Anything For Rachel – Episode 40

#Episode_40

 

 

 

 

Calvin looked concerned finally, and handed the phone back to me.

 

 

“What should we do, Pedro?” I asked him as soon as I got the phone to my ear.

 

 

He sighed. “Get to safety, either the bunkers or maybe th-.”

 

 

“We’re going to the cabin.” I told him.

 

 

“Ah, good.” He said quickly. “That’s better than the bunkers because they will be expecting that to be where you went.” He told me. “You should still send down some decoys to the bunkers so that people will really believe that that is where you all went.” He paused. “How is the Lamia Mortem spreading?” He asked. “I’ve heard a handful of theories from friends here.”

 

 

“Calvin thinks it’s in the blood supply.” I told him. “We were out and we got a new shipment from England…”

 

 

“The group in Britain obviously is to blame for that.”

 

 

“Plus we found a traitor in the kitchen.” I informed him. “They are well placed to be able to get to us.”

 

 

“Goodness.” Pedro muttered. “Ok, well, do not eat anything that you don’t cook with your own two hands.” He said. “There is a garden near the cabin that you can use, and no one should know about it. I tended it privately.”

 

 

“Pedro the gardener?” I asked and he laughed.

 

 

 

“Yes, have your laugh.” He said. “But eternal life leaves lots of room for hobbies, missy.”

 

 

I wanted to feel carefree enough to continue to joke with him, but the severity of the situation crept back up on me. “Pedro, there’s more.” I told him lowly. “In one of the dreams, I saw…I saw Calvin, and the others all dead too.” I admitted. “Also there was a man with a red rose that he turned black in his hand.”

 

 

“Let me speak to Calvin again.”

 

 

“No.” I snapped. “Whatever you have to say to him you can say to me.”

 

 

Calvin swiftly took the phone from me and shot to the other side of the room. “Pedro?” He said into it and I watched his face carefully as he seemed to weaken in front of my very eyes. His shoulders limped forward and he hung his head slightly, his mouth slack and his eyes blank.

 

 

“What is it?” I yelled. “Whatever it is, I want to know!” Calvin was instantly was back in front of me, holding the phone out.

 

 

“Calvin, tell me right now.” I demanded, but he pushed the phone closer to me.

 

 

“Rose wants to talk to you.” Calvin said gently, looking beyond me.

 

 

“Rose?” I said into the phone, glaring up at Calvin for pulling out this distraction to keep me from pestering him on what Pedro had said.

 

 

“Momma!” She said happily, and the pieces of my world seemed to form back together just at the sound of her high little voice. “You know Calvin too?”

 

 

“Too?” I asked her.

 

 

“Papa Pedro’s friend.” She giggled.

 

 

It was impossible not to smile too. “Of course I know Calvin, too.” I told her. “He’s a very good friend.”

 

 

“Will I meet your friend, Momma?”

 

 

“Of course.” I said without thinking, because even if he was getting on my nerves right now, I knew there was nothing I’d love more than to be able to love the both of them at the same time, and see the look in Calvin’s eyes when he sees her. “Very soon.”

 

I glanced up at Calvin and caught a quick glimmer in his eyes, before he turned away.

 

 

“Good.” She said innocently. “Papa Pedro says he’s very nice.”

 

 

“Pedro is absolutely right.” I told her. “You’ll love him.”

 

 

“Ok, Momma.” She giggled again. “I’m going to a movie now.” She informed me. “I miss you and Daddy.”

 

 

“We miss you too, baby.” I almost let the whimper creep into my voice, but I don’t think she noticed. “Have fun, and I love you.”

 

 

“To the sun, the moon, the stars, and the sky.” She laughed.

 

“To the sun, the moon, the stars, and the sky.” I promised her.

 

 

I started to hang up when I heard Pedro’s voice pull back through.

 

“Everything is going to be ok, Rachel.” He said quickly.

 

 

“I’m going to take Rose to a new place just to be safe, but you don’t need to worry about us.” He told me. “Worry about the people there with you that you can watch out for while I take care of this end.” I nodded along as he spoke, finding my center strength through Pedro’s encouragement as I usually did.

 

 

“Things are about to get rough there. Rougher than usual. You’re the queen now, and these are your people too. They need you, and so do Calvin and your friends. I have every bit of faith in you. Also, don’t fret over the dreams right now. Not everything you dreamt before came true. They were more like warnings before, so treat this one as a warning as well. They’re in danger, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to die just because you dreamt they would. Ok?”

 

 

I took a deep breath and nodded slowly. “Ok, Pedro.”

 

 

“Remember what I said.” He told me. “Eat nothing, drink nothing that you didn’t make yourself.” He warned again. “It concerns me that rebels were close to you and could have done something, but chose not to. That coupled with what happened to Miss. Lexton, and now the attack against only vampires, makes me fear that they plan to not harm you, but possibly use you to harm Calvin, so be vigilant.”

 

 

“Of course.” I told him. “You be careful too.”

 

 

“Always am, dear.”

 

 

I gave the phone back to Octavia and she looked worried herself, but I could tell she was trying to hide it. Cromley’s walkie went off and he stepped out into the hallway with it, sidestepping Logan where he was standing awkwardly by the door. I half smiled over at him. “Rose says she loves and misses you.” I told Logan and he smiled, then looked back over at Octavia then back to me.

 

 

“I wish I could just go be with her.” He said softly.

 

 

“Me too.” I sighed, then looked up at Calvin. “He’s moving her.” I told him.

 

 

He nodded his head. “Yeah, I heard.” He told me.

 

 

“Right.” I nodded stupidly.

 

 

An awkward, and highly tense, silence fell for a moment over the room before the ground began to shake violently. “What was that?” Logan hollered, grabbing a wall for support.

 

Cromley slammed open the door and waved for us to follow him. Calvin put his arm around me protectively and pulled me out of the room with him and the others.

 

 

“The council ran.” Cromley filled us in as we piled onto the elevator. “Marco is infected, and the rest ran for it before you could officiate the lockdown, although guards are already standing on all exits and trying to keep the border secure. The people are converging on it, but the guards will be able to hold it firm with your orders.” Cromley assured us. “But I don’t know how we can get you all out without being seen by thousands.”

 

 

“The garden.” I blurted and Cromley smiled and nodded.

 

 

 

“Yes, that’s perfect.” He told me. “No one should be there.”

 

 

Calvin grinned down at me as we exited the elevator to all run down the deserted corridor to the large chained up doors, that Cromley easily snapped between his giant hands.

 

 

“What was the explosions?” Logan asked, a nervous tremor in his voice. I realized I should be more nervous right now too, but I couldn’t muster it up. I’d been through so much in this damn place that running for our lives to get to safety wasn’t all that dramatic of an event anymore.

 

 

I followed Cromley through the rows of flowers and I almost stopped dead when I saw the spot I had been standing the first time Calvin brought me here on our date the night he proposed. I had been right there when he gave me my very first rose. The first of so many, before finally the most important Rose. I wanted to stay there and savor the memory of when things seemed so much easier, just us in love and defying the odds to be together. Lately it feels more like we will have to defy Mother Nature, God, and the universe itself to make a way for us.

 

 

“Bombs.” Cromley answered Logan, bringing me back to the present as we waited for Cromley to get the top doors busted open. “It won’t last long because they don’t have access to many, but they are trying to bomb their way out of the lockdown.” He explained. “No one wants to be stuck in a place that’s been touched by the Lamia Mortem. It’s probably one of the only things that vampires truly fear” He muttered as he slammed his shoulder up into the hatch on top and it finally gave way, dropping dirt and dust as it slung open and Cromley pushed forward. “Dammit!” He yelled. “It’s nearly dawn, we have to hurry.”

 

 

I glanced back to make sure that Logan and Octavia were still close behind us, and I found them sharing a look and their hands intertwined between them as we all began to run. I wanted to stop to look around my garden again, but I knew there was no time, the smell of the turned dirt and the

 

 

fresh blooming flowers would have to be enough. When I concentrated hard enough I could practically see the two of us, me and Calvin in each other’s arms, dancing slowly before he turned out the lights and showed me the beauty of the large full moon that night, before he truly took away my breath with my ring and his declaration of love.

 

 

Glancing up at the sky now only made me move my feet faster as we wound through the maze. The sky was light, and you could hear birds in the distance beginning their morning routines. I ran as hard as I could until I could finally see the little gravel road that led up to my cabin in the woods.

 

 

Octavia, Cromley, and Calvin all had extremely uncomfortable looks on their faces and I could feel the way Calvin was tensing with his arm around me. I pushed his arm off of me and he looked wounded for a second. “I can see it from here!” I told him. “You go! Go!” I yelled and he finally gave in, Octavia and Cromley disappearing with him.

 

 

Without them, I dropped my speed into a fast walk, Logan doing the same at my side.

 

 

“Rachel?” He said breathlessly.

 

 

“Yeah?”

 

 

He looked down at me as we moved, his forehead glistening slightly. “He’s already not fed.” He said. “What are we going to do with the both of them locked in there?” He asked pointing up the road. “Have you ever let him…?”

 

 

“No.” I said quickly, feeling super weird about having this conversation with him. “Never.”

 

 

“Then what are you going to do when he starts starving?” He asked and I felt stupid for not thinking of it sooner. That was why Pedro didn’t want me to eat or drink anything that might be tainted, and that was what he was implying when he said the rebels might try to use me to get to Calvin.

 

 

Calvin was going to have to drink from me to survive.

 

 

Logan and I picked up our pace and made our way to the cabin, making sure to open the door as little as possible to keep the light from coming in. Walking in was striking, the way that everything was exactly the same as we left it. The big room with the open kitchen off to one side, the large poster bed in the middle, and our big stone fireplace with the bear skin rug laid out in front of it on the other side. It felt like it had been ages since I’d last been in this little rustic cabin, but also like it hadn’t been long at all. The only thing missing was Calvin.

 

Octavia was standing off to the side of the room, leaning against the bathroom door that was shut.

 

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“Is he ok?” I asked her as I cut across the room.

 

 

I tried to push by her to go check on him myself, but she held up her arm, stopping me. “Give some space for a minute.” She whispered. “He’s very weak already, and that didn’t help.” She shook her head, looking towards the door.

 

 

“The sun wasn’t even all the way up yet.” I said, turning to lean my back against the bathroom door too and Octavia nodded her head.

 

 

“It doesn’t have to be direct sunlight to drain us.” She told me.

 

 

“As soon as the sun’s light starts to touch the sky, just the slightest touch of it to us is very uncomfortable.” She explained. “It isn’t like we combust or

 

 

anything silly like that, but it’s more like we have an aversion to the sun. It can’t technically kill us, although the pain of it on your body is enough to keep any of us from trying it out, but it zaps the energy right out of us, and since Calvin hasn’t eaten…”

 

 

“It really did a number on him.” I shook my head and swept some of the stray hairs that had fallen from my bun back behind my ears as I looked up at the low ceilings. “How’s he going to make his announcement?”

 

 

“Speaking of that,” Cromley interjected, coming over to us. “Did you get the camera and the cords to wire it up?” He asked Octavia.

 

 

She nodded and pointed over to Logan who was sitting on the foot of the big bed, the bag lying beside him. “I grabbed it when I went to get Logan.” She told him. “Go ahead and be getting it setup so we can do this as soon as he’s ready.” She dropped her eyes down to the thick rug and she frowned to herself. “He’s only going to get weaker, and I’m not feeling so great right now either.”

 

 

I reached out to put my hand on her shoulder. “You go sit down.” I told her. “I’ll wait for him.”

 

 

She nodded faintly and went to sit beside Logan and he put his arm around her shoulders while she leaned into him, resting her head against his and closing her eyes. I knew it was an odd reaction, but the sight made me smile. As strange as it felt, I really just wanted him to be happy, and I love Octavia, so if she could be the one to do that for him, then I am happy for them both.

 

 

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To_be_Continued

 

ANYTHING FOR RACHEL