Morgan Rice - Loved

Then he saw the new message light, and opened it.

There it was. Another new message from him.

It read: Sam, I would love to see you. We do need to get together. I know that you are busy in school and all, but what does your schedule look like? It’s hard for me to travel, because of my bad leg, but I’m wondering if you could come up here and visit me? I live in Connecticut .

Samantha smiled. “There you go,” she said.

“What should I say?” Sam asked.

“Say yes. Tomorrow’s Saturday. It’s the weekend. What better time?”

She was right. Saturday was the best day. Wow. This girl was not only really hot, she was really smart.

Sam typed back: OK. Sounds good. How about this weekend? What’s your address?

He hesitated for a second. Then he clicked send. He already felt better.

“I’m so excited for you,” Samantha said, smiling. “Wow, it’s so cool that I could meet you at such an exciting time.”

Sam suddenly felt her smooth fingers reach out and stroke his face, then slowly run through his hair. The feeling was intense. Amazing. His heart was slamming, and he could barely think.

He turned and looked at her, and saw that she was facing him, both of her hands now, caressing his face, his neck, his hair. He couldn’t pull his eyes away from her large, glowing green eyes. He could hardly breathe.

“I really like you,” she said.

Sam opened his mouth to speak, but it was too dry. It took him a couple of tries. “I really like you, too.”

He knew he should lean in for a kiss, but he was too nervous. He was relieved when she leaned in, and planted her lips on his.

It was amazing. The blood rushed to his brain, and he prayed this would never end.

As Caitlin flew with Caleb, arms wrapped around him, loving the feel of his body, she thought of how lucky she was. Just the day before, she’d been worried that Caleb would say goodbye. And now, for once, her luck had changed.

Thank God for that necklace , she thought.

It was late afternoon by the time they arrived in Salem. He set them down inconspicuously in an empty field on the outskirts of town, so no one would notice.

They walked a few blocks, and arrived right on the Main Street of Salem.

Caitlin was surprised. She had expected something more. She’d heard about Salem her whole life, from textbooks mostly, always in connection with the witches. But to see it as a real, living place, as an everyday town, she found quite strange. She had imagined it as a perfectly preserved, historic place in her head, almost like a stage set. To see normal, modern, everyday people living their lives, driving, hurrying to and fro, caught her off guard.

Salem looked almost like any small, New England, suburban town. There were a few chain stores, the typical pharmacies, everything modern, and almost no sign that this town had so much history. The town was also a lot bigger than she had imagined. She had absolutely no idea where to even begin to look for her Dad.

Caleb must’ve been thinking the same thing at the same time, because he looked over at her with an expression: what now ?

“Well,” she began, “I guess we didn’t expect him to be standing on Main Street and waiting to give us a big hug.”

Caleb smiled.

“No, I didn’t think it would be that easy, either.”

“So? Now what?” she asked.

Caleb looked at her. “I don’t know,” he finally said.

Caitlin stood there, thinking. Several people passed them on the street, and some of them gave Caitlin and Caleb a strange look. She looked at them in the reflection of a store window, and realized that they were a startling couple. They were anything but inconspicuous. He was so tall, and dressed elegantly in all black. He look like a movie star, plopped down in the middle of the street. Standing next to him, she felt more average than ever.

“Maybe we should start with the obvious?” she asked. “My last name. Paine. If my Dad still lives here, maybe he’s listed.”

Caleb smiled. “You think he’d make his number public?”

“I doubt it. But sometimes the most obvious answers are the best ones. Anyway, can’t hurt to try. You’ve any other ideas?”

Caleb stood there, staring. Finally, he shook his head.

“Let’s do it,” she said.

For the millionth time, she wished she still had her cell. Instead, she looked around and spotted an Internet café across the street.

Caitlin had typed every variation on “Paine” she could think, and still, there were no results. She was annoyed. They had searched every possible residential and business listing in Salem. They had tried Paine and Payne and Pain and Paiyne. Nothing. Not one single person.

Caleb was right: it was a silly idea. If her father did live here, he wasn’t going to make his number public. And she had a feeling, given the mysterious clues so far, that he would never make it that easy on them anyway.

Sighing, she turned to Caleb.

“You were right. A waste of time.”

“ The rose and the thorn meet in Salem ,” Caleb said slowly, again and again.

She could see him thinking.

She had been repeating the phrase in her mind, too, and it felt good to hear it out loud. She had been turning it over and over, but still had no idea what it meant. A rose? A thorn?

“Maybe there’s a rose garden somewhere?” she said, thinking out loud. “And maybe there’s some sort of clue hidden underneath it?” she said. “Or maybe it’s the name of a place?” she added. “Maybe there’s a bar, or an old inn, called the Rose and the Thorn?”

Caitlin turned back to the computer, and tried several variations of the search. She tried just rose . Then just thorn . Then rose and thorn . Businesses establishments. Parks. Gardens.

No results.

Annoyed, she finally reached over and shut the system down.

They both sat in silence for several minutes, thinking.

“Maybe we’re thinking about this the wrong way,” Caleb suddenly said.

She turned to him. “What do you mean?”

“Well, we’ve been looking for a living person,” he said, “in today’s world. In this century. But vampires have lived for thousands of years. When one vampire says to another, come meet me , he doesn’t always mean in this century. Vampires think in centuries, not years.

“It could be that your father is not here now. But that he was. A very long time ago. It could be that we shouldn’t be searching for a living person. But one who lived here at some point. And maybe even died here.”

Caitlin stared at him, not really understanding.

“Died? What are you saying? My father is dead?”

“It’s hard for me to explain this to you, but you need to think about this differently. Vampires live through many incarnations. Many of us have gravestones, even though we are living today. I myself, under different names, am buried in many cemeteries in many countries. Obviously I am not really dead, or buried. But at the time, the locals needed to be assured that I was. We had to stop the evidence, reassure them that I wasn’t coming back to life. And a burial and a tombstone was the only thing that would put them at ease.

“The vampire race does not like to leave trails, and we do not like it when humans know that we have come back. It brings too much unwanted attention. So, sometimes, when there is no other choice, we let them bury us. And then we sneak out, quietly, in the middle of the night, and move on.”

He turned and looked at her.

“It could be that your father was buried here. Maybe we shouldn’t be searching above ground, but below it. We have checked the living Paines. But we have not checked the dead ones.”