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kindest man you could ever hope to meet.
    The very day that news reached the plantation that slavery had been abolished, Mary had resolved to put as much distance between herself and her former owner as quickly as possible, just in case them white folks changed their minds and decided that she was to be a slave again. With nothing more than a small bundle of clothes to her name, she had hopes of seeking sanctuary in one of the many makeshift shanty towns that were springing up like weeds on the fringes of Union army camps, but her former owner had other ideas. William Huckley had paid good money for his slaves and he was not about to watch his prize investments up sticks and abandon him at harvest time.
    As the excited gaggle of 17 men, women and children, began to make their way down the road that led away from the plantation towards freedom, Huckley and his two overseers opened fire, killing seven year old, Betsy, and her father, Thomas, on the spot. If it hadn't been for the intervention of a passing Union army patrol, the death count would have been much higher.
    Mary was shot in the melee that followed those opening shots, a soft lead minie ball hitting the back of her upper left arm. The bullet wound itself wasn't life-threatening, but the infection that she contracted at the army field hospital was. The doctors had little option, but to amputate Mary's arm close to the shoulder joint. They used what little chloroform they had left to numb the pain, but she was wide awake throughout the operation and the sound of the saw cutting through bone still haunted her nightmares all these years later.
    Following the operation, a deadly form of gas gangrene set in. Unable to do any more for Mary, the doctors left her in the care of Benjamin, an old black orderly who had served with the Union army as far back as the the Battle of Carnifex Ferry in '61. Benjamin couldn't bear the thought of this beautiful young black woman dying before she had truly tasted freedom, but for two days he wrestled with his conscience, unsure whether to intervene or not. He could not save her life, any more than the doctors could, but what he could offer her was eternal life. As a vampire, he had that within his power. He knew that if he acted, he himself would be destroyed, but when he bit into her neck, he knew in his heart that he was doing the right thing.
    Benjamin and Mary then managed to avoid the Immortalis for almost three years, by moving from one remote rural area to another, but the awful day came when they were discovered by enforcers of the Codex while living on a farm in Shelby County, Kentucky. That was when Benjamin was taken from her. He knew this day would come and he had mentally prepared them both for it. He said his goodbyes to Mary and then calmly walked out of the wooden hut that they called home and into the custody of the two enforcers who had come for him. She would never see him again. It was Henry Warwick and Adam McLeod who had come for him. Both were cockahoop at having tracked them down at long last and neither displayed an ounce of compassion for Benjamin or indeed Mary.
    Anna had been shopping for clothes in Galashiels when she had received the call from Mary. A wave of relief washed over her, but news of who was coming stopped her dead in her tracks. Adam McLeod's was the last name she expected to hear.
    Anna hadn't seen Adam in ages, absolutely ages, but she could still picture his face as if it was yesterday. It was a face she had been drawn to all those years ago, a face she could never forget. They certainly had a lot of catching up to do. The last time she had seen Adam, she had saved his life. Whether or not he would want to thank her for doing so, remained to be seen.
    That evening, she received a text from Jacob:
    Adam arriving in Edinburgh 07.55 (Tuesday) from Baltimore. Will arrive in Melrose 12.51 by bus.
     
    Not a moment too soon
, she thought.

CHAPTER FIVE
     
     
     
     
     
    “Khanjar-wielding Marmluks