Someone was calling his name. She was distant, and while he was almost certain it wasn’t Aislyn’s voice, he thought for a moment, what if it was? What if he was dead, and Aislyn had come to greet him on the other side? Wouldn’t that be lovely?
His eyes felt heavy, but his head no longer ached. He was quite certain it had before, though he didn’t know when, and he didn’t know why. He managed a blink, and then with some effort, he willed his eyes to come open. The room seemed bright, sideways, and was spinning. He decided to close his eyes again.
“Aaron?” another voice called. “Open your eyes.”
He knew he recognized that voice, and when he opened his eyes again, he saw Jamie’s familiar face, though he wasn’t sure why he had two of them. He shook his head in an attempt to focus, but that sent a radiating pain through his skull.
“Stay still,” the woman’s voice said quietly, an
The Atlantic Ocean, 1912“Do you think I should wear the blue tie or the red one?” Christian asked, holding each choice up to his neck in front of the full-length mirror.“Hell, I don’t know. Wear them both,” Aaron replied.“Someone’s a bit touchy tonight,” Christian said, turning to look at him.“Someone takes forever to get dressed and then still can’t decide what he’s wearing.” Aaron dropped into a chair across the room, hopeful that Christian would get himself together before dinner. He knew he should’ve come at least fifteen minutes after Christian suggested so that he would actually be ready to go.“Maybe the gray one,” Christian mumbled. “Where is the gray one?” He disappeared, and Aaron eyed the bottle of Scotch sitting on the counter, figuring he probably had time for at least one drink before his partner was ready to go.A
Dinner was full of questions posed to them in English which they pretended not to understand and conversation in French about whatever they wished since no one else at their table knew what they were saying. At least one of them had their eyes on the Vampire at all times. Before they had even finished, Dr. Williams excused himself from his seat across the room and began to walk toward the door.This was not part of the plan, and as they exchanged nervous glances, Catherine came up with a solution. Clenching her stomach, she said in French, “I’m really not feeling well, darling. Might you escort me back to the room?”“Yes, of course,” Aaron replied, helping her up from her seat and explaining to the others, also in French, that his wife was not well.“What do I do?” Christian asked.“Finish dinner; go make a search,” Aaron said, a fake smile plastered on his face so no one might guess that he was giving
When Aaron reached Williams’s room, he found the door to be locked. That had never been a problem for him. In fact, he was able to pick almost any lock in a matter of seconds using a small piece of metal he often carried somewhere on his person for just such occasions. The door opened easily, but the room was empty. With a sigh, he headed back to the main deck, thinking if he walked like a human, by the time he arrived, it would be time to meet Catherine.It wasn’t until he was back outside that he realized what that shudder had been on the stairs. He could see tiny pieces of ice on the deck below, children kicking it around having fun with it. A few passengers stood about, most of them in their pajamas, but no one really seemed to be too worried. And why should they be? They’d been told time and again nothing could sink this ship.He saw Catherine walking toward him from the other side of the ship. Now, she wore a pink day gown. “Why do you kee
Below, people were having trouble reading directions and finding the correct stairways to reach the launching rescue boats. It appeared as if many of the boats were sent out into the Atlantic only partially filled, yet another fact that made absolutely no sense to him. The boat had more than enough people to fill each of them to capacity, yet the lifeboats were far from full.A flare was fired into the night sky, leaving some gasping, others cheering, more still running for their lives. It was then that Aaron spied a familiar head of gray hair huddled in a crowd toward the starboard side of the ship where the next set of lifeboats would launch.Certain it was Williams, he handed off the lifebelt to another passenger and slid his way through the crowd, a feat in itself considering how tightly packed the people waiting to get on the boat were. “Going somewhere, doctor?” he asked, placing his hand on the Vampire’s shoulder and pressing the stake against
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, America, 1941When Jordan Findley gave you a special assignment, you took it, even if it meant leaving the continent where you’d lived for over a hundred years and the area you’d led for almost half that time.Meeting with Jordan and his wife Janette in their office in Kansas City, Missouri, in the early fall of 1941 had been quite the experience for Aaron. After Titanic, he’d been appointed to the United Kingdom Area Leader, a new position, and he was tasked with overseeing all of the lands encompassed by the boundaries of that nation. Even though it had taken him away from the core members he’d worked so closely with, he enjoyed the job. Now that he and Christian had come up with a device that allowed team members to talk to each other at almost any time, running such a large area was much easier.Likewise, Christian and Jamie had worked to develop two guns that shot special bullets made of
Early for two Guardians who didn’t require the same sort of sleep as their human counterparts meant well before the sun rose, and by 5:00 in the morning, Aaron had collected Jamie and was driving his Buick Century toward the Kahuku Sugar Mill located on the northeast side of the island. The drive would normally take an hour or so, but Aaron’s car was capable of going much faster with the modifications the LIGHTS team made to it, and he was clipping along at a pretty good speed that December morning.“Did you see Eleanor last night?” Aaron asked as they drove along.“I did,” Jamie replied, a sheepish grin on his face. “We went to a dance. You should come sometime. Lots of other pretty girls around to choose from.”This wasn’t the first time Jamie had suggestion Aaron accompany them, and he had honestly considered it. Though he had not had a romantic relationship with a woman in a century, he had dated a few hu
Aaron shot the first male Vampire in the head at close range through a pillow in an attempt to muffle the sound. It was a bit successful but the woman next to him began to rouse, and he knew he’d need to work more quickly now. Three shots later, and all of them were dispatched.Their neighbors had heard the noise, however, and shouts from outside let him know that he was needed in the yard. Realizing Jamie and Taavi likely had any back exits covered, he sprang back through the front of the house and saw three Vampires fleeing the middle house. Two women took off running for the sugar fields while the man, a large Hawaiian native built like a brute, rushed at him.While hand-to-hand combat against the bloodsucker would have been more fun, Aaron’s new philosophy was, “If you have the shot, take it.” There would always be more opportunities to fight. As the Vampire lurched at him, teeth bared and hands splayed, he shot him twice in the heart and wa
While the bullets from the Japanese aircraft flying overhead continued to plink off of the car and shoot up streaks of dust around his feet, Aaron contemplated what to do. There had to be some way that he could help as he was unable to be harmed by the rounds careening through the air around him. He realized there were no US planes in the air, and if he truly wanted to help, he needed to get to the airfield so he could provide some cover for the pilots as they attempted to get their birds off the ground.As he sprinted off in the direction of the closest airfield, a bullet hit him in the arm. It stung, but it didn’t even break the skin, and even when a Zero blanketed him in a sea of the projectiles, he continued to run, never slowing until the airfield came into view.Dozens of men were hurrying to ready the planes to take off, but even as they worked, the first round of enemy fire came in, sending them ducking for cover. The planes were not so lucky, and many of