Mind Game

by Iris Johansen

  Fury.

  Wildness.

  And something else that made the response she intended to make die unspoken on Jane’s lips.

  She was silent a moment. “Let me go, Caleb. You’re hurting me. I’m not the enemy.”

  He slowly released her. “Of course you’re not.” He was totally in control again. “But you have a tongue that tends to sting on occasion. Sorry, I’ll make it up to you.”

  “And so you should. But perhaps not right now.” She scooted away from him. “Because I need to know what’s happening. I made Lisa a promise and I have to know why she made me give it.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “You saw what she wrote in blood on that table. ‘He must not come. Only you.’ I didn’t know what she was talking about. But it was clear that any help had to come from me. The mysterious ‘he’ wasn’t to be involved. Tonight when I was going over everything I remembered about her and the sketches, that was very clear. And I realized that it was you she was talking about.” She paused. “I thought you might be an enemy she didn’t trust. I still wasn’t sure when I broke in here.”

  “Why should you be?” His lips twisted. “I’ve always been the enemy.”

  “Not always. But you’ve always been the unknown quotient.” She added impatiently, “Because you won’t let anyone close enough to know what you’re thinking. Look at you right now. You’re still mocking and arrogant, and yet I know you’re hurting.”

  “Do you?”

  “Stop it,” she said. “Or maybe you can’t stop. Maybe it’s gone on too long. But I have to know what’s happening so that I can help that girl.”

  His faint smile vanished. “She trusts me, Jane,” he said quietly. “She knows I’m not the enemy. I’d sense it if there was any change in that. But I don’t know why she doesn’t want me to go and help her.”

  “Then we’ll have to figure it out,” she said. “I take it you don’t recognize any of the background features. Not the mountains, garden, cliffs?”

  He shook his head. “I’ve never seen them.”

  “I have Joe trying to identify them. He’s also doing facial recognition on Lisa. I’ll tell him to stop that now. Lisa Ridondo, not Lisa Caleb?”

  “No, I took my uncle’s name when I left my home in Italy and moved to Scotland.” He shrugged. “It seemed best under the circumstances. I was persona non grata among my dear family.” He handed her the sketchbook. “I believe it’s going to be a long night. Why don’t you make us some coffee down at the campfire while I get some clothes on?”

  “That’s right, you’re still naked. I’d forgotten.”

  “That would have been a terrible blow if I believed you.” He got to his feet. “But since my ego won’t permit it, I’ll survive.” He turned away and reached for his clothes. “The coffee, Jane.”

  * * *

  The coffee was hot by the time Caleb joined Jane at the campfire. “That smells good.” He sat down. “I had to make a couple calls, or I would have been down here sooner.”

  “I wasn’t timing you.” Jane handed him a cup of coffee. “Though I wasn’t thinking about telephone calls. I was considering the possibility that you might need a little time to pull yourself together like a normal person. Silly me.”

  “Normal? Yes, silly you.”

  She took a sip of her coffee. “Not so silly. Not about Lisa. I think you feel something for her.” She frowned. “And I think she feels something for you. She wasn’t afraid of you; it was for you. She’s trying to protect you, isn’t she?”

  “I don’t know. It’s a possibility. At any rate, I can’t let her do it.”

  “It may be difficult to stop it.” She tapped her chest. “Only me.”

  “Bullshit. She belongs to me.”

  “She belongs to herself. And I made her a promise. I may let you help, but I can’t involve you.”

  His dark eyes were glittering. “You’ll have no choice.”

  “I always have a choice. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.” She met his eyes. “And I won’t know how to make it until I know everything surrounding this, Caleb. I want the whole story, not just a glimpse at the outline.”

  He didn’t speak.

  “I mean it, Caleb. Lisa said that she couldn’t reach anyone else but me because I was the only one who had the connection. I think she was talking about my connection to you and her connection to you. Somehow it enabled her to reach me. But she didn’t try to contact you. She was desperate not to involve you. So if she decides I’ve betrayed her by bringing you into this, she might break her contact with me. She’d be alone then, Caleb. I won’t permit that to happen.” Her voice was shaking with intensity. “She tries to be strong, but she’s scared and vulnerable. She’s not going to be alone.”

  Another moment of silence.

  “I can see that.” He looked away from her and down into the coffee in his cup. “Okay. No outlines. But it goes back a long time. You might wish you’d opted for the abbreviated version.”

  “No way. Any more than I’d want my work to be reviewed as a sketch when I’d done a full oil painting.”

  He shrugged. “You know some of it. I felt bound to give you and Eve some of my background the first time we all met.” He grimaced. “It was kind of a necessity, since I’d just caused a killer to have a massive heart attack in front of her. The only thing that saved me in your eyes was that he was going to kill Joe Quinn, too. That weighed pretty heavy in the balance.”

  “Extremely heavy. But we didn’t understand how the hell you could do it, or why it didn’t make you as much a murderer as that monster you’d killed.”

  “And sometimes you still have doubts.” His lips twisted. “Because of my inimitable talent with blood? It scares most people. I joke about all those vampire myths, but it still lingers in the mind. Tell me, did you ever have a nightmare about me sucking your blood?”

  “No, I have not,” she said in disgust. “I know your talent has nothing to do with that nonsense. Though it’s probably more dangerous. And I remember you said that through the centuries it encouraged those imaginary myths about your family.”

  “Yes, and since you want the complete story, let me refresh your memory a little.” He took a sip of coffee. “I come from a very old Spanish family, the Devanezes, who were known to have a number of psychic talents that made them very unpopular with their neighbors. Particularly during the fifteenth century, when they were turned in to the Spanish Inquisition for witchcraft. The entire family had to flee the country or be burned at the stake. The Ridondo brothers, my particular ancestors, chose to settle in the village of Fiero in Italy. They decided the only way they could protect themselves from informers to the church was to keep the villagers terrified of retribution.” His lips twisted. “It worked. They became the scourge of Fiero, the purveyors of the black arts, holding the villagers in thrall for decades. They used the blood talent and their other gifts to make themselves seem to be demons of darkness.” He shrugged. “And perhaps they were. But how much blackness can a soul take? When they decided to leave the village and break free, it was almost too late. They settled a good distance from Fiero. They had children, grandchildren. Time passed.” He grimaced. “With only a few minor incidents that could be called truly wicked. But the call of the blood never entirely goes away, and neither does the knowledge that it’s there ready to be tapped at will. Most of the Ridondo descendants decided it was safer to become hunters, where they could indulge innate violence without falling back into the pit. Our family’s talents were very much in demand with governments and armies and heads of states. Of course we had to pick and choose, but there’s a whole world of monsters out there. It’s not too difficult to find them.”

  “As you did?”

  “As I did. But I was spurred on by a particularly savage prey that had to be destroyed, as you know.”

  “Jelak.” She nodded. “He was a serial killer who devoured the blood of his victims. He had the crazy idea tha
t by drinking the right kinds of blood he could become a kind of vampire God and have supernatural powers. He was connected to a cult that actually sacrificed people whose blood they thought would be of prime value.” Jane shuddered. “Horrible.”

  “Yes, and naturally they’d targeted my family. Why not? There were all kinds of stories floating around in the underground about our wicked past.” He paused. “And certain other powers they found very desirable. But they didn’t want to tackle any of the males in the family. They had a certain respect for us.” His expression hardened. “So they went after my half sister, Maria. Jelak kept her alive for a long time, taking her blood, and trying to see if he experienced any surge of power when he drank it. But he was disappointed. She had no power and was weak and died too soon.”

  Jane could see the pain as well as the dark fury in his expression. “You don’t have to go into this, Caleb,” she said gently. “You told Eve and I most of this after you destroyed the cult and killed Jelak.” She suddenly went rigid. “Unless you think that Lisa’s situation has anything to do with that same cult?”

  He shook his head. “I’ve been monitoring a resurgence possibility ever since that happened. I would have known. It has to be something else.”

  “Then why did you bring all this up?”

  “Because you have to get the whole picture so that you’ll know I’m the one who has to go find Lisa.”

  “Why? I don’t see any connection, then.” She added, “Unless you’re feeling guilty about not visiting her all these years? But you didn’t even mention you had another sister when you told us about Maria.”

  “I didn’t tell you about a lot of things then. And I lied about many others.”

  “Why?”

  “I wanted a place in your lives,” he said simply. “I found you and your family filled … something. So I made myself acceptable. You might have had trouble if you’d known everything about me.”

  “Then how do I know you’re not lying now?”

  “You don’t. I’m very good at twisting and manipulating the truth. It’s one of my talents. It’s known as the Persuasion. You were very bitter about that particular gift.” He met her eyes. “But I’ve tried not to lie to you since that day. It was at great cost, because I often had to let you see me as I really am. I’m not lying now, Jane.”

  And she believed him. Crazy. “And what did you lie about then that has any bearing on what’s happening to Lisa?”

  “Eve asked me if I was close to anyone. I told her of course I was close to my family. It was only partially true. Most of my family hated me from the time I was a small child.”

  Her eyes widened. “What?”

  He smiled crookedly. “I realize it’s hard to believe when I’m such a charming soul. But I had a few faults that my parents found unforgivable. Imagine that.”

  “No small child has unforgivable faults.”

  “They do if they exhibit signs that they’re a throwback to family members who are considered completely unacceptable.” He took another swallow of coffee. “Over the last century, the blood talent as well as the other psychic skills had gradually been fading away, and when they did occur, they were weak and almost unnoticeable. My family had the hunt instinct, but no children born in the last fifty years had inherited the talent itself. The family was both relieved and grateful. They’d become very wealthy and liked the social status that went with it. They enjoyed the normalcy and the lack of threat to their lifestyle.” He tapped his chest. “Until me. When I started to display troublesome signs of having certain talents that they regarded in the monster category, I was whisked away to the country house and taken care of by tutors for most of the year. I didn’t see either of my sisters except for a few months in the summer. They were both younger than I was and had been told not to become too close to me, but children often don’t pay attention to adults.” He met her eyes. “And I wanted them to like me. I needed them. So I made it happen.”

  “Or maybe it was a case of three children thrown together and nature taking its course.”

  His brows rose. “I wasn’t brought up to think in those terms.”

  “Maybe if you had been, you wouldn’t have turned out so damn weird.”

  His lips turned up at the corners. “And maybe that was why I wanted you and your family in my life. There’s nothing usual about any of you, and yet you accepted me under conditions that would have scared off anyone else.”

  “Maria and Lisa,” she prompted.

  “You know what happened to Maria. I’d left Italy by then and we’d lost touch. When I was a teenager, I was tossed to my uncle who lived in Scotland to handle when I became too unmanageable for my parents. My parents died shortly afterward, and before they died, they set up a trust fund for Maria and Lisa that was administered by Gino Romano and his wife, Teresa. They were my parents’ closest friends and neighbors. One of the provisions of the trust was that I not be permitted access to either of my sisters.”

  “That must have hurt.”

  “It’s not as if it wasn’t expected. I was the pariah. Any more than it was a surprise that the Romanos were chosen to keep me at bay.” His lips twisted. “Because I knew them both very well indeed before my parents sent me away. Gino was an investment banker with old money, and his wife, Teresa, was high in social circles in Rome. They’d become very close to my parents since the time Teresa had decided that it would benefit them to do so. They had no children of their own and appeared to be at least tolerant of Maria and Lisa.”

  “Tolerant is never good enough.”

  “Not everyone has someone like Eve Duncan in their lives,” he said drily. “Tolerance has to suffice sometimes. But I was resentful because Maria and Lisa belonged to me, so I spent a month near the Romano estate, watching and seeing how the girls were being treated. Neither of the girls liked the Romanos very much, and they found their lifestyle pretty boring. But they were away at school most of the time and hardly saw them. And it was far more normal than the life I could have given them at that point. I thought they’d be safe and have a decent life.” He smiled crookedly. “So I didn’t do anything to cause the Romanos to wish to terminate their guardianship. Not violence. Not a hint of Persuasion.”

  “I don’t believe you’d give up that easily,” Jane said.

  “I didn’t. I’d fade in and out of the Romano estate and see them whenever I was in the area. Maria and Lisa both thought it was a great adventure to keep our meetings secret from their guardians.”

  “Because you made them think of it like that. I’ve seen how that Persuasion talent of yours works. It’s almost like hypnosis.”

  “They were mine. I had to make sure they were safe and happy.” He nodded. “And, yes, I needed them, too. Satisfied?”

  She didn’t answer. She wasn’t satisfied. She was finding out new and different things about Caleb that were disturbing. “How long did it go on?”

  “Not that long for Maria. She was older and went away to school in Paris. Lisa was different. She was just a kid and always in trouble and I had to stay close enough to help.”

  “I can see why she’d be constantly in hot water,” Jane said drily. “And why did you break off seeing her?”

  “Maria,” he said. “After Maria’s murder, the Romanos made their estate an armed camp. I didn’t know whether they were more afraid the same thing might happen to Lisa or that they might be on the receiving end of the backlash.” He paused. “I didn’t give a damn about them, but I couldn’t handle the idea of Lisa’s being in danger. All it would take would be one monster that I’d missed when I went after that cult that had murdered her sister. If I’d destroyed the security around Lisa, then I might have let in the monsters. If I’d taken her away, she would have been even more vulnerable. She was only fourteen, Jane. She wasn’t ready to take care of herself, and I’ve made myself a target over the years. I’m a magnet that would draw those monsters to her.”

  “Evidently one might have managed to find her anyway.”
She paused. “And I don’t believe you would have just walked away from her. You don’t let go of anything you want.”

  He was silent. “I haven’t seen her.”

  “But you didn’t let her go.”

  He smiled. “Okay, as you noticed, Lisa and I have a connection. I taught her how to refine and strengthen it. I was there when she needed someone to be there.”

  “A link between the two of you that was stronger than any other element in her life.”

  His smiled faded. “I had to be there for her sake. It wasn’t to dominate her life. She was sent to a private school in Switzerland after her guardians felt safer about letting her leave the estate. I had to know she was safe and could contact me.”

  “Which she’s refusing to do now. Why would she do that?”

  “I don’t know why. I’m trying to find out from you.”

  “She won’t tell me. I told you: She won’t trust me. She’s afraid I’m going to rope you into going to get her out of the fix she’s in. Whatever little clique you formed between you with that damn connection you developed is messing up everything.”

  “It was necessary.”

  “Why, dammit?”

  “To keep her safe. I had to monitor her.”

  “‘Monitor,’” she repeated distastefully. “You make her sound like a science experiment. She’s a young girl with her whole life before her and has a fixation on keeping you—” She stopped, her gaze narrowing on his face. “Monitor. Why, Caleb?”

  He didn’t speak. Waiting.

  “My God, she’s like you. That so-called connection is just the tip of the iceberg.”

  “Very good. What else, Jane?”

  “I don’t know what else. You tell me. You said that Maria had no power, that she was too weak for Jelak’s purposes. But Lisa is different. You even said it. ‘Lisa was different.’ She’s a throwback, just like you. She did have the power. You needed to be there for her.”

  “And I was, during the crucial period. I knew what it was like to stumble through it alone, with no one who understood. But she was in the same prison I was and she had to learn to pretend that she was like our parents and not like me. She had to know she wasn’t a freak but that she would be treated as one. Then I had to teach her to smother the impulses and not let the fire inside out at anyone.” He added, “And, finally, to love me and to keep any promise I demanded of her. That was essential.”