Past Life (2 page)

Frankie nodded her understanding.

For reasons unknown, Frankie's psychic abilities meant that she was immune to vampire mind control. As such the council were very worried that she would expose them, and share what she knew about them with the world at large. Six months ago she had been forced to make a deal with the council. In order to carry on living (at least as a human) she must have a guardian, Dante, and must offer them the use of her psychic gift.

Unfortunately her gift wasn't very helpful in day to day life; she couldn't see current or future events, she could only read the memories people left on the objects they touched, which made her a very good lie detector.

“
No one but vampires have handled these since?” she checked with Dante.

He shook his head. “No.”

One of the reasons she enjoyed vampire company, was that they were as immune to her gift as she was to their mind control. Vampires were completely silent to her, and that was a quality she found very attractive.

She took the first pen and closed her eyes to concentrate. Slowly she separated out the memories and reviewed them. Frankie could see a young woman answering questions and as she answered she was remembering the events that she was speaking of, leaving an imprint of those memories on the pen.

“
This is the pen Janet was holding. Everything she said is true.” She picked up the other pen and repeated the process. “This one belonged to Georgina. She also-”

She stopped talking and frowned.

“
Frankie?”

“
Something's off,” she said after a few moments. “She does genuinely believe what she's saying but as she's remembering the events there's like a- I don't know how to explain it. It's a bit like when televisions used to get a mixed signal, and you would see a ghost of another image.” 

She concentrated harder. Ever since she'd had blood from Josh, a very old and powerful vampire, her gift had been off the charts in strength. Before then there was no way she would have picked up such a slight impression. Now she tried to separate them out into two different memories.

She opened her eyes. “She was vamped,” she said with certainty. “A vampire with shoulder length dark brown hair, green eyes and a Roman nose has altered her memories.”

Dante looked vaguely impressed. “Can you see what the original memory was?”

Frankie shook her head. “No, because she couldn't see it. Thanks to what he did, that memory is long gone; all I could see was him altering her memories.”

“
Interesting. They'll be thrilled.”

“
You know I can write a report for them. Believe me, I write a lot of reports for MI5.” Frankie was employed by MI5's paranormal division to police the supernatural world. Her department was known as P.a.S.T. the Paranormal and Supernatural Taskforce.

Dante shook his head. “Verbal only. You know how paranoid they are.”

Frankie rolled her eyes. Their paranoia, justified or not, was the reason she was forced to do this for them in the first place.

“
So how's your apartment coming along?” Frankie asked, changing the subject. She didn't like to think too much about her indentured servitude.

Since he was now Frankie's permanent guardian, Dante had just bought his own home in Edinburgh's new Quartermile development.

“
Great. I've nearly finished furnishing it, just the spare bedroom to go now. It couldn't be more perfect, really. Underground parking and access from the garage so no one ever need know the hours I keep.”

“
And no direct sunlight?”

“
Obviously. But beautiful views over the city.”

“
I'm glad you seem to be settling in.”

Dante shrugged. “It's not so bad here. And... it's good to be out of Josh's house.”

Frankie nodded in understanding. “Too many memories,” she said softly.

Josh was the reason Dante and Frankie had met, since they both had helped him track down his sire's killer. Unfortunately their little investigation broke the vampire council rules when they allowed Frankie, a human, access to documentation that could be used to prove the existence of vampires. To save their lives, Josh had called in every favour he was owed and offered his own life in exchange for theirs.

Of course they couldn't be allowed to get off scot free and as punishment Frankie was now forced to use her psychic abilities for the council while Dante was forced to stay in the UK until his fifty year probation was up. To try and protect her, Josh had asked for Dante to be appointed Frankie's guardian, and Dante had given his word that he would look out for her.

Since then, Dante had become something of a brotherly figure to her and, aside from his sometimes inappropriate humour and his constant flirting with anything that had breath, they jogged along nicely together.

“
How about Alex?” Dante asked bitterly. “Is he leaving you alone?”

Alex was Frankie's vampire ex-boyfriend, and the one who had betrayed them to the council.

“
Pretty much. He sent a letter two weeks ago which I sent back unopened. I haven't heard from him since then.”

“
You didn't tell me about that,” he accused.  

“
It was nothing, I didn't even open it.”

“
Don't keep secrets from me, Frankie,” he said, his tone was low and warning. “It could get both of us killed.”

“
It wasn't a secret! I just forgot to tell you.”

“
If the council ever finds out you haven't been completely honest with me-”

Frankie held up her hand. “I know, I know. It's both our necks on the line. I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to hide anything from you.”

Dante nodded his acceptance of her apology.

“
Get it over with then,” she said, referring to the ritual that they met up once a week to perform.

It irritated Dante as much as it did Frankie, but he had to ask the questions. He leaned forward.

“
Have you told anyone about the existence of vampires?” he asked, cocking his head slightly so he could more clearly hear her heartbeat.

“
No.”

“
Other than me, have you spoken to anyone about vampires, real or fictional?”

“
No.”

“
Have you spoken about vampire myths or lore to anyone?”

“
No.”

“
Have you said anything that might give anyone a reason to suspect that vampires might be real?”

“
No.”

“
And have you received any other letters, communications or gifts from vampires that I should know about?”

Frankie rolled her eyes. “No.”

“
Good. Come on, I'll give you a lift home.”

Frankie shook her head. “Don't be silly, you only live around the corner. I'll get a cab.”

“
Don't you want to see my new apartment?”

“
I'd love to, but my throat is starting to swell up and I really just want to sleep.”

“
Some other time then,” Dante smiled as they stood up. “I will get you in my bedroom one day, Frankie.”

“
Dream on, lover boy.” She smiled.

“
Oh,” he raised his eyebrows salaciously. “I will.”

Frankie lightly punched his shoulder. “Ha ha.”

Dante liked to flirt with her but Frankie always got the feeling that it was just for fun. He never followed through on his promises (or threats) and Frankie was grateful for that. It was depressing to admit at thirty two, but Alex had been her first real boyfriend and her heart was still broken from his betrayal. Plus, aside from weekly meetings with Dante, her life had been relatively vampire free, a situation she found very agreeable, because vampires could be damn scary when they wanted to be, even the nice ones.

Thankfully Frankie had yet to see the frightening side of Dante and while she hoped she never would, she was in no doubt that it was there.

“
So will you exorcise the ghost?” he asked as they walked out to the street and headed towards the taxi rank.

“
I'll try and talk to him again.”

“
Is that wise?”

“
Probably not but I don't want to kill him if I don't have to. I'll make sure I have Bobby with me.”

“
Mind if I tag along?” he asked. “Tonight was interesting.”

Frankie shrugged. “Sure, but you won't be able to see anything. It'll just be me talking to thin air again.”

“
I'd still like to observe.”

They stopped by the first cab in the rank.

“
Okay, I'll call you, let you know when I'm going back.”

Dante opened the door for her, and she kissed him on the cheek as she got in.

When the cab pulled away Dante walked the short distance back to his apartment complex, his mind once again wandering around the topic of Frankie, as it frequently did these days.

His feelings for her were very confused. Sure, he liked and even respected her to a degree but a small part of him also resented her. Josh had been Dante's sire, his creator and mentor into the vampire life, so while logically Dante knew that she deserved none of the blame for what happened to Josh, he couldn't help feeling that if she hadn't been in the picture, Josh would still be alive. And even then, if she had better taste in boyfriends Josh might still he here.

He hid his feelings well and he would never admit them to anyone else, but he couldn't deny how he felt.

He wondered why Josh had chosen him to watch over Frankie. It was a question Dante often asked himself, but one he had yet to find an answer to. Josh had been a good judge of character and must surely have known the resentment Dante that would feel towards her.

Nevertheless, regardless of why, Dante would keep his word to his maker and do his best to protect Frankie. It was the last thing Josh had asked of him and to disregard that request was unthinkable.

Chapter Two

The next day Frankie was just getting ready to leave the house when her doorbell rang and she opened it to see Will standing there.

She was pleased to see that he had put his driving gloves on. Even though he was still sceptical about the supernatural, he was very accommodating when it came to accepting the limits her gift made her impose on people. Her home was her safe haven, the one place where she didn't need to wear gloves to block the psychic images that people left on objects. By wearing gloves, he was ensuring that he wouldn't leave his any of his own psychic impressions on her possessions.

“
Not that I'm not pleased to see you, but this is a really bad time,” she said with a grimace. “I've got a meeting at four o'clock.” She went back inside leaving the door open for Will to follow her. One hand went to the scarf at her neck, and she tugged it slightly higher to make sure her bruises were covered.

“
I need to talk to you,” he said, watching her from the doorway as she dashed around, turning her computer off and checking her handbag for her I.D.

“
Uh, I'm running late.” She grabbed her keys off the table. “Can it wait?”

“
Not really,” Will shook his head.

Frankie checked her watch and hesitated a moment.

“
You'd better come with me then.” She frowned as she thought through the ramifications of taking him along. “You're a Detective Chief Inspector, that should do. Do you have your I.D. with you?”

“
Of course.” Will nodded.

“
Great, then come on.”

“
Okay,” he followed her out to her car and climbed in the passenger side. “Where are we going?”

“
RAF Leuchars.”

She backed out of the driveway and headed towards the Forth Bridge.

“
No offence, Frankie, but how does your job take you to a RAF base?”

“
It's a long story,” she said, still feeling the pressure of being late. “What did you want to see me about?” she asked.

“
Have you seen today's paper?”

Frankie shook her head. “Haven't had a chance. Why?”

“
Because someone is killing animals in ritual ceremonies.”

“
That's horrible,” she looked disgusted. “But aren't you a little too senior for animal cruelty cases?”

“
Normally, yes but now that the press has a hold of it...” Will shrugged. “We're taking a lot of heat, so I volunteered to handle it because it seems like your kind of case.”

“
You think it's witchcraft?”

“
I don't have a clue,” Will shrugged. “I was hoping that you would.”