“Deader,” I emphasized. “I would cease to exist.”
My words served to make him even more curious, and he stopped jumping about to walk semi-calmly beside me. “Do you have a soul? Do vampires go to heaven?”
“Gosh, heavy conversation for the night, bud. How about we save that for another time?”
The truth was, I didn’t like discussing it. I had gone over the possibilities in my own head a million times. One night, I believed I could be saved just as any human. The next not so much. My experiences up to date had me swaying back and forth, and no one, including my former boyfriend, Ian, also a vampire, could tell me definitively. So, I left the scariness of the vampire afterlife for mulling—afterlife. Or death.
“This is your city,” I said. “How about telling me where we can get that milkshake you want.”
During the night before when I arrived and watched for someone to convince to let me into Meris, I had scoured the area for a place to rest long before daylight. One didn’t want to be caught out when the sun rose. What I noticed here was an absence of the level of darkness that was present in NOLA. Don’t get me wrong. I loved NOLA and had decided I wouldn’t live anywhere else. There was also an unbelievable amount of power generated in my city that wasn’t present here. Meris’s home port had its beauty and charm, and I believed I sensed several types of paranormal creatures going about their nightly routines. However, I wondered if the low level of activity was because of Meris’s presence.
When I questioned him, Shift started thinking, his gaze unfocused. He didn’t speak for a while, and I nudged him.
“Hey, I’m surprised you don’t already know. Don’t they let you out often?”
“It’s not that. I wanted to name a place that’s far from here, so you can zip me there.”
“Ah, the ride. Well, I said I would, so I will even if the milkshake place is nearby.”
Joy burst out on his face, taking my thoughts for the hundredth time to my son Jake. I needed to visit him soon.
Shift named the place, which turned out not to be far at all, but we took the scenic route. I zipped him around the streets as fast as I could move. Because he was human, he did have to shield his mouth in order to draw a breath. When he started looking a bit paler than usual, I slowed, and we stopped at the diner where they served his favorite milkshake.
I watched Shift sip an extra-large coconut hot fudge milkshake, my elbows on the table and face between my fists. “How is it?”
He looked up at me. “It must suck not to be able to eat anything.”
“I don’t know. Blood’s pretty yummy.”
He did a gagging impression. “Why did you come here, Rue? I don’t think it was just to see me and Inna. We didn’t know each other long, and vampires are territorial. They don’t leave where they hunt and live very often.”
I blinked in surprise. “How do you know that?”
“My studies. We learn about all kinds of nonhumans, their habits and their weaknesses.” He ticked the items off on his fingers. “We have to memorize who their enemies are and their allies.”
“Plus fighting.” I leaned back, impressed and a little threatened. “Please tell me it’s not the Meris’s secret goal to rid the earth of all nonhumans. Is it?”
His eyes widened as if he hadn’t thought of it before. “I don’t know. I mean, you can tell the teachers don’t like your kind or any of the others very much. Hate might be a better word. We’re taught not to trust any of you and about how to kill you.”
My mouth hung open. “Little boys shouldn’t be taught to kill.”
“You’re a killer.”
“I’ve never killed anyone!”
“But you could.”
The entire time Shift spoke with me, his voice was so matter of fact it disturbed me. I would never stand by while Jake learned such things. He should be more concerned about his crush and about school and having fun. Not about how to kill someone. All of it seemed terribly wrong, and I considered not for the first time taking Shift and Inna away. Yet, what would I do with them?
“Rue.”
I glanced up at him, still unsure.
“You have to admit there’s a lot of bad stuff in the world, right? Stuff that doesn’t get on the news?”
I nodded.
“Don’t you think it’s better if there are people who protect other people against those bad things so the regular ones can continue to be happy?”
Like Jake.
“You’re a wise kid for your age.”
He grinned. “Naw, I’m just saying what they tell us at the start of every class. It gets old, but it’s stuck in my head now. So, why did you come?”
I didn’t hesitate to share. “Shift, do you get training in strengthening your gift, too? I know it hasn’t been that long since you went to Meris, but I’m hoping you can help me.”
His little eyes glittered, and he set his milkshake aside to lean toward me. “Are you planning to break into a bank or something?”
I scowled. “No. Don’t be silly. I would never do something like that. Although, I admit, since I’ve hardly been getting nights to work at The Rusty Ankle, I might need to soon enough.”
“The Rusty Ankle? That’s a funny name.”
“It’s a bar where I work, owned by… never mind. I’m not planning anything illegal, not by human standards anyway. Back when you and I met, you sent me into the future by several hours using your gift. Can you also send a person into the past?”
He shrugged. “Yeah, sure. I control time, forward and back. How far are we talking, a day or two?”
I bit my bottom lip. “Well…”
Before I could continue, something one of the other diner customers said caught my attention. I scanned the place. My hearing was several times that of humans, and while I could focus it to some degree, I couldn’t turn it off. Most often, I dismissed what I heard around me, but I was always taking in information.
A man in the far corner spoke to his companion. “Did you hear what happened in New Orleans?”
Ah, that’s why I had focused on him. He spoke about my home city.
“No, what happened?” the woman across from him asked. “I’m just getting off work, and they’re pretty strict about radios and whatever.”
“A couple bodies were found,” the man said.
The woman scoffed. “So what? People die all the time.”
I had to agree, but she was pretty jaded for one so young. She dipped a fry into a glob of ketchup and stuck it into her mouth. When she went after another, the man laid a hand over her wrist. Her expression said he better explain himself because she was hungry.
“They looked like they had been chewed on.”
And there went her appetite. “You’re kidding. By what kind of animal?”
“Not an animal, a human.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not lying! It’s on the news. Check it out for yourself. I bet you can find out more on the internet. The medical examiner said the teeth marks are human. I always knew New Orleans was weird, but they’ve got cannibals over there now.”
He shivered in disgust, and so did the woman. She was already pulling her cell phone from her purse and searching for the incident. I decided I would check as well, later when I had finished my business with Shift. A cannibal in New Orleans was super gross, and I hoped someone had made a mistake. Wait, aren’t you a cannibal, you might ask? To that I say I’m not human, and I don’t chew!
Shift’s face came into my line of sight, and he glanced over his shoulder toward the couple. “What are they talking about?”
“Nothing of interest. Back to what we were discussing. For my own reasons, Shift, I need to go back in time, like far back. Um…years.”
His jaw dropped. “Years? I’ve never done that before. I don’t even know if I can.”
My hoped died.
“Why do you need to do that?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“I
won’t tell anyone.”
I eyed him with doubt. “Just like you didn’t tell me several details of what the Meris Organization is up to?”
Not even a hint of remorse. “I told you. I don’t know anything really important. Probably all the nonhumans except you know Meris hates them.”
“Except me? Thanks, sweetie. You’re so kind. Why do I get the feeling you’ve been hanging out with the very blunt Inna a lot more than you’ve let on?”
“I wish!” He blushed so cute and ducked his head. Then he perked up. “But I did find this item that might help.”
“Item?”
“A crystal.” He practically shouted the word, and I laid fingers over his lips when several heads turned our way.
“Keep your voice down.”
We ducked our heads together.
“I like exploring the castle, and one day I found this locked door leading to the attic. All I had to do was zip along back and forth through time to see when someone entered it. Then I was in.”
“Your ability is handy.”
“I know. I’m super cool.”
“And humble.”
“Anyway, I got in, and I started poking through all these boxes. It was like an RPG or something.”
“RPG?” I asked, the acronym sounding familiar but not coming to mind as to its meaning.
“A game. When I found the crystal, I could feel this serious energy coming off it.” His face reddened again, and I sensed what he was about to confess next. “I borrowed it for a little while.”
I gave him the look I used to give Jake when I knew he had done something wrong and he was trying to justify his actions. I’m not sure if it came off as well as it used to in my previous body. This form had never had children, and to be honest, sometimes I missed the stretch marks that were a badge of honor and testified that I was a mother.
“Only for a little while,” Shift defended himself. “The weird part is when I activated my ability to go back to the time when I discovered the room, I went a lot farther.”
Now my hopes renewed.
“I could feel the crystal adding to my ability, sort of like a battery to pump more juice into me.”
“How far did you go?”
“A month!” He shoved both hands into his hair and left it a disordered mess. “Can you believe that? It was so awesome. I spent like forever trying to get back to the right time because I kept overshooting it. Then the drawback came. I had a massive migraine that left me in bed for another week, and I got into trouble.”
“Oh dear. That’s terrible. I’m sorry, Shift. I wouldn’t want to cause you pain. I’d forgotten about the side effect. Besides, a month will never be enough.”
I reached across the table on the pretext of comforting him for the migraine and took the opportunity of brushing his hair into better order with my fingers. The smirk on his face said he knew what I was doing, but he let me do it anyway.
“Well, I think maybe the crystal can help me go a lot farther with some practice,” he suggested. “It’s pretty powerful, and I had to hold on tight when I shifted time like if I didn’t I’d get slung to like a million years in the past. That might have been fun. I could have ridden a dinosaur!”
“Or been eaten by one.” I tried to convey in my words and my expression he shouldn’t try such a dangerous idea. Shift didn’t appear to have paid attention to the warning.
“I still have the crystal, and nobody knows I have it. There haven’t been any alarms going off, so we could give it a try. You wanna?” His eagerness was rubbing off on me.
“You have it with you?”
“No, it’s hidden back at Meris, but I can go get it.”
“Not tonight. Perhaps we can meet in a couple days?”
“Sure. Well, I better get back before they find out I ran off. Thanks for the milkshake and the ride, Rue. It was fun.”
“My pleasure.”
He started to rise when a hand dropped down on his shoulder. Milliseconds after, a person appeared beside our table, a man. I leaped to my feet about to shove him back when he disappeared again. All of a sudden, I faced the diner swiping at air and Shift still at the table behind me. When I spun around, I discovered the man in the seat I had vacated. Irritation increased in me that he had moved faster than I could grab him.
“Who are you?” I demanded. I wasn’t intimidated by the muscular build and the air of quiet confidence. However, the smoldering good looks did give me pause, I’ll admit. Until I remembered my Nathan, and this possible bad guy did not compare.
“He’s from Meris.” Shift moaned. “Looks like I’ve been found out. Who snitched?”
The man scowled at him and then at me. “No one snitched. I came to check on you in your room because it’s past your curfew, and I discovered you gone. As usual, you’ve ignored the rules.”
“Because they suck.”
The man’s dark gaze flicked from Shift to me again. “And I find you with this person. Arianna won’t be pleased.”
I folded my arms over my chest. “I hear a threat in your voice. Is that directed at me, because I’m not afraid of Arianna.”
He sneered. “Not at you. He will be punished for your selfish actions.”
“Punished?” Worry stirred in me, but Shift groaned and stood.
“Aw crap, I’ll be put on kitchen duty, or worse, bathroom duty! That’s the pits. Can’t you pretend I was in my room the whole time, sleeping like an innocent baby? After all, you’re my mentor. You’re supposed to look after me.”
The man scowled harder. “If you respected me as your mentor, I would be willing to bend the rules for you. Instead, you’ve left me holding the bag many times.”
The two of them argued back and forth while I watched. From what I could sense, the man didn’t dislike Shift, although he was hard to read. He didn’t have a lot of patience, and Shift by nature pushed him beyond his limits.
“What was that you did just now?” I asked, interrupting. “Are you faster than I am?”
The flared nostrils said of course.
“He’s a teleporter,” Shift supplied with sufficient scorn. Apparently, he wasn’t as impressed as I was. “The big heads think it’s similar to my gift, so they made him my mentor. I say it’s not the same at all!”
“And we see why he thinks you don’t respect him, Shift. I for one think it’s pretty cool.”
Shift looked like I had betrayed him, and the mentor didn’t care one way or another what I thought. Was he one of the teachers at Meris who hated all nonhumans? I considered dipping into his head but dared not. I had had enough pain for one evening, thank you very much.
“Let’s go.” The man reached out and grabbed Shift’s arm. I knew from experience this would keep Shift within his scope, so even if the boy tried to transport along the avenues of time, he would end up taking the mentor with him. The two of them started off across the diner, and when Shift tried to look back at me, his mentor moved into the boy’s line of sight. They spoke of a possible weeklong punishment, making me wonder when I would get to see Shift again.
Well, all I could do was wait for him to contact me. Meris would no doubt heighten security so I couldn’t get onto the property again without damage. Right now, Shift was my only hope, and I was determined to give him what he was good at—time. Meanwhile, I could do my part in gathering information about when the fae, Orin and Pammie, had been enslaved. Using the crystal and Shift’s abilities, I might be able to go back in time and free them. I would need to return to work and question Orin, and if that didn’t work, I could always visit the paranormal library. Almost everything I had learned up until now had come from there.
Chapter Three
“Are you sure about this, Rue? It sounds dangerous.” Lily, the ghost and girlfriend to Bill, Death guy, hovered above my shoulder. I poured over a historical account of Orin and Pammie’s lives. Of course, there were so many people who lived in the world and died, one couldn’t contain it all in a book, and really, why would
you want to?
The difference with this book was that it had extra qualities. I could sit down and turn to a page then narrate what I wanted to know. Mind you, asking about tomorrow’s lottery wasn’t in the scope of the book. Nor was the best time to rob the bank on a particular street. No, this book was a historical account, as I’ve said.
When I came to the paranormal library seeking information from my friend Bill, the librarian, he had directed me here and released me to my own devices. Leave it to Bill to omit the details and just let me fumble along until I could figure out things for myself. Lily, sweeter and more helpful, had gotten the instructions from her beau. Apparently, Death having a crush had its advantages.
“I’m sure about it, Lily,” I muttered as I read about the account of Orin and Pammie meeting Almonester. “This isn’t very detailed.”
“Well, there is a lot to account for.”
“Yes, but it’s magical. Isn’t there unlimited disk space or something?”
She blinked in confusion. Sometimes, Lily’s lack of understanding when it came to modern conveniences like the computer made me think she had died in a previous century. Her simple dated clothing didn’t give that illusion, though.
Lily wrung her hands, as she was wont to do when nervous. “Time travel, Rue? What if you get lost and can’t get back?”
“I’m willing to take the risk.”
“For the fae?”
“Yes.” I paused in my reading and looked up at her. “We aren’t close, but Orin and Pammie are friends. My boss has enslaved them. I don’t know for how long, but I promised myself and them I would find a way to get them free. The only solution I see is going back in time before it happened and putting a stop to it.”
“This man must be really bad.” She faded in and out of visibility and darted about. The lights flickered a few times with her agitation.
“Almonester is pure evil. He’s a goblin, and they’re interested in one thing—gold in all its forms. He uses the fae at the bar where I work to glamour humans into tossing their money at him. When that wasn’t enough to fuel his greed, he started using Pammie for…other means.”
Night Fever (A Rue Darrow Novel Book 3) Page 2