They continued walking. He could tell she was getting happier with each step. It took them about an hour to reach the troll. Where Abigail stood and looked up at the troll with wonder. They stopped near it so she could rest and drink and have some deer meat and dried berries. And bread.
Then they continued on, walking along the side of the mountain. Until eventually they heard a loud rushing sound. It got louder. They walked around a bend and there was the double waterfall. Beautiful in the moonlight. It was so alive and awake for the middle of the night. Abigail was amazed by it.
A river flowed from it and wound close to the mountain, then it branched out and crossed their path. It was shallower here, but still swift. They stopped at the edge.
“I'm carrying you,” Shae said.
“What?” said Abigail. “I've played in rivers before. I'll be fine.”
“But it's very cold and you... humans don’t respond well to temperature changes.”
She sucked in her breath, offended, but she could not argue.
He studied the water, looking for the best path. “Okay,” he said. He hoisted the bag onto his shoulder and held out his arms. She obligingly put her arms around his shoulders and he picked her up.
He waded carefully through the water, which got to be thigh high on him. Abigail was struck once again by his strength. The water was fast and it didn't knock him down, and he had no trouble carrying her and the bag.
Finally they reached the other side and he set her down.
“All right then,” he said. He smiled at her and took her hand.
She smiled back and shook her head.
They walked for what seemed like another hour. The sky was turning blue again, getting ready for the sun to rise. They could see the rock wall. They did try to hurry, anyway. It was half a mile away and the sun was getting ready to peek above the horizon.
Suddenly Shae said, “I'll meet you there,” and took off running. She watched him run with more speed than a human man. She saw him reach the wall and begin searching for the entrance. Finally she saw him walk to the far right, where the rock wall met the mountain, and he disappeared inside.
It was ten minutes before she reached him. She felt happy, her heart began to pound. The sun peeked up over the edge of the world, shooting gold and pink rays across the landscape as she stepped into the cave.
It was cooler inside. There was a ceiling where she was, for about ten feet. Then it was open to the sky. Then about six feet of cave floor with open sky before the pool began. Shae was standing at the edge of it, very still.
He heard her footsteps echo through the cave. He didn't turn to look at her. “They're gone,” he said flatly. Like maybe he was dead inside.
She joined him at the edge and looked down. The pool was a turquoise blue color, something in the rock walls under the water made the pool blue. It was so huge a house could have fit in there. The wall on the far side had no overhanging ceiling. Neither did the wall to their left, except near the entry. And it was lower too. And it faced east. She could see streaks of sunrise, orange and pink, in that direction.
She put a hand on his arm. “I'm sorry,” she said.
He still stared down into the pool. Deeper, in the center, it was very dark green, almost black. He knew Abigail couldn't really see that there was nothing down there, but he could. He knew what this meant for him.
“Come on,” she said. “Step away from the sunlight.” The sun was getting higher in the morning sky. Shae let himself be pulled back under the ceiling part of the cave.
He looked stricken.
“Shae,” Abigail said, “we'll find a way.” She stroked his arm. “Maybe they'll come back for you.”
“They're not coming back,” Shae said quietly. He stared at the cave wall across from them, far away. He was very aware of where the sun was in the sky now. A few rays of sun had shot over the low wall of the eastern side of the cave. They fell on the place he had stood moments before. In a few minutes there would be enough sun for what he had planned.
“I think they might come back,” she said. “For you.”
She was being so comforting, but he had killed one of his own. He knew that would not be forgiven so easily. He had been banished. Forced to choose.
She grabbed his hand. “I wanted to go too,” she said. “I'm sorry they're not here. But this can be okay.”
“No,” he said as he saw the rays of sun grow brighter and bigger a few feet in front of him. “I don't think it ever can be.”
“Shae,” she said.
He looked over at her finally and smiled at her with tears in his eyes.
“I'm sorry, Abigail,” he said.
“What—” she started to say, but he had shoved her back and made her fall to the ground. And he'd stepped forward into the light.
“No!” she said as she scrambled to her feet. In that brief moment his skin and clothes had begun to smoke. His shoulder had started to flame up. On instinct she ran forward and knocked him over, into the pool of water to put out the fire. She fell in after him.
She raised her head out of the water and saw his back on fire, even though he was under water, because he was still in sun. It's like the water had slowed it down some, but not stopped it. This was not an Earthly fire.
Shae was trying to climb out again, but she pulled on his cloak and yanked him back into the pool. It was all full of sunlight now. The only shade was on the cave floor to the east and north of the cave, near the entrance.
Abigail took a deep breath and pulled Shae as hard as she could by the arm under water. It was her only chance. She knew she couldn't force him out of the pool.
She actually succeeded at first, to knock him off balance and drag him under. Then he stopped fighting her and let her pull him down. She dragged him down until he stopped sparking. She shoved him under an overhang, an alcove on the entrance side of the cave, in shadow. He was safe.
She had reached the end of her held breath. She started to panic. He saw this and tried to push her up. She tried to swim, but the cloak was heavy. Now that she didn't want to sink anymore.
He tore it off of her and dragged her out of the alcove and shoved her as hard as he could back up toward the light, toward the air. Then he ducked into the alcove again.
She kicked and struggled and strained for the surface of the water. She almost kicked her heavy boots off, but she had tied them on tight. Finally her head broke through the surface of the water. She had tried to take a breath too soon and swallowed water.
She coughed and swam to the edge and climbed up onto the entry side floor. She coughed up water onto the sunlit stone floor. Then she breathed deep. In panting gulps.
She quickly looked over the edge into the deep water again, making sure he was staying in the alcove.
He was.
She sat on the edge, catching her breath, and waiting for the sunshine to go away again.
* * *
Abigail had sat in the sun to dry. She'd dumped water out of her boots, and set them out to dry. And she'd waited.
The sun had shifted, and, during the day, parts of the pool had become covered in shade. He could have come up by now. She supposed he was down there brooding. Possibly planning his next attempt at suicide. She did not know.
She waited. She got thirsty and hungry, so she brought her water pouch and dried food over to the edge to eat. The sun grew dim again. Yellow and gold streaked the sky. Then the blue of twilight. Stars started to appear. She still stared down. 'Til her neck was sore.
Then suddenly a black form moved quickly through the water toward her, from the depths of the pool. Her heart leaped.
Shae burst out of the water and shook the water from his hair. She stood and backed up as he quickly threw their wet cloaks on the stone floor, and leaped out of the water. She could not tell if he was mad.
He rushed toward her, surrounded her with his wet arms and kissed her passionately.
She felt the kiss tingle all the way to her toes.
Her legs actually got weaker. She was so happy. She held him tightly as he kissed her. And she kissed him back. He was colder than usual, because of the pool.
“Oh, Abigail, I'm sorry,” he gushed when he finally pulled away. “I should have thought of you. I thought I was. I...” He pulled her in and held her close again.
She was crying quietly, into his chest. She couldn't even tell if these were happy tears.
“We'll make it work,” he said into her hair.
“Yes,” she said quietly, happily. But she was still so afraid for the uncertain future.
Chapter 14
They began walking back that night, back to the ghost town. They were happy, but scared too. How would they tame his blood lust? Would the others ever come back for him? For now they would have to make do somehow. Make it work. Maybe there were other ships hidden on Earth. They would think of something.
The night was cold and the moon was half-shrouded by clouds. They barely spoke. Just held hands and walked. They stopped once so she could rest and eat, then they kept moving.
The sky started to turn blue instead of black again, dawn was near. Shae felt something and stopped.
Abigail couldn't hear or feel anything. “What is it?”
To Shae it was like a rumbling, coming from the Earth. “Do you hear that?” he asked.
Abigail listened. “No.”
It began to sound like quiet thunder to Shae.
Then Abigail began to hear it too. “What is that?”
The sound got closer. It came from in front of them.
“Oh, no,” Shae said and stood in front of her.
She grabbed the back of his cloak. “What?” She was afraid.
Then it became clear it was the sound of galloping hooves. The sound of a deer.
“It's the buck,” Shae said. “From last night.” He looked with his vampire eyes, trying to see the deer better. “I killed his mate.”
Abigail was so scared. She didn't know what to do.
“He's coming right for me,” Shae said. He reached behind himself and grabbed Abigail and shoved her behind a nearby tree.
“You stay there!” he said. “I'll lead him away.” He began to run to the side and away from the deer, back the way they had come.
The sound became thundering and the ground shook, and Abigail saw the deer flash by her. Huge, brown, and with large antlers.
Shae ran faster now through the trees. Soon both he and the deer were out of Abigail's sight.
“Shae!” she shouted.
She dropped her extra cloak by the pack of food and took off running after them. The sun would be up soon. She was worried about that too.
The deer charged after Shae, but he could run just as fast. He thought the best thing to do was kill the deer right now for blood if he could. The deer still had a wound on his neck from when Shae had attacked him before. He'd gotten away from Shae once. What made him think he could take him down when he was angry and out for revenge? Still Abigail would not be safe if this deer charged him again.
Shae turned and the deer ducked his head and ran at him, trying to gore him with his antlers. Shae jumped to one side and grabbed the deer's head. The deer shook him off with a powerful shake and Shae was thrown to the ground.
The deer charged him again and Shae jumped behind a tree. The deer buried his antlers in the tree, then had to disentangle them, which he did before Shae could attack him.
The deer chased Shae around as Shae wove between trees, in a circle. He ran around and charged the deer and hit him in the side, knocking him down.
The deer scrambled to his feet quickly. He charged Shae again and Shae jumped to the side. But before he could grab the deer's antlers, the deer had swung his head and shoved Shae hard into a tree. He scraped up his face and got a few cuts on his hands and arm.
Shae moved out of the way just in time as the deer charged at him with the tree behind him. He slammed his antlers into the tree.
Shae quickly took off his cloak and threw it over the deer's head. The deer was still stuck to the tree. Shae dove on it and quickly bit into its neck and started to suck.
This angered the deer and it pulled its antlers out of the tree and shook Shae off. Then shook the cloak off. It charged Shae again and he didn't quite move away in time. One of the deer's antlers went deep into him, under his ribs on the left side.
Shae yelled. The deer backed up to charge again. Shae stumbled. Blood was pouring from his wound. The deer gored him in the shoulder as he tried to crawl away. Shae yelled again.
“Shae!” came Abigail's cry from far away. She had heard him.
He managed to get to his feet. His right arm wouldn't work now. He was in great pain. He propped himself up against a tree.
The deer was staring at him, snorting out breath that fogged in the cool air. He wasn't chasing or charging, so Shae tried to get away. He began stumbling through the woods, away from Abigail's voice. Still trying to keep the deer from her.
He thought the deer was letting him go. But then he heard the thunder of hooves again and turned just in time to see the deer duck his head and thrust his antlers at Shae.
The antlers gored into him in three places. Right chest; lower abdomen, near his right hip; and one antler cracked a rib in his lower left chest. Shae was too in shock to make a sound. The deer then rammed Shae into a tree, where a small broken off branch sticking out of the tree gored him, right below the antler in the right of his chest.
Shae gasped and winced. The deer pulled out his antlers and Shae yelled again, weaker this time. The deer ran away into the woods then, done with him. He was still impaled on the tree and bleeding way too much.
“Shae,” Abigail said, sobbing as she came into view. “Oh, my God.”
She could barely see him now through her tears. He was a bloody mess, gasping and whimpering in pain.
“Abigail,” he said weakly.
She cried as she reached him and put her hand on his face. It was covered in blood from scratches. “What do we do?” she asked him tearfully, so afraid and confused.
Just then the sun began to peek up over the horizon to Shae's right. She quickly ran to stand between the sun and him.
“Abigail, you can't hide me from the sun forever,” he said. Blood was in his throat. He cleared his throat and tried to keep the blood out of his voice.
“Yes, I can,” she said, crying. She took off her cloak and tried to hold it up behind herself.
“All day?” he said. “Abigail...” he tried to sound kind and sure of himself. “I think you have to let me go.”
“No!” she said fiercely, then started sobbing harder.
“You can't stand there all day. I don't even know if I can... live with these injuries,” he said, trying not to sound as sad as he felt.
“A hospital,” she said, sniffling.
“For my kind?” he said, then gasped as the pain of shifting and talking got to him.
“I don’t know...” she said, sadly.
“I can't move my right arm,” he said. “I can't hold the cloak up. The other branches are too high for you to reach, I—” the blood pooled in his throat again and he coughed instinctively, coughing out a bit of blood.
“Oh my God,” Abigail said, tears rolling down her face.
“I meant to die at the cave. It was the right thing to do. It's okay.”
He wanted to comfort her. He tried to reach out to her with his left arm, but she was on his right and it hurt him too much.
She held the cloak up with one arm and reached across him with her right arm to hold his left hand. He squeezed her hand tightly.
“I don't know what to do,” she said, welling up with tears again. “I don't want you to leave me.” The image of him blurred as hot tears clouded her eyes. “I don't have anything left.”
He started to cry too, silently.
“Go back to your village,” he said. “Go live the rest of your life,” he said. “I'm sorry we ruined things so horribly for you—??
?
“No,” she said, shaking her head. “No. I understand.”
He stared into the woods for a moment. Then back at her, with teary eyes. “Abigail,” he said, “I'm glad I came here, so I could know you. It was worth it.” He smiled at her.
She smiled through her tears. “I love you,” she said.
“I love you too,” he said.
She could feel the sun warmer now on her back. She could see rays of sunlight casting long shadows through the woods. She didn't move.
“I don't want to do this,” she said.
He let go of her hand and reached across his body as he grimaced. “Give the cloak to me,” he said.
“Shae,” she said with tears on her cheeks. She leaned forward, holding up the cloak and kissed him on the lips. She wiped the blood off her lips onto the white sleeve of her nightgown.
“I love you,” she said as she helped him hold the cloak above his head.
“I love you, Abigail,” he said. “Now run. Please. I don't want you to see this.”
“Okay,” she said. She started sobbing. She ran the back of her hand down one of his cheeks. To feel him once more before he stopped being real and solid.
He was struggling to hold the cape up. “You run,” he said weakly. “I love you.” He nodded at her.
“I love you,” she said, then quickly started to run back through the forest, back the way they had come, toward the ghost town. She heard the cape drop and heard him yell. She spun around and saw him from far away. Yellow flame, then purple and white, and within seconds he was gone. She put her hand over her mouth and cried harder than she had been.
The fire from Shae had ignited the tree he'd been pinned to. It was quickly engulfed in fire, and set fire to the trees around it. Abigail began to run again.
She tried to run in the same path, back to her supplies. And back to the ghost town. She couldn't return to her own village now. She didn't know if she ever could.
She ran the entire way back and almost stumbled on the pack and cloak when she found them. Two water pouches and a bag with fewer cans in it, but still heavy. She had outrun the fire for now. She put on the extra cloak and hoisted the strap of the bag over her shoulder. She tromped through the woods, tears still clouding her vision occasionally. The fire was getting closer to her again. It was spreading quickly through the forest. She moved quickly, trying to reach the road, which she knew it would take the fire a while to cross.