Forgotten (24 page)

Maybe Rone is right—maybe I ought to get out
of here.

But if she did, how would she ever get her
memory back? Sure it was unpleasant being covered in the
bloody-looking liquid but if she could stand it just a little while
longer, she would be rewarded—she would get back the years she had
lost. She would finally understand what had happened to her mother
and to Rone and—

Her thoughts cut off abruptly as the red
liquid climbed to her breasts and turned dead black.

“
Oh my God,” Kate
whispered uncertainly, looking down at herself.
Tar—it looks like tar!
It
felt
like tar too—the
formerly clear liquid was now sticky and dense. When Kate raised
one hand from it, the stuff hung down from her arm in gluey
strings.

“
What the
fuck
is going on down
there?” Rone roared.

“
I don’t know!” Kate tried
to move her legs but it was hard—the black, tarry liquid was so
thick it was like moving through glue. It was up past her shoulders
now—up to her neck.

Oh my God, it’s going to cover me! It’s
going to go over my head in a minute!

Her determination to stay
in the pool until her memory came back wavered abruptly. She could
have stood having the plain, clear liquid flowing over her head.
She loved to swim after all and had no fear of the water. But
this…
stuff…
this
black oozing ichor the clear liquid had become was something else
entirely. Kate didn’t want the gooey black tar coming up to cover
her face and head. She could barely move in it, let alone tread
water. She would drown!

“
Rone!” she gasped,
forgetting her fear of touching him as the terror of being drowned
in the weird tar-pit the pool had become overcame her. “I…I don’t
like this!”

“
Come here.” He stretched
out a hand for her again, trying to reach her.

The black slime was up to Kate’s jaw now.
She could feel it seeping into her ears and soon it would cover her
mouth and then her nose. Panicked, she began trying to get to the
big Kindred’s hand. But moving through the tarry liquid was like
trying to move through quicksand or mud. Kate felt like she was
stuck in a bad dream—the kind where you’re trying desperately to
run away from the evil monster pursuing you but you can only move
in slow motion.

“
I…I can’t—” she gasped
and then some of the foul, tarry liquid rushed into her mouth
making her choke and gasp. It was bitter—so bitter and foul she
started to gag. But she knew if she opened her mouth again, it
would fill with even more of the disgusting, sludgy liquid. Lifting
her chin high, she stood on her tip-toes, trying to keep the
ever-rising black slime away from her face as long as
possible.

It was a temporary measure at best. Kate
knew what was going to happen—the tarry liquid was going to cover
her and then, when she couldn’t hold her breath any more, it would
rush into her mouth and nose and drown her.

Rone was right,
she thought as the stuff surged up past her
grimly shut mouth and seeped into her hair.
I shouldn’t have done this. Should have listened to him.
Should have—

“
Fuck this,” she heard
Rone say. And then there was a flat splash in the gooey liquid
beside her and he was at her side.

Kate wanted to ask what he was doing but she
knew if she opened her mouth she would choke on the filthy slime.
Besides, it became apparent what he wanted the minute he reached
her.

“
Here.” He grabbed her,
putting both big hands around her waist. He was so much taller that
the black slime wasn’t even halfway up his broad chest. Lifting
Kate as though she weighed no more than a kitten, he boosted her
towards the side of the pool.

“
Rone?” she managed to
gasp and he pushed her up. “What—”

“
Grab the side,” he
ordered grimly. “You’re getting the fuck out of here.”

Kate wasn’t in any position to protest. She
grabbed for the lip of the stone pool and dragged herself out. Rone
helped by boosting her up, his large hands fitting neatly under her
bottom to give her a shove. Then he reached for the edge and lifted
himself clear of the liquid too, his massive shoulders and arms
working and the muscles bunching as though he was doing a
push-up.

Kate lay on her side, shivering and covered
in slime. Her hair was a sodden mess. The only parts of her that
weren’t completely drenched in the oily black liquid were her nose,
eyes and forehead. Everything else felt like she’d been dipped in a
mixture of motor oil and mucus.

“
Kate, baby—are you okay?”
Rone knelt beside her anxiously. He was pretty messy too but he’d
only had time to take off his shirt before he jumped in to save her
so at least his trousers had protected his legs.

“
F-f-fine,” she stuttered
out and then burst into tears.

“
Kate…
Lalli…”
Rone hovered over her
uncertainly. It was clear he was dying to gather her into his arms
and comfort her and just as clear that he didn’t dare to touch
her.

Kate wasn’t sure how she felt about that. On
one hand, she was shivering and cold and wet and miserable—she
could have used some comfort. On the other hand, she still didn’t
know him—not like he knew her, anyway—and she wasn’t sure if his
touch would still cause a panic response or not. She’d already been
panicking when he lifted her out of the pool and it was hard to say
what had caused it—his touch or the fact that she’d been sure she
was about to drown in the inky black stuff.

Also there was a little voice inside her—a
voice that had been there since early childhood—telling her that
Rone wasn’t to be trusted. That no man was. Growing up without a
father, she’d learned that quickly enough. Encounters with men in
high school and college had driven the lesson home. She balled
herself tighter and hid her face.

“
Kate…”

“
Just go away,” she
whispered. “Just…just leave me alone.”

“
But—”

“
No,
no,
NO!” The escalating shout came
from across the room, on the other side of the pool. It shocked
Kate out of her tears and made her sit up, trying frantically to
cover herself although she doubted anyone could see anything
through the black slime that covered her.

Striding toward them was a
tall person—Kate
thought
it was a woman—dressed all in black. A tight
black skirt, high black boots, and a low cut black blouse which
showed a fair amount of pale cleavage was Kate’s initial
impression. Then the woman came closer and she saw that she also
had midnight black hair which was pulled severely back in a tight
bun at the back of her neck, showing her pale, angular face. Aside
from her paper-pale skin, the only thing about her that wasn’t
black was her eyes, which were a deep, vivid violet. Even her lips
were painted in black lipstick—at least Kate
thought
it was lipstick. She
supposed it could just be their natural color.

“
Who are you?” Rone had
taken a protective stance in front of her, his feet spread, keeping
himself between Kate and the newcomer.

“
I am the Madam of Shadows
as you will soon learn to your very great regret.” The woman cocked
her head to look at him though she was so tall Rone only had an
inch or two in height on her. Of course, part of that was probably
her boots which had six inch heels on them. Kate was in a unique
position to study them since she was still crouching naked on the
ground behind the big Kindred.

“
Madam Shadow,” Rone
growled angrily. “I’m glad you’re here. Kate nearly drowned in your
pool just now.”

“
Why didn’t you let her?”
the tall woman asked coolly.

“
What?” Rone demanded.
“What in the Seven Hells are you talking about?”

“
I said you should have
let her drown.” Madam Shadow gave Kate a look that was colder than
the slime she’d just been in. “That is, after all, the purpose of
the pool.”

“
What?”
Rone’s piercing blue eyes blazed. “Are you saying
what just happened was
intentional?
That you knowingly tried to drown my mate?
Because if that’s the case—”

“
Calm yourself, Warrior,”
she snapped. “That is the way the pool works. Unfortunately, it was
unable to do its job you dragged your mate out before the process
was complete.”

“
He dragged me out because
I was about to drown,” Kate said, getting shakily to her
feet.

“
You were
meant
to drown, little
female,” Madam Shadow said. “How else could the impure part of you
die and the wholesome part be reborn? Those who immerse themselves
in the Pool of Purification must meet death and be revived for the
treatment to work.”

“
So…you put me in
there
knowing
I
was supposed to die?” Kate could hardly believe it. “And all
that—the way the water turned red and then black—that was
all
meant
to
happen?”

“
Of course. The change in
the chemicals’ consistency and composition is in direct response to
the amount and type of toxins they are leaching from the body.”
Madam Shadow made a disgusted face. “I was told that you were
completely filled with fear toxins and memory blockers but I
have
never
seen
the pool turn quite that color before.”

“
So you actually planned
to allow my wife to drown and then you would attempt to revive
her?” Rone sounded like he couldn’t believe it. “What if you
couldn’t? What if she didn’t come back?”

“
Actually, it’s the Pool
of Purification itself which does the drowning and reviving,” Madam
Shadow said. “It almost always brings the subject it is purifying
back…well, unless they are too polluted for it to cleanse properly.
In which case, it will often deem the revival to be unnecessary.”
She looked Kate up and down. “I have my doubts that it might have
chosen to revive
you,
my dear. You were most terribly polluted.”

“
That isn’t her fault,”
Rone said angrily. “She was infected with fear toxins, as you said
earlier. That doesn’t make her a bad person or someone unworthy to
live. Goddess, what is
wrong
with you fucking people?”

“
The only thing wrong here
is that you stopped the treatment too soon,” Madam Shadow
snapped.

“
But you just said it
would have killed me—and probably not even tried to bring me back!”
Kate eyed the oily black surface of the pool
mistrustfully.

“
Yes, well—at least the
treatment would have been complete and the pool could have emptied
and purified itself,” the tall woman sniffed, as though Kate’s life
meant nothing. “As it stands, it will be unable to self-cleanse
unless you get back in and let it finish the process.”

“
Like Hell she will,” Rone
growled, his big hands balling into fists. “If you even
think—”

“
No, no—I can see how
protective you are of her, Warrior. I will not demand such a
thing.” Her violet eyes flashed. “What I
will
demand however is that the two
of you finish what the pool started in a more traditional way. We
have an excellent success rate here at Frost and Flame and I don’t
intend to let the two of you ruin it.”

“
What? What are you
talking about?” Kate demanded. “Finish what it started? It didn’t
do any good at all! I don’t recall a damn thing more than I could
when I got into it. The past three years are still gone—I can’t
remember anything.”

“
Nothing at all?” Rone
looked at her, and the need in his blue eyes was so great Kate had
to look away.

“
Sorry,” she muttered.
“Maybe you should have just left me in there.”

“
Of course I couldn’t do
that,” Rone growled. “I just thought maybe…”

“
The reason your memory is
not restored is because you didn’t allow the Pool to finish its
job,” Madam Shadow said briskly. “However, though it was unable to
bring back your memory, you may take comfort in knowing that most
of the fear toxins have been leached out of your
system.”

“
They have?” Kate looked
at her mistrustfully. The woman had just admitted that she’d
planned to have Kate drowned on purpose—it was kind of hard to
trust anything she said after hearing that.

“
Of course they have. Go
on—try it.” From somewhere in the folds of her tight black skirt,
Madam Shadow produced a long, thin black stick which she slipped
between her lush black lips. She snapped her fingers and a small
flame appeared, igniting the end of it. It was only when Kate saw
her take a deep drag on the flaming thing that she understood Madam
Shadow was smoking—smoking what looked like a foot-long, skinny
black cigarette.

“
Try what?” she asked,
uncertainly.

“
Try to touch him,
of course.
”
Madam Shadow blew a cloud of blue smoke which
smelled like burnt rose petals at her head. Kate waved it away,
coughing and choking. “Go on—I don’t have all day.”