The Eternal Ones (37 page)

A morbid fascination took the place of terror as Haven toured Adam’s collection. She examined every item but touched nothing until she found herself standing in front of the cabinet. The six drawers on the bottom were wide and deep. It took all her strength to pull the first one open. When she examined the contents, she wished she’d resisted the temptation. Inside lay a skeleton in a moth-eaten gown. The five remaining drawers were similarly filled, though some of the bodies looked fresher than others. Haven didn’t need to be told who they were. The bodies belonged to the women who had worn the dresses Adam had collected. This was how Haven had ended at least six of her lives.

Haven stared at the door as she waited. Inside the sealed room, the silence was absolute. It felt as if the world had stopped. Discarded objects formed a small pile beside her on the sofa. There was a slightly charred statue of a reclining nude, an empty perfume bottle, and a T-strap shoe. Haven had considered using each as a weapon before abandoning her escape plans altogether. The person who had imprisoned her had conquered time. She doubted if a shoe could do him much damage. In fact, she was beginning to doubt that he was a person at all.

A key scraped inside the lock, and Haven bravely rose to greet her captor. But her guest wasn’t Adam Rosier. A woman in a stunning white gown floated through the door and closed it gently behind her. Padma’s regal nose was swollen, and her mascara dripped down her cheeks. The arrogant president of the Ouroboros Society had disintegrated into a terrified, sniveling mess.

“Shh!” she implored. “No one knows I’m here. I need to talk to you before Adam has a chance to leave the party.”

“You have to let me out,” Haven insisted.

“I can’t do that,” Padma said. “There are gray men everywhere tonight. You wouldn’t get very far.”

“Then tell the woman who works here to call the police. Tell her I’m being held against my will.”

“The woman who works here?” Padma repeated as if she hadn’t understood. “You’re talking about Belinda? The one with the glasses? My dear, she’s a drone. She takes her orders from Adam.”

“But this is the Gramercy Park Historical Society. I came here—”

“There’s no such thing as the
Gramercy Park Historical Society
.” Even in her frazzled state, Padma couldn’t help but sneer. “This building is owned by the Ouroboros Society. Adam uses it to meet with some of our more prominent members—the ones who’d rather not sit in a waiting room with a bunch of screaming brats.”

“He invented the Historical Society just to trick me?”

“Yes,” Padma confirmed. “He’s used the same scam before, but believe me—that’s just the beginning of what he can do.”

“Who is he?
What
is he?”

“I don’t know what he is,” Padma said. “Adam’s been around as long as I can remember. I’ve known him in several lives. He never ages, he never changes, and he never stops looking for you.”

“Me? Why
me
?” Haven asked.

Padma gave her a brisk once-over. “I’ve wondered the same thing myself. I can’t quite understand the attraction. Adam could have anyone. Perhaps that’s it. Perhaps you’re the only thing he can’t control. If he knew I was here . . .”

Haven had tired of Padma’s veiled insults. “Why
are
you here?” she demanded.

“You were at Café Marat this morning. Were you eavesdropping on my conversation?”

“I know you hired Iain to kill Marta Vega. Is that what you’re asking?”

“No, Adam ordered
that
himself,” Padma said dismissively. “You’re surprised?” she added when she saw Haven’s face. “How can you
possibly
be surprised?”

“Why would Adam want Marta dead?”

“Her
art
,” Padma said as if it should have been obvious to all but a simpleton. “Adam doesn’t like having his portrait painted.”

“That was
Adam
in all of Marta’s paintings? The little man making all the terrible things happen?”

“He gets around, doesn’t he? What else did you hear this morning?”

“I know you were going to ask Iain to kill me as well. Do you really want me out of the way that badly?”

Padma’s expression suddenly sweetened. She reached out her hand to touch Haven’s arm, but the girl shook it off. “You of all people should understand,” Padma said. “When I discovered Ethan was back, I went a little crazy. The thought of spending another century alone . . . it was simply too painful. But I doubt I would have gone through with the plan. I’m many things, but I’m not a killer.”

“You sounded pretty cold-blooded to me,” Haven said. “There’s no doubt in my mind you were completely serious.”

The sweetness soured, and Padma grimaced. “Don’t tell Adam,” she begged. “Please. He was furious that I even suggested you leave New York. If he had any idea . . .”

“What about Iain?” Haven demanded. “They know who he is, don’t they? What have they done with him?”

“It’s too late for Iain.” Padma paced the length of the room, wringing her hands. “I should have realized that Adam was trying to get rid of him. That woman in Los Angeles who said she saw Iain kill Jeremy Johns was clearly a drone. Adam was using her to get your boyfriend out of the way. If only you’d told me who Iain was when you had the chance, I might have been able to protect him. But now I’ve lost him for another lifetime.”

Haven felt her knees begin to buckle. “He’s dead?” she managed to ask.

“Not yet, but they have him. The gray men took Iain right after you ran away from the café. Even if it weren’t for you, Adam couldn’t allow him to live. Iain knows too much. He’s a danger to the Society. And other than you, the Society is the only thing Adam cares about.”

“So you’re just going to sit back and let Adam Rosier kill the person you love.”

“What else can I do?” Padma wailed miserably. “Everything I have I owe to Adam, and if I betray him, he’ll take it all away. You’re lucky you only remember one of your past lives. I’ve been poor and miserable so many times. I can’t go back to living like that again.”

“Then you never loved Ethan,” Haven said. “If you had, the money would mean nothing to you.”

“You’re judging
me
?” Padma’s lip curled into a snarl. “It’s not my fault that Iain’s going to die. If you hadn’t been so selfish, he could have lived happily with me. And you could have been a queen. Adam would have given you anything you wanted. Now you’re going to stay locked up in this room for the next sixty years. Then you’ll die, too, and it’s just going to start all over again.”

“Iain’s not going to die,” Haven told her.

“And how do
you
plan to save him?”

“I’m not. You are. As soon as you leave here, you’re going to make the phone call that saves Iain’s life.”

“I hope you aren’t expecting me to call the police,” Padma said. “Adam has men at the top. They’re everywhere. Not just in the NYPD—in the mayor’s office, the governor’s cabinet, D.C. No one is going to interfere with the Society.”

Haven took an old eyeliner pencil from Adam’s collection and scribbled ten digits on a white silk handkerchief that bore Constance’s initials. “If you want me to keep your secret, then call this number. Tell the person who answers where to find me.”

It was late in the evening when he finally arrived. Darkly handsome and debonair in a perfectly cut tuxedo, he could have been a character in a Jazz Age silent film. The slight blurriness of his features only added to the effect. He almost seemed to flicker, Haven observed, as if he were composed of pixels instead of flesh and blood.

“Hello, Haven.” He was always so polite, so perfectly proper.

“Adam.”

“May I have a seat?”

Haven shrugged. “Go ahead. It’s your building. I’m just trapped here for the rest of my life. I see it’s not the first time, either.” She gestured toward the skeleton-filled drawers.

Adam sat beside her on the sofa, and Haven felt a chill penetrate her skin. “I
am
sorry,” he said. “I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this. But if locking you in here is the only way to keep you near me, then I have no other choice. It’s been too long. And I’ve been so lonely.”

“Locking me away didn’t work before,” Haven pointed out. She almost felt sorry for him. She knew the misery love could bring. “Isn’t that what started all of this?”

“You remember our life on Crete?” Adam’s voice was wistful. “It was all so perfect then, wasn’t it? I didn’t want anything to change. I tried to protect what we had, but, as you know, I failed horribly.”

“Yet you’re willing to try the same thing again? Imprisoning me and hoping I’ll love you?”

Adam’s dark eyes circled the room before they returned to rest on Haven’s face. “This isn’t what I had in mind. I hoped only to win you over and convince you to be mine. I adore you, Haven, and I don’t enjoy holding you against your will. When I do, it’s an act of sheer desperation. Sometimes the need to be near you grows too strong, and I’m unable to resist it.

“I was looking forward to spending decades together with you. I came so close to breaking the cycle with Constance, and I was certain we would have this life together. Yet my plans have fallen apart once more. You know too much to ever care for me this time around. But now that I have you, I’d rather not let you go.”

“What do you mean, you were close to ‘breaking the cycle’ with Constance?” Haven asked.

“If I can make you stop loving him in just one lifetime, you’ll never find him again. The connection will be broken, and you’ll belong only to me.”

“Is it really that easy?” Haven wondered.

Adam’s laugh was bitter. “On the contrary, it hasn’t been easy at all. I took great pains to frame Ethan Evans for August Strickland’s death. It was terribly complicated, you know. I had to kill the old man, forge his will, start the rumors. Do you see how far I’m willing to go for you? And it almost worked. Particularly after I recruited Rebecca. I almost turned you against him for good.”

Adam spoke as if it were all just a game. The pity Haven had started to feel for him withered and died.

“You killed Dr. Strickland?”

“He would have died eventually, anyway,” Adam said as if stating a simple fact. “A few extra years are nothing in the scheme of things. I’m sure he’s back by now, starting his own little utopia in France or Rwanda.”

“Did you kill Constance, too?”

“Absolutely not!” Rosier was aghast. “Your lives may be short by my standards, but even a week away from you makes me suffer. Can’t you see that? Can’t you see that I’m dedicated to protecting you? In this life, I’ve been watching over you since you were nine years old—since I found you!”

Haven shuddered. “You’ve been watching me for the past
eight
years?” Even the notion made her feel polluted.

“Watching
over
you,” Adam corrected Haven as he slid toward her on the sofa. “I’ve had people keeping you safe since the day your father first contacted the Ouroboros Society. Of course, I couldn’t always be by your side, but I did visit a number of times. When your sixth-grade science teacher had a nervous breakdown, I was your substitute teacher for three days. I was at your father’s store the day he hired Veronica Cabe. I helped your grandmother choose the books to be banned at the Snope City library. But mostly I relied on the reports filed by Tidmore.”

“Tidmore works for you, then?” It was starting to make sense.

“Tidmore volunteers his services. He’s been a loyal member of the Society for quite a few years now. I sent him to Snope City shortly after we received your father’s letter. He was supposed to help you forget the past. Of course, we had to deal with your father before that could happen. He kept recording every word that came out of your sweet little mouth. I thought you deserved a fresh start, Haven. No one should be saddled with centuries of memories. I know too well what that’s like. Once you were old enough, you would have come to New York, and I would have given you the life you’ve always dreamed of.”

Adam reached out a long, pale hand and let it brush Haven’s thigh. Haven flinched and moved out of reach.

“You had to
deal
with my father? What did you do to him?”

Adam’s expression was empty. “
I
didn’t do anything. I simply gave Tidmore permission to do what he felt was necessary. He recruited Veronica Cabe to break your parents apart, hoping your father would leave. But when your father didn’t take the bait, Tidmore was forced to arrange the accident. Placing Veronica’s body in the passenger’s seat was a particularly nice touch, I thought.”

“The accident was staged? My father never cheated on my mother?” Haven thought of the suffering her mother had endured. Haven’s father might have been the one who died, but Mae Moore had been tortured for eight long years.

“No, though it would have been easier for everyone if he had. I wanted you to have a perfect childhood. I’m sorry it turned out to be less than ideal.” Adam’s hand was inching across the sofa toward Haven again. The skin beneath his perfectly manicured nails was a lifeless blue.

“Less than ideal? You killed my father and let me be raised by an evil old woman who told everyone that I was possessed. You call that
less than ideal
?”

“It was all for your own good, don’t you see?” Adam seemed incapable of understanding what he had done wrong. “And for a while everything went almost exactly as planned. But then your visions returned, and I knew you were being drawn to Ethan as you are in each lifetime. Tidmore and I did everything possible to keep you safe in Snope City until we could find him. But Tidmore could tell you were determined to leave. That’s when he suggested the fire. Though if I had known how dangerous it would be, I never would have approved. I want you to know, Haven, that the drone responsible has been severely reprimanded. He should never have left you alone in a burning building.” Adam was creeping toward her again. Haven caught a whiff of dampness and decay.