Delia shuffled her files. “At least we can talk to Essie about it. I do not suggest we confront her about her attempted coup. That could backfire on us. I think her plans depended so much on secrecy that they’ll collapse. Now, we can discuss how to go forward.”
Enough of the others were nodding that I felt confident about calling for a vote. “All in favor of summoning Essie to a détente meeting, raise your hands.”
It was seven in favor, four against.
“Motion carried and passed.” Delia consulted her agenda. “Next on the list, we have humans who live on the island—not many but enough—and we should look toward including one of them as a representative. Arguments for and against?”
As another squabble erupted, I was suddenly very grateful that I had chosen to forgo vying for the position of mayor. My temper was already swirling, given how much whining was going on. Finally, the motion was passed. The council would choose another member for the werebear community, and a representative from the humans as well.
“Finally, we need to vote on what to do about the position of mayor,” Delia started to say.
I jumped to my feet. “Madam Mayor, I vote to keep you in the interim position until the next election comes around. Then you can decide what to do. We need someone who is familiar with the situation that’s just occurred, and who has the authority to make arrests, should we need to.” I was referring to Blackthorn but by the outbursts that followed, I realized I had just implied that there were other people on the council who might end up in trouble.
When we finally got everybody under control again, I explained myself. “I just think that it’s a good thing for the mayor to understand law enforcement and have some authority in the field. We run differently here in Bedlam than other places. You know Delia isn’t going to use unfair advantage of her position as sheriff—”
“We thought Linda had our best interests at heart, too.” Naia, the Summer Fae representative, shook her head. “But I agree. For now, let’s vote to keep Delia in as interim mayor. We can revisit this at our Spring Equinox meeting and make more definitive plans then. That will give us a little over three months to see how the council sorts itself out. We can also use that time to find out what information has been compromised. For example, I’m wondering just how much personal information of ours Linda might have divulged to Essie.”
We took a vote and it passed.
“Then it’s official,” Delia said. “I’ll serve as interim mayor. Come March twentieth, we’ll revisit this issue. Until then, Naia, will you chair a committee to check into information leaks? I doubt anybody but Linda and Essie know the full extent. Linda’s long gone and Essie…well…I doubt if we can trust her to give us a clear answer, but find out what you can.”
Naia jotted down her notes. “All right. Elsa, would you like to help me?”
Elsa agreed, along with Brentwood, and the committee was put to a nomination, voted on, and approved.
“Excuse me, Ms. Mayor, but I have a luncheon to attend.” Trix, an elk shifter, stood. “Can we wrap this up before much longer?”
I glanced at the clock over the door. We had been hashing out things for over two hours. It was going on eleven-thirty. “I second the motion, actually.”
“Vote?” Delia called. She counted hands. “All right, we have a unanimous vote to wrap up this meeting. I know that we have our monthly meeting next Monday, but given the reason for this emergency meeting, I think we ought to keep it on the schedule.”
Although everybody groaned, including me, it was generally agreed on. As people began to file out the door, I walked over to Delia.
“Well, that was…an experience.”
“You took the words out of my mouth. I think I’ll let Ralph out today. I can’t very well hold him now that we have evidence he didn’t do it, even if it is for his own protection.” She shrugged. “You want to walk over with me and talk to him?”
I really didn’t feel like talking to Ralph, but I couldn’t think of much else to do. Everything seemed so convoluted and nothing had been solved. But I wrapped my arm through Sandy’s and we moseyed over to the sheriff’s department. Delia asked us to wait in a small room, and within ten minutes, she was back with Ralph, who was no longer wearing handcuffs.
When he saw me, he ducked his head, a frown on his face.
“Maddy, I’m sorry.” He awkwardly took the seat opposite me. “I don’t blame you if you don’t want to talk to me. Even though I’m grateful that we know now I didn’t kill Rose, I still was in your house uninvited, trying to steal your hair. And I did write those things about you on Flitterbug.” His gravelly voice was morose, and the happy-go-lucky look had drained from his face. Even when they were being serious, most satyrs couldn’t help but look seductive and cocky, but Ralph seemed the opposite.
“Ralph, I know you were in thrall. We may never know exactly who managed it, but people do the stupidest things when they’re under the influence.” I wasn’t quite ready to forgive him for trying to ruin my business, but the fact that he apologized and seemed to mean it went a long way.
“Delia told me it might not have been Rachel who put me in thrall. That I might have implanted memories due to another vampire’s suggestion. I wish I could help you. I wish I could remember but I can’t. I’m almost afraid to go home, to be honest. I have no idea when it happened. I don’t remember any point where I suddenly went, ‘Oh, vampire!’ I remember meeting Rachel, but if that memory is false, then I’m not sure what to think.” He looked as confused as he sounded.
“I think we’re all a little confused. But you have to shake it off. You should just go home and watch your step.” I wondered if he realized that once enthralled, the ability to resist a second attempt diminished. But it seemed cruel to say anything—like rubbing salt in a wound.
“I’d be glad to help you around your bed and breakfast. If I can do anything, just let me know. And I’ll get my brothers to stop dissing your business online. We’ll take our bad reviews off Blisty, and I’ll send some business your way.”
Boy, Ralph really must have been scared straight, I thought. He was never usually this helpful. But then again, he had spent a few days in jail under the suspicion of murder, and that tended to change a body. Or so I had been told.
“You want a ride home? Sandy and I are heading that way.”
“Nope. My brothers are coming to pick me up.” He stood, looking uncertain. Then, finally he said, “Well, I guess that’s it for now. I’ll talk to you later.”
As we watched him go, I realized how tired I was of this whole mess, and how ready I was to just have it over with. Except there was still somebody out there gunning for me. Even if Essie backed off, Rachel still had a target painted on my ass.
“Do you think he means it?” Sandy asked as we headed back to my car.
“I think so. I really do. The Greyhoof boys aren’t a bad bunch. They can get rowdy and crude, and they have the manners of an ox, but when you get down to it, they’re actually pretty nice. Come on, let’s go.”
“We could go back up to Durholm Hall and look for Rachel.” Sandy looked so serious that I began to sputter, then she laughed. “I’m kidding. We wouldn’t have time today, anyway. So, what do you want to do?”
I thought about it. “I really need to buy furniture. I’ve been saying that for weeks. Come with me while I pick out what I still need for the Bewitching Bedlam?”
We spent the afternoon shopping. Finally, Sandy took me to a boutique store that I hadn’t noticed before and there, I found the perfect furniture for the rest of the mansion. It was a mix of styles—part Mediterranean, part island-style, but by the time I finished, I had new sofas, several new chairs, the nightstands to complement the beds in the guest rooms, and a few other assorted pieces. I also was about fourteen thousand dollars poorer, but my bank account could handle it. Aegis had offered to help defray costs, but I didn’t wanted to be in debt to him. Now, as I flashed my credit
card and watched the balance climb, I felt reassured I was doing the right thing.
We arrived back at my place at around four-fifteen. “I have to take off,” Sandy said. “I really need to get some stuff done around my place. Will you be all right?”
“I should be fine. Neither Essie nor Rachel can get in the house. Aegis will be awake soon and I’ve got Bubba here for company. I don’t have to go out anywhere for anything. You run on home and text me when you get there so I know you’re okay.”
I gave her a hug, then dashed inside as the afternoon clouds threatened to sock in again. Bubba was sitting on the table. He knew that I didn’t like him there, but he ignored me as I settled at the table and pulled the bowl of fruit over to nibble on a few grapes.
“You okay, Bub?”
“Mur.” He lazily meandered over to me, rubbing his head against my arm.
I reached up and scratched behind his ears. “Bubba, how long have we been together? Seventy-five years or so?”
“Purp.”
“I thought about that. So tell me, during that time have you ever seen me participate in a functional relationship? Have I ever made the right choice?” I rested my head on his side and his purr threatened to lull me to sleep.
“M-row?” He turned, pressing his nose against mine, looking concerned.
“I’m all right, Bub. I’m just thinking that I found a keeper in Aegis, and I don’t want to screw this up. You know how I am. If there’s a way to sabotage a relationship, I usually manage to find it and exploit it.” As I leaned back, contemplating the fruit bowl, I began to let my mind wander. “Damn Sandy, the woman makes me think. And sometimes, I just don’t want to.”
I pushed to my feet, shoving the chair back under the table. As I stomped upstairs to my room, I realized that I was going to have to have this out with myself. I threw myself across my bed, facedown, burying my face in the covers.
Bubba came running up, landing on the bed beside me. He nudged my arm and finally, I rolled to a sitting position and let him crawl into my lap.
“I know this is wrong. I really do. I know I’m being silly, but here’s the thing, Bubba. I’m afraid…” My throat felt phlegmy and I realized I was tearing up. “I’m afraid that if I love somebody new, it means I’m betraying Tom. It’s so much easier when you know somebody died. At least, died for good. At least then, you can’t think, ‘Maybe they’ll come back. Maybe he’ll return to me someday.’ There’s always been a piece of my heart that’s believed he’ll come back to me. That maybe he’s decided to make amends. That he’s not still out there, hunting down victims. If I give into my love, if I commit to Aegis, it means that I’ve lost my hope for Tom. That I’ve given up on him.”
As I burst into tears, burying my face in Bubba’s fur, there was a soft swish behind me.
“Oh, Maddy. I didn’t know you were struggling that way.” Aegis’s voice was gentle, soft against my ragged nerves.
I turned. “I’m sorry—I’m so sorry. I feel like I’m letting you down and that I’m letting Tom down. I don’t know what to do. I have to let go of the past to embrace my future, but I’m so afraid. I feel like I’m the worst person ever.”
I threw my arms around him as he lowered himself to my side, and he held me, murmuring softly as his lips brushed my ear. Aegis let me cry it out for a while before he grabbed a tissue and began to dry my tears.
“I know you miss him still. I know he was the love of your life, but wherever he is, do you think he’d want you like this? Crying and afraid to love again? Do you think he’d be cruel enough to expect you to pine away for him, forever?” Aegis placed two fingers beneath my chin and tipped my head up so I was looking at him.
“If I love you, will I forget about him?” For all my magic, for all my powers and long life, my heart was like anybody else’s heart—easily broken, and easily scarred.
“Maddy, do you really think you’ll ever forget him? He’s part of you. His love helped make you the person you are. You can no more forget about him than you can about your mother or Sandy or Bubba. Every person we meet who touches our heart stays with us. Do you think I’ll ever forget about Astra? I loved her so much, and I don’t know what happened to her, but even if I never see her again and never find out, I carry that love inside me. Not to blot out new love, but to remind me of the person I was around her.”
He placed his hand on my heart. “You carry Tom’s love inside your heart. And that’s okay. We move on. We love many people in a lifetime. But the ones who truly touch our hearts, we keep them with us forever.”
His fingers were cool against my chest, and I softly reached up to clasp his hand, to press it between my breasts. “I never expected to fall for a vampire.”
“I never expected to fall for a witch, so we’re even.” He leaned forward. “Maddy, when I say I love you, I’m not just spouting off the top of my head. I mean it. I don’t say those words easily, and the few times I’ve fallen in love, it’s been that head-over-heels-meant-to-be-with-each-other type of love. The kind we have.”
I shivered, wanting to be free to love him, wanting to quit carrying around the dying hope that Tom would return to me. My emotions churning, I closed my eyes and found myself standing in a gray mist, and there was my Tom, staring at me from across a chasm.
“TOM, TOM! I miss you.” I wanted to go to him, but the chasm was deep and filled with mist, and I couldn’t see a way across. “Tom, come back to me.”
He reached out, holding out his hands. “There’s only one way for us to be together again, my love. And that’s for you to come to me. For you to become like me.”
“Are you still alive? Are you trapped somewhere?” I hung my head, weeping, but then yanked my gaze back to slake over him hungrily. It had been so long since we had seen one another. So many years since I had felt his touch.
“Yes, I’m trapped, but you can be with me, if you make the choice. You can walk into the chasm and then, when it’s done, we’ll be together.” His voice ached against my ears, and I felt myself moving to the edge of the cliff, stopping only when my toes were against the edge. One step and I’d fall into the crevice. One step and I’d be with my Mad Tom.
“Come to me, love. Maddy, me girl, you take that step and we can be together again. Take one more step and we’ll never be apart.”
But something off-putting about his voice struck me. I opened my eyes. There he was, reaching for me, but there was something wrong. He looked misshapen, oddly bent and twisted. And behind him, I saw another shape rise—this, too, was Tom, but he raced over to shove his broken doppelganger to the side.
“Maddy, don’t. Go back. Don’t—it’s deadly. It’s a trap. There’s no way for us to be together. You go back. I love you, but I’m letting you go because I don’t want you here. Go away and never look for me again.” He was screaming now, waving for me to turn and run.
My stomach clenching, I began to weep. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Go. Go! Live, Maddy. Don’t give up everything because of a dream long gone.” And then, Tom shoved his doppelganger toward the edge. The creature roared up, dark and frightening, made of bones and blood, and it turned on him, looming over the Tom I knew in a terrible fury.
I stumbled back. “Tom! No!”
“Maddy, I love you. Now get the hell out of here. Never come back. You can’t save me, but you can save yourself.” Running, he took off away from the edge, back the way he had come, with that horrible creature thundering after him.
Weeping, I stared into the mist, down deep in the chasm. One step and I knew I’d be on the other side, with Tom, wherever he might be.
“Maddy? Maddy? Come back to me.” A voice broke into my thoughts and I turned around. Aegis stood there in the twinkle of dusk and starlight, holding out his arms. He was real and substantial, vibrant with love and energy. I glanced over my shoulder, across the chasm where my Tom was screaming. Aching, horrified by what I had seen, I forced myself to slo
wly turn back, to face Aegis.
“Aegis, take me away from this pain. From this madness. Take me away from the loss and the ache and the memories.” I ran to him then, and he caught me up and spun me around, kissing my cheeks and my nose and my forehead and, finally, my lips.
“Come back with me, Maddy. Come back and be my love. Tom begged you to leave this place. He loved you enough to let you go. Let me love you enough to enter your life.”
Weeping, I wrapped my arm around Aegis’s neck as he carried me out of my memories, into the present, and into his heart.
Chapter 16
“SO, GO WITH me to rehearsal?” Aegis asked. We had made love, and showered together, and now I was eating a bowl of clam chowder, along with a handful of crackers. Aegis had declined to join me—he wanted to change out the strings on a new guitar he had bought.
“I wish I could go.” Franny appeared, startling us both. “I never get to do anything.” Great, she was on another one of her jags.
“When things settle down, I promise to look into what’s keeping you tied to the house.” I didn’t have the strength—or the heart—to yell at her.
She smiled at me, which was a little ghoulish, and then let out a mournful sigh that would have rivaled any melodrama on the stage.
“Laying it on a little thick, aren’t you, Franny?” Aegis grinned at her.
“How rude can you get?” She glared at him for a moment, then flounced away, vanishing into the wall through the refrigerator.
“That always gives me the creeps when she does that,” I said. “Since when do you play guitar in the band?” My heart felt lighter than in decades. Tom had let me go and that had allowed me to let go of him.
“I can play. I can play a number of instruments. I just happen to be the singer. But Jorge may have to take a trip to visit his mother and I’d like to be able to fill in for him if we can’t find a guitarist to take over while he’s gone. We’re holding tryouts next week, but it never hurts to have a backup.” He grinned at me. “You’re my groupie, you know that?”