by Lisa Olsen
“After sundown?” The words suddenly clicked for me. “You mean she’s not dead?”
“Dead?” he snorted. “There’d be nothing left but a pile of ash if she was. She’s just passed out. Still, even if she was dead, how could you leave your own sister like this, all covered up and shoved in the corner?”
“She’s my sister?” My jaw dropped in surprise. Hanna Evans – why hadn’t I clued in on it before?
Mason’s head tilted to one side. “Does the word duh mean anything to you? What’s going on around here? Why would you think she’s dead?”
“Of course, it makes perfect sense,” Bishop nodded. “A vampire wouldn’t have any vital signs, could easily be mistaken for a corpse. Only why would she still be unconscious?”
“How long has she been out?”
“Since last night when the spell knocked us all out, and left us with amnesia,” I replied, and Bishop shot me a scowl.
“I thought we weren’t going to tell anyone about that,” he muttered. “We don’t know this guy.”
“He’s dating my sister, I’m pretty sure we know him,” I fired back. Besides, I trusted the guy, he didn’t trigger my Spidey senses at all.
“No shit, you all have amnesia?” Mason’s eyes stretched wide. “Man, that blows.”
“Not all of us,” Aubrey pointed out. He didn’t look happy to see Mason at all. In fact, he’d edged about four feet closer to the door since he’d arrived, holding tight to Carys’ hand.
“Yes, I cast the spell to return the memories for Aubrey and me,” Nelleke nodded from her spot by the couch. “I am sorry, I should have realized she was not dead once I am getting my memories back. But it has been distracting times.”
Mason waved her apology away. “No, yeah, I get that you all have a lot on your minds – or not enough – or whatever. But, ah… she’ll be okay, won’t she? I mean, whatever knocked you guys out wasn’t permanent, so she’ll be waking up soon, right?”
Nelleke shrugged. “I wish I know.”
“Maybe she just needs to feed?” Mason frowned, biting into his wrist without hesitation and bringing it to her lips. Unfortunately, the trickle of blood just dribbled into her mouth, and the wound closed up without pressure keeping it open. “Come on, kitten, take your medicine, it’s good for ya,” he crooned softly, trying again, but she didn’t react to the blood at all.
“It doesn’t seem to be working,” Carys said, her voice more sad than her usual snooty tone.
“Perhaps another spell to restore her?” Jakob suggested, but Mason was already shaking his head.
“I’d rather not throw any more magic at her since that’s what did it to her in the first place. “Hey, what about Jakob’s blood?”
“No, his blood made Carys sick,” I replied. “Like crazy sick. She needed blood to recover from it.”
“It did?” A deep furrow appeared on Mason’s brow. “Anybody want to clue me in on what you all gathered here to do? Hanna was pretty hush-hush about it, and I can’t say I got the gist of what she did tell me, because maybe I was watching Mexican wrestling at the time, but I know it had something to do with magic.”
Nelleke explained the lifeforce spell and how we needed it to restore Jakob. By the time she was done talking, Mason looked more discouraged than ever. “Then you have absolutely no idea why she ended up like this at all. That’s it, I’m taking her home.”
“No, you must not,” Nelleke objected, moving to block his path. “Still we are needing her for the spell.”
“Oh, and you just want to prop her up in the corner while you try it again? No dice, Nelly. I’m sorry you’re sick, Jakob, but I draw the line at killing my fiancée to give you a pick me up.”
“Jakob is Ellri, and his needs are above all else,” Nell declared, her cheeks stained pink with color.
Mason rose to all of his impressive height, his shoulders swelling wider as he drew in a breath. “I don’t give a good goddamn what his needs are, Hanna already gave plenty. I’m not putting her in any more danger, not unless you can swear up and down on a stack of bibles that the same thing won’t happen again. She’s already passed out, another mistake could kill her for reals this time.”
“Everybody calm down and take a breath,” I interjected, pushing my way into the middle of the room. “Nobody wants Hanna to die, but Jakob will die if we don’t help him. Now, can we substitute someone else to take Hanna’s place if she’s too sick to participate?”
Nelleke shook her head. “No, it must be she.”
“What if we left her out entirely?” Bishop suggested. “It would take a little more out of the rest of us, but we should still be fine, if I understand what the spell does correctly. Shouldn’t we?”
“It is possible,” Nell allowed, though she looked skeptical.
“Hey, I’m all for it if you think we can pull it off,” I volunteered. Rob kept looking down at his shoes, and didn’t make a peep. I thought about trying to figure out if he was upset about more than our conversation outside, but decided I didn’t have the brain power to sort that all out yet.
“You wish us to give more of ourselves?” Carys scoffed, the disdain creeping back into her voice. “But what if we are permanently diminished?”
“In time you would regain your strength,” Nelleke replied. “And if you are drinking much blood.”
“So you say, but you don’t know. Do you?” Aubrey pointed out. “This is all nothing more than guesswork. We could end up far weaker for decades or longer.”
“What if we give this sacrifice and it is not enough? Will he ask for our lives next?” Carys sniffed. “Why should we be punished simply because our Sire grows weak?”
“It is not meant as a punishment, älskling,” Jakob replied, his rich voice pleading. “I would not ask if I was not in dire need.”
“Punishment…” Her gaze grew distant before shock and dismay twisted her delicate features. “You disavowed me for a hundred years. You said I shamed you and you cast me off.” Her china blue eyes grew shiny with tears as she turned to Aubrey for confirmation. “Could this possibly be true?”
“It is,” Aubrey said, his voice grave. “You were stripped of all of your titles and lands. We were all of us instructed to shun you, but my love for you never failed, dearest. I have always stood by your side.”
“Hey, it’s not like you didn’t have it coming to you,” Mason butted in. “Because of you a lot of people ended up dead, or undead,” he added, sitting down beside Hanna again. “It figures a weasel like Aubrey would be the one to take you in.”
Aubrey’s eyes narrowed to slits as he stared down at Mason. “That’s Your Grace to you.”
“Sorry, Your Grace of Weasels,” Mason smirked back. “You’re not my grace.”
The rest of us watched as the drama unfolded, and I traded a raised brow with Bishop. So not only was Carys with Aubrey, not Bishop, they’d been together for a while, from the sound of it, ever since she’d been banished. Did this have something to do with why Aubrey had been chained to the wall for the spell?
Jakob’s jaw dropped as he watched his best chances of being restored go up in smoke. “I have no memory of this, älskling. I could never abandon you for so long. I’m certain that whatever it was is now long buried in our past.”
Her eyes hardened with scorn. “Don’t try to soften me with meaningless endearments. You said your heart was cold to me, and so is mine. Aubrey, fetch our belongings.”
Aubrey scurried off to do her bidding, and Nelleke stepped in Carys’ way to keep her from following. “Please, I beg of you,” Nell insisted. “His life is in your hands.”
“Jakob cast me away and now you expect me to sacrifice for him? I think not,” Carys scoffed, easily brushing her aside.
Everything was unraveling so fast, I wasn’t sure what to do. I had no doubt that Carys deserved whatever punishment she’d gotten, but surely there was some way to sweeten the deal and make her stick around. Jakob needed her. “Don’t you want your memori
es back?” I asked, catching her attention. “If you help us fix Jakob, then Nell will do the memory spell for you so you can get back to being your old self again.”
“Yes, I would do this,” Nelleke nodded vehemently.
“I’d rather trust the memories that are returning on my own,” Carys sniffed. Her gaze landed on Bishop, and only then did her expression soften. “I am sorry things have not worked out between us, cariad. I know I did truly love you once. But it was not meant to be.”
Bishop regarded her just as intently. “Thanks, Carys. I’ll have to content myself with the memories I have of us.” I could’ve been wrong, but I thought I detected the teensiest bit of sarcasm in there. Either way, Carys didn’t pick up on it.
“I’m sorry to hurt you, but I can never be your wife,” she said, pulling off the engagement ring she’d so greedily latched onto before, offering it to him.
Bishop took the ring and tucked it into his pocket. “I’m just glad you have someone to take care of you. Be happy, Carys.” He leaned in and kissed her on the cheek.
“You thought you were engaged to her?” Mason’s eyes bulged, and he looked like he was about to burst out laughing until he caught sight of Bishop’s expression, that clearly said – cool it.
“Aubrey, are you coming?” Carys called out, backing toward the door, her eyes on Bishop. I swear, she looked like she was about to start parade waving to us.
“Of course, sweeting.” Aubrey appeared, his arms laden with her bags and one of his own. “Let me take you home.” The poor sap, he looked absolutely smitten. And then they were gone with a flounce of hem and the solid slam of the door. The room got super quiet.
“Wow, talk about awkward,” Mason blurted, and sort of unstuck the rest of us.
“What will we do?” Nelleke cried out, wringing her hands. “The spell is not working without them. We are needing all of Jakob’s line here to do it.”
“Is that why you needed Hanna here?” Mason gaped. “No wonder it went tits up. Hanna’s not from Jakob’s line, she’s mine.”
Everyone’s head swiveled in my direction. “Don’t look at me, I’m as in the dark as you are. I didn’t even know she’s my sister. What made you think she was from Jakob’s line?” I asked Nell.
“Everyone is knowing you turn her.”
“That’s just what we told people so the Order wouldn’t filet my balls for turning her,” Mason explained. “I’m guessing that little tidbit didn’t come up when you were planning this soiree.”
“No, it did not,” Nelleke acknowledged.
“I think maybe we’d better restore the rest of our memories before we go any further,” I decided. “We can’t take a chance that another mistake like this will happen again. The more we know about the whole situation, the better.”
Rob touched my elbow. “Ah, before you do that, can I bend your ear for a tick?”
“Is it important?”
“Yeah, a bit.”
“Okay, why don’t you guys get started on the ornament thingies, and I’ll be right back.” Poor Jakob had slumped into the chair by the fireplace, looking like all the energy had drained right out of him. “Don’t worry, Jakob. We’ll figure this thing out. We always do, right?” Somehow that felt true, as if this wasn’t the first impossible task I’d had to face and come out the victor.
“I hope so, petal,” he said with a grim smile.
I led Rob back to the study I’d sat in before, the fire burned down to little more than ash. “If this is about the whole Laveda thing, I really don’t want to get into it again right now. Let’s just get through this and we’ll deal with it later, okay?” Maybe that was avoiding the problem, but to be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure what to do about it. My instinct told me to kick him to the curb, but we were married. That wasn’t such an easy thing to walk away from.
Rob’s brows nudged closer together. “No, that ain’t what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“What is it then? I’d like to get this memory spell over with as soon as possible.”
“That’s just it. There are some things you are going to remember, it’s likely going to upset you a bit.”
“How do you know what I’m going to remember?”
He drew in a long breath and held it, his words coming out in a rush when he finally spoke them. “Because I never lost my memory.”
I stared back at him, completely stunned. “Wh… How is that even possible?”
“Bugger all if I know,” he said with a shrug. “Perhaps it’s something to do with my unusual family line. I couldn’t say.”
I didn’t know what he meant by his unusual family, except that he’d mentioned his sister was a witch, but that wasn’t the important part of the revelation. “So you knew this whole time, and you let me think… that we… and we almost…” I felt like I’d been socked in the gut by one of those giant Q-tip things they fought with in American Gladiators.
“I only wanted another chance with you is all,” he pleaded, his face creased with torment. “When I woke up to you smiling at me… I never thought you’d look at me like that again. I didn’t think it through, I just went with it and took a chance.”
“You took advantage of me, that’s what you took.”
“I didn’t press you for more than you were willing to give. I was the one to stop us from getting too hot and heavy, if you’ll recall. I could’ve taken advantage of that and I didn’t.”
“What do you want, a medal for that?” I snapped, sick to my stomach when I thought of how close we’d come to taking the farce of our relationship to a whole new level. “Here’s what I don’t get. You knew my memories were coming back. How long did you think it could last for?”
“I thought that if you came to love me again, maybe you might give us another chance.” He looked down at his shoes. “I can see now that was a stupid plan.”
“You’re gorram right it was,” I growled, so many emotions swirling inside me that the first one that popped out was anger, closely followed by a powerful need for understanding. “If you still loved me, why didn’t you just try talking to me? I remembered what we had together, maybe we could’ve given it another shot?”
Rob shook his head. “Wasn’t no coming between the two of you.”
“Me and who?” Suddenly I knew – Bishop. “You knew I was with Bishop and you kept it from me. You knew the whole time he didn’t belong with Carys.”
He still hadn’t looked up from his feet. “I did.”
I plunked down beside the hearth, my head reeling from all the implications. “And we were never married.”
“I wanted us to be. So when you made that assumption…”
“You just let me believe it.” So many mistakes… Good gravy, how could I not have known?
“And your last name is Evans because?”
“You gave it to me when you turned me.”
That made sense since my sister’s last name was Evans as well. “And where does Laveda fit into all of this?”
“Laveda knew it wasn’t love between us. She’ll be fine.”
“But you’ve been with her for how long?”
He shrugged, nudging his toe against the edge of the hearth. “A few months past.”
“And you dumped her because you thought you had a shot with me?”
“She knows what you mean to me. She knows it wasn’t nothing but physical between her and me.”
I thought about the pain in her voice and the fire in her eyes. “She still has feelings.”
“I didn’t mean to step on them, she caught me by surprise when she turned up here. I told her I’d explain later.”
I stared up at him as if he were a stranger. “You unbelievable bastard. Take your stupid ring back.” I tugged it free and held it out for him, but he waved me off.
“Keep it, it ain’t from me.”
“Because of course it’s not,” I muttered, wondering if there was anything he’d told me that wasn’t a lie. “I think you’d better go try to ca
tch Laveda and apologize.” Partly because I thought she had one coming, and partly because I didn’t want to look at him anymore.
“Anja… I’m telling you, she just got her temper up. Laveda don’t have true feelings for me.”
“She still deserves an apology for the way you just treated her. You wanted to leave before, I think you had the right idea.”
“I wanted you to come with me.”
“Fat chance of that happening now,” I murmured under my breath, but he still heard me.
“So that’s it then.” Rob nodded to himself, resignation settling over his features. He dipped to kiss my cheek, and I went completely still, trying not to feel the rasp of his skin against mine or the scent of his aftershave for the last time. “Goodbye, Anja. I ain’t sorry for what I done. I regret any pain it caused you, but I ain’t sorry to have had one last night with you in my arms.”
I couldn’t look at him until he was gone. Only then did I look to the empty door frame. “Goodbye, Rob,” I whispered.
I felt it when he left, the slam of the door rattling the house. In the other room, they were talking about the spell, Mason interested in the mechanics of it, but skeptical of the results. Mason and Bishop seemed to be getting along pretty well, like old buddies – and maybe they were. I realized I’d been sitting there turning the ring over and over in my fingers, falling into a sort of trance.
For the first time, I noticed the inscription on the inside – to the stars and back. Holy catweasels, wasn’t that what it said in Bishop’s engagement ring? Had he given me this ring? Rob had said we were together, but not how close. And then I remembered Bishop standing with me in the moonlight.
“Back in my day this was called a promise ring. It doesn’t signify that you belong to me, it means that my heart belongs to you, and you’ll keep it for as long as you keep the ring.”
“Oh.” Completely taken aback, I picked up the ring, admiring the lines in the moonlight. It wasn’t a complete circle, each side of the ring cradling the diamond, but not quite touching. There was something silvery gray set into channels that ran the length of the ring and I couldn’t quite make out what it was. “What is this here?”