Keeping my nose pointed to the window, I start in on a third glass of wine. Three glasses out of three bottles. It occurs to me that David is starting to look bleary-eyed. Even with all the food, three bottles of wine take a toll. I don’t think David will be driving home tonight.
We finish up. I pay the bill minus the wine, which was on Ted, and I end up helping David out of the restaurant. Ted tells us not to be strangers. David goes for his keys.
“No way. We’re only a block from the cottage. You can crash at my place tonight.”
David seems to be considering it, though I can’t be sure if the vacant look is a thought being processed or the slide into a wine-and-food-induced stupor. It doesn’t matter. He comes along at my urging, and we’re halfway down the block when he stops. His eyes clear for a minute, and he looks at me with a frown of concentration, like he’s remembering something important. He jabs a thumb back toward Luigi’s.
“Wait. I can’t leave my car out on the street.”
At first, I don’t understand. Then an image of my Jag flashes, and I realize he’s concerned if there’s some crazy out there vandalizing nice cars, his might be the next target.
Like, even if it hadn’t been personal, a Hummer is in the same class as a Jaguar. We’re talking elephant versus, well, jaguar.
“It’s okay. I’ll get you to the cottage and come back for the Hummer. I’ll park it in the garage.”
That appeases him. The frown smoothes back into blankness. We continue down the sidewalk, David under his own swaying steam. I unlock the door to the cottage, lead David to the couch, give him a push. He sits down abruptly.
“I’ll go move the car,” I say. “Then I’ll come back and make up the bed in the guest room. You sit here until I get back, okay?”
His eyes are open and he appears to be listening, but I could swear he’s already fast asleep.
I dig his keys out of the pocket of his jacket along with his wallet and cell phone. He doesn’t stir. There’s a “missed call” message flashing. It’s pure nosiness that makes me hit the “hear now” button and press the phone to my ear.
“Hey, David, it’s Tamara. If you get in before eleven, call me. I’m a night owl. Maybe we can still get together.”
I erase the message and close the phone. My instincts were right. I’m glad David is here with me.
I put the phone on silent mode and place it along with his wallet on the coffee table. The keys I take with me on the run back to the parking lot behind Luigi’s. In five minutes I’m cramming that tank into my garage. Lucky for me I had the garage built higher and longer than average. Otherwise, the Hummer would never fit. As it is, it’s like squeezing paste into a toothpaste tube.
Another five minutes and I’m back in the house. David hasn’t moved. He’s still sitting up, his eyes are still half-open but he’s snoring. I’ve never seen anyone sleep with his eyes open. I stare at him for a minute, trying to decide if I should carry him up the stairs to the guest room. What happens, though, if he awakens in my arms? No, better to lay him out here and cover him up with a blanket.
Which is what I do.
Finally, at eleven thirty, I’m in a pair of sweats and curled up in my bed with Frey’s book open on my lap.
Here we go—chapter seventeen.
CHAPTER 53
THERE’S NO HEADING TO THE CHAPTER, NO HINT of what it contains. Once my brain has adjusted yet again to the difficulty that comes from deciphering calligraphy, I’m plunged into a history of demons in the world.
In the beginning (according to this text) was not the word. In the beginning were the demons, the first species in human form to populate the earth. They were the spawn of the fallen angels sent to a harsh and unforgiving new world to survive or perish on their own. Among the first demons were the vampires. They were the strongest and most vicious of the predators and soon held dominion over all the beasts. Their reign lasted for a thousand years.
Then the gods (and it’s plural) decided the now warm and abundant earth had become a paradise, too good for the demons. They sent man, possessed him of brain and brawn, allowed him to multiply. They set him against the demons. Man triumphed. The demons were banished underground, to the realm of darkness. Here the vampire stayed, coming forth only to hunt and feed, for a millennium.
The great flood came. Vampires survived in greater number than humans and once more, they walked in daylight. But humans were scarce, the vampire needed beasts to hunt. The werewolf was fashioned from man by the vampire with the help of powerful black magic. The half man, half beast was made to be the servant of the vampire. In human form, he could integrate into man’s society. In wolf form, he could hunt and capture prey for the vampire master.
The vampire’s curse is that he cannot propagate save through the transference of blood. The werewolf, created by a spell, could only exist at the will of the vampire.
Until the time of the change.
The gods were angry that the vampires once more held dominion over their earth. They saw the balance changing and knew the humans were soon to become fodder for a stronger demon race. They knew the balance could only be restored by introducing an enemy, one capable of defeating the vampire, one who did not live off the blood of their beloved humans.
They allowed the werewolf to evolve into a creature that could “reproduce” on its own, through its bite with the power of a talisman. Soon, the werewolf numbers increased until they were no longer a slave to the vampire but a formidable enemy. When the battle came, the werewolves proved too strong and their superior numbers drove the vampire underground once more.
A were’s strength is in his animal form. It is also his vulnerability. Man soon learned to hunt the beast and the weres numbers were decimated. Because the vampire exists in human form, he could walk among man unnoticed. If he was careful and cunning, his identity as a demon would not be revealed. The vampire flourished, learning to live among his human hosts, learning to assimilate into man’s culture, sacrificing the were to his adopted human family.
From that time forward, there existed a mutual enmity between vampire and werewolf. But there is also a psychic connection. A powerful vampire can control a were, take over its will. Make it do its bidding. It need only possess the were’s talisman. Without the talisman, the were cannot make the change, giving the vampire the absolute power of life and death over it. The power transcends time and space, it is all encompassing and cannot be broken until the vampire is killed or until the were regains possession of the talisman. In either case, once the werewolf regains control, it is the vampire that perishes.
The chapter ends there. I close the book and let it rest on my lap. Is it possible? Could Avery have somehow transported his spirit or soul at the moment of his second death to Sandra? Is that what Tamara meant when she said it was Avery, not Sandra, speaking to me last night?
Why be so damned cryptic? Why not come out and say it? If it’s true, when and how would Avery have taken possession of Sandra’s talisman? She wasn’t here when I was with him.
Was she? Was what I said to Tamara on the ride to David’s cabin true? Was Sandra watching us the whole time I was with Avery? It makes my affair with him even creepier.
I need to talk to Tamara.
David’s phone. I fling back the covers and run downstairs. I erased the message but he must have her number stored since he called her this evening. Sure enough, it’s there. I memorize it to punch into my own phone when I return upstairs.