“A breach in the security at the station. We both know that’s happened before.”
She referred to Ken Barnett the former summer dispatcher who had shared information with his grandmother, the late Sadie Barnett, who had been the biggest gossip in Summit’s Edge. I decided not to argue the point any further. Isabelle was determined to believe Ian was guilty, and nothing I could say would change her mind.
“We need to get back. The sun is going down. I’m guessing whatever will happen, it’s going to happen soon.”
She agreed and walked around to the driver side of her car. I hesitated and then waved. “See you there.”
I winked out and willed myself to my street near my front door where I didn’t expect to encounter anyone. The crowd gathered around Ian’s home had swelled. Teenagers laughed and snacked while sitting on cars. Sylvia Campbell, my ex-boss, circulated the crowd handing out treats she must have baked in her own kitchen. “Please stop by my website, ladies. I have plenty more treats I know you will like, and I can deliver lickety-split.”
Leave it to citizens of Summit’s Edge not to take this situation as seriously as they needed to. Despite my criticism, I was intending to see what Sylvia was up to. Most of the town held more than one job, but I hadn’t thought it was the case with her.
My thoughts arrested on Ian when the man himself appeared in the doorway to his house. If my heart could only beat. Clark came after him, and it was then that I noticed Ian had been handcuffed. I zipped from where I stood to just in front of the men as they moved slowly down the walk. Ian’s gaze shifted to me.
“Don’t.”
I heard his voice as clear as day in my head, and I rushed up to him to touch his arm. “Ian, I need an explanation.” I said the words low, and with Clark barking orders for people to step aside and his men to gain control of the onlookers, I knew I wasn’t overheard. “Did you kill her?”
He didn’t answer me, but he let Clark tuck him into the squad car. Ian, a vampire, under arrest! It seemed preposterous. I had seen him lift a big man off his feet with one hand. Ian could break the cuffs, let alone convince Clark to remove them himself. So why was he submitting? Was it guilt for his actions?
“Talk to me,” I begged in a whisper, knowing he heard. He stared straight ahead, and soon Clark pulled off, leaving me behind.
Chapter Five
I waited until the next night to visit Ian at the police station. At first I thought I would get opposition, but Clark had given his men orders to let me see Ian. That surprised me, and I promised myself I would stop by his office before I left to thank him. He was being very unselfish, and I appreciated it. He hadn’t yet questioned me about Ian, but I knew that was coming as well. I would do better to get a picture of what was going on before that time.
When I entered the cell area, I was glad to see there were no windows, so Ian hadn’t been exposed to daylight. Of course if he had he either wouldn’t have stayed or news would have traveled around town about the incident.
He lay stretched out on a cot with his hands tucked behind his head. Still as a statue, he didn’t even blink when I walked up.
“Not long, Libby,” Will called to me, and I nodded before he shut the door, leaving Ian and me alone. I strode closer to the cage and clutched the bars. Ian seemed so out of place in this box. He should be surrounded by books and the scent of sandalwood not—well, not whatever that odd odor was that came from a police cell. “Ian, why are you staying here?”
“You should leave.”
“I’m not going anywhere until you give me an explanation as to what’s going on. Why did you put up a barrier to keep me out of your house?”
He never took his gaze away from the ceiling with its brownish stains from old leaks. “I told you not to come to my house.”
I banged the bars with the flat of my hand. I winced, not from pain exactly, but from loss of energy. Acts like that expended too much. Ian’s alert gaze shot to me, and he narrowed his eyes. I sighed and almost phased through the bars but remembered the barrier at his house. Thinking Ian might have put one up here to keep me from him tore at my heart. I wanted to go nearer to him and somehow force him to talk to me.
“Answer my questions, Ian,” I implored him.
He sat up the same instant I heard a creepy laugh coming from somewhere behind me. I spun on my heel. If I had blood flowing in my spirit, it would have frozen in fear. The lock on the cell clanged, and the next moment Ian stood between me and the man striding up to us as if he ran the station. I’m slow. That was the only explanation for how long it took me to put two and two together, to admit the evidence I had seen with my own eyes. This man who looked like a duplicate of Ian must be his brother, Tevin. Yet, that was impossible, wasn’t it? Ian had told me he killed Tevin in a fit of rage after he had been turned into a vampire.
I leaned around Ian to get a better look at his face and noted that he wasn’t surprised in the least. Had he lied to me, or did he already know his brother was in the area? Then I recalled how angry Ian had been when I told him about a kiss he didn’t remember giving me. The man in his house wasn’t him. Tevin had kissed me, had known I thought he was Ian, and continued the charade.
As I thought back to the incident and my conversation with Ian, I began to put a few facts together. Ian was born in eighteen seventy-nine and died at age thirty-five. His brother Tevin was younger, so if Tevin was standing here over a century later, that meant he too was a vampire. He couldn’t know my secret, or my continued existence would be in danger.
Fear clawed at my mind, and I clutched the back of Ian’s shirtsleeve. With supreme effort, I kept my concentration. Mostly, it was a will to live that kept me stable. I began to realize if Ian knew Tevin was in Summit’s Edge that might be why he pushed me away, to try to get me to leave town. He wanted to put distance between the two of us, which probably meant he didn’t want his brother to know I was his girlfriend. With this new knowledge, my hurt lessened. Unfortunately, the fear increased. Why would Ian not want his brother to know about me? Unless it meant Tevin was bent on revenge. I could tell Ian right then I wouldn’t be swayed by this man no matter how much he looked like Ian. Tevin couldn’t steal me from Ian as I imagined Tevin felt Ian had stolen the woman from their past. That had been the catalyst for the battle between the brothers.
“You’re like twins,” I murmured, dumbfounded.
“No, he is three years younger.” Ian stared at his brother, a broad shoulder blocking Tevin from approaching me. “Sometimes when you meet siblings who look similar, the brain plays tricks on you and shows them as identical. With more time, you will see the truth.”
Tevin chuckled. “Still got that stick up your rear, brother? I think I’m starting to see the truth. This is your woman.”
Ian gave no response, and tension thickened the air. I thought of the evil I felt permeating Ian’s house when I assumed he stood before me. Now I realized it had come from Tevin. That was the only way to describe the dark light in his eyes and the aura from his presence. I didn’t mind admitting he terrified me. This was what it was like to be in the presence of an evil vampire.
Tevin took a step in my direction, and I stumbled back. Ian moved farther between us, pushing me behind him. “Back off, Tevin.”
“What are you trying to hide, Ian? What’s so special about her?”
I froze, and Ian seemed to grow stiffer. “That does not concern you.”
Tevin strode to the side to see me better. Curiosity colored his expression, and I had never felt so exposed, like he would figure out my secret just looking at me. Then again, who knew how skilled these beings were.
“When I cloaked myself in your house, she didn’t have any trouble seeing me.” Tevin pointed a finger at me. I thought back to when I first encountered him and recalled his surprise. Ian had once told me a vampire could suppress their presence to such an extent it would seem like they were invisible. People would pass by and never notice them. Tevin must have done it at Ian’s
house, but I wasn’t fooled. I didn’t like looking at him and seeing how impressed he was. I had rather not impress this man. Or for that matter, this would be a perfect time for exercising a little cloaking ability of my own. Instead, I remained stuck beneath his scrutiny.
Ian flared his nostrils and bared his teeth. I expected points to form from the canines, but they were human-like. “I will not allow you to have anything to do with Libby.”
“Oh you ‘will not,’ huh?” Tevin threw his head back and barked with laughter. “Did you hear that, sweetheart? He thinks he can stop me.” Tevin glared at his brother. “It’s too late to stop me. I’m interested in her now. In fact, I’m not giving up until I take her away from you. Just like you took Nessa.”
I gasped. That’s where I had heard the name. I hadn’t made the connection before. Now I recalled the woman who had come between the brothers before they were both turned into vampires. Her name was Nessa. I had no way of knowing if Nessa was a nickname or if she were called Vanessa. In recalling the library assistant named Vanessa, I didn’t believe this was yet another vampire from the past. The assistant had been human, especially since she had traveled without hindrance during the day, and she lay dead in the morgue.
Ian approached his brother, his expression and bulk probably intimidating a lesser man. Tevin stood his ground. Ian flexed fingers that must ache to punch his brother. I worried about them attracting the officers outside, but it was a miracle they hadn’t shown up already. I glanced at Tevin, so angry, yet smiling, giving off malice. Maybe the fact that the others weren’t coming wasn’t a miracle at all. I started forward, but Ian snatched me back with hardly more than a flick of his wrist.
“It was not enough that you had me killed.” Ian kept his hold on me but didn’t take his eyes off Tevin.
Tevin’s smile broadened, and he spread his hands to the sides, palms up as if he presented a sight to behold. “And yet look at you now, brother. You aren’t suffering. You weren’t suffering for a hundred years. Maybe it should have stopped there all those years ago. We would have been even.”
“Even?” Ian raged.
Tevin went on as if Ian hadn’t spoken. “But you attacked me. Left me for dead.” Tevin’s gaze shifted to me, and I shivered. “Did you know that, Liberty? That’s your name, right? Liberty.”
No one called me Liberty except Ian. I hated the name on Tevin’s lips. “Libby,” I corrected without thinking.
“Ah, beautiful Libby,” he teased, and Ian looked fit to explode. I had never seen him so expressive. Tevin seemed to pick up on it, and pushed further. “Your boyfriend left me for dead. Tell me, what kind of man does that? You should ask yourself do you trust him. Can you believe he won’t find a reason to leave you for dead one of these days?”
Ian charged Tevin and had him raised off his feet in the blink of an eye, dangling from the wall. “Shut your mouth!”
Tevin only laughed but didn’t try to fight back.
I swallowed and stepped closer to them. “Yes, I knew it. Ian and I don’t have secrets from each other.”
Tevin waggled a finger at me. “I was right, Ian. She is special. Believes everything a vampire feeds her. Where did you find this one?”
Ian grunted in response, and after a few moments, he let Tevin down to his feet. He took a step back from his brother. “You are alive, Tevin. There are no words I can say to apologize for what I did to you.”
“Apology! Hah! Alive? I’m a walking corpse. I hate everything about being a vampire. I hate living forever. I hate that I can’t see the light of day.”
To my surprise, Ian’s mouth quirked up on one side. “That is funny. You did not see much of it when you were alive.”
“You didn’t lose your sense of humor.” Tevin straightened his clothing. “No, but I had a choice. You took it away from me.”
“I was not the one who turned you.”
Tevin’s fangs came into view. The shadows in the room seemed to lengthen. “You made it so I had to be turned. Your maker came back that night intending to take you with him. When he found me on my last breath, he turned me and took me instead. Even he preferred you over me. I lived a nightmare that spanned decades, and all that helped me to survive was thinking one day I would come after you.”
Ian stilled. “If you brought our maker here to Summit’s Edge…”
Tevin’s smile resurfaced, and he slapped Ian on the shoulder. “Don’t worry. He’s dead. You should have felt the severance of your bond, but maybe not. Too busy with her? Hiding out in this end of the earth, boring hole. You were always a straight-laced bore, brother.”
Everything happened in a blur of movement. I found myself thrust against the cell bars, Tevin holding me there, fangs at the ready to tear me apart. Almost at the same instant I registered this, Ian ripped his brother away from me and threw him across the small space. Tevin hit the wall, and the cement cracked behind the force. Tevin straightened and shook himself. He brushed dust from his hair and clothing then came after Ian. A blow to the jaw sent Tevin sliding backward. This time he was ready, so he took Ian’s hit and stayed upright. The two of them moved in a flash, tangling in fists and chokeholds, angry growls filling the air.
“Leave, Liberty,” Ian ordered. He held his brother in a powerful lock of his arm, but I could see they were closely matched in strength, power that went far beyond a human’s. I’d known it, but to see first hand in this way left me in shock.
I shook my head, unsure I could move without fading. “I’m not leaving you with him, Ian.”
He gazed at me as if I had lost my mind. Maybe I had if I thought little old me could be of any assistance. “I pushed you away because I sensed him near,” he explained.
Relief flooded my being.
“I knew his scent, and I knew what it meant if my brother was here. We are the same age in vampire years, Liberty. That means we are an even match.”
“Don’t get so full of yourself.” Tevin laughed and freed himself from Ian’s hold. He sent Ian head over heels across the room and ran after him to pick him up by his neck. I screamed and started forward. Both men pointed at me and shouted stop at the same time. I froze, in surprise more than anything. Ian knew he couldn’t command me. Tevin didn’t. Relief that I had responded to the order flooded my spirit. Tevin had turned the tables. Now he held Ian against the wall, a hand at his throat. “I spent many years with our maker, and I learned a lot from him. What I wanted to and what I didn’t. I’ve seen what you can only imagine, brother. Libby, he can’t protect you. He can’t even protect himself.”
“Let him go,” I shouted, “and I’ll come with you.”
“No!” Ian freed himself and stood on his feet. He flexed his shoulders and moved across the room to grab my wrist and thrust me toward the exit. “I can stand on my own, but I cannot do it with you here. Go. Do it now!”
I had no choice. I wanted to help him, but I risked exposing myself if I stayed. If he was right, his worry for my safety kept him from fighting his hardest. I had to leave him. “Ian, don’t…”
Words to say what I felt, to define my terror, escaped me. His expression turned to stone, and he thrust me through the door and pulled it shut. I whirled to face the door, touching my palms to it. Then I remembered the police. The station wasn’t very big. Everyone should have heard the shouting and the walls being destroyed. I turned slowly, scared I would find them all dead.
Chapter Six
They lay slumped over desks and in the middle of the floor. People who had come into the station for varied reasons were among them. The phone rang, the dispatcher unable to answer. I winked in and out, my concentration wavering and then it quit completely as I moved across the room. When I came to Clark’s office door, I paused outside of it. Not Clark too. Please, no, not after what I did to him. He had at least a little bit more time. He didn’t deserve this.
I reached my hand out for the knob and then recalled I would never be able to grasp it, not in my frame of mind. I shut my eyes, d
id a few mental exercises to calm down, and then floated through the panels. Clark too lay slumped over his desk. I wailed, the ghostly call that Ian had said I should never do lest I call darker creatures to myself. At that moment, I didn’t think one existed more evil than Tevin. Somehow I managed to stop screaming and gain a bit of control over myself.
Behind me and back in the cell area, an explosion of sound made me jump. I guessed Ian and Tevin had managed to break out a wall completely. There would be no explaining that. Then again, who would we explain it to?
Grief washed over me as I approached Clark’s desk. Had Death already come to collect his soul and gone? I scanned the room and found no unnatural shadows. Nothing moved. After an eternity I reached Clark’s desk and extended a hand to touch his hair. I cared about Clark. He was a friend. In different circumstances and if Ian hadn’t come into my life I think I might have fallen for him. Now, he was—
A sigh escaped him. I darted back a few steps. Was that the final exhale I’d heard some people make after death? He moaned. The noise from the cell area stopped, and all lay in silence from that end. Into the stillness, Clark muttered, “What the hell?” He touched his head and sat up.
One of the officers in the front of the station grumbled, “Hey, you can’t sleep there!”
I almost wept in relief. They weren’t dead. Tevin had put them all asleep with his vampire’s glamour. I should have been used to it after the countless times Ian had used it on the police, but seeing them all the way they lay had terrified me.
Despite the fact that Tevin hadn’t killed the people in the station, my fears didn’t lessen. He might come after me at any time. In fact, I had no guarantee Ian would win the fight. Ian had claimed they were equally strong, but just as Tevin said he had more world experience. Tevin might learn my secret and banish me, but I was more concerned about Jake. I had to do what I needed to for his well-being.
I left the station and willed myself home. In my bedroom, I managed to solidify so I could rifle through my dressers and my closet, tossing clothes on the bed. The clothes didn’t really matter, but if we were going to try a normal life outside Summit’s Edge, I needed to fit in among living humans.
How to Kill a Ghost Page 4