“My heart belongs to someone else.”
“Prudence?”
“Yes.”
“You’ll never see Prudence again.”
“And why is that?”
“Because she’s shackled up with that wolf shifter. Living a life together. Bearing his children.”
“Lies.”
“Am I lying, Bastian?”
He nodded.
She grinned. “How would you even know?”
His tongue scratched the roof of his mouth.
On the ground. Now.
Phillipa fell.
He kicked her legs out from under her and spread her arms out. Then he knelt down and brought her face up to meet his.
Show me where she is.
Behind the forehead. Through the bone.
Bastian put his mind into hers, and spread his way around through the darkness.
CHAPTER SIX
In a flash of pink light, Bastian was face-first lying in the dirt where Phillipa had been, gasping for air. He reached up towards his neck, trying to free the passage. Something was there, preventing him. Choking him. Squeezing the life right out.
Footsteps beside him. She touched his hair.
The strangling force began to release and unravel. Once it was done and he was free to finally sit up and breath, he was faced with the appearance of a white snake slivering away from him.
“What the fuck?” Bastian mumbled. “What the fuck is that?”
Phillipa picked the snake up off the ground and wrapped it across the back of her neck.
“Just a little friend of mine,” she said. “His name is Python.”
Bastian blinked a few times. He suddenly felt much weaker.
“Did that thing bite me?”
“No dear,” Phillipa replied. “You just tried to go where you weren’t wanted.”
Bastian got to his feet. “You mean I tried to read your mind?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t know where you think this is going,” he said defiantly. “I won’t rest until I find Prudence with or without your help.”
“The last time I saw Prudence, she was in the labyrinth,” Phillipa confessed. “That was a year ago. I think it’s safe to say she didn’t find her way out.”
Bastian walked towards her. “I thought you said she was with the wolves.”
“Which would you rather, Bastian?” Phillipa asked. “To know your lover put the knife in your back and ran away to be with another? Or that she’s been dead this whole time, and it’s too late to save her?”
“She’s not dead,” Bastian said with tears in his eyes. “She can’t be. I would know.”
“You only know as much as I let you.”
Bastian slapped her across the face and the snake immediately lashed out as his wrist in response.
He fell back to the ground shaking, the pain radiating up his arm.
“You shouldn’t hit me,” Phillipa said. “Python doesn’t like it.”
“That thing isn’t even real.”
“And what of your pain then? Is that just in your head too?”
Bastian grimaced, and spat on the ground.
Phillipa took the snake off her and flung it at him.
Bastian dived across the ground, wincing in terror, until he realized that the snake was a snake no more.
“Python will take you back to the labyrinth so you can search for what remains of her. I will be waiting for you at home. Soon you will see I am your only true love.”
She walked back through the gates.
Bastian climbed to his feet. “You’re fucking crazy. Once I’ve found Prudence I’ll be coming back for you alright. Coming back to kill you.”
He trudged off angrily ignoring the horse.
No you won’t.
Bastian froze.
You won’t because you love me.
He turned back to Phillipa. “How are you doing that? How –”
I said take Python and go. You will do exactly as I say because now you belong to me.
The choice is not yours.
The horse moved beside him.
Bastian got up onto his back, and then rode away.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Up a flight of concrete steps, across a terrace, and through glass Christine and Raymond were seated inside the teahouse overlooking the maze gardens waiting for their order. Raymond was doing his best to divert her attention from the surrounding circumstances, making light conversation, holding her hand every now and then. Trying to remind her that her life existed without Prudence, and her absence had been prominent even before they’d reunited. She didn’t blame him. If it had been his friend who was missing, she’d probably try and do the same.
There was more to this though. Christine couldn’t just accept that Prudence was gone and then just carry on her everyday life with Raymond. It was true he had sacrificed a lot for her, his job, his family and friends back in France. He’d turned his life upside down in the hope that one day Christine’s presence would somehow serve a purpose once Pru was finally found.
Most of all, Christine felt as though Pru didn’t have anyone else waiting it out for her. After what had happened at the wedding a lot of her family and friends had distanced themselves from the situation fearing the vampire’s wrath would be brought down upon them. Michael’s stepsister had also been very vocal about how it was Pru’s desire to be with Bastian all along. And even though Christine had been with Pru that day, and she was her friend, and she’d confided in her, Christine had no idea how Pru felt about Bastian.
Perhaps she never would.
The waitress walked over to their table and set down each of their hot drinks. Raymond thanked her and she went on her way.
“Come on then, drink up,” he suggested.
Christine stirred the latte.
“You’ve hardly said a word, you know. Since we sat down here. Are you okay?”
“What do you think?”
“I don’t know. Perhaps … not?”
“I was thinking about our wedding,” Christine said. “How it was going back to France. Seeing you with your family. I’m sorry you had to leave.”
“We’ve talked about this.”
“I’m thinking … when we find Prudence. If we should just get married again. So she can be there. So she won’t have missed anything.”
“You don’t … have any regrets do you?”
She picked up the mug.
Drank slowly.
“Someday you’re going to have to accept she’s gone,” Raymond said.
“What?”
“It’s been a year. You knew she wouldn’t come here today. Because wherever she is, dead or alive, she can’t come back here. We would have heard from her by now.”
“This isn’t over,” Christine whispered. “We can’t give up.”
Raymond leaned back in his chair. He began to say something, but was interrupted by someone approaching the table.
“He’s here,” Elliot said. “I got them all to come down.”
“You did?” Christine replied.
Elliot to the window beside them. Reese was out there chatting to a couple of his fellow bikers.
“Are they searching the maze?”
“Yes, there’s a few in there already,” Elliot said. “But he wants the entire place scoured through. Just to be sure.”
Having finished his conversation, Reese stepped inside the teahouse.
Raymond turned round in his chair, as the wolf shifter’s presence towered over them.
“How you folks doing?” he asked. “Holding up?”
“Getting there,” Raymond replied.
“Thanks for coming down,” Christine said. “It means a lot to us.”
“Don’t sweat it,” Reese said. “We jump at the chance of clearing vampire scum.”
“So what do you think he showed up for then?” Elliot asked. “Any theories?”
“Obviously he was planning on luring some other unsuspecting female
into his web,” Reese said. “Something about the whole ‘Valentine’s Day’ along with that maze seems to be connected with his endeavors in this world.”
“But if he has Prudence, why would he need to do that?” Raymond asked.
“Maybe he doesn’t have her,” Reese said. “Maybe he did … but he killed her. Sorry. It’s unlikely he would show up here if they were still together. If they were still together then obviously he’d be able to frequent any place he wished and he wouldn’t need to come to the maze. That’s what I’m thinking anyway.”
“He said he didn’t have her,” Elliot said. “He said he was looking for her. That he was there for the same reason as we were.”
Reese frowned. “You believe that?”
“No,” Christine said firmly.
Elliot looked at her. “Anything’s possible.”
She looked to Raymond.
“I have no idea,” he muttered.
“What should we do now?” Christine asked, turning back to Reese.
“Well, we’ll do the best we can to see what we can find,” Reese said. “I’ll even stay back here tonight just in case he decides to show up again. You guys should probably get on with whatever you have going on though. Your presence here could be driving him away for all we know.”
He turned to Elliot. “I know how to stay hidden.”
“Can you promise me something?” Christine asked Reese.
He nodded. “Go on.”
“Promise me you’ll find her. That she won’t be forgotten again. That you’re gonna get this son of a bitch.”
Reese stared at her. “Don’t worry. I’ll get him.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Bastian was on his knees just outside the labyrinth’s entrance. He was running – running so hard sweat poured down his face – running so hard his eyes turned red.
Bastian was lying on his back.
The white ball hovered in front of him, as he grappled the sides of the maze’s walls, trying to keep up with it. It was leading him somewhere. It knew where to go.
His mind was in a haze. If he just focused on the light and kept going, kept reaching out for it, then he’d be fine. But the moment he turned to one side, the moment his mind drifted away from the task at hand – his whole body seemed to collapse.
He knew this was the servant’s doing.
But just to think of her, to acknowledge her presence in any way – pains crept into the calves of his legs, and his heart burst and bubbled with panic.
As though this could end at any time.
As though he was still human.
As though he was still alive.
The white ball continued. The distance between here and the entrance may not have been much, but for Bastian it felt like forever. This maze, this place he knew like the back of his hand had somehow become a stranger. The edges, the corners, the textures. They didn’t gel with what was already in his mind. It was familiar, but off.
Not that it was wrong.
But that he had forgotten.
Webs stuck to his face, but his hands were too busy to tear them away. Up ahead he could see the light had frozen still, waiting for him to catch up. As he edged his way closer, his knees buckled and he fell into the dirt.
Why? His mind whispered.
Why here?
The light was fading. His eyes were drawing to a close.
Now he could see her.
His beloved Prudence wandering through the labyrinth’s pathway, tired and afraid. He followed her journey and could see that it was leading her to where he was now, at the mouth of the spider’s cave. Surely that couldn’t mean what he thought it could. Surely she would have known to run away.
Sssssssss…
Bastian opened his eyes and saw the white snake had appeared on the earth beside him. He flinched, terrified it would strike him again. But there was no power inside for him to fight it. No power for him to stand up and walk away.
The creature was looking at him. As if it could hear his thoughts.
Bastian swallowed.
“I don’t believe it,” he said. “She didn’t die here.”
Sssssssss…
His eyes forced themselves shut.
Prudence was standing where he was, and in front of her the giant spider was storming towards.
“Enough!” Bastian shouted, standing up. “I can’t take anymore!”
He fled from the snake, his mind falling apart in every direction.
A voice stirred inside.
Bastian…
Bastian…?
He stopped, tears flowing from his eyes.
“Prudence? Prudence, that you?”
Come back to me, Bastian…
“Where – where are you?”
Can’t you see me? I’m waiting for you…
Bastian looked up over the maze’s hedges. In the faraway distance over the forest and the gates he could see the highest tower of his palace.
And a woman in red standing upon it.
CHAPTER NINE
Around 3pm dark clouds began to gather over the maze gardens and the surrounding area. By four it was raining. By five lightning and hail hit the ground everywhere, and all nearby patrons had taken shelter inside the teahouse and restaurant.
At eight thirty the place was nearly deserted. The owner sent the staff home and was able to close up before nine. As she made it down to the car park she saw there was one other vehicle standing there besides her own. She briefly considered making a note of the license plate, but due to the rain decided otherwise. Soon she was inside her car, twisting around the loop, and exiting out of frame.
The wolf had been watching her.
He remained where he was, sheltered underneath sky reaching trees, one with the darkness. It seemed doubtful by now that the vampire would show. Still he would wait it out, as that was what had been promised.
Bastian’s demise was important for other reasons as well.
Though he did not wish to acknowledge such, he had carved himself out quite the nemesis in this vampire. He knew should he appear now or meet at another time, there would be no words between them. Only a swift exchange of blows, followed by the drawing of blood. While the creature’s magical abilities exceeded his own brute strength, the wolf’s agile was cunning and unpredictable. When Bastian did surface, it wasn’t a simple matter of him being attacked or challenged.
He would be hunted.
The minutes ticked by slowly, but the wolf was ever patient. This was his home out here. In the thick of the wet and cold. In the house of nature. His paws sat comfortably out in front of him, his snout tilted towards the ground.
The fierce wind passed.
Lights now. A car moving into the car park.
The wolf watched it cautiously, unsure of this new presence. His eyes centered further as the car approached and pulled up to the side on an angle. It was a taxi cab. The passenger was getting out.
Elliot.
A low growl of annoyance curled off the wolf’s tongue and his hind legs unfolded.
Elliot pulled a flashlight from his pocket and started waving it about randomly.
“Reese?” he called out. “Reese, where are you?”
The wolf groaned.
“It’s me, Elliot. Where are you?”
Reese shifted into his human form and stormed out from the trees in Elliot’s direction.
The flashlight waved over him.
“Oh, there you are.”
On approach Reese took hold of the flashlight and broke the top of it off in his hands, throwing the fragments to the ground.
“Hey,” Elliot exclaimed. “What did you do that for?”
“What the fuck are you doing out here?” Reese demanded.
“I was just sitting at home,” Elliot shrugged. “Out the window I could see how wet it was getting. I couldn’t bear to think about you all alone out here.”
“The whole point of my being here is so that I can capture the vampire by surprise,” Ree
se scolded. “One hint of your high pitched squealy voice, and if he does show up now he’ll run back faster than you can get into a dress.”
“I told you already,” Elliot said. “It was just for a play. I don’t … walk around the house in that thing.”
Reese rolled his eyes.
“So how’s it going out here?” Elliot mumbled. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine. I don’t need any company. Believe me.”
“Look, I know we’re not … hanging out much anymore … and that was probably your decision –”
“Don’t, Elliot. I’m serious. Just – don’t.”
“All I’m saying is I’m so grateful you were there when I called you this morning. That you were ready to help out straight away. I know you’ve been seeing other people. And … I’ve sure as shit have been … But the point is it really made me reflect on how things were between us. I think … I’ve missed you…”
Reese sighed.
He put his arms around Elliot.
“I missed you too, darling.”
They held each other a moment and then Reese broke away. He stared down at the ground.
“What is it?” Elliot asked. “What’s wrong?”
“I can’t tell you,” Reese said. “I have … some things going on.”
“Like what.”
“My current partner. He’s … well, he’s different.”
“How long have you been seeing him?”
“A while.”
“Oh.” Elliot put his hands in his pockets. “I’m sorry I came down here. Just, I’m really thankful about everything. This is … totally…”
“Awkward.”
Elliot bowed his head and walked away.
Reese watched him disappear.
And he thought about what could have been.
CHAPTER TEN
Could she really have been here this whole time? So close by? Just out of reach…?
He had seen her. He had seen her standing on it. Could he have imagined it?
“No,” he whispered to himself. “She was real.”
The white horse / snake / light had evaporated and it had been his task to walk back to the palace in a semi-lucid state.
Vampire's Eternity (Vampire's Valentine Book Four) Page 2