Star, Starland Vamp Series, Book 1 (10 page)

Acantha decided to join the militia along with us to help in the fight, being an ardent patriot. Acantha and I would dress like men when we went on raids wearing pants—something women never did—and tucked our long hair up under our hats. Slowly, I relented and our friendship was intact again, but I never told her my dark secret. She came to accept that there were certain things I just wouldn’t talk about. And she respected my private hunting parties with Fredrick, as well. As for the meat from our hunt, we always brought back the deer or other game carcass we caught for our men, never wasting one morsel of the animal. No one ever noticed or questioned that they were completely drained of blood, and Acantha never questioned our disappearances, either.  I guess, at the time Acantha thought Fredrick and I were an item, which we never were. Although I constantly denied it, she gave us our privacy.

In fact, I’ve never been emotionally involved with anyone in my life. Before I was turned, there were suitors, but never anyone special. I definitely know what love is and have the capacity for it, but never fell in love. In fact, vampires can love more completely and fully than humans ever thought possible, and when we surrendered ourselves to it, it was complete. 

Anyway, we were in the swamp one night after a raid and Fredrick and I just came back from a hunting trip with plenty to eat for everyone. No one questioned our methods. They only knew that there was food to fill their bellies, regardless of the source.

Acantha and I cut up the meat, placed it on a spit, and roasted it over the fire for the men.

“So you and Fredrick aren’t … um … seeing each other?” Acantha whispered low, her lips curled up into the same devilish smile. 

“Acantha,” I said in disbelief, laughing, as I turned the meat over the fire. “Give up, will you
? You know I don’t feel that way about him! He’s like a father to me. My best friend.”

Acantha suddenly feigned offense. “I thought
I
was your best friend!”

“Shush!” I replied, quickly placing a hand over her mouth. “The men will hear you!”

Acantha smiled wickedly again as she turned the deer meat over the fire. The aroma was heavenly. “Then you won’t mind if I have a go?”

I laughed and the men looked up, some obviously wondering what we were talking about. “At Fredrick?” I whispered. She nodded, smiling innocently, but her eyes danced. “Go right ahead. That is, if you think you have a chance.” It was now my turn to smile wickedly.

“Is that a challenge, Miss Starland?” Acantha asked, her eyes dancing in the firelight.  She pulled a hind quarter from the fire, then cut it up, placing the pieces onto a tin plate.

I laughed, and it sounded like bells. “As you wish, Miss Bree.” I said, making a grand gesture with my arm. “This should be interesting,” I said under my breath. 

Acantha laughed, her smile contagious, as the firelight danced off her features. That’s the last memory I have of her being human.

Suddenly, a burst of gunfire erupted, sending loud shots piercing the still night air. Even though it was pitch black outside the edges of the firelight, I could see many Red Coats moving in, hiding around us in the forest.

Acantha dropped the plate she was holding.

“Acantha, run
!” I shouted, pushing her toward safety. Then everything seemed to happen in slow motion as she reached for her gun, already loaded and ready. She looked up at me with surprise in her eyes, when a bullet pierced her in the back and she fell into my arms. I held her limp, lifeless body within my arms, then laid her carefully on the soft grass and whispered into her ear, “Acantha, hang on!” She was still breathing.

I quite literally saw red and I didn’t care who was watching as rage filled my chest. I ripped out the hearts of twenty men within an instant as Rick yelled,
“No! Abigail, no!”
Then he looked toward the fire and saw Acantha lying helplessly by the fire. Together, Rick and I along with the other men, defeated our attackers. An no one lived to tell about the girl who killed twenty men in a blink of an eye.

The men in our camp looked at me questioningly, but never said a word. “Come on,” Brock said to Earl as he reached for a body. I guess he was happy I was on their side. 

Earl nodded, still looking at me strangely, then turned to the other men, “Come on gents, let’s bury ‘em.”

None of our men ever spoke of the incident again.

I rushed to Acantha and scooped her into my arms, as tears ran slowly down my cheeks. “Acantha, don’t die,” I cooed into her ear, rocking her back and forth as a mother would a child. She was incoherent, but her eyes met mine, as if asking for help. Rick patted my back sympathetically as I held her. “Rick, you think we should?” I asked, looking up at him from the ground with tear stained cheeks.

Rick knew I was referring to making her one of us—a vampire. “See if you can get a response from her first.” He still wanted to offer her the option. He didn’t want to take that away from her, and neither did I. No matter what her decision may be.

“Acantha, I’m going to tell you something and you need to listen very carefully,” I began, whispering into her ear. “I’m a vampire, Acantha, and I can save you. But to do so, I’ll have to make you one of us. Do you want me to save you?”

I looked into her eyes, but they were already becoming fixed as her heart fluttered.

She did not respond.

“Rick what do I do?” I begged, rocking her within my arms, feeling helpless and crying openly. I knew I only had a minute to decide.

“It has to be your choice,” Rick replied, patting my back with tears in his own eyes, as well. A few men looked on, bowing their heads, for they liked Acantha, too. She was one of us. One of the guys.

Suddenly, I knew what I had to do.

I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes and scooped her into my arms, finding sudden strength. “Where do we take her?”

“I know a place,” Rick replied, his words rushed. “This way
!” Rick ran at lightning speed through the darkness with me on his heels, effortlessly carrying Acantha. Trees whizzed past us as Rick led us deeply into the forest. Although it was completely pitch black, I could see perfectly. We ran toward the shore. In the distance, I could hear waves lazily lapping the beach. Suddenly, Rick ran up a steep hill and at the top was a hidden cave.

Acantha’s heartbeats faltered as I gently placed her on the stone floor covered with purple cave dust. There was no time left.

“Acantha,” I said, hoping she could hear me in her semi-conscious condition. “I’m going to make you a vampire, like me. This is going to hurt.” But in her condition, she was beyond feeling any pain.

Slowly, I worked over her, biting first her neck, then her wrists, ankles, and her arms, trying to get as much venom into her system as possible while there was still time. Quickly, the venom spread and just when she was on the brink of death, her heart began beating faster, pushing the venom through her veins, changing her forever.

Rick sat with me, with us both, as we waited. She said nothing and didn’t move for a day, then I breathed a sigh of relief when she became reasonably conscious.

“Kill me! Do it now!
” Acantha yelled alternately through her blood curtleing screams.

“Shush,” I cooed, stroking her long blonde hair. “It will be over soon.”

Rick comforted her as well, trading places with me. “It’s going to be alright,” Rick cooed as if to a small child as he stroked her hair. “You’re becoming a vampire …” he began, explaining to her what she was becoming and what it would entail.

After another day of constant screaming, suddenly, Acantha grew silent.

“Is the pain gone now?” I asked. Her eyes were still closed.

“No,” Acantha said confidently, and I knew the process was almost complete. “But it’s manageable.”

“Good,” I replied, smiling. My eyes met Rick’s, and he was smiling, too. “It will be over soon.”

“Good,” she replied, “because I’m going to kill you.”

Sudden shock and horror filled my eyes as they grew wide and my mouth popped open. Whatever response I had anticipated surely wasn’t this. “What?” I asked, making sure I’d heard her correctly.

“You heard me,” Acantha said, her eyes popping open, glowing emerald green. And for a split second, I wondered if she had turned into one of The Others, a demon, incapable of human emotions. But how could that be? Her heart was so kind, so loving. She was my best friend. Besides Rick, the best friend I’d ever had. “I’m going to kill you.”

“Why?” I asked in disbelief. “I saved you
! I saved your life!”

“You condemned me to hell!” she corrected in a demonic voice, as a wild look came into her emerald eyes.

I looked at Rick, knowing that if she was indeed one of The Others, we would have to kill her ourselves. Immediately. I reached for a wooden stake lying on the floor behind me, when Fredrick held up his hand and shook his head.

“Acantha,” Fredrick cooed calmly. “We only meant to save your life. You were incoherent and we only had a minute to decide. So we made the decision for you.”

“You decided wrong,” Acantha replied, rising from the stone floor that moments before was her burning bed. She was very beautiful, despite her demonic disposition.

“You would rather us have let you die?” I asked, still in shock. “How could you not want to live, Acantha, no matter the form you had to take to do it? There are many people around the world lying on their death beds that would kill to have the choice.”

“I’m not one of them,” Acantha replied with a demonic look in her eye. I tightened my grip on the wooden stake behind my back, ready if I had to be.

“Acantha,” Rick said softly. “Please listen to us. We both wanted to save you, no matter what we had to do to do it.”

Cautiously, I approached her. “Acantha, we love you, honey. Please understand that.”

And with that, Acantha placed her head in her hands and sobbed until her tears turned to blood. She reached for me with her bloody hands, and I pulled her into my arms, dropping the stake. “It’ll be alright,” I cooed as I held her, stroking her hair, knowing the worst was over.

And for the next few months, Fredrick and I instructed her on how to be a good vampire, how to hunt animals and not to kill unless it was absolutely necessary and unavoidable. Slowly, her personality came back, although it took longer for her than for me. Fredrick told me that it was because she was fighting it. Her recovery was rougher than mine. But slowly, she came to accept what she was and came to terms with it. And as her personality and understanding returned, slowly, our friendship returned, as well.

For the remainder of the war, we fought together against our common enemy, and together, the three of us along with our men were an unstoppable force. She was a good patriot and helped to change the course of the war.

***

In the classroom, I watched Annie—as she is now called— knowing our friendship had come full circle. In her eyes, I could still see my good friend Acantha from long ago.

Annie’s eyebrows pulled together in concern. “What’s wrong?” she asked in a low voice so as not to attract attention, but we could still hear the teacher if needed. Vamps could pay attention to many things at once.

And as I looked in her eyes, I knew our friendship was still intact. “Nothing,” I replied with a half smile. “Just thinking of the old days.”

Annie reached across the table and gently squeezed my hand. “Don’t think about it.” Then she smiled her wickedly devilish smile I remembered. “But we had us some good times, now, didn’t we?” She returned my answering smile.

Suddenly, Mr. Harwood stopped his lecture and cleared his throat, “Ms. Miller,” he came to stand in front of my desk, glaring at me. Bad mistake.

Annie suppressed a smile as I turned to Mr. Harwood, giving him my sweetest smile. “Yes, Mr. Harwood?” I asked innocently.

“Would you be so kind as to tell me what we were just talking about?” Mr. Harwood asked, waiting expectantly.

“Yes, of course,” I replied innocently, so innocently that many students laughed. “You were just explaining how to enter formulas into Excel.”

Mr. Harwood smiled, thinking he had me. “And what exactly was I saying?” he asked.

I gave him a half smile. In my peripheral vision, it was all Annie could do to keep from laughing, placing a hand to her lips. “Yes, of course. You said, ‘The initial cost for each of the stock options are displayed in column D, and is equal to the number of shares in column E times the original price per share in column G.”

Mr. Harwood was no longer smiling.

“Is that right, Mr. Harwood?” I asked innocently, still smiling sweetly.

“Yes … uh … of course,” Mr. Harwood stammered. “Just make sure you’re paying attention. Will you?”

“Of course,” I answered, suppressing a smile. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Many of the students in the class giggled.

“Well, now,” Mr. Harwood said, walking to the front of the room. “Let’s continue, shall we?”

Then Mr. Harwood instructed us to turn on our computers and gave us instructions in the fine art of using Excel. Annie and I both suppressed conspiratorial smiles, then turned our attention to Mr. Harwood. Good. The perfect opportunity to message Rick. I needed to tell him what happened earlier with the rogue vamp. I also needed to know what he was doing and if he had found out anything.