The ride to the airport in Derry, took just over an hour, and seemed to be over much too soon for Dana’s liking. Gerald carried her suitcase and guitar through the small private air terminal, as she followed meekly behind the large man. Gerald was one of Lady Erin’s familiars and while he looked to be in his mid-thirties, Dana had known him for nearly a hundred years. He was a tall man, broad of shoulder and quiet of mouth, two qualities Lady Erin preferred in her men. He led her all the way to the sleek silver jet that awaited her on the tarmac, handed her things off to the waiting attendant, and turned to face her.
“I’ll miss you Miss Dana.” His hand found her shoulder.
“Great mother, but you’ve always been so tiny. You take care of yourself, alright?”
Dana smiled at the big man, “I will Gerald, I will.”
Impulsively, something she never was, she hugged him. Startled into it, his hands wrapped around her waist and lifted her up so that she could place her head on his shoulder. It wasn’t an unfamiliar place for her to be as he had often been her lover as well as Lady Erin’s. He was the only lover she’d ever had that simply ignored her odd tendency toward perfection, just as he ignored Lady Erin’s tantrums, and Hannah’s sappy eyed mooning.
They held each other for a long moment before Gerald, finally, set her feet to the dark surface of the tarmac. He gently settled her hair into place, then straightened her dress for her.
She gave him what was quickly threatening to be a watery smile and forced herself up the short flight of steps and into the posh interior of the family’s private jet.
The attendant shut the door, and asked if Dana needed anything. “No thank you Rose.”
She stumbled slightly when the engines started up, and quickly found her preferred seat, and buckled herself in. Her body began to tremble in waves from her head to her toes and her hands gripped the arm rests, her knuckles quickly turning white. Saying good-bye had pushed the fear aside for a moment, but now that she was faced with the noise of the engines and the soft woosh-woosh of the tires on the pavement, fear once more knotted her stomach and tears began to stream down her face to splash unbidden on her dress, creating odd dark splotches on the lovely material.
Sometime during the flight, she lost the battle with her brain and fell into a sleep of exhausted survival. Slightly more than hour before landing her eyes flew open and if not for her quick reflex she would not have made it to the small restroom in the back of the plane. There she lost the nonexistent contents of her stomach, over and over until she leaned, exhausted and wrung out, against the small cabinet to take deep breaths. Her only consolation in all of this was that she was alone and her humiliation was her own.
Standing on shaking legs she availed herself of the collection of toiletries provided to brush her teeth, wash the signs of tears from her face and put her hair back into place. With some small dignity she found buried deep beneath the fear, she walked back to her seat, strapped herself in and called for Rose.
With a glass of ginger ale at her elbow, Dana passed the last hour of the flight with a fine tremor shaking her body as the only sign that fear held her in its iron grip.
Tied up in Knots
Dana stood in the center of her room and stared at the image of herself in the mirror. She’d fussed until her hair was exactly right and each fold of the long diaphanous gown that hung in muted purple waves from tiny straps in her shoulders was in its exact place. It was time to put the silver brush into its place in her toiletries bag and for that bag to go into its place in her suitcase. It took several more moments before she finally sighed softly and put things in their places.
It was not the leaving that had her prolonging her exit; it was the flight that would take place after the leaving. It would not be her first time to fly, but it would be her first time alone. It was that thought which had fear a tight knot in her belly.
Swallowing against the lump in her throat, Dana pulled her suitcase to the floor, slipped her purse over one shoulder, and picked up her guitar case, the rest of her things were packed neatly into seven carefully labeled boxes and would be shipped to her in America. With her chin up, Dana headed from her chamber to the brightly lit front hall.
Lady Erin awaited her there. Dana, put her things gently on the floor and upon straitening found her arms full of the tall willowy woman. “Lady Erin!”
“Oh child, I have had you with me for nearly nine centuries, I do not know what I shall do all alone in this great big house.”
Dana wrapped her arms around the woman who was mother, friend, and master. “You are hardly alone, milady. You’ve Gerald and Hannah and the servants, not to mention Lord Brigham will be arriving tomorrow.”
The older vampire clung to the tiny woman, sniffling tears that she tried desperately to hold back. “Oh, I know all of that, but it will just not be the same. You will not be by my side and I am sad for it.”
The lump grew in her throat as she too choked back tears, “I can stay, milady.”
That had Erin pulling back and looking seriously into Dana’s eyes. “No, child you must go. It is about time you set out on your own. It has been selfish of me to keep you here for so long. I should have sent you out long long ago. No, it is time, you must go.”
“As you wish, Lady Erin.”
As they embraced a final time, Gerald took her things to the waiting car. Erin placed a gentle kiss on Dana’s trembling lips and sent her out into the great wide world. Fear and anxiety tightening the knot in her belly and turned it to ice.
Dana
15 years ago
Dana
15 years ago
It was only a small squeak of terror that passed her lips when the planes wheels touched down. Standing, she let her legs adjust to having weight on them once more, before leaving the plane.
A man she'd never met before waited in the darkness of pre-dawn beside a sedate black sedan, her luggage had already been placed in the trunk of the vehicle in the time it took her to put her feet once more on the firm ground. The urge to kneel and kiss the earth was strong, but she resisted and walked to the waiting car.
"Good morning, Miss."Â? He smiled a pretty smile at her, her head dipped to one side causing her hair to fall infront of her face to hide the terrible blush that had colored her cheeks.
She could only guess he was human and so her ability to speak was terminated by fear. The door opened for her and she slid into the cool quiet interior. Her driver joined her and caught her glance in the rearview mirror.
"What is your pleasure this morning?"Â?
She managed to keep his eyes as words failed her and she remained mute.
"Name anywhere at all madam and it shall be my joy to take you there."Â?
Embarrassed, she broke eye contact with him and pulled a small piece of paper from her purse and quickly wrote where she needed to go and handed it and twenty American dollars to the man. Puzzled he took what she offered, tucked them both somewhere out of sight to Dana and put the car into motion. And just like that she was headed to her new home.
A man she'd never met before waited in the darkness of pre-dawn beside a sedate black sedan, her luggage had already been placed in the trunk of the vehicle in the time it took her to put her feet once more on the firm ground. The urge to kneel and kiss the earth was strong, but she resisted and walked to the waiting car.
"Good morning, Miss."Â? He smiled a pretty smile at her, her head dipped to one side causing her hair to fall infront of her face to hide the terrible blush that had colored her cheeks.
She could only guess he was human and so her ability to speak was terminated by fear. The door opened for her and she slid into the cool quiet interior. Her driver joined her and caught her glance in the rearview mirror.
"What is your pleasure this morning?"Â?
She managed to keep his eyes as words failed her and she remained mute.
"Name anywhere at all madam and it shall be my joy to take you there."Â?
Embarrassed, she broke eye contact with him and pulled a small piece of paper from her purse and quickly wrote where she needed to go and handed it and twenty American dollars to the man. Puzzled he took what she offered, tucked them both somewhere out of sight to Dana and put the car into motion. And just like that she was headed to her new home.