Monday, October 22, 2018

Memento Mori Chapter One

Every day for the past twenty-two years, she’d heard the thoughts in his mind. From baby babblings to the thoughts of a grown man helping his father provide for the family, it had all been there inside her mind, too. She knew he lived in a place with misty forests and perpetual rain, but he had no name for the location beyond the town of Forks. Isabella had never heard of such a place, and neither had any of the vampires she encountered on her search for her soulmate.

She’d looked for him for five years, ten months, fifteen days, three hours, nine minutes, and fifty seconds. She’d impatiently ticked off each second as it passed, anger rising within her like a tidal wave as he became more and more elusive. A dream mate, perhaps, not a real being. But that couldn't be, because she felt him. She heard his thoughts and experienced his heartbeat and saw his family through his eyes. She didn't even know what he looked like, since he was not the vain type to stare into a piece of glass at his own warped reflection. She felt that he was inherently good, too good for her, but that didn't stop her from searching for him. She was compelled by a bond stronger than any she felt for even her coven members.

She’d been a vampire for centuries. Young by some standards, she nonetheless had learned plenty in her time. She had almost covered all of the continents in her search for her mate, had mapped the world in her mind. She swam many oceans, ran through desert storms with enough sand to choke a human, stood immobile in torrential rain and howling winds. She’d traversed the dark winter landscapes of the frozen north, and she had fed on every breed of animal and human in existence.

As she moved through a snowy village the natives referred to as Sheet’ká, she felt like she was nearer to her mate. The pull was greater there, as though she would stumble across him at any moment. For the first time, her extra senses were doing her a service as she followed the link between her and the mystery man. Her thirst flamed higher, and she devoured a man fishing without even batting a lash. She left streaks of blood behind as she threw his limp body in the direction of the hole he’d made in the ice.

Strength flowed through her as she ran faster in the direction of the tether attached to the ache that had formed behind her ribs. She could feel him. He was near.

oOo

At twenty-two, Edward Masen had no bigger goals than working the land for his father. He was responsible for keeping the property from going under now that Edward Sr. had taken ill. His ma had passed three summers ago, and he had no other siblings. Being a landowner meant several young ladies in the village wanted to be his bride, but he wasn’t interested in them. Several men were jealous of him, but he didn't pay them any mind, either. Wasn't his fault his family had a plot of land they’d kept well over the years while others squandered what they earned and disrespected what they owned.

He wasn't like others, he knew. He was steady and dependable, as unlikely to shirk his duties as to run naked through the middle of town. His father taught him to grow what he could and sell it for a fair profit, while his mother taught him compassion and how to keep the house. He and his father had taken it real hard when Elizabeth fell ill and succumbed to the cough that wracked her thin frame. Nothing had been the same for the Masen men since then. And having to watch his father weaken from a mysterious illness with no outward signs was enough to send Edward into early mourning.

It rained the day his pa passed away. He dug the grave at the back of the property under his mother’s favorite tree, the very one she was buried under. Raindrops fell in a steady rhythm off the brim of his hat as he worked without ceasing until the chore was done. When it was deep enough, he went back to the house and the pine box he’d built that morning, fixing a set of straps around it that enabled him to pull it along behind him until he could set it on the cart they used for selling wares in town. Emotion threatened to clog his throat as he worked, but he clamped down on it with ruthless efficiency until his task was complete.

He waited until the rain subsided the next day before he went into town to inform the preacher of the death in the family. He then went to the mayor’s office so the transfer of property could be completed. He would soon own the land he had been born and raised on, but he would also be alone. He had no way of knowing that everything he’d worked toward would soon be in danger from multiple sources.



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