Dark Needs at Night's Edge

42

St. Louis Cemetery #1,

New Orleans

In the third cemetery they traveled to, the tombs had seen better days. Many were storm-damaged, with crumbling stucco and rusted iron fences. Markings were eroded.

Spates of rain were sporadic; it was well after midnight. And still this haphazard maze of tombs was busy.

Drunken ghost tour patrons laughed raucously as they smoked cheap clove cigarettes and marked Xs on a tall pediment tomb.

Nikolai muttered, "That's not even Marie Laveau's crypt. Though Myst says that the priestess does get a kick out of it."

Conrad roared at the group. "Leave—us!"

After a moment of thunderstruck silence, tourists shoved each other down into the wet gravel as they fled.

Once the place was emptied, Nikolai said, "Conrad, you have to prepare for the possibility that you might not find what you're seeking. Or that you might locate her grave only to find what this woman... what she once was."

Her remains. Conrad shook his head hard. "I understand," he said, then he went still, holding his breath to listen for Néomi, willing his own heart to slow its furious pounding. He strained to hear over the cicadas and distant traffic—

He jerked his head to the left. There. The faintest rhythm. "I hear her!"

"How can you be sure it's her?" Nikolai asked.

"Know her heart." He homed in on the sound, tracking it to a vast, bleached white tomb, standing at least seven tiers high. Dread built like ice in Conrad's veins. Was she truly within this place? In one coffin among so many? How terrified she must be. I'd dreamed her choking on her terror...

No! Can't think about that now, need to keep my mind focused.

He pinpointed the sound to a third-level bay. The marble closure tablet was eroded beyond deciphering.

Swallowing hard, Conrad punched in the marble, crumbling it. Inside the vault was a small black coffin.

He slid it out from the space, easing it to the gravel path.

"Conrad!" Nikolai clamped his shoulder. "Just be prepared."

Conrad nodded, then gripped the lid, wrenching it free... .

"Néomi!" he rasped.

Her eyes were closed, her body still as if dead. Remnants of rotting lace and ribbon were scattered over her naked body. Dust marked her pale face and long hair. With a yell, Conrad snatched her out, clenching her to his chest.

"My God," Nikolai breathed. "You weren't... does your female live?"

"Néomi, say something to me!" Nothing. Conrad brushed the backs of his fingers over her face. No response. But why? He held her away from him. She looked perfectly formed. Her skin was warm and pinkened. Jostling her in his arms, he said, "Please, baby, anything—"

Her eyes fluttered open. So blue.

She coughed, gasping, "... knew you'd find me." Then she burst into tears.

With his gaze averted, Nikolai handed Conrad his jacket to wrap around her. Once he had her covered, Conrad cupped the back of her head, pressing her too tight to his chest, but he couldn't let up.

Trembling against him, she whispered, "I-I knew you'd come for me, Conrad."

"Always, koeri, always," he murmured, gently rocking her. "My brave, brave girl."

Then he met Nikolai's astonished gaze. "My vengeance is no more." His voice broke. "You have my gratitude, brother."

"I'm sorry I doubted you," Nikolai said sincerely. Then he asked, "But did you just call your female bait? That's an endearment for you, Conrad?" At Conrad's annoyed look, he held up his hands. "None of my business." To Néomi, he said, "Welcome to the family." Then he traced away.

Conrad took her from there as well, tracing her directly into their bathroom at Elancourt. Without releasing her for a second, he drew a bath, then lowered her into the steaming water.

As he washed the dust from her skin and hair, she sat with her eyes dazed, still steadily crying.

"Are you warming up?" She gave a nod. "Néomi, are you... hurt?"

"N-non, just shaken. Can't seem to stop crying."

"This is killing me, koeri. Tell me what to do to help you."

"I'm sorry. It's just... even when I knew you'd find me, being in the cof—being there was... difficult."

He tucked her hair behind her ear. "I know it must have been terrifying."

She frowned. "Was that Nikolai with you?" When Conrad nodded, she said, "How did he get free?"

"I... broke them out."

"Did you go alone?"

When he nodded, she gasped. "Were you injured? I haven't even checked you over."

"Not at all," he said, pleased that she'd become more animated at least.

"What were you thinking?"

"I needed Nikolai's help to find you. I would've done anything to get to you."

"He welcomed me to the family. Did you tell him we were getting married?" Her big blue eyes glistened with tears. "Because if the offer still stands... "

Conrad exhaled. "We can speak of this later. When you're feeling better."

"Wh-what do you mean?" Néomi asked, beginning to cry harder.

"Listen to me—shh, love." He sounded like she was tormenting him. "All of this is my fault. The demons will keep coming. If they find out you're alive, they'll never stop."

Relief flooded her, and her tears eased. If that was all he was worried about... "Then keep me safe. I'll never leave here without you. I learned my lesson. I'll stay inside the protection."

"I can't do this. Néomi, I... I love you. Far too much to see you hurt again."

He'd said he loved her. As soon as she realized she didn't have to dread hearing those words, it dawned on her that she'd truly been reborn.

We're going to be together... .

"And you could... you could do so much better than me," Conrad continued, having no idea that this was as good as decided. "You have your whole life in front of you—why should I think to be the one to intrude on it?"

"Do better? And precisely what's wrong with the man I love?"

"The man you love," he murmured, obviously enjoying hearing that. But then he seemed to force himself to explain, "I'll never walk in the sun with you or share a meal. The Kapsliga and other enemies will continue to dispatch killers. And I'm still not one hundred percent... right in the head."

She rose up out of the water to her knees and laid her hands on the sides of his face. "I like my pale skin and never share my food anyway. And we'll be ready for the Kapsliga. As for your mind, you'll keep getting better each day just as you had been."

"I took your neck. I could have killed you."

"But you didn't hurt me. Conrad, I loved it."

"Then why were you so angry?"

"Because Nïx told me that the day anyone learned how I came back was the day I would die. I couldn't tell you. I wanted to so much! When you took my blood, I thought you might be able to learn of it through my memories. I thought I'd been doomed to die even sooner."

He lowered his forehead to hers. "Néomi, I had no idea."

"Now, let me see your arm." When he frowned, she said, "You vowed that from the instant that mark healed, you'd make me your wife."

He drew back. "But that was before you... died. Again."

"It doesn't matter." She unbuttoned his shirt with trembling fingers. "Don't Wroths always keep their vows?"

When he shrugged from his shirt, she began tugging off the bandage. He swallowed, just before she revealed... smooth, healed skin.

He exhaled, defeated. "Néomi, I'll wed you at the earliest opportunity if you'll take a chance on me. I never want to be apart from you again."

"Even if I'm just a mortal?"

"I want you with me forever. I'll find a way to keep you with me—you have to know that." He pulled the ring from his pants pocket.

She cast him a watery smile to see it. "I do so love that ring." As he slid it on her finger again, she said, "And I love the man attached to it. Do you know how difficult it was to return it to you at the ballet?"

"About as difficult as it was to accept it back?"

"I'm so sorry, mon coeur. I had no choice. How could I promise a future I knew I didn't have? But now I can say how proud I'd be to marry you."

"Néomi, even if there was nothing to divide us, I... I fear I'll only disappoint you. I'll do the wrong thing or hurt your feelings. This won't come overnight—just know that I'll try not to."

"That's all I ask for." She frowned. "Actually, that's not all. I want us to live here, Conrad. Would you ever want to? Can we buy Elancourt from your brother?"

"I'll buy you an estate wherever you wish. Are you sure you want to be here? You were murdered here—how could you not be constantly reminded of it?"

"I've been here for eighty years. I've gotten used to it. Besides, if I hadn't been killed, I wouldn't have you. You told me you would've helped the Russian plunge his sword to be with me—I would've run into Louis's blade for a chance with you."

His brows drew together, the intensity of his emotion seeming to boil over. He kissed her then, a scalding possession. When they broke away, gasping, he rasped, "We'll stay. But only if I get to bring the place back to life for you."

"Why not?" She sighed, stroking his hair from his forehead. "You did with its mistress."

A crash sounded from downstairs, followed by a bellow.

Néomi gasped. "Was that Bowen? They're still here?"

"Oh, Christ, the witch!" Conrad said. "She got entranced."

"Take me to her, Conrad!" He helped her dry off and don a robe, then traced her to the studio.

They found Bowen clutching Mari to his chest. He was covered with blood and gaping wounds all over his body, while Mari was pale and dazed.

"It worked, then?" Bowen asked Conrad, but his attention was focused on the witch in his arms.

"Yes, you have our thanks—"

"I'm takin' the lass home." To Mari, he said, "And then you're on indefinite leave."

Mari nodded weakly. "Never glancing at a mirror again. Never."

As Bowen stood, carrying Mari into the glass, she peeked back from his arms, her expression pensive. Just before they disappeared, Mari put her forefinger over her lips, a warning to Néomi.

What does that mean? Néomi's brows drew together.

And then they were gone, leaving unbroken glass behind. As Néomi peered at the mirror, her reflection flashed to her ghostly visage and back.