Conrad stirred then--but not from a nightmare. Once he'd turned to her, she smoothed the backs of her fingers over his cheek, and he resumed sleeping deeply. Nightmares were rare these days.
Though he'd been apprehensive about taking her blood again, that one bite had already transferred her memories to him. Neomi had feared hers would be the ones that would send him over the edge, breaching the dam. Yet they actually seemed to be helping him. "I dream of music and laughter and warmth," he'd told her. "It's...soothing to be in your memories. Awake, I'm with you. And asleep, I'm with you. I like this."
She knew he wasn't yet cured. It would take time. She just wished she had even more time with him. Given a new chance at mortality, she'd become greedy for immortality.
Life held so much promise....
Except for the fact that she had no idea what she was.
Sometimes when she looked in the mirror, or if she caught her reflection in a window, she saw glimpses of her spectral self. The shadows around her eyes and under her cheekbones would appear in flashes.
Her night vision was as flawless as it had been when she'd been a ghost, and when she slept, she dreamed of floating and moving things with her mind.
This twilight, Neomi had awakened with a rose petal clutched in her fist....
Nix had visited Neomi on several occasions. Each time, the Valkyrie blatantly scrutinized Neomi with those golden eyes, seeming fascinated. Just yesterday Nix had come to Elancourt and said nothing, only blankly staring at her.
"Nix, what am I?" Neomi finally asked her.
"Complicated?"
"I came back wrong, didn't I?"
Nix sighed. "I can't get a sense of you whatsoever."
Neomi had no sense of her own self. She didn't feel as she had when human--or as a ghost.
Awkward doesn't begin to describe this meeting.
"Have a seat. Please," Nikolai said, waving to one of the chairs in front of his office desk. Sebastian occupied the other.
Conrad had traced to Blachmount Castle, Nikolai's home, to meet with his brothers--at Neomi's insistence. It was day in New Orleans, and she'd wanted to nap for the afternoon, so he thought he'd get this over with.
His brothers had questions about the past--and Conrad wanted to formally purchase Elancourt from Nikolai.
With his neck knotted with tension, Conrad reluctantly sat. He was already on edge from leaving Neomi for the first time since her return, but being back here made his uneasiness ratchet to another level.
"I thought all three of you would be here," Conrad said. "Where's Murdoch?" He would leaven this tense atmosphere.
"Missing in action," Nikolai answered. "We presume it's concerning his 'secret' Bride. I think for the first time in his existence, he's having woman troubles."
"Might do him some good," Sebastian said, then asked Conrad, "Does it not feel surreal to be back here?"
He nodded. This castle was where Conrad and most of his family had died. His young sisters had wept here as they'd succumbed one by one. Blachmount was where Conrad had been born and raised--and raised from the dead.
For three hundred years, Conrad had hated Nikolai for his decision that fateful night. Now Conrad was beholden to him for Neomi. Without Nikolai's choices and Murdoch's determination, he would never have known his Bride. He would never watch her readying for bed, brushing her long hair.
Just yesterday, he'd thought, My Bride by fate, my wife by choice....
"I felt the same way when I first returned," Sebastian said.
Nikolai made a scoffing sound. "No, you didn't--you were too busy decking me."
"The second time, then."
Uncomfortable silence ensued. Conrad peered around the paneled study. Nikolai tapped a pen against his desktop. Sebastian jogged his leg.
Eventually, Nikolai rose from his chair. "I have something of yours." He pulled a file from a cabinet, handing it to Conrad. Inside were the deed to Elancourt and the contracts of transferral.
"I signed the property over to you and your Bride the night you got her back."
Conrad's tension cranked up even more. "I can pay you for it."
"It's technically Neomi's anyway, right? Consider it a wedding gift."
Conrad hated feeling beholden. "Wait." He traced to Elancourt. There, he checked on Neomi, tugging her blanket higher with a kiss. Then he snagged a bottle of whiskey from the crate. She'd suggested bringing one, but Conrad had gruffly declined. Now he returned to Blachmount and gave it to Nikolai.
Nikolai brushed off the label. "My God, this is...this is..."
"As good as you're imagining," Conrad finished for him.
Sebastian wasted no time, rising for snifters from the sideboard. "Then stop staring at the bottle and let's drink it!"
They did. Two hours later, Conrad decided that speaking to his brothers with roughly twenty thousand dollars' worth of whiskey in his belly wasn't so awkward.
When Nikolai and Sebastian wanted to know what had happened to Conrad in the past three centuries, he told them. When they asked about Neomi, he found himself proudly relating his wife's accomplishments. "You've never seen a woman dance as she does. And she'd bought that property by herself--an unmarried woman in her twenties." Even to himself, his tone sounded impressed.
"Chains, drugs, and brute force couldn't control Conrad," Nikolai began in an amused tone, "but a tiny ballerina is domesticating him with ease."
"What are you going to do about her mortality?" Sebastian asked.
"Search for a way to make her immortal." When they gave him uneasy expressions, Conrad said, "I know the odds, but that's a more likely scenario than me following wherever she would go after death." Conrad finished his drink, then contemplated the bottom of his glass. "Do you not think of our sisters when you're here?"
Nikolai and Sebastian shared a speaking glance.
At length, Nikolai said, "We're bringing them back. We have the means to retrieve them from the past. Not to change history, but just to return with them to this time."
Conrad narrowed his gaze. Was Nikolai jesting? "How?"
With utmost seriousness, Sebastian answered, "A mystic's key."
Conrad flinched at the word key.
Sebastian topped off their drinks. "A goddess named Riora gave me one turn of it for the sole purpose of reuniting my family. I know for a fact that it works."
If skeptical Sebastian said it worked, then it did. "And you'd thought of returning my past self as well?"
"Yes, the offer still stands," Nikolai said. "Think of it, we could clear your eyes of the blood completely. And take away all the memories that plague you."
"And what would happen to my present self?"
"You'd fade," Sebastian said.
"I knew you'd had an ace up your sleeve." No wonder his brothers had been so confident about Conrad's recovery. "But I'm not interested."
Nikolai steepled his fingers. "You wouldn't want to be human again?"
Sebastian added, "No more red eyes, no more blood drinking."
Conrad shook his head. "And no more strength to protect Neomi. I need it to keep her safe. If history wouldn't be changed, then I'd still have the same enemies after me--and now her." Conrad drained his glass, hating this reality of their lives. "Why didn't you just do it? Why go through all the trouble of capturing me?" Especially when he'd been spitting blood at them and trying to murder them.
"We wanted you to get stable enough to make the choice," Nikolai answered. "We would've been taking away your immortality. And you would have lost your own memories from the last three hundred years as well. It was a major decision." In a lower tone, Nikolai said, "I didn't want to make the same mistake twice."
"There was no first mistake," Conrad said firmly. "You made a fated decision, and I'm in your debt."
"Good. Then you won't mind helping us raise the girls."
Christ, their sisters actually would live again. He'd get a second chance to know them better. Hell, Neomi could teach them to dance. He
grinned, shocking his brothers. "When do we go back for them?"
"Once Murdoch returns, we plan."
Conrad opened his mouth to speak, then froze. Something's wrong. A chill slithered up his spine. "I'll return," he said, immediately tracing back to Elancourt.
Straight into fire.
44
Neomi had been dreaming of floating and walking through walls again. But now she wanted to wake because her breaths had begun to taste of...soot?
She couldn't seem to get enough air, coughing with each smoky inhalation. And in the haze of her mind, she perceived fire all around her, thought she smelled the flames and felt their heat.
A fire! Why can't I wake?
Feeling so dizzy...she needed clean air....
At last, she was able to crack open her eyelids. She blinked them in disbelief.
The room was choked with thick smoke. Flames licked the walls and crawled across the bowing ceiling. The boards above her whined under the strain.
"Neomi!"
Conrad! He was here? Through the flames between them, their gazes met--just before a beam snapped and a portion of the ceiling collapsed in front of him.
With a yell, he lunged for her to trace her away, but returned to the same spot empty-handed, as if his arms had wrapped around only air. When he failed at it a second time, he dived into the fire, tearing away the blazing timbers to reach her.
Why did he look so stricken? She wasn't hurt--hadn't even a scratch. In fact, she felt nothing. No perception. Dim.
Then she glanced down. No, no, no... Her body from her waist down was buried under the burning wreckage from the ceiling. It should be crushing her. Why am I still conscious? Where was the pain?
Then she realized...
I died...again?
Neomi was in her incorporeal form once more, wearing her old black dress and jewerly--
A thunderous rending above her drew her gaze. With the ceiling gone, she could see that the roof was sagging in pockets. The enormous rafters began to snap, one by one. Jagged wood hurtled down like spears, hammering into the floor.
Still grappling to get to her, he dodged them.
"Conrad! No!"
One caught him, stabbing into his body, slamming him down. A split second later, the roof crashed over him, shrouding him. With a shriek, she found herself rising through the debris covering her, floating admist the fire to get to him.
She couldn't find him, couldn't see! Then...she spied blood pooling out from under a pile of debris, the liquid reflecting the flames, boiling and popping.
Tonight Cade found himself in a familiar spot--sitting on the edge of a downtown apartment's roof. His female's building neighbored this one, and her top loft and private rooftop pool were readily viewable from this higher vantage.
Cade hadn't intended to come here tonight. He'd just needed to.
He gazed over at her balcony. And there she was.
Holly Ashwin.
His Holly. She was a math geek who wore glasses, no makeup, and her blond hair in a conservative bun; she was sexier than any female he'd ever known.
But as ever, he scratched his head at her antics. She was cleaning an already spotless apartment. Mystifying human.
She'd expire if she saw his place. Just another example of how unalike she and Cade were.
Holly was scholarly--he was deadly. Every aspect of her life was strictly organized. His idea of a day's schedule was wake, eat a few meals, do things, sleep. And any of those were optional.
She didn't even drink. He took a swig just then.
Was she having company over tonight? Her tosser boyfriend? Just as his claws dug into his palms, Cade heard footsteps approaching.
Bloody Rydstrom. His brother had found him. So much for keeping my visits secret.
"What in the hell are you doing up here?" Cade demanded.
"I ask you the same," Rydstrom said, treating him to a look of unmitigated disappointment.
I've never seen that one before.
"You told me you wouldn't come here anymore."
"Fell off the wagon," Cade muttered.
"Humans are forbidden to us as mates for a reason. If you haven't gotten that through your thick skull before, then you certainly should now. The accident with the vampire's Bride is exactly why mortals and immortals should never mix."
Cade narrowed his eyes. "Are you sure Neomi's even dead?"
With a nod, Rydstrom said, "I checked with Nix."
Why did mortals have to die so easily? The smallest sword thrust had ended the girl forever. She hadn't deserved to die like that.
"If she's dead, then that vampire is out searching for something of mine to destroy." Cade glanced around them. A thousand times over, Wroth had vowed. Cade would be signing Holly's death warrant to approach her right now.
"So you have even more reason to resist her," Rydstrom said. "You have to forget her."
"You think I haven't tried?" Cade ran his hand over a horn. "You think I don't know how bad this looks? I'm stalking a girl, a human who's millennia younger than I am."
"Then it's fortunate we're leaving this town for good. Nix has given us one last means to destroy Omort--a job to complete. This is our final hope to reclaim my crown. She's adamant about that."
"What's the op?" Cade asked, though he didn't give a damn. He'd agree to anything to take his mind from what he'd done--and from what he was tempted to do with Holly. Even Nix hadn't foreseen his crazed plans for her.
"We'll receive instructions within the week. Just be ready to move quickly."
Cade exhaled. "I'm always ready."
"Again, brother, this is it--our last chance. I have to know that your head is in the right place."
"I said I'll be ready," he snapped. "Whatever it is, I'll get the job done." Cade rose and gazed at Holly.
For a last time.
With a lingering glance at his female, Cade dropped from the roof.
No sooner had Cade disappeared into the night than Nix emerged from the stairwell to join Rydstrom. "And how did he react?"
Rydstrom glanced at her, evincing no surprise that she'd found them. "You don't know?"
"I'm ever-knowing, not--"
"Yes, yes, not all-knowing." Rydstrom sighed. "Cade's vowed to do his duty."
When Holly came back into their view, Nix's golden eyes fixed on the girl and her pupils dilated. Tilting her head, she asked, "And if he finds out Neomi still lives?"
"Lying to him sits ill with me," Rydstrom said. "You're certain I can't tell him?"
Nix faced him. "I've gone over and over the decision trees. Billions of outcomes all trace back to this decision fork--tell him or don't. It must be this way."
"So you've seen my future?"
"Some of it," she said. "And it's a doozy."
"Tell me," he said, waving her on.
"Rydstrom, you really must learn to ask. In any case, I've got somewhere I need to be. A mystery will be revealed to me tonight, and I can hardly wait."
"You can't leave me like this! And what if we need to get in touch with you?"
She grinned at him, but her eyes were growing vacant, her mind already somewhere else. "Greedy demon, there's only so much Nix to go around."
45
If Neomi had died again, then that meant she had the power to save him.
She could move things with her mind once more. With a wave of her hand, she easily tore through the wreckage, following Conrad's trail of blood. Two waves of her hand had the roof section covering him hurled up and out into the yard. He lay unconscious, pinned by that jagged beam.
As delicately as she could, she began extracting it from his body. Even unconscious, he yelled in pain. She was hurting him, but she had no choice. Flames still advanced from all around them. The entire structure of the manor was quaking.
Inch by grisly inch...
At last! She freed him of it. Finally able to escape the blaze, she traced him outside under a great oak to shelter him from the raining embers.
/>
She couldn't feel them.
Floating beside him, she assessed his wound, shocked at how swiftly he was still losing blood. "Conrad! Please wake up...tell me what to do to help you!"
He'd said he couldn't die from an injury like this, but his paleness terrified her. He needed blood. Without thought, she put her wrist to his lips.
She gasped. Oh, mere de Dieu...She felt herself growing corporeal once more, gradually, from her arm out, like an accumulation of form. She perceived the dew on the grass and the bayou breeze.
How can this be?
Conrad's instinct took over, and before she could blink, his fangs had closed on her flesh like a brand. His sucking was as dizzyingly provocative as she'd remembered. When he groaned against her skin, she nearly swooned with pleasure.
Too soon, he released her with a last lick. In moments, he was able to open his eyes. With a husky murmur, he said, "For that...I'm willing to be staked nightly." When he opened his eyes, his gaze flickered over her body, over the familiar black dress they knew so well. "You were a spirit again. But I just tasted...flesh and blood. What happened?"
Neomi could feel the bite mark on her wrist was already beginning to mend. I don't know what I am. She whispered, "I just changed. I don't understand it." They stared at each other for long moments. Out of the corner of her vision, she saw flames stretching high into the night sky. Smoke funneled out of the windows and chimneys. Heat reached all the way to them. "I'd realized something was wrong with me, but--"
"Nothing's wrong with you!" he said vehemently, already able to sit up.
"Then what am I?"
"I don't give a damn. As long as you're with me."
"I give a damn! What if I get stuck in that spirit form again?" She hated that weird ghostly half-world. She'd nearly forgotten how alone and echoing and faded it felt. "I wouldn't be able to hold you when you're injured or sleep against your warm chest. Or have sex with you. And I want to--a lot! And I'm so sick of this damned dress!"
"So that's what you are," a woman cried from the oak above them. "It all becomes clear!"
They both glanced up. Nix sat perched on a limb, with her sword strapped over her back.
"Up there all along!" Conrad bellowed, immediately grimacing and clamping a hand over his side. "And you didn't think to help us?"