In Memories We Fear (11 page)

A whooshing sound caught her attention, and she broke her gaze long enough to see that Philip had pulled his machete and was stepping forward with a hard, shocked expression on his face.

“Philip, wait!” she shouted.

But this action broke her mental connection, and the vampire crouched on the ground stopped screaming. He darted away on all fours.

“Don’t let him get away!” Wade choked from behind her, stumbling into view. “Eleisha, try to stop him again!”

Philip broke into a run as Eleisha reached out to reestablish a connection, but then two gray squirrels, leaping from the trees, landed on Philip, squealing and biting him. The sudden attack caused him to trip, and he hit the ground on his knees. One squirrel bit and clawed savagely at his face. The other raced over his shoulder, biting his neck. Black blood squirted, and Eleisha forgot everything else as she ran to help him.

Before she reached him, Philip had gripped the squirrel that was on his face by the tail and had thrown it. Eleisha grabbed the other one and tossed it away, whirling to watch it in case it came running back.

It did not, dashing into the trees instead.

Philip’s face was gouged and bleeding, but he jumped back to his feet. “Where is he?” he shouted. “Seamus! Where did he go?”

“Philip, stop,” Eleisha said. “Let me see your face.”

He shoved her away and ran forward, gripping his machete and searching the trees. “Seamus!” he yelled again.

The air shimmered, and Seamus appeared beside Eleisha. “He’s gone. I’ve lost him, and I can’t sense a signature.” He looked down at her with his transparent eyes. “Should I widen the circle? Keep looking?”

Wade reached their other side, panting and trembling slightly. “I don’t think so. Philip’s hurt.”

“Seamus!” Philip shouted, apparently having heard them from the trees. He strode back. “You start searching now!”

“Philip,” Eleisha said quietly. “He’s gone, and you’re bleeding. You need to stop.”

Black-red fluid was running from the deep slashes on his face and throat, flowing onto his coat.

He flipped the machete to hold it point down. “Didn’t you see him?” His tone was more urgent than anything she’d ever heard from him before. “He’s not just wild. He’s . . .” He trailed off, and his amber eyes shifted back and forth as they did whenever he searched for a correct response or word. “Feral,” Philip finished. “He is
feral
.”

The force behind the word confused her, and she didn’t know why he was this upset. Seamus had warned them, and the newspaper stories had openly used the term “wild man.”

Eleisha reached out, touching his arm. “We’ll find him soon.” The sight of this new vampire had disturbed her, too, but they’d been foolish to rush in so blindly, so unprepared. She’d simply not realized the extent of the situation and had believed she’d be able to speak to him—at least to a point—telepathically. What could have happened to him to drive him into such a tragic state? “But we need to talk about our next move, and you’re hurt. Put the machete away and come with me.”

Why had he pulled it in the first place? Maybe as a threat? Gently gripping the sleeve of his coat, she took a step back in the direction of the hotel. For a few seconds, he stood firm, and then he let her pull him along.

 

Julian grew restless in the bedroom of his suite, but there was little to do besides wait for a cue from Mary. Jasper seemed equally bored, out in the sitting room, awaiting orders for something—anything—to do. But Julian could not move in just yet. Timing was everything.

The air by the window of Julian’s room wavered and Mary materialized. For once, she did not start babbling immediately. Instead, she pursed her mouth, as if wondering how to begin.

“What?” he asked.

“They found him . . . at least for a few minutes,” she said, and again seemed to be mulling her words.

“What do you mean, ‘for a few minutes’?”

“Well, I think he might be more than they bargained for. He seems fruit bat crazy . . . like a reject from the loony bin who missed his meds, if you know what I mean?”

He did not know what she meant. He seldom did.

“So they lost him?”

“Yeah, he set two squirrels on Philip, and they cut up his face and throat pretty good. I think that Armani coat is ruined.” Her transparent mouth curved up into a smile. “It’s kind of funny.”

“What?”

“Well . . . super tough, badass Philip gets attacked by a pair of squirrels? Oh, come on, don’t you think that’s funny?”

Julian was not amused.

“Mary,” he began slowly, trying to maintain control, “what did you learn about the vampire himself? What did he look like?”

“Young when he was turned, early twenties. Really white skin. Black hair and eyes, kind of thin. Ring any bells?”

It did not.

“Did he strike you as newly turned or older?”

She shrugged. “Couldn’t tell. I saw him for only a few seconds. Then Seamus popped in, and I had to pull back. But Eleisha won’t give up. I’ll find out more. Don’t worry.”

Julian paced. Well, this was something. If the vampire was as mad as Mary suggested, even if he was an elder, he was hardly in danger of preaching the four laws just yet.

“Where is he now?” Julian asked.

She pursed her mouth again. “That’s the weird part. I don’t know. He’s hard to track. Seamus keeps losing him, too.”

What could cause that?

“All right, then just go back. Stay as close as you can and learn as much as you can.”

“Sure.” She looked at the bedroom door. “Is Jasper out there? I want to tell him what’s going on before I take off again.”

She vanished before he could speak, but her last sentence left him unsettled.

Shortly before dawn, Philip sat on the bed in their suite watching Eleisha change into her nightclothes and brush out her hair. They’d all decided to wait until tomorrow before making another attempt to trap the wild vampire and had spent the remainder of the night discussing possible plans and running ideas past Rose, who possessed the gift of wisdom and offered various bits of advice. But Philip hadn’t taken part in this discussion. He’d barely been able to listen.

Relieved to finally be alone in this room with Eleisha, he got up and moved to the mirror, looking at the flat, neat gauze she’d taped earlier to his face and throat. Since he had fed—and fed well—only last night, his body should be healing quickly. He reached up toward the bandage over his cheek.

“Not yet,” she said. “Leave it on while you sleep today.”

He ignored her and peeled it off, wanting to see the damage. The gouges had stopped bleeding, but the marks were still ugly. Eleisha put her brush down and moved to join him.

“Oh,” she said. “The worst ones are closing up. Do they still hurt?”

“No.”

“Don’t worry. They’ll heal soon, and you’ll look like yourself again.”

She completely misread him. Normally, he would be worrying about his appearance, as it was so integrally tied to his gift, but tonight a ravaged face was the least of his troubles.

The vampire they’d located was feral, and Eleisha was going to see more of this creature, see what it was capable of . . . and Robert had once shown her his memories. How many images had Robert shown her? Philip hated the word “feral.” He hated even thinking it. At one time, long ago, he had heard that word spoken in relation to himself. He hadn’t known what it meant then, but he did now, and Robert had seen him at his worst.

What if he’d shown that memory to Eleisha?

This creature Eleisha had located was beyond help, beyond reason. Philip wanted nothing . . . nothing in their world that might remind Eleisha of what he himself had once been. There were large sections of his existence that he wanted to erase completely and pretend never happened.

“You should rest,” she said quietly.

She had not spoken of the scene from just past dusk when he’d found her locked in a memory with Wade. Had she been showing him something, or had it been the other way around? A small part of him wanted to know, but the larger part did not.

He certainly wasn’t capable of asking her, and he was coming to terms with some of his limitations.

She was here. She was tending his wounds. She was worried about him. That was all that mattered now.

He’d decide how to handle the feral vampire tomorrow.

Feeling slightly more settled, he pulled his shirt over his head and dropped it on top of his suitcase. Then he went to the bed, leaning into the pillows up against the headboard. She seemed almost relieved that he didn’t want to talk about anything that happened tonight. She just came over and curled up beside him, resting her head on his stomach before closing her eyes.

For him, that was enough.

chapter six

T
hat night, Eleisha woke up and raised her head quickly. Philip was awake, but lying still, just watching her. His body must have adjusted to the time difference. His face looked better—the gouges were down to red marks now. His throat was still bandaged.

“How is your throat?” she asked.

By way of answer, he reached and pulled off the gauze, lifting his head so she could see.

“Better,” she said. “You should be healed in a few more days. Do you need to feed?”

“No.”

Eleisha couldn’t help wondering how Wade was doing. He’d been shaken by his experience inside the vampire’s head the night before, and again, she’d been so focused on Philip, she hadn’t had the opportunity to catch Wade alone and ask if he was all right.

She climbed off the bed and moved toward her backpack. “Do you want the shower first?”

Before he could answer, the air shimmered and Seamus appeared. He glanced at Philip, who was still lying on the bed, and then at Eleisha in her nightclothes. For some reason—and she wasn’t sure why—his observance made her uncomfortable.

“I have a signature,” he said. “Down by Westminster Bridge.”

“Already?” she asked. “The sun just set.”

“He’s awake. How fast can you get dressed?”

Philip was already off the bed, grabbing a shirt. “Go tell Wade,” he said.

 

Not long after waking that night, Julian was out in the sitting room of the suite, watching Jasper practice with his sword. Julian offered a suggestion now and then. They’d moved the furniture back to make more room, and he was surprised at the improvement in Jasper’s skill since midsummer. Apparently, Jasper had found a Chinese martial arts instructor willing to engage in a private nighttime class.

“Don’t ever try to take a head one-handed,” Julian put in. “Always use both hands.”

Jasper nodded and continued practicing a block and thrust move. Julian was half-tempted to get his own sword and offer more detailed instruction in several moves his own master had taught him, but he had been his master’s social equal . . . and Jasper was lower than one of Julian’s housemaids. He could not reconcile himself to blurring these lines.

The air wavered, and Mary appeared. He was surprised to see her so early in the evening.

“Seamus picked up a signature down by Westminster Bridge,” she said. “Eleisha’s already on the move, and I think they might have a better plan this time.”

“What plan?”

She shook her head. “I didn’t hear everything, but I was floating up over their heads when they came out, and Seamus was already gone. All I heard was ‘Westminster Bridge’ and ‘three-way split’ and that they’re going to bring this vampire back to their hotel and lock him up when they catch him. So I figure they’re going to split up and try to cut him off from three directions?”

Jasper froze with his sword in midair. “You want me to go? See if I can slip in and take him out first?”

Julian didn’t answer.

He put his fist to his mouth, thinking. If this vampire was difficult for Mary to track, and Eleisha planned to lock him up in the hotel, several opportunities presented themselves. Once the vampire was trapped inside a room, Seamus would stop doing any active searches, allowing Julian to get much closer without so much risk of detection. He could use both Mary and Jasper to cause a distraction, something to keep Philip and Eleisha’s attention. Then he could go in through a window, take his prey by surprise, kill him, and be back outside before anyone knew what was happening.

After this, it was still possible Seamus might locate him or Jasper, but by then, it would be too late. If Eleisha’s group trapped this “wild” vampire quickly, in the early hours of the evening, this could all be over tonight.

“No,” he finally told Jasper. “We wait.” Jasper’s face fell, but Julian turned to Mary. “Let me know as soon as they’ve got him.”

 

Wade headed south by himself down the Victoria Embankment. The night was cold, and he had his canvas jacket buttoned up to his collarbone.

He, Eleisha, and Philip had decided to split up this time and try to trap the vampire between them, using one another’s positions to keep him from escaping. Philip hadn’t liked this plan at first, but then he’d seemed to change his mind and openly agreed.