Carol Shenold - Tali Cates 02 - Bloody Murder (7 page)

They managed to get into the house without falling over anything in the dark or breaking the mirror. I made them help me re-hang it in the green room. “You boys have a seat at the dining room table. We have to talk and I don’t have much time.”

When the house was originally built decades before, what was now the green room—named for the hideous green-flocked wallpaper Mumsie loved—had been a garage. The room was lower than the rest of the house, so to reach the level of the rest of the house, you had to climb three wide steps onto a landing.

When Cass was little, the landing was the site of many theatre productions she and Mumsie would put on any time we visited. Sean, as a baby, had been roped into those talent-laden scripts as had any passing neighbors and kids. We had fun. But my dad died, I moved away and got married, fun ended. I pushed those thoughts away.

From there, I passed through a door that led past the utility room and through another doorway into the den/dining room. The fireplace was on the right, facing the doorway was a sliding glass door, and to the left was the kitchen and the hall to the bedroom.

I heard Sean and Rusty whispering.

“You tell her, she’s your mother.”

“I’m not telling her, she won’t believe a word of it.”

“How can she not believe it? It’s true. Anyway, she believes in weird stuff, you told me.”

“Just you wait. You’ll see what I mean.”

I walked in. “What am I not going to believe?”

Both boys looked at each other and shrugged.

“I’ll make it easy for you. Why did you have a mirror outside? I know it wasn’t to fix your hair.”

Sean spoke up first. “We wanted to see if he had a reflection because that’s how you can tell, and if we saw it, we could prove it.”

“See what? Prove what? Are you speaking in a foreign language? Tell me what’s happening.”

Sean fidgeted in the chair.

Rusty decided to speak up first. He spoke as if he had serious news to impart, the kind upon which rested the fate of the world. “Mrs. C, I think your new neighbor is a vampire.”

I opened then closed my mouth like a fish in the mouth of a predator.

Rusty leaned forward, looking into my eyes. “No, listen. No one’s seen him in the daylight. He showed up one night, out of nowhere. He looks strange and acts suspicious. He yells at us if we come close.”

“Yeah, Mom. And he threatened us just because we crossed his yard. I thought if we had the mirror and he didn’t have a reflection, then someone would believe us.”

“Guys, you sound like a bad version of
Lost Boys
. Listen to yourselves. This is Love, Texas. We don’t have vampires, werewolves, witches, or any of the other movie monsters. You have to trust me on this. Furthermore, if he yells at you when you’re in his yard, stay off his property. Simple, huh?”

“But we could be in real danger,” Sean pleaded. “You don’t want some creature of the night creeping around the edges of the property or
on
the property. We might not know it but he’d be there. And you know vampires can change into wolves and bats and hypnotize you with a glance.”

“All right, enough. No more scary movies for you, even if it is close to Halloween. You’re mixing up real life with fantasy.”

Sean looked down and muttered. “That’s what some people say about ghosts but we know better. We had Mag.”

I ignored his reference to the persistent ghost who’d haunted us at the end of the summer, trying to get me to solve her murder. But ghosts were one thing, however, and bloodsucking neighbors were another. I simply wouldn’t have it, much less have the boys drive people away with their nonsense.

I jumped at the knock on the door.

“I’ll get it. I’ll get it.” Both boys jumped up to race for the door before I could stop them. This would be good.

They crept back into the room looking back over their shoulders. Sean spoke first, in a loud whisper. “It’s him. I didn’t invite him in but he’s waiting anyway.”

“Sean, you have better manners than that,” I scolded. “Aiden, come on in and have a seat, I’ll be right there.”

“Mom, you didn’t invite him in! Now he can come in anytime he wants. What are you thinking?”

“I’m going out for a little while. If I hear about you two causing any more trouble or bothering anyone, including your grandmother or our neighbors, you won’t like the results.”

Sean looked stricken. “It’s after dark. Nighttime.”

“Since that’s never been a problem before, I don’t think it will be now. Mumsie’s here. Remember, no scary movies. I don’t want your imagination stuffed with anything more than is in there now.”

Sean and Rusty exchanged glances clearly indicating I was a fool, already under the spell of the undead and doomed to follow the lead of an evil creature.

“Remember what I said. I want you in bed by midnight. Sorry, Aiden. I think the boys are on a sugar high. They probably inhaled enough cotton candy for the entire town. They are a little out of control.”

To my chagrin, I caught myself looking in the mirror on the landing to see if I could see him, and I did. He was a little out of focus but definitely there.

I put my hand up as if to fix my hair. There was no way I’d ever admit to what I’d just done or to the comic book antics those two boys were up to.

* * * *

An hour later we were at a small Italian restaurant in Denison, eating one of the best steaks I’d had in a long time. Actually I was having a steak dinner while Aiden picked at a salad. In one corner of the country Italian room, two singers with acoustic guitars sang a mixture of western and pop songs. The girls’ close harmony filled the room, weaving around diners talking softly to each other. Wonderful scents of Italian spices, garlic, onions, created their magic. Candles flickered on each table to give a flattering golden glow to everything.

He speared a piece of bacon off the top if his salad. “Sorry, I couldn’t help it. I caved for cotton candy and then a candy apple during the contest. I’m not any better than the kids. Now I’m stuffed. Not smart before inviting you to dinner.”

“It’s okay,” I said around a mouth full of steak. “I’m enjoying it anyway. I hope the rare meat doesn’t gross you out. I love my steak rare. I don’t want a cool middle or for it to moo at me, but it’s so much more tender and flavorful this way, at least to me.”

“Rare is absolutely the way to go”, he said, staring at the red juice on my plate.

“Are you sure you won’t have some? I’ll share.”

Aiden pulled his eyes away from my plate and grinned. “No thanks, I’ve had plenty, believe me.” When he smiled, I melted. He was so beautiful. Even though he was fair skinned, his dark hair looked just right—shoulder length, slightly wavy, shiny.

Me, shallow? Yes.

It was no wonder I was attracted to him. He was more gorgeous than some of the models on the covers of the romances Cass always read, because he didn’t have that plastic look. It wasn’t so much that I was drawn to him, but his magnetism overwhelmed me. I didn’t remember a physical allure as strong as this. I really didn’t know anything about the man except he showed up where I was and lived next door.

And my son had some notion he was a vampire. I smiled to myself, picturing a gothic novel with the heroine swooning in the arms of the dark stranger à la Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey.

Aiden tilted his head. “What’s so funny? Share the joke. You don’t get to sit there like a Cheshire cat without telling me what’s going on.”

I polished off the rest of my steak, already thinking ahead to dessert. Their flourless chocolate cake was out of this world. They made it with espresso and fresh whipped cream on top. “I have to tell you about the kids. It was funny, once I got over the shock.” I told Aiden about the conversation—and the mirror.

Aiden threw back his head and burst out laughing. His laugh was full-bodied, rich, and echoed through the room, making everyone around him smile, though they had no idea what the joke was.

He finally caught his breath. “I thought it was strange to see a nice antique leaning against the garage. In fact, I started to come over and ask about it when I saw you and the boys out there. That’s hysterical. I need to start dressing in black and really make them worry.”

“Especially on Halloween night, it would make their holiday. Now, if you could find a way to change into a bat and fly away…”

He looked at me across the table and I felt as if I were going to take flight myself. His eyes drew me outside myself and into another world where I didn’t have to be in control, I could simply enjoy sensations coursing through me. A place with no children, no responsibilities, just the two of us. I wanted to be swept up and away into that existence, soar above obligations, death, worry of the here and now.

“Would you like some coffee or dessert?” Aiden offered, plunging me back to earth.

Suddenly cake was the last thing on my mind. I wanted dessert all right. I wanted
him
. I’d turned into the town slut, ready to sleep with the next stranger who came along, and I didn’t care.

I smiled at him, meeting his eyes for a second before looking away from the intensity reflected there. “No. Not quite the dessert I had in mind.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You’re certain,” he said, reading my thoughts. “You don’t know me very well.”

I felt a chill. Maybe I blew it and he didn’t feel the same way, had no intention of getting serious with some small-town single mother. He might be repulsed by me, feel sorry for me. Oh God. What a mess.

I met his eyes again, afraid of what I would see there, but all I saw was tenderness and something stronger I couldn’t identify. “You can take me home. We can call it a night,” I offered.

“Or we could drive around. It’s clear with a full moon coming along. Let’s go out to the lake. I love the view at night.”

Aiden stood up and held out his hand. When I took it, all the earlier feelings shot through me, stronger than ever. I’d make him want me. I wouldn’t do my usual thing, over-thinking every move. I’d let our relationship happen naturally.

We drove out to the Love Lake Pavilion. It was dark and empty with a moonlit view of the lake. A pier led out past the lighthouse. We stood on the end of the path, water sounds whispering around us, moonlight glowing on the waves. A light breeze lifted my hair.

Aiden kissed me. I felt the way I had as a child, on a swing, when I plummeted forward from a really high push. He pulled back to look me in the eyes, caressed my cheek, ran his fingers down the side of my neck and around to the front. I gasped as fire followed that line, and kept going, past my breasts, down to the core of my being. I stopped breathing, gasped for air. He kissed me again, became more insistent and my body matched his, pressing toward him, into him as if I wanted to meld into one being.

As we kissed, Aiden continued caressing me, driving me wild with feather-light touches everywhere that seared flesh, through clothing, hot tingling. I became wild with the desire to shed clothing, feel his touch without barriers, but I was too weak, too breathless to do anything about it.

Aiden must have felt the same as one minute we were by the lighthouse, the next lying on a blanket on the pavilion floor, our clothing in piles. My mind couldn’t fill in the gaps—where the blanket came from, where the clothes went—and didn’t care. Sensations stronger than I ever remembered flew through my body, down all the nerves, all culminating in one area. I shifted my hips, attempting to move closer. I couldn’t wait, but he drew back once again, tracing fire from my neck, around my breasts, over my stomach, around my labia, driving me to more uncontrollable desire.

I reached down to move one of his hands where I wanted it to go so badly, but he grabbed both my wrists and held them over my head, while continuing to touch and stroke me in ways I’d never imagined. I arched and moaned, closing in on an orgasm. He opened my labia, letting air currents play around, heightening the sensations more than anyone ought to be able to survive, but they kept on building. I heaved with desire, my entire body arching until my back should have broken. Then he inserted himself into me.

In spite of my frantic movement, he took his time, moving so slowly I could have died in the intervals between strokes. He let go of my hands and I clung to his back, matching movement to movement. His motion accelerated, my moans became cries, uncontrollable sobbing as I climaxed and built toward another climax, my heart pounding itself through my chest. I spun off into space, through galaxies, the fire becoming the sun. We thundered into fulfillment at the same moment, crashing back to earth for a soft landing next to each other.

I breathed as if I’d run a marathon, trying to slow down, consciously making each breath take a little longer. Aiden lay next to me, breathing normally, watching my face. As I became aware of where we were, what state we were in, I blushed as if I’d never had a man.
My God, I had sex next to the lake, in the pavilion, like some horny teenager.

I probably had splinters in my butt.

What if one of the deputies who routinely patrolled the lake came by? What if some kids I knew wanted to neck in the pavilion? I rolled over to grab clothes. How could I have gotten so carried away? This wasn’t me. I was a mom, not a sex machine. What on earth had I been thinking? I’d known this man for two days. How ridiculous.

How damn desperate.

Aiden had a faint smile on his face, as if he could read my thoughts. “It’s all right, Tali. You are allowed feelings. No one can be in control all the time.”

I dressed fast as I could. “I can,” I snapped. “I have to be, it’s my job. I’m a mom and an example. The last time I dated a stranger was a disaster and now look what’s happened.”

He pulled on his jeans, a scowl crossing his face. “Right. Look what’s happened. You enjoyed yourself. Our Tali isn’t allowed to have fun, fulfill a desire or anything else human? You’ve turned the gift of fulfillment into an act of depravity. That’s insulting.”

I stopped jerking my clothes on. “You’re insulted? Here we are like two adolescents, so desperate to find a place to be together, we’re willing to have sex on a hard wooden floor in full sight of anyone who might come by, and you feel put-upon?”