David Foster

Week after week they had to fight ghosts with less than stellar histories. Thanks to the Other Side having technical difficulties. It made sense, really. Why would the angels come back to cause problems? The only ghosts trying to kill him were those in limbo or those who had been sent to the fiery pits below.

Maybe that’s why he didn’t like being back in their hotel room that night. Ghost didn’t have to worry about barriers. God knows they sent enough monsters to hell to be the next victim on a long list of ghoulish homicides.

“Hey…you know who we should call?” Emma asked.

David waited for the inevitable.

“Ghostbusters,” Emma cheered.

He glared at her.

“What?” she shrugged. “Come on, when else can we use that?”

“Where are we going next?” he asked, taking out their map.

Emma sighed, moving to sit on his lap, but instead found nothing there. David had pushed the desk chair back, refusing to meet her incredulous stare.

“Alright. What’s wrong?” she asked. “You don’t get this distant unless you think something’s going to happen to me. But last I checked, no ghosts were here. So stop worrying.”

He chose to look out the window instead of answer her.

“David. Look at me.”

He did, his eyes not softening.

“What’s wrong?”

He didn’t know what to say. Of course he was concerned about the ghosts, but that wasn’t why he felt like he shouldn’t be close to Emma. They’d just reminded him of something else.

“This isn’t right,” he said, shooting out of the chair and grabbing his duffel.

He’d made it to the door before Emma gripped his arm and forced him to turn around.

“Where are you going?”

“I don’t know. I just need space,” he said, kissing her forehead and practically running out the door.

He didn’t know how long he would be gone. He didn’t know if he was lying when he said he didn’t know where he was going. His feet seemed to know where to go, making it all the way to the bus station.

After six stops, he stopped counting how long it took the bus to get to the last station, where he called for a cab and waited thirty minutes for the driver to say they’d arrived at their destination. David paid the fare and stepped out, staring at the house in front of him as he listened to the taxi drive off.

Nostalgia hit him hard when he looked at the front door he used to walk out every morning to go to work, or the flowerbed Sarah would spend hours at a time on. Her flowers had long since been replaced, of course. He’d heard the house rarely sold when word got out that there’d been a murder there. Something that seemed to still hold true. The ‘for sale’ sign on the front lawn was dirty and had more than a few scratches on it.

David walked up to the porch and tried the doorknob, not surprised to find it was locked. A couple minutes fussing with the looks fixed that. The door soon swung open, revealing a foyer that hadn’t had much work done to it. If the walls weren’t blue, it would’ve been exactly as he remembered it.

He dropped the duffel full of clothes and weapons, climbing the stairs to the second floor. He swallowed the lump in his throat as he passed the master bedroom. He wasn’t sure he could handle that right now. He wasn’t sure he could handle any of this right now. But he stopped out the door anyway, hands on either side of the frame.

It was like it just happened yesterday. When he came through the door and turned to the bathroom to see his life before his eyes, gone. The memory clenched at his heart and squeezed.

It only held tighter when he heard a child crying from the room furthest down the hall. The room that would’ve been the nursery.

He took a step back, moving away from the noise. He knew why he came to his old home, and he knew why it felt right to be there, but nothing could make that sound less unsettling. Slowly, as if in a daze, he started toward the crying. His years of experience with the supernatural told him there wouldn’t actually be a small child waiting to be found. His wishful thinking made him hope it wasn’t a trick, either. He wanted to see that baby boy.

A sigh of relief—if it could be called that—didn’t pass his lips until he looked into the room—now unrecognizable without the safari wallpaper and unpacked boxes of baby furniture. The only thing that occupied the room now was a small pile of blankets in the corner. Blue, and arranged like they were protecting something. Someone.

David knelt beside the bundle, his face slackening when the little boy sneezed in his sleep. This couldn’t be real. It was all in his head.

“He sleeps better when you’re around.”

David was so startled that he almost fell on his ass in an attempt to stand. His eyes widened when he saw that the body matched the voice, untouched by vampire bites or blood. Her eyes weren’t lifeless, instead filled with sadness as she looked him up and down.

“Oh, David…”

“You’re not real,” he said, shaking his head. “No. No, I won’t fall for it.”

“Baby, I’m real. I’m as real as I can be.”

“How do I know for sure? How do I know you’re not lying?”

“God, David, what happened to you? It’s me, okay? Something happened with the Other Side…I don’t know how or why, but I had to see…I had to see you. Please don’t make me spend this time trying to get to you.”

“I’ve had too many things try to kill me. I need to be sure you’re you.”

She looked like she wanted to cry. “My name is Sarah Alexandria Foster. I died years ago when that asshole Carter broke in and killed me while I was pregnant with Emmett. If that’s not enough…then look under the bathroom sink. I taped a note under it when I heard him coming. It says ‘I’m afraid. I don’t want to leave you. I’m sorry, baby. I love you.’”

David hustled out of the room, no longer trying to avoid their bedroom. He barged into the bathroom—ignoring the surprise of Sarah’s presence in the process—and slammed his palm against the underside of the sink. It didn’t take long for him to feel the edge of the paper.

His hands trembled as he yanked it out and unfolded it.

Everything was as she said. He never knew about the note. And if he didn’t know about the note, that could only mean one thing.

It was too much. He broke down and fell to the floor, pushing his back against the tub’s edge to help stop the shaking. Sarah knelt beside him in an instant.

“It’s okay. I’m here now.”

“But you’re not. You’re not here.” And she never would be.

He felt a chill against his cheek where she tried to hold him. “Not physically, no. But I’m here.” The chill spread to his chest. “When the Other Side gets fixed, that’s where you can find me again.”

“That doesn’t help.”

“It’s all I have. David, you’ve got to be okay when this is over. I need you to be okay.”

“I haven’t been okay since I found…I haven’t been okay.”

“You’re a mess, baby, but not all the time. I’ve kept an eye on you. I know how bad it can get.”

Not all the time. His mind immediately went to the girl he’d left alone in a hotel room. “Sarah…”

“If another woman holding you at night is what it takes to keep you alive, do you really think I won’t make you run straight to her?”

“I don’t want to talk about her. Not with you.”

“David, consider this my blessing. I’m telling you it’s okay to love someone else. I want you to.”

“She reminded me of you when I first saw her…”

“Is that why you stayed with her?”

There was a long silence before David answered. “No. She’s so different from you.”

Sarah smiled. “You’re happy with her. Don’t let me be the reason you lose her.”

He sniffed. “What if I lose her anyway? What if she’s taken from me?”

Sarah tilted her head, giving him that look she always gave him when she couldn’t believe he’d just said what he said. “Then I think you’re wasting time worrying when you should be with her.”

He scoffed. “You want me with her that bad?” This was too weird, talking about his sort of girlfriend with his dead wife.

“She loves you and tries to keep you from being reckless. Of course I want you with her.”

David grinned. “I miss you.”

“I miss you, too. I’m just not ready to see you yet.”

David nodded. As unlikely as it seemed, he wasn’t ready to see her either. This was enough for now.

“Promise me you’ll move on? If not with her, then someone?”

David shook his head. “Believe me, it’ll be with her.”

“What a relief. Let’s not pretend I’m above haunting you. We know I’m not.”

He laughed, his heart skipping a beat when Sarah joined in. That was a sound he missed hearing every day. He missed a lot of things, but at least now, he didn’t have to miss his chance to say goodbye.

For a moment, the two who had promised forever together stared into the other’s eyes with tenderness. Memories of rainy Saturday mornings spent in bed, and long evening playing in the garden flashed through his mind. There’s a lot he would do to have those days back.

Except trade his blood-soaked clothes and sleepless nights next to Emma. Those he wanted to keep.

“So what now?” HE didn’t want to waste his time with Sarah, but he didn’t know what Emma was doing either. He had to make sure he didn’t lose her.

“Call her. Make sure she…”

“She what?”

“Shh.” Sarah’s face became abruptly serious. The chill around his chest continued as she kept a hand there to stop him from moving. “I hear something.”

“What?” he whispered.

“Two men outside. Friends of yours, I hope?”

“No. Potential buyers?”

“No one’s been here in ages.”

As much as David wanted to believe today was the day that changed, he didn’t think it was.

“You need to get out of here.”

“They aren’t running me out of my own home.” If he could find a way to get to his duffel, he could handle this.

“David, they aren’t human. Don’t make history repeat itself.”

“I told you I’m not ready. Not yet.”

“David, someone else is coming.”

“Then I need to get my stuff.”

“You can’t do this alone.”

“I do this all the time. I thought you were watching.”

He didn’t wait to hear her answers. He crept out of the bathroom, keeping an eye out for wherever the intruders were. Without his weapons, he was at a serious disadvantage, something he couldn’t stop thinking about while he stalked the upstairs.

David was almost at the stairs when he heard a man scream from downstairs.

“No, oh god! Don’t! Please, don’t!”

The sound of footsteps running out of the house echoed upstairs.

It was a clean run to the foyer from there. He stepped carefully down the stairs, gritting his teeth as if that would keep the carpeted floorboards from creaking. He was almost there though. Just a few more steps.

His heart stopped when he saw the duffel was missing.

“Looking for this?” a man sneered.

David barely had time to look up before he was being kicked across the house, crashing into the living room floor so hard that his head felt like it might whip off. It didn’t help when spots began to dance across his vision.

“Tailed you here, you crazy bastard. How’s it feel to be prey?”

“You’re asking like that’s new,” he groaned. They never did get that humans were the prey. Always.

“The only new thing here is your tricks. How long did it take to set up that projection?”

“Projection?”

“Don’t play dumb with me. My friend has a fear of the ghosts lurking on our side these days. Smart of you to run him off. Not so smart of you to misplace your weapons.”

“Fuck you.”

“The vampire hissed as he leapt at David. The last thing he remembered before blacking out was hearing an eerie wail and the sound of a gunshot.

“David? David, answer me!”

He jolted up, his eyes popping open when he remembered what happened. A big mistake, apparently, since a dizzy spell hit him hard and caused him to wobble where he sat. A pair of hands steadied him.

“You’re safe. David, look at me, we’re safe.”

It was only now beginning to register that he was still in his house. Sarah was knelt beside him on his right, but the hands steadying him came from his left.

“Emma?”

“Did you think I wouldn’t come after you?” she said matter of factly. “And don’t ever leave like that again. You can’t just say things like that and walk out.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You damn well better be. I don’t like finding you unconscious with a vampire about to chow down on you.”

“If it wasn’t for her…I don’t know what else I could’ve done,” Sarah said. “He didn’t scare like the other.”

“It was enough of a distraction to give me a clear shot,” Emma said, looking to Sarah. “Thanks for that.”

“I should be thanking you.” There was a familiar chill running across the top of his scalp. Like her fingers were in his hair. “Our little daredevil might be dead if it wasn’t for you.”

Emma gave a nod, probably speechless for the same reasons David was. He still thought he might be hallucinating. Head injury and all that.

“I’ll, uh…give you two a minute.”

“No…no, you need to take him home. He needs to be home.”

“Shouldn’t take long,” Emma said, staring at the front door.

“Please don’t go.” The words slipped from David’s lips before he could stop them, a tear running down his cheek. Emma looked like she might vomit.

“I can’t do this,” she said, standing up and walking outside.

Sarah turned to him. “Go. Tell her how you feel before it’s too late.”

“Sarah…”

A cold, tingling sensation on his lips shut him up. His eyes slid shut, and his hand instinctively went for where her hair should be. The feeling slowly started to subside, but he still felt the comfortable chill around him.

“You will always be the love of my life. So please…go be there for yours.”

He nodded, a tear running down the other cheek. Sarah would never leave his heart. But neither would Emma. And she was here. Right now. He needed to stop chasing the past.

Stumbling as he got to his feet, he staggered toward the door.

“Emma!”

No answer. His knees met the floor, and he struggled again to stand. He gripped the doorframe as he came out, but it wasn’t enough to keep him upright. He once again felt himself about to fall.

This time he didn’t feel the porch beneath him.

“Would you stop?!”

He didn’t answer. His arms engulfed Emma, a hand pressing against the back of her head. “Please don’t go,” he mumbled into her shoulder.

She was silent, rubbing his back gently while they sat there. HE didn’t care how long it took for her to forgive him. He would wait for as long as she would have him. He was tired of keeping her at arm’s length.

He didn’t know how long they sat there until Emma finally prompted him to get to the car. She drove, of course. He stared out the passenger’s side, smiling when Sarah and Emmett waved to him from the upstairs window.

Once their mandatory visit to the hospital was complete, they found a nearby hotel to stay at for the night. They still hadn’t said a word to each other since his porch. The only thing that kept David from worrying was the fact that she was still there.

He crawled onto the small couch that night, wanting to give Emma all the space she needed. David didn’t know what time he final fell asleep, but it felt like it hadn’t been long before he was being shaken awake. Still not entirely there, he let the hands guide him to the bed and pull the blankets up over him. The spot beside him shifted soon after.

“If you ever leave me like that again, I promise I’ll look like Sarah did when she ran that vampire off. Christ, that was some Exorcist shit.”

His sleepy mind wasn’t putting all the pieces together, but he picked up enough to realize that Emma wasn’t done with him yet.

“You’re it, Emma. You’re it,” he murmured, holding back a yawn.

He felt her arm go around his back, positioning them so that his head was at the crook of her neck. His arm draped over her waist to bring her closer.

David stormed off into the forest, temper flared and pistol in his holster. He didn’t like fighting with Emma, but he couldn’t keep doing this every time he tried to keep her from dying. It was a knee jerk reaction, something he couldn’t stop himself from doing. She was the love of his goddamn life and he wasn’t going to lose her, especially not if he knew he could take a hit she might not be able to. Granted, the bruise on his body that ran from his collarbone to his navel didn’t help his case, but he was still alive. Despite that and a few cuts, he got out better than most would have.

Her furious expression was still imprinted in his memory, following him no matter what direction he took. Leaves crunched under his feet as he trudged through the foliage, no destination in mind. A more reckless part of him didn’t care about getting lost, but another part assured him he could find his way home. All they needed was time apart, some room to breathe and collect their thoughts. Seeing how she was fiery rage and he was cold indifference, it was probably for the best.

He often wondered why she was still with him after fights like this. He was a handful, at best. David loved her with all his heart, but how far could that really go? When would he be too much? He tried, he really did. But there were some things he refused to compromise on. Emma’s safety was at the top of that list.

Stopping at a big oak, he placed his hand against the massive trunk and bent at the waist. The overwhelming feeling that he couldn’t do this swept over him. How could he be good enough for Emma when he could barely keep himself together? That annoying part of his brain told him that saving Emma wouldn’t mean shit if he wasn’t there to enjoy her being alive. Then again, that didn’t matter. Her being alive, with or without him, was what mattered.

He sat on the ground and pulled his knees to his chest. It felt like someone had grasped his heart and squeezed. Running a hand through his hair, he used his other hand to place two fingers at his pulse. His brows furrowed when he realized it wasn’t racing. It was slow, and only getting slower.

His pulse would’ve increased then if it could have. He felt his eyelids begin to droop as an overwhelming feeling of exhaustion washed over him. It wasn’t until his body slid to the ground that his hands finally found the tiniest of darts attached to the back of his neck. By then it was too late to do anything.

When he awoke, the world was upside down. His hands and feet were bound, his mouth was numb from whatever drug they’d administered, and he had the absolute worst headache. Not to mention cold. Christ, it was freezing.

Chains rattled as he shook from his suspended position, head floating every which way as he sluggishly tried to escape. He looked around again, opening and closing his eyes to adjust to the dark. There was a lot of rock. Water dripped from somewhere. And there were heels. The unique clacking of heels against the rocky surface got closer and closer until he saw a pair of boots walking across the ceiling…well, ground. From where he was held, the image made her look like one of Dracula’s brides.

“Who the hell are you?” he mumbled, his mouth dry.

“Like it matters,” she spat. She had a slight accent to her voice, but he couldn’t place it. “All I am to you is prey.”

“Says who?”

“Your pistol. It is full of vervain bullets.” She held up the pistol by her finger and thumb. It was the first time he felt the absence of weight from his holster.

“Ironic. Your kind don’t like humans that much,” he retorted.

“Humans are not the problem. People like you are the problem.”

“People like me save humans from things like you.” His jaw ticked. Maybe she was a bride of Dracula.

The woman threw the gun away; vamp speeding toward him so fast that his body almost jolted back. Years of the unexpected kept him from showing his vulnerabilities, however. He kept his eyes locked on her as she moved her mouth to his ear. She inhaled deeply.

“Things like me enjoy hurting assholes like you,” she purred.

“Yeah, you sound like an angel,” he deadpanned. David wasn’t really in the mood to get into the whole discussion about the morality of his job. He’d had a thousand like it before. Facts were facts, and he at least made it quick. He didn’t do it for pleasure. He did it to save people from being used as snacks, from being made the villain because they didn’t give their blood willingly. The fact was she was playing with her food because she enjoyed it. He didn’t torture his prey. She did.

“Oh, I am. If I were not, I would not consider letting you enjoy this,” she whispered. And then he felt her tongue slide across his neck. This time, his pulse could quicken.

“Just do it,” he ground out through his teeth.

“You know, blood sharing can be very intimate.” He could fill the prick of her fang, but she didn’t break skin. She only let her teeth graze the surface. “And you remind me of my late husband. He was killed by a man like you.”

“I’m taken,” he muttered.

“Oh, yes, I know. Your beloved is very beautiful.”

David felt his body tense. “How do you know?”

The woman smirked, pulling out a cell phone from her skintight pants and pressing a few buttons. She turned the screen toward David. It was a video chat with whom he could only assume was some vampire friend of hers. The girl on the other end grinned and pointed the camera to someone else who was tied up. Someone whose hair was matted with sweat and who looked a lot dirtier compared to the last time he saw her. She sat on a chair, trying to rock herself out of it.

The chains rattled so hard the vampire could’ve danced to the noise.

“You don’t care about her, do you?” The woman asked, clearly amused.

“David?” Emma looked at the camera, a mixed look of relief and worry crossing her face. “David!”

“Let her go,” he growled.

“Or what?” she laughed. The woman kept the phone trained on them, putting her head beside his. “Are you afraid your beloved will become jealous?”

“Get away from him!” Emma screeched.

“She is feisty. I like her,” the woman said, placing her lips to his neck to pepper him with slow kisses.

“I’m sorry, David,” Emma said, her voice shaky.

“Emma—“

“I got worried when you didn’t come home. I’m sorry.

“This isn’t your fault,” he told her sternly.

“Maybe there is hope for you yet,” the woman said, her free hand coming up to pet his cheek. “I could make you my lover. We could run in the night together.”

David tried to shake her off, but she only gripped his head and sunk her fangs into his neck. He heard Emma explode from the other end, shouting expletive after expletive at the vampires. When the woman pulled away, David felt woozy, his blood dripping from the two puncture marks.

“I can taste the vervain,” she sighed, apparently disgusted by the taste. At least she couldn’t compel him. “I will have to drain you first, then give you my blood. We will rule the dark, my darling. I hope your beloved can understand. It’s nothing personal. I’m just a lonely girl who misses her husband.”

With that, she clicked a button on her phone and the call ended. David didn’t even get to tell Emma he loved her. “What’s your name?”

“I have gone by Nora for the last fifty years.” She ran a finger over her lips. “Do not feel guilty. Your beloved will be out of the way soon, and you can focus solely on me.”

“You’re insane,” he said, voice hoarse.

He felt a rush of wind as she whooshed away. Seconds later, his body fell to the ground beneath him, and the world spun. He groaned, the pain escalating. Now he was surely bruised, and his neck was still bleeding.

“Do not worry. The pain will go away once you have transitioned.” Nora straddled his waist, running a finger down his chest. It found the hem of his shirt and went underneath, gliding against his bare stomach. “You have his eyes, you know.”

She didn’t have Emma’s eyes. “I’m not him.”

“No. But you will be a good replacement. I promise you will enjoy this, my darling,” she whispered, bending farther over him so that her long, brown hair made a curtain for them.

“You’re not Emma. I need…I need to get to Emma.” He tried to get out from under her, but she gently kept him from moving anywhere. He was too weak, or she was too strong. Either way, it was a terrible combination.

“Relax. It will be over soon.”

The marks on his skin were full with her fangs again. He refused to enjoy the sensual way she pulled blood from him. All he wanted to do was find Emma. He wanted to make sure this psychotic vamp’s friend didn’t touch one more hair on her head. He wanted her.

Though the room was spinning, he wasn’t so far gone that he couldn’t tell the vampire’s weight was no longer on his chest after only a couple more minutes. He groaned, unable to place a hand to his neck where the blood poured. David let his head loll to the side where he came face to face with the vampire.

Her eyes stared blankly ahead while her the rest of her body laid down by his feet.

A hand that wasn’t his pressed against the wound.

“David? David, look at me,” came Emma’s voice.

“How’d you get here?” She was tied up. He was supposed to be the one to save her.

“I was just upstairs,” she explained, taking a piece of cloth from her shirt and placing it on the injury. “She told me you were going to die. Her mistake, right? Making me think she’d kill you. Stupid vampires.”

He tried to laugh, but instead found himself choking on air. Almost being drained took its toll. “Stupid vampires,” he said when he could finally talk. “You okay?”

“For someone who was about to be mutilated, yeah. I’m peachy.” She stopped talking, but David could tell she wanted to say more. He knew what she wanted to ask, too.

“I don’t want to explain this,” he said, waving lazily to the puncture marks.

“We’ve explained it to him a million times. You need blood, so we’re going. End of story.”

He’d had enough arguments for one day. David nodded without another word of protest.

“Good. Now let’s go. I don’t want to find out if they have any pissed off friends.”

He couldn’t agree more. Emma put an arm under one of his; carefully lifting until they were both on their feet. Despite the pain in his…well, the pain everywhere…he found his eyes checking over Emma. They lingered at the rope burns covering her wrists, cringed at the quickly growing bruise that went from her shoulder to her elbow, and widened at the bloody hands that made sure he didn’t fall. Next time he stormed out, he was leaving a note. Next time he’d make sure she didn’t follow.

“I love you.” His forehead pressed against the side of her head as they found their way back into the house and out of the godforsaken cave. He felt her give an affectionate squeeze.

“This won’t stop me from arguing with you. I’m just leaving with you next time.”

He couldn’t help but smile as they walked out the front door and into the fresh air, gray clouds hovering above.