Shift of Time (A Rue Darrow Novel Book 1) (17 page)

“Yes, I know Bill is mostly neutral. Can’t even get the man with a taco, darn it.”

The confusion in the woman’s face made me smirk, and I turned to Zander.

“Thank you, Zander. What do I owe you for taking care of Inna?”

He scrubbed his hands on grubby sweats not unlike the ones Inna wore. I was surprised hers appeared clean. Zander reached for my hand, and I tried to hide my distaste. His eyes were wide with hope. Suspicion came over me because I had seen that look in another annoying human’s eyes.

“If you want me to glamour you, forget it,” I snapped.

“Why would anyone want that?” Ariana said in disgust.

“A date,” Zander mumbled and then spoke with more conviction. “I’ve never been out on a date with a vampire before. It would be so great, and all my friends—”

“All your friends?” I growled.

“They’re weres,” he supplied. How did a human techie become such great friends with werewolves?

“I doubt the werewolves will be impressed,” I said.

He shook his head. “They’re not
all
wolves.”

“No more,” I moaned, shutting my eyes. “No more beasts.”

“That’s what I keep saying, but I never get my wish.” Arianna swept toward the door. “Let’s go, Inna and Shift. I have a schedule to keep, and if the passes wear off, we’re stuck going the slow route.”

Somehow I extricated my hand from Zander’s. “I’m sorry, Zander, but I can’t go on a date with you. My sire wouldn’t allow it.”

His face fell. “You and him are…”

“Yes. Committed. In love. All that.” Why did it sound like an excuse now more than the truth? “When you think of a monetary amount or even a favor I am comfortable doing for you, feel free to give me a call.”

Zander flopped in his chair, whining like I had let the air out of sails. I scooted with the others out of the apartment lest he try to convince me a friendly dinner “date” wasn’t really cheating on Ian. Before we left for the library again, Arianna dismissed the scout and his bodyguards. I watched Thomas drive away, knowing there was nothing I could do right now to help him.

At the library, Arianna handed Inna a pass she held, and the humans were able to enter the library. Bill waited to greet us with his usual smile. The door appeared right away, which Arianna and her assistant had arrived by.

Inna turned to me. “Well, New Orleans was nice. Kind of. Not really.”

I smiled. “Maybe you can come visit again, and I’ll show you around. Once I learn my own way around of course.”

She nodded, and I opened my senses to take in her entire being. She was fully human, not even a trace of vampire. In many ways, it saddened me. For just a little while, I had someone like me. Inna had a unique gift, but I felt loneliness and pain inside her. I wanted to be her friend.

“You can call me anytime just because,” I suggested.

Her eyes filled with hope. “Thanks. You know, you remind me of someone I used to know.”

“Who?”

“A friend.”

I smiled, and we hugged. She was careful not to touch me with her palms. I kissed her cheek and released her, then drew Shift into an unwanted hug. He squirmed and grunted. They walked through the door, and I wondered if I would ever see them again. Well, I supposed they were off on their own adventures, and I wished them well.

I
stood
outside the diner where Ken and his compatriot let loose their fire. The place was still a hollowed out, blackened shell. I hadn’t checked the news report, but I imagined several humans lost their lives. My anger simmered within me. If I had been stronger, this might not have happened. Even if I studied more about demon abilities, I could have avoided sticking around the place from the moment I sensed the demons coming.

“You will not kill humans, Rue,” Ian had ordered.

“Why would I want to do that?” I had said, feeling pretty confident in myself after I had gained control of the blood lust. Ian had praised me in learning so quickly, being aware of my internal clock and when I had to feed to avoid disaster.

“You will protect them when you can. Always.”

“Ian, you’re being cryptic again. Is there something I should know? Even when I messed up on the glamouring, I didn’t kill anyone, and you were able to get them going again.”

“Listen to me,” he had ordered, and I had fallen silent. He grasped my arms and drew me closer. The earnestness in his handsome face had worried me. “As your sire, I command you.”

This had been the first time I had heard him use those words in such a way, but they resonated in my head and along my veins. Every part of my being seemed to have come to attention and strained to gather his next words.

“As your sire, I command you never to harm or to kill a human being. You will protect them when you can and when it does not interfere with your existence. Do you understand?”

Ian had surprised me because he didn’t care much for humans. He lived by his own code but never killed them, and he saw them as merely food. At the time, I speculated over a dictate that meant a different road for me. Why didn’t he tell me to just ignore humans except for food or live a life as a hermit as he had done before we became closer?

“Well, I failed, Ian,” I whispered as I stared at the destroyed diner. “I let them die.”

“Yes, you did.”

I spun around, searching the area around me, stretching out my senses to determine if anyone were near. Had the voice come from inside my head or outside it? I couldn’t be sure.

“Did you think I would let it go, Rue?”

Milo appeared. I had been expecting him. In truth, I had intended to confront him, but after the night’s activities with Shift and the rest, morning had dawned. Now Milo walked out of nothingness to stand before me.

“You’re a dark Fae,” I said. “You’re from the Unseelie Court.”

He clapped his hands. “Our little Rue has learned something new. Good for you.”

“Don’t treat me like a child! You’re too late, Milo. The boy is gone, and in case you weren’t spying at the time, I destroyed your box.”

His features mottled with rage, and I swallowed, for a moment scared. I drew my petite figure up to my full height and squared my shoulders.

“I told you not to cross me, Rue. I said you would regret it.”

“Why don’t we just say it was a contest of wills?” I suggested. “I won this round. There’s always next time.”

“But there
is
no next time for you.” He sneered.

“Dramatics, Milo. It doesn’t suit you.”

My cavalier attitude was a cover for my nervousness. I felt his hatred knock against me almost in a physical sense. Milo would not let it go, but I wasn’t sure how to fight him. I wanted to put it off until I could speak with Bill.

“I’m in a hurry. Perhaps we can talk things over tomorrow night.” I started past him but froze when he began to speak in another language. The air stirred around us and became charged. As if he commanded lightning, it crackled in flashes about him and spread toward me. I took a step back. He chanted faster, and his voice deepened with an ominous overtone. Recalling I could dispel magic if I put my mind to it, I raised my hand. “Stop this, Milo. We’re in the middle of the city. Anyone could happen along…”

The light touched my palm, and I expected physical pain, but there was none. I expected a winking out of the power. That didn’t happen either. What I heard was my baby boy’s seven-year-old voice crying for me. “Mommy, don’t leave me. Please, Mommy. I’ll be good. Don’t send me to Daddy.”

The pain was unlike anything I had ever felt before. I grabbed my head and screamed. The scene around me changed from the street to a black void. All I heard was Jake’s whimpering cries and pleas. My heart ripped into shreds. The reality was I had never sent Jake to live with his dad when he was seven, and he certainly never pleaded with me to stay and not leave him. Knowing this didn’t stop the torment.

“Please, stop, Milo,” I begged.

His voice boomed from somewhere in the darkness. “You’re a bad mother, Rue. Or should I say Libby? You’re still the same woman who abandoned your son.”

“H-how do you know about Jake?” I whimpered.

“Mommy!”

I screamed again and again. My mind felt like it was going to fracture. My heart shattered. Writhing in agony, I couldn’t see my body or anything else. Try as I might, I couldn’t dispel what I hoped was magic, but which irrational fear was telling me was real. Jake hated me. He was lost and alone and needed me, but I wasn’t there.

After what felt like an eternity, an inkling of self-preservation made me follow the connection between Ian and myself. He would know what to do. I traced and traced, strained although my mind was weak, and it was hard not to focus on my baby’s voice. Hours might have passed, but I wasn’t sure. All I knew was, Ian was gone, our connection severed. I couldn’t feel him.

My entire time in New Orleans, I trusted Ian. I believed without a doubt he would return. When I needed him most, he wasn’t there. In that moment, my hope plummeted to its lowest point, and I gave myself over to despair. Let Milo kill me. I had nothing to live for.

“No, you must live.”

I had no strength to answer, but he knew my question.

“I’m Silvano. If you want me to lend you my strength, I will. Do you want my help, Rue?”

“I can’t do it. I’m weak,”
I sobbed.

“You’re stronger than you think.”

“I’m not.”

“The darkness is taking over. Any longer in this condition, you won’t die. You’ll be something else.”

“What?”

“You’ll harm the people you want to protect. Blood lust will take over, and you will kill. Let me help you.”

“I don’t know what to do.”

“Break the spell.”

“I can’t.”

“
Do
it.”

I don’t know why, but perhaps I needed that voice, that person on my side. The resistance in me rose, and pressed against the bindings Milo had placed on me. They began to weaken, although I still heard Jake’s voice, and each time he cried out, it was knives to my heart. Now, I knew why Ian had commanded me not to disappear but to embrace and protect people. I needed others.

The torture went on, but I had found inner strength. I pushed and pushed against Milo, willing him to fail. His spell materialized in the darkness as bands of lightening, millions of them threading all over my body. Some pierced me, many straight through my heart. I was losing mental strength but not the will to fight.

“Milo,” I cried out this time. My voice echoed, and made me feel alone. I refused to believe the illusion.

With a lethargic hand, I clutched the bunch of threads in my chest and pulled. A few gave, slowly. I wavered in and out of consciousness. My fingers slipped, and the darkness consumed me.

I
opened my eyes
, and at first I thought I was still in the darkness, but the outline of a door stood across from me, and the cushion of a mattress held my weight. The door opened, and I tensed, but I recognized Silvano.

“How are you, Rue?” he asked and shut the door.

I touched my head and took a mental survey of my body. Everything seemed to be in working order, no pain at all. “Where am I?”

“You’re in my home, where several members of my coven live.”

I flung my feet to the floor.

“Easy, it’s okay. You may leave any time you want. I brought you here after finding you at Milo’s company headquarters, passed out.”

“You know him?”

“I know he’s dark Fae.”

I stood up. “Where is he?”

“Gone. I no longer sense his presence in New Orleans.”

I ground my teeth. “He got away then.”

“Did he really?” In the dim lighting, I saw him smile. He tried touching my arms, but I shied away, and he let me.

“Was it you in my head who helped me fight him?”

“Yes.”

“I thought we couldn’t…”

“Special circumstances. You were very weak, and you called out to me for help. I couldn’t ignore you.”

“Thank you, Silvano. I think I would have lost it if you didn’t give me a point of focus. I have so much to learn. Something tells me if I wasn’t so ignorant, I wouldn’t have gone through all that.”

He folded his hands in front of him, and I supposed it was a way to appear less threatening. I appreciated his efforts. “I want to be your teacher.”

“Why?”

“Because you are young and beautiful.”

I glared at him, and he chuckled.

“You’re vampire, Rue. As I said before, we can’t leave our own running around ignorant. My personal philosophy is that vampires belong in a coven, connected, helping one another. Even if you don’t wish to go that far, at least acknowledge I can be of assistance.”

“Trust me, my friend, I know that much. Let me think about it some more?”

“Of course.”

“Right now, I need to see someone, and I won’t take no for an answer.”

Silvano nodded.

“I hate to ask, but do you know a way I can get to North Carolina? I don’t how I can get a flight during night hours.”

“Leave everything to me.”

I hesitated. “Just tell me the cost, and I’ll pay it.”

“Very well.”

Soon, I was on my way, and I arrived in Raleigh with a few hours before sunup, but it was still late enough for Jake to be in bed. I couldn’t enter his father’s apartment without an invitation, and I couldn’t very well ring the bell. My better bet was to catch Jake on the street so I could be sure he was okay. Then I would decide what to do.

Silvano, anticipating I would need a day of rest, had arranged for a place for me with a friend. Apparently, one of his group lived in my home state. I stayed with the man, but kept conversation to a minimum, and as soon as the sun went down, I hunted in the area the man advised and then went in search of my son.

There was a scent I needed no one to remind me of. I could track my baby all over the world. Around nine-thirty or so, Jake strode out of a movie theatre with two friends, a girl and a boy. My heart ached seeing my precious heart, and I knew my feelings for him would never die. Jake’s clothes were typical of teens his age, too big and casual. His hair had grown into his eyes, and every so often, he flipped it away to the quickening of the girl’s pulse.

The boy said something funny, and both Jake and the girl laughed. Jake punched the boy, and they roughhoused for a few minutes.

“Jake, let’s get something to eat,” the girl pleaded, hooking her arm in his. “I’m hungry.”

“Me, too. I could go for the biggest plate of fries,” he said.

“Smothered in ketchup,” both friends echoed each other, and they all laughed.

I followed the three as they walked, unable to take my eyes away. When Jake stopped at the corner and scanned the area, studying the faces around him, I grew still. My baby had always been perceptive. You couldn’t pull much over on him, so I should have known it was a matter of time.

His gaze met mine, and he swung away quickly to his friends. “Guys, I’ll catch up with you. I need to take care of something.”

“What?” The girl didn’t want to release him. “We’ll go with you.”

“No, go on,” he ordered, very authoritative. I smiled. The two complied, and Jake waited until they were out of sight before he crossed the road and walked to where I stood beside a tree. “You’re her, right? Mom?”

“Yes.” I was at a loss of what to say. Here he was standing before me. Three and a half months since I last saw him felt like years, and back then I had been in my original body. He had never seen me in person as Rue Darrow. I dragged him into my arms and hugged him tight. He winced, and I loosened my grip. Drawing back, I reached up and ruffled his hair. “Did you grow some more?”

“No, you’re seriously short.” He stared at me. “I know you sent me that picture of how you look now, but wow, I never imagined you’d be so small.”

“Thanks.”

“You don’t even look old enough to be my mom.”

“Of course I am.” I waved a hand. “I’m like thirty, dude.”

Jake gagged. “Ew, Mom, no! Don’t ever talk like that again.
Ever.
”

“Okay, I get it. Sheesh. But I am young, huh? Not bad for your old mom.”

He studied my face with curiosity in his. “Yeah, but I prefer the old mom, the one I know.”

A sting of pain touched me.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. You’ll always be my mom. Forever.”

“I know, Jake.”

He glanced up and down the street. “Why are you here, Mom. It’s not safe for you.”

“You don’t have to try to protect me, Jake. I’m all right. I just wanted…”

He touched the top of my head, and for an instant, I felt like the seven-year-old, lost and begging not to be left. “I’m okay, Mom. Dad’s okay, too. He doesn’t bother me too much, and sometimes we even sit down to dinner together.”

I gaped at him.

“Yeah, must be old age.”

“Watch it, kid.”

He grinned and then grew serious. “Mom, I’m not going to pretend this isn’t weird. It is, and I don’t know what to tell my friends about you. I’m still working on it.”

“You can—”

“No, I’ll figure it out for myself.”

“Jake.” I wanted to cry, but I couldn’t.

His voice dropped low. “I want it to go back to the way it was, but it’s not going to. I don’t blame you. I really don’t. Sometimes I’m mad at you, and sometimes I want to come live with you, but I won’t.”

“Why?”

“Because…” He sighed. “I don’t want to hurt your feelings.”