Bloodstone

“You showed her the part she didn’t see.” If seeing is believing, show her the whole thing.

Mab nodded. “In her dream, Gwen ran for the house, as she’d done that night. She never looked back—then or now. When I sensed she was about to wake up, I called to her, in Eric’s voice. She stopped. I held my breath, hoping she’d stay in the dream. And then she turned around. For the first time, Gwen saw Pryce in his demon form. She stared and stared at him until the dream faded.”

“So now she understands what really happened?”

“I don’t know, child. It will take some time and reflection, I think, for her to truly understand. But she has been thinking about it. Last night, she contacted me via dream phone.”

I wouldn’t have been more astonished if Gwen had suddenly appeared in the middle of my fight with Myrddin, offering tea and cookies. Gwen, using the dream phone to call Mab? Impossible.

“She was angry,” Mab said. “She accused me of poisoning her dreams with lies. She warned me to stay away from Maria. She upbraided me on every topic she could think of. I was so depleted, so exhausted and weak even in my own dreams, that I had no defense against her. I let her rant.” Mab chuckled. “That confused her. She wanted to know what was wrong with me, why I wouldn’t argue back. I told her I was dying. She said, ‘Good.’ ” Again, a shade of sadness. “I wanted to end the call at that point, but I had no strength even to call up the mist. I lay in my dreamscape, Gwen staring at me. That’s when I felt the bloodstone surge. I was too weak to respond to its call. I knew you needed help to defeat Myrddin, but there was simply nothing I could do.

“Gwen felt the change, as well. She accused me of playing some trick on her. I told her it was no trick, that you were under attack by a demon, like the one in her dream. I told her you needed help, but I was too weak to give it to you. And I asked her to lend me some of her strength. All she had to do was stay in my dreamscape and give me her hand.”

“What did she say?”

“She told me to go to hell and started to end the call. Her colors rose up, and I reached out to her, pleading.” Mab held out a hand now, as though Gwen were in the room. “Her colors rose some more. I could barely see her. I thought I was losing you both. And then she walked straight through the mist. She came back.”

Mab dropped her hand to her lap and shook her head in wonder. “I don’t know why she did. Maybe the demon from her dream remained vivid in her mind. She stepped out of the mist and took my hand. She let me draw upon her strength so I could project myself as Viviane before Myrddin. The effort drained her, I think, but she held on. She didn’t let go until you’d killed the demon.”

Mab paused. She watched my face, making sure I understood. “Your sister didn’t do it for my sake, child. She did it for you.”

ONCE AGAIN, THE REAPER WAS ALL OVER THE NEWS. NORDEN was listed as the fifth victim, and the containment order was extended for another forty-eight hours. But when the clock ticked down and no murder occurred, the police changed their tune. They identified Elmer Norden as the Reaper.

According to the news, his fingerprints were on the curved blade found at the site and matching the other victims’ wounds. They theorized that Norden, driven to despair by his psychotic urge to kill, had taken his own life. Reporters interviewed endless people who’d known Norden. Neighbors, coworkers, his barber, even past teachers. Everyone described him as mean, rude, bullying, and bad-mannered—all pretty accurate descriptions. The only one who had anything halfway nice to say about him was Pam McFarren.

But nobody said the one thing about Norden that I knew to be true. In the grip of a murderous spirit that tormented him unbearably, he tried to hold on to some little piece of what made him human. However much a jerk he’d been in life, in death he’d sacrificed himself for that bit of humanity.

Juliet went back into hiding. With the Reaper case closed, the police were putting more resources into other cases, including tracking down vampire fugitives from justice. The Washington police still wanted to question her about Justice Frederickson’s murder, and the Goons still wanted to find her for breaking out of their facility. Juliet stayed at our apartment for a couple of days—the cops had already checked for her there so many times it was becoming the last place they’d look—then left. She wouldn’t tell me where she was staying, but she’d pop up from time to time when she thought it was safe.

The Old Ones had scattered, she said. Many of them were dead, killed by the virus they’d used to infect Juliet. When they’d seen her that night on Back Street, apparently unharmed by the virus, several Old Ones had immediately infected themselves with it, expecting the same results. All were dead now. Others, including Colwyn, had been more cautious, torturing Juliet with more silver than any vampire could survive to test her immortality. Those Old Ones were still out there somewhere.

“I thought they’d really done it,” I said. “Really achieved immortality. When I hit that Old One with silver and he didn’t die . . . why didn’t it affect him?”

“I’m not sure,” Juliet said. “That was one of the Old Ones who infected himself. I think it had something to do with the bloodstone. The stone has so much power, and the Old Ones were in its presence for more than a day. My guess is that they absorbed some of that power. But obviously the effects were temporary.”

I wondered if they’d be temporary for Juliet and asked Mab about it later. She didn’t know. “You must understand, child, that the bloodstone has never been used in such a way before. The stone is life-giving, and I employed it in an emergency to counteract an artificially engineered, death-dealing virus. There’s no telling what the long-term effects could be.”

For now, Juliet said she felt like a kid of three hundred again. I don’t think she noticed Mab’s smile.

WITH THE CONTAINMENT ORDER LIFTED, KANE RETURNED to Deadtown. I left Mab grilling Tina on Inimicus demons and went to his place to wait for him. I opened all the windows to let in the fresh spring air. I hung a brand-new bathrobe on my side of the closet—and then I stepped back to marvel that I had a side of the closet here. It felt good.

I was sitting on the sofa, leafing through the latest copy of Paranormal Rights Law Journal, when the key turned in the lock, and Kane opened the door. I looked up—and then just looked. He was the same Kane I’d known for years, and yet I felt like I was seeing him for the first time. I let my eyes linger on every part of him. His silver hair. The broad shoulders that made him look so damn good in a suit. His strong hands, their square-nailed fingers. Everything. But especially the eyes that had helped me hold on to Kane when I was so afraid I’d lost him.

“Hi, Killer,” I said. “Wanna see my new bathrobe?”

He grinned and closed the door. “Maybe afterward,” he said.

He scooped me up and carried me to the bedroom. And then there was no need to say anything at all.

THE NIGHT BEFORE MAB FLEW BACK TO WALES, AXEL THREW her a farewell party in Creature Comforts. The aquavit flowed freely. Mab and Axel sang songs in Trollsprak and even demonstrated a traditional folk dance. Tina jumped up to try it, too. As the three of them thumped around the room, customers clapped their hands to keep time. After tonight, it would take years for Axel to recover his scary reputation.

Kane sat beside me, his arm around my shoulders, tapping his foot as he watched. I reached up and laced my fingers through his. Since he’d been back, I couldn’t touch him enough.

Axel went back behind the bar to pour some drinks. He put on some quieter music.

Juliet popped in and out—in that sudden, “now you see me, now you don’t” vampire way—to offer a toast to Queen Mab. “ ‘Fair thoughts and happy hours attend you,’” she said. “ ‘Heaven give you many, many merry days!’” Mab nodded, accepting the good wishes, and replied with something equally Shakespearean.

For the few minutes she stayed, Juliet sat at our table. “I’m going to Washington,” she told us. “I think Colwyn may be hiding out there. I want to expose them. If I can find Colwyn’s lair, I’m certain I’ll find evidence linking the Old Ones to Justice Frederickson’s murder. It’s time to put that matter to rest.” She looked around and slowly licked her lips. “I want to get back to trawling the bars for hot blood.”

Kane cleared his throat. “Juliet,” he said. “I’m sorry I mistrusted you. I owe you an apology.”

She waved her hand dismissively. “‘Sorry,’ ‘apology’—please. Vampires don’t know the meanings of such words.” But she looked pleased he’d said it.