Part 15 (2/2)
He squinted up at me. ”What do you want me to touch?”
”Here.” Ian handed me a piece of newspaper.
”Put your hand on this, Jer. If it doesn't burst into flames, you're all good.” I grabbed his arm and aimed his hand at the paper.
”I can do it, Gloriana, I'm not helpless.” He sat up, groaning. Then he s.n.a.t.c.hed the paper and crumpled it in his fist. We all waited while he held it in his palm. Nothing. Not a wisp of smoke.
”Genius. I certainly know who to call the next time I need a potion.” My mother stood close by. ”Cornelius, I need your number.” She whipped out a cell phone, ready to punch it into her contact list.
”I try not to do business with anyone from Olympus, Your Highness.” Cornelius bowed toward her but kept mixing. ”Look what a mess Mr. Campbell is in right now. All because of your 'games.'”
”Well! I'd not call them games. With Waldo, yes. But Gloriana...” She lifted her chin in a gesture I'd used myself a thousand times. ”I wanted my daughter with me. Is that so wrong?”
Cornelius threw a powder in the air and I smelled brimstone. Trust me, I recognized it. I'd had some bad dealings with Lucifer himself. ”Next time you want something, examine your methods, Your Highness.” He went back to work.
”Listen, Sorcerer.” Thunder cracked and she flushed. ”Are you trying to tell me...?”
”Mother, he's right. With all your scheming, your plans didn't pan out. Your sorcerer screwed you over. Learn from it. Now let Cornelius work. If he can give Jerry his memory back, maybe you have a shot at a relations.h.i.+p with me. Otherwise...” I couldn't take my eyes off of Jerry, who was flexing his fingers as if checking them for damage. Knowing him, he probably wanted to toss a knife around to see if he still had his old accuracy. I glanced at Ian, happily making notes on his computer. Not a good idea. I could see a pair of guards nearby. They were never far away.
”You are being very bossy this evening, Gloriana. I don't like it.” My mother sat in a chair and gave herself a new outfit, one she must have decided suited the occasion better than an evening gown. Now she wore a severe navy suit that made her look like a professional woman. Of course it also showed off her perfect figure and she hadn't bothered to wear a blouse underneath. The single b.u.t.ton was placed so that she showed plenty of cleavage and just a hint of bare midriff. I turned my back on her, sick of her theatrics, and helped Jerry to his feet.
”How are you feeling, love?”
”Like I've been h.e.l.l's gatekeeper at the fiery furnace. I had no idea a man could feel so hot and still survive. Let's go outside where it's cooler.” Jerry put his arm around me and headed for the terrace doors.
”Go ahead.” Ian looked up from where he and Melanie were now seemingly fascinated by the playback of the video they'd taken of the exorcism or whatever you called what Cornelius had done to Jerry. ”Don't leave, though. We may soon be able to solve your bigger problem, Campbell.”
”Don't worry. If there's any hope I'll get my memory back, you couldn't run me off with the entire MacDonald army.” Jerry pushed open the French door, then collapsed on a chaise lounge. Ian's home had a lake view and the night was cool and clear. ”G.o.d, but I don't think I've ever felt worse, not even when I took a spear in my gut during a Viking raid.”
”I was scared, Jerry.” I snuggled up next to him, then thought maybe he'd like to put on more than those boxers which probably belonged to Ian. ”You want your clothes?”
”Not yet. Let me just cool off awhile longer. Everyone here has already seen me naked so this is an improvement, I'd say.” He wrapped his arms around me and ran his hands down my back. ”For a while there I thought I might not ever get to do this again.”
I shuddered. ”I know. Stupid Waldo. I want to go inside and kick him myself. I wonder if it was incompetence or if he was bribed to betray her.”
”I saw your mother shoot him again with her lightning. She knows how to get the truth out of a fellow. Either way, Waldo will think twice before he deals with her again.” Jerry chuckled.
”You think that's funny?” I stared at him. ”Brain damage. I'll have to ask Ian about it.”
”It's laugh or throw myself off this cliff in front of us.”
I glanced at the forty-foot drop to the lake. ”Okay, laugh all you want. When you get your memory back, we can have a laugh riot.” I laid my head on his chest and listened to the slow but steady beat of his heart. So close. I'd been way too close to losing him. I heard someone clear his throat.
”I have consulted the books and questioned the idiot who mixed the original potion that caused your amnesia, Mr. Campbell. I think I have a solution.” Cornelius held out a gla.s.s vial filled with a dark blue liquid. ”There are no guarantees. I know it won't turn you into a billy goat, which is what Waldo's next cure would have done.” Big sigh. ”And allowing for your vampire nature, I am fairly certain it won't kill you.” He almost smiled. ”Now drink it down and we'll see what happens.”
”Perhaps I should just live like this. No memories. A fresh start.” Jerry took the vial like he was handling a poisonous snake. ”I'm not sure I have much confidence in sorcery after what I just barely lived through.”
”Come now. Waldo is a third-degree sorcerer. A mere trainee. Barely qualified to turn princes into toads.” Cornelius glanced at me. ”What do you say, Gloriana? Do you want your man to remember his past or to stay the way he is?”
What a loaded question. Of course Jerry should have his memories back. The gaps he'd railed about earlier tonight were driving him mad. Driving. He needed to remember how to do that at the very least. And I wasn't such a coward that I'd rather he stay lost in a fog than face my infidelities, was I?
”It's up to you, Jerry, but I know you want to remember everything you can. You've been furious at your lack of knowledge.” I waved my hand around-at Ian's place, the computer nearby, up to where a plane streaked across the night sky. ”As long as Cornelius thinks it will work, I think you should go for it. He certainly proved he knows his stuff when he cured you of the h.e.l.lfire spell.” I stood and stared into the sorcerer's strange eyes. ”Really, no bad consequences?”
”Unlikely. But, as I said, no guarantees either. It may do no good at all.” He pushed his hands into one of his robe pockets and pulled out a round mirror trimmed in bronze vines. The handle formed into a loop that he held in one hand. ”Let me see if I can predict...” He stared into it, his pumpkin-colored eyes losing focus. ”Hmm. I see you alone, Mr. Campbell, driving a car.” He blinked and smiled. ”A good portent, I think.”
Was it? Or had the slippery sorcerer just read my mind again? I gave him a narrowed-eyed look but Jerry sat up and swung his legs down to the deck.
”I'll take it! As it stands now, Gloriana must drive me everywhere.” Jerry smiled at me. ”Wish me luck?”
”Of course.” I held my breath as he downed the inky liquid in a single swallow.
”Tastes like s.h.i.+t.” He made a face. ”Warm in my stomach, though.” He pressed a hand to his forehead. ”I have to lie down.” He fell back on the chaise. ”Cornelius, the world is spinning.”
”That's all right, Mr. Campbell. Your brain is searching for your memories. Let it do its work. Close your eyes and try to relax.” Cornelius laid his hand on my arm when I started to speak. ”Leave him be, Gloriana. This should take a few minutes. I'm going to get Dr. MacDonald. He'll want to see this in action. You are not like your mother, I can see that. If you ever need me...” He slipped a card out of his sleeve. ”My unlisted number.”
Well, that was a surprise. I tucked it into my bra before I sat on a chair across from Jerry. Use a sorcerer? If Cornelius could pull off this miracle, I'd definitely add him to my contact list. Of course I hoped I'd never need him or any of his magical powers again.
I stared at Jerry hard, as if I could will that potion to work. His chest rose and fell, like a runner's after a hard race. Hyperventilating. His fists clenched. What was happening in his mind? Was he watching a movie in his head? Did he see his life unscroll before his eyes? Could he be reliving every single event of the last four hundred years? The good and the bad? I saw him wince, then smile. This went on and on. At one point he moaned, then gritted his teeth. What could have caused that? A chuckle, a sigh of satisfaction. I wanted to read his mind and even tried but I came up empty. I was well and truly blocked out from whatever he was going through.
I sensed someone beside me. Ian, then my mother stood there. Jerry wouldn't like such an audience. I shooed her away and she went back inside. Of course the doctor wouldn't budge.
”This is fascinating.”
”And frustrating. I wish he'd wake up.” I leaned forward, desperate to help Jerry through this but able to do nothing, not even to touch him, even though I tried. It was as if the sorcerer had put a s.h.i.+eld around him. Any move toward Jerry left my head spinning, like I would pa.s.s out. I stopped trying.
”He was mad at you when he left here, wasn't he? When he headed back to the old country?” Ian sounded happy about that. b.a.s.t.a.r.d.
”When I got to the castle, before he lost his memory, Jerry was glad to see me. He'd forgiven me.” I refused to look at Ian.
”Good for you. Hopefully he'll remember that part. Of course he may not know everything you were up to after he left. Does he?” Ian pulled up another chair.
”There was no need to bother him with that when he had amnesia, Ian. And you'd better not get into it either.” My stomach leapfrogged into my throat. Ian knew all about my affair with Ray. Ray was addicted to Ian's daylight drug and he'd made a special trip over here just so he could clue Ian in to our hookup before I'd left town.
Ian smiled, happy to have some dirt he could use against me. ”Relax, Gloriana. I don't plan to exchange gossip with Blade.” He leaned forward in his chair. ”But if he ever asks me about your relations.h.i.+p with Caine, I won't lie for you.”
I didn't need to hear this now. Not when Jerry was on the brink of remembering his life. Or at least I hoped he was.
”I get it. Jerry and I will work it out. Just stay out of my business.” I went back to watching Jerry, who was still twitching and making faces. G.o.d, what was he going through?
”Blade had better hurry with this rewind. We've got less than an hour before dawn. If he stays out here, he's fried.” Ian looked up at the sky.
”If he's not done by then, your men will have to drag him inside to a safe place for his death sleep and you know it.” I did finally face Ian. ”The feud is over, remember?”
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