Blood in the Marsh (23 page)

“Okay!” Chelsey stomped down the stairs.

Lyra ran up to her room and took a shower then dressed in a pair of cut off jeans and a T-shirt. She started downstairs and heard the phone ring. Pausing, she listened for the machine to pick up, but instead she heard Chelsey’s voice.

“Hello? Hello? Is anyone there? Fine, then don’t talk!”

Lyra bounded into the room fussing at her. “Chelsey! What are you doing? We’re not supposed to answer the phone!”

“I know, but the damn thing’s been ringing off the hook ever since you got in the shower. Oh, by the way, Nick called and I told him everything was fine. He said he’d call later. Anyway, someone just keeps calling and hanging up and I got tired of it.”

“Well, maybe it’s just some kid,” Lyra said as she walked past Chelsey toward the kitchen.

She had just walked in the door when she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. The knob of the door leading to the garage was turning. Swallowing an impulse to scream, she turned and ran back into the den and grabbed Chelsey’s hand in one of hers, covering Chelsey’s mouth with the other as she pulled her toward the stairs.

“Someone’s trying to get in the house!”

Chelsey’s eyes widened and she nodded, running as fast as she could up the stairs behind Lyra. Lyra dashed down the hall and jerked open the door to the attic. Chelsey tore up the stairs as Lyra locked the door from the inside and raced after her.

She found Chelsey at the top of the stairs looking around in fear. “Lyra, we’re trapped up here!”

“Where’s your cell phone?”

“In the bedroom.”

Lyra chewed her lip for a moment then grabbed Chelsey’s hand. On the far side of the attic, an old service elevator door was hidden behind a stack of crates. Pushing the crates far enough away from the wall to squeeze by, Lyra opened the elevator door.

It was small, only about two and a half feet wide and about three feet high, but large enough for Chelsey to get in if she crouched down.

“Get in!”

“But there’s not enough room for both of us!”

Lyra shoved her toward the opening. “Just get in! And don’t make a sound!”

Shaking with fear, Chelsey crawled into the elevator and Lyra closed the door. Pushing the crates back in place, she looked around for a place to hide. The sound of footsteps on the stairs made her heart pound in her ears as panic rose. Running away from the elevator entrance, she frantically looked around, spotting a long rectangular object beneath an old tarp.

Throwing back one side of the tarp, she saw an old prop, the disappearing lady trick. It was sitting on top of several long crates. Wishing it was real magic, she opened the lid and crawled inside, letting the lid slam shut.

No sooner had she laid down she felt the bottom of the box give way. She rolled sideways, landing on her face beneath the box. Fear of being discovered made her consider changing hiding places but a splintering, shattering noise made her change her mind.

She heard footsteps, then a voice. “Find the blonde but don’t hurt her. He wants her unharmed and intact. If you find the other one, kill her. We’ll get rid of the body on the way.”

Lyra held her breath, sure she could be heard as footsteps sounded around the box she was trapped in. She heard the sound of the lid being raised and knew that at any moment she would be discovered. The man pounded on the sides and bottom of the box but could not find any hidden panels. He kicked the sides and walked all around it, then stopped and grabbed one end and lifted it up.

“Hey! Over here!”

Lyra felt tears stream down her face. She was so afraid she felt as if her heart was going to explode at any moment. Lying as still as death, she waited to see what was going to happen.

“What it is?” The second man asked as he walked over.

“I think we might have something here. This thing’s too heavy for an empty box. Maybe our little pigeon’s found a roost.”

Lyra wished she could just disappear. She braced her hands out by her sides, hoping that if she remained very still they would think the box was just made of heavy wood when they lifted it.

The men positioned themselves at either end of the box and lifted it up. Lyra felt the box move then suddenly the bottom opened up and she plopped down into a bed of straw. Blinking, she realized the false bottom of the box had deposited her into the crate below it which had no lid.

Digging into the straw, she burrowed her way to the bottom, feeling as if she would suffocate. The men were arguing about the box, one saying it wasn’t heavy and the other insisting it had been heavier before.

They turned it over on its side, checking the bottom, but could find no way in or out of it. At last, they moved on. Lyra could hear them as they moved around the attic. It felt as if she lay beneath the itchy straw, listening to them for hours. At last, they walked back to the stairs.

“Looks like we were wrong. They must’ve sneaked out. Call Carl and have him check it out again. They’ve got to be somewhere on this island and we better find them fast.”

The other man agreed. “You got that right. If we don’t produce this goddamn virgin before long then we’re all going to be looking at the sky from the bottom of the marsh.”

Lyra listened as they left the attic. She could hear them on the stairs then there was silence. Afraid to move in case they decided to come back, she stayed where she was, praying that Nick or Michael would come back.

After several hours, she heard the faint ring of the phone. She couldn’t tell if the answering machine picked it up but felt better knowing that at least the phone was working.

Inside she was still scared to death. The things the men had said made it all too clear that they were after her. Lucius wasn’t lying! All those things he wrote were true. There is some kind of ageless vampire out there and it needs to make the transference from its old body to a new one. And it wants to kill me! Oh god, Lucius, I sure hope you have a trick to get me out of this.

Chapter Eight

Michael stopped the car with a jerk and jumped out. He unlocked the door and ran in the kitchen. “Lyra!”

Getting no response, he started searching. The downstairs was empty, but there was evidence someone had been in the house. Running upstairs, he checked every room as he proceeded down the hall. He saw the shattered door to the attic stairwell and raced up the stairs three at a time, stopping in a low crouch at the top step.

Pausing, he listened for a moment, and then began making his way through the attic. Things were turned over and moved as if someone had been looking for something. He saw the uncovered magic box and the tarp lying on the floor and stopped.

Opening the lid, he looked inside. “Lyra?” A muffled reply came from beneath the box. Michael pushed it so it sat crosswise on the crate beneath it. “Lyra!” he whispered again.

“Michael?” Movement came from the straw in the crate.

He started digging in the straw as Lyra jumped up and grabbed him around the neck, straw clinging to her clothes and tangled in her hair. “Oh, Michael!”

“Are you okay?” He held her at arm’s length, looking her over.

“I’m fine. God! Chelsey! Come on!”

Michael followed her to the far side of the attic. “Help me move these crates!”

He pushed the crates aside and Lyra jerked open the small door to the service elevator. Inside Chelsey was huddled with her knees to her chest. She squeaked in fear as the door opened then uttered a cry of relief when she saw them.

“Oh, thank god! I thought I was going to die in there!”

They helped her out and she rubbed her stiff legs. Michael looked at Lyra. “What happened?”

“I was going into the kitchen and I saw the door handle to the garage door turn so we ran up here and hid.”

“Did you see or hear anything?”

“I heard two men talking,” she said quietly, turning away.

“What did they say?” He grabbed her and turned her to face him.

“They said…” Lyra cut a look at Chelsey and stopped. “I don’t remember.”

Michael noticed the way she wouldn’t look at him and knew she was hiding something. He was about to demand that she tell him but she took Chelsey’s arm and started pulling her toward the door to the stairs. “Come on. Let’s get you into a hot bath.”

Michael followed silently, waiting in the hall as Lyra took Chelsey into one of the bathrooms and helped her into the tub. A few minutes later, she walked out of the bathroom and started down the hall to her room.

Lyra stayed one step ahead of Michael as she went into the bathroom and started picking straw out of her hair. She knew he was waiting for an answer but she wasn’t ready to talk about it. All the time she had laid in the crate thinking that at any moment those men were going to come back for her, one single thought kept running through her mind. If she wasn’t a virgin, she wouldn’t have to be dealing with any of this.

Finally, Michael’s patience ran out. Stalking into the bathroom, he took her arm and pulled her to the bedroom, making her sit on the bed. “Okay, let’s have it. You heard something.”

Lyra looked at him blankly for a moment then sagged and looked down. “Yes. One of them said that if they found the blonde to make sure she wasn’t hurt—that he wanted her unharmed and intact. Then they said they were going to kill the other one and dispose of the body.”

Michael’s face hardened and his eyes blazed. “Is that all?”

She shook her head, still looking down. “When they couldn’t find us they said something about thinking we had sneaked out and they were going to get someone named Carl to check it out because we had to be somewhere on the island, and if they didn’t find us soon they were going to be looking at the sky from the bottom of the marsh.”

Michael sat down and ran his hands through his hair. “Anything else?”

“No.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“No.”

“Do you want to tell me about it?”

“No.”

“Lyra, I can’t help you if you hide things from me,” he said in a gentle tone.

“I’m not hiding anything.” She looked up at him and he could see the fear in her eyes as tears ran down her face. “Michael, what I read—the things Lucius wrote—they’re true. And that monster—that vampire or whatever it is, is here! And insane as it sounds it’s decided it needs me as its sacrificial lamb so it can steal another body. I feel like I’m in a nightmare and I can’t wake up and to tell you the truth I’m so scared I feel like I can hardly breathe.”

Michael put his arms around her and pulled her up next to him. “I won’t let anything happen to you, Lyra. I promise you.”

She looked up at him and dried her face. “Michael, we don’t know how to fight this thing and I can’t let you take the risk of getting hurt, or worse. I couldn’t stand it if something happened to you. You’re too…I mean, I…what I meant is…”

“You have feelings for me?”

Lyra’s eyes popped open wide and her face paled. She had no idea it was so obvious and she had no idea what Michael thought about her feeling that way.

As she stared at him in silence, Michael began to think he had read things all wrong. Feeling a little foolish, he smiled half-heartedly. “Well, are you just going to leave me hanging here by my thumbnails or are you going to answer? Is that it, do you have feelings for me, Lyra?”

Lyra dropped her eyes and took a deep breath then looked up at him. “Yes, I do.”

“You do what?”

“I do—I do care about you,” she said softly. “More than you can imagine.”

“God am I glad to hear you say that.”

“You are?”

“Yes. Haven’t you figured out by now that I’m crazy about you, Lyra? I never thought I’d ever feel this way about anyone again, but you’re like a wish come true. I think I fell in love with you the first time I looked in those big golden eyes.”

“You love me?” she asked incredulously.

“I know that sounds crazy. I mean you’re involved with—oh shit, Nick.”

“And Chelsey. Oh god, you’re sleeping with my best—”

“No, I’m not.”

“You’re not?”

“No. I haven’t had sex with Chelsey.”

“Why?”

“My interest has been elsewhere.”

Lyra could hardly believe her own ears. “Oh, Michael. I don’t know…what I mean is…is…” She sucked in a big breath. “I’ve been trying so hard not to care about you. To not hurt Chelsey or Nick and to be who everyone wanted me to be. But the truth is, the first time I saw you I felt…something.”

“So did I.”

“What do we do, Michael?”

“Well, we start with honesty.”

Abruptly she stood and walked to the window. “This isn’t the time, Michael. We have to find a way to beat this…thing. There has to be a way to destroy it!”

“Much as I’d like to disagree, I can’t. Besides, for the moment it’s enough to know you care. Now, where’s the diary?”

Lyra flew over to the bed and tapped on an ivory panel in the headboard. It swung open and she grabbed the diary, holding it against her heart. “Thank god it’s still here!”

“Pretty cute!” Michael inspected the hiding place. “When did you discover this?”

“When I woke up and knocked my head against it. I had another dream about Lucius.”

“Then I guess we better find out more about what’s in that diary.”

Lyra nodded then remembered Chelsey. “Damn! I have to check on Chels. She’s really shaken up by all this. If you don’t mind could we not say anything about what I overheard today? I think that’d only make her more afraid. In fact, I was thinking that maybe it would be safer for her if we just got her out of here.”

“I don’t think that’s a good idea. Whoever these people are they know you and Chelsey are friends and they could try to use her to get to you. And they won’t think twice about killing her once they get the information they want. I think she’s safer where we can keep an eye on her.”

“But you can’t just stay here twenty-four hours a day guarding us! What about your job?”

“Whose job?” Nick’s voice came from the door.

“Mine,” Michael said and stood. “I’m glad you’re here, Nick. We’ve had more trouble and I need to get to the station and check some things out but I don’t want Lyra and Chelsey to be here alone.”

“What kind of trouble?”

Michael cut his eyes at Lyra just as she slid the diary beneath her robe that was lying on the bed. .

“Lyra will fill you in,” he turned his attention back to Nick.” I’ll be back in a couple of hours.”

Nick nodded and Michael cut a look at Lyra. “Nick’ll protect you. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

She nodded and watched him go. Nick walked over to stand in front of her. “Tell me.”

Lyra quickly explained what had happened, finishing with, “And I still think I should just take Chelsey somewhere far away from here. You and Michael can’t guard us night and day. You both have jobs and—”

Nick took her hand and pulled her closer. “Listen. Those jobs are nothing. They don’t mean anything compared to you. Besides, thanks to our government I don’t really have to worry about money.”

Lyra’s eyebrows drew together in a frown and she studied his face for a few moments. “You still haven’t told me who you really are, have you, Nick?”

Nick didn’t turn away but his expression changed for a split second. “What makes you say that?”

“I’m not stupid and I know enough to recognize when someone is skirting around the truth. I heard what you and Michael said. I think maybe you’ve been involved in some things that most people would find shocking, even hard to believe, and I think that something happened that hurt you. It must have been something bad and I’m not asking you to tell me anything you don’t want to. But I do think honesty is important.”

Nick looked into her eyes and smiled. “For someone so young and innocent, sometimes you seem as old as time. I do want you to know everything, Lyra. But right now, our plates are kind of full. So, give me a little time and I’ll tell you.”

“Okay, I can live with that. Now, I’m going to check on Chelsey. Would you mind going downstairs and fixing her a drink or something. I think I’m going to put her to bed.”

When Nick arrived with the drink, Lyra was sitting on the bed, beside Chelsey.. . Chelsey’s face was unusually pale and her dark eyes were rimmed in red, giving testimony to the fact she had been crying.

He handed her the drink. “Here, just sip this and try to relax. You’re safe now.”

“How can you say that? We were supposed to be safe all along and look what happened? Those men might have killed us if Lyra hadn’t found safe places for us to hide. And all that fancy security shit didn’t do a thing to stop them!”

Nick’s eyes narrowed at her words and he excused himself to go downstairs. When Lyra finally got Chelsey calmed down and comfortable, she went in search of him. She found him in the storage room off the kitchen going over the alarm system.

“What are you doing?”

“Chelsey was right. Those men should have been stopped at the gate, and if they’d tried to go over the fence, they should’ve been knocked for a loop by the current. But they made it to the house without any trouble. Not only that, they managed to deactivate the alarm so that it wouldn’t alert you or show on the boards at the security office.”

“So you think they knew about the security system and how to circumvent it?”

Nick turned to her with a shake of his head. “No, I think they deactivated it from the security office.”

“But that’s impossible! Isn’t it? I mean, in order to do that they’d either have to break into the office or…”

Her eyes widened and she gasped. “Or they’d have to work there!”

“Bingo!”

“So what do we do?”

“I think maybe there are some clues in Lucius’ diary. I need to read more of it and see what I can find. Then when Michael gets back we’ll come up with some plan for getting into the security office and seeing if we can find out who it was.”

“Nick, I…I’d prefer to read the diary alone.”

“Why?”

“Because Lucius was important to me and he left it to me and I feel uncomfortable letting anyone else read it.”

“He’s dead, Lyra. And if there’s something in what he wrote that can help us put a stop to what’s happening…”

“I promise to let you know anything important I read, but I need to do this alone.”

She thought he was going to argue but surprised her by nodding. “Fine, I’ll go through the security system more thoroughly, and make sure there’s not a problem.”

“Thanks.” She went to her room and climbed on the bed, tossing aside her robe and thumbing through the dairy until she reached where she’d left off.

She followed the body stealer from Romania to Yugoslavia, where he arrived in the early 1400s. He settled in Slovenia, which at the time was under the control of Austria. But he stayed there only a dozen years or so, then moved on to the coastal region of Dalmatia, which is now part of Croatia. At the time, that region was under the control of the Venetians. There he set himself up as Constantine De Gama, thanks to a newly arrived Venetian young man who had been called to Dalmatia to assist in the family business that was flourishing.