Jennifer Rardin - [Jaz Parks 1] - Once Bitten, Twice Shy

'She will take you upstairs and give you a reading.'

'A… what?'

'She is psychic. She will touch your hand or read your tea leaves or deal your tarot. Whatever you like.'

I slumped onto a couch and started to mutter. 'Unbelievable. After what just happened between us… no, I don't have any right. None at all. We're barely a couple. We're not even sleeping together. I have to—'

'What in God's name are you babbling about?'

I jumped to my feet. 'You're cheating on me!'

Vayl's eyes went black. He looked like a drill sergeant about to demand pushups. 'I—never—cheat,' he said slowly and distinctly, so even we neurotic idiots could understand.

'Then what's with the attitude?'

'What about your attitude?'

I slapped myself in the forehead. 'Okay, fine. We all know I am crappy at relationships. Whatever is happening between you and me makes me feel like I'm surfing in shark infested waters. So, yeah, I am overly sensitive at the moment, even paranoid. But you're acting Shifty!'

Vayl sat across from me. 'All right,' he murmured, 'if you will know it all, then I will tell you.' He looked at me balefully. 'Though I think you ask too much, you are my avhar.'

'There is a theory,' he began, 'one I hold dear, that says nothing can truly be destroyed. Everything that was ever present will always be present in some form. That is as true of souls as it is of water and wood.' He cleared his throat. If he'd been wearing a tie he'd have loosened it. 'I believe my sons exist somewhere today as they did in 1751. I believe they live, physically, somewhere in this world and so, wherever I go I find a Seer, in the hope that I will be directed closer to them. In the hope that I will see them again.'

'You're saying… you think they've been reincarnated?'

He nodded. 'I have been told we will be reunited in America. It is why I came here.'

'What… what do you,' I paused. How to ask this without causing more pain? 'So you want to meet them? Make friends? Be… a father to them?'

'I am their father!' he snapped. 'That is the one, incontrovertible truth of my existence.'

I shut my mouth. Then I opened it again, but only to say, 'Cassandra's is fine.'

He stood up. 'Ask her about the signs they found on Amanda Assan's brother's body. She studies ancient languages the way you shuffle cards.' As in, obsessively. 'It may take her some time, but she will not stop until she finds a translation.'

'Okay.'

'Dawn is coming.'

'Yes.'

He shoved his hands in his pockets. At the moment there couldn't have been a bigger gap yawning between us if we'd been standing on opposite sides of the Pacific. I was sorry for it. And grateful. 'Well,' he said, 'good night.'

'Good night.'

He moved so silently I wouldn't have known he entered his bedroom and closed the door unless I'd been watching. If vampires dreamed, and if it would be a comfort to him, I hoped he would dream of his sons.

Chapter Thirteen

'I'm having a hard time getting the wife to cooperate.' Cole had managed to keep my business card safe from the ravages of the washing machine. Obviously his guardian angel had dropped the ball. Too bad it hadn't landed on Cole's head. A bout of amnesia could've turned events in a safer direction for him. As it stood, he'd kept his word and approached Amanda Assan with our plan. Needless to say she was less than enthusiastic.

'No kidding?' I checked my watch. It was 2:00 in the afternoon. I'd only been up an hour and already I was irritated. And not just because of the nightmares that had stalked my sleep, or because Cole had ignored my advice. True to form, Evie had followed through and left the number of Albert's nursing agency on my voice mail. I'd called them and they'd told me I'd have to put him on a waiting list. They had recommended another group in the meantime, and I'd given them a call. But it bothered me to hire blind like that, not knowing a place's reputation. No choice, though. I sure wasn't going to make Evie do any back-checking in her condition and frame of mind. When I had a spare minute I'd do it myself. Meantime, Albert would be breaking in a new nurse named Shelby Turnett any minute now. I'm not big into prayer, but I did send up a wish that she had thicker skin than mine. She'd need it.

Now this. Trying to gain cooperation without threat leverage always annoys the hell out of me. People are just too willing to say no.

'Did she say why?' I asked.

'She was putting her jewels in the safe last night when he caught her checking out the contents of a small duffel bag she remembered he'd brought back with him from India. When she asked him about it he told her to mind her own damn business. Then he ordered her to stay in the house for the next week. She had to sneak in her phone call to me. Apparently she's not allowed to talk to anybody either.' A spurt of rage made me grit my teeth. I calmed myself with the reminder that soon Amanda Assan would be a free woman.

Cole went on. 'She also said one of their houseguests had to go to the emergency room last night and for some reason Assan was more enraged than worried. Long story short, he's on a rampage and everybody in the house is kissing his ass until further notice.'

'There's got to be a way to get a peek inside that duffel bag. I wouldn't mind checking out the sick houseguest