Magic & Memory (17 page)

 “It’s ok,” Alastair told him. “Don’t worry, I’ve got this.”

“Allie,” Joey’s voice was still rising, “if you go and knock on Augustine’s door in L.A., here’s what’s gonna happen. You’ll say, ‘hi, did you have someone bespell me?’ and he’ll say ‘why yes I did.’ And then his minions will grab you and he’ll chain you up in his dungeon and you’ll spend the next ten or twenty or fifty years being tortured mercilessly by a total psychopath. So believe me when I say, in no way, shape, or form do you
got this
.”

 “We’re not going to Los Angeles,” Alastair said calmly. “Augustine’s on his way here.”

A cold trickle of fear slid down Joey’s spine as he sputtered, “What? Why?”

“He sensed I was in trouble and has been speeding toward San Francisco ever since this afternoon. Our path will cross his in a couple hours, which is why I’m heading south –- so I can meet with him that much sooner.”

Panic welled up in Joey as he exclaimed, “That means Augustine can feel you too, that the connection Bryn opened is two-way. Augustine can track you now. We need to turn the car around and head in the opposite direction,
fast!
”

 “It’ll be fine. He can’t hurt us.”

“Like hell he can’t!” 

“Please calm down, Joey,” Alastair said.

“Look, if you’re not concerned for your own safety, think of Lu,” Joey told him. “You can’t take her to that maniac.”

“I’m not,” said Alastair. “I’m going to find a nice safe hotel for the two of you, and then I’m going to see him alone.”

Lu chimed in, “And what exactly do you hope to accomplish with this meeting?”

Alastair said, “From what I’ve gathered, Augustine’s really powerful and probably well-connected. He may have some ideas who that warlock kid is working for, and he might even know how to find them.”

“Well
obviously
Augustine knows who the warlock’s working for, because that person is
Augustine
.” Joey sounded exasperated.

“It’s not. I would know if it was.”

“Alastair, I’m
begging
you, turn this car around. We need to run in the opposite direction, as far and as fast as possible.”

“I think you should listen to Joey,” Lu added.

“Look,” Alastair said calmly, “Here’s the thing. When I say I can hear him, I don’t just mean I’m sensing his emotions. I mean I can hear his thoughts, as clearly as if I’m thinking them myself. And every minute that passes, or possibly the closer I get to him, the clearer and clearer it becomes.”

Joey and Lu both stared at Alastair’s profile in stunned silence.

“So you see,” Alastair continued, “Right now I have the upper hand, because I know what he’s thinking. And who knows how long this advantage will last? The connection may start closing up again at any time. I also have the upper hand because he’s coming alone, and I know I’m physically stronger than he is.”

“Why would he come alone? Augustine never goes anywhere without at least half a dozen minions,” Joey said.

 “When he felt my distress earlier, he thought our maker bond had finally formed. And that rattled him so much that he went running out of his house without telling anyone where he was going, without even grabbing his cell phone. Now he’s regretting coming alone, but he’s still coming.”

 “Ok. So I know what we need to do.” Joey’s voice was low, resolute. “We both need to go to Augustine, and we need to kill him.”

“We’re not going to kill him,” Alastair said.

 “Of course we are! We’ll never have another opportunity like this!” Joey exclaimed.

“We’re not killing him,” Alastair repeated.

“But--” Joey started to protest.

“No.”  

Joey chewed on his lower lip, staring out the passenger window. They were speeding along the Pacific past a broad stretch of sand, a grey sheet of fog steadily unfurling over the water. But Joey was too agitated to notice any of that.

After a long moment Joey managed to get his emotions in check, and tried to sound reasonable as he said, “Ok. So you don’t want to kill him. God knows why. But ok. So here’s what we do: you and I both go to him, and we take him prisoner.”

“I don’t want to take him prisoner. I simply want to find out if he knows anything about whoever bespelled me and attacked Bryn’s house.”

“But you can read his mind,” Lu pointed out. “Can’t you just see what he knows?”

“I can only see the thoughts he’s having as he’s having them,” Alastair said. “He only knows that I’m in some sort of trouble, but he hasn’t thought, ‘I’ll bet so-and-so is responsible’.”

“It’s not worth the risk, Allie,” Joey told him. “Why would you endanger yourself like this? Just in case he happens to know something? It’s so not worth it.”

Alastair glanced at Joey then and admitted, “Ok, it’s more than that, more than finding out what he knows. I
need
to meet him. I need to meet the person that made me a vampire. The person that’s spent centuries pursuing me. I need to look him in the eye and try to understand this force that’s shaped the whole of my existence.” Alastair stared out the windshield for a long moment, then said quietly, “I need to know why I recognized his name when I don’t even recognize my own.”

A couple hours later, Lu was fidgeting nervously as she leaned against the wall in a motel in Santa Cruz. Alastair took her hand and said, “Can I talk to you outside for a minute?” Joey raised an eyebrow as they stepped out onto the landing and Alastair pulled the door shut behind them.

          “You know Joey can hear you through this door, right?” Lu told him with a little grin.

          Alastair smiled. “I know. I just want to pretend we have some privacy.” He grew serious then and took both her hands in his as he said, “I know you’re worried about me going to meet Augustine. I just…I wanted to explain why I have to do this.”

          Lu squeezed his hands. “You don’t have to explain. I get it. I know you need answers.”

          “I’m not going to let my maker hurt me, Lu. I swear. I’m going to come back to you.”

          Lu looked at him closely. At some point the vulnerability in his eyes had been replaced with focused determination. And something else was different about him, too, a subtle change in the set of his jaw, the line of his shoulders. He seemed stronger somehow, more confident. “I know you will,” she said and drew him into a hug.

Alastair swung the door open and looked at Joey. “I won’t recognize Augustine. What does he look like?”

          Joey was sitting motionless in a chair by the door, arms crossed over his chest. His voice was flat as he recited, “He’s close to your height with pale blonde hair and blue eyes. Looks like he’s in his late teens. And he comes across as totally harmless and innocent, which is part of the reason he’s so incredibly dangerous. It’s easy to underestimate him.”

          “If he’s speeding north on the interstate, how are you going to meet up with him?” Lu asked.

          “I’ve already pulled him off the main highway and toward Santa Cruz by recalling how frightened I was during Bryn’s mind probe,” Alastair said. “He can lock right in on me when I remember strong emotions, so I’ll keep doing it to bring him to me.”

          “That’s kind of weird, because I can only sense your emotions as they’re happening. I don’t sense remembered ones at all,” muttered Joey absently.

          “I need to get going, he’s getting close.” Alastair held Joey’s gaze. “Don’t follow me, Joey. I mean it. Stay here and keep an eye on Lu.”

          Joey frowned at him. “Can you read my thoughts now too?”

          “Nah,” said Alastair. “It just seems like something you’d do.”

Alastair gave Lu a kiss on the cheek, then took off out the door.

          Joey jumped up as soon as he left, and when he was sure Alastair was out of earshot he said frantically, “We need to steal a car. Right now.”

          “What are you talking about?” Lu asked.

          “Alastair told me not to follow him, and it’s pretty much impossible for me to go against a direct order of his. But he didn’t say
you
couldn’t follow him. So let’s go. You’re driving. And I’ll just be keeping an eye on you while you go after him.”

          “Joey, no. I think that’s a really bad idea.”

          “We have to, Lu. Don’t you see? Augustine is orchestrating all of this somehow. I have no idea how he’s doing it, but he’s leading Alastair into a trap!”

          Lu crossed the room to Joey, drawing him into a hug. His entire body vibrated with fear and anxiety.

          “Please, Lu?” Joey pulled back so he was looking into her eyes. “Please help me. I can’t let Augustine hurt him.”

          Lu raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re not trying to do that vampire compelling thing to me, are you?”

          Joey glared at her. “That didn’t even occur to me. Never mind the fact that I’m way too upset to make that work right now, even if I wanted to.”

          “Just checking.”

          Joey sighed and began pacing the room like a caged animal. After a while he mumbled, “Do you want to, like, go for a walk or something?”

          “Because you can’t leave this motel room until I do, since you’re under orders to keep an eye on me?”

          “Exactly.”

          “I do want to go out, but because I’m hungry. I still don’t want you getting in Alastair’s way and screwing up that whole situation.”

          “Seriously? You’re thinking about eating at a time like this?”

          “I’m worried, sure,” Lu said, “but I also feel like Alastair knows what he’s doing.”

          “Based on
what
? Alastair had to be told
what his own name was
just a couple days ago. He has no idea about Augustine, no idea what he’s walking into!”

          Lu held Joey’s gaze. “When I first met Alastair, he seemed so fragile. I felt like I wanted to protect him, take care of him. But now I’m starting to see who he really is. He’s not fragile at all, he’s the exact opposite. There’s an incredible strength to him, and I don’t just mean physically.”

          “Normally yes. He’s unbelievably strong, and smart, too. But now he--”

          “He’s the same person he’s always been. It’s not his memories that make him who he is. And I really think he can handle going up against his maker. I think he can handle anything,” Lu said.

          Joey sighed, and after a few moments he relaxed slightly. Finally he said, “You’re right. I guess I have to trust that this is going to be ok, that Allie knows what he’s doing.”

          “Well, good.”

“So let’s get you something to eat. I noticed an ice cream parlor across the street that might still be open. Want to go check it out? It looked like it might be good.” He went over to the duffle bag he’d brought in from the car and quickly exchanged his t-shirt for a clean black one, since the one he was wearing was stained with both his and Lu’s blood. Then he threw on an old blue sweatshirt, not for the warmth, but because it attracted attention to be out in only a t-shirt on a cold winter night.

          “That ice cream place is called Marianne’s,” Lu was saying. “And it’s great. So hurry up, they’re probably closing soon.”

          As they crossed Ocean Street Joey subtly sniffed the air, but the strong breeze coming off the Pacific had all but obliterated Alastair’s scent. He sighed and focused his attention on Lu, asking, “You’ve been here before?”

          “I spent the first twelve years of my life not far from here.” She tilted her head toward the mountains to their left.

          They got to Marianne’s right before closing. Lu ordered a chocolate peanut butter shake, while Joey ordered a single scoop of chocolate ice cream on a sugar cone from the young, freckled girl behind the counter. The girl smiled at him flirtatiously, but Joey didn’t seem to notice.

          He paid and then slipped Lu a few bills. “You should have some money with you. Just in case,” he said.

          “In case of what?”

          “In case of whatever,” he said, and she slid the cash into the pocket of her jeans. As she did so, she noticed that the slash marks on her leg had healed to the point that they were almost invisible.

The two of them sat on a curb outside the ice cream parlor and Lu took a sip of her shake. “Oh man. It’s exactly like I remember it from when I was a kid,” she said.

Joey watched her wistfully. He then sniffed the cone in his hand and said, “I used to love chocolate ice cream. It still smells the same. So does the sugar cone, it smells exactly like I remember it tasting.” He ran his tongue over the ice cream’s smooth, cold surface. “It tastes flat now, though, almost flavorless, just like all food does. I wish I’d paid more attention to what I ate when I was human. I’ve forgotten so many details.”

Joey looked so young and so sad then, but only for a moment. He quickly stuck a smile on his face and said brightly, “So you lived nearby as a kid? It must have been great to grow up here, right by the sea.”

“I was actually a few miles inland and my mother didn’t bring me into town all that often. And she almost never took me to the beach, which really sucks because I love the ocean.”