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With Big Jier safely out of the way upstairs, Stacey closed the kitchen door, staring at Jessica, as rinsing dishes at the sink before putting them in the dishwasher
Jessica arched a brow
Stacey burst into laughter
"What?" Jessica de fun of me"
"What does that est that the two of you get a room," Stacey teased
Jessica shook her head "Stacey, I was at the other end of the table all night"
"Yes And it was like an electrical stor on over the board It was cool, and, hey-on"
"And I&039; to beat hiame"
"Yes, but I could see it in your eyes He&039;s a challenge to you He interests you I know you checked out his credentials"
"Yes, I did I called the university He&039;s new there this semester, and they&039;re thrilled to have hio hear him sometime I wonder what his schedule&039;s like"
"You didn&039;t ask hihed "FineI&039;ll ask him tomorrow There&039;s some excitement for you An acade"
The to up in silence, then headed upstairs
At the landing, Jessica said good night, heading for her own roo her until she closed and locked her door
Inside, she hesitated, then walked out to the balcony The nicest guest quarters were next to her own, and she was all too aware thathe was there
The French doors of his balcony were closed, the curtains drawn The room was dark
She looked at the sky
There was still that flush of red that deepened the darkness of the night A cool breeze swept by her She sighed, closing her eyes, feeling the chill
Yes, it was co
And he
What did he have to do with it, if anything?
She walked back into her bedroom As she lay down, she realized he made her think of the past, of a time when she had believed in life and love and cos When she had been young, she&039;d been such an idealist And so naive
She punched her pillow Good Lord, that was ages ago
Still, as she lay there, she was bizarrely disturbed by his nearness He lay just beyond the wall It almost seemed she could hear his heartbeat, feel the pulse of his vitality, as if he were nearer still
She adjusted her pillow again It didn&039;t help Sleep was a long ti
He watched
Froer and hatred raged through hirowing in hi in co, but time, as they said, made it sweeter All the charades, all the deceptions, revealed at last And now, in an arena of pain and torture, it would all be over Foolish creatures, so arhteousness They did not see the truth blinded as they were by their own ignorance
He moved, a shadow himself, a shadow that flowed like blood, and neared the house How easy it would be to end it all now
The temptation to move closer and prove that statereatest power ever known
His as far greater than their pathetic belief in thee exploded in him as he tried to enter the house It was a bastion, fully secured against hiain and again, but it was fruitless
He forced hiht in Soon enough, the invitation would corow close to one as close to her, and he didn&039;t need to be angry, he just needed to be patient The tiht, not quite yet He had been very patient thus far, beginning his quest in distant places, knowing that soon enough, she would arrive, knowing that through the subtlety of his actions it would slowly dawn on her that she was being targeted, that he was touching those with a connection to her, no in to wonder
Soon
Soon enough, the last n, and thenin his realthe end would co had shattered his sleep, just as surely as a fire alarht
He rose instantly and threw on a robe He stepped onto the balcony but saw nothing that could have disturbed him so deeply Theof the roo the curtains back so he could look inside Jessica&039;s rooainst the bedding, features as perfect as if they had been sculpted by Michelangelo Exciteh hielic
Nothing, he was certain, haunted her room
He forced himself to retreat, back to his roo at all
He stepped out the back door
The scent of soining it? Was he creating so was a lingering in the air like the re doused, but still not dissipated
He approached the caretaker&039;s cottage and looked through aHe saw only the for soundly
He returned to the house and up the stairs Before retreating to his bed, he stepped onto the balcony and peered into her rooel It was the color of her hair, the play of light and shadow, he thought
She possessed not only beauty but vulnerability, evoking every protective instinct within his body
He was teo to her
In her sleep, a frown suddenly creased her brow; she tossed and turned The teed to ease whatever so furrowed her brow, to sweep her up, hold her safe against
Against all evil
The frown faded; she seeave hiht, he reminded himself irritably He hadn&039;t co-attraction
He was a professor; a scholar A man who studied ancient fears and superstitions, huood and evil, older than time
He had co ritted his teeth If itwas here If only there were so palpable, some proof
He forced himself to turn away and return to his room
He had the sense that whatever had awakened hie dreams of a different time and place
In the bowels of a castle, she moved, certain of what she would find And they were there, just as she had suspected, as she had known They wore the elegant trappings that were a part of their lives; sweeping gowns of jeweled satin and velvet
But the finery tonight was black
So their identities even froa love potions, powers to divert their enereater riches
The potions were often poison, and the game was deadly, for there were those who had died, those ould die in future It had not been easy to find the root of these goings-on, for those who acted in this theater of the bizarre protected their sources
That night, there was an altar The gaan beliefs in the power of the earth and sky, the gods and goddesses of water or the harvest The woeant was referred to as a witch, but what she practiced was pure Satanised into silence As the witch reatest sacrifice to her dark lord, an alar&039;s armed men had discovered the lair
Those who had bowed down before the rite of darkness screamed and tried to flee, not so easy a task, for in their secret catacomb, they had set the
Blood was spilled There was a s, the sound of steel against steel
There was the innocent babe, now screa upon the altar
Did she dare?
Her discovery of this place deep in the earth, beneath ancient stone, had been perfect for all she needed Perfect for escape
But the child She had not counted on the child!
There was no choice
She ran toward the child, held it in her arhtmare scene that played out behind her eyes caused Jessica to twist and turn, to fight to awaken The vision began to fade
Then returned
But now she was on horseback, racing across the country
Her pursuers followed It was as she had intended; it hat she had known she must do And still
What had come before had been worse Far worse And what she had done before had cast her into far greater danger
"Die!" someone screa up into a sitting position
Jessica looked around, shaking She rose, held still for aWhat had caused such a torht, a horrible dream so real that it had seemed as if she could have reached out and touched the people in it?
The house was quiet
She walked out on the balcony, deeply disturbed
The sky remained red Tense, she waited And waited
But there was nothing Still, she felt as if so had been there
At last she returned to her bed, where she lay awake a long tiht, suddenly irritated The man talked about history as if he had been there It was all his is fault He had sent her drea back bizarrely in time
He should have been a football player, not a scholar, she thought A quarterback, calling the shots and knocking other players out of his way as he raced down the field to ht next door, such a short distance away She closed her eyes, and she didn&039;t drea out her door, opening his, rousing hiroaned and buried her face in her pillow
Bryan caht he would have to wander the streets to find coffee, but he found the kitchen already occupied and in full swing Stacey was standing by the coffee on one of the stools by the center butcher-block table, reading the paper; he was alth His face eathered and brown, his hair a bit shaggy He wore jeans and a T-shirt and looked up, an expression of alarm on his face, as Bryan walked in
"Hello," Bryan said, casually stepping forward and offering a hand "Bryan MacAllistair"
"Uh" Theher help, then turned to Bryan "Hello I&039;, Bryan released thehim suspiciously as he walked over to the counter, helped hi I wasn&039;t actually expecting to find anyone up"
"Gareth and I are early birds Jessica only wakes early on dehtly "Ah, coffee&039;s done" She picked up the pot and offered it to hi our own coffee"
She flushed slightly "You&039;re our only lodger at the moment I can whip up breakfast whenever you want Actually, I can whip upwhatever you want"
"Now there&039;s an invitation Actually, I thought I&039;d take a walk-it&039;s not often you get the streets to yourself here And you don&039;t have to hang around waiting to cook forto be hanging around the house for a while Not a problem"
"Thanks, but don&039;t worry about reat The best I&039;ve had in New Orleans Gareth, nice to meet you I&039;ll see you both later"
He knew they both watched hi about hione
It was late afternoon by the ti for the day Still, it disturbed her to notice how dark the sky had become by the time she reached the hospital And that shade of red
In the hospital parking lot, she just stood looking up for aat the sky changed nothing
She strode to the reception desk and asked for Mary&039;s roo a fresh bouquet of flowers in a pink vase, she made her way to the proper section of the hospital She saw that Jeremy was there, head bowed, sprawled in a chair across fro watch for a long time His exhaustion was evident
"Hey," Jessica said softly
He started and looked up A smile crossed his weary features "Hey"
"How&039;s she doing?" Jessica asked
He shook his head "No change But I think her color is a little bit better Her dad just made her mom leave for a while She opens her eyes so She doesn&039;t talk, doesn&039;t seem to hearand doesn&039;t react when so"
"Well," Jessicaher vase of flowers on the bedside table and studying the girl She looked like a fairy princess, doomed to sleep for a hundred years, beautiful, silent, pale "What do the doctors say?" she asked Jereed, then indicated the IV "She was scratched up soiving her blood Her counts are all off, and they can&039;t figure out why"
"How are her folks doing?"