Heather Graham - The Keepers - Christmas in Salem

“I’m sure I’ll be fine,” June assured her, though she didn’t sound terribly convinced.

Sam turned and fled the house—and her too-vivid memories of Daniel’s return.

She was already in the historic district—Mycroft House was a federal landmark property. All she had to do was hurry down Essex Street to reach Ye Olde Tyme Shoppe, the establishment owned by her friend, Mica Templeton. Mica was a witch—a real witch, not a Wiccan. There was a world of difference. One was a state of being, while the other was a religious choice.

“Hey there,” Mica said. She had just been locking one of the cases where she kept beautiful locally crafted jewelry. “I was starting to worry that you weren’t going to show up.”

“Sorry. I’ve been running late all day. I forgot I’d promised to do a speech this morning for the Brattle Corporation board—they’re looking to open an office in Salem. They’re an internet company, and they’ll bring us a lot of great jobs, so … Well, yeah, I know, it’s Christmas Eve, but I gave the speech anyway.”

“Did you take them through the cemetery and do one of your dramatic scenes, then tell them that the poor condemned during the trials weren’t even allowed Christian burials?” Mica asked, and grinned. “Then tell them all to take care, because you never know who from history might be wandering the streets?”

“Of course not. I only do that at Halloween,” Sam told her.

“And I’m getting ready to close up for your party—where you should be already. This is pretty much it for the holiday season, but I did a lot of business.”

Mica usually did a lot of business. She carried gorgeous handmade capes and cloaks, a truly artistic line of shirts and spells, potions, herbs and other paraphernalia for the local Wiccans and tourists alike. Plus the jewelry. At Christmas she added beautiful one-of-a-kind ornaments, along with candles and garlands—and, for the local Jewish community, elegant menorahs.

“I need that CD you were making for me.”

“Oh, yes, of course. I’m sorry I couldn’t get it to you sooner.”

“It doesn’t matter. I have to stop at the grocery store on Essex, too,” Sam assured her, studying Mica as she went to get the CD.

Her friend was a very pretty woman, with bright blue eyes and pitch-black hair. She turned half of the shop into a haunted house at Halloween. Creatures came out to “attack” the shoppers, who were saved by the “witches who guarded the woods.”

Mica returned, holding on to the CD a little too tightly as she studied Sam.

“You’ve seen him , right? You know he’s back in town?”

“You mean Daniel, right?” Sam said. “Yes, I’ve seen him.”

Mica nodded. “He’s even better looking than I remembered.”

“He looks the same. He’s good-looking. So what? So are a lot of men.”

“Oh, yeah? Then why haven’t you dated any other men in the past two years?”

“Looks aren’t everything,” Sam said.

That caused Mica to laugh. “No, of course not. But Daniel is also intelligent, funny, concerned for humanity, charming… . ”

“And he left me.”

“Hmm. If I remember correctly, you told him to go.”

“Look, Mica, the International Council was forming and everything was changing. His parents were against the relationship and so were mine. Everyone frowned on Keepers seeing their charges.”

“ Sleeping with their charges, you mean,” Mica corrected.

Sam glared at her.

“You were totally in love with him. You’re still in love with him.”

“Mica …”

“And he’s still madly in love with you. I can see it. The two of you really need to cut out the noble crap. I can burn the right incense for the two of you, you know, and say all the right prayers.”

“They’d better be prayers and not love spells,” Sam warned her.

“Never,” Mica promised her. “You two don’t need a love spell.”

“And I don’t need him. We’re dealing with far more serious matters,” Sam said.

“The darkness,” Mica murmured. “Sam, there’s no reason to think a vampire is behind it. I know Dracula is referred to as the ‘Prince of Darkness,’ but that doesn’t mean anything. We both know how much novelists love to go crazy making up legends so they can sell more books. I mean, the vamps—especially the ones here in Salem—have practically been angels for years now, other than an isolated incident here or there. And those are always handled perfectly by the Keepers, of course. But—” Mica suddenly stopped speaking, looking at Sam with wide eyes.

“But what?” Sam demanded.

“Nothing.”

“Don’t you dare look at me like that and then say nothing’s wrong!”

“Well …” Mica said.

“Well, what?” Sam demanded.

“There is August Avery,” Mica said.

“What about August?” Sam asked, her eyes narrowing. August was a young vampire, a senior in college. Like many his age, he’d taken a bit of a twisted path, experimenting with drugs and causing his share of trouble around town. But none of it had been more than mischief, really, and Sam was sure he was just struggling to find himself the way kids often did.

“He was probably just being August,” Mica said.

“By?”

“Well, he was in here muttering about the fact that only vampires know what eternal darkness really means,” Mica said.

Sam stiffened. “I’m going to have to talk with him,” she said. “And, Mica—” she said, pointing a finger at her friend “—you have to tell me when someone says something like that. This darkness is real, and whatever’s causing it, it’s nothing to play around with.”

As she spoke, the little bell above the shop door tinkled. She swung around to see who’d entered.

Daniel Riverton.

“Daniel!” Mica cried happily. “I’d heard that you were back in town.”

Leave it to Mica.

“Great, just great,” Sam muttered.

And while Mica rushed forward to give Daniel a welcoming hug, Sam took the opportunity to hurriedly escape the shop.

And another encounter with the love of her life.

The love of her life who had deserted her—even if she had told him to go.

Samantha Mycroft, head high, nodded Daniel’s way as Mica rushed forward to greet him.

Sam left the shop; he heard the little bell tinkling—a toll in his heart—as she went past.

“Daniel, so good to see you. What a lovely Christmas Eve gift you are for our community,” Mica told him.

If only Sam saw it that way , he thought.

While he was here—had been sent here—because of the darkness, there had been little on his mind except for Sam.

But then, there had been little on his mind besides Sam in all the years he’d been gone.

He knew there were people who believed that love at first sight wasn’t real, that everyone had any number of potential matches in the world.

But from the moment he had seen Sam, when they had both been little children, he’d known that she was meant to be in his life. And as he’d grown, he’d known that she was the girl—and then the woman—who was what romantics called a soul mate, the one person he was meant to be with for his entire lifetime.

Life, however, had gotten in the way.

“Mica, it’s wonderful to see you,” he told her.

She drew back and looked around. “Well, um, sorry. I guess Sam moved on. She’s in a hurry today—big party at Mycroft House, of course. And it’s left to her now to make sure the tradition continues and all goes well.”

“She hates me, Mica,” he said flatly.