"No, she did me a great favor which puts me in her debt." My mother sighed. "You don"t know what Olympus is like, Gloriana, the politics, the power plays. It is little wonder that I neglected you. I have been...busy since I gave you away. I forgot..." She jumped to her feet and turned to stare down at the water. "It was not right of me to abandon you. I should have taken my chances with Zeus."
"Well you didn"t. So forget bonding with me now." I got up too and glanced at her. "You owe Circe two debts. Because she sent Blade in my path and here I am today, still alive. So you owe him. Fix his memory problem."
"No." She turned back to me. "You don"t need to be with a man like that, a bloodsucker. I can take you back to Olympus now that you are a woman. Rid you of those dreadful fangs, return your perfect body." She tried to grab my hands. "Give you everything."
I darted out of reach. "I like my dreadful fangs. Love my blood-sucking boyfriend. And I"d never want to live in a place with creeps like the Storm G.o.d. No way in h.e.l.l or Olympus." I wanted to slap her, throw her off the bridge, something. But I knew better. A G.o.ddess from Olympus. I could feel her power like electricity in the air, shoving at me, but stopping short of actually hurting me. Restraint. Guess that was her version of motherly love.
I knew the bits and pieces of power I had paled in comparison with what she"d have in her a.r.s.enal. Make her lose her temper and she"d probably "forget" again that I was her daughter and blast me until I was little more than a stain on the wooden planks beneath my feet. Her daughter. I backed away, disgusted and horrified at the thought.
"You can"t change where you came from, Gloriana. But I can change what you are now. Make your body glorious, your teeth perfect, put a banquet before you that you could actually savor-every bite. If you want your beloved"s mind whole again, come with me. I can fix him with a snap of my fingers. Is that what you want? It would certainly please me." She was close to me again, eyes sharp, watching me like a bird of prey hovering over its next meal. "But you"d never see him again."
"Never see him again?" I wanted him to remember, but to remember me, our love. What good would it do to have this woman restore his memories just to have me abandon him? He"d mourn me. I"d seen how he still loved me. It would be cruel, almost as cruel as leaving him stuck in the sixteenth century. And me? I"d have my heart ripped out.
"I can"t bear to see you live as a monster. If you want him as he was, you"ll leave him and come with me now. Otherwise, there is very little hope that he can get his memories back." She smiled slowly. "Of course you could leave him as he is and try to make him love you again. You are my daughter. I"m sure you are more than capable of seducing him if that is what you wish."
"This is about more than l.u.s.t, woman." I wouldn"t call her Mother. Never. This cold and heartless creature? "I want him to remember the last four hundred years. He"ll be in shock once he leaves the castle and sees all the inventions, the changes..." I pressed my hands to my stomach. "G.o.d, I can"t imagine how he"ll feel. It will drive him mad."
"Amazing. You really do love him. I blame it on your time as a human." She looked skyward. "Another sin Achelous will answer for. Those of us who call Olympus home don"t waste our energies on such trivial emotions." She sighed. "If you truly want this man, then he must prove he"s worthy."
"Of course he"s worthy. He"s strong, loving and brave. And he"s been true to me all these years."
"A paragon, it seems." Her smile was cold and knowing. "I"ll believe it when I see it."
"What do you mean?" I didn"t like our proximity. She held me close enough with her power that I could smell her, a strange perfume of lavender and musk that made my nose twitch. Lavender. I had always loved it, used it as a body wash. I was tossing it as soon as I got home.
"I mean, Gloriana, that I will test this man of yours. To see for myself if he deserves my daughter."
"Test? What kind of test?" I finally managed to get away from her. "Please don"t hurt him. Haven"t you done enough? The man can"t remember-"
"I"ll decide when Jeremiah Campbell has had enough. And, if you want me to spare him, you will call me Mother." She loomed over me, her power making my hair crackle and lift as if a strong wind had caught it. "Do you understand?"
"I understand that you want him to fail, Mother." I glared at her, dredging up courage despite my roiling stomach. "He is far worthier of me than I am of him."
"We will see, Daughter, we will see." She toyed with my hair, freezing me in place when I would have jerked away from her. "So very headstrong. No wonder Circe recognized you. You are the very image of me in my younger years." She laughed softly, no merry trill this time. "I will be watching. If you change your mind, call for your mother and I will come. And if that man disappoints you, I will be glad to make him suffer, never doubt it."
"Make him suffer? Haven"t you already started?" I watched her fade from sight. "d.a.m.n you! Stay away. If you won"t help him, just stay the h.e.l.l away from both of us."
I turned and ran down the path toward the castle again. But before I got too close I stopped to compose myself. I could never let the Campbells know that it had been my fault Jerry had lost his memory. Oh, G.o.d, what would she do to him next?
Three.
I sank down on a wooden bench not far from the castle, desperate to process what had just happened. I had a mother and not just any mother, a freaking G.o.ddess from Olympus. Lucky me. I pulled my sparkly pink phone from my pocket. Thank G.o.d. A signal. I hit speed dial.
"Amica, I"m glad you called. Did you make it to the castle? Was Jeremiah happy to see you? Oh, and I am in the most fun shop here in Paris. I"m buying you a little gift. Wait till you see."
The sound of Flo"s voice, so full of life and normalcy, took me right over the edge. I couldn"t speak, just sobbed, right into the phone.
"Mio Dio! What"s wrong? Glory, speak to me!" I heard rustling in the background. "Ricardo, take these bags to the car. I"m going into the dressing room."
I took a breath of the cold air, glad that all trace of my mother"s scent was gone, and managed to choke out a few words. "Flo. Sorry. Rough night."
"Obviously. So I"m glad you called me." I heard a door slam. "Now I"m in a dressing room. No one will bother us. I have spent a fortune here. So talk to me. I must know everything. What happened to you? Why are you crying?"
"I got here. Jerry was happy to see me. Until he had an accident." My voice wobbled. Accident my left foot. The b.i.t.c.h who claimed to be my mother had done this. Was I going to take her word for that? The mother thing. Right now I couldn"t think past wanting to send her screaming back to Olympus with her b.u.t.t on fire. Instead I"d wimped out. At least I hadn"t jumped to her command. And I"d sure never join her in Olympus.
"Is he all right? He isn"t, um, dead, is he?" Flo"s voice shook too. She did love me and what hurt me, hurt her. I couldn"t have a better friend.
"No, but it"s almost as bad. He"s lost his memory! He doesn"t know me." I gripped the phone until those pretty crystals made my hand bleed. I"d learned since I"d admired the cover at the phone boutique that sparkly didn"t mean practical.
"How is that possible? a.s.surdo. Vampires remember everything. It"s a curse. Why, Ricardo remembers every stupid little thing I say to him. And I...Well, you don"t want to know how many centuries worth of nonsense I have crammed into my head." Flo opened the door. "I must ask Ricardo about this."
"Yes, ask him. I need answers. How to help Jerry. He was stabbed with a poisoned knife. It made him lose the last four hundred years." I looked around, making sure no one was within earshot. Why hadn"t I done that sooner? Get a grip, Glory. I lowered my voice. "I have reason to believe it came from Olympus."
"No! Will they never leave you alone?" Flo broke into a spate of Italian. "Here"s Ricardo. Hang on while I tell him this."
I sat with my head down, praying her brilliant husband would figure out what to do. It wasn"t long before I heard his voice on the phone.
"Gloriana, how do you know this came from Olympus?" His voice was gentle and my eyes filled again.
"I, I ran into someone who told me that"s what happened, Richard. Is there anything we can do? Jerry"s forgotten everything that"s happened after the late fifteen hundreds, since right before he met me." I was proud that I got that out without breaking down. Forget crying. I was furious, hating my mother who didn"t care what this did to her child. Didn"t she want me to be happy? Not unless it was her definition of happiness. On Olympus it was all about power plays and who had the biggest, um, weapon.
"Let me do some research. Florence wants to talk to you again. I"ll call if I come up with something helpful. Take care, Gloriana."
"Glory! Do you want us to come there? We will if you need us by your side. This is inferno per voi!" Flo was talking a mile a minute.
I"d picked up enough Italian to know what inferno meant. "Yeah, h.e.l.l. But stay there, enjoy Paris. Unless Richard finds a cure, there"s nothing you can do and I"m not sure Angus would welcome a visit from my friends right now."
"We are Jeremiah"s friends too, s?" Flo sounded indignant.
"Of course you are. But things are crazy here. Just wait and I"ll let you know if I need you." I sighed heavily. I should get back, see if Jerry had remembered anything. Hopefully Mara was gone.
"We"re planning to go back to Austin in two weeks, Glory. If you need a ride then, just let us know. Meet us here and we will take you in our plane. There is room. For Jeremiah too if you can persuade him to come with you. Mio Dio, how you must be going crazy over this. If my Ricardo didn"t know me?" I heard her take a shaky breath.
"I am going nuts and it"s hard, so d.a.m.ned hard." I bit my lip to keep from sobbing. "Good to know I could have that ride. I might need it." Now I was the one taking a shaky breath. "Thanks, Flo. For listening. Now I"ve got to go. Who knows? Maybe Jerry will have come to his senses by now." I got up and brushed down my skirt. I had put it on with such high hopes mere hours ago.
"Always, I am always here for you, mi amica. Call me anytime. Good luck, eh?" Flo ended the call.
I tucked the phone back in my pocket and headed down the path. I needed more than luck. I needed a miracle. At home I had resources, friends who"d become more like family. Here I was an outsider already looked on with suspicion. On previous visits I"d had Jerry beside me as a buffer, always my champion. Now he just figured me for a blood donor and maybe a bed partner. Was it worth the humiliation to offer to share his bed? Hoping that the s.e.x would stir some memories?
I looked back toward the bridge, but it was lost in the mist. If that woman, aka my mother, was right, it would take a lot more than that to break through Jerry"s mental fog. I reached the door to the family quarters but it opened before I could turn the k.n.o.b. Security cameras at work.
"You were gone quite a while." Jerry frowned at me. "I heard you talking to someone."
"I called a friend. And how do you know I was talking? Did you have me followed?" d.a.m.n. Had someone seen me on the bridge with my mother?
"No. But Da did send someone out a few minutes ago when it seemed you might have gotten lost in the fog." He reached for my arm and pulled me inside. "He"s convinced me that we know each other, you and I. Come tell me more about this place called Austin and our lives there. Why did I come home without you?"
Oh, great. Was I supposed to tell him he"d still been licking his wounds because I"d been unfaithful? Not going to happen. Not when he needed to process one piece of info at a time. First, our relationship. Which was complicated enough.
"We had a bit of a falling out. A misunderstanding. Which is why I"m here. To clear things up. I found out some things that should make you feel better about our relationship." I looked around the living room. Angus had disappeared. I guess to give Jerry and me some private time. Great. I owed him.
"I still don"t understand how I could be with the same woman for hundreds of years and not marry her. It"s a sin, Gloriana, living like that. I should have made an honest woman of you long ago." Jerry looked really earnest as he took a seat beside me on the couch.
I hid a smile. Sinning had never concerned the Jeremiah Campbell I"d met in London all those years ago. He really had regressed into someone I wasn"t sure I knew at all. But I had to like him. He was so obviously worried about how he"d treated me.
"It was me, Jerry. I wouldn"t marry you. You did offer." I put my hand over his.
"Not want my name?" He jerked his hand away. "Why not?" He stared down at my exposed legs. I kept forgetting the short skirt was screaming "s.l.u.t" in his sixteenth-century brain.
"I didn"t understand it at the time, but it had something to do with my background. I was reluctant to commit to one man." Uh-oh. I saw a look on his face that could only be described as distaste.
"Stop it. I wasn"t a...a wh.o.r.e." I hurried on. "Times have changed dramatically since those that you remember, Jer. People no longer have to marry to be a happy couple or to live together publicly and be accepted in society."
"You can"t be serious. What does the Church think of this?" He eased back so that he was as far away from me as possible on the three-seater couch.
"Doesn"t approve, of course. Some things never change." Oh, great. That made him frown even more fiercely. "Come on, Jerry, you were never a churchgoer, not since I"ve known you." I sat back. I wasn"t making headway, far from it. Obviously, rebuilding our relationship wasn"t going to be easy, and I was tired. Dawn was pulling at me.
"No, you"re right. I never let a disapproving priest stop me from my pleasures. Mara reminded me of that. A child. That was a surprise. Have you met her?"
"Lily? Of course. She"s beautiful and looks a lot like you, truth be told. But she has her mother"s nature. She and Mara don"t get along." I was suddenly exhausted and had a feeling the fog had done a number on my hair. I was ready to escape to my bedroom.
Jerry just stared at me and I could almost see him trying to find me in the dark recesses of his memory. He finally shook his head. "Are you all right?" He reached out and brushed a wild curl back from my cheek. "You gave me a good bit of your blood tonight. Perhaps you should rest."
"Yes, I need to. I"m worn out, physically and mentally." I grabbed his hand. "I know you are too." I was going for it. Maybe a new memory would stir the old ones. "Would you like for me to come to bed with you? If...if we lie together, maybe it will help. I hope-"
"I won"t deny I"m tempted. There is something about you..." He looked into my eyes, searching for our connection again. I knew it the instant he came up empty. But he kept eyeing me. The heat of his gaze as he took in my deliberately low-cut top, the short skirt and the length of my legs, scandalous to an ancient male, gave me hope that he"d at least give l.u.s.t a chance. "No. I won"t use you that way."
"Will you at least kiss me? What could one kiss hurt? Maybe it will stir some memories for you. The past is there somewhere. I know your daughter. Your father has vouched for me, Jer. We have been together intimately more times than I can count." I took hold of the back of his neck, gently pulling him closer. It had been a gamble, offering myself to him, and he"d just had confirmed that once a s.l.u.t, always a s.l.u.t. But I could see that a kiss might be in his wheelhouse.
"Why not?" He gave in, leaning forward.
I closed my eyes when his lips met mine. I tasted the man I loved, the Jerry who"d met me at the car with joy in his eyes, so eager to be with me again. I teased open his lips with my tongue and deepened the kiss when he didn"t at first. Running my fingertip along his ear, I sank into the kiss. It was dear and familiar and yet strangely new. Then over too soon when he pushed back and stared at me.
"I don"t know you." He jumped up and stalked to the door to the outside. Before I could even call his name, he was gone, slamming it behind him.
I held my hand to my trembling lips. He didn"t know me. Well, by d.a.m.n, before the two weeks were done, he certainly would or I"d catch a plane back home without him.
Wait a minute. This was exactly what my mother hoped I"d do. Give up. Maybe move on to someone she considered worthy. A fangless wonder handpicked by her if I wouldn"t shoot up to Olympus and start bonding over mother-daughter nut cracking. I shuddered to imagine it. I sucked up my flagging courage and headed out the door.
I found Jerry staring at the ruins of his once formidable castle.
"What happened to my home?" He stalked over to shove aside a fallen block of stone that most men wouldn"t have been able to slide even an inch.
"Your family decided centuries ago to quit wasting money on upkeep when they spent all their time belowground or in Edinburgh at the town house." They had palatial digs in the big city, near other Scottish n.o.bility, though, as vampires, they"d lost a lot of their power in politics. Still, they had friends in high places.
"But this." Jerry strode over to read the sign about the tours. "The National Trust? What the devil is that? Da lets strangers roam the grounds during the day?" He kicked another stone out of his way. "There"s even a b.l.o.o.d.y tea room."
"Well, yes. I think that"s a nice feature. Should bring in a good income." I moved closer. I hated to see him so upset. Of course it had been a shock to see the home he"d last remembered as a prosperous holding reduced to little more than rubble. Only one tower remained standing and that"s where the tea room and souvenir shop were located. "The National Trust is run by the Scottish government. Volunteers probably take care of the actual tours and such. I"m sure your family gets a tax break and maybe some kind of stipend for allowing visitors."
"Da lets strangers poke about in our home? By G.o.d, I never thought I"d see the day." Jerry paced around the perimeter of the castle, cursing and picking up loose stones. He stopped at the scaffolding erected against one side. "At least they"re doing some repairs, I see."
"Yes, they can"t let it fall down any further. It"s a common thing. The taxes are really high. Many n.o.ble families do it, Jer. There"s no shame in it." I kept up with Jerry as he headed for the stables. Horses. Of course he"d want to check on those. He"d be sorely disappointed. Most of the area was now a garage housing the various 44s used in the pastures along with the cars and Jeeps the family drove when in the country.
"Slow down, will you?" I wanted to prepare him.
"Why?" He stopped so fast I ran into him. "What is it? More bad news? This new century isn"t to my liking, I"ll tell you that."
"I"m sorry, Jerry. But you really do like the progress when you"re, um-" I caught myself before I said "in your right mind." He narrowed his eyes. "Yourself."
"Spit it out. What"s next?"
"Well, horses aren"t such a big deal now. I"m not sure Angus even keeps any." I plucked at Jerry"s plaid now thrown over his shoulder against the chill in the air. I wished for a sweater but wasn"t about to go back for one. "I"m sorry. I know how you love to ride."
"No horses? How do you get around?" He glanced back at the castle. No cars were parked close enough for him to see in the mist, now obscuring everything.
"Cars, trucks, four-wheelers. Vehicles with engines, Jer. You"ll see when we get there. Keep going. I don"t know if we"ll find horses. Maybe we will." I crossed my fingers.
Jerry charged down the path, so fast I had to run to keep up with him. He stopped dead when he came to the garage/stables. They were in much better repair than the castle and clearly hadn"t held a horse in more than a decade. The driveway was paved and a sleek Jaguar sat in front of one of the six doors. It was Jerry"s. I remembered him talking about the big engine. Lots of horsepower. But not the kind he was looking for.
He took a deep breath, obviously trying to catch a scent of horses. I knew he wasn"t finding any. "b.l.o.o.d.y h.e.l.l." He stalked over to the Jaguar and stared down at it. "This is it, then? The thing I use to get around in? How do we tend the sheep?"
"You haven"t tended sheep in centuries. As son of the laird I"m sure you remember that much." I had to hide a smile.
"Of course." He frowned. "We used dogs and villagers. But to get to the high pastures..."
"The men who take care of the woolly beasts use those." I pointed at a group of four-wheelers and a couple of bicycles leaning against a wall in an open doorway.
Jerry rubbed his forehead. "I have a headache. I"m going back to the house."
"I"m sorry, Jer. This is a lot to take in." I wanted to comfort him but kept my distance. I let him walk away and fingered the phone in my pocket. I needed to talk to someone else, someone who might know what to do. There was only one other person who might have the knowledge to help a vamp with amnesia and I had a feeling calling him would put me in trouble with the Campbells. If they found out about it. I looked around to make sure I was truly alone, then pulled out the phone and hit speed dial.
"Ian, I have a problem."
"h.e.l.lo to you, Gloriana." He sounded as superior and amused at my stupidity as always. Ian MacDonald was a genius, a doctor, and something of a psychiatrist. If anyone knew how to help Jerry, it would be Ian. Of course he was also a vampire and Jer"s sworn enemy. I"d have to make it worth his while or pique his interest to get him to help Jerry.
"I"m in Scotland, at Castle Campbell."
"Lucky you. No wonder you have a problem. Your lord and master not glad to see you?" He chuckled. b.a.s.t.a.r.d.
"He was thrilled to see me. Until he had an accident."