Frustration mounted. Why the hell was this happening all of a sudden? He’d remained in control of his cravings for such a long time. Was he simply doomed to fail, and this was the moment the switch, flipped?
Desires he’d locked away over a century ago clawed their way toward freedom. The darkness hidden deep inside, wanted out. Craving escape.
Melinda was no longer just a girl under his watchful eye. She’d turned instantly into a woman with desires that needled their way into his blood, leaving behind a hungry ache he could never satisfy.
He needed to put out this fire, and fast. Before he did something he could never take back. Before he hurt her…
He was protector to the Howard Witches.
This was his solemn duty.
This was his purpose for existing. To make amends for all the things he’d done before he’d found The Demon Isle, and come to serve the Howard Witches.
Melinda needed his help.
He focused on this one thing…
He looked up and saw that she’d followed him to his desk.
Melinda absentmindedly ran her fingers across the surface of his desk, admiring the Demon Isle Oak. It had probably been built back when William had first come to live with the Howards. Over a hundred years ago now. It was Sturdy. Dependable. Would always be there… just like William. She let calm wash over her, regaining her focus.
William’s cravings subsided. His focus firmly on the task at hand. Saving Emily and making sure Melinda’s dream did not come true.
“What will we do about Emily?” Melinda croaked out. “I want to keep Charlie and Michael out of this if we can.”
“I will not allow anything tragic to befall dear Emily. She is as precious to me as the three of you.”
“Emily is practically like family, huh? I just wish Michael would see it.”
“He does see it. This is the problem, however. He sees her as another bar on his prison cell.”
“The Demon Isle being his prison,” Melinda noted.
William nodded. “Tell me each detail regarding your dream.” He took on a business like demeanor, taking a seat behind his desk.
“Okay. Um… Emily had just locked the front door at the bookstore and unplugged the open sign. She was holding a few books in her arms heading to shelve the books before leaving. As Emily often does, she gets sidetracked browsing through the books she’s putting away. She gets all but one back on the shelf, opening the last one, and is surfing through the pages.” Melinda paused, recalling the details of her dream.
“What are you remembering?”
“It’s odd, William. That ring Emily wears. She can’t see it, because her hand is hidden behind the book, but the ring is glimmering. Kind of a fiery color.”
“That’s very intriguing.” Nothing came to mind as an explanation however.
“After the ring starts to glimmer, Emily drops the book and is screaming that it’s burning her and she’s trying to force the ring off her finger. It takes her a second, but she gets it off. And then… she’s lying on the floor, dead,” Melinda ended hastily.
“Just like that? Falls dead?” the vampire grilled, not believing her.
“No. Not, just like that. I really don’t want to see the next part again, William.”
“Melinda. This gift you possess is meant to save lives. You cannot leave out the parts you do not wish to see again, however difficult they might be to relive.”
“Why not? Isn’t it enough to know we need to find out more about Emily’s ring?”
He waited in silent defiance, tossing her a severe stare.
“Fine,” Melinda gave in begrudgingly. Sexy dreams or not, she could never say no to William.
“After Emily takes off the ring, she starts having some kind of seizure. At first she’s swatting at something, but it’s either invisible or out of my range to see, and she just stops. Her arms drop to her sides and she falls to the floor. She’s on her back and her eyes… her eyes are open, frozen with this look of complete fear.” Melinda’s voice dropped, getting raspy as she continued. “She’s alone, William. Totally alone and scared when she dies. And… that is where my dream ended.”
William flew to her in a blink, his emerald greens drilling into her tear filled gems of blue. “We will not allow this tragedy to happen.” He spoke with confident determination, but her voice wouldn’t work right, so she sniffled her reply, hoping desperately he was right.
He reached up to touch her shoulder but his hand fell short and he stepped at human pace, back to his desk. “From what you dreamt, I suspect that our dear Emily was not alone, and since the attacker was out of your view, I’ll assume for the moment it is supernatural in nature.” He retreated into his thoughts, his face statuesque as he sat behind his desk in deep contemplation.
Melinda stepped closer to the fireplace, leaning on the arm of a sofa, her gaze getting lost in the flames. William rarely ever let it die out, even on hot summer nights. It did not warm his permanently cooled skin, but he often spoke of it like an old friend that kept him company during lonely hours, while his human friends slept. Melinda had never understood his desire for it as fire could also kill him.
As the flames flickered, she relived the dream again, searching for any little detail she might have overlooked. Normally, when it came to her dreams, she tried to keep herself unattached to the problem, preferring to act as though she were simply an outsider with a glimpse of something no one else could see.
Just a thing. No big deal. Attachment meant frayed nerves and constant sorrow.
This dream, however, was not the first time she had dreamt about someone close to her dying. Unfortunately, when it had occurred the first time, Melinda had not understood that her dream was really a vision of something to come. Something preventable had she been aware. She had thought it just a nightmare, as it was not yet known that prophetic dreams were her magical inheritance.
Tears escaped down her cheeks. She couldn’t stop them.
William’s head flitted upward, and fearing she was slipping into despair, dashed to her at once. He knelt on one knee in front of her. “Melinda, this will not be like last time. I promise.”
She could not respond. The lump in her throat was too constricting to allow her to speak.
He had to order his hands to stay by his sides, rather than reach up and swipe away the tears, or offer comfort. He’d started to enjoy when she needed his comfort, much more than he should, he realized now. Something he would not allow to develop any deeper. Especially after his reaction to her just minutes before.
“I wish to order you once and for all, not to carry this guilt over something you had no control over,” William told her. He may not have had a beating heart, or blood pumping through his veins, but love and compassion emanated from him.
It was apparent to him now, that any true progress he believed Melinda had made was a lie. She had not forgiven herself at all.
“How can I?” she squeaked. “How can I ever forgive myself? Mom and Dad are dead because I didn’t stop it. And now Emily…”
He toyed with waking Charlie and Michael, sensing that Melinda would take too many steps backwards if she continued with this line of thinking.
His uncertainty apparent, she stood up, wiped her eyes and shook off her apprehensions.
“William, please don’t look at me like that. I can see you’re disappointed with me.”
“Melinda, I am never disappointed in you. Only concerned. I only want the best for you. I want you to live your life. I want you to stop feeling guilty, but I cannot force it upon you.”
She wanted to shout, please, force it. Reach in and just rip it out of me because I can’t take it anymore.
“I’m fine,” she insisted weakly. “Really.”
He searched her face, looking for his answer. “No, you are not fine, Melinda. But I will let it slide, for now, as we have urgent matters to attend to.”
“Just help me save Emily,” she begged softly.
&nbs
p; “I will always be here to help you, Melinda.” This statement sobered him up, completely. The monster sinking back into the depths in which it slept.
Assisting the siblings was his mission. Nothing more.
“Where should we begin?” she asked, sucking in a sniffle and letting out an uneasy breath.
“The ring, as you said, seems to be of some importance. We will pay Emily a visit, but not until morning. If you truly do not wish to alarm your brothers, we should wait until they depart for the cave at Bloodsucker Bay.”
“And what do we do now? There’s no way I’m falling back to sleep tonight.” She didn’t want any more dreams, of the prophetic or steamy kind!
He disappeared in a blur, returning a moment later with a stack of books.
“Perhaps, if we are lucky, we will locate information regarding Emily’s ring.”
“I don’t feel that lucky at the moment, William, but hand me a book.”
She spent the remaining hours of night flipping through page after page, but found nothing that looked anything like the ring Emily wore. William, even reading at speeds no human could imagine, did not have any better luck. Daylight crept upon them and Melinda tiptoed back into her bedroom. She wanted to at least pretend she had slept through the night, so as not to worry her brothers. When she heard them stirring in the hallway just minutes later, she exited her room, dressed and ready to go.
“Rough night, Sis?” questioned Charlie, instantly concerned when he saw her.
“Why do you say that?”
“You don’t look... rested.”
“A little tossing and turning, nothing to worry about.”
Once the siblings had gathered in the kitchen, Michael shot a sideways glance at her.
“Oh my God, Michael. I’m fine. You guys go check out the damn cave already!”
“Melinda, I don’t even need my empathy. I can almost see the anxiety pouring off you. Although, the panic you’re emitting right now is shouting pretty loudly too.”
“Don’t use your empathic abilities on me, Michael.”
How were they supposed to function with a brother who was an empath? A death reader was one thing, but it was impossible to keep one’s true feelings to themselves. She wondered if he’d picked up on her feelings about William. God! I’ll never hear the end of it, if that happens.
As if his presence had been requested, William breezed into the kitchen standing just behind her. Melinda told herself to rein it in, but his arrival kicked off another series of heart flutters. She hoped Michael assumed it was whatever bothered her already, and nothing to do with the vampire.
William meandered to the other side of the kitchen near Charlie, his breathing strained.
Michael wasn’t ready to drop the subject. “Melinda, what’s going on?”
“It’s nothing, really,” she insisted again. “I already talked to William about it and we have it all sorted out, don’t we?” Her eyes pleaded with him not to tell.
“It is nothing of consequence,” William confirmed with ease.
“If William says they have it under control, I say we get going,” Charlie chimed in.
“The jeep is packed and ready,” Michael informed him.
“Let’s get moving then.”
“You two be careful, okay?” Melinda hugged each of them.
As soon as her brother’s jeep had left the garage and pulled away, William held out his hand motioning for Melinda to lead the way.
Their intention was to bump into Emily as she stopped for her morning coffee. Melinda ignored the people she crossed paths with, not in the mood for the local’s uncomfortable stares.
It was a tense walk. William just inches to her side. Normally, his presence would be a comfort. Today it was maddening. Why did he have to have such an appealing strut?
She tugged at her lip, trying to keep her heart beating at normal rhythm, forcing her hands deep into the pockets of her sweater.
He glanced down at her five foot three frame, his gaze narrow. Penetrating. Perplexed.
She gulped, her cheeks getting hot. She kept her gaze forward at that point, thankful he could only hear her heart, and not feel the reason it fluttered like crazy.
Damn it, Melinda! Get over the stupid dreams already! Just ahead, she saw Emily. Thank God. Good old predictable Emily…
Emily was stepping into the Wicked Muddy Café. They stepped in after her, hopping into the line, already filling up with caffeine-deprived early risers.
“Emily,” called out Melinda.
Emily’s lanky, dark auburn ponytail nearly took out three customers as she swung around to see who was calling her name.
“Melinda! William! What a nice surprise,” she greeted, moving back a few customers to stand with them. She gave Melinda a quick hug and allowed William to kiss her cheek, which turned rosy as she readjusted her glasses.
“It is always lovely to see your beautiful smile,” William told her.
“Isn’t he just the sweetest,” she replied. Her Georgian drawl seemed overly accentuated. “What brings you two out this morning? I can’t recall the last time I saw you both out this early.”
“We decided it was too nice a morning to have coffee at home,” Melinda lied, trying to catch a glimpse at Emily’s ring. It was hidden from view by the coffee mug and large purse Emily carried with her.
Emily eyed Melinda suspiciously. Since when did she ever want to go for coffee in a public place? She shrugged it off, happy to see her friends.
They arrived at the counter to order.
“Ah. Ms. Bookstore Manager. The usual?” the gruff looking woman behind the counter assumed.
“Predictable me,” Emily giggled, shrugging.
“Comin’ right up!” She glanced sideways shouting, “One wicked muddy, regular, crème horne, cut in half, don’t need a fork.” She grinned at Emily as she took her money. “You have a nice day now, Hun, ya hear?”
“Oh, you too, Grace,” Emily said with complete sincerity. “See you in the morning.” She grabbed her order, allowing William and Melinda to step up to the counter.
“I’ll have a wicked muddy coffee as well, please,” Melinda ordered politely. “But not regular, just crème, no sugar. And no crème horne. That much sugar and I’ll be trying to climb walls,” she tried to joke. “Not that I do that sort of thing,” she hastily rambled. “I mean, who could actually climb a wall?” Just shut it! Why do I try to converse with people…
The woman named Grace threw her an odd look and slapped down a paper cup filled with coffee so darkly colored that Melinda thought she’d need a cup twice the size to add enough cream to her liking.
“Cream’s over there.” Grace nodded toward the end of the counter.
“Oh, I just add it myself?” Melinda questioned, confused, since it had been added to Emily’s coffee for her.
“We find that people who don’t take it regular prefer to fix it themselves,” explained Grace. She walked away to grab another stack of paper cups.
“Okay then,” Melinda mumbled, heading to add her cream. When Grace returned, she asked William what he’d like to order.
“Nothing for me, thank you. Just the coffee for Ms. Howard if you please.”
Not even gruff Grace could ignore William Wakefield’s charms whether he intended it or not. She blushed as she took William’s money and handed him back his change.
“Please keep the change, dear lady. Good day to you.”
“You don’t be a stranger now,” Grace called out as he and Melinda departed the store.
“See Melinda, you’re making friends with the locals already,” he whispered.
“Yeah, um, I’m pretty sure she meant you, William. Not me.”
He shrugged as they stepped outside, where Emily waited for them.
“Can we walk you to work this morning?” William asked her, holding out his arm. She took hold and giggled again.
A twinge of jealousy pinched at Melinda. William never offered his arm to her. He used
to now and then when they’d patrol together at night. It was the only time she ever left the house, sometimes for weeks on end. He’d stopped though. She had trouble recalling just when.
Emily chirped a greeting to a passerby before asking, “What is Michael up to today?” Always her first question. Michael was such an idiot, thought Melinda. Emily was a catch.
“Exploring a cave with Charlie,” informed William.
“With Charlie. That’s great! Are they getting along better today? If I have to listen to Michael go on and on about Charlie this and Charlie that…” she stopped, biting her tongue.
“Don’t worry, Emily. We feel the same way,” Melinda retorted.
“To be honest,” began William, “they are researching a case for the sheriff. A man’s skeleton was discovered in a cave yesterday.”
“Oh. Well, that’s too bad, but maybe the time together will be good for them.”
“We can only hope,” Melinda agreed wholeheartedly.
“It’s just so nice to see you both,” Emily said with a happy sigh. “It’s the perfect start to my morning. Well, including this.” She grinned as if she’d just been caught doing something naughty, while holding up her crème horne bag. “Just can’t seem to get my gumption without my morning sugar fix.”
“Frankly, Emily, it’s sort of a relief to know you have a weakness. You’re too perfect!” claimed Melinda.
“Me? Perfect? Hardly,” she snickered.
Melinda wished she could have an ounce of the likeability Emily possessed. She always found it so easy to be around people as if they’d been friends her entire life.
“Here we are,” announced Emily, scrounging through her oversized purse for the key. A carved wooden sign hung out over the edge of the building. It read, Harboring the Book… aptly named after the harbors that surrounded the town, and for being a haven for new and used books.
Twice, while searching for the key, Emily’s glasses fell off and into her bag, and once she had located the key, she dropped it. William’s astute movements caught it just before it slipped into a deep crevice in the pavement.
“Thank you, William. You move so fast. That must come in super handy.” She entered the store, leaving the door open so they could follow.
Demon Street Blues Page 5
