Crimson Shadows Read online

  "Sometimes I don't think there's anything else I can be when it comes to Simon Baldevar," Maggie answered and Jimmy had an aching wave of pity for her. He couldn't even begin to imagine what this battle must be doing to her soul—her intelligent, forthright nature warring with the heart and body that craved Simon Baldevar.

  "Don't look like that," Maggie smiled at him, and Jimmy wondered if Baldevar was any better at coping with her quicksilver mood swings than he was. "I'm not a lost soul. It really isn't like that with Simon and me anymore. I know it's difficult for you to believe, but he has changed in the seventy years I've known him. Yes, he's capable of brutality but he's also capable of deep love. You know I almost died when I had the twins. When I came out of my coma, Simon was crying over me ... crying over my impending death. There is tenderness in him . . . haven't you seen it in the way he treats Ellie? I believe he could become a good man, one I could give my whole heart to without qualm."

  "And I believe you need to take those anti-crazy pills you used to give me," Jimmy said.

  Maggie's brows started to meet in an angry frown that became a perplexed question when a raw scream of panic and desolation shattered-the quiet around them.

  "MOMMY!"

  Jimmy and Maggie turned around to see Ellie flying down the beach, tears streaming down the face that leered at them ghost-pale from the darkness surrounding her.

  "Ellie," Maggie whispered, her face as white as her daughter's. In an instant, she vanished, reappearing next to Ellie and reaching out to draw her into her arms. "Sweetheart, what's the matter?"

  "Mommy ..." was all Ellie could choke out and Jimmy, who'd chosen to run rather than fly the astral plane, exchanged a fearful glance with Maggie, all other matters forgotten in their concern for the shattered girl sobbing in Maggie's arms.

  She hasn't called Maggie Mommy in ten years, Jimmy thought, not since she decided it was for babies. What the hell had happened to make her regress like this, to make her stare at them with glassy, unseeing eyes while she continued to cry?

  "Ellie, baby, what is it?" Maggie asked soothingly and Jimmy could see she was fighting to keep her own terror out of her voice when she spoke. "Please tell me what's wrong."

  "Did Baldevar do something .. ."Jimmy began and Maggie sent him a withering glance while she continued to rock her daughter.

  At her father's name, Ellie came out of it a little and started speaking though her teeth chattered violently while she spoke. "Lee ... Uncle Lee le ... left your mail by your desk the way he always does. I thought I'd ... I thought I'd sort it out for you while you and Jimmy were out here. Then I came to this box ... I was going to open it up but Daddy snatched it away from me. He didn't have to look, he knew right away..."

  "Knew what?" Maggie demanded when Ellie burst into fresh sobs. "Sweetheart, please try to calm down. Where's your father now?"

  "Don't go in there!" Ellie screamed, though Maggie had made no move toward the house. "Don't go inside ... I don't want you to see ..."

  "Ellie, please," Maggie cried. "You're scaring me. Please try and tell me what happened. What don't you want me to see?"

  "Daddy knew what was inside the box," Ellie said dully as though she hadn't heard her mother's question. "I should have known, too, I should have felt how . . . how much evil and hurt surrounded it but I didn't, I had no idea. Oh God, why did he do this? Why? Daddy . . . oh, Mommy, Daddy's really sorry. Daddy's right, he's bad and he wants to hurt us but Daddy says he won't let him. But what if Daddy can't help us? He wasn't able to save . . ." Ellie wrenched away from her mother with a violent twist and vomited into the sand.

  "Look what he's done," Jimmy cried furiously over Ellie's retching. "You let that sonofabitch back into our lives and he's already damaged her ..."

  "No!" Ellie screamed and raised her head. Hastily, she wiped the bile from her lips and shook her head at Jimmy. "Don't you be mad at Daddy! He didn't do anything . . . Mikal did. Mikal is the one who's going to try and get me and Mommy." Ellie threw her arms around her mother again, kneeling on the sand with her head on Maggie's stomach. "Mommy ..."

  "What, baby?" Maggie beseeched, stroking her daughter's hair. "What is it? Did Mikal send something to me?"

  "Yes," Ellie said and her voice was hoarse and full of grief. "There was a note inside—'A belated Mother's Day present.' How could he do that to you?" Ellie started weeping again and wouldn't respond to any of her mother's increasingly frantic questions.

  "She's hysterical," Maggie finally said to Jimmy. "Help me get her back in the house. I'm going to give her one of Lee's sedatives and put her to bed. Simon can tell us what's going on."

  "Ellie," Maggie said gently, pulling her daughter to her feet. "Can you walk? I want to take you back to the house."

  At the mention of the house, Ellie lost the last bit of color in her face and put her hands out as though trying to ward off something unseen by Maggie and Jimmy.

  "No," she whimpered. "No, I can't go back ... I can't... the box ..."

  Ellie swayed and Jimmy leaped forward to catch her and swing her into his arms.

  "It's all right," he said helplessly when her arms went around him in a death grip and she buried her head on his shoulder, whimpering and crying. "Ellie, it's all right... I won't let anything there hurt you; I promise."

  "No," Ellie moaned and raised pleading, frightened eyes to Jimmy. "Please don't make me go back inside."

  Jesus Christ, what the hell had this Mikal done to put Ellie in a state like this?

  "You want me to take you back to your cottage?" Jimmy suggested and he felt the wire-tight tension in

  Ellie's body ease slightly. But then she shook her head and said in a resigned tone, "I can't leave Mommy alone .. . she'll need me."

  Maggie turned around at that and pushed wet curls off Ellie's clammy forehead. "Honey, I'm just going in to talk to your father..." she began but stopped when Lord Baldevar appeared at the French doors.

  "Meghann," Baldevar said, gold eyes flat and lips drawn into a tight line. "Meghann, I am so sorry."

  "For what?" Maggie screamed in a mixture of impatience and fear. "Would somebody please tell me what's going on?"

  "Meghann, come with me," Baldevar said and held out his hand, tossing an order to Jimmy. "Put Elizabeth on the couch and pour her a brandy."

  Jimmy wanted to snap back that he wasn't a servant but the brandy suggestion was a good one—it might be just what Ellie needed. Once inside, he pulled the stopper out of the crystal cognac decanter and rapidly poured three fingers of the amber liquid into a snifter and brought it to Ellie's lips, drawn into a grim line identical to her father's.

  "C'mon," Jimmy coaxed, holding the glass while Ellie sipped at it sluggishly.

  "Simon," Maggie said in a pleading voice and Jimmy saw the puzzled anxiety and building fear in her eyes. "Simon, what..."

  Then her eyes cut to a cardboard box next to the table and she let out a low moan that made Ellie flinch and put her hands to her ears.

  Maggie continued to stare at the box, her hair clutched in two fists on either side of her head with her eyes and lips clamped tightly like she was trying not to cry.

  "No," Maggie said over and over, staring at the box with abject fear. "No, no, no ..."

  Baldevar put his hand on her shoulder and that broke Maggie's paralysis. She shrugged his hand off and ran to the box, pushing away layers of newspaper to find what lay underneath. Then she lifted something out and let out a scream unlike anything Jimmy had ever heard before. It was a primal howl, coming from the deepest part of her soul, a desperate keen filled with raw, uncontained sorrow that made Jimmy feel pain even before he knew what had happened, feel Maggie's pain cut through him and make him cry without knowing what he was crying for.

  Jimmy reached Qut blindly to draw Ellie against him, unmindful of the brandy that soaked them both when the snifter turned over.

  "Maggie, what..." he started to say and then broke off when he saw what had made her scream like that—the box co
ntained Charles Tarleton's decapitated head.

  Jimmy heard himself breathing heavily and grabbed Ellie closer, unable to believe what he was seeing. No, was his first blind thought. He just couldn't be staring at Charles Tarleton's severed head. Jimmy swallowed hard and felt the nausea that had attacked Ellie start to work on his own system as his eyes took in the gruesome details of the long, stringy bits of gore hanging from the neck, the stretched, wrinkling skin and purple circles under Charles's cloudy, vacant eyes.

  "Maggie," Jimmy said helplessly, not knowing what to say, not knowing if there was anything he could say. Jimmy could only guess at what Maggie was feeling. He knew how close Maggie and Charles were, knew that the special love she had for him that was, in a way, a stronger connection than she had with anyone else in the world—even Simon Baldevar.

  Maggie didn't respond to Jimmy and he felt serious fear at the empty green eyes staring through the decapitated head.

  "Maggie,"Jimmy said again, but Baldevar shook his head negatively, then walked over and gently stroked Ellie's cheek.

  "Go to your mother," Baldevar said and Jimmy heard something jagged in the vampire's voice, something he'd think was grief in another person. Could Baldevar be sharing in the palpable sense of loss that filled the room? "She'll hear you, Elizabeth."

  Ellie nodded and left the protection of Jimmy's arms, kneeling down next to her mother. Jimmy saw that Ellie was careful to avoid looking at Charles's poor remains, focusing only on her mother's face.

  "Mom," Ellie said hesitantly and Maggie looked up at her daughter with an expression of dumb, uncomprehending pain like a hurt animal or a small child.

  "He didn't kill him right away," Maggie said and Jimmy's heart broke at how frail and utterly destroyed she sounded. Her hands trembled violently as she stroked Charles's lank black hair and her breath came out in odd, halting gasps as though she'd forgotten how to breathe. "I ... I see what happened. He attacked my Charles in the day, like the coward he must be."

  "Oh, God, why couldn't he have killed him then?" Maggie shrieked, tears pouring down her face and soaking the collar of her shirt. "Why did he do that to Charles? Why? He ... he staked Charles during the day. He put a stake in his heart and then he sat there and he waited—just waited for sunset. He waited and thought of all the things he'd do to Charles when dark came and ... oh, Charles. Charles, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry my son did this to you. To torture you like that when you were helpless and couldn't fight back before he finally let you go ... why? Why? Why?" With each why, Maggie's voice scaled alarmingly and her eyes took on a harsh, disconnected gleam.

  "Why?" she yelled again and Jimmy watched the glass panes in the French doors crack, the glass and chrome table shatter as Maggie screamed out her terrible rage and grief.

  "Don't," Baldevar said softly and moved to take Maggie in his arms but she pushed him away with a strength borne of madness and despair. Whether unprepared for the attack or thinking a struggle would make Maggie lose whatever sanity she had left, Baldevar stepped away and moved Ellie back to the couch.

  "Don't you touch me," Maggie hissed, barring her blood teeth and giving Baldevar a look of pure hatred. Jimmy heard Ellie gasp and immediately moved her head to his shoulder so she wouldn't have to see her mother like this.

  "You've done this," Maggie snarled in a low, choked voice and Jimmy thought she'd spit venom if she could.

  "You!" Maggie screamed as though he'd contradicted her though the vampire had done no more than stare impassively while she spoke. "You killed my best friend, you bastard!"

  "Mommy, no .. ." Ellie started to say and Maggie whirled around.

  "Stay out of this!" she cried in the harshest voice Jimmy had ever heard her use on Ellie. Ellie shivered and Jimmy clutched her tighter, praying she'd understand Maggie was simply hysterical.

  "I'm sorry," Maggie said at the stunned hurt in Ellie's eyes but her voice was barely under control. "But you don't know what kind of monster he is ... I should have told you, I shouldn't have tried to protect you by romanticizing him."

  "This is all your fault!" Maggie screamed, turning back to Baldevar. "And mine too. I killed Charles because I put my trust in you. I believed you when you said you'd raise my son with kindness and sensitivity— that you wouldn't bring him up to be a coldhearted killer." Carefully, as though she was handling delicate china, Maggie wrapped Charles's head in a chenille throw rug she snatched off the sofa and then stored it back in the box before hurling herself at Baldevar.

  "Bastard!" she howled and raked her nails down his cheeks. Jimmy blanched at the ragged, gouged holes that appeared on Baldevar's face only to disappear almost instantaneously. Maggie seemed even more enraged by the speedy vampiric healing process that wouldn't allow her to permanently scar Baldevar's skin and attacked harder, kicking, punching, and clawing while she screamed out her rage and grief in an incoherent, babbled torrent of obscenities and accusations. Jimmy was surprised that the vampire made no move to defend himself or even restrain Maggie, simply staring with soft compassion and pity at the howling woman doing her level best to kill him.

  "Mom, please," Ellie pleaded in a soft whisper and Maggie stopped abruptly, only seeming to remember Ellie's presence and what she was witnessing when her daughter spoke.

  "I want you out of here," Maggie spat at Baldevar and grabbed the box containing Charles's head, along with her car keys. 'You caused this! You raised Mikal to hate, despite what you promised me. You forced your sick, twisted views on his innocent brain. You taught him to wallow in blood lust, to crave the kill! You nurtured his hate, encouraged it—but now the joke is on you because the thing he hates most in the world is you!" Maggie let out an appalling sound that might have been a laugh and continued to spit out the contemptuous, heated words that Jimmy thought probably hurt Baldevar more than her fists or claws had. "That's why you're here, isn't it? Mikal must have tried to kill you and I'm only sorry he failed! Now he's looking to kill anyone that might aid you—me or Charles or Jimmy or Ellie."

  Maggie shoved the box at Baldevar, brandishing it like a weapon. "Look what you got from your hate, Simon! Look what your hate, what your failure to raise my son with any kind of decency, has cost an innocent man! Damn you, Simon Baldevar! Damn you for putting me in a position where I may have to kill my son to save my slaughter. Get out of here! You're not welcome in my house ... I won't have you being the lightning rod that brings death to Ellie! You be gone when I get back here ... get out of our lives and make sure your sick, twisted son knows not to look for you here!"

  Maggie started to turn on her heel then whirled around, fixing Baldevar with a look of steely contempt that contrasted oddly with the tears still running down her face. "You think I can't force you out of here, don't you? You think you can do whatever you want and I'll always go along because I'm helpless to act against you. Well, let me tell you if I ever see you again, I'll get a stake through your heart and this time I'll do it right! I'll cut off your worthless head like Mikal did to ..." Maggie sank to the ground, weeping wildly while she rocked back and forth, cradling her best friend's remains.

  "Stay away!" Maggie screamed through her sobs when Baldevar stepped nearer, his eyes still showing nothing but concern for her. "I mean it! I will kill you, I will! Jimmy, make him get out! You were right all along. Will you please look after my daughter? I have to do something for Charles."

  Jimmy could only nod and Maggie came to the couch to kneel by her daughter, her voice gender but still cracked and desolate. "Honey, I'd take you with me but I think you're safer here with Jimmy to look after you. I'll be back tomorrow night. Okay?"

  Ellie nodded and kissed her mother's cheek. Maggie kissed her back then whirled out into the night In a few seconds, they all heard the roar of a car engine and the squeal of tires as she took off.

  "Maybe we should have stopped her, "Jimmy said uneasily, speaking only to Ellie. He was in complete accord with Maggie—out of her mind with grief or not, she was right to blame Simon Baldevar for this
tragedy. Maybe now whatever hold that bastard had on her was obliterated for good. "I mean, she's so upset she's likely to drive that car off the road or into a tree ..."

  "She'll be fine," Lord Baldevar said briefly. "The drive will give her something to concentrate on." He came over to the sofa and knelt beside Ellie, picking up her slack, unresisting hands, ignoring Jimmy as though he didn't exist.

  "It's a very frightening thing to see your mother lose control, isn't it?" he said tenderly and Ellie nodded through her tears.

  "You mustn't worry or be angry with her," Baldevar went on in that same gende tone. "Now I'm afraid I must leave you for a while. As Mr. Delacroix pointed out, it is dangerous for your mother to be alone."

  "Daddy," Ellie said while he cleaned her face with a linen handkerchief. "Daddy, you won't hurt Mom, will you? You're not mad for what she said .. ."

  "Your mother lashes out when she's hurt," Baldevar replied. "And this blow has hurt her very badly. Charles Tarleton was more than a friend to your mother; he was her anchor and support for many years. It will take a great deal for your mother .. . for any of us to recover from his loss. Dr. Tarleton was a very fine person and I shall always be grateful that he helped to raise you, Elizabeth. I am truly sorry that Mikal has brought this pain on all of us."

  Baldevar's hurting, too, Jimmy realized numbly. Grief darkened his amber eyes to copper and he blinked constantly, as though holding back tears. Or maybe he was upset over Maggie's words, no matter what he said to Ellie. At any rate, it was the first time Jimmy saw his enemy without the cool, sardonic mask in place that tempered his emotions even when he was in a rage.

  "I shall take care of your mother," Baldevar said and hugged Ellie close to him. "Now I must go to your mother but I cannot leave, Elizabeth, if I think you're in danger. Mikal presents a threat to all of us . . . I've already enchanted these grounds so he cannot enter. You must promise me that, until your mother and I return, you will not leave this estate and you will remain close to Jimmy Delacroix at all times."

  Stunned at Lord Baldevar entrusting Ellie's care into his hands, Jimmy tried to catch Baldevar's eye but the vampire's attention was on Ellie. Not that he needed Ellie's promise .. .Jimmy had no intention of letting Ellie out of his sight.