Page 10 of Fallen Star

Again he looks suspicious, and I know I need to change the subject. I check my body to see how it's doing. There's a bloody shirt wrapped around my arm where the stone wall sunk its teeth into me. I pull it off carefully, expecting to see open wounds, but the skin is completely healed. Only fading scars remain.

"Those should mostly heal, with time," he says.

I just nod as I look down at my abdomen, where a knife was recently jutting out of me. Traitorous Trevor. But my stomach is smooth once more, save another fading scar.

"That's… " I don't have words. But I do have a question. "Why?" I ask, my eyes full of accusations. "Why did you save me? What do you want?"

Before you judge me too harshly for being ungrateful and for not falling into the arms of the sexy vampire, let me first say, I get it, okay? I get that there's a whole new fad of loving vampires. Of wanting to be them or be with them at least. I know there are gaggles of girls—and women—everywhere who would kill to be in my position right now.

But they didn't see their parent's lifeless bodies mere moments after a vampire drained them.

They didn't see the cold, dead look in that vampire's eyes as it walked away covered in their parent's blood.

They don't know what it's like to wake up with nightmares about having the blood sucked out of your body while you scream, but no one can hear you.

And now I have a vampire's blood flowing through me. Now, I am indebted to the kind of creature that ruined my life.

And it's changed me. I can feel it. Maybe it's not supposed to. But maybe because I'm something more than human it woke something up inside me, and I'm terrified by that. And angry. And suspicious. Wouldn't you be? Keep in mind my partner and former lover did just stab me in the gut and leave me for dead. Can you blame me for being on my guard?

Dr. Vane grins and stands, offering me a hand to join him.

I refuse his assistance, but I do stand. Slowly. Cautiously. I expect to feel weak, tired, in pain… but instead I am filled with energy and mental clarity. I smile at the sensation, taking a brief moment from the madness to offer a quiet thanks to whatever gods may be that I am still alive.

Glancing at the sexy archaeologist standing in front of me, my smile and gratitude fade. I'm alive, but at what cost?

"I'm still waiting for my answer," I remind him. "What do you want from me?"

"Come this way Dr. Stone, and I will show you."

My night vision is sharpened and my myopic focus expands to take in my surroundings for the first time since consciousness returned.

I expected to find myself in the desert. Somewhere outside of Azekah in Israel, to be exact. But what I see is… well, it's nearly indescribable.

I'm standing in the center of a mighty grove of trees, thick branches swaying in a warm breeze that smells of forest with a hint of floral notes. We seem to be situated around the largest tree, and without thought I reach out to lay my palm on its bark, closing my eyes. As I do, I can feel the roots of the tree digging deep into the soil, the tips of the branches reaching for the sky, extending towards the stars, and I hear its heartbeat. That's the best way I can describe it. The pulse that gives it life. That pumps life into the world around it. And like a very old woman opening her eyes slowly, the tree wakes and looks at me. No, notatme,intome. And I feel it communicating with me. Not with words, exactly, but with some kind of emotional language that far outdates the limitation of words. But I understand the message.

I open my eyes, tears filling them, spilling onto my cheeks, though I barely notice and care even less.

"She's scared," I say. "They're all scared. Why?"

Dr. Vane raises an eyebrow at me. "How do you know that?"

"She told me," I say, my mind still in a haze. I see the grove with fresh eyes now. I see the invisible connections between the roots and the plants and the animals that scurry about, as if the underlying pattern of the world has just become clear. Its transposed itself over reality, in lines and swirls of glowing blue.

I blink, and it disappears, but somehow I know I can bring it back again. That a new part of my gift has been awakened.

By him, I realize, staring at the vampire before me. "Where are we?" I ask, with less anger than I would have had a few moments ago.

"We are in my world," Dr. Vane says. "Inferna. I brought you here because I feared I could not save you in the desert. This grove has its own magic, an ancient magic that goes back to the time before our kind ruled here. I felt you needed to be here in order to survive. It wasn't just my blood you drank," he says, cocking his head. "It was mixed with the sap from this tree. The Mother Tree. She saved you."

My eyes water again as those feelings of connecting with her wash over me. "She has been through great pain," I say. "Many years ago."

He nods. "There was an accident. A misuse of power. This grove was nearly destroyed. But her roots run deep and through time and the power of the Earth Druid, we were able to bring her back to full power."

"But now she's in danger," I say. It's not a question, though I don't know why. She doesn't know why.

"Yes," he says. "And I think your employer is behind that danger." His voice tightens in disapproval.

I spin on him. "If you're talking about Global Tech, they aren't my employer."