Illusion (20 page)

“Josie Anderson decides to grace me with her presence!”  Anna’s eyes scanned over me, lingering over my necklace before they went to her watch.  “You have perfect timing.  Let’s go to lunch.”

Anna crossed back to her desk and grabbed her purse from one of the drawers.  She rejoined me, motioning for me to follow her outside.  We walked in the bright sunlight for a few moments before she spoke.

“So, you’re back.  Is this a good thing?”  Anna asked curiously.  “Since you’re not in tears, I’m assuming you and Stefan are together.

 “It depends on what you consider a good thing.  I’ve already had one big negative reaction, so I’m anxious to see what yours will be.”

We walked up to one of the street vendors and ordered satay before heading in silence to a bench under a tree.  Anna sat first and pointed to the seat for me to join her.

“Yeah, I’m sure you didn’t use your psychic ability to know the outcome of our little chat.  I’m going to take a wild guess.  You’re moving,” Anna said sarcastically, taking a bite of her chicken.  She chewed for a moment and swallowed, her sharp brown eyes never leaving mine.  “Why is it you look like you spent all your time in New York at a spa?  Either New York was really, really good to you or Stefan has a magic dick.”

I choked on my bite at her comment.  Anna laughed and slapped me on the back a few times until I was finally able to breathe normally.

“Anna!” I exclaimed, feeling the telltale blush spread over my face.

“From that response I’m going to go with the magic dick.  By looking at him, I’d say it could cure just about any problem you could have,” Anna replied, tucking her brown curls behind her ear.  She finished her chicken and tossed the skewer in the trash, turning her attention back to me.  “I know you didn’t come to see me for shits and giggles.  What’s up?”

Taking a deep sigh, I looked at my shoe for a moment before I started talking.  “I need you to put my villa on the market.”

“Oh?”  Anna answered.  “Oh.  This is a permanent move.  You aren’t coming back?”

Shrugging, I smoothed my khaki shorts and picked at the cuticle on my thumb.  “We may come back to visit.  I don’t think Lukas is putting his house on the market so we could always stay there.”

Anna sighed and her lips pressed into a disapproving frown.  “That sounds like some cryptic bullshit line.  This is me that you’re talking to, not Georgia.  Are you coming back or not?”

“No.  Probably not,” I said in a rush of breath.  I flipped my hair over my shoulder, mentally holding my breath as I watch Anna mull things over.

Anna said nothing, tapping her fingers against the bench and not really looking at anything.  She appeared to be lost in her own internal musings.  The longer she was silent, the more I diligently sorted through her future.  She was constantly changing her mind from one train of thought to another.  It was enough to give me a headache.

“If you are going to do this, there’s no more running away from him.  Stefan doesn’t deserve that kind of bullshit again.”  Anna finally spoke, turning her head to look at me.  “What happened that made you take off that night, by the way?”

“Let’s just say I uncovered interesting information about my birth family while we were in New York.  I met my father, who I’d rather not discuss.  The entire experience was overwhelming.  When I took off that night, I didn’t think about it, I just reacted.”  The side of my mouth turned up in the tiniest of smiles.  “With one exception, I wish it was all still a mystery.  Some things are better left unknown.”

“What was the exception?”

My smile increased as I thought of Nikolaus.  “I have a brother.  He lives in the city, so I’ll be closer to him too.”

Anna sat back against the bench, her shoulders slouching under the weight of the information she’d just gathered from me.

“No shit?  A brother?”

Snickering, I leaned back with her.  “No shit.  His name is Nikolaus.”

“You have a brother,”  Anna said.  “That has to be bizarre to find out after of these years.  What’s he like?”

I pictured him in my head during our brief meeting, from his light brown hair with bits of red, his lean, muscular physique and motorcycle jacket and jeans.  “Very handsome.  He has a lot of tattoos.  He’s a smooth talker, but I like him.”

“Can he do what you can?” Anna asked, tapping her temple with her fingertip.

Nodding slowly, I took another bite and chewed slowly.  Anna’s eyes unfocused for a moment as if she was deep in thought.

“It’s a family trait then,”  Anna deduced.  “That’s gotta make you rethink having kids, huh?”

There was no way to tell Anna that there would never be children in my future.  I was an  immortal creature, an unchanging anomaly.  I’d also chosen a vampire as a mate…both of those things meant no babies for me.

“I don’t think it’s in the cards for us anyway.  I never had plans to be a mom so it’s no loss.”  I swatted her leg and tried to lighten the mood.  “You’re off the hook for babysitting duties.”

“Good try with the humor thing.  No dice,” Anna rolled her eyes and then focused on my necklace again.  “That’s new.  Is it from Stefan?”

Reaching up, I ran my fingers over the pendant, feeling the crude carvings under my fingertips.  “Yes.  It’s a family heirloom.”

Anna scooted closer and leaned over to inspect the pendant, fixated on the carvings.  She looked up at me through her eyelashes.  “Exactly how old of an heirloom is this?  I may not be a jeweler, but I know that is no reproduction.”

Shifting uncomfortably, this conversation had officially gone where I didn’t want to go.  I needed to move things along before I slipped up and said more than I wanted to say.

“I’m not sure.  I didn’t ask.”  I stood up and stretched.  “It’s probably time you got back to work and I still have errands to run.”

Anna watched me and clicked her tongue a few times.  She stood as well, crossing her arms under her chest.  “I don’t know what’s going on with you.  I do know you well enough to know when you divert like that, it’s something major.  I need to know two things.”

Inhaling a deep breath, I briefly closed my eyes.  I was wincing when I reopened them, bracing myself for her questions.  “Go ahead.”

“Are you safe and are you ok with all of this?”

I could answer these questions either way.  When I was with Stefan, I was safe.  He’d protect me with his life.  But was I really safe?  Absolutely not.  Not as long as Kian was lurking in the shadows of my life.  I could offer the same sort of response for her second part.  I had Stefan, so I’d accepted  my changes.  But if I had to face them alone, I might not be as happy being immortal in a world where I would watch people that I loved die, yet I would never age.

I went with the easy answer.  “Yes to both.  Honestly Anna, I had a minor freak out.  I’m fine now.  I promise.”

Anna observed me for a moment, scrutinizing my face to see if I was lying.  I must have passed the test because her shoulders relaxed and she grabbed my arm, linking us together.

“I think we have a villa to list.  Let’s gossip while we walk.  You call tell me all about Stefan’s magic dick.”

* * *

Pulling into my driveway and parking in front of my villa, the first thing I noticed were our suitcases on the sidewalk, lined up neatly in a row.  Tilting my head, I looked up at the sky, the late afternoon Indonesian sun warming my face.  I was a different person now than I was when I moved here a year ago.

Smiling to myself, I headed past the suitcases, committing every step into my villa to memory with the knowledge that I’d never walk alone again.  This place, this house was the beginning and the end.  No more lonely days, no more putting on my false face to the world, the face that pretended I was happy.  I’d come to Bali to run away, and I was walking away with the confidence I’d never had before.

Grasping the door knob with a smile, I pushed the door open, dropping my purse and keys on the now empty table.  When I turned, my mouth fell open in surprise.

Stefan’s large frame was sitting in the chair facing me.  He portrayed outward calm, yet his inward thoughts were a blur of conversations, visions, anger and strategy.  His glacial eyes were fixed on Georgia.  She was perched on the edge of the couch, her feet twitching anxiously as she clutched her arms.  Lukas sat to her right, quiet and unmoving.  No one was saying a word.  It was apparent I’d walked into a situation that made me want to press fast forward to bypass this situation completely.

Yet here I stood, neck deep in tension that was so thick it was tangible.  I pressed my back against the doorframe and my eyes flickered over each one of them.  Lukas, well… Lukas was Lukas.  His hands were crossed in his lap and his thin lips were pursed in either amusement or aggravation.  I couldn’t differentiate simply because he used the same look for either sentiment.  Georgia’s stance was agitated and condescending, and I didn’t need to lower my shields to feel her emotions.  Her nervous feet gave her away.

 I’d come full circle and Stefan’s eyes moved a fraction to meet mine, and his blond eyebrow raising slightly.  His mental voice pushed into my thoughts, loud and frustrated.

“Josephine, your friend Georgia decided to join us.  This has been an amusing hour.  She is even testing Lukas’ patience.  It is quite an accomplishment since he defines aggravation.”

Still keeping my gaze on Stefan, I pushed off the door and walked across the room to sit on the arm of Stefan’s chair.  When his hands pulled me into his lap, I didn’t fight him.  He relaxed and his fragmented thoughts seemed to calm.  I settled back against his chest and rested my head against his neck, inhaling his woodsy scent.  I also noticed another smell hanging in the room.  Coppery like a penny.

Blood. 

“So, who’s going to tell me what’s going on?”

My voice rang out loudly in the room, and both Georgia and Lukas’s eyes focused on me.  Stefan’s hand rubbed against the part of my thigh that was left exposed by my shorts, his fingertips tracing patterns against my skin.

Lukas let out a puff of breath and crossed his arms.  “Since no one is going to tell you, I will.  Your
friend
wants us to change her.  She thinks it would be the best thing for her since she already knows what we are.”

The pressure of Stefan’s fingers increased against my leg and I could only stare open mouthed at Georgia.  Had she lost her mind?  What had possessed her to seek out Stefan and Lukas alone and ask for them to change her?

“Georgia?  Why?”

Stefan’s voice rumbled behind me.  “She presented a convincing argument. That I will admit.  I will leave it to her to explain what happened.  Tell her, Georgia.”

Georgia’s whole body collapsed against the couch.  It was if she had deflated in front of my very eyes, even her voice sounding defeated.  “I just thought that since I knew, it made sense to just have them change me.  Not to mention the idea of not aging seems nice and I’d be like you.”

I was torn between wanting to spring off of Stefan’s lap to alternately slap her and hug her.  “Be like me? Not aging seems nice? Are you serious, Georgia?  Do you think this is some kind of joke?”

She tightened her grip on the towel on her arm and I noticed the red stain of her blood, glaring against the whiteness of the cloth.  When she spoke, her voice was a whisper.  “No, I know now it’s not a joke.  I didn’t really think it through.”

I shot off of Stefan’s lap and was beside her, clutching her wrist before she had a chance to react.  She blinked at the suddenness of my movements.  “You cut yourself in front of two vampires?  You have lost your mind?”

“I just thought… Never mind.”

“You just thought what, Georgia?  You’d cut yourself and they’d be swayed to change you?  They could have drained you dry,” I snapped.  Peering up at Lukas, he simply shook his head, exasperated with the whole situation.

“I saw Stefan with you.  He didn’t drain you,” Georgia responded haughtily.  My hold on her arm increased and she flinched slightly, gasping at my strength.  I loosened my fingers but didn’t let her go.  Closing my eyes, I dropped my shields to look into her future.  It was fuzzy and hazy, filled with black swirls and blanks.  When I saw her muddled plans, my heart sank.  My jaw was set firmly when I reopened my eyes to look at her.  I was so angry I wanted to shake her to get my point across, but I’d be wasting time and energy.  Something had happened that had altered her in some inexplicable way.

“Georgia, he loves me and he’s not going to drain me.  Stefan could give two shits about you,” I pointed out.  Instantly regretting the harshness of my words, I tried again with a gentler response.  “What I meant to say is that Stefan doesn’t love you and neither does Lukas.  We’re a food source to a vampire.  You can’t go tempting fate.”

I didn’t have to look at Stefan.  The heaviness of his eyes on me said it all.  I didn’t wait for him to tell me what I already knew: Georgia was never going to stop either trying to convince them to change her and she would resort to drastic measures if necessary.  What had happened to my strong friend that had a sassy response for everything?  She’d resorted to bloodletting to try to get vampires to change her.  This was a different Georgia than I knew before.

“You’re going to have to wipe her memory.  That’s the only way now.”

“I know.  Once again, I am sorry.”
Stefan’s voice was apologetic in my mind.