Nobody's Home: A Tarker's Hollow Tale Read online

  12

  Adia awoke with a start, relieved to be free of the awful dream at last.

  She was shivering, and wet.

  And she wasn’t in her bed anymore.

  She had dreamt of the woods, and here she was.

  But these woods weren’t the misty trees of the dream world. Here, the muddy leaves clung to her cheek and the sounds of cicadas and night birds added a sense of the pedestrian to the hauntingly beautiful night.

  Above her, the branches of a sycamore stretched for the moon.

  In a panic, she sat up and scanned her surroundings.

  She should be wondering where she was, but in the back of her head she already knew.

  If she had been drawn to the house before, she was pulled irrevocably to it now. It was as if the house were the net and Adia the falling tightrope walker.

  She stood and saw its turrets silhouetted against the gathering clouds.

  Something stirred behind her.

  Adia turned, hoping to see William.

  Instead, she spotted two glowing eyes in the darkness. And then two more.

  Without another thought, she launched herself forward toward the house.

  Help me, she called to her lover, without opening her mouth.

  But the wolves were on her heels.

  Adia had never been athletic. Yet somehow tonight she was running, and fast, without falling.

  Maybe the years of showing three story houses and wooded lots in high heels had given her the agility to run for her life. That seemed unlikely.

  She also didn’t have her glasses on, yet she could easily make out the path before her, even in darkness.

  She looked down at her bare feet on the rocky soil and had no idea what to think. Because that should hurt, it really should. And it didn’t.

  Something was happening to Adia Booth. She was… different. And it was wonderful and terrifying, all at once.

  The wolves were still behind her, but she was so close to the house now.

  Close enough to make out the spindles on the porch. To see the paint on the south wall still curling in ribbons. Whatever she had imagined last night, the house was still a darkened hull, there was no warm light on in the window.

  Nobody’s home.

  She kept running for the house, even if no one was there to save her. She didn’t know what else to do.

  She had nearly made it to the clearing at the end of the drive, when something crashed through the thicket ahead of her, cutting her off.

  A massive shape, shaggy and brown, stared her down. She’d never seen a wolf up close before, but she was pretty sure they weren’t supposed to be this big. The moon reflected back at her in its yellow eyes.

  Behind, Adia heard another creature moving quickly toward her. Not a wolf - its tread was too light and quick. Before she could turn, the big wolf before her tensed, then leaped at her.

  No, not at her, over her. It made the jump with ease, crashing into whatever had been approaching from behind. Was the wolf trying to protect her somehow?

  She wheeled around just as the furry shape was flung back toward her.

  What could possibly be strong enough to do that to the massive beast?

  She didn’t have much time to ponder it as the flying wolf slammed into her, knocking her off her feet.

  There was a sharp flash as her head connected with the ground, then everything went dark.

  13

  William burst out of the house, his movements a blur against the darkness.

  Adia was in danger.

  He could feel her peril through the connection they shared, and he raced to her aid.

  It didn’t take him long to find the source of her terror.

  Wolves.

  Tarker’s Hollow had long been home to a pack of the smelly things, tasked with protecting the special magic that dwelled here. They usually kept to their own.

  Not tonight.

  A shaggy brown one leaped over Adia as he sped to her protection. He batted it aside with ease, cringing as it connected with Adia, knocking her from her feet. She would be fine, he knew that, she was made of sterner stuff now.

  He focused his attention back on the wolf as it scrambled to its feet and approached him again, more carefully this time.

  Even in his weakened, half-starved state, he was more than a match for a single wolf. The problem with wolves, though, was that there was never just one.

  As if on cue, two more of the beasts crept out of the trees to join the first.

  William knew better than to let them dictate the fight. Wolves were pack hunters - they functioned best as a team. If he gave them the advantage, they’d tear him apart. Before yesterday, that fate wouldn’t have meant much to him. In fact, he would have welcomed it. But he had Adia to think about now. He had a reason to fight.

  He dashed at the shaggy brown wolf he’d already tangled with, moving too fast for normal creatures to follow. These wolves were far from normal, though, and one of them managed to slash at him with a massive paw on the way past.

  They were good. And he wasn’t at his full strength. He would need to be careful. He lashed out at the beasts again and again, doing his best to keep them from surrounding him. He was beginning to tire, but he was also leading them away from Adia with every blow. As soon as he lured them far enough away, he would find an opening and dash back for her. He was still too fast for the wolves to keep up. If he could get her back to the house, he could keep them both safe. The wolves wouldn’t follow them inside - it was too cramped for them to be effective.

  Two of the wolves attacked in unison. William dodged one, but the other managed to get ahold of his arm. He wrenched it free, but not without taking some damage. He was slowing. It was now or never.

  He darted through the opening the two wolves had given him, before they could reposition themselves. He sped to Adia, scooping her up without missing a stride and carried her into the house.

  The wolves wouldn’t follow. Not tonight. But they would lick their wounds and be back in greater number. The woods around his home were no longer safe for him or his beloved.

  14

  Adia opened her eyes.

  She was surrounded by the ruined parlor again. It was just as it had been when she first set foot in the old house - wallpaper hung in rotting strips, floorboards buckled from water damage. Everything looked weathered and ancient.

  Except for the man, the man before her…

  She studied him closely now.

  He watched her in the way that the keeper at the zoo must observe the lion - confidently, but with a healthy respect.

  “The creatures,” she said, remembering the wolves.

  “They can’t hurt you in here,” he assured her, his voice instantly soothing her jangled nerves.

  “Who are you?” she demanded.

  “I’m William,” he replied calmly.

  “What’s your last name?”

  He paused, his expression torn.

  Adia held firm. She was willing to stand here for the rest of her life, if necessary, until he made an explanation.

  “Ogden,” he told her.

  “Are you the… the descendant of the man who disappeared from this house before?” she asked, afraid at the last minute to speak the words, to hint that it had been him, because of course it couldn’t have been.

  “I disappeared from this house before the fire,” he replied, his dark eyes flashing.

  “That’s not possible,” Adia whispered.

  She should be feeling faint, but somehow her body was fit and ready, engine purring along like a late model sports car.

  William smiled slightly and spread his hands before him.

  “True enough. Yet here we are.”

  “How?” she asked.

  “I don’t know,” he said.

  “Liar.”

  He closed his eyes.

  The air between them seemed to hum.

  Adia fought the urge to go to him, though the pull was strong enoug
h it felt inevitable. She had crawled from her bed in her sleep and run the miles barefoot through the freezing woods to come this far. Would she really not take the last few steps?

  William ran a hand through his too-long hair and opened his eyes.

  He studied her, his eyes smoldering.

  “Do you need to know?” he pleaded. “Will it make any difference?”

  Adia allowed the silence between them to grow.

  William bit his lip, then sighed.

  “It’s not possible,” he admitted. “Because I died.”

  “Then you’re a… ghost?” she asked.

  He shook his head.

  “No, my darling, I’m a monster,” he admitted.

  “Don’t be melodramatic,” she answered.

  He barked out a laugh. “I like you, child.”

  “It’s Adia,” she reminded him.

  “Yes, I know. Ay-dee-ahhhh…” he said slowly, playing with the sounds.

  The sound of her name rolling lazily on his tongue set her blood on fire with lust, but Adia closed her eyes and remained firm.

  “What are you, then?”

  “They call my kind by many names, shrtriga, strigoi, vrykolakas…”

  “What would I call you?”

  “Call me your lover, your husband,” he offered playfully. “Or simply William.”

  “No,” Adia shouted. “I have a right to know. I didn’t ask for this. I didn’t ask to be dragged out of bed, attacked by wild animals. But I’d rather be out there knowing what I’m up against than in here, with pretty illusions and no truth.”

  “Vampire,” he said, the word sounded like it had been ripped out of his throat.

  There it was.

  She thought of the red-haired woman - the way she’d attacked that young girl, bitten her.

  And the day came crashing back to Adia, the pieces fitting together suddenly.

  The sun had been too bright.

  The food had tasted like cardboard.

  The steak.

  The blood on Jenna’s hand had smelled like a symphony.

  It was too crazy to ever believe. And yet too true to possibly deny.

  William Ogden was a vampire. And Adia was on her way to becoming one as well.

  She wanted to faint, to vomit. Her mind reeled.

  But her traitorous body felt fantastic.

  She would never faint or vomit again. She would never be so weak, so helpless.

  So she did the only thing she could think of.

  She looked into William Ogden’s tortured blue eyes, took in his expression of naked sorrow and sensuality, and punched him square in the face.

  It happened if in slow motion. Adia’s hand connecting with William’s cheek, her knuckles grazing along his jawline.

  A thin ribbon of blood rose to the surface, like an afterimage of her blow against his skin.

  The spicy scent filled the room, teasing and tugging at Adia’s senses, making her feel hollow with hunger and crazed with desire before she even realized its source.

  The the rest of the world went gray and only the scarlet burn of William Ogden’s hundred year old blood existed.

  Jenna’s blood had smelled like a child’s crayon drawing compared the masterpiece of William’s.

  Adia didn’t care that the carpet was a moth-eaten mess, she tackled him to the ground and covered his body with her own.

  His nostrils flared slightly, signaling his own excitement, and his cock was rigid against her hip. But Adia didn’t give a fuck. She leaned down and forced herself to observe an instant of sweet anticipation.

  From this distance, she swore she could actually hear the blood, singing for her in a thousand tiny voices.

  Adia extended her tongue and tasted infinity.

  The blood slid into her mouth, she swore of its own accord.

  It was light as chardonnay, fragrant as gingerbread, and it went right to her head.

  She lapped at his jaw until there was nothing left, and it wasn’t enough.

  Whining like a kicked puppy, she felt her teeth - no, her fangs - lengthen.

  But before she could bite, she found herself flying through the air.

  “Enough,” William growled, his blue eyes burning hers.

  And though her brain screamed Fuck, no, Adia found herself unable to move.

  He looked down at her, dark hair partially obscuring his right eye, his left penetrating as if to search her soul.

  In spite of her fury and hunger, Adia was moved by his beauty.

  It wasn’t just he way he looked. It was the way he looked at her. The naked hunger in his eyes, desire so intense it almost looked like fear.

  She wanted to look away, but she couldn’t do that either. It was as if her will belonged to him now.

  And for all she knew it did.

  “You’re angry,” he told her. “I know, I was angry too.”

  You don’t know shit.

  “I didn’t want to be changed either. I lost everything that night, everything.” His eyes had turned from Adia at last. He stared up at the photo on the wall above them, the one where he looked so young and solemn.

  “Delilah,” he said. “She came to live with us when her parents died. She was in love with me. And I felt love for her, just not in the way she needed from me, I loved her like a sister…”

  He paused, seeming to consider whether his tale was worth the telling. Adia’s anger warred with her curiosity. She wanted to lash out at him, but she also wanted to unravel the mystery behind William Ogden. At the moment, all she could do was stare after him. The choice would be his.

  The silence stretched out, unbroken, as though even the nighttime denizens of this place held their breath in anticipation. But William only stared, lost in the picture.

  Just as Adia was beginning to think maybe he’d forgotten all about her, he turned back to her and spoke.

  “There weren’t so many houses here then,” he continued, as though he hadn’t paused at all. “So there weren’t many other young people Mother and Father would have approved of me befriending. We spent all our time together, Delilah and I. We loved each other’s company, and had grand adventures exploring the woods, or just talking about books and music. But if the romantic dynamic of the friendship was awkward when we were younger, it was untenable by the time we were adults.

  “Not that she wasn’t beautiful. She was a lovely girl. Not as lovely as you, of course, but she had golden hair in soft ringlets and enormous green eyes.”

  Adia thought of the young woman from her dream, the one who had tried to flee, only to be brought down by the other woman - the vampire.

  “That summer it was so hot,” he continued. “Miserably hot. I would swim in the pond and Delilah, who couldn’t swim, would sit on the bank and read. Finally, my parents had the summerhouse built, do you know what that is?”

  Adia blinked in assent.

  “We spent so much time down there, it was cooler in the valley and at night the fresh breeze moved through the curtains.

  “One Midsummer’s Night, we held a great party. There were families from all over, including some I didn’t know. I met a girl. I was mesmerized from my first glimpse of her. She had fiery red hair and eyes of the palest blue, like the ice over the pond in winter.

  “She didn’t speak, but she gazed at me with those blue eyes, like she wanted me.

  “I danced with her again and again. It was something new, this mutual desire.

  “When our fifth dance was done, she took my hand and stepped back through the curtains. We wandered off together, into the woods.

  “While I was selfishly enjoying the attention the beautiful creature, it hadn’t occurred to me to think of my friends. Or how my cavorting must have made poor Delilah feel.

  “I heard her, calling into the woods for me. But I didn’t answer.

  “Deep in the trees, the beautiful girl pulled me into her arms. I was under her spell just as you are under mine. And I couldn’t move an inch.”

/>   He paused, then a look of fierce determination crossed his features and he went on. Adia’s stomach clenched with horror.

  “She didn’t love me. She took me, changed me, and then left me to figure out the new world on my own. A world in which my life couldn’t be ended.

  “I was a monster. I fed on the blood of the innocent. My family looked for me for a while, but I didn’t want to be found, so they gave up. As far as anyone knew, I was dead.

  “Delilah took it the worst. She walked the woods at night, searching for me. I watched from afar, not willing to let her see me in my current state. But then one winter night, she wandered too far and got lost. She would have died in the cold. I couldn’t bear that, so I revealed myself to her, and guided her home.

  “I should have left and never returned, but it felt so good to connect with someone alive again, even if it took every ounce of my willpower not to devour her. I visited her more often, always after I had recently fed, to minimize the danger to her. She made me feel like my humanity was not entirely lost.

  “Together, we read all the books she could find, discovering what I truly was. And we learned that my curse might be lifted by killing the one who transformed me. We searched high and low for the red haired woman who made me what I am, to no avail. I never saw her again, after that night.

  “When Delilah began to become obsessed, I knew I had to go. I visited her one last time. I offered to turn her, to make her like me, so we could run away together. The look of revulsion on her face at the very idea, so unlike the loving way she’d always looked at me before, told me all I needed to know. I left that night.

  “I never saw her again. She tried to tell me parents about me, but they only thought her to be suffering from some sort of hysteria. No one believed her.

  “Eventually, the strain became too much for her to bear. I believe she was the one who set the fire that claimed my family. It was her only means to escape the memories. I don’t know if she intended to die with them, or she was just overwhelmed by the flames.”