Vampire - When Darkness Falls Part 54

Jack grinned suddenly. "You've got company. Shanna and I are coming with you."

"No, no. Shanna isn't coming-"

"You can't stop me either, Jade. And Jack and I have tickets."

"How did you know what plane to get the tickets for?" she asked suspiciously.

"Danny and Matt," Shanna supplied.

"How did they know?"

"Renate had been tinkering with her computer," Shanna said. "They saw that she had somehow drawn up your flight information."

"But I'm still confused. It doesn't make any sense-"

"Renate is good with that thing. And apparently she was upset with Danny and Matt, and didn't want to share information with them anymore. They had gone over because Jenny had called her and gotten a wrong number. She's certain she did call Renate, but some guy answered. Or maybe Renate is trying to keep her dates a secret, I don't know."

Over the loudspeaker, the flight number was called.

"Shanna, you shouldn't come with me. And Jack, you don't have to do this either. Aren't you going to be missing some kind of therapy for having illusions in the hospital?"

"I'm on paid leave until they find the missing body," Jack said.

"Um. Didn't they tell you not to leave town?"

"If they did, I wasn't listening. Look, Maggie and Sean are staying here. Your folks will be with them. Ragnor will be keeping an eye on things here. Matt and Danny called us, insisting that we not let you go alone. We've talked this all out. I mean, what are you going to do, walk around a cemetery alone?"

"I was hoping not to be alone too long. I have to find Lucian."

"Well, it will be far better for you to look for him with eyes on each side of you, right? And now that I know what I'm up against, I'll bet I can wield a pretty good stake."

"The situation is not open for discussion," Sean said.

"And they're calling the flight," Maggie reminded them.

Jade suddenly stooped down to her baby brothers, who, with Brent Canady, had been amazingly well behaved for toddlers as they stood there, listening to the grown-ups talk. "Hey, you two little short stuffs.

Give Shanna and me big hugs. And go home and be good little munchkins, because your mom isn't well. And Maggie is sweet, but there are three of you now, okay?"

Petey looked at her solemnly, put his arms around her neck, and hugged her tightly. She pa.s.sed him on to Shanna, then hugged Jamie tightly. Then she hugged everyone else. It was time to head for the plane.

They waved.

Maggie was holding Brent. Sean Canady had picked up the twins.

They had just come past the flight attendant taking tickets and started down the runway to the plane when Jade heard Jamie crying. "He's going to be so upset," she told Shanna. "He loves me, but he loves you best."

"No, he's pointing at something . . . someone," Shanna said.

Jamie suddenly shrieked so loudly that they could hear him across the room. "Cable man, cable man, cable man . . ."

He couldn't say his bs that clearly, and it sounded like he was crying 'cave' man. "Cable man?" Jade said to Shanna.

Shanna shrugged. "Remember? The cable man came when Liz got sick. Oh! I know that guy over there! It's that Dave I told you I had met.

He pops up everywhere."

"It's a public airport," Jade said, distracted, watching Jamie. He had buried his head against Sean. Sean lifted a hand to a.s.sure them that Jamie was going to be okay.

"Girls, it will fly away without us," Jack said.

Jade turned and quickly walked toward the plane, wondering why she felt so disturbed.

"Jesus!" Danny cried. He was at Maggie's computer, and had been pulling the same illegal strings to get into the airline's records that he had used earlier to check out what he had seen on Renate's screen. He had broken in.

Yes, Jack and Shanna had managed to get tickets on the same plane.

But someone else was on it as well.

"What is it?" Matt demanded.

"Renate-that's what she was doing, trying to follow Jade."

"That idiot. She's going to get herself killed."

"She'll stick with the others, I'm sure."

Matt sat down, letting out a long sigh. "This is murder, isn't it?

Sitting here, waiting. Wondering. We can't open the door to anyone; we have to be so d.a.m.ned careful... and just sit vigil."

"Yeah," Danny said thoughtfully. "Sitting vigil-over what? Jade is gone, Renate is gone, Shanna is gone. And Rick is ... well, we really don't know too much about Rick yet, do we? But anyway, he's gone, and ..." He stared at Matt. "We're here."

Matt stared back at him. They leaped to their feet at the same time.

In Edinburgh, Lucian and Rick checked into the Balmoral. Lucian left word at the desk that they weren't to be disturbed. He was charming when he talked to the woman at the desk, explaining they were suffering from jet lag.

He'd managed to get Rick out of Louisiana with no difficulty, having logged on to a Louisiana state government computer long enough to give him a new name- Richard Miller. There were thousands upon thousands of Millers in the States, and tracking all the numbers and information he'd filled in for Rick would be next to impossible. He now had a legal ident.i.ty not his own, but pieced together from various places.

Rick looked around as he checked in.

"Fine hotel," he told Lucian. "Great city. Are we dining on rats-or chambermaids?"

When Lucian gave him a glare, Rick grinned. "Just kidding. Though I admit to feeling more like Renfield than Dracula earlier. There was a fly buzzing around that was making me ravenous."

"We'll find a butcher shop later, and I a.s.sure you, once we trek out of the city for the old cemetery, you'll find plenty of rodents. Squirrels are plentiful in the area as well."

"Shouldn't we be heading out to this cemetery now?" He stumbled walking along the corridor. He was still nearly worthless in the light. "I guess not," he admitted before Lucian could answer.

"I don't really like having you with me at all-you're too green, no offense. But I was afraid to leave you in New Orleans."

Rick smiled at him, hands on hips. "I'd never hurt her. Never in a thousand years."

"Yeah, well," Lucian murmured. "There are times when you don't intend to cause harm. And you start to feel blood, feel the heat, the pulse . . . the hunger."

"I keep telling you, I'm going to be all right."

"You're going to have to be all right-and strong as h.e.l.l. Sophia made you. She'll have power over you."

"She doesn't have power over you." "She did. Once."

They reached their rooms. They were adjoining, a slender hall attaching them. He was pleased to see that Rick had remembered his native earth, though Lucian had seen to it to bring along Louisiana soil as well, just in case Rick hadn't understood.

But Rick had. For a new member of the society of the undead, he was taking things rather well.

"Get some rest," he told Rick. "You'll need it."

Jade, Jack, and Shanna landed in Shannon at dusk; their plane to Edinburgh came in well after dark. At the Balmoral, Jade was disappointed to discover that no one named Lucian DeVeau had checked into the hotel.

"What made you think he'd be here?" Shanna asked her softly.

"I don't know. I guess ... he knew that it's where I stayed."

"Maybe he's not in a hotel at all, Jade," Jack suggested.

"Maybe not, but... he should be at a hotel, some distance from the graveyard, but close to the city to reach it easily. And he has Rick with him."

"Jade, there was no guarantee that we'd find him," Jack told her.

"Yes, well, I can find the cemetery."

"Yes, well, we're waiting for morning."

"Lucian will go by night," she told him anxiously.

"Jade! Are you so anxious to die? Let us prepare for what's going to happen." He took her by the shoulder, looking into her eyes with firm patience. "He left quickly, determined to get away before Sophia knew he was gone. He's accomplished that."

"Yes, but he doesn't understand about Sophia and the locket."

"He doesn't understand what Renate found out about Sophia and the locket. Maybe that's wrong, maybe-"

"Jack's right, Jade. We need to get some sleep; then we need to gather our weapons. The shops on the Royal Mile are still open for a while, right?" Shanna said.

"I think so."

"Brooms," Jack said. "Lots of brooms. We'll slice the ends into nice sharp points." "We need a sword from somewhere," Shanna commented. "They have to be beheaded, Jade, remember."

Jade groaned. "Oh, we're going to look just like your everyday tourists, walking through the streets with spiked brooms and a sword.

Think a taxi will stop for us?"

"We'll manage."

"We still need to find Lucian."

"Jade, he'll probably find you."

The phone rang suddenly. Jade sprang for it, hope high in her heart.

It was Maggie, checking to see that they had gotten there okay, a.s.suring them that Jamie was fine, and telling her that Sean was going for her stepmother first thing in the morning. "Oh, and Matt called. He wanted to know if you had tied up with Renate yet?"

"Tied up with her? No. She's here?"

' 'According to the flight records, she was on your plane.''

"She never even looked for us!"

"Who, what'" Shanna demanded.

"Renate was on our plane-she bought a ticket for it, anyway."

"Wow. The airlines must have been happy. Man, we all spent big bucks, booking so late!" Jack said, shaking his head.

"Maybe she missed the plane and took a later flight," Jade told Maggie. "We never saw her."

"Well, keep an eye out. Matt is certain she's going to think she's the queen of mystery and get herself into some real trouble."

"We'll watch for her, Maggie. You haven't heard from Lucian, have you?"

"No, I'm sorry. I'll let you go now, but keep in touch."

"Thanks, Maggie. Thanks so much."

"Stay safe."