Anna Strong - Legacy Part 24

THE CHIANTI IS SMOOTH, FULL-BODIED, GOES down easy. I had planned to drink beer, but Ted sends a bottle over and before we know it, it's empty and David is calling for a second. By the time the first course arrives, huge plates of pasta with rich, red marinara sauce chunky with tomatoes and meat, David is on the third bottle. He's nice and relaxed. He's also famished.

Chopping wood and Gloria's angst have obviously built up a tremendous appet.i.te. Lucky for me, he's hungry enough to consume both our dinners, hardly noticing that I keep ladling my portions onto his plate. Having a big guy as a partner has its perks. I can sit here sipping wine while he does the heavy lifting.

Keeping my nose pointed to the window, I start in on a third gla.s.s of wine. Three gla.s.ses out of three bottles. It occurs to me that David is starting to look bleary-eyed. Even with all the food, three bottles of wine take a toll. I don't think David will be driving home tonight.

We finish up. I pay the bill minus the wine, which was on Ted, and I end up helping David out of the restaurant. Ted tells us not to be strangers. David goes for his keys.

"No way. We're only a block from the cottage. You can crash at my place tonight."

David seems to be considering it, though I can't be sure if the vacant look is a thought being processed or the slide into a wine-and- food-induced stupor. It doesn't matter. He comes along at my urging, and we're halfway down the block when he stops. His eyes clear for a minute, and he looks at me with a frown of concentration, like he's remembering something important. He jabs a thumb back toward Luigi's.

"Wait. I can't leave my car out on the street."

At first, I don't understand. Then an image of my Jag flashes, and I realize he's concerned if there's some crazy out there vandalizing nice cars, his might be the next target.

Like, even if it hadn't been personal, a Hummer is in the same cla.s.s as a Jaguar. We're talking elephant versus, well, jaguar.

"It's okay. I'll get you to the cottage and come back for the Hummer. I'll park it in the garage."

That appeases him. The frown smoothes back into blankness. We continue down the sidewalk, David under his own swaying steam. I unlock the door to the cottage, lead David to the couch, give him a push. He sits down abruptly.

"I'll go move the car," I say. "Then I'll come back and make up the bed in the guest room. You sit here until I get back, okay?"

His eyes are open and he appears to be listening, but I could swear he's already fast asleep.

I dig his keys out of the pocket of his jacket along with his wallet and cell phone. He doesn't stir. There's a "missed call" message flas.h.i.+ng. It's pure nosiness that makes me hit the "hear now" b.u.t.ton and press the phone to my ear.

"Hey, David, it's Tamara. If you get in before eleven, call me. I'm a night owl. Maybe we can still get together."

I erase the message and close the phone. My instincts were right. I'm glad David is here with me.

I put the phone on silent mode and place it along with his wallet on the coffee table. The keys I take with me on the run back to the parking lot behind Luigi's. In five minutes I'm cramming that tank into my garage. Lucky for me I had the garage built higher and longer than average. Otherwise, the Hummer would never fit. As it is, it's like squeezing paste into a toothpaste tube.

Another five minutes and I'm back in the house. David hasn't moved. He's still sitting up, his eyes are still half-open but he's snoring. I've never seen anyone sleep with his eyes open. I stare at him for a minute, trying to decide if I should carry him up the stairs to the guest room. What happens, though, if he awakens in my arms? No, better to lay him out here and cover him up with a blanket.

Which is what I do.

Finally, at eleven thirty, I'm in a pair of sweats and curled up in my bed with Frey's book open on my lap.

Here we go-chapter seventeen.

CHAPTER 53.

THERE'S NO HEADING TO THE CHAPTER, NO HINT of what it contains. Once my brain has adjusted yet again to the difficulty that comes from deciphering calligraphy, I'm plunged into a history of demons in the world.

In the beginning (according to this text) was not the word. In the beginning were the demons, the first species in human form to populate the earth. They were the sp.a.w.n of the fallen angels sent to a harsh and unforgiving new world to survive or perish on their own. Among the first demons were the vampires. They were the strongest and most vicious of the predators and soon held dominion over all the beasts. Their reign lasted for a thousand years.

Then the G.o.ds (and it's plural) decided the now warm and abundant earth had become a paradise, too good for the demons.

They sent man, possessed him of brain and brawn, allowed him to multiply. They set him against the demons. Man triumphed. The demons were banished underground, to the realm of darkness. Here the vampire stayed, coming forth only to hunt and feed, for a millennium.

The great flood came. Vampires survived in greater number than humans and once more, they walked in daylight. But humans were scarce, the vampire needed beasts to hunt. The werewolf was fas.h.i.+oned from man by the vampire with the help of powerful black magic. The half man, half beast was made to be the servant of the vampire. In human form, he could integrate into man's society. In wolf form, he could hunt and capture prey for the vampire master.

The vampire's curse is that he cannot propagate save through the transference of blood. The werewolf, created by a spell, could only exist at the will of the vampire.

Until the time of the change.

The G.o.ds were angry that the vampires once more held dominion over their earth. They saw the balance changing and knew the humans were soon to become fodder for a stronger demon race. They knew the balance could only be restored by introducing an enemy, one capable of defeating the vampire, one who did not live off the blood of their beloved humans.

They allowed the werewolf to evolve into a creature that could "reproduce" on its own, through its bite with the power of a talisman. Soon, the werewolf numbers increased until they were no longer a slave to the vampire but a formidable enemy. When the battle came, the werewolves proved too strong and their superior numbers drove the vampire underground once more.

A were's strength is in his animal form. It is also his vulnerability. Man soon learned to hunt the beast and the weres numbers were decimated. Because the vampire exists in human form, he could walk among man unnoticed. If he was careful and cunning, his ident.i.ty as a demon would not be revealed. The vampire flourished, learning to live among his human hosts, learning to a.s.similate into man's culture, sacrificing the were to his adopted human family.

From that time forward, there existed a mutual enmity between vampire and werewolf. But there is also a psychic connection. A powerful vampire can control a were, take over its will. Make it do its bidding. It need only possess the were's talisman. Without the talisman, the were cannot make the change, giving the vampire the absolute power of life and death over it. The power transcends time and s.p.a.ce, it is all encompa.s.sing and cannot be broken until the vampire is killed or until the were regains possession of the talisman. In either case, once the werewolf regains control, it is the vampire that perishes.

The chapter ends there. I close the book and let it rest on my lap. Is it possible? Could Avery have somehow transported his spirit or soul at the moment of his second death to Sandra? Is that what Tamara meant when she said it was Avery, not Sandra, speaking to me last night?

Why be so d.a.m.ned cryptic? Why not come out and say it? If it's true, when and how would Avery have taken possession of Sandra's talisman? She wasn't here when I was with him.

Was she? Was what I said to Tamara on the ride to David's cabin true? Was Sandra watching us the whole time I was with Avery? It makes my affair with him even creepier.

I need to talk to Tamara.

David's phone. I fling back the covers and run downstairs. I erased the message but he must have her number stored since he called her this evening. Sure enough, it's there. I memorize it to punch into my own phone when I return upstairs.

The phone rings five times before voice messaging picks up.

"Hi there. You've reached Tamara. If I don't answer, I may be out baying at the moon. Leave me a message after the beep and I'll get back to you."

"Baying at the moon? Cute, Tamara. It's Anna. Call me."

I ring off and try to settle down to sleep. My mind, however, refuses to settle down. The idea that Avery could be alive in Sandra, able to control my emotions and project such fear, leaves me sick with dread.

IT'S A LONG NIGHT. WHEN I FINALLY NOD OFF, I'M awakened with a start by a sound from downstairs. It takes me a minute to realize it's not Avery come to get me, but the sound of running water. I glance at the clock. 7:00 a.m. David must have awakened, moved from the living room to the kitchen, and is making coffee.

s.h.i.+t. I throw off the covers and jump out of bed. If he's going through cupboards or the refrigerator, he's going to notice I have no food. None. I know I should keep something around for this sort of human/vampire contact, but I never think of it. The only place I shop now is Starbucks.

When I appear beside him in the kitchen, the question is stamped all over his face.

"No wonder you're so skinny," he says, standing before the open refrigerator with the bag of coffee in his hand. "You have no food. Jesus, Anna, how can anyone have no food?"

I s.n.a.t.c.h the bag from his hand and take it over to the coffeemaker. "I've never liked to cook, you know that. I eat out. So what? I didn't expect to have a houseguest this morning. You should be thanking me for taking care of your drunken a.s.s last night instead of criticizing me."

A flush like a shadow creeps over his cheeks. "I don't know what happened. I couldn't have had that much to drink."

"Try three bottles of Chianti. Ted's treat."

"Three? Bottles? By myself? Weren't you drinking?"

Should I tell him the truth? That I only had one gla.s.s from each bottle? Make me look like a wuss? Nah. "I had my share."

He rubs a hand over his forehead. "We split three bottles? How come my head feels like this and yours doesn't?"

"Isn't it obvious? I hold my liquor better than you."

He grunts and takes a seat at the table. While the coffee perks, I get two mugs down from a nearly empty cupboard. It's a good thing I caught him before he started going through the cupboards. Otherwise, he'd be making some comment about the lack of dishes right along with the lack of food. Everything I'd had was destroyed in the fire. I never got around to replacing them. I will now. I'll buy some dishes and a few canned goods.

Soon.

Today I have to track down Tamara. Kick her a.s.s for what was done to my car. I should see Jason again, too, and call my dad about O'Sullivan and the "stolen" formula.

It's going to be a long day. CHAPTER 54 DAVID LEAVES AT EIGHT, AFTER COFFEE, TO GO home and change. The body shop opens at nine, which gives him enough time to take me to Charmer's for the loaner and be at the hospital to speak to Gloria's doctors at ten.

His day will be far less complicated than mine, though I see how uneasy he is with the prospect of being alone again with Gloria.

Magnanimously, I offer to stay with her tonight when he's on his date with Tamara. He immediately thanks me for the offer and accepts. Considering I don't intend to let that date happen, I should feel guilty about the deception.

I should feel guilty.

I don't.

When he's gone, I debate trying to reach Tamara again, but decide instead to call Frey. He gave me the book. Maybe there's more he can tell me about devamping a werewolf. I go upstairs to make the call.

Layla, his girlfriend, picks up. "h.e.l.lo, Anna," she says with a decided lack of enthusiasm.

"Has Frey left for school yet? I need to speak with him."

She sighs into the phone. "Today is a teacher workday. He doesn't have to be on campus until ten."

"May I speak to him please?"

She slams the phone down on some hard surface with enough force to make me wince. Nice talking to you, too, Layla.

In a moment, Frey is on the line. "Anna?" He sounds relieved. "Are you all right?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Why? You were meeting a werewolf. Did you read the book?"

"That's why I'm calling. I need more information about vampires and werewolves. The book says a powerful vampire can psychically control a were. What about physically?"

"Physically?"

"Is it possible for a vampire to-I don't know how to put this-teleport his spirit or soul to a were? So that the vampire is actually in control of the werewolf both mentally and physically?"

There's a long minute of silence. "What vampire? What werewolf?"

"Can you answer the d.a.m.ned question? Is such a thing possible?"

"Are you speaking of Avery?"

Frey is a member of the Watchers, a group of supernatural beings whose purpose is to protect mortals against creatures who would prey on them. I used to be a member, too. He knows my history. What I didn't tell him myself, Williams did, so it doesn't surprise me that he'd a.s.sume I might be talking about Avery. Because of that, I answer simply, "Yes."

I fidget impatiently through another protracted silence, finally breaking it myself to say, "I don't know why you're taking so long to answer the question. Either it's possible or it's not."

"Anna, you were the instrument of Avery's second death," Frey replies. "Why would you ask such a question?"

Another evasion. I swallow my impatience and tell him. All of it. Who Sandra is. How her eyes and voice became different when she repeated words Avery had spoken to me that last evening. How she was wearing the same dress I had on that night, a dress Avery had given me. How my body's s.e.xual response to her is the same as it was with Avery. How the fear I felt before I ran away was exactly the mind-numbing fear I felt when fighting him for my life.

All of it.

When I'm finished, Frey's hushed tone frightens me as much as his words when he says, "You must be careful, Anna. If Avery is powerful enough to do as you suggest, you are in grave danger."

"If? You don't know if it's possible?"

"It's never been recorded. There have been rumors. I know of two that speak of vampires inhabiting a werewolf's body at the moment of second death. Neither ended well. If Avery accomplished such a thing, he could live on in Sandra's body indefinitely as long as he allows her to make the change. If he does not, she will die and he may jump to another host."

I take a moment to process what he's telling me. "The book says the vampire can be exorcised. How?"

"That magic has been lost. Probably just as well. It would be powerful and black and not easily invoked. There would be violent repercussions to the one casting the spell, perhaps lethal repercussions. Exorcism is not an option."

Which leaves only one. Find the talisman. Free Sandra. "Finding the talisman is the only way to stop him."

Frey's silence confirms it.

"Then I know what I have to do, don't I?"

Frey lets a heartbeat go by before he says, "There is something else you should know. Something not in the book."

"I don't like the way you say that. What is it?"

"Through the centuries, vampire physiology hasn't changed. Adaptation allows you to walk in daylight, but most things are the same as they were in the beginning. Your system absorbs nutrients from ingested blood without benefit of a digestive tract, you have superhuman strength and agility and heightened senses, and you are invulnerable to mortal disease. But there is one thing, a toxin, that the vampire is vulnerable to and once infected, there is no cure."

"Why are you telling me this now?"