you not believe in vampires, my dear?” he asked, his smile becoming a smirk. “Or is it that you have something against us as a species?”

Christine’s eyes widened at his blatant assertion that he was also a vampire. She knew the myths of course, and the stories. She was even a bit of an Anne Rice fan, but to take it one step further and assert that the stories were true? Part of her felt that, after the events of the past few days, it was entirely within this new realm of possibility she was trapped in. A much stronger part of her, however, insisted that she must deny what he was saying, and what she was thinking, in order to keep herself sane.

“At this point,” she admitted, “I don’t know what to believe. And, honestly, I thought I was invited down here for dinner.  I don’t want to talk about these things right now.”

Lord Radek chuckled again. Christine felt like she was a never-ending source of amusement for him and she wanted nothing more than to leave and go back to her beautiful prison, even if it meant that she would be alone again.

Various servants began bringing food into the room. Christine took a small portion of each dish; Lord Radek took none. Whenever he finished his glass of ‘wine,’ a servant brought him another.

Christine ate silently, barely tasting the food. She didn’t want to think about Lord Radek’s vampire comments, but found herself unable to think of anything else. Again, she considered the bizarre events of the past few days. Was the existence of vampires any more ridiculous than the existence of a fog that acted as some sort of gate between worlds? Finally, as she finished the food on her plate, Christine finally looked back over at Lord Radek only to find him studying her carefully – as he had presumably been doing the entire time she had been eating.

“Suppose I did believe in vampires?” She began cautiously. “Shouldn’t I be horror-struck that my sister’s with one? Or,” she asserted, a reckless gleam in her eyes, “perhaps because I’m with one as well?”  She waited to see Lord Radek’s response, desperately hoping that she hadn’t pushed him too far.

Lord Radek’s green eyes, however, lit up with delight and he laughed quietly yet again.

“I knew you had intelligence, my Christine. I have felt how deeply your emotions run, but I fully admit that I have been more curious as to whether your brains match your beauty. Oh,” he sighed, “you are so very tempting to me.”

Christine didn’t like the hungry gleam in his eyes. Even as a wave of indignation began to rise within her, she began to feel a sleepy sense of comfort blanket her. Before she was overwhelmed, however, she blurted out, “So, what, you’re tempted to feed on me? Is that right?”

Lord Radek stood up from his chair and went to stand behind Christine. She felt his hands on the back of her neck, then the brush of his fingertips as he brushed her curly blond hair aside to whisper in her ear. “Feed on you? That I have done many times, and you are sweet indeed. You tempt me to do so much more – things that are forbidden to me.”

Christine wanted to move, to jump up from her chair and flee – flee this room, flee this castle, flee this world – but she was frozen. Part of her was screaming inside, but another part of her waited in eager anticipation for what would come next. It all felt familiar. Then she felt Lord Radek’s sweet kiss on her neck and knew the truth. He had fed on her before; this was not the first time. And … she liked it!

Read Chapter 9 next Wednesday, November 23rd, 2011 . . .

 

Want to read more now? You can buy the book on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Barnes and Noble, Powell’s Books, Flipkart.com, Bookadda.com, Bookdepository.com, Booksygen.com, Thalia.de

 

Or you can get a signed copy or pdf version here. Right now the pdf version is only $0.99!

In the upcoming weeks, we will be adding mobi, lit, and epub versions.

Title:  Carpe Corpus

Author:  Rachel Caine

ISBN:  978-0451227195

Pages:  256

Release Date:  June 2, 2009

Publisher: Signet

Genre:  Urban Fantasy

Source:  Library

Rating:  3.5/5

 

Summary:

In the small college town of Morganville, vampires and humans lived in (relative) peace-until all the rules got rewritten when the evil vampire Bishop arrived, looking for the lost book of vampire secrets. He’s kept a death grip on the town ever since. Now an underground resistance is brewing, and in order to contain it, Bishop must go to even greater lengths. He vows to obliterate the town and all its inhabitants-the living and the undead. Claire Danvers and her friends are the only ones who stand in his way. But even if they defeat Bishop, will the vampires ever be content to go back to the old rules, after having such a taste of power?

Review:

This is a really great work of Young Adult fiction.  Author Rachel Caine has created a diverse cast of young (and some not so young) characters who somehow manage to keep going with all of the tragedy and weirdness that abounds in Morganville.  That being said, why did I give it only three and a half stars?  Well, this was my first attempt at going back to a series that I remember loving in 2010.  That first go-round I listened to the audio book version and I don’t remember it’s being so … young adult. A lot of the paranormal fiction that I read is classified as young adult, but this series doesn’t appeal to the adult part of me nearly so well.  Maybe it’s the fact that the main characters are still teenagers, dealing with teenage issues at the same time they’re fighting for their lives.  I don’t miss the gratuitous sex scenes that are so common in the Adult Paranormal fiction (it’s just not my thing and I normally skim through it to get back to the story), so don’t think I’m missing the point that it’s supposed to be teen-friendly. I just felt somehow, especially at the beginning, that I was having a hard time relating as well to these character as I do to those in other books.

That being said, my absolute favourite character in this series is Myrnin, who I always wonder if he’s finally going to snap and kill everyone around him, or if he’s really just pretending and is just a teddy bear at heart.  I have a hard time with the character of Monica Morrell though – she is just so EVIL. The girl sets a fire that kills a girl and then has no trouble trying again and again to kill Claire throughout the series. Intellectually I know she must be a psychopath, and lord knows, growing up in Morganville could do that to a person, but people like her are so rare in the world (especially in young girls) that I cringe inside whenever she enters a scene.

I haven’t said much about Claire, the main character. Claire is okay. I think her housemates are far more interesting, and I’m sure that Rachel Caine has written them that way. After all, Claire was born and raised outside of Morganville, and hey, having an out-of-this-world IQ isn’t that staggeringly normal.

This review has mostly been about the series as a whole, rather than the specific book, because I was really ready for the Bishop storyline to be over. I really look forward to the next book in the series Fade Out, and I think I’ll be in a better frame of mind to appreciate it as it’s meant to be appreciated.

Haven’t read Chapter One yet? Click here to read it!
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six

 

Hillard had been watching Sarah’s reaction at seeing the land mass stretching out across the lake. He watched her turn back and forth from the lake to the castle on the hill and back again with pity. He had been born in this world, so he’d never experienced what she was feeling first hand, but he’d seen a similar reaction several times in others and it never got any easier to watch.

As Sarah slumped to the ground, he rushed forward to catch her but, despite his more- than-human speed, he was too late. He knelt beside her and gazed down at her pale face. Her light brown shoulder-length hair was fanned around her face like a halo and she looked achingly beautiful. The feverish flush only added to her loveliness. He gently stroked her cheek and his finger trailed down the surface of her face, and along the side of her throat. There he paused.

He mustn’t even think about it. It had been days since he had fed, but they would be at Adalaide’s cottage soon enough. With a sigh, he reached his right hand behind her shoulders and took hold behind her knees with the left. Rising, he could feel the heat from her fever through her clothing, and he swore softly. She was very ill.

On a positive note, however, he could now move at his full speed, and they would be at Adalaide’s cottage in mere moments.  Carefully, he picked his way back through the forest to the point where the road met the path. Neither branch nor twig touched Sarah as he passed.

Once he reached the path, however, he sped up, moving at a speed that would be unnaturally fast for a human. He was not human, however, he was something more. He had been human once, but that was more than fifty years ago.

 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

When Christine awoke, it was dark. She felt slow and groggy. Trying to wake up fully, she felt like she was swimming up toward the surface of a warm deep pool. She wondered if she had been drugged. She tried to think back and determine whether every time she’d had something to eat she’d felt the same irresistible urge to sleep. It would have been an easy explanation, but Christine realized that she had felt constantly tired since she had first awoken in the castle. It could have something to do with the knock she had taken on the head.

    After a few minutes of deep breathing, she was finally awake enough to sit up. She felt weak and feverish and she wondered if she had caught Sarah’s cold. That could also explain the sleepiness. It didn’t have to be something as nefarious as drugging or as medically worrisome as a concussion.

    Getting out of bed, she sighed as her feet came to rest on the cold floor. She slowly walked over to the dressing table and sat down. There was a basin of cool water there and she was happy for the opportunity to finally wash herself, if even in such a limited fashion. What she wouldn’t give for a nice hot bath right now. The chilly water, however, felt cool and refreshing on her tired sweaty face. The water finally washed away the remnants of sleep and she got up again and walked over to her bedroom window.

    She hadn’t looked outside again since she had first arrived in her room. Now, she gazed out and saw, in the light of the half moon, the Sleeping Giant reclining across the bay.

    Christine wasn’t sure exactly what was going on, but she knew that she hadn’t been transported to some European castle while she was unconscious. The view she saw now was very nearly the same as the one she saw every day from the kitchen in her apartment in Waverly Towers. Now that her head was clearing, she tried to understand how such a situation could be possible. She thought back to Saturday afternoon, which was the last time that she had known things were normal. She and Sarah had left her apartment at around two in the afternoon, driving south towards the border to the United States. It had started out sunny and they had been chatting and laughing about their hangovers and their over-indulgences from the night before. Then they had hit bad weather. That was where things had started to become strange – in the fog. Everything had been weird since then.

    Gerwin and Elke had been nice enough. Their house had been remarkably quaint, but it wasn’t as if Christine had never heard of people who pulled away from today’s overly technologically-obsessed society. In fact, she’d even had a friend who had grown up in a rural area located just outside of Thunder Bay, in a small house with no running water and an outhouse as the only bathroom. So Christine hadn’t been overly concerned about the simplicity of Gerwin and Elke’s living conditions.

    However, in retrospect, when combined with the sudden transformation of the highway from pavement to gravel, the complete lack of houses or any other signs of civilization along the road, and now finding herself in a castle located in the middle of what should have been Thunder Bay, Christine was starting to realise that something was seriously amiss.

    “Toto, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore,” she joked aloud to herself, and then became more solemn as she thought about her sister. She wondered if Sarah was still waiting for her in the car or if she had left it and was now walking down the empty road, not understanding what had happened to them or where they were. Perhaps she, too, had been captured and was now trapped in the castle wondering where Christine was.

    With that thought, she released the latch on the window and let the glass swing into the room. Her intent had been to lean out the window and see what she could of the castle, but she stopped when she saw the thick metal bars blocking the way.

    “Christine, you’re seriously trapped here,” she said aloud, using the calmness of her spoken voice to still her inner self and prevent the scream that was bubbling up inside her from coming to fruition.

    She had no way to escape. She was completely trapped in this room, in this castle, at the mercy of a crazy man. Her mind started working methodically, her eyes searching the dim room for some weakness, some hope of escape.

    Systematically, she began at the window and began to carefully inspect her room. Her walls, like the walls in the room downstairs, were covered in tapestries, the purpose of which seemed to be both as decoration and as insulation against the cold seeping in from outside through the stone walls. The room was sparsely furnished, with only the bed, the dressing table, and a wardrobe lining the walls, leaving an enormous empty space in the middle of the room, which was covered by a lavish oriental-style rug.

    She went over to the dressing table, inspecting it as if seeing it for the very first time. It was made of heavy redwood, expertly crafted, the surface gleaming in the dim light of the moon. There was an oval mirror at the back, with artistic carvings of nude women surrounding the glass. It seemed like an odd motif for a ladies’ dressing table.

    Christine went back to the tapestry lining the wall beside the window. She inspected it more cautiously, taking careful note of the design and decorative aspect of the piece. The picture was simple, but disturbing. It depicted a dinner scene in a large dining room. There were twelve people seated at the table, with one man at the head. Strangely, he had numerous wine glasses in front of him, all empty except for some residue of what looked like red wine. That’s what Christine assumed it was until her gaze travelled to a man on the far end of the table. He held a blade to his wrist, and blood was dropping down the blade and into a wine glass.

    Christine stared at the tapestry scene in fascinated horror. Was it some sort of religious blood sacrifice? It was a very strange choice of art to hang in a bedroom. Of course, nothing here had seemed normal since she and Sarah had come through the fog.

    There was a noise at the door and Giselle entered. She looked at Christine for a moment, then finally spoke, a distrustful look on her face.

    “The master would like you to join him for dinner,” she said. There was an almost angry tone to her voice.

    Christine saw this as an opportunity to get out of the beautiful but stifling room and see more of the castle. If she was going to escape, she had to at least have some idea of where she was. When she was first brought up to this room, she hadn’t thought to inspect her surroundings. All she remembered was a blur of grey stone walls and cold stone floors. She couldn’t remember in which direction they had travelled or even what exact floor she was on. In effect, she was lost in the castle with no idea of how to get out.

    Another thought crossed her mind. Perhaps she would see Gervis when she was out of her room, walking in the castle. Maybe he could still help her to escape. He had suggested something like that when he had come to her the first night. Thinking about it more, she stopped that thought before she could get her hopes up. She couldn’t risk getting herself or Gervis in trouble, and Lord Radek had made it all too clear that they were not to see each other. Christine finally decided to just pretend to ignore Gervis if she saw him, only giving him some sign of recognition and friendliness if she had a moment when no one else was looking.

    Giselle was still staring at her impatiently. Christine had the distinct impression that the woman didn’t like her or approve of her for some reason, aside from her responsibility in getting Gervis in trouble.

    “Oh, of course I’ll have dinner with him. But I don’t have any clothes except for this nightgown.” She had been wearing the nightgown when she had first awoken in the dungeon. By this time it was dirty and smelled of old sweat. Christine wondered who had undressed her when she had first arrived at the castle – Gervis, or one of the guards. She blushed, but hoped that it had been Gervis. The thought of one of those smelly, unkempt guards touching her naked body revolted her.

    Giselle snorted and walked over to the wardrobe. Throwing the doors open wide, she exposed a plethora of silks and satins in a wide variety of colours.  Christine gasped.  She had never seen such a huge assortment of beautiful clothing in her entire life.

      “But will they fit?” Christine asked, incredulous that such an extravagant wardrobe could be available to her.

    “Of course they will. Master picked them out especially for you,” muttered Giselle.

    Christine had no idea how Lord Radek could know her size, let alone when he could have had them brought to her room and deposited in the wardrobe.

    Fifteen minutes later she was dressed. Red satin flowed around her and she felt more elegant than she had ever felt before in her life. There had even been a selection of dainty slippers lining the bottom of the wardrobe. She put her hair back in a braid, fastening it in a loop on top of her head, wishing that her room had a shower or a bath. Her hair was stringy and greasy and in desperate need of a wash. It seemed like there was no indoor plumbing at all in this … wherever she was.  She had been using a chamber pot similar to the one at Gerwin and Elke’s for the last few days.

    Giselle marched in again, looked Christine over from head to toe, and nodded.

    “That will do,” she said, lips pursed in disapproval. “Follow me.”

    Christine followed Giselle obediently out of her room. They turned left and walked down a long hallway, dark except for some candles elaborately mounted on the wall in metal candelabras. Near the end of the hall, two staircases lined the walls, one ascending and one descending. They took the one on the left and it led down to a stylish entrance hall. Near the beginning of the hall was a door leading off to the right and there they entered the dining room.

    Lord Radek sat at the head of the table and something about the scene seemed oddly familiar. He motioned for her to take a seat to his right. There were numerous chairs running down either side of the grand table. Christine walked with trepidation down to the seat Lord Radek had indicated and sat down.

    “You look … lovely Christine,” Lord Radek murmured seductively. “Normally I do not ask my … guests … to join me for dinner, but I could not resist the opportunity to spend some more time with you.” He looked mockingly towards the door through which she had entered. “However, I do not think Giselle approves of my choice of dinner companion.”

    Christine glanced over and saw Giselle standing in the doorway. She had looked up just in time to see the stern look of disapproval on the woman’s face swiftly change to abject horror as she scurried out. Apparently, Giselle was fearful of her employer.

    “What exactly do you mean when you say that I’m your guest?” Christine asked, overcoming her own fear and daring to ask a direct question.

    “Well, I am sure you have noticed some peculiarities about your current situation, hmmm?” Lord Radek’s face seemed to hold a permanently mocking expression.

    “Well, yes,” Christine said. She paused and then decided that it was best to be direct. “I know that the fog had something to do with it. This isn’t the same Thunder Bay that we left on Saturday.” Christine mentally gasped as she realised that, by using the pronoun we, she had potentially given her sister away.

    Lord Radek smiled as he correctly interpreted the flicker of horror that she had unsuccessfully tried to keep from her face. “Do not worry my dear. I know all about your sister. You will be happy to know that she is safe, for the moment. I am not completely certain for how long however, because she is keeping some questionable company.”

    “You’ve seen Sarah? Can I see her?” Christine was too shocked to hide her joy at finding out that her sister was okay.

    “Well, as I said, I do not entirely approve of the company she is keeping. She was found by someone of whom I have been aware and watching for some time. He is a bit of a renegade in these parts and I actually should have taken care of him by now. I am really quite interested to see how the whole situation plays out, to tell you the truth.”

    “Who’s she with? Is he dangerous? Do you think he’ll hurt her?” Christine was frantic to obtain more information about her sister.

    “I do not really know. That is the fascinating thing about Hillard. He seems to be fighting against his very nature. He does not seem to want to accept what he is.”

    “What do you mean by that? What is he?” Christine was confused.

    Lord Radek sighed, lifted his glass, filled with a thick red liquid, and took a sip. “Well, my dear,” he said, chuckling softly, “I am afraid that Hillard is a vampire.” He looked up and his shining emerald eyes looked deeply into Christine’s.

    With those words, Christine realized why this room had seemed so familiar. She froze, her gaze locking with that of Lord Radek. The picture from the tapestry . . .  The blood in the glasses . . . The man at the head of the table. It had been this room!

Read Chapter 8 next Wednesday, November16th, 2011 . . .

 

Want to read more now? You can buy the book on Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.de, Barnes and Noble, Powell’s Books, Flipkart.com, Bookadda.com, Bookdepository.com, Booksygen.com, Thalia.de

 

Or you can get a signed copy or pdf version here. Right now the pdf version is only $0.99!

In the upcoming weeks, we will be adding mobi, lit, and epub versions.

Title:  Kitty Goes to War

Author:  Carrie Vaughn

ISBN:   9780765365613

Pages:  334

Release Date:  June 22, 2010

Publisher:  Tor Books

Genre:  Urban Fantasy

Source:  I own it

Rating:  5.0/5

 

Summary:

Kitty Norville, Alpha werewolf and host of The Midnight Hour, a radio call-in show, is contacted by a friend at the NIH’s Center for the Study of Paranatural Biology. Three Army soldiers recently returned from the war in Afghanistan are being held at Ft. Carson in Colorado Springs.  They’re killer werewolves–and post traumatic stress has left them unable to control their shape-shifting and unable to interact with people.  Kitty agrees to see them, hoping to help by bringing them into her pack.

Meanwhile, Kitty gets sued for libel by CEO Harold Franklin after featuring Speedy Mart–his nationwide chain of 24-hour convenience stores with a reputation for attracting supernatural unpleasantness–on her show.

Very bad weather is on the horizon.

 

Review:

Author Carrie Vaughn handles the sensitive topic of Post-Traumatic-Stress Disorder with sensitivity and humour. Kitty, having recently gone through her own war zone in the mountains of Colorado, is in a good position to sympathize with the unique issues that her werewolf brethren are going through upon their return from Afghanistan.

This is one of the last books I bought before switching over to a tablet. I didn’t get to it until only recently (being amazed by the sheer number of books I can fit onto my tablet and the convenience of carrying it around with me) and it felt strange to hold a paper book in my hands once again. I know some people are going to assume that I missed that feeling, but honestly … I didn’t. I have chronic pain in my hands and wrists and holding open a book and physically turning pages hurt too much to do a lot of reading in the evenings. I’m really glad that my library lends out ebooks now, because that will make my reading life much easier.

But back to the book at hand – literally for now.  Besides the chronic pain, I had a hard time putting this book down. Something with Carrie Vaughn’s style just captures my attention and holds it. I really wanted to know what was going to happen to these soldiers. Would they ever be able to get a handle on their warewolf side and be able to re-enter human society?

The parallel plot line of Speedy Mart mogul Harold Franklin’s unnatural interest in Kitty got my mind whirling with the possibilities of conspiracies and intrigue. I can’t wait to see where the possibilities introduced by Vaughn in this story go on from here!

Haven’t read Chapter One yet? Click here to read it!
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five

Christine sat frozen in her bed, staring at the man who was walking confidently in through the passage in her wall. She had thought that Radek was out of the castle. That’s what Gervis had told her yesterday.
Lord Radek didn’t look as pleased with her today as he had yesterday. His hair still hung limply around his face, and there was a sardonic twist to his mouth.

“Expecting someone else?” he asked slyly, a hostile glint in his unusual green eyes.

Christine didn’t know what to say. He obviously knew about Gervis’ visit the day before. His words, combined with the comments made by Giselle earlier, made that all too obvious. She pulled the blankets up tightly around herself and just stared at him.

“Relax sweetling,” he cooed dryly, “I know it was not your fault. Gervis is a bit soft in the head for girls sometimes.   I should have
known that he could never resist you.” He chuckled. “I have to say though, I did not know that he was aware of this passage. That was rather precocious of him.”

Christine felt a wave of relief pass over her. He didn’t sound too angry with Gervis either. Lord Radek reached down, grasped her chin between his rigid fingers and turned her face upward, so that she was looking into his intense, emerald eyes. A flash of fear shot through her, but it only lasted for a moment.

She suddenly felt an overwhelming longing to please Lord Radek sweep over her, overcoming the fright that she had initially felt at his touch. The last thing she wanted was for him to be angry with her. He was so fascinating and mysterious. She wanted to learn everything there was to know about him. She wanted … she wanted … his love. That’s all she really wanted – to be worthy of Lord Radek’s love. Some part of her knew that this was wrong, that these feelings were not her own, but she was unable to resist the strong urge to please the man in front of her.

Christine found herself smiling radiantly at Lord Radek and he smiled back.

“Oh, how lovely. Sweetling, you have the loveliest smile. I wish I could see it more often.”

Christine’s smile widened. She was so happy he was there! She jumped up from the bed and threw her arms around Lord Radek, burrowing her face in his shoulder.

“Please don’t be angry. I don’t want you to ever be angry with me,” she begged.

Lord Radek chuckled. He took Christine’s hand and led her back to the bed. He lay her down on her back, and began gently running his fingers up and down her legs and her arms very sensuously, lifting the hem of her nightgown and sliding his fingers underneath.

“You are so very lovely, Christine,” he murmured, “I could never be angry with you.”

Christine’s mind drifted back to her wonderful dream. She realized now that it hadn’t been a dream at all. It had been Lord Radek. His wonderful kisses. His sensuous touch. She felt like she would never need another man as long as she had Lord Radek. Any romantic thoughts of Gervis had evaporated from her mind.

“That is right, my sweet. You will never need anyone else. Until the day you die, I will be your everything.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

 

When Christine opened her eyes, she could tell that it was late afternoon by the change in the angle of the sun’s rays through her window. As she looked around her room, wondering if Radek was still there, she found Giselle looking down at her with a look of disgust on her face.

“Are you going to stay in bed all day? You’ve only been here one day. I hope you don’t think I’m here to wait on you hand and foot.” With that comment, Giselle stormed out of the room, carrying the morning dishes with her. Christine took note of the sound of her locking the door behind her.

She was in bed. How had she gotten there? She remembered having breakfast, then looking for some way to access the passageway. Then she had decided to take a nap. But … something else.

It all came flooding back and Christine felt the colour rush to her face. Lord Radek had been there! Her mouth twisted in disgust as she remembered her behaviour towards him. Had she really fawned over him like that? What the hell had come over her? Maybe she really did have a concussion! The warmth from her face spread as she remembered what she had let … no … encouraged … Lord Radek to do to her. It could have been worse – she didn’t remember actually having sex with him – but what she did remember was bad enough. She felt dirty and violated and yearned for some way to wash herself to somehow get clean again.

She had to get out of there, that’s all there was to it. This place was doing strange things to her mind. Christine sat up in bed, then lay immediately back down as a wave of dizziness enveloped her. Concussion seemed to become a more likely explanation by the minute. And she was so very tired. She knew that Giselle was right, and she shouldn’t spend all day in bed, but she didn’t see that she had anything else to do in her luxurious prison. A bit more rest couldn’t hurt. When she was more awake she could think up an escape plan.

Christine closed her eyes, and she was fast asleep in seconds.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

When Sarah awoke, the light was already growing dim. She sat up quickly, which set off a fit of coughing. Hillard came quickly over and handed her a cup of tea in a tin cup.
When the fit finally passed, Sarah sipped the tea. It wasn’t black tea, it smelled strongly of ginger. It had the combined effect of warming her chilled bones and soothing her raw throat, which felt like it was lined with razor blades. Her cold was definitely developing into something worse.

“I’m sorry I don’t have anything for you to eat,” Hillard apologized, “but we should be at the cabin of a friend of mine later on tonight. She’ll have something I’m sure.”

Sarah was surprised at the pang of jealousy that shot through her when she heard Hillard use the pronoun ‘she’ for his friend. His girlfriend maybe? Why should she care? He was just some homeless guy who was helping her to find her sister. She reached into her bag and grabbed the sandwiches that Elke had prepared for her and Christine the day before and handed one to Hillard. Sarah was too hungry to worry about spoilage – the sandwiches tasted great, although it was extremely painful to swallow. She used the tea to wash the sandwich down more gently. Once she had finished, Hillard handed the other sandwich back to her, uneaten, insisting that he wasn’t hungry and that she needed the strength to travel and fight off her illness. She took it gratefully and soon there was nothing left but crumbs.

She felt ashamed of her jealous thoughts when she realized that Hillard had kept the fire going for her all day and had left her with all of the blankets as she slept. The crisp November air was chilly and she knew that he must have been cold. So what if he did have a girlfriend? She shouldn’t be surprised. He was attractive, caring, and charming. Besides, what right did she have to be jealous? It wasn’t like he would ever be interested in someone like her.

“Are you sure you’re okay to travel?” he asked, as he looked her over with concern in his eyes. She didn’t look at all well. Her face was flushed with fever and her breathing was ragged. He needed to get her to some real shelter soon, or she would become too sick to walk. He was developing a need for some real shelter as well. He couldn’t spend another entire day out in the sunlight without feeding.

He considered trying to heal her, but suspected that she wouldn’t react well. In fact, if she had any idea of his true nature it was likely that she would panic and flee. Then she would be worse off than she was now.

“I’m fine,” she insisted, crossly. She wasn’t really angry at him for being concerned. She was more irritated with herself for her feelings of jealousy.

Hillard began folding the blankets and putting them back into his bag while Sarah finished her tea. He handed her the folded emergency blanket. Silently, she put it back into her bag. She told herself that she was being silly. She really needed to pull herself together so that she could find and rescue Christine.

That last thought got her moving. She handed the empty cup to Hillard and started walking towards the road, before Hillard had a chance to put the cup in his bag.  She had spent the entire day sleeping! Who knew what was happening to Christine while she was lying around.

They walked down the road in silence for awhile. Sarah was concentrating on breathing – her lungs hurt and she was pretty sure that her fever was still high. For some reason she started thinking about the outrageous hypothesis that Hillard had thrown at her earlier. It was an interesting idea, that the fog was a gate, and she was in a parallel universe. She smiled. It sounded like something that would be a good plot for a fantasy novel.

As she walked, she looked around, trying to identify any familiar landmarks. The small range of large hills that she had thought earlier were part of Mount McKay was similar to what she would expect if she were heading into Thunder Bay. The only problem was the lack of houses along the way and the absence of the two major ski facilities – Loch Lomond and Big Thunder. Normally, the paths for skiers, cut through the thickly forested hillside, were obvious. There was no sign of them here.

About an hour later, they came to a broad river. There was a wide wooden bridge spanning the water. Something about the river seemed familiar, but Sarah pushed all of those kinds of thoughts away. She continued to insist to herself that they were on some road that possibly ran parallel to the highway. She and Christine must have just somehow turned off the highway in the fog. It wasn’t that unlikely. She hadn’t been able to see five feet ahead of her at the time, let alone the sides of the road. She could easily imagine that they had gotten off-track. Any other explanation was just impossible.

Hillard silently watched his travelling companion. She looked really rough. Her cold was obviously developing into some sort of secondary infection and he hoped that she would make it to the cottage. He knew that he could carry her, if necessary, but while carrying a woman and three bags was not something that would tax him or his abilities, Sarah’s reaction to such a feat was not an idea that appealed to him.

The night grew darker and darker and there were clouds covering the moon. Soon, Sarah was having a hard time even seeing a few feet in front of her. It reminded her of driving through the fog. She pushed that thought out of her mind again, not wanting to think about it, or the implications of what Hillard had been trying to tell her earlier.

After almost tripping over some loose stones on the road that she didn’t see because of the darkness, Sarah reached out and grabbed Hillard’s hand. He didn’t seem to have any trouble at all seeing in the dark. She considered using her flashlight, but didn’t want to run out of batteries and thought that they might need it if the night got any darker.

Hillard tried to ignore the feeling of Sarah’s warm hand in his. It was actually quite hot – her fever must be really high. Part of him felt so protective of her, the other part wanted to run away from the attraction he felt towards her. He couldn’t afford to get involved with someone as innocent as she was. He had too many obligations towards Adalaide.

Sarah was starting to feel a little dizzy and was happy to have Hillard’s steady hand in her own. They reached a crossroad and Hillard led her off to the right. She still had no idea where they were, but decided to trust that Hillard was the nice guy he appeared to be. He had taken very good care of her at their last stop. If he had less than innocent intentions, he could have made his move back then. He’d had her at his mercy while she had been sleeping. He essentially had her at his mercy now, too, while she couldn’t see and didn’t have any idea where she was. But for some reason she felt safe with Hillard.

“How long until we get to the cottage?” she asked, after what seemed like an eternity since they had left their resting place.

“We should be there within the hour,” he said. “We’ll reach the lake soon and then we just follow the shore to Adalaide’s cabin.”

‘Adalaide,’ Sarah thought, ‘So that’s what her name is.’ Jealousy reared its ugly head again and Sarah pictured what Adalaide might look like. She was probably a tall, leggy blond, with big breasts and a tiny waist. She most likely had blue eyes and the face of an angel. Unable to help herself, Sarah asked, “Is she pretty?”

Hillard thought for a moment before answering. “She’s beautiful. She’s very full of life and, although she doesn’t always realize it, she has a really good heart.” He looked like he was lost in thought after he answered and Sarah didn’t want to interrupt him by asking any more questions. His tone had answered her next question anyway – it was obvious that he had some very deep feelings for this woman.

Sarah didn’t know why she’d even bothered asking. She’d just met this guy. Besides, she was still married to Paul, the asshole that he was. She just focussed on walking, watching the ground in front of her. It felt as though they had been walking for hours, and perhaps they had – Sarah’s sense of time was as muddled as her stuffy head.  Nevertheless, they must be getting close to the city by now.

She knew she was right when she began to hear the cries of seagulls in the distance.  They must be in close proximity to the lake. The sun was starting to come up and she was relieved to finally be able to see what was under her feet and directly in front of her.

The lake, of course, was Lake Superior, the largest fresh water lake in the world. Whenever Sarah travelled away from Thunder Bay, it was always the lake that she missed most, much in the same way she imagined people who lived next to the ocean felt about their ‘big water.’ It was a majestic sight to see, the water stretching so far out into the distance that you couldn’t see the other side. It really did look like an ocean, if you didn’t know better, and couldn’t tell the difference in smell between fresh water and salt. It was just a few days ago that Sarah had been sitting in Christine’s apartment, sipping her coffee and gazing out, over the lake, and admiring her old friend the Sleeping Giant.

The road Sarah and Hillard were on came to an end, branching out into two paths perpendicular to the original road. Sarah looked at Hillard for any indication of which path to take.

Hillard had paused, an idea tickling at the edges of his mind. Finally he nodded, as if he had made a big decision, tightened his grip on Sarah’s hand and said, “Follow me. I think there’s something you need to see.” Still holding her hand, he led her straight ahead, into the woods. They tromped through the wild woods, no open path available to them, thickets scratching at them, climbing over the big pieces of deadwood that blocked their way. Finally they emerged onto a flat expanse of rock which Sarah recognised immediately as part of the Canadian Shield. It led into the unmistakable waters of Lake Superior. There, far out in the bay, was her familiar friend the Sleeping Giant. The sun was rising behind it and it was as beautiful as ever.

Sarah just stared at it for a moment until she realized that something wasn’t right about her view. The vista she had of the Giant was one that she would have had if she were standing in Marina Park. Normally, the Giant looked different, depending on where you were looking at it from – that’s how she knew that she should have been standing at the Marina.  From the back, and from the top of Mount McKay, the Giant almost looked like a woman, with rock protruding where two breasts might be. From Marina Park, the protrusion looked more like an Adam’s apple.  As she stared out into the bay, she realized that the discomfort she felt was related to the fact that something else was missing from her view – there was no breakwater and no lighthouse – two items that would be visible at any point along the western shore near the city.

She turned around and looked behind her, trying to spot the city that she knew should be there. There was forest – pine trees and birch trees – in abundance. There was a hill, where she knew Port Arthur sloped upward to Hillcrest Park and there, at the top of the hill, where the doctor’s houses normally stood, looking out at the best view in the city, was a castle – a real, stone castle. Sarah turned back around and looked at the Giant. There were no castles anywhere near Thunder Bay, she knew that. She turned back and looked at the castle again, then turned back to the water. Sarah repeated that action several times until, finally, the spinning didn’t stop and she was overwhelmed by dizziness. Darkness closed over the edges of her vision, and her last thought before fainting was ‘Oh my God, he was right. The fog was a gate.’

 

Read Chapter 7 next Wednesday, November 9th, 2011 . . .

 

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