Blood Memories

Stay away! I'm not alone.

Philip regained composure and snarled, then bolted for the door. I darted in front of it, blocking his exit. "Wait. Just listen to me."

"That's your little pet, isn't it? You've been lying! He's completely psychic, isn't he?"

"Not like it seems."

"That black-haired cop was psychometric, eh? And I believed you. You've been telling this little friend of yours all about us, haven't you?"

"No, and I didn't lie. But if you had known Wade could read minds, you would have killed him that first night."

"Of course! As you should have!"

"He helped me. Just meet him. Just talk to him."

"You aren't serious."

"Please don't hurt him. He aimed a gun at his partner for me."

"Well, isn't that what you do? Get weak-minded men to slay dragons for you?"

Cold, cruel, and inhuman, Philip's eyes flashed rage at me. He possessed so many different sides. Could I ever keep up? This was a worst-case scenario, defending one person who mattered from another person who mattered.

Someone knocked.

My legs froze. "Wade, is that you?"

"Open the door."

Philip brushed past me, jerked the door open, and grasped Wade's throat. This was too much.

"Philip, I fed you last night!"

He stopped, hand now up in Wade's white-blond hair.

"Don't do it," I said. "Just let him in. For me."

He stepped back slowly, as though with great effort. I knew the only thing holding him back was his strange desire that I remain in his company. The room felt small with all three of us standing in it.

A wave of anger swept through me. What did Wade think he was doing?

"You ditched me without a word," he spat.

Incredible. With a blood-crazed six-foot vampire standing right next to him, he wanted to argue about forgotten good-byes?

"Is that what you're here for?" I asked. "An explanation?"

"To start, yes."

"After everything I've done to try and save you? Who was stupid enough to give you a PhD?"

Our familiarity disconcerted Philip. Unlike Maggie, he'd probably never spent more than a few hours with any one mortal. "Your partner's dead," he snapped. "Staked through the heart. Quite poetic."

Wade didn't even flinch. "I know. I just buried him."

"Where?" Philip asked.

"In Maggie's backyard, behind the trees. I buried his gun, too, and I washed the living room floor. Then I moved his car four miles away."

"What possible reason could you have?"

"Eleisha."

I flinched. I had no response to Wade's actions. My instinct had been to leave the body on Maggie's floor and let the police try to figure out what happened after we left the country. Maybe Wade was right to bury the evidence? It also occurred to me that Wade himself would certainly be picked up for questioning… and I had not thought of that before. So was he working to save himself or me?

Looking up at his face… I believed he was protecting me.

But no one asked for his help. No one asked him to hang around and clean up my mess. And it must have hurt to see Dominick like that. Nevertheless, he'd done it, and now he was standing up to Philip-not an easy feat.

"If you've been at the house burying Dominick all this time," I asked, "how did you find us just now?"

He hesitated. "How much does golden boy know?"

That struck me as half humorous, half dangerous. "His name is Philip, and I wish he knew you a lot better than he does."

Philip's eyes softened, some of the cruelty fading. "This won't work, little one. He has to die. You know that."

"No, he doesn't. Just sit down on the couch, both of you." I was desperate. "Wade, let him read your past, what Dom used to be like. Show him how, like you showed me."

Both of them jumped slightly, stunned speechless. I looked to Wade. "Burying Dominick means nothing. No one asked you to do that. But do this for me. Please, do this thing for me."

Without a word, he walked to the couch. I almost sagged in relief.

But instead, I whirled back around. "Philip, it's easy. You don't have to touch him. Just sit down and look inside his head."

"No," he said harshly. "You kill him, or I will."

"Just look at his thoughts!"

"Why?"

"Because if you do, I won't care what happens next. If you do this for me, I'll let you tear his throat out and not blame or hate you."

He tensed, staring down at me uncertainly. I'd just offered him the one thing he wanted.

This was a bet, a gambit on my part. If some higher power had let me choose any two companions in the world, I must admit my choices would have been Edward and Maggie. But they were gone. Mourning or missing them didn't help. Somehow I thought if Philip became psychically involved with Wade-and vice versa-the two of them might be okay together, not friends exactly, but not enemies.

Besides, Philip needed a glimpse of humanity. He had long since stopped thinking of mortals as sentient beings, viewing them as little more than toys in his personal playground.

"You ask too much," he said quietly, "more than you know."