“It’s Cathryn. Do you mind if I take it?”
A surge of jealousy welled up in me, but I tamped it down and forced a smile. “Of course not.” I stood and carried our dishes to the sink. Lucas stepped out the back door. I could hear his voice, but I couldn’t quite make out the words.
I rinsed our plates and loaded the dishwasher. Lucas was still on the phone, so I went into my bedroom and took a shower, hoping he might join me. But no matter how many times I washed, rinsed and repeated, he didn’t come in. I dried my hair, dressed and went back to the living room to find him sitting on the sofa with Makani in his lap. Lucas’s head was leaned against the back of the couch, eyes closed, with one of his hands buried in the pup’s fur.
I tried to walk quietly, but he heard me, his eyes popping open as soon as I came into the room.
“Sorry. Long night catching up with me.”
I perched on the edge of the couch next to him, brushing back a lock of hair from his forehead. “Do you want to go lie down in my room? Get a real nap?”
He shook his head. “Thanks, but I think I’ll go home and grab a shower.” He glanced at me. “Cathryn’s coming down to let me know what she’s found out. About me. My situation.”
I swallowed back that insecurity and managed a smile. “Oh, good. Well, I’m going to work here. I might go over and see Mrs. Mac. She was pretty upset yesterday, and I want to make sure she’s okay.”
“Hey.” Lucas reached for my hand and threaded his fingers through mine. “I was hoping maybe you’d come over to hear what Cathryn has to say. Saves me from having to repeat it to you.”
He wanted me to be there. A little of thrill of gladness replaced the ugly green jealousy monster. “Sure, I can do that. Why don’t you just call me when you’re ready?”
“Sounds good.” He leaned to drop a quick kiss on my lips and stood up with one more ruffle of Makani’s fur. “By the way, I plan to take you up on your offer from this morning.”
I played dumb. “What offer was that?”
He bent over me, his face close to mine. “You know the one. It has to do with you and me being naked together again. And more mind-blowing orgasms for both of us.” He straightened up again. “I just figured we needed to get through the next few days before we can relax and enjoy ourselves. I’ll see you in a bit.”
I listened to the door close behind him and then watched him half-jog across the side yard to his own back door. When I knew he was safely inside, I picked up my cell and pushed one button.
“Hey, Jacks, what’s up?” Leesa’s voice was distracted; I knew she was at the office. It was mid-morning on a Tuesday, after all.
“You busy?”
She laughed. “Busy is the way of life. But I have a second or two for my bestest ever. Everything all right?”
I lay back on the couch, thinking that twenty years earlier, I’d have been twirling the phone cord on my finger while having this conversation with Leesa. “Yeah, but if you’re too busy to hear how I got naked with the neighbor, that’s okay. It’ll keep until later.”
“Jackie!” Her shriek had to have shaken up the rest of her office. “You did not!”
“I did so.”
“Hold on.” I heard muffled words, and then she came back. “Okay, I’m alone now. And I want every gory detail. But first, is he Spiderman? Did you find out his deal?”
This was going to be tricky, I knew. I had to skirt around what had happened to Lucas, what he was, and the horrifying discovery of Al’s body in order to tell Leesa what she really wanted to hear.
“No superhero, but he really is super, if you know what I mean.”
She squealed in true best friend fashion. “All right, start at the beginning and tell me everything.”
I’d just ended our chat when I spied the blue Thunderbird pulling up outside. I sat still, watching Cathryn get out and walk up Lucas’s front walk. Today she was in black gabardine pants and a blue silk shell that I thought probably came close to matching her eyes. She glanced over at my house just before climbing onto the porch.
Once she’d disappeared through the front door, I forced myself to get up and open my laptop. I began organizing the photos I’d taken earlier in the week, selecting which ones I’d send with my column. I attached them to the email along with my article and sent it all off to my editor. I checked my phone to make sure I hadn’t missed anything from Lucas. Nothing.
The strong, confident me said I was worrying for nothing. The insecure me warned that Cathryn had changed her mind about Lucas and had lured him into taking her to bed, where he was even now comparing her supple young body with my older one.
Before I could venture too far down the road to crazy town, my phone buzzed with a text. It was from Lucas, and it read: Are you coming?
I smiled. Be right there.
Lucas was at the door when I came over, opening it before I could ring the bell. He took my hand and pulled me inside, kissing me lightly as he drew me closer to him. I had the sense he was making a point, but I wasn’t going to complain.
Cathryn sat on the couch, her face expressionless. Her lips twitched a little, the only indication that she might not have been pleased to see me.
“Jackie.” She nodded.
“Sorry we took so long. I wanted to explain to Cathryn that you know everything and that it was okay to talk in front of you.”
I glanced at her set face. “I get the feeling maybe Cathryn doesn’t agree with you.”
Her eyes darted from Lucas to me. “Jackie, it’s not that I don’t think you’re trustworthy, and certainly Lucas is more than capable of choosing with whom he wishes to share his own secrets. But my own business relies heavily on discretion, and he didn’t consult me before he exposed me.”
“Cathryn, for God’s sake. I didn’t show Jackie a sex tape with you in it. But in the context of our discussion, I mentioned a very small piece of your job.”
“Without checking with me first.” She flickered a glance to him, one that I was pretty would have slain a lesser man. Lucas just rolled his eyes.
I wonder if she’s really upset about him telling me about her work or because we’re together. If we are together. Well, as together as we are. I tried to keep my face as blank as Cathryn’s.
“Fine, Cat. Be mad at me. Whatever. But it’s done now. Would you like her to sign something in blood?”
“Given what we’ve been discussing, it would be appropriate. But no, I’m willing to take her word that she has not said anything and will not in the future.” Cathryn turned to look at me, one eyebrow raised.
“Of course I haven’t and I won’t. I promise.” I resisted the urge to cross my heart and hope to die. I was afraid Cathryn might take me at my word.
Her lips tightened, and she sighed. “I know this seems extreme to you both, and I seem unreasonable, but at the moment, more than ever, we need to make sure our people are protected. It’s not just a matter of business. It can mean life or death.” She blinked again, and her fingers worried at the hem of her blouse. It hit me that I was seeing Cathryn’s tells, her nerves. She seemed to be in utter control all the time. I began to wonder what had happened to upset her beyond Lucas’s so-called indiscretion.
“Okay, she’s promised. Can we get on with it now? Can you tell us what you found out?”
Cathryn leaned down to pull out her tablet. She clicked it on and ran her fingers over the screen. “It took me a long time to track down some of this because it’s part of the new normal Carruthers has lately been facing.”
At my look of confusion, she shifted on the sofa. “Carruthers is my family company. As I think Lucas has shared, we work with people who have extraordinary gifts, so very little surprises me. We’ve dealt with all sorts of talents over the years. But lately. . .we’ve been made aware that there is perhaps a larger picture. More to the world than what even we anticipated. There are forces that have competing goals. You might even consider them to be on the side of. . .evil.”
L
ucas was watching her intently, and his fingers tightened around mine. “Do you think what happened to me is part of that?”
Cathryn’s eyes flicked between the two of us. “We think it’s connected, perhaps, but it doesn’t mean that you yourself are evil, Lucas. Given the note left for you, it seems that this was not a random occurrence. You weren’t just happened upon.”
“But what happened to me, Cathryn? How did I become a death broker, and what else am I?”
“As far as our researching team could tell—and please know, this is all new to us, too—death brokers are born to the role. In other words, this was nothing you did. This was something you were always fated to become.”
“Fate is a tricky thing.” Lucas frowned as he murmured the words. When I cast him a questioning glance, he shook his head. “It was in the note.” He turned back to Cathryn. “Speaking of the note, did you make any headway into finding out who this Veronica is?”
Cathryn’s eyes slid away from ours. “Nothing conclusive. Now. . .” She flipped several pages on the screen of her tablet. “On the idea of vampires, of course, I was met with some opposition from my team. Some of them refused to even look into it. And there is so much lore that it’s not easy to separate what’s real from what’s genuine.” She clicked off the tablet and slid it back into her bag. “I had to step outside our normal sources to get any information at all. And what I found is that apparently some of the symptoms you described to me are consistent with vampirism. Not all of them, and there are some mentioned that you haven’t experienced.”
“So what does it mean? Am I a vampire or not?”
Cathryn lifted her shoulders. “Our best guess is that you’re a half-vampire. You didn’t die. You were transformed. You need to consume blood, but not exclusively. Sunlight and garlic bother you, but they don’t harm you. Are you seeing the trend?”
“What about immortality?” I spoke up at last.
“We don’t know. As I said, all of this is conjecture, based on questionable information. My feeling is that you’ll be discovering the truth as you go along. On our side, we’ll continue to investigate. That’s all I can tell you.”
Lucas exhaled. “Okay. Well. . .I guess it’s confirmation, if nothing else. I’m not crazy, right?”
Cathryn smiled a little. “Not any more than you were before. Oh, I did have another thought. You’d told me last time I was here that it was difficult for you to be around people because of the numbers you keep hearing. What our sources tell us is that there is always a time of training and transition, and I have a hunch that your impromptu vamping interfered with that process. Most of the time, brokers are taught how to handle the voices. You missed out on that. But happily for you, I know someone who can help you there. She’s on staff at Carruthers, and she’d be glad to talk with you.” She handed a small white card to Lucas.
“Thanks. I’ve got to learn to deal with the numbers if I’m ever going out in the world again.”
“I’m curious about one thing. You told me that you didn’t hear Jackie’s numbers when you met her.”
He smiled at me. “Yeah, that’s right. I never have.” He frowned. “I didn’t hear yours either, Cat. Not when you were here before, and not today.”
“Hmm. Fascinating.” The dry tone of her voice belied the word. “Likely the reason you didn’t hear mine had to do with my blocking power. I keep up powerful boundaries to keep anything supernatural from getting in. Now, is there anything else different about Jackie as she pertains to you?”
Lucas glanced at me, and I felt my face grow warm. “Uh. . .yes. But I think it falls more in the vampire area than the broker.”
“If you don’t tell me everything, I can’t help you.” Cathryn smiled again, this time with thin lips.
“I want her blood.” He was blunt. “I don’t care about anyone else’s blood. I can drink the bagged stuff without a problem. But Jackie’s is different. And it seems like it’s connected to. . .intimacy.”
“I see.” Cathryn’s lips just about disappeared this time. “That doesn’t seem to be a typical situation either. There is, apparently, a strain of vampirism wherein the vampire only craves the blood of the evil. Have you experienced that?”
Lucas shook his head. “Not to the best of my knowledge. Either I haven’t run across someone evil or I don’t have that strain.”
Cathryn tilted her head. “Unless Jackie has something to hide.”
Before I could open my mouth to respond, Lucas jumped up. “Cathryn, stop. I get that you’re mad at me, and I get that we have. . .history. But I’m going to remind you, Cat, you’re the one who told me we wouldn’t work. I didn’t dump you. I’m not saying I think you were wrong, but you don’t have any right to be snide now. And you won’t be rude or hurtful to Jackie. She doesn’t deserve it.”
Cathryn’s face didn’t change but hurt flashed in those ice-blue eyes. “I understand.” She turned her head just a little to look at me. “I apologize, Jackie. That was rude and uncalled-for.”
“It’s okay.” The air around us was so charged that it felt heavy. I couldn’t stay there any longer. I stood up. “Lucas, I’m going home. If there’s nothing else you’d like me to hear, I think I should. . .” I wracked my brain for a good excuse to leave. “I should go check on Mrs. Mac.” I pivoted on my heel. “Cathryn, lovely to see you again. Have a safe trip back home. Lucas, I’ll talk to you later.”
I made it through the front door without falling flat on my face this time. I’d just stepped off the porch when I heard Cathryn calling my name.
She stood on the step and closed the door behind her. “Jackie, could I please have a moment?”
I managed a nod.
She licked her lips and turned her head to look out over the grass, not meeting my eyes. “You don’t know me at all. But I am a woman who lives by precision. In my line of work, being in control is essential. My people, those who work for me, they can afford the luxury of wild passions and impetuousness. I cannot. Lives depend on me being clear-headed. If I didn’t know that before, I certainly learned it this year.” She closed her eyes, and her hand reached to grip the railing. I opened my mouth to warn her that it was rickety, but she seemed to realize it and let go.
“This summer, when I met Lucas, I was in a very vulnerable place. For the first time ever, I opened myself to someone who had the potential to hurt me. Do you know, Lucas was the first person who ever gave me a nickname? I abhor them. I only use given names, and I don’t tolerate anyone calling me anything except Cathryn. But he began to call me Cat, and when I was with him, I was Cat.”
I saw her softening as she remembered, and sympathy filled my heart. She scowled.
“I realized shortly after I returned to Florida that I’d made a mistake. I like Lucas. He’s a wonderful man, with enormous intelligence and a great capacity for compassion. But the person he met in Cape May cannot exist in Florida. Not if I want to do my job.”
I didn’t know what to say to her. “I’m sorry you feel that way, Cathryn. It must be very difficult for you.”
“Please don’t feel sorry for me. I’m not telling you this to make you feel bad. I hope you’ll accept my apology for what I said inside. It was very unlike me.”
I nodded. “I do accept it. You don’t know me either, but I only want the best for Lucas, too. You and I are very different people, but I hope that we can get along. For his sake, if nothing else. He really does still care for you. I don’t want to get in the middle of that.”
Cathryn didn’t answer for a minute. She seemed to be listening to some voice I couldn’t hear. Finally, she sighed. “I appreciate that. A lot of women wouldn’t like their boyfriends maintaining ties with an old fling.”
“I’m not sure we’re in a place yet where I’d call Lucas my boyfriend. It’s all very new. And considering all the complications, it feels like nothing is normal with us.”
“You’d be surprised at how committed Lucas already is to you. I don’t think you have anything
to worry about.” She met my eyes finally, and I saw acceptance. “I’ll let you go now. Thanks for listening.”
Cathryn turned to go back into the house, her back straight and her steps precise. I thought she looked very alone.
***
IT WAS STANDING-room-only at Al’s memorial service the next day. St. Crispin’s was bursting at the seams, and it gratified me to see how many people had come out to honor this man. Mrs. Mac and I sat in the pew behind the children, at the request of the family. Lucas had opted not to join us for more than one reason.
“I’ll hear the numbers for everyone, Jackie. Until I can meet with this woman from Carruthers, I need to limit my exposure to crowds. And what’ll happen if I’m called to a Reckoning in the middle of the service? That’d be a little hard to explain to everyone.”
I had to agree. I’d explained to Mrs. Mac that Lucas was recovering from an illness and was strictly prohibited from being around large groups of people, per his doctor’s orders. She understood and made noises about taking him chicken soup. I made a mental note to nip that in the bud; Mrs. Mac was a wonderful woman, but she’d make Lucas’s recovery her life mission and drive him nuts if I let it happen.
The service was beautiful, with eulogies given by two of Al’s children and several friends from the community. Father Gonzalez spoke about Al being in a better place, and I smiled, thinking of the beautiful golden light that had flowed from Lucas’s eyes that night. I missed my friend keenly, but I was comforted to know he had moved to a new life. I had to believe he was with his beloved wife, and probably with Nana, too.
Mrs. Mac squeezed my hand. As though she were reading my mind, she whispered into my ear, “I can just see him up there playing rummy with Maureen, the two of them arguing as they did. They were such pals.”
We all gathered at Leone’s afterward for the repast. The staff had outdone themselves, cooking Al’s most popular dishes, trays of baked ziti, chicken parmesan, sausage and peppers and eggplant rollatini. I helped them toss salads and sliced endless loaves of crisp Italian bread.
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