around as long as possible in order to have him reunite with Maggie again, as the objective was maximum pain and suffering. Saying that Billingsley was delusional would have been completely accurate because he was the one that gave up his life with Maggie in the first place. Only, as is the case with most delusional people, they don’t exactly see things ever as their fault and blame is much easier to place on the shoulders of others.
Gabriel had Brenda Vinson dispatch Alexander Lowery, a renowned vampire, to Hartwell house after Maggie and son died and just as Hartwell was on the verge of taking his own life. Brenda was also in control of Hartwell dramatically raising the pistol to his head, but in reality the trigger was never going to be pulled. It was Billingsley that wanted Hartwell to feel that he would have killed himself if Lowery had not knocked on his door and offered him the gift of being able to see his wife and son again one day. But, the reality of the situation was that Hartwell very well might have taken his own life if an other-worldly alternative was unavailable.
And once Hartwell finally came on line as a vampire, it was Gabriel Billingsley who buddied up to him after tracking him for several days. They spent the better part of 18 years together, traveling the world and drinking as much of people’s blood as inhumanly possible. The last highlight that Daniel and Claire viewed was one of Hartwell and Gabriel drunk on blood and jumping up and down in personal victory together in the woods. The initial feed was of the backs of two vampires with wings unfurled, but Daniel’s curiosity pushed him to lean forward for a closer look.
“Something isn’t right here,” he said as he place his fingers around Billingsley’s image and then twisted it around so he could see the front of the so-called vampire.
Claire and Daniel gasped as the image of an ape en fuego replaced that of a vampire.
“Did my grandma’ make your dad believe that Gabriel was a vampire?”
Daniel smirked, “I believe she did.”
TEN
Just as Daniel and Claire were about to leave the bench and tart walking down the boardwalk, a second roll of film came through the corporeal world.
“Wait,” Daniel said. “There’s more.”
Hartwell started to grow impatient as the years rolled by and there was no sign of the reincarnation of Maggie and his son Nathanial. Linda Vinson delivered her baby Claire and then almost immediately fled from her daughter and mother in order to protect them and herself. The splitting up of such potent Wiccan energies was the key to ensure potential survival.
It was only days after Hartwell had buried Cal Brewster in the bottom of the Pacific Ocean with the help of his protector Garrison Phillips and daughter Sharon. With the threat of the Brewster family killing him greatly diminished, Hartwell turned is full attention back to his original family. This was the point in time that he happened to meet Linda Vinson, and this meeting was purely a coincidence and was not triggered by anything Billingsley.
When nothing appeared in front of Daniel and Claire he looked over at her and she was convulsing from the presence of a new image. He grabbed her shoulder and projected the image in front of them so she could stop struggling and pull out of whatever pain the flashback was causing her.
She looked over at him, “Thanks.”
He kept his hand on her shoulder to ensure that she would not slip back into her internal daymare.
Her mother was running and breathing hard as paranoia had finally gotten the best of her. She knew there was just so long or so far she could run and it would be only a matter of time before Billingsley and whoever he had working for him would be able to track her down. She smacked right into Hartwell as she looked over her shoulder and failed to identify who was in her immediate path. Hartwell was no stranger to people running, but it was usually away from him in attempt to get away. He had only turned one person in his century as a vampire and that was a young and helpless Brandon Justice a few years earlier in rural Portland, Oregon.
But Hartwell was feeling no pity on this day, at least not at first blush of this tasty morsel that he was holding in his vice grip. He quickly popped the top as he bit down on her neck and flashes of things he had never seen crossed his mind. He unhinged his razor-sharp fangs and glided back a few paces in surprise.
“You be a witch?”
Linda stood wobbly as blood started flowing out of her neck, staining her white shirt, “I be a witch,” she replied just before her eyes rolled back in her head and she passed out.
Hartwell caught Linda before she hit the ground and she woke up the next day in unfamiliar surroundings. At first she was comforted by the relaxed feeling she experienced from her head to her toes that resulted from a fresh infusion of blood. But then she felt something pulling at her neck and reached up and tried to pull off a bandage she knew nothing about.
“Oh, you’re up,” Hartwell said as she saw the vampire gliding toward her and tried to get up and run away. She writhed in pain as her head was not ready for such movement.
“Yeah, I was just going to say you probably should avoid any sudden movements or you’ll probably get a gigantic head rush accompanied by a headache.”
“Why did you bite me?” she asked as she reclined and started to relax again.
“Well, as you already know I am a vampire…” he started to explain.
“No, that’s not what I meant. What I meant to say was why did you stop biting me?”
Hartwell pulled up a chair and asked, “Is it all right if I sit down?”
She nodded in approval, “Of course,” as the mutual politeness was working wonders to repair a relationship that might have gotten off on the wrong fang.
“When I bit into your neck, many things about you and your current situation came to my attention. The first of which was the fact that you are indeed a witch. Am I correct?”
Linda never liked to admit that she was a sister of the occult, especially when she was among others outside of the trade, but was willing to break her rule this one time due to the rather extenuating circumstances: she was being held captive by a vampire and he could drain her of her life within seconds.
“Yes, that is correct.”
“Good,” Hartwell stated. “I also know that you are running from someone that you fear greatly, and the very thought of this person makes you feel very vulnerable.”
Linda was so relieved to be finally be able to talk to someone about her situation, that she about to reveal to Hartwell that the vampire that was out to get her was the same creature that sired his road to vampiracy in 1902 San Francisco. But it was a good thing that Hartwell had other things on his mind, because he did not have any interest in hearing about the past anymore. Looking back had caused him great anguish over the years and he was looking forward from now on.
“Oh my god, I’m so relieved that you know. L…” she was just about to say “Lowery has been chasing me for years” before Hartwell interjected, “It’s not important who is chasing you. What is important, however, is that I think we can both help each other.”
It was the parallel universe that was Linda Vinson’s life. On the one hand she was lured into a brief romantic relationship with a vampire and then had his love child, unbeknownst to him. And then she literally ran into another vampire while she was trying to frantically avoid the other one, only to realize that she would be a better partner than a mid-day snack.
“What did you have in mind?” she asked as she put her hand out to receive some aid in sitting up.
Hartwell gently grabbed her arm and then supported Claire’s weight as she attempted to stand up.
“You have to do this slowly or all of the blood will rush to your head,” Hartwell explained.
“Well, if anybody would know about blood and rushing it would be you,” she smiled and replied.
They started walking slowly, Hartwell using his left arm to support all of her weight, as he laid out the plan of action.
The image that Daniel and Claire we
re seeing was of their backs, so Claire moved forward and flipped the image with her left hand so they could see Hartwell and Linda’s faces.
“Well, I need something of a locator spell to find my lost wife and son,” Hartwell said.
“When was the last time you saw them?” Linda asked.
“About 100 year ago.”
Her head almost snapped from the surprise of his statement, so he clarified his need.
“I’ve been expecting them to be reborn for some time now and it is starting to get to me, much the way the stress of avoiding a predator is obviously starting to erode your defenses.”
They stopped walking and she nodded in understanding.
Hartwell continued, “I propose that I offer you the full protection of my cloaking powers in return for you alerting me when my loved ones have returned to me.”
They shook on the deal and the picture faded to black.
Daniel filled in the blanks for Claire, “Your mother must have told him about me, but I was the one that told my dad about my mother. She was the librarian that helped me with some of the projects at my high school.”
Claire smiled, “Your mom was the librarian at your school and you didn’t even know it?”
“We got along so great, but I had no idea until my father told me what was happening after he transformed me into a vampire.”
“And I was a zombie going after all of you to avenge my father’s death, a man that my mother was