Crescent Moon Page 24

  I knew as well as Mandenauer did that Adam had taken out those he’d sent. But the Jager-Sucher didn’t seem angry about it. Instead, he appeared intrigued.

  “Will you give me a chance to end the curse?” Mandenauer asked.

  Adam rubbed his forehead, his hair swinging forward to cover his face as he considered the request. If the cure didn’t work, Mandenauer would most likely kill Henri, then Adam. From the looks of Mandenauer, he’d probably kill Luc and only lose a single night’s sleep.

  “All right,” Adam agreed. “I’ll give you one chance at a cure, but I won’t let you kill him. I’ll kill you first.”

  “You can try.” Mandenauer pulled out his cell phone.

  While he gave orders to someone named Elise, Adam beckoned me. “I’m going after Grandpere. I want you to take Luc out of town. In case the miracle cure doesn’t work.”

  “Or in case it’s bogus.”

  He brushed my hair off my cheek. “Great minds, cher.”

  “All right” I agreed. “But I want to know as soon as the cure is successful; then I can bring Luc home.”

  Adam lifted his chin in Mandenauer’s direction. “He’ll know.”

  “So will you.”

  “You can’t contact me until you’re certain the cure has worked, and if it hasn’t you need to disappear. If Mandenauer kills Henri, I’ll be searching for you, and I won’t be me anymore.”

  I remembered Henri’s cold eyes, his vicious words, the blood he’d spilled just for kicks. I didn’t want to see Adam like that. I’d do anything to keep his son from seeing it. Still—

  “You wouldn’t hurt Luc.”

  Sadness flickered over Adam’s face. “Wolves are very good parents, but werewolves could care less about their young. To them a child is just another midnight snack.”

  I winced.

  “Promise me.” His voice was urgent; his gaze, intense. “Promise you’ll take care of him if I can’t.”

  “Of course.”

  His eyes gentled. “Thank you.”

  Mandenauer ended his call. “My assistant is on her way. She has the cure and will meet us at your mansion in—” He glanced at his watch. “Three hours. Is that enough time for you to locate the beast?”

  “It’ll have to be.”

  Adam kissed me on the forehead, then disappeared. I touched the place where Adam’s lips had brushed. A good-bye if ever I’d felt one. I guess he wasn’t as confident as Herr Mandenauer that the cure would work.

  “I have to run some errands,” I said, and headed for the mansion.

  Mandenauer followed. I hoped he didn’t plan to stick to me like gum on a shoe until Adam came back. If he did, I’d have to take drastic measures. My eyes searched the underbrush for a great big branch or maybe a rock.

  To distract him, and because I was curious, I asked some questions. “What is this cure? A serum? A pill?”

  “No. Although Elise has invented an antidote that can restore the bitten if they are injected before the first change.”

  “Which would be handy if you were around the serum when you were attacked.”

  He shot me a speculative look. “My point exactly. Most people aren’t, and they don’t realize they’ve been infected until it’s too late.”

  “Then what do you do?”

  “That is where the cure comes in.”

  “What is it?”

  “You shall see,” he said cryptically, which only made me more nervous. “Elise has also invented a serum that will fade the bloodlust under the full moon.”

  “Did it help with the—” I wasn’t sure how to explain the soul-deep evil I’d sensed. “Henri appeared human, but he wasn’t. Not really.”

  “Lycanthropy is a virus, passed through the saliva when a werewolf bites a human. The virus destroys their humanity, leaving behind pure wickedness. What we call the demon.”

  I guess I’d been right about possession.

  “Henri wasn’t bitten,” I said. “Does he have the virus?”

  “Did he make others by biting them?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then I assume the curse created the infection. It is impossible to know without testing him.”

  “If he isn’t like the others will the cure work?”

  “Also impossible to know.”

  We reached the mansion. The police had gone. The place was deserted.

  “I’ll be back as quickly as I can,” I lied.

  Mandenauer studied me with faded yet sharp blue eyes. “It is good that you leave him. Even if the loup-garou is cured, your lover will never be normal. There are too many memories, too many secrets, too many deaths.”

  He thought I was hitting the road because I was afraid of what Adam might become, or the problems he might have adjusting to all that he’d done to protect an evil thing. Fine by me. The old man could believe anything he liked as long as he didn’t prevent me from climbing into the car and leaving him behind.

  Though I doubted Mandenauer would follow, since he didn’t want to miss Henri, I wasn’t going to take any chances, so I drove around and around the area before I headed for the mobile home. By the time I got there, noon had come and gone. I knocked on the door, and when no one answered, I tried the knob. Just like the last time, it turned in my hand.

  I stepped inside and saw the blood.

  Chapter 40

  “Luc!” I shouted, running into the house, skidding across the floor. I didn’t see a body, and I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad.

  I stopped in the doorway of Luc’s room. Definitely bad.

  Henri sat on the bed, holding Luc in his lap, his hand over the child’s mouth. From what I could tell, the blood wasn’t Luc’s, although Henri was a mess. I guess we were short another babysitter.

  Henri smirked. “I knew you would show up eventually.”

  Would Adam be able to follow his great-grandfather’s trail to this place? I had a feeling Henri wasn’t that stupid.

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  He lowered his hand from Luc’s mouth but kept his arms locked around the child’s body so he couldn’t run away. Luc’s bright, happy blue eyes were now dull and very sad. What had he seen? How long would it take him to forget?

  “This isn’t Daddy,” Luc whispered.

  “I know.”

  “Who is he?”

  I was surprised Luc didn’t know the truth, but Adam had said he kept his two lives separate. He must have used a very serious threat in order to keep Henri on a leash, so to speak.

  “I’m your grandpa.”

  I guess the threat was gone or Henri didn’t care anymore what Adam did to him. Maybe both.

  “My grandpa died.”

  “I’m a few generations removed, but I’m blood of your blood. You’ll understand better when you have a child of your own.”

  Luc’s face crinkled in confusion. “Where’s Daddy?”

  “In the swamp,” Henri said. “He has a very bad headache.”

  My eyes narrowed. “What did you do?”

  “Nothing permanent. I need him. But now I’m going to figure out if I need you.” Henri shoved the child from his lap as if he were a pesky dog. “Go in the bathroom and turn on the shower.”

  Luc ran to me and I hugged him. Henri had managed to smear blood here and there. Maybe a shower wasn’t such a bad idea. At least Luc would be out of harm’s way by a few feet.

  “He hurt Sadie,” Luc whispered. “She cried and cried and I wished she’d stop.” He swallowed. “Then she did.”

  “That’s not your fault.” I pushed him gently toward the bathroom. “Do what he says, Luc.”

  The boy stared at me with worried eyes.

  “I’ll be fine.”

  He went, dragging his feet all the way. The door closed and the shower turned on.

  “You won’t be fine,” Henri said.

  “I know.”

  A cunning expression came into his eyes. “I’ll let you go if you leave now.”

  “Me
and Luc?”

  “No. Either you or the kid dies today.”

  “Me,” I said automatically.

  He tilted his head the same way Adam did. The similarity made me nauseous. “Why so hasty? He isn’t even yours.”

  “Doesn’t matter.”

  “I suppose it doesn’t, but did you ever wonder why?”

  “What?”

  I was having a hard time focusing, trying to listen to Luc, to think of a plan, to pray that Adam wasn’t dead and was already on the way.

  “Ever wonder why you fell so hard and so fast for Adam and his son?”

  “Who said I fell? Normal human beings don’t sell out others just because they can; they don’t sacrifice children to save themselves.”

  “You’re wrong,” he said. “Most people aren’t exactly human and without exception they pick themselves over strangers, even lovers and children.”

  “I don’t believe you.”

  “What I can’t believe is that you’re one of the few to be self-sacrificing, and now I understand why. Ever seen one of these?” He held up a gris-gris.

  My hand went to my pocket. Mine were still there. “A few.”

  “I found this one under the boy’s pillow. It’s a love charm.”

  I had been under a spell. I no longer cared.

  The sound of a match being struck made me jump. Henri held the flame to the bag, and when it went up as if drenched in lighter fluid, he dropped the gris-gris to the floor and stomped on it.

  “How you feel now about the boys now?” he asked.

  I thought a minute, then couldn’t help but smile. “Exactly the same.”

  Henri frowned. “That’s impossible.”

  “Guess you were wrong about the magic. We got true love.”

  “Adam doesn’t love you,” he said. “He’s as incapable of it as I am.”

  He might be right, but I wasn’t going to admit that. I shrugged and his face darkened.

  “We’ll find out soon enough. He’ll have to choose, too. You or his son.”

  A hysterical bubble of laughter spilled from my lips. “You’re a moron.”

  Fury washed over his face. He moved so fast I didn’t even see him coming. His hand at my throat he slammed me against the wall. I saw stars.

  “Watch your mouth,” he said.

  Since I couldn’t talk, that wasn’t going to be a problem.

  “I like to make people choose. I smell their fear, the sweet aroma of despair. I swear it makes me stronger.” He put his nose to my neck, inhaling deeply. “Mmm. Like that.”

  I toyed with the notion of bringing my knee up, hard, but I had a feeling he wouldn’t react like a regular man.

  Until Adam, or even Mandenauer, got here, I needed to keep Henri away from Luc.

  Henri licked my neck. I fought the gagging reflex. “Tallient, despite his holier-than-thou attitude, chose himself over his family without a quibble.”

  Was that why Frank had become so obsessed? Grief and guilt did funny things to a person’s mind. I should know.

  “We have time before Adam comes, and I want to discover if screwing a moon goddess will give me any power over the moon.”

  “I don’t have any magic. My name is just a name.”

  “Then you’re dead.” He laughed. “But that was my plan anyway. I just want to make sure.”

  He ground his erection against me; then he yanked off his shirt. He looked so much like Adam, my eyes burned. After this, would I ever be able to be with Adam again without remembering Henri?

  I’d be dead soon; the worry was moot. One less thing.

  Henri fisted his hand in my shirt and tore it down the middle. His body was so close to mine, he didn’t see the fleur-de-lis chain, but he certainly felt it when the silver touched him.

  I heard the hiss, smelled flesh burning, even as he howled and spun away.

  My gaze lowered to his stomach, where the image of a dozen tiny French crosses had been scalded into his skin. I’d be able to tell them apart after all.

  “What the hell?” he shouted. “Where you get that?”

  “Adam.”

  “Someone will pay.” He turned toward the bathroom.

  I vaulted after him, grabbed his arm. “No. Come on, let’s, uh, do it.”

  He shook me off as if I weighed no more than a fly, and I stumbled. Before I could regain my balance, he’d opened the bathroom door. A roar of fury made my ears ring.

  Luc was gone.

  Henri backhanded me. I flew across the room, crumbling in a heap near the bed.

  “Where did he go? How did he get out?”

  There were no windows in that room. My only thought was a trapdoor somewhere. No wonder the child hadn’t fought against going into the bathroom. Clever, clever boy.

  I shook my head as Henri advanced, and stopped midmovement when my ears began to ring again. He’d hit me pretty hard.

  He pulled me to my feet by the hair. Damn, that hurt. But not as much as when he wrapped his hands around my throat. I choked, clawed at his fingers, saw black dots. But my life didn’t pass before my eyes. Only Adam’s face, and then I heard his voice. “Let her go, Grandpere. Now.”

  The weight on my chest lightened. I could breathe just a little.

  “What will you do?” Henri murmured. “I wonder.”

  I tried to speak, to tell Adam he didn’t have to choose, but my voice was gone.

  “He will do nothing.”

  Mandenauer’s voice. How many people were in this cavalry?

  “It would make my day, as they say, to blow you back to hell. Let her go.”

  I was falling and someone caught me. Before I opened my eyes I knew it was Adam. I recognized the gentleness of his touch, the strength in his arms.

  “You okay?”

  I nodded, wincing at the pain in my throat “Luc—”

  “He’s fine. Used an escape hatch under the sink.” Adam lifted one shoulder. “Can’t trust a beast to follow the rules forever.”

  He’d always known Henri would come one day.

  “Where’s is he?” I asked.

  “We ran into him coming up the road. He wanted to rescue you with guns blazing, but I convinced him to wait for us next door.”

  Soothed by the knowledge that Luc was fine, I managed to force back the dizziness. Cassandra waited in the hall with a willowy blonde, who wore hot pink shorts and an electric blue tank top. Talk about bright. I was dizzy again.

  Henri sat on the bed, Mandenauer's pistol stuffed in his ear. Why hadn’t I thought of that?

  “How?” The word dissolved into coughing, so I just pointed at Cassandra.

  “I got worried when I didn’t hear from you. Came to the mansion just as Adam stumbled in.”

  “Grandpere was insane with the idea I’d sold him out.” Adam couldn’t stop touching me. I sat on the floor, still a little woozy, and he knelt at my side, holding my hand.

  “Insaner, you mean?”

  “If that’s possible. He knocked me out.” Adam’s mouth tightened. “When I came around, I knew he’d gone after what mattered to me most.”

  “Luc.”

  “And you.”

  I blinked. But now was not the time to examine his sudden change of heart.

  “Why is he so obsessed with Diana?” Cassandra asked. She didn’t know about the goddess-of-the-moon part of the curse, so I told her.

  “That bears looking into.”

  “I’m not magic,” I protested.

  “We’ll see.”

  “She’ll leave,” Henri blurted. “They always do. Your wife couldn’t bear it. The woman had no guts. Or at least she didn’t when I was through with her.”

  Shock spread over Adam’s face. He hadn’t been lying when he’d said she’d left and never come back. He just hadn’t known she was dead.

  My shirt hung in two pieces, and I tied them together under my breasts, which was the best I could do. With Adam’s help, I got to my feet. “Fix him,” I said, voice hoarse.

&nb
sp; Henri scowled. “I don’t want to be fixed.”

  “They never do.” Mandenauer nodded to the woman. Henri reared up from the bed, and Adam left me to shove him back down. He hovered over his grandfather nose to nose. The resemblance was downright creepy.

  “You like so much the choice, here’s yours. Be cured or die.”

  Henri’s top lip curled back. “I choose to die.”

  He banged his hands against Adam’s chest Adam flew into a nearby wall and slid to the floor. Henri ducked as the old man fired, and the bullet plowed into the bed.

  Adam scrambled up, but Henri was already streaking toward the door. The blonde stood in his way. I tensed in expectation of her flying through the air next. Instead, she slammed the palm of one hand against his forehead.

  Henri jerked as if in pain. “You’re like me.”

  “Not really,” she said, and her eyes closed.

  Henri appeared frozen. Adam, Cassandra, and I gathered closer to watch.

  “What’s she doing?” I asked.

  “Magic.” Mandenauer didn’t appear happy about it.

  “Cool,” Cassandra said. “What kind?”

  “I have no idea. According to a dead old native woman, Elise has been blessed, though I cannot see it.”

  “She’s your werewolf cure?” Adam asked.

  “Ja.”

  “And she’s a werewolf.”

  “Ja.”

  “But you haven’t killed her.”

  “She is different.”

  “How?”

  “No demon,” he said simply.

  “That would be handy,” Cassandra murmured.

  Mandenauer shot her a suspicious glare, but she just smiled.

  A thud drew our attention to Henri and Elise. He lay on the floor, twitching. She stared at him, uncertain, one hand fiddling with a tiny white wolf icon she wore around her neck; then slowly she turned up her palm to reveal a tattoo in the shape of a pentagram.

  “What’s with that?” I asked.

  Elise blinked as if she’d forgotten we were there. “I received it in the Land of Souls.”

  I glanced at Cassandra, who shrugged. “Not a voodoo land.”

  “Ojibwe,” Elise said. “Another time, another place, different werewolves.”

  “I thought a pentagram was protection against a werewolf,” I said. “Although from what I’ve heard, it doesn’t work.”