Fallen Stars (The Demon Accords) (29 page)

“I do remember you, Toni, at least a bit,” I answered, keeping my attention on her but noticing the people around me react.  I squatted down to her level.

“How about my necklace?  Do you remember this?” she asked, holding a small, shiny bear pendant up for my inspection.  It glowed purple to my Sight, packed with aura.  The sensation of almost remembering something hovered powerfully in my mind, but I just couldn’t quite grasp it.  “Sorta, but I can’t get it straight,” I told her, frustrated with my inability to pull it out.

“You made it for me, Mr. Chris.  Its name is Okwari!”

That triggered another memory, this time of dead leaves swirling up in a dust devil tornado and a pair of glowing red eyes, high off the ground. 

A big furry head pushed under my arm, and a wet wolf nose snuffled the little girl’s hair and ear, making her giggle.  She launched herself at the beast and wrapped both arms as far around Awasos’s thick neck as she could manage.

“Okay, munchkin. It’s well past your bedtime.  You’ve seen ‘Sos and Mr. Chris, and he does remember you, although how
anyone
could forget you is
crazy!”
her father said, giving her a moment to untangle herself before swooping and scooping her up.  He leaned her over close to my face and she planted a big kiss on my cheek.

“Thanks, Toni and thank you, Roy,” I said.  Then I paused.  How did I know his name?  Where had that come from?

Oblivious to my sudden hesitation, Toni was urging her father over to Tanya, where she planted another cheek smooch.  I noticed that Tanya stood absolutely still during the process, as if afraid to move.  I got a flash of something, either insight or something from this bond we had.  She was fascinated by Toni, but uncertain of how to act and what exactly to do.  Which I decided would make sense.  There were no children among the Coven.  Toni was likely the only child she actually knew.

Roy took his daughter off to bedtime, the little actress leaning over his shoulder with arms out in my direction, pretending sorrow at our parting.  I automatically held my arms out in a matching gesture and pretended the same.  She started giggling.

Turning back to the others, I saw Tanya with her held tilted as she processed the little scene we had just acted.  It was alien to her, but interesting.  The others all understood, having been human once. 

“She triggered some memories,” Nika stated to me. 
 

“Just flashes, but yeah.  And I remembered your husband’s name somehow,” I said, glancing at Gina.

“It’s only been a day and you’re already getting some things back.  Give it time, Chris,” Gina said.  “Now, goodnight all.  I’m going to go tuck my daughter into bed.”

Gina left and Stacia turned to follow her into the house.  “Thanks, Stacia.  For… you know… bringing me back and stuff,” I said awkwardly.  The vampires were watching silently, but I wasn’t going to let her leave without saying something.

“Anytime, Chris. Anytime,” she said, ignoring the icy stares of the others and giving me a bright smile as she trailed Gina.

I turned to the limo, doing my own best at ignoring the vampire women.  I waited for some kind of comment as I settled into the plush leather, but they were all silent.  I could feel Tanya wanting to ask several questions, so I wasn’t shocked when she opened her mouth, but the subject matter surprised me a bit. 

“How do you know how to interact with her when you barely remember her?”

I had no idea how to answer until I realized she was talking about Toni and not Stacia.

“I’ve had a lot of cases that involve children, so I have some experience.  They’re just little people without all the baggage that adults come with.  They don’t usually have prejudices or hidden agendas, so it’s easier to be around them.”

“Oh, they have agendas alright. It just usually involves candy, toys, or other simple objectives,” Lydia said.

“That’s true,” I agreed, happy for a reprieve from discussing the werewolf girl.

Chapter 32

The Murray Hotel on the Upper East Side was a very old hotel that had been very thoroughly modernized.  Beautifully decorated in a slightly understated way.  Modern art mixed with ancient antiques, finished with current high quality décor, and equipped with state-of-the-art technology.

'Sos’s claws clicked on the marble floor in the lobby, which made me wince but had no discernible effect on any of the staff.  They simply smiled politely as we approached.  Then they caught sight of Tanya, and every one of them straightened perceptibly.  There were only humans in the lobby—staff and a few guests—so at first, I thought it was some buried instinct alerting them to the presence of predators.  But the more I observed, the more I realized it was an employee hyperaware of the Big Boss sort of thing. 

Tanya didn’t appear to notice it, instead looking the room over with a critical eye, while Lydia skipped over to the front desk and spoke to the reservation clerk.

“Demidova, Presidential Suite?” she asked with a smile.

The young lady behind the counter nodded, smiled nervously, and produced a package of room cards.  A slim, overly groomed man in an expensive suit appeared from the back office, smoothing his jacket as he swooped in to oversee.  The nametag on his chest indicated his last name was Deverson and that he was the manager.

“Everything in order, Lisa?” he asked the desk clerk, but his eyes flicked from Lydia to Tanya, who was standing, head tilted, studying a painting on one wall.  Awasos click-clacked over to her and shoved his head under her hand.

A matronly looking woman with a carefully preserved face and hair that wouldn’t move in a gale force wind sat in the lobby lounge area and looked in shock at the giant wolf.  Obviously a guest and, from the look of her, obscenely wealthy.

“Yes, Mr. Deverson.  Miss Demidova’s party is all set.  Your other guest has already arrived and is up in the suite,” the desk clerk said to Lydia.

“An older man, named Gordon?” I asked from my spot near Tanya.

Tanya’s attention immediately shifted from the painting to the staff, awaiting an answer to my question.  The manager went blank when faced with her full attention, but Lisa answered me directly, with a quick glance at Tanya.  “Yes, sir.  He arrived about fifteen minutes ago.”

“Thank you,” I told her, my thoughts already on the old man upstairs.  Tanya was now watching me and she grabbed my hand, smiling, and pulled me in the direction of the elevators. Two bellhops leaped forward to take the small amount of luggage that we had with us.  The security vampire who was carrying it just glared at the unfortunate bellhops and they stepped away, uncertain.  Arkady ignored them, instead moving to call the elevator.  A chime sounded, announcing an arriving car, and when the doors opened, Tanya, Lydia, Arkady, Awasos, myself, Nika, and the luggage-carrying security vamp piled in, leaving the wide-eyed staff and slightly appalled guest lady behind.

The doors slid open on the eighth and top floor into an opulently appointed foyer leading to a wide, heavy door with a plaque next to it that announced it was the Presidential suite.  Music was coming from behind the door—piano music.

Lydia used a cardkey to unlock the door, and Arkady ghosted through it to check the place out.  The piano music cut off as we followed the giant vampire into a suite that was larger than many homes.  It must have occupied most of the top floor, with multiple bedrooms, bathrooms, a full kitchen, dining room, library, and living room.  The piano I had heard was a Baby Grand, and it was in one corner of the living room.  My grandfather was sitting at it and turned to watch us enter.

I had been preparing myself for him to look older than I remembered.  He looked younger.  Not extraordinarily so, but younger than my best memories recalled.  Fit and blooming with health.  My mental image showed a tough, weathered man with plenty of years left, but fighting a certain fatigue.  The Gramps in front of me was bright-eyed and snapping with energy. 

I was puzzled, but kept my face straight as I hugged my only surviving family member, automatically adjusting the power of my hug for human level.  Gina was right: I was aware of my abilities on an unconscious level.

The hug I got back was football-team vigorous; my feet left the ground briefly before he pushed me back to arm's-length to look me over.

“You look pretty good for being head shot.  Feels like I’m hugging steel,” he said, completely at ease with a room full of vampires.  He was wearing clean jeans and a button-down, checked shirt; pretty much high fashion for him.

“Well, I feel pretty good, other than not knowing anyone or anything!  Except you,” I said, pulling him back into the hug.  He patted my back a couple of times then stopped, which was Gramps code for
things are getting awkward.

I was having trouble reconciling my memories with the actual man in front of me, which made me doubt myself till I noticed Tanya checking him over.  She hugged him immediately after I did, her affection for him obvious.  Lydia was next, and as the little vamp laughed with him, I saw Tanya study him from head to toe, a look of self-satisfaction plastered on her face.  She looked at me and winked.  Still puzzled, I watched Gramps get reintroduced to Nika, Arkady, and the other vamp, whose name was Trenton. 

There was a knock on the suite door and Trenton flashed out of the room to answer it, coming back a moment later with a push cart of food.

“I told the staff to send up enough food for all of us, which translates into just enough for Chris and 'Sos, with maybe a snack for you, Alex,” Lydia said to us, directing her last comment to Gramps.

Suddenly, I was starving.  The hunger had been a dull ache in my stomach that I managed to ignore in light of all the new things (that were apparently second nature to my old self) I was learning and the new people I was meeting.  But now it roared into the center of my awareness and I found my feet moving me in a straight line for the food cart.  Awasos arrowed in the same direction, and we arrived together.

I started pulling dish covers and reading the list of food that accompanied the cart, ignoring the amused stares of the others.

“Beef wellington. That’s mine, dude,” I told the eager wolf by my side. “Alaskan King Salmon. Oh, that’s yours.”  I put the plate on the ground as he shimmered and expanded to his bear form in anticipation of salmon.  “Vermont chicken, mine.  Rare New York strip steak… hmm, yours, I guess.  Vietnamese seafood salad—that goes to Gramps,” I said pulling the plate away from the big black nose that was trying to inhale it right off the china. Gramps jumped forward and took the plate from my outstretched hand as my attention was back on the food and my furry competition.  “Hey, you already scarfed the whole salmon. The Maine crab is mine.”

I was half right as my struggle to secure the plate launched part of the crab dish into the air.  It never hit ground, instead sliding down the bucket-sized gullet of my bear.  “All right, you’re up one and a half to my none, so why don’t you park your furry ass right here and we’ll get this figured out.”

It was a struggle that I was destined to lose, but part of me seemed to understand that and plan for it.  I ended up with three good entrees and a tureen of winter squash soup.  He got the rest, including half the cheesecake, but Gramps and I each got a slice, so it wasn’t a complete loss.

I was stuffed halfway through the soup and put the rest down for 'Sos, whose bear form had an unfair advantage in stomach size.  As I did, I noticed the five-gallon plastic bucket of saltwater sitting in the corner of the room.  One of the vampires must have brought it up with the remaining luggage.

Stuffing one last bite of cheesecake in my mouth, I went over to the plastic bucket and pried off the lid.

As I peered over the side, the three vampire women were just
there
, arriving in a swirl of mixed scents and disturbed air.  Lilac and Jasmine mixed with rose and musk interwoven with something more commercial that had vaguely apple-like undertones.  I arched one eyebrow at Nika.

“Dolce and Gabbana Light Blue.  I’m trying new ones to see what I like.”

Gramps arrived to see what was in the bucket that had drawn all our attention.

Sloshing around the bottom of the plain white pail was a ziplock plastic bag with a pale, tannish book inside.

“Stacia told me that it is called
The Book of Darkest Sorrow
, or at least that’s the translation we got.  She was told that much by that Swedish witch mom up in Michigan,” I explained.

“Quinby. Her name is Quinby,” Tanya said.

“Apparently the author was something of a bigshot among German witches several hundred years ago or so.  So the book is chock full of all kinds of mischief and witchy mayhem.  All the modern witches will literally kill to get it,” I said.

“Why is it in a bucket of water?” Gramps asked.

“Saltwater.  Word has it that saltwater blocks the magical radio waves it sends out.  Makes it hard to track.  If we dumped the damn thing in the ocean without the baggie, it would destroy it… eventually.”

“Why not burn it?” Lydia asked.  “God, what a smell? Somebody needs a biscuit for their teeth.”   The last was directed at the big bear head that loomed over her shoulder.  He was big enough on four feet and she was small enough on two that he could lean right over her shoulder to look where we were all looking.  He perked up at the sound of a biscuit and I watched, curious, as Lydia blurred to a big canvas grocery bag near the luggage and retrieved a giant doggy biscuit.