Page 52 of Silent Stalker
“While I’ll try, I can’t promise anything.” I told Ben how to find me. Then, as my curiosity ate away at me, I asked, “Do you think he rose because of what’s been going on?”
“It’s possible,” Ben admitted. “Kind calls to kind, and he wasn’t buried far from where we rescued most of the victims. It’s possible that factored into it. Just let him drink, and I’ll handle the rest from there. It’s best he takes blood from an adult vampire. That way, we can control him if something goes wrong. And while he’s a chameleon and generally obedient, he is still a child, and he is a vampire. It’s safest for everyone if we handle this the only way he knows.”
“Okay. I’ll keep an eye on him.”
“I won’t be long,” he promised, before hanging up on me.
While Emerick had impliedBen was only a hundred years old, I learned the truth when Edgar spotted the vampire. Holding the canteen in one hand, he wagged the other, much like a young, excited bird ready to take flight. Before the child could spill the blood, I rescued it.
Edgar scrambled over the ground and plowed into Ben’s legs.
“Emerick knows him, is it?” I asked in a dry tone.
Ben’s gentle smile caught me off guard, and he crouched, brushing Edgar’s hair out of his eyes. “He also knows him.”
“Uncle Ben, the nice lady gave me blood.”
The emphasis on the word, as though I had done something beyond sacred, broke my heart. What sort of life had the child lived that something as simple as sharing some blood would evoke such awe?
“She’s the mistress of the Lowrance brood, Edgar. She’s Emerick’s wife, so you’ll have to call her Aunt Pepper, okay?”
Well, finding a bedraggled child in the woods hadn’t been how I thought I might become an aunt, but I intended to embrace the insanity of it with enthusiasm.
“Uncle Emerick got married?” Edgar asked, his eyes going owl wide with wonder. “I missed the ceremony?”
“They haven’t had their official ceremony yet, so you can carry the rings and throw flowers,” Ben promised.
According to Edgar’s squeal, there was no better thing in his life than carrying rings and throwing flowers.
“Do you remember Aunt Annora and Uncle Gerry?”
Edgar bobbed his head. “I do. Aunt Annora wanted to teach me chess.”
“I’m sure she would love to teach you chess. We’re going to be planning their vow renewal next year, so you can help us with that.”
The little boy sucked in a breath. “Really?”
“Really. Are you still thirsty?”
“A little, but Aunt Pepper shared her blood with me.”
“Aunt Pepper has dietary problems, too, so she gets special blood. Since you aren’t feeling well, you should have some more of it, and then you can drink from me when I get you to the estate, okay?”
Without argument, the child returned to me, and before I realized what was happening, I had a lap full of squirming child, who held his hands out for the canteen, which I gave to him. “Ben?”
“I know this is likely difficult for you, but we do what we can as we can for him. But his life is a celebration. He may not be the easiest child to care for, and we have rules we have to abide by, but he is a loved child. This won’t make up for the tragedies of recent days, but it is a cause for joy, even on the days it’s most difficult, when we wish we could watch him grow but can’t.”
“Maybe I should look for wood another time?”
“Look for it now after he’s had a drink. He enjoys playing outside and getting dirty, and if I keep him outside and let him play, he knows he hasn’t done anything wrong.”
“If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure.”
I hunted for new branches,and once Edgar realized what I was doing, he helped. Every time he spotted a broken branch, with some coaching from Ben, he would climb to it and wait for me to come and retrieve it. He watched, and once he heard me apologize to the branch and coo sweet nothings to it, he followed my lead.
As he thrived when given something to do, I asked him to hold the branches and reassure them.
