In Memories We Fear (32 page)

The fear in his chest was almost painful now. But he kept his face still.

“He cannot send you back. I can.”

She turned away, crossing her arms, and the hatred vanished, replaced by loneliness and pain.

He had her.

“Only one more?” she asked.

“Only one.”

She looked back at him. “If you’re lying, and you don’t send me back after one more job, I will go get Philip . . . and Eleisha. Do you understand?”

“Of course I understand. Now go the church and make sure they’re all there.”

Her eyes narrowed, and he thought she might try to spit at him again—foolish effort. But she blinked out.

Only then did he let himself sink down in the chair. He was no longer blind, at least not for a while.

 

Seamus sensed a presence out in the garden, and he materialized beside one of the rosebushes. All the blooms were gone, and it had gone dormant for winter. A light rain fell from the sky, passing through him and soaking into the ground.

He could see her in profile, standing beneath the stained glass windows of the church, sad and angry and alone.

“Mary,” he said gently.

She turned to look at him. The rain fell through her magenta hair and black mesh overshirt.

“Don’t spy for him anymore,” Seamus said. “Don’t do anything he asks.”

She didn’t answer, and her face gave nothing away. Her colors simply faded and she vanished. Seamus didn’t try to follow. He floated just above the ground, staring at the empty spot for a long time.

 

Philip took Rose out hunting. They’d both gotten wet in the rain, so once back home, Rose went to her room to change clothes, and he started searching the church for Eleisha. His new coat kept his clothes dry, and he never minded if his hair was damp. He didn’t know what Eleisha had planned for the night, but he hoped it was entertaining—or at least that they might head off to her room early. He found that since returning from England, he liked retiring with her early. She’d started locking the door once they were both inside.

“Eleisha?” he called out the back door to the rose garden. Sometimes, she still pulled weeds in the rain.

But she wasn’t out in the garden.

She wasn’t reading to Maxim in the sanctuary—it was empty.

She wasn’t in the bath.

He decided to check with Wade and opened the office door. To his surprise, Eleisha was sitting at Wade’s desk, using the computer. She was the only one in the room.

“Where’s Wade?” he asked.

“He wanted a few hours to work with Maxim alone.”

“What are you doing?” he asked, an uncomfortable feeling creeping through him.

“Wade taught me how to use this machine. I’m doing a search myself.”

“That’s Wade’s job.”

He’d come to terms with the fact that she’d never abandon this search for lost vampires, and that if he tried to force her to choose between the “mission” and himself, he might not like the answer.

But at least during the in-between times, he’d hoped everything would go back to the way it had been before the search for Maxim, when Eleisha spent most of her time with him. He understood she sometimes had to help with Maxim now . . . but this . . . this business of her using Wade’s computer was unsettling. How long would she stay in here looking at that screen?

“I know it’s Wade’s job,” she answered, “but I may see things he doesn’t, hints he might not recognize.”

“Have you found anything?”

“Maybe . . . but I’ll go over it with him later.” She stood up and turned off the monitor. “I didn’t know you were back yet.” She smiled at him. “Your hair’s wet. All that gel you use will turn it spiky.”

“I don’t care.”

He liked seeing her smile. She hadn’t smiled much since returning, but she was coming back to herself more quickly than the last time—from that bloody mission in Denver.

“We never did watch
Vertigo
,” she said. “You up for some Hitchcock?”

Ten minutes later, she was curled up beside him on the couch, watching Jimmy Stewart’s name in big letters on the screen, and his tension began to ease.

“You like to be with me,” he said, as if making a statement.

She glanced at him and hit the PAUSE button. “Why would you even need to say that?”

He shrugged. Maybe because she’d abandoned him in London and chosen her mission over him. Maybe because she’d fought him to protect Maxim. Maybe because now that they were home again, she was taking over Wade’s job so they might launch into a new search even faster.

But . . . she was also sitting here with him now, and he couldn’t wait until an hour before dawn when she’d lock them both away, run her hands up and down his chest, lick the end of his tongue with her own, and let her gift rush inside him.

“I always like being with you,” she said. “I just need to start trying to help Wade more in between missions. But you and I have a lot of time together now, at least until . . . until we find the next lost one.”

She pulled her knees up, pressed in closer to his arm, and pushed PLAY on the remote.

He nodded. He was content.

At least until they found the next lost one.

 

Just past dawn, Wade left his bedroom and walked out into the hallway. Eleisha’s room was one door down, but he didn’t try the handle.

The morning after returning from London, he’d been stunned—even hurt—to find it locked. The next morning, he’d been angry. The third morning . . . he realized it was for the best, and he hadn’t tried to open the door again. Without ever saying a word to him, she seemed to have closed both a literal and a symbolic door, and he’d accepted her decision without saying a word to her.

However, she was actively assisting him with Maxim, and she was working to locate new targets for investigation; he realized he could live with this. He could deal with anything as long as she was still dedicated to the mission.

Now he headed upstairs to briefly check on Maxim, who sometimes didn’t make it as far as the bed and fell dormant on the floor. But on reaching the top level of the church, he heard a soft scratching sound and walked over, cracking open Maxim’s door.

Tiny Tuesday pushed her body through the crack and looked up at him. She had blue eyes.
Meow
.

Peering inside, Wade saw Maxim dormant on the bed, and then he looked back down at the small gray and white cat. In spite of Maxim’s affection for her, Wade realized he’d be the one to clean her litter box and make sure she had fresh food and water.

Strangely, he didn’t mind at all. He should probably make her an appointment with a vet today, just to get her checked out.

“Come on,” he said, heading down the hallway.

She followed him down the stairs.

So . . . for now he had Maxim to work with and a cat to care for, and Eleisha seemed determined to help him search. That was enough for now.

He could cope and wait and make it through the days, waiting.

Until they found the next lost one.

 

By Barb Hendee

The Vampire Memories Series

 

By Barb and J. C. Hendee

 

The Noble Dead Saga—Series One

 

The Noble Dead Saga—Series Two