For Love of a Vampire

Chapter 29

I was excused to explore the camp while Rosalie sat with Helen and picked her brain of everything she knew about Margaret. It felt good to wander freely without fear of being abducted by crazy Vivian or now... Lord Rufus. I considered petitioning to be able to stay at the camp permanently once the danger for Duncan was removed. Since Duncan and I were no more and I was stuck in the past, it seemed like a great place to live out my days. I'd be able to interact with Isabelle as if she was flesh and not a semi-transparent apparition and I could continue my studies. It seemed like a plan.

I stopped at the center market and chatted with the merchants selling their wares. Many of them came to the camp from nearby farms. Some were alive and traveled back and forth through dimensions, while others were in spirit and this was their home. I lost count of how many times I was warned not to leave the parameter of the encampment where Rosalie's protection was no more. Since I'd had my fill of dealing with the dark at heart, it was easy to comply.

I was strolling about -with no place in particular in mind to go to and no one in particular in mind to visit- when I saw her standing in the thickets along the parameter of the encampment. I could see the life force that was once housed within her clinging to her body like a blanket of light that was slowly dimming to a glow that would eventually either be no more or turn to black, depending on the nature of the person. I called it the glow of the newly dead.

All warnings of staying within the encampment's protective parameter flew to the recesses of my mind as I made my way toward the wicked Lady Vivian.

"You died?" I asked.

She had a confused look on her face.

"What manner of place is this? Do I stand in your home of the future?" she asked.

"'You are dead, m' lady," I said compassionately.

"Jest not," she scoffed. "Tell me true."

"I speak truth," I said as convincingly as I could, "You are dead. Do you know why?"

She scowled at me for a moment and then shook her head.

"Do you remember your last moments?" I persisted.

"No," she said sadly.

I spent more time speaking with Vivian until I managed to get her to remember her last moments of life. Obsessed with her hatred for Margaret, she'd been stalking her for several days while she developed a plan to finish her off. Unlike me, Margaret proves far more difficult to get close to for both Vivian and her goons. This didn't surprise me. The wicked are always on the alert where the innocent often get taken unawares.

Vivian followed Margaret to an out of the way cave that was declared off limits to all magical beings of light centuries ago because of its ties to the dark side. Only the darkest of witches ventured there. Even Vivian didn't fall into that category.

She was hiding in the hills when she saw a small patrol of vampire soldiers bringing in a captive. They had his wrists and ankles bound with silver chains and were dragging him on the ground behind a horse as if he was nothing more than a log being dragged off the mountain for firewood. There was a significant trail of blood being left by the near vampire corpse. Vivian knew only the basics about vampirism, but she knew that if the vampire wasn't able to feed soon, he'd disappear into nothingness for sure.

Inching in for a closer look, she realized the vampire captive was Lord Duncan Colliers.

It took her a few moments to process the fact that Duncan was a vampire. She assumed he'd traveled time like he'd warned his family may happen. When she'd been given the credit she didn't deserve for performing the spell to send him into the future, she'd reveled in the notoriety. The thought of torturing Margaret with the concept that she was responsible for her love's disappearance gave her such pleasure, she allowed the rumor to circulate. In truth, she had no idea who'd performed the spell and she certainly didn't realize Duncan was vampire. When did that happen?