That’s an explanation? Then why am I even more confused?
She went on, “It’s said that when a soul departs with unfinished business, it returns until it is able to complete its task, learn its lesson, and live out its destiny.” She hesitated. “Until now, I had always believed that his kind had no soul.”
It was Jared’s turn to smile sadly. “Then we all learned something today.”
Madame Véronique approached and took my hands in hers. “My child, this is a precious gift. Cherish it, guard it carefully, and do not take anything for granted.” She glanced up at Jared and then back to me. “You have returned to fulfill a destiny. But that is only one possible future out of many. Be wise in your choices, and know that no path is ever easy.”
Jared pulled me closer and nuzzled me. “Do you believe now?” he murmured.
I drew a deep breath and sighed. “How can I not?”
Jared released me and faced the seer. “Thank you. How much do I owe you?”
She named an astronomically high number. Jared didn’t blink. He pulled his wad of hundreds from his jacket, counted off several thousand dollars, and set them on the table by the candle. “Not a word of this to anyone, Mother, or I will return to settle the score,” he warned. “You must abide by the rules, too.”
“You don’t have to remind me,” she snapped, and then her eyes narrowed to slits. “Be careful, traveler. I sense your future is also uncertain.”
He shrugged. “As always, Mother. It is my curse.”
Jared led me from the salon, and we walked slowly up the drive. It might have been my imagination, but everything seemed more brilliant – the azure sky more dazzling than ever, the green of the trees vibrant as neon. I told Jared as much as I could about the visions I’d seen, finishing with my ride into the forest.
He frowned at my last words. “That must have been when you were made. You were hunted by one of the most powerful and oldest of your clan.”
“I was? Why?”
“Your beauty must have captured his attention. When it was still permitted for us to hunt and to make new vampires, it was common to select only the very best.”
“Was that how you were picked?” I asked.
“No. I was a special case. My maker came across me after a carriage accident. My back was broken, and my life was slipping away. For me, the curse came as a gift. For you, though…you had your entire life ahead of you.”
The image of his naked body lingered in my imagination. “We were lovers, Jared,” I whispered.
“I remember like it was yesterday, Lacey. Believe me.”
I took his hand. “I didn’t know…special people…could…you know.”
“I’ll answer any questions you have.”
I wanted to tell him he could show me, but I didn’t. “Everything seems more alive now, after Madame Véronique,” I said. “That’s a little weird, isn’t it?”
“Not really. By recalling the past, you might have somehow activated the part of your brain that can sense things differently. I’m not sure of the physiology, but even after you become…special…it’s still the same basic structure. You just use more of it, and different areas, I suppose.” He glanced around. “Do you know what I’m thinking?”
“Um…no.”
“I mean, can you read my thoughts?”
I stopped, closed my eyes, and tried to concentrate, but drew a blank. I opened them to find him watching me closely.
“Well?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Nothing.”
He smirked. “You couldn’t before, either. Although you could intuit future events sometimes.”
I swatted his arm again. “Why are you like this? I just went through an emotionally traumatic event. Show some sensitivity, would you?”
We both smiled. Apparently he could read me well enough to see I wasn’t being entirely serious, either.
“Sorry,” he said, and looked down the street. “I’m going to have to do something about the car, or it could lead them right to me.”
“Which raises the question of what we do next, doesn’t it?”
He nodded. “It does.”
I snuck a look at his profile, the sun kissing his pale skin, his hair tousled like he’d just awakened. The vision of him lying on the bed with my chest on his head sprang to mind unbidden, and this time I didn’t push it away. In a past life, Jared had been my everything, and I his. No matter how things turned out, nothing could take that memory away from me.
And a growing part of me wanted it again. This time…forever.
Which raised more problems.
But it was still how I felt. Like I’d been robbed of something precious, but then been gifted a second chance.
I thought about the seer’s parting words to me and shivered, even though it was mild out.
Jared glanced at me. “You okay?”
I smiled at the memory of his abs and his delight at my nails teasing his skin.
“Never better.”
Chapter 23
Jared and I held hands as he navigated the road from Bar Harbor. The Porsche purred along quietly, with Jared driving at a sane speed. My thoughts were a cyclone of conflicting emotions as I processed the events at Madame Véronique’s house. I had no doubt anymore that Jared was correct about my prior life, but I wasn’t sure what to do now that I had all the information. Only a few days earlier I had been on a well-considered academic path, and within a matter of hours, the rug had been jerked from under me, and I was afloat in a tumultuous sea.
“So what now?” I asked.
“I need to call Christina. We have an appearance scheduled for tomorrow morning in New York, and I want to see if I can cancel.” He hesitated. “And I need to know if she’s been able to find out…anything about Carl.”
“Go ahead,” I said, and reluctantly let him have
