Graced (15 page)

~Into the City~

“Good news,” Madison announced as soon as Laura arrived. Laura had seen Madison and Alexander approaching Logan while she was stil taking care of Gray, and had come down soon after. “I haven’t been keeping track, but tonight is a Friday night.”

“So?” Laura asked.

“So,” Madison smiled, “there are literal y hundreds of people out celebrating the start of the weekend. We can easily blend right into the clamor.”

“And what’s more,” Alexander added as he came up behind her, “is that we managed to get you some decent clothes.” He tossed a red
Macy’s
bag to her.

“You… bought this?” Laura asked as she caught the plastic bag. “How? I didn’t know you had any money.”

“I didn’t have any
use
for money in the short time you’ve known me,” Alexander laughed. “Which is not the same thing as not
having
any.” A smal plastic card appeared in his hand, and he examined it casual y.

“Even a
Vassiz
needs to have a source of income to blend in with the humans.”

“Thanks,” Laura as she picked open the bag. Inside, she found a beautiful white blouse complete with a matching pair of light jeans. “Wow,” she breathed. “You real y shouldn’t have.”

“Wel , we wanted you to blend in,” Madison said. “And to do so, you need to look like you’re out enjoying the night.”

“Yes, but this is
exquisite
,” Laura replied. “You guys real y shouldn’t have.”

“Yes, we should, and moreover, we
needed
to. You need to be kept safe, and that means looking like you belong in the high-end district of Portland.”

“That’s where we’re going?” Laura asked.

“Of course. That’s where al the action is tonight. And none at the hotel wil raise an eyebrow at two young couples checking in in the middle of the night.” Madison winked. “It’s the fastest and best way of getting you to the hotel safely.”

“Before we have a chance to make good on those disguises, that is,” Alexander added. “And, moreover, Madison has already found where Jacob is.”

“You have?” Logan asked. “How’d you do it so quickly?”

Madison shrugged, but a smile tugged the corner of her lips. “I asked around – obliquely, of course –

and got exactly the answers I expected.”

“So he’s close then? You’l be able to meet him tomorrow?”

“I think so,” Madison said. “We stil need to be careful, of course, and I’l have to do it myself as we discussed before… but there shouldn’t be any problems in making initial contact with him.”

“The trouble is getting him to agree to help us,” Alexander said, “and to do so while guaranteeing he won’t give us away.”

“I think I can manage that,” Madison said with a wink. “Tomorrow, I’l set up the first meeting.”

“You should go on and change into that,” Alexander said to Laura. “We want to get down there before last cal and the crowds die out.”

“Oh!” Laura exclaimed. “Sorry. I didn’t realize… I mean… I’l be right back.” Gripping the
Macy’s
bag, she rushed back to the edge of the woods, where she hurriedly ripped off Borrak’s old shirt. Even though she didn’t find it quite as repulsive as she expected the first time she threw it on, final y getting it off was a relief. She rummaged through the bag to get the white blouse, and sighed as the delicate material fel on her shoulders. After going so long without a change of clothes, and then being forced to wear something her captor once owned, having a nice piece of fabric lie against her skin was
fantastic
. She was also a little surprised when she found that the blouse was an absolute perfect fit.

Next came the jeans, which were just as exquisite and felt just as good. They were a good cut even if the fit was a little snug.

She began to stuff Borrak’s shirt into the bag, and then thought better of it. She didn’t want to soil anything that anyone had given her with that particular piece of clothing. Instead, she reached back and hurled the shirt as far away from her as possible. It flew through the air, and snagged on a high tree branch just as it started coming down. Laura shrugged. So be it. Better there than anywhere around her. She walked back down towards the others, and as soon as Alexander got a look at her, he whistled through his teeth.

“Looking good,” he said teasingly, and earned a jab in the stomach from Madison.

“You look beautiful,” Logan told her softly, taking her hand and bringing it up to his mouth. Laura shivered as his lips brushed delicately against the top of her hand. As his hand dropped, he continued to look right at her, with a gaze so intense and so powerful that Laura started to feel her cheeks go red. But she couldn’t look away. She felt, strangely enough, almost like she did that first time she saw Logan walk into class, al powerful and confident and strong. And she was just the little girl caught in his tailwind. Madison cleared her throat, breaking Laura out of her spel . “If you wil ,” she said sweetly, “we stil need to get into town tonight. There’l be plenty of time… in
private
… later on for both of you.” She winked surreptitiously at Laura.

“She’s right,” Alexander said, clapping Logan on the shoulders. “We should get going if we want to blend in.”

“Of course,” Logan said. “Forgive me.”

Laura stifled a giggle. Logan,
apologizing
? She must have real y had an effect on him in the new getup. She found herself wishing she could see what she looked like right there and then. Logan shot her an abashed look, as if he knew exactly what she was thinking – particularly about
him
–

but then just shook his head and strol ed forward. This time, Laura made no attempt to hold in her laugh. Alexander shrugged his shoulders at her, but then fol owed after Logan. As he went forward, Laura thought she heard him say something dangerously close to “young love” under his breath.

“Come,” Madison said to Laura. “You’re going to fal in love with the hotel Alexander chose out for us.”

Laura smiled, nodded, and stepped in beside Madison.

From where they started, the distance to the outskirts of Portland was longer than Laura expected. But because they were al able to run, it flashed by in the blink of an eye. And before Laura knew it, she found herself walking the streets of a familiar and yet entirely new city.

It was familiar in that she had been there before – back when she was just a human girl – and remembered seeing some of the landmarks. Most of those stood out in the distance, and even against the night sky she could see some of the tal er buildings she remembered from the shopping district. But it was entirely new because of the way it played with her senses.

At first, it had been nothing she could make comment on. Running towards the city, she had picked up wafts of strange, intense smel s that she never noticed before. But as they got closer, al those smel s intensified, until they blended together into a disharmonious cacophony of the senses. It was the smel of the buildings, of the hard concrete and cold cement, of the underground piping and sewer system that came to her first. But then al those smel s kind of died in the background as she found herself walking closer and closer to the heart of the city, where the entertainment district was. Even from far away, she could already hear the sounds of raucous late night partying coming out from the bars and clubs that they were walking towards. And people began dotting the streets – a few, at first, but then a bit more, and then some more again, until she had to push through thick crowds just to keep up with Madison and the others. The people, of course, were the source of the overwhelming smel s. Each one of them had their own very unique scent that Laura could have picked out in the blink of an eye. And at first, when there were not many people around, it had been easier to ignore the tantalizing smel of blood. But when she was nearly drowning in a pool of unyielding, unrelenting smel , it seemed very much impossible to ignore the cal of blood – whether she was satiated or not. But Laura could not possibly al ow herself to lose control, so al she did was grit her teeth and try to breathe through her mouth to dul the sense. None of it worked, of course. She shuddered at the thought of being out here amongst so many people if she hadn’t recently fed.

“Here we are,” Madison said into her ear, looking at a building right in front of them. Laura had been so preoccupied trying to dul her sense of smel that she hadn’t even realized where they were. And so, when she looked up ahead, she couldn’t help but gasp.

In front of her was an enormous building – a skyscraper. Laura looked up, trying to get a sense of how many stories there were, and lost count at a hundred. The top of the building seemed to just blend in with the stars in the sky, reaching up into them and ever-higher.

And the structure looked delicate. Not delicate like it would col apse in a gust of wind, but delicate in the way that a very fine piece of jewelry might look. Everything about the building – from the golden tiles layered on the floor to the large, sparkling pieces of glass that opened up the lobby – was built with an expert hand and extraordinary care. The angles of the outside face had a very modern look, and different types of glittering metal formed the door frames and outer wal s of the building. Everything about it screamed luxury.

“…Wow,” Laura final y managed. She had never been anywhere so obviously
opulent
, and after sleeping on the forest floor so many nights – back when she
could
sleep – this was just an unbelievable contrast.

“And the rooms inside are even better,” Madison said to her. Laura stepped aside as a couple rushed out into the night, right through her and Madison.

“How can you afford this…?” Laura began, but Madison cut her off.

“Don’t worry about it. We need somewhere to rest and recuperate. Besides, this is the last place any of the
Vassiz
would think to look for you. They know you as a destitute young girl, not a grown, powerful woman.”

Laura opened her mouth to reply, but Alexander stepped in before she had a chance. He produced a smal key-card from his pocket, and handed it to Laura. “Here you are,” he said, “that’s the key to your room. Fifteenth floor, room 554.”

“554,” Laura repeated.

“Don’t worry about remembering – Logan has a key as wel .” Alexander smiled knowingly at her. Then he drew Madison into his arms. “Wel , she and I should best be going…”

“Where?” Laura asked. She jumped as someone put an arm around her waist, but then relaxed when she saw it was Logan.

“Wel , we figure the two of you could use some privacy,” Alexander smiled. “And besides, I haven’t been in this city for a very long time. It’l be good to have a chance to look around.”

“We’l meet you tomorrow morning in the lobby,” Madison said. “A half hour past the break of dawn.”

“We’l be there,” Logan confirmed.

“And… don’t you two have a room?” Laura asked.

“Yes, we do,” Alexander nodded. “More for show, real y. I wouldn’t worry about it if I were you. Go upstairs, and enjoy yourself. It’s not every day you get to stay at a place like this.”

“No,” Laura said to herself, “it definitely isn’t.” She didn’t know if it were her nerves, being among so many people, but something about the place felt a little bit
off
. And the way Madison and Alexander seemed to be so eager to leave…?

“We’l see you guys in the morning,” Logan said, and on that note both Alexander and Madison turned and headed away from the building. Laura looked up at Logan, who flashed a bril iant smile. “Ready to see what they’ve prepared for us?” he asked.

Laura nodded.

~Jacob~

“What are you thinking about?”

Laura turned her head towards the voice. Logan was looking at her from his perch on the bed. His shirt was off, and the covers were pul ed up haphazardly to his waist. Laura sighed. “My family.” She turned her head back towards the window, where the first rays of the morning sun were just starting to creep over the horizon. This early in the morning, the entire city in front of her seemed so peaceful. Everything seemed so simple. Only a few cars were moving over the entire landscape. And she couldn’t see a single person from where she sat. She knew it was only temporary, though.

Pretty soon, the entire streets wil be fil ed with people going to work, or coming back from their night out, or whatever it is people do in the morning outside. And she and Logan would be right back where they started, stil hiding from other
Vassiz
while at the same time preparing their fight against the most powerful of al vampires.

She heard Logan get up and walk towards her. She didn’t move until he put his arms around her waist and leaned his head gently on her shoulder. “Do you miss them very much?” he asked as he gently kissed the side of her neck.

“Yes,” Laura whispered. The feel of his skin against hers always made her feel… not
nervous
, exactly, but like a jolt of electricity had just come and gone through her entire body. And what they were talking about would not lead into the most pleasant of conversations.

“You know how sorry I am for taking you away,” Logan said softly. His kisses made their way up to her ear. “But as soon as al this is over – with the elders, and the
torrial
, and everything to do with that – the first thing we can do is go back to see them.”

“No.”

Logan jerked back. Laura blinked. She didn’t realize how much venom she put into that one word.

“I mean,” Laura said, more softly this time, “is that I can’t do that. Not to them. I can’t ever see them again, Logan.”

He frowned… and shook his head. “That’s not true. Once we’ve dealt with everything that needs to be done, there’l be no one who can tel you what you can or cannot do. Seeing your family – it’s what you want, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Laura admitted reluctantly. She bit her lip. “But it’s also something that I can’t al ow myself to do.”

“Why not?” Logan asked. “If you miss them, and want to see them… I don’t understand.”

“Of course you don’t,” Laura said, brushing his cheek. “What you told me once – that you lived as an orphan – was that true?”

“Of course,” Logan answered, taking her hand in his and bringing it up against his cheek. “I wouldn’t lie to you about that.”

“I mean, even before… before you were a
Vassiz
?”

Logan nodded slowly. “I never knew my family.”

Laura smiled sadly. For someone not to know what their father was like, or what their mother was like, or if they had any siblings… it was upsetting. It must have torn at him to no end.

“I can’t see them, Logan,” she explained. “Never again. They already lost me once. And I can never explain
everything
to them, can I?” She shook her head, answering her own question. “Of course not. And that’s partial y why I can’t see them again. But the other part – it’s more important. I’ve been gone for so long, I’m sure they’ve made peace with the fact that I’m not there anymore.”

“No…” Logan started to say, but Laura cut him off.

“Just listen! I can’t go back to them only to disappear again – which is the only choice I’l have. They can never know what I am, and can’t know what you are, either. So I can’t go back to them, no matter how much I want to. It’s better for them to think that they’ve lost their daughter once and then slowly forget about her.”

Logan shook his head. “No, Laura. That’s where you’re wrong. No one can ever forget you.”

She smiled again, and looked back out the window. She knew he could never understand. He never knew his family, and despite al his years of experience, he assumed it would be simple for her to just come back home and announce, “here I am!” like nothing ever happened. But it was never like that. For a few minutes, both of them just stared out the window in silence. Laura alone with her own thoughts, and Logan with his. Final y, Laura broke the quiet.

“Why did you take me to the dream world?”

“What?” Logan looked a little taken aback. “What do you mean?”

“I mean the first time, right after we met. Why did you show me the dream realm? Did you know of the danger?”

“Laura,” he began seriously, “if I ever suspected that anything like this would have happened, I would have never,
ever
taken you there.”

“So why did you?”

He opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came. His jaw worked, and he looked like he was trying to find the right words. Final y, he sighed and lowered his head.

“There was something about you. Something… I couldn’t place my finger on – stil can’t, real y – but it was there, and you… you cal ed out to me.”

“What?” Laura rose an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“It was this feeling I got,” he explained, raising his head a little, “like I’d known you from before. But I knew that was impossible. And yet, the feeling wouldn’t go away, no matter how much I wil ed it to. I thought it might have been because of the length of time since my last feeding, but when I kil ed the hitman, and then saw you again… it was stil there. And from that point, it was impossible to stay away from you. I don’t know why. It was just something I felt. And showing you the dream world was something I felt like I
had
to do. To show you that realm, it was just a natural progression. I thought maybe, once I did that, the feeling would go away…” he smiled shyly, “…but it never did.”

“…and what about now?”

He shook his head. “It’s stil there.”

“So… why is it that you like me?”

“Like?” he laughed softly. “Laura, after what we’ve gone through… after everything we’ve seen together… I’m wel past the point of ‘liking’ you.” His eyes met hers, and he held her gaze strongly. Laura’s eyebrows crept up. “What are you saying…?” she started to ask. He tightened his grip on her hands, and stared deep into her eyes. “Love,” he whispered. Laura stumbled back in surprise. Her vision got blurry, and she felt completely disoriented. Logan stepped there right with her, and gripped her hand. “Laura, I love you.”

The momentary surprise was now over, and she felt the words hitting home. Logan was tel ing her he
loved
her. Her, of al people. The girl he knew for less than a few months, the one that was so clumsily bumbling along through this strange and unfamiliar world he revealed to her. And despite al that, he stil
loved
her. Hearing him say the words, and having them register… was an unbelievable feeling that she could not even describe. Al the euphoria and excitement she had ever felt bubbled up inside her, until she realized she was grinning stupidly at him.

She threw her arms around his shoulders. “Logan, I love you too.”

**

Madison and Alexander met Laura and Logan in the lobby of the hotel that morning. Laura was sitting on Logan’s lap at first, but on seeing them approach jumped off to take a chair beside him. Alexander smiled in amusement when he saw that, but didn’t make any comment as he came up. Laura cleared her throat. “Morning,” she said.

“Good morning,” Madison smiled. “I hope you enjoyed the room?”

“Very much so,” Laura said quickly, feeling her cheeks heat up. “But what about you guys? What did you do last night?”

“Madison here bumped into an old friend,” Alexander said slyly. “Someone who might be very helpful.”

“I swear, I didn’t know he was going to be there,” Madison began, but then changed what she was going to say. “Anyway. That’s neither here nor there.”

“Not Jacob?” Logan asked. Alexander and Madison both nodded at the same time. “Were you two together, then? I mean, did he see that you were with her?”

Alexander nodded again. “That’s right. He popped out of nowhere, almost…”

“…surprised even me…” Madison added.

“Right. But he was happy to see her, and I final y had a chance to meet him.”

“So…?” Laura started suggestively. “Did you ask him if he would help us? What did he say?”

Madison laughed, that crystal clear, chime of a laugh. “Not yet, Laura. It was too soon. I stil have to feel him out before revealing what we aim to do. To make sure it’s safe for us to approach him.”

“So… then what? You bumped into him, and nothing happened?”

“Wel , you should give me a little more credit than that. I arranged to meet with him later today. In a coffee shop.”

“A very
public
coffee shop,” Alexander said. “In the middle of the biggest shopping mal in Portland.”

Laura felt a stab of uncertainty on hearing that. She and her friends have visited the mal here before, and if she saw any of them this time around…

“We’l get you the disguise you need,” Alexander said to her, as if he just read her mind. “Nobody wil recognize you there.”

“A public mal ,” Logan mused. “That’s good. It means we won’t stand out from anybody else there.”

“And better yet,” Madison added, “is that the coffee shop is in the middle of an open food court. Which means al of you can be there when I meet with him.”

“Watching from far away,” Alexander said.

“Wil you go, too?” Laura asked him. “I mean, if you met Jacob last night, were you also invited to the meeting?”

Madison shook her head. “Bringing Alexander would have been an inconvenience more than anything. I need Jacob to be at ease when I make the suggestion…” she shrugged. “Alexander wil be watching from a distance just as you wil be.”

“But not together with you,” Alexander said. “We don’t want to give
you
away in case Jacob notices me, either.”

“Right,” Laura nodded. “It makes sense.”

“So when is this meeting, then?” Logan asked, clasping his hands together. “We’l need time to prepare the disguises if nothing else.”

“Noon today,” Madison answered. “We’l have a good idea of what our next steps are in only a few short hours.”

**

Laura found herself staring down over the railing at Pioneer Place, the largest shopping mal in al of Portland. The mal was a multi-storey, open structure where the food court on the first floor opened up to the skylights in the roof high above. And from where she stood, on the third floor, she had a direct line of sight to Madison, who sat with her back turned at a vacant table in the Starbucks down below. Laura had no more worries about anyone she might know recognizing her. After Madison had helped her bleach her hair that morning,
she
could not even recognize herself in the mirror any more. Her hair was now a wel -streaked blond, and it shone in the light. Every once in a while Laura would catch the hint of it out of the corner of her eye, and every single time finding it there would startle her. She was used to her hair being dark, and this was completely and entirely at the opposite end of the spectrum. Moreover, the physical changes that had started to manifest themselves after she had become a
Vassiz
had become even more distinctive since she last saw herself in the mirror in that abandoned farm. Her face looked so much more
pronounced
, so much more
striking
than ever before. And that change alone, coupled with the new style of eyeliner that Madison helped her put on, was enough for anyone to mistake her for another person.

She looked down at Madison again, who sat there with her back perfectly straight. She looked very much the queen right then, like someone used to commanding and used to getting her way. It was strange to think that
Laura
was the one who was supposed to lead them al against the elders. And no matter how many times she had confronted the fact, the sheer bizarreness of it never faded. Yet, she was ready, now and always, to do what it took to take down the elders, to get her freedom back, and to release the
Vassiz
from the elders’ hold of power.

Abruptly Laura noticed someone approaching Madison. A man, covered up by a pure black trench coat. He had broad shoulders, and dark, slightly curling hair fel down past his neck. Laura got a brief glimpse of his face, and saw that it was al hard lines and planes. He was someone definitely used to power.

Madison started to get up as he came closer, but he put a hand up, and she sat back down. From the way he was moving, and the way he was dressed, it was obvious he wanted to avoid attracting attention as much as possible. Or maybe get everyone’s attention, instead. He was very conspicuous in those dark clothes. But anybody who looked twice would not see anything distinctive enough to remember.

“Is that him?” Laura whispered over to Logan, who had come up beside her. He was leaning casual y against the railing, but when he turned his head as if to talk to Laura, his eyes darted down to where Madison was sitting. Then he looked back at Laura and nodded.

“I think it is.”

Laura nodded, and found herself gripping the top of the railing hard. The meeting with Jacob down below was their one and only chance of getting to the repository of
torrial
. Laura wished she could be there. No matter how selfish it seemed, she believed that she could make a difference for the better by being there. But most of al , she absolutely
hated
feeling useless. Which is what she was now, just standing by.

“What do you think they’re saying?” Laura asked softly. Madison and Jacob had both leaned in to the middle of the table until their heads were almost touching. By the look of it, Jacob appeared to be the one saying the most, with Madison just listening and nodding. But then those nods slowly turned into shakes. And then Madison was shaking her head vigorously, again and again, obviously not happy with whatever Jacob was saying. She kept shaking it. “Logan?”

“I don’t know,” Logan said slowly through gritted teeth. He was looking down there out of the corner of one eye, stil positioning his head as if speaking directly to Laura.

Al of a sudden, Jacob leaned back. Madison shook her head again, and Jacob rose both hands. Then he pushed himself away from the table, and started to get up. He took a few steps away before Madison grabbed his arm and pul ed him back. Then Laura was caught staring as Madison turned slowly to look up right at her. Their eyes met for a long second.