Lifebound (13 page)

They stood in silence as Josh turned over the concept that vampires actually existed. Disturbing wasn’t really the word for it.

“I am heartily sorry for it too,” Preston said. “You both seemed so happy together.”

Preston clapped him one more time on the shoulder, then headed back to sit with his lady friend.

After a long, boring ride through thick fog, the ferry docked at the little fishing village where Josh’s journey had started so many days ago.

He hefted his backpack again and strode toward the gangplank onto the wooden dock.

“Sir,” a voice called from behind him.

One of the deckhands came forward with his cane. “Sir, you left this.”

Josh took the cane with a frown. He hadn’t used it in days. His time with Adriana had completely healed his hip. The island had done its job. Alicia would be glad.

He crossed to the ocean side of the ferry and hurled the walking stick as far into the water as he could, watching it sink with a sense of detachment.

His body might be whole again, but that damned island had torn his heart in half.

“Josh!”

The sound of Rob’s voice stirred him from the hypnotic study of the baggage carousel. He nearly missed his backpack as he turned to watch his cousin and good friend roll up beside him.

Rob reached out his hand for their customary half-handshake, half-hug. “So how was the trip?” he asked as they headed to the elevator to the main floor of the airport.

“Good,” Josh lied. “Really good.”

The entire flight back from Bangor to Mobile, he’d done nothing but brood. Where was Adriana? Would she go back to wherever she lived in Silicon Valley? Could Alicia drum up an address of her old place? Could he get a new address and at least send her a card? Flowers? Another tiki?

“You look like you’re walking better,” Rob said as the doors opened for the two men.

“So do you,” Josh said without thinking.

“Dude, I’m not walking at all. Where is your brain? Still at the spa? How much massage action did you get?”

“Not enough, buddy,” Josh said, finally able to manufacture a smile. “Not nearly enough.”

“Alicia’s got dinner waiting. Then the kids have a play at school. You wanna come?”

“No, I’m good. Tell the twins I said break a leg—but not like I did.”

They hopped into Rob’s converted van—well, technically Rob rolled onto the big powered ramp—as Josh considered just how good his cousin had it.

Josh called his and Alicia’s two kids twins mostly just to annoy them. They were eight and nine—one boy, one girl, both adopted. Raoul was from Ecuador and Eleni was from Ukraine—the daylight and dark twins, he liked to tease them, as Raoul was as dark eyed, dark haired, and dark skinned as Eleni was fair.

But they got along just like typical brothers and sisters, playing, fighting, and teasing each other—until the moment came that tackling Uncle Josh would be even more fun. Then they presented a united front.

“On second thought, I will take you up on that dinner invitation,” Josh said. “Alicia’s making something good I hope?”

“Peas, cornbread, squash patties, and some leftover roast, I think. How’s that?”

“Sounds perfect.”

Chapter Fourteen

A
lmost a world away, Adriana sat down to lunch at her parents’ house. Meals at Wiccan Haus had been served “family style,” but its casual gatherings around the tables passing bowls of apple salad were nothing like the “family” meal she was being served at the moment.

A pair of solemnly dressed servants appeared out of nowhere in the large dark-paneled dining salon, one pouring her a glass of wine as the other deposited her meal before her. Adriana eyed the elaborately styled, colorful mass on her plate.

“Olivier has been experimenting with fusion cuisine,” her mother said. “We never know just what sort of flavor combinations we will experience.”

“He assures us that it will go well with the wine,” her father added. “I would like your opinion on this Merlot. It’s Chilean.”

Adriana took the obligatory sip. “Very nicely balanced. Fruity. I like it, Father.”

He gave her a smile and a nod, and she began to wonder if these really were her parents or if dopplegangers had replaced them. Her father had never asked her opinion on a wine before, and the way they both smiled at her unnerved her.

Lunch passed amiably with much small talk taking place about the various comings and goings of the lamia families that formed their circle of acquaintances.

“Well, my dear,” her father said at last as he rose from the table, “that was a delicious meal. Adriana, it is very good to have you home again for a while.”

He passed behind her, resting his hand lightly on her shoulder, then actually kissed the top of her head before leaving the room.

Adriana thought she might faint. Who were these people?

“Come sit in the garden with me,” her mother said kindly as she too rose from her perfectly upholstered seat.

Adriana knocked back the rest of her wine quickly, guessing she needed its fortification for the interview to come. They took a seat in the arbor of the rose garden, the lush blooms filling the air with heady fragrance.

“Your father and I feel it is time we told you a few things about the realities of life,” Tania began without preamble. “We had hoped that you would be settled with Tom Bridges for many years to come and that you would find a young man from your own kind to meet your personal needs. However, since you have gotten involved with a human, you must understand that the rules and formalities that govern our lives and yours have not been forged lightly.”

Her mother plucked a leaf from one of the nearby bushes and began to roll it between her fingers. “In 1969, I was barely twenty years old. Your father was twenty-three. We, along with a number of other lamia who I shall not name to you, staged a sort of rebellion against the Council.”

Adriana’s widened her eyes. Rebellion?

“We had been very disillusioned by the Council’s support of certain individuals as hosts over the past several years. It might shock you to know this, but for a while, Adolf Hitler served as a lamia host, as did a number of the scientists who headed the Manhattan Project. Truly, the council decided to promote the Manhattan Project to try to end a war they felt guilty for having started, not realizing Hitler’s true nature early enough.”

Her mother sighed and tossed the now crumpled leaf to the ground.

“However, by the sixties, the younger lamia generation felt a drastic change needed to occur—make love not war, so to speak. And we rebelled. Instead of promoting giants of industry and political figures, we wanted to support the arts—music, movies, literature. So we selected Jack Kerouac and Bob Dylan instead of Nixon and Johnson. We really believed we had the power to usher in that new age everyone was looking for.”

“I met an incredible musician,” Tania continued, a dreamy look coming into her eyes. “We had such a powerful connection to one another.” Then she sniffed once and turned away. “It didn’t end well. I almost became lifebound to him by accident. Then only a few months later, he died of a drug overdose. If we’d been bonded, I would be dead too.”

“Just how did you almost bond by accident? I can’t touch Josh for more than a couple of minutes without knocking him out.”

Tania’s cheeks reddened and she sighed. “We discovered that the use of certain recreational drugs effect the energy draw on a human.

“For instance, a host on amphetamines effectively supercharges his energy levels so he doesn’t drain as fast. Jim was very high the night we—” Tania paused for a moment “—the night I nearly bonded with him.”

“So you guys gave your hosts drugs in order to have sex with them?” Adriana couldn’t believe her ears.

“Of course not!” Tania snapped. “This was 1969! Drugs were everywhere. And don’t try this, Adriana. It’s extremely dangerous to both the host and the lamia. Besides, you don’t want to be lifebound to anyone. I know you care about this young man, and since you care about him, you will protect him. If you were lifebound to each other, he would only come to resent you.”

Adriana frowned. “Like you and dad?”

Her mother’s eyes popped open. “I beg your pardon?”

“You and dad have been together for what? Nearly forty years now? Do you resent each other?”

“We understand each other, Adriana. Your father and I are both lamia. We are together because we choose to be, not because we have to be.” Her mother looked down at her watch. “I have a meeting in half an hour, but I hate to leave you like this. Will you be all right until I return?”

“Of course.”

Deep in thought, Adriana watched her mother walk back into the house.

“Maybe Josh and I could also be together because we choose to be,” she whispered at the older woman’s departing figure.

With both of her suddenly affectionate and forthcoming parents away, the silence in the huge house got the better of Adriana after a while and she headed out to do a bit of shopping. She’d been meaning to look for a new cell phone and decided to head to a nearby electronics store to browse their stock.

The community she’d grown up in resembled a cross between a medieval village and a modern town designed to look like a medieval village. An ancient thatched roof apothecary sat right next to a Victoria’s Secret made to look like an ancient thatched roof apothecary, only with bright modern lights and large glass display windows full of pink underwire bras.

As she was growing up, the contrast had never bothered her, but after spending years immersed in the human world, she found the crossover of human marketing and technology more than a little disturbing.

Well, she had herself to thank for that. Her support of Tom Bridges had made possible so many of the technical innovations that worked in the paranormal world as well. Tom had never realized just how much other-market penetration his gadgets had achieved. He would have been so pleased if he’d only known.

She crossed the cobblestone street and headed into the electronics superstore—made to resemble a steel-clad castle—and found the phone selection. Tom used to poke fun at her plain vanilla phone constantly, begging her to upgrade to a smart phone that could take advantage of the wide array of apps and features he’d spent his life creating.

It would be a nice tribute to him.

As she browsed, she caught sight of a pair of teenage boys who reminded her very much of the wolfpack. They wore the same baggy shorts and graphic T-shirts that Josh and his entourage always sported.

They hunched before a video game system display, flipping through the pages of a thick book.

“I’ll look for the cheat code, you watch for the clerk,” one of them hissed at the other. “They keep these things shrink wrapped for a reason.”

The second flipped back his long brown hair from his eyes and Adriana wished for a barrette to pin that mop back. He scanned the aisles nonchalantly until the other yelled, “Got it!”

The book dropped to the floor and the boy began to press at the control pad.

Adriana shook her head and picked up a phone—one she’d seen in prototype a year ago in Tom’s office. Now it was for sale, even in the paranormal world.

“You found me.” Josh said right behind her.

She whirled around, phone still in her hand. “Josh?” How could he be here? Humans could not cross in the paranormal world without a shepherd and usually a great deal of magical intervention.

“And you shouldn’t have cheated to get me here,” Josh’s voice continued as she searched the aisles for him. “But since I’m here anyway, I might as well play.”

“All right!” The boys high-fived each other. “It worked!”

Adriana walked over to the game display to see Josh’s image on the screen topped with a banner flashing the words “Josh Trenton unlocked as player character.”

“What is this?” she asked the boys.

“
Josh Trenton X-Treme Skate VIII
,” the floppy-haired kid replied. “Best skating game ever!”

“We just unlocked Josh,” the other added. “I told you it would work,” he directed at his buddy.

Adriana picked up a copy of the game from the display and ran her finger over the cover image of Josh doing some kind of incredibly acrobatic skateboarding trick. Somehow in the midst of the action, the photographer had captured him perfectly as he grinned at the camera, his blue eyes twinkling with enthusiasm. A rush of longing ran through her then—longing and regret.

Blinking to clear the tears that welled without warning, she flipped the game over to read the sales copy on the back, copy that seemed to be written in the language of teenage boys. It might as well have been written in ancient Phrygian for all the good it did her to try to read it.

But at the bottom, a bright banner invited her to scan the little black box into her smart phone and download Josh’s awesome new app, an app which would let her enter the world of
Josh Trenton X-Treme Skate VIII
. “Come meet Josh on tour!” it declared.

“Can either of you guys pull this up?” she asked, aware of her own phone’s woeful inadequacy.

“Sure,” one replied and pulled out one of Tom’s favorite phones.

A quick scan of the box brought up all kinds of information. While the boys played, she borrowed the phone and took a moment to scan through the site.

She widened her eyes at the scope of Josh’s interests. In addition to all the clothes, shoes, skate gear, and other goods that made up his sales line, the site featured links to a long list of games and video clips.

She finally scrolled to the tour icon. In only a couple of days, Josh would appear at Kona Skatepark to promote the game. The page featured an exhibition skate with Josh and his team, as well as an auction to benefit something called the Kona School.

“Kona.” She breathed the word aloud as she remembered a certain magically endowed tiki and a farewell luau. “Kona Skatepark. He’s going to Hawaii.”

“Nah,” the long haired boy corrected her. “Kona’s in Florida. Really epic skatepark in Jacksonville. Thrasher did a photo shoot there a couple of months ago.”

“Dude, that was last year,” the other corrected him as he gyrated in synchronicity with the movements of the computer-Josh, pressing madly at the buttons of the controller.

“I’ve got that issue at home, jackass,” his friend contradicted. “Three months ago, tops.”

Adriana shook her head.
Just like the wolfpack
. She passed the phone back. She thanked them and headed to the phone checkout, game in hand. Maybe her new phone would have a navigation app to help her find Kona Skatepark.

Josh sat on Rob and Alicia’s back patio with a glass of iced tea and watched the kids play on the swingset.

“So,” Alicia said, “I thought you had a good trip, but I see I was mistaken.”

Josh frowned and stopped watching Raoul’s attempt to swing high enough to wrap himself over the bar. “What do you mean? I told you. I had a great time.”

“So what’s eating you, Josh? And don’t say nothing because I know better.”

Rob nodded. “Don’t test her. She does know better.”

Josh sighed and took a drink to cover his nerves. He wanted to tell them, but he wasn’t sure exactly what to tell. It was a really weird story, after all. Finally he decided to just start with the truth. “I met somebody.”

“I knew it!” Alicia fairly squealed, clapping Rob on the shoulder. “You’re in love! So who is she? When can we meet her?”

All the plans Josh had made for Adriana rushed through his head in an unstoppable montage of family dinners and friendly barbecues. He’d imagined so clearly the pleasure of introducing her to the people he cared about and showing her the places that meant so much to him.

His throat went raw as all his plans evaporated in the late afternoon heat.

“I’m not exactly sure.” He cleared an uncomfortable knot from his throat.

He took another drink and listened to the twins yell at each other over who could swing highest as Rob and Alicia just waited for him to continue.

The words “I don’t really want to talk about it right now” lay on the top of his mind, but instead he blurted out everything about her—and everything about Wiccan Haus. He showed them the manticore scratches on his back, now faded to red lines thanks to Adriana’s contact with him.

They listened quietly and didn’t call the men in white coats to take him away, but they did look at each other a lot as he gave away every secret of the paranormal world he knew in one long burst of confession and plea. Even if they didn’t believe him, his two friends would keep his confidence to the end—mainly because no one else in the world would ever believe them.

“But she left,” he said. “She left without telling me goodbye. All I got was a ‘Dear Josh’ about how I deserved better.” He leaned into his hands, running his fingers into his hair. “How? Guys, I love her. I never loved anybody before, but I love her. How in the hell could I be better off without her?”