The Power (22 page)

“What does this have to do with Mr. Stone?” Josh complained lightly, and Lillian frowned up at him.

“If you do not wish to hear this story then carry yourself off somewhere else. Josh, I fear you and I will never get along if you don’t find a way to become more at ease in my presence.” she warned, making Troy grin and duck his head.

“I can lighten up.” Josh said with injured pride. “Go on. What happened with this man aboard the Elisabeth Two?”

“Well, he wasn’t a man at all.” Lillian met Troy’s soft brown eyes, and said. “He was a vampire as I soon would discover. I had not yet learned to read thoughts so easily, you see. Nor did I think to listen for his heartbeat. It was Gina who would tell me later that night that Ewan was a vampire, like us. She also would warn me of Ewan’s evil.”

“But you didn’t listen to her?” Josh asked, overzealous now. Lillian tried not to roll her eyes.

“No. I would not listen. Ewan was very handsome, dashing and beautiful, and I craved him from my first sight of him. What Gina had to say concerning him was of little concern to me. But, I will tell you a secret concerning my kind.” She leaned in closer. “We all possess certain powers, but one power within us is dominant, more refined. For me, it is that I can read the minds of mortals, and also of my own kind with great clarity. It was the same for Gina. She is the one who made me, so naturally that skill is powerful within me as well.” she explained.

“And what was this Ewan’s skill?”
Troy was clever to ask.

“Persuasion.” Lillian said lowly, and she turned and stared into the fire as the memories came flooding back to her.

“Persuasion?” Reginald asked, not understanding.

“He could persuade the mortals to do things for him. He could bend their will so to speak. He could capture them with a handsome smile, with his pretty face, make them want to do anything and everything he asked of them.”
she said deep in remembrance.

“And this persuasion, it worked on you?”
Troy asked in an enthralled voice.

“Yes. He made me believe that I was in love with him.” Lillian confessed. “At the time, I would have done anything for him, but to him, it was only a game. I was only a game.”

“Then he broke your heart?” Josh guessed as if they were talking over a simple lover‘s quarrel.

“No.” Lillian turned back to the men. “But the spell he had over me was broken one particular evening when I witnessed hi
s cruelty to a young cabin boy.” The memory assaulted her mind, and Lillian closed her eyes against it. “You see, who I thought was a good man, was actually a dangerous killer. Like a cat, he enjoyed playing with his food before he devoured it. The torture he forces his prey to endure is cruel and inhumane, but then again Ewan has not been human in hundreds of years.”

“You speak of him as if he is still around?” Reginald asked, sounding anxious.

“I suppose that he is. I just don’t know where.” Lillian replied thoughtfully. “Gina and I were able to escape him when the ship docked in America. It was daylight, but Gina and I had booked passage on the Elisabeth II for ourselves, and for the two caskets of her dear, departed parents. We had traveled as cousins, you see. Gina paid men to take the caskets, and leave them in a hotel room in town. She had paid men handsomely to purchase the room ahead of time for us, and to deliver the coffins within. By the time night fell again, Gina and I had gained a head start in our escape from Ewan and his followers.” Lillian recalled that night as if it were yester eve. She had never been more frightened.

“His followers?” Josh countered excitedly. “I thought all vampires traveled alone?”

“Not all.” Lillian said simply.

“I still fail to see what this has to do with Jack Stone?” Josh complained, and Lillian smiled slowly.

“On board the Elisabeth II, after I had discovered Ewan’s true nature, and the spell he had over me was broken, Ewan, though very possessive of me, still allowed me to roam the ship alone. He knew he no longer possessed me the way he had: as a child who had worshipped him endlessly. The sight of me afterward enraged him. He longed to keep me as his own, but he wanted total possession, and could not decipher a way to obtain it once more after what he had done.” Lillian explained.

“And?” Reginald hurried her on.

“And, while I was roaming the ship, contemplating all of my foolishness, and wallowing in self-pity and depression, I met another man, a Sloan Jackson. I called him Jax.” She said in fond memory. She did not tell them that the night she had met Jax she had been running from Ewan, that he had hurt her terribly. It would only hurt them, she reasoned. “He could see that something wasn’t quite right with me, that something horrible had happened. He longed to comfort me, and he did. We became fast friends. We would meet night after night while Ewan played with the mortals.” Lillian turned, losing her thoughts in the fire as the memories leapt out like flames in her mind. She could see Jax in her mind’s eye, see him smiling, laughing as he leaned down to say something against her ear. He had kissed her but once, a gentle kiss at the corner of her mouth when she had least expected it. The look in his eyes then had been so intense, and the feelings she had seen there within those smoldering amber eyes, she knew were mirrors of what she, herself, had been feeling.

“This Jax? Was he a vampire as well?”
Troy was the one to ask.

“No.” Lillian shook her head negatively. “He was mortal.” she whispered.

“So what happened?” Josh was legitimately getting into the story now, and eager to hear more.

“We became quite close, Jax and I, but Jax could sense something was wrong with me. One night, through tears that I can no longer cry, I told Jax everything. I expected him to walk away from me, to think that I was crazy at the very least, but the ship was not a large ship. People had come up missing, bodies had been discovered. I swore to Jax that I hadn’t killed anyone and I hadn’t. Gina and I had been living on rats, disgustingly so, for weeks. I had not killed anyone since my aunt.” She said, hearing when Josh swallowed suddenly, and his heartbeat took off. “But that is another story, Josh, and she did deserve to die.” she actually reached out and patted Josh’s hand in sympathy.
Troy grinned knowingly, and Reginald did as well.

“Then he believed you, in the whole vampire story, just like that?” Josh asked skeptically.

“I showed him.” Lillian whispered. “I cut my wrist with my fingernail, and the smell of the blood caused the change to come over me. At first, he was frightened, understandably so. Vampires, such as I, were not supposed to exist after all. He started to back away, and I thought I had just given us away, Gina and I, that Jax, in his fright, would go to the captain of the ship and we would all be hanged, or whatever they would do to us to end our existence.”

“I doubt a hanging would do the job, Hun.”
Troy leaned down to say, and he threw her a wink.

“You stopped him?” Josh asked, urging her to go on.

“Yes. I grabbed him by the arm. I begged him to listen to me, and he did. I told him how I had come to be an immortal. I told him everything, and afterward, he still stood with me. He still wanted to be with me. We made plans to leave the ship together when it docked, but our plans would never come to pass.” Lillian ducked her head in sudden devastation.

“Ewan.” Reginald guessed angrily with despair in his voice.

“Yes. Ewan discovered us on deck together that night. He was jealous, and full of rage. I thought that he would kill Jax by our normal means, and I sought to protect him, but Ewan was faster, stronger, and Jax was no coward. He didn’t understand then how much stronger, faster we are. They went for each other at the same time. I barely had time to scream the word no, before Ewan had Jax by the throat, his feet dangling overboard. I screamed for Ewan to let Jax go. He did exactly that. He dropped Jax into the sea.” Lillian turned back to the fire in the memory of her panic and then utter despair. “I tried to dive in after him, to save him, but Ewan’s men grabbed me, and carted me away screaming and thrashing as if small and of little significance. I fought them, but my strength could not begin to match their own.

“
That day, I dreamed of Jax. It was torment. I dreamt of him out in the dark ocean, exhausted, lightly kicking his feet to stay afloat, and then finally, I saw him going under, and knew he had drowned.”

The room had gone deathly quiet and still. Lillian looked up from her trance-like state and stared at each of them. She had never shared any of her stories with them before. This was a first. She smiled gently. “You asked me what this had to do with Jack Stone?” she asked of Josh now, who had tears swimming in his light blue eyes. Josh nodded his head, and swiped at the tears in his eyes, trying to hide that her story had affected him so. Lillian smiled.

“I believe that Jack Stone is my Jackson. He is Sloan.” She said, her smile intensifying.

“How can that be possible?”
Troy asked, smiling at the possibility, but she could tell that he was doubtful.

“I’m not sure. As an immortal, I fear my demise because I know it will be the end of me. A
s mortals, when you die, I hear that sometimes you go on. I’ve heard tale of this happening before, as ridiculous as it may sound, but he looks like Jackson. He even smells like Jackson, and his mannerisms, the way he can make me smile and even laugh, the things he can make me feel after so long of this numbing coldness inside of me…” Lillian was saying when a huge grin lit Reginald’s face.

“I’ve noticed the change in you, My Lady.” he said grinning from ear to ear.  “I’ve caught your smile a time or two. When you refused to hunt, to feed, you showed such emotion, like I haven’t seen in you in fifty years!” he professed, and Lillian smiled.

“It’s late.” she said, and she patted Reginald’s wrinkled hand. “I’ve taken too much of your time for my fanciful thoughts and memories.”

“Any time, My Lady. Any time.” Reginald stood, and bowed regally before her.

“Anytime, Lillian.” Troy repeated warmly.

“Yes. Anytime.” Josh agreed, and Lillian smiled softly.

“Perhaps next time we talk, we can discuss your lives?” she arched a brow.

“You don’t want to shock us all
at once, Lillian.” Troy teased.

“I’ve been so cold.” she began, but
Troy took her hand, and kissed her knuckles.

“Perhaps all you needed was this Jack Stone to wake your heart up again?” he put to her.

“Ah, my heart.” she whispered. “I fear even Jack Stone can not bring back the dead, Troy, but it was a nice sentiment.” she nodded to each of them, and then she said her goodnights and retired for the evening.

Chapter seventeen

Miss. Rogers was in no better frame of mind in the morning when Jack had come to check on her at Saint Mary’s. In fact, with the drugs leaving her system, she was worse. Her body was going through withdrawal symptoms, and it wasn’t a pretty sight. Covered in sweat and shaking profusely, her wide brown eyes fastened on Jack as soon as he entered her room.

“Good morning, Miss
. Rogers.” Jack greeted in a friendly tone even though he wasn’t sure the woman would understand him, or even have it register in her mind that he was there.

“What do you want?” she demanded, her voice trembling as if she was sitting on a block of ice. Still strapped to the bed, her body sud
denly heaved upward as if of its own accord, and her muscles tightened, stretching and straining against her pasty skin. She gritted her teeth to keep back a yell. Jack didn’t know what to do. Should he call a nurse, a doctor? Bordello was meeting with Miss. Rogers’ doctor as Jack stood there trying to get information out of a woman that was most probably a lost cause. Uncomfortable, Jack came to the bed, and placed a hand to the woman’s thin stomach, pressing her gently back onto the bed. She was heaving for a breath now, and her eyes were filled with unspoken pain.

“They want to get the Heroine out of my system, and then send me back to the streets.” She laughed sarcastically. “I’m an addict. That’s like locking an alcoholic in the store room of a liquor store.” she smiled wryly.

“There is help out there.” Jack reminded.

“Help that I can’t afford.” She hissed angrily. “What am I to do? I have a kid. I want to get a job, to take care of her like a normal, good mother would, but I can’t beat this alone. I’ve tried too many
times to count. I always fail!”

“But this time the devil warned you to quit or else.” Jack reminded, feeling like an idiot for uttering those ridiculous words out loud.

“A hallucination.” Miss. Rogers decided with a shake of her head.

“Yes, well, your hallucination killed two men two nights ago.” Jack informed the distraught woman.

“Two men who deserved what they got.” Miss. Rogers said beneath her breath.

“Because they raped you?” Jack cocked a blonde brow, curious to what she would say. She had been through a great ordeal, but as messed up as she had been on Heroine, he was surprised she remembered any of it.