55. Sleep, Perchance to Dream
Chapter 55
Sleep, Perchance to Dream
Rancho Bautista del Murciélago—That night
T wenty minutes after dusk, Henry trudged up the basement stairs, already showered and shaved. Before he reached the kitchen door, it suddenly swung open.
What was Cerissa doing home?
He paused mid-step. Her presence could only mean one thing: Karen had died during the day.
His eyes flooded with grief. Heartbreak for his best friend, sympathy for Cerissa, and his own sadness swirled together. He would do everything he could to comfort them both, to see them through their grieving. He resumed his climb, reaching for Cerissa as he arrived at the top step.
Except she wasn’t crying. The crystal connecting them engulfed him in the jasmine smell of hope.
Hope! How could that be? What had happened while he slept?
Wait. Her phone message. She hadn’t been specific. He’d assumed Cerissa had disobeyed Agathe, and he hadn’t had the heart to stop her. Especially because it seemed unlikely she could pull Karen back from the brink of death. It was too late.
She bounced excitedly on the balls of her feet. “I did a thing.”
Fear raised the hairs on his neck. If she’d saved Karen after Agathe forbade her from using Lux technology, the punishment would be severe. “What did you do?”
She lifted a hand in the air as if to stay him. “Don’t worry. Nothing forbidden.”
He closed his eyes as relief flooded him, and he sank into the feeling. She remained safe. Opening his eyes again, he locked gazes with her. “Then what?”
“I, uh…” She bounced in front of him with excitement blooming on her face.
“Cerissa.”
She took a deep breath. “I may have made my first vampire child.”
Shock buckled Henry’s knees. He leaned against the doorframe and slid to the floor, his ass landing with a hard thump . “You— What ? But…but you’re not old enough—”
She knelt next to him, kissing him, then hugged him tightly. “I’m not old enough to have a Lux child…but I’m over two hundred. Old enough to sire a vampire.”
She was. She was old enough. Ave Maria . “You…you turned her?”
“I tried. We’ll know in a bit if I succeeded. Karen’s buried in the side yard. The hospice center’s records show she checked out this morning.”
“Ari.”
“Yeah. Sort of like what we did for Christine.”
His mind rushed with too many thoughts until one caught. “What about her family?”
“Once we know whether the turn is successful, she can decide. I mean, she might want to die officially, or she might tell them it was a miracle recovery.” Cerissa paused. “But right now, you need to call Rolf and catch him before he leaves for the hospice center. I thought it was better coming from you.”
Rolf . How would he take this?
Shaking his head, he retrieved his phone and tapped Rolf’s number. Henry had many more questions—there were larger consequences to discuss—but he had to get his friend here first. “Rolf?”
“I’m about to leave—”
“Don’t. Come to my house instead.”
“Did Karen—”
“No. The cancer didn’t kill her.” Henry held his tongue, well aware of how easily mortal police could monitor phone calls, and with all the newspaper reports hinting at what they were, he wouldn’t put it past a hacker to compromise one or both phones, either. “I’ll tell you what happened when you arrive.” He disconnected the call.
Cerissa rushed over to the pantry. “We need to take a case of blood pouches outside. I have chairs set up where I buried her.”
“Did you call Jayden?”
“I figured you and Rolf could handle her. No reason to tell them yet.” She wrinkled her brow. “If it fails, I don’t want them knowing.”
He grimaced. If successful, how would they explain Karen’s turn to the community? But that was a worry for later. They might never have to face it. He rose to his feet and offered Cerissa his hand, pulling her into his arms.
“Henry”—he felt her impatience as she pulled away from the hug—“we need to get going.”
Releasing her, he grabbed the case of self-heating pouches she’d dropped on the counter, popped the box’s seal, and squeezed one to start it warming. He drank down the pouch to give himself quick energy for dealing with a newbie vampire. The rest would be for Karen. “Is Christine at the guest house?”
“No, she stayed overnight at Zeke’s. I warned her last night that Karen might pass, and neither of us would be fit company if she did.”
“Good.” Henry did not know how they’d explain it to his child if Karen was here.
The doorbell rang, followed by a few hard knocks. Henry strode from the kitchen, through the foyer, and checked the security camera, then opened the front door. “Come in, Rolf.”
He didn’t. He stayed on the porch. “What happened?”
Cerissa pressed her lips together, her gaze sliding to Henry.
He saw the question in her eyes and inclined his chin. He’d support Cerissa, but this was her story to tell.
She shifted to stand in front of Rolf. “Uh, last night, after you left, Karen asked me to turn her. So, I did—I tried.”
Rolf’s jaw dropped open and hung there. After a moment, he shut his mouth and swallowed. Some emotion flickered in his eyes, too quick to read. “Where is she?”
“Buried in the same place we used for Christine.”
Rolf spun on his heels and ran across the lawn to where Cerissa had chairs waiting underneath the full moon.
“You go with him.” Cerissa pushed at his back. “I’ll get the carton of pouches. Go. Now.”
Henry loped after Rolf. The night was too young for Karen to rise—most newborns didn’t wake until at least thirty minutes after sunset, and the deep purple and orange of dusk still lingered over the mountains to the west.
The grave Cerissa had dug was easy to spot, with recently disturbed dirt on one side and a half-circle of chairs on the other. Rolf paced the path between them. Henry took a seat, trying to wrap his mind around the sudden seesawing of events.
F rom the foyer closet, Cerissa grabbed a heavy jacket and zipped it on. An evening mist frosted the air, but no rain, thank the Goddess. Carrying the carton of pouches, she rushed past Rolf’s SUV, which he’d parked in the circular driveway by the fountain. Henry sat in a lawn chair while Rolf stood over the grave, their backs to her.
During the day, she’d caught up with sleep, then gone over to Luis’s house to play with Bear for an hour before returning home, trying everything she could not to obsess on whether Karen would survive the turn.
Under the circumstances, she thought it best to leave Bear with Luis, so she didn’t have to worry about him digging up Karen’s body. They were lucky it hadn’t rained, and she’d shut off the sprinklers, so the soil remained mostly dry, and was only a little damp with the evening dew. A stack of royal-blue towels waited on the garden bench for her to wipe off whatever muck clung to Karen after she rose.
As soon as Cerissa placed the carton of clone blood on one chair, Rolf swung around to face her. His expression was cold, with eyes like ice. “Why did you do this to her?”
“I—”
He grabbed Cerissa’s arms. “Why didn’t you call me? I would have returned—”
Her pulse pounded. “Th-there wasn’t time—”
“Rolf.” Henry whooshed between them. “Let go of Cerissa.”
“Not until she tells me—”
“Karen was dying.” Cerissa pulled out of Rolf’s grasp, anger sparking. “She asked me to turn her. She planned everything so you wouldn’t have time to return. Would you rather I’d let her die?”
“ Schei?e .” Rolf stepped back and ran his fingers through his straight blond hair. “She refused to allow me.” He spun on his heels and paced in front of her, becoming more frenzied with each about-face, flapping his arms. “Why you and not me? You’re not a vampire. You have no control over your powers. You may have killed her. That’s why she’s not rising—”
Cerissa opened her mouth—
“Stop. Just stop and think.” Henry blocked Rolf’s path. “We don’t know that. There’s still plenty of time for Karen to rise.”
“But why her ?” Rolf pointed at Cerissa. “Why not me? She begged me to get married last night. Why did she ask for that”—his trembling hand waved at the grave—“and not this?”
Cerissa peered around Henry as Rolf’s mask cracked. The pain in his eyes almost brought her to her knees.
Oh.
“Rolf, she loves you. All the stories she heard about maker-child relations, she was afraid if you turned her, your marriage wouldn’t have a chance. She wants to be married to you forever. That’s why she asked me.” Cerissa sighed. “Why she loves you, I don’t know. But she does.”
Henry cut her a look, then grabbed a pouch of blood from the box and held it out to Rolf. “Have you fed?”
Rolf shook his head.
“Sit. Take one. We have plenty.”
Rolf plopped onto a chair and stared at the overturned garden soil, sucking on the pouch’s straw. Henry took the chair next to him.
Of all the consequences Cerissa had considered, Rolf’s hurt feelings hadn’t topped the list. If anything, she expected him to be angry or disappointed that Karen had kept her plans secret. But hurt? She didn’t expect that to be his first reaction.
Checking her watch, she realized it’d been thirty minutes already and nothing. No sign of movement. The tension gripped her stomach, twisting her gut.
Henry shot to his feet. “She’s coming.”
Cerissa spun around. “Where? What did you see?”
“Heard. The slow throb of a vampire heart. Cerissa—morph.”
“Morph?”
“You’re her maker. If you’re in vampire form, you should be able to keep her calm.”
Karen’s hand shot through the dirt. Transforming to vampire, Cerissa surged forward and tugged her bestie from the grave.
How like giving birth the process is.
Cerissa’s eyes teared up, joy expanded her lungs, and she brushed the soil from Karen’s face, love rushing through her with each beat of her child’s heart.
My child. I have a child.
But instead of being covered in amniotic fluid, dirt covered Karen when she finally rose to her feet. Cerissa opened a pouch of blood and held the straw to Karen’s lips, and she drained the drink in a few swallows. Cerissa reached behind her, and Henry plopped another pouch into her hand. She opened the second, and then a third.
Karen stood in place, downing one bag after another, her eyes unfocused, and went through six pouches before she stopped.
Then Cerissa offered a towel. “You’re a mess.” When Karen didn’t take it, Cerissa wiped the blood and dirt from Karen’s mouth and cheeks and ran the terry cloth over her limp hair. It was then she noticed that Karen’s brown eyes had a greenish glow. Was the color due to her newly risen state? Cerissa hadn’t seen the color in any other vampire’s eyes, but maybe some newborns exhibited the strange luminescence. The only other newborn Cerissa had been present for—Christine—had lacked the odd gleam.
Karen’s greenish gaze suddenly focused on the night sky, and she twirled, her face filled with bliss. “Why didn’t you tell me?” She inhaled deeply, shutting her eyes. “The world smells wonderful. I can see so clearly.” She continued dancing until she stopped and looked at Cerissa. “I finally understand what being alive means.”
Cerissa gripped her arm. The mania concerned her. “Are you okay?”
“The best.” Karen threw her arms around Cerissa, smearing grime on her T-shirt and jeans and squeezing tightly. “You did it! I knew you could. I knew it. Oh, thank you, bestie. Thank you for everything.”
Cerissa exhaled a relieved breath and hugged her child back, despite the dirt. “Let’s get you into the house. You could use a shower, and I have clothes that should fit you.”
“Rolf!” Karen dashed past Cerissa and flew to him. “Husband. I’m alive! We can be together forever.”
Rolf stood there frozen, tears forming, a frown tugging his face down, his expression a war of emotions. “How could you betray me?”
Karen’s eyes widened. “Betray you? I didn’t betray you.”
“You went to her for help.” He pointed at Cerissa. “You didn’t tell me. You didn’t ask me. Why?”
Cerissa gripped Karen from behind, pulling her back. “Rolf, this isn’t the time or the place.”
Her priority was protecting her child, including from emotional distress.
Henry cleared his throat, and Cerissa bit back a hiss, her protectiveness surging. She sent a blast of warning through the crystal.
Not now.
He paused, lifting his hands in a placating gesture. But before he could speak, Karen surged forward, stepping back in front of Rolf. “You know why.” She reached out and touched his face. “To protect you.”
Rolf’s expression didn’t relax, only crumpled further. “Karen—”
Upsetting a newborn was ill-advised, and Cerissa couldn’t allow Rolf’s reaction to upset Karen. She pulled her child back again, pivoting Karen around to face her, and brushed more mud off her. “You’re filthy. You want to shower, right? Let’s go inside.”
As good an excuse as any to separate the two. Rolf just needed time to accept the situation. What was done was done. They should focus on nurturing Karen now, not accusing her.
“I need more blood.”
“I’ll bring the rest of the case with us. Now go.” Cerissa put some power behind the order and herded Karen into the house and upstairs to the shower in her room before Henry could suggest using the lawn hose to wash off the dirt. As prissy as Henry was about cleanliness, tracking muck all over the carpet was currently their smallest problem.
Cerissa handed a few more self-warming bags to Karen as she showered and tossed her nightgown in the trash. Cerissa’s phone rang, and she glanced at who called. “It’s Henry. I’m going to step into my room to answer it. Are you okay alone?”
“Just fine.”
“Clean towels are here.” She pointed at the stack on the counter and closed the bathroom door behind her. “Yes?” she asked Henry when she answered.
“Rolf is anxious to see her. May he come in?”
“No.”
“Cerissa, take a breath. I know your instinct as a maker is at its highest now. Rolf will not hurt her, and you know that. He is not seeking to argue with her.”
Cerissa’s brow furrowed. Perhaps she was protecting her child a little too fiercely. “She’s almost finished showering. We’ll meet you in the drawing room shortly.”
“Very good.”
Then she heard the vacuum cleaner. Apparently, Henry was taking care of the dirt problem on his own. Cerissa changed clothes quickly, then sorted through Karen’s bag from the hospital. Nothing appropriate to wear—mostly t-shirt nightgowns—but she found clean underwear. Rummaging through her exercise clothes, she found elasticized gym pants and a sweatshirt that should fit Karen. She left them on the bed and knocked on the bathroom door.
“Come in.” When Karen got out of the shower, she admired her new body in the mirror as Cerissa held up a towel. “I haven’t looked this good in months.” Karen placed her hand over the surgical scar on her naked abdomen. “Is it still in there?”
Cerissa scrunched her brow, not understanding. “Is what still in there?”
“The cancer.” Fear washed over Karen’s expression. “Is it still inside of me?”
“I don’t know. But tumors don’t matter.” Cerissa patted her shoulder, trying to reassure her. “The cancer can’t hurt you any longer.”
The slight green gleam in Karen’s pupils flashed in the mirror, and Cerissa caught the shimmer out of the corner of her eye. By the time she focused, the light had vanished. She’d have to research this in newborns as soon as she had the chance and see if it related to any particular characteristics. “Are you okay? Do you need more blood?”
“I’m good for now.”
That left one more question to ask. “What about Rolf? Do you want to see him?”
Karen stopped admiring her body in the mirror, and a smile curved her lips. “Yes, I do.”
“That’s good.” Cerissa wrapped the towel around Karen. “Because he’s anxious to talk to you.”
“And I’m eager to see him.” The smile got bigger, and Karen’s eyes flashed green again.
Cerissa squeezed her arm. “Are you sure you feel okay?”
“I’m fine, I promise. You don’t need to worry.”
“Then get dressed.” Cerissa handed her the underwear, gym pants, and sweatshirt, which sat on the bed next to the open suitcase from hospice. “I looked through the clothing the nursing staff packed. I didn’t think you’d want to wear it right now—everything else needs washing.”
“Ooh. My phone!” Karen grabbed it from the suitcase.
Cerissa took the device from her hands. “I knew you’d want this. But dress first. And remember, you can’t call anyone or post anything on social media, got it? You can call me or Henry, but that’s it for now until we figure this all out.”
Karen wrinkled her nose but finished dressing. “All I want is to catch up on the serial I’m reading. A new episode dropped today. No posting, I know, obviously. And as for the clothes? Burn them.”
Cerissa understood why. The nightgowns and cotton underwear would forever remind Karen of dying.
“What about my photos?” Karen pawed through the suitcase. “They’re not in here.”
Cerissa pointed to the small desk. “In the box on that chair.”
“Oh goodie—I don’t want to lose them. I’ll get them later.” Karen headed for the door. “Right now, I want to see Rolf!”
When she entered the drawing room, Rolf whooshed and swept her into his arms, moving so fast and with such force that he spun them in a full circle.
Following on her heels, Cerissa slammed to a stop before the couple knocked her over. She blinked as Rolf buried his face into Karen’s neck and went stock-still, holding his mate fiercely, his eyes squeezed shut.
Karen laughed, a bright, sparkling sound, and Rolf’s entire body shuddered. When he raised his chin, tears spilled from his closed eyelids. Still, he hugged her tightly to him, silent except for the deep inhales he shakily took.
“Rolf?” Karen asked, squirming a little in his arms.
Concern spiked through Cerissa. Was this the calm before the storm? She stepped forward to ask Rolf to give Karen space, but Henry gently grasped her inner elbow and she turned to face him.
He tugged her toward the wall beside the doorway. “Wait,” he said quietly. “Let them work it out.”
She glanced over at the reunited couple.
Rolf had moved and was now tenderly cupping Karen’s face. “ Liebling , are you really you?” he half whispered, his voice cracking.
“No one is going to be believe me when I say I’m fine, are they?” Karen sighed. “Should I paint the letters onto my fingernails at my next manicure? I could just hold out my hand for periodic replies. I-AM-OK fits on one hand, but I’m not sure—”
“Karen,” Rolf semi-shouted, joy overtaking his face. “Karen, you are—”
“Me?” she interrupted with a broad smile.
“You,” Rolf said gently, a tremor in his voice. “You’re alive, you’re well, you’re not abandoning me.”
“True on all counts.”
“My Liebling , my—” He swallowed hard. “Wife.”
“Your wife.” Karen lifted her hands and gently grasped his wrists, while his hands still cupped her face. “Now I’m vampire, too. Are you okay with that?”
Cerissa nearly laughed at the question, but stayed quiet. After all, Karen had been the one to engineer everything .
“I thought I’d lost you. I woke this evening and thought you’d—” A small sob broke from him then, cutting off his words.
Cerissa looked away, turning toward Henry, locking gazes with him. She couldn’t watch the intimate exchange any longer, but feared deserting her child.
“I’m not leaving you, Rolf.” Karen’s tone was cheerful and totally sane. “I’m right here.”
A long moment of silence passed, with Rolf’s shaky breaths the only sound. “Why didn’t you choose me?”
“Oh, Rolf.” Karen huffed a breath. “I already told you why. You shouldn’t have to parent me— I didn’t want you to parent me. I wanted you to love me as a partner. I wanted a marriage that could work.”
“But what if it had gone—”
A light smacking sound cut him off, and Cerissa whipped back around to see Rolf rubbing his shoulder.
“Oh, hush.” Karen stepped back, raising an eyebrow at him. “It worked out, didn’t it? I’m alive!”
Rolf swiped a hand through his hair before letting out a long sigh. He shook his head, a rueful expression on his tear-stained face. “You do always think your plans are best, don’t you, Liebling ?”
“You love me for the challenge, don’t you?” Karen beamed, a flirtatious glint in her eye.
Oh, no . Newbie vampires were notoriously—
“ Bah .”
Karen pressed her lips to his, which parted for her. She moaned in response, devouring Rolf’s mouth, plastered against him, kissing deeply.
Just as Cerissa tried to figure out how to lock them in the drawing room and guard the door, Rolf gripped Karen’s hair, pulling her back, and looked over at Henry. “Can we use your guest room? We want to…talk.”
Cerissa huffed at that, even as Henry squeezed her arm. Her desire to keep Karen safe and fed and by her side almost overrode all her other thoughts, but taking one look at their faces, all hunger and love, she knew there would be no arguing with them. “Rolf, you will tell us if you need us—immediately.”
He didn’t even snap at her, just nodded as Karen threw one leg over his hip and attempted to climb him.
“Karen?” Cerissa prodded.
Her child growled, but looked up from Rolf’s neck. “ Yes, bed now —”
“Well, then.” Cerissa stepped out of their way. “All right. Try not to devour him alive.”
Rolf whooshed Karen upstairs before the words had finished leaving Cerissa’s mouth.
Henry gripped her arm. “Let’s talk in the kitchen.”
She’d felt Henry’s trepidation through the crystal for a while now and knew a talk was coming. Sitting at the kitchen table across from him, she morphed from vampire back to human form and shivered, the protective haze quieting significantly. Taking a deep breath, she studied the anxiety in his body language. “Okay, I know you’re worried, but it will all be fine.”
“Cerissa, it might not. How do you think we can get out of this without the council ordering Karen’s death?”
“I converted her outside the town’s walls. I’m not a treaty vampire. They have no jurisdiction—”
“That may be,” he said, his voice rising, “but how are you going to explain you’re a vampire at all?”
Why did he ask that question? She couldn’t, and he knew it. “I—I haven’t thought the solution through yet. I didn’t even know if she would survive.”
His eyes flickered at that, but his face remained stern. “So you went into this with no plan?”
What did he expect? “It wasn’t my plan at all.” Cerissa waved her hand in the rough direction of the upstairs bedroom. “The idea was Karen’s. She didn’t give me time to determine one of my own, which is why I’m giving you the only answer I have until I find a better one.”
“Then what was she thinking, asking this of you?”
“My guess? She didn’t want to leave Rolf, so she took the long shot and asked for my help.” His question tugged something in her chest, but she ignored the pain. “Besides, you left a message, offering me the go-ahead. You said you trusted me.”
“I do. But I also trusted you to think through the ramifications of whatever you had planned before you did it. Why didn’t you?”
“Aside from the complete lack of time? Because I wanted her to live.”
“Cerissa.” Henry took a deep breath. “I understand, but the council will think Rolf and I colluded with a non-affiliated vampire to have Karen turned without their permission. They’ll order her staked.”
Cerissa looked at him as primal fury spiked through her. “No child of mine will be staked by your fucking council. Have you ever seen a mother fight for her child? A Lux mother is another thing entirely. No one will harm Karen.”
He flung his hands in the air. “Then we needed a better plan,” Henry exploded.
“Give me space to think and—”
Rolf cleared his throat, leaning through the kitchen entryway, his shirt off, one hand holding up his pants, and a big, silly grin on his face. “Look, you two, if you’re going to fight, would you turn down the volume, please? Karen and I would like some quiet time. Alone. It’s our honeymoon.”
Cerissa blinked. It was their honeymoon.
“I will leave,” Henry responded.
“And take that alien-angel thing with you. She’s your wife, and she did us a big favor. So stop acting like an asshole. Come up with a plan together.”
Cerissa stepped back, shocked. Rolf’s attitude had taken a one-eighty. Then she noticed the fang marks on his neck and the reason behind his change in attitude was obvious. Rolf whooshed back to the foyer and up the stairs.
Henry strode to the front door, and she followed. He didn’t stop until he was outside by the freshly disturbed grave. “Henry, why are you really so upset? Karen’s alive; Rolf’s happy. I know it was rash, but we’ll brainstorm and come up with a plan. We always do.”
“You don’t understand.” He fisted his hands at his sides. “In the 1960s, I fought to limit our numbers. Don’t you see what a hypocrite I’ll be to give my blessing to what Karen did? She’s a mortal resident of the Hill and Rolf’s mate, living here under our rules. She broke them all.”
“She wasn’t living here when I turned her.”
Henry huffed in disbelief. “A technicality.”
“But an important one. An unaffiliated vampire can still make children so long as they pay for their children’s admission to a treaty community.” The way he stared at the ground said she’d struck a nerve, so she kept going. “I can scrape together the money—”
“Money is not the issue.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You want me to abandon my ethics because what you did saved our friend. But doing what’s right doesn’t stop just because it’s inconvenient. No matter how you look at it, you were wrong to turn Karen without council permission, and she was wrong to put you in that spot. She had every opportunity to ask for permission, even to ask for a special exception based on the immediacy of her impending death. She could have done this the lawful way.”
“Turning her would be wrong if you did the deed without permission, but it wasn’t wrong when I did. And Karen wanted only me for her maker. I’m outside their laws, and your ethics are intact.”
“No, they aren’t, because I’m complicit by aiding in whatever plan we now think of to save Karen and ourselves.” His hands fisted at his sides. “I will always protect you and those you love. I simply—” He shook his head, falling silent.
Cerissa softened then. She knew how much Henry’s conscience weighed on him and how strictly he applied his principles. It was a fundamental aspect of him, just as saving her friends was a fundamental part of her. She touched his arm. “I’m sorry. I should have found some way to delay—”
“It was her last day yesterday. I know that.” Desperation created lines on his face. “But my feelings aside, I do not know how we will all survive this, Cerissa.”
The screech of tires on pavers caught Cerissa’s attention, and she pivoted to see who had arrived. The white police van stopped behind Rolf’s SUV.
Great. Just great.
Would Tig support her decision to sire Karen? Tig had always upheld law and order ever since Cerissa first met her. But the chief also showed deep compassion. A chill gripped Cerissa’s lungs, freezing her breath. Which inclination would win this time?