Secret Of The Crest (8 page)

   They all stopped, unpacked their gear and started taking photos every which way. Gregor rested his leg as he stood upon one of the smaller boulders and stared out at the river. Cassandra slightly turned her camera towards him and took some shots hoping he would not notice that she had focused on him. Spontaneously was doing the same thing from another angle.

   ‘It’s not polite to take pictures of someone you know, if you haven’t asked their permission’ Gregor said in a low voice.

   ‘Sorry, I have no intention of publicizing them, I will give them to you when their printed. I just couldn’t pass up perfect photogene!’

   At hearing this, Cassandra gave out a sigh of relief thinking ‘
Thank God he didn’t see me!
’

   She had thought this too soon though because at that moment she heard his voice.

   ‘How about you Cassandra? Will you give me your pictures as well or will you post them in a magazine?’

   Turning blush Cassandra answered.

   ‘Of course not, absolutely not! I am a professional. I take pictures of everything and everyone all the time but that doesn’t mean I go ahead to invade their privacy. You can have all of them once they are printed. I have never made public anything that I didn’t have permission to’ she said in a very serious and sort of offended voice.

   Rebecca on the other hand went closer to Gregor and spoke once more.

   ‘Would you like to sit with me and have a snack? I’m a little hungry.’

   ‘Yes, of course, I am not hungry but I never give up the chance to accompany a lovely woman. Over there, near the bank, let’s sit there’ Gregor said.

   The river bank was only a few meters from where they all were so from that point he could see each one of them.

   ‘Would anyone else like to join us?’ he asked. 

   Rebecca was annoyed at this. She really wanted to be alone with Gregor even if it was for a moment. She didn’t show her frustration she was too proud.

   ‘Yes!’ called out Sam. ‘We’re done up here. By the river I could take some nice shots of the trout.’

   ‘Sam, you are not taking off your clothes!’ Sarah affirmed.

   ‘Now Sarah love, you know I love underwater photography so just watch me!’

   Sam started taking off his clothes.

   ‘Close your eyes ladies’ he joked as he took off his pants.

   All of them were gathered at the bank and Sam started taking pictures with out any intention of taking in a snack. As he got into the water waste high he spoke again.

   ‘It’s bloody freezing in here!’

   ‘Perhaps it’s best you took pictures from where you are?’ said Gregor.

   ‘Perhaps you’re right, friend’ answered Sam as he shivered in his shorts.

   The girls wandered near by taking shots of the wilderness although Rebecca stayed as close as she could to Gregor. He noticed this and let it be so.

   ‘May I see your camera?’ he asked.

   ‘Why yes, you may.’

   She sat on the edge of the river and through pebbles into the water.

   ‘I meant if you could please show it to me how it works.’ He sat next to her.

   ‘I would be happy!’ she said with a grand smile on her face.

   Gregor could feel everything she was feeling, he was sensitive like that. He felt her heart pounding rapidly, her adrenaline climbing to all limits. He felt for her and was compassionate. After all, they have been like one, since he drank of her. Only, she did not know that.

   Cassandra and Sarah were thirty meters away shooting pictures of a family of squirrels. They had captured the girls’ attention as they played merrily amongst the branches.

   ‘Can you continue here please?’ asked Sarah. ‘I would like to take a few shots of my silly fiancée in the river!’

   ‘Sure, I’ll take care of this side’ Cassandra replied. 

   They all did their own thing happily as the hours passed quickly. 

   ‘Tell me, are you originally from England?’ Gregor asked Rebecca.

   ‘Actually, I am from a small village far from the capital called Fobbing. We moved to London when it was time for me to go to college. I now live very close to Thames River.’

   ‘That is a well known tourist site, isn’t it?’

   ‘Yes, it is, but I’ve gotten quite use to it.’

  ‘Would you consider me as rude if I asked you a personal question?’

   ‘Shoot, love. I don’t mind at all. What do you want to know?’

   Rebecca had been anticipating this moment when she daydreamed he would ask about her love status. She acted all calm and cool but inside her heart was racing quicker than a cheetah on a hunt.

   ‘Are you in a relationship back home?’ he asked.

   ‘If I did love, he would either be here by my side or I wouldn’t be. I haven’t really had luck with finding my prince charming. So, I’m as unattached as they get!’ she replied happily.

   It was all too obvious that she provoked him to make his mood. Cassandra was so passionate with her work she slowly began moving further and further into the woods forgetting all the time that she was supposed to stay in view’s distance. Gregor and Rebecca had begun to let each other’s feelings for one another show through their conversation while she showed Gregor her camera explaining in great detail every part of it.

   ‘You are very good at this. Are you too studying photography?’ he asked.

   ‘No, love. I have, we all have had photography as a hobby since we were all kids. One Christmas, our parents came up with the idea that we all received the same gift from old St. Nick. Mainly so we wouldn’t suspect he didn’t exist and so that we would have a common interest when we were together other than goofy toys and game boards.  That Christmas morning we all opened our presents and found our first cameras. Well, me and the girls I mean because we didn’t know Sam back then. Any way, we went outside that Christmas morning and took pictures like crazy. We developed them and made tons of albums in a very short time. That is how it all began.’ She smiled.

   Gregor stared into Rebecca’s eyes signaling his wish to kiss her. As he slowly leaned towards her and just before she gave her lips willingly to him, a scream pulled them away from each other and left them in question. The group reconnected immediately, all except Cassandra who was missing. Gregor was now very tense and more worried than any of them were. They were all unsuspecting of the possible consequences.

   ‘You must all stay right here, exactly at this point all together. No matter what do not separate from each other!  Do you all understand me?’

   ‘Yes, yes we understand!’

   ‘I’m going to find Cassandra but I don’t want any of you to be lost.’

   Gregor ran into the woods following the direction he heard the scream come from. He ran deeper into the forest scanning for Cassandra. Again he heard someone not screaming this time but sobbing. He was lucky to find Cassandra where she sat crying.

   ‘Cassandra, are you alright, were you attacked?’

   Gregor wouldn’t forgive himself had his sister been hurt just as they had been reunited. He didn’t want to lose her again.  Cassandra looked up at him as he pulled her up and hugged him tightly relieved but shaking.

   ‘I’m sorry, I… I shouldn’t have gotten so preoccupied with the shooting; I was in the forest and didn’t even realize it!’

   ‘The important thing is that you are alright. You are alright aren’t you?’

   ‘Yes.’ Her voice was trembling.

   ‘What happened? Why were you screaming?’

   ‘Two very pale people, a man and a woman grabbed me by surprise and held me against my will. The man held my arms as the woman went for my throat. I thought they wanted to strangle me. Then something very strange happened.’

   ‘What was that?’

   ‘The woman lifted my chain in her fingers and asked me where I am from. When I told her I am from England she asked me what my name is. She had a very deep almost sad voice. I told her my name was Cassandra Williamson. Immediately she let me go and turned away telling the man to leave. He asked her what she was doing and she answered him, “
Vasili, not now!
” And they quickly ran off.’

Gregor was surprised.

   ‘Did you say she said Vasili?’

   ‘Yes, why do you ask?’

   Gregor bit his lip.

   ‘That is a common name in these parts, we cannot know who it was since there are many with that name here.’

   ‘What did they want of me, Gregor?’

   ‘I am sorry, but from the way you described their moves I am sure they were ghouls.’

    ‘If that is the case, then why didn’t they rip me to shreds?’

  ‘I haven’t an answer for you but I am grateful that you were left unharmed. Now, let’s return to the others before they come looking for us’ Gregor said in a hurry wanting to avoid more conversation. Cassandra on the other hand didn’t want to let it go.

   ‘I can’t quite understand what happened back there. She was going to do something bad to me and changed her plans when she saw my necklace. Her eyes became gentile and her growl had ceased. Then, when she heard my name her eyes turned sorrowful and I felt her pain as she turned away. She looked as if she was sorry for attacking me’ Cassandra was saying.

   Gregor asked her in an angry voice now.

   ‘Did she say she was sorry?’

   ‘No, but her face sure showed it.’

   ‘Cassandra, they were ghouls! They do not say sorry or ask for any forgiveness! They do not repent and they have no feelings what so ever! All they care about I is to drink from you. Do not let your guard down for a minute when you are out here again!’

   Gregor tried his best to make her hate the ghouls by scolding her.

   ‘Okay, okay, I get the hint!’ she replied but inside she let her questions arise.

   ‘Let me see your necklace, please!’ he told her in a lower toned voice.

   She pulled it out and to his eyes came forth a beautiful gold locket with two old worn pictures. One was of a Cassandra as a baby and the other of her mother. He looked at it for a moment and closed it shut again. Engraved upon it was a cross and decorated around the cross was a chainlike line entwined with the letter D many times around encircling the cross. In the back it was engraved “
Cassandra
” and the date of her birth.

   ‘Well,’ Gregor said lying through his teeth, ‘There is a cross on this necklace and that is what stopped them from their hideous act!’

   ‘Yes, but where do the questions she asked fit in? Why didn’t they just run when they saw the cross?’

   Gregor realized it wasn’t going to be easy to make Cassandra forget the incident.

   ‘They probably realized hitting on an outsider would cause international panic and they might lose their feeding ground if more hunters were brought in to seek them out.’

   ‘Perhaps you are right! I hadn’t though of it that way. I was so terrified I still can’t think straight! I’m surely not going any further than where the group is again!’ she said and continued. ‘And you know what’s worse? I didn’t get the chance to take a picture of them.’

   Gregor called out to the rest of them that were now in his site again.

   ‘Okay, listen up. We all need to stay together at every moment from now on because we almost had an attack.’

   Everyone looked at Cassandra. Sarah went next to her to ask if she was alright.

   ‘What’s wrong with you? Didn’t Gregor tell us to stay in sight? What would we have done if something awful had happened to you, love?’

   ‘I am absolutely fine and I am sorry that I scared you all but I didn’t do it deliberately. I actually got carried away. Anyway, it was a close call.’

   While all the commotion was going on Sam took pictures one after the other of Cassandra as she explained then he stopped for a moment and asked her a question.

   ‘Cassie, tell us all about it!’

   ‘There’s really not much to tell only that we thought ghouls were in the past but obviously they are in the present as well. I was almost attacked by two of them but for some reason they changed their minds and took off in the woods.’

   ‘For goodness sake, love. What were they like?’ asked Rebecca.

   ‘They were pretty much the same as us only they were pale and had kind of a humpback. I am really sorry I got carried away and upset you all but I suppose it was best because now we will all be more careful out here! Shall we continue now back to our trail?’

   They all smiled and agreed. Gregor lead them as he spoke.

   ‘Let’s go up to the mystery points but I won’t tolerate anyone leaving my presence.’

   Sam seemed a little nervous.

   ‘You are going to be able and protect us from wild animals, bear traps and ghouls right?’

   ‘I will protect you with my life so long as you are not off on your own!’ he replied.

   ‘And who will protect you if needed, friend? I am almost sure that in danger I would run away leaving you all behind.’ Sam had a yellow steak down his spine from when he was young he was afraid of almost everything.