I decided to cross-examine the closer suspect.
“Jack, could you come here for a moment?”
He abandoned his current task—he and Eamon were leveling the plank wooden floor with a latex filler to prepare it for cork tiles—and sat beside me. “Was that the hospital?”
“I didn’t get that job,” I said.
Jack hugged me tightly and kissed my hair. “I’m sorry, baby. I know how much you wanted it.”
“But Dr. Falkenstein offered me a part-time position in the ER starting next month.” I lifted my head and buried my nose in Jack’s neck. “Mmmm, what a sexy blend of soap, sweat and testosterone! You’re driving me crazy on purpose, Jack Canagan.”
My head swam and I almost forgot why I’d summoned him.
I made a superhuman effort to pull myself away from him. “Do you know who got the job?” I said.
For the second time in five minutes my question had been ignored.
“Are you going to take the part-time job?” Jack asked instead.
“I am. A part-time job works better for me now. I have a meeting with Dr. Falkenstein tomorrow. I’ll meet the new doctor. Why do I have the feeling that you know more than me? Do you know the man, Jack?”
Jack turned to me and scooped my face between his big, warm hands, soft and rough at the same time. “You’ll know everything tomorrow.” His mouth locked with mine until I forgot about anything else. “I love you, baby. I have to go back.”
In fact, I had a pretty good idea who would be the newest addition to Red Cliffs’ medical community, and my heart made a happy jump.
“HE KNOWS something, but he doesn’t want to tell me,” I said later to Peyton. This time we were in Maestro, a popular pizzeria, sharing a large pizza Veronese.
“You’ll see tomorrow. You got the job, that’s important.”
“I’m actually glad I didn’t get the full-time job. Look at my life now: Takeshi, Morgaine, the house renovation, Goblin’s Hollow…”
Peyton’s eyes widened. “You are going to start singing there? When?”
“On Friday. I asked the guys to keep a low profile. I don’t want a full bar on the first night. Are you coming?”
“Of course I’m coming! That’s great, Astrid. Are you nervous?”
“I’m freaking out. I’ve never sung in front of any audience. I don’t know why I let Eamon talk me into this.”
“Because you wanted it, that’s why. It’ll be fine.” She smiled and patted my hand. “Don’t worry, the Fellowship, minus Maggie, will be there. Maggie can watch you over the phone. I’ll talk to Betty, they can pick me up.”
I just groaned. Of course, my family would be there. I just hadn’t thought about all the particulars. My uncle wouldn’t miss it for anything. And then Takeshi and Morgaine, Alec, Drew and Lily… I let out a deep sigh. “At least we’re going skiing on Saturday.”
“They forecasted another snowstorm for Saturday. We can’t go skiing before Monday.”
“Crap! It was going to be my little reward after my singing debut. Or debacle.”
“Hey, everything’s gonna be okay, you’ll see.”
I laughed and relaxed. “I have no right to complain, I know. I’ve asked for it. I love singing, but I don’t like attention. Well, this time it comes in a package, I’m afraid.”
“You’ll be fine. Listen, if you want, after skiing, we can come back to my place. I want to show you a couple of 3D interior images I made. A few ideas about your house, just something to start with.”
We continued chatting about color schemes and interior decoration. Later Peyton casually mentioned she might be going to Seattle soon, but didn’t specify the reason. I was sure that her trip was connected to Ingmar, but I didn’t expect her to talk about him. Not yet. She looked happy and there was a spark in her blue eyes that hadn’t been there before.
I knew Peyton still cared about Jack, but her feelings had definitely made a turn toward the friendship side. I wasn’t jealous of their past relationship anymore, or of her feelings for him. Jack was mine. Peyton had found enough courage to accept it. In spite of everything, she wanted me as a friend. What kind of person would I have been if I hadn’t tried to do the same in return?
“Make sure we have a bottle of well-chilled Chardonnay for Monday,” I said.
“And you’ll make us dinner. Something simple, like pasta or fish.”
“Or pasta with fish. Salmon with Garlic Alfredo fettuccine?”
“Perfect. I have some Italian ice cream in the freezer.” Peyton glanced to the side for a moment and then moved her eyes back to me. Her heart-shaped face flushed slightly. “When you come on Monday, I’d like to talk to you about something.”
“You can ask me now, or any time before Monday, if you feel like talking.”
“I have to go back now. We’ll talk on Monday.”
I smiled. “On Monday, then.”
THE NEXT morning at eleven o’clock sharp I knocked on Dr. Falkenstein’s door. A tall man greeted me warmly. His high forehead, aquiline nose, blue-grey eyes and regal posture immediately brought to mind the paintings of another Falkenstein, the young Holy Roman Emperor Josef II. He had used the same last name for his incognito trips. Dr. Falkenstein smiled, realizing I’d made the connection.
“He was my great-grandfather,” he said simply.
“But…but… how? I always thought the Emperor hadn’t left any surviving children.”
Dr. Falkenstein smiled. “He had a son. But by then he wasn’t the Emperor anymore.”
“Well, I’m glad I was wrong,” I said, gathering my wits. “And I have to tell you that, in my opinion, he was one of the greatest men of his time.”
“Thank you for your kind words. This is what the history books say: he was a great ruler and a sad man. Thanks to Brian Canagan, Jack’s father, however, there was a much happier, unofficial sequel to his official biography. I’ll tell you one day.”
After that, he offered me coffee and told me about his and James’ latest fishing catches: two trophy-sized northern pikes. “We didn’t have a scale with us, but both were over 20 pounds, although James’ was a bit smaller,” he said. I nodded and smiled. James had told us his fish was slightly bigger.
Dr. Falkenstein then told me about the position he was offering me. “You might find it quite different from your previous jobs. At first, you probably won’t do so many complicated surgeries. With our new colleague and you here, I’m hoping to attract orthopedic patients from the entire region, and maybe make our Center a well-known orthopedic institution. For the time being, however, you’ll work in the ER two nights and occasional sub shifts to cover sick days, vacations and such. If you prefer day shifts, that’s fine too. It’s twenty-four hours in total, and it’s up to you how you are going to work them. I should know your schedule a month in advance, and then the next month you can choose some other shifts to work. Whatever suits you.”
I realized being Ellida meant not only more responsibilities but also privileges, like a flexible schedule. “Thank you, Dr. Falkenstein. Especially for being so open with the hours and shifts.”
He smiled. “We are very happy to have you here. Our new colleague—”
Oh, I was tired of this game. “What is his name, Dr. Falkenstein? Do I know him?”
I saw a mischievous glimmer in the corner of Dr. Falkenstein’s blue-gray eyes. “Well, Dr. Vandermeer, I believe you know him indeed.”
At that precise moment, there was a knock on the door.
“Come in, please,” Dr. Falkenstein said, still not revealing the name of my mysterious fellow colleague.
A tall man, who seemed to be in the vicinity of thirty years of age, stepped in. His smiling face, strong and impressive with dark wavy hair, amber eyes, a wide, sensual mouth and square chin, was completely unfamiliar. His scent wasn’t and, although I’d never paid attention to it before, my sub-conscious had memorized it.
A wide smile spread across my face. I stood up and threw myself into his ou
tstretched arms.
“Good to see you again, Dr. Duplant.”
“Likewise, Dr. Demmir!”
Nineteen
“I KNEW it was you! Astrid said with a wide grin. “It’s only that I’ve left a fortyish, grey-haired man behind in Rosenthal, and look at you now!? Is that your real look?”
“Yep, that’s the original,” Ahmed said. “I worked almost twelve years in that town, so I had to age myself somehow.”
Dr. Falkenstein stood up. “You two have lots to catch up with. Feel free to use my office. Dr. Vandermeer, thank you for coming. I’ll contact you with the details of your job. Dr. Demmir, I’ll see you on Monday.”
“Thank you.” Astrid smiled at Dr. Falkenstein as he left his office. She turned to Ahmed. “Now start from the beginning.”
Ahmed pulled out Dr. Falkenstein’ chair for Astrid and sat across from her. “The moment Tristan stepped into Rosenthal hospital, he recognized a werewolf scent. That was a bit of a surprise for him. He certainly didn’t expect any of our kind there. So, after a short yet thorough ‘investigation’ conducted by his wife, Tristan realized I wasn’t a threat to your safety. He told me why you’d come to Rosenthal, and why he and Livia were there with you. He scheduled us to work together as much as possible.”
“I thought it was because I asked him to do that. After the few first surgeries we did together, I realized you were the best anesthesiologist I’d ever worked with. I asked Tristan if you could be on my team.”
Ahmed laughed, “And because he always granted your every wish, we ended up working together most of the time.”
“Did he ask you to keep an eye on me?”
“I offered it. It wasn’t really necessary, with two Tel-Urughs watching your back, but then an extra pair of eyes didn’t hurt either.”
Later, when Jack came to Rosenthal to stay with Astrid, Tristan introduced the two men. Although satisfied with Liv’s assessment, Jack wanted to know more about a werewolf who’d decided long ago to live outside a pack and among humans.
“It was the first time in many decades that I told my story to anybody,” Ahmed said. “You know, I’d been a loner since I was turned. I became tired of that kind of life. I lived among humans, or sometimes among werewolves, but never with them. Jack offered me the chance to come to Red Cliffs. I was ready for a change so I decided to give it a try.”
“And?”
Ahmed’s eyes found Astrid’s. “I can’t explain why, but the moment I crossed the border, I felt as if I’d come home.”
“Oh, I’m so glad! I missed you, more than anyone else from Rosenthal. I cried my eyes out the morning I left. And then Jack told me about you. I was surprised. I didn’t know you were a werewolf, like me.”
“Jack contacted me soon after you left Rosenthal,” Ahmed continued. “He asked me to go to Scotland with him and James to the meeting with Darius.”
Astrid was surprised. “You went with them? Why didn’t Jack tell me anything?”
“I asked him not to. At that point, I hadn’t decided yet if I wanted to come here or not. And then James told me about this job and urged me to apply for it, and here I am.”
“We’ll work together again,” Astrid said. “Tell me something else. How did you manage to look so different back in Rosenthal? You were much older, overweight, your hair was grey and thin, even your voice and movement were different. Everything except your hands.”
“My great-great-great grandfather was a shihirbas, a wizard. He was a great healer. I inherited some of his skills. I’ve been a hekim of one kind or another since 1612. I was also a yüzbaşi in the Ottoman Army.”
“A doctor and a captain. An army physician, in other words.”
“I was gravely wounded in 1621, and left to die on the field after the Battle of Khotyn. I woke up as a werewolf. I’ve never known who turned me. Soon I discovered I could change my human appearance. You know that some werewolves can do that, don’t you?”
Astrid nodded. “A useful ability when you live among the general human population.”
“Yes. That’s the reason, I believe, we have it. I can make myself look younger or older, change my facial features, my eyes or my hair. Everything but my hands. It’s helped me to live more or less unnoticed since then. What about you? Jack says you can take an animal shape in your human form, as well as change your werewolf appearance, but that’s a wizard skill, right? He told me what you did when those Tel-Urughs attacked you, you made yourself look exactly like him. I can’t modify my appearance once I turn into a wolf.”
“It’s a different set of skills. It’s about creating an illusion. I make you believe I’m a snake, for example, or a lion, or a bird, but I don’t change physically. And yes, I can do it while in my wolf form. But if you touch me—pooff!—your mind breaches the illusion and I’m back. You, on the other hand, physically modify your look and you can hold it for quite a while. The illusion I create lasts no more than a few minutes in any case.”
“With practice, you’ll master the skill. Normally, Ellidas are able to hold it for longer. Some can even make others look different. Morgaine’s particularly good at it.”
“Oh, I’m sure she won’t let me skip this lesson. And maybe you should try. You’re part wizard, you probably have it as a latent faculty… Ahmed, are you done for today?”
“Pretty much. I came here to sign the paperwork.”
“Where are you staying?”
“At The Watchman’s. Your uncle offered to have me stay with them until I find a permanent place. But you all have enough disruption with renovations and everything.”
“Jack’s house is under renovations, not James’. The Watchman’s is half an hour from here. You can stay in my house. It’s also under renovation, but there are several still habitable rooms. What do you think? There will be noise during the day, but you’ll be working anyway. And you’ll have your privacy.”
Ahmed laughed. “I need it far less than I used to. I’ve been alone enough.”
“Then we have a deal. You’re staying in my house until you find a place for yourself. I even know who can help you with that.”
Astrid pulled out her phone and called Peyton. “Hey, can you come to Jack’s place for lunch? I ran into an old friend here at the Clinic, Dr. Demmir, my colleague from Rosenthal. And he also happens to be looking for a house.”
When she finished, Astrid turned to Ahmed. “Peyton’s my friend. She works for Millennium Property, that’s the Mohegan-Canagan real estate company. She’ll find you something in no time. Let’s go to the hotel to pick up your stuff and then we can go somewhere for coffee.”
“Maybe Jack and James wouldn’t mind an extra pair of hands.”
LATER THAT evening, Astrid showed Ahmed his new temporary place and tossed him the spare set of keys. She was at the door when Ahmed stopped her. “I need to talk to you. Do you have a minute?”
Astrid nodded. They sat on the sofa in the living room.
“I rarely speak about myself, Astrid,” Ahmed started. “There are few people who know anything about my life, except for the last several decades, and that’s mostly about my job and career. Livia Blake’s one of them. I’m a part wizard, and you know that it isn’t easy to mess with our minds, unless we are unconscious or we allow somebody in. Livia wanted to be sure I was no threat for you. She asked me for permission to enter my mind, and I agreed. Once she’s in, you can’t hide anything from her. What she saw she kept to herself, satisfied that I’m a friend, not a foe.”
Astrid listened without interrupting.
“Jack also knows a great deal about me,” Ahmed continued. “When he asked me about my life, I could’ve told him to go to hell, which I usually did whenever somebody came too close. We sat in my office in Rosenthal one evening, and I told him willingly everything Livia had seen in my head out of necessity. It was a weird feeling to speak to a complete stranger about things that I’d tried to guard all my life. Yet that was what I did. It was a cathartic experience. It help
ed me to finally leave the past where it belonged. It didn’t happen so suddenly, of course. I’d been ready to turn over a new leaf for some time, even before I came to Rosenthal, but I didn’t know how. I let time show me.
“See, Astrid, when you came to Rosenthal with your Tel-Urugh friends, suddenly the entire world that I’d been trying to ignore for centuries was all around me… Do you have black tea here, by chance?” he asked.
Astrid smiled. “Maybe some leftovers from twenty-five years ago. I’ll go across the street. Betty will have some.”
Ahmed stopped her. “No, don’t. I have some somewhere in one of my bags.”
Ten minutes later, he came back from the kitchen with two mugs of fragrant cardamom black tea. For a long moment, Ahmed was lost in his thoughts. Astrid watched his strong, elegant hands gripped around the cup. She’d looked at those same hands many times before working with delicate medical equipment. She would always recognize them, no matter how their owner had changed.
“For reasons I still can’t grasp, or explain, the moment I saw you I knew that somehow your life and mine would cross, and not on one level only,” Ahmed said. “Don’t get me wrong, Astrid. You’re a gorgeous young woman, but there’s nothing carnal in the connection I feel between you and me. I don’t know what it is. I only know that you’re somehow important to me. Your arrival in Rosenthal put my entire life into perspective. We’ll see.”
“I always felt connected to you, Ahmed. I also don’t know why.”
“I talked to Jack about it. He thinks it’s because you’re Ellida. Your mandate is to bring balance and harmony, but there’s more than that, I’m sure. And that’s why I’ll tell you about myself.”
His father, Yusuf-Bey, Ahmed said, had been a high-ranked Ottoman administrator, whose ancestors were granted land property in Hungary after the Battle of Mohacs in 1521. Yusuf-Bey lived between his wealthy beylik—land estate—in Hungary and his homeland in Konya, in Anatolia. Ahmed was the only child. His father wanted him to study law, but nonetheless supported his son’s decision to become a doctor. Ahmed was sent to the best schools in Istanbul, Izmir and Cairo. To his father’s dismay, he joined the army and became a military physician. His bravery soon earned him a captain’s rank.
Ellida Page 14