Part 44 (1/2)
”It can't happen tonight.”
”How can you be so certain?”
”Lucian is expecting you. He wanted you to really understand what he is.”
”And what is that?”
”Dead. Undead. A vampire.”
Jade moistened her lips, seeing the rise of elaborate tombs over the edge of the walls.
She remembered what it had been like, being here before-when she'd thought she'd been dreaming. But had it been a strange reality?
Real in fact, or in her mind? Had she seen winged cherubs reaching out for her? Angels that appeared to fly ... ?
Trust me!
She suddenly heard his voice in her mind.
The words were as powerful as if they'd been spoken aloud.
She opened the door to the pa.s.senger's seat. She looked in at Maggie.
”You'll be all right,” Maggie a.s.sured her.
”And why is that?”
”He loves you,” Maggie said simply, then reached across the car to grab the door handle and shut the door. She revved the car and drove away.
Darkness and shadows were everywhere. Jade stepped into the cemetery.
This way.
She followed the voice.
Deeper and deeper into shadow, darkness, and the land of the dead.
Chapter Fifteen.
Tonight she knew that she wasn't dreaming. She walked through paths of stone, over patches of gra.s.s, pieces of life and green trying to break through the inanimate and the dead. She pa.s.sed a huge winged gargoyle, a handsome family mausoleum, then another and another. A great tomb to Shriners, a small monument in Latin, dedicated to Italians.
Deeper, deeper into the graveyard.
And then she saw him. He stood in front of a simple, majestic tomb that was handsomely carved, guarded by winged lions on either side of heavy doors. The doors were decorated with stained-gla.s.s windows, with scenes depicting St. George slaying the dragon, and Lazarus rising.
He wore black, blending with the night, coming from the night. His s.h.i.+rt was a casual long-sleeved polo, his pants were pressed denim, and the tailored cut of his jacket seemed to emphasize both his size and his sleekness. He didn't move; he waited for her, perched upon the small wall where one of the lions sat.
She stood some distance from him, staring at him.
”So you've come,” he said.
She lifted her hands in the air. ”You summoned, didn't you?”
He studied her, then shook his head. ”No, I didn't. You're here of your own free will.”
”Why am I here?” she whispered.
”I wanted you to see where I live-or don't live.”
He rose, walking toward her. She wanted to run away, because she didn't want to believe. But more, far more, she wanted to be with him.
”Come. I'll show you.” He stood in front of her and reached out a hand to her. Slowly she took it. The night seemed darker instantly. She felt the electricity in his hand. It was like a jolt sweeping through her.
He led her to the steps. Her conscious mind rebelled. He was going to drag her in, lock her in with the dead. She couldn't begin to imagine the corpses here. The temperatures skyrocketed by day. The aboveground tombs were customarily given a year and a day-within that time, a body encased in a coffin and stone would disintegrate as if burned; one occupant's bones and remains could be pushed to the rear to fall through to a holding area, so that a second body could be put in.
She didn't know what happened in the mausoleums. Surely they were cooler. Coffins were kept cooler, bodies remained ...
It was a mausoleum. She balked.
He opened one of the doors with its stunning stained-gla.s.s window.
One wall was enclosed by coffins. There was an altar in the middle of the room, another stained-gla.s.s window above that: Christ rising from the dead. There was a single coffin on either side of the wall.
She read the name DeVeau on the altar.
”Relatives?” she whispered.
He shook his head, smiling. ”There's not a soul buried here. There is earth from Scotland in all of these, nothing more. Except for that coffin-clothing. I try to keep up with the styles, you know.”
She looked at him, then walked across the room, wondering if she was going to make an idiot out of herself, trying to lift the lid on a coffin that might have been sealed shut for ages.
The coffin opened. He hadn't lied. It was filled with clothing.
”And the other?” she asked weakly.
”I don't have to sleep here,” he told her, coming to her, lifting her chin. He must have felt the way her heart was thundering. She could hear it The pounding seemed to make the entire place pulse. It was as if she could even feel her own blood pulsing through her. ”I come back when I'm exhausted, weak. When I'm injured and need strength. I do need native soil, and it is with me always, everywhere I go.”
She was alone with him here. He claimed to be a vampire. Wasn't he tempted?
”Yes,” he said softly. She knew she hadn't spoken aloud.
”How do you not-”