“I’m not going anywhere. Fine, I’ll tell you.” He didn’t sound too happy about it, but then again, I wasn’t too happy with what I had been drawn into. I was starting to feel like I was in the middle of a lover’s quarrel. I had always heard that vampires were very sensual creatures, not caring whom they mated with, which was fine by me, but this was not something I wanted in the middle of.
“Oh for Christ’s sake, I was not his lover.” Gareth spat out the word. “I wasn’t attracted to men when I was alive, so now that I’m dead why would that change?”
Relief flooded through me as I huddled against the door, shivers showing no signs of subsiding. It was like I had been raped, and I guess in a way I had been. The experience left me feeling dirty and nauseous, as though his thoughts had been greasy and noxious.
“You are on the right track though. He desired me, as a companion and mate.” Gareth choked on the words, and I rolled my eyes.
“Why didn’t you tell me that Padraigan was the one who changed you, though? Did you think that I wouldn’t find out?” I could hear the hurt in my voice, and I despised myself for it. He was obviously as upset as I was, and I didn’t need to add to it.
He kept his eyes on the road, his black brows drawn together in a scowl. I reached out with a still shaky hand and cupped his cheek in my palm, the solidness of him going a long way to calming me down. He leaned his head into my hand, long enough to clear the scowl away.
“You know what? You had your reasons, it’s not important. What I should be asking is if you’re ok.”
I moved my hand, but left it on his shoulder, needing to feel him there beside me. Now that my own shock was fading, it was replaced with apprehension for him. Dodging lightning bolts, no matter how fast you are, had to be hard work. I could have lost him, just when I had found him. That brought on a fresh wave of lightheadedness. He looked at me again, his expression incredulous.
“Am I ok? I’m bloody fine! I heal fast. The question is, are you hurt? What did that bastard do to you?”
It had been so long since I had anyone to worry about me, and his concern was written all over his gorgeous face. The sight of it calmed me the rest of the way. I smiled at him.
“He gave me brain freeze times a thousand.”
At his blank look I remembered that he wouldn’t know what brain freeze was.
“Imagine your brain being on fire. That is the kind of pain I was going through.”
He looked back at the road and uttered a curse, one I hadn’t heard before. I tucked it away in my arsenal of swear words.
“So what do we do now?” I asked, sitting up straight, mentally shaking myself.
“We need to find out what he’s up to, and lay low for awhile. He most likely has the office under surveillance. Do you think that your friends could come over and put a shield spell on the house?”
“How does he not know where it is to begin with?”
“I can veil myself from him, which means he can’t find me wherever I go, but a whole house? Beyond my power, and if he locates you, he’ll locate the house. They need to get over there before we do.”
I thought for a minute, going through options and discarding them just as fast. I was new to this life, this experience, and I couldn’t think on normal, human terms, but I made my suggestion that seemed the best to me.
“We’ll run then, Gareth, to where he can’t find us. Can you veil me from him?”
“No, I can only hide myself, and you aren’t strong enough yet in your capabilities.”
He had me there, but the truth stung a little bit.
“Fine, I’ll call Harley and Teagan. I’m sure they’ll help, but why did he attack today?”
I dug around in my purse, trying to find my cell phone. I knew I had thrown it in there.
“He didn’t attack us, he was just amusing himself. If he wanted to attack, you wouldn’t be here. Although, it was a close call. You really do have a bit of smart-ass in you.”
I ignored that little aside, but I didn’t like the inference that I wouldn’t be here. Why just me? I took my frustration out on my purse, ripping through it with a vengeance trying to find my stupid cell phone, muttering under my breath.
“Try calling them.”
“I can’t Gareth, I’ve misplaced my cell phone.” I ground out as I tried to rip my purse to pieces. He handed me his phone. I took it, and then stopped. I didn’t know the number.
“When I said try calling them, I meant with your mind. You need to start using your abilities, Anna.”
“Won’t that alert me to Padraigan, or whatever?” I asked, not sure how this whole thing worked. Also, I was not at all confident in my ability to communicate mentally with anyone other than Gareth. After all, I wasn’t bonded with Harley or Teagan.
“If he’s tracking you now, there isn’t anything he can do about it while we’re moving, other than follow us, and I don’t feel him near.”
“But if you can veil yourself from him, wouldn’t he be able to do the same?” I was so confused.
“Veiling means that he can’t find me, and vice versa, but if we are near, ‘we’ meaning other vampires, we can feel each other’s presence. Humans can do this too, but that part of them is so hidden that most don’t know they have that power in them. Example: ever been asleep, and known that someone was watching you?”
I thought back to last night, which at this point seemed a century ago, and remembered coming awake at one point to find him watching me. Had his watchful gaze been the catalyst to drag me from an exhausted slumber?
“Yes, I have.”
“When you’re asleep, the brain can tap into places that science can’t. All of your survival instincts, all of your “psychic” abilities, these abilities are in there,” he touched the side of my head, “just waiting for you to exercise them and use them.”
I nodded. I knew there were so many mysteries in the human brain that science hadn’t figured out yet that I shouldn’t be surprised, but I was.
“Try.”
I closed my eyes, pictured Teagan in my mind, and just sent out a thought. When nothing happened, I did it again, my brows drawing together in concentration.
What? Are you ok?
Her voice came through my head clear as a bell, and I smiled, amazed that it worked.
We need you both to get to Gareth’s house. It’s an emergency.
What’s up?
Even in my thoughts I could hear the alertness in her voice.
Bad moon on the rise.
What does that mean?
I was going for a joke, but she didn’t get it. I forgot she was younger than me by a few years.
Nothing. Can you both do a shield spell on Gareth’s house? But make sure that you don’t let anyone know where it is!
I could literally hear the snort as she scoffed.
You’re the one that broadcasts, not us. We’re on our way.
Relief swept over me, just to know that they were headed over there to try to help. I worked carefully to keep the house out of my mind, because even though I had no clue where it was, a picture of it in my mind could probably give it away.
“I don’t think you have to worry about them. I wouldn’t have told them the location of my home if I didn’t trust them.”
The calmness in his voice soothed the rest of my tremors away, and I sat up straighter in my seat, pushing the jumble of my purse to the floor. I kept my gaze everywhere but the road, and thought about how easy it had been for me to link with Teagan. Gareth, as well as Harley and Teagan, had said more than once that I was very strong in my emerging abilities, and the ease of the silent communication, along with the instance with the fire this morning made me wonder just what I had in me.
Gareth was able to light the fire yesterday with a flick of his hand. Did he have extra power or was that a byproduct of the vampirism? The curious, scientific part of my brain, the one that had originally scoffed at vampires and witches, was now howling to ask more questions, get more information on th
e phenoms that had suddenly occupied my life. There would be time for that, I knew, and I couldn’t ask a thousand questions at once, though I had that and many more. Considering that there was someone else out there that could access my thoughts while I still struggled to block them, I thought it would be prudent to not think about them right now. I might inadvertently draw his attention to Harley and Teagan.
I reached down to my bag and found my MP3 player, but no ear buds.
“How do you feel about music?’ I asked, thinking that I could just lose myself in some tunes for a while, and get my mind off everything until we were safe at the house. It would also help me maintain my wall if I had something else to concentrate on.
“I like music, if that’s what you’re asking.” He replied, turning to look at me again. I held up the player and he nodded. I plugged it into the adapter on the radio and accessed the music. The Psychedelic Furs started to sing about being pretty in pink.
“What is that?”
I looked up to see him making a face at the player.
“The Psychedelic Furs.”
“This is music?”
I shrugged and pressed skip. Pink came on.
“And this?”
Still the same face, this time with derision in the voice.
“Pink. Still music.”
“Not to my ears.”
With a sigh I pressed skip again, passing over Kanye West and Fergie. If he didn’t like Pink or Psychedelic Furs, he definitely wouldn’t like them. I found what I thought he might like and let it play.
“Please tell me you listen to actual music? What in God’s name is this one?”
“It’s Concrete Blonde; the name of the song is ‘Bloodletting’. I thought you might like this one, it’s about vampires.”
The look he gave me was sour as he replied, “Don’t you have anything good?”
I was hurt. I liked my music, thought I had a pretty good collection. It was nothing if not eclectic.
“What do you like then?”
“Just keep going.”
With a bigger sigh than the last one, I kept pressing skip and he kept vetoing, but I put my foot down on the Pogues ‘Love you ‘till the end’.
“This one we listen to.” I insisted. He nodded his head slightly, but I couldn’t guess if that meant he liked it or would tolerate it. We drove in silence for a while, and I let the music flow through me, relaxing and soothing, while he brooded, lost in thought. I stared out the window with unseeing eyes, not paying any attention to the scenery that flashed by.
The song ended and Gareth brought me out of my reverie.
“That was not so bad. The words were poetic.”
“He’s Irish, I think that being poetic is like a requirement.”
The next song came on, a Billy Joel tune that most people weren’t familiar with, but Gareth surprised me.
“Now, this is a good song. ‘The Down-easter Alexa’, right?”
I nodded, thrilled that he knew it, and because it was my favorite Billy Joel song, and the words and music were moving. It usually gave me goose bumps when I listened to it.
“Yep, that’s what it is. I’m shocked that we found a Top 40 song that we both like. I was beginning to give up on you.”
“Loud, screeching guitars and screaming vocalists are not music. It’s just noise.” His voice was almost haughty, completely arrogant, and it made me grin. I loved this side of him; it was completely elitist, and so not what I was, but it worked for him.
“I tend to forget that you probably like chamber music, full instrumental.”
“I do, yes, but I like other music also. Keep searching. We’re bound to come across something else we can agree on.”
While Billy sang about the vagaries of fishing in the Atlantic, I flipped through my files, enjoying the sense of normalcy that our harmless bickering about music created. It made me feel as though our problems, while not gone, were at least relegated to the back burner, and my poor beleaguered brain could take a small vacation.
“Enya?” I asked after the last of the Down-easter Alexa played, thinking that maybe he would appreciate the Celtic singer.
“I like Enya.”
“I’ve never met anyone that could understand the words. When she sings in Gaelic, I have no idea what she’s singing about.”
“If you don’t understand it, then how can you like it?”
“Well, the music is soothing, and her voice is calming. I like to put it on when I take a bath.”
He didn’t say anything for a minute, and when I looked at him, the expression on his face made me curious. It was almost wistful, as if the music moved him. I couldn’t resist, I linked with him, long enough to see what he was thinking about, and it made me blush to the roots of my hair.
“You have a very vivid imagination.” I mumbled, sliding down the leather seat, my flaming face buried in my hands.
He laughed at me, and I peeked out between my fingers to find him watching me, a teasing light in his false brown eyes.
“This is something I don’t understand about you. You’re very passionate, very uninhibited in bed, but things like this make you blush?”
I bristled at his words, rankled. He had a point, though.
“I hope this is something that you like about me.” I grumbled, not sure whether to be pleased or not.
“What, the blushing or the passion?” He was laughing at me; I could hear it in his voice.
“Well, I can understand if your old-fashioned sensibilities are offended by my uninhibited state.” I crossed my arms over my chest and stared at the dash board. He jerked the steering wheel to the right and pulled the Rover to the side of the road, bringing it to a quick stop in the breakdown lane and before I knew it he had his mouth on mine in a searing kiss, taking my breath away. His lips were warm yet, but they still set the same fire racing through my blood.
After what seemed like an eternity and a thorough loving, he pulled away, just enough to rest his forehead against mine. His eyes were closed, but a smile played around his mouth.
“In no way, shape, or form am I offended by you, and if I was that old-fashioned, you wouldn’t have ended up in my bed yesterday. I love everything about you, and there is nothing you could do to change that. I love the blushes and the passion.” He kissed the tip of my nose, and I smiled.
“Ok, you’re forgiven. Can we move though? I’m starting to get paranoid.”
He turned back to face the road, moving the Rover back into traffic with expertise.
“Are you driving aimlessly? Can I look at the road again? Not that the interior of your car isn’t classy, but it starts to look the same after a half hour.”
“We are nowhere near the house, so yes, you can look at the road. I actually headed the opposite direction.”
“Smart man.”
He tapped a long finger to his temple and gave me a wink.
“So let’s regroup, shall we? As I see it, we have a very jealous, totally insane vampire that knows that you are working on a cure for vampirism, and apparently isn’t too fond of the fact that you’re with me now. Something prompted this attack today, something that made him come out into the open. What’s different today, that wasn’t different yesterday or the day before that?”
“Other than the fact that, as you put it, I’m with you now?”
“If that’s what brought this on, he’s hotter for you than you think.”
He winced at my words, as though they offended him, and I tried to remember that he grew up in a time when homosexuality was a killing offense.
“I really don’t think that’s it. He wouldn’t put himself at risk of exposure over a jealous fit. No, it’s something else.”
“Yeah, that’s something else that’s bothering me. How did no one see any of that? It’s not every day that lightning strikes the parking lot, and really, lightning in New Hampshire in the dead of winter?”
“No one who witnessed that thought anything other than it was a freak storm
and isn’t it amazing that the building didn’t lose power.”
I tilted my head to the side, turned his explanation this way and that.
“No one noticed the tall hottie throwing bolts of lightning from his hands?”
His head jerked around, and he frowned at my choice of words.
“‘Hottie’?” The word dripped with disdain.
“Well, despite the fact that he’s completely off his rocker, he is a good-looking guy. Completely not my type, cause I’m a sucker for olive skin and really light blue eyes, but I could see the appeal.”
“What the hell?” he asked himself under his breath, turning a steely gaze to the road. His eyes were turning, so I knew I made him unhappy with my comment. Ah, jealousy.
“I’m kidding, just kidding. Seriously though, how do you account for that?”
He sighed, his broad shoulders moving up and down.
“We need to have a session where we fill you in on everything that has to do with the, well, the other side of life. Our side.”
“Harley and Teagan told me that most people just ignore things that they can’t explain. Is that what you mean? That people that have no power, gifts, whatever you want to call it, can look at a cow flying through the air on a cloudless day and just shrug and say, Oh there must be a tornado near here, that’s why the cow is flying through the air. I don’t buy that people are that gullible, Gareth.”
“Maybe gullible isn’t a good word to use, but if you had been looking out the window, and you knew nothing of vampires, knew nothing of ‘magickal’ powers and psychic abilities, would you have thought to yourself that there were people down there throwing around lightning bolts?”
“But Padraigan was there, Gareth! This is what I’m getting at. If I didn’t see anyone down there, then you’re correct, I would have probably thought that. But if I looked down at the parking lot, and seen someone standing there with lightning coming out of his hands, you’re damn skippy that I would’ve thought something different.” This reminded me the debate team in high school on some levels. I loved arguing; my father used to tell me that I should be a lawyer instead of a scientist.
“One,” he held up his thumb, “if you actually did see him, you would have thought that he had been struck by lightning and like any other well-meaning human, you would have called down to Gerry or called 911 to let them know that a man was just struck by lightning in the parking lot during a freak storm. Two,” he held up his index finger, “no one saw him. How do you think we’ve remained a myth? We have survival mechanisms you haven’t even seen yet. All anyone saw was a tree, a wind-whipped parking lot, and lightning that was traveling unusually close to the ground. Unless they looked straight down, they didn’t even see you standing there by yourself next to the Rover.”
Eternity Page 17