“Are you beginning to see why I wanted a car?” Dominic asked as Leesa drove west through the darkness, toward the Connecticut River and home. They had decided that whenever the two of them rode together Leesa would do the driving, because she was the one with the license in case they were stopped for any reason.
“So I could go kiss Rave and you could drink mead?” Leesa joked, though she was pretty clear about what Dominic meant.
Dominic laughed. “Those are both very nice bonuses, I have to admit.” The wizard had enjoyed a third mug of mead after he had sensed Josef’s magic, while the four of them talked more about what it might mean.
“I understand it’s not smart for you to be around me all time,” Leesa said. “And that the car makes it easier for you put distance between us.”
“Exactly. And after what happened tonight, I have another idea for it as well.”
Leesa took a
Leesa did not get her wish.Her dream started out fine. She was with Rave, standing arm in arm in one of their favorite spots: a rocky ledge overlooking the Moodus River, not too far from the Maston settlement. Everything was covered in a blanket of clean white snow, including the frozen surface of the river. Not a sound broke the stillness…“I love it up here,” she said, snuggling against Rave to soak up his warmth. “It’s so beautiful. And so peaceful.”“I love being anywhere with you,” Rave replied softly. He bent his head and moved his mouth toward Leesa’s.Leesa knew she should be concerned—Rave was about to kiss her with no alarm set to signal an end their kiss and no one watching to pull them apart—but she wasn’t. All she could think about as his lips moved closer was how handsome he was, how beautiful his deep brown eyes were. She heard herself sigh, and then his
Later that afternoon when Leesa was finished with her classes—finished for the week, since she had no classes on Friday—Dominic came by to work with her. He had no sooner closed the door behind him than she began telling him about her dream and how she had used the technique he had taught her to calm herself and go back to sleep.“I know it wasn’t one of my special dreams,” she said, “but it was plenty disturbing anyway. I hate envisioning that horrible Necromancer. He’s so totally gross and disgusting. Scary, too. But the everywhere/nowhere thing worked great. I don’t even remember falling back to sleep. And when I woke up this morning, I felt great.”Dominic smiled. “It sounds like you are getting pretty good at it. I think perhaps it’s time we moved on to the next step.”“Cool.” Leesa was more than ready to try something new, especially after last night’s success. &ldquo
That same evening, Jarubu and Melissa reached the outskirts of the Hartford area. They had fed the night before, up near Springfield, but they were both feeling hungry again. Jarubu had noticed he felt stronger and more powerful since drinking Josef’s foul blood. His thirst also seemed to have grown more powerful than normal.The farther south they went, the deeper the snow had become. In southern Vermont and Massachusetts, it had finally become deep enough to be an obstacle even for a vampire. They had been forced to leave the cover of the woods and travel in the open along the shoulders of the roadways, which slowed their pace considerably. Whenever there were no cars or buildings in sight, they moved at vampire speed, but when there was any chance they could be seen, they slowed to a walk.Melissa possessed some slight familiarity with Connecticut. She had lived here with her husband more than one hundred and fifty years ago. He had gone off to fight with a Co
Saturday morning, Dominic did not take off his jacket when he entered Leesa’s room. Instead, he told her to grab her coat.“We’re going for a ride,” he said.“Where to?” Leesa asked as she pulled her parka from its hook in the closet.“West,” Dominic replied. “We are going to try something new today, so I think it’s a good idea to do it far away from here.”Leesa wondered what Dominic had planned for her. They had spent a few hours yesterday refining her everywhere/nowhere technique and she was becoming pretty good at it. Near the end of her session she even managed to complete the technique while looking Dominic in the eye, which was a major breakthrough. She still hadn’t been able to do it staring at her reflection in the mirror, though. She was pretty sure that was going to require a lot more work, and a bit more self-esteem, too.Heading down the stairs, Do
“That’s why I call it everywhere/nowhere,” Leesa told him, smiling. “It wasn’t easy to do with you holding me like that, believe me.”“Well done, Leesa,” Dominic said. “You’ve come far in just one week. I think it’s time we moved on to something new.”“Before we do, I have a question. I love the breathing thing. It totally relaxes me and really gets me ready to concentrate. But it takes such a long time to do. What if I ever have to use magic quickly? Surely you don’t go through that every time you use magic, do you?”“No, of course not,” Dominic assured her. “And neither will you. That’s one of the things I want to you start working on. You can practice it on your own, so we don’t have to work on it now. I want you to choose a trigger word—something simple, like ‘breathe.’ Repeat it three times every time before you start cou
Sunday morning, Leesa walked over to her mom and brother’s apartment. The almost three mile jaunt was the perfect amount of exercise, especially with the brunch her mom was going to be serving. The sun was shining and the temperature had already climbed above freezing. Leesa wore sunglasses to protect her eyes from the glare. By the time she reached the campus gateway she was warm enough to unzip her parka and shove her knit cap into her pocket.She knew the last few sunny days had melted a considerable amount of snow, but she couldn’t tell by looking at it. A foot of snow looked pretty much the same as two feet, and the tall, soot and dirt spattered snow banks lining every street and sidewalk didn’t seem to have shrunk at all. She had been yearning for snow all winter, but they had gotten far more than she bargained for. Be careful what you wish for, she reminded herself—you just might get it. As she carefully skirted another of the seemingly endless
A tall glass of freshly squeezed orange juice sat at each setting and there was a basket of rolls in the middle of the table.Leesa took the seat at the far end. Bradley sat to her right, with Aunt Janet opposite him. They saved the end nearest the kitchen for their mom, who emerged through the doorway a moment later carrying a spinach quiche in one hand and plate of bacon in the other.“Dig in,” she said. “Don’t wait for me. I’ll be right back.”She returned to the kitchen and came back this time with a big bowl of scrambled eggs and another of hash brown potatoes. After placing the two bowls onto the table, she sat down.“Since Roger’s not here, we’ll save the cinnamon rolls for dessert,” she said jokingly. She grabbed her glass of orange juice and held it up for a toast. “To family,” she said.Everyone clinked classes and then settled in to eat.The food was delicious
Rave laughed. “I know. But the tone is always much hotter when it comes from you.” He kissed the top of her head. “So, is there anything special you want to do today?”Leesa linked her arms around his elbow. “Just being with you is enough for me,” she said. “What about you? Is there something you want to do?Rave nodded. “As a matter of fact, there is.”He swept Leesa up into his arms and started down the path, turning deeper into the Maston settlement when he reached the road. A melted pathway stretched ahead of them. Leesa could have walked beside him, but this was so much more fun, and quicker, too.He carried her past the now barren apple orchard on the far side of the road and several cabins and small houses on the nearer side. When he turned off the pathway into the trees, Leesa was pretty sure she knew where they were headed. She smiled, because it was a place she really liked.The ground