Forbidden Touch (14 page)

"I've been waiting for you. What took you so long?" the woman said, and Ciera actually took a step back down the steps. It took a lot to frighten her, but for some reason this woman did. "You may tell Mitch to come inside. I have tea," she said, then turned and walked back in the house.

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Chapter
21

Ciera stared hard at the old rickety screen door the woman had disappeared behind. Had she really known they were coming? She shook her head with a smile on her face and walked back to Mitch with a bounce in her step.

He'd gotten back in the SUV, so she opened the driver's side door and looked at him. The look on his face let her know that he was expecting her to get in and start the vehicle so they could go search for the next scam artist. She smiled. "She's been waiting for us."

His eyes got wide in amazement. "No shit? Really?"

She nodded with enthusiasm as he quickly got out and rounded the vehicle again. When he got to her he didn't pause, he just grabbed her face and kissed her hard on the lips. Her smile matched his, and they walked hand-and-hand to the front door.

Ciera raised her knuckles to knock on the screen door facing, but stopped as she heard the woman's voice inside.

"You may enter vampire and detective," her voice said. "I'm just getting the tea. You may have a seat in the living room. I'll be right along, dear."

That stopped her for a moment. So the woman was strong enough to know that she was a vampire, and Mitch was a detective. Of course she may have seen Mitch's name and face on the news, and her intentions may be to turn him in, but there was no way in hell the woman could know that she was a vampire unless she was a very strong witch or psychic. She only hoped that she was strong enough to help them.

They were standing, not sitting, in the living room when the woman came in with a silver tray with three glasses of iced tea. Guess she didn't buy in to the whole "vampires can't consume anything except blood." They took their drinks when they were offered, and the woman sat down in a green chair and motioned for them to sit on the sofa.

Ciera didn't know if she would be able to sit still with how anxious she was at the moment, but she sat on the sofa anyway, with Mitch right beside her. The way the lady was smiling at her made her a little nervous, but at least she was smiling, instead of shouting and trying to run them off. They needed her. "We've come…"

"I know very well why you've come, Ciera. You've been giving me headaches for the last twelve hours," the woman said.

Ciera fidgeted under her stare, then glanced at Mitch who only shrugged his shoulders. She looked back at the woman. It was really bothering her the way she was being stared at. "Can you help us?" she said, instead of "Why are you staring at me like that?"

The woman gave a sudden burst of laughter, making Ciera and Mitch jump. "I'm sorry child," There was a strange glint to the woman's eyes, then she finished her thought. "Well, I suppose your looks are deceiving. You aren't a child at all, are you?"

Ciera shook her head. "No, Ma'am."

The woman took in a long breath, and let it out slowly with her smile still in place. "Forgive me for staring so rudely. I am only fascinated that I have finally met one of your kind, my dear. My name is Alice," she said, but didn't offer to shake hands, not yet anyway. "I don't know how much help I can be, but everything does happen for a reason, and there is a reason that you were led to my doorstep, so I will do my best. Your young man here is in double the trouble that you are," she said, and her gaze fell on Mitch with another glint of the eye. "It seems the heavens do strange things when picking out soulmates, don't they?"

"I'm s-sorry?" Ciera stuttered, a little confused by her last remark.

Alice's grin spread wider. "You really don't know, do you?"

Mitch and Ciera only shook their heads in confusion.

"You were destined to be soulmates what ..." she had a blank stare for a moment then she smiled. "Over three centuries ago. With your untimely luck in becoming what you are, your souls never met. The heavens have given you two another chance to find one another."

"But he is a mortal!" Ciera was unsure if she believed anything the woman was saying. How could they be soulmates? She was going to live on forever, and Mitch would not.

Alice smiled shyly and glanced at Mitch. "Is she aware of how you feel, my dear?"

He'd been trying to follow the conversation, but the Alice woman had lost him a while back. The part where she had mentioned that his soul had been reincarnated from over three centuries ago was confusing the hell out of him. "She knows that I love her, yes."

Alice shook her head. "No, my dear, does she know what your intentions are?"

His brow furrowed and so did Ciera's. "We have no clue what we are going to do…Alice." He wasn't comfortable calling women he didn't know by their first name, but she hadn't offered a last one.

Alice smiled again. "I do not mean your journey ahead." She shook her head and huffed. "But perhaps your head is filled with too much as of now. I will let you tell her when you've gotten it figured out." She didn't leave time for anymore questions on that very confusing subject, before she changed it and looked back to Ciera with serious eyes. "I am not a witch that can cast a spell for you, so I can't give you protection. I have a friend that may be able to help you. Her name is Nellie Lifford, and she lives about an hour's drive from here. I will notify her when you leave, and let her know to expect you. She isn't intuitive, so she won't know anything about you. I will tell her everything, and tell her to prepare what you need."

Mitch frowned. "Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean, to tell her everything? I'm not sure I would have taken the news of a vampire visiting me so calmly only a week ago."

Alice smiled. "But you are only human, my dear."

"Do you know of one of the hidden places where our kind co-exists with mortals? I think that would be the safest place for us to go. They will protect us there from my family, and Mitch will be safe from the police as well."

Alice seemed to think a moment, then looked back at them. "You would have to give me a little while, Ciera. They have many wards around them, but I am guessing that you are aware of that already." Ciera nodded, and Alice got up and left the room.

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Chapter
22

Alice returned a few minutes later with a few crystals in her hand. She positioned them in a circle on the carpeted floor, then lowered her body to lay with them surrounding her. The biggest crystal was above her head, and she looked up and repositioned it a little to the left, relaxed and closed her eyes.

Ciera and Mitch didn't need to be told Alice needed absolute quietness to do what she was trying to do.

They watched Alice in anticipation. About fifteen agonizing minutes passed and she finally opened her eyes and sat up. She touched her head as her eyes squinted in discomfort. "Using the crystals always gives me such a terrible headache," she said as Mitch helped her to her feet.

"Well?" Ciera said anxiously. She didn't want to be rude, but they were burning precious night, and they still needed to go talk to the Nellie woman. It wouldn't be long before the cops were on the look-out for a certain black Chevrolet Tahoe. When they found out that the stolen car was in the garage of Mitch's mother's home, they would put two-and-two together and find out what the last vehicle Mitch's mother drove before she died. They should have ditched the car far away from the house. She guessed they would find out eventually though. She sighed.

"I know of two my dear, actually they are the only two here in the states. If you would like to get out of the country, then you will need to ask them where they are when you get there. It would be too dangerous for me to use the crystals again so soon."

"Well, where are they?" Ciera managed to remember her manners, and asked the question in a more polite tone of voice, rather than demanding the answer. After all, she was trying to help them.

"Well, there is one in Nevada, and the other one is in Michigan," Alice said.

Ciera's eyes widened as she staggered back to the sofa and sat down with a flop. "Oh God, we were going the wrong way."

Mitch took her hand in his as he sat beside her. "It's all right, Ciera. We will just find the one in Nevada. We won't have to go anywhere near your family if we go that way. And besides, I don't think I would enjoy the winters much in Michigan," he smiled at her, and she laughed through her nerves.

"The cold doesn't bother vampires much, but I can see how you wouldn't enjoy their winters," she said. He glanced away from her quickly. Her mind had to be playing tricks on her. She could tell he was nervous, and something in the back of her mind was telling her that her assumptions of him wanting to become a vampire were true. She wouldn't ask him to do it. She wasn't sure if she could even do that to him if that was what he wanted. She hated being a vampire…but maybe that was because she didn't have anyone to share her eternity with. She shook her head. She would not burden Mitch with this life, no matter how much she wanted to be with him. His life was the one that mattered, not hers.

"Ciera?" Alice said, and Ciera blinked then looked up at the woman standing in front of her. She was holding out a piece of paper. She took it, and looked at the two maps drawn out before her. "The top one is the way to Nellie's, and the other is a map to your next destination. Memorize it now so I can destroy the evidence."

Ciera did as Alice asked and memorized the two maps. It only took a few seconds for her to get a mental picture, but she stashed it far away in her mind so Dane wouldn't pick up on it. The thought of Dane made her get to her feet. She was almost positive that he would know the places she had been, and maybe even the places she would go. She had to get out of here. She did have the advantage of moving around during the day, but they didn't have time to waste; he would still catch up with her. He was fast, and all he needed to do was figure out where she was heading next and he would head them off. Nevada was the best choice. If they chose Michigan, he would just be waiting for her arrival.

She looked at Alice, horrorstruck. "You need to get out of here, Alice. They will come for you and they will know you helped us," she pleaded.

She smiled sweetly as she took Ciera's hand, squeezing it gently. She didn't jump like she had gotten a bad premonition from the vampire, because she hadn't. She knew before she even met her that Ciera had a very good heart, and a soul that was still completely intact. She knew, from some of her visions, that there were some very nasty vampires out there in the world; some that had lost their souls before they had even been changed into a creature of the undead. "You needn't worry about me. I have lived a good life, and I have made my peace with God. If it is my time to go," she shrugged and smiled brightly, "then I am ready to go, Ciera."

Ciera stared at her in disbelief. If Alice died, it would be because she had led her family right to her. "No," she shook her head, and her eyes filled as she begged the woman to understand what would happen if she stayed here. "You have to come with us, Alice," she nodded as she realized that she really did want Alice to go with them. "Yes, please come with us. I will protect you the best I can. You will be safer with me than here all on your own. We may need your help again," she said as Alice shook her head. She knew she wasn't going to win this argument unless she picked the woman up and carried her out of there against her will; she knew she wouldn't do that.

"Go now, child. You are already late in starting your life with your young man. Three centuries too late," Alice said, and then turned away from Ciera and Mitch to walk back to the green chair.

A tear fell from Ciera's eye, and it was Mitch that took her hand and pulled her through the door. She let him do it because she knew it had to be done; she just couldn't do it on her own.

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