Barb Hendee: Blood Memories

Maggie nodded. "But I want you to know that I don't like this, and it isn't fair of you to ask this of me."

The room suddenly felt too soft. "I'm hungry. We need to hunt."

Instead of telling me to go hunt by myself, she reached down and picked up a lock of my hair. "You can't go anywhere looking like this. Did you bring any other clothes?"

"Not much. We left in a hurry."

"Come look in my closet. You're small, but I might have something that works."

Her abrupt change in attitude caught me off guard. I looked up at her beautiful face, but saw no malice or guile. Now that she had given in, she was letting her emotions take over. Good.

"What do you usually do with your hair?" she asked.

The question threw me. "Brush it."

Raising her eyebrows, she said, "Stay here."

She left and came back with a set of hot rollers. Then she opened the door of a walk-in closet at least the size of her bedroom. She disappeared inside and came out holding a small, red minidress with a rip in one side.

"Try this on."

I undressed immodestly in front of her. She watched me with a detached interest.

"You have a pretty body," she said. "Too fragile maybe, but some people like that."

I listened to her comments, surprised by how enjoyable I found this entire conversation, different than my talks with Edward-more personal.

"How long have you lived alone?" I asked.

She moved up to help me zip the dress. "How long? I left Philip in 1841 and sailed from France to Boston. Sometimes it feels like yesterday and sometimes it feels like forever."

Philip was her maker. I wanted to ask Maggie why she left him in the first place, but thought better of it and looked in the mirror, quite startled.

The dress fit tightly, snug all the way from my shoulders down over my hips just to the tops of my thighs. I looked different.

"Good." Maggie smiled. "Now sit down and let me do your hair."

This felt strange, like missing something I'd never had. She seemed pleased to be fussing over me. It started to make me nervous. Using her was one thing, allowing myself to become involved was another. But I didn't move, just sat there letting her touch me and put curlers in my hair.

"You might find this look easier," she said. "We can change our gifts for the moment, baby. You don't always have to stay with the same routine."

I assimilated two important facts from her words. One, the fact that she'd called me baby meant that she was completely seduced, and two, I could learn a great deal from this woman.

"You can alter your gift?"

"Sometimes," she answered. "It depends on the situation. What you do should always depend on who you're with."

"Like how?"

"I'll show you when we get downtown. I haven't seen your own routine yet, but I can guess what it is."

Odd how she was smart enough to see me for what I was and still allow herself to be influenced. Maybe she had been alone too long.

"What are you doing to my hair?"

"Hang on, and you'll see."

While the rollers rested in uncomfortable heat against my head, she tilted my chin back and put black liner under my eyes and a russet-brown lip gloss on my mouth. Then she took the rollers out.

"Shake your head, Eleisha. Then look in the mirror."

I did what she asked… and stood staring. I hardly recognized myself. Wheat-gold hair spread out in a mass across my shoulders. My hazel eyes looked huge, and my mouth stood out like a dark heart in my small face. "What did you do?"

"Didn't take long, did it? Don't worry. In a couple of days you'll be doing it by yourself."

Yeah, right.

A voice from the hallway startled me into reality. "Eleisha! Where are we?"

Maggie's face clouded. I bolted away from the mirror and out into the hallway in my bare feet.

"William, it's okay. Don't you remember? We're at Maggie's. We came on that big silver bird last night."

He looked frightened and lost, starting at the sight of me. "Eleisha?"

"It's me. I've been playing with Maggie. Remember Maggie?"

Sad sweet thing, my William. Maggie appeared in the bedroom doorway, none too pleased. I'd promised to keep him out of sight.

"Maggie," he whispered, "always wore red dresses and held Philip's arm. Katherine hated her because she was pretty and poor. Philip used to talk about marrying her."

Something clicked across her features, something like pain. I jumped forward and took his arm. "Let's go back down to the basement. We'll talk there."

"What about dinner?"

"I have to catch your dinner. We're not at home anymore, are we? That will make quite a story. I'll catch you a wild alley cat in downtown Seattle and tell you about the hunt."

"No," Maggie said suddenly. "He's all right. There's a leather chair in the living room by the fire. Go settle him there."

"You sure?"

She nodded and turned away. What changed her mind? I made William comfortable and went back to the bedroom. She sat, looking into the mirror.

"I thought you didn't want to see him?"

"You make me remember things," she whispered. "Both of you. Things I haven't thought about for a long time."

"Do the memories hurt?"

"A little. Maybe sometime I might ask you what really happened to William. You and Julian are the only ones who seem to know."

Maybe mortals die so quickly because none of us were meant to live forever. William and I had been comforted in the cab talking about the distant past, when we lived in a world where we belonged. Maggie must have experienced the same thing. Only she had a lot more to miss than I did. I had just been Lord Julian's serving girl. Philip had turned her undead out of love.

"Do you miss him?" I asked.

She knew who I meant. "Sometimes, but not the way you think."

"Then why'd you leave? I'd never have left Wales if Julian hadn't forced me."

"I know." She turned from the mirror and looked at me. "I felt sorry for you. But… maybe you'll understand someday. Not now. You've lived a long time without really learning anything because you're so tied to William."

"I take good care of him."

"Yes, and that's all you do. That's all you've ever done."

Her words amused me. What did she know? I'd learned quite a bit since coming to America. I wielded my gift as well as anyone, including her.

"So why don't you show me a new side of life?" I smiled. "Why don't you show me this city?"

This room made me feel reckless. I wanted to roll in satin bed drapings and run my hands through thick carpets. Maggie almost smiled back. Then she got up and walked into the closet.

She came out, handing me a pair of black pumps. "You are interesting, little one. Just don't make me regret any of this."

"We should hunt," I said. Then I looked at the shoes and shook my head. "Something flat."

"Flat? With that dress? You need a heel."

Upon this point, I would not budge. "No. I won't wear anything I can't run in. Find me something flat."

She frowned and dug out a pair of lightweight, flat sandals.

"Good," I said, putting them on. "Where's your car?"

She seemed slightly put off by the question and said, "I called a cab."

"You don't have a car?"

"I don't drive."

Really? And she'd accused me of not learning enough. I let it go.

William sat by the fire in his leather chair when we walked past him toward the front door. Maggie touched his sleeve and said, "We won't be long."

Rejoicing inwardly, I knew that somehow, in some way, a very quiet little battle had been won with me as the victor. An hour ago this woman would have gladly dropped us into a pit. Now she seemed concerned for William's feelings and was letting us live in her home.

I watched her open the door and followed her out into the cold night air. Everything around us glowed with life. Looking at her, I felt careless and wild. We both wanted to watch each other and learn, to get lost in the hunt.