“So, what’s this business about beating her with love?”
“It’s happening already.”
“What’s happening now?”
“You. You are effecting change just by being who you are. She is forced to see love, to see good, and she hates it. It’s why she is pushing to get out. Your life is affecting her.”
“My life is chaotic,” I said. “My life is filled with my kids fighting and Anthony’s skid marks. And not necessarily in that order.”
He smiled. “Perhaps, Sam. But it’s also filled with love. You loving your kids. You sacrificing for your kids. You loving and caring for your friends and family. She cannot help but to feel it as well. And this is a new experience for her. The more you love, the more your spirit shines, and the more she is affected.”
“And then what?” I said.
“And then, I don’t know.”
“You expect her to change?”
“Love has that effect on people. It’s been known to happen. Love and hate are but two ends of the same pole. Extreme ends, granted. But each day you love is another day she is being exposed to such influences.”
“And another day that she rebels,” I said.
“Indeed, Sam. I did not say it would be easy.”
“So, I’m a big experiment.”
“You don’t have to be, Sam.”
“No,” I said. “Except, if I let her loose with the diamond medallion, she might go after my family next. To conveniently arrange for one of them to be attacked, too.”
“I would not put it past her.”
“So, I’m stuck with her.”
“That is up to you, Sam.”
A horrible thought just occurred to me. “What’s to stop other dark masters—not necessarily your mother—from attacking my daughter and sister, since we are all descendants of Hermes, as you say.”
“It’s a good question. My mother was clearly one of the strongest, greatest of her kind. It could only be her, or someone like her, who could perform the necessary magicks to bring down the veil.”
“So, how many are like her?”
“Only a small handful, Sam. Three or four at most. And these are currently in residence with other hosts.”
“You mean they’re currently vampires.”
“And werewolves, too.”
“Demons and vampires and werewolves, oh my!” I said.
I paused next to the diamond medallion, picked it up and turned it over in my hand. It caught the surrounding light, and returned it a thousand times. Pure gold and the clearest diamonds will do that. “I need to get a drink,” I said.
“I bet. I could use a stiff one myself.”
“Stiff one? Yeah, you are an old-timer,” I said.
“Well, Sam. What would you like to do with the medallion?”
“I want you to hold onto it,” I said. “For now. I might someday come back for it and take my chances.”
“Fair enough.” I handed it over to him and he took it from me. He stood and slipped it into his pants pocket, and went around the help desk, where I was used to seeing him.
“I guess I’m doomed to drink blood for all eternity,” I said. “And stay out of the light of the sun.”
The Librarian snapped his fingers. “About that. I’ve been a busy boy back here.” He motioned to the hallway behind him.
“I take it those aren’t just offices back there.”
“Far from it.”
“A lab?” I asked. I had an image of frothy test tubes and beakers and Bunsen burners.
He grinned. “Something like that. Hold on.”
I held onto the desk, shaking my head over the craziness of it all. I checked the time on my cell. Shit! I was late picking up the kids again. Damn the Librarian and his crazy hours. I sent Tammy a quick text and told them to wait for me, and that I was on my way. Her text came back just as the Librarian returned. Her text read: Get a grip, Mom!
Never had truer words been spoken. Or texted.
“Is texted a word?” I asked.
“It is now,” he said, and stepped behind the help desk again. He held out two fists. “Pick a hand.”
“A game?” I asked.
“Games are good for the soul. Pick one.”
I picked the right. He turned his fist over and opened it. There. Sitting in the center of his palm, was one of the prettiest gold rings I’d ever seen. Embedded within it was a blue sapphire that sparkled, amazingly, as bright or brighter than the diamond medallion.
“Beautiful!” I said. “Is that for me?”
“Yes, Sam. Put it on.”
I did, on my right index finger. It fit perfectly. “Don’t look so smug,” I told him. “You got my ring size from my mind.”
He looked satisfied anyway. “Pick again.”
“More games?” I asked.
His eyes twinkled for an answer.
I touched his left fist, and he opened it, revealing another ring, with a slightly different design. This one contained an opal. I said, “What are these?” And then it hit me. “They’re from the earlier medallions.”
“Indeed, Sam.”
“But...I destroyed them.”
“In a way, yes, but I managed to rebuild them. Remember, I am the one who created them.” He pointed to the first ring. “The sapphire ring will enable you to exist comfortably in the sunlight. You experienced that before, when you wore it as a medallion. Remember, you are still not at full strength in the sunlight, but at least you will not suffer. The opal ring will allow you to—”
I couldn’t contain myself. “To eat!” I screamed “And to drink!”
“And to be merry. Yes, Sam.”
“Holy shit! I could kiss you.” And I did just that, planting a kiss on his cheek. “But you warned against having all four medallions together. That a dark master could use them to release one of his kind.”
“Indeed, Sam. As you can see, these aren’t medallions. That error has now been fixed.”
“I could kiss you again,” I said. “And again and again.”
And I did so, again and again. Showering the young man who wasn’t really young with kisses on his cheeks and forehead.
Chapter Forty-one
It had been a week, and I was waiting.
The downside of working as a private investigator from one’s home was that all sorts of sketchy types could turn up. Which was why I rarely gave away my home address to anyone I hadn’t screened first. Without a published address, I was hard to find. That was a good thing...unless you wanted to be found.