Kiss Across Tomorrow (Kiss Across Time Book 8)

by Tracy Cooper-Posey

  Marit smiled. “I love you!” She hurried away.

  Veris let her go and shifted on the bench so he looked at her. His blue eyes were calm. “Tell me.”

  Taylor hesitated.

  His eyes narrowed. “Maybe you’d better jump straight to the punch line, Taylor. I can take it.”

  “It’s just…I don’t want this to hurt you, because that’s not what it’s about.”

  Veris didn’t move. His expression didn’t change. The fine hairs on the back of Taylor’s neck lifted and a cold finger ran up her spine, making her shiver. Veris’ instincts had kicked into gear. He was a wary fighter, looking for an unseen enemy. “Something about Brody,” he said. His voice was expressionless. Flat.

  It was too late to be coy. She didn’t have time to pick her words. “I want to go back to Winter and Sebastian’s apartment, in their world. I want to see if they’re there now. I want to find out what they know about Brody and Nial. And I want you to come with me.”

  He shifted a little. Away from her.

  Taylor’s heart shot into the stratosphere, moving from dormant to overworked instantly.

  “Aran and Alannah did this, didn’t they?” he breathed. “You’ve been quiet since then. Now you want to prove to them—”

  “No, it’s not for them,” Taylor said, cutting him off. “This is for me. And for you, too, although I can already see you’re resisting the idea. I have to do something, Veris. Brody has covered his tracks so well, going to see Winter and Sebastian is the only thing I can do. I don’t think I could live with myself if I don’t at least try.”

  “You did try. For weeks.” His voice was still ice cold with control.

  “But I stopped!” She gripped the table. The wood flexed under her hands. Too tight. Back off. She made her fingers loosen, when she really wanted to squeeze the wood into pulp. “I shouldn’t have stopped. Alannah was right about that. We shouldn’t have stopped looking.”

  “And if you find him, then what?” Veris asked, his voice low. “You’ll beg him to come back?”

  Taylor shook her head. “No! He made himself clear. I want to…to tell him he shouldn’t be afraid to come and see the twins and Marit. That he can’t cut them off like this.”

  “He’ll refuse,” Veris said flatly.

  “How can you know that?”

  “Because it is what I would do, if it were me.”

  Taylor stared at him. “No,” she whispered.

  “Yes,” Veris said. “I would be terrified that if I didn’t make a complete break, if I saw you again, I would be in danger of doubting my decision.” He shook his head. “I know I would doubt. I would question myself. The questioning would make it easier to come back more times, then feel comfortable around you once more. That’s when I’d know I’d fucked myself so royally that even though I was back to wanting you, I could never have you again, not the way I did once.”

  Taylor pressed her hand to her throat. “You think Brody regrets leaving?”

  Veris sighed. “Of course he does. He’s Brody. He agonizes. He second-guesses. He’s so empathetic I guarantee he spent days running through his head all the ways he would destroy us when he told us about Nial and hating himself for what he was about to do. He said it was non-negotiable, that there was no room for compromise, because he was terrified that if he left even an inch of hope in us, we’d try to win him back. The part of him which doubted wanted us to try.”

  Taylor stared at him, horror building in her.

  “That’s just a hint of why I love him,” Veris ground out.

  Taylor closed her eyes. Why had she even opened her mouth? Why was she doing this to Veris?

  “He made a decision, Taylor. He made a choice, and he did his best to make it as clean a cut as possible. If you chase after him, you’ll undo all that.”

  Taylor swallowed. “If I don’t try, I will hate myself,” she whispered.

  Veris nodded. “I know. It’s who you are. You have to try. You have to be quixotic. That’s what I love about you. Just don’t ask me to come with you to talk to them.” His voice grew hoarse. His gaze shifted away. “Because I don’t think I could stand it.”

  Taylor wound her arms around his neck. He remained stubbornly still, his gaze on the table.

  “I love you, Veris. I hate that you’re right but because of it, I love you more than I ever thought possible.”

  He drew in a breath. “You will stir up pain people have spent weeks putting to rest.”

  Taylor stroked his cheek. “I’ve already stirred up pain in the last person I wanted to hurt. Now I want to finish it. Then I’ll never have to do this to you again.”

  Veris nodded.

  “Kiss me before I go. Tell me you’ll be here when I get back,” she whispered.

  He closed his eyes.

  “Veris?” she asked, her fear leaping.

  Veris pulled her up against him in a rough, quick movement that hinted at his great strength. He held her head and kissed her, with an almost vicious pressure. Then he let her go, all except for his fingers resting against the back of her neck. They stroked. “I’ll be here when you get back,” he whispered. “Waiting for you to return to me.”

  Taylor rested her head against his for a moment, absorbing the touch of his fingers, the size of him.

  Then she swung her legs over to the other side of the bench, got to her feet and jumped.

  The doorman, Benny, was wearing the same double-breasted jacket Taylor had always seen him in, even though it was ninety-five degrees out on the street. The humidity and the enervating heat rose from the pavements like the blast of a furnace.

  She had shed her jacket the moment she landed. She was still getting odd looks at her winter boots. There was no help for it.

  Benny came around his desk as soon as he saw her, his hands out and his mouth working. “Ms. Taylor! I didn’t think you’d ever come back! I haven’t seen you for weeks and weeks.”

  “I know, Benny. My life got complicated for a while.”

  Benny shepherded her farther into the building with the sway of his body and steps and gestures, all without touching her. “They’re home, Ms. Taylor! They came home over a month ago! I told them you had been stopping by and asking for them.”

  He pressed the button for the elevator.

  Taylor’s heart fluttered. “They’re here?”

  Benny dropped his voice. “Except for Mr. Nathanial.” He shook his head. “It’s a bad, bad business. Most people figure it was a sin, the three of them, only they were always so happy. Not bubbling like champagne, only you could see it in their eyes. You know?”

  Taylor nodded. “I do, Benny,” she said uneasily.

  “Now…well…” He sighed as the elevator door opened. He pulled a security card from his jacket and stepped into the car, slotted the card, then pressed the penthouse button and stepped out again. “It’s ready for you, miss. Just press the button again and it’ll take you all the way to the top. I have to phone ahead, though. So they’ll know you’re coming.”

  Taylor nodded and moved into the elevator. “Thanks, Benny.”

  She pressed the button. The doors closed with a cushioned sigh. The elevator moved upward. It wasn’t as slow as the more ancient cars in the city, although it wasn’t a high-speed skyscraper model, either. She watched the lights click through the floors, her heart free and beating once more.

  If she was able to stop looking for Brody, knowing she had done everything she could, her heart would at least get a break. Her feedings were far too close together and there were not enough people on the Vineyard to hunt every week.

  The elevator clicked through another floor. Was it really taking this long? Or was her vampiric sense of time, which was extraordinarily exact, now so compromised by stress she was experiencing time in the human, subjective way which drew it out like a telescope?

  She didn’t want to wait anymore. Taylor flexed her knees and jumped.

  The corner of the apartment made by the two glass wa
lls was clear as promised. Taylor put her hand out to steady herself against the window. Jumping from a moving platform made her arrival rocky.

  Sebastian was waiting at the bottom of the steps in front of the elevator, watching it climb toward this floor. He was waiting for Taylor to arrive and hadn’t noticed her jump.

  Winter, though, hurried toward her, her face working with a rich stew of emotions. Her hands spread. “Taylor! Oh…Taylor!” She hugged Taylor hard, holding her for a long moment. Winter trembled and her shoulders shook. Taylor smelled her tears.

  “We’ve been waiting for you, for weeks,” Winter said, her voice strained. “We didn’t dare move out of the apartment once we thought you might come back. Oh, Taylor!”

  Sebastian closed the elevator and sent it back down to the ground floor. He strode across the apartment to where Winter and Taylor were huddled in the corner. He looked tired. He wrapped his arms about the both of them and squeezed.

  He was shaking, too.

  Taylor untangled herself. “Have you seen Nial?” she asked anxiously. “Do you know where he is?”

  Their faces fell.

  “You don’t know where he is, either?” Winter breathed. She turned and flung her arm around Sebastian’s shoulder and buried her face against him.

  Sebastian looked grim. “Clearly, we need to compare notes. Come and sit down, Taylor. You look strained, which is really saying something for a vampire.”

  Taylor sighed. “You have no idea. Not yet, anyway.”

  Winter let go of Sebastian. “Can I help?” she asked Taylor diffidently, holding out her hand.

  Taylor shook her head. “I would much rather hear what has happened to you. Where did you go? I came back here every week for the longest time. Benny couldn’t tell me a thing.”

  Sebastian drew her over to the round table as she spoke. Taylor slid onto the chair he pulled out. Winter and Sebastian sat opposite, their faces pale.

  “We went to find Nial,” Winter said. “In every place where we thought he might be and even more.”

  “You can’t jump there,” Taylor added. “You traveled the human way.”

  “For weeks,” Sebastian said. “Nial disappeared, Taylor. As in, completely gone. He didn’t pack anything. He just…didn’t come home.”

  “We wondered if he was trapped on your world,” Winter added. “We didn’t know for sure if he had gone there, though. There was nothing to guide us. No hints.”

  Taylor rubbed her temple. “You didn’t think he might be…”

  “Dead?” Sebastian finished. He shook his head. “Nial will outlast us all. He’s a survivor. This, though, to leave without a word…It’s not like him. He could be so pissed at us he wants to ram his hand through concrete and he would still make sure we knew where to reach him.”

  Winter gripped Sebastian’s hand in hers. “Sebastian disappeared on us once,” she said. “I figured he was sulking. Nial insisted something was wrong and there was. Sebastian was dying.”

  Sebastian covered her hands with his spare. “That’s why we know Nial wouldn’t leave, not without saying anything at all, no matter how angry or frustrated he was. We’ve quartered the globe, Taylor. Ireland, Russia, Australia. We’ve talked to Old Ones and Elah and the last of the Ĉiela. We tried reaching out to the Serene Ones, too. They’re staying mute as they said they would.” He shook his head. “We would have contacted you—it would have been the first thing we did, only we have no way to do it.”

  “So you hunted everywhere else, instead,” Taylor finished softly. These two had done far more than she had…although they didn’t know the truth which had kept her and Veris frozen in place.

  Taylor didn’t want to tell them. She didn’t want to add to their hurt. Her reluctance made her return to the most puzzling point. “Nial really said nothing?”

  Sebastian’s limpid eyes narrowed. “Do you know something, Taylor? Is that why you’re here?”

  Taylor rubbed her temple. “It’s just that…well, it isn’t good news,” she said softly.

  Winter tightened her hold on Sebastian’s hand. “That is why you look as you do,” she said. “Tell us. We have spent weeks searching for answers. You are the first person to offer any. I would rather know than wonder.”

  Sebastian nodded.

  Taylor wound her fingers together and squeezed. She took a deep breath. “On October 28th, last year, Brody came to us and told us he was leaving both of us. He and Nial were in love. Nial waited outside while Brody dropped the news on us.”

  Winter’s eyes grew very large. Sebastian sat in complete stillness, not even breathing. Taylor couldn’t hear his heart, either. He had just…stopped.

  Taylor made herself go on. She told them everything Brody had said. Thanks to her now-perfect memories, she could recite Brody word for word. Retelling that day brought back the horror and the pain and the denial.

  When her finger broke under the pressure of her grip, Winter straightened her hand and stroked the fractured bone. Taylor felt it healing with more speed than normal.

  As the hand mended, Taylor continued to speak. The days afterwards. Her terror that she was now alone. Winter and Sebastian were not human and because they were kin to the Blood, Taylor did not have to guard her words as she had with Naomi. It all poured from her, the entire sorry tale, including her soaring hope that she and Veris might still make a life together, and the reaction of the twins when they had tried.

  “That is why I am here, after I had stopped coming,” Taylor finished. “I can’t go on without making sure I have tried everything.”

  Winter wiped her cheeks again—she had been crying almost continuously. Not sobbing, yet tears had trickled down her face in silent rivulets as she listened to Taylor.

  Sebastian shook his head as Taylor finished. “No,” he said flatly. “I don’t believe it.”

  Taylor nodded. “I didn’t believe it at first, either. It was so inconceivable.”

  Winter cleared her throat. “You don’t understand. Nial wouldn’t leave. Even if he…if he wanted to leave us for someone else, he wouldn’t just go, like that.”

  “I saw Brody with Nial,” Taylor said gently.

  “Maybe,” Sebastian said. “And perhaps you didn’t see what you think you saw.”

  Taylor hesitated. She recalled the startled and wary look in Nial’s eyes when Brody had spoken to him. “It all hangs together properly,” she said, recalling what Veris had told her, his insight into Brody’s thinking. “The way he did it, it’s just like Brody. As clean as he could, to minimize the agony. Figuring out a way to hide so even we who can see the timescape couldn’t find him. No long, drawn-out grinding arguments that destroy souls.”

  Winter and Sebastian stared at her. She saw their blank refusal to accept it. “I know this is hard to swallow,” Taylor said gently. “It took me weeks, too. It took me until now, actually. I think a small part of me was hoping Nial was here all along and the last four months were a massive lie.”

  Winter’s chin quivered. “He wouldn’t just leave,” she insisted, her voice very small. Fear was building in her eyes.

  Taylor got to her feet. She was stiff and drained. This had been her last chance. Now, it was gone. “Veris is waiting for me,” she told them. “He didn’t want me to come here. He thought I would stir ill feelings for no reason.”

  Sebastian pushed his hand through his hair in a hard movement. “I would still rather know,” he said, his voice hoarse. “I just can’t…it doesn’t make sense,” he finished.

  “It didn’t to me, either,” Taylor said. “Now it does. Although understanding it doesn’t make it any easier to accept.” She grimaced. “I must go. Shall I come back in a few days? Or would you rather I leave you alone?”

  Winter sighed.

  “You’d better come back in a couple of days,” Sebastian said. “After we have sat in armchairs for a while, too.”

  The big yard behind the house ran all the way to the trees which lined and screened Edgartown road.
Because of the big elephant oaks everywhere, no one—not even the neighbors—could see the yard. For that reason, Taylor risked jumping back to the yard, instead of to the clear space in front of the fireplace in the sunroom.

  She needed air. She wanted to feel the wind on her face.

  And she wanted Veris. She had left him in the yard. Perhaps he would still be there, waiting for her as he had promised, in the literal sense and not just the figurative.

  As the yard and the house materialized around her, Taylor glanced at the barbecue table.

  It was empty. She hadn’t really thought Veris would sit and wait. He hated being idle.

  “Taylor!” Veris called.

  She whirled to look at the back of the long yard. Veris was striding toward her.

  “What were you doing back there?” she asked.

  “Walking,” he said. “Waiting for you.”

  “Really?”

  Veris reached her and gripped her arms. His expression was puzzling. He looked stressed. Excited. Terrified. Everything.

  He kissed her, hard and briefly.

  “What’s happened?” Taylor said, alarmed.

  Veris’ gaze roved over her face. His mouth worked, as if he was going to speak. He held her face. Then he kissed her again.

  Veris, speechless.

  “Tell me, please,” Taylor begged.

  Veris pushed her wind-blown hair out of her face. “The police were here.” His voice was harsh with the control he was using to speak normally. “It took them this long because it…” He paused, then shook his head. “They found Brody’s Maserati, Taylor. It was deep inside the national forest. It was burned out, the tags and plates missing.”

  Taylor stared at him. “What are you saying? He covered his tracks, we knew that. I don’t know why he would destroy his precious car, too, but…”

  Veris shook his head. “There’s more.”

  She waited.

  “Police forensics found traces of blood. Lots of it, inside the car. They have no records matching the DNA. I went to the impound yard, Taylor. I just got back from there.”

  “You tasted the blood?” she asked.