Deadman's Blood (33 page)

“I couldn’t say just now, Jules. This is still all too raw to know what the future might hold. I just…I can’t say yet, whether or not I can forgive you. I just can’t.”

“Of course you can’t. You’re right. It’s wrong of me to ask for so much so soon. If a possibility is all I can get at this point, well then I’ll take it and cherish it for what possibilities it might bring.”

“I can live with that,” he said.

“Good and Anton?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I was falling in love with you too.” There was no reply.

She took a deep breath and said, “My employer is Doctor Michael Rowe.”

“What? That’s impossible. That’s like saying my father is the one trying to kill the Larsens. You’ve gone too far, Jules, making accusations like that.”

“Why would I lie to you at this point, Anton?” she asked.

“How would I know? How would I know why you do anything you do? For the money I suppose,” he accused.

“That’s not fair. I’m not lying to you, Anton. You need to be wary of him. He’s dangerous!” she warned.

“Give me a break, Jules. Dr. Rowe delivered me. He’s my dad’s best friend. He’s no more a fiend than I am. You know, Jules, I think I’ve heard enough. I don’t think you should call here anymore,” Anton said.

“But Anton…”

Anton hung up the phone, leaving a loud click and then a buzz in Julianna’s ear.

*****

Maybe it was the way Faeries did things, so when Darby’s dreams of this and that evolved into something strangely surreal, she didn’t even bat an eye.

She was walking down a forest path towards a light so bright it could only be the sun. As she emerged from the trees her surroundings became vividly clear and colorful, like that time when she kissed the clover and opened her eyes to meet Yanna. She noticed as she kept walking, that she was holding Biddy’s bottle with the last drop of the Elixir of Life within it. Butterflies flew all around while the breeze blew softly, kissing Darby’s face. She breathed in the sweet, fresh air as if she had never done so in her life. It was beautiful here. An algae-colored pond was to the left, randomly dispersed with pink water lilies. If you were light enough, they would make a lovely set of stepping stones zigzagging their way across the water.

To her right was a grassy hill speckled with colorful wildflowers breaking up the vast sea of astonishing bright green. Darby made her way around the pond towards a huge, old, gnarled oak tree. Its trunk was at least six to eight feet in diameter and rightly so, to bear its scores of massive limbs and sinuous bows. In its glorious shade was a bed of leaves piled a foot high and covered in soft, cool grass clippings, underneath a pale beauty with hair the color and appearance of corn silk. Attending the lovely Faerie queen was Yanna and propped up against the trunk on the far side stood a skulking Annay. There were other fae fluttering about the queen, but the beauty of the royal three outshone them a hundred to one.

Darby made her way into the imperfect circle of shadow made by the great oak’s canopy and kneeled down by Yanna near the queen. Yanna saw the bottle in Darby’s hand and she squealed with glee at its very presence.

“Oh, what a sweet and glorious day it is. You’ve found the bottle with the elixir. I knew you would not let us down. I knew it!” Yanna said. Upon spying the scene, Annay peeked around the trunk of the tree to see with astonishment what her sister was yammering about.

“Oh, Summer Queen, you are saved!” Yanna said.

Darby thought it odd that she did not call the queen “mother,” but figured it had something to do with be royalty. Darby handed the bottle to Yanna’s trembling hands and she quickly administered the drop of elixir to the queen. Within seconds of touching the lips of the queen, a glorious light illuminated and radiated out of the queen, so bright that Darby had to raise her hand to protect her eyes.

The queen suddenly opened her eyes and rose, stretching as if she had just woken from a long nap. Darby noted that Annay dropped to her knees at seeing the queen’s recovery. The Summer Queen looked around at both her daughters and lovingly touched each of their faces and then looked to Darby.

“You must be my champion. Thank you,” she said.

Darby, not knowing what to do or say, bowed her head.

Yanna said, “Summer Queen…this is indeed our heroine…Darby O’Reilly. She found the last drop of Elixir of Life given to Mother Earth.”

“Wasn’t the bottle given to an old woman?” the queen asked.

“Yes, your majesty, and then cast into the water by a priest after her death.”

“You must be very magical indeed. Thank you for your sacrifice on my behalf,” the queen said as she unpinned a lovely gold bird from the bodice of her exquisite pale green gown.

“As a token of my appreciation, I would like to give this to you, Miss Darby O’Reilly.” Yanna and Annay seemed to be surprised by the gesture.

“My Dear, this is the Golden Phoenix. It is was given to me by a wise and wondrous wizard I knew long ago.”

“It’s beautiful. Thank you, Summer Queen,” Darby said.

“It will bestow a very special wish upon its wisher. If it is given as a gift that wish is transferred to its new owner.”

“A special wish?” Darby asked.

“Yes. Like the Phoenix who rises from the ash and flame, being born over and over again, it can allow you a visit with a passed loved one.”

“You mean, a relative that has died?” Darby asked.

“Yes, my Dear. The wisher will have an entire twenty four hours, one full day, to visit and share with one last time.”

“Thank you, Summer Queen. Thank you so much.”

The Summer Queen stood and bowed to Darby as did Yanna and Annay. Darby turned from the queen and her daughters and walked away admiring the beautiful phoenix pin. The further she got from the queen, the shade of the oak, the pond, the grassy hill and all the butterflies, her surroundings morphed into a familiar dream she felt she’d had once before. She woke from her slumber to find herself in her bed next to a sleeping Devon as the sun streamed its glorious rays in to the room.

She quietly sat up, noticing the phoenix pin on the nightstand. She picked it up, admiring it and stroking it with one finger. She lovingly set it back down and quietly snuck out of the room to let Devon get more sleep.

She slipped downstairs and made coffee, humming to herself as she did so. When she spun around to sit down with the coffee and the paper, she ran right into Annay.

“Oh dear. Annay. You scared me,” Darby said.

“I’m sorry,” she said sadly, her hands behind her back.

“It’s okay. Is everything all right? The Queen isn’t sick again, is she?” Darby asked.

“No. NO. Everything is great. I just…Well, I just wanted to apologize,” Annay said.

“Apologize? For what?” Darby asked as she took a sip of coffee. “Oh…do you want some coffee?”

“No. Can you imagine a Faerie on caffeine? No, thank you. But I wanted to thank you for helping the Summer Queen. I was rude to you and well, I didn’t have any faith that you would be able to help us. That was wrong. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it, Annay. I understand,” Darby said.

“And…” Annay continued, “I hid these from you.” Annay brought her hands out from behind her, revealing a stack of letter-sized envelopes. She handed them to Darby.

“What are they?” Darby asked as she leafed through them.

“I’m not sure. I didn’t look at them; I just hid them from you. I guess I felt it was my way of getting back at you for getting my sister’s hopes up that you might be able to help us. I didn’t believe you could do it…and well…I’m sorry.”

“Well, it wasn’t very nice of you to hide them from me, but I’m glad you gave them to me now. How odd…these are all from Anton.”

“Who’s Anton?”

“He’s Devon’s cousin in the U.S. Oh. This last one is addressed to me,” Darby said as she ripped the envelope open. Inside was a letter.

Darby

I’ve tried every means possible to get a hold of you and Devon, but it is urgent that you come home immediately. Blake is in a coma. Dad’s with him in California and is doing everything medically possible to help, but with no effect so far.

Rowan is inconsolable and you are both needed here urgently.

Love

Anton

“Oh NO!” Darby exclaimed.

“What is it?” Annay asked.

“It’s Devon’s brother. He’s ill. We have to go back to the states right away!”

“I didn’t think vampires could get sick,” Annay said.

“Oh, don’t even get me started on that subject. Believe me…they can, but it usually isn’t by natural causes,” Darby said.

“I’m so sorry, Darby. This is all my fault. Maybe if you had received the letter sooner he’d be okay,” Annay said mournfully.

“You couldn’t have known. It’s not your fault. Thank you for giving them to me now. I have to go get Devon up so we can get back home!” Darby said as she ran up the stairs.

“Devon….Devon? Honey, wake up!” Darby said, shaking Devon, but he didn’t respond.

“Come on, Devon, wake up. Blake is sick and we have to go back!” she said again, but nothing.

“Oh no. Devon…Devon!” Darby yelled. The panic kicked in as she realized that something was indeed wrong with him too. She could hear his heart beat and see him breathing but he would not wake up. With no phone yet in the house and no cell phone coverage, she went running to the neighbors’ house to use their landline. She called Anton and Dominic, who were sure that Devon now was in a coma like his brother. Dominic made arrangements for Devon and Darby to fly back while he flew with Blake to the east coast. Doctor Andrews had hooked them up with a vampire associate at Johns Hopkins where Devon and Blake would be admitted and everyone was to meet. By the end of the day, Darby and Devon were flying back to the states with a medical team Dominic had arranged for them.

Though Darby was terribly worried about Devon and now Blake and her sister too, it was good to be back in the states to have support from friends and family. Rowan made a huge turnaround and found her strength in Darby’s presence.

They spent most of their time in Baltimore, but the rest of the gang stayed at the Larsen house in Connecticut and constantly checked in with those in Baltimore. Once home, Dominic went back to worrying about Katarina and the mess their relationship was and worrying about his nephews. He threw himself into research on the artifact and the altar room under the castle to distract himself in between calls to Katarina’s doctor and visits to Baltimore and phone calls with Dr. Andrews’ mentor and colleague, Dr. Chase Donaldson. He too was a vampire, and had his own lab and Johns Hopkins. He kept Devon and Blake in quarantine in his lab to keep the looky-loos from poking their noses into the Bloomingtons’ medical charts.

Once Darby and Rowan were squared away in Baltimore, the house’s visitors settled and a full out man hunt, headed by Mark, had started its search into finding Bernard.

Among all the chaos, Dominic received an interesting call.

“Hello?” Dominic answered.

“Dominic?”

“Yes. This is Dominic.”

“It’s Katarina.”

“Katarina? It’s so good to hear your voice! How are you feeling?”

“I’m good. Very good, in fact.”

“That’s wonderful. I’m so glad to hear it. I was going to call, but I wasn’t sure, considering our last meeting, whether I should, or whether you’d want me to.”

“I’m sorry about that. I really am. It’s just that it was a lot of information to sort through, but I’ve been working through some of it with the doctors here.”

“That’s good, Kat. Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Well, that is why I’m calling.”

“Oh. Anything I can do, just name it.”

“That’s sweet, Dominic. I was hoping maybe you might come for a visit?”

“Well, sure. I’d be happy to come. Is everything all right?”

“I think so. I mean, I hope so. There are just some things that the doctor feels need to be discussed.”

A knot formed in Dominic’s stomach. “Right. I suppose there are some things that we should talk about.”

He heard her sigh of relief. “Oh. Good. I’m so glad this is all right with you. When do you think you might be able to come?”

“Uh, well anytime, I suppose.”

“Could you come tomorrow?”

“Tomorrow? Well. Yes, of course, if it’s what you would like.”

“Perfect,” she said sounding perky. “I look forward to seeing you, Dominic.”

“And I you, Kat, always,” Dominic said a bit tentatively, but eager just the same.

“Good. Then I will see you tomorrow at 11:00. Goodbye,” Katarina said.

“Tomorrow. Goodbye,” Dominic said and hung up the phone. He wondered what it was that was so important that they needed to discuss. He thought about the last visit and how badly he felt it had gone, and he hoped this visit would be more favorable. At least there would be no surprises this time. Katarina already knew he was a vampire and that Josh was their son. Though he knew these things, the knot in his stomach did not unclench, but only got worse.