Contingency (4 page)

“Do you enjoy reading, Miss Hannigan?” he asked, his tone once again cool. I nodded not wanting to take a chance that my inner pink-loving-teenage-babble-monster wanted out again. “Well, there are hundreds of excellent books here and in the downstairs library. Feel free to borrow any you’d like. Would you like me to show you to your room?” I nodded again feeling like an idiot.

When we arrived at my room, I turned to him to try to make up for my appalling behavior. And then to my absolute shame, I heard myself blurt out, “Are you blind in your right eye?” His face showed shock and disbelief for a second before his features settled into a cold, detached, mask.

“Yes, Miss Hannigan, I am.” he barely whispered, but it cut me deeply all the same. With that he turned on his heel and left me standing in my doorway, with my hand over my treacherous mouth.

By the time I struggled out of the corset by myself, (which took entirely too long, and I’m not certain, but the whole process may have involved some foul language) washed my face in a water basin, and then tossed and turned for an hour or two unable to quiet my thoughts, I was not surprised to hear Phoebe knock at the door.

When she came in, her arms loaded with clothing, my mood darkened further. Not only did I owe Mrs. Howell for even more, but I also owed Dr. Blake an apology. I just wasn’t very good at owing people. I’d earned everything I’d gotten in my old life, and it was something I was very proud of. I didn’t like to be in someone’s debt. I sighed in aggravation.

Phoebe helped me dress again; and even though I had to put the accursed corset back on, I couldn’t help but smile at my reflection as I left for dinner. I thanked Phoebe and pulled her into a quick hug before heading out the door. I was just going around the corner when Dr. Blake’s door swung open and he stepped out. Dear lord, he looked yummy in his black evening clothes. He stopped mid-stride when he caught sight of me and quite comically, his jaw dropped. He recovered quickly though, and his gaze raked over me assessingly.

My dress was made from a lovely dark green satin fabric, it had little cap sleeves and left most of my shoulders bare. The bodice was trimmed with tiny black seed pearls. The entire dress was bustled up in the back and the fabric cascaded down to my feet. When he still hadn’t said anything, only stared at me, I began to fidget and lose confidence.

“Is it horrible? Phoebe said it was perfectly acceptable for an evening meal, but I don’t know the appropriate attire for dinner here.” I self-consciously touched the back of my hair, which had been neatly arranged in a lovely loose knot on top of my head. A green satin and black lace rose was pinned to the side. “Phoebe said the green dress brought out the auburn of my hair.” I bit my lip.

“You look lovely.” Dr. Blake said softly. I released the nervous breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding as Dr. Blake turned to leave. I caught up to him quickly and touched his arm to get his attention. He stopped so abruptly that I plowed into his back. It was like running into a small tree. I rebounded off of him at least a foot. He turned lightening fast and grabbed my arms to steady me before I ended up ass over tea kettle. As soon as I was steady he jerked his hands off me as if I’d burned him. I didn’t blame him, but it still hurt.

“Was there something you wanted, Miss Hannigan?”

Yes...for you to call me Sage
. I shook my head to clear it. “No...I mean yes!”

“Well, which is it?” he asked impatiently. I swallowed hard and met his cold gaze without flinching. Heat rushed to my face and I frowned slightly. There was something about him other than his magnetic pull and handsome arrogance. I just couldn’t put my finger on it.

“I want to apologize for earlier today.” He started to cut me off, but I raised my hand and pinned him with the haughtiest stare I could muster.

“What I meant to say was--I didn’t mean to be so rude and pry into your personal business like that. I don’t know what came over me. One moment I was opening my mouth to thank you, the next moment I was insulting you.” By the end of my little speech I was looking at the ground and fiddling with my stone pendant. A large hand closed over mine and I immediately stopped fiddling, hell...I think I stopped breathing. I looked up into his eyes and found that they weren’t quite as cold as usual.

“You’re welcome,” he said gently. He let go of my hand and stepped away much to my addled brain’s disappointment.

“If you’ll walk with me, I’d be glad to show you to the dining room.” A huge grin split my face and Dr. Blake looked slightly stunned for a second. I took the arm he offered and was led to dinner.

Chapter Five

The whole thing was a front!

Howell Home was a front for the clandestine Cerberus Society. I closed my mouth, since it had been hanging open, and wondered why this news would surprise me. Considering the amount of knowledge the people here at Howell Home had about the preternatural world, it only made sense that there was more to Howell Home than met the eye.

To the outside world, Howell Home was a safe house that took in unfortunate young women and provided them the skills necessary to gain employment. This would keep them off the streets begging, or worse. I shivered to think of what “worse” could mean to women of this era. While Howell Home did in fact help women regularly, it did so only to keep eyes from prying into its real mission--to act as a base of operations for the Cerberus. At the moment the only residents were Mrs. Howell, Dr. Blake, Travis Connely, Phoebe, and now--myself. There were also a few trusted servants in the employ of Howell Home.

Cerberus, which evidently had been around for hundreds of years, studied, recorded, and tried to help keep a balance between the human and preternatural worlds. Its number one mission was to keep all preternatural activities a secret from the human population. That included taking care of any “problems” that might arise, threatening mortal lives, or exposing the preternatural community, which would no doubt, cause a mass panic.

Imagine Salem witch hunts, multiplied by the entire world and involving creatures that most humans didn’t even know or believe existed. I definitely saw the seriousness of the job these people were doing.

Travis was doing most of the talking over dinner, telling me all about Cerberus and what the society involved. He was of the opinion that the recent influx of vampire attacks was the reason that I’d warped into their midst. Perhaps there was some kind of uprising going on or even something more sinister brewing. Their investigation into the attacks had not turned up anything to date, and the vampire leaders in the area kept assuring them that it had to be the work of rogue vampires.

Cerberus members weren’t convinced, though.

As he took a breath to shovel in some of his roasted turkey, I asked, “So, what exactly are you suggesting that I do? Since you are known in the preternatural community and your society can’t come up with anything. What could I accomplish? I know I am here for a reason--to seemingly stop something pretty huge, something that has the capability to cause irreparable damage to the time stream, but what are you getting at exactly?” Travis glanced over at Elaine and Dr. Blake. Elaine gave a slight nod, and Dr. Blake just scowled into his plate.

“We think perhaps some of the more powerful vampires are hiding things from us. Now, we happen to know that a particularly powerful and influential vampire named Soren is looking to employ a young lady. We thought, after you were trained properly, and if you could secure this position, that you’d be able to see if you can find out if anything is going on that we need to know about."

Holy shit! They wanted me to become a spy and infiltrate a powerful vampire’s home! I laid down my fork and glanced at Dr. Blake who was looking at Travis like he could gladly throttle him. The feeling was mutual. I looked at Elaine and wondered why she wasn’t the one playing spy.

Understanding sparked in the back of my mind. She couldn’t because she was too well known in both the human and preternatural communities. I stared down at my plate no longer hungry and I knew this was one of the reasons I was here; but could I put myself in such a vulnerable position? Could I do it if it meant getting back to my own time and making sure it stayed the future that I remembered? Yes, yes I could. I looked up at Travis who seemed to be holding his breath, awaiting my answer.

“I’ll do it.”

Chapter Six

The next morning Phoebe helped me with my cursed corset, black skirt, white shirt-waist and a little black and red vest with black velvet buttons marching up the front. A black sheer scarf tied around my neck gave it a touch of sass. While I didn’t look bad, I really missed the comfort and simplicity of my jeans and t-shirts. I was anxious to start the day, getting one step closer to my main goal: getting back home.
If
I ever got back home. I shook my head to dislodge that wayward thought. “I will not think about that, it is not an option,” I said fiercely to my reflection, but behind my eyes I saw the uncertainty camped there.

I met Mrs. Howell in the library to discuss my daily schedule. She was sitting behind the desk with a pair of small glasses perched on the tip of her nose. She hardly glanced up from what she was writing but motioned for me to take a seat.

“Have a seat, Sage, I’ll be finished with this letter in just a minute.” After she sealed the letter and set it aside, she took off her glasses and relaxed back into her chair. “We decided that the best thing to do, would be to give you a information condensed class in all the areas we thought were most important to you as a Warper. After breakfast each morning you will meet with Mr. Connely in the library to learn as much as possible about the preternatural community. You, Phoebe, and I will meet after that for lessons in etiquette and manners.” I must have snorted out loud, because she gave me an impressive teacher’s glare.

“Sage, in order for you to even be able to leave this house, much less mingle in polite society here in 1904, you will have to be able act like you belong in this time, and quite frankly, you will need extensive coaching to make that happen.” I knew she was right, but MAN, I was not looking forward to a daily dose of princess training.

“I understand.” I mumbled.

“Good. After lunch each day you will meet with Dr. Blake in the old ballroom to learn basic offensive and defensive techniques.” I swallowed.

“Dr. Blake will be sparring with me?” I groaned.

She raised her eyebrow to an impressive height-
-
she was really good at that look.

“He’ll be fine, I’m sure.” I hurriedly murmured, my cheeks warm. Fine indeed. I covered my snort with a little cough. I’m pretty sure I didn’t fool her.

“We’ll start today after breakfast, so go ahead to the dining room, I’ll see you in a little while.” She smiled encouragingly at me.

After breakfast I went to meet with Travis in the study to learn about the preternaturals. Since I was about to become intimately involved with vampires and other supernatural beings, I was willing to learn anything that would keep me alive and, maybe in the process, find a way home. Travis seemed eager to teach me all that he could, and we started with my new favorite subject, vampires.

We decided to skip all the history and origins of vampires, and got right down to what was important--vampire strengths, weaknesses, and how to exploit them. After an hour of researching vampires, I found that they didn’t have many weakness, but they did have many strengths. I took a deep breath and blew a stray lock of hair out of my face.

“So,” I said with my jaw set, “vampires are super strong, have very fast reflexes and excellent eyesight, especially at night. Their sense of smell and hearing is one of their greatest strengths. Is that right so far?”

Travis looked up at me his lips thinned into a grimace and nodded.

“Okay. Then what, pray tell, could possibly be their weakness? Because from where I’m standing, it doesn’t seem like they have any at all!” I seriously felt like punching someone really flippin’ hard. Travis must have sensed my frustration and tendency toward violence, because he came around the desk with both hands up trying to calm me.

“I know it seems that they are pretty invincible, but they do have vulnerabilities, let’s talk about those for a little while before we end the class.” All I could manage was a nod.

“Ok, vampires have many strengths as we have already pointed out. Let’s start on the best ways to kill a vampire.” Finally! I perked up a little, ready to learn something useful. “Fire is one of the best and most permanent ways to kill a vampire. Beheading, and staking through the heart are also very effective. Staking can actually be tricky, you have to do it perfectly through the heart, because if you miss the organ you will just have one very angry vampire on your hands. Usually if you stake a vampire you want to do it during the day when most vampires rest, when they are weaker. Beheading, well...that will kill just about anything wouldn’t it? You’d have to have a very sharp sword and a wicked swinging arm, because it is hard to cut through bone. And, well...let’s not mention the mess.”