December Moon (The Raven Saga) (12 page)

Moira was watching her as she sat there deep in thought and as December realised that fear can upset the balance, Moira smiled.

"See, you're starting to understand how it works. Like I said, it's all in there to begin with."

"But I didn't say a word, how did you know what I was thinking?" as she asked, she realised the obvious answer. Her mother was a witch after all.

"Okay, I get it. Does that mean that we can read minds?" she asked.

Shaking her head, Moira replied, "It's not something we can do in our everyday lives. And we can't always do it. I could understand your thoughts just then because you were focussing so hard on the magic and the fear. We certainly can't read random everyday thoughts. I wouldn't want to. Did you ever see that Mel Gibson movie, What Women Want? Can you imagine living with that? No thank you!" she laughed.

"So, we can only read the minds of those that are thinking about magic?"

"Pretty much, although sometimes we can pick up on the thoughts of supernatural beings, which can prove helpful, especially in dangerous situations."

Hoping that she would never have to deal with any kind of dangerous situation, December shivered a little.

"Let's try your magic. See this cushion? I want you to make it lift into the air."

December sat upright and took a long deep breath. She looked long and hard at the soft yellow cushion, concentrating so hard that her eyes began to ache.

"No... you're trying too hard, December. You want it to move, simply make it move. Like this," she said as she demonstrated, the cushion hopping up and down as if dancing to music.

Laughing, December tried once again. She managed to move it very slightly to the left, and then to the right. As the gentle sounds of her giggling increased, so did the height of the dancing cushion. She spun it around and let it dance in the air gracefully before she let it slide back down to the seat.

"See? It's easy. Now, see the climbing ivy on the pergola? I want you to make it dance around."

Sure enough, moments later, December controlled the movements of the plant as it twisted and turned around the little pergola where they sat. When she calmed her thoughts down, the dancing ivy returned to its rightful place.

"Can I show Ruby and Monty?"

Moira nodded and the two walked out onto the grass. December shouted, "I'll race you!" and with a chuckle, the two of them ran up the garden towards the house.

"Monty, Ruby... look what I can do?"

They turned to watch in delighted fascination as she and her mother made the garden furniture dance around the deck. Chairs swirled around each other as if dancing a waltz, a wooden table hopped from one leg to another and a parasol swung around and around in circles.

Turning to her mother, December's face was alight with utter delight. She felt her body fill with happiness as she finally felt like she had come home.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Lilly had been so focussed and concerned with what had been going on in Powell River that she had completely forgotten about getting back in touch with December.

In her last email, her best friend had told her how close they now lived to each other but Lilly knew that if she contacted her, December would want to visit. Powell River was just far too dangerous for her at the moment. It would have to wait.

For the time being, at least until they were certain the area was safe again, Carmelo and Jo would remain at Lilly's house. Rose, in the meantime, had moved in with Meredith, John and their son, Cormac. It was fortunate that their other two boys, Shayne and Bailey, were away studying, safe. Nobody was to be left alone.

One of Carmelo's close allies was a German vampire called Ursula, who had lived with the Elders for many years. Not only was she an ally, but a good and faithful friend. That day she had arrived with a small group from the mountains, followed closely behind by a group of male and female witches from all over Canada and the US.

Lilly had briefly met two other witches in the mountains when Vivian had been caught, but neither were among those that were introduced to her now. All had been briefed about recent events and they had been told to report to Carmelo at Lilly's home, which would be used as their temporary base.

The witches had arrived in several large and, surprisingly luxurious, RVs so Lilly didn't have to worry about preparing any sleeping facilities for them - not that anyone was thinking about sleep. They had a much more important issue to attend to, finding the rogue vampire.

There were seven women and two men and none, thought Lilly, looked like witches. Although she was now well aware that witches could come in any guise.

Emilie, Victoria, Sally, Hyacinth, Hope, Margot, Agnes, Philippe and Felix. The names were reeled off to her but Lilly was barely able to recall which name belonged to which witch as they all smiled kindly and then quickly shuffled back off to their vehicles to continue doing whatever it was they did in there. Lilly decided to leave them to it and not to ask any questions. Not yet, anyway.

Feeling almost lost in her own home, Lilly went and sat down in a corner of the living room, trying to hear what was going on without getting in the way. Sammy joined her, handing her a hot cup of sweet tea before he sat down alongside her.

"It's a little weird, isn't it? Having all these people in the house?" he said as she sipped carefully as to not burn her lips.

Nodding, she watched as Ursula and Carmelo looked over a map of the local area, adding little points to where each attack had occurred to see if there was any pattern. There wasn't, of course. It wasn't easy when there were just two separate incidents. The attack in the forest was miles from Mrs Murray's house and Mrs Murray's house was miles from Frank Jensen's house - which, it had been discovered, was where he had become a vampire in the first place.

They had no clues to go on. Usually new-born vamps left a scent or a trail but there was nothing. They were beginning to think that Mrs Murray's attacker was the rogue vamp himself. But why had he transformed Frank? Was he planning to make even more vampires?

"I vill head into town and see if zere is anyone I recognise," suggested Ursula. Carmelo nodded in agreement, "Yes, but take Lilly and Tabitha with you. They know the town, and the locals, better than you do," he smiled.

She nodded one short nod and turned abruptly to the two cousins. Tabitha had since joined her and Sammy in the corner.

"Shall ve?"

Noticing her impatience, the two girls jumped up and went and grabbed their coats and bags. They knew not to keep a woman like Ursula waiting.

Tabitha drove them into town in her battered old Mustang and they parked right outside Starbucks before beginning a slow walk, keeping a close eye on anybody they didn't recognise or anyone acting suspiciously.

"I can't believe that so many people are out and about. It's almost as if there hasn't been an alert. These people should be in hiding, not out doing their shopping or drinking coffee," said Tabitha as she shook her head.

"People never do vat zey are told to do. Zey zink zings vill happen to ozer people," answered Ursula in her strong German accent as the two girls struggled to understand but nodded anyway.

After an hour, all seemed like it usually did in the town. There didn't appear to be anybody unusual around and certainly nobody doing anything out of the ordinary.

"Shall we grab a coffee before we head back home? Is that okay with you, Ursula?" asked Tabitha, unsure whether the vampire ever drank anything.

The tall German woman nodded, "I vill vait here by ze car. Take your time. Enjoy your... your... coffee."

The girls gave her the car key so she could sit down if she so wished and headed into Starbucks. After they'd ordered a Peppermint Latte and a Caramel Machiato, they took their hot drinks and sat down in one of the booths by the window, maintaining a look out for unusual behaviour.

"Hey... it's that cute guy again," said Tabitha, nudging Lilly's leg with her foot. "Look, he's over there."

Lilly turned and sure enough, hiding behind his laptop and glasses, sat the young man who had bumped into her the last time she'd been there for coffee. As she looked, she soon noticed that he was looking straight at her. She turned abruptly, embarrassed at being caught.

She could feel his eyes boring into the back of her head and her cheeks blushed to a crimson red. The feeling was unsettling and so she suggested they finished their coffees outside with Ursula.

Tabitha agreed. The problem was that to get outside, they had to walk right past him. Still blushing, Lilly stood tall and followed behind Tabitha who walked quickly through the queue that had developed since they'd sat down. Lilly wasn't as quick and managed to get held up behind a couple of people blocking the way.

As she slowed down, she looked across the room and saw the young man had disappeared. Relief flooded through her and she let out a slow breath. But as she turned back, she noticed someone standing a little too close for comfort. It was him.

With her sensitive sense of smell, she could smell something strange on him. It was unpleasant. It turned her stomach. It was that same metallic odour she'd picked up outside of Rose's cottage. He smelled of blood. As soon as she realised what it was, she couldn't help but look at his face, for a second his eyes turned black and he smiled at her, revealing a set of fangs. A split second later, he looked completely normal again. He was toying with her.

Lilly shifted as quickly as she could and the people in front of her moved, allowing her finally, to exit the cafe.

"It's him... Tabitha... Ursula. It's the guy," she yelled the moment she reached the car. "He's the vampire!" she mouthed.

"Vhere?" yelled Ursula as she turned and ran towards the entrance.

"He was right behind me!"

Ursula opened the door and quickly walked inside, but it was too late. He'd gone. The scent lost yet again.

"Damn it!" she yelled as a passer-by looked her up and down and quickly rushed by in fear. Ursula certainly didn't look like someone you'd mess with.

"Ve must head straight back home and you vill describe him to us. Get in... drive, Tabiza. And fast."

#

"He was tall, about six-foot-two, shoulder length brown curly hair. His eyes were hazel green until he flashed that scary vamp face at me and then they were black. He was wearing glasses but I guess that was just him trying to blend in. That, and the laptop. We saw him the last time we went into Starbucks," described Lilly as best she could.

"And both times he kept staring at Lilly," added Tabitha.

"Oh and the other thing, up close to him I could... I could... well, he smelled of blood."

"No!" said Ursula, banging her fists on the dining table as the map hopped up into the air with the force.

Everybody in the room jumped as Carmelo and Jo both shook their heads at the same time.

"That can mean only one thing. If you can smell blood on him, it means he has recently fed. He must have attacked again."

The room went quiet as everyone thought about who the poor victim could be this time.

"I'll go and hang around outside the police station, maybe I can pick up on something over there," said Wyatt, who had come over to the house to see his daughter, Jo.

"Not alone, Wyatt. You mustn't go alone."

"I shall go viz you," said Ursula as she headed for the door without a backwards glance.

"I'll call if I hear anything."

"Be careful, Dad," said Jo, as she rushed over to him and gave him a gentle hug. As gentle a hug a vampire can give. Jo's strength had multiplied a hundred-fold since she had been turned and she often forgot how strong she really was.

"Lilly, Tabitha, I want you to go to Emilie and Margot. They're in the silver RV. Give them a description of this vampire. They can create an artist's sketch. It might help us."

Stepping outside to the silver RV, Lilly gingerly knocked on the door.

"Come on in, Lilly, Tabitha," said a soft voice from within.

She pushed open the door and stepped up and inside the vehicle, surprised to find a room full of computers and other technological gadgetry.

"Wow," muttered Tabitha with a low whistle, "this is sooo not what I was expecting."

Margot greeted them with a deep dry laugh. Lilly thought she sounded like a 1940s film star. "What exactly were you expecting, cauldrons, toil and trouble and all that kind of thing?"