Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
Seasons came and went, unfolding irrevocably before me.
My sophisticated style revealed itself. During the days that followed, my true nature arose.
No longer hindered by my former life, I felt free to be calculating, though now with an intuitive streak that gave me the ability to predict a victim’s weakness, a striking intensity that for the most part I was unaware of.
This gift – I know no other way to describe it – had provided me with the ability to seduce anyone with a supernatural capacity to entrance.
It refined my abilities, enabling me to possess anything that I coveted, and control anyone.
But I craved normality, too, and found it at the Ocean View Manor. Evenings were uneventful. Here I could feel like my old self – until Miranda would search me out and remind me that I was living a lie.
With Alicia and the boys asleep upstairs, Miranda had cornered me yet again.
“What more is there for me to know?” Miranda stood before me with her arms folded. “Don’t ignore me.”
I peered up from my novel, Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, pressing a finger against the page so as not to lose my place. Miranda had brought the book back from London, and I’d found it in the lounge.
For years, I’d always managed to placate Miranda, but not today. Her expression conveyed she wasn’t going to let me change the subject this time.
I stared back down at my book and heard her sigh.
“I’ve thought about it for so long. Changed my mind and changed it back again.”
“Doubt is your heart telling you no.”
“But you never age.”
I gestured my exasperation. “I don’t want this life for you.”
“Who are you to decide what is right for me?”
“I’m your friend.”
“You can’t hide it from Alicia anymore.” She sat in the chair next to mine. “In a week, I turn forty.”
“We’ll throw a party.”
“You can give me a special gift.”
I glanced away. “That is never going to happen.”
Her hand rested on my knee. “But you promised—”
“I hoped to talk you out of it.” I watched her hand moving up my thigh.
“I’ve done everything you have ever asked.”
I pushed her hand away. “For that, I’m grateful, but you have no idea what it is that you’re asking.”
She let out a sigh. “Why won’t you tell us what happened to Felipe? He escaped from prison and yet you were unaffected by the news.”
“Just know this…you are safe.”
“Did you kill him?”
I gazed down at my book.
“Take me with you when you go out tonight,” she said.
“No.”
I will tell your sister. Miranda’s thoughts carried.
“Another night, perhaps.”
Miranda rose and headed for the door. I jumped up and grasped her arm.
“Change your dress,” I snapped. “Wear something dark.”
She smiled at me.
I tightened my grip. “This is a dangerous game you’re playing.”
She kissed my cheek. “You won’t regret this.”
“I already do.”
Within hours, Miranda and I headed out in a horsedrawn carriage. I hoped that Sunaria wouldn’t intercept us. In the lavish courtyard, the party thrived.
The sparsely lit enclosure ensured a good view of the starlit sky and the thumbnail moon. The stone fountain spewed out water from its center. Our hosts were Venetians and they’d decorated accordingly. Fifty or so guests chatted while wine flowed in abundance.
Miranda and I lingered in a corner. She’d dressed in her finest blue gown and looked exquisite. Having long dreamt of this moment, she’d prepared for this very night, down to the finest details.
But her expression was vexed. “You want me to choose?”
“Yes.” I gestured with a nod to the mingling guests.
A waiter passed by carrying a tray of wine glasses. Miranda waved him away and then changed her mind and grabbed one. The remaining glasses clinked. The startled waiter moved on.
“That’s how it works,” I said dryly. “You find the ones you like, and then you seduce them.”
Her hands trembled. “You know nothing of who they are?”
“It’s easier that way,” I lied.
Miranda looked conflicted.
“Take your time.” I watched her face.
A nervous rash spread down her neck, disappearing beneath the line of her black lace bustier.
I rested my hand in the arch of her back. “Let’s go home, sweetheart.”
“No, I can do this.” Miranda took a deep breath.
“You have to come to terms with the fact that they love and are loved.”
“Don’t.”
“Or the fact that when you do take them, their fear is overwhelming.”
“I know what you’re doing.” She was breathless.
“And then there’s the matter of disposing of their…corpses.” I perused the courtyard. “During the act, their thoughts feel as though they’re yours. If they’ve made plans for tomorrow, you’ll know them – and you’ll know they’ll never realize those plans.”
Miranda’s eyes watered.
“You choose.” She looked away. “Make it quick.”
“Very well.”
I strolled into the crowd and smoothly interjected myself into a conversation amongst a small gathering. I discreetly pointed to a young man with pretty features, and Miranda shook her head.
Of course, I’d chosen the youngest guest who wore an expression of wonderment and conveyed a zest for life. I worked my way around, taking my time to find the most alluring, yet innocent, guests.
After ten minutes, I returned to Miranda’s side. “None of them?”
She squinted. “I need more time.”
An uncomfortable silence followed as she stared off into the crowd.
“Him.”
She’d chosen a rotund, middle-aged aristocrat. He munched on a pastry, and some crumbs fell out of his mouth and sprinkled onto his shirt.
“To be your first?” I asked gently.
“Does it matter?”
“Consider this…your first kiss, your first glass of wine, your first—”
“All right, all right.”
“Or your first lover?”
Miranda stormed away from me, past the fountain, and headed out of the courtyard. I quickly followed her.
A crack of the whip and our carriage rumbled away over uneven ground. I took Miranda’s hand in mine and kissed it. She pulled away.
“To survive, you have to do that every night,” I said.
She wiped away a tear.
I stared out of the window. “I miss seeing the sunrise, walking in daylight.”
She kicked me.
We rocked back and forth in our seats, speeding down dirt roads past overgrown fields. The trees hung low, their branches scraping the windows.
Miranda gave me a puzzled look. “Where are we going?”
“A detour.”
Within minutes, we’d pulled up outside a graveyard. I assisted Miranda out of the carriage and guided her along the worn trail. Out of sight of the driver, we stopped before an imposing mausoleum.
Miranda read the inscription on the tomb entrance. “Carmen Casimiro?”
“But Carmen does not lie alone,” I said. “She has company.”
Miranda’s gaze settled on the bouquet of rotting flowers.
“Sometimes, when a person is transformed...”
“Yes?”
I turned to face her. “It goes wrong.”
“What do you mean?”
“I appear normal to you, able to pass for a human – albeit an extraordinary one.”
“And handsome.”
“Right,” I said, grinning. “A romantic idea of what it is to be immortal.”
“And I want that.”
“I know you do, my love.” I lowered my voice. “But there are risks.”
“What kind?”
“I thought that before we take that leap into the realm of the not going back, I should show you Deloris.” I pointed at the mausoleum.
“She’s in there?” Miranda asked, whispering now.
I nodded.
“Does she know we’re out here?”
“Of course.”
“She’s a—”
“Immortality is just too much to bear for some.” I leaned against the door and listened. “I thought I’d wake her so that you could understand what that means.”
“Wait!”
“She’s quite harmless, just a little—” I gestured that Deloris was crazy.
“Are you saying that could happen to me?”
“That’s one of the risks, yes.”
“What’s another?”
“There’s always a possibility that when I turn you, I’ll take too much.”
“I think you have too much control now for that to happen.” She stared at the entrance to the mausoleum. “And I think you’re lying about Delores. There’s no one in there.”
I tried the handle. “Locked from the inside.”
She glared at me.
“Soon after I was turned, I slept in one of these.”
“Whatever for?”
“If you stray too far from home, you can get caught unawares by the dawn.”
“Then I won’t go too far.”
“And who will you feed upon, your neighbors?”
She bit down on her lower lip.
“Talk about bringing attention to yourself, Miranda.” I knocked on the tomb’s door. “Waking the undead usually upsets them. Good thing I’m a charmer.”
Miranda lifted the hem of her gown and sprinted off. I followed her back to the carriage.
The driver flicked the whip in the air, and the horses trotted off obediently. We headed home.
Deloris. I should’ve come up with a better name.
Had I turned Miranda prior to our evening soirée, her natural desire to find a victim would have facilitated the act. There was no remorse on my part for ensuring that my friend would not be joining the ranks of the undead.
I smiled at her. “I adore you.”
She gazed at me for the longest time and then returned my smile.
“You’re perfect the way you are,” I said, with a sense of relief that I’d done the right thing.
“I’ll always love you, you know that?” She reached for my hand and squeezed it with affection.
“When you get up tomorrow, I want you to do something I can’t do.”
“Anything.”
I stared out of the window. “Watch the sunrise for me.”