Taylor forgot about the chill. “What are you now?”
“Something in between vampire and human,” he admitted. Speaking without hesitation, he told her the story of how Winter had healed him after being staked through the heart. Because Winter had not known he was a vampire, she had “healed” everything she thought was wrong in him, and turned him into something not quite human or vampire.
“Winter described it once,” Sebastian said. “She said she could figure out no other way to remove the blackness but to take it into herself. So now Winter is a bit vampire, and I’m a bit human.”
Taylor glanced at his eyes. “And you both have the same eyes.”
“She stole mine,” Sebastian said, with a grin. “Although they look better on her.”
“Taylor,” Winter said from the kitchen door.
Taylor almost levitated over to the kitchen. “Alannah…?”
Winter nodded. “She’ll wake in a few hours, with a bitch of a headache and some bad memories…although I could remove those, if you want?”
Taylor shook her head. “No, we need to know what she remembers, to figure out why this happened. Can I see her?”
Winter stood aside. “She’s fine, Taylor. In medical terms it is as if nothing happened to her. Mentally, though, she may have some post trauma issues.”
Taylor moved into the kitchen.
“Your kids are tough and well adjusted, though,” Winter said, behind her. “She may not have any issues at all.”
Brody still looked as though he was in shock. He glanced up at Taylor as she came over to the table. His gaze slithered away, back to his daughter. He was holding her hand.
Taylor smoothed Alannah’s hair and studied the temple which had been bloody and mashed. Traces of blood lingered, although the scoring and the impact bruise were gone. A cloth would wipe away the blood and Alannah’s face would appear as it always did.
Ever the color in her face was normal. She looked as if she was sleeping.
Winter rested her fingers against Alannah’s neck. “Simple, deep REM,” she said softly.
As if to confirm it, Alannah gave out a soft, barely-there snore.
Taylor drew in a breath which shuddered and paused, trying to let go of the stress once more. “You have a lovely gift, Winter. Thank you.”
“Yes,” Brody said. “Thank god you were here. Veris is good, but…”
“Head traumas are the last frontier for the medical profession,” Winter said. “As good as I suspect Veris to be, even he might not have been able to save Alannah from months of recovery, therapy and a severely limited life while suffering through it.” Winter smiled. “I’m glad I was here, too.” She hesitated. “I wonder, would it be possible to have something to eat? Afterwards, I can get lightheaded and it’s not something I can fix for myself, as it’s a lack of calories which causes it.” She sounded apologetic.
“You can eat the entire larder if you want,” Taylor told her warmly. “Sugar would help fastest, wouldn’t it? We have some figs and apples.”
“That would be perfect,” Winter said, sounding relieved.
Brody’s chair scraped the tiles as he got to his feet. “I’ll take Alannah up to her room.”
“Does someone need to stay with her?” Taylor asked Winter as Brody lifted Alannah up into his arms.
Alannah stirred and murmured, then dropped her head onto her father’s shoulder. Brody’s expression was almost painfully vulnerable as he looked down at her.
Winter shook her head. “There’s nothing wrong with her. That’s what I meant. It is as if this didn’t happen at all, medically speaking. I returned everything to the way it should be. She will sleep deeply, then she’ll wake and nothing will have changed for her, except the memory of what happened.”
“Good,” Brody muttered. “If you’ll excuse me, Winter…?”
Winter stepped aside.
Brody carried Alannah out of the room.
Taylor retrieved the fruit from the pantry which had not been scattered over the floor by Aran’s hasty swipe of the table and set about cutting it into bite-sized pieces for Winter. She put the kettle on. “Coffee?”
“Tea, if you have it,” Winter said. She picked up the fruit on the floor, which had rolled into the corners and edges, and put it in the sink to be washed. “I don’t know anything about Martha’s Vineyard,” she admitted. “Will it take them long to quarter the island?”
“Not the way Veris was driving,” Taylor told her. “If he gets a whiff of the man, though, he won’t stop.”
“I don’t think Nial will try hard to stop him, either,” Winter admitted. She paused from wiping the table down. “Nial likes you.”
“Me?”
“All of you. He’s not a demonstrative man, though. He won’t tell you that.”
Taylor finished the simple meal with a box of ginger cookies, which she’d heard went well with tea. She settled the plates and cup in front of Winter at the newly laid table. She sat with her.
As Winter ate, they talked sporadically. Sebastian came and sat with them and stole the cookies, so Taylor put more out, and pieces of a fruitcake which Marit had made with locally grown ingredients.
When they had finished eating, Taylor said, “I can take you back to your world now, if you want. It might let you get on with things. When Nial returns, I’ll bring him back, too. I don’t know how long they’ll be. I have no information—I can’t even begin to guess.”
Winter and Sebastian exchanged looks. “We can certainly get out of your way,” Winter said. “Although we may be of some help…depending on what you learn.”
Taylor shook her head. “It would please me to ask you to stay, only this is what Veris means about not corrupting your timeline. If you were to stay and help, to get mixed up in our affairs, then I don’t know what it would do to either of our timelines. I’m already afraid of what the consequences might be because you helped Alannah, Winter. I keep telling myself it makes no difference, because Veris would have treated her and she would have pulled through anyway, only…” She swallowed. “Do you see?”
Sebastian got to his feet. “I do see,” he said gently. He rested his hand on Winter’s shoulder. “We should go.”
Taylor rose, too. “I actually want you to stay,” she admitted candidly. “You are comfortable people to have around. You understand…this life.”
Winter squeezed her hand. “We understand everything, including why you want us to go back.”
Taylor held out her arms. “Then let me take you home.”
When she heard the Maserati burble its way along the drive and the garage door open, Taylor got to her feet. It was almost completely dark in the sunroom. Marit was reading from her cellphone screen and didn’t need the light. They were the only two people in the room.
The garage door cranked shut again. The side door opened and Veris and Nial emerged.
Aran slithered down the stairs two and three at a time to stand in the middle of the room, too. “Put the light on, sis,” he told Marit. “I can’t see a bloody thing.”
Marit looked up from her phone. “I hadn’t noticed it get so dark,” she said as she switched on the floor lamp beside her. She blinked. “Wow.”
Nial and Veris came inside.
“Alannah?” Veris asked quickly.
“She’s fine.” Taylor smiled at Nial. “Thanks to Winter.”
Veris drew in a breath and let it out.
“Anything?” Taylor asked.
“Not a single trace of anything interesting at all,” Veris said, his tone disgusted. “I would say it was a random piece of violence, only we don’t get random on the island.” He threw the Maserati keys on the coffee table.
“Did you report it to the police?” Brody asked, from the bottom of the stairs.
Taylor jumped. She had been so intent on hearing Veris’ answer, she hadn’t noticed anything else.
Brody looked like hell. It was the first time he had emerged from Alannah’s room since he had
taken her up there. Strain showed about his eyes. He would have to feed soon—Taylor recognized the subtle signals.
She wondered if he was straining his symbiot as Sebastian had explained to her. Not a spike of overwhelming pressure, but a lower-grade, deep tension. Now was not the time to ask him, though.
Brody stepped down into the room and moved over to the coffee table and picked up the car keys and pocketed them. He turned to Nial. “Could I have a word with you outside for a minute?”
Nial glanced over his shoulder. His blue eyes met Taylor’s. Then his gaze shifted back to Brody. “Of course,” he said, his tone neutral.
The two of them moved out onto the flagstones, walking close together, for Brody was already talking. Nial glanced at him once or twice as they continued to move toward the garage.
Then they stepped into the garage.
Thirty seconds later, Brody re-emerged.
Taylor caught Veris’ glance at her. He wasn’t showing it, yet she knew he was puzzled.
Brody shut the door and stood with his back to it. “Marit, you and Aran need to jump to Granada. Spend some time with Aunt Sydney.”
Marit looked startled. “Now? It’s long past midnight over there…”
“Now,” Brody said grimly. “I need an hour. Then you can come back.”
Aran didn’t move. “Athair, I want to stay. It’s my sister up there.”
Brody motioned to him to move closer. When Aran was close enough, Brody hugged him and kissed his cheek. “You’re a good boy and you’ll be better man, but for now I need you to scram, okay?”
Aran pouted. Marit caught his arm. “Let me steer,” she said.
“You always—” Aran began, as Marit flexed her knees. They were suddenly gone, leaving Taylor and Veris alone with Brody.
Veris crossed his arms. “You’ve cleared the room, Brody. Now you’d better explain why.”
Brody stood with his hands by his sides. “I thought about leaving a note, then I figured you wouldn’t believe me. I knew I had to look you in the eyes for this.”
“For what?” Taylor whispered. The tension was back in her chest. Her heart was in her throat. She could feel the pressure in her head.
Fear, a tiny voice whispered in her mind.
Brody didn’t look at her. He watched Veris. “I’m leaving.”
“Clearly,” Veris said. “You picked up the keys.”
Brody shook his head. “I’m leaving you.”
Chapter Five
Taylor gasped…or she thought she did, only the pounding in her head wouldn’t let her hear anything properly. Yet she had heard Brody just fine. Perfectly, in fact.
Veris, though, didn’t move. His eyes narrowed. “For how long?” he demanded.
Brody shook his head again. “No, this is not one of my breaks. This is actually the end, Veris. I’m done. I can’t do this for a single day more.”
Taylor moved toward him. It took supreme effort and her steps were tottering. “How can you say that?”
Brody glanced at her. “I don’t want to drag this out. I don’t want you to think—either of you—that there is any room for negotiation or compromise.”
Taylor put her hand to her throat. “Brody…”
Veris shifted on his feet, a few inches only, to glance out the glass doors, toward the garage. “You’re going with Nial.” It wasn’t a question.
Taylor drew in a breath which shuddered as the awful truth registered. Brody’s obsession with Nial. The constant visits. The way he had stopped jumping with her on the exploration visits to other worlds.
Brody reached for the lock of hair which had once hung at the back of his neck, to push it over his shoulder, only it wasn’t there anymore. He pushed his hand through his hair instead. “Not that it has anything to do with this, but yes, I’m going away with Nial,” he told Veris.
Nial’s look at her, when Brody had asked to speak to him outside. Now she recognized the expression in his eyes. Surprise…and wariness.
Veris stood silently for a long, long time, his gaze on Brody.
Taylor willed Veris to find the words which would fix this, which would make Brody take back the horrible thing he had said. They had been together too long for it to be over in this minimalist, scalpel-sharp way.
Then she saw Veris’ eyes were glittering. Tears, she cataloged.
Terror swamped her.
“Your children…” Veris breathed. “Our children.”
“They’re not kids anymore,” Brody said. “They don’t need me.”
“You’re over-reacting to what happened to Alannah,” Veris said roughly. “You feel responsible. So do I. This won’t fix it, Brody.”
Brody shook his head. “No. You don’t understand. What happened with Alannah just stepped up my plans. Living with you, Veris…it’s taxing. People get hurt around you. They always have.”
Veris flinched. “I love you,” he told Brody, his voice hoarse, barely there. “When you are done with him, I will be waiting. No questions. No conditions. Just come back, when you have had your fill.”
Brody took a deep, deep breath. “I love Nial, Veris. I don’t love you anymore.” His gaze flickered toward Taylor. “Either of you. He is all I need.”
Taylor moaned. Her knees buckled. She sank to the floor and barely propped herself up on her hands. She watched Brody move toward the door.
Veris didn’t stop him. He watched until Brody stepped out and shut the door quietly behind him, then he dropped into the chair closest to him.
He trembled.
That was when Taylor knew this was real.
When the Maserati roared out of the garage and along the curving drive, when the tail light flashed as Brody braked and turned into the street, when the red, sleek bullet shot past the house, heading for Edgartown, when the car had finally disappeared, that was when she screamed.
Chapter Six
Taylor stayed in the chair where Veris put her when he picked her up off the floor. She stayed there for three days. There was no need to move. She didn’t need to feed. Every sense she had was offline, including her vampiric ones.
Veris didn’t move from his chair, either, once he had placed her in hers. They sat on opposite sides of the room, processing nothing.
Marit and Aran returned an hour later and asked questions. Taylor couldn’t speak. Veris didn’t answer.
They went away.
Marit returned a few hours later. “Mom, should I get Aunt Sydney?”
Taylor at last found her voice. “She can’t help.”
Veris let out a shuddering breath.
“Where’s Athair?” Marit asked. “We’re worried.”
An internal wailing set up inside her, covering the pitch black hole inside her. It enabled Taylor to stir enough to look at Marit. “Brody has gone away…for a while.”
Marit looked from her to Veris. “Have you guys had an argument?” she asked, sounding awed and frightened and disbelieving, all in one.
“Yes,” Veris said. His tone was remote. “An argument.”
Marit went away.
It was daylight when Sydney crouched in front of Taylor’s chair and looked up at her, her hand on the arm of the chair. “Taylor, honey, I’m taking Aran and Alannah and Marit back to Spain with me, okay?”
Taylor didn’t move. “Okay,” she breathed.
“Alannah is fine. She woke an hour ago.”
“Okay.”
Sydney patted her hand. “Come see me when you need to talk.”
“Okay.”
Sydney rose and went away.
Silence.
Gradually, thought returned. It reinserted itself into Taylor’s mind, even though she didn’t want to think. She didn’t want to have to deal with the pain. As long as she refused to think, the memory wouldn’t come back and the pain would stay away.
The thoughts trickled in, a bit at a time.
How long could she sit here and not move? She healed instantly, so even bedsores were not a consideration
.
So she would stay here.
Only the thoughts wouldn’t halt. They buffeted her. Prodded her. Until finally, Taylor rose to her feet.
It hurt to move. Movement itself would restore function, though. She made herself cross the room to where Veris was sitting. He was staring at the fireplace, which was set for a fire, only no one had lit it.
Then Taylor remembered. There was no one here.
It was fully dark and from the lack of sounds outside and the lack of lights from neighbors’ houses, she judged it was late. Or early.
Not that it mattered.
Taylor picked up Veris’ hand, which laid with lifeless stillness on the arm of the chair. It was heavy. She tugged.
Veris didn’t move.
Taylor was much stronger as a vampire than she had been as a human. She dug her heels in and hauled.
Veris shifted in the chair, although he didn’t rise. He looked at her, instead.
“Get up,” she told him. Her voice was croaky with lack of use.
“Why?” His voice was no better.
“Because I need your help.”
“For what?” His tone was disinterested. Yet he was responding.
“I want to see Winter and Sebastian. I want to talk to them. I want to know what happened on their side.”
He didn’t move. His gaze stayed on her face. Taylor could see his thoughts moving. Life returned to his eyes. “So do I,” he said.
This time, when she tugged, he rose to his feet.
It was only as she climbed to the second floor that Taylor took stock of her physical condition. The gaberdine trousers were grimy, with dirt on the knees from where she had kneeled on the dirty driveway to check Alannah. That event felt as though it had happened a small ice-age ago. There were deep wrinkles in the gaberdine.
Vampires didn’t sweat, so she had no body odor. Vampires had sensitive olfactory senses, though. With no body odor to mask other scents, she could smell the scents she had picked up on her clothing and skin just from moving through her day. Food smells were the strongest, and the acrid scent of burnt sugar.
Toffee.
Taylor leaned her head against the corridor wall, as weakness washed over her.
Kiss Across Tomorrow (Kiss Across Time Book 8) Page 5
