t at
a …
And
n
d fin
i d
d the
h …
Be
B sid
i e
d t
he
h f
our
u th…
They had guessed again and again, trying to complete the sentences. But try as they did, they could not decipher it without the other half.
They had all felt deflated, and Roger had seemed apologetic. There were no hints, no leads whatsoever as to where the other half of the scroll might be.
So Caitlin and Caleb had decided to go to the only other lead they had: the Aquinnah Cliffs. Her dream.
Caitlin struggled to remember the dream, and it already felt distant, hazy, as if she’d dreamt it months ago. She started to worry if she’d even dreamt it at all. She didn’t want to let Caleb down, or lead him any deeper on this wild goose chase.
As they turned the bend, the woods below them opened up, and the landscape changed to beautiful, tall grass, swaying in the wind. It was lit up by the late afternoon sun, and glowed a soft red. It was beautiful. Below, she saw a farm, random sheep and cows spread out on the primitive landscape.
Soon Caitlin could smell the salt air, and as they rounded another bend, the landscape shifted to dune grass, then to sand.
Then, the cliffs came into view.
They were breathtaking. Hundreds of feet high, their sand glowed with a mystical red color.
Especially in the late afternoon sun, it looked as if these huge cliffs were alive, on fire.
At their base was a soft, sandy ocean beach, littered with rocks of all shapes and sizes. Amidst these were occasional boulders, sitting haphazardly on the sand and out into the crashing waves.
They look prehistoric. The entire place like magical, like a beach set on Mars. She couldn’t even fathom that such a place existed.
Rose must have sensed it, too, because she, still tucked into Caitlin’s jacket, peeked out her head and looked, sniffing the salt air.
As they circled the cliffs, slowing, coming in for a landing, something about them struck Caitlin as familiar. She definitely felt as if she had been here before. Yes. This was the place she. More importantly, she seemed to remember being here with her Dad at some point.
She didn’t know if they would find anything, but she felt as if they were exactly where they were meant to be.
The beach was empty, entirely theirs. They set down softly, Caleb gently landing on the sand, and Caitlin let Rose down. Rose ran in the sand, jumped into the water, then ran back to the shore as the water crashed on her.
Caitlin and Caleb smiled.
They walked slowly down the beach, taking it all in. They walked in silence, as Caleb reached out and took her hand.
The beach was dominated by the sound of the crashing waves, and smell of the ocean air. Caitlin closed her eyes and breathed deeply. It felt so refreshing.
Caleb scanned the cliffs, the beach, the rocks. So did she.
“This is definitely the place,” Caitlin said. “I feel like I was here with him.”
Caleb nodded. “It would make sense. This is a very powerful place for our race.”
Caleb looked at him in surprise. “Have you been here before?” she asked.
“Many times,” he answered. “The Aquinnah Cliffs are one of our sacred places, one of the oldest energy fields on earth. The red clay and sand store and discharge ancient energy, which restores us.
“Humans, of course, don’t realize. They have never understood the exact meaning of this place. But we have known for thousands of years. It is a place of power. A mystical place. One created by the ancients.
“It would make sense for your father to bring you here. It is a rite of passage for all vampires. A place where we bring our young, or those who have been turned. Primarily, though, it is a place of love.”
Caitlin looked at him. “Love?” she asked.
“Vampire weddings are very rare,” he continued, “because we cannot procreate, and because committing for eternity is not something we choose lightly. But when two vampires marry, the ceremonies are very elaborate and sacred. They can go one for days. And nearly always, this is the place they happen.”
Caitlin looked around, in awe.
“If we were to come here at night, especially on a full moon,” he said, “you would likely find a vampire wedding ceremony. It is a place of matrimony, as these rocks symbolize eternity. They are among the oldest elements on this planet. It is believed that their energy charges the union with a bond that can never be broken.”
Caitlin felt her heart swell with his words. Although they’d been together a short time, she already felt like she knew him forever. As he spoke of the ceremony, of marriage, she realized that there was nothing she’d like more than to be assured that she could spend the rest of her life with him. It depressed her that her life would end before his, that they were of two different races, that their love was forbidden. That she would be just another memory for him.
She wanted to tell him all this, but she didn’t know what to say, exactly, or how to express herself. And she didn’t know if he felt the same way about her. So she just kept walking, silently.
Everything felt so perfect, just the way it was right now. Why couldn’t things stay this way? She loved this island, this beach. She could see herself staying here, settling here with Caleb. She could see them building a life together, safe from the rest of the world, at peace. Maybe they’d build a small house, high up on the cliffs, overlooking the ocean. They could leave their pasts behind, start over. Was that even possible?
Over the last weeks, Caitlin had felt so out of control of her life. She had felt events happening all around her, felt herself being swept up in everything. But now that things had quieted a bit, now that their trail had seemingly come to a dead end, she wondered if they could stop searching. She wondered if things could actually return to some semblance of normal.