Sunburn

Erica’s POV

Highway NE of Pittsburgh

“Shit!” I climbed over the passenger seat and into the back. The two coffins had been a tight fit, and they hadn’t been tied down. The impact had been over the driver’s side rear tire and had damaged Eduardo’s coffin, then when the van rolled his went flying. I worked my way carefully over the splintered wood and glass to where he was lying down near the roof of the van. “Eduardo! Wake UP!”

I could hear people pulling over, running towards us. We didn’t have time to do anything else. I could already smell gasoline.

Rotating the coffin until it was upright, I kept the battered lid open. Then I lifted Eduardo, setting him inside before closing the lid. It wasn’t perfect, pieces of the rosewood lid were cracked and missing, but he was out of direct sunlight for now.

Just in time.

I heard someone pulling at the damaged van door, kicking it down out of the way before opening the other side. “Ma’am?You all right?”

“I think so,” I said.

“Give me your hand,” he said. I let him lead me out; in the bright sunlight, several cars and trucks had pulled over to help. I was shaking; he asked if I wanted to sit down in his car. “We have to get them out,” I said.

Another man had gone inside and came out with Angie. She was walking slowly, banged up but not bleeding. I could hear sirens in the distance, then a voice shouted. “Shit, it’s catching fire!”

“NO! PLEASE GET MY FAMILY OUT OF THERE,” I yelled.

“The coffins?”

I moved to the back, grabbing Eduardo’s coffin. My rescuer grabbed the other side and we pulled and dragged it twenty feet clear of the van. Meanwhile, a few more men had grabbed Jarrod’s coffin and dragged it next to us. His looked intact, just some scratches and dents.“ Erica?What happened?”

“Don’t move, love. We were in an accident, you’re by the side of the road now.”

“Baby? The coffin. It’s broken.”I looked over it, the late afternoon sun was shining through the missing parts of the lid, and the lid wasn’t closing right.

“I’m so sorry, love. I didn’t want you to end this way.” I put on an act, pretending I was upset by the sight of my brother in the damaged coffin. “Does anyone have a blanket? Tarp? This isn’t right,” I cried as I laid my body over the worst of the lid.

The first Sheriff’s Deputy pulled up, stopping clear of the wreck. He went to his trunk and grabbed a fire extinguisher before heading to the van. I could hear more sirens coming quickly as I sobbed over the broken coffin. “Erica? Something is wrong,” he said.

“I know, I’m so sorry,” I replied.

“No, in a good way. I can feel the sunlight on my right hand and it doesn’t hurt.” I didn’t have time to do anything because a second patrol car arrived, this one running to where Angie and I were sitting by the coffins.

I looked up. “You all right Ma’am?”

“Just shaken up,” I said.

“The ambulances will be here in a minute, you should get checked out,” he said as he looked at Angie quickly. “And you Ma’am?”

“Bruised, I’m all right,” she said.

Leaving us, he moved to the second vehicle as the van fire was being put out. I could see the pickup truck that ran the red light, it had rolled in the ditch and was upside down. The driver was in bad shape, it looked like he had been ejected. Two men were standing by him, but his neck was obviously broken by the way he was laying on the grass. He checked his pulse then walked back up as the ambulance arrived. “Driver ejected in the accident and is gone,” he said as the driver got out. “Two people in the van are sitting by the coffins, no obvious injuries.”

I pulled out my phone, calling Talia. “There’s been an accident. We’re all right, but you need to send another van to pick up us and our cargo. One of the coffins was badly damaged,” I said. I gave her my location, and she told me she’d get some people out my way as soon as she could.

The adrenaline crash was coming, and the second ambulance arrived. They asked if we could stand and walk to the ambulance, and when I nodded, they helped me up. He wrapped a blanket around me and I sat on the back of his rig. “Can you put a blanket over my brother’s coffin? I don’t want anyone seeing him like that,” I said.

“I can do that,” he said. He grabbed another blanket and used it to cover the damaged coffin. “Best I can do for now,” I said. “Talia is sending help.”

”I’m fine, even if I don’t understand it. My hand should have been turning black by now, but it feels normal. The light even felt good on it.”

“We’ll talk later.” The EMT’s checked us over, recommending we go to the hospital for testing, but we refused. “I didn’t hit my head and the seatbelt kept me in place, I’ll be fine,” I said.

“Some injuries might not be obvious,” he told me.

“I have friends coming, if I start to have any concussion symptoms or other problems, I’ll go to the emergency room.” The last thing we needed was to end up in a hospital with human doctors, blood tests and scans. The bruising I had gotten was already fading with my Wamp-speed healing.

We spoke to the Sheriff, giving our statements. It didn’t help much, we had the green light and we didn’t see the truck until just before impact. “The driver? He’s dead?” I could see the Medical Examiner’s van arriving, moving to where the body was covered.

“Yes. He wasn’t wearing a seatbelt and was drunk, I could smell the alcohol on his body and there was an open bottle in the cab,” the first Deputy said. “It wasn’t your fault.”

“Where were you coming from?”

“The airport,” Angie said. “I work for the funeral home in New Bethlehem. Our normal hearse is busy with a funeral, so I had this.”

“Should I call a local home and get help?”

“No, they’ve already sent another van to get us,” she replied. The fire trucks were gone, and the second ambulance had left with the driver’s body. A van pulled up to the Deputy directing traffic, his window rolled down. “That’s our driver,” she said as she pointed.

He waved the van in, and he stopped near the coffins. The driver hopped out, he was obviously an Enforcer from his build and the way he walked. He ran up to Angie, the two embracing as she started to cry on his chest. “You’re all right, love,” he said.

When they broke apart, he held out his hand. “I’m Theo, her husband.”

“Erica.” The three of us walked to the back of the van, he opened it up then asked a few of the men standing around for help loading. They put Eduardo’s damaged casket in first, then Jarrod’s. The three of us headed for the front seat.

“You sure you want to decline transport,” the driver of the ambulance said.

“We’re sure,” I replied. “Thank you, you were very nice to us.” We handed back the blankets and loaded into the cargo van. A few minutes later, we were clear of the accident scene and heading for the Council Headquarters again.

“How are our guests,” Theo asked. “Those coffins looked beat up, especially the one with the damage to the lid.”

“Eduardo? You all right?”

“I’m great, love.J ust a minute.”

I heard the lid of the coffin being pushed open, the wood creaking and splintering as he forced the lock. I looked back in horror. “What are you DOING?”

“I told you, baby. The sun didn’t hurt me.” He sat up, looking up at us and the bright light coming through the windshield. “It’s so beautiful,” he said as he looked out onto the green rolling hills. He stood up, stepping out of the coffin and putting the lid down. He moved to the front, pulling me into a kiss. “That was close,” he said.

“Drunk driver and we got lucky,” Angie said. “How is this possible? You’re a VAMPIRE.”

He shrugged his shoulders. “The impossible is routine with Erica in my life,” he said as he rested his arms around my shoulders. “Just like Erica is no longer just a werewolf, I’m not just a vampire either.”

“The mating bite did this?”

“Doc said it was making changes in my body, but I never would have tried this on my own. Without the accident I’d never know I was a Daywalker.” He kissed my neck as he hugged me from behind. “I love you, Erica.”

I leaned back into another kiss. I looked at his hands, they were unblemished. “It’s amazing,” I told him. “We can’t let this get out. The Vampire Council already looks at me like some science experiment gone wrong. If you are a Daywalker, they might kill you.”

“We’ll talk to Talia when we get back. Theo, Angie, you can’t mention this to anyone or we’re in danger.”

“Mention what?” Theo just chuckled as held Angie’s hand. “I don’t see anything buy my mate.”

The rest of the drive went in silence, each pair using the bond to talk. I couldn’t believe it; the biggest restriction and danger to a vampire, having to avoid sunlight, was no longer an issue for my mate. He still didn’t need to sleep, and now he could be with me during the day. It was a dream come true for us.

We arrived at Headquarters and pulled into the underground garage. Talia, Denise and Jacques were there to greet us; I gave my family hugs as the back door opened and Eduardo jumped out. He had opened Jarrod’s coffin, so he stepped out behind him. “Well that was interesting,” Jarrod said with a smile as he walked to our group.

“Welcome to the Werewolf Council,” Talia said as she hugged her foster father, then Eduardo.

“We have much to talk about.”

“Talia, you need to Alpha Order Theo and Angie not to say anything about Eduardo being a daywalker,” I told her.

“WHAT?”

“Just do it, we’ll explain later.”

She pulled the two aside and gave them the order before they went up the stairs to their living quarters. “Let’s go to my office, clearly we have a lot to discuss.”

The path had been prepared for Vampires, all windows covered, as well as her office. We all went in and sat down. “Tell me what happened,” she said.

We went through the story of the accident and the damaged coffin, and Eduardo told of his hand and face being in sunlight with no damage. “I was able to sit behind them the whole ride back. As a vampire, the sunlight would be blinding and painful, but it was as if I was still human. It not only didn’t hurt, it felt nice to feel the warmth on my skin,” he said.

Jarrod just shook his head. “Vampires have been looking for a way to escape the curse of the night for our entire existence,” he said. “If my skin had been exposed like his, the skin would have burned in under a minute.”

“It has to be the mating bite that changed me,” Eduardo said. “Just like it changed me so I could have children.”

Talia spit out the Coke she was drinking. “WHAT?”

“Doctor Andrews is doing some testing on us. The changes in Erica are more obvious, but she was looking at samples from me to see if a Vampire could change too. She found live sperm in my sample,” he said with a smile. “It means Erica and I can reproduce, another impossibility for a vampire.” I leaned into his shoulder as his hand moved over my stomach. “Another part of the curse of the Undead she has broken for me.”

“I think it wise we keep this to ourselves for now,” Jarrod said. “The Vampire Council is split. I think Nikolai is fascinated by the changes, but Daniela has made clear her feelings. She wants the hybrids eliminated. That’s why I’m here, because if Leonardo and his Coven wanted to, they could tip the balance.”

“You think they would unseat Nikolai? The most powerful Vampire in the world?”

“Leonardo is ambitious and knows how to play the politics. I don’t know what side he will fall on,” Jarrod said as he leaned forward. “I know you had to invite them, but this seems like a setup. Not everyone wants peace, and I don’t trust Mistress Daniela at all. She must be planning to stir up trouble.”

“And blame me,” Talia said. “It just makes sense, it isn’t enough to stir up old hatreds with the werewolves, she needs to specifically target the three hybrids.”

“You are wise beyond your years, my daughter. That is exactly what she will do if she is allowed to do it.” Jarrod looked at his watch. “Sunset is in ninety-two minutes.”

“And they will arrive twenty minutes later,” Talia said. “We are meeting them at the edge of Council territory, just the three of us,” she said.

“It won’t be just the three of you now,” Jarrod said with a smile. “Moves and counters.”