Chasing Midnight (Dark of Night Book 2) (9 page)

I snorted
.
You are already nothing.

“It’s like being erased. I won’t let you do that to me. Besides, you’re angry. I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”

Don’t even think of using the I’m-only-doing-this-for-your-own-good crap on me. I know better. You can see what I’m thinking, but I can see what you’re thinking too. You like being alive again. Feeling things.

“I don’t deny that. I’ve been alone a very long time, Isabel. So long…”

I could see it in her head. She was always in that cemetery. Watching people mourn loved ones, bury children, and even watching other spirits move on while she was stuck, in between death and whatever came after. She missed the feel of sunshine on her face, the caress of her husband’s hand on her cheek. And more than anything, she wanted to hold her son. He died at birth, and she followed soon after. She remembered her husband visiting her grave only twice. She was so painfully, heartbreakingly lonely.

“If I hadn’t taken control you’d be out cold on the floor, again. Then you’d have to go back to the hospital and stay there. And if you told anyone about me, they’d send you to an asylum.”

She was right on both points. Plus, seeing through her thoughts had weakened my resolve. A little.

I still want my body back.

“Fine. I’ll make you a deal. Give me today, one day to enjoy while you rest. Then, in the morning, I’ll turn control back over to you, permanently.”

I didn’t like it. Not for even a moment. But then… I could feel the hope swelling inside her, the longing.

Oh, alright. But you have to stay with Shane. I don’t want you getting me in any trouble
.
And tomorrow, we have to get to work. We have a murder to solve and a person to track down for Xavier.

My face lit up in the mirror, a wide, innocent smile spreading across my mouth. “Oh thank you! Thank you, thank you!”

There are a few basics you need to know first
.
I opened my mind, leading her through the maze of my memories. My family, Shane, Xavier. I laid it all open to her.

Heaven help me.

SHANE

Isabel had just left for her midnight appointment with Tyger and his grandmother when Shane flicked on the light to the old den. It was actually in better shape than the last time he’d been in the room. Manila folders sat in neat stacks beside a set of grey filing cabinets. There was a simple wooden desk that had once belonged to her grandfather. On one side sat a bulky, old computer and on the other, yet another stack of papers. Mounted on the wall beside the desk was a massive corkboard covered in old photos, notes, and sealed evidence bags. None of it belonged to Isabel. They were all relics of the time her father spent running the business. He would never call her nostalgic aloud for fear of being face slapped, but here, the evidence was plain. She kept these things around because she felt connected to them, and through them, to her father. Just old relics from a past that she couldn’t quite let go of. Kind of like him.

Shane never wanted to become a vampire, but he’d long gotten past being bitter about it. His family shunned him—painful but not unexpected—and he’d expected Isabel to do the same. He should have known better. He should have given her more credit. Isabel loved fiercely, with everything she had. For a long time, he felt worthy of that love. Then he changed. Everything changed. Everything except his love for her.

“We feel everything more intensely than humans. Everything is magnified. Grief becomes numbing depression, anger becomes blood rage, and love becomes obsession. To feel is to be consumed by emotion,” Xavier had told him back when he was still in the cage. And he was right. When Xavier told him that Isabel was going to take him in, well, he’d never felt so unworthy of anything in his entire life.

Shane had showed up on Isabel’s door a different person, but the moment he saw her, burning need and desire overwhelmed him. Undying and unconditional love instantly ignited into passion so fierce that it felt like a life-sustaining need. In that moment, he could have killed her and savored her blood until it filled every empty space inside himself. He’d barely been able to control himself. And she knew it.

So they drew a line in the sand. Isabel had to protect herself from him, and he had to make sure he’d never lose control like that again. Otherwise, he’d have to leave. And he didn’t want to leave. It was selfish, but true. He didn’t know how to be without her.

And now Xavier, the man he once thought of as his friend and mentor, had become infatuated with Isabel. It was hard to watch. Xavier was playing with her like a cat played with a mouse, and she didn’t even see it. Shane ground his teeth at the thought. Now he had to lie to her and steal from her. All for the same man who kept sending her flowers and taking her to expensive restaurants.

Rage rose up his throat, thick and suffocating. Reflexive muscles tightened in his neck as though he were trying to drink clotted hemoglobin through a cocktail straw. He felt torn between his love for Isabel and his loyalty to Xavier. Love ruled because if Xavier didn’t want Isabel to find whatever was in the file, then Shane sure as hell did. He moved over to the messiest pile, the one she hadn’t gotten around to organizing yet. With his anger as fuel, he used his vampire speed to find the folder. It was old, the seam re-bound with duct tape, telltale coffee stains in crescent-moon shapes on the cover, and black marker that no longer smelled scrawled out the word Ambrose across it. Shane pulled off the brittle rubber band holding the folder together and sat down at the desk.

It was Xavier’s file. An in-depth history of Xavier Ambrose going back over a hundred years. Deeds, birth certificates, family trees, even old black-and-white photos.Shane thumbed through each page. Xavier Ambrose had been born Polite San Lucas. Shane smirked to himself
.
What a name
.
Born in 1793, he was turned in 1815 by someone named Caroline Bonlevou. There were a few photocopies of old ship manifests with the name Polite San Lucas highlighted. Other than that…

Whatever it was, he wasn’t seeing it. He took the file, shutting the lights off and closing the door behind him. It was time to put his experience as a PI to good use.

In his room, he switched on his laptop. He separated the file into three sections, family, life history, and financial history. Careful not to damage the yellowing paper, he sorted through old deeds. The San Lucas family owned three properties, and Xavier owned four recently purchased under his new name. Shane decided to look into the old deeds first. One was signed over to Marie La Roux in 1790 by a man named Miguel San Lucas. The other was purchased in 1810 by Xavier under his real name and turned over to his sister Marie San Lucas. A quick check showed that the first had been destroyed in a flood and the second had been sold forty years later to unrelated persons. The third property was a massive estate just outside Savannah purchased in 1936. It sat on nearly two hundred acres of desolate, heavily wooded real estate. According to court papers, the city had tried to have it declared a historical landmark in the mid-seventies, but the owner of the property reportedly demolished it before they could. There had been several offers on the land since then, but they were all turned down.

Shane stared at the deed and realized something. He fumbled through the other papers. Xavier had officially changed his name to Ambrose in 1923. So why had he, over ten years later, purchased a property in the San Lucas name?

That was it. That was the key. Shane took the deed downstairs and made a copy of it, carefully replacing the original in the file and rubber banding it. Now all he had to do was figure out why Xavier Ambrose was trying to keep it a secret.

"Relax, Isabel. Just rest. I’ll be fine.”

I had managed to manifest myself a big, cushy sofa in the dark recesses of my mind. In fact, just by imagining it, I was able to transform the formless, dark hole I was currently trapped in into a replica of my living room. With a few improvements, like the sofa, my mental self was quite cozy. And exhausted.

Sue Hardy was in control now. She spoke through my mouth and fidgeted with my fingers as my mental form lounged. She was rummaging through my closet, looking for something to wear. Apparently, I dressed like a hooker. Maybe Devon wasn’t so wrong about me after all.

“It’s not that,” she said. “It’s only that I’m not comfortable showing so much skin.”

Sue had lived and died in a time where women still wore heavy tights and long dresses to the beach. It was no wonder she was nervous in my closet. Not that I was big into showing skin, but what was conservative to me was downright whorish to her.

How about the jeans and the blue blouse?

She shook my head. “It’s too… satin.”

Just wear a T-shirt the
n
, I growled. My exhaustion, impatience, and general lack of a body were making me grumpy.

She sighed, resigned. “Fine.”

She slowly slipped on my jeans and a dark green T-shirt. Tugging at the loose strands of my wavy, brown hair, she twirled them expertly in her fingers. Plucking two bobby pins out of my jewelry box, she pinned back the twists at the crown of my head, then she wrestled the rest into a bun. She looked herself over in the mirror. I had to give her credit; we looked great, if a little old fashioned.

“Are you sure Shane won’t mind spending the day with me?” she asked, a light flush developing in my cheeks.

He owes me one. It’ll be fine
.
I yawned and stretched. The imaginary sofa was really quite soft.

“It’s alright. You get some sleep, Isabel. I can handle it for one day.”

I grunted, not convinced. As it was, it’d be a miracle if Shane didn’t notice something was seriously off. But Sue promised to be very careful and, to be honest, a day of resting didn’t sound so terrible.

I’m fine.

“Liar.”

“Hey, are you talking to somebody?” Shane asked through my bedroom door.

Sue smiled and crossed the room to open the door. Shane was leaning against the wall on the other side, his face stiff with concern.

“Just talking to myself.”

He frowned, and she smiled. I groaned.

“Shane, I was thinking, would you like to go on a picnic with me today?” Sue asked, batting my eyelashes.

Shane tilted his head suspiciously, as if he couldn’t decide if I were joking or not.

“While I was sitting in the hospital
,
agai
n
,” she drew the word out, “I decided that I need a little break. Just a day. But I don’t really want to be alone. You know, in case my head goes fuzzy again.” She reached up and touched the bandage still covering the better part of my forehead.

“Um, I was sort of going to do some work for Xavier today…” he hedged, still looking at me like I’d sprouted a second head.

“I just feel—”

I cut her off
.
No. He won’t buy that I need a babysitter. Tell him that he owes me one. For almost letting his girlfriend kill me.

She took a breath, squaring her shoulders and raising her chin high. “You owe me, Shane Brooks.”

He raised one eyebrow. She folded her arms across her chest. It was a good move. Exactly what I would have done.

“Mercy almost killed me, because of you.”

Shane blanched before recovering himself. “And you want to be repaid with a picnic?”

“No, I want
a
da
y
. One whole day out of our busy lives.” She paused, looking him right in his blue eyes. “I feel like I’ve been living in the dark for so long. I’ve been so lonely. Even with people all around me, I’m all alone in the world. I just want one day in the sunshine with someone I care about. Is that too much to ask?”

Her bottom lip was quivering like she might just burst into tears.

That was it. Surely, Shane would see right through her pitiful act. Surely, he knew me better than to believe I’d ever have such an emotional breakdown.

Shane reached forward, wrapping his arms around us. “No. It’s not too much to ask. I’m so sorry, Isabel. I didn’t realize how hard all of this has been on you.” He kissed the top of my head. “Of course you can have a day. We’ll do whatever you want.” He pulled back, still holding us by the arms.

She smiled and wiped her cheek with her thumb. “Okay then. What are we waiting for?”