Dark Love (11 page)

Looking about
she saw they must have reached the moor. They were parked in a
gravelly hollow surrounded by large stones that sparkled pink in
the early morning light. She twisted her body to try and see more
of her surroundings, but her view was blocked by tendrils of mist
drifting though the valley.

Sarah
considered getting out of the car and searching for her photo
albums. She felt a sad emptiness inside without her kids, and
wanted to at least see their faces. But she did not want to wake
Daniel. He must have been driving for hours after she had fallen
asleep and he had not disturbed her at all, it was so good of him.
She would look at the pictures later, she decided. For now she
would just have to look at Daniel instead. . . .

She gazed at
him, knowing full well there was nothing that he could do to stop
her. He was so beautiful, if it was even possible – more so than
the surrounding countryside. Yet he looked out of place here, or
did he? He was so mysterious that he could be a creature of
darkness flitting through people’s dreams. He was also full of
light and good intentions.
He
was a dream, like a guardian
angel come to save her from the tragedy of her past.

He was
Daniel.

She smiled and
sighed, contentment and pleasure mixing with sadness and loss.

As she gazed at
him he opened one eye and caught her staring. Her cheeks flushed
and she grinned.

‘Hey,’ she
said.

His returning
smile filled her with love. She scrambled up in her seat and
climbed onto his lap, curling up like a child. He encircled her
with his arms and she just sat there while he held her, breathing
together, seeking solace and comfort in his arms.

She closed her
eyes and drifted in and out of sleep as Daniel rubbed his lips
against her hair, and stroked her gently. Tears welled up and
rolled down her cheeks as she allowed herself to feel, to miss her
children without pushing the hard emotions deeply inside her and
out of reach.

She started to
feel better and wiped her tears away.

‘I need to go
find us a place to stay soon,’ Daniel muttered against her hair.
‘Then we’ll have somewhere we can just be ourselves.’

Sarah looked
into his eyes and nodded, before climbing back into her seat.
Daniel started the car and they were moving. She did not feel the
need to speak, or to even know where they were headed, so she just
gazed out of the window at the passing landscape; admiring its
barren and windswept expanse.

The hillsides
were covered in scattered stones, tufted wild grass and marshes.
What made the area truly different from anywhere she had ever seen
were the hills, or mountains, or whatever they were . . . They were
topped with massive stones that looked like they must have been
placed there by giants.

Wild ponies
roamed the land, and sheep ran in droves across the road before
them. Daniel had to slow to wait for animals to pass on a few
occasions, and she could not help but exchange the odd glance of
amazement – for Daniel seemed to be in just as much of a dream as
she.

Sarah saw a
dark fortress ahead and recognized it instantly from the picture in
the newspaper. She knew they had reached Princetown. The town
itself was unremarkable - painted houses, possibly Victorian, were
accompanied by the odd café, quirky shop and Inn. The prison
dominated the town – it was enormous and made of dark stone, with a
hundred tiny barred windows.

Daniel pulled
up the four by four on the pavement, outside a small real estate
agent.

‘Do you want to
wait here?’ he asked her.

‘Yes, I think I
better – I’m kinda thirsty,’ she said.

She did not
want to be tempted to feed on someone else who was trying to help
them. She wanted her next feed to be animal blood, less satisfying
but better for her soul. She seriously doubted there would be any
bears to feed on though.

‘How thirsty?’
Daniel asked, concerned. ‘Do you think you need me to help
you?’

Sarah nodded;
she did not want to risk it.

Daniel fixed
his eyes to hers and she felt his power rising.

‘Stay here and
wait for me, I will not be long,’ he said, infused with his strong
will.

Sarah knew she
could not move now, however much she wanted to.

She watched as
Daniel entered the real estate agent and wondered how he would go
about this - they had not even talked about money. Did he have
much? Did he have any, or did he use his influence to get what he
wanted? The idea made her uncomfortable, and she hoped that was not
it. She would need to talk to him about it later.

She was skint.
She had not been when Jo had been providing for them, but she had
just assumed any money that remained would be used for her kids, by
her parents. At least they were not poor – they would manage
without her earning any money. But what about now? Daniel had
sorted out the flights and now he was looking for somewhere to
stay, but they had not talked about what they could afford. He had
been earning money in Hartland, back in Canada, working for her
Dad, but he would not have earned enough to rent somewhere here
without some extra source of funds, and he had not talked about
finding work. She knew there was no way she could work as she would
end up eating whomever she worked for. There was no avoiding that
reality.

As she sat
there couples walked past pushing children in pushchairs. It
reminded her painfully of what she had had to leave behind.

Only minutes
had passed when Daniel reappeared trying to suppress a grin. He
slid into the car beside her.

‘Sorted,’ he
said.

‘You’ve found
somewhere already? How did you wangle that?’ she asked, amazed.

He tapped his
nose, ‘I happen to have certain powers of persuasion,’ he said.

Sarah decided
now would not be the best time to bring up the money issue as she
did not want to ruin the moment, plus she was desperate to find out
what he had found.

‘Well?’ she
asked, spotting a piece of paper in his hands.

He presented
her with it, and she looked down to inspect it. Before her was a
picture of a tiny stone cottage, entirely on its own and backed by
moor. Underneath was a description of the rooms. There was only one
bedroom, perfect, plus a bathroom, living room and kitchen. There
was a small yard with a stone wall, and it was so remote you needed
to drive up a track to reach it. Good job they had got the four by
four, she thought.

‘It looks
lovely,’ she said. ‘When can we move in?’

She met
Daniel’s eyes, and saw how much he had hoped she would like it. She
grinned to show her appreciation of his efforts. He reached into
his pocket and brought out a set of keys, and tossed it to her. She
was so surprised she nearly dropped them, but caught them just in
time, giggling.

‘Can we go
there now?’ she asked, not even trying to hide her excitement.

‘Yes, we
certainly can,’ said Daniel.

‘Yay. I didn’t
know what to expect, but this place looks so cute! And old, do you
know how old it is?’ she asked him.

‘No, but I’d
guess at sixteenth century,’ he answered.

‘Whew, there
was no-where any-where near that age in Hartland,’ she said.

Daniel started
the engine and drove out of town.

Her throat hurt
- it was so dry, and she knew what that meant. She needed blood.
She felt antsy, restless, and was starting to feel violent. It was
hard to focus on where Daniel was going as he drove, and it seemed
like no time at all until she felt the bumps of a gravel track and
the car came to a halt.

Why did blood
lust hit her like this? She was ok, not doing too badly at all,
then smash, she was a wreck and likely to lose it at any
second.

Her car door
opened and Daniel was lifting her out.

‘Shhh,’ he said
– ‘you will be fine, you can drink from me.’

A groan escaped
her lips, but she did not even have the energy to cover her mouth.
She heard a key turning in a lock, and things become fuzzy as she
ascended the stairs in his arms.

‘Daniel?’ she
asked, uncertain that it was even him here with her.

She heard the
faintest swish and smelt the heavenly odor of intoxicating liquid.
Her eyes flicked open and she saw deep red drips running down
Daniel’s neck. Instantly she moved, she had to – she sank her fangs
into his neck and drank. It was totally different from when she had
fed on a human, or an animal. Daniel’s blood was rich with a
different type of power, and it had an entirely different effect on
her.

Passion.
Desire.

They ignited
inside her, and she wanted him.

She broke away;
her thirst abated and lunged for his mouth, his too utterly sexy
for his own good lips, and kissed him deeply, intensely – taking
him in for what he was – an amazing, giving, sexy, dynamic man.

I love him, she
thought, and pulled off his clothes as he ripped hers away.

She was naked
and fell back on a soft, already made bed. Daniel was on top of
her, moving against her as she melted into him, her world
dissolving around her.

Sarah
finally had
the chance. She opened up her rucksack and pulled
out her photo album. She turned the front cover and saw pictures of
Megan and Bea one year ago. She quickly flicked to the end where
there were the most recent pictures which were taken only one month
before. There they were - Megan with a grown up, trying hard to be
responsible, expression on her face, with her arms around Bea.
Megan had been trying to help Bea play with her toys – much to
Bea’s disgust. Sarah’s heart wrenched at the sight of them and she
let herself shed tears. She would allow herself this one moment of
indulgence, to mope, to miss her two little loves, and then she
would have to move on - for now.

They would be
fine. They were with her parents, who loved them, who they loved.
They would be happy.

She wiped her
cheeks dry on her sleeve and closed the album, before placing it at
the back of an empty cupboard.

Daniel had left
her alone ten minutes before. He had driven into town to fetch some
luxuries. She suspected alcohol might be on the cards. She hoped
chocolate.

Before he had
left he had brought in their luggage while she had lain on the bed
in a daze. She was surprised he had not kicked her up the butt and
into action. But now she was on the case. She would have everything
unpacked, including his stuff, before he returned.

Their bedroom
was adorable. That was one of the reasons she had not been tempted
to leave it. There was an old oak double bed made up with retro,
flowery bedding. The walls were rough and painted white. There were
wooden floorboards under her feet and there was one cupboard made
of dark mahogany. Beyond the bed was a small window which was
deeply set in the wall. She walked over to it and sat on the
ledge.

Outside it was
stunningly wild. There was a hill that steepened as it extended
away from their house, and it was scattered with the stones that
were everywhere on the moor. Daniel had informed her they were
granite and had been created by ancient volcanism. In the distance
she could see the steeple of a church and was eager to investigate.
She was tempted to give up on the unpacking and go directly to
check it out, but what if there was someone there? She did not want
to risk hurting anyone just to satisfy her curiosity. Instead she
resolved she would persuade Daniel to accompany her later. For now
she would get on with the job in hand.

She returned to
her bag and tipped it upside down, emptying its contents onto the
bed. She folded the clothes she had so hastily wedged into her bag
upon leaving and put them away, before venturing out of the room
and placing her bits and pieces on the window sill in the bathroom,
which was tiny. There was a toilet and a sink, and a low down
shower, even she would need to duck to wash. Hmm, washing. Now that
sounded like a good idea.

She quickly put
away Daniel’s stuff too. His items were very minimalist so her
curiosity to discover more about him was not satisfied.

There were
towels in a pile at the foot of the bed. She supposed they had been
on the bed before their, err… kinky action. She grabbed one and
rushed to the shower. It was weak and disappointing. She had had to
stand under it for ages to get the bubbles out of her hair.

Dissatisfied,
she was just stepping out when Daniel came in with an enticing
glint in his eye. From behind his back he pulled out a glass of
bubbly and pushed it into her hand.

She flushed –
she was still naked! She sipped the bubbly liquid, appreciating its
smooth taste, and how it made her brain feel like it fizzed.

‘Thank you,’
she smirked, and reached for a towel.

Daniel stroked
her tummy playfully before she managed to wrap it around her body,
then he disappeared. She heard his steps on wood as he descended
the stairs and left her alone to get dressed.

She took a few
more sips and then hurriedly threw on some clothes. Now Daniel was
back she wanted to explore. She brushed and blow dried her hair and
rejoiced in putting makeup on for the first time in days.

Finishing her
drink she took one look around their new room then bounded down the
stairs to Daniel. She found him in the living room, relaxing on a
worm sofa with his feet up – a glass of bubbly in hand. He gave her
a super sexy smile which did funny things to her insides.

‘Fancy an
explore?’ she asked him.

‘Alright then,’
he said.

But his actions
did not go with his words. Instead of getting up he opened up his
arms. Sarah gave in and went to him and sat on his lap. He picked
up the bottle of bubbly from the floor, it was Prosecco from Italy,
and refilled her glass.