Always the Vampire (17 page)

I learn some new, wacky thing every day.

“Jo-Jo would love that denture bit,” I said, grinning.

“He still uses that joke in his act?”

I shrugged, and Saber shook his head as he clicked to the next page.

“All right, the Clarkes passed their physicals and are GPS implanted.”

“Whoa. I never had a physical.”

“It’s a new policy.” He shut down the computer as I perched on the coffee table. “With the nests closed, vampires are free to stay in the same city or move almost anywhere within the U.S., so long as the area isn’t already loaded with vamps. But we’re checking for symptoms of infection with questionnaires, physicals, and psychiatric profiles. By the way, your dancing buddies, David and Ken, passed their physicals, too. Candy confirmed it.”

“Good to know. So these physicals will work like an early warning system to scout potential infectees?”

“And Rampants. Whether these precautionary measures will work, or work well, is yet to be seen.”

Rampants were rogue vampires, those Saber was licensed to kill. A run-of-the-fang rogue is dangerous. An infected vampire is insanely dangerous.

“Will the Clarkes be allowed to open the B&B?”

“If they screen their clientele, I don’t think we can stop them.” He arched a brow. “The Clarkes do know that St. Augustine isn’t exactly the nightlife capital of Florida, right?”

“They should, but that’s their problem. Saber, why didn’t I sense that the Clarkes were vampires during the tour?”

“Honey, you saw what you expected to see. Typical tourists.”

“What about tonight? Shouldn’t I have picked up a vampy vibe?”

“You might’ve if you hadn’t been preoccupied with Triton. You’d already pegged them as elderly tourists, and they obviously don’t project otherness.”

“So you don’t automatically know a supernatural when you see one? Would you have known I was a vampire if you’d first met me on the street?”

“Oh, yeah, I would’ve known.” He waggled his brows. “You were too gorgeous to be anything but a vampire or a supermodel.”

Cobalt blue eyes twinkled with that special look.

I smiled and shook my head. “And here I thought you were tired.”

“Maybe I’m getting a second wind.” He stood and held out his hand. “Besides, I believe I owe you a dance.”

That’s all it took for my body to go liquid with heat. I put my hand in his, and it was a very long time later before I thought about anything but Deke’s hands and mouth and murmured endearments. I simply reveled in his maddeningly slow lovemaking, and returned every kiss and caress until we found that long, intense release.

As he slipped into sleep, I hugged him tightly and whispered.

“You’ll be well again, my love.”

 

 

I eased myself from Saber’s arms a little after three. After donning my nightclothes, I semi folded the comforter we’d kicked off on the foot-of-the-bed bench, gathered a wide-toothed comb, my saltwater-damp clothes, and the amulet from the bathroom, then padded to the front door to check the alarms. I could’ve sworn they were off, but on the panel, the green lights blinked their armed mode. When had Saber reset them?

“He didn’t. I did.”

I spun toward the voice, clasping my armload against my chest, and screeching a soft but solid C above high C. Snowball echoed me as Cosmil emerged from the shadowed kitchen.

“Be calm. I mean no harm.”

I wasn’t sure if he was speaking to Snowball or me, but my stuttering heartbeat slowed as I took in Cosmil’s hippie-grunge look of flip-flops, faded jeans, and a Grateful Dead T-shirt. His hair hung limp to his shoulders.

“What in the name of marsh gas are you doing here?” I whispered, shooing him back into the kitchen so Saber wouldn’t be disturbed.

“I came to talk and to retrieve the amulet for safekeeping, but do not worry. I only just arrived.”

I blushed in the dark. “Well, thanks for that, but how did you get in? I’m positive the door was locked.”

“I did not use the door,” he replied, calmly pulling out two chairs at my retro kitchen table. “I connected with your energy signature and transported myself on thought waves.”

“Through the Veil?”

“My short-distance version of it. Please, come sit. I know you have a few bones to pick with me.”

“Hah. I have a whole skeleton of them.”

“Then let us begin.”

I peered at his sincere expression. Oh, hell, fine. I looked a mess with my unruly hair down, still damp, and sticking out all over, but my pink nightshirt fell to me knees. I was perfectly decent, so there was no point in straining my vampire vision by remaining in the dark. I pushed the microwave’s surface light that shone over the stove, then pried the amulet out of my cutoffs as I carried my clothes to the laundry room. Back in the kitchen, I plopped into the chrome and turquoise chair and slapped my comb on the table.

“Here,” I said, passing the amulet to him.

He turned it in his hands. “You used it on the trip.”

It wasn’t a question, but I answered anyway. “Yes, to send a shot of protection when we were in a club.”

“This is good, Francesca.” He pulled a pouch from under his T-shirt and placed the amulet inside. Then he folded his hands on the table. “Will you give me an update on Triton?”

I did, and Cosmil concurred that Starrack might well have hired the thugs.

“What I don’t get,” I added, “is how Starrack knew about the amulets.”

Cosmil sighed. “Regrettably, I mentioned the Mu amulet in my report to the Council. Starrack must have contact with one of the members. Perhaps a nymph,” he mused, “though I do not know how he learned of the second disk.”

“Why does he want them? Just because they have powers?”

“Because they can destroy darkness.”

“Good thing Triton doesn’t have them in his ferns anymore.”

Cosmil gave me an almost smile then shifted in his chair. “Francesca, Triton has told you something of his heritage, has he not? That because a spell I cast went awry, he was born.”

I nodded and picked up the comb to start working the tangles from my hair. It might be bone-picking time, but I needed something to do with my hands besides make fists.

“I can undo most errant magick, but not when conception results. To mitigate my mistake, I have watched over Triton since his birth. Pandora, too, though she was conceived in an entirely separate incident.”

I shook the comb at him. “And in your watching, you’ve also interfered from time to time.”

He inclined his head, conceding the point. “But only occasionally, when the need was great. A small spell influenced Triton to move home in a more timely manner.”

“Another small spell kept my butt buried for more than two hundred years, didn’t it?” I jerked the comb through a massive tangle.

“True, though you must see the entire picture.” Cosmil clasped his hands on the table. “When you were lost to the vampires, I feared for Triton’s sanity. You were his beloved friend, and he was wild with grief that he had failed you. He had heard tales of the atrocities the monsters committed before and after they Turned victims. If they Turned them at all.”

I swallowed hard. Normand had declared me his heir, princess of his little fanged kingdom, and he’d sheltered me from many of the nest’s activities. Still, I’d heard the screams. Smelled the blood. Seen the helpless, empty expression of human captives like Isabella. Each newly Turned soldier or villager had radiated malevolence, blamed me for their predicament.

They would have rather been dead. And more than once, so would I.

“I had fears that Marco would go after Triton,” I admitted quietly.

“He did, my dear. Magick protected Triton, but it could not compel him to leave St. Augustine. It took your pleas to convince him to move away.”

“And afterward, you left me alone in that dank, smelly coffin.”

“Not quite alone, Francesca. Did you not feel another presence with you from time to time?”

“I felt Triton when we talked telepathically.”

“Think back. Did you ever smell this scent?”

The kitchen bloomed with the aroma of fresh rosemary, like the potted plants Maggie and I had given friends for my first Christmas last year. I inhaled deeply, let my eyes flutter shut, and allowed memories to wash over me. That scent had permeated the coffin more than once, as if it had wafted in on a fresh breeze. It had calmed me, it had relaxed me, it had filled me with peace.

I opened my eyes. “That was you?”

“Yes, dear girl. Just as I had foreseen that you would walk in the day, I foresaw an era in which vampires would not need to feed on the living. I bespelled your resting place to keep you safe until the right rescuer could release you at the perfect time.”

“That smacks of the sleeping beauty story.”

He merely smiled. And, okay, I had to admit that Maggie totally fit the bill of right rescuer, as well as mentor and friend. And since I’d gagged at the smell of blood since the moment I was Turned, I would have had a darned-hard time feeding before Starbloods was perfected.

“Francesca, I would not have left you buried if it had not been the wisest choice for the long term.”

I laid the comb on the table with a snap. “It was still a manipulative, sneaky thing to do. That doesn’t foster warm fuzzies.”

I rose and paced to the sink, then faced him again. “Listen, Cosmil, I know Triton thinks I’m not taking this whole Starrack and Void thing seriously, but I am. I would die to save Saber, and I just might take a bullet for Triton.”

“And me?” he asked with a quirk of his lips.

I gave him a level stare. “You need to earn my trust.”

He nodded. “Fair enough. What can I do?”

“No more manipulating. No more secrets. When we train, tell me what we’re doing, why we’re doing it, and inform me of possible side effects.”

“I will do the same for Saber and Triton. Anything else?”

I hesitated, sorting my thoughts. Would he know about vampire ghosts? About boosting my supe-detecting radar? Maybe, but I had a more nagging question.

“What’s the real reason you’re relying on Saber and Triton and me to fight the Void? And don’t,” I said, shaking a finger at him, “give me that tripe about the COA squabbles. You must have other resources. Know people who know people. Heck, Saber could get you mercenaries who are already trained in combat with supernaturals.”

His expression clouded. “Mercenaries work for the highest bidder.”

“Then how about Marines? I met two vampires who’d be gung ho to help us. You know what they say on
NCIS
: ‘Once a Marine, always a Marine.’ ”

“You feel strongly about recruiting more help, don’t you?”

“You bet your crystal ball. Even with training, sending us into this battle is like sending—” I groped for a comparison, and a movie Saber had watched popped to mind. “It’s like sending the Three Stooges to take out a terrorist cell.”

He sat back and regarded me for a long moment. “The life of most wizards is solitary, meetings with the Council notwithstanding. You have doubts about me, but there are only four individuals I trust implicitly. You and Saber and Triton are three of them. Lia is the fourth.”

I sagged against the countertop. “Oh.”

“Remember, too, that I witnessed you drain a vampire nearly dry. I saw you and Saber and Triton work together at the comedy club without the benefit of training. With training, you will be formidable.”

“Those two nutso vampires weren’t in the same league as Starrack and the Void.”

“But Starrack and the Void can still be defeated. Lia and I will teach you and Saber and Triton to work in concert. We will prepare you as best we can.”

“And fight this battle with us? Call in help?”

“Indeed. If it appears we need more troops for our battle, I will talk with Saber about these mercenaries.”

I crossed to my seat. “You will? Promise?”

“I only promise to discuss it.”

“That’s a start.” I placed my hand over his. “Thank you.”

He cleared his throat. “Yes, well, in the meantime you must promise to cultivate more confidence in your own abilities and in the combined abilities you three can bring to bear. Truly, Francesca, your power is nothing to fear.”

Before I could respond, he rose. “And now, I shall leave you to help Saber through his nightmares.”

I didn’t get the chance to ask, “What nightmares?”

Cosmil disappeared in a puff of rosemary-scented smoke just as Saber shouted agonized gibberish from the bedroom.

I hit the gloom of the bedroom in time to see Saber arch his back and emit a prolonged, eerie cry that frightened me more than facing down the Void.

“Burns. Get out, get out!”

He thrashed in sweat-soaked sheets tangled at his hips and twisted around his legs. I flipped on the bedside light as he kicked and flailed his arms and knocked the lampshade askew.