* * *
The phone was picked up on the third ring, and a man’s voice answered. “Hello?”
“Mr. Jim Perrault?” Two was nervous, playing with the phone cord and tapping her feet. She really had no plan for how to proceed.
“Yes?” Caution in the voice. He probably thought she was going to try to sell him something.
“Hi. My name is Ashley Majors.” Ashley felt no more right for her now than it had as a child, nor during her time working for Darren, but it allowed her to get on with the call without having to explain her real name.
“What can I do for you, young lady?”
“This is going to seem strange, I think, but do you mind my asking you a question?”
“Go ahead …” Curiosity in his voice, mingled with trepidation. Two felt nervous, afraid to lose Tori, but determined to follow through.
“Are you the father of Tori Perrault?” she asked.
There was a lengthy pause. “Yes, I am.”
Mr. Perrault did not sound at all pleased to hear his daughter’s name. “If this is ‘Unsolved Mysteries,’ then no, we don’t want another list of phone numbers. There are a lot of girls who fit Tori’s description …”
“No, I’m not from a television show. I’ve never even seen it. But I have seen your daughter.”
“Where?” Perrault sounded exasperated, as if he’d long since given up any hope of seeing his daughter again. Two didn’t blame him. Twelve years was a long time.
“She’s standing right next to me.”
There was another, longer pause. When Perrault spoke again, he was obviously angry. “Do you think this is funny?”
Two was taken aback. “No. No, sir, I …”
“Why is that, after twelve years, there are still sick people out there who won’t have the common decency to let a man get on with his life?” Perrault was shouting by the end of the question.
“Mr. Perrault, I …”
“I don’t want to hear it,” he snarled. “Goodbye.”
Two listened to the dial-tone for a moment, then slammed the handset down into the receiver. “Well … fuck.”
“What is it?” Rhes was sitting with Sarah and Molly on a bench, a few feet away. Tori was looking into the display window of a jewelry store.
Two lit a cigarette, dragged at it, rolled her eyes. “The good news is: I found him. The bad news? He thought it was a prank phone call.”
Rhes sighed. “She’s been gone for over a decade, Two. I’d think it was a joke, too.”
“Is it a funny joke?” Tori asked, rejoining the group.
“I suppose it might be, to someone else. Not to me.” Two sat down on the curb, smoked, stared at the traffic.
Sarah stirred, stretched, then leaned against Rhes. “So, what do we do now?”
“I buy two plane tickets, I guess. I could keep calling until I wore him down, but what’s it matter? We have to go there. We have to take her home.”
“Are we going home already?” Tori asked, misunderstanding.
“No, Tori. I meant that we’re going to go see your Mom and Dad.”
Tori took in air to protest this, and Two held up her hand.
“It’s okay. I’m coming with you. I promised you I wouldn’t make you go away, by yourself, unless you wanted to. Right?”
Tori considered this. Acquiesced. “Okay, Two. I miss my Mom and Dad.”
Two and Rhes exchanged glances. Two turned back to Tori. “Good, sweetheart. I’m sure they miss you too.”
“When are we gonna go see them?”
“As soon as I can order us some plane tickets.”
Molly spoke up. “Are you really going to fly to Ohio, Two?”
“Someone has to, kiddo. I could drive, but what’s the point? For once in my life, money’s not a problem.”
“How are you going to get from the airport to Lima, Two?” Sarah questioned. “You could take a cab, I guess, if any run that far …”
“I figured I’d rent a car.”
“Two, you’re nineteen, and you have no license. Most places don’t let you rent until at least twenty-one, even if you’re legal to drive.”
“I’ll be twenty in April. Also … hang on a second.”
Two pulled out her wallet, dug through it, laughed. She held up a fake license, expertly crafted. “Here we go. This one says I’m twenty-two.”
Sarah shook her head, smiling. “Jesus, Two. I’m not sure you should hang around Molly. I think maybe you’re a bad influence.”
Molly giggled. Two grinned at her. “I think of all the people Molly’s met in her life, I’m one of the ones you need to worry about the least.”
Rhes stood up. “Okay. Let’s go do this. I’ve got to be at work in a few hours. Fridays are busy. I know a travel agent down in the village.”
He started down the street. Sarah held his hand in one of her own, Jake’s harness in the other. Two, Molly and Tori followed.
* * *
Two purchased a round-trip ticket for herself and, after some deliberation, a one-way ticket for Tori. It was hard for her; she had honestly enjoyed Tori’s companionship, and the two had formed a strong bond. Few, if any, had gone through trials like they had, and Two considered Tori her sister, in blood and spirit. Still, she knew that Tori needed time to become reacquainted with her parents. Two expected to spend only a short time in Ohio, and she expected to return alone.
She had allowed two weeks of time before the flight, as a chance for both of them to get used to idea. Thirteen days had passed since they ordered the tickets, and in that time great pieces of Tori’s mind had returned. She was now in possession of the larger part of her memories from before her conversion at Abraham’s hands, and was anxious to see her parents.
Tonight they were packing. Tomorrow would bring them to the airport via cab, to fly first-class to Ohio. Their flight left at four in the afternoon, changed over in Detroit, landed at eight-thirty. Two supposed they would spend the night in a motel, and find Tori’s parents the next morning. Tori was clearly excited.
“I can’t wait to see them again!” She was sitting on the bed, folding clothes.
Two laughed. “It should definitely be an experience.”
She wondered what it would be like, presenting the Perraults with a daughter that hadn’t aged in the twelve years she’d been gone. Two hoped they didn’t think Tori was some sort of imposter. She found it unlikely; parents were capable of telling the difference between identical twins. Two had little doubt that Jim and Mona would recognize Tori for who she was.
Tori was looking over the plane tickets. As her memory had returned, so her ability to read had improved drastically. She was now in most ways a fully-functioning young woman. The only abnormalities now were not mental weaknesses, but rather physical strengths. She was unbelievably strong, and very fast. These traits did not seem to be disappearing, and Two had begun to doubt they ever would. Whatever changes Tori’s years of vampirism had wrought on her body, not all of them could be undone.
“Two …” Tori’s voice was hesitant.
“Yeah?” Two was stuffing clothes into suitcases, not worried about folding them, just wanting to be done and ready to go.
“One of these tickets is one-way …”
Two sighed. “Yes. You know why.”
“What if I don’t want to stay with them?”
“I think you will, Tori. At least for a while. I think you need to stay there without me, and get used to being normal again.”
“Are you sure? You can stay there for as long as you want. My parents will think you’re some kind of angel, trust me. They’ll be happy to have you.”
Two grinned. “No thanks, hon. New York or nothing, for me.”
“And why should I be any different?”
“Oh, come on. You might want to move back someday, sure … but right now? You’re dying to see them. You know it, I know it. It’s been twelve years, and now you remember them and you miss them. This is your opportunity to mak
e up for all that lost time. You’re not going to want to leave, Tori. Not for a while.”
Two liked being able to hold a normal conversation with Tori. While she missed some of the wide-eyed innocence that the girl had possessed during her slow return to humanity, overall she was very happy that Tori had regained her mental capabilities. More than that, she was glad to find that even as an adult, Tori was someone she liked very much.
Tori sighed, smiled, nodded her head. “Okay, yes, I’m dying to see them. I miss them so much.”
“Then stop worrying about what’s going to happen in the future, and worry about what’s happening now.”
“Which is?”
Two laughed. “Which is: you’re wasting time. Keep packing.”
* * *
They arrived in Akron ahead of schedule, just past eight o’clock. Two’s fake ID held up under the scrutiny of the young woman at the rental-car counter. “You don’t look twenty-two at all.”
Two gave her most winning smile. “Thanks!”
The car was a sedan, well equipped, comfortable. They drove it a few miles from the airport, found a motel, and once settled spent most of the night talking. Tori was scared and excited, unable to sleep. Two was nervous as well, and had didn’t mind staying up to chat. She wanted this to go well for Tori. After everything the two had been through together, it would be a nice change of pace to have something go smoothly.
They woke early the next morning, showered, and left the motel. An hour and a half into the drive, Tori began to recognize landmarks, but an hour later was forced to admit that her memory was still not flawless. They were lost. A quick stop at a gas station put them on the right track, and it was only twenty minutes later that they entered the Lima town limits.
“Turn right, over there.” Tori seemed confident in her memories of the town. Two thought about checking the map, decided she could trust Tori, and took the turn.
“Now left. Okay. We’re going to drive up this road for about ten minutes, and there’ll be a right. Tower Street. Turn there.”
They drove, and there was Tower Street. Two guided the car onto it.
“Take your next right, and then the first left, and then we’re there.” Tori looked vaguely ill.
“You all right?”
“I don’t know. I feel kinda sick. Probably just nerves.”
Two nodded. She wondered what it would be like to be reunited with her own parents. It was, of course, not possible with her mother. The concept of returning to her father was laughable at best. Two hadn’t liked him as a child, and by her teens she’d despised him.
“Blue house on the left. Oh God.” Tori was fidgeting with her seatbelt, had been doing so every time Two had glanced at her in the past twenty minutes.
“Thank Christ,” Two laughed.
“Why are you so relieved?”
“Because if I was forced to watch you twist that stupid seatbelt around for another five minutes, I’d have lost my mind.”
Tori laughed, gave Two the finger, let the seatbelt fall from her hands. They were there.
It was eleven o’clock, a Saturday morning in February, cold and clear and grey with tiny snowflakes dancing in the air. The house was light blue with darker blue shutters, a ranch, sitting squat on a patch of dead grass. Small piles of snow had collected in the shaded areas. The scene was far from idyllic, yet there was a sense of comfort and welcome about the place. Inside, Two, thought, it would be warm, and there would be the smell of something good cooking. Apple pie, maybe, or fresh bread.
Tori took a deep breath, left the car, stood staring at the house. Two walked around the car, adjusting her coat against the cold, and Tori embraced her suddenly. “Thank you so much, Two.”
“What are friends for? Go ring that fucking doorbell, Tori. The suspense is killing me.”
Tori laughed. “Killing you?!”
As Tori moved toward the door, Two leaned up against a large tree growing in the front yard, lighting a cigarette. This was not her moment, and she was comfortable remaining in the background. Tori pressed the doorbell, waited, shifting from one foot to another.
“Just a minute!” A woman’s voice called from inside the house. Two saw Tori’s breath catch.
The door opened, and a pleasant-looking woman in perhaps her mid-fifties looked out. She was carrying a plate and a towel. There was a long moment of silence as she looked at Tori.
“Hi, mom.” Tori’s voice was soft, and shaky, almost scared. Two watched, waited, hoped.
The dish fell from the woman’s hands, forgotten, to shatter on the doorstep. Neither Tori nor her mother seemed to notice. Mona swayed a little, and Tori reached a hand out to steady her. The moment Tori’s hand touched her mother’s shoulder, Mona’s paralysis broke.
“Oh my God my baby!” she cried, and flung her arms around Tori, who put her head on her mother’s shoulder and wept. Mona stood there, repeating those words, “My baby. My baby,” and rocking Tori, arms locked around her daughter. Two felt a painful, wonderful wrenching in her heart, saw a flicker-flash pass by her vision: Theroen, smiling. Here again was a reminder of what it was like to be loved.
Two felt tears at her eyes and was unsurprised. Tears of joy for Tori, tears of pain for Theroen, tears of relief for herself. Descent and rebirth. Tori was home, and Two stood now on the very lip of some new life. She had passed through the nightmare and come through to the other side.
“Can I see Dad?” Tori asked finally, managing to calm herself at least well enough to speak.
Mona laughed, clapped her hands, called for Jim, nearly jumping up and down in joy and excitement. “Come here! Jim! Come now! She’s back, oh, she’s back! Come see!”
A man at the door, now. “What the hell’s going on out …” Jim stopped in mid-sentence, the sight of his daughter slapping the words from his mouth. Two laughed at his expression, watching it warm from shock, to awe, to joy.
“Sweetheart?” His voice was low. Shaky.
“Daddy!” Tori was grinning, laughing, crying. She flung her arms around him, and Jim began to weep as well, holding his daughter in a tight embrace. Mona encircled them both with her arms, husband and daughter, and the three of them stood there on the doorstep, clinging to each other and crying.
* * *
Later there were introductions, explanations, excuses. Tori the victim of a cruel abduction. She remembered being forced to take some sort of drug, and then nothing. Amnesia. No understanding of what had happened or why she hadn’t aged. Two fed out the tale as she and Tori had devised it, sitting in the motel room in Akron. She had found Tori wandering the streets of Manhattan, and had helped Tori to slowly regain her memories from before the event.
It was spotty at best, transparent at worst, but Tori’s parents bought it completely. It didn’t matter to them. Tori was home with them at last, and that was more than enough.
Invitations were offered to Two without hesitation. Room, board, as long as she might want to stay. Two accepted with thanks, knowing that it would not be long before she felt the desire to return to New York. For now, though, it was enough to be with Tori and her parents, and to be a part of the amazement, and laughter, and love.
Two thought often of Theroen, thought of love, thought of redemption. She wondered what might lie ahead, where life in New York might take her. For the time being, she was content to leave these questions unanswered. For years she had lived in darkness and though now she wanted nothing more than a life under the night sky, she could stand for a time in the light, and find it good.
* * *
Epilogue
Lima, Ohio. The dead of night.
The girl with the blonde hair wakes from a dream she can’t remember, and looks out the window at the moon rising full in the sky. Stars like she’s never seen, no lights of a great city to obscure them, glitter back at her like diamonds cast against a mat of soft black velvet. They reflect in her eyes, large and green.
She hears the soft breathing of the young lady
in the twin bed on the other side of the room, and sighs. She thinks of breathing in the dark with her lover. She thinks of the time they shared together.
Sleep does not come easily for the girl, even now, in safety and warmth, and she crawls from the bed and pulls on jeans below her nightgown. A winter coat, a pair of socks, her shoes. She wants a cigarette. She wants to think.
If the young woman in the other bed hears her leave, then she lets the girl go. There are times when it is best not to disturb. There are times when it is best to feign sleep and hope, hope that a friend will find the answers that she’s looking for. Hope that all will be well.
The girl sits on the front porch and smokes, and smiles through her tears, calls herself silly. The moon makes everything blue-black, and she remembers the woods, and how they seemed lit as if by daylight, to vampire eyes.
Two sits and smokes, and smiles through her tears, and thinks about Theroen. She thinks about the future, and about the past. She knows there are other vampires. Surely Theroen could not be the last of his kind. She knows there are others, and she knows from his stories that some of them, at least, are like him. Decent. Honest. Good. They are untainted by the evil that infested Abraham. They are out there; awake like her, under the same moon, under the same stars.
Two could learn to love the light, perhaps. She could learn to be human, to pursue again those human dreams, human ambitions. A husband, maybe. A child. A life like any other.
She doesn’t want it.
The decision is made between the flare of the match, and the cigarette’s last dying ember. Under the moon and the stars, it’s so much harder to lie to herself than it is under the sun. She wants what once was offered. What once she had. There are others, and they are out there, living the life she wants, knowing the power of the blood, moving their way through the cities and towns and woods of the world.
Two sits, and smokes, and smiles through her tears. There are others. They are out there. She knows it.
The II AM Trilogy Collection Page 27