That must have been what I felt.
“What happened to Bogdan?” Aurora asked.
“We’ll get to that in a moment.” Jareth gave her a reassuring smile. “It’s important that you understand one thing: Bogdan lived a very long time. He supposedly lived eighty years in Romania before the purge, then spent fifty years in the New World exploring before landing in New Orleans. Once there, he lived another hundred years.”
I did the math. “Did he age?”
Jareth shook his head. He seemed excited that I understood. “He should have been showing his age in New Orleans. The blood kept him young. He drank from other dhampirs. He looked the same and his strength never wavered.”
“And the other dhampirs turned him into a legend,” I realized. “They thought he found the well of immortality.”
“Yes.”
“Which is what Declan was seeking.”
“Again, yes.” Jareth shifted in his chair. This story made him uncomfortable. “Bogdan went by many names. In the 1960s, he supposedly came to our island.”
“He’s here?”
“No. At least I don’t believe he is. Once it became apparent he had, I called for reinforcements from the mainland.”
“You killed him,” Galen guessed.
“I wish.” Jareth was grim. “We were on to him. We knew what he was and what he planned. I had a group of vampires to hunt him. Several of the other paranormals, including shifters and witches, joined us.
“The plan was to hunt and kill him,” he continued. “We had him in the jungle. We were closing in. Then … .” He trailed off and held out his hands in helpless fashion.
“He disappeared like Declan,” I realized. Things were starting to come together. “Declan wasn’t the dhampir here before. He didn’t return under a different identity. It was Bogdan. He took over everything Bogdan owned.”
Delight sparked in Jareth’s eyes. “You’re really quite intelligent. I’m so thankful. Sometimes you say ridiculous things, and no matter how cute it is, I worry you’d fall victim to your own naïveté. I’m glad to see that’s unlikely.”
He probably meant it as a compliment. “Thank you.”
Galen sent me an amused smile. “So Bogdan was here. Declancame here because he was chasing the legend. He wanted the same immortality. He went about getting it the same way Bogdan did.”
“That’s it in a nutshell,” Jareth confirmed. “This book was not supposed to be here. It was supposedly lost in New Orleans when residents there rose up to kill Bogdan. I’m not sure how it ended up here, unless Bogdan brought it.”
“Maybe Declan found it and used it as a template,” I said. “He could’ve bought it on the black market or something.”
“Perhaps, but this codex is so sought after I have trouble understanding how he got his hands on it. The vampires want it as much as the dhampir population, but they want to destroy it.”
“Is it possible that Bogdan went through a plane door when you were hunting him?” Booker asked. “Is that how he got away?”
“I never considered it,” Jareth replied. “I assumed he died trying to evade us, eventually growing so weak he couldn’t protect himself. But now… .”
“Maybe he’s on the other plane with Declan,” I said. “Perhaps Declan figured out where he went. Did you tell Declan the story?”
“I did. I wanted him to get a handle on himself. We don’t hunt dhampirs the same way we used to but there’s a great deal of distrust. I wanted him to settle down and accept his lot in life.
“I told him what I knew of Bogdan as a cautionary tale,” he continued. “I’m afraid he took it a different way.”
“He wanted to right Bogdan’s wrongs and become bigger,” Galen guessed. “He wanted to be his own legend.”
“Yes.” Jareth blew out a sigh. “I knew he took over Bogdan’s property. I didn’t see any harm in it. If Bogdan returned, he would have been killed. I thought it was fine and yet now I’m not so certain.”
“Maybe they’re together on the other plane,” I said. “Maybe they’re a team and want me to use my magic to get them back.”
“That would be disastrous.”
