He turns to look at me and sets his bowl on the floor. “You don’t know that for sure. Tomorrow, when you’ve rested, we can try your power.”
I nod, wishing I could try something now, but I understand the wisdom behind waiting. I feel like death warmed over. My eyelids droop. “We should go back to our cabin. I want to sleep.”
He stacks our bowls and sets them on the table before helping me to my feet. “Let me drop these off in the kitchen.” He leaves the room but returns almost immediately. It’s enough time for me to have to grab the back of a chair to steady myself.
Although he doesn’t look much better, he makes it to my side, and we hold each other up as we move to leave. We’re just outside the door when I hear the music again.
“The drums are back. Do you hear them?” I ask Damien.
We continue toward our cottage, but he looks at me with a concerned expression. Great, now I’m hearing things. But the closer we get to the cottage, the more he seems to be studying me, his head tipped as if he’s listening. He opens the door for me, and we step inside.
In the quiet of our shared dwelling, a smile like the rising sun breaks across his face, and tears spill down his cheeks. “Oh, Eloise…” He reaches out, grabs my hand, then places my palm flat against my chest, directly above my left breast.
Thump, thump, thump, thump. The beat of the drum I’ve been hearing vibrates against my palm. My lips part, but I can’t speak. I press my hand more firmly against my chest and wonder at the beating of my own heart.
46
Tea for Two
ELOISE
The parlor is just how I remember it. The grandfather clock ticks in the corner of the room, the gallery of family pictures lines the far wall, a cozy fire blazes in the fireplace, and on the coffee table is Maeve’s grandmother’s tea set.
“Eloise?”
I turn my head to see my best friend sitting beside me on the green velvet sofa in her pajamas. Through a pair of square glasses with thick black frames, her eyes look unnaturally large. Her full set of bangs and shoulder-length black hair hang in the typically straight fashion I remember. She releases a breath that relaxes all the features in her face.
“Maeve?” I respond excitedly. I haven’t seen her since I left Earth!
“Yes. It’s me. The real me. I’ve been trying the Hitch and Cast spell for weeks. This is the first time it’s worked!”
Finally, it sinks in that Maeve is really here, in my dream. I throw myself across the sofa toward her, and we hug each other until we’re both fighting back tears. “Then it really did work,” I say.
“What worked?”
I tell her about Thanesia’s door and having to walk the road to gain access to the Darklands. “Before, when I was just a vampire, I didn’t dream. You couldn’t have entered my dreams because I didn’t have any. Thanesia gave me a heartbeat, but she also gave me my dreams again. And I bet when I wake up, I’ll be able to call Phantom and have access to my power too.”
We both squee with excitement. She takes my hands. “I’m so happy that I was finally able to reach you. I started to think you might have died along the way. But considering you have a heartbeat again, I guess it was the opposite. You were coming alive again.” She brushes her dark bangs off the rim of her glasses. “But what does this mean? Are you human again?”
“Definitely not. My fangs and my senses are still very much vampiric.”
“So, you’re a vampire with a heartbeat?”
I shrug. “I’m not sure, honestly. I’m still recovering from the ordeal.”
Maeve’s eyebrows lift. “Well, you look good!”
“You look good too,” I say. “Like you’re eating better.” I don’t want to say it looks like she’s gained weight. That could be taken as a negative. She looks healthier.
She snorts. “Well, there’s something I have to tell you.”
“What’s that?” I brace myself for bad news. I left Harcourt Manor to Maeve, knowing she’d likely have to sell it eventually. I wonder if that’s what this is about.
“I ended up selling my condominium and moving in to Harcourt.”
A sun has risen where my heart once was, and I smile to let the light out. “You did? Maeve, that’s great news.” Happy tears fall at the idea that the house is alive again, being used and maintained. My family cemetery is in good hands.
“Also, I have a roommate and you know her.”
