The Keepers: Christmas in Salem: Do You Fear What I Fear?The Fright Before ChristmasUnholy NightStalking in a Winter Wonderland (Harlequin Nocturne)

by Heather Graham

  It was then that Vaughn first contemplated leaving Malta. Being a KOFE would require Rebekah’s full attention. He didn’t need to be panting after her like a thirsty puppy at a time when she needed to be highly focused.

  He had never been able to bring himself to leave the island, however. Instead, he’d simply moved out of sight. For two and a half years he’d watched her from afar, always waiting to step in if she got in over her head or was in serious danger. It had been one of the most difficult things he’d ever had to do—staying away from her. She’d been so near, yet so far away.

  He’d done a lot of soul-searching before following her to Salem. He’d anticipated her asking “Why now?”—which she had—and he wanted to offer a viable answer. He’d considered using the elders as an excuse because the lot of them could be a handful when gathered in one place. But he’d witnessed, albeit secretly, her handling them collectively before, and she’d managed perfectly. But combining their unruliness with the darkness and the potential threat it posed had provided a viable platform from which to step back into her life. Or so he’d hoped. The missing black hole and the ticking tidal bomb it created certainly didn’t hurt his cause.

  No matter the plausibility of his excuse, appearing in Rebekah’s life again was a gamble. She could easily have ordered him away. This was a woman who knew what she wanted. Strong, capable and very aware of who she was. She didn’t need to be attached to a guy to find or hold on to her identity. What Rebekah needed was a man confident enough in himself not to be intimidated by her strength. Vaughn knew he was that man. He just needed a chance to prove it to her.

  “Ready?” she asked, shaking him from his reverie.

  “Always.”

  She turned in a slow circle, scanning the Common.

  “What are you looking for?”

  “People. I have to lift the illusion veil before we teleport and I don’t want our sudden disappearance to give someone’s grandma a heart attack. You do remember how to teleport, right?”

  “Absolutely.”

  She studied him for a moment, searching his eyes. “You sure? It’s been a long time since the competition. Have you practiced since then?”

  “Sure. A few times, actually.” In truth, it had been way more than a few times. He’d teleported almost every day. It had been the only way he’d been able to keep track of Rebekah and stay out of sight at the same time.

  “Okay...good,” she said a bit hesitantly.

  Not wanting to step on her territorial toes again, he said, “I’m ready whenever you are. Lead the way.”

  She brushed a few strands of hair away from her face, then turned away from him, raised her right hand, palm out, and began to walk the inside perimeter of the gazebo. When she returned to his side, she dropped her arm, balled her hands into fists and, with no more fanfare than that, vanished.

  Impressive.

  Vaughn chuckled. She’d always been better at teleporting than he had. No matter how many times he did it, he couldn’t make it pop the way she did. She had the instant disappearance thing down pat. His “takeoff” looked more like the flicker from a dying lightbulb.

  Vaughn repeated her ritual and mentally prepared to teleport. Instead of concentrating on the coordinates Eric had given them, he focused on Rebekah. He didn’t need the numbers to get to the cave. She was already there. All he needed was her.

  All he’d ever needed was her.

  Within a matter of seconds Vaughn’s mind’s eye saw nothing but Rebekah’s face. Her beautiful, violet-colored eyes, high cheekbones and small nose. Her sweet, full lips. Those lips... He would follow them anywhere and for the rest of his life. He felt the tingle that always came with teleporting race up his arms and spread across his chest.

  Vaughn couldn’t help but think of the pain he’d caused her and how much he regretted it. She had no clue that his intentions back then were honorable and for her benefit. All she knew was that he had disappeared. Unfortunately, hindsight didn’t give him any clues as to how he might have handled things differently. The problem back then had been him—his inability to give Rebekah the space she needed to grow and mature as a Keeper. He always longed to touch her, to hear her laughter, even to watch her sleep. He was still the problem. The biggest difference between now and then was Rebekah’s growth as a Keeper. It was clear that no one—himself included—had the power to distract her when duty called. He hoped—prayed—that the damage he’d done wasn’t irreparable. At least her acceptance of his offer to help was a start. He had to find a way to get through the wall she’d built around her heart so she would know how he truly felt.

  His world had always revolved around Rebekah. It still did. In fact, had it not been for her, he might very well be spinning mindlessly through some other dimension right now. Earlier, when he’d moved closer to the Circle of Knowledge to hear Tee-zee’s words more clearly, he had felt the light’s incredible, unmistakable pull. It had mesmerized him, taunted him to come closer. It had been so tempting to let go, to simply fall into its warmth and be lost forever. The only thing that had kept him from doing that was Rebekah, the knowledge that if he succumbed to the light’s temptation he would be leaving her again, only this time for real, no hiding in the shadows. For real and forever.

  He remembered the feel of her skin when he’d held her hand earlier as they linked to Tee-zee telepathically. It had taken a Herculean effort not to lean over right then and kiss her. He remembered so well how her lips had tasted that night in the garden. Thinking about it now sent a different sensation vibrating below his belt, which he, regretfully, had to staunch. In order for him to reach Rebekah at the caves, his entire being and mind had to be centered on her. He didn’t want to botch the teleportation by allowing his other head to share the focus—because it never shared. It always took over.

  The teleportation tingle traveled down his back, his stomach, his legs. He no longer felt the cold wind of Salem’s dark winter afternoon. In real time, teleporting took only a few seconds. Right now, though, it felt like a lifetime. He couldn’t wait to be standing beside her again.

  As the tingling sensation reached his feet, Vaughn heard a man in the distance shouting, “Holy crap, look! Did you see that?”

  Damn. Obviously someone had seen him flicker away. As far as he was concerned, though, that voice could have come from another universe. It was faint, but in this state he wasn’t able to tell if the voice came from ten feet away or a thousand. Regardless of the distance, he was too far along in the process to stop it now. Even if he could, it would be a stupid thing to do. The person had already seen him disappearing. The shock of seeing him solidify again might send the guy to the loony bin.

  But right now he didn’t have time to ruminate on the guy’s mental state. He had to maintain his own. He had to get to Rebekah. Always Rebekah...

  Had he seen a softening in her eyes when she’d looked at him just before she disappeared? Had it been a look of forgiveness? Or had his mind played a trick on him, creating its own illusion veil, showing him only what his head and heart wanted to see?

  Either way, he was about to find out.

  Chapter 4

  The cry for help still sounded muffled, but it was definitely closer, which told Rebekah she’d landed in the right place even before she opened her eyes. When she did open them, she found herself standing in the middle of nowhere. Open fields covered with snow were to her left and large, equally snow-covered waist-high mounds of tightly packed dirt stood on her right. The mounds were littered with branches, but through the clutter she spotted a small opening in one of them. It appeared barely big enough for a small child to wiggle through.

  “These are the caves?” she asked aloud, surprised.

  She didn’t know what she’d been expecting. When Eric had said there were caves thirty-five miles from Salem, her mind had automatically pictured deep, dark wells made of rock, each filled with stalactites and stalagmites and little streams of water.

  Even more surprising to
her was the sight of the setting sun. It made her realize just how devoid of light Salem had been. Seeing the horizon painted in different hues of orange, red and purple filled her with a simple joy and appreciation. To never have the opportunity to see a sunset like this again would be a travesty.

  “Beautiful, isn’t it?”

  Startled, she whirled around and found herself nearly nose to nose with Vaughn. The sight of his handsome face suddenly filled her with more joy than she wanted to admit.

  She made a show of checking her watch. “What took you so long?”

  He grinned. “You mean the three or four seconds longer than you? I—”

  Somebody get me out of here, please! I can’t see, and I can barely breathe. I’m gonna die. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.

  The cry for help snapped Rebekah back into Keeper mode. She wanted to kick herself for allowing her attention to be diverted in any way while Tee-zee sat frightened in the dark. It was one thing to have your mind wander through the colors of a sunset, quite another to have it captured by a man who’d deserted you two and a half years ago.

  She hurried over to the opening she’d spotted and started pulling branches away from it. Even cleared of debris, the opening was still too small for her to make it through.

  “Tee-zee, this is Rebekah. I’m here and I’ve brought help, and we will get you out,” she shouted into the mouth of the cave.

  “Bless you,” Tee-zee called. His voice sounded childlike, presumably a reflection of the body he’d chosen. “I’m so glad you’re here. I’m sorry I’ve caused all this trouble. I didn’t mean to. I just wanted to help.”

  “I know. It’s okay. Now look around you, Tee-zee. Is there any way for you to crawl out?”

  She heard a whimper, then, “No. I can’t see anything. It feels like I’m sitting on the ground, but these...legs...these legs I have are dangling off the edge of something. I can’t feel anything under the feet that I can stand up on.”

  Rebekah crouched down and peered into the hole, but saw only blackness. “Can you see any light from where you are? Any light at all?”

  “I can’t see anything but dark in here. I’m scared.”

  “What human form did you take, Tee-zee?”

  “I...I don’t know.”

  “Is it big? Small?”

  “I can’t tell. I’ve never had a body before. I saw Quentin change a couple times, so I just tried to do what he did.”

  Rebekah knew that for an elemental to take on a human form they had to have a specific gender and physique in mind. Without a specific vision, they could wind up with a hodgepodge of body parts—a head four times the width of the shoulders. Hips the size of ankles. Part female, part male. Half adult, half child.

  Vaughn suddenly appeared on his hands and knees beside her.

  “Tee-zee,” he called into the cave. “If you saw how Quentin changed into a human, didn’t you see how he changed back?”

  “N-no, that’s the problem. Please—please help me!”

  “We’re going to have to dig our way in and get him,” Vaughn said to Rebekah.

  “Depending on how far in he is, there may not be time. The only sure way is to have him revert back to his elemental state.”

  Vaughn let out a frustrated breath. “What about rope? If I can find some rope, maybe we can feed it down to him and drag him out.”

  Rebekah straightened, brushed her hair away from her face and shook her head. “That won’t work, either. Tee-zee isn’t used to having a human body. He wouldn’t know what to do with the rope, and I doubt he’s strong enough to hold on to it. Plus, we don’t know how big the cave is, how deep, how labyrinthine. All I know is that we have to get him out somehow. If Tee-zee’s human body dies, he dies. And if he dies, the black holes go haywire and we all die.”

  “But if he managed to get in as a human, shouldn’t he be able to get out with that same body?”

  “I don’t think he did get in, not the way you’re talking about. I think he miscalculated his destination and accidentally ended up in there when he changed.”

  Rebekah got on her hands and knees and stuck her head as far as it would go into the cave. It barely fit. Even this close, she couldn’t make out its depth or width.

  She heard whimpering and a sob from deep inside the cave, and it made her heart hurt. The elementals were like her children, and what she wanted more than anything was to take Tee-zee into her arms and comfort him. She pulled her head out, saw that Vaughn had gotten to his feet and followed suit.

  “I’ll teleport back to town and find a shovel. We can make the opening a little wider, at least. Maybe then we can see what we’re dealing with.”

  “We don’t have time for that,” she said matter-of-factly. She glanced at her watch, no show about it this time. Forty-five minutes until high tide. “I’m going to have to transmutate. It’s the only way I’ll be able to locate Tee-zee, help him transmutate himself and get him out in time.”

  “No!” Vaughn said, his eyes widening. He took hold of her shoulders, forcing her to face him. “No. It’s too dangerous.”

  She’d only transmutated once before, and that had been at the competition for the KOFE seat. It involved molecular restructuring, and the person transmutating had to have a concentration level that was absolute. Otherwise it could be deadly. And it was the one thing Rebekah knew Vaughn was unable to do. Ultimately, it was the reason she’d won the KOFE competition.

  The problem was, she didn’t know if she would be able to reach that deep level of concentration with Vaughn nearby. Feeling his hands on her shoulders created such conflict inside her. She wanted to pull away, refuse his touch. And at the same time she wanted to draw closer to him and lay her head on his chest. She forced herself to stand still and do neither.

  “We don’t have a choice or the time to do anything different,” she said softly.

  “But—”

  “There are no buts,” she said. “We can’t leave Tee-zee down there, and it’s the only way to get him out. Besides, it’s my job as his Keeper. I appreciate your concern, but I’ll be fine.”

  This time she did pull out of Vaughn’s grasp. She knelt again at the mouth of the cave, closing her eyes for a second. The part about needing to get Tee-zee out had been the truth. The part about being fine, not so much. She had no idea how this would turn out. It had been far too long since she’d transmutated, and she simply didn’t know if she’d be able to do it successfully.

  She glanced up and saw worry on Vaughn’s face. “If something happens to me—”

  “Roe, please, don’t.”

  Oddly enough, the nickname didn’t bother her this time. “I’m not saying anything will. It’s a just in case thing, you know? If something does, keep tabs on the elementals, will you? You’re a little too arrogant for my taste, but you’d make a hell of a Keeper.” She smiled.

  He didn’t return it.

  “You are their Keeper, Rebekah Savay. Not me or anyone else. They need you. I need you. I know you’re going to do this whether I like it or not, but you have to be okay. You have to make it work and be okay.”

  Vaughn’s I was not lost on her, but she didn’t allow herself the luxury of pondering the extent of what he’d meant by it. Time was running out, and she had a serious task ahead of her.

  “Tee-zee,” Rebekah called into the cave, “can you hear me?”

  “Y-yes, I can hear you!” the quintessence elemental cried.

  “I’m coming in to get you, but for me to find you, I need you to talk in a human voice, like you have been, and keep talking. Say anything, it doesn’t matter what. I just need to hear your voice so I can get a specific fix on your location. Telepathy is too cerebral. It won’t work in this situation. Do you understand?”

  “I understand,” Tee-zee said in a voice that sounded as if it belonged to a five-year-old boy. “What do you want me to say? Can I sing? Is that okay?”

  “Singing’s fine. I just need to hear the sound of your voice.
It’s so dark in there I won’t be able to find my way to you otherwise. Once I’m down there, you’re going to have to use your elemental voice to talk to me, got it? Just like you talk to Quentin every day with your mind.”

  “Okay...okay, got it. But I’m gonna sing now. Just don’t laugh at my singing, okay?”

  “I promise I won’t.”

  With that, Rebekah heard a child’s voice begin to sing off-key.

  Rebekah sat back on her haunches, tuned in to the small voice and blocked everything else out of her mind. She allowed the sound of his voice to pull her to her center, which it did in a matter of seconds.

  In her mind’s eye, the brilliant ball of light from the Circle of Knowledge appeared front and center. It seemed bigger than ever before. From this point on, everything became internal. Whatever was happening around her was irrelevant.

  Mentally, Rebekah lifted a hand and reached for the ball of light. The rays streaming from it seemed to stretch, elongate, vibrate toward her.

  Now all she had to do was stay tuned in to the light and Tee-zee’s voice and allow everything else to happen on its own.

  The light from the Circle of Knowledge wrapped around her hand, encircling it with what looked like gold-and-white-striped cords. Even though everything was happening on a mental and metaphysical level, she felt a physical sensation of simultaneous hot and cold.

  Tee-zee’s singing was a constant in the background as the hot-cold cords traveled up Rebekah’s arm.

  They moved to her chest, her stomach...

  The next thing Rebekah knew she found herself traveling horizontally through the cave in a narrow tunnel filled with silver glitter. The glitter acted like tiny spotlights, allowing her to see parts of it she’d been unable to see before. She was surprised by its depth as the silvery tunnel drew her down...down.

  The tunnel itself seemed to follow the sound of Tee-zee’s voice, or maybe it was her own mind directing the movement—she didn’t know for sure. Either way, she traveled smoothly, effortlessly through the cave, and must have been heading in the right direction, because Tee-zee’s voice grew louder. She felt neither hot nor cold, wet nor dry. The only sensation she felt at all was that of...being.