“I suspect the deed is already done. My life ended when you knocked upon my door, Alfonzo Van Helsing. You wish to bring hope with your fight, but you leave death in your wake. He was in my vision. It is too late.”
Alfonzo looked off, the lines of his face creasing deeper. “I did not mean to bring him to your door. I did not know what would happen. But you are right. If he was there—if he sensed you—he knows you are a player on the board. You could flee the city, and I would not blame you for doing so. Yet I ask you, will you help us?”
Maxine shut her eyes and let herself feel the room around her.
Alfonzo. Tired, but determined. The weary warrior who must lift the sword and defend against the invading army. The wish for family, for peace, and love. Yet he was no fool; he knew it would be denied. He saw in her a chance for a new page, a kindling of hope that his dreams may yet come true.
Bella. Curious and eager. Everything was something new to learn, something interesting to master. A scholar at heart. She felt like a daisy in the rays of the sunlight in the first days of spring. She was the embodiment of resilience, though she might look fragile on the surface.
Eddie. There was some deep personal mission that ran through him like a vein of silver in a rock. It defined him and it didn’t, all at once. She resisted the temptation to pry. It was not her right. He was wary, nervous about this whole situation and, of the three, seemed the least ready to charge onto the battlefield.
He was also in love.
Oh. The young man’s focus was clear. Bella. It brought a smile to Maxine’s face, and she looked back out the window, letting her awareness of her guests fade. Eddie did not wish to rush to his death because, unlike the other two, he had more to live for than his cause. It was bittersweet. Love rarely ever followed logic or reason when it came to where it chose to place its focus.
As if she would know. She had never been in love herself. Although she felt it enough through the eyes of others around her, she suspected that wasn’t at all the same as living it.
How much love would the vampire murder when he took the city? Saving Boston would be a noble cause to pursue, as short-lived as it would be in her case. Literally and figuratively. She looked down at the gem in her hand. She could feel it calling to her. Whispering come and see. It was the lure of secrets untold, of knowledge to discover.
Of danger.
Of a creature who would join her there in her visions.
It should scare her more than it did. As it was…she was intrigued. There was more to this mysterious creature than the death and the murder it seemed he spread around him like a plague.
It would mean her death, she knew. If she fled the city this very moment, she might escape with her life. He may not send his minions to follow her. She might live to see another day. But they were all assumptions based on nothing. In fact, all she knew of him—although it was very little—pointed to the opposite.
He had been able to reach through a thread of a connection so slight that it was imperceptible to all others and touch her mind. She could not imagine what he might think of such an imposition. Was it an insult? A curiosity? An annoyance, or uninteresting altogether? She could not say.
But in all her life, short as it might be in comparison to his, she had never experienced anything quite like it. It was terrifying…but she wanted to try again. She wanted to touch the flame. God help her, doom her to the pits, she was going to walk proudly to her own demise.
Shutting her eyes again, she let out a small breath. This was going to end very poorly. “Yes. I will help you. I will sniff him out, and I will learn all I can from him. Right until the moment I suspect he will rip my still-beating heart out of my chest.”
Alfonzo chuckled. “We’ll do everything we can to keep that from happening.”
“I appreciate that.” She looked back over at the older soldier and shared a smile with him. They were both aware the odds were good that none of them survived. “If I am to die, I suppose it is better that I go with meaning. We rarely get to pick how we exit this world. At least this will be interesting.”
“That is quite true.”
“Then I will begin. Return tomorrow morning, and I will tell you what I have found. Or you will find my corpse, one of the two.” She stood from beside the window and placed the brooch on her mantel. “I suspect he is not a creature who likes to be encroached upon.”
“No. I suspect he is not.” Alfonzo stood from his chair and motioned for the other two to do the same. “We have work to do as well, after the sun sets. We will be back tomorrow before noon.”
“Perfect.” She tried not to laugh as Eddie shoved the remainder of his sandwich in his mouth.
Alfonzo walked up to her and extended his hand. “It’s been a pleasure, Miss Parker. Thank you for agreeing to help us. I know the magnitude of what we ask.”
She ensured she was wearing her glove before placing her hand in his. Alfonzo did not hesitate when he shook her hand to say goodbye. Bella and Eddie could not say the same, as they both glanced down warily before touching her.
Maxine was accustomed to the sting of being a pariah because of her gift. But it never stopped it from hurting. It merely became easier to bear after all the years.
“Tomorrow, then.”
And, with that, she showed them out. Eddie mumbled a goodbye through his food and waved back at her as they left. What an adorable, silly young man. With a shake of her head, she shut the door behind them and threw the locks.
Vlad Tepes Dracula had surprised her once. He would not do so again. She would not bother trying to protect her home from him. What wards she might be able to place on her home would be useless in the end. One, Roma magic was unpredictable and stubborn, and two, she was terrible at it.
While she was a decent empath, she was an abhorrent excuse for a witch. The Roma sorceress she had traveled with had given up trying to teach her the traditions quickly. “Your gift is elsewhere. Now, get back to work.”
She chuckled at the memory of the old woman shooing her away to have her go pretend to be a psychic. It was amazing how much money she could make from those who believed she could see the future only because she could see the past and present. It had not been honest work. But it had meant shelter over her head and food in her stomach.
She nevertheless went about locking the doors and windows and changed into her house dress, not wanting the uncomfortable steel boning of her corset to dig into her side if she woke up on the floor a second time. After slipping on a necklace that bore a few simple symbols and charms, including her favorite, which was a painted glass evil eye, she was ready. She returned to her parlor and, plucking the brooch from the mantel, she sat in the center of the floor, cross-legged.
If I am going to find myself on the carpet anyway, I might as well start off that way. Lessens the chance of a head injury.
Taking off the glove on her right hand, she held the brooch in her left again. “Well, Mr. Dracula. Let’s try this again, shall we?”
She dropped the stone into her bare palm.
4
Maxine found herself standing once more in that nightmarish throne room. She turned around slowly, taking in the space, and waited. Waited for him. But the room was silent. Nothing but the whisper of a breeze that sent the tapestries lazily drifting. It gave the room the appearance of breathing.