Whaling City Vampires: Love Beyond Death

  Chapter 26

  The night air on his skin had never felt so luxurious to Robert as it did as he fled north away from St. Augustine after his escape from the wine cellar of his father's house. Moonlight shimmered off the manes of the two dark horses that Robert drove relentlessly northward with his coffin and two guards on the wagon in the back. His mind was only on Amy and their reunion and nothing else. Would she still be in the lair that they had shared, the lair he was abducted from? Was she alive and waiting for him? Would she be angry over her abandonment and reject him after being away all this time? Perhaps she was already with another man. Jealousy overwhelmed him as he considered that scenario and he urged the horses to fly as fast as possible over the dusty road in the dark. He must find her, if only to see her, hear her voice, to touch her once more.

  The escape plan he and his mother devised and carried out together worked wonderfully with the help of his loving sisters. It had been more than a year since Robert was free to feel the night air and move freely outside of his coffin. After his mother found him in his hopeless prison, she came to visit whenever possible allowing Robert some relief from the confines of his coffin if only for brief moments while they planned his escape. Robert's mother, Ana, was eager to see her youngest son become free again and be reunited with his only love and passion in life, Amy, and find the happiness Raul would never have allowed him to experience.

  To initiate the plan Ana needed copies of the keys that hung outside the wine cellar, which she instructed one of the guards to acquire during the day while the family rested in their lair. Once this was done and the other preparations were made Ana and two of her daughters locked themselves in the wine cellar where they hid until Raul's nightly visit. Once Raul and Esteban unlocked Robert's coffin, Robert attacked Raul, but before Raul and Esteban could overpower him Ana and Robert's sisters quickly sprung to Robert's aid and the four of them subdued the two abductors. Ana drew a sword she had hidden behind a wine cask and beheaded Esteban while Robert and his sisters locked Raul into Robert's coffin.

  The women rushed Robert upstairs and to the carriage house where the horses and cart were waiting with a fresh coffin and two guards aboard. Before Carlos ever knew what was happening Robert had escaped and was already beyond the city border. Once the entire story was revealed to Carlos the women were finally able to convince him how cruel and unfair the forced wedding between Robert and Lisa would be. However, he was enraged that Raul had been imprisoned in Robert's place in the wine cellar but after hearing how Raul had trapped and tormented Robert for so long and hearing about Robert's love for Amy agreed to keep him imprisoned long enough for Robert to reach New London.

  Robert longed to abandon the cart and horses and simply fly to New London, but needed the protection of the two guards his mother had chosen for him to watch out for him while he rested during the daylight hours. He knew Raul was stubborn and would be even angrier than he could ever imagine when he became free again. He feared that Raul would no longer be intent on Robert's marrying Lisa but would only be intent on seeking revenge for Robert's escape and his own humiliation. Robert's only hope for freedom from Raul's wrath would be if Ana would be able to persuade Carlos to order Raul to let Robert be free to live his life as he chooses. Of course, Robert couldn't know if his mother and sisters had persuaded Carlos to keep Raul imprisoned and had to live by the assumption that Carlos would have released Raul immediately after learning his fate.