“My master has agreed to see you.” Colton pressed his lips together disapprovingly.
“Thank you.” Detective Renshaw entered the house first. Dario followed, with Helena and Penny behind him, while Logan kept up the rear. She was glad of the protection offered by the two shifters although, from what Helena had gathered from their conversations, if the vampire chose to attack, none of them would escape with their lives.
Or maybe she’d watched too many of those vampire movies for when Colton led them down a long dark hallway and into a room filled with light, the man waiting for them didn’t look scary at all.
“Oscar.” Silas acknowledged the detective briefly, before casting a curious glance over Dario and Logan. Then his pale eyes rested on Penny and Helena, and there they stayed. “I forget how long it has been since I last saw you.”
He smiled, the ghost of a smile on lips the shade of a faded rose. Helena swallowed, he was handsome, much younger than she’d expected. In her mind, she’d forgotten that vampires didn’t age. Instead of the old graying man her mind had conjured up, they were faced with a man perhaps in his mid-thirties.
“You remember us?” Penny asked.
“Of course.” His pale eyes were mesmerizing as he stepped closer. “I don’t ever forget a name or a face.” He reached out and stroked her cheek, his fingers icy cold, but there was compassion in his eyes that stole her fear.
Helena stepped back from the vampire. She needed to hold onto her fear, it would keep her safe as she stood in the vampire’s lair. “Did you take our memories?”
His lips pressed together into a thin line, but the compassion didn’t leave his eyes. “I never stole anything from you or your sister.”
“What about from our mother?” Penny stepped forward and gained the vampire’s attention, he turned around impossibly fast, his body tilted forward. Logan moved fast, putting himself between the vampire and his mate.
“Let’s just calm things down a little, shall we?” Logan put his hand up but didn’t touch the vampire’s broad chest.
“I am calm.” Silas inclined his head slightly. “I am willing to answer your questions and your accusations. But I can assure you I am not a thief. I didn’t rob you of your memories and I did not rob you of your father.”
“I was thinking more of you robbing our mother of money. She paid you to take our memories, didn’t she?” Penny asked harshly.
“She did. I am, after all, a work-for-hire kind of a guy.” His eyes narrowed, glowing a little in the dim light. “I am not a charity.”
“No, I don’t suppose you are.” Penny glanced at Helena.
“Silas, will you please tell us what happened?” Helena kept her voice calm and friendly.
“I can tell you about that night. But I am not going to unlock your memories. Your mother made me swear not to. Even if you begged me.” He sighed with sorrow and turned away. “And I never break my word.”
“Even if it means we might be able to put the pieces together and figure out who really murdered our father?” Penny asked.
“Even if the information locked in our heads might also save us from danger right now?” Helena’s question got his attention.
“Danger threatens?” Silas asked.
“Maybe. Before you tell us about the past, maybe I should tell you why we are here.” Helena hoped to sway the vampire’s decision.
“Go ahead.” He swung around and came to stand before her, two feet away from where she stood feet hip-width apart. Dario was by her side, but if the vampire chose to act, chose to rip out her throat and drink her blood, there was little he could do about it.
“I met a man, Barry Matthews. He bumped into me on the street and recognized my mom’s earrings.” Her fingers lingered on the silver in her ears.
“Someone who knew your mother?” Silas asked. “In the world beyond?”
“In the world outside of Wishing Moon Bay, yes. Until then that’s all I knew there was.” Helena swallowed down her emotions and composed herself. “He asked me on a date, he was very charming, and I liked him.”
“Your point?” Silas asked curtly.
“On the day that Penny was supposed to come and live with me, I got home to find he’d been in my apartment. Uninvited.”
“All that proves is he is not a vampire,” Silas smirked but his eyes were intently focused on Helena.
“I never made it to Helena’s apartment because I found Wishing Moon Bay instead. My car broke down and the road to town simply appeared,” Penny picked up the story.
“Ahh, so that’s how you got to town.”
“Yes, I think I was drawn here because Logan was my mate.” She stepped closer to Logan and threaded her fingers through his.
“Fate has its own mysterious ways.” Silas stalked away, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “When your mother asked me to prevent you ever knowing Wishing Moon Bay existed, I knew that I was powerless if fate stepped in.”
“I followed Penny here and saw Dario outside of town. I too then found the road through the tunnel.” Helena glanced sideways at her mate, but Dario’s gaze was fixed firmly on the vampire and the threat he offered.
“So now the two of you are here and you have found that you have history here and want to know what that history is?” Silas asked.
“No, that’s not quite the end of the story,” Helena said softly. “I went back to my apartment, we wanted to know why Barry broke in. Specifically, if there was any meaning to him breaking in on the day Penny was supposed to arrive.”
“And was there?” The vampire was deathly still.
“He came back. He told me that he was trying to get back to Wishing Moon Bay, that he’d recognized my earrings and knew my mom. He also said that the same person who killed our father killed his father.”
Silas skimmed the floor as he moved closer to Helena. “Did he?”
“Yes.”
“And you believed him? Did you bring him back with you?” Silas’s eyes were mesmerizing, it was as if he had a power over her and she could not lie.
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t trust him.” The truth was everything. It was like a compulsion, one she was powerless to fight.
“Why?”
“His eyes are cold. There’s no warmth when he talks about his father.”
“Maybe a vampire was paid to bury his thoughts, too.” Silas smiled and the spell he held over Helena broke. “But if that is true, I am not that vampire.”
“We need to know what happened to our father so that we can figure this all out. You said our mom asked you to protect us. We need you to keep that promise by giving us the one thing that can help us defend ourselves.”
“Your memories.” His jaw tightened as he surveyed Helena. “Clever.”
“This isn’t about being clever or tricking you. This is about protecting ourselves and figuring out what is happening.” She leaned toward Dario. “So that we can get on with our lives. Isn’t that what our parents would have wanted?”
“It is.” He nodded. “What your mother asked me to do was done to protect you, not to hurt you. Most people would have lived a new life outside of this town and never looked any deeper beneath the veil.”
“Yet here we are.”
“Yet here you are.” He inclined his head.
“Will you do it?”
“No.”
Chapter Twenty-Four – Dario
“No?” Dario stepped forward, letting go of Helena’s hand.
“Your hearing works fine, shifter.” The vampire’s lip curled up slightly.
“Why not?” Dario’s anger surged through him. Faced with this predator, he was ready to fight and his hands curled into fists.
Silas turned his back on the people in the room and walked away. For a moment Dario thought he was going to leave the room, leave them all standing there, but he didn’t. Instead, he stopped, his fingers rubbing his temples as he stared at a painting on the wall. “I made a promise.
”
“Whatever my mother paid you, we’ll match it.” Penny rushed forward. “If that’s what you are worried about.”
The vampire’s shoulders shook, and Dario shivered at the sound of grating laughter, as if two sheets of metal moved against each other. “You think this is about money?”
“Isn’t it?” Penny countered.
“No, it’s about giving your word to someone you liked, someone who was your friend.” He swung around to face them. “I smothered those memories, I shut them away so you would never have to take them out and look at them. So you would never know the loss and pain of those memories. So you would be safe.”
“But we’re not safe, are we?” Helena saw a chink in Silas’s resolve and went for it. “This man who knows us, knows who we are, is a threat and our memories are the ammunition we need to fight him.”
“Bring him here. Let me deal with him.” Silas ground his fist into his hand.
“No.” Detective Renshaw sprang forward and placed his hand on Silas’s arm before pulling it back. “Until we know who he is, bringing him back here is a mistake. If he was thrown out, there would be a reason. If we bring him back here and there’s trouble, that blood will be on our hands.”
“His blood would be on my hands.” Silas held out his hands to Detective Renshaw.
“What pain?” Helena asked abruptly. “You said loss and pain.”
Silas switched his cold gaze to her, and Dario fought the urge to drag her from the room. There was something distinctly dangerous about Silas.
“Helena.” The danger seemed to dissipate. “Your mother came to me two days after the death of your father. Filled with loss and pain, she set that aside when she asked me to take your memories of your father and place them behind a door. Do you know why?”
“No,” Helena admitted.
“Because she wanted to protect you. She wanted to protect you from what you saw. Even though that meant robbing her children of their memories of the man she loved. The man you all loved. By asking me to take his memories, it meant she lost him over and over again every day. She could never talk to you about birthdays when your father made special candies for each of you, candies that filled your heads with unicorns and rainbows. Instead, she left a large gaping hole, a wound, if you like, that would never heal.”
“Silas is right,” Detective Renshaw said quietly. “I was there with her. I know the pain and anguish she experienced. But she ultimately did what she thought was right for you and Penny, knowing full well the consequences.” He took a deep breath and looked at the vampire. “And I was in full agreement, even though I was the detective on the case.”
“Isn’t that like hiding evidence?” Penny asked.
“I suppose it was in a way. But Helena had endured nothing but torment in the hours and days since the murder.” He turned soft eyes on Helena, eyes filled with pity.
“We should go.” Dario stepped forward and put his hand under Helena’s arm.
“No, we came here for our memories and we aren’t leaving without them,” Helena pulled her arm away from him and he let her go. If he forced her to leave, he would be the enemy and he never wanted to go against his mate’s wishes.
But now that we know the full depth of her mom’s love, we know those memories are better off buried. His horse longed to throw his mate over his shoulders and gallop off into the night with her.
“Did I see him die?” Helena asked suddenly.
“Yes.” The vampire inclined his head, his eyes fixed on Helena’s face.
“Oh, no!” Helena covered her face with her hands. “I need to remember so we can figure out who it was.”
“You didn’t get a clear look at his face,” Detective Renshaw answered.
Penny hurried to Helena and wrapped her arms around her shoulders. “Maybe Silas is right. This is too painful.”
“What about you?” Helena sobbed. “You deserve to know who our father was. You deserve to know the good times.” She turned to Silas. “Did Penny see, too?”
“No, only Helena.” Detective Renshaw glanced at the vampire, who shook his head slightly.
“No, if you don’t remember, then I don’t want to remember either.” Penny shook her head. “That’s what hurt Mom for so long, let’s not let history repeat itself.”
“What if that’s what we are doing by not remembering?” Helena placed her hands on Penny’s upper arms and stepped away from her. “I want my memories back, all the pain, all the horror. I want to remember. Only by remembering can we use the past to prevent it from repeating.”
“Helena, are you sure?” Dario didn’t like this one bit.
“I am. I understand Mom had her reasons and it frightened the hell out of me that she wanted me to forget something so terrible that it was worth sacrificing all memories of my father over. But I’m not a child anymore. I can handle it.”
All we have to do now is convince the vampire to break his word, Dario’s horse said drily.
Everyone has a price. We just have to figure out what it is. Dario’s jaw tightened. If only he’d earned more money instead of traveling the world. Then he’d have something to offer a vampire.
“What’s it going to cost?” Dario asked bitterly. “What is your price, vampire?”
A smile crept across Silas’s face. “I’m not your enemy, son.”
“And I’m not your son.” But he sure did sound like a petulant child.
Remember, Silas might look ten years younger than us, but he’s probably a century or two older. The guy’s been around the block a few times.
Maybe too many times, Dario answered.
Are we seriously thinking about taking him on in a fight? His horse didn’t sound confident. And he was right, there was no way they could take down this vampire alone.
However, there was something about him that made Dario want to smash his good-looking face in.
You see him as a threat. And he is a threat but not to our relationship with Helena, his horse told him calmly.
What if Silas messed with Helena’s head when he unlocks the memories of her father and dumps her memories of us in a locked room instead.
The mating bond would break down any barrier a vampire put up between two mates, his horse said confidently.
“Okay, enough testosterone-filled sparring,” Helena put herself between them. “What will it take for you to unlock our memories?”
“I told you, I don’t break my promises.” Silas’s resolute expression said there were some things money couldn’t buy. Penny and Helena’s memories might be one of those things.
“There has to be something. Perhaps if you repaid what our mom gave you?” Penny suggested.
“And we could pay you instead.” Helena dug in her purse for her wallet. “There has to be some deal to be made here.”
“You should consider this carefully. Consider your mom’s decision.” Silas spoke deathly quiet and silence fell over the room.
Helena moved first, she strode up to the vampire and opened her wallet. “I need to know. Penny has a son to protect and the only way we can do that is if we know what happened. Because I’m certain Barry, the guy who broke into my apartment, believes one of us knows something.”
“Impossible,” Silas replied.
“Why, because you messed with everyone else’s head? Is that why people in Wishing Moon Bay also forgot who we were?” Penny asked. “Daisy at the library, Jeremy, who else has no idea that Oliver and Amanda Olsen had two daughters?”
“I’m not that powerful,” Silas chuckled. “Daisy is forgetful, and Jeremy was too young.”
Helena let out a long sigh. “So it’s just us that you glamored?”
“In this case, yes.” Silas nodded and thrust his hand into his pocket. “Here, this is the payment your mom gave me.” He held out a small golden stone.
“That’s it?” Penny picked up the stone. “A wishing stone.”
“It was her wish that you forget,” Silas replied kindly. “But it se
ems I didn’t make her wish come true.”
“What was her wish?” Helena asked softly.
“That her daughters would forget all the bad things that happened that day. That they wouldn’t know the sorrow of the loss of a parent. That without the knowledge of what happened or who their father was that they would be happy and not consumed by asking questions and seeking answers.”
“Mom was consumed by fear and grief.” Penny turned the stone over in her hand.
“She was. But she knew the risks,” Silas replied. “I tried to talk her out of it. But when she explained her reasons, they were sound. She was scared that if you came here looking for answers then whoever killed your father would go after the one witness to the crime.”
“Helena.” For a moment, Penny looked as if she might change her mind.
“I need to know. We need to know.” Helena took hold of Penny’s hand and they walked forward, standing in front of the vampire.
Logan closed in from the right and Dario moved to stand at Helena’s left shoulder. They both knew there was no chance of preventing the vampire from hurting their mates but they both knew they would try. And fight to the death if necessary.
“What’s this going to cost?” Helena asked.
“You are asking me to break my word, to go back on a promise I made.” He took a moment to look at the four people in front of him. “To break that promise, I ask a promise of each of you.”
“What promise?” Dario’s suspicions rose.
“I don’t know. Yet.” Silas tilted his head to one side and studied the horse shifter. “Would you do that? Make a promise, like a blank check, for your mate.”
“Yes.” Dario answered without hesitation.
Helena swung around to face him. “No, that’s not fair.”
“None of this is fair,” Logan said. “But I’d make that promise, too.”
“Ladies? Are you as brave as the men who love you?” The bemused expression on Silas’s face confirmed Dario’s suspicions.
The vampire is playing with us, his horse agreed.
Or testing us, Dario answered.
The Horse Shifter's Mate: A Wishing Moon Bay Shifter Romance (The Bond of Brothers Book 2) Page 18
