Page 31 of Absolution
Sei looked back and forth between us. “But he’s gonna be okay, right? We can fix whatever this is?”
“He has to go to ground. He’s young and the vampire side of him is taking control. If it completely takes over there will be no more Sam. He’ll be a revenant. A mindless killing machine and I’ll be responsible for putting him down.”
My whole body went cold, and I took a step back. “I haven’t hurt anyone.”
“Yet,” Gabe pointed out. “Why are you fighting this? I promise it doesn’t hurt. You will fall asleep and even dream. Then you wake up. Usually some time has passed—a few days maybe. You’ll be monitored so we can give you blood as soon as you wake. Then you’ll return to your normal life. But you’ll feel better, rested, and in control. It’s the earth that gives us that.” He reached out and took Sei’s free hand. Some of the exhaustion eased away from his face. I wondered how long it had been for him since he’d actually rested. A couple decades sounded like a really long time. He tugged us forward. “It’s not scary I promise. You’re making yourself sick over nothing. You just lie down and close your eyes.”
We followed him through a maze of buildings, all had individual guards. Inside the walls it seemed like winter hadn’t happened here. Everything was lush and green with life, trees, flowers, planters filled with ivy, all blooming as though it hadn’t been the coldest winter in thirty years. Was it the vampires that did this? Even the air felt warmer. Were there giant heaters somewhere that I couldn’t see?
We stopped at a large mausoleum-like building. The side of the building was etched in what looked like Latin but it could have been Greek for all I knew about ancient languages. The guard opened the door for us and nodded his head to Gabe. Inside the room was just a huge open space with a dirt floor. The walls were thick, several feet of rock on each side. But the interior was warm, the dirt smelled fresh, and pulsed with a welcome feeling of earth magic. I’d feared there would be a grave dug and ready for me to be thrown into, but it was all just semi-soft ground. Maybe I was expected to dig it myself. Only no one had a shovel and there were none leaning on the concrete ledge where we stood.
“So what do I do?” I asked staring at the dirt feeling weirdly drawn to it. It looked really soft and inviting like I could imagine a sandy beach to be. If I sprawled out in all that warmth, would I actually be warm for more than a minute or two? “What if I don’t wake up?”
“You won’t be out long. A week, maybe? If it seems like too long, we’ll soak the ground with blood. Oftentimes that will stir a vampire who’s been in the ground too long. Doesn’t always work, but I don’t think you’ll need that.” Gabe waved at the dirt. “I suggest you strip. Maximum contact with the earth will help recharge you. You just lie down and close your eyes.”
“But what about like bugs and stuff?” I didn’t want anything gnawing at me while I slept—if that’s what I would really be doing.
“Bugs don’t much like vampires. We’re toxic to most of them, and since you’re not in a self-dug grave out in the middle of nowhere, I think you’ll be fine.”
The guard closed the door, probably to give us some privacy. But I wasn’t planning on stripping in front of either of them. I took off the coat since it was leather and Sei’s. “Can’t Sei just recharge me?”
“He can fill you with life, but you’re not really alive, Sam. The grave is death, and while the Dominion doesn’t recognize it as an element separate from earth, death is a different magic. Sei can’t bring people back from the dead, and he can’t bring the undead into new life. He can give us back to the earth, but I don’t think that’s the solution you’re looking for.”
“Yeah, no.” We’d already resolved the whole I didn’t want to die thing. “Will it be like the last time?” All I remembered was the pain of icy water filling my lungs and the final darkness setting in no matter how I struggled. My limbs had stopped responding before my brain knew it was a hopeless cause. I didn’t wish drowning on anyone.
“Not as long as you don’t fight it.”
“But I feel alive.” Fuck did that dirt look good. Why was I so afraid? They had made me this way, hadn’t they? Dependent on them. Used to having others around. What if I was just stuck in the dirt alone for days?
Gabe took my hand. “Your skin is cold and hard. Can you feel the warmth of my skin? No? But Sei’s, you can feel his?”
Sure. Sei always felt warm. Odd that he only seemed slightly warmer than me when he normally ran hot as a furnace. “He’s warm.”
“He’s standing here as Father Earth and running hot enough to burn footprints in the concrete, but he’s only warm?” Gabe asked.
I glanced down at where Sei’s feet met the pavement and sure enough the ground around him smoldered. Green things usually bloomed at his feet. Was something wrong with him? Oh shit, it was me wasn’t it? I was always fucking with his power. I let go of his hand. The warmth and calm he’d given me vanished. Plants began to curl around the edges of the concrete and pour up from the soil.
“I’m so sorry,” I told him. “I wasn’t trying to mess with you. I promise.”
Sei just shrugged. “It was kind of cool. Usually you’re just static. Today you’re a lightning storm. Like flashes hitting the ground and it sort of tickles. I liked it.”
“Take a step back into the dirt, Sam,” Gabe said. He moved toward me which forced me to take a step back. I almost lost my balance but grabbed Sei’s hand. A hot blast of air hit me hard and strong enough in the small space to blow the door open. Gabe fell back against the wall, hands protecting his face, burns darkening his fingers and cheeks. Shit.
“I don’t know what happened. I’m so sorry.” I told them both. Sei dropped my hand to go to Gabe. A half dozen guards lingered around the edge of the tomb with automatic weapons locked and loaded.
Oh God. I was in a tomb. All the carvings and sleek designs inscribed into the wall suddenly made sense. I sucked in deep breaths, but lightheadedness made me flounder. I stumbled off the edge of the platform and landed on my back in the dirt.
The ground began to pour over me like a living thing, sucking me downward. I fought and screamed fearing that the weight of it would fill my lungs like when I’d drowned. Sei reached for me but Gabe held him back, arms locked around him. I held my breath as the dirt covered my head, sinking me deeper until I was certain it would crush me. I didn’t need to breathe, but my lungs burned as if they remembered that it was better when they had oxygen in them. I couldn’t keep from opening my mouth and instantly the dirt filled my lungs as the world began to blacken around me. It was terrifying and painful right until the moment I died.
Chapter 11
The day I met Matthew had been my seventeenth birthday. My family had too many kids to really celebrate anything, and since I was the oldest it meant I was on my own for pretty much everything. I don’t think any of them even remembered that it was my birthday.
I found my way to the movie theater with the cash I’d stolen out of the apartment’s laundry room. The quarter slots were easy enough to jimmy and always filled with a good chunk of change. I’d escaped the confines of the apartment as soon as the sky grew dark with the plans to enjoy time away from the siblings my parents expected me to raise for them.
I bought a pizza with my quarters—a good one—and spent the day playing Resident Evil on the machine in the back of the rundown theater. There were movies playing that I’d like to have seen, but the cost was too much. Food and fun lasted longer without the expensive screen time. And I’d been pretty involved in the game when Matthew showed up.
He kind of loomed over me at first, like a shadow of someone who was maybe a little irritated that I was playing his game, but when I looked up he smiled. Something bright lit up in his dark eyes. He looked like a soldier just back from war, dressed in fatigues, hair trimmed super short, nice body, strong shoulders, good posture. I’d never been with a guy before but had fantasized about it. A red-blooded all-American boy like him could never have been interested in me, could he?