Vampire Memories #5 - Ghosts of Memories (2 page)

Y
ou can’t be serious,” Wade Sheffield said.

He stood inside a dark churchyard with two other men, Maxim Carey and Philip Branté—both vampires—but he could not believe what they were suggesting.

“Am serious,” Maxim answered in his typical broken speech. “Boo should stay.”

“Boo?” Wade asked, his mouth hanging half open.

“His name. Mr. Boo.”

Sitting directly in front of them was the largest pit bull Wade had ever seen. The dog was coal black with a smattering of gray on his muzzle. His face was covered in scars, and his left ear was nothing but tattered strips. He looked like an aging refugee from a war zone. Tilting his massive head, he peered up at Wade as if he were following the conversation…aware his fate was being discussed.

“I like him,” Philip said in a thick French accent. “I think he should stay.”

“You would!” Wade shot back. “What about Tiny Tuesday? He’ll eat her.”

This wasn’t simply a matter of them adopting another pet. Pit bulls were known to be dangerous, and Maxim had already taken in a cat named Tiny Tuesday. Wade wasn’t about to let some enormous stray dog anywhere near her.

But at Wade’s outburst, Maxim blinked in surprise, and he began shifting his weight between his feet in agitation. “I already tell him he can stay. Won’t hurt Tuesday. He tell me he won’t.”

Wade fell silent, uncertain how to respond. He was mortal, and his two companions were not. The three of them lived inside the old church behind them, along with two other vampires and a ghost. But Maxim was…special. Though most vampires were telepathic, Maxim had spent nearly two hundred years living alone in a forest, and his telepathy functioned only between himself and animals. Wade had no idea how this worked or how much had passed between Maxim and the dog.

“I don’t know why you’re making this fuss,” Philip said to Wade. “Big dogs are good to have around. My father always kept five or six wolfhounds…and cats are useless.”

Maxim turned and glared at Philip. In truth, the two of them rarely agreed on anything, and tonight was the first time they’d ever joined forces. Wade had not expected it to last. Maxim adored Tiny Tuesday and certainly didn’t view her as “useless.”

But then both of them glanced back at Mr. Boo, and Wade had a sinking feeling he was about to lose this argument.

With Maxim and Philip standing side by side, Wade couldn’t help noticing their similarities and differences. Both were pale and handsome, but where Philip was masculine, Maxim was almost pretty. He was small for a man, maybe five feet seven inches, with a slender build, blue-black hair, and dark eyes. However, his hair was messy and wild, and he often wore the same torn blue jeans for days without bothering to find a clean pair. Philip was over six feet tall, with layered, styled, red-brown hair that hung to the top of his collar. He was dressed in a long Armani coat—that hid the machete strapped to his belt.

Wade sighed, realizing he’d already lost the fight. “The dog told you he wouldn’t hurt Tuesday?”

Maxim nodded. “Never hurt her. But he hungry. We feed him.” His language skills had improved somewhat since his arrival, but they still had quite a ways to go.

“What’s going on?” someone asked from behind.

Wade turned to see Eleisha Clevon coming toward them. He watched her move easily through the thorny rosebushes. She was a contrast to both of the other vampires here in the garden. Dressed in a long, flowing skirt and a snug red T-shirt, she was so small she actually had to look up when she spoke to Maxim. Long, wheat blond hair hung in waves down her back, and she appeared eternally seventeen years old…which she was not.

At the sight of the dog, she frowned. “How did he get inside the gate?”

Wade sighed again. “Maxim let him in—probably drew him in. I think we have a new addition to the household.”

Her eyes widened, and she opened her mouth to argue.

But Maxim turned to Philip quickly. “Him stay?”

Philip shrugged. “Why not?”

Eleisha’s protest died on her lips, and Wade couldn’t help a flash of annoyance at Maxim for turning to Philip for support and even more than a flash at Eleisha for having instantly accepted Philip’s offhand decision. Philip was not in charge here.

Nevertheless…it appeared their group now included a heavily scarred old pit bull named Mr. Boo.

“Maxim needs to go hunting,” Eleisha said quietly, still glancing between Philip and the dog. “Philip, can you take us?”

“Yes.”

“Does that leave me with the dog?” Wade asked, growing more annoyed by the second.

“Him hungry,” Maxim put in.

“Of course he is,” Wade said dryly, “which means I get to dig through the kitchen and find something to feed him. But I’m not cleaning up any piles of poop, Maxim. If you keep drawing stray animals here, you’re going to learn to help take care of them.”

He knew he sounded like some self-righteous father, but he couldn’t help it. Tiny Tuesday was one thing, but
this
was something else.

“We’ll try to be quick,” Eleisha said, moving toward the gate. “I’ll help you when I get back.” Maxim and Philip followed her out onto the sidewalk.

Wade crossed his arms, looking down at Mr. Boo, who looked up at him in turn.

“All right, you,” Wade said. “I’ve got some hamburger that I’ll share until I can get some dog food. But I have a gun, and if you bite me or Tiny Tuesday, I’ll shoot you. Do you understand?”

Mr. Boo just grunted once and followed him into the church.

“No, this way,” Eleisha said, taking Maxim’s hand and pulling him deeper into the shadows of an underground parking lot. He just let her lead him. Philip was nowhere in sight now, but she knew he was watching them from somewhere nearby, guarding over them while she took Maxim to feed.

However, taking Maxim hunting always made her feel like a failure. When she and Wade had founded the underground and begun their mission to locate lost vampires, bring them into a community, and teach them how to feed without killing, she’d never anticipated finding one who was so damaged that he’d lost his “gift.”

Within a few nights of becoming undead, a specific element of a vampire’s previous personality developed into an overwhelming aura—which could be turned on and off at will. Their gifts assisted them in luring victims off alone somewhere and in keeping their victims calm. Eleisha’s gift was an aura of helplessness. Philip’s was an aura of overwhelming attraction.

Nearly two hundred years ago, Maxim had been a brilliant scholar, and whenever he’d spouted off, telling people literary stories, his voice had left any listener in awe, trapped inside his spell of brilliance.

But after witnessing a horrific event, he’d been driven alone into the forests of England, and as time passed, he’d forgotten who he was. He’d forgotten how to speak. Eleisha and Wade were trying to bring him back slowly, but his gift was gone…and now she had to hunt for him if she had any hope of leaving the victim alive.

Somehow, this still felt wrong, like she was failing in her mission.

But he tried hard to meet her halfway. He always did what she told him, and at the moment, that was the best he could do—at least until more of his memory came back.

“Find a woman,” he said suddenly, jolting her from her thoughts.

“Yes, I know.”

With the exception of Wade, Maxim didn’t like men. He didn’t even like feeding on men. He tolerated Philip only because he had no choice.

Eleisha looked around, listening for the sound of footsteps. For this method of hunting, an underground public parking lot was ideal. She seldom varied the routine when taking Maxim out. He’d learned to stay completely quiet and let her do the talking. While she knew this wasn’t helping him learn to take care of himself, as yet, she hadn’t come up with anything better.

The elevator doors opened and a well-coiffed couple walked out, arguing about the man’s unexpectedly high cell phone bill. Eleisha dropped to a crouch behind a beige Lexus and pulled Maxim down beside her. The couple walked past without seeing them.

“I just don’t see how you could have run up a six-hundred-and-forty-two-dollar bill in a month,” the woman said, her voice cracking slightly. “Who are you calling?”

His murmured response was lost as they moved farther away, but Eleisha didn’t care. She kept her eyes on the elevator. A few minutes later, the doors opened again, and a slender woman in her twenties stepped out—alone. She wore black pants, a white shirt, and an apron. Her curly reddish hair was pulled up in a high ponytail on top of her head. She looked like a waitress coming off a late shift.

“Good,” Maxim said, his dark eyes glittering.

Sometimes, his penchant for young women with long red hair made Eleisha uncomfortable. But the yuppie couple had vanished by now and the lot was deserted; this was a perfect opportunity.

She stood up, grasping Maxim’s hand and stepping from the shadows.

“Excuse me,” she said. Then she turned on her gift.

The young woman jumped slightly and turned in alarm. But Eleisha’s gift washed over her, through her, dulling her mind until she saw only a small, frightened girl coming toward her, leading a young man with downcast eyes.

“Can you help us?” Eleisha asked. “My car won’t start, and I have to get my brother home. He’s…he’s special.”

This was a ruse they’d played over and over—because it always worked. Maxim’s perpetually lost expression often led people to believe there was something not quite right with him. But once Eleisha turned on her gift, anyone caught in the vicinity was driven into an overwhelming need to “help.”

The young woman’s face shifted instantly to concern as Eleisha’s gift kept flowing. “Oh,” she said, coming closer. “What can I do? Can I call someone for you?”

“No,” Eleisha answered. “Could you just drop us at home? We don’t live far, and my dad can come look at the car tomorrow.” She took mental note of an old van on her left with a dented, jagged front bumper, but she let the intensity of her gift grow at the same time.

The woman blinked. “Yes…of course. This way.” She pulled a set of keys from her purse and pressed the
UNLOCK
button. A shiny blue Ford Focus beeped, and she opened the passenger door, letting Maxim in up front as if allowing strangers into her car was the most natural thing in the world.

Eleisha climbed into the backseat.

“I’m Angie,” the woman said. “Where do you live?”

She was just putting her key into the ignition when Eleisha telepathically reached inside her mind and said aloud, “You’re tired. You need to sleep.”

Angie’s head dropped to one side, and her eyelids closed. Maxim’s dark eyes were glittering, and he grabbed her wrist.

“Be careful,” Eleisha warned.

He didn’t even look at her and sank his teeth into Angie’s wrist, loudly sucking in mouthfuls of blood. But Eleisha wasn’t worried. She’d done this with him a number of times, and he always seemed to instinctively know when to stop. He was not a killer by nature. He was just…damaged.

Eleisha stayed inside Angie’s mind, keeping the woman asleep—and monitoring her heartbeat—while Maxim fed, but just as she was about to tell him to stop, he pulled out on his own, albeit reluctantly, licking his mouth.

Eleisha took a jackknife from her skirt pocket and handed it to him. “Here, you do the next part.”

She wanted him to do as much as he could on his own. Without a word, he took the knife, opened the blade, and carefully used its point to connect the puncture wounds, making the injury look more like a gash.

Then Eleisha shifted her thoughts inside Angie’s mind, taking her back in time to the moment she’d stepped from the elevator. She’d not met or seen anyone. She’d walked alone toward her car and then tripped, falling forward in front of an old van, cutting her wrist open on the jagged, dented fender. She’d made it to her car and then passed out.

“You’ll wake up in five minutes,” Eleisha whispered in her ear. She climbed out of the car and Maxim followed, closing the knife and wiping his face with one hand.

Eleisha had taught several other vampires to feed like this, but in those sessions, the point had been to teach someone else how to use his or her gift to lure a victim into a car, put the person to sleep, feed carefully, disguise the wound, and then replace a memory.

But Maxim had no telepathic ability with people—only animals—and he’d lost his gift. How could Eleisha ever help him learn to help himself, to feed safely and not call attention to himself by either killing someone or leaving someone alive who’d remember him?

Her thoughts must have shown on her face, because he stepped around in front of her, cutting her off.

“What…wrong?” he asked.

She liked his face and his messy blue-black hair. But now his dark eyes were nervous and searching, as if he feared disappointing her. That was the worst part. He
cared
how she felt. He’d been lonely and beyond miserable without even knowing it, and he seemed to believe she’d saved him and given him his life back. He loved living at the church and sleeping in a bed and having companionship. He wanted to please her.

She forced a smile. “Nothing’s wrong. You did just fine.”

Philip stepped out of the shadows from behind a huge yellow SUV. He frowned slightly at the sight of Maxim blocking Eleisha’s path. “All finished?” His voice was tight.

She moved quickly around Maxim. “Yes. Let’s go home.”

Wade took Mr. Boo through the front doors of the church into the sanctuary, which had been turned into a kind of library/sitting room with tastefully arranged couches and bookshelves. The main floor of the church comprised this large, open sanctuary—along with two back offices.

The upstairs sported six rooms that had once been engaged for Sunday school classes. Maxim was currently sleeping in one of them, and Wade and Eleisha later planned to use the others to house any more lost vampires they found.

The basement comprised a three-bedroom apartment where Wade, Eleisha, and Philip lived, as well as an industrial-sized kitchen the old congregation had once used for potluck dinners, but Wade had turned that area into a gym so he could work out at home.