Flicker (39 page)

              She paused in the act of pinching color back into her blanched cheeks before the mirror. “I should warn him, though,” she murmured to her reflection. What if Rashid struck out at Alex to get back at her? There had to be a way to put him on his guard without letting him know just how much she had hidden from him. She frowned as she carefully erased the log of Rashid's calls from her cell phone. She was being silly, she reasoned. Alex fended for himself against Rashid for centuries-- he would be fine now without any help from her.

              A door slammed downstairs, and Elise jumped before she realized that it was only her dad taking the trash out. When a deep, calming breath did nothing to loosen the knotted muscles in her back, Elise opted to grab a towel and head down the hall to the bathroom. What she needed, she decided, was a hot shower to wash away what remained of Rashid's influence over her. She had made her decision, and all that was left was to move ahead.

              Two days later, the moon was nearly full, lighting Alexander's climb up his front stairs-- not that he needed the illumination. But it seemed romantic, and he was in a mood to appreciate such things.

              He'd left Elise's house early this evening-- her mother had reminded Elise last night that she still had to write her Oxford admissions essay, so Alex had insisted that she take advantage of the quiet house tonight to get it done. He, meanwhile, had taken advantage of the evening to himself to drive into the city for a decent feeding. He smiled now as he unlocked his door and entered the dark house, recalling the insincere way Elise had grumbled before he left, complaining about staying home alone to write a paper on a Friday night. Alexander knew she hadn't meant her griping-- one of the things he loved about her was that, unlike most other teenagers, Elise believed that the best way to ensure her future was to plan for it, and so she didn't mind putting in the effort up front. He laughed outright at the memory of the look on her face when he'd mused, on his way out her door, “If you get accepted, maybe I'll go back to Oxford, too-- last time I was there, it wasn't exactly co-ed.” Her mix of astonishment, amusement, outrage, and exasperation would entertain him for years to come.

              She'd also brightened noticeably as she needled him about getting enough sleep-- they had plans to go hiking tomorrow morning in Fairmount Park across the bridge in Philadelphia before they went up to New York so she could meet Sarah. She kept teasing him that with so much on their agenda, she would wake him early enough that they could see the sunrise. Alexander chuckled to himself, beginning the preparations for his solitary dinner-- he fully intended to call her cell phone from her front porch before six in the morning.

              While his food simmered on the stove, Alexander jogged upstairs to grab his laptop from his bedroom; he was expecting an email of the most recent information Gregory could find about Rashid's cult's activities. They would spend tomorrow afternoon introducing Elise to Sarah-- Alexander was crossing his fingers that both of them would behave long enough that they could have a civil meeting to plan their strategy for taking care of Rashid. He and Sarah, with Gregory taking a supporting role, had butted heads with Rashid and his cult many times over the centuries, but to say that Elise presented a complication was a monumental understatement. He sighed, rubbing his forehead, his mind running through all the ways tomorrow's meeting could progress. Alexander was bent over, his hand in the gap between the nightstand and the bed to pull out his computer, when he noticed the envelope. He froze.

              The envelope was a navy blue square, smaller than a standard greeting card, and he could tell just by looking at it that it wasn't something sold at the average Staples. There was no writing on it, no stamp-- clearly, it had been laid against his pillow by hand. Slowly, he straightened up,  probing at it with his energy. As he'd suspected, Rashid's aura was all over it. Alexander's eyes narrowed, and without any further hesitation, he grabbed the envelope and tore it open.

              Inside was a plain, cream vellum card, folded in half. Alexander pulled it out gingerly; there was a slight ridge in the card that told him something was inside. Then he opened it, and any other thought fled from his mind.

              Inside lay a lock of chestnut hair twisted into a knot. Alexander didn't need to touch it to know it belonged to Elise.

              The card dropped from his nerveless fingers, the stark black handwriting on the inside barely read. There was only one reason for Rashid to have access to Elise's hair, or any part of her; the bastard had gone too far this time. The world was red as Alexander, cursing himself for leaving her alone, raced out into the night, his movements too fast for the untrained eye to perceive and the lock of Elise's hair clutched in his hand.

              Elise yawned, looking at the clock. The house was silent; her parents had long since come home and gone to bed, only checking on her briefly to inquire about the state of her essay. Elise was quite proud of it; she'd unabashedly told her dad that the essay would cement her acceptance to Oxford for sure. Given the percentage of students who actually got accepted every year, he'd just rolled his eyes, but as he read over the document she'd typed up, Elise saw his eyebrows rising, and he'd given her a firm nod before heading off to bed. Elise stretched now, saving one final time for good measure. It was past eleven, and given how much she'd teased Alex about being up to go hiking in the morning, she should have been in bed almost an hour ago-- she'd just wanted to make sure her essay was perfect. But now it was done, and she could put off submitting it until Sunday or Monday-- she had a big day tomorrow that she needed to rest for. Elise had to admit, regardless of how much she had been able to relax in Gregory's company after a little while, she was nervous to meet Sarah. From what Elise had gathered, she was rather less friendly than her little brother.

              As Elise stood up from the desk, her phone rang.

              She blinked at it, frowning.
Why is he calling me now?
She wondered, confused.
I told him “No” two days ago-- I hope he isn't trying to change my mind
. But as she reached for the insistently buzzing device, she had no doubt that was exactly what he would try to do. She even understood, to a point-- but her impending early morning and big day left her with no patience to deal with him.

              “Look--” she started to snap as she answered, but his tone froze the words in her throat.

              “Do not speak; just listen.” He spoke with icy distance, as if to a hated stranger. Elise nearly gasped-- gone was any hint of the intimate conversations they'd shared, the offers he'd made. “I want to hear nothing from you but, 'Yes, sir.' Do you understand?”

              She bit her lip hard, beginning to tremble. “Yes, sir,” she whispered.
              “If you ever want to see Alexander again, you will take this down and be there by dawn.” Elise gasped, then scrambled for a pen and a piece of paper as Rashid rattled off an address. There was a heavy pause as he waited for her response.

              Elise swallowed a lump of broken glass in her throat. “Yes, sir.”

              He hung up.

              She stood stock still for a moment, frozen, as the bottom plummeted out of her stomach and her head spun. Dizzily, she grasped the edge of the desk.
What have I done?
Frantically, she hit the button to call Alex's number, but after a few rings, the sound of his voicemail recording made her clenched stomach roll with nausea. Now what?

              She'd have to sneak out again. She wasn't about to go charging off to wherever the address was-- she had no real proof that Rashid wasn't bluffing. With renewed hope, she dashed as quietly as she could stand out into the foyer, shoved her feet into a pair of supple, flat boots, and pulled on her cloak. Grabbing the small purse that held her wallet and keys, and taking care to lock the door behind her, she dashed out into the night, heading for Alex's house.

              Elise practically flew, running faster than her feet had ever carried her, and arrived in a matter of minutes. His front door was locked. She rang the doorbell, but when no one moved inside, she ran down the short driveway, past Alex's car, and around back to the kitchen door-- that was locked, too. She pounded on the wood, but couldn't stand to wait more than a few minutes for a response. There were lights on in the kitchen, but she couldn't see Alex.

              She took a deep breath. If he was in the shower, or had run out to the store or something, she was acting like an idiot-- but what would be Rashid's goal in getting her to break into Alex's house while he was at the store? He could still be out feeding, but at eleven at night, where could he go that wouldn't require driving? And even then, why would Rashid have lied?

              Taking a deep breath, she looked at the back door. It was only locked on the knob, but she knew she didn't have the ability to flick the mechanism with her mind. Maybe Alex could have, but she'd have to find another way. The windows, though, looked more promising. Placing her hand on one of the little rectangles of glass, Elise breathed slowly, calling to her power. As her arm began to tingle and her palm started to ache, she envisioned the frigid chill of winter, the killing force of the deep freeze. She flexed fingers that were tipped blue, and the brittle glass began to crack, spider webs of fissures spreading out from her hand. She pushed gently, and the pane shattered. Elise quickly warmed her hand as she reached inside and flipped the lock on the doorknob.

              Cautiously, she stepped into the cheerfully lit kitchen and looked around. Her first real clue that something was wrong was the pot on the stove-- it was smoking. She approached carefully, then swore and closed the remaining distance rapidly when she saw what was happening. The burner had been left on, but whatever had been in the pot had long since boiled off, and the layer of food on the bottom was in imminent danger of catching fire. Elise immediately turned the stove off, used an oven mitt to chuck the pot into the sink, and ran some water into it, then checked the oven for good measure.

              She'd made a decent amount of noise banging the pot around, but the house was utterly silent. “Alex?” She called out, but she didn't really expect a response. There was a stillness to the place that made it clear no one was there. Still, she flipped the basement light on and descended the stairs far enough to see that it was empty, then ran back up and checked all the rooms on the first floor. Refusing to admit defeat, she continued to call for him as she jogged up the stairs and strode into his bedroom.

              He wasn't there, but Elise noticed an open envelope and a white card lying on his bed. Other than the mess in the kitchen, they were the only things she'd seen that were out of place, so after hesitating a moment, she picked up the card. The elegant script inside, obviously handwritten, simply read:

Come get her immediately,

or the next piece I send you

won't be so painless to remove.

              Below the threatening message was an address in the next town over, in a neighborhood Elise recognized as a place she'd been warned never to go. Elise sucked in a deep breath that shook as she let it out.
“The next piece I send you?” What does that mean?
There was nothing with the note, nothing in the envelope or under the bed-- whatever came with the card, Alex must have taken it with him.

              Elise frowned. A piece that would be painless to remove? And something that would have convinced Alex that she was with Rashid-- or at least, some female was, because she had no real proof that the note was talking about her. But as she thought about it, running her thumb absently over the careful lettering on the card, it made sense-- she wouldn't agree to Rashid's plans, so he sent Alex something to lure him into a trap; once he was secured, Rashid could use him to blackmail Elise into cooperating. The pieces fell into place, and Elise gasped as she whirled for the stairs, pulling out her phone and calling Alex once again. “Please don't let him already be there!” She whispered as she listened to it ring. But in her heart, she knew Rashid wouldn't have called her until he had Alex under his control.

              Then she jumped, startled, and held her phone away from her ear to be sure. Faintly, she could hear the answering sound of a phone ringing. “Alex?” She cried again, her heart lifting as she rushed down the stairs.

              And then Elise dashed back into the kitchen, and her eyes filled with tears. Slowly, she put her phone back into her pocket.

              There, ringing away on the kitchen counter, was Alex's cell phone. He'd left it behind.

              Elise collapsed into one of the chairs around the table, dropping her face into her hands with a sob. “How am I supposed to deal with this? How did I even get here?” She whimpered, pressing the heels of her hands against her aching forehead. “What do I do with crazy kidnapping vampires? I'm not equipped for this!” Tears overflowed, spilling down her cheeks. “I don't do things like this! Maybe Alex and Rashid and Gregory are used to this world, but I'm--” she froze, gaping in shock at her own stupidity.

              In a flash, Elise was on her feet and across the kitchen, Alex's phone in her hand.
Of course he doesn't keep a contacts list
, she thought ruefully. But she opened his list of recent calls and found the number with a New York area code. Without hesitation, she hit the “call” button.