The manager followed Kate out the store’s entrance on Front Street.
Kate almost tripped over an abandoned wheelchair. She touched the seat of the chair. Juliette had definitely been here. Her aura was totally overpowered by a second stream sense. It was the man from the ship’s gallery. The man who had stolen the paintings. The man who had most probably killed the auctioneer. The man who now had Juliette.
Kate stilled her hands and tried not to panic. Jack. She needed Jack. Her hands flew to the phone in her purse. But before she could make the call, Jack and Will strode up to the store’s entrance.
“You ladies done shopping? I thought we’d agreed that you would remain in the store.”
Kate pushed her hand against Jack’s chest.
“It’s Juliette. She’s vanished.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Juliette felt woozy. Her head ached. Her heart raced. Her throat was as parched and dry as cotton candy. But the taste in her mouth was anything but sweet. Bile threatened to rise in her throat. She raised a hand to steady herself and keep from falling, before she realized she was already lying down. On a bed. She tried to get up, but she couldn’t move. Was she back on the ship? It felt like the bed was swaying.
A deep melodic voice wafted into her consciousness.
“Good. My sleeping beauty is awake.”
Juliette’s vision swam into focus and she looked up. It was him. The man on the ship. What had happened to the store clerk? The last thing she remembered was a pinch in her arm. She wanted to rub the sore spot, but her hands were—tied with rope. She struggled against the bonds. Her legs were unencumbered, but her dress had slid up her thighs and her panties were visible.
The man laughed, a deep, booming chuckle. “I see you’re confused. That’s only natural.”
“You drugged me,” Juliette accused.
“Only a slight pinch of sedative to calm you down.”
The man reached down and smoothed Juliette’s brow, touched her hair, touched her thighs lightly before lowering the fabric of her dress.
Juliette shrank away as far as the ropes would allow. Away from his smell. His evil aura.
“Calm down. You’re still a little skittish. We’ll take care of that. Perhaps another shot?”
The man’s lips curled in a smirk.
“No.” She thought she had stated her response emphatically but it came out as a squeak. Her strength was sapped.
“The man in the store.”
“That was a disguise. Brilliant, don’t you think? You didn’t recognize me.”
“You’re the auctioneer from the gallery.”
“Very perceptive.”
“Where am I? Are we back on the ship?”
“No, I’m afraid not. That ship has sailed, or it will be sailing tonight. If you cooperate, your friends will be on it. And if you don’t, well, then, I shudder to think what accident might befall them. Especially that adorable, delectable daughter of yours. The one carrying your grandchild?”
Juliette tried to wriggle out of the bonds, but they dug deeper into her hands. “How—?”
“You told me. Remember those cute pink outfits you picked out? And you gave me your mailing address, so I know exactly where you and your family live.”
“Do not harm Kate, or I’ll—”
The man lifted the amethyst pendant from Juliette’s chest and twisted the chain.
“This is the source of your power, and now it’s mine. I choose to let you wear it for now, but it’s of no use to you in your current state. You’re helpless, I’m afraid.”
Juliette tried to break free of the ropes, but her body was as loose as gelatin.
He released the chain and skimmed his fingers lightly over Juliette’s breasts, then rubbed his thumb over Juliette’s lower lip. She turned away in disgust. Her heart pounded in her chest. The amethyst amulet glowed hot.
He fixed his gaze on her exposed legs, then turned and walked to a green wing chair, where he sat, his hands steepled like some satisfied godfather, and continued to leer at her.
“Plenty of time for that later, after we’ve gotten better acquainted,” the man said, his voice as smooth as honey. “I’m Gedeon, by the way.”
Juliette was silent.
“I see that name means nothing to you. You don’t remember me. You were just a little girl then. Do you remember the castle in Hungary, Ilona? If, and only if, you’re cooperative, I can tell you about your mother.”
Juliette angled to sit up in the bed, but her dress slipped higher on her thighs until she was totally exposed.
“You want to learn about what happened to her, yes?”
Juliette nodded.
“I’ve been waiting to tell you about the beautiful Marika. Queen of the castle. Or she could have been. But now you can take her place. You look exactly like her. Marika.” He sighed.
The man was obviously crazy. He was confusing her with her mother. More than anything, she wanted to find out about her mother. If her mother was still alive, then she wanted to go to her by any means available.
Juliette scanned the room.
“Where are we? Are we still in Bermuda?”
“We’re in a guest house that belongs to an acquaintance of mine. It’s a stunning view. It’s a shame we don’t have time to enjoy it.” He stared at her breasts and rubbed his beard. We’ll be sailing to Europe this evening.”
“But our ship is heading for America.”
“We’re not taking the cruise ship. I’ve hired a luxury motor yacht.”
“My daughter will find me. She and Jack and Will would never leave without me.”
“Your husband Will? I know that marriage is a sham.” The man seemed to know everything about her. “Ilona, do you know how many cottages, suites, apartments, hotels, inns, and bed-and-breakfasts there on the island, not to mention private clubs and residences? Finding us would be like finding a needle in a haystack, as I believe the Americans are fond of saying. And besides, I’ve left a note on the wheelchair saying that you weren’t feeling well and you’ve returned to the ship. By the time they realize you’re not aboard, we’ll be long gone, and so will they.”
Juliette shivered, and her hands shook. Then she calmed. She couldn’t afford to be afraid or angry. She had to focus on a plan of escape.
“I have no doubt you’re a capable woman. I recall that you killed your lover, the Reverend Carter Coulter, but please don’t make the mistake of underestimating me, Ilona. I’ve been planning this for a long time. The heist, at least. Our encounter was serendipitous. We were meant to be together. And we will be. I have endless resources at my disposal.”
Juliette’s eyes widened. Was the man a mind reader? How did he know so much about her? Perhaps he did have hidden powers.
“Our meeting was fated. Surely you don’t think it was a coincidence. Now get some rest. We have a long journey ahead. And I need to finish packing. Don’t worry about clothing. You won’t need any on the yacht, and we can buy you whatever you need once we arrive.”
Gedeon got up from the chair and began studying a stack of paintings. Then he packed them carefully into a canvas suitcase.
So Gedeon was the thief, and she was a loose end that needed to be tied up.
“Did you kill that man in the gallery?”
Gedeon turned to her and rubbed his fingers against his lips.
“I might as well come clean, since there’s no one you can tell. You can yell as loud as you wish. There’s no one around. And once I get you back in the castle, you won’t be receiving visitors. So rest up. You’re going to need your strength.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
“Jack, you have to do something. Find her. She’s in trouble. I can feel it.” Kate touched the back of the wheelchair and shivered.
“Will, call the police,” Jack instructed, glancing down at the seat of the wheelchair. “Wait, Juliette left us a note.”
“What does it say?” Will asked, agitated.
“It says she
’s tired and she went back to the ship. She’ll see us onboard.”
Will relaxed, expelling a breath in relief. “I’m so glad she’s okay.”
Jack exhaled. “Let’s get back to the ship. It’s going to leave this evening anyway.”
“Juliette is not on the ship. She’s somewhere on this island.”
“Kate, you saw the note. Juliette went back to the ship.”
Kate refused to accept his words. Instead, she reached out and took the note from Jack and examined it. “This is not Juliette’s handwriting.”
Jack shrugged. “It makes sense that your mother would return to the ship. She knows the ship is pulling out of port tonight. She’d want to get back. Speaking of which, we need to be getting back to the ship ourselves.”
“Not without my mother.” Kate was insistent. “I think someone meant us to find the note, to put us off track.”
“Well, if Juliette was wheeled out in the wheelchair, our suspect could only have left here by cab. Unless he’s a resident, which is unlikely, he can’t drive in Bermuda, so he must have taken a taxi. Will, have the police check with cabs that left Front Street within the past hour, and find out their final destination.”
Will pulled out his cell phone.
Kate’s hands shook. Final destination sounded so, well, final. If the man in the gallery was a killer, then he wouldn’t hesitate to kill Juliette. She had just found her mother. She didn’t want to lose her. She needed her, especially now that she was bringing a new life into the world. But why would he want to hurt Juliette? Why did he single her out? He had his stolen art. Wasn’t that enough? Maybe Juliette had recognized him in the store and he’d had to dispose of her?
Jack put his arms around Kate. “Don’t worry. We’ll find her. Your mother is a very resourceful woman. She saved my life once, remember? If he has her, he doesn’t know what he’s in for.”
“Jack, I refuse to just stand here helplessly. I want to find her. I can track down serial killers. Why can’t I save my own mother?”
“You look beat, Kate. Too much stress is not good for the baby. Let’s sit down on this bench. I know you can’t work well in these conditions.”
Jack took Kate’s hand and led her to a covered bus bench. He went to a street vendor and purchased a cold bottle of water and handed it to Kate, then pulled out his phone and started making calls.
After a long drink of cold water, Kate placed the bottle beside her on the bench, closed her eyes, and focused all her energy on trying to locate Juliette. Bermuda was a relatively small island. Surely she could pick up a signal. The day was so beautiful, it didn’t seem like anything bad could happen here in paradise. But evil knew no boundaries—day or night, balmy weather or stormy—evil took root in the unlikeliest of places and at the unlikeliest of times.
Kate massaged her head, feeling the onslaught of one of her mega-headaches, which meant she was on the right track, the track of evil. She persevered because she would do anything to find her mother. She blocked off the sounds from the street, the chatter between shoppers on Front Street, Jack’s voice on the phone trying to track down any clue to explain Juliette’s disappearance.
In her mind, Kate saw a castle, atop a rocky outcrop, a river flowing around it. The structure was in a state of disrepair, but inside she viewed the riches of tapestries and antique furniture and artwork. Paintings by the Old Masters, from the period of the Renaissance, French Impressionists, work by artists she recognized, artwork that had never been in any museum. Priceless paintings beyond compare. And a painting in the center of the room of—was that Juliette? It was a portrait of someone who looked just like Juliette. None of this was making any sense.
Down a stone stairwell, there was a dungeon, cold and dark, and a skeleton chained to a post. Kate shivered even as she looked up at the sun overhead. Obviously she was getting interfering signals. This castle was someplace in Scotland or Ireland, or maybe Romania? No, Hungary. Near the Transylvania border.
Kate put her hand to her forehead and pressed against her eye. She could hear screams coming from the dungeon, a woman’s screams. What did this have to do with Juliette?
Kate refocused. That was another murder in another time. She was back in Bermuda. She summoned up the image of Juliette’s amethyst amulet. That was always a way to reach her mother. She saw the amulet, followed by a vision of Juliette, hands tied, on a bed. She called out to Jack—but where was that room? She scanned the background. They were in a yellow mansion on the ocean. A historic colonial home, from the looks of it, probably centuries old, with an old-fashioned verandah.
“Kate, did you see something?”
Kate rubbed her forehead.
“You have another one of your headaches.”
“I’ll get over it. I saw Juliette.”
“How about if I go back and check the ship,” Will said. “Then you and Kate can follow up any leads in the city.”
“Why don’t you call the captain, Will? Find out if she really did return to the ship. They should have a record, if she scanned her ID card on the way onboard.”
“Great idea, Kate.” Will dialed the captain’s number. He spoke a few sentences, and when he hung up his face was ashen.
“She never returned. She’s not aboard the ship. She’d have had plenty of time to get back there by now. That means she’s still out here somewhere. If I have to search every boat, every hotel room, every house on this damned island, I will.”
Jack raised his brows and looked at Will. “I can understand why Kate and I need to find Juliette. But there’s no one around. You don’t have to pretend to be worried.”
Will’s face hardened. He had no psychic powers, no amethyst amulet. Just a fierce desire to find Juliette. “I’m in love with her, Jack. Now let’s go find my wife.”
Jack and Will bombarded Kate with questions. Questions she couldn’t answer.
“All I can see is that she is tied up on a bed, in an historic yellow mansion overlooking the ocean. She’s alive. She’s alive.” Kate blew out a breath. “And there was a man, the man on the ship, but he was just a shadow. He’s tall and dressed in black. He’s—” Kate shook her head.
“He’s what, Kate?” Jack placed a comforting hand on Kate’s shoulder.
“Some kind of a vampire, I think.”
Will heaved a sigh. “Kate, we’re wasting valuable time. There’s no such thing as vampires.”
Kate bit her bottom lip and rubbed her forehead. “I’m just telling you what I saw.”
“This is unbelievable,” Will shouted. “So what you’re saying is that there was a vampire loose on our cruise ship?”
Kate moderated her voice. “I don’t know if he’s a real vampire. He’s covered from head to toe in black. Vampires can’t go out in the sun, you know. That’s why they can’t leave that house.”
“Kate. Do you know how you sound? Jack, you’re not buying this, are you? I can’t call the police and tell them they’re looking for a vampire.”
“Maybe he just thinks he’s a vampire,” Jack reasoned.
Kate’s eyes rolled back in her head, and she fell forward into Jack’s arms.
“Christ, something strange is going on. Something unworldly. I don’t know what it is, but we have to hold out hope. Kate says she’s still alive.”
“But who knows for how long?” Will punched his fist into his hand.
Jack made a call, then turned to Will. “I’ve got the police out looking everywhere. If she’s on the island, we’ll find her.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Juliette awoke and tried to move her hands. They were numb. Memories of the past few hours came rushing back. No, this wasn’t a dream. Gedeon must have drugged her again to keep her quiet.
“Marika, you’re awake. Good.” Gedeon glided over to the bed. He tested the restraints and seemed satisfied they were tight enough. “It won’t be long now. As soon as it turns dark, we’ll be on our way.”
“Why do we have to wait until dark?”
“I think you know the answer to that question, my love. I only operate in the dark. I have a condition—sensitive skin. It’s hereditary. I shun sunlight. Don’t you remember?”
Juliette tried to sit up. She glanced at the looming presence above her. She was alone in a room with a madman who thought she was her mother. A delusional man who thought he was a vampire. A man who was determined to kidnap her and take her back to his castle. Okay, she could play along with him.
“Are you going to bite me?” She was half afraid he might, that he might follow through on her suggestion.
“You’re afraid I’m going to turn you.” Gedeon paused and ran a finger lightly up and down Juliette’s neck, pausing at the pulse point. “I have strong appetites.”
Juliette shrank back and managed to move into a sitting position, trying not to show her fear. And she could see by the crazy light in Gedeon’s eyes that he was aroused.
“All will be revealed when we return home.”
Gedeon touched the amethyst amulet around Juliette’s neck. It glowed.
“Don’t be afraid. I’m tempted to take a taste of you, but when I take you, you’ll hunger for me just as I have hungered for you all of these years. Don’t pretend to be innocent. I know all about the years you spent with the reverend, your protector. The older, wiser man. I’m sure he taught you well. Lessons I’m sure I’ll appreciate. And then there’s the sheriff. I can only imagine what you two were doing in your suite. You’re damaged goods, but I am willing to overlook that. And yes, I will turn you. I made that mistake with Marika. If I had joined our blood, she’d still be with me today. But she chose to—”
“What about my mother? What happened to her?”
“Hush, my love.” Gedeon placed his fingertips on Juliette’s lips. “In due time.”
Juliette’s body began to shake. She was all alone. There was no one around to help her. She had to depend on herself. The ship had surely sailed, and with it her family and Will and all hopes of rescue. Will. She’d been fighting him all along, but he was a good man. She could fall in love with a man like that. What did she know of love? All the men she had ever met had wanted to control her or use her. She’d never really known love until she met Will. And now she’d never get a chance to explore that love with him.
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