Books by Maggie Shayne (241 page)

This time she helped him. Then she watched his face as he stared at his arm. It was healing, right before his eyes. Everywhere her blood had touched, he was healing. As he watched, she squeezed her wounded arm again, harder this time, forcing the blood to trickle rather than just drip.

"Alby, stop!" Edge closed his hand over the wound, and she knew it was an impulse. Apply pressure, stop the bleeding and all that. But he used his burned hand, and the process kept working. She watched as her blood oozed between his fingers, leaving healthy new flesh in its wake.

He released her, staring at his hand, fingers splayed, turning his palm. The front, perfect, flawless. The back, blackened, burned.

She touched the burned part, her fingers moistened by her own blood.

Edge lifted his eyes to hers. "How is this possible? How can you… ?"

She shrugged. "Damned if I know. You're my first."

He averted his eyes so fast, she knew what he was thinking.

"That makes twice now," she said. "You being my first."

He lifted his gaze slowly, met her eyes, searched them. "It's not important enough to… I was being petty, Alby. It doesn't matter."

"Mattered enough so you were furious with me back at Stiles's place."

He shrugged. "Male ego. Fragile thing, you know?"

She sighed. "Well, for what it's worth, Edge, I didn't lie to you."

He frowned; then his eyes widened and filled with some unidentifiable emotion.

"You were the first. The only man I've ever slept with, Edge."

"But it's not supposed to be possible… "

"Like this, you mean?" She ran her fingertips over his forearm, up and down his skin, making him look down quickly. His eyes widened as he stared at the new, flawless skin. Even the tiny hairs had grown back. His hand, his arm, were completely restored.

"Lots of things I used to think were impossible have been happening lately, Edge. This baby, for example. I thought it was impossible for a vampire to father a child." She shrugged. "But apparently it's not."

Blinking in shock, he stared into her eyes. "The baby… is… mine?"

She held his gaze, nodded once, and didn't look away.

Edge knew she was expecting something, some reply to leap from his lips, but none did. He was completely speechless. And he wouldn't have been, if he hadn't wanted so badly to believe her. Hell, he
did
believe her. But there was this twice-burned cynic in the back of his mind telling him he was a blind freaking idiot.

Everyone knew vampires couldn't father babies.

Except… maybe for him.

Or maybe it wasn't him at all, he thought, glancing again down at his arm and hand, turning them this way and that. Maybe it was all her.

His pain was gone. He could flex and open his palm without so much as a twinge.

Amber turned away, stung by his silence, maybe. "I really don't care if you believe me or not."

He snapped his attention back to her. "It's just… a lot to process," he said, but he thought maybe he'd waited too long to speak. The moment was gone. She'd been hoping for something, and he hadn't given it to her, and now she'd closed her hands.

"Tell me about it," she said, her voice thick with sarcasm. She shook her head. "It doesn't mean anything. It's not like we're ordinary mortals, after all. I'm not expecting you to marry me and put up a picket fence, and it wouldn't matter even if I was."

Edge got up off the floor. Amber was pacing away from him now. "And why wouldn't it?"

She stopped walking with her back toward him. "I don't know."

Edge frowned, staring at her back, sensing… something. Fear. Almost… grief. "What are you keeping from me, Alby?"

"Nothing."

He moved forward, clasped her shoulders and turned her around to face him. That she refused to look him in the eye confirmed what he suspected. When he clasped her chin and tipped it up, he saw a glistening in her eyes that made his heart turn over. "Tell me."

She closed her eyes. "The dream… the baby… " She lowered her head, closed her eyes. "I finally saw what it was you were giving to me in the dream, the one I've been having."

"Death," he whispered. "You said I gave you death."

She nodded. "In a small wooden box. I could never see what was inside, only knew it was something horrifying. Frightening. Devastating."

He narrowed his eyes on her, aching with her pain.

"I didn't know what it meant. I thought—if I got to know you I might figure it out."

"And now you have?"

She nodded. "The other night I had the dream again, but this time I could see what it was you gave me. It was a baby. A small, still, lifeless baby."

Edge felt his stomach twist and lurch. He actually doubled over, hands to his middle, staggering a few steps backward. Mouth open, he gulped in a breath, wondering at the power of the blow.

"Edge?"

He looked at her, confused. He didn't understand this. It was as if he were a child again, with his father's fist in his belly. His back hit the wall, and he tried to straighten, to breathe.

Amber ran to him, gripping his shoulder, touching his face. "Are you all right?"

He stared into her eyes, still moist and so incredibly hurting. "No. My God, Alby, are you?"

She lowered her head. "I thought you should know. It's better to be prepared, you know?"

She sounded so cool, so practical about the whole thing. And yet he could feel the storm roiling inside her. "There's no way to be prepared for something like that," he said. "Alby… "

She turned away from him, pacing across the floor. "Maybe it's for the best," she whispered. Her voice was strained, aching. "We don't even know what it would be."

"How can you say that?"

She shrugged, still pacing. "Suppose it's born a vampire? God, can you imagine? An immortal blood drinker, trapped in the body of a newborn forever?''

"Suppose it's not? Suppose it's normal?"

"Come on, Edge, it's mine and yours. There isn't a normal gene in its entire pool."

"Why are you acting this way?"

"What way?"

He went to her again, moving in front of her so he could study her face. "Cavalier. As if you don't care when your soul is bleeding."

"I'm not—"

"I can
feel
you bleeding, Alby. This is killing you. God, carrying this knowledge around, all alone… "

When he touched her, tried to pull her close, she tugged away. "Don't. We don't… have time for this. Not now."

His mind was racing. So many things rushing around inside it, but mostly one. "This dream, this vision of yours—it doesn't have to come true."

"I've never had one that didn't."

"Ever had one you tried to change?"

She closed her eyes, lowered her head.

"Well, think about it. Remember. In all those precognitive dreams you've had, have you ever once tried to change one of them?"

"No. Not until now. I dreamed about Will being… gone. Not dead, just—no one could find him." She shrugged. "I'm trying hard to change that."

"Then you can try to change this."

"I can't." She closed her eyes, bit her lip. "I can't."

"You can." Edge gripped her shoulders. "Dammit, you have to."

Her eyes snapped open, staring into his. "Edge, I'm so afraid."

And he heard and felt and sensed all she was feeling as the floodgates of her mind opened, swamping him utterly in her feelings, her fears. She was afraid to let herself hope, only to face disappointment. Afraid to try, only to fail. Afraid to love… only to lose.

She was even afraid to let him hold her right now, because she was only barely holding on to her self-control, and a touch from him, an embrace, would shatter her.

He wanted, right then, to hold her—maybe more than he'd ever wanted to do anything. But he held himself back, because that was what she needed. For now.

"Alby, you don't need to bear this alone, not anymore. I'll help you get through it. Whatever happens, it'll happen to both of us."

She stared into his eyes, her own slightly shocky. "I thought you didn't believe this baby could be yours."

"Hell, Alby. That was before you told me it was."

"And you believe me?"

He tilted his head to one side. "You
do
remember the last time we were alone together, right? When I was damn near dying and you made me drink… "

"So?"

"So something happened, Alby." Something major, he thought. She was inside him now, a part of him. Maybe she had been even before. He only knew that since that moment…

"What? What happened?"

"I saw inside you," he said. Then he shrugged, because the words sounded so heavy with meaning. He tried to lighten them with a look, an attitude. "I know you, that's all."

She was staring at him as if she'd never seen him before. Hell, no wonder. She hadn't tasted him, probably didn't have a clue what he was talking about.

"It never entered my mind you would lie to me about this. I know you."

Her tears spilled over, running down her face. "Thank you for that."

He swallowed hard. "Come on, let's get upstairs. I'm antsy as hell down here, and there's no need to wait on the sidelines now that you've performed your little healing miracle. Is there?"

"No, I… guess not."

"Then let's go." Taking her arm, he turned her toward the door, walked up the stairs and straight into the razor-edged iron bolt of a crossbow.

"It's powerful enough to take off your head," a woman said softly. "So don't even
think
about trying anything."

Amber counted her heartbeats, shocked when she felt Edge's hand sneak back to her hip, nudging her sideways until she was directly behind him.

"No need to get violent now." He didn't even seem rattled, just offered the woman his most charming smile. How any woman could withstand it, Amber couldn't figure. But this one didn't flinch.

"Come on, you might as well join your friends."

"Don't have any friends, love. I only came for the cheesecake."

Her eyes widened as she shot him a look.

"That is cheesecake I smell, isn't it? Don't tell me I'm mistaken."

"Move," she said, jerking the crossbow.

He moved, keeping that one hand behind him, on Amber's hip.
Don't worry, kitten. We'll get out of this
.

Who said I was worried?

He shot her a look, admiring and mildly amused.

The woman herded them through the house, into one of the rooms off the side, where Amber saw other women, armed to the teeth with various weapons, all of them pointed at Angelica, Rhiannon and Jameson. Amber and Edge were shoved into the midst of them.

"I think it's about time you told us what you're doing here," one woman said at last.

Rhiannon smiled at her. It was a smile that should have chilled her to the bone. "You would think a mortal woman would choose what might be her final words with a bit more care, wouldn't you?"

The woman faltered just a little. She swallowed hard. "You're the ones who broke into our home. You owe us an explanation."

"I
owe
you?" Rhiannon asked.

Amber put a hand on her shoulder. "I followed a woman here," she said. "Her name is Brooke, and she has something that doesn't belong to her."

From among the others, Brooke herself emerged. But this was a different Brooke. The big hair look was gone, her red locks smooth and slicked back now. She wore a no-nonsense suit and sensible shoes. She met the eyes of the woman in charge. "That's the one, Melina. That's her."

The one called Melina moved a step closer. But Edge stepped into her path. "Oh, no, you don't," he said, even as Jameson pulled Amber backward and the others closed ranks around her. "You're not getting near that one. Not without going through me, at least."

"Through all of us," Jameson added. He moved up to stand shoulder to shoulder with Edge.

Melina went still. "You've got this all wrong. We don't mean you any harm."

"Can't prove that by the lumps on my head," Edge said. "Or that cute little firepit you were holding the two of us in earlier."

Another woman entered the room. "The other girl is gone. I can't find her anywhere."

Melina nodded. "Alicia. Was she with you?"

"Never heard of her," Edge said.

She looked at him as if she knew he was lying, then turned back to the other girl. "What about Keisha and Kelly?"

"We found them locked in the storage room in the basement. We put them upstairs, in their rooms. They're hurting, but they'll be all right."

Edge nodded. "Those would be the two you had guarding us below. Of course they'll be all right," he said. "If we'd wanted them dead, they would have been." He reached into his pocket, and every weapon in the place jerked toward him. Then he held up a calming hand and took out a cigarette, stuck it between his lips. "Nervous bunch, aren't you?" He glanced at Angelica while digging for a lighter.
Did you find out anything about them
?

She kept her eyes on them as she replied.
They call themselves Athena. Fancy themselves some kind of vampirologists
.

An all-girl DPI
? Edge asked silently.

"Not by a longshot," Melina said.

Amber sucked in a breath, and everyone stared at Melina.

She shrugged. "I'm a bit psychic. Clairaudient, to be precise." She sighed. "We don't hunt vampires, we study them."

"That would be a little easier to believe if you weren't currently aiming a small arsenal at us," Edge said.

She seemed to think on that for a moment. Then she looked at the other women in the room. "Lower the weapons."

"Melina, I don't think—"

"Lower them. Go on back to your work, and see if you can locate Alicia and bring her in to join us. Brooke, you can stay."

Slowly the weapons lowered, and the women filed out, though they looked unhappy about it. Amber breathed a sigh of relief and moved to a comfy looking chair to sit down. She heard Edge swear under his breath, and then he was tossing the unlit cigarette aside, kneeling in front of her, grasping her forearm.

"Damn thing is bleeding again." He looked toward Melina. "Can you—"

Before he finished the sentence, Melina was at the door, calling to someone to bring some bandages and ointment. A moment later she was passing a roll of gauze and some tape to Edge.

Amber sat still, surprised at this turn of events, as Edge tenderly wrapped her forearm, his face a grimace of shared pain and worry. "Got to thinking, I'll have to get used to not lighting up around you, won't I? Wouldn't be good for the little one."

She saw the looks her parents exchanged, and Rhiannon's raised eyebrows, though Edge didn't seem to notice.

"Can I get you anything else?" Melina asked.

"A pint of A-positive would be welcome," Edge muttered. Glancing up at Amber, he winked. He was trying, she thought, to lighten her mood.

"Perhaps an explanation would do just as well," Rhiannon said. "You, Brooke, or whatever your name is. What were you doing with Stiles?"

Brooke glanced at Melina. Melina nodded. With a sigh, Brooke said, "I was working under cover."

Amber was amazed at the change in her, not just her appearance, but in her voice and demeanor. She was no longer the bubblehead devotee of Frank Stiles. She seemed self-assured, confident, intelligent.

"We'd heard Stiles had developed a formula that imbued him with immortality. That he used the blood of… " She looked at Amber. "The Child of Promise to do it."

"And why was that of interest to you?" Rhiannon asked.

Brooke again looked to Melina. Melina said, "Because it's against the supernatural order. It couldn't be allowed."

"The
supernatural
order?" Angelica asked.

"Yes. Things that can't be explained are considered supernatural, even though they aren't really. They're perfectly natural, just beyond human comprehension." She sighed. "When mankind interferes, however, things… go wrong."

She glanced at Amber as she said it.

"Things… like me, you mean," Amber said softly. "I'm the result of man tampering with the supernatural order, after all."

Melina shook her head. "We determined that you could have been conceived with or without man's intervention," she said. "Your mother was artificially inseminated, but it could have happened just as easily the other way."

"So you decided to let her live, is that it?" Rhiannon asked.

"We're not killers. We're protectors. The Sisterhood of Athena has been guarding and protecting the supernatural order for centuries. Always secretly. We go unseen, unknown. We observe and protect, that's all."

"Then what were you planning to do with Stiles?" Edge asked.

She lowered her head. "Stop him. Destroy the formula, so no one else could ever make use of it. Keep him from creating any more, until he died a natural death."

Brooke nodded and picked up from there. "But when I learned of his plans for the Child of Promise, I decided I couldn't just take the formula and leave, as planned. I had to stay, to be sure he couldn't use her to make more."

Amber shot to her feet. "But in the end, you did take the formula and leave."

"Yes," she said. "Your rescuers were at hand. I slipped away as soon as I saw them gathering outside."

"What did you do with it, Brooke?" Amber demanded. "What did you do with the Ambrosia?''

Brooke looked at Melina, who looked at the floor. "We destroyed it. As well as all of Stiles's notes and computer files. Everything. It's gone."

"Oh, God. No," Amber whispered, sinking back into the chair.

Edge knelt in front of her, gripped her shoulders and spoke intently. "We still have Stiles, love. And I think between your aunt Rhiannon and I, we can convince him to talk." He turned toward Melina. "Thanks for the info. Since you don't have what we came for, we'll be leaving now."

Melina stepped in front of the door. "I'm sorry, but… it's just not that simple."

Rhiannon's eyes narrowed. Edge rolled his, rising slowly to his feet and turning to face the woman fully. "Why am I not surprised?"

"We're a secret society," Melina said. "Your kind must never know of our existence. We can't function effectively if we become common knowledge."

"It's a little late for that, don't you think?" Angelica whispered.

Jameson closed his hand around hers. "If you wanted to keep us here, you probably shouldn't have had them put the weapons away."

"You're very untrusting, aren't you?" Melina said softly. "Though I don't suppose one can blame you for that. I was only going to ask for your word that you will keep our existence to yourselves. That's all we want. Just a simple promise."

Edge stepped forward. "No."

"Edge, what harm would it do to—'' Rhiannon began.

Edge held up a hand toward her, and she stopped speaking. "I was thinking more along the lines of a trade."

Melina frowned at him. "What kind of trade?"

"We'll keep your secret… if you'll keep ours." As he said it, he looked at Amber. "The only person outside this room who knows about Amber's condition is Stiles. I think it would be best to keep it that way."

"On that, we're in agreement." Melina turned to Amber. "I'd give my right arm to know how it happened, whether it can happen again."

"We don't know that ourselves," Amber said softly.

The other woman nodded. "I hope… it goes well for you."

Amber tilted her head to one side. "I think I believe you."

With a sigh, Melina moved aside from the door, reached for the knob. "Will you… let me know?"

"Probably not," Edge said, taking Amber's hand in his, and walking her toward the door. "Nothing personal, though."

Melina nodded rather sadly. "I'll walk you out." She started to pull the door open, but just as she did, something hit it from the other side, slamming it open wide.

And there in the doorway stood Alicia, with a shotgun the size of a small cannon pulled up to her shoulder.

"Nobody move!" she shouted.

Brooke and Melina shot their hands skyward and stood motionless, while the others stood there gaping at her.

"Come on, you guys. Let's go!" Alicia said.

Rhiannon lowered her head, pinching the bridge of her nose. Edge looked at Amber, grinning broadly.

"Well, what are you waiting for? Come on, I'm busting you out!"

Amber laughed out loud then, even got up and went to gently take the gun from her friend's arms. "It's okay, 'Leesh. They're not trying to keep us here."

"They're not?"

Melina and Brooke lowered their arms as Amber leaned the shotgun against the wall. "God, where did you get that thing? It must have been all you could do to hold it up."

"I found their weapons room." Alicia shrugged, then smiled a little. "Thought I was finally going to get my chance to play hero."

Amber looked at her dear, dear friend. "Anyone with half a brain would have been long gone by now. You really thought you could take on an entire houseful of armed women? One little mortal with a shotgun?"

She shrugged, looking a little sheepish, then sending a meaningful glance at Amber's midsection. "I had to try."

"Do you have any idea how much I love you, 'Leesh?"

Alicia met her eyes and smiled. "Me, too."

Amber turned to the others. "Let's get out of here." She slid an arm around Alicia's shoulders, waited for Melina to lead the way to the front door.

As they filed out, Edge turned around. "Don't forget our deal now," he told Melina. "You don't want me to have to come back here."

She held his gaze, nodded. "I never break my word."

They walked to the front gate, all of them, and no one followed. No one. The gate swung open at their approach, then closed behind them after they walked through. Amber looked up at the concrete owls perched atop the gateposts. Then, finally, she lowered her head and gave way to the tears of disappointment.

Edge squeezed her shoulder. "It's going to be all right," he promised.

"How? They destroyed it, Edge. They destroyed everything. And it was Will's only hope."

"Not exactly," Alicia said.

Everyone looked at her. She smiled and pulled something from a pocket. A tiny glass vial, with a clear liquid inside.

"Guess I get to be the hero after all," she said, handing the vial to Amber.

"Is this… but… how?"

"I found it hidden in Brooke's bedroom, along with this computer disk," she said, pulling the disk from another pocket. "She must have given them all of the serum except for this one vial. And if my guess is right, she kept a copy of some of Stiles's pertinent notes, as well."

Edge muttered, "That two-faced little—"

"Don't be too hard on her, Edge," Angelica said. "Immortality is a very tempting thing."

Amber took the vial, looking at it. "This is the old stuff, the last of his original batch of Ambrosia-Six. Stiles said he had only one dose left." She narrowed her eyes.

"She must have turned over the newer batch. But she kept the last vial of the old one."

"How can you be sure?" Edge asked.

"He was calling the newer batch Ambrosia-Seven," she said, tapping the label with her fingernail. She frowned. "I suppose we should probably let Melina know that Brooke is less than trustworthy."

"We do that, we'll also have to tell her what we did with the formula," Rhiannon said. "And who knows what her little gang of women might do if they suddenly deem Willem to be in violation of their precious 'supernatural order."'

"You think they might harm him?" Jameson asked.

Rhiannon sent a narrow-eyed look back at the place. "I don't trust them."

"Any reason for that, or is it just a gut instinct?" Edge asked her.