Blue Twilight (23 page)

Max stopped talking. She bit her lip and knew where she'd screwed up her story.

“I woke up bruised to hell and gone, too. And not wearing the same nightie I wore to bed,” Stormy said. “Why is that?”

“Okay. Okay, I'll be honest.”

“I attacked you.”

“No. No. You were actually the one I saw wandering around. I followed you. You fell, same as I did. It was dark, and the drop came up on you kind of suddenly. Lou would have fallen, too, if he hadn't seen me go over first.”

Stormy stared at her, as if willing her to reveal the whole truth.

“You were sleepwalking, I think,” Max said.

She didn't mention the dark vampire who'd been out there by the shore, maybe waiting for Stormy. She didn't mention wondering if he'd somehow used his powers to lure Stormy out there to him. And above all else, she didn't tell Stormy that she had pummeled her best friend silly last night in what looked a hell of a lot like defense of the vampire.

No way would she tell her that. Not ever.

“You're not telling me everything.”

“I am. I mean it, Storm, that's all of it.”

Stormy squinted at her, and Max knew she was angry—not so much at her as at the situation. “I hate not being able to remember. I hate that my body seems so willing to walk around doing things without my knowledge or consent. God, it's frustrating.”

“I know. But we're gonna get to the bottom of it, hon. Maybe even today.” She pointed at the window. “Look, no clouds. Clear skies.”

Stormy started to reply but just then Lou came in. He had his arms full. Coffee, pastries. He'd been to the bakery again. He saw Max standing there still wearing a towel, and his eyes slid lower over her body and got all dark with passion again before they leveled on hers.

“I, uh, was just gonna run over to Max's room to get her some clothes,” Stormy said. “It'll take me…ten minutes.” She looked at her watch. “Good enough? 'Cause it could take me twenty if you—”

“You don't need to—” Max began.

“Make it fifteen,” Lou said.

“In that case, I'll take this with me.” Stormy grabbed a cup of coffee from Lou, dug into one of the bags he held for a doughnut and hurried from the room.

Here it comes, Max thought. Here comes the big rationalization as to why what happened, happened, and why it must never, ever happen again.

She was nervous and not looking forward to the conversation. “The weather's not bad this morning, is it?”

“No. Clear as a bell.”

She nodded. “I wonder if it will turn bad the minute we start for the boat.”

“I still have my doubts there's a vamp alive who could control the weather even while he sleeps by day.”

“I don't. Last night he all but admitted he caused yesterday's storm.”

Lou set the bags down on the table. He faced her, then
moved closer, ran a hand through her slightly crazy, still-damp hair and shook his head slowly. “You're looking at me as if you think I'm about to drive a stake through your heart, kid.”

“Aren't you?”

“Nope. I give up. You win.”

She blinked three times in quick succession. “I win?”

He nodded. “I think we should get married.”

Closing her eyes tight, bending her brows, she let that translate in her brain, then focused on him again and said,
“What?”

“I said I think we shoul—”

“I heard what you said. I'm just not clear on why you said it. Jesus, Lou, how did we get from ‘let's just be friends' to ‘let's get married'?”

“Well…it's pretty obvious, isn't it?”

“We had sex. I told you, it doesn't have to mean anything.”

“But you want it to. And hell, Max, I'm tired of fighting about it. Besides, it's done. The damage is done now, there's no going back. So this is the only solution.”

“What planet are you living on?”

He shrugged. “I'm not being old-fashioned, I'm being practical.” He pushed a hand through his hair and paced away from her. “We've gone too far to go back now. The friendship is already ruined, Max. We can't go back to being platonic—not after that.”

She tipped her head to one side. “So why can't we just be lovers for a while? What's wrong with that?”

He lifted his brows. “I don't do the ‘lovers' thing. I'm
too old to be worrying about dating and romance and courtship. And that's where you're going with all this shit, anyway, isn't it? So why not just skip the middle and get on with it? We'll find out soon enough if we can make this work or not.”

She could not believe the words were coming from his mouth. Yeah, he was babbling, but damn, he was hurting her with it.

“Besides, I know you pretty well. Well enough to know you're not on any sort of birth control. Suppose last night's idiocy results in—”

She smacked him. Hard. It shocked her as much as it did him, she thought. His head rocked to one side, and her palm stung. A hot, red imprint darkened his cheek.

“Jesus, Maxie, what the hell?”

“Fuck you, Lou.”

“I don't—”

“No, you don't, and I guess you never will. But I'll tell you one thing, when you decide what a colossal mistake you've just made, it's gonna be your move. I'm done. I wouldn't come on to you again if you begged me. I'm tired, too—tired of being the only one interested. Tired of being the only one wanting. Tired of being the one rejected, even after the fact. So fuck you. Fuck you to hell and gone.”

She stomped to the door and yanked it open. Stormy was standing there with Max's clothes in her hand. Max grabbed them even as she shouldered past her and a second later was slamming her own motel room door so hard the glass in the window rattled.

 

“Ho-ly shit,” Stormy said. She looked at Lou, who stood there as if he were suffering from battle fatigue. “She was expecting you to tell her it would never happen again, Lou, so I can't imagine why she reacted that strongly.”

He swallowed. “I didn't tell her it would never happen again. I asked her to marry me.”

Stormy frowned. “No way did that reaction come from a woman who finally won the heart of the man she's been nuts about since the tender age of seventeen. How, exactly, did you…uh…pop the question?”

He frowned at her. “I just said it seemed like the logical thing to do, that's all.”

“Logical? Logic isn't a real key selling point where matters of the heart are concerned, Lou. Did you tell her you loved her? Couldn't live without her? That you'd been wrong to fight it so hard for so long?”

He was looking at her as if she were speaking Swahili.

“None of the above, huh? So I take it you based your entire proposal on the fact that you'd finally had sex?”

His eyes widened. Clearly it was finally sinking in that Max had told her what had happened between them last night.

“Kind of like a grudging surrender now that the enemy has taken your stronghold?” Stormy asked.

“Jesus, Storm. You know this is private stuff.”

She shrugged. “Hey, if you don't want my opinion—”

“I don't.”

She sighed, leaning back in her chair, not the least
bit inclined to leave now that the conversation was getting interesting. Besides, she had information she needed to wheedle out of Lou, and she thought he was just shaken enough to let a few things slip.

“I hope that doesn't hurt your feelings,” he said, after a moment of what looked like reflection. “I mean, I love you like a kid sister, Storm, but this is personal.”

“I totally understand.”

He nodded.

“But I'd be derelict in my duty as your friend—and Maxie's—if I didn't tell you, Lou, you probably hurt her pretty bad just now.”

“I realize that.”

“She's reading it just like I did. You felt she'd defeated you, so you might as well stop fighting.”

He lifted his eyebrows, as if maybe he was interested in what she had to say now that she was saying something he didn't know. “You think I wounded her pride?”

She nodded. “You annihilated it. But that's the least of it. You probably also broke her heart.”

“Hell.”

“If I know Max—and I do, you know—she won't touch you again with a ten-foot pole. Not after this.”

He drew a breath, opened his mouth.

“Don't even bother telling me maybe that's for the best. Jesus, Lou, are you really this dense or just clinging to the act out of habit?”

“What?”

She closed her eyes. “When you finally figure out what you want, you're going to have to be the one to go
get it. You'll have to go to her—on your knees, I imagine. Possibly with a burnt offering.”

He was back to looking confused again.

She rolled her eyes. “Poor Max, after what happened last night, out on the beach—and then this. She must be a basket case.”

He frowned at her. “I hadn't even thought of that. It
was
a rough night.”

“She's bruised to hell and gone.” She lowered her eyes, pressed a hand to her forehead. “God, when I saw her this morning, I couldn't believe…”

“You can't go blaming yourself for that, Storm.”

“Of course I can. I'm the one who led her out there.”

“But you're not responsible for what you do when you—you know—lose it.”

She lifted her head, met his eyes. “If not me, then who?”

He shrugged. “Maybe no one.”

Stormy got out of her chair and paced away from him, to keep her face hidden so she wouldn't reveal anything. “Bad enough I led her out there,” she said. “I might be able to forgive myself for that. But the rest…”

“Come on, Storm. Max is tough. If you'd been anywhere close to really doing her harm, she'd have fought back.”

Oh, God, it was true. Max had lied—she'd thought as much. Read it in her eyes, plain as day. She just hadn't wanted to believe. “She wouldn't fight back—not against me, Lou. She treats me as if I'm made of bone china. She probably just lay there and let me pound her.”

“She's fine, Storm. It looks worse than it is.”

“That's what she said.” She pursed her lips. “Only she said she got that way from a fall. I figured it was me. I just had to know for sure.”

Lou swore under his breath.

“Sorry, Lou. I wasn't trying to trick you but…you understand, don't you?”

He sighed, then stomped around for a minute. Finally he found his rapidly cooling coffee. “I guess so,” he said at last.

“We have to do something about this. Take some kind of precautions to make sure I can't hurt her again. God, if I did any real damage, I'd never be able to forgive myself.”

He nodded. “I'll just have to keep her with me. Make sure she's not out of my sight again.”

“Oh, yeah, and you've made
that
a real possibility.”

He shot her a look.

“Come on, Lou, you gotta admit, you fucked up. At least when I tear into her I'm out of my mind. You manage to do it in your normal waking state.”

“I didn't tear into her.”

“You cut her heart right out of her chest. Don't even pretend you don't realize that at this point.”

He closed his eyes, and she saw real pain in his face. “I'll fix it.”

“You'd better.”

T
he knock on her door came as Max was tossing her stuff into a suitcase. She never broke her pace, just called, “Go away.”

“Max, it's me,” Stormy said. “I'm alone. Let me in.”

She stopped packing long enough to turn to the mirror, knuckle her eyes dry. Then she went to the door and checked through the peephole. Not that she thought Stormy would try to trick her, but it didn't hurt to make sure. Then she flipped the lock and unfastened the chain.

Stormy came inside, met her eyes, then hugged her hard. “I'm sorry, honey.”

“Hell, don't be. This has been a long time coming.”

“I wasn't talking about you and Lou. That game is far from over, anyway.” She nodded at the suitcase on the bed. “What are you, forfeiting and going home?”

Max rolled her eyes and sat on the bed. “If you weren't talking about me and Lou, then what are you apologizing for?”

“For beating the hell out of you last night.”

“You didn't—”

“Don't bother denying it, Max. I figured out what had happened all by myself, then tricked Lou into confirming it for me. And don't blame him for that. You've got his head spinning so bad he doesn't know which way is up.”

Max sighed, hardly knowing which part of that little speech to address first.

“I'm really sorry I hurt you, Max,” Stormy said, choosing for her.

“You didn't hurt me. That wasn't you last night. It was someone else.”

“Or some
thing
else.” She shrugged. “Either way—”

“Don't torture yourself over this, Stormy. It wasn't you. We both know it.”

Stormy closed her eyes, lowered her head. When she brought it up again and looked at Max, she said, “So you're leaving?”

Max looked at her suitcase. “I don't know what the hell I'm doing.”

“It's not like you to give up. I thought ‘never surrender' was your second-most ironclad motto, right after ‘trust no one.'”

“Used to be. Hell, Storm, I think I've been deluding myself all this time. Had myself convinced he really loved me, deep down.”

“And now you think you were wrong?”

“Now I
know
I was wrong.”

“Because he made love to you, and it was awful?”

Max swung her eyes to Stormy's. “It was wonderful. I told you that.”

“Right. Then it's because he asked you to marry him?”

“Hell, he didn't
ask.
He just threw it out there, said it was the reasonable thing to do. Acted as if he'd been backed into a corner by a tiger and it was the only escape route.”

“And you think he really feels that way?”

“Yeah. I do.”

“I disagree. But all that is beside the point, anyway. You can't just leave, not with Delia and Janie still missing. Jason's counting on you.”

She lowered her head. “I know that. And you are, too.”

“Don't stay on my account. Hell, getting away from me might be the best move you could make about now.”

Maxine frowned. “What are you talking about? Hell, Storm, I assumed if I packed my shit and stomped home, you'd stomp home right beside me. You telling me I'm wrong about that?”

Stormy looked up at the ceiling. “I have to stay here.”

“For the girls?”

She brought her gaze level with Max's again, and her eyes were dead serious. “No. I think whatever's wrong with me is somehow linked to this place.” She made a face. “Sounds so freakin' stupid, doesn't it? I've never been here before in my life, I don't know anyone here, and yet—”

“No, it doesn't sound stupid. It makes some kind of sense,” Max said. “It's worse near the shore, near the ocean. But only here, not so much back in Easton.”

Stormy nodded.

“Don't let this freak you, hon, but…that vampire put
in an appearance last night. When you first lost it, it almost seemed like you were…trying to protect him.”

“Protect him from what?”

“From me.”

Stormy frowned hard. “There's no way I could be linked to a vamp. I'm mortal. One hundred percent mortal. I don't even have that Belladonna Antigen in my blood—you said only people with that could become vamps, right?”

“Right. The vamps call them ‘The Chosen.' They watch over them, bond with them, though they rarely make contact until and unless they decide to…change them.”

“So there's no reason—no possible way there could be any…any bond between me and this crazy vampire. Hell, none of this makes sense.” She bit her lip.

“But?”

Stormy looked up.

“I sense a ‘but' there. Come on, Storm. Talk to me. What else don't I know?”

Stormy closed her eyes. “I saw his face. Before we ever came here, I saw his face inside my mind. That same face those women drew. How could that be, Max?”

Max got to her feet, turned to her suitcase, started taking items out of it and returning them to the dresser drawers. “That settles it. I'm not going anywhere until we get to the bottom of this.”

Stormy started to argue. “Our mission here is about the girls. That's where you need to focus, not on me and my impending nervous breakdown.”

“Don't bother,” Max said, before Stormy could get
another word out. “I've made up my mind. The thing is, I'm through with the whole cautious approach here. I'm done messing with that egomaniac vamp, and I'm done tiptoeing around this town. We're getting to the bottom of what's wrong with you, and we're getting those girls the hell off that island. Today.”

“How?”

Max dropped the last item into a drawer, slammed it closed and turned to face Stormy. “I've got a few ideas.”

“What kind of ideas?” Stormy's eyes widened almost before she finished the question. “You're not thinking of going out to that island alone, are you?”

“Of course not,” Max said, though she had every intention of doing just that—at the very first opportunity. She couldn't take Stormy out there—that island was no place for her. Max sensed it to her core—besides, that was exactly what the vamp wanted. Oh, they would try to get out to the island today, but she had no doubt another storm would crop up when they did. Which meant she was going to have to go by night. Without Stormy. And right now, she didn't want Lou going along with her, either.

Time to change the subject. “I was thinking more along the lines of hypnosis.”

Stormy tilted her head to one side. “You mean for me.”

“Yeah. Don't act like you weren't thinking it, too. I saw that card in your shopping bag with the books the other night.”

Sighing, Stormy didn't deny it. “I was talking to a woman in one of the bookstores. She told me this
woman, Martha Knoxville, is supposedly very good. Spotless reputation. I was toying with the idea.”

“So?”

“Jesus, Max, I'm not sure how comfortable I am with the idea of putting my mind into the hands of a stranger. Someone whose name I picked out of a stack of cards in a bookstore.”

“Honey, your mind is in the hands of someone or something you didn't pick at all. And if you
are
linked somehow to this vampire, maybe hypnosis can tell us more about him.”

“I don't know.” Stormy looked around the room, almost as if she expected to find someone there, lurking in the shadows. “I'm scared, Max.”

Max shrugged. “Hell, if you don't want to do it, never mind. I'll think of something else.”

Stormy thought it over. “Suppose I say something I shouldn't while I'm under? I mean, I can't be babbling about vamps to an outsider, Max.”

“If that happens, we chalk it up to delusions—mention the recent head injury and go on our way.”

“You think she'd buy it?”

“I don't know. What other options do we have?” Max asked.

“We could go to a vampire.” Stormy blurted it quickly, probably without thinking it through first. “They can read minds, probe and poke around inside people's heads. Dante could do it. By now maybe Morgan can, as well, and that Sarafina—she must be good at it.”

“Sarafina doesn't speak to our side of the…family. Not since my sister stole her precious Dante from her.” Max sighed. “Besides, it could be dangerous to bring any of them here.”

“We don't
have
to bring them here, or even tell them what's going on. We just go to them. Ask them to take a look around in my belfry, see what sorts of bats they stir up.”

Max sighed. “If one of them reads your mind, Storm, they're going to know what's happening here without us having to tell them. And they're going to insist on coming out here to help.”

She nodded slowly. “So if this vamp is a dangerous one…”

“I'd be putting my sister, the man she loves and their friends in harm's way,” Max said.

Stormy nodded. “Okay. Okay. Let's just call this chick and make me an appointment. Meanwhile, I think we need to at least try to get out to that island, don't you? By day, when it's safe?”

“Great minds think alike,” Max said. “But I don't think you should go. It's bad for you.”

“I knew that's what you were up to. Don't think for one minute I'm letting you go out there alone, Max.”

Max rolled her eyes. “You'd be risking another episode.”

“Yeah? Well, do me a favor and be ready this time. Kick my ass, hold me down, and make whoever is looking out through my eyeballs tell you who they are and what they're doing in my body.”

Max nodded, but she didn't like it.

“We should bring Lou. Jason, too. Just in case I go off on you, Max. I don't want to risk hurting you again. Especially not out there.”

Shaking her head, Max said, “I was planning to send Lou home to White Plains after breakfast.”

Stormy's eyebrows rose in two arches. “You really have given up on him, haven't you? God, Max, what happened? I never thought you'd stop wanting Lou.”

“I never wanted him like this. Served up like a goddamn martyr marching bravely to the pyre. Forget it. I'm better than that, and I deserve better than that.”

She turned away as she spoke, ducking her friend's perceptive, probing eyes.

“You're right,” Stormy said. “You
do
deserve better. It would be a lot easier to walk away and go looking for it if you weren't head over heels in love with the freakin' idiot, though, wouldn't it?”

Max sniffled a little, nodded. “A hell of a lot easier,” she agreed.

“He won't leave, you know. You can try to send him home, but he won't leave.”

“Probably not. But only because he thinks we're in danger.”

“And because he cares.”

“Not the way I want him to,” Max said. “He cares like a chivalrous, protective, hero cop cares. Like a favorite uncle—the good kind. Like a father figure. Not like a lover.”

“I don't think he knows how he cares. I really don't.”

Max shrugged. “I think he knows. I'm the one who's been in denial.” Then she got up and gave her head a shake. “Listen to me going on about my love life—or lack thereof—when you're going through all this hell. Where's that card? We need to call and make you that appointment.”

Stormy came to her, extracted the card from her pocket and handed it over.

Max reread it. Martha Knoxville, Certified Hypnotherapist.

“She's only an hour away,” Stormy said. “What do you think?”

“I think you're taking a road trip. It'll do you good to get out of this town.”

“And you good to get away from Lou?”

Max nodded, though she had no intention of accompanying Stormy to the session. She was damn well going to pay that vampire on the island a visit—find out just what the hell it was he wanted from her. She was finished waiting. He wanted her on that damn island? Well, fine. She would go there. But she wouldn't be unprepared. And she wouldn't drag her best friend into danger. Maybe she could take Stormy away, get her in to see this hypnosis lady, then slip away and come back here without her. Stormy would never forgive her, but it would be worth it to end this thing.

She handed the card back to Stormy. “Call her. See if she has an opening today.”

Nodding, Stormy picked up the phone.

 

Lou didn't know how he'd messed things up as thoroughly as he had. He only knew he hated this new state
of affairs. Max was as cold and distant as if he'd kicked her favorite puppy. Not hostile, just…stony.

She and Stormy joined him and Jason at the shore, where he'd walked to check out the little boat. It was a gorgeous day, warm and sunny. No one would suspect a vampire might be lurking nearby. Not with the sun beaming down and the trees all green, budding, blossoming.

“It's not going to work, Lou,” Max said. She was close to him. God, everything in him wanted to turn around and pull her against him, kiss her anger away. But for some asinine reason, he resisted the impulse.

Instead he straightened. “The boat's sound. I don't see why—”

“Look.”

She was pointing. He turned to look where she was looking and saw a mass of roiling black clouds gathering in the distance. Right before his eyes the sky went darker. Thunder rolled slowly over the sea toward them. The wind picked up.

“He told me last night he would never allow us to come to that island by day. But I have another idea.”

“Yeah?”

She nodded. “Storm and I are driving down to Salem this morning.”

Lou frowned at her. “What's in Salem?”

“I'm going to see a hypnotist,” Stormy said. “See if she can figure out what's going on inside my head these days.”

Lou looked out at the ocean. The storm hovered there, as if in waiting. He looked again at the boat and would have sworn the wind whipped up at that precise
moment, harder than before. The thunder's dull rumble became a roar.