Undaunted

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by HELEN HARDT


  “I’ve told you the Texts will bring you only darkness,” Bill said. “Why didn’t you listen to me?”

  “Because you’re different,” I said. “You’ve been different since I returned. River and Em even see it now. My father sees it. Whatever you saw in that book changed you, Bill. We need to find out why. And how. I need to understand what’s happening between Erin and me, and I need to find out why women are going missing from hospitals. Women who all have the same blood type. B positive. You know who else has that blood type, Bill? I do.”

  “Why does that matter?” he asked.

  “Because it’s genetically impossible for me to have it. That’s why it matters. When’s the last time you talked to Jack Hebert? Both my mother and father were Rh negative. Em is Rh negative. It’s genetically impossible for two Rh negative parents to produce an Rh positive child. Jack swears I am my parents’ child, and I look just like my father, so he can’t explain it. If the answer is in that damned book, I am damned well going to find it.”

  “Dante, the book will not give you any answers.”

  “No, Bill, the book didn’t give you any answers. Maybe it led you to darkness, but it won’t lead me there.”

  “It will, Dante.”

  “It won’t. I’ve been to hell. Nothing in that book can be any worse than what I’ve already been forced to endure. And if it is? Then I’ll find my way out. I’ve found my way out of darkness before. You have no idea what I’ve been through, and my father went through worse and got out.”

  “Your father died, Dante.” He sighed. “I can’t lose the three of you as well.”

  My heart softened. A little. “Is that what this is about? You losing us? We’re not going anywhere.”

  “That’s right. Which is why I’m contesting this will. I’ll tie it up in court for years to keep you from getting your father’s money. And when time runs out for me there, I’ll glamour the administrators to keep it going. I can’t allow you to pursue this dark path.”

  “Too late. Fuck up my father’s will if you have to, but I still have the book, and I’ll find the money to translate it one way or the other. Count on that.”

  “You won’t. You no longer have the book, Dante.”

  “It’s sitting on Erin’s coffee table as we speak. I saw it before I left this morning.”

  “It’s not. Never will you find out the secrets of the Texts. For your own good. The book in your home is counterfeit. I had the real one stolen.”

  Rage surged inside me, and my blood turned to boiling plasma in my veins. “You what?” I growled, my gums itching and tingling more than they ever had. Every fraction of every millimeter they lengthened forced more electricity through my body, currents charged with anger and madness.

  I snarled at my grandfather, a man without whom I wouldn’t exist.

  For an instant, I felt regret.

  Only for an instant.

  He would not keep me from the truth.

  He would not.

  I balled up all the electric energy inside me and hurled it at the judge sitting on the bench. I thought not in words but in images, showing him what I needed him to do, forcing him to do my bidding.

  The people in the courtroom began moving, their gazes no longer glassy.

  “As no contests have been filed concerning the estate of Julian Guillaume Gabriel,” the judge said, “all assets are now the legal property of his heirs, Dante Julian Gabriel and Emilia Vivienne Gabriel, in equal shares.”

  Outside the courtroom, Bill grabbed my arm and pulled me aside.

  “What happened in there isn’t possible,” he said.

  “Apparently it is.”

  “This isn’t you, Dante. I won’t allow you to continue.”

  My fangs were still descended, and I snarled. “You have no fucking choice.”

  “Don’t let this be who you are. Please.”

  The look in his eyes startled me, unnerved me even.

  I’d expected to see anger, determination. Maybe pleading.

  But I didn’t.

  Bill’s eyes held something I’d rarely seen him emote.

  Fear.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Erin

  I awoke with a start. My body was stiff from lying on the couch.

  What a dream! Dr. Bonneville had come to my door, and then she had morphed into Bea. It had been so real. Bea had quoted Thoreau again, and she’d been talking about Dante’s sister and her pregnancy. She asked for vodka, and then she’d told me she had a remedy, and she’d given me—

  I looked in my hand.

  No crumpled piece of paper.

  I looked at the floor.

  No paper there either.

  Yes, definitely a dream.

  Nettle leaves, gingerroot, peppermint, chamomile. Wild yam.

  Words—words that had been written on the piece of paper in my dream.

  But it was only a dream. Those things couldn’t possibly help Emilia have a healthy and successful pregnancy. I’d never heard of wild yam, anyway. Was there such a thing? Sweet potatoes growing in the wild? Probably not.

  I drew in a deep breath and looked at the clock on my phone. Dante would probably be home soon. The rest of the day would be spent wading through red tape and getting Julian’s assets transferred.

  I jolted when Dante burst through the door, followed by River and Emilia.

  “Hey,” I said. “Did everything go okay?”

  “You could say that,” River said. “We got the will through probate, anyway.”

  “What’s the problem, then?”

  Dante walked toward me and grabbed me in a tight embrace. When he finally pulled away, he looked at me, his face unreadable.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  “I’m not sure. Remember how I was able to glamour the night administrator to help get your leave of absence?”

  I nodded.

  “Today I apparently glamoured a judge.”

  River shook his head. “You did way more than that, Dante. You reversed a glamour on an entire courtroom, as well. You reversed the glamour of a vampire elder. What you did is technically not possible.”

  “Okay. Start at the beginning,” I said.

  “If you’ll excuse me,” Emilia said, “I need to go throw up.”

  For the first time since the three of them had walked in, I took a good look at her. She was green. Truly green. This was bad morning sickness.

  I looked at my hand, where Bea had put the piece of paper in my dream. “Are you feeling okay?”

  “I’ll be better after I puke.”

  I nodded. No use talking to her until she did what she had to do.

  I turned back to Dante and River. “Tell me everything.”

  Dante opened his mouth but then shook his head. “You tell it, Riv. I still can’t even believe it.”

  “None of us can,” River said. “But it happened. Bill showed up at court to contest the will.”

  My brows shot up.

  “Apparently he didn’t want us getting the Texts translated because it would lead us to darkness, so he decided to tie up Uncle Jules’s money so Dante and Em couldn’t afford to do it. Dante got angry. I mean, really angry, and somehow he reversed Bill’s glamour on the judge and the entire courtroom.”

  “Dante?” I said.

  He shrugged. “I don’t know how I did it. I know I couldn’t do it again.”

  “What he did isn’t possible,” River said. “A vampire’s glamour gets stronger with age. I can’t glamour a roomful of people yet, but Bill apparently can, and he did it today. Everyone in the courtroom went glassy-eyed when Bill entered and started talking to us about why he was contesting the will.”

  “Where was Julian?” I asked.

  “Bill had him tied up doing something. We’ll find out what it was when we see him next, I guess.” River shook his head. “I still can’t fucking believe it.”

  I touched Dante’s arm. He was cold as ice. “What did you do?”

  “I
have no idea. I was just really angry. So angry.”

  “Your teeth were frightening, man,” River said. “I’ve never seen them like that.”

  I cupped Dante’s cheek. His teeth were completely retracted. I’d seen them sharp and ferocious. And they’d been even more so earlier?

  “Can you remember anything you did?” I asked.

  “I can’t. I don’t think I was thinking at all. I was reacting purely on instinct, and I managed to get what we needed.”

  “By doing the impossible,” River said again.

  “Clearly it’s not impossible if he did it,” I offered.

  “I’ll never be able to repeat it. I have no idea how.”

  “You will be able to repeat it.”

  I jolted at Julian’s voice. He stood before us as he always did, wearing the same clothing.

  “Dad, where have you been?” Dante asked. “We could have used you this morning.”

  “Obviously you didn’t need my help,” the ghost said. “You’re coming into a strange new power, Dante. One I don’t have. River doesn’t have. Bill doesn’t have. I can’t explain it, but I can try to help you learn to control it.”

  “How, if you don’t have the power?”

  “I’ll teach you how to control your glamour. Once you know how to do that, you should be able to control any glamour power, no matter how intense.”

  “We need to get started then,” Dante said. “What happened today was pretty daunting. Where were you, by the way?”

  “My father sent me on a wild-goose chase. I should have seen what he was up to, and I’m sorry I didn’t. You learn at an early age to trust your parents, and until now, my father has never been unworthy of my trust. I also didn’t expect him to try to contest my will.”

  “No one’s blaming you, Uncle Jules,” River said.

  Emilia emerged from the bathroom. “Hi, Daddy.”

  “Hi, sweet pea. Are you all right?”

  “Not especially. This pregnancy sickness is the worst.”

  “Your mother had it bad both times,” Julian said. “It’s normal for our kind. Although…have you seen Jack lately? I don’t like your skin tone.”

  “I see him in a few days.”

  “I think we should take you in now,” River said. “I agree. You don’t look good.”

  She scoffed. “Thanks.”

  Bea’s face emerged in my mind. Maybe she had truly come to me in a dream to help Emilia, not just to warn me that the Texts had been stolen.

  Nettle leaves, gingerroot, peppermint, chamomile. Wild yam.

  Would those things help her? I had no idea. “Try some saltine crackers,” I said. “You need to stay hydrated too. I know it’s hard when you feel sick all the time, but you have to think of the baby’s health.”

  “Believe me, none of that ever leaves my mind. But saltines don’t help. I throw up everything I eat. It’s been that way for the past week.”

  “I don’t like the sound of this,” Julian said. “Let’s get you to the doctor.”

  “I agree with your dad,” I said. “It sounds like you have hyperemesis gravidarum.”

  “Hyper what?”

  “Just a fancy term for severe morning sickness. You might need IV fluids.”

  “It’s normal for our kind,” Julian said again.

  “The sickness? Or her color?” River asked.

  “I admit neither of your mothers ever turned green,” Julian said.

  “She needs to keep hydrated,” I said. “Look at her. She’s miserable.”

  “Thanks.” Emilia rolled her eyes. “Who here hasn’t told me how shitty I look?”

  “I’ll take her to see Jack,” River said. “Dante, you can take care of the transfers yourself, can’t you?”

  “I’ll try. I might need Em’s signature, but I’ll tell them she’s ill today, which she is. She can always go in and sign later.”

  “Use your glamour,” River said.

  “What glamour? I may have this amazing power, but I have no idea how to control it or even to get it to come out at will. This is fucked up.”

  “A little,” River agreed.

  “I’ll go with him,” Julian said. “If any glamours are necessary, I can take care of it.”

  “Cool.” River took Emilia’s arm. “Let’s go.”

  “I’m fine,” she protested.

  “You’re green,” River said. “That’s not fine, at least not on this planet.” He ushered her out the door.

  Dante picked up the Vampyre Texts and held it. “It looks the same to me.” He opened the book.

  “What do you mean?” I asked.

  “Apparently Bill had someone break in and steal the book. This is presumably a fake, according to him.”

  Chills crawled up my spine like tiny insects.

  That book on the table? It’s a fake. Someone has been here. Someone stole the real one.

  My dream.

  “What is it, Erin?” Julian asked.

  I clamped my jaw shut after it had dropped open. “Nothing. At least I don’t think it’s anything.” I quickly told them about my dream.

  “Bea couldn’t have made her way into my dream,” I said.

  “No. But a ghost could. A ghost that was inhabiting Bea, perhaps,” Julian said. “Remember, she’s a medium.”

  “She was quoting Thoreau again. But what would Thoreau know about morning sickness in vampires or whether the book was real?”

  “Another ghost could have been quoting Thoreau,” Dante offered.

  “Oh! I almost forgot. When Bea first came to the door in my dream, she wasn’t Bea. She was one of the ER doctors from University. Dr. Zabrina Bonneville.”

  “A doctor might know about morning sickness remedies,” Dante said, “but how would she know about the book?”

  “She could only get into your dream if she’s dead, Erin,” Julian said.

  Dead? Dr. Bonneville? “She’s not dead. She’s on vacation with her husband.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Dante

  Ask the queen, Dante. Ask me what you want to know.

  I clamped my hands over my ears in an attempt to shut her out. Not now. I had too much to do.

  “Dante?” Erin said.

  I removed my hands from my ears. “I’m okay.”

  “Are you sure, son?”

  I nodded to my father. “Yeah.”

  Erin cleared her throat. “I suppose Dr. Bonneville could be dead. I should probably feel worse than I do about that possibility. Anyway, I’m sure she’s fine. She’s on a three-week vacation. I haven’t seen her in a week or more.”

  “It could be anyone,” Julian said. “A ghost will take the shape of whatever is familiar to you. Are you and this doctor close?”

  “Ha!” Erin shook her head. “Not at all. She’s an excellent physician, but on the niceness scale? She’s a zero.”

  “If it’s not someone close to you, it’s doubtful it was her. It could have just been a random dream,” Julian said.

  “It didn’t seem very random,” Erin said. “I remember it so vividly. I remember the herbs that Bea had written down on the piece of paper. One I’d never even heard of. Wild yam.” She grabbed her phone and punched on the keyboard. “I’ll be damned. Here it is. Wild yam.” Her eyes moved rapidly as she read. “There are conflicting views about whether it’s safe during pregnancy. Some sources say it can cause miscarriage, but others say it helps morning sickness and can prevent miscarriage. Some say— Oh!”

  “What?” Dante asked.

  “Wild yam contains a substance that can be converted to progesterone in the body. Progesterone is a female hormone that we make naturally, but supplements of it are often given to women to prevent miscarriage.”

  “Maybe we should tell Jack,” Dante said.

  “We can tell him if you want,” Erin said, “but I’d advise against using it. None of this is substantiated that I can see, and if it’s associated with a risk of miscarriage, I’d stay away from it.”

&n
bsp; “What about the other ingredients?” Julian asked. “Are they safe?”

  Erin did some quick typing. “Yeah, they all appear to be safe during pregnancy and can help with morning sickness. Nettle leaves, gingerroot, peppermint, chamomile.”

  I sent a quick text to River to relay the information to Jack. “Now, about the phony book.”

  Ask the queen. Ask what you wish to know.

  “Damn it!”

  “What is it, babe?” Erin asked.

  I cleared her out of my head. “Nothing. I’m fine. Bill says the book is a fake. If I still had my sense of smell, I’d be able to tell if anyone had been here.”

  “Bea told me in my dream that the book had been stolen,” Erin said. “Funny, it looks the same to me. Just as heavy as it always was. I never would have imagined it had been stolen and replaced.”

  “I guess we’ll never know for sure,” I said. “Bill could be lying.”

  “Then Bea would be lying as well”—Erin shrugged—“though admittedly it was a dream.”

  Julian shook his head. “I don’t think so. Whatever is in the book has my father good and spooked, and this is a man who was never scared of anything. I’m wondering…”

  “What?” I asked.

  “Don’t hate me for suggesting this, but maybe we should leave well enough alone.”

  “Are you serious, Dad? After all we’ve been through to get to this point? I had to see your dead body, for God’s sake, with everything those creatures did to it. I’ll never be able to scour that image from my mind.”

  “I know, son. I’m sorry. But my father isn’t easily frightened, and he’s clearly willing to move heaven and earth so we don’t uncover what’s hidden in the Texts.”

  “No. No. Just no.” If I could have grabbed my father by the collar, I would have. “We have to. I have to understand the blood bond. And now, I have to understand what’s happening to me, why I can apparently out-glamour an elder. It must all be in there. And damn it, we’re going to figure it out.”

  Ask the queen. Just ask me.

  She was lying, of course. She never told me anything, just got me anxious enough to ask and then denied me any answers.

 

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