“The necklace holds those oils and herbs and she knew I knew what she had done, hence her reaction.”
“I see. Well again, I’m sorry for letting my temper get the best of me. I really had just wanted to ask her if she had any ideas on why Anton is so weak. Her defensiveness and her reactions make me think somehow she is the culprit or knows what the problem is at the very least.”
“That’s not possible. Like I said, vampires don’t feed on one another and they can’t influence each other.”
“So you keep telling me.” Just then she heard the front door shut and then two car doors. “They must be leaving again.” Darby ran out of the room and into the foyer just in time to see the little red sporty car disappear behind a cloud of dust and then a line of trees.
She went upstairs and into her room. She thought a splash of water on her face might lessen the sadness of seeing the car speed away again. It didn’t. She thought about what she had seen earlier, before her fight with Libby.
How could she? How could she have sex with him in his condition? Of course, he didn’t seem to be forced into it, but still, he could barely sit up by himself yesterday, let alone have sex. How could you be with someone for forty years and not care about them in the slightest?
She headed for Anton’s room. She didn’t hear anything. She knocked and again nothing. She didn’t want to, but she opened the door. There sprawled on the bed, completely naked, was Anton. He was whiter than the sheets beneath him. “Oh God! Anton!” She ran to him, grabbing his face with both hands. “Anton. Anton!” Her voice was getting louder and louder; she was practically screaming. “Anton, talk to me! It’s me, Darby. Anton, please wake up!”
She put her ear to his chest. A heartbeat. It was so faint, so weak. He opened his eyes a tiny bit. “Anton, can you hear me?” She took her right hand to brush across his forehead when a smear of blood appeared there. She looked at her hand and it was covered in blood.
“Oh my God!” She turned his head to the side and there were two fresh bite marks on his neck.
At the top of her lungs she screamed for Bernard. The little man may have been in his seventies, but quick as a sprinter, he was by her side. “Get me some water and a washcloth and some fresh gauze.” Bernard’s wide eyes surveyed the scene on the bed. She looked at him again. “What? Why aren’t you getting the washcloth?”
“Miss, I, well…”
“Bernard?! I didn’t have sex with him. I found him this way. She had sex with him. Now go get the washcloth and water, he’s bleeding all over and barely conscious.”
He went to the bathroom, obeying Darby, who looked up at him again. “You really thought I could do this? Look at him. He’s dying, Bernard. Go get Dominic now.” Bernard turned and left the room like the wind. A few minutes later he returned with Dominic.
“Darby!”
“Dominic, he’s dying.”
“What have you done?”
“Me? I’m not a vampire. You have to have fangs to do this.” Of course she was talking about his neck, on which she was trying to control the bleeding with the washcloth, and Dominic was referring to Anton’s nakedness, so needless to say, Dominic was confused until he saw his neck. “Oh my God. What happened?”
“I think his wife has been taking liberties just a couple steps too far.”
“You mean, you think Libby did this?”
She pointed over her shoulder and said, “Well, she certainly did that and I saw blood on her chin when I accidentally walked in on them this morning. Dominic. I need you to help me. He’s dying. His heart is barely beating. He needs blood. Can you keep him from draining and killing me?”
“Well, yes, but, you really shouldn’t.”
“What choice do we have? I’m the only human around, besides Bernard and he’s too old to survive it. I need you to convince him or help him. I don’t know how to get him started when he is so weak.”
“Are you sure? You’re willing to do this?”
“Just do it already.”
“Okay, I’ll bite you and we’ll lead him to your neck.”
“But you can stop him, right?”
“I’ll do everything I can.”
“That’s not really the answer I was looking for, but we don’t really have time for logistics. Do it, before it’s too late.”
She pulled her hair away from her neck and said, “This is my first time so be gentle.” Dominic leaned over and bit her neck. She could hear the piercing of her skin more than she could feel it as she assumed that Dominic concealed from her. He pulled away and helped sit Anton up and led his mouth to Darby’s neck. There was barely a movement from him at first, and then as he tasted the blood she could feel him start to draw it in. His sucking drew harder and stronger. Darby’s fingers and toes started to hurt and she felt like she was walking into a dream. She could see Anton’s thoughts; he was so terribly hungry – ravenous in fact. He sucked so hard she couldn’t breathe. He must have been too weak to keep the pain away from her mind.
Will the pain never end, she thought as everything went black and all she could feel was a cold, slow thump of her own heart trying to recuperate from practically being sucked dry. They went too far. Dominic didn’t stop him in time. Thump. Her arms and legs hurt so badly. Devon, where are you? Thump. A tiny light appeared far, far away. Thump. Her head hurt worse than any migraine she’d ever felt. Thump. The light got bigger as if she were walking through a long train tunnel. Thump. Devon, please. Help me. Thump...
Chapter 12
Darby could only see gray. She could hear voices. Familiar voices and machines beeping, but they sounded distorted and muffled. She could feel warmth and pressure on her hand and could smell a familiar scent. Was it lavender? She wasn’t sure. There was a tickling on her face and then pressure on her forehead. Was it a kiss? She felt so numb, like her fingers and toes had been asleep and then suddenly, painfully, the blood was rushing back into them. With the pain, her eyes popped open and the colors were back. Shapes and colors blurred together, making a scary, bright picture before her.
“Darby, can you hear me? It’s Rowan, sweetie. I’m here, so is Blake.”
“Not talking…string bean…moron.”
Rowan laughed, “Yes, sweetie, Blake can be a moron and you don’t have to talk to him, but he is here.”
“Hey, I am not a moron, or a string bean for that matter,” Blake said indignantly from the corner of the room.
“Rowan. Anton? Alive?”
“Yes, D, you saved him and he’s here too; he hasn’t left your side.”
“Devon?” Nobody said anything, but her hand was being rubbed. Tears fell from the corners of her eyes, and filled her ears. “Didn’t come? Devon didn’t come?”
Nobody knew what to say. Her sister on one side wiping Darby’s tears as best she could and also crying, stared at Blake. Blake met her gaze and walked to the end of the room, kicking a chair in frustration. Darby’s other hand was being held by Anton. She smiled though the tears continued. “You look good!”
She thought she saw a tear fall from his eye, “Yeah, well you’re not looking so hot.”
She smiled and said, “Never did.”
She saw a worried Dominic behind him, his hands on Anton’s shoulders. “Guess I didn’t do too well, did I, Darby? I’m so sorry.”
She answered, “He looks good! Anton! He looks good,” and she squeezed Anton’s hand, smiling again. “How long have I…”
“About a week, Darby,” Rowan interjected. A panicked look came over Darby’s face. “Blake, he’s in trouble. Anton, you have to help.” Darby sat up and the room swam and spun, washing in gray and black waves.
“Lay back, Darby,” Anton said. “We don’t know where he is.”
“She’s doing to him what she did to you, Anton. Please, help him.”
“We don’t know where to find him! Or her.”
“Anton. You know her. Find her.”
“I don’t know where to look, Darby! I have no idea.”
“Oh God, please don’t let this happen again.” She thought, why won’t anyone do anything? Why won’t they listen to me? He’s in trouble. Don’t they believe me? She rolled to her side and cried.
It was another couple of days before Darby was discharged from the hospital. She went back to the Larsen house and Rowan went back home to finish up the semester. Blake stayed in Connecticut. The last little bit of his project could be done remotely and though Darby wouldn’t speak to him, he felt he needed to be there. Rowan had Dean and Sally at home so at least she wasn’t alone. He was worried about Darby. She wasn’t doing well emotionally since Devon had taken off. She didn’t seem to get that he simply had gone back to his old girlfriend. She seemed to have the delusion that Libby could control his mind and was sucking him dry, but nobody believed it. Not even Anton. Sure, she had left him a little dry with her stupid fetish, but feeding and mind control? That just doesn’t happen to vampires.
It was apparent no one believed her. And after a week at the Larsen house, Darby decided something had to be done. If no one would help her, fine, she thought, she’d do it on her own. She called Sally and asked her if she would like to buy the Cauldron, Book and Candle bookstore from her. She made a quick trip home and packed some things and moved to the east coast.
Rowan tried to talk her out of it, as did Blake. She wouldn’t have any of it. As far as Darby was concerned, Devon’s clock was ticking and he was running out of time. If she found him and she was wrong, then so be it; her life was over anyway, but if she found him and she was right, then maybe she could save him and that was all she had to hold on to. She had enough money to rent a place and hunt for him for at least 4-6 months, and then she’d have nothing. She rented a small house in North Hampton, Massachusetts. It was still reasonably close to the Larsens, and most importantly, to her three starting points: Rhode Island, New York, and Massachusetts.
The only leads she had to Libby’s whereabouts were the three missing women from Anton’s life. She was sure Libby had something to do with their leaving, even if no one else believed her. She thought if she could just get one of them to talk, she could get Anton to back her the rest of the way. She hired a private eye to do some digging on the names too; she figured if she was going to lose her life savings, then she might as well do it right.
His name was Mark Rosenthal. He was average height, about six foot, certainly not short. He had a crabby look on his face most of the time and a slight curve to his nose. His brows seemed to be furrowed on a permanent basis, but his eyes were a warm, inviting hazel and his laugh was seriously contagious. Over the next month they spent a lot of time together, sharing facts that both of them had run across. Though his exterior was gruff and hard, he had a kind heart and they became fast friends.
Colleen Heenan was the easiest to find and had the tightest tongue. She was living in a loft in Paris and was apparently quite happy with her new digs. She was of no use to them. Darby figured she had been given money to start over somewhere else and she had been more than happy to do it.
Angela Marcus, well, she was a bit harder to find. Angela had met Anton in New York at the gallery he owned. She was an aspiring artist, working in the art world, hoping to get her break one day. Her studio in New York had been abandoned of everything but her art. She seemed to have disappeared overnight, from what Mark had gathered; she even had to pay a heavy fine for breaking her lease. But in gathering information from her neighbors and residents in the building, Angela had acquired a beautiful blonde friend just before she disappeared in her new Jaguar.
They all knew she couldn’t afford a Jaguar on what she was making as an artist so here, too, it seemed another payoff had been made in order to rid Anton of a female admirer. Once Mark and Darby found the two girls, it was easy to get the proof they needed to show Anton. Mark was able to find a bank deposit for both just before they disappeared.
When they finally caught up with Angela though, she was pretty tight-lipped too. Guess she wasn’t willing to spill the beans and give back the money if Libby came looking for her. Their last hope was Samantha Collins.
At this point, Darby was halfway through her entire life savings and she told Mark she would have to let him go. She knew letting him go lessened her chances of finding Devon, and the worst thing was she couldn’t guarantee finding Samantha was going to lead her to Libby or to Devon.
She tried to stretch her money as much as possible. She had no car as she’d used the funds she had received from the insurance company when Rachel Keaton had destroyed her car last summer. With Devon around, she hadn’t really needed a car, she’d used his, and well, she just never got around to replacing hers. She worked part-time for the local library, which gave her some free time on the computer to do searches on the web. And Mark, bless his heart, sent her info once in a while when he came across something.
He knew what she had given up to look for Devon and his heart went out to her. He hoped one day someone would love him that much to give up everything to be with him. He called her one morning with information he had come across from doing a job for someone else. Seemed the name Libby Larsen came up tied into some investigation in New York. It wasn’t much, but at least she had been seen in New York very recently.
Darby thought about that for a moment. Where would she go in New York? She used to go to Anton’s apartment when he was there; maybe she went there when he wasn’t.
“Thanks, Mark. Maybe Anton will let me borrow the keys to his apartment so I can look around. Any chance you’d like to come with me?”
“You mean so I can drive?”
“Maybe.”
“Sure, wouldn’t want someone sweet like you hurt in the big city all alone. I’ll pick you up in fifteen minutes.”
“Great.”
She called Anton and went through the pleasantries and not so pleasantries, but he did agree to let her check out the apartment, as she knew he would. “I just want to take a look around, Anton. I promise. I just would like to check it out and see if she’s been there.”
“I told you, Darby. No one has heard from her. She and Devon have obviously skipped town; you seem to be the only one who doesn’t accept that.”
“I know you are saying this in my best interest and I thank you for worrying, but I need to do this. When I’m done and you’re right, then I will go back to whatever life I can scrounge up, but until then, I have to know he is all right.”
“Fine. Do you need anything? You’ve got to be running out of money. Can I send you some? I heard you don’t even have a car. Please, let Dad and I do something.”
“No, Anton. I’ll be fine. If I need you, I’ll call.”
“When you’re done searching, Darby, please come back. I miss you and though I’m not Devon, I’d certainly always be there for you.”
“I know, Anton. I feel the same. I’ll visit, I promise, but I have to know for sure. You do understand, don’t you?”
“I wish I didn’t but I don’t think I’d feel this way about you if I didn’t understand. I envy the bastard, Darby.”
“You’re sweet, Anton. Send my love to Dominic and Bernard. Don’t forget to kick the ball for Sammy and pet Mr. Chow.”
“That cat doesn’t let anyone pet him.”
“Sure he does. Just be nice. Talk to you soon.”
There was a knock at the door and there was Mark’s familiar face as he stood jingling his keys.
“Your ride is here.”
“Thanks, Mark.”
Chapter 13
The ride to New York was uneventful. She laughed and joked with Mark as usual as he told her about some of the goofy cases he was on; spying on wives, looking for cats. The life of a private eye was never dull, that was for sure. Crappy food, late nights, but never dull.
“So what do you hope to find in New York?” Mark asked.
“I don’t know. I just know that Libby thinks Anton is dead, so she could easily use the apartment any time she felt like it. She’d just have to ti
p the doorman to keep his mouth shut. I’m hoping that she’s left something significant there. Some clue to where she goes when she’s not in New York or Connecticut. She must have a residence somewhere.”
“Not that I can find.”
“Could it be that she just goes from gentleman to gentleman? Anton said she had several men she frequented.”
“Where do you find women like this? I could go for some gorgeous woman who just wants a good time and then leaves.”
“No, you wouldn’t.”
“What do you know of it?”
“Oh, don’t give me that. All men say they want that, and then when she’s the one coming and going and you don’t know when you’ll see her again, you’d be just as miserable as a girl with a guy like that. I’m sure it sounds great but I’m sure there is more to it.
“Since I’ve had to cut back, I started working at the library. Now remember, I told you before, everything I say is strictly confidential, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, you told me Devon’s a vampire.”
“Yes, but so is Libby and I think she is a very special kind of vampire, one that hasn’t been around for centuries. Like I said, I found some papers from this ancient document. Vampirism has been around for centuries and it is said that the Ancient Ones are the creators of vampirism. But this document says that’s not the case, that it goes back even further, and that’s where this very special race of vampires came from.
“It seems that many, many centuries ago a clan of vampires had a couple of, let’s call them Insatiables. These were vampires that just couldn’t get enough blood, they were always thirsty, always on the hunt, and they seemed to have a gift, a gift for influencing their fellow vampires, as vampires influence humans. They didn’t use this gift much but it was quite valuable in arguments, or accusations, in easing the extremity of the outcome.
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