“I need to talk to you about Jerome, about this whole vampire thing,” she said after they exchanged greetings.
“Is something wrong?” Simone asked, concern apparent in her voice.
“I’m not sure. That’s why I called you.”
“He isn’t sick, is he?”
She had sensed a note of alarm in Simone’s voice. “No. I don’t think so. Why do you ask?”
“Because Julian is ill. I don’t know all the details, but I do know that his illness will progress with a rise in his temperature. When it reaches a certain point, his and Jerome’s blood will be combined and Jerome will be transformed as Julian was.”
The idea gave Dottie pause, but not for long. Whatever transpired between the brothers as part of their vampiric nature had no bearing on her at the present. What was of importance to her was what had happened between her and Jerome.
”As far as I know, Jerome is not ill,” she assured Simone. “That’s not why I called.” She swallowed hard before she continued. “Jerome and I had sex.” There, she’d blurted it out and gotten it over with fast. Now she could get to the crux of what was really bothering her. “I heard voices while we were . . . being intimate. One voice actually stood out above the others and I had the strangest feeling that I had heard the voice before, or at the very least I should know to whom it belonged.”
Dottie caught a quick breath and rushed on before she lost her nerve. “I have the strange feeling that it was the Goddess Lilith’s voice I heard.”
“Are you telling me the Goddess spoke to you while you were having sex with Jerome?”
Dottie took another quick breath and let the air out slowly. This was difficult to talk about, even to Simone. “Yes. At the time I didn’t know who or what it was. But since then I’ve had the strongest feeling it was Lilith. It was all so weird. If it did happen, what could it mean? It’s not like Jerome and I are lovers or committed to a relationship like you and Julian. What happened between us just . . . well, it just happened. There was nothing mysterious or deep about it at all.”
“Stop protesting so much, Dottie. Despite what you think, consensual sex with a vampire doesn’t just happen. Unless . . . did Jerome put you under some kind of spell? If he did and Julian found out . . .”
Dottie cut Simone off fast. “No. No, it wasn’t like that. It was consensual. And, admittedly, I may have been a little attracted to him.”
“May have been? Does that mean you no longer are?”
Why was Simone grilling her this way? But she had to answer the question. After all, it was she who had brought her stepsister into this mess. “I was. And, okay, maybe I still am. A little. But before we get any deeper into my personal feelings, please tell me everything you know about the Goddess Lilith. While I read something about her existence when I was doing research in New Orleans, I’m sure I didn’t scratch the surface of the mythology surrounding her.”
“Well,” Simone began, “according to prophecy, at the beginning of time, the Goddess Lilith was Adam’s first wife. When Lilith refused to be submissive to Adam, she fled from him, took up with the Demon Asmodeus and had several daughters with him.” Simone paused, took a deep breath, then asked, “Dottie, why do you need to know all of this?”
Dottie began to pace slowly but methodically in circles around the room, her grip on the phone tightening as the conversation continued. “Simone, please humor me and tell me the rest of what you know.”
“Legend has it,” Simone began, “that at some point, Malmorte, another demon, kidnapped some of Lilith’s daughters. He took them to a cave deep in the bowels of the earth and enslaved them.”
“And?” Dottie prompted when Simone paused again.
“And then,” Simone continued, “a lesser god by the name of Valtius, who it is believed was in love with Lilith, went to the cave to free Lilith’s daughters. A battle ensued between Valtius and Malmorte. Valtius was eventually victorious, but not without paying a price. In the process, he was bitten by Malmorte and infected with a virus.”
Dottie wondered what all of this could possibly have to do with her particular situation, but since she had been the one to ask for help, she should at least let Simone tell the story in her own way.
“The result,” Simone said, “was that the virus Valtius contracted turned him into a vampire and doomed his male descendents to be vampires as well.”
“And?” Dottie was forced once again to prod her stepsister into continuing when Simone paused for more seconds than Dottie was willing to wait.
“Lilith showed her gratitude to Valtius by promising him that once in every century, one of her female descendents would be given the opportunity to voluntarily offer her life to restore humanity to a Whitcombe vampire.”
“So you’re saying that the Whitcombe’s are descendents of this . . . Valtius?”
“Yes.”
“And that Julian was the Whitcombe descendent to whom humanity was restored?”
“Yes, and by some extension, of which I have not been told the particulars, the granting of Julian’s humanity affects both Jerome and their brother, Jonah.”
“That’s a wonderful story, but I still don’t see what it has to do with me. Why would Lilith speak to me? If it was, indeed the Goddess. I’m beginning to think I imagined the entire thing.” Of the two options, she preferred to believe an overactive imagination was the culprit.
“Did Jerome tell you anything by way of an explanation?”
“I never mentioned it to him.”
“What did the voice, the one you thought could be Lilith, say to you?”
“That I could turn away if I wanted to.”
“Dottie?” Simone’s voice lowered considerably and was heavy with concern. “Did Jerome bite you?”
Dottie’s hand went automatically to her neck. “It was not a deep bite. He said I would have no ill effects from it.”
“Is this the real reason for your concern, or is there something more?”
“Jerome told me I had to leave.”
Simone gasped and asked, “He did what? He told you to leave his home? Well, we’ll see what Julian has to say about that. He’ll—”
“No!” Dottie shouted. “No. I don’t want Julian to interfere. That’s not why I called. I was simply trying to find out if perhaps there was some reason, other than my illness, that I was sent here . . . some reason that—”
“You mean if there was a reason you were sent to Jerome as I was sent to Julian?”
“Yes. No. I don’t know. It’s so confusing.”
“Dottie, I really think I should discuss this with Julian.”
“Please don’t do that. I need to work this out myself. I just wanted to talk with you to get some background information so that I can make an informed decision.”
“About leaving?”
“That and other things.”
“I don’t think you should leave. Not now, anyway. Besides, there’s something else you need to know. When I was with Julian, I contracted a virus from his bite. I was quite ill. I’m not saying the same thing will happen to you as it did to me, but you should be aware of the possibility. It would not be wise for you to be in Mobile should you get sick.”
“But Jerome said—”
“Never mind what he said. There could be things he doesn’t know. Promise me you’ll at least give it a couple of days.”
“All right. I won’t leave. At least not yet.”
She didn’t tell Simone that she had already made up her mind not to leave long before her sister had suggested she stay.
“DOTTIE CRAWFORD, please.”
Dottie could tell from the caller ID that the call was local. “This is she.”
The caller identified herself as a sales clerk from the store Dottie had visited a couple of days befor
e. The sports bra she was interested in was now in stock. Dottie asked the clerk to put two of the bras aside for her and she would be in that afternoon to pick them up. After she hung up, she headed for the kitchen where she found Ella unloading the dishwasher.
Ella offered to prepare breakfast for her, but she declined. “Coffee will be enough this morning.”
“Lunch will be ready around two,” Ella said as Dottie reached first for a cup and then for the coffee pot.
“I may not be here for lunch.”
Ella lifted an eyebrow. “Do you think Mr. Jerome—”
Dottie cut off Ella’s objection before she could finish the sentence. “I have a purchase to pick up,” she said, carrying the cup of coffee to the table by the window. She hadn’t meant to be sharp with Ella, but she wanted to get the message across that she was not going to have her every movement restricted by Jerome.
She needed to get outside and walk off her restlessness. She may be going against Jerome’s wishes, but she had to make some decisions on her own. She hadn’t promised not to go out alone again. And as far as his concern for her over Zurik, she had no fear of the vampire during the daytime.
She scanned the Sunday paper while she drank her coffee. Ella said nothing more about her trip to the shopping center, and as soon as Dottie finished her coffee she headed back to her bedroom. She needed to hear her child’s voice. She dialed Angela’s number in Mobile. Her heart contracted painfully when Casey got on the line and began asking about her return home.
She couldn’t tell her daughter that she had to stay until Jerome no longer needed her. She knew Casey was safe under Angela’s protective wing, but in spite of the people he had at his command, Jerome was basically alone. When she ended the conversation some ten minutes later, her heart still ached.
The trip to the shopping center didn’t appeal to her as much as it had before. She contemplated staying home, but she needed the bras. She would be back before she was missed.
A block from the house she realized she had left the bracelet Jerome had given her on the bathroom vanity. Her heart gave a hard, unexpected thud inside her chest. In spite of herself, she felt afraid.
Dottie covered the distance to the store in record time, paid for her purchase and headed back to Jerome’s at the same fast clip as when she’d started out. She was almost home when, as it had on her last trip to the store, the frightening feeling of being followed came over her.
She glanced right, left, behind her. Nothing out of the ordinary except . . . She could not possibly have seen what she thought she did. Her eyes were playing tricks on her because of the dense foliage, the peculiar slant of the sun and second-guessing her decision to leave the house. A mountain lion? Ridiculous. There were no mountain lions in this fashionable San Francisco neighborhood. She had to reign in her vivid imagination.
She turned forward again and picked up her pace until she was doing a fast jog. A huge burst of air escaped her lungs in relief when she saw the house on the hill. Despite her insistence that she wasn’t afraid, she never felt so safe as when she entered the shelter of Jerome’s house.
“SOLTOV IS TOAST,” Gordon said from the doorway of Jerome’s office, Sunday night.
Jerome had prepared himself for a visitor, but he wasn’t expecting Gordon when he called out from behind his desk for the caller to enter. Nor was he expecting the news Gordon had just handed him. “Zurik?” he asked.
Gordon’s nod confirmed Jerome’s suspicion. There were few vampires beside himself who were Solotov’s equal and Zurik was one of them. “Do you know of his whereabouts now?”
“The best we can tell he’s someplace south of the city.”
“We’ll have to tighten security, especially here at the house. And we’ll have to let Julian know.”
Gordon nodded, then cleared his throat. “Ella called me this morning. Your houseguest went out alone again. Of course, I followed her.”
Jerome rose quickly to his feet. “Where did she go?”
“Back to that strip mall she visited the other day. She didn’t stay long and she came out with a small package.”
“Damn obstinate woman,” Jerome snapped. He picked up a glass paperweight from his desk, squeezed it as if he wanted to crush it and then set it down with a thud. “Did you detect anyone following her?”
“I can’t say for certain. I thought I detected an unfamiliar scent, but we were almost home at the time and my focus was on making sure she got into the house safely. I think she may have spotted me using some bushes for cover.” Gordon stepped deeper into the room. “I’ll keep a closer eye on her now.”
“That won’t be necessary. She’ll be gone by Tuesday.”
“Oh? When was that decision made?”
“That’s not important. What is important is that she won’t be our concern for much longer.”
Gordon walked to one of the chairs in front of Jerome’s desk and sat. Resting his forearms on his thighs, he leaned forward. “Forgive me if I’m talking out of turn, but do you think it’s wise to let her go at this time? If Zurik’s intention is to get to you through her, what’s to keep him from following her wherever she goes? Doesn’t it make more sense to keep her here where we can protect her?”
“If Zurik is as smart as we think he is, he’ll realize the woman isn’t important enough to me for him to risk strange territory.”
“I didn’t say she was necessarily important to you. At least not in the way you’ve made it sound. But the fact that he kidnapped her once already, because of her connection to Julian’s fiancé, leads me to think she’s still very important to him. In fact, I think—”
“Stop thinking about it, damn it!”
Gordon barely blinked at the sharp words. “Nastiness from you doesn’t work with me, Jerome, and you should know that by now. And in spite of what you say, I think there’s more between you and this woman than you’re letting on.”
Jerome sat down again and swiveled his chair so that his back was to Gordon. His friend and guardian knew him too damn well. After he composed himself, he turned the chair around and glared at Gordon. “I don’t remember giving you permission to analyze my personal life.”
“Confound it, Jerome, I’m not analyzing your personal life. I’m simply making a well-informed observation. I think I’ve been with you long enough to be qualified to do that.”
There was no denying the truth in what Gordon said. He had been with Jerome long enough to know him inside and out. When the triplets were still very young men and Michael became Julian’s full-time guardian, Gordon and another of Michael’s cousins became mentors to Jerome and Jonah. As Changers they were responsible for the brothers’ safety, since vampires who had Changers to look out for them fared much better than those who didn’t.
When a prolonged silence stretched between them and Gordon made no move to leave, Jerome became anxious. He was expecting Thea to show up at any minute, since by this time of night he would have been in the living room for his usual shot of Double B. He wanted to conduct the last meeting between himself and Thea in private.
He was just about to dismiss Gordon when his friend got up suddenly from his chair and began to pace. And when he starting rubbing the back of his neck, Jerome braced himself for something unpleasant. He wasn’t disappointed.
“I may as well lay the rest of the bad news on you before I go,” Gordon said, continuing to massage his neck. “Gene Malbury asked me to tell you that by his best estimate the area will probably experience a significant tremor before the week is out.”
Jerome hit the top of the desk with fist. “Damn. You’d better get the cadre together so we can plan a strategy. If Zurik is really here, we’re in for big trouble. Disasters are his specialty!
Chapter Thirteen
“I WAS ABOUT to come look for you,” Jerome said, ushering Dottie into his offi
ce on the heels of Gordon’s departure.
She chose one of the chairs to the side of Jerome’s massive desk rather than one of the chairs in front of it. She sat primly on the chair, her hands folded in her lap. “I would have come earlier, but—”
Jerome took his seat behind the desk and waved the rest of her words away. “No matter. What’s important is that I was coming to tell you I’ve changed my mind about you leaving. I think it would be best if you stayed.”
Well, that was a surprise, and one that saved her from asking Jerome’s permission to extend her visit for a couple of days. She had intended to tell him she was afraid the narcolepsy might be returning, but now she was spared the lie. It didn’t dispel her curiosity, however. “Can I ask what changed your mind?”
“Why? Can’t you just accept that I did?”
She could, but she sensed there was more to it than he was revealing. “Perhaps, but I have a feeling there’s a reason for it that you’re not telling me.”
Still behind his desk, Jerome jumped up suddenly from his chair. “Woman, is there ever a time when someone tells you something and you accept it at face value?”
In an instant she was on her feet as well. “I didn’t come here to be yelled at, insulted, or talked down to. Again.” She took a step forward, stopped, then walked determinedly to the door, her insides shaking with rage. She stopped with her hand on the doorknob, took a painfully deep breath, turned back and glowered at Jerome. “I’ll be out of here as soon as arrangements can be made.” She didn’t even flinch when she slammed the door behind her with such force the wall shook.
She was very close to tears as she fled through the living room and down the hall to her bedroom. She closed the door behind her with as much force as she’d used to close the door to Jerome’s office. She swore vehemently, something she rarely did. She didn’t care if she came off as ungrateful and nasty-tempered. She refused to be treated this way, by this man, by this . . . vampire, one second longer than was absolutely necessary.
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