I'm Not A Savior

Tay decided to handle all the planning for the spell, leaving me, Tess, and Matt to safeguard Kenzie and make sure that the soul memories don’t come onto her faster and that she is safe and comfortable when the do take over her.

This was tricky with school, since I knew that Kenzie was in danger of having episodes and we didn’t need her to have one around her peers. That would end up with the three vampires in the bunch to compel a lot of people, and that exhausts our power. Thankfully I had a plan.

After we hatched the plan, I gathered vervain with Tay. She used me as her vervain detector since she had no idea what vervain was like. Once we had enough, she took to her grandmother to add it to different tea flavors that I could give Kenzie. That way her body could be filled with enough vervain to hopefully control the memories.

I started hunting more often, going out every night I wasn’t with Kenzie to get myself topped off. I was struggling with my thirst around Kenzie. I nearly attacked her when we skipped school last week. I needed to be more careful.
---
“How’s the planning going,” I asked Tay when we all met up at Kenzie’s after school once her uncle was at work for the night.

“I talked to the wolves,” she sighed, “but they refused to move to the woods.”

“Maybe they knew it would be too risky for them to go out there,” Tess commented, “Wolves have no control over themselves under full moons, but on other nights they’re perfectly able to.”

“The local pack’s leader suggested we go out to the abandoned summer campgrounds,” Tay informed us, “The campgrounds are used only by the summer camp groups and they close it down once the school year starts. No one goes back up until the spring thaw to get them ready for summer again.”

“Then we should go there,” Kenzie concluded, “We’d be alone up there and no one would hear us.”

“We have to stick to the woods nearby for the spell itself,” Tay continued, “We won’t be heard or seen. We can then sleep in one of their cabins while we’re there. But we leave early in the morning after the full moon. We have to be gone before dawn so we won’t get caught.”

“Okay, we have the plan,” I nodded to agree with how everything will go, “Now what do you need for the spell?”

“I have the ingredients for the spell,” Tay replied, “But I need something that was prized by your fiancée so it will target her.”

“I’ll make Kenzie a copy of the locket,” I told her, “That way we can use the original in the spell.”

“That works,” Tay nodded, “Now we have a week before the full moon. It’s thankfully on a Saturday so we’ll be able to meet up at the camp after school Friday.”
---
It was the Monday before we’d execute the plan, and I had decided to take the week off from school, stating to them it was personal business with family and I needed to the time off. And I spent today gathering animal blood for the trip. I needed to keep myself fed, knowing full well that we could be tracked by a vampire that stays on the campground to bide his time for his next meal. I was not about to let anything happen to Kenzie or Tay.

Once I had drained a bear I found on my hunt, I looked up to find an old friend of mine. I was surprised he was up here in Baltimore, but it was a nice surprise though.

“Well hello Alex,” he greeted me, “I’m surprised to see you gathering blood over just drinking it right away. Planning a trip soon?”

“I’m helping a pair of my students,” I told him, “It’s nice to see my favorite immortal wolf up here. It’s nice to see you again, Victor.”

“Call me Vic now, Alex,” he smiled as he came up and gave a bro-hug, “We need to stick with times now. Save the formality for the turn of the century.”

“What brings you out here,” I asked him, “You’re usually with Rian and the others along with your pack in the southwest?”

“My pack and I migrate now,” he replied, “Same with your friends. Carmina found them in LA and they ran off into the wind at the first sign of her. They’ll stay to the west for when you decide to join them again though.”

“Are you taking part in the turning at the graveyard Saturday,” I asked him.

“I am actually,” he replied, “I’m your witch’s contact in the wolves. The small pack that was here, opted to follow mine for now until they found a pack that held dominance on the east coast. I’ve been moving around for ten years now.”

“Do you want to help me get the blood I need for the trip,” I asked him, “I need to have ten packs for the trip and this bear filled three.”

“Sure I can help,” he replied, “But I’ll need the tranq gun in your duffle bag.”
---
At last it was time for the trip. I had all the food and sleepbags we needed, along with my blood bag stash for the trip that I kept separate from Tess and Matt’s. I already had Kenzie with me, and I was going to give her and Tay a ride while Matt and Tess waited for us up at the campgrounds, making sure that no vampires were squatting there. They made doubly sure that Carmina wasn’t there.

“So how painful is the spell,” Kenzie asked Tay once she and her mother were loaded into the car.

Tay had staked her mother in her leg and arm to keep her from pouncing on Kenzie. And when I saw them, I winced for her. I could even smell the vervain oil that was soaked into the grain of the wood.

“I am not answering that,” Tay replied, “You can’t do that to yourself. You’re going to freak yourself out of it.”

The rest of the ride was silent. The only sounds were the faint groans of agony out of Mrs. Jardine, Tay’s steady heartbeat and breathing, and Kenzie nervous heartbeat and breathing. I reached across the console and held onto Kenzie’s hand, giving her a light squeeze to let her know she would be okay.

When we finally got close to the camp, I turned off my headlights and relied on my vampire sight to drive into the camp. Kenzie was freaking out more, afraid that we’d hit something and wreck my car, but I was able to keep her somewhat calm by caressing her hand with my thumb gently.

I got my car up to the furthest back cabin, and killed the engine. I got out first and started unloading everything with Tess and Matt. Tay got her mother into the cabin quickly and put her into the cabin’s bathroom. Kenzie stayed in the car, most likely afraid to get out because it was so dark out and she didn’t know what to do to help.

“Hey,” I got her door open and helped her out, “Everything’s going to be fine. Let’s get inside.”

I got into the cabin and saw we had picked out a counsellor cabin. There was a living room space with a kitchen attached to it. The bedroom was separate from the rest of the cabin and the bathroom was next to it. I poked my head into the bathroom to find that Tay had bound her mother down in the tub with vervain laced ropes. I felt so bad for her.

“I know you feel pity for me,” she spoke suddenly as if she read my mind, “But don’t. If anyone should be allowed to feel pity for anyone, it’s me for you. You’ve lived far longer than you should have, tortured by loneliness. You killed the woman that loved you and are forced to have her soul plague you again in the young girl you’ve fallen in love with. You are the one that deserves pity between us.”

“You were force by Carmina to kill your husband,” I told her, “You killed the man you loved that gave you children. Your children even watched it happen. They have lived with watching you suffer through constant agony so they could be safe around you. After you turned, you were allowed around your children, but never allowed to hold them again. That is torture at it’s best.”

“Maybe you’re right,” she sighed, “But know you might be a vampire, but that doesn’t me you’re not human as well. Most of vampires started out as human, but forget that once they turn and have their first real feeding.”

“Thank you for the advice,” I replied to her with a soft smile, “I wish I could have helped you learn to live like I do. Maybe you could have been the one helping Tay instead of being the sacrifice she needs for the spell.”

“That’s the thing with fate,” she smirked before frowning, “Only a select few can defy it and create their own destiny.”

I left her on that note and found that everyone was asleep in their sleeping bags in the living room. The only one missing was Kenzie. I saw a light under the door to the bedroom. I went in and found Kenzie up on the bed, holding her locket in her hands.

“I stopped drinking my tea,” she stated plainly, “I want you to compel to forget about the pain I’ll suffer through tomorrow night. I don’t want to have nightmares of how painful it’ll be.”

“It won’t hurt you that much,” I tried to convince her with the best lie I had, “The pain you feel when finishing transition from human to vampire is way worse than what you’ll feel tomorrow.”

“What does it feel like,” she looked up at me, “you know, when the transition finished?”

“I felt every fiber of my body ignite on fire,” I told her, “Everything felt like it was burning and freezing at the same time, over and over again. I felt my fangs grow in, tearing through my gums. My eyes burned as they became my new vampire eyes. It’s something I regret making Tess go through. But it was the only way to save her. Matt has taken it better than she had when she first turned, but I know the pain still haunts him. It still haunts me, along with the woman I killed to turn.”

“What was her name,” she asked, “You always talk about like she’s a stranger that didn’t mean anything to her.”

“Her name was Lisa Ruocco,” I answered as I pulled out my old pocket watch and opened it to show the portrait I had of her, “Her mother was the English noble that got the land and title with her Italian noble husband.”

“We look alike almost,” I told him, “Only my hair is red and my skin isn’t as dark as hers.”

“You both have the same green eyes,” I told her, “Like the rich grassy knolls of the English countryside.”

“Like your home,” she replied, “Like the hills near Essex.”

“Yeah,” I smiled lightly, “Lisa loved it when I had compared her green eyes to the hills. I still feel so guilty talking about her.”

“I know,” Kenzie rested her hand on mine, “I sure she forgave you for what had happened.”

“Maybe,” I shrugged, “But you should get some sleep. We have a long night tomorrow.”

Notes

I reread what I wrote for chapter 6 and made Alex too old by mistake (I'm terrible at math sorrynotsorry). I have fixed it now.

And I added Vic, and he'll be a big player later on. :)