“Roon? Where?”
It was Devan’s voice and he shook his head to clear his thoughts. “Daeglan. He’s waiting to meet you. But it’s a long way to get there.”
Devan’s eyes lit up and she smiled. “Then let’s get going. I’m wanting to meet him too.”
Roon and Devan started off toward one of the many hills, but Jill hesitated. “Hey, wait! What about food? Will there be more food on this trip?” When they ignored her she reached toward the tree to pick another fruit but hesitated a moment. Maybe she wouldn’t like them taking more of her fruit. To her surprise the limb lowered closer to her as if the tree were offering of itself and so she hastily plucked a purple-blue melon fruit from its branch. She clutched the heavy fruit in the crook of her arm like a football and ran to catch up with them.
The Past – Three’s A Crowd
Doc came out of his room wearily rubbing a hand through his hair. His friend shook his head as he examined him up and down, “Long day, huh?”
“Charlie…” the tone in Doc’s voice was a warning.
“Hell’s bells, man. I’ve been telling you for years you should take a supplicant…”
“Jill’s not a supplicant. This shouldn’t have happened.”
Charlie followed his friend toward the study. “Like I said a minute ago, I meant to get you a fresh supply, and I could go out tomorrow, but I suppose you don’t need it now.”
Doc groaned, rubbing his face roughly. “Not at the moment, no. Damn! What was I thinking?”
“She know?” Charlie asked, nodding his head toward his shoulder.
A heavy sigh escaped Doc’s parted lips and he shook his head, “She knows I’m a vampire and she has a general idea of what the Org does. I treated Belle a few days ago for a chemical burn. Jill helped.”
“You gonna tell her what we’re doing?”
“She doesn’t need to be involved. You’re here, her week is up… she can return to her life now. There’s no reason to tell her anything.”
“Maybe she would be a good reason for you to change your plans. I mean, you don’t have to go through with it. I can see you’re fond of her. Maybe if we’re successful, she could give you a reason…”
“Nothing’s changed, Charlie. We stick with the plan.”
Silence ensued for a few moments. Doc knew Charlie well enough to realize his friend was trying to formulate more of an argument. He was also aware Charlie knew him well enough to understand that it wouldn’t work. They stared at each other in a stalemate.
“We need another donor. I have a lead on a gal dhampir. She said she’d meet me in two days,” the bearded man finally spoke.
Doc nodded, “Good. When Jill’s gone…”
“I’m not leaving.”
Both men turned toward the doorway where Jill was standing. She’d showered and so her hair was wet and bouncing in loose damp curls all around her face. She’d dressed in loose jeans and a pink blouson top. The shirt hung off one shoulder, revealing more of her smooth skin than Doc wanted to see at that moment. She was breathing hard and Doc figured she’d rushed the shower in order to hurry back to find out what was going on.
“What do you mean you’re not leaving? You need to get back to school.”
Jill waved her hand at him dismissively as she approached the same chair she’d been sitting in when he’d told her he was a vampire. “You don’t even know what day of the week it is so how would you know I need to get back to school.” She slipped into the chair and curled her legs up to her chest. He glared at her.
“Hey, Doc, I’ve been through this place up and down and you don’t have a single calendar anywhere. I’ve been hanging around you long enough to know you’re not giving any thought to the passage of time, except that you’ve been marking the days since I got here. And maybe presumably until I leave.”
The last sentence was meant to test him. She was trying to find out whether he really wanted her to leave. She was right about one thing. He had absolutely no idea what day of the week it was and wasn’t entirely sure he knew what month it was. He’d long ago decided he’d rather not know how long he’d been trapped in the darkness.
He stared at her unflinching.
Jill stared back, turning her chin up in defiance. “You might as well not argue. I’ve already checked and Robbie did just what he promised and the money’s hit my account. There are things I can do here that will be more productive to me than waiting around for the next semester of school to start. I’m staying.”
Of course she was staying. Just the thought of her leaving made his chest hurt. He needed to feel her again, needed to taste her again. He needed her around to equalize the emptiness inside him. It was such a selfish need because he knew in the end she’d be the one left alone. Having her here changed nothing, except to ease the transition for him.
“I guess you two need to chat, then,” Charlie muttered, taking a few steps back, his eyes darting from Doc to Jill and back.
Doc raised his hand to stop him, though he wasn’t looking at his fellow doctor. No he was still staring at the rebellious blonde. “No, you can stay. I want you to explain to Jill about our research.”
Charlie hesitated, Doc turned to him and gave him a very pointed look. It was clear some unspoken message was passing between them. “Just the research. Tell her what we’re working on.”
“Okay,” the bearded man nodded and when he looked at her he could see that Jill was giving him her full attention. “Okay, so you know what the Org does. How the kids are made captive to them?” At her nod, he continued, “They’re a powerful group and we won’t be the first looking to put an end to their business. It seemed to us, medically speaking, that there must be a way to eradicate them, the vampires, from the inside.”
“Whoa… wait a minute,” she held up both hands in the form of a T. “Time out. You’re a doctor? Are you a vampire too?”
“Charlie’s not a vampire.”
“A warlock?”
The old man chuckled. “Girlie, I ain’t nothin’ but an old country doctor who’s getting a crash course in molecular biology.”
“Okay, sorry, go ahead. I just needed to understand who all the players are,” she waved her hand for him to continue.
“Any idea what a dhampir is?” he asked her.
She shook her head and her blonde curls bounced and jiggled little drops of water onto her shoulders. “Not a clue.”
“Well, basically a dhampir is the child of a vampire and a human. A dhampir isn’t a vampire, but it’s born with the ability to recognize vampires and also their blood is generally harmful and usually deadly to them.”
“As an aside,” Doc spoke, diverting her gaze toward him. “If someone is called a dhampir, it doesn’t always mean they’re a true dhampir. The name can be a sort of slang for anyone who hunts vampires, even people.”
“’Kay.”
“Anyway, Doc and I began to speculate some time ago, that there might be a way to transmit the deadly affects of dhampir blood directly to the vampires in the Org. That’s what we’ve been working on, but the cellular aspects of it are tricky.”
Jill scrunched her face in thought for several moments, then her expression registered “eureka” and she grinned from ear to ear. “The kids. You want to pass it through the kids to the vampires. That’s how you’ll make sure you get the Org and only the Org, right?”
Charlie threw his hands in the air and looked from Doc to Jill. “See, she doesn’t need an explanation. She’s got it. So now can we get back to work?”
“Jill,” Doc spoke in a deepened tone. “You need to understand that if they find out what we’re doing, this could be dangerous. It’d be better if you weren’t involved in any way with what we’re doing.”
She cocked her head at him and raised an eyebrow. “C’mon, you’ve got to be kidding. It isn’t as if I’m gonna figure out molecular biology. You two can do your research; I’ll stay busy with the hospital. I like the handiwork anyway.”
; He narrowed his eyes at her. He didn’t like her constant disparaging remarks about herself. She was sharper than she gave herself credit but for whatever reason she chose only to see herself as a stereotypical blonde.
“What handiwork?” Charlie asked, “Did you go back to working on the building?”
Doc nodded, “Jill’s a painter. She and I have just about finished one of the exam rooms. It’ll be in working order for you before you know it.”
“Yeah,” she agreed, “You guys’ll be able to run it like a real medical center before long. It’s really cool to be a part of it, actually.”
A sharp movement of his head brought Charlie’s eyes knifing into Doc’s. The vampire shook his head just barely.
If Jill noticed the silent exchange, she said nothing, instead she stood and picked a hand through her hair, tweaking the wet curls. “Well, I’m beat. This working at night is screwing up my sleep-pattern. I think I’ll get some shut eye while you two get to work.”
This time Doc stepped out into the hallway to be sure she went to her room and stayed there before he addressed Charlie again. “She had the idea to fix things up. It gave her something to do and in all honesty I’ve enjoyed working on it with her.”
“Uh, huh,” a moment passed, Charlie waited for Doc to look at him then the older man reached up and scratched at his beard before speaking. “She thinks she’s doing this for you? She thinks you want to make this place a working medical center?”
“I do want to make this place a working medical center.”
“I’ve always been on board with your wishes, Doc. They’ve always been your own. It’s been your soul you have to answer for. That is until now.”
A muscle began working in Doc’s jaw as he ground his teeth together in agitation. “It is my soul, Charlie. No one else’s.”
The shorter man approached his friend and stood in front of him, “She’s young. She’s bright-eyed and impetuous. And she’s gonna lose her heart to you.”
“I won’t let her fall in love with me.”
“Damn man! How long’s it been since you’ve had a gal after you? Don’t you know anything? You can’t stop them from falling in love with you and from the way she looks at you she’s already well on her way.”
Doc shook his head. “You said it, she’s young. They fall in and out of love all the time. She’ll get over this the same way any other girl gets over any other adolescent relationship. She wants to stay. I’ve made no promises to her. In fact I’ve tried to keep her at a distance, but she’s the one who pushed.”
Nodding curtly, Charlie passed Doc and stormed down the hallway. Having never once seen his friend angry and certainly not angry with him, Doc was at a loss. He went back into his study and slammed the door. It was only a few seconds later the door was rammed back open.
“You’ve really let that vampire blood make you cold, Allen. You’ve made no promises to her? Bullshit. She sees promise in your eyes and in the very gesture of your letting her stay here. And damn you, it isn’t going to be easy for her to get over the fact that those promises are built on ashes– the very damn ashes that you’re determined to turn yourself into when you finish doing away with the Org.”
“You said you wouldn’t try to talk me out of it, Charlie. You gave your word you wouldn’t do this, so don’t do it now. I need you behind me so that we can finish this.”
Charlie’s eyes were glistening even as he recognized the carefully restrained emotion in Doc’s words. He was right. Charlie had promised he wouldn’t try to talk his friend out of ending his own life. He’d hoped and prayed something would come along to do that job for him. And now that something was here in the form of Jill Prescott. He just never imagined Doc would be too stupid to listen to his own heart.
The Present – A Weasel in the Cottage
They had been walking for hours. The sun was quickly disappearing below the horizon and darkness began to encroach on the landscape. Things were no less beautiful in the night. There were stars arranged in much the same order that Jill and Devan would have expected outside of the faery realm. Still, the sky was still different here, with an opaque sort of veil spanning the entire sky like a metallic blue-black backdrop. The stars flickered with colors much as if they were like strings of Christmas lights.
“There’s a cottage not far from here and we’ll spend the night there,” Rooney advised, gazing back at them over his shoulder.
“Does someone live there?” Devan asked, distraction evident in the tone of her voice as she continued studying their surroundings.
“McKenna doesn’t stay there much, but she’ll have some stew waiting for us. She’s like that.”
“Why doesn’t she stay there?” Jill had munched on assorted fruits and nuts the entire way, but at the mention of stew she felt her mouth begin to salivate. “What kind of stew?”
Roon shook his head and laughed. “You’re a porker! We’ll fatten you up here for sure.”
Jill just shrugged and grinned.
“McKenna’s a slyphe faery which is sort of like a water nymph only she’s of the air. She spends most of her times up on the clouds. She keeps the cottage for travelers and since she’s always high up, she knows when visitors are coming. That’s why I expect a hot meal will be waiting for us.”
The cottage was just that. A small one-room house with a thatched roof. It was something the two girls would have expected to find in old-world Europe. The door was latched to the house by a set of heavy leather hinges and without a lock Rooney just snatched it open and motioned the ladies inside.
“Aha, see. I told you,” Roon inhaled deeply as he approached the fire and stirred the contents of the steaming pot hanging over the flames.
“Can we go ahead and eat then?” Jill insisted, licking her lips and searching an old wooden cupboard for bowls. She took the ladle from Roon’s hand and began scooping out hearty helpings for each of them. The red-haired faery slid in behind her and watched her work. She could feel his breath on her neck and she cut her eyes to him in askance. The grin he flashed at her was catching and she found her lips curling into a smile as well. A nudge of her shoulder pressed him back and so he shuffled away.
“So, I’ve been tryin’ to give you some space. How’re things going?” he asked Devan. The tone of his voice made it obvious he was fishing. Jill didn’t miss the fact that he sat just a little closer to Devan that might have been appropriate.
Her friend took a moment to blow onto a steaming spoonful of meat and potatoes before responding. “Things are good. And I think you know that. You’re never far.”
He shrugged, dropping his eyes a bit. “Yeah, I try to keep myself in reach.”
Jill knew the history. Rooney believed himself in love with Devan, but her friend hadn’t returned the affection. Devan hated that she’d hurt her childhood friend, but her heart belonged to Kent.
“So how far until we reach my father?”
Jill smiled, recognizing Devan’s effort to change the subject.
“Well, our geography is pretty distinct,” Roon spoke, fondness for his homeland obvious in his voice. “You’re father lives in the Winter.”
Jill’s brows furrowed, “In the what?”
“Okay,” he stood, reaching into the fire for a long twig that was burned on the end. He used the stick like a pencil and began drawing on the hard, dirt floor, “So we recognize North and South by the change of the seasons. Spring is the furthest south. As you head north you cross the seasons, sort of like your longitudinal lines where you’re from.” He drew a circle with four horizontal lines crossing through it. “Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter,” he said, pointing to the appropriate sector.
“Where are we now? Summer?” Devan asked.
“Yep, good ‘ol Summer. This is where I live. But we’ll cross Fall just after daybreak.”
“Weird…” Jill murmured, looking mesmerized as she tried to absorb what he said. Suddenly she frowned. “Wait, if we have to get all the way to the Winter, then t
hat’s like–” she paused and shook her head, “It’s like going from South America to the Canada. We’re gonna walk that whole way!”
He laughed in wheezing guffaws. “She’s such a trip,” he spoke to Devan.
Jill felt stupid until Devan shook her head and looked sternly at Roon. “She’s right. That’s a long way, Roon.”
“You girls gotta understand things are different here. The distance is far, but the journey won’t take that long. Don’t worry.”
Jill seemed to accept his response and returned to the steaming stew pot to fill her empty bowl. “Okay, so it won’t take long. That’s good since Andre will be checking on us soon. Kent ain’t gonna want you away from him for too long.” Jill winked suggestively for effect.
Roon’s face pinched just a bit at the mention of Devan’s lover.
“Hey, seeing Daeglan is just the first step. After I take you to him, then we all gotta see The Women.”
“Why do we have to see the Women on the Hill?” Devan asked.
“C’mon, Devvie. You crossed over. They want to talk to you guys.”
Devan pursed her lips and looked perturbed. Jill pointed to the stew pot, but her friend shook her head to say she didn’t want anymore. “I think it’ll be cool to meet these Women. Who are they, Roon? Do they rule the faery world?”
Roon looked uncomfortable as he dropped his eyes down. “I think they’d rather be the ones to explain their existence. They’ll answer some of your questions.”
“Some?” Devan queried.
“Well, they don’t necessarily see fit to explain everything. It’s their prerogative what they reveal.”
Jill got the impression Roon didn’t like those rules any more than Devan did. A silence ensued. When Jill had finished her second bowl of stew, he reached across the table and took each bowl and headed for the door.
“You gals make yourself comfortable. I’ll be back. There’re some cots over there by fire.”
The Bend-Bite-Shift Box Set Page 26