I could hear someone groaning. After a moment I realized that it was, of course, me. How many times over the centuries had I woke up like this? Too many to count, and certainly more than I remembered.
Damn it was dark in here. For a moment I had no idea where "here" was. The memories flooded back; the cavern, the family, the old man and most of all Thorfinn. The torches must have all burned out while I lay unconscious. I tried to move. I could barely bend my arms or flex my fingers. I was incredibly stiff and I ached all over.
Finally after long minutes of trying I managed to crawl towards what my memory dimly told me was the altar area. My muscles and joints finally loosened enough to get on my hands and knees and fumble over stones. I found what I was looking for, a box of matches. Striking one, I looked around in the flaring light and spotted a torch that had not burned completely up. Memorizing its location, I walked there as the match went out. I caught it up and lit it.
The light hurt my eyes. I examined the room. No sword. No Thorfinn. Not even ashes. For a moment I panicked. Had I somehow not killed him? No, I was able to reassure myself. He was dead. Not even someone as powerful as he was could survive his head being cut off.
As the feeling came back into my body I began to itch. I was covered in fine dust. If it had been possible for me to sneeze I would have been doing so. Instead I brushed the accumulated dust off my body. I looked around again and saw nothing. Shrugging my shoulders I left, following the passage back to where the family had been.
They were, of course, gone. My eye caught a glimpse of something and I picked it up. It was the rotting remnants of a piece of rope. Thoughts chased back and forth through my mind. Where was Robert and the backup team? Or anyone? Just how long had I been laying in this cavern?
I cautiously proceeded down the exit shaft. After all, I didn't want to be caught unexpectedly by daylight. When I did see light, it was the silvery radiance of the moon.
I had no luck finding the path that led back to the house. Apparently I was still somewhat confused, for I wandered aimlessly through the forest area until I stumbled upon a hard surface road. A trucker picked me up and was kind enough to deliver me to the police station at the next town we came to. I would have liked to have thanked him further, he was cute, in a rather beefy, solid way, but I needed to check in first.
Fortunately I still had my ID folder. On its strength I was able to call Washington. Twice. The first time I dialed Robert's direct number and it came back disconnected. The second time I went through the FBI switchboard where a voice stiffly informed me that she would see if Deputy Director Dale could take my call. After listening to a short, but pungent, fit on my part, she connected me.
He answered on the second ring. I overrode the secretary trying to butt into the conversation.
"Robert, where the hell were you? I've been walking through these damn woods and looking for the damn team and I couldn't find a damn soul and when the hell did you get promoted and what the FUCK is going on?" Its a good thing I don't need to breathe.
"BRIDGET! Oh my GOD. I thought you were dead!"
"Well I'm not," I started to say more but he cut me off. That in itself made me wonder. Robert never interrupted, especially a lady, which he had always been thoughtful enough to consider me.
"Where the HELL have you been?"
"What do you mean?" I was getting shaky now. Robert never cusses.
"Bridget, have you looked at a calendar?"
"No," I simply replied. I let my eyes wander across the office. I froze. That couldn't be right. It wasn't possible. I couldn't speak, but I must have made some croaking noises because apparently Robert knew I had realized the date. And the year.
"Yes," he paused. "You've been gone for fifteen years."
Any person trained in simple first aid can tell you that you faint because the blood supply leaves your brain. Therefore, vampires cannot faint. Therefore, there was obviously some other reason I found myself stretched out on the floor with a couple of nice cops hovering over me and Robert's voice blaring from the phone.
Once I decided I could get up and stay up, at least as far as the chair the officers helped me to, I tried to make sense of it. Robert explained that he had indeed received a call from the family I had rescued that night. By the time he convinced enough people to respond, two days had gone by. Regardless of how hard they searched, they were never able to find the cave. Finally, they had to give up.
He assured me the killings had ended. I was able to briefly summarize what had occurred in the cavern. It was nice to know that my memories of parting Thorfinn from his head were most likely real. I considered saying a short prayer, but all I could think of was "Hope you're close to the fire, you bastard".
"Bridget. Go to a hotel. Call me when you get there and I'll make the arrangements for you. I'll also get a car up to you by tomorrow night, new credit cards and some clothes. I guess there's no need for you to rush back to report. After fifteen years another couple of days or a week won't matter."
You wouldn't think I would be sleepy after having been, I don't know, unconscious? in suspended animation? for 15 years, but I ended up sleeping the clock around. When I got up that evening there was an envelope on the dresser in my room. Inside was a driver's license, credit cards, several hundred dollars in cash and car keys.
After a short debate with myself, I headed south and east. In two nights I had made my way back to Jackson County in Georgia. I headed to the main Sheriff's Office at dusk, hoping I could catch one of my friends before they went home for the night.
As luck would have it, when I walked in the main door I caught sight of in In/Out Board behind the desk sergeant. I saw that Deputy Inspector M. Gibson was out, but that Captain P. Gibson was in. My credentials got me through and I bounded up the stairs to an office that read "Internal Affairs".
"Bridget!" Pat Gibson swung her feet off the desk in her private office. She walked around it and hugged me. "About time you got here."
"Let me guess. Robert called you?" She nodded. "I have GOT to remember to check the car for bugs."
"Well, perhaps he's done that, but he called Mike and I at home with the news a couple days ago. He said he had just got off the phone with you."
"I suppose he knew that I'd head down here," I said. "So did you pass the information on to Linda and Sue?"
Pat's face fell and a cold hand seized my heart.
