by Barb Hendee
Seamus had no idea where this was heading, but he nodded. “I suppose he would.”
She paused for a few moments, and then she floated closer. “Okay. I’ll talk to him.”
Almost the instant Seamus vanished, Christian excused himself to go up to his room, claiming he needed a few moments to himself.
But he was hoping that Seamus would zero in on him and bring the girl up here—as he wanted to talk to her alone. He had no idea if this venture would bear any fruit at all, but he strongly suspected it might, and he wanted full control of a polite interrogation.
Eleisha’s instincts down in the living room had been good, but he wanted no interference here.
If there was one thing Christian did well, it was talking to women.
The air shimmered by the bed, and both ghosts suddenly appeared. Seamus looked enormous beside the girl, dressed in his breeches, with his blue and yellow plaid across one shoulder.
The girl was a different story. Christian had seen only a glimpse of her at the Seattle Center, but now he took a good look and pegged her immediately. The cropped magenta hair and nose stud spoke volumes. She would be prickly and easily offended. But underneath, she craved attention and approval.
He smiled at her. “Thank you for coming.” Then he glanced at Seamus. “Thank you as well. You may go now.”
“No,” Seamus answered.
The tall, transparent ghost didn’t move an inch, and Christian realized—to his annoyance—that Seamus had no intention of leaving. Well, there was nothing to be done about that. Christian couldn’t make him leave, so he might as well proceed.
He smiled at Mary again. “Our Seamus here seems to think you are much too nice a girl to be working for Julian unless you were being forced.”
Mary blinked in surprise. “He does?”
Seamus started slightly, but Christian just kept talking. “Is that true? Is Julian forcing you, or has he promised something you want?”
Her face flickered at his second phrase, and he knew he had her. Christian had been connecting emotions to facial expressions for hundreds of years. He didn’t need to be able to read this girl’s thoughts. Her face was an open book.
“He’s promised you something?” Christian said. “Something important.”
She looked wary now, but her eyes were locked into his, and he was sure he could see a hint of hope beneath their surface. “Yeah…,” she began. “He pulled me out of the gray plane himself, so he’s the only one who can send me back. I want to go back, and he promised that if I helped him just once more, he’d send me.”
“Oh, Mary,” Seamus interrupted. “No. Why do you want to go back?”
“’Cause Jasper’s there. He must be. Seamus, I can’t leave him all alone.”
Christian just listened. Maybe having the Highlander here wasn’t such a bad thing. The girl talked to him more openly. But who was Jasper? Then he remembered Seamus having mentioned something about a vampire the girl had loved…a vampire Julian had beheaded.
Christian knew what she wanted.
“I can send you back,” he said quietly. Both ghosts fell silent and stared at him. “I’d be glad to send to you back if that’s really what you want.”
Mary floated a little closer. “You know how?”
“Of course. You both know I’m no expert in speaking to real ghosts, but I daresay I’m more educated than Julian on the matter. I’ve had to be. It’s my trade.” He tilted his head. “Mary, how did Julian learn to call you over in the first place?”
Her eyes were growing excited now. “He read books. I know one in particular helped him a lot ’cause he keeps it out on the table—”
“Geister Aufforden, by Gottbert Drechsler,” Christian suggested casually.
She gasped. “Yes. You’ve read it?”
“Of course I’ve read it, my dear. As I told you, this is my trade. I may not have been the one to call you over, but I can certainly send you back.”
Seamus was still silent, but Christian guessed that had more to do with Mary’s actual request than with any doubts he might harbor regarding Christian’s abilities.
“Are you certain that Julian means to keep his promise?” Christian went on. “You trust completely that as soon as you help him finish things up here, he’ll hold up his end of the bargain?”
She didn’t answer, but he could see from her face that she didn’t.
“Let me pose another offer,” he said. “If you help us to…shall we say, ‘finish things here,’ I can promise that we’ll free you of Julian forever, and I’ll send you back to the gray plane myself.” He paused for effect. “You may not know me, but I think you do know Eleisha, and she’d never let me break a promise.”
Mary’s eyes flooded with hope. “No, she wouldn’t, would she. Eleisha would never…” She glanced up at Seamus, who still didn’t look happy, and then back to Christian. “What is it you want me to do?”
His heart soared. That had been easier than he’d expected, but then again, he was a master at telling people exactly what they needed to hear. But now he needed a few things from her.
“We’ll chat about that soon enough,” he said. “First, I need to know a bit more about what we’re up against. For one, why did Julian knock Eleisha unconscious instead of taking her head when he could have?”
“Oh, he doesn’t want to kill Eleisha yet, not unless he has to. He wants her to keep finding more vampires like you.”
That made sense. “What about Wade?”
“No, probably not—again, unless he had to. Wade’s the one doing the searches, and Eleisha’s the one you guys all seem to trust. Julian needs both of them. But I think he’d cut Philip’s head off in a heartbeat now.”
That got Christian’s full attention. “Really?”
“Yeah, these hunts would be a whole lot easier without Philip in the mix.”
Goodness. This meeting was turning out to be far more of a treasure trove than he could have imagined.
“All right,” Christian said. “I want you to wait until dusk tomorrow night. Then I want you to go to Julian, and this is what I want you to tell him…”
chapter fifteen
The following night, ten minutes after waking up on Philip’s chest, Eleisha found herself alone in their guest room, as he’d gotten dressed quickly and gone downstairs to help Wade set up their trap.
The plan struck her as complex and simple at the same time, but much of it depended on Mary. Eleisha still had no idea how Christian had managed to win her over to their side, but the remainder of the previous night had been short and rushed and absorbed by the rapid formation of this plan—and everyone had been concerned about different aspects.
Eleisha was most worried about Vera being kept far away from Julian, and frankly, she wasn’t keen on Ivory getting anywhere near Julian either, as Ivory appeared to have no real defenses. Christian backed her up in both these concerns.
But this then created an unfortunate role for Wade in tonight’s events, which he’d opposed vehemently. But after a somewhat heated argument with Christian, in the end, Wade finally agreed to play guard dog to both women in an upstairs room.
Eleisha, Philip, and Christian would handle the fight downstairs…by using Christian as bait.
But far worse than the prospect of a battle with Julian, Eleisha was left with the unfortunate task of deciding what to wear. They were going to have a short stint of playing the socialite spiritualists for Vera before the main event was set in motion, and then more important, later tonight she’d need to fool Julian into thinking she was Ivory—at least from the back and under dim lighting.
For both these reasons, looking the part was important, and except for her sleeveless linen blouse, she had nothing in her suitcase but jeans, T-shirts, and broomstick skirts. Maybe she could wear the blouse with a skirt.
A knock sounded on the door, and Christian said, “Eleisha, it’s me,” from the other side.
Hesitantly, she opened the door and peered out.
He was a holding a light pink evening gown and a cosmetics bag. “We need to hurry,” he said without his usual polite greeting. “I’ve asked Vera to meet me up here in a few minutes. You’re certain you can put her to sleep for several hours?”
“Yes.”
But before she could say anything else, he pushed past her inside the room, dropping the gown on the bed. “Get the dress on. There’s no séance scheduled for tonight, and she thinks we’re all going out for drinks at the Belmont.”
“That’s what you told her?”
He shrugged. “She’ll want to do whatever we are doing tonight, but I needed a reason to give Simmons and the maids a night off. I arranged symphony tickets for all of them, and I told Simmons that Vera would be going out with us. He’ll be gone for hours. Now, you get changed and let me take a crack at hiding that black eye.” He turned around and started pulling small bottles from the cosmetics bag.
Eleisha stared at his back. Once again, she was placed in the position of changing clothes with him in the room. But there seemed no way she could object or refuse without offending him…or looking like some prudish female mortal who didn’t understand the seriousness of the situation.
So while his back was turned, she dressed quickly, finding this gown preferable to the one from the previous night. It was sleeveless, but the top section covered more. It had an empire waist and zipped up the back to between her shoulder blades.
“Better,” she said. “I can move in this.”
He turned and smiled. “I’m not completely oblivious. I know what we’re up against tonight. Come here, and let me see what I can do with that eye.”
Some of the bruising had faded, but she still looked like she’d walked into a door. Christian seemed different tonight, more matter-of-fact, and his manner put her at ease. She sat down at the dressing table and turned her face up to him without hesitation. He applied some makeup to a sponge and then started dabbing it over her eye.
Without any warning, his easygoing manner vanished.
“Eleisha,” he said, his voice sounding intense. “You know… I mean, you’ve realized by now that although I believe Julian has to be removed, once this is over, I’m not going back to Portland with you. I’m not going to live in some church.”
Suddenly she was aware of his close proximity, how his fingers were touching the skin on her face, blending the makeup. She wanted to pull away but didn’t. An unwanted feeling began growing inside her that she didn’t want to live in the church either. She wanted the excitement of sitting in Ivory’s chair and playing the conduit to Christian’s spiritualist. The pull toward that life was so enticing.
“Yes,” she struggled to say. “I know you won’t come back with us. It’s all right. That life isn’t your life.”
He touched her shoulder with his other hand. “I knew you’d understand. But I hate the thought of losing you now that we’ve just become friends. Ivory and I have been alone for so long.”
The desire to stay with him, to travel and play the conduit at his side, grew stronger, and she fought to push it away. She thought of Philip and Wade and Rose…and Maxim. They were the crux of her home. They were her foundation.
She sat frozen while he brushed her hair quickly, twisted part of it, put it up on top of her head, and held it there with surprisingly few pins.
Light footsteps sounded outside, followed by a knock. “Christian, darling, are you in here?”
“Yes, Vera.” He went to open the door and Eleisha stood up.
Smile, he flashed into her mind, and it sounded like an order.
She smiled.
Vera swept into the room, wearing a gold and black caftan and enormous silver hoops in her ears. “Oh, Eleisha, how sweet you look. Not all women can wear pink and pull it off like that.” She pressed her palms together cheerfully. “Christian said you wanted me to show you a few of the upper-hall paintings before we go out tonight?”
Christian hadn’t said a word about any paintings, but Eleisha had an idea what he was up to, and her smiled widened. She honestly liked Vera. Who wouldn’t like Vera? She was warm and funny, and for all her wealth, she still enjoyed the little things in life.
“This way, my dear,” Vera said.
Eleisha left the guest room and followed her down the hallway to another set of stairs leading up. Christian came behind. When they emerged into a wide upper hallway, Eleisha could see a number of huge portraits hanging on the walls. She felt quite dwarfed by the sheer size of their frames. But the portraits themselves were interesting, and one of them depicted a man in a tweed suit leaning back against a 1920s black Ford.
“Oh, I like this one,” she said, stepping closer.
“Yes, that’s my great uncle Charles,” Vera said. “He died before I was even born, but Mother said he loved that car.”
“Are all these people your relatives?” Eleisha asked, genuinely interested, but then Christian caught her eye and shook his head. They were not up here to discuss paintings.
Eleisha moved around Vera so that Christian could step up behind, and then she reached out and touched Vera’s arm. “You seem so tired. I think you should sleep…sleep for hours.”
Eleisha had never questioned her own ability to do this. Even though Christian seemed to find it a useful skill, he’d never developed it himself. She was almost positive he could do it if he tried, but he tended to just daze his victim’s mind while feeding, as that was how Bernadette had taught him.
Vera collapsed like a rag doll, and Christian caught her, picking her up as if she weighed nothing. He must be a good deal stronger than he looked.
“This way,” he said. “I know a room up here without a window. It should serve well.” He glanced back toward the stairwell. “Wade and Ivory should be on their way up by now.”
Upon waking that night, Julian strode to the glass sliding door of his hotel room and looked out over the view of Seattle. He was still shaken over how quickly everything had gone wrong the night before.
For one, he hadn’t expected to find himself engaged in an open sword fight on the grounds of the Seattle Center. His method for killing his own kind was normally fast and silent. He just stepped out and swung before anyone knew he was there.
Julian’s first act of putting Eleisha down had gone well.
But Christian had somehow managed to avoid Julian’s first swing. Then he’d pulled his own sword, and the whole world sped up to a hundred and twenty miles an hour. What really troubled Julian were the strange fears and feelings that had come over him in the middle of the fight, that his arms were too heavy to swing…and that his gift wouldn’t work.
Christian’s blade was small and his skills were adequate at best. Julian had been sure things would end quickly, and in his favor, until for no reason, he’d begun to doubt himself, and then Philip had come flying up the path.
He’d had no choice but to run.
Worse, Mary had reported that they’d all holed up in the mansion again, and after his attack, there was no telling when they might come out again. He wasn’t certain what to do at this point.
The air shimmered and Mary materialized. He could tell by the animated expression on her face that something had happened.
“What is it?” he asked.
“When they all woke up, Eleisha told Christian it wasn’t safe here anymore, and that he and Ivory had to go home to the church with her…tonight. Christian said no, and they had a big fight, and then Eleisha told him she was leaving. He called her bluff. She and Wade and Philip took off about twenty minutes ago. They’re already on Interstate 5, heading back to Portland. Christian and Ivory are alone.”
He stared at her. “Eleisha just left them?”
That didn’t sound right, but Mary was good at assessing situations quickly. She always had been.
“I don’t think Christian ever had any intention of going home with them,” she went on, “and Philip can’t stand him. It just all got to be too much. But you need to hurry. Chr
istian isn’t stupid, and he’s already told Vera that they’re leaving soon, too. He may not want to go back to the church in Portland, but he’s not staying here either. So if you want to kill them, you’d better do it tonight.”
Relief washed through Julian. Both his targets were anxious and distracted…and alone at the mansion.
He grabbed his sword and his coat. “Meet me outside the front gate.”
Wade made his way up a staircase he hadn’t seen before, with Ivory right beside him. Tonight she was back in her slinky red evening gown, but if all had gone according to plan, Vera would already be asleep, and there would be no need to continue this ruse.
Still, he’d put on the slacks and sport coat—per Christian’s instructions—and he had his gun in the back of his pants.
Emerging into a wide hallway, he felt somewhat overwhelmed by the sheer size of the portraits on the walls. Several of the frames were thicker than his thigh.
“Over here,” Eleisha called, and he looked ahead to see her waving them onward.
He paused at the sight of her. She wore a simply cut, light pink evening gown that created a different effect from the one she’d worn last night. This one made her look more like a little girl playing dress up. He hoped she wouldn’t try to read his thoughts as that image struck him.
“This way,” she said. “Do you have an extra clip loaded?”
The little-girl illusion vanished.
“Yes,” he answered.
She led them inside a small storage room, full of easels and frames and blank canvas. The place was dusty, as if no one, not even Simmons, had been inside for years. Vera was sleeping peacefully on a pile of blankets, and Christian was kneeling beside her.
Wade still didn’t like this plan, and he would much prefer to just lock Ivory and Vera inside this room and go back downstairs to help Eleisha and Philip.