Over coffee and Mel’s mouth-wateringly gorgeous cake, Sera said, “Is there some kind of spell Smith could have put on these new vampires? To enable them to speak, to dominate them?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised. There are spells for most things. It’s just a matter of finding out what they are and gathering the power to use them properly.” Mel cut another two slices of cake and placed one on each of their plates. “Nicholas Smith always had an eye for the main chance. Always looking for ways to make the power work for him. So, I can imagine he might well have expended a lot of energy to track down such a spell. Or simply to see its uses if he came across it by accident.”
Sera, still savoring cake and coffee on some level, set down her cup and asked, “Do you have any idea what such a spell might be?”
“No, and I wouldn’t want to either.”
“Then I don’t suppose there’s a simple counter-spell to break it either? Not even an all-purpose, any-spell breaker?”
“You’re talking complicated magic here, Sera. Nothing will be simple. And even if the spell could be broken, you’d still be left with all those indiscreet vampires without even a leader to control them. I really don’t like the sound of any of this. Why don’t you come and live here while we figure out what to do?”
“I’ve got clients in Edinburgh. And besides, I couldn’t leave the others at Serafina’s.”
“How are Jack and Jill?” Mel asked with a quick grin.
“Fine. They’re excellent researchers, but we need a prod in the right direction.”
“Leave it with me,” Mel said. “I’ll do some research of my own. How did you get involved with all this in the first place?”
So Sera told Melanie all about Ferdy Bell, making her smile over the garlic and crucifixes before she unfolded the tragedy of Jason and the investigation that followed. Although she kept mention of Blair to a minimum, she couldn’t tell the story without him, and Melanie seemed to be intrigued by him and Phil.
“I think they might be your answer,” she said. “Whatever their motives, their aim is the same as yours. Since they’re so much stronger than the new vampires, couldn’t they just kill them for us? Leave Smith with no army?”
“I thought of that, but as long as there’s still one of them, more can always be created. In any case, by now there are so many of them that together they’re actually stronger than Blair and Phil.” She paused, lifting her orange juice and rubbing her thumb over an invisible mark on the glass. “The other things is…I know they’re dead already, but once you meet them, they’re people. I’m not sure I could kill them. I’m not even sure it’d be right to kill them.”
She cast Mel an apologetic smile and put down her glass again. “The other other thing is, what’s to stop Smith repeating the same process somewhere else? We need to defeat him. Curtail his ability.”
Mel glanced at her sideways. “You’ve really thought about this, haven’t you?”
“Oh yes. I just don’t know to accomplish it.”
“Let me look around my books and call on a few friends. It’ll take me a couple days at best, and there are no guarantees, but we should find something that would at least slow them down. Are you sure you won’t stay? You could help me.”
The anxiety in her voice warmed Sera. There had never been many people who actually cared what happened to her; it was one of the reasons she’d always valued Mel.
“The rain’s off,” Sera observed. “Shall we go for a walk? You can show me round the policies.”
Mel grinned and stood up.
Later, in the isolated peace of a nearby wood, Sera said, “How did you come into my life, Mel?”
Mel changed direction so that they could glimpse the rippling loch between the trees. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I can’t actually remember when I first met you, or what the connection is between us. I just remember you showing up at odd moments of my childhood, bearing gifts or fun, sometimes at the home or at foster homes, and once you just appeared in the street. But we’ve never even talked about how we know each other. You’re not a secret social worker are you?”
Mel smiled. “No. No, I’m not.”
Sera brushed against a damp branch that spattered rainwater over them both. “Did you know my real family, Mel?”
“I knew some of them,” Mel said uncomfortably.
Sera paused and looked at her. “Is Nicholas Smith related to me?”
Mel’s eyes dropped, then lifted again. She was the one person Sera trusted without touch. Well, maybe her and Jilly. To check on either seemed like a betrayal.
Mel said, “Not to my knowledge.”
There was relief in that, although she didn’t quite understand why. She pushed it aside.
“Why do you ask that?” Mel wanted to know.
Sera shrugged. “He’s telepathic. Apparently, he smells like me. Perhaps all psychic people smell like that to a vampire. Melanie…did you know my parents?”
Melanie took a few moments to answer. They were walking clear of the woods now, and the view across the loch and the hills was spectacular. “I knew your mother,” she said at last. “I was very fond of her. Owed her, if you like. But I was only fourteen when she died. I couldn’t look after a newborn baby.”
There was no reason for Sera’s throat to close up. None at all, unless it was in appreciation of Mel’s implied wish to adopt her. “She really died when I was born?” she managed.
Without looking at her, Mel reached out and took her hand. “Yes, she did. Massive blood clot, and she wasn’t at the hospital, so no one could save her in time.”
“Were you there?”
Mel shook her head.
My mother died alone with a tiny baby… And Sera’s birth must have caused the blood clot. She’d been right about that. Convulsively, without meaning to, she squeezed Melanie’s hand, and Mel returned the grip.
She already knew without telling that whoever the rest of her family were, they’d rejected her. There was no other reason for her to have been flung onto the mercy of the social care system. “And my father?”
“Your mother never told me who he was.” Releasing her hand, Mel bent and picked up a stone and hurled it into the loch. It seemed symbolic.
Chapter Thirteen
Blair wasn’t entirely surprised when he sensed the two people entering Sera’s flat through the office door. It was as good an excuse as any other to break off his frustrating telepathic conversation with his annoying “brother” Sebastian.
“I have to go,” he told him.
“Well, enjoy the mass slaughter.” Even telepathically, Sebastian could drawl in a way that made Blair want to smack him one. “Call me if you need a hand.”
“I won’t.” Ending the connection, Blair stood up to face his visitors.
It was the young man—Jack—who entered first, one hand in his pocket like a gangster letting everyone know he was armed. Close on his heels came Jilly, and, judging by the frown between her aggressively glaring eyes, her mood hadn’t softened any since the morning.
Blair stood perfectly still and inclined his head in polite greeting. Jilly ignored him, although Jack’s brows shot together in surprise. As if thrown, he nodded curtly.
“We want you to know that Sera is important to us,” he said sternly. “And we won’t allow you to cause her any harm. We’re watching, and believe me, there will be consequences.”
The girl nudged him with what looked like annoyance, and he added hastily, “Severe consequences.”
“We’ll stab you through the heart and cut your fucking head off,” Jilly explained.
Blair bowed ironically.
“Okay,” Jack said, as if that settled the matter. “Are you really on our side? Against Smith’s vampires?”
Again, Blair inclined his head. He left it to them to work out how ironic or not that was.
“I wish you could talk,” Jilly muttered.
“Oh, I doubt you do,” Blair thought as he met her ga
ze. Anger—semi-permanent anger—emanated from her in waves. Right now, much of it was of the mother-hen variety. She was genuinely scared for Sera, and Blair could sense the powerful ties that bound the two women. They’d stood together, looking after each other, since childhood, and behind her focus on himself, Blair picked up a load of images that explained it.
It was a bond from which the young man, Jack, was excluded. Jilly resented him as an interloper and yet valued his alliance now. And interestingly, her mother-hen blanket of angry protection extended over him too.
Blair felt her sudden blast of fear. She dragged her gaze free, gasping. “Are you reading my mind, you bastard?”
Blair didn’t move. She and Jack exchanged surreptitious glances. Perhaps even the human read the desperation in Jilly’s eyes, for he spoke with a stern dignity that wasn’t entirely laughable.
“Just so long as you know. She’s not alone. And we won’t stand by if you so much as look as if you’re going to hurt her.”
They glared at him some more as if they expected him to argue the point. Blair thought of advancing on them, just for purposes of entertainment, but scaring Sera’s friends was not really part of his plan at this stage, so he simply stood still and gazed from one face to the other until Jilly swung around and walked out of the room. Jack followed with a curt nod.
The trouble with humans was, they came with a lot of other humans by way of baggage. Which was one reason relationships with them rarely worked. A vampire needed solitude, freedom. The idea of being hemmed in not just by a lover’s expectations but by the expectations of all her family and friends was, frankly, appalling.
And yet she still intrigued him. He was impatient for her to come back. There were more things he wanted to do to her delectable body. And she smelled so good…
He was growing hard just thinking about her. He began to pace the room once more, feeling like a large, restless animal in a cage that was too small. He wanted blood, and he wanted Sera. He could do something about the former, at least, if he could just find a safe way out of here.
****
It was heading toward eight by the time Sera pushed open the door of Serafina’s, but Jilly, Jack, and Elspeth were all still there.
“I thought you’d have gone home,” she said in surprise. “You didn’t need to wait for me.”
Jilly gave her a significant look and jerked her head at the ceiling. The meaning was clear. They weren’t leaving the place while Blair was in residence upstairs. Sera, who’d had to force herself not to go to the flat first, could have told them he wasn’t there anymore, anyway. Or at least she could sense no more than an echo.
“How did it go with Melanie?” Jack asked. “Did you learn anything?”
“Not really. She knows who Smith is, and she seemed to think it might be possible he was controlling the vampires through magic. But she’s going to do research of her own and get back to us. She seemed hopeful. Anything happening here?”
“A couple of new clients,” Elspeth said. “I’ve booked initial appointments. And Dianne Thomson invited you to her dinner party and wants you to conduct a séance afterward.”
Dianne Thomson was a local celebrity and news reader. She paid good money. “We’ll do it,” Sera said.
“Oh, and that policeman was back looking for you. PC McGowan.”
Sera frowned. “What did he want?”
“He didn’t say. Actually, he looked relieved when I said you were out of town for the day.”
“I’m sure he’ll catch up with me eventually. Nothing else? Good, let’s all go home. I’ll lock up.”
She shooed them all toward the door, pretending to be oblivious to Jilly’s frowns and Jack’s hisses, although in the end, they only gave in when Elspeth had left, and Sera said, “He’s gone, okay?”
“Gone where?” Jack demanded.
“He can’t have,” Jilly said. “It’s not dark yet.”
Sera shrugged. “I’m sure he has ways of getting around.
Jilly gave her a skeptical glance. “What, through ancient sewer systems?”
“For all I know, yes. Though he seems more a smoking-blanket type to me. Shove off, and I’ll see you both in the morning.” She was about to close the door on their reluctantly retreating backs when she remembered. “Jilly?”
Jilly glanced back.
“Thanks for breakfast.”
Jilly smiled sourly. “I’d like to say you’re welcome, but actually, it wasn’t me.”
Blair? Sera thought, stunned as she finally let the door shut. Blair made me breakfast? It almost made up for him not being there now.
She spent five minutes pottering around the office, signing a couple of checks Elspeth had left out for her and taking a note of the new clients for research purposes. What she really wanted to do was go up to the flat and soak in the bath for an hour. After which she’d make herself sexy and beautiful, just in case Blair came back.
“Sad old bat,” she told herself crossly. But the bath still sounded appealing. She grabbed her jacket and bag off the desk just as the outer door opened.
“Sorry, we’re closed for the day,” she said politely but firmly as she turned to face the man in the doorway.
Nicholas Smith stepped inside and closed the door. “It isn’t a professional call.”
Sera listened to the beat of her own heart. Every sense was on high alert as she scanned for any sign of vampire presence. But, of course, as Jilly had pointed out, it was too early for vampires.
“Don’t be alarmed,” Smith said. “I’m quite alone.” And strangely enough, she felt no sense of threat from him; she never had. Blair had said he was hypnotizing or mind controlling her in some way, and he was probably right. She had to be on her guard every instant, be aware of herself as well as of everything around her.
“What can I do for you?” she asked, trying to sound as neutral as possible.
“May we talk?”
“Sure.” She leaned her hip against the desk behind her but didn’t invite him to sit.
He didn’t seem to notice. Instead, he looked around the office, glancing through the open door into the inner office as he remarked, “Nice premises. I’ve been making enquiries about you, Sera—may I call you Sera?”
“Sure,” she said again. She smiled. “Nick.”
“I see. We’ve both been researching. I find you interesting on many levels, but since we barely know each other, I’d like to concentrate on the business angle.” He grinned openly. “My dear girl, you have a fine scam going here, with just enough genuine stuff in the mix to promote your reputation above the norm. Congratulations.”
“Thank you. I think.”
“Oh yes, it is a compliment. Which is why I’ve come to talk to you today. You don’t object to making a little money, do you, Sera?”
“Who does?”
“Exactly. I don’t know how much you’ve worked out for yourself, but you should be aware I am in the process of acquiring a little money myself.” He smiled. “But why be modest? I’m in the process of acquiring a huge amount of money. A lifetime’s inexhaustible supply, in fact.”
Steeling herself, she gazed directly and deeply into Smith’s eyes. “Wouldn’t that get boring for a man like you?” she asked lightly.
“Oh no. A redistribution of so much wealth must change society and government, and I plan to have rather more influence on those things than I do now. That too comes with wealth and could never be boring.”
“Let’s be clear here, Nick,” she said carefully. “Are you planning on governing vampires or humans? And if the latter, do you really imagine there will be many humans left to govern while your vampires are running riot through the country?”
“The balance will be altered,” he confessed. “But I don’t foresee the extinction of humanity or anything like it.”
“Don’t you?” she said, fascinated in spite of herself.
“The killings are accidental,” he said sadly. “They’ll learn in time. They do underst
and they’re not meant to kill unless I say.”
Thoughtfully, Sera swung her foot, brushing it against the leg of the desk. “Aren’t you at all afraid they’ll turn on you? You must know they’re not famed for obedience or disciplined living.”
His lips twitched with genuine amusement. “No, I’m not afraid. I’m in control, you see.”
“But for how much longer?” It was a shot in the dark, but she pushed it home anyway. “Isn’t there some limit to numbers or distances you can influence?”
He didn’t quite like that. She could sense that much. In fact, without touching him, she was pretty sure he planned to lie. Then he said reluctantly, “There may be a limit. If so, it won’t matter. I still have the nucleus of my own vampires to protect me.”
She held his gaze. “And who will protect everyone else?”
“That isn’t our problem.”
“Our?” she pounced. “Whose is ‘our’?”
“Yours and mine,” he said steadily. “That’s my offer, Sera. I’ll cut you in.”
She stared at him. He lifted his hand, offering it to her. She didn’t know if she was meant to shake on the deal or confirm the truth of his offer through touch. Did he really know that much about her? She reached out and grasped not his fingers but his wrist.
“I’ll cut you in,” he repeated.
It was no lie. He meant it. But her head felt suddenly heavy. She was getting lost in his eyes. Until she worked out what was happening and threw him out.
“Just testing,” he said, unabashed as she let his hand drop back to his side. “I didn’t think I could influence you, and I can’t. But my offer stands.”
“Why?” she demanded. “You’ve got it made, apparently. What good could I do you?” Enlightenment dawned, and she laughed. “You think I’ll bring Blair. You want Blair on your side because he can kill your vampires as easily as you or I breathe.”
“I’d welcome Blair,” he admitted. “He has power and influence among the older vampires. His compliance, or at least nonaggression, would be a distinct advantage. And I certainly can’t compel him.”
Serafina and the Silent Vampire Page 19
