by Lana Melyan
Martha froze for a few seconds, then began whispering again.
“Follow,” she said, louder.
Under the eyelids of her still closed eyes, her irises moved from side to side. Suddenly, she gasped, and her eyes flew open.
“She’s in the painter’s house,” said Martha, and hurried to the living room. “I think he’s in danger. And she’s not alone, there is a man with her.”
Martha wrote down the address on a small piece of paper and handed it to Fray.
“Go, hurry.”
Fray took it and left in a rush. He wasn’t rushing to save the painter. He wasn’t thinking of him. He wanted the woman. She possessed all the qualities he was meant to fight, and his duty was to destroy her. But, against all the rules, she was also the kind of woman, who attracted Fray the most. He rushed because he was seized with an irresistible desire not to kill, but to catch her.
But it didn’t happen. When he found the house and entered the already open door, he was surrounded by a deep silence. The painter lay dead not far from the entrance, which probably meant a quick death. She was in a hurry. Why?
Fray felt her scent and followed it outside, but he lost the track only a few yards away from the door. The vampire smell was long blown away by the fresh spring wind. Frustrated, he stared at the dark, narrow, empty street and, admitting the fact that the woman was gone, he went back.
Martha stood with closed eyes beside the round table, her hand on the picture.
“I missed her,” he said.
“I know.”
“Can you find her again? Try to locate the manor.”
“It is too late.” She opened her eyes. “She’s gone. And I don’t think she’s coming back.”
“What?” Anger crossed Fray’s face. “But why? What do you think happened?”
“I have no idea.”
“First, she lets the painter go, and then she comes back after him.” Fray was pacing and muttering. “Something happened. Something alarmed her.” He stopped and looked at Martha. “Is it possible that she knew I was coming?”
“No. When she came to him, she was already prepared to leave, and everybody was waiting for her. I saw it.”
“Then what scared her?”
“You can ask her when you find her. Something tells me you won’t rest until you do.” She handed him the drawing and gave him a cold look. “You forgot to mention the painter is dead.”
“Yes, he is dead,” said Fray, pretending he cared.
But he didn’t fool Martha. Her wrinkled face didn’t change its accusing expression. She blew out the candles and left the room.
“It’s not just my fault,” said Fray, following her. “Why didn’t you call us earlier? What were you waiting for?”
“Because I didn’t know,” she shouted. “There were no bodies, no deaths under mysterious circumstances. People were missing, but I didn’t know why.”
“Don’t worry, Martha, she’ll pay for what she did.” He rolled up the parchment and pointed it at the witch, who looked at him askance. “I can still track her down. It’s not over yet.”
But he was wrong. He didn’t find her that day or even that year. All he found out was that Ms. Murray had been invited to look after the house, which belonged to an old, married couple, who suddenly left for France without informing friends or neighbors. He also found “France” in a grave behind the manor.
14
TODAY
Amanda stood in the middle of a green field. Craig ran across it and stopped before her. Looking deep into her eyes, he said, “Eleanor.”
Amanda woke up and groaned in disappointment. She pushed away the tickling ginger hair lying across her face, then looked at Kimberly’s back on one side and Hanna, with her nose buried in the pillow, on the other side. She sat up and leaned against the headboard.
“How do you even breathe like that?” she asked, glancing at Hanna’s curls outspread on the pillow.
Kimberly lifted her head and looked over her shoulder.
“With her ears,” she said, and they laughed.
“I don’t know, but as long as I’m not choking . . .” Hanna rolled over, “What time is it?” She took her cellphone from the nightstand. “Wow, it’s long past my coffee time.”
“Ok, I’ll try to be a good hostess. Coffee will be ready in five minutes,” said Kimberly, and with a lazy gait, she went downstairs.
“Five minutes at that pace?” said Hanna looking after her. “I think it’s a bit optimistic.”
“How do you feel?” Amanda asked.
“I’m fine. Stop worrying.”
“Hanna, that guy hit you.”
“It wasn’t that painful. I have a good abs.”
“What if you meet him again and nobody’s around to help you?”
“I am not afraid of him. Who I’m really afraid to meet right now is Craig. He’ll kick my ass.”
“I can’t imagine Craig angry,” said Amanda. She lay down again and stared at the ceiling. “But he is so serious, sometimes, and so thoughtful.”
“You noticed,” said Hanna quietly. She closed her eyes. “He has a lot on his mind right now.”
“Hanna?”
“Hmm.”
“Who is Eleanor?” Amanda asked carefully.
Hanna's eyes flew open.
“Eleanor? Why?”
“I had . . .” Amanda hesitated for a second, and then she continued, keeping her eyes on the ceiling, “I had a dream. In it, Craig looked into my eyes and called me Eleanor.”
She sat up and glanced at Hanna, who sat up, too. She stared back at Amanda in astonishment, her eyes tearing up. But then a tiny smile appeared on her face. The reaction confused Amanda.
Hanna got out of the bed, keeping her back to it. After a moment, she sat at the edge of the bed and looked at Amanda.
“Eleanor was Craig's girlfriend,” she said in a low voice.
“Was? What happened?”
“She died. It was an accident.”
“Oh, that's so sad.” Amanda thought of her dream. “Why does he call me Eleanor in my dreams?”
“I think it’s because your eyes pretty much look like hers,” said Hanna fondly.
Amanda could see Eleanor meant a lot to Hanna, too.
“You were close to her, weren't you?” she asked.
“Yes. She was like a sister to me.”
“Oh, Hanna.” Amanda sighed. “I’m so sorry. How come you never told me about her?”
She leaned forward and squeezed Hanna's hand. A ray of sunshine fell on her wrist through the open window, and she looked at the sparkling golden circles around it. The bracelet. Her heart skipped a beat. She let go of Hanna's hand.
“Because I wasn’t ready to talk about her yet.” Hanna stood up and turned around looking for her clothes, but it seemed that she was trying to hide her face.
Amanda gazed at the bracelet again.
“He loved her very much,” she whispered stroking it.
A mix of feelings punched her in the chest and made it difficult to breathe. Stunned, she turned her back to Hanna and muttered, “I need the bathroom.”
She ran to the downstairs bathroom. The second she shut the door behind her, tears gushed from her eyes. The pain in her chest was unbearable, and she let it out. To suppress the sound, she grabbed a towel and covered her face before she started sobbing. Otherwise, how would she explain this to Hanna and Kimberly? She herself didn't understand this outburst. She took the bracelet off and put it on the sink. Right now, she needed to find out what was causing these feelings, which one of the them hurt the most—was it offense, or anger, or maybe disappointment, or loss—LOSS! She looked at the bracelet again. “Craig and I want you to have it,” Hanna had said when she gave it to her. “It was my idea,” Craig had said. Those words were the thin thread of hope that maybe he liked her after all. That thread was gone. Amanda had lost her only hope. Now she knew why he was nice to her, and if he ever again looked into her eyes, she'd know that wasn�
��t Amanda he was looking at, but his intolerably missed, forever loved, irreplaceable Eleanor.
Her eyes and the tip of her nose were red from crying. Trying to control her voice, she called out to Kimberly, who was not so far away in the kitchen.
“Yes,” said Kimberly from behind the door.
“Can I take a shower?” Amanda asked.
“Sure. The clean towel is under the sink. I’ll bring you my bathrobe.”
A few minutes later after Amanda got out of the shower, Kimberly knocked on the door. Wrapped in a towel, Amanda opened it, and Kimberly passed her a bathrobe.
“Hanna left, you can come out now,” she said in a casual tone.
Amanda cast a quick glance at her.
“Why did she go?” she asked, taking the robe out of Kimberly’s hands.
“Craig called and said he needs his car. But you can’t leave. She said she’ll be back and drive you home herself,” said Kimberly. On her way out, she added, “Hurry, the coffee is ready.”
Amanda walked into the kitchen where Kimberly was waiting with two cups of coffee in front of her. As she sat across from her, Kimberly pushed one of the cups toward her.
“Amanda, what’s going on?”
“It’s nothing,” said Amanda.
“It’s not nothing. You were crying.” She took her cup, eyes still focused on Amanda.
“I don’t know what happened. We were just talking.”
“Did Hanna say something to you? Is it because of what happened yesterday?”
“No, it has nothing to do with that,” said Amanda, sipping the coffee.
“Then, let me guess.” Kimberly put her cup down. “Maybe it has something to do with Craig?”
Amanda stared at her.
“You think I don’t know?”
“How? Is it that obvious?”
“To me it is. You stop breathing every time he looks at you. I was waiting for the day you’d tell me yourself. But you keep clenching your teeth together and suffering alone. Why?” asked Kimberly, her tone a bit resentful. “We’ve been best friends since we were nine. We never had secrets from each other. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I don’t know.” Amanda glanced at her. “Maybe because once you had a crush on him too. Three years ago, when they moved to town, we both fell in love with him. You told me first, and I decided to shut up. I didn’t want to ruin it for you.”
“Really?” Kimberly’s look softened. “Sorry, I didn’t know then. But it was ages ago. Why didn’t you tell me later?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just got used to that pain in my heart.” She took a deep breath. “Remember what you said? You said that he was gorgeous but older, and he wouldn’t notice you, that to him you were just a little girl, and he wasn’t going to wait until you grew up to realize what an amazing woman you’d become.”
They both smiled.
“But he is still alone,” said Kimberly. “Isn’t it strange? A guy like him alone. Who is he waiting for?”
Amanda’s face grew sad again.
“Yesterday, he was pretty worried about you,” Kimberly continued. “And the other time, at dinner, he was all over you and even drove you home. Isn’t that a good thing?”
“I thought so, too, until now.”
“Why now, what happened?”
“He’s not waiting for anybody,” said Amanda bitterly. “He had a girlfriend who he loved very much, but she died.”
“Oh, no,” gasped Kimberly.
“Hanna just told me. I think that’s why he is so thoughtful all the time. Her name was Eleanor. Hanna said that she was like a sister to her.”
“So it was a big loss for her, too.”
“Yes, it was. That’s why she didn’t tell us, she said she wasn’t ready. Did Hanna hear me crying?”
“No, she ran out like a maniac.”
“She probably didn’t want to make Craig even angrier.”
They moved to the living room. It had modern furniture and matching curtains, beautiful thick carpet and flowers on the coffee table, and all together it looked nice, but it made Amanda feel like a short-time visitor.
Amanda, during all those years of friendship, had been in this room only a few times, and only when Kimberly was home alone. Amanda and Hanna didn’t come here often because of Kimberly’s stepfather, who was a very unpleasant man with a fake smile.
Kimberly never knew her real father. Her mother raised her alone. Money was always an issue. When David came into their lives that problem was gone, but many others came instead, and very soon Kimberly’s view of David as a father figure vanished. He acknowledged her presence only when he needed a glass of water or his newspaper. Her mother didn’t have much time for her anymore, and Kimberly told Amanda how greatly she missed those cozy evenings in their old house with hot chocolate and cookies, the times when it was only the two of them.
Five years ago, when her brother was born, it got even worse. She felt more alone and forgotten than ever. She told Amanda that if one imagined her family as a body, she was the appendix.
They sat on the couch, and Kimberly lit a few candles in an attempt to make it feel more comfortable.
“Kimberly,” said Amanda, reflecting on their conversation, “If you knew about Craig, why did you keep pushing me to Alec?”
“Because I wanted you to move on, to have a life. Alec’s a nice guy, and he’s in love with you. Give him a chance, or, rather—give yourself a chance.”
“I tried, and you know how it ended. I dated Kevin, hoping it would help me move on, and I just broke his heart.”
“That was almost a year ago, and Alec is not Kevin. Alec is level-headed and has everything to make it work. Amanda, he’s not just your friend; he loves you.”
“I know.” Amanda sighed. “I realized that at the party. Besides, yesterday I promised him to think about it.”
“He told you about his feelings?” Kimberly shrieked with joy. “That’s why he took you upstairs. Please, don’t push him away.”
“Kimberly, he’s interesting and handsome, but I don’t feel anything for him.”
“Things can change. Have a date, or two, and see what happens. Maybe we can go on a double date?”
Amanda remembered what Hanna had said about Ruben, about his leaving forever.
“Did Ruben ask you out?” she asked.
“Not yet. But I think he’s going to.” Kimberly sighed. “That bastard hit him so hard. I hope he’s all right.” Her voice became soft and quiet. “I think I’m falling in love. He’s so different and so special. Beside him, I feel special, too. He was so gallant yesterday, and he said I looked amazing.”
Amanda’s heart sank. She had to say something.
“Kimberly, you know he’s just visiting.”
“And so what? He was very nice to me. If he likes me, we’ll keep in touch and, when he can, he’ll come and visit again.”
Amanda knew that whatever she said now would sound wrong. She had to talk to Hanna. Maybe she’d find a better way to explain it to Kimberly, as Amanda didn’t know what she was explaining.
“Just be careful,” Amanda said. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t,” said Kimberly, beaming.
Hanna ran out of Kimberly’s house and threw herself in the car.
“God! What’s wrong with me?” she yelled in fury the second she shut the door behind her. Amanda’s expression as she looked at the bracelet was still in front of her eyes. Why? Why couldn’t she keep her mouth shut? This was the second mistake she’d made in the last twenty-four hours.
There wasn’t much time left. Very soon, Amanda would know the truth. Until then, her heart would be bleeding and she’d probably hate Craig.
Hanna cursed herself the whole way home. She knew that it would upset Craig, but she had to tell him. Maybe he’d be able to fix it somehow.
Hanna walked into the living room, where Ruben sat with a newspaper in his hand.
“Hi,” she said.
“Hi,” said Ruben. “You look tired. What happened? Hangover?”
“I wish. Is everything all right?” She nodded toward the newspaper.
“It’s horrible,” said Ruben folding it. “There’s this grandma. She lost her cat.”
Hanna heard steps and looked up at Craig coming down the stairs.
“How are they?” he asked.
“They’re fine,” said Hanna.
“We scared the hell out of them,” said Craig, “Did they notice anything—the fangs, the faces?”
“No. Amanda saw that you had something in your hand and she thought that it was a knife. But I told her that it was just a piece of wood.”
“Just a piece of wood,” said Craig angrily.
“Craig, I know. I made a mistake.”
“We’re about to get our powers back after a hundred and sixty years of waiting, and we’re all very excited,” he said, his voice rising. “We’re Hunters, and every time we see those monsters, we want to rip them apart. But you’re three hundred years old. You should know how to control yourself. You know that it wasn’t just a piece of wood,” he shouted. “Do you know how difficult it was to not kill him? I almost started a war, and we can’t afford it right now. It’s only the three of us, and God knows how many they are. They have the Book, Hanna, and if they get Amanda, we’ll lose both.”
“I know that!” Hanna shouted back.
“Do you?”
Ruben stood up.
“Ok,” he said, looking from one to another, “the emotions are out, and I hope you both feel better. What now?”
“Now I need to go,” said Craig, still irritated. “I need to find that house.”
He went to the kitchen and came back with a bunch of printed maps in his hand.
“The key,” he said without looking at Hanna.
“It’s in the car,” she said, but when Craig walked to the front door she stopped him. “Wait.”
Craig looked back.
“I think I made another mistake,” she whispered.