There was a cheer from the crowd gathered around the stage as the band’s guitarist addressed the audience. The noise level grew substantially as they launched into another hard rock song. It gave me a much needed second to decide how to respond. I wrestled with my head and my heart, neither in agreement.
“That’s all I think about every time I look at you,” I confessed. “It scares me to see the kind of people you’re involved with. The FPA has changed you.”
“Raoul Roberts changed me. That’s when our paths were clearly drawn. He took everything from us. I did the best I could with what I had to work with.” Her chin jutted defensively, and she visibly shut down. “We are on the same side, Alexa. We just don’t operate in the same way.”
“You’ve got that right,” I scoffed, unable to censor the bitterness. “I don’t torture innocent people, and I don’t give my loyalty to anyone who does.”
With a toss of her dark curls, Juliet stood abruptly. “I came to apologize. For everything. I’m sorry. I hope one day we’ll be able to put this behind us. You’re still my big sister. I love you.”
She was gone before I could utter a stunned response. I watched her disappear through the crowd and out the door. Mentally, I kicked myself. I was being stubborn. Not so unlike how I had been with her as a kid.
Juliet was the baby and adept at working it to her advantage; she could bat her eyelashes and get our parents to fall for anything. As kids, she would do all she could do stick it to me, yet at the end of the day, she needed me, her big sister. It was my duty to take care of her, and I’d done my best despite how often I wanted to strangle her.
The urge to go after her struck me. I denied it. I wanted nothing more than to find peace with my sister. I knew it would happen, but I just had to accept that our reconciliation wouldn’t happen tonight.
Willow waited until Juliet was long gone before sliding back onto the stool across from me. He took in my clenched fists, deep-set frown and sad eyes. He could have made a forced attempt to cheer me up or offer a word of ill-timed advice. When he did neither, my respect for him grew.
Pointing to the stack of bottles behind me he said, “So what’s the scotch like in this place?”
* * * *
February 19, 1867
It’s been more than a decade since I last visited Alice. The wicked witch didn’t look a day older than the last time we spoke. Either she ages well, or she has one hell of a deal with the devil. I’m willing to bet the latter.
She laughed when she saw me, her black eyes sparkling viciously. “Still seeking answers, vampire?” she asked, holding out her hand for money. “Come now, let us look.”
She sat me down at her table and pulled out a mirror. She placed it between us and waved a stick of incense in my face. I was annoyed by the pungent smell and impatient for her to finish with the theatrics.
“I shouldn’t have come here.” I started to rise, but she stopped me with a look.
“You went away.” She nodded knowingly. “You thought you could escape what haunts you. Where you go, it goes.”
I had spent seven years in Europe. Could she have guessed that? Doubtful. I stared at her, intrigued but wary. “Yes. I find myself seeking her face in every crowd. In every city in this world.”
Alice made me close my eyes, demanding that I focus on the scent of the horrid incense and wipe any thought from my mind. I waited, filled with skepticism. What had I been thinking in returning to the old fraud? The sudden sting of a knife jabbing the end of my finger tempted me to open my eyes as she dripped my blood onto the mirror’s shiny surface. She began to hum, a strange lilting note that continued for several minutes. Then it stopped, and the silence grew heavy.
“You will not see her face until time reveals it to you. Seek not your other half but yourself.” Alice’s voice took on a low, unnatural timbre. “Darkness taints your twin flame union. It seeks to destroy you both. It waits for her birth like a lion eager for the hunt.”
My eyes flew open. Panic seized me as her words echoed in my ears. Alice stared at me with eyes glazed in a milky white film. The atmosphere grew hot with an energy so old and powerful it hurt. Alice was no longer present. Something else spoke through her lips.
“Vampire, you are burdened by death. A burden you will share with her. As you draw closer to the purpose you share, the darkness draws closer to you. Beware. Ready yourself for that day. For what will come. For the day you kill her. You will destroy one another.”
Those words reached deep inside me, touching something sacred that I had yet to understand. I shook my head, unwilling to believe what I’d heard.
Alice waved a hand over the mirror, drawing my gaze. “Look,” she commanded.
Fog rose up from the surface of the glass, slowly dissipating. As it cleared, an image formed. I saw us as if through another’s eyes. A flash of blonde hair, the hint of a smile, the most beautiful laugh I have ever heard. She was cast in shadow. I could not see her clearly.