Heather Graham - Keeper of the Dawn

He shook his head slowly, looking at her. “Brigitte, I can’t. You were instrumental in multiple deaths, and you risked the very existence of the Other community. You will have to pay a price. Most of all, you have to take responsibility for what you’ve done. You should be grateful that you’re alive right now. You might have died, too.”

Brigitte didn’t say anything, and Alan turned away from her and looked at Mark. “Will Charlaine and I be safe if we go home? I fear that whoever—and whatever—this priest is, he’ll figure out that Brigitte has cracked. And what if he knows that we gave permission for you to dig up Sebastian and throw his ashes into the sea?” He turned back to Brigitte. “Did you tell him?”

“I—yes,” she admitted.

Alessande walked over to her. “Where did you meet with him, Brigitte? And how often?”

“I don’t know how often. Five times, maybe six. I went to the church—to the back. There’s a huge oak. I perched there as a hawk, and when the priest came, I transformed quickly and told him what I knew. I don’t know how he knew I was there, but somehow he always did.”

“And you’ve never seen his face?” Alessande demanded.

Brigitte shook her head. Tears were sliding from her eyes. “No. He always wore the gold mask, along with the cape and cowl. And each time I talked to him...”

“Go on,” Alan said. “Each time you talked to him—what?”

“I was promised that we’d be royalty—Hildegard royalty—in the new order. That when Sebastian rose, he would rule the world.”

Alan turned without a word and walked toward the door.

“Don’t leave me!” Brigitte cried. “Please, Alan, don’t turn away from me.”

Alan looked at Mark, then back at his sister. “You’ll be safe here, Brigitte. You’ve been lucky to be captured by Others, held by Keepers, not the human law. Thank your lucky stars that you survived—and that you just might have a chance at having a life again.”

Ignoring her wailing, he walked out. Mark followed and caught up to him at the bottom of the stairs.

“What do I do now?” Alan asked. “I don’t believe that Charlaine and I are safe.”

Brodie joined them, firmly shutting the door to the sealed room. “He’s right, Mark. They won’t be safe. They’re going to have to hunker down here. They can sleep over at Pandora’s Box. You and Alessande can stay at Castle House with Sailor and Declan, and Rhiannon and I will stay here, guarding our captive with Barrie and Mick.”

Mark figured there was no reason not to speak plainly in front of Alan Hildegard. “What if this is all a ruse? We’ll have our enemies right here in the compound.”

“We have Wizard and Jonquil,” Brodie said. “And other...forms of security.”

Mark realized that Brodie was referring to Merlin, who could easily keep an eye on the Hildegards—and report anything suspicious.

“That’s fine,” Mark said. “But work or no work, we need everyone back here now. We know where to look for the priest who seems to be the head of the cult, so now we have to find him before he realizes we know more about what’s going on.”

“Mark.”

He turned around and saw that Alessande was standing there.

“I know exactly what we should do to stop this—and stop this now.”

“What?” he asked.

“Plan a wedding.”

Alessande was as surprised as anyone else by what she’d said—not to mention that she had meant it. Well, actually, she’d meant it as a sham, but when Mark had looked at her, she realized that in fact she had really meant it. And when he smiled, she knew that he meant it, too.

Mark started to laugh. She knew that Brodie and Alan were looking at the two of them as if they’d gone mad. And then, to her amazement, Mark suddenly fell to his knees and took her hand. “Alessande, I’ve never really had a chance to say this, and I’m not particularly good with flowery words—”

“You’re a vampire,” she told him, her lips twitching in a smile. “It’s all in the eyes.”

“True, but right now I think it’s appropriate to speak, as well. I love you. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you do me the supreme honor of becoming my wife?”

There was nothing to do but join him down there on the floor and whisper yes as he kissed her hand.

“Are they crazy?” she heard Alan ask Brodie.

“Crazy in love, I guess,” Brodie said.

“But...what does this have to do with...what we’re facing?” Alan asked.

“I’m sure it’s a long story,” Brodie said.

“It is,” Mark said. “And we’ll tell it as soon as everyone’s here.”

“Just trust me when I say that this wedding might well be a catalyst in solving this case,” Alessande added.

* * *

Later that night, with Declan standing watch over Brigitte and Merlin keeping an eye on Charlaine and Alan at Pandora’s Box, the rest of the group gathered in the Castle House dining room, where Mark and Alessande explained about the dream and everything that they felt for each other.

In the middle of their conversation, Mark received a call from Bryce Edwards. He excused himself and went into the next room to talk. When he returned, he told them, “Well, our forensic accounting unit made some intriguing discoveries. Blue Dove Entertainment is—as we believed—legitimate. The owners are hardworking and honest. However, their last movie out— The Devil Takes London— ”

“I saw it—it was wonderful,” Sailor said.

“Have to admit—I loved it, too,” Rhiannon said.

“We’re digressing here,” Brodie cut in. “What about the movie, Mark?”

“It was a critical hit, and the general consensus is that everyone involved will be up for all kinds of honors come awards season, but it was expensive to make and Blue Dove is still struggling to get out of the red. It’s a situation that should be rectified once DVD sales, cable rights and all the rest are in, but in the meantime, the studio was very wary of making another investment that big.”

“Okay, but isn’t that why one of Alan Hildegard’s companies-within-his-company got involved?” Alessande asked.

“Yes, but it turns out there’s another company providing some of the financing, too. Gnome Entertainment,” Mark said.

“Gnome Entertainment? So should we be talking to the gnomes?” Alessande asked.

“Too obvious, don’t you think?” Rhiannon said.

“So what did the forensic accountants discover about this Gnome Entertainment?” Brodie asked.

“They’re on it—they’ll let us know as soon as they find out anything,” Mark said. “Meantime, I’m going back to see Father Lars Gunderson in the morning. We need to hold this wedding as quickly as possible, and with St. Ann’s involvement in our dreams as well as Brigitte’s mystery priest—and I fervently hope Father Lars is not our man—it’s crucial that we have the ceremony there.”

“Mark, you just can’t plan a wedding that quickly,” Barrie said. “I mean, not if you want people to come. And if you expect to the get the church and the reception venue and—” She got a look of dawning understanding and broke off. “Mick and I will make sure that it gets into the paper as soon as you have Father Gunderson on board.”

“In that case, I don’t think we’re going to have a problem with our guest list. I think they’ll all arrive right on time,” Mark said.

“You guys are crazy,” Rhiannon said.

Alessande smiled at her. “We know.”

* * *

That night, when they went upstairs to bed, Alessande threw herself into Mark’s arms. “I love you,” she said in a rush. “How is that possible? How did it happen so quickly? How can I be so sure that I never want to live without you again?”