Deception (Absent Shadows Trilogy Book 3) (22 page)

~ Chapter Twenty-Four ~

‘It’s so quiet here, don’t you think? Too quiet—I mean … the house … it’s so big … especially now that it’s empty.’

Mom looked up from the sandwiches she was making, and smiled at me. ‘Yes, it is quiet. But you’ll soon get used to it.’

They’d gone the evening before: Ceylona, her two dogs, and Ben and Henry. Sam had driven us to the airport in Tom’s truck, and even though it was crowded I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I’d wanted to spend every minute that I could with Ceylona. I had even considered trying to keep her here longer—I’d racked my brain for excuses as to why she should stay, but I came up with nothing that seemed worthy of a phone call to Mladen. And so she’d gone, and would soon be back into her school routine. And Mom would go home tomorrow, leaving just me and Sam, and of course Cassie and Elizabeth, to rattle around in this big house.

‘It was such a lovely Christmas,’ said Mom, interrupting my thoughts. ‘It will be a memory she’ll cherish forever—a real family Christmas.’

She grabbed four plates out of the cabinet and set them down on the table. Then she walked back over to get a pitcher of lemonade—real, old-fashioned American lemonade, not the stuff Aussies referred to as lemonade. She set the pitcher and four glasses on the table as well. It seemed so normal, her being here. One side of me wished she could stay.

‘Yeah, it was good, wasn’t it? I never had that with the boys … when they were young. They grew so quickly. And now Ceylona will grow really quickly too. Crystal says she won’t be a child next year. She thinks that by this time next year Ceylona will be like an advanced teenager.’

‘Incredible,’ Mom said, shaking her head slowly, ‘but so is everything else in this world of yours.’

Yes; this world of mine. I swallowed hard as memories surfaced of the day I thought I’d lost Sam. Mom still didn’t know much about what had happened that day in the gardens. I didn’t know a lot of the details either. But Crystal and Debs would be here shortly for a farewell lunch for Mom. We would talk, and Crystal would tell us as much as she felt we should know.

‘Knock, knock,’ came Crystal’s voice from down the hallway. ‘The door wasn’t locked—I hope you don’t mind that I let myself in.’

‘No, no of course not,’ I answered. Crystal was already walking into the kitchen before I finished speaking.

‘Hello,’ called Debs from the door.

‘We’re in the kitchen, Debs, come in,’ Mom called back to her.

I heard the sound of shoes clicking on the hardwood floor as Debs made her way to the back of the house. The contrast between her approach and Crystal’s was like day and night.

Debs walked up and kissed my cheek, then did the same with Mom and Crystal before sitting down at the table. ‘Can I help with anything, Anita?’

‘No, thanks, all done,’ Mom answered as she placed a platter of sandwiches on the table and then sat down herself.

Crystal then sat beside me and placed a cool hand over mine for just a moment.

Debs reached across the table to pour lemonade into the glasses. ‘In case I didn’t say it on the day, let me say it now—that was the nicest Christmas I’ve ever had. Coming from such a small family, and never having children of my own, well, it really was quite special.’

‘Yes, it certainly was,’ Mom agreed, nodding toward me.

‘Thanks to all of you,’ I replied. ‘I know I couldn’t have done it without all your help.’

We sat quietly for a few minutes, nibbling at the sandwiches.

‘Coffee anyone?’ I eventually asked.

‘Not yet, Lili,’ replied Crystal, pushing her empty plate away from her and crossing her arms on the edge of the table. ‘Let’s talk first, if that’s okay. So, how much do you know, Anita?’

‘Well, not much really. I mean, just what you told me on the day … and then later Ceylona told me that Zane was badly injured, and Angelica somehow managed to mend him. But that’s really about it.’

‘And you, Debs?’ asked Crystal.

‘Just what Anita’s told me,’ replied Debs, but her tone spoke of her desire to know more.

‘Okay, well, I’ll fill you in on what happened, and then we can talk about the future,’ said Crystal, turning to look at me. ‘Lili, you jump in whenever you like—I think you saw things that I didn’t, from where you watched during the fight, and before even.’

‘Okay,’ I answered, dreading having to think about the events of the day once again.

‘Well, it was rather sudden, as I suppose you’ve all gathered. There was no warning. Sam happened to be walking through the gardens and noticed this sort of haze developing. Then he spotted a group of very large, evil looking vampires. He immediately rang everyone, and we all got there as quickly as we could. I’d never seen anything like it—this haze that fell over the whole of the gardens. It seemed to sort of hypnotise the humans somehow … whatever it was, they stayed away, thankfully. I did wonder if it was meant to trap the humans inside the gardens, but thank the heavens that didn’t happen.’

‘I wasn’t hypnotised by it. I saw the haze,’ I said, nodding in agreement, ‘but I know what you mean. Nobody, none of the humans that is, walked through the gardens—they all walked around, along the surrounding sidewalks.’ I was surprised at how easy it was to talk about it after all. I looked at Crystal, and she continued.

‘By the time Angelica and I got there they were going at it in violent clashes. I told Angelica to stay back as I quickly distracted a number of them, but I could see Sam, Tom and Michael all fighting. These were the most vicious vampires I’d ever come across, and there were so many working together. It was most unusual. Vampires generally travel on their own, you see, but we sometimes find groups of two or three together—four, tops. I knew this was something horrible—and I feared Zunios was behind it.’

I looked at Crystal, and she paused, raising an eyebrow, silently asking if I wanted to contribute anything yet. I nodded.

‘We were hiding in Henry’s tunnel—Ceylona and I, Jackie and Zane, and Elizabeth and Cassie. It was safe in there, but the air was stale, so we had the lid open just a bit, to let some fresh air in. Zane was pacing nervously, and then suddenly he sprung out of the tunnel and was gone. Ceylona was after him before I could stop her, so I went after her. At first I couldn’t see anything through the haze. Then something really odd happened—the haze cleared, and I saw the whole thing like it was in slow motion. I can’t explain how it happened, but it did. And so I watched, in horror, as everyone was fighting for their lives.’

‘Lili, were you able to see Rebekah? Was she there?’ asked Crystal, staring at me intently as she heard this part of my story for the first time.

‘Yes, or at least I think it was her … standing a bit further away on the other side, just watching. I thought at the time that it was strange, her just watching like that—but I didn’t focus on her for long, so I can’t say for certain it was her, just that it could have been.’

‘No, it was her. Michael saw her too, but she denied being there,’ said Crystal, her face still calm but her voice taking on a more authoritative edge.

‘Yeah, I was pretty sure it was her. And I was surprised that she wasn’t helping Tom—not that he really looked like he needed help. But even so, Angelica probably could have used some help … that’s why Zane ran, I’m sure of it. He was running around the vampire that she was fighting with, trying to bite him. The vampire was so large and dark … dark, in an evil way I mean. I was pretty sure it was Zunios. I’m not sure Angelica would have won that fight if Zane hadn’t interfered.’

‘No, I don’t think she would have,’ said Crystal, nodding in acknowledgement. ‘She told me that she was really struggling—that vampire had her almost numb with a hypnotic stare. But it wasn’t Zunios, although this vampire was similar to him. You know that, don’t you?’

‘Yes, Sam told me later that it wasn’t Zunios—but he didn’t know who it was. Do you?’ I asked.

‘Yes, well, we do now. Bartholomew. He was very powerful … and did bear a striking resemblance to Zunios—in terms of his aura. He was, indeed, extremely powerful. And yet he allowed himself to be distracted by Zane, and when that happened he wasn’t able to keep Angelica in his vision, and she was able to recover. If it hadn’t been for Zane, I believe he would have destroyed Angelica, then the rest of us … one by one. That was … very fortunate for us,’ replied Crystal.

‘Not so fortunate for him,’ I added. ‘But you know, I’d say he was annoyed by the dog, but it wasn’t only Zane that made him look away from Angelica. It was Ceylona. She screamed when he threw Zane to the ground, and that’s when he turned. He saw her … and he was heading straight for her. But Angelica recovered, and jumped on him. If it hadn’t been for Angelica, he would have gotten to Ceylona,’ I stopped, shaking my head at the thought of what might have happened, if Angelica hadn’t jumped him.

‘Yes, I heard her scream too,’ said Crystal, ‘and I saw Angelica jump on him. She did very well, my young charge—she twisted his head off with ease once she got up there and got some leverage.’

At this point Mom cringed. I could see her shiver from head to toe at the image that Crystals’ words must have summoned in her mind. Her face contorted, and she uttered a slight sound, like one you’d make if you stepped in something awful … something dead … and squishy. Crystal stopped, and turned to Mom, and asked if she was okay. When Mom nodded, Crystal continued.

‘And Zane, well he was nearly dead—he was certainly crushed, and would have died if it hadn’t been for Angelica. That’s her skill. She has this amazing ability with animals—to communicate with them, and heal them. I’ve never seen anything like it. Of course, I’ve only met a few dhampiras over the years. We all have a variety of skills, and those are hers.’

I shook my head in disbelief, and yet on some level I knew that what she’d said must be true.

‘So, Angelica can communicate with them, as well as heal them?’ I asked.

‘Yes. That’s why we left Mladen’s so quickly that day … you remember, when Ceylona was getting the dogs. Angelica didn’t want to be there to distract them from bonding with Ceylona.’

It came back to me—yes, they had suddenly decided to leave. I’d wondered about that. And there had been all that whispering. Perhaps it made sense now.

‘I must admit,’ I said, rather sheepishly, ‘I’d never really taken to Angelica. I mean, there were so many indications that she wasn’t being truthful about things. And the way she looked at me.’

‘Yes, many people fail to understand her. She … marches to the tune of a different drummer. I believe that’s the saying I’m looking for. She means well, but her communication skills aren’t the best. Well, at least with humans they’re not. I suppose, if she were human, she might be considered autistic.’

‘Autistic?’ I could feel myself blushing with guilt … for all the terrible things I’d thought about this woman who saved my daughter’s life—and from what Crystal just said, possibly everyone’s lives.

‘Look, Lili, I’m not a doctor, so I’m only guessing. But she certainly has difficulty communicating.’

‘You can say that again,’ I said, then bit my lip when I realised I’d said it out loud.

Crystal looked at me, and shook her head slightly. She sighed, then explained a bit further. ‘You see, Angelica’s real mother died when she was very young, and Lorenzo found her and brought her to the old woman he lived with. She stayed with them for a few years but the woman could barely afford to look after herself and Lorenzo, let alone another person. The old woman worked many hours a day, cleaning for other people, so Angelica spent a lot of time by herself. Then one day Lorenzo, who was always listening in on conversations while he did his rounds of the village, came across Enrique—one of Mladen’s scouts. That’s how Angelica came to know about me.’

I shook my head, and looked at Crystal, then at Mom and Debs. They looked as confused as I was, if not more so.

‘Sorry, Crystal … who’s Lorenzo? I heard Angelica refer to him once before.’

‘Lorenzo was a dog—a German Shepard—and a very clever one at that. He lived with the old woman, but he was always doing rounds of the village, and on one occasion he came across Enrique talking to someone there in the village. Lorenzo knew Angelica was like Enrique, so he took Angelica to Enrique, and they talked for some time. It was Enrique who helped her get to Australia—to Melbourne—knowing she’d be safe in my hands.’

‘Wait a minute … Lorenzo … was a dog?’

‘Yes—an incredibly clever dog.’

‘And he can talk too? Or what? I mean, how did he know to take Angelica to Enrique?’

‘From what Angelica said, it’s their keen sense of smell. To us, we smell just like humans, but perhaps to dogs there is a difference. I understand that’s why Lorenzo knew to take Angelica to Enrique.’

‘Ah … maybe that’s why all the dogs at the park always liked Ceylona so much,’ I said.

‘That may be. Look, Angelica’s very shy, and doesn’t like to talk about any of this. I’m sorry that we kept it from you, but she asked me not to say anything. I simply respected her wishes. I’m only telling you now because I think you need to know the truth about her. I want you to become friends with her, Lili.’

The guilt was overwhelming. Here I’d been thinking she was some evil traitor when really she was just a bit … different. Or then again, was this more of her trickery? Did she simply have Crystal completely fooled?

‘But that day we went to the Dandenongs … I was sure she was up to something.’

‘Yes, but don’t you remember me telling you she had a skin condition? I’m sure I told you that.’

‘You did. But I thought she had you fooled, too.’

‘Oh, Lili, Angelica wasn’t being deceitful. I’m sorry you thought that. She’d had some tattoos done on her arms … and they weren’t healing properly—she needed the creams to help them heal.’

‘Tattoos?’

‘Yes. You’ve seen the footballers with them? Well, silly Angelica … she saw them on the football players, and wanted similar ones for herself. But her skin was too sensitive, and wasn’t healing well. That’s why she was always wearing long sleeves. She was covering up the tattoos and the bandages over them.’