The Vampire Legacy III; Familiar Souls (26 page)

Justin, curious to know what was going
on, stepped quietly over to the edge of the doorway and peeked
around into the room. He watched as Cristian smiled at the person,
hidden by the blowing window curtains, then he began to unbutton
his shirt. This made Justin not only curious, but a bit upset that
Cristian, who was supposed to be the good son, would be so open to
doing things like that in an open room.

Justin watched, though, as the events
unfolded before him, baffled by what he was seeing as Sage, dressed
in a light, silky robe stepped out from behind the curtain and
reached up for the now half-naked man in front of her. She smiled
at him, looking Cristian deep in the eyes, and wrapped her arms
around his neck.

"You know, Ms. Owen, that all this
sneaking around is going to hurt someone." Cristian said as his
hands rubbed her back over the robe.

"I don't care!" She replied, stroking
the back of his neck with her fingers. "I'm sick of playing around,
of pretending that I don't want you, when it's totally obvious that
I do."

"What about Justin?" Cristian asked,
leaning down and kissing her on the neck.

"What about him?" Sage questioned, and
then pulled him close. Justin didn't want to watch anymore, his
stomach turned and the darkness inside him raged to get out and
raise hell, but his eyes held him there, watching as Cristian
picked her up and sat her down on the counter, then placed himself
between her legs as their kisses became more wanting, more
heated.

"Justin!" His named rang out. Justin
turned to look down the hallway at David, who waved him over, and
then he looked back into the room at the two, who were in the midst
of a very heavy conversation using only their body language. Justin
closed his eyes, turned his body and slowly walked away, trying
hard to control the breathing and fiery that he held in him. He
stood in front of David and shook his head, his hands clenched so
tight they were turning white. "What is it?"

"Nothing." Justin said softly, but
David could tell there was something wrong.

"Listen, there's something I have to
show you, in one of Julian's spell books that might help up with
Victor." David replied. Justin looked up then shook his head. "I
would have asked Sage, but I can't find her."

"Try down the hall, with Cristian."
Justin mumbled. David looked at him oddly.

"Wait." He said with a smile. "I must
be hearing things because I thought you said that she was down the
hall with Cristian."

"I did." Justin scowled then gained his
composure. "Let's go look at your book."

"What about Sage?"

"I'll deal with that later." He said in
a low tone. David nodded, and then the two of them made their way
back towards the library.

* * * * *

I smiled to myself as I rubbed my small
belly with my right hand, and then glanced at the ultrasound
picture that the doctor had given me. How could I have thought that
this would be wrong? Here I was, sitting in my father's home
looking at the first picture of a child that grew inside me that
was part of me and the man that I wanted to be with forever. It was
then, as I thought about Justin, that I heard the distinct giggling
of Taryn and watched her quickly walk by. This made me wonder,
because I hadn't seen Cristian all morning, and as far as I knew he
was out on the boat with Michael and Quinn.

Slowly I rose to my feet and made my
way out into the hallway, where I listened for the sound of her
voice again, which I followed to the dining hall. Waves of worry
and distrust seemed to sweep over me as I turned towards the small
enclosed room. It's ceiling's were painted beautifully with four
different kinds of plants marking the seasons. It had six large
windows, twelve feet high at least, and three on each side, the
right side looking onto the patio, where Bobbie, Ashley and Lauren
all sat, relaxing, and the left looked out into what Julian had
referred to as the Oriental Garden.

This is where I spotted Taryn, laying
on the grass, her shirt off, her white bra exposed, and I watched
the dark head of hair that kissed her navel, and began to unbutton
her jeans. She laughed, as his hair tickled her playfully, then he
slid off her jeans. My face grew flush, as I watched this man
kissing her thighs, and between her legs, where her light pink
cotton panties were. I couldn't believe that Taryn had the nerve to
do something like that, outside, in broad daylight with a man that
I knew wasn't Cristian then again, and I couldn't believe that I
was still watching.

It was then, just as my feet finally
began to work and I moved to back away that I caught a glimpse of
the man's face. My eyes widened as I moved closer to get a better
look, but his hair hid his features, until he came up and put his
cheek against her stomach, and he turned his face towards me. I
felt a wave of dizziness as I stared at Justin's face, one that
looked as though he was in total heaven.

Tears began to fall, and I placed my
hand over my mouth as a wave of nausea swept over me. I turned,
unable to comprehend what I had just seen; but certain that I had
to find a bathroom, quick.

As I knelt on the floor, with my eyes
closed, sitting next to the toilet, I heard the door open and
footsteps in the room.

"Sage?" Julian's voice whispered. I
looked up at him, through swollen eyes and then sniffled. "Are you
all right?"

"I...I'm not sure." I replied, then sat
down on my butt and pulled my legs up to my chest. "What do you
want?"

"Marian said that you looked awfully
pale when you ran by her, I thought I might check on you." Julian
replied and sat on the floor beside me. "What is it?"

"Justin." I whispered.
Julian looked at me oddly. "I just saw him with Taryn out in the
garden." I closed my eyes. "I'm sure if I stayed any longer I would
have seen him
WITH
her."

"Oh, my." Julian said softly. "Now,
this is quite odd."

"Why? What's so odd about it?" I asked
and looked at the wall. "My boyfriend, the father of my child, is
with another woman, his brother's woman. How can that be
odd?"

"No, you don't seem to understand."
Julian sighed. "What's odd about it is that I just left Justin and
David in the library."

"How long ago?" I asked him.

"How long does it take to walk from
there to here?" He asked. I sat up and shook my head.

"No, that can't be." I insisted. "I
know what Justin looks like, Julian. I know it was him."

"What were you doing about fifteen
minute ago?" Julian questioned.

"Sitting in the breakfast room, looking
at the baby's picture. Why?"

"Did anyone else see you?"

"Bobbie came to check on me, and that
was just before I watched Taryn run by. Julian, what's this about?"
I asked, leaning forward.

"About fifteen minutes ago, Justin saw
you with Cristian."

"The only way I would ever be with
Cristian is to put a piece of tape over his big mouth and tie him
to a maypole, even then, I would just leave him there to rot." I
said in disgust. I looked over at Julian, and then thought for a
moment. "What's happening?"

"Dark forces are trying to work against
you." He whispered. "You see the only way that this will work is if
the three of you stand together, but if there is a break between
you, then the power won't be there."

"So, you think that we're all seeing
things?" I asked.

"So far, it's just you and Justin, and
that can easily be fixed, you couldn't have been in the spot that
the other saw you in, if you were with someone else at the time."
Julian explained.

"Bobbie saw me, and you saw him." I
nodded. "What about David?"

"There hasn't been any incidence so
far, but I'm sure something will show up." He shrugged. "I'll
explain it to the boys; just remember that your mind is playing
tricks on you." Julian stood up and looked at me. "Take your time,
then come down and try to eat lunch, if you can."

"I will." I sighed then watched him
leave the room. "Dark forces." I whispered to myself. "Victor."
And, closed my eyes.

Later that night, after things
straightened out between Justin and me, I decided to take a shower.
Justin realized that there was no way I would ever be with anyone
else, especially Cristian and he also assured me, not that I needed
it after Julian's explanation that he would never do anything to
hurt me, and he told me that being with Taryn, in any form, would
never happen.

It was as the shower sprayed on,
though, that stranger events began to happen. I steamed up the room
with the hot water, like I always did before I stepped in and
stared at the ceiling for a bit. There was a knock at the door, a
light tapping noise, but as I opened it and looked out, there was
no one there. I shook my head, closed the door and walked over to
the shower, where I stripped off the towel and stepped
in.

As the water ran over me, I put my arms
out in front of me, closed my eyes, and leaned on the wall. I
thought about what I saw earlier, of how Taryn seemed so into
whatever was going on, and then I thought of the man that she was
with, the one that looked like Justin and shook. The look on his
face was pure ecstasy, as if that moment the world had
stopped.

It was then, as I thought about the
sheer pleasure in his eyes that I felt the cold draft of the shower
door opening. The feel of a presence behind me made me stand up
straight, but as I turned to face my intruder, strong arms wrapped
around me and pulled me towards a hard, naked body. I wanted to
resist, and put my hands up against a solid chest, when I did; I
instantly knew that it wasn't Justin who held me so seductively.
Warm lips moved across my bare skin as I pushed against the arms
that held me, but I couldn't budge them.

Slowly, the warm lips made their way
towards mine and I got a look at the face in front of me. David's
eyes looked hollow, almost empty, as if he were a puppet on a
string. His face moved closer and I turned my head to the side, but
his hand reached up and grabbed my hair, whipping my head back
towards him. I looked at him, trying hard with my mind to break the
black cloud over his but to no avail.

David's lips pressed hard against mine,
demanding and forceful, and the more I struggled, the harder he
held me. He backed me up against the wall, pressing his body
against mine, and started kissing my neck, that's when I
panicked.

"HELP ME!" I screamed out with my mind
and my voice, but that's when the fangs hit their mark. I screamed
as the pain flashed through me and I felt David taking the blood,
quite forcefully from my veins.

As the world began to turn black, and
the terrified face of David, blurred in and out before me, I heard
the door break open and other voices screaming, but the one I heard
so clearly was the one in my head.

Sage?
It whispered.
Oh, God! Sage, please
don’t go.
Then, as the connection slowly
went away, I heard the desperateness of his words.
What have I done?

Justin stood paralyzed in the doorway
of the bathroom, as Julian and Michael pushed through. He couldn't
believe what he was seeing as he looked over David, who knelt on
the floor, naked and dripping, who held Sage against him, blood
flowing from the two deep wounds in her neck. David's face seemed
quite confused, and he looked up at Justin as if asking for an
explanation.

Michael grasped the auburn haired man
behind the arms as Julian rushed over and picked up Sage from the
floor. David kept asking if she was all right; if she was alive,
but Justin couldn't answer, he could just stare.

Slowly, her eyes opened and Justin
looked over at her as she moved on the bed. Michael stood against
the wall, one ankle crossed over the other, and his arms crossed
over his chest. Her bright eyes surprised him and almost made him
want to smile, but the events of the past few hours wouldn't allow
him to.

"Justin?" Her weak voice asked. Justin
slowly walked over and sat on the bed next to her, taking her hand
tightly in his as he kissed it. Sage sighed, and then closed her
eyes a bit as she looked around the room. "Where's
David?"

"He can't hurt you, Sage." Quinn
replied. She looked at him, a bit confused, and then she turned in
Justin's direction.

"He didn't hurt me." She replied.
Justin looked over at Michael, who quickly walked over to her and
knelt by the bed. "Michael, where is he?"

"Safe." Her father whispered. "Do you
remember who happened in the bathroom?" She nodded, still staring
into Justin’s brown eyes. "Tell us, if you can."

"I got in the shower and was standing
there when someone else came in. I thought it was Justin, but it
wasn't." She closed her eyes and looked over the faces in the room,
then stopped to stare at Justin's once again. "It wasn't David
either."

"Are you mad?" Cristian asked. Michael
looked at him, anger welling up in his eyes. "Of course it was
David, we found him, with your blood all over his face. You had two
very deep holes in your neck."