Hunting Memories

Chapter 7

Eleisha did not know what to say or even what to feel as she followed Rose down a dark street in the Mission District bordered by rows of run-down, empty-looking buildings.

Rose had drugged Wade and then used her gift to draw Eleisha away from him.

And yet… Eleisha still followed.

She could have done any number of things to stop this, to subdue Rose and run back to Wade.

But she didn't.

"It's not far now," Rose said, moving more quickly. "Just down this side street."

Eleisha stopped.

Rose looked back at her. "You've come this far. We have to trust each other."

How could Eleisha explain what she was feeling? She'd led Wade to San Francisco, and before twenty-four hours passed, Rose had already proven she could not be trusted.

"No, we don't," she answered.

"He is only sleeping," Rose insisted. "Seamus will stay with him, and in a few hours he will wake."

"You could have just asked me to come."

"I couldn't. You'll understand soon."

What could be so important that she would go to these lengths to get Eleisha off alone? In truth, Eleisha wanted to know. She took a few steps forward.

"This way," Rose said, sounding relieved.

They walked down a nearly black side-street, and Eleisha realized the buildings around them were abandoned warehouses. If they'd been two mortal women walking here at night, anyone with half a brain would have considered them quite foolish.

"You've done well with your Wade," Rose said suddenly. "He's a rare one. So kind to my Seamus."

Your Wade.

Eleisha hardly thought of him as her own. Still, somehow, Rose's open sentiments made her feel a little more grounded-a little less shaken about following her instincts.

"But Philip," Rose went on, her voice taking on a harder tone. "I don't know how you ended up with the likes of him. I don't think I want to know."

In spite of her resentment over Rose's methods in getting her here, Eleisha realized they were completely alone and could speak freely-beyond their letters. She had no idea when this might happen again.

"I know he can be a handful," she said, "but we need him."

Rose stopped walking. "A handful? That's how you see Philip?"

Eleisha blinked and did not know how to answer. After the memory share last night, she had not expected Philip and Rose to keep regarding each other in this hostile fashion. But if they were all going to start building a community together, something would have to change.

Finally she said, "With the exception of occasional, and short, periods with Maggie or Julian, Philip spent over a hundred and eighty years alone… and he hates being alone more than anything. Have some pity, Rose."

"Pity?" She sounded incredulous. She seemed about to say more and then changed her mind, walking forward again. "In here," she said.

Eleisha followed, putting aside the Philip argument for now and feeling herself growing almost lost in wonder over whatever it was that Rose needed to show her.

"What is this about?" she asked, following Rose up a questionable-looking flight of stairs. "Where are we?"

"This used to be a warehouse for grain and rice, but it's been long abandoned. I'm surprised any of these buildings are still here. I'm certain that soon some developer will tear them all down and put up a Starbucks, a Gap, and a Pottery Barn. Soulless bastards."

Eleisha glanced up at the back of Rose's head, wondering how she'd feel about Eleisha's plan to sell her shares of Starbucks in order to purchase the church.

The warehouse was so dark inside, it was difficult to see at all. At the top of the stairs, they emerged into a cavernous room. Eleisha squinted, but she couldn't see all the way across to the back wall. The effect was unsettling. She felt exposed and in the open, and yet half-blind.

What was she supposed to see here?

Rose took a few steps into the vast, black room. "I don't think I felt any true hope until after you wrote back to me, and then suddenly… so many possibilities seemed real. That there might be others like us. That someone was willing to fight back. I know that I should have waited for you, I shouldn't have started on my own, but I couldn't help it."

Eleisha shook her head. "I don't understand."

Rose turned to face her. The white streaks in her hair glowed softly. "I started looking. I studied news reports, looking for anything that might give me a clue. And then… then I found recent stories about people in Moscow, Russia, being admitted to hospitals with unexplained blood losses. I sent Seamus to Russia."

Eleisha wavered, almost losing her balance, reaching back for the stair rail. Rose had been looking for other vampires on her own?

"You found… Wait," Eleisha stammered, "the stories were about living people admitted with unexplained blood loss?"

"Yes. The old ones, the ones who existed before us, they didn't kill to feed as we do. They didn't have to."

How could Rose possibly know that? Edward hadn't known, and Eleisha had been able to put some of the pieces together only in the past month.

"Who?" she demanded. "Who told you that?"

"I did." A clear masculine voice rang across the cavernous warehouse floor.

Philip climbed out of a taxi back on Jones Street, carrying a long wooden box. He had made one stop-one purchase-before coming back, but now he was feeling anxious to get up to the apartment to watch over Eleisha and Wade.

He didn't trust Rose, not even after reading her memories. Especially not after reading her memories.

She was nothing like Eleisha or Wade. They both felt things. They liked to please others. Rose did not care to please anyone besides herself. She was cold inside… not at all like Eleisha or Wade.

He walked quickly into the apartment building and took the stairs two at a time up to the second floor. Finding the door locked, he knocked.

No one answered.

He knocked again, louder. "Eleisha? It's me. Open the door."

Nothing.

Fear began swelling inside him, and he knocked a third time. Then he kicked the door open and looked around wildly, seeing Wade lying on a couch with his eyes closed-but still breathing. Philip saw no one else. He rushed over, dropping his wooden box and shaking Wade.

"Wake up! Where's Eleisha?"

Wade's eyelids fluttered briefly, and he murmured something unintelligible, but then his head lolled to the side. Using two fingers, Philip opened one of his eyelids.

Wade was unconscious.

The fear swelling inside Philip exploded into panic, and he looked around. Eleisha was gone, and he had no idea what Rose had done with her.

"Seamus! Where are you?" He strode through the apartment. "You tell me where they are or I swear I'll…"

What? What could he swear? Seamus was already dead.

Panic and indecision flowed through him. He didn't want to leave Wade lying there helpless with the front door broken, but he had to find Eleisha.

This was his fault. He never should have left them in the first place.

Striding back to the couch, he leaned down, jerked open the wooden box, lifted out a machete, and pulled it from its leather sheath. He wouldn't leave Wade for long, but he had to start looking for Eleisha.

He dropped the sheath on the rug. Not even bothering to hide the machete, he walked out the front door.

Eleisha stood frozen in the warehouse as a figure moved from the shadows of the back wall and out into view, and he kept coming closer. Her eyes had adjusted somewhat, and she just stood there, watching him. He was not quite six feet tall, with a solid bone structure and muscular chest. His head was almost shaved, with just a shadow of light brown hair, like a soldier. His face was lean, and his nose had a slight bump in the bridge as if it had once been broken. He wore jeans, boots, and a loose flannel shirt. His eyes struck Eleisha the most. They were almost clear, with a hint of blue.

He was dragging a sword with his right hand.

"This?" he spat, looking Eleisha up and down. "This is your champion, Rose?"

His accent was British, not Russian.

Rose looked at his sword. "Robert, you don't need that."

Eleisha felt sick. She'd walked right into a trap. The contempt in the man's eyes was so thick she almost backed up.

From the moment Wade had fallen unconscious, the night had taken on a surreal quality, and she realized she was still dressed in his old sweatpants and her Hello Kitty tank top… with her hair a mess.

It didn't matter.

She'd had enough of this, and she let her gift seep out, slowly for a few seconds, and then in stronger and stronger waves, sinking it into both their minds.

She would have preferred a straight psychic invasion, as she had used on Julian, but she didn't know this man, and if he was telepathic, he could block her, and she'd lose any advantage. That was the drawback in fighting unknown members of her own kind. Anyone with telepathy could just block her entry-working with Wade had taught her that much. Instead, she called on reserves inside herself that she'd never sought before, twisting her gift with her newfound psychic ability, weaving subtle illusions inside their perceptions.

They saw her as helpless, frightened, in need of protection, only to a greater degree. She was someone to kill for. Someone to die for.

Rose turned around, her lips parted, her eyes wide.

But Eleisha ignored her and moved toward the man. What had Rose called him? Robert?

Pitching her voice to a near whisper, Eleisha murmured, "Swords frighten me. Please, put it down."

It fell from his hand instantly, clanging to the floor. She didn't know how to use it herself and wanted to kick it across the floor, but she feared breaking her connection to him. His eyes were locked on her face.

"I am so afraid," she whispered. "I need to run. You stay here and protect my way."

He shifted his weight to his right foot, wavered slightly, and repeated, "Protect your way."

But then… she felt something inside her mind, something pushing back. Robert stumbled forward, and he made a sound like a mortal trying to suck in breath. She could feel him pushing her out.

"Turn it off," he gasped.

She stepped closer, trying to hold on, wrapping her thoughts around his, making him see her as helpless, frightened, someone he must let run away.

I won't hurt you, he flashed into mind. Turn it off.

His verbal thoughts were so clear-even clearer than Wade's-that she felt truth behind them. Who was he?

Still doubting herself, beginning to doubt her own instincts, she shut off her gift.

Rose staggered a few feet back, nearing the staircase.

Robert dropped to one knee as if released from some physical hold, and he placed his palm against the floor. "Jesus, Mary, and Joseph," he said, looking up at Eleisha, the contempt on his face fading slightly. "Who taught you to do that?"

She just looked at him, studying his lean face and his nearly clear eyes.

"You're of the wild generation," he said, his tone growing more demanding. "Who taught you to do that?"

Wild generation? What did he mean?

Rose was gaining control of herself and hurried forward, holding her long green skirt in one hand. "Eleisha, this is Robert Brighton. Forgive me for not telling you anything before, but I swore I would not expose him. He has no reason to trust any of us… any more than we have to trust each other." She paused, standing close to Eleisha, "He agreed to see only you."

Eleisha looked at her, thoroughly confused now. Rose had not led her into a trap? Could it be that Rose was so determined, so desperate, to bring any vampires still in hiding together that she would do anything, go to any lengths just to manipulate meetings? Could Eleisha blame her? Isn't this what they both wanted? What they had planned and dreamed of in their letters? If that was the case, then perhaps Rose could be trusted-as long as Eleisha never forgot how single-minded she could be in this pursuit.

Without asking, Eleisha slipped inside Rose's mind.

You found him and drew him here? Through Seamus?

Rose's eyes widened again. Yes, and a brief exchange of letters.

Why?

If we are to build a community, we have to find the others. But I never thought to find one like him still in existence-

"That is impolite," Robert said. "And this is pointless. You have no knowledge and no manners. You plan for things of which you have no understanding."

Eleisha pulled out of Rose's mind and tilted her head to one side. In Philip's memories, she had seen detailed images of him living with Julian, John McCrugger, and his maker, Angelo Travare. Only after the beginning of Julian's killing spree did the vampires break up and travel alone. Had it been normal for them to exist together before? This Robert Brighton had been hiding-just like Rose-but he had come out of hiding and traveled all the way from Russia to San Francisco, so no matter how much he protested, he must be desperate to rejoin his own kind.

"Why did you come here?" Eleisha asked him. "Did Rose tell you about the church? Do you want to come home with us?"

He seemed taken back by her direct questions and paused. Then he shook his head. "Not if you keep company with Philip Brantй. He's feral. As blood brother to Julian, he was the only one with a chance to stop those horrors, and he did nothing, not that I should have expected more. Angelo had already ruined him, taught him nothing, let him run wild, let him kill whoever he pleased."

Eleisha was getting sick of these vampires constantly bashing Philip, but she froze, taking in Robert's words. If he knew Philip and Julian personally… then Julian must have known him, and he was clearly telepathic.

"How did you survive?" she asked.

Again, he seemed unsettled by her direct question, as if he thought her rude.

"I did not," he answered. "Julian believes he hacked my head off."

"What?"

"Eleisha," Rose interrupted, "this can all wait." She turned to Robert. "You can see the truth of my words." She pointed to Eleisha. "She fought Julian and won-sent him packing. Everything has changed. You must agree to meet Philip and Wade. There is strength in numbers."

His expression went still for a moment, as if he considered her offer, and then he took a step backward. "I'll not be in the same room with Philip Brantй. He's feral. And a coward."

Eleisha turned around and headed for the stairs. "I don't care who you are. I won't listen to this."

Rose ran after her, catching her arm, leaning close to whisper, "Wait. He is old, with knowledge of our kind we could never find anywhere else. Please, Eleisha, convince him. He may be the only one from… before."

Eleisha stopped. How old was he? She'd believed that any survivors would most likely be like herself or Edward or Rose-turned either right as the killing spree began or after, with no opportunity for telepathic training or somehow off Julian's radar.

But she could not help being disgusted by this Robert Brighton's arrogance and contempt. If he was going to join them, he would have to accept a few truths.

She turned to face him. "You call Philip a coward?" she asked. "When you've been hiding in Russia? Yes, Philip is terrified of Julian. We all are. But he kicked Julian out a twelve-story window. Do you know why? To protect me. Don't you ever call him a coward." She dropped her voice lower. "I don't believe Julian will ever come near us again, but I can't promise anything will or won't happen. If you want your freedom, if you want to live with your own kind again, then you have to be willing to expose yourself and fight."

He stared at her in surprise.

"If not," she added, "you can go back to Russia and hide out by yourself. I'm sure the high summers are lovely there."

"Will you at least meet with them?" Rose rushed to say. "Can I set up a meeting?"

He didn't answer for a long moment, and then nodded stiffly, once. "Not here. Somewhere public… but not too public."

Rose closed her eyes. "Tomorrow night, just past dusk, at the Japanese Tea Garden. That should work."

She opened her eyes again and took Eleisha's hand as if anxious to be off now that they had completed her desired task. Eleisha allowed herself to be led down the stairs-beginning to understand the depth of Rose's resolution. But she still felt shaken by her own outburst.

As they neared the last step, she asked, "How old is he?"

Rose hesitated before answering quietly. "I don't know for certain, but I know he was a man-at-arms for Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey."

"Earl of…?"

Although she was of Welsh heritage, like all those from the Commonwealth, Eleisha knew basic English history-at least the major players. Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, had later become the third Duke of Norfolk. He was Anne Boleyn's uncle and had served in the court of Henry VIII.

That would make Robert nearly five hundred years old.

Wade's tongue felt thick inside his mouth.

He could hear voices on the edge of his awareness.

"The door is broken!" someone said in alarm. "Seamus, how did this happen?"

He felt soft fingers on his forearm. "Can you hear me?"

Forcing his eyelids to open, he saw the blurred image of Eleisha leaning over him. "Leisha?"

He was lying on a settee. How had he gotten here? The last thing he remembered was eating dinner in the kitchen. She helped him to sit up. He saw an open wooden box lying at his feet… with a leather sheath lying beside it.

"Who broke the door?" she asked.

"Philip did." A hollow voice with a Scottish accent came from nowhere. Seamus appeared behind Eleisha, his expression angry. "He came back and found the door locked, so he kicked it in."

Eleisha crouched down on the floor. "Oh… I'm sorry. Where is he now?"

"Out looking for you."

She got up, went over, and opened a window, closing her eyes. "I'll try to reach him. I don't think he would go far with Wade still in the apartment and the door broken."

Wade was still confused. How had he ended up on the couch, and when had Philip come back? He didn't remember anything.

Less than five minutes later, he heard the sound of booted feet running down the hallway, and Philip nearly fell through the broken door, carrying a machete.

"Eleisha!"

His eyes looked half-crazy, and Rose drew away from him, closer to her bedroom door. Seamus hissed. Wade stood up, but he was dizzy. What was going on?

Eleisha ran from the window to intercept Philip. "It's all right," she was saying. "Everything's all right. I'm sorry we missed each other. Where did you get that? Put it down."

Wade was trying to follow too many things at once.

"Don't tell me what to do!" Philip ordered, and he pointed at Rose with his free hand. "She drugged Wade, didn't she? Where have you been?"

Drugged Wade?

His head was beginning to clear a little, and he remembered bits and pieces: eating eggs, drinking tea, growing tired…

"I can't explain it with words," Eleisha rushed to say. "I need to show you." She took Philip's outstretched hand. "Come and sit. Just let me show you. Wade, can you make it over here?"

Philip still looked enraged and manic, but he let her pull him to a clear area of the room. "What?" he demanded. "Show me what?"

Wade stumbled over, still trying to gain his wits. Eleisha had dust smeared on her face and her tank top.

"Sit down," she said. "Let me in."

Sitting, Wade closed his eyes, and the shock of Eleisha's rapid mental entry almost made him fall backward. To see her memories clearly, he had to reach back, make the connection.

Then he was in the kitchen drinking tea earlier that night, seeing himself through Eleisha's eyes. He was Eleisha. She took him forward from there, and he forgot himself.

Wade did not know how much time has passed when Eleisha pulled out of his mind. His head felt clearer, but he gasped several times, reeling from everything she had just shown him. He'd felt it all, exactly as she had. Her doubts, her fear, the fierce use of her gift… her strength. Her realization of the depth of Rose's single-minded determination.

And Robert Brighton, a soldier from the sixteenth century.

Reality was still sinking in.

"No!" Philip shouted almost immediately, breaking the revelations of the moment. "An elder?" His French accent was so thick, the words were hard to follow. "You don't know with what you deal. We leave this place tonight!"

"Eleisha?" Rose questioned softly, still standing by her door.

Philip turned on her, his lips curling up in snarl.

Eleisha grabbed his arm. "Philip, stop. Listen…" Trailing off, she looked toward the guest room. "Come with me." She pulled him toward it-and again, he let her-taking him inside and closing the door. Wade could hear Philip's low, angry voice on the other side, followed by Eleisha's softer, comforting one.

Suddenly, Wade was completely fed up with Philip.

How nice, how very nice it would be to throw a temper tantrum, wave a machete around, and have Eleisha drag him off to the bedroom to calm him down. Maybe he should try it sometime and see what happened?

But Seamus and Rose were both watching him with uncertain eyes.

"He's mad," Seamus said. "You know that, don't you?"

Wade sighed and shook his head. "No, he isn't." He walked over to Rose. "Don't worry. Eleisha will get him to agree."

"How do you know?"

"Because she always does."

Eleisha spent the remainder of the night in the guest room talking to Philip, listening to him, trying to reach common ground and still do the right thing for everyone involved.

She felt bad for just leaving Wade out in the sitting room, after he'd been drugged and was still recovering, but somehow, she believed Rose would take care of him. Later, she heard the television come on and the occasional murmur of male voices over what sounded like an old western, and she knew he would be okay watching TV with Seamus.

She didn't want to leave Philip, and she didn't want to bring him out among the others yet. He was still too upset.

But there was more to his heated reaction to Robert's existence than fear for her and Wade. She just didn't know what it was, and she wasn't sure how to ask him.

When she felt dawn approaching, she said, "You should get comfortable. The sun will be up soon."

He took off his shirt and his boots and stretched out on the bed, staring at the ceiling. She climbed up on the bed next to him, kneeling to look down at his face. "You know this Robert… don't you?" she whispered.

"Angelo believed that John, Julian, and I should know of all the elders. He wrote a book called The Makers and Their Children, with their names and their histories. Julian knew the book better than me, but Angelo taught me things about Robert Brighton. I remember the name. I know he was a soldier."

"Did you ever meet him?"

He hesitated and then answered quietly. "Only once, not long after I was turned and I was still with Angelo. Robert came to visit… with his maker."

"His maker?"

"Her name was Jessenia, and she looked like a gypsy, but she was not. They both hated me, would not be in the same room with me. I stood in a hallway outside a door, and I heard Jessenia tell Angelo that I should be destroyed if he was not going to teach me, and that Julian should be destroyed if he did not develop his abilities. I didn't know what any of this meant then. I didn't care."

Eleisha remembered Robert's harsh words about Angelo letting Philip run wild and kill whomever he pleased.

"Telepathy?" she whispered.

"I think so now. I think maybe they all hunted as you do, as you taught me, and they blamed Angelo for the way I hunted then."

His voice held an edge of pain. Everyone changed over decades and decades of existence. Eleisha knew that for all his temper and selfish behavior, he'd learned to care what others thought of him.

"But it's all different now, Philip. Once he knows you, he won't hate you anymore. And we can't just leave him to go on existing alone-not if he wants to join us. Besides, he can tell us so much about what really happened. We've been in the dark for a long time."

She could feel her eyelids growing heavy. Although the windows were completely covered, the sun outside must be rising.

Philip reached up and pulled her down against his shoulder. "Sleep."

By the following night, everyone's mood and attitude had altered somewhat. Although Rose and Philip didn't speak, they seemed at least resigned to tolerate each other. Eleisha couldn't help feeling relieved by this.

They arrived at the Japanese Tea Garden in Golden Gate Park just over an hour past dusk. Seamus was nowhere in sight, and she wasn't yet quite sure how his existence worked, so she didn't know if he was with them or not. Lights all around illuminated ponds and sculpted shrubs, but Eleisha continued to dwell on several things Philip had told her the night before.

For one, he'd mentioned a book in which Angelo had written down information about all the elder vampires. Doing anything of this nature had been expressly forbidden as far as Eleisha knew. Edward had warned her against writing anything down regarding names, addresses, and phone numbers-even though he'd broken that rule himself later. And Julian had sent short letters drilling this into her head.

But Angelo had created a detailed book of information. Was such an act acceptable back then?

Second, she couldn't stop thinking about Robert's maker telling Angelo that Julian should be destroyed if he did not develop telepathically. Eleisha had been led to believe-even by Philip-that Julian had "gone mad" and launched upon his killing spree. Was it possible that some of his fears were justified? Why would the elders care so much that he wasn't telepathic?

In the back of her mind… she might already know the answer: Because without telepathy, he couldn't alter a victim's memory, and so in order to feed, he would have to kill to protect himself from exposure.

"Did you decide on anywhere more specific to meet?" Wade asked.

"No, just here," Rose answered.

Although the night wasn't cold, both the men had intentionally worn their coats-with the slight distinction that Wade's came from Target and Philip's was Armani. Wade wore his gun out of sight, and Philip had hooked the machete's sheath to his belt and then buttoned his long coat over it. Eleisha had wanted to argue with both of them, but she didn't. Their agreement to this meeting was already too tenuous.

Now all four of them waited by a koi pond.

Wade pointed to Philip's hip. "I don't know why you bought that thing. I would have helped you get a gun."

Oh, lovely, Eleisha thought. They were going to engage in a discussion of weapons. That was all Rose needed to hear.

Philip shook his head. "I don't want a gun. This is better."

"Better? You have to be in close quarters to use that thing."

"I know how to use it. It won't jam. It won't misfire. It won't run out of bullets. It's better."

"Yes, but-"

"Wade, please," Eleisha cut in, glancing at Rose.

He followed her gaze and stopped talking. Eleisha walked over to sit on a bench. Philip paced in front of her, too agitated to sit, but he looked down at her. "I like your hair like that."

For some reason, she had dressed more carefully than usual tonight, wearing a pair of new jeans, low-heeled boots, and a sleeveless white linen shirt. She'd brushed out her hair and pinned up part of the back, leaving loose wisps hanging around her face. She still wasn't sure why she'd gone to the effort. Maybe because she'd met Robert last night looking like a runaway teenager-and she wanted his confidence. Maybe because Rose always took so much time and looked elegant every waking moment.

"Are you certain he'll come?" Wade asked.

"Yes, he'll come," Rose answered.

Eleisha was suddenly nervous about facing him again, about the contempt she'd seen last night in his eyes-and she hoped he would not antagonize Philip. She knew so little, almost nothing, about this older vampire, what powers he might have that they did not.

"Rose?" she asked quietly. "Do you know what Robert's gift is?"

"No, I haven't felt him use it yet."

"It is the mirror image of yours, Eleisha," Philip answered.

"A poetic answer," said a low voice from their right. "How surprising."

Philip whirled toward the sound as Robert stepped from behind a meticulously shaped tree. He looked much as he did last night-except that he, too, was wearing a long coat. But as with Seamus, Eleisha couldn't help seeing his face as a painting from a bygone era, like something she might view on a museum wall.

She tensed, knowing these first few seconds were crucial.

Robert glanced briefly over Wade, Rose, and Eleisha, and then he locked eyes with Philip. To her surprise, he didn't look angry. He didn't even look arrogant. Rather, he looked… uncertain.

No one spoke.

After a while, Rose finally said, "Well, someone should say something, or the moment might turn socially awkward."

In spite of the tension, Eleisha smiled. "No," she answered. "We certainly don't want that."

Rose smiled back and moved over to Robert. She pointed toward their little group. "Robert, you've met Eleisha, and I believe you already know Philip. This is Wade. He is the one who trained Eleisha and Philip to waken their abilities."

Eleisha let her take over as the whole scene took on a surreal quality, as if Robert was an out-of-town guest meeting Rose's family. Even without using her gift, Rose's voice carried a tone of wisdom, of reason. Any mortals passing by would not have bothered glancing their way. Eleisha did find it strange that Robert didn't flinch at them having a mortal in their group-he didn't even seem to notice the difference. Julian would have found this unthinkable.

Robert nodded once to Wade, but he couldn't seem to stop looking at Philip's face and clothes and hair, but with doubt in his eyes, as if he was questioning Philip's identity. Why? Eleisha wanted to try to read his thoughts, but she dared not. He would feel her.

"You've been alone?" Philip asked him abruptly. "All this time?"

Robert's jaw twitched, and he offered a short nod.

"Me, too," Philip said, tossing his head toward Eleisha and Wade. "Until them. It's better with them. Like being alive again."

A flicker of pain crossed Robert's face. It passed. "But you're telepathic now? I… I don't expect you to know anything if a mortal trained you, but can you at least hunt safely?"

Eleisha winced at such a question being asked aloud in a public garden.

Philip said something in French so quickly she couldn't follow it, and then he looked around. "This place is too open, no? Come."

As if all was decided, he didn't wait for an answer and began walking for the front gates. To Eleisha's relief, Robert fell into step behind him. Wade followed. Rose's eyes filled with hope as she watched them.

Not too bad, Eleisha flashed into her mind. It's a start.

Rose looked at her. No, not too bad.

Mary Jordane was beginning to panic. She'd been looking for Eleisha since the night Julian landed in San Francisco… and come up with nothing.

It wasn't that she'd lost her ability to track the dead.

The problem was that an overwhelming sense of the dead seemed to be everywhere. Since coming back into the world of the living, she'd encountered only a few other ghosts.

But a weird, misty veil of death hung over this entire city-along with too many other ghosts who were all dressed in old-fashioned clothes. In desperation, she'd finally talked to the spirit of a sailor down on the docks to try to find out why.

His answer was not helpful.

Apparently some stupid earthquake happened in the past here… like a hundred years ago! Who cared what happened a hundred years ago? You couldn't even buy an iPod back then. But a bunch of people who weren't ready to die and who weren't expecting to die got squished or buried or burned up in fires, and their spirits ended up tied to apartments and houses and restaurants and bars.

A ghost who remained in this world, who was tied to a person, would pass over either into the gray plane or the afterlife once the living person finally died as well. But a ghost tied to a place remained on this plane as long as the place still existed in some form.

So Mary was having trouble picking up the slightly different "blank spot," as she called it, among all the life energy that helped her separate the living dead from the ghosts. It was frustrating, and it was pissing her off, and Julian was getting impatient.

He'd called her back last night, and he was really mad when she couldn't tell him anything yet. He scared her worse than he ever had before.

Tonight, she worked harder to separate the blank spaces in the fabric of energy, to shift through and find the right kind of undead presence. She couldn't really explain the difference, even to herself, but the first time she'd felt Eleisha, the signature had been more… solid than a ghost.

She struggled to find that signature again. It was hard against the sea of death all around her, but she wasn't going back to Julian empty-handed.

About an hour past dusk, she felt something, and she materialized slowly behind a statue in the Golden Gate District. She focused again and instantly felt a much stronger rift.

She blinked out, followed the path, and rematerialized inside some kind of fancy garden with no flowers.

There was Eleisha. Sitting on a bench.

Good! Good! Good!

She wanted to dance. Julian could finally calm himself down.

But then she looked more closely and saw two extra people she'd never seen before, and both of them were undead. She lodged their faces in her mind-because Julian would ask her a billion questions-and she tried to drift a little closer without being seen.

One of them, a man with a nearly shaved head and a broken nose, was talking to Philip.

Philip looked around. "This place is too open, no? Come."

They all started leaving the garden, but Mary didn't worry. She had them now. She could blink out and follow.

As their small group approached the apartment door, Wade had an uncomfortable feeling growing in his stomach that he could not quell and he could not identify.

Rose fished for her new keys. Wade had called a repairman and had the door fixed that morning.

She let everyone inside, and Robert looked about the place, taking in everything as if preparing to offer approval or disapproval. Maybe that was the problem? Robert was perfectly polite, but Wade didn't care for the way he looked at Eleisha, Philip, and Rose, as if they were inferiors to be pitied.

Or as if they were children?

Something didn't feel right.

Even worse, neither Eleisha nor Philip appeared to notice.

Rose closed the door.

"So," Robert said, still looking around. "You all plan to live together in someplace called Oregon? In an old church you call the underground?"

"Yes," Eleisha said, sitting down and taking her boots off. She'd never liked any shoes inside a house. "We'll buy it as soon as we get back."

"And then what will you do?"

"Do?" she repeated. "Look for more of us. If you survived, others could have survived."

That was another thing. Just how had Robert survived when Julian seemed to have beheaded every other telepathic vampire in Europe?

Robert looked back at Eleisha, and for the first time, he seemed to be studying her hair, her face, her small hands. "I don't think you'll find any others like me."

"Maybe not, but there could be others like Rose. We have to try. We'll bring them back with us to the underground, and they won't have to be alone anymore. Wade can train them."

"Wade?" he asked in surprise. "No, they'll need a proper master to train them."

The anxiety in Wade's stomach began expanding.

"But, Robert, he already understands what to do," Eleisha argued. "He's so good at it that Philip and I were able to figure out- on our own-how the elders must have fed without depopulating entire areas."

Seamus had not yet appeared, and since arriving at the apartment, neither Philip nor Rose had said a word. They were just watching and listening.

But as Eleisha spoke this last sentence, the feeling inside the apartment seemed to change, and Wade's thought patterns grew hazy.

"None of you know anything about the laws of your own kind," Robert said. "If we're to live together, the laws must be learned and obeyed. They were created to protect us from ourselves and others."

As he spoke, the words landed smoothly on Wade's ears. Of course Robert was correct. A proper teacher, an elder vampire was the only one who could help the newer ones protect themselves. And he would guard them all in the meantime. They were in danger without him.

Why hadn't Wade seen this before?

Looking around the room, he could see that Rose also agreed. Philip was still simply watching the entire exchange. But then Wade's gaze fell upon Eleisha as her expression grew frightened.

She glanced at Wade and flashed out.

It's protection. He can seduce by making us all feel protected.

The truth of this hit him, breaking the spell. He couldn't believe how strong the feeling had been.

He flashed back. Can you counter him?

Robert turned toward him, as if he could hear their exchange, and Eleisha did not answer.

Mary managed to follow them back to an old apartment, and then she was at a loss. She couldn't exactly materialize outside the windows and start peeking in, and she didn't know where they were inside.

Focusing, she tried to pinpoint their undead signatures, and she materialized slowly inside some kind of bedroom, making sure she was alone before fully manifesting. She could hear Eleisha's voice coming from the room outside and knew she was in the right place.

Good.

Not much of what they were saying made sense. Eleisha was talking to some guy she called Robert-must be the one with the shaved head-and he was talking back to her about laws and training and a bunch of other boring stuff.

Mary was trying to remember it all as best she could, when she felt someone else in the apartment, someone who was really dead, another ghost. The presence was coming closer, and for some reason, it scared her.

She blinked out.

Since arriving, Julian had not left his hotel suite at the Fairmont.

He couldn't move around freely until he had some information on Eleisha's location. He'd had a good deal of time to think, and if Eleisha had indeed managed to locate another vampire, this woman called Rose, it was likely that she had been created right around the time he had taken matters into his hands in 1825.

She had not been listed in Angelo's book, and Angelo kept careful records. But why would one of the makers create a new vampire and keep her a secret? That wasn't the way of the elders.

Had she been trained all? Was she telepathic? Did she know anything of the laws his predecessors had followed?

It also troubled him that he did not know what had caused Rose and Eleisha to seek each other out in the first place. Or how had Eleisha managed to find her?

The air shimmered, and Mary appeared by the fireplace.

"There's another one!" she exclaimed immediately. "And I think I felt a ghost in their apartment!"

Instead of growing more accustomed to her outbursts and lack of manners and her grating voice, he only seemed to hate her more. What was she saying? Another one?

"Slow down. Another what?"

"Another vampire, besides that Rose lady from the letters… or at least I think I saw Rose. But there's now a man named Robert, with a shaved head and a broken nose, and I could almost see through his eyes."

Julian froze.

"He kept on talking about laws and training and stuff. I think he wants to go back to Portland with them."

Julian put one hand to his mouth, almost unable to take this in. His hand was shaking. Robert? Impossible. Robert was gone.

But Mary had just described him right down to his clear eyes.

One of the telepathic elders who'd plotted to destroy Julian still existed?

The rules had changed.

The game had changed.

Everything was different now.