Destiny (Absent Shadows Trilogy Book 1) (21 page)

‘Yeah, he’s good. In fact, we were wondering about having another go at The Grampians this weekend, if the weather’s okay. I think he’s going to talk to Sam about it.’

‘Cool,’ I said, knowing that I’d like nothing better. That would mean everything had gone well for Sam and the others—their meeting with Zunios would be behind us.

Terry walked up. ‘Well, hello there. It’s Claire, right? I never forget a pretty face, but names I’m not always that good with.’

‘Yeah. So, how are you?’ Claire asked, her tone flirtatious.

I glared at her, hoping she’d get the hint. I wanted to keep talking about going back to The Grampians, but she took no notice of me.

‘Good, thanks, and all the better for running into you again,’ Terry replied, sounding like sleazy used car salesman. ‘Pity I didn’t run into you again last week, I had tickets to the footy on the weekend. Hawks supporter, right?’

Claire smiled and fluttered her eyelashes at him. Then she winked at me. ‘Bummer—I would have liked going to that game—heard it was a good one. Oh, but we were away last weekend anyway, weren’t we, Lili?’

I nodded and rolled my eyes. I wished she’d stop talking to the guy. The bartender spotted our empty glasses and came over.

‘Another drink, ladies? And would you like to order any snacks? Shall I get you a menu?’

Ten minutes later, a large bowl of chips appeared, and there was no sign of Claire giving up her little flirting game with Terry.

When Claire finished her drink, Terry ordered her another. I clenched my teeth to stop myself from telling the bartender to skip it. Claire was showing no signs of wanting to leave yet.

Claire was just starting on a third drink when I’d run out of patience. I’d had enough of their flirtatious banter, and besides, there was something about Terry that made me uncomfortable. He was good-looking, and sounded well educated, but there was this look in his eyes that I didn’t like.

Finally Claire stood up and I was relieved to see her pick up her bag, and throw the strap over her shoulder.

‘Terry’s going to take us to dinner. Isn’t that nice? He knows a great sushi place. We can walk—it’s just around the corner.’

The hair on my arms suddenly stood straight up and I felt queasy. What had Debs taught me about listening to my intuition? Well, I didn’t have to listen too hard this time: it was screaming at me.

‘Oh, Claire, after all those chips, I’m not terribly hungry. And besides, Debs is expecting us—she wants to do your tarot reading, remember?’

‘Oh, sure, sometime … but tonight? I don’t remember you saying anything about it being tonight.’

‘It must have slipped my mind, sorry, but she is expecting us by seven. And it’s what, after six-thirty now. I’m afraid we won’t have time for dinner. Terry, it was nice of you to offer … perhaps another time?’

‘Hang on,’ said Terry, glaring at me. ‘If you need to go somewhere, that’s fine. But Claire wants to have dinner with me, don’t you babe?’

He was staring deeply into Claire’s eyes as he spoke, and immediately I thought of Sam, and his ability to calm people. The thought made me start to panic.

‘No, she doesn’t. Thank you, Terry, but not this time.’ I’m not sure why, but I was still trying to be polite.

Claire just looked at me blankly, so I took her arm and led her out the door. Terry followed us out. I stood there, not knowing what to do. I knew if I screamed someone would come out, but I also knew I’d feel pretty stupid if the guy accused me of over-reacting.

I looked around hoping to find a taxi. Terry continued trying to convince Claire to leave with him. At first he was just talking, but then he took Claire’s other arm and tried to lead her away.

And right as he did, much to my relief, a familiar voice sounded from behind me. ‘Leave the ladies alone.’

‘Sam,’ I said, relieved. ‘Terry was just leaving, weren’t you, Terry?’

Terry shifted his glare from me to Sam, but he didn’t let go of Claire’s arm. She just stood there, with a dazed look on her face.

‘I suggest you let go of her arm, and leave … now,’ repeated Sam, his voice calm but dropping down very low.

‘Bugger off mate; this is none of your business. The lady has agreed to have dinner with me.’

Terry stepped forward as he spoke, still holding onto Claire’s arm—he was only inches away from Sam.

Sam moved so quickly that I didn’t even see how it happened but Terry was face down on the ground, and Sam was standing over him. Terry’s arm was pulled up behind his back in a position that looked very painful.

‘Now, Terry was it? I’ll be escorting these ladies home, and you will not follow. In fact, you will never approach them again. If you see them, you will simply walk away. Do you understand me? I don’t want to have to repeat myself.’

Terry mumbled something that sounded like agreement, and Sam let his arm go. Terry got to his feet, dusted himself off and stood there rubbing his arm, scowling at Sam. When Sam took a slight step forward Terry turned and took off running down the street. I gathered then that he was no vampire after all.

‘I’m sorry I had to be a bit rough, ladies, but he didn’t seem to get the message when I asked nicely,’ said Sam, putting his arm around my shoulders and giving me a gentle hug.

‘Don’t apologise. I don’t know what it was about him, but something didn’t seem right. And when he started to pull Claire away from me I wasn’t sure what I was going to do.’

‘What just happened?’ asked Claire, shaking her head as if to clear it.

‘Sam just saved your neck, that’s what just happened!’

‘Wow, that’s so weird … I mean, I barely remember coming outside,’ she said, looking somewhat confused.

‘We came out to look for a taxi, then Terry grabbed your arm and that’s when Sam came up. Remember?’

‘Oh, well, yeah, sure,’ she replied, squinting a little like she was trying to focus. ‘Where did you come from Sam?’

I looked up at Sam, and raised an eyebrow in question. Indeed, where had he come from?

‘Funny isn’t it? I just happened to be walking past, and heard Lili’s voice. Quite a coincidence, eh?’ he said, smiling sheepishly.

‘Yes, quite a coincidence—an awfully good one, as a matter of fact, don’t you think?’

When Sam didn’t respond, I turned back to Claire. ‘So, Terry wasn’t quite as nice as he originally seemed, was he?’

‘No, he wasn’t,’ she admitted, shaking her head again. The fresh air seemed to be helping to clear her head.

‘I have a feeling he may have put something in your drink, Claire,’ said Sam.

‘Ah… maybe that last drink he bought me. Just as well I didn’t finish it then, isn’t it?’

‘Are you okay? Do you feel sick?’ he asked, his voice sounding concerned.

‘No, I’m fine … I think,’ she said looking at me. ‘I’m sorry about this—you know I was just flirting with him, right? I mean, you won’t mention this to Tom, will you? He doesn’t need to know anything about this at all, right?’

‘Your secret is safe with me,’ he assured her. ‘My car is just around the corner. Come on, I’ll drive you both home.’

Claire sighed again. ‘That would be really nice. I do feel a bit light-headed still … I wonder if he did put something in my drink?’

‘Who knows, but maybe you should stay clear of this place for a while,’ I said, gently pushing her from behind. ‘Let’s get out of here.’

We walked around the corner to Sam’s sleek black car. It felt so natural jumping in the front seat of that car, turning to watch Sam as he skilfully drove us out of the city and onto the freeway.

When Sam returned to the car after walking Claire to her front door, I confronted him.

‘So, how did you find us?’

‘I followed you last week. When you said you were having drinks with Claire I took a chance that you were meeting her at the same place.’

‘Ahhh, so you were there last week! I thought I was going nuts. I saw you, you know—out of the corner of my eye. But when I turned you were gone. How’d you do that?’

‘Haven’t I told you we’re fast, Lili? I knew that you’d spotted me, but I didn’t want to make a scene, so I left. Or rather, I went outside and watched from a distance.’

I knew I should be mad. If this was anyone else, I’m sure I would be mad. I mean, it was just the sort of thing I’d expect David to do, and I’d have been furious. But how could I be mad at Sam? I shuddered at the thought of what might have happened if he hadn’t arrived when he did. Then I laughed, remembering the look on Terry’s face just before he ran off down the street.

‘What’s so funny?’ Sam asked, looking confused.

‘Oh, I’m just glad you showed up when you did.’

I didn’t speak the rest of the way home. I just watched him drive, and stole a glance at him from time to time, wondering how I ended up being so lucky as to have him in my life. It seemed impossible that I’d only known him for three weeks. It felt like I’d always known him. And the idea of getting on a plane and flying back to California seemed more like a nightmare than a reality. Could I really go home, and leave this all behind? Or could I stay, and be the girlfriend of a vampire?

~~***~~

I woke with a start. I’d been dreaming that I was digging a hole that just kept getting deeper and deeper. Then I remembered the look on that girl’s face, and I felt sick again. God, I hoped I’d done the right thing. I kept telling myself there was no point worrying—it was in the hands of the police, and I couldn’t undo what I’d done—but my brain wouldn’t listen to reason.

I wished I could talk about it to someone, but I didn’t dare tell Debs … and Sam had enough on his mind at the moment. I’d just have to put it behind me. After all, the rain had cleared and left the sky a brilliant shade of blue. On a day like this, it was hard to believe that there were such things as evil vampires and ghosts. Surely the whole thing had been a dream, right?

Wrong. Sam was waiting for me when I arrived in the gardens for my morning run. The look on his face confirmed that none of this was a dream.

‘Tom’s taking me to do some more, uh, preparation today. But I’ll still see you after work.’

‘Okay. I’ll wait for you, of course,’ I answered, still feeling incredibly edgy and wanting all this to be behind us.

Sam looked at me with concern. I’m sure he took my agitation to be entirely because of the planned encounter with Zunios. ‘Please, don’t go behind my back and ask Michael if you can help tomorrow. I don’t want you there. I don’t want you hurt, and I don’t want to have to worry about trying to protect you either. You understand that, don’t you?’

‘Yeah, of course I do. But you need to promise me something. Promise me you’ll come get me the moment it’s over, all right? No matter how it turns out. Promise me.’

‘I promise that, if I can, I’ll come see you the moment it’s over.’

‘If you can? Uh, sorry, but that’s not good enough. I want you to promise. I don’t want you getting … hurt … or anything.’

‘I’ll do my best, you can count on that. But enough of this. It’s a beautiful day and you came here for a run. So run. Enjoy the beautiful morning.’

I watched as he walked over the crest of the hill toward Michael’s. He was trying so hard not to be too serious, and I loved him for that. I could tell he was concerned about my feelings, and yet his whole existence could depend on the outcome of tomorrow night.

I did a few stretches then started off at a medium jog, picking up speed gradually until I was at my top speed as I ran past the spot where I’d dug up the gun. The girl was gone, or at least she wasn’t showing herself.

I kept running, doing several more laps than usual. Eventually I exhausted myself physically, but even so, my mind was still racing.

I wanted to believe that I’d done the right thing. I wanted to believe that this girl, like those three that Elizabeth had spoken to, had been able to let go and leave this place. I wanted to believe that’s how it worked. But the look on her face still haunted me.

~~***~~

Sam arrived right at five, as he said he would, but something was different. Perhaps it was determination that I saw on his face … or battle readiness. There was no hint of a smile, and he looked … distant. I tried to lighten the mood by cracking a few jokes, but he didn’t laugh. He just looked down and refused to make eye contact with me.

Fear started to overwhelm me. Maybe he blamed me for this after all. If he hadn’t met me—if I hadn’t been a distraction—maybe none of this would have happened. Or was it something else? Maybe it was worse than that. Maybe he was just getting bored with me—this stupid human that could never really be a part of his life.

As we walked along, Sam kept his distance, walking a bit further away from me than usual, and even though I’m sure we would have looked exactly the same as we had any other day, I knew there was definitely something wrong.

I kept trying to convince myself that he was just nervous. That was the most likely thing, right? I mean, who wouldn’t be nervous in his situation. In just over twenty-four hours his entire existence could be changed forever. He could be killed. And so could Crystal and Michael. I couldn’t even bring myself to think about what would happen if they lost. Surely they wouldn’t lose. This was what Michael and Crystal did all the time, right? And this time, they’d have the help of Tom and Sam, and Erranase, and Henry and Elizabeth—not to mention all the other ghosts. No, they’d be fine. They had to be fine. It couldn’t end any other way.

When we got to the apartment building, I asked Sam if he’d like to come up to say hello to Debs. Maybe together she and I could take his mind off things.

‘How about we just go for a walk … along the water,’ he said, pointing toward the old docks.

‘Sure,’ I replied, fearing the worst. Was he about to tell me he didn’t want to see me anymore?

The cold wind whipped around, sending my hair flying in all directions. Sam reached over and brushed a few strands away from my eyes, and when I looked up there was a deep frown on his face.

‘What is it, Sam? Are you nervous about tomorrow? Is it confirmed? Have you heard?’

‘No, nothing’s confirmed yet. Erranase will contact Zunios tomorrow. We’ll know then. If it’s on, I’ll head out with Tom again, for more … training.’