by HELEN HARDT
“Thank you.” Erin pulled out a twenty.
I stopped her. “Wait until you see if it works first.”
“No charge.” Bea patted the bag of ashes. “This is payment enough for a long time. I know I asked for more, but I won’t be greedy.”
My curiosity got the best of me. “What can you do with my father’s ashes?”
“What can I not do? These are more valuable than gold to people like me.”
“Gold might get you a home of your own,” I said.
Bea laughed. “Do you think I live here because I have nowhere else to go? Think again. I needed to leave everything. ‘What you call bareness and poverty is to me simplicity. Not till we are lost, in other words, not till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves.’”
“Thoreau,” Erin said. “Two quotes. Is he with you now?”
“‘It’s not what you look at that matters. It’s what you see.’”
“Thoreau again.” Erin turned to me. “I think we’re done here. Let’s find a magick shop.”
“Not yet,” I said. “Bea, the last time we were here, you mentioned something when my father knew the book you were quoting from. You said he was a well-read vampire, and that maybe he had read the most important work of all. What book were you referring to?”
“‘The library is a wilderness of books.’”
“For God’s sake,” I said.
“Wait,” Erin said. “It’s Thoreau again. That’s a quote from his journal.”
“Very good,” Bea said.
“What is it, then? What’s the most important work of all?”
“‘Many men walk by day; few walk by night. It is a very different season.’”
I looked to Erin.
She nodded. “Thoreau.”
“Since when do you know so much about Thoreau?” I asked her.
“I took a Thoreau seminar during the summer between high school and nursing school. I won a scholarship to attend it. It was a fluke, really. I entered an essay contest. I never expected to win, but I learned a lot. I was always drawn to the sciences, but taking a look at philosophy and literature was fun and educating.” She turned back to Bea. “What are you trying to tell us?”
“I have told you.”
“Wait!” Erin tugged my arm. “That last quote. ‘Many men walk by day; few walk by night. It is a very different season.’ Men who walk by night. You’re talking about vampires, aren’t you?”
Bea smiled.
“What does that have to do with the most important work of all?”
“The Texts,” I said. “She’s talking about the Vampyre Texts.”
Chapter Five
Erin
Bea’s smile grew wider.
“Something in the Vampyre Texts,” Dante continued. “How do you know about that?”
“I see all. Have I not told you this before?”
“What’s in the Texts? Why is it the most important work of all? Where do I find it?”
“That is for you to figure out. As for the second question, you already have that answer. Your father has given you what you need to succeed. He died so that you might live.”
Julian’s death. His body. His estate. We already knew Dante would use the money to buy the translation from that website he’d found. “You’re telling us something we already know. This isn’t any help at all. You’re using Thoreau quotes and Shakespeare quotes and God only knows what other quotes to make it seem like you’re this enlightened priestess, but you’re a fraud, Bea.” I turned to Dante. “We’re done here. Let’s find a magick shop. Though I’m doubtful calendula or basil will do any good. At least we can make a great pasta sauce with the basil.”
Dante didn’t move. He stared into nothingness, his eyes focused on something I couldn’t see.
“Dante?” River said.
Nothing.
I touched his forearm. He was cold as ice. “Babe? What’s going on?”
“She’s talking to him,” Bea said. “He’s fighting it, but she has a grip on him.”
“Who?” I had to stop myself from grabbing Bea and shaking her. “Who is talking to him?”
“She is. I’m only sensing that it’s a female.”
“Dante,” I said, shaking his arm. “Come back to me. I’m right here.”
River jumped toward him and tackled him to the ground. “Dante, come on, man. Snap out of this!”
I’d seen him like this once before, when I’d come home and found him on the floor of my living room nearly in a fetal position.
He needed me now, and I would not let him down.
“She knows things,” Bea continued. “She knows his weaknesses. She’ll stop at nothing.”
Her words. I had to ignore them. Had to help the man I loved.
River held him down, shaking him, but he still wasn’t back. I knelt down next to his head and cupped both cheeks. “Dante, I’m here. It’s Erin. Come back to me. Please.”
His vacant gaze locked onto mine, and I breathed a sigh of relief.
“Thank God,” River said. “What was that?”
“I don’t know, but I’ve seen it before.”
“It’s a female. She calls herself the queen.” From Bea. “She’s dark. And very, very powerful.”
“The vampire who took him,” River said. “It has to be. But vampires don’t have that kind of power.”
“‘Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,’” Bea said.
“Shit. Shakespeare again,” River said. “I know that one. It’s from Henry IV.” He looked to Bea. “Who wears the crown?”
“No one, Riv,” Dante said shakily. “She’s no queen.”
“Who are you talking about?”
“The woman. You’re right. The woman who kept me captive. Had me tortured.” He swallowed. “Stole my blood.”
Nausea welled in my throat. So much I still didn’t know.
“You’ll find the answers you seek,” Bea said, “in the most important work of all.”
We got Dante back home to rest. River then left to take care of his leave of absence. I had to do the same thing. I’d go in tonight and work my shift, but I’d talk to admin as soon as I got in and tell them I needed to take a few personal weeks.
I hated doing it, but I had to. Not for my own safety. That was the least of my concerns. For the women who had disappeared.
For Lucy.
Dante was sleeping peacefully, and I hated to wake him, but I didn’t want him waking up to find me gone. “Hey.” I nudged him gently.
His eyes popped open. “Hey, baby.”
He looked adorable, his dark hair mussed, his eyes glassy with sleep, his lips full and kissable. I brushed mine against them in a soft peck. “I need to go to work.”
“But—”
I placed two fingers over his lips. “I have to, Dante. I’ll arrange for a week or two off, but I have to go in tonight. It’s too late to call in now. They need me.”
“I’ll go with you, then.”
“No. You need your rest.”
“You might need me. I could…glamour them if I have to. Or I could try, at least.”
I laughed softly. “I have plenty of vacation time saved up. Besides, you’ve told me you’re not very good at glamouring.”
“I’m not, but…”
“I’ll be okay.”
“I’ll stay in the waiting room while you’re working. Then I’ll be there just in case you need me.”
“Dante. Come on. You need to rest.”
“I’m fine, damn it. I’m not going to let her dictate what I can and can’t do. What I need is to protect you. That’s final.” His eyes burned.
I opened my mouth to argue the point, but nothing came out.
Truth was, I wanted him there. I wanted him to protect me. I needed him to do it as much as he needed to do it.
“Okay,” I relented. “I need to leave. How long will you be?”
“I’m ready now.” He sat up and then left the bed.
L
ogan wasn’t in tonight, which was just as well. I didn’t relish him and Dante running into each other, especially when Dante’s mental state was precarious at best. I knew enough now that perhaps he’d open up to me a little about what had happened to him. But I wouldn’t push. I couldn’t do that to him. I texted River so he wouldn’t waste a trip over here just to sniff Logan.
It was a slow night, thank goodness, so I was able to ask questions about Lucy. No one knew anything, though. It was another episode of she was here and then she wasn’t. Same as the others, save for Patty Doyle and her baby, who had been transferred to a hospital in Baton Rouge by her parents.
Or had they?
I began furiously searching on my computer. Ah, yes. The transfer order. I hadn’t seen it before when Patty and her baby had first disappeared. I’d looked everywhere, but it had eluded me. Had it been here all along? It could have been entered after the fact. The admins were always busy and overworked.
Shit. Speaking of the admins, I needed to get my leave taken care of. I walked out of the nurses’ station and down toward the office where the night administrator worked.
“Excuse me?” I knocked lightly on her open door.
Dory Delynch looked up from her computer. “Oh, Erin, hello. What can I do for you?”
I walked into her office, clearing my throat. “I need to talk to you about some time off.”
“Impossible. We’re understaffed at the moment, as you know.”
“I’m afraid it’s serious. A family emergency. I need to fly to Ohio.” The lie tasted like acid in my mouth, but this was important.
She pulled up the calendar on her computer. “I can give you two days. That’s it.”
That was it? For a family emergency? Granted, it was a fake family emergency, but Dory didn’t know that.
“I’m afraid that’s not acceptable,” I said. “I need to get home right away. I’ve got a flight booked in the morning.”
She sighed. “How much time do you need?”
“I was hoping we could leave it open-ended.”
“Erin, no. Just no. You’ve got to give me a—” She stopped, her gaze drifting.
“What?”
“I’m sorry. What was it that you needed, Erin?”
“I told you. I need to take some time off for a family emergency.”
She looked down at her keyboard. “Of course. Whatever you need. I’ll write it up. Let’s leave it open-ended for now. You have personal time you can use. When that’s used up, I’m sure we can work something out.”
“Uh…okay. Thanks, Dory. I really appreciate this. I’m sorry for the short notice.”
“No problem. If you’ll excuse me, I have to get back to work.”
“Yeah, of course. Me too.” I turned…and my mouth dropped open.
Dante stood in the doorway of Dory’s office. I signaled him to be quiet as I left her office, leaving the door slanted open.
He grinned.
“What did you do?” I asked.
“I guess I’m better at this glamouring thing than I thought.”
Chapter Six
Dante
“How?” Erin asked.
“Truthfully, I’m not sure. I was in the waiting room, and I had this strong feeling that you needed me. I didn’t even know where I was going.”
“How did you even get back here? This is staff only.”
“Like I said, I just knew you needed me. When I got to this office, I heard you inside. She wasn’t going to give you the leave you needed, so I fixed it.”
“How?” she asked again.
“Damned if I know.” I ruffled my fingers through my hair. I wasn’t lying to Erin. I truly had no idea. I saw what was happening, and I knew I needed to fix it. “I’ll talk to my father about it and figure it out. He’s supposed to teach me all the stuff I should have learned in the last ten years. We just haven’t had any time to do it with everything else going on.”
“Well, we’ll—”
“Erin”—the administrator rustled out of her office—“what are you still doing here? Go take care of things. You’re off the clock as of now.”
I flattened myself as best I could against the wall. But I was a big guy. No way she wouldn’t notice me.
But she whisked by, not giving me a look.
“That was strange,” Erin said.
“Stranger than strange. I was invisible to her.”
“Maybe part of the glamour?” Erin shrugged.
“I have no idea. I’ll ask my father when I have the chance. For now, though, if you’re off the clock and you’re done here, let’s go home.”
She smiled. “I like the sound of that.”
“Me too. I’m exhausted.” I kissed her forehead and then bared my fangs. “And hungry.”
Within seconds after we’d entered Erin’s—our—townhome, I had her flattened against the wall, my teeth embedded in her milky neck.
I moaned as I drew the sustenance I needed from her body. As her creamy blood flowed down my throat, my strength returned, and though I was still fatigued, I no longer felt total exhaustion.
In fact, my dick had hardened into stone. I always got hard when I fed from Erin, but this was unexpected, given my fatigue and my spell the previous day.
I groaned when she clamped her hand onto my jean-clad erection. “Baby. I need you.”
“I need you too,” she said breathlessly. “Are you sure?”
“I’m always sure.” I unbuttoned and unzipped my jeans, freeing my hard cock.
Just as quick, she kicked off her sneakers and shed her sweatpants and underwear. In another second, I was inside her warmth, cozy and secure, where I needed to be.
“Dante, oh my God. You fill me so completely. I never realized how empty I was until you.”
I plunged into her again and then again.
Again.
Again.
Her fingernails scraped my skin, and my balls contracted.
Once more… Oh God, and I was releasing, taking what she willingly gave to me.
As I panted, my whole body throbbing, coming down from a miraculous high, she rubbed my back in soothing circles.
And I realized she hadn’t come.
What a selfish bastard I was. “I’m sorry,” I said.
“For what?”
“I was thinking only of myself. You didn’t come. I’ll make it up to you, baby.”
She smiled. “Dante, I don’t care if I climax or not. I mean, I care. I love it with you. But the closeness is more important to me. Fulfilling your needs. Because when I do that, my own get fulfilled a hundred times more.”
I struggled for words. How could I ever be worthy of the love and sustenance this amazing woman so willingly gave to me?
Yet I understood what she meant. I got so much by giving to her as well. And I’d give her everything I could. “Tell me,” I said. “What do you want from me? What do you need? I’ll give you anything within my power, love. Anything.”
She smiled, and she was so fucking beautiful. Her hair was tumbling out of her ponytail, her cheeks were luscious pink with her blood rising to the surface. The soft whoosh of it buzzed in my ears.
“You don’t need to give me anything, Dante. I have everything I want right here.”
I shook my head with vehemence. “Not good enough. I want to do something for you. Anything.”
“Well… I was kind of looking forward to… Oh, this is embarrassing.”
“Tell me.”
“You said you would tie me up. Take me forcibly. And then River interrupted us.”
“I’m sorry about that. I lost my self-control, and I never should have—”
She touched two fingers to my lips. “No, Dante. No. You were so passionate. So determined. So rogue and alpha. I loved it. Truly.”
“But I—”
“You won’t hurt me. I know that. I think we’re together for a reason. I think we have this blood bond for a reason. We are each other’s halves to an amazing whole. Wha
tever you need at whatever time, I will give it. It’s what I was made for. I know it in the depths of my soul.”
“How can you be so completely wonderful?” I wrapped her in my arms and simply held her. How amazing to just hold the person I loved more than my own life, more than anything. After a few minutes, I said, “Are you sure?”
“Totally. As long as you’re sure.”
God. The thought of tying her and taking her forcibly made me harden again. “I’m sure. I don’t have what I need here at the moment.”
“It doesn’t have to be now. Just know, Dante, that when you need me, when you need to take me that way, I’m in. I’m all in.”
I clamped my mouth to hers in a ferocious kiss.
This woman was my everything. My lover. My savior.
Everything.
As our tongues swirled together, I knew I’d find out what was going on at the hospital. With Lucy. With the B positive blood. With the blood bond. With everything. I had to. Not just for me but for Erin.
For us.
Us.
We were no longer Erin and Dante.
We were us.
Later, after we’d slept for several hours, we went to the Quarter to find a tincture made of basil and calendula for Erin to try masking her scent. We found a little magick shop lodged in a corner, almost hidden. Goose bumps erupted on my skin.
Something was fishy here.
“What’s wrong?” Erin asked.
And then I realized. We were near the manhole I’d emerged from the night I escaped. I hadn’t thought I would recognize the place, but I knew. Not from anything visual or even aural. But my body knew. This was close to where I’d claimed my freedom.
“Nothing,” I said. “I mean, nothing I can’t handle. What made you choose this particular shop?”
“I don’t know. You were leading, remember?”
She was right. I had been. Perhaps I’d subconsciously led us here.
We opened the door—it creaked softly—and walked in. A middle-aged gentleman sat behind a desk. He wore glasses and a sweater vest. Definitely not the voodoo type. The shop was cozy, but I didn’t get a warm feeling.
