by Holly Kelly
Becca narrowed her eyes and stuck out her tongue. “Very funny.” She raised her eyebrows. “Hey, did you get a haircut?”
“Nope.”
“Hmm.” She looked him over. “You look different.”
He shrugged. “It’s just the same old me.”
He turned to Fae, his expression warm. “You look beautiful.”
Fae’s cheeks burned when she said, “Thanks.”
“You ready to go?” he asked.
“Yes,” Fae said, and then she looked over to Becca. “Why don’t you come with us?”
“Oh, no, no!” She looked horrified. “This is your night. I’d just be a fifth wheel.” A cough rose in her throat, leading into a serious coughing jag.
“You okay?” Nick stepped up to her and brushed the hair from Becca’s face.
“I’m fine,” Becca said, recovering. “I just need a drink of water. Mrs. Anchovy can get it for me. You two need to get going.”
Nick looked conflicted. His eyes darted from Becca to Fae, and then back to his sister. “Okay, but if you need me, you’d better call.”
“I will.”
“Becca.” he said, his eyes fixed on hers.
“I said I will. Now hurry up, you’ve got people waiting for you.”
* * * * *
Fae had her arm through Nick’s as she walked down a dark path along a stone wall of the Castillo de San Markos—a fortress that resembled a stone castle. Morgan’s high heels knocked against the pavement just behind them. Fae made a quick glance back. Morgan had her date in a death grip. If Morgan didn’t want to be scared out of her mind, she shouldn’t have suggested they take the St. Augustine Ghost Tour.
Actually, Morgan probably knew exactly what she was doing. This tour provided the perfect excuse to get cozy with Mason. Morgan’s date was a polar opposite of her. He hadn’t spoken two words, and from the looks of it, a smiled hadn’t cracked his face in a very long time. What did Morgan see in this guy? Probably his muscle-build. It was pretty darn impressive—and that was seeing it through a t-shirt. He was even more muscular than Nick—though he didn’t have Nick’s height.
“And over here on the other side of this wall is a secret room.” The tour guide stopped and pointed to a wall that looked identical to the others they’d walked by. “It was discovered nearly two hundred years ago. A man named Lieutenant Tuttle had been studying the architecture of the building when he discovered an area had been closed off. He removed a brick from a wall adjacent to that spot and the unlikely scent of perfume hit him. Peering through the hole, he found a space with no entrances and no exits. He removed more bricks to gain access and found a hidden room. Inside that room hung two skeletons chained to the wall—a man and a woman. Come to find out, these skeletons may have been the key to solving a mystery. Fifty years before, a Spanish general, General Marti, moved here with his young wife, Dolores. She was a beauty who always looked and smelled her best—wearing tasteful clothes and generous amounts of expensive perfume.
“General Marti had a man under his command named Captain Abela—a young and handsome soldier. General Marti was a busy man and didn’t spend much time with his outgoing bride, and she must have felt neglected. Dolores spent time socializing with the soldiers and their wives and seemed to take a liking to Captain Abela.
“On one occasion, the general called a meeting in which Captain Abela attended. The general couldn’t help but notice a distinct aroma coming from the Captain—his wife’s perfume. Soon after this, both Captain Abela and Dolores abruptly left the country, never to return. The general claimed his wife had taken ill and went to be nursed back to health by a distant relative and Captain Abela had been sent on a special mission to Cuba. Fifty years later, the evidence pointed to a different fate for the supposed lovers—the two skeletons chained to the walls as retribution for their adulterous acts.”
Fae turned to Nick and whispered, “Didn’t they have divorce back then?”
Nick nodded his head. “Yes, but it was uncommon. And what’s worse, the general couldn’t have built out a hidden room on his own. He probably had help from his soldiers who were in on the crime.”
Morgan whispered, “I’m really glad things like that don’t happen today.”
Nick looked at her, his eyes wide in surprise. “No. We just have girls murdered and left in dorm room closets.”
Morgan’s expression soured. “Yeah, I guess things haven’t changed that much after all.”
“One interesting note,” the guide continued, “this entire structure is made of limestone. Does anyone know the significance of that?”
An eager young woman raised her hand. “Limestone magnifies paranormal energy.”
“Very good.” The guide smiled. “So, if you watch carefully, you just might catch a glimpse of the ghostly couple.”
Chills broke out across Fae’s skin when she noticed one of the other members of the tour—an older man with gray hair—watching her. He had a hefty, black backpack slung over his shoulder. He didn’t appear to be with anyone.
Fae tried to ignore the strange man as the tour continued. A half an hour later, Fae began to get spooked. She felt as if something more than just the stranger watched her. If she’d believed in ghosts, she would have sworn it was a spirit.
This tour was going to her head.
Shouts caught Fae’s attention. She turned to see a cloud of mist billowing toward her. Nick’s arms came around her as he guided her away. “Hold your breath,” he snapped.
She’s only just gasped in a deep breath when someone shoved her hard from the side. Nick went down first and she soon followed, landing on top of his chest. With a grunt, she took another breath and inhaled an unusually sweet scent that turned her stomach. Someone was shouting, but it sounded far away—and it grew fainter by the second.
Chapter 14
Drip, drip, drip…
Fae smacked her lips.
They were so very dry.
Drip, drip, drip…
Taking a deep breath, she coughed. Pain shot through her wrists. She couldn’t feel her fingers. Flexing her hands, she tried to get the circulation moving. She scooted back to relieve the pressure on her wrists and shivered at the cold washing over her legs and backside. Was she sitting in a puddle of water?
Where was she?
Peeling her eyes open, she shrieked. A face hovered just inches from her own.
“Are you really awake this time?” the stranger said. “Or am I still General Martin?” He chuckled. No, he wasn’t a stranger; he was the man from the tour group, the one who had been watching her. His eyes narrowed, wrinkles sprouting from the creases in his leathery face.
“Who are you?” she asked. Fae blinked as her awareness increased. Cold stones pressed against her back, her wrists were shackled above her head, and she was sitting in about an inch of water with darkness enveloping the air around her.
“Where’s Nick?” her voice rasped.
“That’s the FBI agent you were with, right?” A smile cracked his face. This man was tall and bony, with white hair cut military style.
She pressed her lips together and glared.
“He’s probably waking up in a hospital right about now.”
Fae’s eyes widened.
“Oh, don’t worry about your precious bodyguard. He’s fine. Just shaking off the effects of halothane—along with all the others from our tour group. I, on the other hand, happened to be lucky enough to bring along a gas mask.”
“Who are you? Why did you bring me here?”
“My name is Lafayette, and this, my dear, is your new home. Get used to it. You’ll be here a long, long time.”
“Why? What did I ever do to you? I’ve never even met you before tonight.”
“Ah, now that’s where you’re wrong. We met once before. Many years ago.” He rose and paced in front of her, his feet sloshing in the water as he spoke. “The day you were born, actually.”
Fae’s eyes flew open wide. “My mother wa
s murdered the day I was born.”
Lafayette stopped and raised his hands. “Hey, that wasn’t me.”
Fae frowned and then glanced around the room—trying to see through the oppressive darkness. The only light came from the Lafayette’s cell phone, clipped to his pocket.
“I’ll admit your mother had it coming,” he continued. “I mean, she was actually in the Fountain of Youth. Talk about desecrating a sacred place! There was a time we would have hung her by her own intestines for such an act. She’s lucky she didn’t have to suffer. But then you were born,” he stopped pacing and faced her, “right there in the waters of the Fountain.”
“So, what?” Fae asked, doubt heavy in her tone. “Did it turn me younger? How much younger could I get, I was a newborn.”
“It didn’t make you younger—though you won’t age past twenty-two. No, what it did to you was something much more significant. You are the Fountain of Youth.”
“You’re crazy. That doesn’t make…sense…” Fae’s voice trailed off as a thought came to her. “That girl in the closet. You were the one who killed her and drained her blood.” She blew out a nervous breath as fear clenched her chest. “You really believe what you say.”
“I acted rashly,” he said. “She made me angry, and I was desperate. I’m not proud of what I did.”
Fae breathed, slightly relieved. Perhaps he had a trace of a conscience. After all, he did regret murdering that girl.
“I mean, if that had been you,” he continued, “I would have had a thousand years at the most. Luckily, it wasn’t. Though when I drank her blood and didn’t regain my youth, I must say I was disappointed. But I soon realized I had a second chance.”
“You don’t regret that you killed an innocent girl?”
He scrunched his eyebrows. “Why should I? She means nothing to me.”
“She means something to someone. Her mother, father—”
“Not my problem,” he interrupted as he continued to pace. “What I would have regretted was killing you. But, I calmed down, and this time I stuck to my plan. Now I’ll have you for…well, forever. With your blood, I’ll never have to die.” He stepped forward and knelt down beside her. “And now it’s time for me to get what I came for.” He pulled out a knife, the steel glinting from the cell phone light. With the knife clutched in his trembling hand, Lafayette lifted it.
“Look.” He cracked a smile. “I’m so nervous, I’m shaking.”
Fae quickly pulled her leg back and kicked out as hard as she could. Lafayette went flying and landed with a thud against the stone floor.
He gasped as he struggled to his feet. When he finally caught his breath, he cursed. “You think you can stop me?” The anger in his voice reverberated off the walls. “I’ve killed two other women just this week. If I have to, I’ll kill you too. Do you want that?”
Fae glared back at him. He moved in. She kicked again, and pain exploded in her foot. Her scream echoed off the walls of the dungeon. Looking down, she could see the point of his knife coming out of the top of her foot.
“It’s no use fighting me, Fae,” he said calmly.
Fae huffed as she tried to get on top of the pain—it was excruciating! Still, she couldn’t let it stop her.
“Brigitte taught you to fight, didn’t she?” he asked, gaining her attention. “I need to let you in on a secret. I taught Brigitte, and she was a complete disappointment. Definitely not a natural-born fighter.”
“You were a guard?” Fae’s heart pounded.
He nodded as he stepped forward and jerked the knife from her foot. She screamed. The pain ten times worse coming out as it did going in.
“I still am a guard. Which is why I’m here with you. I’m the last.”
Fae breathed, her body shaking. “Brigitte is a guard,” she said.
“Not anymore.”
Fae blinked, and then her eyes widened. “What do you mean?”
“You can’t be a guard if you’re dead.”
Her chest tightened. “That’s impossible. She’s in jail.”
“You wouldn’t believe how little it took to bribe the cook—just a case of cigarettes. Wolf’s bane works fast and looks like natural causes.”
She shook her head in denial. He had to be lying! But even as she thought it, she knew he was telling the truth. Despair overwhelmed her. Darkness seeped into her vision as she sobbed. She was about to lose consciousness.
No! She couldn’t afford to. Focusing on her breathing, she tried to will the pain and anguish to go away. Brigitte may be gone, but that didn’t mean Fae was ready to die too.
Lafayette moved in closer, the bloody knife raised.
Fae wanted to fight back, but she knew it was futile. She needed to stay alive long enough for Nick to find her. He had to find her. It’s what he did. It’s what he excelled at.
“Please don’t—” Fae said when she could feel the steel against the side of her neck. She gasped as she felt a slash of pain and then whimpered, terrified at the warmth dripping down her neck.
Lafayette cringed for a moment. “Sorry, that’s a bit deep.” He leaned forward, and she could smell his sour breath and body odor.
“No.” She tried to move away from him.
He grabbed her shoulders firmly. “This’ll only take a minute.” His cold, dry lips pressed against her neck, and he began to suck on the wound. When he swallowed, her stomach took a turn.
This crusty old man was drinking her blood! She tried to buck him off her, but he held her shoulders tightly, digging his fingers painfully into her. He pulled her closer, slurping the blood. She could feel it flowing from deep inside, and she could feel her energy leave her. The more she struggled, the tighter his grip became. She felt her strength wane even as his hold on her increased.
“Please, stop,” she begged. He didn’t hesitate or even acknowledge he’d heard her.
“Please,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. Feeling so weak, a whisper was all she could muster. “You’re killing me.”
He didn’t stop drinking from her; in fact, he drank more vigorously. He sucked hard on her neck, drawing the blood out faster and faster as his grip grew tighter and tighter. Spots of light swam in her vision. She was losing too much blood.
Out of the darkness, notes chimed out. It had to be from his cell phone. Lafayette froze. He was shaking hard when he finally pushed her away, his wide eyes fixed on her throat. Her blood was dripping from his mouth and staining his teeth red, but that was not even close to the most shocking thing Fae saw.
This man was young—every bit as young as she was!
His face was handsome, too, but his eyes were wild with thirst. Fae didn’t believe in vampires, but this guy looked like he was experiencing blood lust as strong as any fictional vampire she’d read about.
“I’ve got to…” his eyes looked away and landed on the phone on his belt. He swore under his breath. He pulled the phone out and must have swiped it off because he replaced it on his belt without answering the call.
The veins stood out on his neck as he seemed to be having an internal struggle. He muttered a curse. “I almost forgot. The herbs.” He pulled a small muslin bag from a pack by the wall and dumped what appeared to be dried leaves into his mouth. His expression soured as he sucked on the powdery substance. He visibly relaxed, and then grabbed a water bottle from the pack and drank half of it.
He lowered the water and said, “Red clover and burdock root—the only sure way to completely neutralize the blood lust.” Lafayette coughed and drank the rest of the water down, and then wiped away the water mixed with blood and herbs off his mouth. “You know, I’d read about how insanely strong the compulsion is. But imagining it doesn’t even come close. I swear I’ve never tasted anything better or gotten a bigger rush. I wonder if this is where the legend of vampires comes from. Drinking blood, living forever…I guess I am a bloody vampire.” He chuckled.
He raised his hands to inspect them. They were definitely not the hands of
an old man.
“It worked,” he shouted with a smile on his face. He pulled out a pocket mirror and studied his reflection. Shaking his head, he said, “I forgot how devilishly handsome I was.”
He raised his eyebrows as he looked at her and corrected himself. “Am. Well, my dear,” he said, “this is where we say goodbye—until I need to drink again. Now that I don’t have to conserve the blood, I’ll give it ten years.”
“You don’t…” Fae said in a weak voice. She felt like a half-drowned kitten. She could still feel the blood flowing down her neck. “You don’t really plan on keeping me here, do you? Even you aren’t that cruel.”
“You don’t have any idea how cruel I can be, Fontaine.” The cold look in his eyes terrified her more than anything else that had happened this evening. He looked away and shrugged. “Besides, this is the perfect spot. A constant flow of water to keep you from drying out, and this dungeon hasn’t been opened in two hundred years, so I have no fear of you being rescued any time soon. I’ll keep an eye on the place, just in case someone decides to do some archeological exploring, or the underwater spring decides to take a different course. Who knows, I may have to move you a hundred years from now. But we’ll worry about that when the time comes.”
“I’ll bleed to death…or starve,” Fae said. Her chest tightened so severely, she was having a hard time taking a breath.
“Not so, my dear. Your blood may not clot, but your wounds will heal. From what I understand, you heal very fast. You’ll be fine. As for starving…sure, you’ll be hungry, but give it a week, and you’ll be asleep.”
“Asleep?”
“Yeah.” He nodded. “A sort of hibernation. Sleeping and ageless.”
He knelt beside Fae, his coppery breath brushing over her face. His teeth were now white as he smiled. His youthful, boyish appearance was at odds with what he planned to do with her. She would end up another skeleton in this dungeon.
“Nick will find me.” She said the words as much for herself as Lafayette. “You won’t get away with this.”
