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 Really? I had no idea.
Sandy nodded.  Edgar had only one daughter I knew of, and she
was a few years older than me.
Briana ran a quick calculation in her head. Sandy was almost 70
years old, making Edgar s mystery daughter a bit old to have had
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54 Cassandra Pierce
children the age of Sebastian and Ruby. Unconventional, but not
impossible.
 Well, she probably married at a late age. Look how long Edgar
lived, and how many wives he had.
 I doubt she had any children. She disappeared, you see. Right
after her first year of college.
 Disappeared?
 Ayuh. High and mighty little thing, she was. Spoiled rotten,
though I blame Edgar and his wife for that more than I blame her.
 You knew her personally?
 Heavens, no. A servant s girl didn t travel in her circle. She
didn t go to the village school either. Edgar sent her to some fancy
girl s academy in Boston, and then she went off to college. In the
summer, she d go off to Europe and shop. One day she left with some
of her friends and didn t come back. Edgar never saw or heard from
her again. Losing her almost killed him. My mother said he was never
right after that.
Briana gaped.  Her friends didn t know what happened to her?
 So they said. Not everyone believed them.
 But no one found proof she died either. Could there have been a
man? Someone she knew her father wouldn t approve of?
 I suppose. She always was a wild thing. Or so people said
anyway.
Briana digested this information as she helped Sandy fold the
linens.  People covered things up in those days like an illegitimate
baby. Maybe that s the story behind this current generation. They
might not even know the truth themselves.
 Might be. Then again, Edgar was married so many times that he
might have had a son and just never mentioned him. These two carry
the Morgan name after all.
 I guess that would explain a lot.
Todd showed up a few minutes later, strolling down the path that
connected their house to The Dunes. He carried his big metal toolbox,
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Heirs to Darkisle 55
which Briana hadn t seen in a while.  Just on my way to take a look
at Ami s shower, he said, stepping into the office.
 Make sure that s all you look at, Briana reminded him. Sandy s
expression broadcast her disapproval, though she said nothing. They
went on folding in silence.
A few minutes later, Todd returned.  Ami s going to drive me up
to the hardware place for some new fixtures. We ll be back soon.
 Todd 
 Fixtures, Bri. Fixtures. I may as well grab a few things for
Morgan House, too. His cheeks reddened a bit.  I& uh& I m going
to need some cash.
Briana sighed.  I figured as much. Taking a key ring off its hook
on the wall, she went into the office and unlocked the bottom desk
drawer. She extracted three rumpled twenty-dollar bills from the petty
cash tin.
As she carried the cash back to the lobby, one of the college boys
wandered in.
 We wondered if you had some ice, he said.
 Go back out, take a left. Machine s right outside the laundry
room.
 Thanks. The young man ducked out again.
 I can imagine what the ice is for, Sandy grumbled.  I don t want
to see the condition of that room when they get finished.
Briana handed the money to Todd.
 Get a few packs of light bulbs, too, would you? Never too soon
to start fixing the place up. The tourists will be here before you know
it.
Through the glass door, Briana spotted Ami, fully dressed for
travel, coming up the walkway. She didn t come into the office but
waited outside for Todd. He stuffed the money in his jeans and
hurried out to her, grinning.
Briana saw nothing more of Ami, her brother, or the college
students for the rest of the afternoon.
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56 Cassandra Pierce
* * * *
Sebastian spent his first waking moments out in the salt-laden
night air standing motionless behind the eroded railing with his head
tilted back, eyes half-closed, and arms stretched out at his sides. He
had wasted no time in claiming the room with the small stone terrace
as his own. Now that he had chased away the trespassers and replaced
the tawdry furnishings he could finally enjoy his private sanctuary.
Slowly, the strong rays of the moon penetrated his cold flesh and
invigorated his muscles. The caress of the night air moved over him
with the nurturing grace of soft fingertips. His body opened to the
shadowed world around him like a night-blooming flower.
He supposed the closest thing to this tranquil ritual was what
humans called sunbathing something unknown during his own
mortal days. Sometimes he regretted that, especially when he viewed
photographs of nearly or fully! naked women stretched out on
bone-white sand or floating carelessly in water, their flesh sparkling
under a brilliant sun. Still, the night held sensual pleasures aplenty
and all without the pain of burns or the chafing of sweat.
He shifted comfortably as blue light spilled over his bare chest,
warming the ridges and hollows. How strange to be back in this
house, back on this familiar slab of weather-beaten stone. Amused,
Sebastian envisioned his parents horrified reaction if they saw him
now, their treasured heir, his modesty preserved by nothing but a bed
sheet around his waist.
Not that they could imagine such a spectacle: both had now been
dead for well over a hundred years, and to them the concept of a
vampire, if they had ever heard the term at all, belonged to the world
of their servants lurid dime novels.
Sebastian s intimate knowledge of the moon s positions told him
when to quit. Now came the part of the evening ritual he hated.
Gliding back into the room, he dropped the sheet, retrieved his
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Heirs to Darkisle 57
dressing gown from a peg by the door, and pulled it on while he
padded downstairs. As he d expected, Ruby waited for him at the
dining room table. His syringe rested on a folded linen napkin, which
in turn lay on an ornately engraved silver tray that had once been his
mother s. How disconcerting to see all these familiar objects again,
but in so different a context.
 Ugh. Ruby wrinkled her nose as Sebastian settled himself into a
chair, picked up the needle, and fitted the point to the tender flesh
inside his wrist.  As many times as I ve watched you do that, I can t
get used to it. How can you stand putting that sludge into yourself?
Sebastian pushed the plunger, filling his dry veins with the special
nutrients that would relieve him of the need for blood for another
night. The pain snaking through his body was temporary; he d learned
not to wince. Ruby averted her gaze.
 When you reach my age, you ll realize that small discomforts are
worth the greater conveniences.
 I don t consider my hunger an inconvenience. I find it exciting. It
motivates me.
 It will become an inconvenience if you don t learn to be
discreet. He put the empty syringe aside and pressed the bloodless
hole on his wrist with his thumb, forcing the chemicals into his body.
 Anyway, I never said the drug took the hunger away.
Ruby clicked her tongue in disgust. She continued to pace.  I [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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