Chapter 26
26
Ambrose knew something was wrong, just like he’d known it the first time around and every other time that followed. His heart sank. For once it would have been nice to live a life that was simple. He had hoped that Dora would remember him, at least some tiny spark, but there had been nothing and it pained him a lot more than he’d imagined it would.
He walked to the apothecary. Margo was serving a woman with the reddest hair he had ever seen and piercing blue eyes. He smiled at her and walked through the curtain to the back room of the shop. He knew she was watching him, he could feel the heat from her eyes boring into the back of his skull, but he didn’t turn around. Some witches knew he was different, some even guessed his secret, but he wasn’t bothered about any of that. He would have to keep out of the way until she left, he wasn’t interested in any woman except Dora. He’d spent lifetime after lifetime waiting for her to come back to him, but something was wrong this time, she was far more distant than she’d been in any other life and he was worried. He placed the coffees he’d bought on the way here on the small table and wondered if he should go and speak to Lenny. If Dora was home, then Lenny must have brought her and maybe she knew what was going on.
‘Jeez, you went for breakfast almost two hours ago. I’m parched and it’s almost time for you to go to lunch now.’
He smiled at Margo. ‘Sorry.’
‘What’s with the long face?’
‘It’s Dora.’
‘What about her, did she not fall for your devilish charms this time?’
Margo cackled. She picked up the pumpkin spice latte and she began to sip it, not taking her eyes off him the whole time.
‘No, she didn’t remember me or anything else.’
‘She didn’t?’
He shook his head; Margo was the only person apart from the English sisters who knew his life story. She had come to him years ago and taken him under her wing, fussing around him like a mother would. She had no kids and had run away from her abusive husband to come live in Salem and start a new life. She had ended up in the apothecary one cold, dreary December day with a black eye and a suitcase. Ambrose had offered her a couch to surf on there and then, and she’d accepted because she had nowhere else to go, he was sure of that. The pair of them had become best friends. She told him all her darkest secrets and he told her all of his. If he was certifiable, he adored her.
‘Well, whatcha gonna do about that, kid? Seems a bit off to me if she can’t remember anything.’
‘I don’t know, maybe I should go and see the aunts. They might know what to do.’
She was nodding. ‘I think you need to do something; you can’t leave it like that. You know it’s terrible when your one and only true love can’t remember that’s who she is. It’s kind of like a fairy tale but in reverse, you need to either step up your game or go find yourself a white steed and suit of armour to go rescue the damsel in distress.’
Ambrose smiled at her. ‘Dora could probably rescue me to be fair. Times have changed a lot; women no longer need a man to do that kind of thing.’
She shrugged. ‘Maybe we don’t, some of us don’t and would smack you over the head if you offered. Then again, some of us do appreciate a real, kind, caring guy and you tick all those boxes. You saved me when I had nowhere to go and you didn’t want anything in return. Hey, if you go to fight this evil guy that’s stalking Dora and you die, can I have your apartment?’
‘Margo, it’s yours. I’ve already taken care of that. But thanks for the vote of no confidence. Who said I’m going to die? Maybe I’ll beat his sorry ass so bad he’ll never set foot in Salem again.’
She smiled at him. ‘I think you could if you had to. I’m team Ambrose, I’ll get some pompoms and cheer you on when it comes to it. However, why can’t you all team up to whup his ass? There’s strength and safety in numbers. It could be like some big showdown good versus evil for the last time – hey, we could sell tickets, it would be a knockout, the tourists would go crazy for it, the witches and witch hunter battle it out at dawn on the common. It would be the highlight of the Salem year.’
Ambrose smiled but it didn’t reach his eyes. He wanted nothing more than to whup his Uncle George Corwin’s ass but all these lifetimes it had never worked. He finished his coffee and grabbed one of the hand-etched leather journals from the counter, hoping Dora would love the moon phases on the front of it embossed in silver. He wondered if she was as in love with the moon and her phases this time around. The Doras of the past had always lived their lives and made their decisions by the waxing or the waning of the moon cycle. Or had she forgot all about that too? Margo watched him and he realised he was leaving her alone again.
‘Shoo kid, I have nothing better to do and at least someone is getting a bit of excitement, which is more than can be said for me.’ She looked down at the journal clutched in his fingertips. ‘Who said romance was dead?’ she added, winking at him. He grinned at her, then turned and pecked her on the cheek. She lifted her hand to touch where his soft lips had kissed her skin.
‘Be still, my beating heart.’
Ambrose grinned at her then pushed his way through a family all wearing black felt witch hats, who were bickering over the price of a happiness spell kit. He jogged through the crowds now congregating on the pedestrian part of Essex Street, turned onto Summer Street and ran all the way to Chestnut where Sephy’s house was. As he opened the gate and walked down the path, he saw a shadow circling above his head and looked up to see Hades flying around.
‘She’s gone; she’s gone.’
Ambrose felt his heart sink. ‘Hey, where’s she gone, Hades?’ But the bird didn’t answer. Ambrose knocked on the front door and it was opened moments later by a red-eyed Sephy.
‘Ms English, what’s the matter, is Dora here?’
She beckoned him inside. ‘I haven’t seen her for a few hours.’
‘Damn, I’ll see if I can find her. Are you okay?’
Sephy shook her head. ‘Not really, it’s a mess and Lenny has gone back to London so we’re not even together.’
Ambrose felt a kind of relief that it was Lenny who the bird was talking about. ‘Why?’
‘Dora’s friend is missing, and her flower shop has been broken into. There is blood in there apparently and the police told her they needed her help, but we couldn’t let her go. So Lenny has gone in her place, but it all feels wrong and off kilter.’
As Sephy led him down to the kitchen, they passed the cat sitting on the bottom step who reached out one paw to claw at his leg, but it was only a feeble attempt. Ambrose absentmindedly bent down and scratched her on her favourite spot behind her ears for a few seconds then followed Sephy into the kitchen where the table had rows of black salt on top of it.
‘I’ll find Dora…’
Ambrose reached out and hugged Sephy, who smelled like the sweetest vanilla essence with a tiny bit of lemon thrown into the mix. She held onto him for a few moments, then let him go. She picked up one of the jars of salt and handed it to him. There were dishes containing crystals on the dresser and from them she grabbed tiger’s eye, selenite and large chunk of jet, wrapped them in a tissue and gave them to him.
‘Keep those in your pocket to protect you and the salt might be enough to help keep him a safe distance away if you find him or he finds you. I gave the exact same ones to Dora.’
He pushed them into his pocket. ‘Thank you.’ He didn’t want to find his Uncle George but he would be ready if he did.
Then he turned and found himself running this time. He thought of his old bookstore. The one that had vanished all those lives ago. Was she there? Had she finally found it? He’d loved Dora for all of his lifetimes and always would. Dracula may have crossed oceans of time to find his love, but Ambrose had lived through centuries of lives to find his true love and that was and always would be Isadora English.