Chapter 15
I realized with a shock that hours must have gone by. The sun had been at least two hours from setting when Victor had called. Now it was fully dark outside.
“Damn.” Unbuttoning Mitch’s shirt, I slipped out of it and handed it to him as I passed.
“What’s wrong?”
“We’re late.” I turned in the doorway and smiled at him. “Victor will probably have his bloodhounds out after us if we don’t get there soon. Why don’t you call down to the desk and ask them to call a cab while I get dressed.”
“Fine.” He held his shirt up to his nose, sniffed, then smiled. “Smells good,” he said, as he went for the phone.
I retrieved the jeans and sweater I had worn the previous evening and dressed hurriedly. Before he was off the phone, I stepped out of the bedroom, fully clothed, running my fingers through my tangled hair. “I’m ready. Shall we go?”
When we got on the elevator, I met Mitch’s eyes, and to my surprise I found myself blushing. He gave me a sheepish smile and I knew he must be feeling the same as I. Our newfound unity was wonderful, but embarrassing. We were like lovers opening our eyes to each other after making love for the first time. All of our virginal inexperience and clumsiness had been exposed, not during the passion of the act itself, but afterwards, as we fumbled for something to clothe our nakedness.
I reached over and took his arm, rubbing my head on his sleeve.
“That whole thing will take some getting used to,” he said. “And I don’t think it’s an experience we’ll want to do very often.” He whistled. “It’s way too hard coming back.”
“Yes.”
The elevator doors opened on the lobby and after stopping at the desk to keep the room reserved for our use later, we went on to the street and into the waiting cab.
The Imperial was crowded, a line forming up outside, so we instructed the driver to take us to the back entrance. After we paid him and he drove away, Mitch touched my arm.
“Call me cautious,” and I smiled, because he always was, “but I don’t think we should confide in Victor what just happened to us.”
I looked at him questioningly. “Why not?”
“I have the feeling that what we experienced is not a common occurrence.”
“Oh, how would you know?”
“Well, for one thing, other than us, have you seen any others keeping constant company?”
“Well,” I hesitated, thinking, “now that you mention it, no. But I can’t say that I ever noticed or even considered it.”
“I have.” Mitch’s voice was quiet but emphatic. “I’ve been studying them all and have spent more time with them than you have. They’re solitary and distrustful of each other. If they were bonding into pairs, I would’ve noticed. I haven’t. And they aren’t.”
He stopped, running his fingers through his hair. I prompted him to continue. “And?”
“And on top of all that, they fear us. I can smell it on them. We are an unknown quantity and they’ll admit that. Have admitted that. It’s the reason why they are normally so polite. Because they can’t gauge us and have no idea of the depth of our powers. And I’d sort of like to keep it that way. Shield yourself from their thoughts if you can.”
“I’ll try.”
Mitch opened the door and we descended again into Cadre headquarters.
As before, Victor was waiting for us at the elevators. But this time he wore a broad smile and his manner was completely at ease. “Deirdre,” he took my hand and kissed it, “and Mitch. I’m so glad to see you.”
The change in his manner was amazing. I could only shake my head and stare at him in disbelief. “Victor?”
“Ah, my dear, you are confused. Please accept my apologies for my recent unpleasantness towards you. Perhaps we can put it all behind us. You see, I have received good news. Larry Martin has been found dead.”
“Dead?” I thought back to my vision. “How?”
Victor laughed, “Just the way he deserved, burnt to a crisp on a park bench. Nothing much left of him but charred bone and teeth.”
“Then,” said Mitch, his voice suspicious, “how do you know it’s him?”
“His watch.” Victor reached into his pocket and brought out a heavy gold wristwatch. “Nice piece, too. I wouldn’t have thought he’d have such good taste.” He turned it over to show the name engraved on the back. “We have this,” he playfully tossed the watch into the air, caught it and put it back into his suit coat, “we have the dead body, we have Deirdre’s feelings, and,” he paused, seeming pleased with himself, “we have a witness.”
Mitch’s attention snapped in on the last word. “A witness? That’s good,” he said, barely hiding the scorn in his words, “because everything else you have is nothing. The body could be anyone’s, the watch could have been planted and Deirdre’s feelings, while I have more trust in her than anyone else, are still just feelings. Can I talk to this witness?”
“Mitch, your diligence does you justice. But the entire experience was so traumatic for her that she’s requested to be left alone. She is fairly new and very unsettled. It cannot have been a pleasant experience to witness the death of another.”
“I’ll bet.” Mitch remained unconvinced. And on the strength of his skepticism, I began to doubt myself. Remembering my vision, I shuddered. That it had happened, I felt sure. But to whom?
Victor gave me a curious glance. “Trust me. The dead body belongs to Larry Martin. Our witness gave testimony to the house leaders and they all agreed on her testimony. In fact, after we’d gotten together and compared the letters we received, we realized that they could just as easily be considered suicide notes as death threats.”
“So I thought, too, Victor,” I said, unsure, “but now I don’t know. Maybe Mitch should speak to her anyway.”
He looked at me, “Deirdre, I should think that you of all people would be happy about this. Why would you want this any other way? And why wish up circumstances that are not true? Larry Martin is dead. You are freed of responsibility for him.”
“I don’t feel free.”
“Give it time, my dear, and you will. This whole thing has been hard on you, I’m sure.” He put his arm about my shoulders for a second and gave me a brief hug, before pushing the elevator button. “In fact, as far as I’m concerned your duties are done here. You are free. You and Mitch may leave at any time you wish.”
I opened my mouth to protest and caught Mitch’s warning glance, deliberately forced myself to relax and to smile. “Thank you, Victor.”
“Until then, you are still our honored guests. Now if you will excuse me, I have a full house upstairs.”
We watched as he got on, then linked arms and walked down the hallway to our room. It wasn’t until we closed and locked the door that we turned to each other to speak.
“So, what do you think?”
I shook my head with a grim smile. “I have absolutely no idea, Mitch. None whatsoever. The vision I had was true. We know that now. One of us died this morning in the rising sun. But I can’t know who it was. Or even why it happened. What do you think?”
He laughed. “Me? I think the whole thing stinks of a setup. By whom and for what reason, I don’t have a clue, either. It doesn’t matter; it still seems like a setup to me. And even if it’s just a gut reaction on my part, they tend to be correct more often than not. Then again, if the Cadre has a witness they trust . . .” His voice trailed off in thought, then resumed. “It’s their lives that seem to be endangered. I guess, if they’re satisfied, I should be, too.”
“Yes.”
“But you’re not sure either, are you?”
“No.” I sat down on the edge of the bed, then lay down, my feet dangling over the side, locking my fingers together and pillowing my head on them. “I’m not at all sure.”
“Do you think it might possibly have been Larry?”
“I felt a bond with the soul involved. That’s all I can say.”
He sighed. “Personally, I think what I’ve always thought: Larry is crazy. But much too crazy and egotistical to reach the somewhat sane decision to suicide.” He paced the room briefly. “I won’t rest until I’m satisfied he’s dead. He’s too much of a danger, not just to them, but to you. And that’s what matters. I really need to talk to this witness.”
“But Victor won’t let you. He won’t even tell us who she is.”
Mitch sat down next to me and smiled, a mischievous glint in his eyes. “Fortunately, Victor is not the only vampire in the Cadre. And I know how I can find out. For now, at least, I want you to trust me. We’ll stay here and bide our time. If within a week there has been no sign of the illustrious Mr. Martin, I think I can start nosing around without arousing too many suspicions. And,” he began to unbutton his shirt, “if there has been no sign of Larry in a week, I might even believe he was dead. I doubt that if he’s alive he’ll be able to hold out any longer than that without causing trouble.”
“I want to leave now.” I shrugged and smiled, watching the play of the light on Mitch’s chest muscles. “But I’ve felt that way all along, from our first night here, and I haven’t changed my mind. But because you ask it, I’m willing to wait your week, and see what happens.”
“Thanks.” His eyes were alert, sharp, and I thought to myself that this, finally, was the old Mitch. The man with whom I had fallen in love, the man with whom I would share my neverending life.
My body tingled where his came into contact with mine. Suddenly, worries and thoughts about Larry Martin were buried deep beneath the urgency of my need for him. I longed to see where our newfound unity could lead us.
Slowly, sensuously my hand snaked up around his neck and pulled his mouth down to mine. “After all, my love,” I whispered, in a voice hoarse with passion, “we have all the time in the world. And we’re still supposed to be on our honeymoon.”
“Mrs. Greer,” Mitch said, his eyes glowing, his hands slowly traveling down my body, “have I ever told you that I love the way you think?”
I laughed. “And have I ever told you that I love the way you love?”
What a strange lovemaking that was, I thought, as I lay back in his arms, coming down slowly from the waves of orgasms. Yes, it had been completely satisfying, intimate, and passionate, like every other time Mitch and I made love. Yet I felt more alien and more distant from him than I ever had before. The fault, if fault it was, did not seem to lie in the comparison of the earlier blending of our souls with this physical merging. It lay instead with our subsequent division into ourselves again.
Mitch kissed the top of my head. “That was wonderful, Deirdre. But,” I heard the confusion in his voice, it mirrored my thoughts, “it hurt me.”
“Hurt you? I’m not sure I know what you mean.”
“And I’m not really sure I can explain.” He stroked my hair lightly and I shivered, then grabbed his hand and put it to my mouth, kissing each finger separately.
“Try.”
Mitch thought for a while longer. “I don’t mean it hurt physically, far from it.” He chuckled slightly. “It felt wonderful, physically. Maybe our best ever. But somewhere, deep inside, it hurt. As if, by pulling away from each other this afternoon, we left behind some sort of psychic wound, one that’ll ache until we’re fully together again. But as aches go, it wasn’t bad.”
I laughed at him, then sobered. “I think I understand. I’m not sure it can be described, but I think I understand.”
“I knew you would.”
We lay quiet for a while, separate physically and mentally, each of us trapped inside thoughts and feelings for which we could find no words. I got up from the bed and began to get dressed.
“Where are you going?” Mitch pushed himself up on one elbow and watched me solemnly.
“I know we agreed to wait for a week, but I want to look for him anyway. In my own way.”
“Would you like some company?”
“Absolutely, my love. We can look together. But be warned, I plan on starting my search where it all began.”
Mitch groaned slightly and shook his head. “Well, I don’t like it much, but it makes sense. Perfect sense. Criminals usually return to the scene of the crime, and while the Ballroom may not be that specifically, we can’t deny that there is something that keeps leading us back there. It’s the ideal place to start our search.”
He got up from the bed and started to dress. “But I still say we should burn the damn place down.”