Part 42 (1/2)
”Crawfish etouffee,” Maggie said, pausing at a stockpot. ”My specialty. I gave the housekeeper the weekend off.” It seemed she exchanged a strange glance with her husband once again.
”What can I get you all to drink?” Maggie asked. ”It's early, but I make a great Cosmopolitan.”
”I could definitely use a great Cosmopolitan,” Shanna said.
Jade lifted her hands. ”Sure.”
”Sean, would you run down to the bas.e.m.e.nt and get another cranberry juice for me, please?”
”Sure. Anything else?”
She shook her head, her eyes meeting his. He smiled. She adored her husband. Jade lowered her eyes, looking away.
Shanna wandered into the family room, talking to the baby. Jade leaned on the counter, watching as Maggie stirred her sauce.
”You're from here?” she asked Jade.
”Born and bred. And you?”
”Yes. I was from here.”
”Maggie, I just realized you're the Maggie from the shop in the French Quarter,” Jade told her.
Maggie flashed her a quick grin. ”Yes, it's my store.”
”It's been there forever, right?”
”A very long time.”
”Maggie,” Jade said softly after a minute.
”Yes?”
”There's garlic all over your house.”
Maggie's eyes met hers. ”Enough of it works, sometimes.”
”Against...?”
”Vampires.”
”And the stakes?”
”They work as well. Though you should cut out the heart or remove the head.”
Maggie Canady, tall, slim, totally dignified, was staring at her as if they were discussing her recipe for crawfish.
”And crosses?”
”They have some power, depending on the vampire. Personally I always love a beautiful cross. I'm very partial to jewelry.”
”I'm not sure what you're saying. And Maggie, how could you know what might or might not work against vampires? If such creatures indeed existed.”
Sean was still below. As Maggie set down her wooden spoon and stared at Jade, they could hear Shanna talking away to the baby.
”Because I was once a vampire,” Maggie said, and turned and walked to a cabinet for more salt.
Jade stayed where she was, feeling as if a chill breeze blew over her. Now she really was losing her mind. ”You were a vampire.”
”Yes.”
”But you're not anymore.”
”No.”
”You went from being a hideous, wretched bloodsucker to the wife of a cop?”
”Well, I suppose you could put it that way-”
”So it is a cult!” Jade exclaimed. ”You were part of it, but you got out-”
”No. I was a vampire. And nothing is that black or white. I was never a vicious killer. The world is not so simple, not even the world of the undead. Some people are kind, and some are cruel. Some would give up their own lives to help solve world hunger, and some would slaughter in cold blood in order to steal a few dollars. Most creatures are the same.”
”Vampires kill.”
”Men kill,” Maggie said flatly.
”Vampires can't really exist!” Jade whispered.
”They can, and they do,” Maggie insisted.
”I can't believe this!” Jade whispered. Tears suddenly stung her eyes. ”I can't. Because I think you're trying to tell me that Lucian DeVeau is such a person, that I really was with a group attacked by vampires in Scotland, that they're killing all across the country, that-”
She broke off. Maggie was just looking at her, listening. Watching, waiting for her to accept what she was saying.
Shanna, she saw, had risen, and was watching from the other room.
Sean Canady had come up from the bas.e.m.e.nt.
”I think I should make those drinks now,” Maggie said. ”Thanks, my love,” she murmured, accepting the bottle of cranberry juice Sean had brought up. She set it on the counter. ”Jade, would you get the ice from the freezer for me?”
To her amazement, she did, getting a tray of ice, walking back to Maggie.
She gazed at her sister, at Sean, and then at Maggie again. ”You were a vampire?”
”Yes.”
”And one day you just said, 'I don't think I want to be a vampire anymore'?”
Maggie had been putting the ice, vodka, cranberry, and lime into a pitcher. She set it all down, placed her hands on the counter, and looked into Jade's eyes. ”Nothing in the world is ever that easy. There are strange laws that govern all life-and death. I believe that G.o.d exists, I always kept a certain faith, and maybe that's why I was finally given something back.”