He laughed. “I love that question.” He laughed until she joined him. “You’ll see the truth now in your pictures and everywhere, and it will be fine.”
“Okay, Uncle.”
He noticed that her glass was just under half empty; he blinked and it was full again.
She didn’t seem surprised to see the extra liquid. “No, I have to drive later.” She pushed the crystal martini glass away.
“You’ll be fine this time, but you’ll never drink and drive again. Am I right?”
“Yes, of course.” She took another sip.
“What do you want to ask me?”
“Are you God?”
“No, I’m not God. God is much greater than I can even imagine. But I do have some skills that humans don’t have. I won’t go on and on about it, but I believe there are more races on earth than people think.”
“Is my father the same as you?”
“No, but he’s not the same as your mother. As for you, I don’t know yet, I suspect you have a lot of his traits. I’ve known your father for nearly five hundred years, and he is my brother.”
“But not your blood brother?”
“Not in the way you mean, but I can’t say any more about that.”
“Uncle, do you love me?”
“Of course I do; why would you ask me that?”
“Because you’re going to make me fight vampires!” Her eyes filled with tears again. Somewhere deep inside she wondered what was wrong; she felt as if she’d been drugged. Once, after oral surgery, she was given a pain killer that made her feel as if her essence had split into layers and she was thinking with one of the layers that was deeply embedded. After the first day, she flushed the pills. “Because you hated that feeling or because you liked it?” her mother had asked. Nesta didn’t know the answer.
“I’ll talk to your parents when they get back, but I’m telling you now, you are free and expected to pursue your own life. I hope you will study medicine, but the choice is yours. I would have told you a long time ago if I wanted to call you into Service.”
“Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me, baby—that was lunacy for them to scare you like that.”
She laughed. “I wasn’t scared, they were.”
The smile fell from his face. “Oh, of course they were. I’ll talk to them.” He took a sip of his drink and found it watery. The four-hundred-dollar-a-bottle drink was immediately replaced with a new drink and a new ice cube. “Why are you so antsy to return to Valpo tonight?”
“You can tell that?”
“Yes, I can tell those kind of things.” He decided he would choose another day to tell her he could read her thoughts.
“I really like my client.”
“Honey, I know Ian. I’m the one who sent him here.”
The mind suggestion was fighting with her natural desire to be surprised and then upset. She looked at him with an expression that broke his heart. She was an intelligent person, and he saw each factual building block as it built a wall in her mind. “Ian is a Hunter, like my father was?”
Fox nodded.
“He knew?”
“He knew and knows he’s a Hunter, Nesta, but he didn’t know your father before this weekend, and he didn’t know my relationship with you and your family.”
“But he knew a lot more than he let on!”
He was surprised she could reach past his suggestion of calmness and yell at him. He was impressed. She was as mentally strong as her father, and Kingsley had been one of the best. He briefly wondered what kind of Hunter she would have been. “He knew a little more than you, but not much. Give him a break, okay?”
“I’ll give him a break all right!”
Fox laughed. Suddenly the thought of her wailing on Ian pleased him. He decided he would let Ian defend himself.
* * * *
They spent two more hours together. Her parents returned as planned, halfway through their visit, and the four of them talked. The last forty-five minutes of her visit, Nesta and Fox played pool—just like any other visit. This time he let her win, and that didn’t happen often. She remembered it was the first time she’d beaten him since her sweet sixteen birthday party.
“Do you feel like driving?” he asked her as she packed up to leave.
He watched her wrap a long silk scarf around her neck and then take it off and smell it. He racked the action up to the strangeness of women. It wasn’t until she leaned over and sniffed his collar that he asked her what she was doing.
“I thought I smelled Ian just then.”
“Really? The dear boy has an odor?” Getting her to smile had always been one of his goals.
“Everybody smells like something, but I wouldn’t call it an odor. He smells like lavender to me.”
Fox froze. “Say that again.”
“He smells like lavender and something spicy mixed together. It’s a very unique scent.”
Fox held his hands up to her face. “Is this the scent you’re smelling?”
She sniffed his hands and slowly nodded her head. “Maybe that’s what triggered the thought.
I know that’s that lavender soap my mother likes so much.”
“But you smell a type of lavender when Ian is around?”
“I do. Please, don’t tease him about it.”
Fox gave her a big hug that, for reasons she couldn’t explain, made her a little sad. “You’re really an adult now,” he said. “I won’t mention any of this to Ian.” He walked her to the door. “You do feel like driving?” he asked again.
“Not really, but I told him I’d be back tonight, and I definitely want to talk to him. He’s got some explaining to do.”
Fox stood next to her at the door. She had an additional overnight bag and a piece of cake her mother had wrapped for her. “Honey, hold your keys in your hand and close your eyes.”
“Why?”
“I’m going to send you back to Valpo. The car will be in the parking lot at the motel, and you’ll be in your room when you open your eyes.”
She laughed. “Get out of here!”
“Just close your eyes and we’ll talk about this another time.”
“You’re coming for the party, aren’t you?”
“Absolutely. Now close your eyes so you don’t get dizzy.”
“Dizzy how. . .?” She closed her eyes as she asked.
When she opened them she was standing in her motel room. Her legs got weak, and for the first time in her life she felt as if she could faint. He’d never lied to her, but she hadn’t expected he could make her travel like that. Who could anticipate such a thing?
She sat on the nearest bed. “Uncle Ogo?” she whispered, not sure herself why she was whispering.
The telephone rang, further scaring her. “Do you need me to come there for some reason?”
“Uncle?”
“Didn’t you just call me?”
“I was trying to see if you were here.”
“Do you need me there, Nesta?”
“No.” She heard her mother in the background. “What’s my mother saying?”
“I’ll let you talk to her.”
Before Nesta could say never mind, her mother was on the telephone.
“Honey, don’t bedevil your uncle—he needs his rest.”
“Mother. . .” Before she could tell her mother she had no intentions of bedeviling her uncle, she heard her father saying something.
“Okay, Kingsley. She knows that, she’s not a child.” There was a pause while her parents argued. “Nesta, your daddy said don’t call Fox unless you really need him, that’s what bedeviling means.”
“You were right, Mother. I do know the word, and I won’t call on Uncle Ogo unless I need him. Does that mean he can always hear me?”
“I don’t know, I would ask, but he left. You know how he’s always washing his hands.”
“Probably to get away from you and Daddy. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Nesta listened and then smiled. “I love you too.�
�� She hung up the telephone.
There was a knock at her door, but before she could get up to answer it Fox appeared already
sitting on the other bed.
“I knocked on the door so as not to frighten you. Are we okay?”
“I told you at the house I’ll always love you. And I’ve known for years you were a magician.”
“To answer the question you won’t ask, I have not and will not pop in on you at an inopportune time. And yes, if you really need me you can make me hear you, and it’s not necessary to speak.”
“Cool, I’ve got my own Superman.”
He laughed. “We’ll see how cool you find it.” He laughed again. “See you later, Nesta.”
He was gone.
Chapter Fifteen
Ian was surprised by how much he enjoyed the play.
“Admit it, Hunter, you enjoyed that,” Kitty said as they walked to her car.
“I will make no such statement.”
She laughed. “I swear, you remind me of Wade. He’s formal in a funny way too.”
“Does he know how you feel about him?”
He heard the locks on the door click, but he hadn’t seen her touch her keys.
“What do you mean? Does he know that I think he’s funny?”
“No, does he know that you’re in love with him?”
She opened her door and got in before she answered. They both knew she was stalling for time, trying to find the right response. He saw the resolve in her shoulders when she decided to tell the truth. “I think he does, but there’s nothing there for me. Nothing but friendship.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Thank you. It’s all good—friendship is important too. I’ll get over him. Now, if you ever tell anybody what I just told you, I’ll have to kill you.”
“Your secret is safe with me.”
They drove in silence for a few minutes.
“So do you want to get a drink or something while we’re out?” He hesitated, and she answered her question for him. “No, thank you, Kitty. I want to get back to Keke as fast as I
possibly can.”
He touched her shoulder as he spoke. “Under normal circumstances, we wouldn’t be able to get that drink or something fast enough.”
“I understand. Invite me to the wedding.”
He grinned. “Is that where you see this going?”
“Knowing her daddy, it better go there!”
Ian smiled, Kitty didn’t.
“We got here fast,” Ian commented.
“That’s another good thing about this town—nothing is far from where you’re going.”
She stopped in front of the main door. “It was fun, Hunter. Call me next time you’re nearby, we’ll hang out. If this thing with Keke doesn’t work out, let me take you to Chicago and show you how we party in the Midwest.”
“That’s a bet. You’re a nice lady, Kitty. Don’t give up on love.”
“Never. If Fox can keep looking after all his time, who am I to give up?”
“Fox looking for love? Plu-ease!”
“He’s looking. I know the smell of desperation,” she said, laughing.
Ian didn’t know if she was trying to make a joke that he didn’t get or not, but he was ready to get back to the room. He needed to know if Nesta had returned.
Kitty leaned over and gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “All the best that Amma has to offer,” she whispered in his ear.
He pulled away and kissed her on the lips. He wanted her to feel his appreciation for both her beauty and her offer of companionship.
Nesta couldn’t see her parking spot from the door. She would have to walk around the pretty silver car to learn if her uncle had really put the company car there. It was at that moment that Nesta’s eyes had adjusted to the dark and she was able to see into the Jaguar that was blocking her exit.
Her eyes resisted as if they instinctively knew. She stared at the back of the car and slowly dragged her glance forward, seeing the female driver and sensing that she knew her. How could she “know” an anonymous Jag driver in Indiana? Maybe somebody from school? Still her eyes resisted the man sitting next to her. She started again at the back of the car, this time the side closest to her, and worked her way to the front. He was tall, even sitting next to the woman who sat tall too. They were having an animated conversation, lively and apparently funny. The woman laughed with her whole body. They became still, and then she saw the woman lean in and hug him. It was a chaste hug—they were just friends.
But then the man pulled back, looked at the woman and kissed her on the mouth. It was at that moment that Nesta saw his hair. She saw the long bound braid. Her eyes became those of a nightwalker—everything was perfectly clear.
Ian! Mentally she screamed his name.
She turned on her heels and nearly ran back to the elevator. She didn’t have to think about who the woman was; her mind filled in the blanks. It was Kitty. She was away and he went out with Kitty.
As his lips touched Kitty’s he heard his name. It sounded like Nesta’s voice, but they weren’t mated—he shouldn’t have that kind of connection.
He’d heard that Hunters and Trackers who married humans became connected telepathically like Hunters and Trackers with each other. But until that weekend with Kingsley and Dot he’d never seen it. He’d always figured it was another myth associated with their kind.
The need to find Nesta was so strong he had to fight the urge to teleport from Kitty’s car.
“Go, Hunter, before I hogtie you and take you back to my place!”
He laughed as he opened the door. “Goodnight, Kitty. Thank you.”
“Goodnight, sweetie.”
He prayed that she would soon find the elusive love he felt she deserved. He ducked into a dark corner of the doorway, where he was sure nobody could see him, and he teleported to his room. He couldn’t wait to see her.
Nesta refused to let the tears building behind her eyes fall. Nobody promised me forever, she told herself. But damn, he could have finished out the friggin’ weekend. Am I that forgettable?
She checked her jeans pocket for the five singles her mother had given her. Nesta didn’t know why her mother insisted on always slipping her money folded up to the size of a postage stamp, but she was thankful for it as she passed the soda machine.
He could tell she was back—there was a new piece of luggage on one of the beds. He wondered where she could be. Considering she was with Fox, he knew she could be anywhere in the world, and that included the various realms. The thought made him remember the white living room, and he shuddered.
He took off his shoes, lay across the bed, and turned on the sports news channel. He was asleep almost immediately.
Nesta heard the television in his room when she returned. She listened at the door that separated their rooms to see if she could hear Kitty’s voice or some indication that he wasn’t alone.
What do I do now? she asked herself.
To let him know she was back, she made as much noise as could be explained. She waited for him to come to her. She rehearsed the attitude she would show, and she expected it to work. Of course it had never worked with Andre, but Ian was more like her father and her uncle. He wanted her to be happy.
When a half hour passed and he still hadn’t knocked on the middle door, she opened it and tentatively peeked in. He was on the bed—alone. He was sound asleep. She smiled in spite of herself. He looked so sexy, maybe as much as he did dressed. No, that wasn’t possible, but he looked damn good.
She remembered his earlier concern about how she’d been able to enter his room and leave a note without awakening him.
Later, on the trip to Winneka, she’d thought about it and decided it must have meant he was comfortable with her. He trusted her. At the time, she hadn’t known what he and Buffy the Vampire Slayer had in common, but now she understood more about why it upset him so much. He was not in a line of work where he should allow himself to be observed sleeping
—it could cost him his life.
You must really trust me, Ian.
His eyes popped open when she thought his name.
“Hey, you’re back,” he said, smiling, but still half asleep.
“Aren’t you the clever one,” she said over her shoulder as she returned to her room.
Scented Dreams ((A Dogon-Hunters Series Novel)) Page 16