Blood Secrets - By Jeannie Holmes Page 0,62
to be a part of either of your memories.”
“Alex doesn’t know about the affair. I never told her.” Stephen shook his head. “She has such an idealized view of Dad. I couldn’t hurt her like that.”
Before Emily could respond, Stephen’s cell phone rang, giving her time to truly assimilate what she’d learned. Stephen knew about Bernard’s affair and that there was a pregnancy. But how much of the rest of the story did he know? Did he know about the accusations against Siobhan?
She fingered the small shamrock charm hidden beneath her blouse. What about the child? Did he know—
“That was Janet,” Stephen announced, breaking into her thoughts. “She’s getting out of class early.”
“Well, I guess you’ll want to go home and meet her, then.” Emily scooted out of the booth.
Stephen rose and handed over her purse. They wove their way through the tables, out of the restaurant, and into the cool November afternoon. As they walked through the parking lot, Emily’s thoughts returned again to her husband, his mistress, and their child.
A child born during a night of fear and blood.
A child whose true identity must remain hidden.
If certain individuals within the vampire community learned the child survived, Bernard’s murder—his sacrifice—would’ve been an exercise in futility, and Emily refused to allow his death, and her family’s pain, to ever be meaningless.
fourteen
“NOW, THAT’S JUST FUCKING CREEPY,” FREDDY HAVER said. “How can you trap a soul in a doll?”
“I don’t know.” Alex ground her fingertips into her closed eyes until sparks invaded the darkness in which she was confined. “But that’s what I saw. Once the dolls were broken, the souls within were released, and the Dollmaker was seriously pissed off.”
Varik had finally made his way into the mobile lab, and they were discussing Freddy’s and Reyes’s findings on the doll left with Mindy Johnson’s car, as well as other evidence. Morgan had thankfully gone back inside the Municipal Center.
Alex sighed and rapidly blinked her eyes. The star-bursts cleared from her vision, leaving an unending darkness in their wake. She squinted and slowly looked from side to side. The inky blackness remained unchanged.
Sandalwood and cinnamon washed over her along with the rustle of clothing as Varik shifted beside her. Are you all right? Is the pain getting worse?
His thoughts slipped easily into her mind. She frowned and once again covered her eyes with her sunglasses. Ever since she’d pursued the shadow entity into the Shadowlands, the blood-bond had been harder to seal. She was now developing a headache from attempting to keep her mental shields clamped tight enough to prevent Varik’s thoughts from trickling over into her own, and it wasn’t working.
Plus, she was still pissed at him for not telling her about his past relationship with Morgan. Not telling her about Edward she understood, but failing to mention the woman whose investigation could be the deciding factor in whether Alex lived or died—that was inexcusable. I’m fine, she replied. Just a headache.
“If he is trapping souls, why do it?” Freddy asked, drawing their attention. “What would be the point?”
“Blood substitute,” Reyes answered from across the lab. “Think about it. As vampires we don’t physically need to feed on blood to survive. It’s the residual psychic energy in the blood that we really need. If you could trap a soul, or even a portion of one, and then find a way to feed off that energy, you could theoretically sustain yourself on it and forgo the need for blood.”
“But we crave the taste of blood,” Alex countered. “It’s why Vlad’s Tears were invented, to curb our blood-hunger between feedings.”
“True,” Reyes said. “However, you’re forgetting that blood-hunger for us is similar to a human craving nicotine. It’s a form of addiction and most addictions can be broken with time, training, and practice.”
“So if the Dollmaker is trapping souls, and if he’s found a way to feed off those souls, why do it at all?” Varik asked. “Like Reyes said, blood-hunger is an addiction. Why break the addiction in favor of something as elaborate as soul trapping?”
“Maybe something happened and he can’t feed normally,” Freddy offered. “Alex, during your encounter with him, did you notice if he still had fangs or had them filed down?”
The image of the Dollmaker screaming in rage as he charged toward her and her father drifted before Alex in the black sea of her vision. “He still had fangs.” She shuddered. “I think whatever made him start trapping souls wasn’t a physical problem. I think it may be psychological.”
“What