track or catch Eile, none of which had met with any success. This evening's debacle had been a gamble, based on the slim chance that Eile still had enough of her human personality to reason with. That she didn't even seem to recognize her, except as a threat, worried Medb. It suggested that if Eile was not already too far gone, she soon might be.
"It didn't work, did it?"
Medb turned around and saw Sunny standing in the doorway to the bedroom. She had draped a sheet across her front, but otherwise had not dressed.
"No."
"Any other ideas?"
Medb frowned. Sunny couldn't quite keep the sarcasm out of her voice, but Medb couldn't blame her. Her frustration had been mounting every bit as high as her own, her personality was simply too bubbly to let it affect her, yet. But she had been insisting for a couple of days now that Medb's approach was all wrong. Her arrogance had kept her deaf to Sunny's pleas, but now she was ready to listen.
"No. Do you?"
Sunny smiled. "One or two. Will you let me try them?"
Medb nodded. "Provided they are not too dangerous, yes, we can try it your way."
"Good. First off, you'll agree our number one priority is to somehow catch Eile, right?"
"Yes. What have you in mind?"
"She's been coming here every night since Saturday. We hafta take advantage of that before we scare her off for good, or she decides to stop coming on her own. Tomorrow night, let's try to lure her inside."
"She has never tried to break in."
"No, but maybe that's because she's never had the opportunity. What if we give her one?"
"Why would she take it?"
"She must be returning for some reason. Maybe she's fascinated with me; maybe she wants to feed off me, but she's hesitating for some reason. If we used me as bait --"
"No."
"You promised to do things my way for once."
"Only if it was not dangerous."
"It won't be dangerous. You'll be there, to catch her by surprise. You can catch her, can't you?"
"Yes. The first time I was afraid to hurt her. The next time I will not worry about that."
"Well, my thought was that if you could hold her long enough, I could implant a tracking device on her."
Medb smirked as she cringed inwardly. She should have thought of that herself. It was such a simple solution, though, it may have been too obvious for her to consider.
"That sounds like a very clever idea."
"Great! With that in place, we should be able to locate her the next day, when she should be safe to handle. Once we have her, though, we need to find a way to cure her, and for that we're gonna need Dr. Mabuse."
That took Medb completely by surprise. Consternated, she said, "Do you realize what you are suggesting?"
"Yah, but I don't see we have much choice. Can you find a cure for Eile?"
Medb looked away. In all truthfulness, she wasn't sure, but she did not want to admit it. "Given time." Though she kept her expression neutral, she couldn't keep a hint of uncertainty out of her voice.
"How much time?"
Medb involuntarily jerked her eyes in Sunny's direction for a moment. She would have to hit the nail right on the head, but then, according to Eile, she had a talent for doing that. In a subdued voice, she replied, "I do not know."
"Could Mabuse find it sooner?"
Medb closed her eyes. Sunny was really driving the knife in deep, but her point was indisputable. "Most probably."
"Then what do you think is best?"
Medb stared at her. She recognized Sunny was giving her a way out, if she wanted to take it. She felt tempted, but Sunny's sacrificial willingness to give in on this one critical point obligated her to do the same. In a firm tone she said, "We contact Mabuse, and pray she can help Eile."
Sunny almost seemed to collapse from relief. Medb realized her tension must have been greater than she let on.
"I'm sorry," she said. "I hate myself for pushing you into that corner. I love you like a mother; you've done so much for me and Eile already, including saving their lives. But I love Eile more. I couldn't let your vendetta blind you to what's probably our best hope."
Medb waved it off. "I understand, and you are right. Mabuse may be the only person who can find a cure for Eile. To secure her cooperation, I am willing to call a truce."
"Thank you." The gratitude in her voice was overwhelming.
Medb favored her with a maternal smile. "There is nothing I would not do for either of you."
"Can you get in touch with her?"
"Yes. I will try to set something up for tomorrow."
From her expression, it was obvious Sunny was surprised it could be so soon. "She's here in Denver?"
"She has never left, not since your first encounter with her back in January. Which is odd, since it puts her in danger from me, but she seems unusually interested in you and Eile. I am not sure why." Then she shook her head.
"Never mind that now. What else would you like to do? "
"That'll depend on whether Mabuse decides to help us. But regardless, once we have Eile secure, I wanna try talking to her."
Medb shook her head. "I have already tried that and it did not work."
"She might respond to me."
She might at that, Medb thought. "You are welcome to try, of course, under proper supervision."
"Well," she added in a sheepish tone, "that's just it, I'd need to be alone with her."
"No, absolutely not."
"But I have to! Don'cha see? If you're there with me, she'll be too angry with you, too aggressive, to listen. If I'm gonna get through to her, there can't be any distractions. I'm sure I can do it, as long as it's just her and me, no one else. Okay?"
Every fiber of her being told Medb this was insane, that Sunny would be putting herself in mortal danger. And yet, Medb reflected, if anyone could penetrate Eile's vampiric conditioning, it just might be Sunny. It all depended upon how intimate their relationship was, how strong their emotional bond. It was a gamble, but then, so was the hope that Eile could be cured at all.
"Very well, but only if I am satisfied that she cannot hurt you."
Sunny smiled. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
Eile did not pay any attention to where she was going; she just ran. It was only after she passed through a stand of trees and her surroundings became devoid of houses that she realized she had gone east into the park. Still, she did not stop until she reached its heart. Then she collapsed on the ground, panting, to rest from her excessive burst of speed. She wasn't at full strength, though she was getting stronger every night. The time would come when she could run like that all night, but not yet.
Even as she settled her breathing, she felt a presence. She didn't quite know how. It wasn't a scent or a sound or a vibration in the air. It was more like a premonition, or déjà vu. It felt like icy fingers running along her spine as across a piano keyboard; it made her skin crawl and set the hairs on the nape of her neck standing erect. She recognized it, though. It was another of her kind, a particularly old and powerful one from the strength of the impression. She must have wandered into another vampire's hunting territory by mistake. It almost certainly had felt her and had come to investigate. Hunting territories were sacrosanct. It was forbidden to trespass without permission, and vampires never shared except under the most extraordinary circumstances. It was well within its rights to deal with her anyway it wished, and she had been told that most times the resident vampire destroyed the intruder without hesitation or mercy.
It was close; she could feel it watching her. She had only two choices. She could run, and hope she could get out of its territory before it caught her, but there was no guarantee it would not continue the pursuit. Or she could offer it obeisance, and hope it forgave her rather than tear her limb from limb. It was far too powerful for her fight.
"Eile?"
She looked up and saw a male vampire emerge from behind a tree. He was head and shoulders taller than her, lean an
d wiry, with dark hair and a swarthy complexion. He was immaculately groomed and dressed in a tailored dark suit. His clean-shaven face was dominated by a high domed forehead, prominent cheekbones, and a strong Roman nose. His eyes glowed green like a cat's, and his aura enveloped him in a nimbus of phosphorescent silver, blue, and purple light. The humans' auras were produced by their body heat, but a vampire's derived from its power. She suspected her own was barely visible, but she didn't know; she had never seen it.
Eile recognized him, but that made no difference. She threw herself prostrate on her stomach, her nose in the grass. "Forgive me!" she cried. "My trespass was inadvertent. I was fleeing a hunter, and I was careless. I have no intention of hunting in your territory. I will leave immediately. Spare me, and I will let you hunt in my territory whenever you wish."
"No fear, Eile," he said in a rich Mediterranean accent. "I am not angry. Stand up."
Relieved and grateful, Eile did as he bid. Lucas Cornelia was her Mentor. Her first memories upon being reborn were of her suckling from his forearm, eagerly drinking the blood he offered her from his own veins. He sustained her, kept her alive, made her strong. She owed him her life, and her gratitude was immense. The next night, when she rose from her torpor a complete vampire, the Hunger gnawing at her gut and enflaming her mind, he took her out into the night. He demonstrated how to feed, gave her a hunting territory, taught her to stalk and take prey and which prey were best, and found her a sanctuary from the sun where she could sleep the day away in peace. He taught her the basics of vampire law and tradition, which mostly boiled down to