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Our prayer for the dead. We’d had to say it far more than we ever wanted to the past year. But now Sassy was with her ancestors, and, hopeful y, her daughter, whom she’d mourned al these years. Tears slid down my cheeks, and I dashed them away. The Sassy I knew would have handed me one of her crimson handkerchiefs to dry my eyes and not make a mess on my clothing. The Sassy I knew would have. . .
“Thank you, Menol y . . .” The voice trailed on the wind as it crossed past me. I whirled to find myself facing a faint figure, translucent against the snow.
“What . . . Sassy?” She was there, large as life, but pale and misty. I noticed that her hair was a bril iant blond, and she looked younger. A little girl stood by her side, holding her hand, and on the girl’s other side, Janet—as a young woman, vibrant and smiling. The child had Sassy’s nose and eyes.
“Oh, Sassy . . . you found them both.”
Sassy tilted her head to the side. “Thank you,” she said again, her voice a whisper on the breeze. “I can go now. I can leave. And look—” She opened her mouth to smile. No fangs. The vampire within her was gone, destroyed by death.
Smiling through my tears, I pushed to my feet and raised my fingers to my lips, blowing her a kiss. She caught it, then slowly turned and, hand in hand with Janet and her little girl, walked away, vanishing into oblivion. Where she’d been standing lay a neatly folded linen handkerchief, crimson red, with a bloodred rose across it.
I picked both up, pressing the handkerchief to my lips. “I’m sorry,” I whispered, and tucked it in my pocket.
I silently returned to the house and tidied up, tossing the broken furniture. Then, flipping through the address book on her writing desk, I looked up the name of her lawyer. He knew she was a vampire, and—like most of us who kept property—she’d provided for the possibility of her being staked.
I put in a quick cal to him, fil ed him in on the circumstances, and asked him to see that Janet was given a decent burial, and if he would cal me when it was scheduled. It wasn’t against the law for a vampire to kil another vampire, so I had nothing to worry about concerning Sassy’s death.
Her name would be stricken from the vampire rosters the government kept, if she had registered, and that would be that.>I didn’t ask, just fol owed her up the stairs to the second floor, where she led me into a large bedroom. There, in a cushioned bed under a flowered comforter, rested Janet. Her eyes were wandering, but when she saw me she startled and tried to sit up.
Glancing at Sassy, I mouthed, The tumor?
Sassy nodded, then, pressing her hand to her mouth, left the room. I turned back to Janet.
Inoperable, the brain tumor had been diagnosed six months ago. Erin was right. Time had final y caught up with Janet and was rapidly running out.
Gently, I sat on the side of the bed and took one of Janet’s hands. “Hey, Janet . . . so . . .”
She focused on me, though I could tel it was taking her some work to do so. “Miss Menol y. I’m sorry I couldn’t be downstairs to greet you . . .”
“Hush.” I patted her hand. “Don’t worry about that. Erin told me you were sick.” As I sought for something comforting to say, Janet clutched my fingers.
“Promise me something . . .”
“If I can, of course. What is it?”
She held tight to my hand and in a fevered plea, she begged, “Don’t let her turn me. She’s been in here the past few nights, talking about bringing me over. I don’t want that. I’m an old, sick woman and I’ve lived a good life. I don’t want to become . . .” Her voice trailed off and she winced.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be one of you.”
I let out a smal laugh. “Oh, Janet—I didn’t want to be a vampire, either. I don’t think many of us choose the life. But yes, I promise you—I won’t let her turn you. You say she’s been talking about it?”
“Too much. She always promised me she wouldn’t, but Miss Menol y, Miss Sassy’s not herself.
I’m afraid of her now. I don’t want to die in fear.” Janet was weeping, and I noticed one eye dilated larger than the other. The tumor real y had caught up to her.
“Did you drink any of her blood?”
“No,” Janet said. “She offered, but I refused.”
“Then you wil go to your ancestors unharmed. Rest, now. I’m here to make things better. I can’t save you, Janet, but I’l save you from becoming one of the undead. And I’l make sure Sassy’s taken care of. I promised her six months ago that I would. And now . . . I’ve come to fulfil that promise.”
As she slowly let go of my hand, Janet shuddered. “Thank you. You’re one of the good ones, Miss Menol y. You’re one of the rare ones.” And then she let out a long breath, shuddered, and her head fel to the side. I closed her eyes, gently, and examined her for bite marks to make sure Sassy hadn’t already started the process. I was furious when I found numerous punctures—al fresh—on Janet’s chest and wrists, but if she hadn’t drunk Sassy’s blood, she wouldn’t turn into a vampire.
“Poor woman, you were betrayed in the end by the one you cared for al of your life. Sassy, how could you . . .” Whispering, I rearranged Janet’s covers and pul ed out a couple coins from my pocket, laying them on her eyes, and then kissed her forehead. “For the boatman. Easy journeys, Janet. Go to your ancestors and be at peace.”
As I left the room, I glanced back at Janet’s body one last time. Another reason why I had to complete my promise. Another sign that Sassy Branson had freed her inner predator and was losing al sense of reason. She’d loved Janet, had promised time and again she’d never sire another vampire, and yet Janet bore the scars of Sassy’s fangs. Yet, she had not given in. In the face of death, she’d chosen to sleep. As I headed down the stairs, I steeled myself for the coming battle.
CHAPTER 10
