Books by Maggie Shayne (301 page)

He pulled from her touch, averting his eyes. "You know nothing."

She shrugged. "Maybe not. But I do know you won't get strong again unless you eat. And the food is here, waiting, untouched. I don't imagine your appetite is very good just now, after all these shocks. But force yourself, Nicodimus. If for no other reason than to hasten the time when you'll be able to walk out of my house, and never have to see me again."

He sent her a narrow-eyed glare. "That is all the reason I need," he muttered, and reached out to snatch a pastry from the tray. "Leave me in peace," he said. "Give me that much, at least."

She nodded, heaved a sigh, and headed out of the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

And as she stood there with her back to the living room, she knew she was no longer alone in the house. Someone else was here ... and not Raven or Duncan. There hadn't been time for them to return from their errands in town.

She turned, a shiver of foreboding working up her spine. A woman stood facing her. A woman she hadn't seen in a very long time. Dark and exotic as ever, but no longer beautiful. Nidaba's hair hung in tangles, dirty, its sheen faded. Her eyes were sunken and hollow. Dark circles surrounded them, and she wore a dress that seemed to be rotting with age before Arianna's eyes. Even her jewelry— and she wore as much as she always had, right to the ruby stud in her nose—was dulled by the touch of time.

"You,"
Nidaba whispered. "I told you once I would kill you if I saw you again."

"Nidaba. Gods, where have you been? What's happened to—"

"Where is he?
What have you done with Nicodimus's body?" She shot forward on unsteady legs, her hands clutching Arianna's shoulders. "I went to visit his grave and he's gone! I should have known it was you! I should have known! Tell me, wench, where is he?"

Arianna pulled free, only to stagger to one side, banging into a small stand. A vase tumbled to the floor and shattered with a loud crash. And still Nidaba came at her.

"My Gods, Nidaba, what's happened to you?" The darkness of insanity seemed to glow from within Nidaba's once flawless eyes. "Calm down. Nicodimus is fine. He's fine, Nidaba."

"Fine? He's dead, and it's all because of you! You!" She made a growling sound in her throat, teeth drawing back from her lips in an ugly snarl, and she came at Arianna with her hands bent clawlike.

Arianna reacted instinctively. Years of fighting for survival had given her reflexes too strong to override. She reached to her side for the dagger that hung there, concealed by her blouse, but then her hand froze. She couldn't

harm Nidaba. Not the woman who had been some kind of heroic figure to her once. Something horrible had happened to put Nidaba in this maddened state.

Suddenly the haunting words written in Dearborne's journal came floating back to her mind. "No," she whispered. "Gods, it
was
you, wasn't it?"

Nidaba brought her clawed hand flashing down as if to strip the skin from Arianna's face. Arianna lifted her hands to cover her eyes in self-defense.

But Nidaba stopped suddenly, one hand still gripping Arianna's shoulder, and she stared wide-eyed at something beyond Arianna. Slowly, Arianna realized Nicodimus stood behind her. She felt his presence, as she always had.

"Nicodimus?" Nidaba whispered. "How ... ?"

"Release her, Nidaba."

Arianna turned, sighing in relief when Nidaba's hand fell away. Nicodimus stood near the open bedroom door. He wore a blanket tied around his middle, and one hand was braced on the door frame to hold him upright.

Arianna took a step toward him, but Nidaba shot past her, and Nicodimus enfolded the trembling woman in his arms and held her close. "There," he whispered. "It will be all right, Nidaba. It will be all right now."

Arianna stood watching them, and remembered all the poisonous things Marten had told her... that the two were lovers, that they had been for centuries, and that there was no room for anyone else in Nicodimus's heart. She hadn't believed it then ... not completely. But now ... now she wondered.

Nidaba sobbed in Nicodimus's arms, sobbed as if she would never stop. And gently, Nicodimus stroked her tangled hair and murmured words of comfort to her. His eyes met Arianna's over Nidaba's head. Some unspoken questions in them.
What has happened to her? Are you responsible for this, as well?

Arianna only shook her head slowly. She didn't know. She didn't know what hell had befallen Nidaba. Not for certain. But she had suspicions. Dark, nightmarish suspicions that made her sick to her stomach.

Had Nidaba been one of Dearbome's captives? The dark woman he spoke of, who had escaped him after months, perhaps years, of torment?

The front door opened, and Duncan and Raven stepped inside with packages and bags in their arms. Arianna met their puzzled glances, and held a finger to her lips for silence, as Nicodimus slowly drew Nidaba back through the door and into his bedroom.

Nidaba.
The memory of her came rushing back to me all at once. I knew her. She had been closer to me than anyone in my life. My friend. My one and only friend at many times during my long, lonely life. My
best
friend, always.

She clung to me, crying softly for a time as I eased her into the bed I'd been occupying myself. And then she clung to me still as I sat down beside her. She didn't speak a coherent sentence in all the time I held her. Only sobbed, and kept repeating my name. Other words, phrases, made no sense to me. And I knew her mind was more than simply troubled. I feared for Nidaba, my heart ached with it.

She calmed, gradually, begged me not to leave her alone, and finally, she cried herself to sleep in my arms.

She had been the strongest woman I had ever known. To see her reduced to this quivering, childlike state of hysteria frightened me right to the core.

Arianna entered the room. I could have snapped at her for intruding, but I knew it had been some time since I'd drawn Nidaba in here. She had been patient, I supposed. Considering this was her home, and this strange woman had attacked her on sight. No doubt she'd have Nidaba

thrown into the streets now. Or try to. I would not let that happen without a fight.

Arianna didn't speak, just stood quietly near the door, apparently ready to leave the room, should I order it. I looked up at her. Her gaze seemed very vulnerable, and slightly wounded as it lingered on Nidaba's sleeping form, her head all but in my lap, her arms locked 'round my waist.

"She was the one who found me with the Druids, where I'd gone to nurse my grief. It was she who convinced me to live again, when I only wished to die. I had lost my wife, my sons, my unborn daughter, and then my entire clan had been destroyed. I had revived to a life I did not understand," I said, very softly, for I did not wish to wake Ni-daba. Still, she shuddered now and again with residual sobs.

"She was the one to take me from that temple, when my studies with the holy men had ended. She was the one who taught me the many things they could not."

Arianna walked farther into the room, and her eyes seemed to well with sadness, not the anger I had expected, as she gazed at Nidaba. "What things didn't they teach you?" she asked softly.

"To fight, to kill. To stay alive," I told her. "I laughed at first. I, a warrior, being taught to fight by a mere woman. I remember the narrow-eyed look she gave me when I said those words. The haughty indignation. But indulgent." Reaching down, I stroked Nidaba's hair, and gently moved her arms from around me, easing her into a more comfortable position upon the pillows. "She has always been indulgent with me. And so we fought our mock battles and I realized that fighting the most skilled mortal warrior was not even close to battling an immortal. But I learned fast."

"I imagine you did," Arianna said.

"We have parted many times, gone our separate ways, but always, we find each other again. I love her," I stated emphatically, as I slid from the bed, keeping my blanket anchored like a kilt around my hips. "I love her the way I imagine you must love your sister."

Arianna stared at me, then eyed the sleeping woman

again. "She does not cling to you in a way that seems exactly sisterly to me, Nicodimus."

I blinked as her meaning came clear to me. "What you are thinking is incorrect, Arianna. Though why this concerns you I cannot know. My memories are broken, but of this, I am certain. Nidaba and I have never been lovers." I tilted my head, studying the color in Arianna's cheeks, and the glint of jealousy in her eyes. Unmistakable. "But I wonder now, what of you and I?"

Her gaze flew from Nidaba's sleeping form to my face, eyes going wider. "What do you mean?"

"What were you to me, Arianna?"

She shook her head vehemently. "Far less than Nidaba was," she whispered. "Or Anya or your sons. That much should be obvious."

"Why?" I asked, moving still closer to her. "Because I remembered them before you? Tell me, Arianna, did I know you before them, or after?"

She looked up slowly. "After. A long while after."

I shrugged. "Then it could very well be that my mind is pulling the past to me in order of chronology, rather than of import. Could it not?"

She bit her lip, looked away. "I think not. And besides, it's unimportant. What is important is Nidaba." She looked again at the sleeping woman. "Poor thing. She was so strong when last I saw her. So fierce. To see her like this ..." She lowered her head, shaking it slowly.

I nodded, seeing the sincere worry in her eyes. Could this woman truly be evil if she cared deeply for Nidaba? Even after Nidaba had attacked her, in her own home?

"When was it... that you saw her last," I asked, as eager for answers as Arianna seemed to be.

She hesitated and looked up at me. ' 'It was right after ... after you had been killed by a Dark One named Nathanial Dearborne. I tried to kill him, but he fled, taking your ..."— her eyes focused on my chest—"your heart with him."

I felt my own eyes widen with surprise. "You fought him?"

"I was out of my mind with rage." She shook her head. I wondered that a girl as small and delicate as she would try to avenge my death on an immortal strong enough to have defeated me in battle, but I said no more.

"I took your body back to the ancient Stone Circle to bury you. It was a place you loved very much," she said. "On the way, I stopped near a stream to bathe you and wrap you in a satin coverlet. That was when Nidaba came along. And I... I had to tell her you'd been taken from us."

I nodded slowly. "She would have been devastated by the news."

"She was. She screamed to the heavens, blamed me, told me she'd kill me if we crossed paths again, very nearly decided to do it right then and there."

"You didn't fight her?" I asked suddenly, certain I had known no immortal who could outfight Nidaba.

"No."

She did not elaborate, leaving me to wonder what, exactly, had transpired between the two.

"When she left," Arianna went on, "she demanded the name of the man who had killed you. I was certain she would go after him herself. And if she found him, Nicod-imus, she didn't kill him. I know that, because I saw him again only recently. Duncan was the one who finally ended his cursed existence."

I nodded thoughtfully.

"You must find out if Nidaba spent any time with this Dearborne," Arianna said softly. "When she wakes, if you feel she is ready, ask her, Nicodimus. But ask her very gently. And if she reacts strongly, then let the matter rest. Don't press her."

I narrowed my gaze on her. "Why? What do you know of this man?"

She focused on Nidaba again. "He kept journals. He was obsessed with becoming the strongest immortal alive, and to do that, he felt he must learn of our every weakness. It was through his studies and notes that I learned how to replace a heart, to bring a victim back, as I did with you."

I nodded. "But there is more."

' 'Yes, there is more. He ... kept captives at times. Immortals he would weaken through many methods. Pain, torture, starvation. He would kill them by mortal means, and make detailed notes on how long it took them to revive, and whether multiple deaths and resurrections seemed to weaken their hearts. Sometimes, he took hearts, only to wait a time and replace them." She closed her eyes and shuddered. "He used them to experiment on, Nicodimus. The notes of these experiments read like the transcriptions of nightmares. And I fear... I fear Nidaba might have been in his hands, for a time."

I felt my blood boil in my veins. "Where are these notes?"

"They're at my sister's home. I can have them sent here, if you wish. You're free to read them, Nicodimus, but I can tell you already you will not find what you're looking for. Dearborne didn't name the captives he kept. Nidaba's name was never mentioned. There is no way we can know for certain ... unless she tells us."

I closed my eyes in pain. Gods, the thought of Nidaba going through such torment! ' 'If the man lived still, I would kill him myself."

"He deserves a thousand deaths for what he did, Nicodimus, but he had only one. I burned his heart to release his spirit. Had I known then, what crimes he'd committed, I might not have had the generosity to do so."

I paced toward the bed, vaguely surprised that my legs seemed to be functioning more readily than they had until now. "What will become of Nidaba now?" I asked softly.

"What do you mean?" Arianna asked. "She'll stay here, with us, of course. We can care for her. Perhaps in time ... her mind will heal."

I turned toward Arianna, searching her face for the vil-lainess I had believed her to be. But found no sign of it in her deep brown eyes. "She attacked you," I said. "She threatened to kill you. Might have done so, had I not come out in time."

"She loves you," Arianna returned, her voice gentle. "And she needs our help."

I nodded slowly, watching her face. "You ... did not fight back, when she attacked you."

"You
love
her,
as well, Nicodimus. I couldn't take away another person you love. I could never do that."

She confused me, this woman, who admitted betraying me, admitted costing me my life, and yet seemed to be nothing but goodness to her core. And beauty. Pure beauty such as I could scarcely bear to look upon.

"She should sleep for a while," she said quietly. "You're getting stronger. Perhaps you'd like to bathe, and put on something besides that blanket while she rests."

I glanced down at myself and nodded. "If she wakes ..."

"I can lock the door in case she bolts. And station Duncan outside in case she needs anything. But truly, I think she'll sleep for a long time. Look at her. She's exhausted."

I nodded my agreement. "I think ... perhaps the door should be left ajar. If she's been held captive in the past..."

Arianna nodded. "You're right. We'll leave it unlocked and open a bit."

"Good. Then ... I shall bathe."

She smiled gently, and took my hand. And at her touch, the familiar jolt rocked through me, but something else accompanied it. Another jolt. A physical awareness so very powerful it left my knees weaker than they had been before. Her skin ... her scent... her touch ... all were familiar, and tickling to life some distant memories from deep beneath the surface of my mind. A flash, and no more. A sudden recollection of my own feeling of intense arousal, of longing. Her mouth beneath mine as I tasted and probed its recesses. Her breath near my ear, promising things, whispering secrets my mind still struggled to keep from me.
You will love me one day, Nicodimus. You will love me just as I love you. You 'II see.

* * *

She watched his expressions as she led him through the house to the stairs. She wanted him to use the upstairs bathroom. There was a bath below, of course, but they'd be less likely to disturb Nidaba with the noise if they used this one.

His gaze danced around each room they passed through, fixing on light fixtures, the refrigerator, the switches and plugs in the walls, the stereo system, and other things he couldn't possibly identify. The television set was, thankfully turned off just then.

"What's up?" Raven asked as they started up the stairs.

Nicodimus leaned heavily on the bannister, so Arianna paused to let him rest a moment. "Nicodimus is ready to be out of bed. So we're going to try a bath and a shave."

"Here, you'll need these." Duncan quickly snatched up a pair of shopping bags. ' 'Meanwhile, what about our... other guest?"

Arianna felt a rush of pain. ' 'Nidaba is a friend ... or was once. When I last saw her, she was going after Dear-borne. And from the state of her now ..."

"Oh no," Raven whispered. "Gods, no, tell me you're not thinking ... what we read in those journals ..."

Arianna nodded at her sister. "It's possible. I can't be sure, but my senses are telling me it's true. I thought of Nidaba when I first read Dearborne's account of the prisoner he called 'the dark woman.' " Sighing, Arianna pushed the gruesome memory from her mind. "She's resting now. But the bedroom door is unlocked. Just keep an eye on her, will you?"

Raven nodded.

Nicodimus turned to Duncan. "Nidaba is dangerous in this state," he warned. "Take care."

"I'll be careful. Don't worry," Duncan said. "Go on, enjoy your pampering. We'll yell if we need you."

Nodding, Nicodimus began moving up the stairs again, slowly. At the top, Arianna led him into the small bathroom and eased him onto a chair at the vanity.

"It is," he murmured, "as if I've entered an entirely new world. I see everything, yet recognize ... almost nothing."

"It must be very upsetting to you. It will get easier, I promise."

He nodded, but looked doubtful.

"I guess we'd better start at the beginning. We use a power called electricity for just about everything now. It's the same kind of energy that creates lightning. Mankind has learned to generate the power, and it is connected by wires to most homes. With this power, we no longer have to use candles or oil lamps for light." She moved the light switch on the wall, and the lights came on in the dim bathroom. "See?"

Nicodimus stared up at the lights overhead, and the rounded bulbs lining the top of the mirror. "No," he said. "I do not see at all."

"I'll show you the wires later, and try to explain in more detail how it works. The same electricity powers the pumps, so we can have water pumped in as we want it. It also heats the water, if we like." She leaned over the tub, closed the plunger, and turned on the water, adjusting the temperature and letting the tub fill.

Nicodimus watched it with awe. "It is amazing. Truly amazing."

He turned to the sink, seeing the spigots there similar to the ones in the tub, and reached up to turn a knob. Then he jumped backward when water shot out.

"It's all right," Arianna soothed. "Go ahead, play around with it a bit. Get a feel for how to work it."

"I have seen such things before. The bathhouses in Rome. But the water there was heated by the earth.... Hot springs fed the baths." Nodding, he turned the knob further, increasing the flow, then cranked it in the opposite direction to turn it off again. He tried the other knob, getting hot water this time, and nodded in understanding as he shut it off. Then he pointed toward the toilet. "And what is this?"