by Bella Abbott
My curiosity got the better of me, and I blurted the first thing that came to mind. “How rich?”
He glanced around and then leaned close again and named a number so big my mouth formed an O.
“You’re kidding me,” I gasped.
Jared shook his head. “Two centuries of investing adds up.”
“Oh…my…”
“Yeah. So when I say don’t sweat it, I mean it. Even the interest on my interest is more than I could spend in ten lifetimes.”
I took a deep breath. “I’m surprised you don’t own the record company, too.”
He chuckled. “That would take the fun out of it. Part of the challenge is to do this on my own. That would be cheating.” He squeezed my hand. “Now let’s do some serious shopping, shall we?”
“You talked me into it,” I said, still dazed by his revelation. Everything Jared did seemed to be on a massive scale I could scarcely comprehend, and his wealth was just the icing on the cake. It shouldn’t have surprised me that he was beyond rich, but it still was shocking to hear such a huge number from his gorgeous lips.
We entered the store, and after Jared checked the duffel at security, he led me into the depths of the store and we rode the escalator to the women’s clothing section, which seemed to stretch for blocks. The floor had few shoppers on a balmy late summer day, and we had our run of the department. The fashionably edgy salespeople hovered nearby, eager to help with anything that caught my eye.
An hour later, we had purchased two pairs of jeans and five tops. We were headed for the exit when Jared stopped at the shoe department and pointed at the Doc Martens display at one end. He looked down at my scuffed boots and raised an eyebrow.
“You want a new pair?”
I shook my head. “These are really comfortable, and they’re barely broken in. Don’t take it the wrong way, but I’d rather keep them. Thank you, though.”
“Are you sure?” he asked. “They’re there for the asking.”
“You don’t like mine?”
He smiled and spoke in a low voice. “I like everything about you. Even your boots.”
“Then let’s get out of here. We’ve bought enough stuff for one day.”
We retrieved the duffel and packed our purchases in it. On the sidewalk, Jared glanced up at the slice of blue sky between the rows of skyscrapers and looked to me. “Let’s walk up Broadway, okay?”
“Sounds good.”
We walked hand in hand, soaking in the sights and sounds of the city. Roller skaters and bicyclists rushed by alongside an unending procession of cars. When we hit Forty-Second Street, Jared’s face lit up, and he half dragged me to a display window featuring a lavish spread of jewelry.
“See anything you like?” he asked.
“Oh, Jared, it’s already been too much,” I protested.
“Nonsense.” He smiled at me. “Let’s go in.”
“I don’t know–” I started, but he cut me off.
“Come on. We don’t have anything better to do.”
We entered the store, and I was immediately intimidated by the cool stares of the salespeople, all of whom looked like they’d just stepped off the catwalk in Milan. I swallowed hard as a young woman in a fitted black suit approached and beamed at Jared before turning to me. “Well, hello. Is there something I can help you with?” she asked with a bleached grin.
“We’re just looking, thanks,” Jared said.
She focused her attention on him and her smile broadened. “Well, let me know if you see anything you like,” she said flirtatiously.
I stiffened, but Jared squeezed my hand. I’ll have to get used to this sort of thing, I guess.
“Thank you. We will.”
We moved along display cases filled with gold bracelets and bangles and necklaces, and Jared walked to another case as I eyed the watches, all of which looked far too expensive for me to ever wear. I was turning to tell him I didn’t see anything I was interested in when he called to the saleswoman. “Can we get a look at these?” he asked.
I crossed the floor to where he was standing, trying not to feel like a trespasser in the sort of store I would never have dreamed of entering on my own. My heart sank as the clerk held up a pair of gem-encrusted earrings that just oozed luxury. What am I doing here?
“What do you think?” Jared asked, appraising them with a keen eye. “They’d look perfect if you wore your hair up.”
I swallowed dryly, and my heart began racing. “No. No, thank you, Jared.”
“You don’t like them? They’re beautiful, aren’t they?”
I shook my head helplessly. “Yes, but…”
He took the earrings from the salesgirl and, before I could react, swept my hair up and held it in a knot at the back. My birthmark must have shone like a beacon. The salesgirl didn’t flinch, she didn’t lift an eyebrow, but something passed over her face. Something I’d seen before, on so many other faces.
And suddenly it was just all too much. I jerked out of Jared’s grasp, gasped like a wounded animal, and was out the door in a flash, leaving Jared standing in the store with the clerk, stunned expressions on their faces. I nearly bowled an old woman over as I dashed from the entrance, and then I was running, tears streaming freely as I sobbed in ragged gasps.
Chapter 26
I was sitting on a park bench across the street from the Plaza Hotel, my face streaked with tears, when Jared found me. He sat down beside me and spoke in a low voice.
“I’m so sorry, Lacey. I didn’t mean to embarrass you or anything. It wasn’t intentional, I swear. I just wanted to get you something to remember New York by.”
I sniffed and looked away.
He studied me for a moment. “This is about more than just earrings, isn’t it?”
Oh, perceptive! I tried to calm down. How could I ever explain? “It’s not your fault. You think…I mean…I know you have all these memories, you think you know me, but…maybe I’m not who you think I am.”
Jared frowned. “I thought we’d been through all that. When Madame Véronique–”
I cut him off. “I know. That I’m the reincarnation of…of Alicia. But that’s my point. I’m not her. I’m me.”
“You are her, though. There’s no difference!”
“Yes – yes, there is, Jared. She lived a whole lifetime – maybe even more than one, I don’t even know – that I didn’t. Everything you see and do and experience – those things affect you, Jared, they change you. I don’t have those memories. You do.”
“But all that is inside you too.”
“Is it? We don’t know that. I didn’t burst from the womb a fully cognizant adult woman, did I? You have this whole” – I gestured wildly about me, indicating the city at large – “lifestyle and habits and…and…and women, and that’s never been a part of my life.”
“Women?” he asked, sounding confused.
“Jared, I saw the way the girl at the store looked at you. And Lindsey. And the hostesses on that stupid show. They’re perfect, and we both know those are the kinds of girls you should be with, not…not someone like me.”
“You mean I should place more value on superficial qualities? That I should be after the prettiest face I can find, and forget the rest?” he asked, remarkably calm.
“That’s not what I’m saying,” I snapped, feeling suddenly dumb at his mirroring my statement back to me. It sounded stupid when Jared said it. And I hated his calm tone. How dare he patronize me! “I’m saying that I’m not enough for you, Jared, not your equal, and I know it. I’m not some rich city girl, never have been. Not in my lifetime. I’m not a lobster-eating, helicopter-flying-in…” Lost in my own words, I couldn’t even finish.
“I told you – the money doesn’t even feel real. It…”
“Well, it feels plenty real to me,” I snapped.
“But the earrings would have cost nothing,” he started.
“Earrings! Right. To wear with my hair up. When have you seen me with my hair up, Mr. Movie
Star? I’ll tell you: Never. People with birthmarks don’t wear their hair up.”
No words left to explain how I felt, I rose and stalked off into the park.
He caught up to me in an instant and stopped me by grabbing my arm. I shrugged his hand off and continued marching along the path, and gasped when he appeared in front of me, blocking my way as though he’d dropped from the sky.
“Lacey, you’re not making any sense,” Jared said. “You’re acting like you can read my mind, which you can’t. Worse, you’re drawing completely wrong conclusions and not listening to what I’m saying. Could you please take a second and just think? I’m telling you in the clearest way I know that I love you exactly as you are, no exclusions or exceptions. And you’re ignoring me.” He looked me up and down. “Please stop and just listen to me, would you?”
My anger receded at his pleading, and I met his stare. “Okay. I’m listening,” I said, arms crossed defensively across my chest.
He hesitated, choosing his words. “Okay. I apologize about the earrings. You have a blemish you think is the biggest deal in the whole world. I get that. I’m telling you that it’s not even a tiny issue. To me it’s a nothing. That’s not saying that it isn’t very real to you. It’s that you’re magnifying its importance and projecting that onto me as though it’s how I feel, when it isn’t. You’ve read enough psychology to know how that works. What’s the saying – to a thief, everyone looks like a thief?”
I bristled at his last words, but he held up his hand.
“Besides, you should be grateful for that mark.”
I nearly lost it. Grateful? Is he going to tell me that it builds character?
“I’ve seen that mark before, you know.”
“Yeah, at the party that first night.” I blushed again at the memory. “I kind of thought you might have.”
“Yes, then, but…before, as well.”
“Before? I hadn’t met you before that.” Oh, wait… The penny dropped. “You mean…I’ve always had this mark?”
“I thought I was hallucinating. Remember, I thought you were gone forever. Then I thought it must be some weird coincidence. Then I thought I’d imagined it. I kept trying to get a better look, but I couldn’t.”
I didn’t know what to say. “You never said anything…”
He sighed. “I could tell you were self-conscious about it. Always covering it with your hair. Which I hate to tell you is not exactly a new trick. But I checked you out a few times. Like when you were sleeping.”
You what?
“Not that I needed any more proof.” We stood in silence for a moment, just looking at each other. “Look, I know you don’t have your former memories. But please trust me when I say, we’ve been through this before. It didn’t matter then, it doesn’t matter now, and it never will.”
Neither of us spoke for a moment. “Do I look like her?”
“Who?”
“Her. Alicia.”
“There is no her. There’s only you.”
“But…” I didn’t even know how to put into words what I felt. Jared had his memories of how we’d been before, but I didn’t. I’m at a serious disadvantage here. Like I’d read only half a mystery novel.
“For the record, you do. Look like you did before. And at the same time, you don’t.”
I couldn’t help rolling my eyes at him.
“You have the same features, but you wear your hair differently. You dress differently. You’re in a different place. It’s a different time. All of those things are different. But not…not your heart. Not you. I can feel it.”
The lump in my throat was too big to swallow.
He let that sink in for a moment before continuing. “Look. I’m a frigging vampire. My heart doesn’t beat, it’s all I can do not to drink your blood, and I’m literally one of the undead. Wouldn’t you agree those are a bigger deal than a bit of skin? Some missing memories? Give us a chance to create some new ones.”
I had no words for what I was feeling. I didn’t even know what I was feeling! I wanted to ask him what I’d been like…before…but didn’t know if I really wanted to hear the answer.
Jared seemed to intuit some of what I was going through, because he did the one thing that was guaranteed to stop me from escalating the drama. He stepped forward and embraced me in silence.
It was impossible to remain upset in his arms, and my anxiety slowly faded as he did nothing but hold me. He didn’t try to drill home his point or prove me wrong or explain. He just held me, allowing his essence to flood my being with strength and confidence while demanding nothing in return.
After what seemed like an eternity, he whispered so softly I had to strain to hear. “You have your demons, and I have mine. My biggest fear is that I’ll lose you again. You have no idea what it’s like to be sentenced to hundreds of years without the one you love. Each day is another small slice of hell. I won’t let that happen again, Lacey. Nothing will keep us apart. Nothing. I promise you that.”
I blubbered into his shirt, my heart aching at his beautiful words and the obvious sincerity in them. He let my emotional storm run its course, and when I’d stopped sobbing, held me at arm’s length. “Please don’t sell us short, Lacey. You’re all I’ve got.” He paused. “You can’t keep running away.”
I nodded slowly and slowed my breathing. “I… You’re right, Jared. I…I got so wrapped up in what you must be thinking…”
“You can run, but you can never hide.”
I laughed and raised my fingers to my wet face. “My eyes must be puffy and red.”
He gazed at me adoringly. “You’re the most beautiful woman in the world to me, Lacey. Always remember that.”
I laughed again as I blushed crimson, this time from pleasure, and busied myself drying my eyes. Jared took my hand and we walked back toward the park perimeter and the hotel across the street. As we waited for traffic to abate, I looked up at his chiseled profile and snuggled against his shoulder.
“So what now?” I asked.
“Definitely no more jewelry stores,” he answered with a chuckle. He adjusted the duffel strap on his shoulder, and when there was a break in traffic, we crossed to the Plaza entrance, where a doorman nodded in greeting and we pushed through the heavy glass doors.
“I’m serious,” I said as we walked across the lobby. “What are we going to do?”
He thought for several seconds. “There’s one place we can be absolutely safe: the mansion where I’m recording the album. It’s in the middle of nowhere, north of Portland. Nobody knows I’m there except Christina.”
“What about Carl?” I asked.
“He wouldn’t have said anything. Even if it meant his life.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I knew him for a hundred and forty years, Lacey. He would have stepped in front of a bus for me. We had a history.” He glanced around. “I made him just before the Civil War. There’s a unique bond between a maker and his creation. Nothing can come between us.”
“You still haven’t told me what that entails.”
He resumed walking. “We’ll have lots of time to discuss things at the mansion. Let’s get your stuff packed and check out. I’ll have Christina charter a plane and arrange for a limo.”
“And lunch. I haven’t eaten since breakfast, and I’m kind of starved.”
Jared smiled. “More lobster?”
“I’m actually thinking about one of those hot dogs.”
“You don’t want to know what’s in them,” he said with a grimace.
It was my turn to glance around to ensure nobody was listening. “Says the guy who drinks blood.”
He grinned. “Touché.”
I used the bathroom while Jared made some calls, and ten minutes later we were in the restaurant, waiting for my order of a club sandwich. I wolfed it down when it arrived, ravenous after traversing half the city, and by the time we made it to the lobby, a stretch limo was at the curb.
“Oh…I need to get a p
hone charger. Can you ask if he knows a store along the route?” I asked Jared, who nodded.
“Absolutely.”
After a word with the driver, we piled into the back, and the big car drove three blocks to an open electronics store. I was self-conscious about a limo sitting outside the shop while I bought a six-dollar charger, but the cashier was too involved in her own internal drama to notice, and I was in and out in moments.
Traffic to the airport was light. When we arrived, a thin man was standing by the entrance with a cardboard sign in hand with Jared’s last name written on it. He led us through security and out onto the tarmac, where a Lear 35 executive jet sat while two pilots by the fuselage inspected the landing gear.
Fifteen minutes later we were strapped in as the little jet sped down the runway at breakneck velocity and then hurtled into the gloaming, leaving the lights of New Jersey and the Manhattan skyline far below.
Chapter 27
We touched down in Portland a little more than half an hour after taking off in New Jersey. A young man with dyed black hair, wearing the red uniform of a car rental agency, met us at the private aviation terminal and directed us to a rental car. Jared tipped him handsomely, and after he tossed the duffel in the trunk, we slid into the front seats and he started the engine.
“Christina is a miracle worker,” he said. “She had the Porsche towed to a repair shop, so for the next couple of weeks I’m going to be driving this.”
I examined the interior with approval. “Doesn’t look like it goes nearly as fast. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.”
“Only one way to find out,” he said, gunning the motor before he dropped the transmission into gear and eased the car from the lot. On the way out of town we stopped at a convenience store, and I bought several days’ worth of food and drinks to tide me over until we figured out our next step.
The road from Portland quickly turned rural as we headed northwest. The night sky was overcast, which blocked any evidence of the moon and stars. Jared kept the speed down in deference to possible police, and the drive was largely uneventful until we turned off the highway onto a lane with more potholes than pavement. After half a mile, he slowed at a cobblestone drive that stretched into the darkness, and pulled to a stop in front of a rusted iron gate with vertical bars that rose eight feet from the ground.