Delivered to Eternity, An Alesta the Vampire Book

  Delivered to Eternity

  An Alesta the Vampire Book

  A Novel by Laura Yirak

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events in this book are products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2011 Laura Yirak

  All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form without written permission.

  Published in the United States of America.

  Original photograph and cover by Laura Yirak.

  Contributing Editor, Alyson Chapin.

  A special thanks to my Mother and Karen!

  Chapter 1

  “Dr. Mooney, come to room 38 STAT! Dr. Mooney, come to room 38 STAT!”

  The man’s heart rate was 42 and dropping, his blood pressure read 50/20. Alesta ran over to the bedside cart and broke open a clear plastic container labeled emergency drugs. She pulled out a bright yellow cartridge labeled atropine and ripped open the box; she went over to Mr. Hastings’s IV, injected the drug quickly and cranked up his oxygen. His heart rate bounced back up to 155, blood pressure 95/57. The noise of clamoring footsteps echoed up the hall. Mary, the Matron Nurse appeared at the door.

  “What happened?” Mary asked as she turned on the bright hospital room fluorescent lights.

  Alesta squinted while looking up at the vital signs monitor, “I had to push atropine, his heart rate dropped. It’s picked up again though.”

  Dr. Mooney entered, looking at Mr. Hastings, and then at Alesta “You called?”

  “Yes, doctor, I pushed 1mg of atropine, for a dropping heart rate in the low 30’s, his blood pressure was unstable as well, in the 50’s.”

  Dr. Mooney pulled out a pocket book from his white doctor’s coat. He was a tall thin older man with rectangular silver specs and silver hair, “I will call his wife and notify her of his change in condition. What’s his CVP?”

  “When I calibrated it, it was 12,” Alesta replied.

  “I’ll write the order for atropine to cover you. Otherwise, I’ll be out at the computer station for a bit. Also I’d like an ECG on him and a set of cardiac enzymes.” Dr. Mooney left, and Alesta dipped the window blinds to the hallway, too many Nosey Nellys.

  Mary walked over to Mr. Hastings and grabbed his wrist, “His pulse is bounding now,” she said. “I am going to give that OR admit to another nurse Alesta just in case you are too busy in here. I’ll leave your admit spot open, but if another one comes or we get a code on the floors you will get it.” Mary got supplies together to send the labs; she drew up the blood from his IV, injected it into the tubes and filled out a lab slip. “I will send these off for you. By the way, what’s his code status?” Mary asked as she washed her hands over the big metal sink.

  “He’s treat all, no CPR.”

  “Right! For some reason I thought he was full code.”

  Mr. Hastings opened his eyes, “What’s going… on?” His voice was weak, his face red.

  “Your heart rate dropped and you received medication to bring it back up. You may have had a heart attack; we are going to do an ECG to look at your heart. Are you having chest pain?” Alesta asked.

  Mr. Hastings sighed, “No, I feel brilliant from the morphine you gave me earlier. But I was in a deep, deep sleep. I was having a horrid dream. I was walking in the forest and it was dark, very, very dark and I was lost. I couldn’t get out and there were branches in my face, scratching my face and I felt like I couldn’t breath. I am sooooo thirsty; can I have some water please?”

  “Sure, with ice?”

  “Yes please, thanks.”

  Alesta left the room and asked Dr. Mooney if Hastings could have some water. He agreed. Alesta then called the ECG tech to come do a read out. They would be up in five minutes. She entered the code to the medication room and got some water and ice out of the ice machine. Monica was back from break and sitting next to Dr. Mooney at the station. She was chatting away with him as she always did. She was such a flirt sometimes, Alesta thought. Those red heads! She could hear everything they were saying. She was asking him about his next big vacation. Cypress, a nice island, but filled with Ukrainians. Alesta passed by them.

  “Alesta, how were my two when I was gone?”

  “Not a peep out of them, very stable.”

  “Great. I heard you are not getting that admit after all. Lucky lass.”

  The tech was already in the room, he handed Alesta the results and she handed Mr. Hastings his water. It read first degree heart block. She went back out and gave the reading to Dr. Mooney.

  “As I suspected,” he said. “His wife will be here in an hour with a Priest. I’m definitely not going to transfer him out of the unit, too unstable, floors can’t handle this.”

  The monitor began to alarm, red lights flashing. Dr. Mooney looked up; Mr. Hastings was in asystole, his cardiac rhythm line flat. They all ran into the room bumping into each other. Alesta could hear nothing, no cracklings of breath, no pulsing of blood through his body, just the red alarm; his fresh ice water had spilled all over the linens.

  “Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.”

  Dr. Mooney walked over to Mr. Hastings and checked his pulse.

  “Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.”

  “He is gone……”

  Everyone was silent.

  “Time of death 2:30 AM. I will get the paperwork together. Poor Cindy. She has just missed him. I will inform her when she arrives. We don’t want her driving upset.” The doctor stood for a minute quietly, gave Alesta a long glance, closed his eyes, and then left the room.

  Alesta waited, and shut off the lights, her hair even blacker in the dark. She turned the monitor off and waited.

  The air became thick, tangible. The soul began to stir.

  “Help me! Help me!” It moaned and turned on its side reaching out to her, a transparent shadowed version of the body with hollow eyes.

  “Help me! Help me!” It wailed in fear. “I don’t want to die. Help me, help me.”

  Alesta stepped back.

  “You are not dead, just the physical remnants of your old self.” Alesta looked at it and smiled. “You must go to the light, or you will be trapped. Don’t look at me, I am nothing but death. Do not come near me.”

  Alesta transformed herself; normal teeth slowly became fangs, sharp and bright ready to eat.

  “FEAR THE DAMNED!”

  She opened her mouth wide and let out a quick hissing noise. It echoed through the room. Her skin paled and her deep blue eyes shined an even brighter blue, cold and fierce. Her hair fell and moved as if a strong wind swirled around her.

  “Fear me….. Stay away.” Her voice pierced through the dark entity.

  It sat up and stared at her, its empty eyes, squinted closed a little as if it understood and with a light breeze, it passed through the window to the outside. Alesta did not know what choice it had made, just that it was gone. It had not selected her. She would never see the light, even if it had come. This was the price she had to pay for eternity. She felt relieved that the soul had not come to her; such a choice would provide an unimaginable power surge for her and a trapped soul. Blood was sustaining but it was just the essence, the soul gave her real power. She had vowed never to take another human soul again after the last time.

  “Do it!”

  “I can’t.”

  “You must.”

  “No. Please. I get it. I’ve seen you do it. It must be amazing. It’s just the one thing I can’t do.”

  “It’s like nothing you
have ever experienced.”

  William shoved Alesta off the young naked brunette, frail, thin.

  “Don’t, please, we don’t have to kill her. You’re fed, I’m fed. Let’s just put her back where we found her. Have you not already done enough to her father? I think he’s learned the lesson.”

  “Stealing! Never have I had any servants steal from me. Never will they do it again.”

  He bent over the girl and sunk his sharp long fangs into her soft white neck.

  Alesta walked over to the empty shell and closed Mr. Hastings’s eyes and mouth. She disconnected the IVs and turned off the pump. She picked up the phone and called admitting, informed them of time of death and ordered a death packet. She would do nothing with the body until Cindy was finished. Alesta left the room to complete her charting at the computer desk.

  Monica came out of the next room. “I saw what happened on the monitors. That’s a shame. He was a nice man. I worked with him a couple of weeks ago. I will help you wrap him up later just let me know. How are you doing?”

  “I am doing okay. It’s the wife I am concerned about. She’ll be here soon.” Alesta typed away. She signed her work and logged out of the computer.

  “So you were late again Alesta?” Monica teased. “What crisis at the B&B before you left, or did Mitsy scare one of the guests again?”

  “No my little kitty would do no such thing. Patrick has a handle on everything. I woke up late that’s all. You know how it is after a long shift, it was hell last night.”

  Monica distracted, thought of only one thing, “Patrick…..Yes, we will all have to go out a night soon. I’m off Friday. Are you?” asked Monica, eagerly.

  “Yes I am actually; tonight is my last of three. We could get together just give me a ring tomorrow. Anyways, I have to get back in there. I have to tidy him up before Cindy arrives. He spilled water all over, he is completely soaked.”

  Alesta went to the linen closet across the hall. She pulled out a fresh green gown and fresh white top blankets. She proceeded into the room and began to take off his wet gown. She wiped up the excess water on his body with some towels and tucked a pad under is bottom to hide the fecal matter that leaked when he died. She placed some baby powder to cover the smell. She placed the new gown and applied the sheets over him, her phone rang.

  “Hello, this is Alesta.”

  “Yes, this is Mary, visitors for Mr. Hastings?”

  “No, not yet, can you tell them to wait in the waiting room please. Let them know that the Doctor will be out to see them.”

  “Yes, of course.”

  Alesta paged Dr. Mooney to her phone. It rang a minute later.

  “Hello.”

  “This is Dr. Mooney, you paged me.”

  “Yes, Cindy is here with the Priest, they are out in the waiting room. I had the Matron tell them that you would see them shortly.”

  “Right then. I will break the news and bring them back to the room.”

  “Yes, Dr. Mooney.” Alesta looked around the room and cleaned up a bit. She hated this part. Watching the family come back after their loved one had died. It was the pain of it all. Their eyes always looked as if the world had ended and a deep suffering took the place of eyes that had once been normal. She sat by the window and looked out. It was still windy. The trees moved gracefully in the wind, intertwined, dancing. She could hear them through the glass. Moonlit clouds were building again. The rain would start up again soon. She listened to the footsteps approaching.

  A small framed woman, with short curly grey hair stood at the door. Her mascara was smeared and she held a cloth handkerchief with blue lace around the edges. Alesta could hear her rapid breathing and pounding heart. She could smell the salt of her tears. Cindy had collected herself. She approached the bedside and felt her dead husband’s cool hand. She fell to her knees and sobbed. Her heart broke. Alesta stood beside her and placed her hand on Cindy’s shoulder, lightly squeezing.

  “Mrs. Hastings, I am so sorry for your loss. Can I get you anything?”

  “I would just like some time alone with him. If you would leave us please.” Cindy swallowed hard and painfully. Her throat was swollen with the immense pain of it all.

  “Yes, I will be outside if you need me.” Alesta left them alone.

  The Priest was waiting in the hall. He was a tall healthy young man, clean cut dark brown hair, blue eyes. He looked at Alesta and quickly looked away. He felt a chill. Alesta watched him shudder. Priests, she thought, good people but were always uneasy around her.

  “Hello Father Mac Namara.” Alesta looked at him, but did not smile. His white collar was bright against his black garments. He had a tan and was due a shave, but who shaved in the middle of the night. He gripped his red rosary beads tightly and carried a brown leather bound bible.

  “Hello, what is your name, may I ask?” He flashed a glance towards her but couldn’t make eye contact.

  “My name is Alesta. I am Mr. Hastings’s nurse. Cindy wants some time alone with him.”

  “Yes, when she asks for me I will go in.” He awkwardly sat down at the computer station and flipped through the pages of his book.

  Alesta went to see if the death packet had arrived. She could see Dr. Mooney up at the front desk.

  “Dr. Mooney, How did it go?”

  “As it always does, such hard times for the loved ones. It ills me every time I have to tell them.”

  Cindy stood at the bedside, her handkerchief was saturated. She couldn’t stop the tears. Her sweet John was gone. She looked at his face, it was pale, and she touched it, his skin felt like rubber. My sweet, sweet John, she thought.

  Her voice trembled softly, “I’m sorry I left you. I should have stayed by your side.”

  She walked over to the window and looked out, it was raining lightly. She could see her John’s reflection, and the dim lit room behind her. How could this be happening she thought? Just a few months ago they were enjoying afternoon tea together every day. Cindy would walk down to the High Street every morning and get fresh strawberry tarts, and meringues with fresh cream for the two of them. A flash of their wedding came to her mind, the old chapel, the stain glass windows, and his young handsome face. They got married immediately after his return from the war. They were young and happy, filled with hope for the future. They had enjoyed many years together. She turned around and padded over to the door. The Priest was sitting there reading his bible.

  “Father, I am ready for you now.”

  “Yes, it is time.” Father Mac Namara got up and entered the room and dimmed the lights.

  Cindy stood by John’s head facing the rain and the Father stood at the foot of the bed. He opened his book and respectfully addressed the dead.

  “In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.” They both motioned the sign of the cross over themselves and the Father began Viaticum.

  After chatting with the doctor Alesta stood outside the door of room 38 and listened, they were almost finished with the ceremony.

  “Through the holy mysteries of our redemption, may almighty God release you from all punishment in this life and in the life to come.” The Priest spoke solemnly, Cindy began to sob. “May he open to you the gates of paradise and welcome you to everlasting joy.”

  “Amen,” said Cindy.

  “May the Lord Jesus Christ protect you and lead you to eternal life.”

  “Amen,” wept Cindy.

  “May the blessing of the almighty God the Father and the Son, and the Holy Spirit come upon you and remain with you forever.”

  “Amen.” Cindy lifted her eyes and glanced at Father Mac Namara. He pulled a small silver bell from his pocket and rang it once.

  “All who hear this pray for the departed soul.” The Priest placed a wooden crucifix upon John’s chest. He pulled out a crystal vile from his pocket and carefully sprinkled holy water over the body. He handed Cindy a small white candle. She placed it at the foot of his bed after pulling out his foot table. She struck a match
and lit it. The smell of sulfur eased through the air. The candle flickered, shadows scattered along the walls. There was peace.

  Alesta let out a breath. She had been holding it. The damned could not pray, nor ever pray. They did not know she was out there listening. Would anyone say those kind words for her if she was ever released? Could they even be said for her? It was not her choice to become a vampire, daughter of the night.

  The Count flashed into her mind, those hazel eyes, male lips, his locks of soft brown hair, and whisperings of an everlasting love. She wondered where her master was and what he was doing. It had been his choice to deliver her and Alesta would do what she could to help others, maybe then and only then, she would be redeemed.

  Hands gripped her neck.

  “S…..t…..o….p,” she choked out.

  “You will finish her off. Do as I tell you.”

  He eased the grip a little, the power surged through him.

  “Never!”

  He tightened up again, “You’ll drink of her, but not the rest. How can you even begin to consider yourself a vampire?”

  He spewed hot blood into her face, her eyes covered, red blindness.

  “You will!!! If not today another! I’ll see to it. YOU WILL!”

  Cindy and Father Mac Namara exited room 38, Cindy came up to Alesta and took her hand, and she looked up into her eyes.

  “Thank you for all of your help Alesta. John and I appreciated everything. I don’t see Monica around but tell her thanks as well. I must go now.” Cindy let go and looked at the Priest. “Father, thank you for your kind words, I know that John is happy wherever he is. I will see you at the funeral? I would like it if you gave the sermon.”

  “Yes, of course, come by and see me tomorrow and I will help you with the arrangements.” He gave her a warm smile and touched her shoulder. She was so very thin he thought.