Dark Love (6 page)

‘I suppose so,’
he said slowly, reluctantly letting his arms fall from around her.
Sarah felt exposed without his touch, but she knew burying the urn
was something they would have to do. She yawned, and realized she
was tired.

Daniel extended
his arm and brushed her brow briefly, leaving Sarah with cool
tingles to refresh her eyes.

‘We can rest
for a short time, once we have done this,’ he said. ‘We need to
find the spade first though. It should be somewhere around here . .
.’

Sarah started
looking for it too, wandering between trees and stretching her eyes
to their limit. Daniel was looking in the other direction from the
urn and she could hear his faint footsteps as they snapped twigs in
the distance. It was not long before she saw another glint of
silver, and hastened towards it. It was the spade, still dirty from
Daniels earlier burying. She leant over and picked it up by its
wooden handle. She recognized it from her shed; it had been Jo’s
spade. She had never used it in the yard as it was too heavy for
her, but as she lifted it now she realized it was light. Her body
had certainly changed.

‘Daniel, I’ve
found it,’ she called.

For one heart
stopping moment she did not hear him, then he was at her side and
she laughed anxiously. She would be lost without him.

Daniel had the
urn in his hands.

‘Shall we bury
it here?’ she asked him.

‘No, I think we
should go further into the forest. Further from your house,’ Daniel
said.

‘Lead the way,’
Sarah said playfully, she was not so tired they could not make this
fun.

Daniel shot her
a searching look, before shooting off into the depths of the
forest.

Sarah took a
deep breath and shot after him, adrenaline buzzing in her veins.
She made sure she kept Daniel in sight as he darted ahead. She had
a suspicion he was being gentle with her, that he could lose her if
he tried, but she did not mind. She did not want to lose him, she
wanted to chase him. On and on they went, racing each other,
narrowly avoiding trees. Sarah laughed as Daniel stopped. She was
just about to grab him when he shot off again, and she took
pursuit, rejoicing in her ease of movement and her agility. It was
so rejuvenating, and exciting. She felt like she could do anything,
such an expanse of possibility stretched before her.

She saw Daniel
had stopped again, and raced up to him, expecting him to move away
before she could touch him. But he did not and she collided with
him, the urn and the spade. They all tumbled to the ground, both
her and Daniel laughing and breathing hard.

‘I think this
will do, we’re a long way from your house now. No-one would think
of looking here.’

Sarah watched
as Daniel picked up the spade and started to dig. She sat back
against a tree and let him do it alone; they only had one spade
after all.

‘Let me know
when it’s my turn,’ she said.

‘I will,’
Daniel replied as he jammed the spade into the earth and threw the
dirt aside. A pile was already accumulating; he was a fast digger.
Sarah let her eyes close as he dug. She soon felt her mind drifting
and images were forming in her unconscious.

It was night
time, but she was not lying in bed, she was up and moving around in
the darkness. Utter silence surrounded her. She was drifting past
gravestones in an old cemetery. Her skin pricked with a strong
sense of foreboding that she could not shake away. She looked up
and saw the steeple of a church, beyond which were rugged stony
hills. Something touched her foot. She moved away but it clutched
onto her ankle and a rotten smell rose in the air. She really did
not want to look, did not want to see what it was. She had to force
her eyes down, and when she did she saw it was a rotting hand, and
it was coming out of the earth at the foot of a tombstone. Her
heart rate went through the roof and she jerked out of her dream.
She tossed and turned, slumping to the ground before falling into a
deeper sleep.

Daniel
continued to
dig as Sarah slept. He was not really going to
wake her as she needed the sleep more than he did to adjust
mentally to all the changes surrounding her, and he was not going
to grow tired of digging. He quite enjoyed it as it was so
thoroughly different from his normal day to day routines. He had
not buried bodies for Sebastian; Sebastian had not cared if they
were found. He liked the unquiet it caused. Burying the urn was
something different altogether. He had never dug such a deep
hole.

The soil was
becoming wet and the stones were hard to get the spade through. He
was in the hole now, shoveling out more debris, and he decided that
was deep enough. He sprang out and lifted up the urn. He stretched
his mind tentatively towards it, checking the strength of the
bonds, seeing if he could sense Sebastian within. He found he
could, in a much weakened state. He did not imagine Sebastian would
have any awareness now, he would not sense time passing as he was
buried in the ground; at least Daniel thought he would not. If he
does, it serves him right anyway, all the trouble, all the death
and pain he has caused. Nevertheless, Sebastian had formed a big
part of Daniel’s life, and he placed the urn carefully in the hole,
before jumping out and turning to look down on him.

‘Goodbye
Sebastian,’ he muttered beneath his breath, ‘I hope you
never
come back.’

He started to
scoop the earth back in, covering the urn one spade load of dirt at
a time. With every load of earth he thought of Sebastian staying in
the ground, he thought of no-one ever finding him, of no-one
noticing his place of burial. He reinforced each of these thoughts
with magic.

When it was
done he treated the site in the same way he had with the bodies he
had buried the previous night, covering the area with twigs and
leaf litter and trying to make it look like nothing out of the
ordinary had happened there. When he was satisfied he picked up the
spade and listened intently for sounds of danger while watching
Sarah sleeping by the tree and admiring her beauty. He wanted to
make sure she was safe before leaving her alone, which he had to do
to get rid of the spade. It would save time if he did it now, while
she rested, as they had plenty to do in the morning. He listened
out one final time before taking his favorite form of a buzzard and
soaring up, through a gap between some branches, into the night
sky. He held the spade in his talons and used his wings for speed,
enjoying the feel of the cool air as he glided onwards. He covered
a great distance in minutes and spotted a ditch in a clearing
ahead. He swooped down and dropped the spade there. It was now far
from searching police. He turned back and retraced his path through
the darkness, back to Sarah.

He landed near
her feet as she slept on, exhausted. He transformed back and
smoothed his clothes, before laying his head on Sarah’s legs and
falling into slumber, warm loving thoughts mixing with images of
Sebastian held beneath the earth.

It felt like no
time had passed at all when he felt movement beneath him and
realized Sarah was stirring. He opened his eyes and looked across
at her, to see her regarding him with a cheeky smile.

‘I really need
a shower . . .’ she said, wrinkling her nose. ‘And Daniel, I’m
thirsty. I don’t think I can wait much longer for more blood.’

Daniel nodded,
thinking she looked strained.

‘How long have
you been awake?’ he asked.

‘Not long. Just
long enough to admire you while you slept . . .’ she said, and his
heart skipped a beat as she winked at him. ‘I’m so sorry I fell
asleep. I completely meant to help you bury the urn,’ she
continued.

‘I knew you
needed the rest.’

He was pleased
to see her smile back before he glanced up at the canopy above and
saw dim light filtering through. The sun was about to rise. He
jumped to his feet, trying to muster some enthusiasm for the tasks
ahead. He looked forward to when he and Sarah had their own house,
when they could relax and spend some romantic time together. It
won’t be long now, he told himself. Just a few things to do: Wash.
Feed. Influence parents. Pack. It wasn’t so bad. He and Sarah would
be together throughout.

He was about to
extend his hand to help her up, but realized she had jumped to her
feet too – he had just been too consumed by his thoughts to
notice.

‘What do you
think about the idea of hunting an animal?’ he asked her, switching
his mind back to the present.

Sarah nodded.
Daniel watched as she immediately switched to alert and listened to
the early morning sounds of animals rustling through the leaves,
looking for food. Birds were beginning their dawn chorus. The
forest was alive with activity. The trick was to find the largest
heart out there, as hunting that would be the biggest feast.

Sarah was
assuming the feral look, not helped by the state of her attire, her
tangled hair and her general grubbiness. He daren’t take her
anywhere she may be seen now; people would be scared, or worried.
Hmm, he thought, and what did he look like? He was probably equally
scruffy. His shirt was stained with blood from Sarah’s scratches
and his trousers were decidedly muddy.

Sarah snapped
her head to the side and Daniel listened to the nearby heart beats
himself wondering what had grabbed her attention. He heard a
substantial sized rhythmic beat, maybe five hundred meters to his
left, as Sarah started stalking in that direction. She was moving
silently, as stealthily as she could, and Daniel followed quietly –
keeping her in sight. As he heard the beating getting closer Sarah
sped up and Daniel glimpsed the brown fur of a bear up ahead. It
was feeding itself, and making enough noise in the process. It must
have thought it safe, for the bear was absorbed in its meal, rather
than alert to danger.

Sarah traversed
the trees so she could approach from behind, and Daniel watched
with satisfaction as she lunged at the animal and successfully sank
her teeth through fur and skin and he could hear her swallowing
blood. He leant against a tree, wondering how this would go. Would
she pull away in time for the bear to live? He suspected not, for
she was still learning. He would not interfere this time though, if
she drained the bear and killed it she would absorb more power and
this would keep her satisfied for longer. They had a long journey
ahead and he was not sure if there would be many, or any,
opportunities to feed.

The blood he
had consumed last night would be enough for him. He did not need as
much blood now he was older, and he so rarely consumed human blood,
mainly relying on animal, that one feed could sustain him for a
week. He would have to remember that Sarah would need to drink more
often than this.

He could see
the bear was weakening in Sarah’s grip. It had stopped struggling
and was beginning to bow, losing its will to fend her off. Sarah
was still glugging at its blood, holding on tight, lost in the
feed.

Daniel could
hear the bear’s heart slowing and knew it was about to die. It did
not look like Sarah had even tried to stop. It was going to take
her a while to learn control, to learn not to kill. Daniel smiled,
thinking it would feel good to help her.

The heart
stopped and Sarah let the beast go, leaving it in a crumpled heap.
She stepped away, wiping blood from her mouth and leaving a streak
on her cheek. She looked up and met Daniel’s eyes, so he
approached. He had taken one step before she raced at him and was
in his arms.

‘I couldn’t
stop, I didn’t want to Daniel,’ she said.

‘Shh,’ he
replied, holding her soothingly. ‘It takes time. How do you feel
physically – better? Are you still thirsty?’

‘No, I feel
fine, just dirty. Let’s go and get cleaned up,’ she said, quickly
resigned to the fact she had just killed.

‘Are you ready
for a race?’ he asked her, making an attempt at distraction.

He saw her eyes
glint, ‘The Woodman?’ she asked.

‘Yes,’ he
said.

The moment the
word left his lips she was off, and he was in pursuit. She knew her
way around the forest well, and probably knew the way to the hotel
he had been staying at as well as he, so he let her lead the way,
only occasionally overtaking to liven up the chase.

The sky was
getting brighter, and the sun glinted through the trees behind
them. It was amazing being out in the woods this early, the morning
smells of pine, moss and dew made him feel alive. He saw Sarah
ahead and his heart ached for her. He sped up and grabbed her –
pinning her to the ground, and she laughed beneath him. He jumped
up again, taking her hand as he did, and sped on holding it
tight.

He slowed as
they got closer to the hotel, hearing voices outside. He shared a
glance with Sarah; she had heard too. She knew as well as he what a
mess they looked, and that they could not be seen.

Daniel looked
around the side of a tree and saw it was a couple of women dressed
in hiking gear. They were on their way around the back of the
hotel, going to their car.

He did not see
people at the hotel often. In fact it was so rarely occupied he was
surprised it was still open at all.

He and Sarah
waited until the people were out of sight and quickly went in
themselves, going to Daniel’s room before anyone else came out.

They passed the
room where Sebastian had killed someone making Daniel think
bitterly of the blood and the wasted life. It was taped off from
view, and Daniel wondered what the police thought about what had
happened. It obviously wasn’t public knowledge or no-one would be
staying here, maybe they were covering it up, not sure what to
do.