“I didn’t realize she’d still be here.” I followed him into his apartment. The bathroom was immediately to my right as we stepped through the door. I could see the shower, a bleak white stall, with the water still running.
“We lost track of time.” Cyrus walked over—well, took a few steps, the bathroom was so tiny—and turned it off. With absolutely no pretense of modesty he dropped his towel and reached for the jeans slung over the towel rack.
I turned my back. “Whoa, a little warning would be nice.”
“It’s nothing you haven’t seen before,” he reminded me smugly. “Well, except for this damn soft stomach I’m getting.”
I heard the smack of a hand against wet skin and rolled my eyes. “I always thought you could use a little meat on your bones. Your hips were always so sharp when…”
I let the sentence die. We both knew the when, and it made at least one of us profoundly uncomfortable. I wandered on into the apartment. A sofa bed, unfolded and in disarray from his tryst with Dahlia, took up most of the room. On the far wall were counters, cupboards, a sink, a stove, and a lime-green refrigerator that had probably existed long before my birth. A small bookcase held a few volumes, including a Bible. I looked over my shoulder to make sure he was still in the bathroom before I picked it up.
True to my luck, he came out the second I touched the cover.
“Snooping through my private things, exactly how I remembered you.” He took the Bible from me and tossed it back on the shelf.
“I never pegged you for the religious type.” I started to sit on the bed and thought better of it, considering who’d just left.
Cyrus gave me a withering glance, as if to say, Oh, grow up. He folded the mattress and replaced the cushions while I waited. “Maybe you’ve misjudged me. Again.”
“I prefer to think you constantly surprise me.” I shrugged. “I didn’t mean anything by it.”
He sighed heavily as he tossed two throw pillows onto the couch. “She wanted me to read it.”
Of course. Cyrus’s lost love, the other human hostage of the Fangs. “Oh.”
“Don’t we feel the tiniest bit insensitive now?” He flashed me a smile that was clearly meant to cover his lingering touchiness about the girl he’d called Mouse.
Changing the subject held the promise of alleviating this awkwardness. And I handled Cyrus a lot better when I was being a hard-ass and not a friend. “What was Dahlia here for?”
“Sex.” He dropped onto the couch and leaned against the cushions. “So I hope you weren’t looking for some. My mortal body is exhausted. And sore.”
“I don’t need to hear it.” I held up my hand. “I know she had a major hard-on for you before, but she was trying to become a vampire. Why would she want you now? You’re just a grocery store clerk.”
“Yes, make a joke, Carrie. You were always so funny.” His inflection implied the word was used meant ironically.
I held up my hands in mock defenselessness. “Hey, you were the one who was supposed to be getting information. And I’m sorry, you can’t possibly be buying it with sex. She’s a vampire now. She could have anyone she wants.”
“I was getting information. What little she’ll give me,” he grumbled. “I used to be one of the most powerful of our kind, now I’m just…” He let the statement die with a groan of disgust.
I sat down next to him. “Well, what do you know?”
“Apparently, Jacob is still working toward his demented goal of godhood. And he has an ally.” Cyrus raised an eyebrow. “Anything you haven’t heard before?”
I shook my head. “He’s working with the Oracle. That we knew. She’s been speaking through Bella.”
How much should I tell Cyrus about the situation? Too much of his former nature had returned. Was it possible he played both sides?
As if he could read my mind, he leaned forward and put a hand on my knee. I jumped at the contact, and expected to see a smug grin spread across his face, but he remained deadly serious. “Carrie, do you think I want my father to succeed in this?”
“I don’t know. Two months ago you were…broken down or something. Now it’s like you’re back to normal. But that’s bad. I remember how you were.” I closed my eyes. I will not cry in front of him. I will not let him know how much what he did to me still hurts.
“I’m not that person anymore.” He touched my cheek, and when I opened my eyes, I saw his shone with tears. “I can’t be. I know you think what happened between Mouse and me was all just the result of living in fear for our lives, but I can’t believe that. If I did, I wouldn’t be able to get out of bed in the morning. I loved her. I have to believe she loved me, because she told me. I never hid who I was from her, and she still loved me. I can’t go back to being that monster. If I did, I would be letting her down.”
I wiped at my eyes, not wanting to shed tears for him. It would seem weak, and a part of me feared he would laugh as if I’d fallen for an elaborate prank.
“Of course, I’ve had to do certain distasteful things to survive….” He trailed off. “But never mind about that.”
I bristled at the quick way he’d changed the subject. But since he was on our side, I assumed I could trust him. “All we know is that the Oracle is heading to Boston. We don’t know how to find the Soul Eater or how to fight either of them.”
He nodded. “Dahlia said she was contacted by one of his men. They want her to do some spell to ferret out a weapon the Oracle prophesied.”
“A weapon?”
“Apparently it’s something she said centuries ago. There’s some sort of weapon, and whatever side controls it will have the loyalty of every earthly vampire. ‘A sword forged of the flesh of all vampires, bathed in the blood of the traitors.’ If the Oracle is free, I’m sure he’s worried that she remembers, and is simply trying to beat her to it. Or stay close to her to con her out of it.” Cyrus inclined his head. “Actually, it is something my father has been working on for some time. Very complicated stuff.”
I leaned forward, squashing my hopeful eagerness. “Do you remember what it was?”
“He didn’t tell me.” Cyrus rubbed his forehead. “Jacob gave me tasks and I obeyed. I never questioned.”
I covered my face with my palms. “So, there’s a weapon out there. And who will get it first is anyone’s guess.”
“It’s an almost one hundred percent certainty that our side won’t get it,” he pointed out. “Since the Movement clearly isn’t looking for it.”
“Our side?” It seemed so strange that he’d attached himself to a cause that wasn’t entirely self-serving.
He sent me another withering look. “The side that is not my father’s. Anyone with half a brain should be on it, by now.”
“Nathan and I will research this sword. Hopefully, we’ll get a break before Max and Bella find the Oracle.” The prospect of reading well into the daylight hours made me suddenly sleepy.
Cyrus tapped his lips thoughtfully with his forefinger. “I wonder if it is some kind of riddle. You said Bella has heard the Oracle’s thoughts? What if that’s indicative of some kind of power Bella has?”
“She is a werewolf. They specialize in magic.” I rolled my eyes. “You know, the kind of magic spelled with a k at the end.”
“The kind your boyfriend peddles in his shop,” Cyrus pointed out. “The kind that pays your rent.”
“Touché. I’ll give Max a heads-up.” Nathan’s cell phone, tucked in my back pocket, began to sound a classical melody. “Yikes, that will be him. I have to go.”
“Max?” Understanding caused a scowl to cross Cyrus’s face. “Oh, the other him.”
I ignored the ringing, though I knew I would play a game of twenty thousand questions when I got home. “Listen, don’t give Dahlia the brush-off right away, if you can stand her for a bit longer. Any information you get would help us out.”
“Oh, I think I can stand her.”
“God, not only are you human, you’re a fourteen-year-old boy.” I shook my hea
d. “Listen, find out what you can about Dahlia, but be safe.”
“Do you honestly believe she’ll harm me?” He laughed. “She was obsessed with me.”
“Yeah, and she asked me to kill you. Besides, you have no idea where she’s been. I haven’t really looked into whether STDs can be transmitted from vampires to humans, but best play it safe for now.” I didn’t know what the appropriate goodbye gesture would be, so I held out my arm for an awkward handshake.
When he pulled away, he looked anywhere but at me. “I’ll try to find out where Jacob is. I’m sure Dahlia must know. She’s on his payroll.”
“That would great. Thanks.” I turned to go, and I’d reached the door when his voice stopped me.
“Thank you for not giving up on me, Carrie.”
I glanced back and gave him a tremulous smile. “I don’t know if I ever could.”
When I reached the street I ran the short distance home, invigorated by new hope and relief that something finally seemed to be going right.
Bella had slept for the rest of the night and all day, though she’d made valiant attempts to stay awake the few times she rose to get a drink or use the bathroom. Finally, just before sunset, Max had been forced to wake her.
She’d grumbled and shuffled around, getting ready, but hadn’t gotten sick again, and as far as Max was concerned, that was all that mattered.
“I had the flu just before I was sired,” he said, trying to sound sympathetic as they zoomed down the freeway. “It sucked.”
She only nodded. “I do not have the flu. Are you sure you are driving the speed limit?”
Definitely not. “No one ever gets pulled over in Pennsylvania,” he assured her.
“I would not know. I have never broken the law here before,” she chided, leaning forward to fiddle with the dials on the radio. “Can we listen to something that is not so violent sounding?”
Max frowned. He’d had the classic rock station on since they’d crossed the Ohio border, but the signal had begun to fade. Still, he didn’t want to end up listening to some late-night, lonely-hearts-sappy-dedication hour, either. “I wouldn’t call Tom Petty violent sounding, but if you can find something else, go for it. Just no chick music.”
“Chick music?” Amusement colored her voice, and when he took his eyes from the road for a second he saw a smile bend her mouth.
“Yeah, chick music. Alanis Morisette, Fiona Apple,” he shuddered. “Tori Amos.”
Bella laughed and turned her attention back to the radio.
This is nice, he decided. Driving along as though they were on a road trip, not a suicide mission. Teasing each other like old friends. Holding her as she drifted to sleep wearing his T-shirt.
This is too nice. What the hell was he doing, letting his defenses down so she could wedge herself into his life? What if she got hurt? What if she hurt him?
It was all the time he’d spent listening to Carrie’s love woes over Nathan. Somehow, he’d let himself be talked into needing a relationship. God, the word used to hold as much appeal for him as audit or classical music. Now it caused an ache in his chest and a sudden need to touch Bella. It didn’t matter how, as long as he could assure himself of her physical presence.
He cleared his throat. “There’s some Carol King in the CD case under the seat. Tapestry. And if you tell anyone, I won’t hesitate to kill you.”
Bella laughed again. He heard her shuffling as she looked for the CDs, then the click of the disk as she put it in the portable player. She turned the volume down as “I Feel the Earth Move” started, and she placed her hand on his knee. “I like your chick music.”
“With my bare hands,” he warned playfully.
Without warning, her fingers dug into his flesh and her body spasmed. Max jerked the wheel and hit the brake, bringing the car to rest on the shoulder of the highway. Damn hard to do when it felt as if his knee was caught in a vise. His bones creaked under her hand, and when he got the car into park he tried frantically to dislodge her grip. He’d heard of people in the throes of a serious seizure injuring others. He didn’t need to limp through the Midwest.
“I warned you to stay away!” The voice that hissed from Bella’s mouth dismissed any notion she was having a simple mortal convulsion.
Max froze. “I’m…sorry?”
The Oracle crawled Bella’s body forward with jerky motions, like a freaky puppet. Max flattened himself against the driver’s door, feeling slightly ridiculous for being afraid of Bella.
That feeling fled when she twisted his knee. The bone and cartilage gave way with a sickening crunch, and he screamed.
“Every mile you come closer to me, the greater my power over you grows.” As if to illustrate the point, Bella’s body flew backward, her head striking the passenger window with a sickening thud.
Almost instantly, the Oracle’s hold receded. Bella blinked, winced in pain, then wrapped her arms around her middle and cried out in panic. “Did it happen again? Did she do it again?”
Struggling to keep his head straight despite the pain, Max reached for her to offer whatever comfort he could give. He was afraid that if he opened his mouth he would start crying like a baby, from the pain of his knee or the fright that he was once again unable to protect her.
“What did she do to me?” Bella slapped away his hands, her voice escalating in pitch. “Did you see what she did?”
Her panic took him aback. “Bella, you’re fine.”
“I am not fine!” She pounded the dashboard, then raked her hands across her bound hair. Then repeated, more quietly, “I am not fine.”
What was he supposed to do? He’d tried to hug her. That hadn’t worked. Now she was crying softly and doing a fine job of withdrawing, leaving him in a damned awkward position.
And there was his knee. It was broken, no doubt about it. If Bella went all weepy and catatonic, he wouldn’t be able to cart her to safety. Heck, he might not even be able to cart himself to safety.
And there was the Oracle’s warning. It wasn’t a threat he was going to take lightly.
A couple months ago, he would have hit the gas and laid on the horn to let the Oracle know they were coming. But with Bella in the car beside him, all he wanted to do was turn and run. Funny how a person can grow on you.
“Let’s stop for the night. I thought I saw a motel at the last exit. I can turn around up there.” He pointed to a gravel access lane across the median.
Pure disdain crinkled her brow above tear-filled eyes. “Was your brain damaged? We have gone perhaps two hundred miles tonight.”
“I’m not brain damaged, I—” He sighed. “I just don’t think it’s a good idea to go any farther until we know more about what the Oracle might be up to.”
“What?” All the fear fled from her expression. “You are afraid.”
“I am not afraid.” Of course, he would have to end up defending his bravery and probably his masculinity—though she had no room to doubt that—when all he was trying to do was keep her from getting killed. “Listen, my knee is completely shot. You just had a scary experience. Let’s find someplace where we can settle in. I’ll have to heal for a few days, anyway.”
“Your blood rations will run out,” she argued. “And I will not let you feed from me.”
He covered his frustration with an explosive laugh. “Oh, like I would want to. I prefer the taste of the human stuff. I’ve been known to stoop to cow, and I’ll have to if I run out. But I’ve never eaten dog before.”
A complete change came over her. The argumentative bitch disappeared, replaced by a mischievous girl. “Yes, you have.”
That was all it took—her easy acknowledgment of the dirty, wonderful things they’d done together—and he couldn’t be on the defensive anymore. “I don’t want to go any farther, because the Oracle threatened you when you were…out.”
“What did she say?” Bella’s chin jutted bravely, and she looked as if she was forcing herself not to cry again.
There was no po
int in protecting her from the truth, especially since it was making it so damn hard to actually protect her. “She said she’s going to get stronger the closer we come.”
“She said that?” Bella shook her head. “That cannot be. I do not remember it.”
“Do you remember anything from the last time she possessed you? Do you remember breaking my knee?” He hadn’t planned on raising his voice, but he was too angry, too rattled by the whole experience, to keep his cool. “Bella, I was sitting right here.”
They glared at each other in silence. He desperately wanted her to be the first to speak, but his stubbornness had frayed around the edges where she was concerned. “Listen, we can keep going and get you killed, or we can turn around and take a day or two to figure this out. At least give me the time to heal, so I have a fighting chance if you don’t make it.”
“Fine. We will stop tonight. But we cannot lose any more time. I do not think I can…” She waved a hand in the air. “I am tired. Speaking nonsense. You are right, we should turn around.”
He started the car and pulled back onto the highway, grateful for the sparse traffic. He managed to cross the lanes to the median without having to play Frogger. Once they were headed safely in the opposite direction, he reached over and turned the music back on.
Fucking Carole King, he thought with a grimace.
They drove in silence for a while, with only Tapestry to distract him, until finally, releasing a tired sigh, Bella spoke.
“I saw something.” Her shoulders sagged and a few strands of hair fell forward, obscuring her face from his view.
This uncharacteristically timid and bedraggled Bella was becoming far too common. He turned his attention back to the road. “Anything I should know?”
“The Oracle has arrived. She is in a place called Danvers. Have you ever heard of it?”
“Can’t say I have. Not to make any prejudgments based on nerdiness, but I bet Nathan has a book with lots of arcane facts about it.” Max reached toward the glove compartment, where his cell phone was stored.
Bella jumped, avoiding his hand. “I am sorry. I am still…guarded.”
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