Vampires Are Forever (Argeneau #8)

"Back in Amsterdam, you suggested you were controlled and your memory wiped because someone didn't want us to realize that the mugger had the phone, not Aunt Marguerite," he reminded her. "I think you might be right about that now. So long as we thought Aunt Marguerite was in Amsterdam, we would have stayed there searching for her. But finding out the mugger had the phone and not her made us immediately head back to England. And it turns out she was here in York the whole time."

"So you think I was right and whoever controlled me just now might have done so for a similar reason?"

He nodded.

Inez peered into her glass again, and then raised her eyes and said, "That would suggest that this last time I was controlled because I either saw or was about to see something that might lead us to Marguerite."

Thomas nodded and sat back in his seat, irritation on his face as he said, "But this time we don't have any idea what."

"No," she agreed and then added, "But it tells us we might be on the right track now."

"Yes, it does," he said with surprise and smiled at her.

"So, let's try to put together what we do know," Inez suggested and reached into her purse to pull out a notepad and pen. Setting the pad on the tabletop, she pushed the button to eject the pen nib and wrote at the top of the first page, "Things we know."

She glanced up at Thomas. "We know she drove to London with Tiny and stayed at the Dorchester."

Thomas sat forward as she wrote that down and added, "And we know Notte rented two suites of two rooms, requesting three have twin beds."

Inez nodded as she wrote that down, commenting, "That has kind of bothered me since I heard it."

"I know. You said," Thomas murmured, sounding distracted.

Inez glanced up with surprise, but he was looking thoughtful, obviously considering what the next point should be. Shrugging to herself, she glanced down to the notepad, muttering, "I didn't realize I'd mentioned it to you."

"What?"

Inez raised her head again surprised to see the frozen look on his face, but told him, "I said I hadn't thought I'd mentioned it to you."

Thomas sat forward, leaning on the table as he said, "We talked about it in the cafe."

Inez was silent, her mind now chasing the memory of such a conversation, but there was no memory to be found. In fact, she just had some vague recollection that they'd chatted amicably but couldn't say what about. When she told him that now, Thomas sat back again, his expression thoughtful.

"Why would our conversation be removed from my memory?" she asked uncertainly.

"Maybe we were getting too close to figuring something out," Thomas said slowly.

That seemed a good possibility, Inez supposed. "What did we say?"

"You said that even though there were only five tickets to York, the two suites of two rooms with the request that at least three of them have twin beds suggested there were seven people in London. We tried to figure out who they were, but don't know enough and came up three short."

"Who were the four we came up with?" Inez asked and then said, "Marguerite, Tiny, and Christian and his father?"

"Yes, but we couldn't come up with anyone else and then you got up to go find the ladies' room."

"I was probably still thinking about it then."

"Yes," Thomas agreed and then said, "I think Bastien mentioned Christian having a couple of cousins with him in California. They might have been among the group."

Inez reached for her drink to take a sip as she considered this, and grimaced as the flat, tepid beer filled her mouth.

"Bad huh?" Thomas asked with sympathy. "Mine has gone warm too." He glanced around and then grimaced. "The waitress probably won't return so long as our glasses are full. I'll go up to the bar and get us a couple more drinks. Keep thinking about this and try to come up with what you might have thought of the first time. They can take away the memory of figuring it out, but not the reasoning skills that got you there and you have excellent reasoning skills," he added encouragingly, then patted her hand and stood to move to the bar.

Inez smiled faintly as she watched him go. He always knew the right thing to say. And she enjoyed just looking at the man, she acknowledged, her eyes dropping over his tapered back to his derrière in the tight jeans.

A little sigh slid from her lips as she wished that they had time just to be together. She'd really rather be back at the hotel Dorchester making love with him than here trying to sort out what had been stolen from her memory.

Unfortunately, until they found Marguerite, they didn't have the time for what she wanted, Inez reminded herself and set her thoughts on the matter of who the others in Marguerite's party might have been. Bastien had said that there had been only five tickets to York, so the party had dropped in number. She doubted Marguerite and Tiny had left the group, they were the ones who were supposed to find the mother. Christian would have been one too, and probably his father, but since she had no idea who the others might have been, she had no idea who had left the party.

Inez considered the cousins Thomas had mentioned being in California with Christian and wondered if Bastien had thought to try to contact them. If it was one of those men who had dropped out of the group when it moved on to York, they might be able to lead them in the right direct-

Inez thoughts died abruptly as she suddenly found herself standing up and turning away from the table. She wasn't doing either thing herself, it was simply happening, as if a puppet master were directing her movements.

That thought sent a wave of panic through her as she recalled Christian's description of most mortal women being nothing better than blow up dolls or puppets to immortals. She was being controlled again, Inez realized, and wondered if the first two times it had happened she'd been aware and felt the panic now claiming her. And Inez was most definitely feeling panic. Her heart was thumping wildly in her chest, her mind racing with desperate ideas to end this. She tried to take back control and force her body to stop, but couldn't even manage to slow her steps. Inez then tried screaming or even whispering, but her mouth was tight closed, not a sound coming from her throat.

Don't panic, she ordered herself. It will be all right. So what if your mind is erased again? You haven't been hurt by it before, she told herself, but the thoughts had a hollow ring to them. The previous two times she'd been controlled she'd been returned to Thomas, the first time back to the hotel in Amsterdam, and just an hour ago in the cafe she'd been sent back to their table-but now she was being led away from Thomas. Surely if they just wanted to erase her mind, they didn't have to take her away to do it!

Inez had no idea, she didn't know how it was done, but for some reason this time felt different. She didn't think the intention was to just erase her memory and let her go again.

She was walking through the middle of the pub on a path to the door, weaving her way around groups and individuals and no one seemed to notice the least little problem. Surely her eyes showed her panic?

Inez tried to find Thomas with her eyes. He at least would realize something was wrong, he would see her fear, she thought, but couldn't find him in the crowd. She couldn't even see the bar for the people between her and it. Inez kept trying, though; right up until she reached the pub door and her hand rose to push it open. As she stepped out into the cool night breeze, Inez knew she was lost.

The area around the bar was thick with people waiting their turn. The man pulling the draft was being worked off his feet, but was cheerful despite all that. Thomas waited, trying to be patient. It was always difficult to wait when you knew that, ultimately, you didn't have to. He could easily have taken control of the man and had him serve up their drinks in front of the others, and then could have stopped anyone who took issue with his being served before them, but he didn't. At least, he didn't until he saw the waitress who had served them on their arrival, slip behind the bar to collect drinks.

Pursing his lips, Thomas glanced at the long line still in front of him, and then slipped into the waitress's mind, deposited his order there for her to bring to their table, and then headed back to Inez. Crowded as it was, Thomas was almost back at the table before he realized Inez was no longer there.

Surprise flickered through him, but was quickly followed by alarm when he saw that her purse was still at the table, sitting out in the open for anyone to take. In fact, someone was approaching now and reaching for it, he realized and narrowed his eyes on the woman.

"I wouldn't if I were you," Thomas growled as he reached the table.

The woman snatched her hand back, saying quickly, "I was just going to take it to the bar. I thought the girl forgot it when she left."

Thomas didn't bother to argue with the mortal woman. Lips twisting, he snatched up the purse and started to turn away, but then frowned as he realized what she'd said. Swiveling back, he stabbed her mind with his own, entering swiftly and found a vision of Inez walking stiffly out of the bar, her expression blank.

Cursing, Thomas whirled away and hurried for the door, Inez's pursed tucked under his arm like a football. It never occurred to him that he might look like a mugger fleeing the scene of a crime until a man stepped in his path, snarling, "Give it 'ere ye lousy t'ief."

Thomas nearly mowed the man down, but then quickly slipped into his mind and moved him aside instead. It was rare enough others troubled themselves to stop a criminal; and while the man had misunderstood the situation, he thought he was stepping up to help a lady in distress. Thomas thought he should be rewarded, not plowed down.

No one else got in his way, and Thomas crashed through the pub door and out onto the street without further hindrance.

A slight breeze had kicked up outside. It sent his hair ruffling as he glanced first one way and then the other. Thomas didn't see Inez in either direction, and panic became a living beast in his chest, clawing at his heart. He couldn't lose her now. He'd waited two hundred years for Inez, he simply couldn't lose her.

Spotting a crossroad just a little ways up to his left, Thomas hurried toward it, thinking that surely that would have been where she'd been taken. He hadn't been away from the table long, whoever was controlling her would have wanted to get her off this street in case Thomas came looking, and this was the nearest corner.

Pausing at the crossroads, he glanced left and right again, freezing when he spotted a bit of brilliant white in the distance. Despite his exceptional eyes, it took him a moment to realize that it was a figure in a brilliant white blouse and dark slacks being led off the sidewalk and down what must be steps by a dark figure all in black. Thomas couldn't be sure from this distance, but by the size difference between his petite Inez and the figure with her, he'd guess her captor was a man.

God Bless her penchant for wearing white blouses, Thomas thought as he set out up the street at a dead run. If she'd been wearing black like himself and the man with her, he never would have spotted her before she disappeared from view.

Thomas crossed the distance quickly, uncaring that anyone might see the speed he traveled at and wonder. He slowed when he thought he was drawing close to where Inez had been led off the sidewalk, and soon spotted a set of stone steps just before the bridge that crossed the river. They led down to a lower level with a stone path that ran along the river.

Thomas stopped at the top of the stairs and peered down, spotting Inez and her captor at once. The dark figure was most definitely a man, tall, and wide and built like a warrior of old. An immortal that was older than he, Thomas surmised, but couldn't care less. He wasn't giving Inez up without a fight, not even if it killed him.

He was about to start down the step when he saw the man bring Inez to a halt. Thomas frowned as he watched him turn her so that she faced the water, placing her back to him, but when he then raised his hands placing one on her shoulder and one around her face, Thomas recognized that he was about to break her neck, then probably drop her in the river. He roared with fury and hurled Inez's purse like a missile.

Thomas didn't wait to see if the purse hit its target, but immediately charged down the stairs at a speed he didn't think he'd ever reached before. Still, he did see the purse slam into the man's head and send him stumbling a startled step to the side, dragging Inez with him. Regaining his balance, the man glanced up the path to where Thomas was just hurling himself off the last step and racing toward them. The immortal hesitated, and then shoved Inez off the edge and into the river even as he turned to race away.

Heart lurching in his chest, Thomas put on another burst of speed, raced to the edge of the path, and dove into the water after Inez. The River Ouse was cold, dark, and murky. It was impossible to see anything.

Silently cursing, Thomas waved his arms around, searching blindly for Inez. He was beginning to despair of finding her when the tips of his fingers brushed against something. Moving in that direction, he waved his arms again and this time caught something in the crook of his elbow. Grabbing at whatever it was with his other hand, he felt his fingers close around an arm and immediately pushed off the riverbed toward the surface, tugging her along with him.

The impetus of his push sent him whizzing through the water. Thomas was still moving at speed when he hit the surface and rose out of the water up to his waist, before receding back into it. He glanced toward Inez as he started to slide back into the water, realizing only then that he had her by the calf, not her arm as he'd first thought.

Kicking his feet to stay above water, Thomas quickly shifted her around, drawing her head out of the water as he caught her by the upper arms. Her head was tipped back and the moonlight glowed down on her face. Thomas's jaw tightened as he noted the blue tinge to her skin. It was most noticeable around her lips.

Thomas drew her closer, pinched her nose and blew air into her mouth several times, then kicked toward shore, crossing half the distance before stopping again. He breathed into her again before continuing on to the embankment where he once again took a moment to breathe air into her.