Maggie Shayne - Edge of Twilight

“'Fina, a word, please?” Rhiannon whispered.

Sarafina shot her a look. “There’s no need for secrecy, Rhiannon. I imagine Edge has figured out by now that you don’t trust him, and that you guard Amber Lily like your Pandora would guard a freshly downed antelope.”

Pandora? Edge sent the mental whisper to Amber, wondering if she could hear and respond.

Her pet black panther, she thought back at him.

He was impressed with her telepathic skills and not sure how to respond to the likening of Rhiannon to a predatory feline, so he said nothing at all.

Sarafina moved closer to him, studied his face. “Not that she’s overprotective, by any means. There are a lot of ruthless sons of bitches who’d give anything to get their hands on our Amber Lily.”

“And you think I might be one of them?” He tried to look shocked, glancing from her to Rhiannon to Amber. “I’m a vampire, ladies. I’m one of you.”

“You’re a vampire. Not one of us,” Rhiannon said, her voice soft, dangerous.

He held up both hands. “I didn’t come here looking for free room and board.”

Sarafina shrugged. “Still, I can’t think of a better way to keep an eye on you than to have you stay right here, with us.”

He smiled at her. “Not on your life, lady.” Then he turned to Amber. “I’m out of here, Alby. But I won’t be far.”

He started for the door, and Amber came up behind him. “Edge, you don’t have to—”

She stopped speaking when he turned around, snapped an arm around her waist, tugged her hard against him and kissed her mouth. It wasn’t a long kiss. It wasn’t meant to be. It was a message. And he thought the vampires received it loud and clear.

When he let her go, she frowned at him, almost as if she knew exactly what he was doing. Damn, she was supposed to be weak-kneed and confused. Instead she looked as sharp and nearly as mistrusting of him as the vampires were.

He said, “I’ll see you again.” Then he turned on his heel, walked into the hall, down the stairs and out of the house.

Amber closed her eyes, squared her shoulders and turned to face the two women. “Don’t even start.”

“I don’t like him,” Rhiannon said.

“He’s up to something,” Sarafina agreed.

“Of course he’s up to something.” Amber stalked down the stairs, with the two women right behind her. She headed to the kitchen, put on a kettle, dug in a cupboard for the herbal tea blend she and Willem both favored. Only then did she turn and face the women again. “Sit.”

“Amber …” Rhiannon began.

“Just sit. Sarafina, you’re going to fall down if you don’t get off your feet.” She took ‘Fina’s arm, pulled out a chair for her.

Sarafina sat down. Rhiannon didn’t. She folded her arms over her chest and speared Amber with her eyes. “Amber, he’s handsome, I’ll grant you that,” she said.

Sarafina agreed. “Devastatingly handsome.”

“Hottest man I’ve ever seen in my freakin’ life,” Amber put in.

The two looked at her, wide-eyed.

“Look, I wasn’t born yesterday, you know.”

“No. Just twenty-three years ago,” Rhiannon said. “Which really isn’t much longer than yesterday.”

“Not to you, maybe. But I’m not stupid.”

“I never said you were stupid, Amber, just. inexperienced.”

“With men, she means,” Sarafina put in.

“Not so inexperienced I can’t spot a con a mile away. God, do you think I believe any of this? He appears out of nowhere on a dark road and I don’t sense him there? He had to be shielding.” She shook her head slowly. “I’ve been mulling this over all the way out here. The only answer I can come up with is that he didn’t want me to see him before I hit him.”

Rhiannon blinked, glanced at Sarafina, then looked back at Amber.

“And that he just happened to be going to Salem? Come on, I’d have to be a dimwit to fall for that.”

“But you brought him here all the same,” Sarafina whispered.

Amber nodded, moving behind her to squeeze her shoulders. “Yes. And I’m sorry if it added any more tension to a situation that’s already unbearable, Sarafina. I didn’t want to make things worse for you.”

“Then why did you do it?” Rhiannon asked.

Amber met her eyes. “I think … I was supposed to.”

“What do you mean?”

Sighing, Amber shook her head. “No. Look, this is my deal, okay? I’m not ready to talk about it, not yet. And certainly not when there’s so much else going on.” She leaned closer to Sarafina. “Don’t burden yourself worrying about this. I can handle Edge. And don’t give up hope on Willem.”

Sarafina jerked her head around to stare into Amber’s eyes, then she turned her gaze on Rhiannon. “You’re planning something, aren’t you?”

Amber nodded.

“Amber, don’t—” Rhiannon began.

“She has a right to know.” Amber moved to the chair nearest Sarafina’s, took her hands, held her eyes. “You remember when Will saved you from Stiles and threw him from that peak into the sea?”

She nodded. “We never found his body.”

“I don’t think his body was there. Rhiannon and I—we think he survived.”

“But how …?” Then she blinked, and her eyes widened. “The experiments? You think he was successful?”

“We can’t know that for sure,” Rhiannon said.

“But we’re going to find out.” The teakettle started whistling, long and slow. Amber got up to shut it off. “The importance of our new friend Edge and his motives for coming here pale in comparison to this.”

Rhiannon sighed. “On that, I suppose I have to agree.”

Amber put a tea bag into her mug, poured the steaming water over it. “Rhiannon is taking a sample of my blood to Eric at Wind Ridge. My parents are going to meet her there. You know Eric and his science. If there’s anything to be found, he’ll find it. It’s just a matter of time.”

“Time.” Sarafina sighed, lowered her head. “That’s something we don’t have in abundance.”

“Dante and Morgan are on their way, Sarafina,” Rhiannon said. “They’re going to work from this end on tracing Frank Stiles. If he is still alive, they’ll track him down. And once we know where he is.” Rhiannon didn’t finish. She didn’t have to.

“It might not matter,” Sarafina said softly. “Even if we found some way to—to do this thing—”

God, Amber thought. She couldn’t even say it.

“I’m not sure Willem would surrender his mortality.”

Amber frowned. “Is this something you’ve discussed, then?”

She shook her head. “We try not to. He’s so determined that we live in the moment—so determined to keep me from torturing myself by thinking about the inevitable.” Lifting her eyes, she said, “Or what we thought was inevitable.”

“Then you don’t know,” Amber said. “And you won’t, not until you ask him.”

“He’s such a stubborn man.”

“Aren’t they all?” Rhiannon asked. She swallowed hard, facing Amber again. “Still, I don’t like the idea of leaving here with that Edge character lurking around.”

“I told you, I can handle Edge,” Amber said.

“We’ll watch over her,” Sarafina said. Then she bit her lip. “Though I don’t suppose that’s very comforting to you, given what happened the last time Amber was in our care.”

“Amber doesn’t need to be in anyone’s care,” Amber said.

Rhiannon sighed. “Dante and Morgan will be here soon. I suppose between the four of you …” She let her voice trail off.

Amber didn’t argue that she could take care of herself, knowing it would fall on deaf ears, anyway. How did a twenty-three-year-old tell a pair of centuries-old immortals that she was a mature adult? It was impossible. She returned to the table with her tea, sat down, sipped it and prayed for patience.