Shadow Image Part 21

"But there wasn't anything you could do, right? The system always fails to accomplish the very thing it sets out to do, doesn't it?"

"I don't make the rules, mate. But I notice that for all your high-and-mighty ideals, the Hand of Death is unflinching and unerring."

Ric's patience was at an end. "Enough of this. If you're going to sanction me further, do it."

"Just two. You have forty-eight hours to leave Shadow Bay."

The blood that flowed so fiery a moment ago now ran cold. Shelby. Shelby was the second sanction. She clearly knew too much. "And the girl?"

An even smile, showing straight teeth and matching dimples, made the youthful face look even more so. Until one looked at the pale blue eyes. "Technically I should order her terminated or turned, but enough lives have been lost already so that she could live.

I leave it to you to ensure she's no threat to us."

Had he heard right? Maybe the pain of the silver was making him delusional. "And the second sanction?"

Scott continued as if he hadn't heard the question. "Besides, I saw how Drago felt about his Gypsy girl before he died. He wouldn't have killed her had Nikolena herself ordered it. I suspect you feel the same way about this sheriff of yours."

"The second sanction, Scott. What is it?"

Revelin Scott smiled again. "You're to return to Paris."

"That's a sanction?"

"That's what I was instructed to tell you. I just follow orders, mate."

Paris. It could only mean one thing. The day of reckoning had come.

Scott stayed just long enough to make sure Ric took what blood he needed from Shelby in order to heal, and no more. An hour later, Shelby had received an IV at Ric's office to replace the lost fluid in her body, Scott was gone, and she and Ric were back at her house. They were on her sofa in front of the fireplace, Ric stretched out and her body a shadow to his, touching him body part for body part. She felt well and truly drained-tired, lethargic and weak-but her thoughts raced with an energy all their own. "So is it over?"

He sighed. "You don't know how complex a question that is. But I have one for you first. How in the world did you come to have silver ammunition?"

She smiled. "Uncle Barry. He was with the Cristallia County Sheriff's Department in one capacity or another for twenty-five years.

For his silver anniversary the Department gave him a silver watch. The men he worked with gave him a clip full of cartridges with silver bullets. Kind of a Lone Ranger thing, I think. Anyway, when he died I inherited his gun and the famous silver clip. It meant a lot to me at the time. It means even more now. I think Uncle Barry is somewhere in cop heaven laughing his wings off."

She took a deep breath and repeated her question. "Ric, is it over?" Physically, she had wormed her body as close to his as she could, but his thoughts and desires still felt miles away. From one corner of her mind a voice cried out that she could never feel close to a being so totally alien to her. Another part of her told her to get up and run so as not to hear the answer. But at her center, she knew she had to hear him say it. Maybe it was the cop part of her that refereed all the other voices, but she had to know the answers. All of them.

He leaned his head forward and whispered into her hair. "A great deal has ended, yes. Shadow Bay is no longer to be home to either of us. I am under orders to leave. I cannot disobey. And while you have no one forcing you to move, I truly believe it would be your death if you stay. The Undead who will still be here after I'm gone will fear you too much to let you live."

She s.h.i.+vered at the feel of his mouth so close. "Fear me? I should be the one fearing them."

"You know their secret, my sweet. Knowledge is a powerful weapon."

"I don't feel very powerful right now." And that is so much the truth. Her physical fatigue was nothing compared to the loss of control that suddenly washed over her. Ric's arms were wrapped around her, and she held onto those lean, muscled limbs as though they were a handhold that would prevent her from being swept overboard into a sea of uncertainty and despair, but she felt little comfort. He still hadn't said anything about wanting her to come with him.

Well, if he wouldn't say it, she would. "You don't want me to come with you."

He was quiet for a moment, and she felt her heart pound harder with every second that filled the silence. Then she heard his voice in her ear, no louder than a sigh. "I want you more than anything in this world. I could plant seeds in your mind that would grow into the thoughts I want you to have. I could show you every fantasy you've ever had and make them come true. But it's the vampire lie. The fact is that most mortal-vampire relations.h.i.+ps don't last. The ugly truth, my sweet, is sacrifice and risk. The disaster is the reality, not the fantasy. To survive, you must make of it what you can. As must I."

"And face our fears."

"Yes, my sweet, and face our fears."

She twisted in his embrace and gazed into the amber eyes. Perhaps they were indeed dark windows to a house of horrors. After all, he was her biggest fear, and she his. But all she saw was the strength of a being who would always protect her. And the hunger of a heart that would always need her.

"So where are we going, Doctor?"

A slow grin spread across his face, and the weight of two centuries seemed to lift from his features. "Think you could make do in Paris?"

She leaned forward to press her smile against his. She had just enough time to breathe four words into his mouth before his kiss took her breath away. "Ten-four, lover boy." Epilogue The small community of Shadow Bay didn't like change. The resignation of the sheriff, and the disappearance of Judson Tuxbridge and the new medical examiner, caused a brief ripple of gossip. But the placid surface of the town quickly restored itself, glittering peaceful and bright on the Lake Michigan sh.o.r.e. The murder of Kyle Carver was never solved, the town elected a new sheriff, and Lucius Moravich retired from his archaeological digs.

The house known as the Chicken Palace was purchased by local resident Dory Kreech, who was rumored to be Seline Swanson's new boyfriend. Some laughed at the sight of the Goth Queen with the unimposing young man, but Seline's coworkers saw only a happiness in Seline so complete that not even a cruel remark by Deputy Jason Rody could darken her mood.

Just outside of Paris, a redheaded woman waited in a chateau that legend held had been many things over the years, including a converted Russian palace. The uncertainty of what the future held waited with her, but stronger still was the belief in her love, and the knowledge that her lover would return to her soon.

In Paris the Directress Nikolena sat in her opulent office and entertained a man who was the Directorate rumor mill's top candidate for the dubious t.i.tle of New Prized Pet. It certainly seemed obvious to all who paid attention to such things that not since Alek Dragovich had an enforcer been invited to spend so much time behind Nikolena's closed doors. Inside the office, an observer would have indeed heard Nikolena lavish praise on the young man.

"You've returned the prodigal son to me, Revelin. No more will he wallow in the extravagance of secreting himself from the world, of wasting his power in such an insignificant place. You've done well by me once again."

The man kneeled and kissed the tiny jeweled hand. "Madam, it is my honor but to serve."

"And whom do you serve?"

"Only you, Madam, only you."

She smiled a Nikolena smile that had as many meanings as she had years on the earth. A red light winked on the console on her desk. "Ah, my revered guest is here. Leave me now, dear boy, through the back way. You've done well."

The s.h.a.ggy-haired man bowed and left, and a moment later, a tall vampire strode into the office. He was dressed in black and white elegance. But his tawny hair, worn long and loose, put the elaborate waterfall cravat to shame, and his glowing amber eyes outshone his gold jewelry.

"Damiane."

"Ah, Ricard, my golden boy. You remember my name of old. Welcome home, my love, welcome home."

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