chapter two

Winnmire came out of his room and saw Sara at the table alone looking down about something.

"Why the dejected look Sara?...he asked in a polite tone...Something wrong?"

Sara looked up putting a smile on her face but saw the doctor wasn't buying it." Nothing really David, silly thoughts ..you know ." she tried to evade

" No I don't know ...His voice quite but firm now..Why don't you tell me?"

" Where are Rick and Victor?" Sara again tried to shift the conversation

Winnmire smiled "They are out in the pasture checking the cows for bite marks, Should be back soon...silent for a moment waiting ...I have all day Sara."

" Okay..okay, it just seems like all the problems center around me and Jason , I just hate to be like this prima donna that has to be wet nursed and watched over....She saw the doctor start to speak and cut him off...I know all the reasons, that I did not start this and all ..but sometimes it makes me feel so weak and vulnerable..helpless I guess like Jason, a baby."

Winnmire had to laugh at her self abatement, seeing her sheepish grin he swiped the air with his right hand.

"Look no one I know , man or women could have stood up to what you have and faced it without crawling into a bottle or depression , drugs ,..something...He looked deep into her eyes with all the sincerity he felt about what he was saying to her...I know loss feels like failure and that can cause self doubt and even deeper problems in some people but not you Sara because that mental image of a loser does not fit the fighter you are. You have faced the pain of severe trauma with your husband Marks dissappearance and on top of that thought for a while Jason was dead and even when you were kidnapped by Joe and was confronted with your own death you didn't flinch."

The doctor paused to collect his thought before he continued"You know a secret to some, that applies to all people , instead of running from the pain of loss and heartache, you felt it through and you did not let the fear inside rule you. You were on the edge of a cliff in your mind where you had the choice to fall over the edge into a life of wasted oblivion or claw back to a better place... so you pulled yourself up and choose action and not submission ,In my book Sara ,that makes you a real hero, a soldier in a fight to maintain what is good over what is convenient in order to not only to help yourself but hope that what you went through can show others the way."

Sara blushed, embarrased but pleased by the kind words of the doctor,she did not know for sure if what he said to her was true in her own mind but this kindly, gentle doctor always made her feel better.

Rick had been about to come into the house but caught the words Winnmire told Sara. Listening untill the conversation was finished he walked around behind the barn where they had made sure Sara would not go to a small fire place that had been built to temper a short wooden sword about a foot and a half long. Its top edge was only about an inch across and three inches from the top to the edge of the blade. Very light with a six inch handle and decorative carvings along it and the top of the blade, it was finished and he couldn't think of a better time to deliver it.

He walked back into the house and laid the sword in front of Sara" Here soldier, your weapon."

Sara gasped with delight at the beautiful sword picking it up, it felt right , balanced and ready to use. Tears of gratitude ran down her face she flew out the door to hide them and also practice with the new sword.

Winnmire and Rick looked at each other both men felt pleased and happy.

"Women, always crying... Victor said coming in the door laughing..she loves it huh?"

" Yeah she does Victor ..the doctor answered ...great work on the wood carvings, excellent!"

" Great lady there, strong too, Just needs to choose her battles and not fight herself." Rick muttered half to himself. The other two men nodded agreement.

Rick and victor were in their room once again deep inside their own inner sphere trying to find Matteos frequency and learn anything they could about the location of the new machine and any plans the new king of the ghouls may have.

They had done this many nights with no success. They had found so far Matteo had an office in a new psychiatric building in Rome, but if the machine was there no one they locked onto knew .

Like most times their own frequecies crossed back and forth in the inner outer realm of combined realities searching for tones frequencies and odors floating through that unseen dimension. This did not bother the brothers or interfere in either of their searches.

Suddenly Rick found himself all the way in Victors mind and vice versa some how they became one in a mental telepatic union. They were the same person but neither knew how it happened. For a fact they did not know it was even possible.

Reading images and thoughts was one thing and tracing oders and such, but to be the same two people in one cognative adaptation of two into a singular was a completely different thing. And was not part of the trait. This type of experience went over into possession liken to the occult demonic type phenomenon which in Ricks mind up until now was not achievable.

But here they were in such a state . A comfortable being in which they did not have to send thoughts since each knew what the other was thinking, nor did it take the energy to read thoughts.How it had happened was not clear, it just had. A surreal but amicable union.

This type of soul or being joined mental state did not extend to the body , it was purely a brain wave form in its sharing without being a central control mechanism.

And most important could they use this to strengthen their power to trace frequencies and enter other vamps like matteos mind ?

Locking onto the joint power they now had they directed it onto frequencies in the air and soon found themselves inside of a distraught women looking at the dead body of a child still hooked to the machine.

Ricks revulsion and Victors rage showed the differences of the twins but still seemed normal not out of place as each individual reacted in their own way as life had developed the different sensibilities of the brothers unique emoitional bases.

The whole story came into their minds at once about the malfunction in the essence part of the Machine and a fear the other part may break down , the part that kept vamps alive.

They left the nurse and followed tones to the control room and to their amazement found themselves in Matteo and Hose's mind at the same time and the whole story played out in the twins imagery. The three years that was all that was left , the urgent need for a new essence baby and the lack of a women with th right dna, and the question could the machine could be fixed quickly enough. The only good news to the two ghouls seemed to be all the fail-safes built into the new machine had worked and saved the mafunction and susequent breakdown of the entire machine.

The plans for Sara that came to them made rage burn inside both of them like white hot flames.

Oddly Hose nor Matteo seemed to feel their pressence . That may not have been unusual for Hose but it was a huge victory that Matteo being a master of the trait did not realize they were in his mind. Proving that the power of two was much better than one even in mental avenues and wave frequency and a fantastic new weapon in the war against the fiens.

Winnmire sat with his mouth open listening to Rick recount he and Victors joint mind sharing power and the journey they had taken to Rome, the dead child, broken essence part of the machine and Matteos plans for Sara. He listened intensely until Rick finished.

Their good fortune was almost too good to be true on the one hand with the new found joint power, and then Matteos plans revealed. He was greatly comforted now that they knew the ghouls plan they could make counters for it. They had a much better chance to foil them and protect Sara. On the other hand it canceled the plans for a Rome attack on the new machine as the four of them needed to prepare for the day Matteo and his army arrived to take Sara,

" Can you two enter this joint state anytime you want to?"

Victor Cleared his throat." We are not sure , we haven't tried since we got into Matteos brain, but we think we should be able to since we have been there once we should be able to again."

That made sense. The doctor nodded agreement.

Sara came into the room with two men in uniform.

The taller broader man with a rugged looking face wearing a gruff no nonsense expression and a sheiffs uniform spoke first " I,m Harold Johnson , sheriff of Klickitat county and this is chief of police over at city, Bud casey." He gave a slight nod to a shorter less gruff but still a man with an edge of authority by his looks.

After the welcome's and nice to meet cha's the two officers excepted a cup of coffee and sat at the table to began the conversation they came for.

" I,m not going to beat around the bush,Bud and I both have been in our roles over the officers protecting this area since we were in our late twenties, Bud a couple years younger than me but still we been in office in the same time period...Johnson paused to sip at his coffee ....Bud and myself both know what is going on in these parts and who is causing a lot of the problems of late."

"Thats right ..the chief started talking ..Two women came into the dept couple days ago telling me about the fight you two were involved in." His voice level not accusatory, just matter of fact.

Johnson waited untill the chief finished before he spoke again." I was sheriff in 2010 when the census takers found the population three thousand four hundred and seven had dwindled from three thousand seven hundred and sixty in 2000. Some of those folks may have moved but I believe a lot of them just dissappeared and from some cases I've been called out on ...things I've seen ,I may have a good idea where to."

The chief just nodded affirmation.

Rick was starting to understand that these two men had information he had never thought the local authorities could have. The sheriffs next words confirmed his suspicions.

" Rick you helped us out a few times in the past without knowing it. Once when you chased the Silas brothers down to Rufus and killed all four of them just off I-84. They had robbed a bank up close to Seattle and murdered three people two days before you ran them down....Any way...Johnson paused for anoher sip of coffee...We got word today the administrator over the asylum who dissappeared right before it caved into the mountian is gathering up men over in Italy somewhere and has got men back here scouting for people to help in some kind of scirmish they got planned , pretty soon."

Rick seeing the unasked question in the sheriffs eyes nodded . " Yeah , thats right Matteo is planning an attack on the farm here again." He left it at that.

" We want you to do us a favor and try to keep that battle out of town and areas of the population. You know the damage such a thing could do to an economy small as ours ...the town would die, nothing would be left." His gaze level and locked onto Ricks.

" We think from our own knowledge of Matteo's plans its going to be here at the farm. But we don't know when just yet." Rick returned

" You know ...The chief said as his gaze traveled to each of their faces one after another...We have our own feins to listen to even though we were elected, that don't mean what it use to. Good luck and good day." The two officers got to thier feet as he finshed speaking and they took their leave. The sheriffs parting words" Just so you know."

The four of them sat quietly thinking over the words of the two men. It wasn't so much what the two officers had said that disturbed them all , it was more that the truth was they knew about the world of the vampires but were unable to stop it as the ghouls were so much more powerful . So much more entrenched.

Sara had her sword out and was using different strokes and swings on a dummy her and Winnmire had made for her from straw hanging from the ceiling on a rope. They were in the barn The doctor sitting at a round table and jason played with blocks on a blanket spread out on the concrete floor.

"Bravo, nice move Sara where did you learn that ?" He said obviously impressed by her newly learned skill

She laughed" Same as the others David video's on the web."

Winnmire laughed short and merry.Both of them were in a light mood the only sign that they may be in any danger was an open satchel with several vapor bombs visible.

"I have been wanting to talk to you about something Sara, Before I say anything to the twins."

The seriousness in the doctors voice made her turn and look deeply into Winnmires eye's. " Whats wrong David?"

" No nothing like that ...He reassured her ...just a choice I have to make or rather something I believe I have to do before Matteo and his hordes come to try and take you... I am going to ask one of the twins to turn me....."

Sara jumped to her feet and started screaming at him . " Are you out of your mind? Has looking for a cure for vampirism drove you nuts or something? You...you can't possibly be serious, why?? What reason could you have to... "Sara stuttered to a finish as the doctor calmly waited for her ire to subside.

"Hear me out ." He said calmly smiling.

Sara sat down across from him waiting, angry."Go on?"

"Firstly the stregnth and speed I would gain would be a tremendous help in the battle and also to protect you from the vamps...Remember the last time? Seeing her nod "yes" he went on..I could use the trait in so many ways, chief among them would be finding the formula to cure this undead affliction."

'Well what if you couldn't find a cure then? What if there is no cure?"

She was right no way around it. There may not be any way to create an antidote. " I have been thinking alot about making a machine of our own...seeing the look of horror start to form in her eye's...Not with a human child but with a calf using altered dna in its mother to create the right life essence for the three of us. Use some type of frequency code that it would only work on us three and not the others."

" What kind of life would that be David? " She saw a look in his eye that said his mind was made up and the conversation was over.