Eternal Shadows (24 page)

“Oh my God,” I groaned. “You have got to be kidding me.”

“What? I can’t be concerned about my sister?”

“You’re not going to ask me for advice or anything, are you? Because I’m an only child and Madge hates me.”

“She doesn’t hate you.”

“Really? Wow, I must have my social signals all messed up. I could have sworn glaring, rudeness, and destruction of personal property classified as things you do to someone you dislike.”

Millie wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing her arms as though she was cold, but the night was warm. “It’s not you, specifically. She’s just been in a bad mood lately, and since you’re new, she seems to have decided to take it out on you.”

“That’s kind of her.”

Millie stopped, reaching for my arm. I stopped with her. “Please don’t be so hard on her. Yes, she’s a little more ruthless than the rest of us, but she has a good heart. Right now, she’s upset and I can’t do anything to help her.”

I dredged up my emergency supply of sympathy. “What’s she so upset about?”

Millie’s chin ducked to her chest. “I can’t tell you.”

I threw my arms up in frustration. “Then what do you want me to do to help you?”

“Just…I thought maybe you could suggest something she and I could do together that would distract her. We’ve lived here for some time now, but Julius keeps me so busy I haven’t really had time to explore. You know Madge and what she likes. Where could I take her?”

I propped myself against the trunk of the closest maple tree. “The mall is across town, and there’s a new aquarium in the next town over, she might like all the pretty fish. If you want anything better than that, you’re going to have to head into New York or Boston. That’s where all the fashion stuff happens.”

“All right. That sounds good.” She stared at the grass.

Immediately I felt bad for being so short with her. She was genuinely worried about her sister and all I could do was get snippy. “I’m sorry, Millie. I guess I’m stressed over finals. I shouldn’t get crabby with you.”

“No, it’s all right. I remember school, I understand. And you’re right, Madge isn’t very nice to you. Why should you want to help me help her?”

“Because you’re my friend, and I want to help you. Madge and I can work things out on our own time. After all, we have eternity, right?” I grinned, hoping to make Millie smile.

She did. “Yes. You do have time.”

“Good. Can I go back to bed now?”

“Just one more thing.”

Of course. “What?”

“You haven’t said anything to Rhys about these dreams of yours, have you?”

Hadn’t expected that. “No. He told me he doesn’t remember anything about his life as a human, so I didn’t think it would be a good idea to bring it up.”

“Oh.” She looked massively relieved. “Good.”

I couldn’t help myself. I had to pry. “Why do you ask?”

“For the same reason why you decided not to say anything. Let’s go back inside. Brody must be wondering where I’ve gotten to.”

“Snuck out of bed, did you?”

“Hardly. He sleeps like the dead, but when he rolls over and I’m not there he wakes up instantly.”

“Does that happen a lot?”

“If you ask him it does.” She walked back towards the house. I peeled myself away from the tree and followed. Millie stopped at the bottom of the stairs. “Thank you for talking with me.”

“I hope it helped.” I really hadn’t said much, other than insults directed at her sister.

“I feel better about things. I think I’ll take her around town tomorrow.”

“Have fun. Let me know how things work out.”

“I will. Good night, Kassandra. And please, remember not to say anything to Rhys.”

“I have a tendency to want to do things I’m told not to do, so you might not want to remind me anymore.”

Tension returned to her features. My curiosity concerning Rhys and my dreams grew. Clearly, she was quite serious about me not saying anything. “Please, Kassandra. Don’t joke.”

“Did something happen to Rhys that I should know about?”

“No. You don’t need to worry about him. Everything is under control.”

“Oh yeah, it sounds like it.”

“Go back to sleep. You have to pass your final tomorrow.”

“You’re the one who dragged me out.”

“Good night,” she said again. She basically blinked out of existence.

I set my arm on the banister and put my head down. I ran through my dream one more time, remembering each detail, each word said. Rhys had been very much the same, yet so different. He’d been quieter, more relaxed. The hard edge he had now had been nowhere in that young man in the field. If something had happened to him, then he would have had five hundred years to develop a thick scar.

But that would mean my dreams weren’t dreams at all. If I could remember my past lives then…A memory. My memory? A memory of Rhys. No matter how many times I said the word to myself it still sounded strange. I whispered it into the night to see if speaking it aloud made any difference.

Nope.

I swallowed hard. What were the chances Rhys and I had met in a past life? Of all the vampires in the world for me to end up living with now…Though, I had heard it said that souls followed each other, sought one another out from lifetime to lifetime.

Millie wanted me to keep my mouth shut about it.

Aurelia, the only one I could possibly ask, was gone until at least the end of the week. I’d have to wait if I wanted her opinion on the matter.

Did the general know anything?

Yeah, right. Like I would be comfortable strolling up to him for a casual afternoon chat.

I had no choice. I had to wait for Aurelia. She wanted to know if anything like this happened anyway. Until then, I’d keep mum, enjoy my time with Rhys, pass my finals, and try my best to either duplicate the dream, or remember something else.

I dragged myself back to my room and collapsed on my bed. Reaching over with ease, I grabbed the sixpence from the edge of my bedside table and started rolling it over the back of my fingers. I could do it successfully almost every time now. It fell after five trips back and forth. Lifting it from my stomach, I rubbed my thumb across the surface, feeling each groove and bump molded into it.

Rhys had kept this coin since his human years. Though it hadn’t been in my dream—memory I had the distinct feeling it was somehow tied to the events I had seen.

Clutching the coin in my fist, and setting that fist against my non-beating heart, I closed my eyes and recalled the image of Rhys proposing marriage. The perfect blue sky, the fluffy white clouds, his sun-kissed skin and fluttering heart. Then I called up my memories of being Bryn and tried to decide if I liked her or not.

She’d seemed sweet, down to Earth, smart. Rhys had claimed she was pretty. She had taken care of the little lamb and clearly loved her family.

Regardless of all that I could only come to one conclusion.

I didn’t know if I liked her or not.

But I was jealous.

Chapter Twenty: Time Capsule

The rest of finals week was hell.

Aside from the stress of studying and actual test-taking, I had the added anxiety of looking at Rhys about five hundred times every minute.

Not saying anything was the hardest thing I had ever done, or not done, in my life. By the end of Tuesday I had to force myself not to look at him or make eye contact. By Wednesday I had to force myself to look at him the appropriate amount of times during each conversation so he would stop thinking something was wrong.

Didn’t exactly work out the way I had planned.

I blamed my odd behavior on the pressure of having to do well not just so I could graduate, but so the general wouldn’t have me killed for being an uneducated waste. He claimed to believe me, but I could see in his eyes that he didn’t. Other than when he escorted me to school and back, he left me alone.

“Aren’t you going to tell me what’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing is wrong with me,” I said almost ripping the page in my astronomy text when I went to turn it.

“Of course not. That’s why you’ve been acting strangely since Tuesday.”

“Define acting strangely, because I tend to be strange most of the time.” I kept my eyes focused on the words of the page, though I didn’t have a clue what they said. I couldn’t risk looking at Rhys. Last time I had, all I’d seen was him in the bright sunlight, nervously proposing. I’d be damned if I let anything slip and remind him he couldn’t remember anything about his life before this one.

I heard the familiar exasperated sigh, the one I had once worked for. Now I dreaded it. “Fine. You’re on your own, then.”

“What?” I snapped my head up. He had stood and was heading for my bedroom door. “Where are you going?”

“I’ve been putting up with this mood of yours for two days now. Enough’s enough. I’m going to see if there’s anything I can do to help with the current situation.” He left before I could say another word.

Finals week sucked more than the previous Thursday.

I watched Warren devour his dinner Friday night. My exams were done, I felt reasonably confident I had passed them all, and looked forward to finding Rhys, doing my best to forget my strange dream and get things back to the way they had been.

“It’s creepy when you watch me eat,” Warren said before taking another bite of his well-done hamburger.

“You watch me eat,” I pointed out. “It’s only fair.”

“You drink from my veins. How could I possibly not see?”

“And what you eat I eat via your blood. I like to know what kind of diet I’m getting.”

“Freak.”

“A freak is someone who won’t try French fries in ice cream.”

“If that’s what you’re craving then you’re on your own. Eat it yourself.”

I threw one of his home-cooked waffle fries at him. “It won’t taste the same to me anymore.”

“Always your excuse.”

“Shut up and eat.”

“Stop watching me!”

I huffed and stood. “Fine.” I grabbed the glass of his blood I had gotten for myself when he’d started cooking. Apparently on days when I was being particularly stubborn Gianna drew blood from him to leave for me later. Gross. “Let me know when you feel like being any fun,” I said, taking two quick steps then sliding across the tile floor.

“Find me when you’re over this food voyeurism stage.”

“Ha ha ha.” I sipped my glass of blood and wandered into the hall. Brody jumped the last three stairs, dressed to go running.

“Hey,
kid. What’s cookin’?”

I held up my glass as though to make a toast. “Warren. Isn’t it a little late to be going for a jog?”

“Millie’s busy and I’m bored. Besides, it’s not like I keep a normal human sleep schedule anyway.”

“True enough.”

He stretched out his arms, pulling each across his broad chest. “You want to come?”

“No thanks. I’ve decided to be a fat lazy vampire.”

“Suit yourself.” Holding the banister he stretched his calf muscles then jogged in place, warming up. “Rhys is upstairs. Just saw him with Olivia. See ya.” He jogged to the door and outside.

He had no right to assume I wanted to know where Rhys was. I finished the remainder of the blood in one giant gulp, set the glass on the closest hall table—Anne would kill me later—and bounded up the stairs two at a time.

Without tripping. Go me.

But I slammed into a huge, stone-hard chest at the top. My feet stumbled backwards and I felt the floor disappear beneath me. Gravity grabbed me and I mentally prepared myself for the fall down the stairs.

But then I felt pressure on my wrist and instead of tumbling backwards I was toppling forwards. The rug felt rougher than I remembered under my hands. Cautiously, I opened my eyes.

I was safely on the plush carpet of the second floor hallway. Disorienting. I pushed myself back onto my knees and looked to find my savior.

Cordoba. Why could I never smell him? I had realized that phenomenon on the dreadful Wednesday. He had no scent that I could detect. Oddly enough, after only a little more than a month I had grown quite dependent on my sense of smell. Not being able to detect someone that way gave me fits of frustration that rivaled calculus class.

Or so I imagined. I’d clearly never taken calculus.

He offered me his hand. “You should watch where you are leaping, young Kassandra.”

I stood on my own. “I thought I was,” I muttered.

He let his hand drop and smiled. Those perfect teeth of his were unsettling behind the scared and imperfect face. “And where are you headed in such a hurry?”

“Nowhere really. Just going from one place in my house to another.”

“Ah. Yes. I forget. This was your house, wasn’t it? Your father’s.” Cordoba ran an appreciative finger along the molding of the closet door to his right.

“Yes, it was.” I preferred not to think about that though, thank-you-very-much.

“A beautiful home. You are a lucky girl, Kassandra.”

I hated the way my name sounded with his accent. He rolled the ‘r’ far too much. “Yup. Lucky. Were you headed somewhere?”
Leave me alone
.

He straightened his military jacket. I’d never seen him dressed in anything else. “Just downstairs for a little snack.”

Oh God. The girl. I had managed to shove that to the back of my mind. Great. “Ah, well, have a good time then.” I turned and aimed for my room.

“It was a pleasure talking to you, Kassandra,” he called after me. “Perhaps one day we will have time to sit and really talk. About things in the future, and things far in the past.”

I stopped short. No way could he know. I didn’t even know for sure. I needed Aurelia to get back, now.

“I’ve seen so many things,” he continued. “We are unique in our ability to preserve history, to stop time. We carry with us experiences, memories, of things modern humans have never seen. Famine so great and with no relief workers to even begin to stem the
tide, wars so bloody and close-at-hand that you look a man in the face as he dies, poverty, wealth, monarchies, tyrants, plagues. Ah, the plagues I have seen. Terrible way to die. But so few would know that now.”

I unwillingly turned to face him as he spoke, mesmerized by his morbid knowledge. I couldn’t understand why he would want to talk to me about these things. I was just as modern and unknowledgeable as the common human.

“Your mind is a great well of information, Kassandra.” He walked towards me, and that feeling crept up along my neck again. “The memories you hold can tell us so much, even if you don’t know it yet. Even if it is not within your power to know, others can uncover the truth. Aurelia hopes you will be like her. She hopes you will come to embrace your past as thoroughly as she has. Have you remembered anything, Kassandra? Do you possess memories that are not yours? Have you seen things not of this time? War? Riches? Plague?”

The image flashed across my vision like a random shot in a movie about something else. A small house, constructed of wood and stone. A pillow. Blood. My chest flared with pain.

Then it was all gone. And all I could see were Cordoba’s cold coal eyes focused on me. I reached back, grabbed my door knob and flung myself inside. I slammed the door shut and locked it.

I set my head against the door and tried to settle my nervous breathing. I ran a hand over my chest where the pain had been, pain like I had never really felt before.

Sliding to the floor I closed my eyes and began to cry. Why had he said those things? Did he know? He couldn’t have known. Maybe he was simply testing Aurelia’s theory… Somehow I didn’t think so.

I thought back to the image he had called up. More details assaulted me this time. A putrid stench, like an unwashed or rotting body. Cries in the background. And more blood, more pain. Pain both physical and emotional.

I forced my eyes open and went to my bed, grabbing my picture album and flipping through it so I would have things to see other than that terrible short image.

The pain lingered in my chest this time.

What the hell was happening to me?

A knock on my door woke me in the morning. My cheek felt funny, and one arm had gone stiff. A sick peeling sound shattered the otherwise silence of my room as I lifted my head.

I’d fallen asleep on my photo album. Rubbing my cheek I untangled my legs from each other and stretched out. I hadn’t gotten changed, either.

Another knock. “Kassandra?” Warren.

I dragged myself from bed and opened the door for him. One eyebrow shot up across his forehead when he saw me. I self-consciously ran a hand through my hair—and hit a huge tangle.

“Weren’t you wearing that yesterday?”

“Yes. Shut up. I fell asleep unexpectedly.” I went to my dresser and grabbed a comb. Desperately, I worked the knot out of my hair.

Warren held up his hands. “Don’t shoot. Just observing.”

My hair wasn’t as tangled as I had feared. The knot came undone easily. “Is this room service?”

“As always.”

“No one will ever be able to say you’re remiss in your duties, Warren.”

“That is my goal.”

“Fabulous. I’m going to change.” I grabbed jeans and a white tee from my closet then headed for the bathroom. When I came out, Warren had found the pictures on my bed.

“Plain sight, fair game?”

He blushed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be nosy, but they were out.”

“It’s okay.” I sat beside him on my bed.

“Is that your mother?” He pointed to a picture from my seventh birthday.

“Yes,” I said, tracing the lines of her hair. In the picture she had me in her arms and pressed cheek to cheek. My chocolate cake, decorated with rainbow sprinkles and a huge burning 7 candle, sat in front of us.

“She was very pretty.”

“Yeah. I don’t look very much like her, though.” I turned the page to find a picture of my father. “I look more like Dad.”

Warren studied the pictures for a moment. Another picture of my mother lay below that of me on my father’s shoulders. “Mostly. You have his coloring, his eyes, but you have your mother’s mouth.”

I took a second look. I’d never thought I’d gotten anything from my golden mother, and no one had ever told me different. I turned back to the picture of Mom and me, cheek to cheek.

Warren was right. We did have the same mouth.

I felt her bright smile stretch my face. “You’re the only one to ever notice that. Thank you.”

He looked stunned. “You’re welcome. It seems obvious to me.”

“Still.” I stood and headed for the door.

“Where’re you going?”

“Downstairs.”

“What about breakfast?”

I clasped my hands behind my back and turned to face him. “You walk don’t you, Walking Juice Bar?”

“You’re sick.”

“And yet you’ll get up and follow me, anyway.”

He did.

No one was in the kitchen when we got there. Weird. Normally Brody had eaten u
s out of house and home by nine o’clock. It was eight-thirty. He should have started already. Olivia avoided me at all costs, and so had started eating at odd times. Gianna often kept her company.

I begrudgingly drank from Warren. Not much, I really wasn’t feeling all that thirsty. Then, to be nice, I made him breakfast. Eggs, over easy, with bacon, hash browns and orange juice. Kassandra the Cook.

He pretty much inhaled it, so I gave myself a point for doing it right.

I washed the dishes, too. I needed things to distract myself with. Otherwise I remembered the horrible flashes I’d gotten the night before.

“Do you mind if I leave you alone for a bit?” Warren asked after I refused to let him help me clean up. “Madge crashed her computer again and I told her I’d fix it today.”

I set his plate in the drainer. “You know how to do that?”

“Sure. It’s what I do. I’m the general’s personal computer specialist.”