A Child's Dream

Chapter 9 Escape

She huddled closer to him, as the noonday sun poured in the window. How could she have doubted him? They\'d been through so much already. True what had happened was unintentional. She even doubted she\'d forgive herself, if he could not. Now nothing would tear them apart. She lightly traced a \'K\' across his bare skin, as his chest gently rose and fell in the rhythm of his breathing. He\'d often wished he could have her mark on him, as she wore his, but how would that ever be possible? He healed so quickly, and without scars. Gently his left hand moved over hers, pressing it nearer the middle of his chest. She could feel the steady throb of his heart. BEAT, beat...BEAT, beat...BEAT, beat...Strong and proud. Slowly she crawled over him pressing a kiss to his lips, waking him fully. \"Mmmmmm.\"

\"I love you,\" she said, as his arms came around her. \"No matter what. Please remember that.\"

\"I never forgot. I think that\'s what had hurt so. I\'ve never felt like this before. I don\'t want to loose it.\"

\"You said you were with someone. Before me, and what of Doris?\"

\"Loves of the past, my Kale. We are always, I never want to loose you again. Never again.\" Quickly he rolled her over, emphasizing his point by taking her once more. He filling her, while she filled him within. \"I asked you of it once before,\" he said with gently thrusts. \"I\'ll ask it again. Stay with me. Always...\" At first she didn\'t say anything. He lovingly kissed her neck, gently nipping with all too human teeth, then breathed his words once more to her ear. \"Always...\"

\"Ah!\"

\"Always...\" he repeated, gliding his tongue around her ear, pressing into her a little harder, as her body spasmed in the new sensation.

\"Please! D!!\"

\"Always!!\" he repeated, thrusting harder still. \"Always!! With me!!\"

\"D!!\"

\"Say it!!\"

\"Ahh!!\"

\"I wont let you go until you say it.\"

\"Then...I - UH! - Wont! I don\'t want to stop. I want to feel you like this - AH!! - Always!! DON\'T STOP! D!!\"

He pulled her to a kiss, sitting up once more, moving gently and slowly within. \"Say it! - Uh! Uh! - SAY IT!!\"

\"No! Because this will end!\"

\"Never! I will only pause. I will take you, to heights such as this, and beyond! You will never have the chance to forget this feeling...Nor will I - NOW SAY IT!!\"

\"AH! D! Forever! Till the end of time! AH!!\" He lay her back down, their bodies spent. Never did he have to beg her for anything like this, but the end was worth the wait.

It was an hour before they got up to dress. Neither of them wanting to part for long. But things had to be done, clothing needed to be found. D emerged from the lav, finding one of his socks in the tub. Had he really thrown it that far? Kale still hadn\'t found her bra. As he stepped from the lav, straightening his sock, he saw her bent over the far side of the bed, looking under, for it, a rather enticing predicament indeed. He only had his pants on, they could easily be removed, and was about to take advantage, when his attention was drawn to the door by a persistent scratching. Without thinking he opened it, and Logan trotted in, turning to him and taking human form. \"Well I give up,\" she said, looking up. \"I can\'t find it. ACK!! D!!\"

\"Sorry.\"

Logan averted his gaze, as Kale hid herself below the edges of the far side of the bed. \"You must leave, now. There are men with guns, looking for you.\"

\"The border guards,\" D cursed.

\"You mentioned them before didn\'t you?\"

\"Get dressed. We\'re leaving. Now.\"

Logan turned back to his wolf state. \"D, have you seen my...\" Logan hopped up on the bed, her bra in his teeth. \"Give me that!\" she snapped, snatching it from the animal/man/whatever he was. \"Now don\'t look.\" Logan huffed, as dogs do sometimes, and went to the window to look out. Behind him, satisfied that he wasn\'t looking, Kale dressed quickly, steeling a kiss from D, as he reached for his cloak she was sitting on.

Within a few moments, the three were on their way to the barn, Logan leading the way through the service halls at the back of the bar. What a disgusting mess that was. Garbage everywhere, something that looked like a dead cat, and smelled worse than a skunk. The two mounted their horses and followed the wolf down the back allies out of town, few people giving them trouble as they went. Finally, the town out of sight, they three miles away, and darkness descending, they stopped for the night, finding a few trees to shelter them, Logan gathering sticks, as the two set their horses to standby mode to preserve their power. \"I\'ve got nearly $53 I can use here D. We can stop at a refueler\'s and recharge the horses before we go on.\"

\"That would be prudent, though it had bet - AAAAHHHHH!!!!!!\" Without warning he dropped to the ground, his mind exploding in pain, unlike anything he\'d ever felt before. Confusion, fear, anger, pain, sorrow, all of it raced through his mind, and more.

\"D!! What\'s wrong!?\" she tried to hold him, but she couldn\'t get near him. His eyes flashed brightly blue, then red, his fangs extended, then retracted. Some kind of inner battle was going on, one he\'d never fought before, one she hoped he\'d win. Then, as suddenly as it happened, it stopped. Breathless, and painfully aware of his surroundings, he sought out Kale to help him stand. \"What the hell was that?\" she asked, making him sit, and pressing the water skin\'s opening to his lips.

\"I don\'t kno - know,\" he answered, nearly choking on the water. \"It\'s never happened before. It was like...I don\'t know...like I was being pulled in all directions at once.\"

\"Is it a Vampire? Is there one here, and knows you\'re here, and wants to make trouble?\"

\"No. No Vampires in Canada. They can count themselves lucky. This was strong, though. Unfocused, like...in the distance.\"

\"Maybe someone who has mental abilities like Delron, and had either suppressed them, or they had not developed till now. Maybe what you felt was some kind of mind explosion.\"

\"Where did you come up with that?\"

\"I watched a lot of Babylon 5 episodes.\"

\"Bab-what?\"

\"Never mind. You had to be a Sci-fi baby to get the whole...forget it. Just, do you think that\'s possible?\"

\"Like I said, I don\'t know. I won\'t know till, and if, it happens again.\"

\"Well let\'s hope it doesn\'t.\"

The bar had been quietly emptied, the civilians all safely out in the street, against the building, hidden from view. Three of the soldiers crept passed the door, two knelt down in front of it, a battering ram between them. The rest positioned themselves both on the opposite side of the door, and outside, on the roof next door, their weapons aimed at the window. The leader held up his hand, three fingers counting down, when he balled his fist, the two with the ram broke down the door, the rest charging inside, screaming for whoever was inside to remain still, or be shot. Quickly the men dispersed through the room, finding no one in the bed. The lav was checked, the closet, then the bed was overturned, to find no one. \"They\'re gone sir,\" said one of the men, lowering his gun.

\"Obviously,\" drawled the leader, noting the money for the room sitting on the table. Secretly he pulled the money into his pocket. No one else had seen it, the barman need not know. \"Any one got any idea how long they\'ve been gone?\"

\"The bed was still a bit warm sir. And by the looks of the covers, they had quite the time.\"

\"Watch your mouth mister. This is one of ours you may be talking about.\"

\"Yes sir.\"

They turned as Godett entered the room. \"Nice work men. You trashed a helpless hotel room. NOW ANYONE WANT TO TELL ME WHERE THEY ARE!!!\"

\"Commander, this is Erics.\"

\"Erics, Go.\"

\"One of the restaunt guys down the block just told me that two horses just ran through the back, a wolf in the lead. Heading west out of town.\"

\"Got a bead on them?\"

\"No sir. But by his report. There are two from the south. And sir. Its one man, one woman, the man matches the description of the dark rider, the woman that of the one in the green cloak.\"

\"Understood. Out. Well, Mr. Godett. Seems you had us chasing a ghost. There was no man in a green cloak on a silver horse. It was a woman. Little wonder no one mentioned seeing a man. No one pays attention to men around here. Women on the other hand, are quite noticeable. THEIR CHEST TEND TO BE A BIT BUMPIER! MOVE OUT MEN! Double time. I want their trail before nightfall!\"

\"Sir, YES SIR!\"

\"One more thing Commander,\" Godett called, as the men left. \"You should put the money back onto he table.\"

\"What money?\"

\"The money you slipped into your pocket. You think I only just NOW came in here. I\'d been watching since you broke down the door. You were the one who never noticed. Now put it back, or do I need to write a report on you.\"

The man huffed as he slapped the bills back on the table, and left. Godett quickly took one last look around, the bed had been quite messy, the man must have enjoyed the company of this strange woman. But why come all this way, to get laid, then head back again? It didn\'t make any sense. Neither did leaving $20 for a grunt to steel, when he could take it himself. Quickly he stashed the bills, and left the room. He had to get paid more. That\'s all there was to it. If he got enough money, he could buy his way out of the military, if that\'s what you could call it. He wondered then what the military would have been like before the great war. Perhaps he\'ll never know.

It seemed they\'d been riding hard for months, when really it was only 15 days. Every night D had the same attack as before, only worse every time. Sometimesce ace a night. The wolf had even attacked him to keep him from hurting Kale when the pain turned to a deep rage, and he\'d turned on her. She wasn\'t afraid of him, only for him, and cried him to sleep every night. The boarder wall was in front of them now, the night young. But over the last few days, the military men had been gaining on them. Their path no longer hindered in many areas by the trees their quarry had ridden through, now this night, they could hear them, close at hand, trapsing through the woods, closer and closer to their position. \"We\'re not far,\" he said quietly. \"The clearing where I\'d crossed over from is only a few minutes away.\"

\"They\'ll be on us before then,\" she said, crouching low, covering their horses eyes, so their lights would not be seen. \"What the hell happened up here D?\"

\"The Canadian Government was all but destroyed after the war. What governing bodies remained were backed by the rich families. They decided to keep the boarders closed, and to withhold all aid to the states, during the war.\"

\"How do you know this?\"

\"I got trapped up here once. I found an old newspaper office, The Underground Press they called it. Their computers were the most current on all events leading up to, during, and after the war. When it was discovered that people dieing of radiation poisoning were escaping into Canada, they armed a whole bunch of people and built a wall right across Canada, sealing the boarder. If anyone tried to cross, they were killed. For a long time, there were troops that walked this wall, and manned those towers. Finally, before the funding was totally cut, they were ordered to, and did, fire on all those camped on the US side of the wall. Killing thousands. In a day, there weren\'t any more refugees trying to sneek across. People can\'t get in, and people can\'t get out.\"

\"They aren\'t allowed to leave! Why did I have to come back!?\"

\"We\'ll be ok. As long as we get to the other side. As far as they know, we\'re from over there. If we can get back there, they won\'t bother us. They\'ll let us go. If we can get out of range.\" Logan put his paw over D\'s shoulder. \"You got an idea?\" He growled slightly, and disappeared into the trees. \"He\'ll find us. Come one. Lets go.\"

\"D, we gotta be careful. You\'ve had those episodes every night. What if you have one tonight? They\'ll find us.\"

\"Not if you knock me out. The horses can evade the men till first light. They\'ll blend right into the darkness. If you hide undy cly cloak in the dark, they wont find us either. Now that\'s if we can\'t get over the wall in time.\"

\"We have to, D. We have to.\" Slowly they made their way through the trees, following the moonlit rim of the wall, till they found the clearing. The men were not that far away now. The clearing was bright, the moon above lighting the silver dew. She turned back as the men were heard getting closer. \"Guess stealth training isn\'t taught by the so called military any more.\"

\"Its one of their tactics. There is a group even closer on the other side of the clearing. You\'ve got to run Kale. I\'ll be right behind you. The other side of the wall is clear. Have Max, get to the top and then down the other side, use the top as a balance point to get your bearings if you have to, but don\'t remain there for long, I\'ll be right behind you.\"

\"You better be. I just got you back. I\'m not leaving you again.\"

\"Go! Now!\" Quickly they mounted their horses, Kale only three strides ahead of D. Max leapt to the top of the wall, and was about to descend the other side, when a shot came from beyond the darkness, striking Max\'s neck plate. Kale jerked sideways at the sparks, sending her mount tumbling down the other side. She grabbed the crown of the wall, holding on, as Max fell away. Seconds later, Nightmare was on the wall, another shot rang out, catching D in the left shoulder. Knocking Nightmare off balance as well, D falling to the Canadian side of the wall. Kale pulled herself up, grabbing D\'s right hand as he fell from the wall. With all her might she held onto him, keeping him from falling. Together, she pulled him to the top, where a light flashed on them. \"HOLD IT!!\" someone called. \"DON\"T MOVE!!\"

\"If you\'re going to kill us, then do it!\" she snapped, tearing her shirt and pressing the cloth to D\'s wound.

\"HANDS UP BITCH!\" She turned to the light, her hood falling from her face. Quietly there were whispers among the men.

\"Can\'t be,\" she heard one say. D took Kale\'s shoulder in his hand, and together, they fell from the wall, safely to the other side.

\"You alright?\" he asked her, as her feet lightly touched the ground.

\"Yes. What did you do?\"

\"Never mind, lets go!\"

They found their horses, a bit scratched up, near a tree on the other side. Their tack a bit disorderly form the fall, but otherwise not too worse for ware. There were shots on the other side of the wall, and shouts from the men. Then someone dropped down. Quickly, D rode over and dragged him away, out of range of the weapons fire that would come from the next person to ascend the wall. He lay him down on the ground, behind a boulder, tearing open his shirt. The wound was deep in his chest, bubbled air escaping. There was nothing they could do. The man shone his light on Kale, and smiled. \"It is you,\" he coughed.

\"What do you mean?\"

\"I couldn\'t believe it, but it is you. I\'ll die happy now.\"

\"What are you talking about?\" she asked.

\"Family story. Of the one who never returned home. That town you were in, where you ran from us. I lived there, my whole family did. Right back to before the war. There\'s a story that was passed on... generation to generation...about a picture, of a girl. She went missing before the war, her only love left to find her, who also never to return. Her father out lived his parents\' entire line, and his own children, but he never gave up the belief she was still alive. He sealed a marker, with his family tree, built on the property where nothing will ever grow again, till she walked its surface once more. To this day, nothing in that area grows in abundance. They ship in food from miles, they export fresh water to survive. And the town remains, waiting, hoping. One day, she will return. Walk the streets, find the marker...one day, she will return home. And you did. You really are the one. There\'s no mistaking it. Look. See for yourself.\" He held out a locket, covered in blood. D opened it to the picture inside, then handed it to Kale.

\"Its me,\" she said. \"This was taken, for Christmas. Where did you get this?\"

\"Family...*cough*...heirloom. Passed on, for generations. That one, and many like it, with other images. That\'s the one I like the best. So regal, so beautiful. Lift the picture.\" Carefully she turned it over. Her breath caught in her throat. \"Is that him? Your father?\"

\"...yes...\"

\"Then I\'ve done my family the honor, of fulfilling the promise.\"

She left her horse and pulled the man up by his lapels. \"What promise? Damn it! Don\'t you die on me now! What Promise!!?\"

\"The Sutters...Promised hithatthat the story would be told...written down...and told, over and over, till you came home. So you would not be forgotten. There are so few pictures...now...but I knew...I knew you...the moment I saw...I couldn\'t shoot you...couldn\'t let them...Will things grow there now? Will the place, come alive again? Please tell me.\"

She wasn\'t sure what to say. She\'d never herd of anything like this before. Her father didn\'t have any background in biochemistry to make something that would in in the soil for 10,000 years, and then dissipate as soon as she touched the ground. What was she to say? He was dying. What was she to tell this dying man? \'What harm could it do?\' she thought, \'The Sutters were good friends of my family\'s since we moved to the area. Their family kept this promise this long. That says a lot about them. He\'s dying. What harm could it do?\' \"Yes,\" she said quietly. \"There will be life there again. The trees will grow tall and proud, as they had so long ago. I did go home. Didn\'t I? And now, you can rest. Your family\'s promise is fulfilled. Rest now Mr. Sutter. Rest.\"

The man smiled and closed his eyes, his breath the last.

They berried him at that stone, D carefully carving his name into the rock with a spike and hammer the man had carried. They\'d found his wallet, and wrote his name. Preston Sutter, Age 29, Died Fulfilling a promise. Quietly they rode way, the lights of the surviving searchers flashing from behind the stone, making it seem like a beacon in the night.

It was some days since the excitement with the boarder patrol. But the town had finally returned to normal. Their main export fresh, clean, unpolluted water going out in great drums to buyers around the area. Many wells had dried up, and many believed the water of the lake was contaminated, though the town\'s people knew better, but kept their mouths shut all the same. The area residents believed that an ancient family had drilled a well so deep in the ground, it found an everlasting well spring of the precious substance they needed to survive. The town prospered and grew. But this day was different.

The children raced through the town, calling people to follow them. Their urgency and enthusiasm contagious, soon nearly the entire population was following the youngsters to the edge of the village. What met their eyes was something none of them had ever seen. The once desolate area, brown dirt and dead or dying shrubs, was all green. A soft sprinkling of grass pushing up through the dead soil. \"What\'s happening daddy?\" asked a little boy. \"We\'ve watered this area for years, and nothing grew. Why now?\"

\"She came home,\" the man told the boy. \"She was the one. She came home.\"

It was several days since they\'d escaped Canada. Escaped. What a concept, to escape from one\'s own ancestral home. She could never go back nowver.ver. She wasn\'t welcome in her own country. \'I\'ll make D my home,\' she thought. \'I\'ll make him my land. He\'s all I\'ll need. He\'s all I really want.\' She cuddled close to him once more. The night\'s attack on his mind finally over. She wondered what was causing it; wondered what it was. Tricks of the mind were something she didn\'t understand. All she knew about them, was what had been theorized in the dozens of science fiction programs, books, and movies she\'d indulged herself in. Now she only wished that some of it were actually based on fact.

Again he sat bolt upright, the pain hard across his face. His eyes flashed blue once more, then turned red, then purple. They\'d never gone purple before. His cries of pain echoed through the night, as Kale quickly placed a wooden stick between his teeth. She\'d found that if he bit onto this, his fangs would sink into it, and calm him somewhat, though splinters in his gums were quite tes tos to dig out in the morning. Slowly he clamed, tears streaming from his eyes this time. Carefully she wiped them away as his eyes returned to normal. She removed the stick from his mouth pulling the bits of torn bark away. \"Aceline,\" he said.

\"What?\"

\"Its Aceline, she\'s calling.\"

\"How?\"

\"She\'s a Dhampireld. ld. Her heritage wouldn\'t have become apparent till later years, but something has happened. She\'s calling out, screaming with everything she can muster.\"

\"Other Vampires or Dhampires will hear, they\'ll go to help her, won\'t they?\"

\"No. Unlike the call of the vampires that landed their ships, this call, her call, is directed. She\'s calling to us, Kale. She\'s calling to us.\"

\"Why?\"

\"I don\'t know. I\'d met with her only briefly. I wanted to tell her what she was, but...\"

\"So she\'s overloading you?\"

\"Yes, and no. The initial contact is overpowering. But if I didn\'t fight it so hard, I\'d\'ve known it was her much sooner than this.\"

\"Her father. OH God D! That man her mother is married to. He tried to beat her when I was there.\"

\"I know. He tried to do far worse when I was there too.\"

\"How did you meet her?\"

\"Long story. Right now, she needs us. Kale. I stopped fighting her, for only a second. Kale she\'s begging us to help her.\"

\"Then we will. D, I\'m not leaving her in the hands of that monster. Something must have happened, I got the impression form her brother, Peter, that she was protected by him. If that\'s not so, then something\'s happened to him too. D, we gotta go back. If nothing else, to delay that damn trip across the sea.\"

\"We will go back. And we will do something. Something I should have done when last I was there. And don\'t worry about the crossing. I\'m working on something for that.\"