If I weren"t already sitting down, my knees would have buckled. As it was, it made my stomach tingle to think about all that magical power at the disposal of someone who was so clearly unhinged.
"So, wait," William said. "What did the pope cure, if she"s still a vampire?"
Good question. "Consumption?" I wondered. "What was she dying of?"
"The pope can cure sickness?" Izzy seemed impressed but a little skeptical. "I thought the Evangelicals did that." "So the vampirism wasn"t the sin," I said to Sebastian, although it was clear by his faint smile that he "d already come to the same conclusion.
"She"s not exactly healed," Matyas muttered.
Well, there was that.
We all sipped our coffee. The lights above the bar blinked in tune to George Michael"s "Last Christmas."
Sebastian frowned intently. Every once in a while, he"d glance at Matyas. I was just about to ask what was eating at him, when Sebastian reached over and pulled up Matyas"s sleeve to the hollow of his elbow like he was looking for needle tracks. I wasn"t sure what Sebastian was expecting until he said, "Are you feeding her? Where are you keeping her?"
Matyas pulled his arm away. There were no bite marks; his arm was clean, but there were other places he could be feeding her from. "I don"t need to answer your questions," he said.
But in a way he already had. Matyas was too responsible to let his mother wander the streets trying to hunt up blood. The way she looked, it would be hard for her to use guile to lure victims in the usual way. It seemed most likely that he was feeding her, so there had to be a ghoul and a house somewhere.
Sebastian immediately headed for the door.
"You"ll never find her," Matyas said, standing up.
Sebastian didn"t even turn around to respond. The bells over the door jingled as he headed out into the night.
"Where"s he going?" William nudged me.
"To tap the ghoul community to try to find who "s feeding Tereza," I said. I"d stood up too with the intention of following Sebastian, but he was already down the street. I could hurry to catch up to him, but it seemed clear that he wanted to deal with this on his own. Besides, I had a sort of "don"t ask, don"t tell" policy with Sebastian and his ghouls, so it was probably best that I let him deal with this on his own. He didn"t need my complicating jealousy to slow down his search.
On the stereo, a country singer wailed out "Beep, beep, bye, bye, Santa"s got a semi."
"I don"t understand why you"re keeping Tereza a secret," Izzy said from behind the counter. I turned to hear Matyas "s response.
"You saw how he reacted. He was happier when she was dead and buried," Matyas said, eyeing me.
I didn"t want to argue with him, and anyway, I wasn"t sure I could make a good case in Sebastian"s defense. We rarely talked about Tereza, but when we did, Sebastian often cut the conversation short. He didn"t know what to do with Tereza, and yet he felt responsible for her. I rubbed my eyebrow, overwhelmed by the whole thing.
"Uh, hey, you look tired. And your ride just left," William said, putting his hand on my shoulder. "So I"ll bet you need a lift home now, eh, Garnet?"
We left Izzy and Matyas to their own conversation.
William and I were cruising down the highway, halfway back to the farm, when he casually dropped a gigantic bomb in my lap. "Hey, I saw Parrish the other day."
Parrish, my vampire ex-boyfriend-the one who sacrificed himself to save me a trip to federal prison and about whom my feelings were complicated at best-back in town? "What? Where?"
William rubbed his nose thoughtfully, and then returned his hands to the ten-and-two position on the wheel. "Club 5."
"Isn"t that a gay bar? What were you doing there?"
"Dancing," William said without guilt.
I smiled devilishly. "Alone?"
"No. I went with Jorge."
Ah, the cute ambulance driver he"d met when I"d had a little run-in with a possessed wind chime. "Was it a date?" William shrugged. "I had a great time dancing."
Another thing William was clearly undecided about. "Cool. But are you sure it was Parrish?"
"Oh, yeah," William said. "He came up and said h.e.l.lo. It was weird because I think Jorge thought he was my ex and got all jealous, which just made everything kind of weird. Anyway, didn "t you invite him? He said he was in town for a wedding. I a.s.sumed he meant yours."
Had I invited Parrish? Thing is, I might have.
I"d been stuffing our wedding invitation envelopes a few weeks back and feeling kind of sad about how few people would be officially sitting on the bride"s side of the aisle. Oh sure, I had the new coven Sebastian and I had started. But my old friends-the ones who knew me before the Vatican witch hunters killed my previous coven-thought I was dead. In order to stay hidden from the hunters and the FBI, I"d had to keep them in the dark about my new life. But the threat was over. I"d used magic to fool the Vatican into believing I was no longer a problem, and the FBI had closed its case.
So in a fit of spontaneous nostalgia, I sent out a call on the astral plane. I wove a spell that asked my old friends to dream of me and to receive the message that I was getting married. I even "sent" specifics and a way for them to get ahold of me to RSVP.
I knew it worked, because my oldest friend from high school called the next day. She"d Googled my folks and pried out my information from them. She wasn"t even Wiccan! We caught up, and she agreed to be a bridesmaid. Others called throughout the whole week. I felt really good about it, but I "d kind of forgotten about Parrish. Of course, of all the people I "d ever known, Parrish would listen to a dream. h.e.l.l, a dream like that might have woken him, literally, from his grave.
This was just b.l.o.o.d.y lovely. Now not only did I have Sebastian"s ex to deal with, but I also had my own.
"Did he say where he was staying?" I asked.
"So, you didn"t invite him?" William ascertained. "I kind of wondered."
"No," I said. "I think I did. Magically-in a dream."
"Oh yeah, I think I had that dream," William said with a nod and a bit of surprise.
"You did? Cool." I said. It hadn"t occurred to me that everyone would get it, even my local friends. "But I should make sure he"s not planning on making a scene at the wedding."
"He won"t be able to come, will he? I mean, he"s a nightwalker." Unlike Sebastian, Parrish was restricted to nighttime hours.
"Our wedding is on Solstice. The sun is setting at four twenty -six." I happened to know the exact time, because we"d considered having a later wedding so that some of our nocturnally oriented friends could attend. But in the end we went with a more traditional afternoon wedding. We were getting married in a church. "He could easily crash the reception."
"What are you worried about? I thought you and Parrish were over."
Except he"d given me his wedding ring.
William pulled the car into Sebastian"s drive. I scanned the graveyard, looking for signs of Tereza. William let the engine run, and I steeled myself to head out into the cold. Despite the fact that I knew that I was looking at a spell, Sebastian "s house still appeared abandoned. The porch seemed slumped by age. The bulb that threw glittering light on the snow looked bare and harsh.
It hadn"t fooled Tereza, though. I sighed.
"You guys should buy a new house," William said. "No offense."
I laughed. "It"s just the wards that make it look that way," I said. "It"s actually really well kept up. You know that."
William gave me the sure-if-you-say-so nod.
After fluffing my scarf closer around my neck, I thanked William for the ride, and really, for interceding between Matyas and me.
Before I shut the door, William leaned across the seat to ask, "What do you think Sebastian is going to do when he finds Tereza? Do you think he"ll really kill her?"
"I really don"t know," I said. "I hope not. He loved her once, and I think he still does. But I"ll tell you, having seen the state she"s in, it might be a mercy."
"Oh." William"s expression paled a little, but he nodded. "Take care," he said. "Keep warm." I waved to his retreating taillights.
The moon shone overhead, and I could see the bright pinpoint of light that was Mars nearby. The sky was clear and dark. The Milky Way twinkled in a broad, hazy swath overhead. Lilith expanded the stillness in me until I could feel myself becoming one with the universe . . . and, of course, that"s when I felt an icy hand grip my shoulder.
Fourth Aspect: Opposition
KEY WORDS: Overstimulation, Dissonance
Clenching my hand into a fist, I swung around full force. Lilith added her strength to my momentum, and we sucker punched Parrish right in the gut. By the time I recognized him, it was too late to pull back. Parrish landed hard on his a.s.s in the driveway, fifteen feet away.
I stared in shock of recognition, while Parrish flailed around on the ground, his boots unable to gain purchase on the slick surface. Finally, I thought to walk over and offer him a hand. "Parrish? Are you all right?"
Recovering his dignity, he quickly got to his feet. Despite the minus -degree windchill, Parrish"s only nod to the weather was a leather biker jacket. He didn"t even bother to zip it. Underneath was a thin cotton T-shirt and faded blue jeans. If it wasn"t for the ice that frosted the edges of his shoulder-length auburn hair, you"d have thought he was out for a summer buzz around the lake on his motorcycle.
"Your skills as a pugilist have improved since we last met," he noted, rubbing the spot on his abdomen where I"d bashed him.
"Lilith," I said, flexing my hands inside my wool mittens. I expected to feel the beginnings of bruises on my knuckles, but there was nothing beyond a pleasant warm buzz just under my skin. "Were your ears burning?" I asked him. "William and I were just talking about you. And, oh, are you stalking me or something? What are you doing here at this time of night?"
He laughed. "At least some things haven"t changed. You"re still as effervescent as ever, I see."
"And you"re still evasive as ever," I said, though I smiled.
"Are you going to invite me in?" Parrish asked theatrically, indicating Sebastian"s house.
"Absolutely not," I said. "Besides, it"s still Sebastian"s. He"d have to do the honors. And, anyway, Benjamin the attack ghost would probably kill you on principle."
"Then I"d best make this quick." He took my mittened hand in his and cleared his throat. "You"re making a mistake. No one will ever love you as I do."
I smiled. "I know," I said quite sincerely. "You"d sacrifice your life for me."
"Time and time again," he said with a nod.
"I love you," I admitted, "but we"d never make it together-not long-term. The things I love about you are also the things that"d break us up in the end." I"d had a long time to think about all this while Parrish was gone. Parrish was the kind of man that instantly turned me on: a bad boy. He was strong, impulsive, and more than a little bit crazy. "And even if you could somehow change to suit me, well, then you"d lose the essential you-ness I adore. We"d never work."
Parrish leaned down and kissed me. His lips were as cold as ice. "I had to try," he said. "One last time."
My body heated to his touch, but my toes slowly went numb in the cold. Even so, I held Parrish"s hand and looked deeply into his storm gray eyes. "If you want the ring back, I"ll understand."
"No," he said. "I want you to keep it. Besides, there"s no one else for me." Aw. A tear welled in my eye, and I was completely ready to risk Sebastian"s wrath and try inviting Parrish in, when I heard the moaning.
Tereza stood about fifty feet away, swaying in the ankle-deep snow piled near the edge of the road. "Oh, G.o.d," I murmured.
"What in heaven"s name is that?" Parrish asked. His head moved in sympathy to her rocking, and I was starting to get seasick watching the both of them.
"A vampire zombie. A vambie? A zompire? Anyway, it"s Tereza, Sebastian"s . . . well, Matyas"s mom."
"Who"s Matyas?"
"Sebastian"s son."
"Ah, I see." After a moment"s consideration, Parrish added, "The man you prefer comes with a surprising number of extraneous family members."
Parrish had a point, and I was definitely starting to see the downside of that.
Tereza lurched forward.
Like a gentleman, Parrish put his body between Tereza and me. She hissed at him, like something out of a B movie.
Parrish frowned down at her, his arms crossed in front of his chest. "She seems rather harmless," he noted, as she continued to make booga-booga noises at him.
I cowered helplessly behind his back. I peeped around his torso, and Tereza lunged at me. Her fingernails raked my cheeks.
Parrish used that super-ninja speed of his to grab her wrist in his hand. She squeaked. He held her firmly, casually. "Your vambie is unimpressive," he said.
Tereza made a few swipes at me, but Parrish deftly kept her from reaching me.
"Don"t underestimate her," I said. "She"s a witch."
As if in response to my words, Parrish let go of her like his hand was on fire. Actually, it was. Bright whitish yellow flames leaped from his fingers and palm. He stared at it, horrified. I could smell burning flesh.
Tereza made a grab for me, but I ducked. Grabbing a handful of snow in my mitten, I quickly pressed it into Parrish"s hand.
Tereza snarled, as she came around again for another attack. I watched her warily as I continued to dump snow on Parrish"s still-burning hand. Our eyes met. I thought Tereza was going to make another jump at me, but she held her fingernails up to her lips and licked them, as though licking my blood from her fingers. Then she blew me a kiss.
Lilith sparkled under my skin and began to rise in defense-to what, I wasn"t sure. I felt myself begin to surrender to Lilith"s control. But just before I lost consciousness, Tereza winked. A moment later, she disappeared.
I almost got magical whiplash from the speed at which Lilith retreated back into me. I turned my attention back to Parrish. The skin on his hand had puckered and swelled. My astute medical opinion was, "That looks bad."
"Hurts like a sonuvab.i.t.c.h, too," Parrish said with a weak smile. I could tell it really did pain him.
Hospital was out of the question. The guy was a two-hundred-year-old vampire. They wouldn"t know what to do with his physiology. "Will it get better? I mean, like, soon?"