Winter's Touch (Immortal Touch Series) (31 page)

At long last he paid the bill
and escorted her out into the freezing night. There was still no snow, but the potential resided within the murky gray clouds. He opened the door of the Vauxhall Corsa for her, and gratefully she slid inside out of the biting wind. Once beside her, he flashed his dimpled grin and asked, “Would ye like to take a little drive while we talk?”

Finally
!
“Sure, that would be fine.”

“I hope y
e willnae be disappointed when I tell ye all I know about Edan. To tell the truth, there isnae much to it.”

“That’s okay. Just tell me what you
do
know.” Eva settled back into the car’s heated seat to listen.

“
Let me start by explainin’ that I ne’er really knew my father that well until fairly recently. See, he and my mother werenae married and I ne’er did have much contact wi’ him. I lived in Edinburgh wi’ her until I was ten, then we moved to England. I came back to Aberdeen to attend RGU, and after graduatin’ last year - business economics in case ye were wonderin’ - I decided I wanted to spend some time here. Get to know my father.”

“How’s
that
working out for you?” she couldn’t help asking, hoping she didn’t sound snarky.

He laughed cheerfully, not at all offended. “Well, ye saw
for yerself! He’s a right dunderhead at times. But he doesnae mean any harm. At any rate, here are the events as they were relayed to me.

“
My father was sixteen at the time, and Edan eighteen. More often than nae they’d go fishin’ together but on this particular day Edan went alone. And as ye know, he ne’er came back. Some o’ his fishin’ equipment was found by the river, but o’ him there was nae trace. Search parties looked, o’ course, but they dinnae find anythin’. He was just gone. Everyone assumed he’d drowned in the river. His body ne’er did turn up.

“Alistair was inconsolable. And the cruel hoax di
nnae make things easier for any o’ them. Someone called, an anonymous jock, swearin’ he’d seen Edan and that he wasnae dead. They ne’er did find out who it was. After a time they finally just had to accept the sad fact that he was gone. There was nae body for a funeral, so he was given a memorial service. And that’s about all I know.”

Eva had absorbed this information with great attentiveness, and now she turned it over in her mind carefully. “Why do you suppose your father got so upset when I tried to talk to him?”

Kade sighed. “Are ye sure ye want to hear all this?”

“Yes. I’m sure.”

“He refuses to believe that Edan’s dead, that’s why. As a matter o’ fact, he says he
talks
to him noo and again.”

Eva’s eyes widened. “Do you believe him?”

“I’m nae
that
daft! The man just gets confused when he’s jaked. But noo, ye said ye had reason to believe there was more to the disappearance, so out wi’ it. What makes ye think it was somethin’ else?”

“
Because there was another man who also disappeared from this area around the same time. I think he was murdered, and I think it’s likely that Edan was killed by the same person. Two people in the same village vanishing within two days of one another is a pretty big coincidence.”

“That it is. But
my father ne’er mentioned another disappearance.”

“He wouldn’t have known about it. The
other person wasn’t a local - he was here on vacation. And...well, it was never reported.”

“Even if all this is true, Eva, what can it matter no
o? It’s been thirty years. I cannae see the point in worryin’ about it.”

She grew quiet, wondering how she could possibly explain herself without
sounding utterly insane. Really, there was no easy way. An honest and direct approach seemed the only alternative, so she threw caution to the wind. If he thought she was bonkers, then so be it.

“Kade, do you believe in vampires?”

Giving her an incredulous look, he burst into astonished laughter. “Ye mean like Nosferatu? Ye’re pullin’ my leg, arenae ye?”

“Well, do you?”

“Ye’re nae serious! Do
yoo?
”

“What if I told you I do? Would you think I was crazy?”

“Eccentric maybe. Crazy, nae. Vampires! What an idea.”

“Trust me, I know how this sounds. And I don’t expect you to believe me
...but I happen to know for a fact they exist.” She waited to see his reaction. He seemed to be trying very hard to keep a straight face.

“What’s this all about, lass? Are ye tryin
’ to tell me my uncle’s nae dead after all, that he’s prowlin’ about as some kind o’ spook?”

“Possibly.”

“Och, Eva. Where did ye
get
such a notion?”

Knowing she couldn’t tell him the
whole truth without incriminating Julian, she skirted the issue by pointing out his own disclosure. “What if your father really
has
talked to his brother? Maybe he isn’t hallucinating. You said yourself someone claimed to have seen him after he supposedly drowned.”

“He also sees pink elephants. Are ye goin
’ to tell me those are wanderin’ about Nethy as well?” Noticing her peeved expression, he relented. “Eva, I’m sorry. I dinnae mean to tease ye. It all just seems a bit far-fetched to me is all. Dinnae be angry wi’ me.”

Sighing, s
he attempted to employ a different tactic. “Every country has legends of people coming back from the dead. It’s not as if I’m the only person who ever suggested it. Isn’t it possible, just
possible
, that at least one of those legends might have some truth to it?”

“I’ll believe
that
when I see it. But aye, it’s true that Scotland does have its own folklore.”

“Such as?”

“Weel, there’s the tales o’ baobhan sith. Female vampires that rise from the grave once a year and invite men to dance wi’ them before attackin’. They have cloven hooves and use sharp fingernails instead o’ fangs.” He waggled his fingers playfully.

She smiled at his silly gesture.
“That’s a new one on me.”

“And
then there’s the Melrose Abbey vampire. This one was allegedly a priest from the twelfth century who neglected his vows to engage in more...ahem...
illicit
activities. If ye get my meanin’. After his death he was seen roamin’ about the countryside, feedin’ off the blood o’ his former mistresses.”

“So what happened to him?” Eva wanted to know.

“The general consensus is that he was beheaded wi’ an axe by one o’ the monks from the monastery.” Kade pulled a finger across his neck dramatically. “O’ course, there are rumors that there’s more to the story than that. There’s a lesser-known local myth that tells o’ the priest’s heart bein’ cut out wi’ an iron dagger before his corpse was burned to ashes. It’s said the dagger was eternally corrupted wi’ his evil after that, and any livin’ person impaled wi’ it would also become a vampire. Ironically, it was also said to have the ability to
reverse
the curse, if one were thus afflicted.”

“And what
...what became of the dagger?” she asked, trying to keep her voice steady. Her heart thumped with anticipation.

“Who can say? Supposedly it was kept hidden at the monastery, but o
’er the years there’s nae tellin’. If there really
was
such a dagger, it would have rusted away to dust by noo.” He grinned. “Unless it truly
did
have runic properties.”

Eva could hardly breathe.
Could it really be that simple? An ancient dagger instead of a hunting knife...had she stumbled upon the answer? Was this the unknown factor, the source of the malady? Julian’s words came flooding back to her.
I put him in the grave that was meant for me. I thought it fitting. As far as I know he rots there still, along with his damned knife.

“Oh my God,” she said softly.

Kade looked over at her. “What’s the matter?”

“It wasn’t a hunting knife.”

“What wasnae?”

“I have to get back to Lainie’s, right now
!”

“But I thought we might
...”

“Please!”

“Is anythin’ wrong?”

“I can’t explain. I just
...I have to get back there, now. I’m really sorry, Kade, but there’s something really, really important I have to do and it can’t wait.”

I have
a corpse to exhume.

~
*~*~

Julian checked his watch for the
twentieth time.

The plane should be landing before too much longer
, surely. Then he could pick up his rental car and make the hour-long drive to Nethy Bridge.

And then, at last, he would see
her
.

He knew
perfectly well how illogical it was to follow her here. There was no reason to worry for her safety. Lainie would watch over her with the vigilance of a mother, and there could be no remaining danger lurking nearby. Not anymore.

Even so, the thought of her being in the very place that
gave birth to violence and depravity planted a seed of foreboding within him. Perhaps it was the same reason he’d avoided the area for so long. The enduring memory of that night. Even now it remained within the ruins of the forgotten cemetery, trapped in the forest’s timber, pervading the soil polluted by corruption. Like him, it could not die.

And he
no longer wanted her innocence to be touched by its malevolence.

~
*~*~

“Then y
e think it was the knife?”

Eva paced
excitedly. “I don’t know. I don’t know. I mean, it’s a shot in the dark but what do we have to lose, right? All I have to do is dig up the body and find it. He can’t be very far down, right? Julian said it was a shallow grave.”

“Y
e didn’t tell young Mr. Guthrie the details, did ye?” Lainie asked apprehensively.

“Of course not! You know I would never do that.”
Her mind made up, she stopped pacing to address the anxious woman. “I’m going to need a lantern. And a shovel.”

“Y
e can’t mean to go out there
now!
”

“
I do. I’m not waiting.”

“Be sensible, lass! The ground’s frozen, and besides that it’s dark as a tomb out there
...how do ye expect to unearth a body if ye can’t even see?”

“It’s better this way. If I wait until daylight, someone might see me.”

Grudgingly, Lainie had to concede that the girl had a point. She reluctantly located a battery-powered lantern and long-handled shovel while Eva got into her coat and gloves once more. “This is
nae
a good idea,” the woman muttered as she handed over the items.

“You worry too much. What could happen? Nobody’s likely to come along at this time of night, not out there
in the woods.”

“Aren’t y
e goin’ to change yer clothes first?”

Still dressed in the vintage-style black lace dress she’d worn to dinner, Eva almost
hesitated but impatience won out and she shook her head. She refused to wait any longer. The need to know was so overwhelming it consumed her. The adrenaline-fueled pounding of her heart would never relax until she discovered whether or not her lover’s salvation rested with the murderer’s bones.

“There’s
nae way ye’ll be able to dig through that ground!” Lainie protested.

“I’ll manage.”

“Stubborn lass. At least wait for me to bundle up and I’ll come wi’ ye.”

“No, it’s freezing out. You stay here. There’s nothing you can do anyway. Look, I shouldn’t be gone that long. Just keep the kettle hot for me, okay?”

Without waiting for the woman to voice any further objections, Eva hurried unwaveringly into the unknown as a pair of watchful eyes surveyed her from a safe distance.

~
*~*~

In the stillness of the night, the only sound to penetrate the silence was a faint rustle of branches as the forest seemed to echo with the mocking laughter of the pines. Cloaked by
a cover of ominous clouds, the moon slumbered unaware while the darkness reigned. Passing the decrepit cemetery with its broken, decaying headstones, Eva made her way into the black woods, shivering with excitement and apprehension. The key to her future - and his - might lay in the cold ground before her.

Setting the lantern on the
scattered pine straw, she lifted the heavy stone that served as a marker and heaved it underneath one of the trees that flanked the small clearing. With the initial scrape of the shovel she knew her task would be a daunting one, and she braced one doeskin boot on the tempered steel to force it deeper into the unyielding dirt. No more than six or seven paltry shovelfuls had been tossed to the side when the loud snap of a branch caused her to jump nervously. Whirling around, she inhaled sharply at the unmistakable sight of a male figure emerging from the darkness.