I opened the box. It contained a small silver ring, in the shape of a lily. "Oh, that's lovely, Hyde, thank you."
"Go ahead, put it on. I want to see it on your hand."
I gave him a hesitant glance. He'd changed so much since we'd known each other. And I wondered what this was a token of. Esteem? Love?
"Jesus, Lily, just put the damned thing on. It won't bite." He took the box out of my hand, pulled the ring out and pushed it onto my right ring finger. "There, see? A perfect fit."
I held my hand out, admiring it. Then smiled at him and gave him a hug, not so much for the present as for his picking the right hand.
He kissed the top of my ear. "I'm glad you like it, babe. Someday, maybe I'll get you another for the other hand."
I pulled away from him and changed the subject. "So when do you start your job?"
Hyde looked at his watch. "In about twenty minutes, actually, so I'd better get moving. You going to be at the bar tonight? I'll pick you and Moon up and walk you home."
"That would be nice. Thanks."
He gave me one more kiss, this time on the tip of my nose, and went back out of the room. "Later, Lily."
I walked out into the kitchen and sat down at the small table. Moon handed me a mug of coffee and I looked up at her.
"Who was that man?" I said. "He sort of looked like Hyde, but I don't know him."
Moon chuckled. "He's growing up, Lily. Got himself a new haircut, a new job and a beautiful little girl. I expect he feels pretty good right about now."
"And I feel like shit. He bought me a ring, Moon."
She leaned over me. "So I see. It's very pretty."
I gave a little smile. "Yes, it is. But what am I going i to do with him?"
"Love him if you can. And if you can't, you send him on his way as graciously as possible. He'd take good care of you, Lily."
"But I have you, Moon. And besides, I'm way more than old enough to take care of myself."
She turned back to the sink and continued washing dishes. "That may well be true, Lily. But until I can scrape the money together for another set of identifications for you, you'll have to take care of yourself without a job. And if something should happen to me, I'd like to be sure you'll be okay. It's what I've lived my life for, after all."
Moon finished drying the last dish and turned around, towel in hand. "Now, let's not worry about this. You going to wait some tables for me today?"
"Sure, why not?" I got up and stretched. "Tips are usually good. I guess I'd better start earning my keep before you marry me off to Hyde."
She laughed. "So go get yourself dressed and be quick about it. I don't want to open up late."
Moon usually tended bar with the same quiet confidence as she approached everything else in her life. Considered one of the best bartenders in the Quarter, she was also among the few to be mentioned by name in one of those prestigious travel magazines. Unlike other tourist bars in the area, The Blackened Orchid did not provide music other than the blare of the jukebox. Instead, we relied on solid and simple food, a good selection of wine and the atmosphere that Moon provided to attract and keep our clientele. On slow nights, Moon would often cast her shells for customers or read their palms.
I watched her, as I always did, in between carrying trays of drinks and blackened steaks to my tables.
Secure in who she was, Moon was beautiful. Her smile lit up her entire body and made one feel blessed. I loved her, more than Philomena and any of her descendants, perhaps because she had not been distracted by marriage and children of her own. For Moon, my care was not a burden accepted in the name of duty. It was something done of love.
Tonight, though, she seemed nervous and moody. Close to tears, she struggled to deal with a situation she normally dealt with easily by a smile or a joke. "Harry"—her voice quavered as she called to the bouncer—"get this gang of young hoodlums out of my bar. Now! And I don't ever want them in here again. They're nothing but trash. And underage trash at that. Out!" She flicked a towel at them, shooing them like chickens. "Out!"
They yelled obscenities back at her while Harry pushed them out. "You fat old bitch," one of them screamed, his pasty face reddening with anger, "you'll be sorry you fucked with us."
Moon lost her temper completely. "Any woman would be sorry to admit that, boys." She continued to scream even though they'd gone. "No woman in her right mind would let you near. Not that boys like you can do much more than talk about it."
I went over to her and put an arm around her. "It's okay, Moon, they're out of here. What on earth did they do?"
"They were saying how they'd like to…" She gave me a quick glance and then just as quickly looked away again. "Nothing, really, Lily. Don't pay me any mind. I'm just all unsettled tonight." She waved to Harry. "Come on over here, honey, and tend the bar for me. I need to go wash up after dealing with that dirty trash." She ran from the room; the tears on her cheeks glistened in the light as she pushed open the kitchen doors.
I caught Harry's eye and he shrugged. "Just a bad night, Lily," he said. "Let it go."
Hyde showed up, as promised, just around last call. Moon, having calmed somewhat, although not without considerable damage to the glassware, greeted him warmly, displaying more enthusiasm than she'd had all evening. Still, I thought that she dawdled at the bar, taking much longer than normal to do the closing tasks. She chattered at Hyde while she worked, asking him questions about his first day at work. And he told stories of the people who'd come in and the crazy way they'd acted.
Looking back now, I recall that they laughed a lot together. But I didn't join in. I didn't pay them much attention at all. Instead I listened to the night. It whispered darkness and anger and danger. Since the altercation between Moon and the young men, I had grown increasingly nervous. I had even sent Harry out several times to make sure they had gone. With each of his reassurances that everything was fine, Moon relaxed. And I had tightened up inside, until every muscle in my body was tense. By the time Moon was ready to go, I was so edgy I wanted to scream.
"Lily?" Hyde touched me on the shoulder and I jumped.
"Don't pay any mind to her, Alfred," Moon said.
"She's nervous as a cat tonight. We had a run-in with some trash tonight and it put her off."
I stood up and stretched my neck, trying to loosen the tenseness. "Me? And who's the one breaking all the glasses tonight?"
"That's neither here nor there. I'm just a clumsy old lady, Lily. Let's go home."
Still, I hesitated at the doorway. The streets were quiet and dark. I did not want to go out onto them. "Can't we just stay here?"
Moon took my arm. "I want some rest, Lily. I can hear my bed calling to me from here." Leaning over me, she whispered in my ear, "And what will happen, will happen, my Lily child. You can't hold it back. Besides," she said louder now, "we have your fine young man to protect us."
I looked over at Hyde. "He's not my young man."
"Well, if you were to ask me, he should be." She pulled me out onto the sidewalk and started to lock the door, but stopped abruptly. "Lord, what's wrong with me tonight? I forgot the shells. You two wait here and I'll be right back."
Hyde pulled me into his arms and gave me a long, passionate kiss, his tongue lightly grazing my lips. "Think she'll let me stay the night?" he whispered.
I laughed. "Maybe she will. But I'm not sure I will."
"Aw, Lily, you heard Moon. I'm your young man now."
"So she says. Don't I have anything to say about it?"
"Of course you do." He hugged me close to him. "And I hope it'll be yes again."
I smiled, thinking how nice it was last night. At least before we started talking. "I'll think about it, Hyde."
Moon came out and locked the door, giving Hyde a quick wink. "Can't forget the shells, now, can I?" she said, putting the box into her apron pocket. "How can I tell the future of you young folks without my shells?"
"Future?" I asked. "Who said anything about the future
?"
"Well," Moon said, "someone should be talking about it. So I'll just walk ahead and let the two of you work it out. Don't be too long, though. I'll want that cup of tea with you both tonight."
She headed out at a quick pace. Hyde put his arm around my shoulder and began leading me in the same direction. I looked up at the sky as we walked. "No moon tonight," I said quietly. "It's such a dark and evil world without it."
Hyde snorted. "Nothing evil about the phases of the moon, Lily. What's gotten into you tonight?"
"Nothing," I said, walking a bit quicker now to catch us up with Moon. "It was a pretty ugly scene tonight. I don't like that."
"Yeah, I know. You're sensitive." Hyde kissed the top of my head just as Moon turned the corner.
I heard the scuttling of feet and her muffled scream. "Moon!" I called, and tried to break away from Hyde's arm.
He pushed me away with so much force that I fell to my knees. "Stay here, Lily." To my surprise, he reached into his boot, pulled out a large knife and ran to the corner.
"The hell I will." I got up off the sidewalk and ran after him.
Moon lay on the sidewalk still and quiet, as one of the men from the bar rifled through her wallet; the other two circled Hyde, switchblades out. I didn't stop to think or reason. Instantly I launched myself at the man with the wallet, grabbed him by the waist and threw him down to the pavement. He bounced and groaned, until I kicked him in the stomach as hard as I could. His body rose up off the ground and then settled back down about a foot away and he was silent. I dropped down next to Moon, laying a hand on her shoulder.
She'd been stabbed and the blood pooled around her body. Her eyes were open and glazed over. The shells from the box had scattered around her, some covered with her blood, but still easily readable, the last fortune she'd ever cast.
Unheeding of my surroundings, I moaned in disbelief at what the caracoles had to tell.
"Lily, run!" I turned away from Moon and saw Hyde doubled over; the men were laughing and their blades dripped blood. When Hyde hit the ground they turned to me. "Lookie here," one of them said, "we got us a bonus."
I faced them, standing slowly and deliberately, and snarled. "Bonus, my ass. What you've got is trouble."
They came toward me, closing their knives and putting them back into their pockets. "We like trouble, bitch, and we like ass." One of them started to unbuckle his belt; the other smoothed back his greasy blond hair. "And we think we're really going to like yours."
"Moon was right, you know," I taunted them, "you really are nothing but fucking trash. So you want me? Hell, who am I to say no? I'll even meet you halfway."
My arm shot out and grabbed the closest one by the elbow. I snapped him around and slammed him up against the brick wall. The street seemed to echo the cracking of his bones; he twitched once and lay still. His friend took one look, turned around and ran like all the demons of Hell followed.
I let him go and went over to Hyde. He opened his eyes for a second, his teeth bared in a terrible parody of a smile. He tried to talk, I think, but what he was saying, I never knew. The words garbled up in his throat and blood trickled out of his mouth.
Then he was gone. And I was alone, totally alone, for the first time in over a century. Alone and almost as helpless as the baby Philomena rescued from the cemetery.
I smoothed back his short hair and wiped the blood from his mouth. Then, on hands and knees, I crawled over to Moon's body, ignoring the way my knees scraped against the rough concrete of the sidewalk. I held her cold hand and picked up the scattered shells, putting them one by one into my pocket, cursing the twofold message they foretold.
"The cost is great."
"The time is now."
* * *
CHAPTER FIVE
« ^ »
When the police arrived, they found me incoherent and hysterical, babbling on about wasted lives and bloody hands. They assumed I was in shock. In reality, their arrival brought me back to myself, but I continued the act. No one would expect the eyewitness of such an attack to make sense. I needed time to rehearse in my mind the story I would tell; I had, after all, killed two men, in a rather incredible manner. I had no desire to start out a new life in jail.
It soon became apparent that I wouldn't be required to tell much of a story at all. The whole event seemed self-evident to them; we'd been attacked and Hyde had killed two of the assailants before he died. I latched on to their theory and reinforced it with nods and sobs. The only other living witness was not likely to come along and set the record straight.
So, after answering their questions and making my statement, after watching them cover and carry off the bodies of the only two people I'd had in this world, I was finally free to go. It was almost dawn when they loaded me ever so gently into a police car and drove me home.
One of the men took my keys from my hand and opened the door for me. "Are you sure you'll be okay?" he asked. "I can take you somewhere else, if you like. I still think you should go to the hospital and…"
"No, thank you. I'll be fine, Officer." I turned my head away from him so he couldn't see my unnaturally dry eyes. The last thing I needed now was to be burdened with more of his assistance. "I really have no other place to go. But I will be fine, thank you." I shut the door, then leaned up against it.
Drawing in one ragged breath after another, I attempted to hold myself together. I had arrangements to make, I reminded myself; it was important for me to stay in control. And I'd been so used to my guardians dying; this was just one more to add to the list.
"But," I said aloud to the now-empty house, my voice quivering, "this was Moon. And Hyde."
Walking into the living room, I stopped in front of the shrine of her patron saint. "You had no right," I told the statue of St. Barbara, "you had no right to take her away, to take them away. They were all I had. I was all Moon had. What will she do without me? And what will I do?" I picked up the statue and thought to throw it on the floor. But just the feel of it was comforting; warm to the touch and familiar, it was part of Moon and breaking it would hurt her. Instead, I sank to my knees and cradled it like a baby, rocking back and forth, staring at the statue's face until I couldn't see it anymore. But there were no tears.
At some point in my misery I must've curled up and slept. I dreamed that Moon came and stood over me, taking the statue out of my arms and placing it back on the altar. She bent over and smoothed my hair and whispered again the words she said outside the bar door. "What will happen, will happen, my Lily child. Even you can't hold it back."
"But, Moon," I said in the dream, "if you knew this was going to happen, why didn't you try to stop it? You walked right into it."
"Hush, child." She ran the back of her hand along my cheek. "It will all work out. You'll see. It always does."
Because it was a dream and because she was with me, I was comforted and slept on.
The phone woke me. Bleary-eyed, I peered at the clock; I'd slept for about three hours, just enough to leave me miserable and craving more.
I got up off the floor and picked up the receiver. "Hello?"
"Lily?" I didn't recognize the voice. Must be a policeman, I thought.
"Speaking."
There was a pause. The man on the other end of the line cleared his throat. "This is John Shepard. Alfred's father."
"Alfred?" I shook my head. Who the hell is Alfred?
Then I remembered. Hyde. "Oh, yes, Alfred." I took a deep breath. "Oh, Mr. Shepard, I'm so very sorry."
"They said you were there? Can we talk about it?"
"Of course," I started, "there had been a disturbance earlier, you see…"
"No, not on the phone." His voice was hoarse. "The boy deserves better than that. Can I come and see you?"
"Of course." I gave him the address, asked him to give me about an hour and said good-bye.
I wandered into my bedroom, aimlessly, with absolutely no idea what to do with myself. Totally unprepared for a life alone, I could
n't bear to think of all the things I'd longed to do once on my own. And I would have given up every single one of my dreams for the sight of Moon walking in the front door.
"But it's not going to happen, Lily." I looked at myself in the mirror. "Moon is dead. Hyde is dead. Two other people you don't even know are dead. All because of her. Your mother." I spat the word and watched my eyes narrow in the mirror. "I hate her, whoever and wherever she is. But I will find her. And I will get my revenge."
Stripping off my waitressing clothes, I walked down the hall to the bathroom. I lingered in the shower longer than necessary for cleaning my body; I stood for a long time, my head pressed up against the smooth shower wall, and let the water wash over me, let the hot stream release the tensions and aches. But the water did nothing to loosen the bitter tears I knew were trapped inside, did nothing to release the hard little knot that had tied itself around my heart last night. Was it from seeing Moon and Hyde dead on the sidewalk? Or was it from finding out I could kill? And kill with precision and elation?
I searched my memories for other occasions when I'd used this sort of force, and found nothing. I had never been in a similar situation before; my caregivers had seen to that. I'd led an incredibly long but sheltered life. And I had been taught from the minute Philomena found me that aggressive physical action against others was wrong. Had she known the extent of my true powers and established this taboo early on for the protection of all? Or for my protection?
"It doesn't matter now," I said, turned off the cooling water. "They're all gone."
I heard the doorbell ring as I was toweling myself off. "Hold on a minute," I called. "I'll be right out."
I put on some clean underwear, a pair of jeans and a T-shirt. For just a second I pulled the shirt up to my nose and sniffed. Moon had always done the laundry and made sure my clothes were clean and sweet-smelling. She'd even taken to putting lavender sachets in with the clothes when she put them away. It was a comforting and soothing smell.
I stopped by the bathroom and picked up another towel, rubbing my hair with it on the way to the door. When I opened it, I was surprised to see someone other than Mr. Shepard standing there.
Vampire Legacy 04 - Blood of My Blood Page 3
