Vampire - When Darkness Falls Part 53

Time seemed to crawl, but it was finally midnight, and she went to the chapel. Sean was there, and Jack. She, Maggie, and Shanna joined them.

She looked at Sean.

"Where's Lucian?"

"Jade, he's gone back to Scotland. He thinks he knows where the locket is. He intends to get it."

"But having the locket won't help him! He has to see that Sophia is somehow burned!" Jade exploded. "I don't believe you! He couldn't have just left! Left... me! Without saying anything, anything at all-"

"Jade, you were rather angry with him last night," Jack commented.

"But... but..." She spun on Jack. "That's just it Rick... Did you all lie to me? Where's Rick?"

"With Lucian."

"That's not funny!" Jade cried.

"It wasn't meant to be," Sean told her, smoothing back his hair impatiently. He looked to his wife for help.

Maggie shrugged.

"Jade, you told him you wanted him out of your life. It was his fault Rick was dead. And he is worried about you and your family. He knows you'll be safe from Sophia and Darian, because as soon as they realize he's gone and what he's doing, they'll go after him. And...

you're to stay with us. You and your family. Ragnor can watch over Liz where Jack failed because he was human. It was the best way for Lucian to do things, Jade." She stared at Sean, feeling helpless, furious, impotent- and afraid and ashamed. She couldn't let Lucian go alone. She had to be with him.

"I'm going to Scotland," she said.

"Jade, that's ridiculous," Maggie told her.

"You're not going," Sean said firmly.

She lowered her head. Fine. She wasn't going to argue with them.

She'd just agree with them-and then do it on her own. If they knew what she was up to, they'd have good old Ragnor guarding the door and she'd be nowhere.

"All right." She let the tears she was feeling well into her eyes. "All right. We'll all go to your place, Maggie. My family will be safe with you."

She left them in the chapel.

She walked out into the hallway, and they let her go.

She left them with her shoulders slumped, her head bowed. As soon as she was out of their line of vision, she started running down the hall to the pay phones.

Within a few minutes she was booked to London on British Airways, and then onward to Edinburgh.

Chapter Eighteen.

Jade's phone rang. Matt reached over and picked it up without thinking. "h.e.l.lo?"

"h.e.l.lo?"

"h.e.l.lo?" he repeated.

"Who's this?"

"Who's this?" he demanded.

"You tell me? Who's this on Jade MacGregor's phone?"

Matt stared at the phone, remembering where he was. "It's Matt Durante. Now who is this?"

"It's Jenny."

"Jenny?" he said blankly. "Jenny Dansen, your writing friend. Remember me, slice of life, Erma Bombeck for the new millennium?"

"Oh, Jenny, what's up?" he said with a sigh.

"You tell me. What are you doing at Jade's?"

"Long story. Um, Rick got sick-"

"And died and disappeared, so I read. I hope Renate wasn't guilty of murder, desperate to get a feasible plot line."

"Jenny!"

"Well, that's why I called. The woman is acting so weird. I called her to ask her if she knew anything about a memorial, or how Jade was doing, and a man answered her phone. And then he hung up, and I called back, and she denied that anyone else had ever answered the phone."

"Maybe you dialed the wrong number."

"Maybe-but I didn't."

"How do you know?"

"My phone keeps track of the number that was dialed. It spits out a report every so many calls. I definitely called the right number."

"Well, then, she's seeing some guy, and she doesn't want us to know."

"She's seeing some guy, and she may not want to be seeing him. Go check on her, Matt, please. She's just down the hall, since you are at Jade's. Why are you still there? Where is Jade? Why hasn't she come home?"

"She's with some friends, she's doing very well, and we're just here because-"

"We're? Who is we?"

"Danny is with me."

"Why does she need both of you in her apartment?"

"We're just here in case she needs us, Jenny. Oh, and by the way, I'm fine, thanks for asking."

Jenny sniffed. "I'm fine, too. I had a flat tire last night, and Bonnie broke her third toe. The dry cleaner lost my mother's best lace tablecloth, and a migraine is setting in. Thanks for asking."

"Bye, Jenny. I'll go check on Renate."

Danny was in the kitchen, starting coffee.

"Jenny seems to think that some guy is holding Renate hostage." Matt told him. "If Renate got lucky with some guy, she is not going to appreciate it when we barge in."

"But I guess we should go," Danny said.

They walked down the hall to Renate's, tapping on the door. She didn't answer. "Renate?" Danny pounded then. He stared at Matt.

"Renate!"

Matt started to pound on the door.

It was flung open.

Renate was there. Her hair was smoothed back, she had just showered, and she was in a terry robe, brus.h.i.+ng her hair. "What?" she demanded sharply.

"We were worried about you," Danny said.

"Oh, now you're worried about me," she snapped. She yawned.

"I'm just really, really tired. I need some more sleep."

"Renate," Matt commented, looking into her elegant apartment.

"Your iron is on, flat on that s.h.i.+rt-and it's burning. Big-time."

He strode past her into the apartment, quickly pulling the plug on the iron. He tried to lift it from the s.h.i.+rt. They were fused together.

The entire ironing board moved. "Renate, you're going to burn yourself down here!"

"Well, thank you, thank you," she said, walking over to Matt. "Now I'll thank you to get out. Out! I 'm tired. And you call that meddling busybody Jenny Dansen and tell her to mind her own business!"

She put a hand on Matt's chest and pushed him out of the room.

Danny had followed in behind him. She turned and gave him an evil glare. "I'm going, I'm going!" he said.

They were out in the hall.

The door slammed. "Well," Matt said.

"Something is up, bad," Danny said.

"Why? How do you know?"

"I went and read what she was doing on her computer."

"What was she doing?"

"Checking airline schedules."

He looked at Matt. "Jade is on a flight for Scotland leaving out of New Orleans and connecting through Shannon, Ireland, in less than two hours."

Jade made it out of the house easily; she had gotten up, showered, dressed, and bothered with nothing more than a jacket and her handbag.

Luckily she carried her pa.s.sport, and it was in good order. She checked in for her flight, then bought coffee.

And waited.

She was insane. She was going off to find a man in a cemetery where she had almost been killed a year ago.

No.

She was going off to meet a vampire in a cemetery where she had almost been killed a year ago. But she had to find him. It seemed incredibly important that he know what there was to know about the strange cat G.o.ddess so evil that they had tried to delete her from history.

She glanced at her watch, anxious to board.

Then, before they gave the call, she bit into her lip with dismay.

She'd been found. Maggie, Shanna, Sean, Jack, and all three little boys were heading toward her from across the airport.

She stood up. Before they had even reached her she started talking.

"Look, I'm going. Please, please, don't try to stop me. I'll scream. I'll pitch such a fit you won't be able to believe it. Even if you're police officers-"

"Jade," Maggie said. "It's all right."

"It's all right?"

"We realize we can't stop you. We'd like to stop you, though," Sean said.

"But maybe we shouldn't," Maggie said softly.

"I don't understand."