My Link in Time (The Immortal Ones--Book Two)

by S. L. Baum

  Catherine pursed her lips in thought. “James and I are not quite sure about that. It might have been just a coincidence. We are working on creating a full genealogy for ourselves and for Charity.”

  “Did you ever find out who Elizabeth was?” Link wondered.

  Marcus leaned his head back and raised his eyebrows. “Aah, Elizabeth.”

  “You know her?” Link puzzled.

  “We all do, now,” I answered.

  “You’ll meet her in Las Vegas,” Eve responded. “That has been her playground for over fifty years. She’s a Witch.”

  ****

  chapter four

  PLANES

  “Emily, I can’t believe you are really going to go through with this!” Delilah exclaimed as she plopped down on my bed and glanced at the open suitcase sitting in the corner of my room.

  Summer and Dee had stopped by after school. Since I didn’t see them every day, anymore, they were hungry for all the little details that I would usually share as we walked from class to class, ate lunch together, or hung out in the parking lot. The school was buzzing. Most people were astounded that I was getting married in a few days. It was pretty obvious that Dee was fishing for gossip to spread. Summer just looked happy for me.

  “I admit I was shocked when we found out. It is a step I am in no way ready for, but I am happy for you. I don’t know why, but your whole persona has changed since you and Link came together. You’re good for each other.” Summer gave me a squeeze and a smile. She was an old soul. She understood me better than any other teen could.

  Link had departed from the house a few hours earlier with Marcus and Eve, for reasons I wasn’t allowed to know about yet. Some wedding surprise, I was quite sure of it. I was happy to have some time alone with my friends again. I’d actually missed them.

  “Yes, Dee, I am really going through with it. I’m a woman in love,” I smiled.

  “You’re seventeen!” Dee exclaimed. “I’m older than you. Anyway, my mom keeps saying I won’t be a true woman until I’m twenty-five. So, we’ve got a long way to go sista.”

  “Delilah, you turned eighteen like three weeks ago,” Summer reminded her. “You can barely call yourself older than Emily.”

  “Still, I could fly to Vegas today and get married. Emily will have to wait.” Dee crossed her arms over her chest, beaming with pride.

  “Jeez Louise, Dee... fine... you are older than me, and I’m not a woman. I’m a female in love. Is that better?” I shook my head.

  Delilah gave a laugh, “I’m just messing with you. ‘Jeez Louise’ who says that? You crack me up. And seriously, what are you listening to? Your music choices totally freak me out sometimes! You are so random... rock, show-tunes, and whatever the heck this is...” She shook her head with distaste.

  I had music playing through my computer. The chorus to This Corrosion was in full swing. “It’s from The Sisters of Mercy. It’s an English band, Goth Rock from the eighties,” I explained.

  “How about listening to something, anything, that was made after you were born,” Delilah clipped in an angry tone.

  If you only knew, I thought, but mumbled “Whatever,” as I walked over to the computer and clicked on a playlist that Summer had created the last time she was over. That should satisfy her. Dee was in rare form today, crabbier than ever.

  Summer’s face scrunched up. She didn’t like it when Dee started in with me, which she seemed to be doing more often lately. “Anyway, back to your Vegas comment. It’s not as if you’d ever run off and marry Burke anyway. At least, I can’t see you doing it,” Summer chided her friend. “Or is there some mystery man that you’ve been hiding from us?”

  “No, there’s no mystery man. You just never know what a trust fund baby will do,” Dee smoothed. She gave the two of us a weird smile, popped off of the bed, and walked into my closet.

  “What are you talking about?” I asked.

  I followed her and stood in front of her, leaning against the doorframe, while she sifted through my dresses.

  “Grand-mére Prideux passed away yesterday. She was actually my mom’s grandma. I think I met her, I don’t know, like six or eight times. For some reason she didn’t like my dad very much, so Mom would usually go visit by herself... but sometimes she’d bring me with her. Anyway the woman was loaded, and I mean L-O-A-D-E-D. Mom said the lawyer will give us all the deets in the next couple of days, but she wouldn’t be surprised if there was a... How did she put it? Oh yeah, a ‘substantial trust fund’ set up in my name.

  “Imagine if I could live the life of one of those hotel heiresses. Wouldn’t I just excel at that? Designer everything, my peeps following me around, jumping from party to party, flying to Vegas, or New York, or LA, or Paris on a whim. Oooh, there is seriously a house somewhere in France, too. I wonder what it takes to get one of those black American Express cards? I hear they are super exclusive. Mostly, I wonder how substantial a ‘substantial trust fund’ might actually be.” Dee finally paused for a breath.

  Summer joined me by the closet, leaning against the other side of the doorframe. “Wow, Dee, I’m real sorry to hear about your grandma. How is your family doing?”

  “Dad doesn’t seem to care. Apparently she wasn’t very nice to him when he married my mom and joined the Prideux family. Mom’s been crying on and off since we got the call. There weren’t many people left in the Prideux line, just Mom and her Uncle Philip, her cousin Marie, and me. That’s it now. Like I said, Mom only took me with her a few times. The last time was about a year ago and Grand-mére kept telling me that I looked just like her daughter, my mom’s mom, who died when my mom was like twelve. Grand-mére Prideux took me on a shopping spree, and I think we spent eight grand on clothes and accessories. She was sooooo nice to me. I’ll miss her,” Delilah sighed.

  It was becoming more apparent that Dee liked to tap into the completely selfish side of her personality more often than she let on. It was if she had been putting on some sort of I’m normal-I swear mask that she didn’t feel the need to wear anymore. I wanted to wring her neck sometimes. Okay that was an overstatement, but I swore I could see dollar signs glowing in her eyes. I realized she said that she had barely known the woman, but her mom must have been hurting. Ugh! I kept telling myself that she had a good heart. She really did seem to, at the beginning. But the longer I knew her, the harder it was getting to justify her actions.

  “Are you guys leaving for her funeral soon?” I asked.

  Delilah grabbed a black dress from its place in my closet and held it in front of her as she gazed at herself in the full length mirror. “Yep, we drive to Montrose and board the plane tomorrow. Mom’s too scared to fly out of Telluride. Something about the runway at the edge of a cliff or something. Anyway, Burke is coming with us. I told my mom that there was no way I could handle a funeral without having him there to support me. Do you think I could borrow this Emily?” she turned to me. “Mom was just saying that we wouldn’t have time to shop, and I need a proper black dress. This one is kinda old fashionedy and proper. Grand-mére Prideux would approve.” She did a sort of a curtsey, lifting up the edge of my dress, and then turned back to the mirror.

  “Of course you can. I guess it’s a good thing that it’s a little short on me,” I noted. With Delilah being her petite little self, there wasn’t much (beside tops) that we could share.

  “Yeah. Mom’ll like this one too,” Dee concluded. “I guess I’d better head home and pack. I wanted to tell you guys together. There’s no use in repeating the story twice. So, Summer, are you coming back with me? Or do you want Emily to drive you home later?” she asked as she walked out of my closet.

  Delilah held her right hand up in the air, swinging the hanger with the black dress on it and staring at Summer, waiting for an answer.

  “I’ll go with you, Dee. Are you sure you’re okay? I can’t believe you didn’t tell me today at school or before we got here.” Summer shook her head, completely confused by her friend’s seemingly emotionle
ss response to a family death.

  “It’s fine. Don’t worry about me. Just say a little prayer for my mom. I hate to see her sad. Her eyes get all puffy and her nose is beet red. Not an attractive look,” Dee continued prattling on as she clipped down the staircase.

  Summer immediately followed behind Delilah and shrugged at me as we followed Dee to the door. Summer had to scramble to keep up, as Dee opened the front door and quickly headed outside without a look back.

  “Bye, Dee,” I called out. “Text me when you get to... Where are you going?” I yelled.

  “New York, dahling,” Delilah responded as she plopped into her car, threw my dress in the back seat, and barely waited for Summer to close the passenger door, before she sped down the driveway.

  I got a text from Summer a few moments later that read, We exist on a HI-er plane than D. 4give her.

  I loved that girl. She always tried to keep everyone happy. But she was obviously starting to see the flaws in our friend. I decided to give Delilah the benefit of the doubt. She did just lose a grandmother. That could account for the strange, selfish behavior. Everyone deals with grief in their own way.

  After Lincoln returned with Marcus and Eve, I spent the first ten minutes rattling off about Summer and Delilah’s visit. I was still a bit shell shocked by the whole thing. I really had never seen that side of Delilah before. I hoped that she’d be back to normal after the funeral.

  “Well that sounds a bit sterile and detached, now doesn’t it?” Marcus commented first.

  Eve nodded her head in agreement. “I told you there was something strange about that girl’s head. I did not enjoy peering into it on Christmas Eve. Everything was askew in there, and it was difficult to tell fact from fiction.”

  “I know, I know,” I shook my head. “Money is the original green eyed monster. People change when money is suddenly dangled in front of them. I have seen it many times, over my many years. It can bring out the wonderful in a person or it can do the exact opposite.”

  “Sounds like Dee’s embracing her Dark Side,” Link replied. “But honestly, Charity, I really don’t want to talk about Dee anymore, let’s get to work planning our own debauchery. Vegas awaits, my love.”

  Marcus and Eve were sporting silly grins. I was sure it had to do with the excursion they had just returned from.

  “What are you two up to?” I asked.

  “We decided to secure a private jet for our trip. It is so much better to travel at our convenience and in grand style. Don’t you agree?” Eve smiled.

  “Should I bow to your greatness now?” I gave a half bow and then ran over to hug my friend. “Thank you. I’m getting spoiled here, but I’m not complaining. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you!” I swayed back and forth as I hugged her, forcing Eve to participate in my happy dance with me.

  “Where is my exuberant embrace?” Marcus scoffed.

  “I’d never leave you out!” I cried and grabbed him for a bear hug.

  “That’s more like it,” he said, returning the hug. “We are looking forward to this trip, too. So the jet has some self-motivation behind it, it wasn’t just for you. I’m not a fan of flying with the masses.”

  “I don’t care what motivated it,” Link admitted. “It’ll be my first trip in a private jet.”

  “It’ll be better for you too, Lincoln. We can set our own departure time. With your light sensitivity, I didn’t want to chance flying commercial,” Eve explained.

  “Okay, everyone, let’s get packing!” I exclaimed.

  And there I was, with the truest friends a girl could have… ones who thought about everything, and everyone. My fiancé was at my side; the great love of my life. It is all falling into place, I thought.

  I couldn’t wait to get on that jet.

  ****

  chapter five

  VEGAS BABY

  We were on our way to the Telluride airport. Link was at my side, driving the SUV, and holding a silver insulated mug that was filled with blood. It may have looked like a coffee mug, but the smell... Blood mug. That was something I still wasn’t used to. It was one of those times that I wished my sense of smell wasn’t quite so heightened. I could use some dulling of the senses, whenever drinking blood was involved. Link had insisted on waiting until the very last minute to drink that particular dose. It was a decision I wholeheartedly agreed with, and instantaneously regretted the moment we were in an enclosed space together. I rolled down the window.

  Marcus and Eve sat in the back seat, kissing like they hadn’t seen each other in weeks. I kept my eyes on my phone and resisted the temptation to yell, “Get a room,” at them.

  James and Catherine were driving right in front of us. Both vehicles were fully loaded. Six people going to Las Vegas for close to a week could generate quite a lot of baggage.

  I was immersed in my phone, texting back and forth with Summer. Dee hadn’t returned any of my calls or texts, so Summer had been keeping me posted. She let me know when Delilah had safely arrived in New York, when the funeral for her Grand-mére Prideux had been held, and informed me that Delilah had said she was seeing the lawyers soon. I decided to check with Summer one more time before we boarded the plane and were on our way.

  Heard anything? I typed into the keyboard.

  Not 2day. D txtd last nite 2 say she’s good. Summer responded.

  Burke? I asked.

  He told Rusty D’s cryin and NYs cool?? She texted back.

  That’s all? I responded.

  Don’t worry. Have fun. I got this. Go get married!!

  K – will do

  & OMG Happy B’day – I almost forgot!

  <3 u – thx. I ended our conversation with a smile.

  It was Emily’s birthday. She was officially eighteen years old, which meant I could get married without drawing too much attention our way or having to go through the process of getting a new set of identification papers. It just made sense to wait until the town thought I was eighteen; the legal age of consent. Not that we actually waited all that long.

  My real birthday was in March, so my family wouldn’t be celebrating until then.

  “Everything okay?” Link asked, as we drove up the mountain road.

  “I guess so. I don’t know why I am worried about her,” I told him.

  “Because you are trying to be a good friend to Delilah,” Eve replied, reaching up to place her hand on my shoulder.

  “No matter how kooky she is,” Marcus muttered.

  “I know. I know. They’re my first mortal friends in decades. I think I’ve become a little attached to them,” I admitted.

  “That’s a good thing, Charity,” Link smiled at me. “Human connection is a good thing.”

  “It is a good thing, but there are a few downfalls. It’s been decades since I went out of my way to check up on a mortal,” I grimaced.

  “Oh, the horror of it all,” Link teased.

  How would I describe the view from the jet plane window of Las Vegas, Nevada at night? Lights, lights, lights... I’d have to start with that one word. It is a spectacular sight. The beacon from the top of the pyramid that beams up into the inky black sky, the zillions of twinkling bulbs, the dizzying amount of activity on the streets below - it was a blinking, flashing, and twinkling feast for the eyes.

  Flying from Colorado to Nevada was a fairly quick flight. I’d glanced out the window, just after our wheels had left the ground in Telluride, and marveled at the sheer drop off. I found it exhilarating, but I could see why Delilah’s mother would be so uneasy with that drop off at the end of Telluride’s runway. When we finally came in for our landing at the North Las Vegas Airport, I gave Link’s hand a squeeze. The landing was as smooth as could be, but my heart had quickened with the excitement of what lie ahead.

  As soon as the jet came to rest, and the pilot gave the all clear, Marcus, Eve, James, Catherine, Lincoln, and I stood up and stretched our limbs. My little motley crew of a family was ready for an adventure. We would be able to let loose and lose our
inhibitions, I hoped.

  “Well are you ready, Milady?” Link grabbed me from behind, circling my shoulders with his arms. “Our carriage awaits,” he whispered into my ear and kissed my neck.

  “Another carriage ride.” I smiled at the memory. “I’m going to go out on a limb and rule out a gondola ride at this time. So what exactly do you have in store for me?”

  “Let’s grab our bags and you’ll see,” he winked.

  As we departed the jet, walking down the metal stairs and onto the tarmac, I breathed in the night air. It smelled quite different than I remembered, but there was a hint of the familiar. Las Vegas has a fragrance that simply cannot be described, the good and the bad all muddled together. It had been many, many years, and much had changed.

  We waited for the baggage handler to load all of our luggage onto his cart, and we followed him out to the front of the small airport. A sleek, black, stretch limousine waited for us there.

  “Your carriage,” Link extended his arm.

  “Excellent choice,” Marcus nodded his head in approval.

  “Knight party?” The driver inquired.

  “Why, yes,” Catherine responded. “We are the Knight party.”

  “And tonight, party we shall,” James whooped.

  “James!” I exclaimed. Shock filled my voice. It was so rare to see James let loose. It was a peculiar sight. “You just whooped!”

  “What?” he smiled at me. “It’s Vegas, Baby!”

  “I get it,” I laughed. “What’s on the agenda for tonight?”

  “Well, let’s go check into the hotel, change into some evening wear that is truly Vegas inspired, then gamble and dance the night away!” Eve jumped up and down with excitement. “And by the way,” she said as she pulled something from her purse. “I took the liberty of making sure you could participate in everything Vegas has to offer. You are twenty-one today, darling. Happy Birthday!” she laughed as she handed me a new ID.