Trepidation | Trepidation Trilogy | The Empty World Sequence

Thirty-One

Claudia slept in the lower bed of the trailer, Merideth not far to her side and little Alaric asleep as well, music softly playing. She was dreaming. They were halted in some highly disputed area of land with armies all around and Peacekeeperes on constant watch, but she had been told to sleep. Now, Claudia saw a full moon and dark trees, and, somehow at the same time, ancient stone monuments belonging to Salibury plain, Harappa, or Paris all in the night around her.

      Voices were whispering to her on the wind, calling to her, "Claudia, come to us...Claudia."

      And then David was there. He stood still, seemed calm, this dream David. He wore green now, clothes made of silk and the very cutting edge of fashion. As she remembered, the handsome, pale man was compact in build, not so tall or wiry as John, just very solid. David was a thing coiled and prepared to move suddenly and strike anywhere. He saw her, over the strange, moonlit green field. She saw the dark hood slip from his red hair. He somehow looked more boyish with that hair.

      "You've missed me?" he asked. Smooth deep voice carried on the wind, or just soundless to begin with, though still accented by Scotland and Pakistan both.

      "Oh, yes, David, very much," Claudia said.

      In that instant he was at her side, seeming so calm, as if he had not moved at all. One hand rose to touch her face. "You knew I would come for you," David said.

      Claudia nodded. Her heart sped. David was with her...and she wanted just a taste of blood. He would allow her that. "I felt you always," Claudia breathed anxiously."

      David smiled, eyes seeming to glimmer with gold though they were always really green, she thought, they had to be. "Be mine always."

      "Yes," Claudia said.

      "Give your life for mine."

      "Oui, David." Claudia froze still. How had David learned that trick?  Time seemed to slow as David bent forward at the hips until his lips brushed Claudia's throat. Some whisper came to her but it could not have been spoken. "Oui," she said. The fangs pressed against her skin and then in audible crunch broke through with sharp pain and heat. David was drinking the blood that flowed from within Claudia, taking her life. "Oui," Claudia whispered.

     

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      John trained the goggles on another section of dark horizon, saw patches of motion. The SB were positioned all along the west. They knew the position of the Goth, clearly they did, and were ready to move with them wherever they went. "We are still a few miles from the current border, just inside Old France," Justin whispered at his side. The Peacekeeper's General had a GPS link and map on the ground between them.

      John lowered the goggles. Sascha was just the other side of him, spying through goggle of a slightly different model. They had Peacekeepers out further ahead, scouting, and more scouting the other directions. Most of the camp were sleeping, fires all out and lights as well.  Sascha made a whistle and then a whistle came from the moonlit ground before them. John's eyes registered movement near a tree and then faint sounds, very faint, as two Guardmaidens, now Peacekeepers, materialized before them, still crouched low.

      John recognized Ceci and Joyce clearly then as Joyce spoke. "They found us before we could get really close. I think they do have talents scanning."

      Justin nodded.

      "Justin," John whispered, "when all this is over, or even before, I want all Goth Peacekeepers and Guard trained to block their minds from talents. We might try to get some talents of our own."