that miserable letter before we could stop him." There was another possibility—
one he wasn't ready to share with Meghann. Lord Baldevar had to have known she
was hurt before he left the estate. Could he have left Charles alive to make sure
someone could help her? Did he truly love her?
"Simon told me he knew I must have tried to console myself with the idea I'd
change things if I were ever given an opportunity," she said in a quiet tone. The
brief flash of rage was gone; in its place was that gray numbness that worried
Charles so much. "He was right—I did tell myself how differently I'd do things if I
had a second chance. But look what happened—God gave me a chance to find
love again with Jimmy. But I failed him the same way I failed Johnny Devlin —I
couldn't save either of them from Simon."
"That's not true." Charles forced her to look at him—forced himself actually;
he couldn't stand her haunted, shadowed eyes. "Jimmy Delacroix is alive. Maybe
he is changed, but he's alive all the same. We'll find him, Meghann. And no matter
what Simon has done to him, I believe we can cure him. Don't you remember that
awful night? Even if it was only for a brief moment, you undid Simon's work on
Jimmy with love. And you saved me too. Who knows what would have happened
if I didn't travel away? And if that isn't enough for you, what about Darlene?"
Meghann was silent, but Charles thought he saw a small gleam of satisfaction in
her expression. He recalled how stunned he was when Meghann pulled herself off
that stone floor.
Her green eyes were absolutely steady and calm. In an awful way, he was
reminded of that still quality Simon had… where you could not know what he
was feeling or thinking behind the cold mask. Meghann looked liked that when
she said quietly but emphatically, "Darlene!"
"What?" he had said dumbly.
"Darlene!" she shouted. "Jimmy's twin sister… I know Simon! He'll try to
twist Jimmy's soul by making him kill the person he loves most of all… just like
he did to me! We have to go upstate; we have to save Darlene."
"He can't attack Jimmy's sister tonight," Charles protested. "He has to watch
over Jimmy's transformation."
"That's right," Meghann told him. "There's no way for Simon to attack
Darlene tonight… so that's why we have to act; while he's occupied with
Jimmy!"
He recalled the frenzied drive upstate, him driving while Meghann directed him.
Fortunately, Charles had three pints of blood in his bag. He made Meghann take
most of it, and that grisly wound began to shut. But there was still a hole in her
forehead when they pulled up in front of Darlene Delacroix Parker's house.
Now Meghann laughed. It was a bit grim, somewhat rusty—but a laugh all the
same. "Oh, God, Darlene looked like she'd seen a ghost. She never believed
Jimmy's story about the vampire that killed Amy and Jay. Suddenly she had little
choice with me standing before her with a window in my skull like the one that
killed Kennedy."
Darlene came running out of the small, neat, white-frame house, her
husband behind her with a hunting rifle.
The woman paled like a ghost when she saw her twin's girlfriend standing in
front of her with a huge red hole in her forehead. Darlene thought she could see
the other woman's brain. "Maggie?" she whispered.
"I need to talk to you," Meghann told her.
By some miracle, Darlene remained on her feet and asked her husband to go
back inside. He'd been reluctant— until Charles reached into his mind.
Once he shut the screen door, Darlene asked haltingly, "Everything Jimmy
said… was true, wasn't it?"
Meghann nodded. "You have to trust me now, Darlene."
"Where the hell is my brother?"
"Something very bad happened to him."
" Well, why didn't you help him?" Darlene asked her twin's lover. She didn't
know what exactly this woman was… or if she was a woman at all. But Jimmy
loved her— he'd been with her for six years. "Ain't that what you've been up to
all this time? Helping Jimmy with that… mess?"
"I tried to help," Meghann said softly.
Darlene took in the incredible injury and the woman's ragged appearance,
standing before her clad only in an oversize T-shirt. And she looked at the
stranger with her… They were both white like sheets and their eyes kept jumping
around. "I guess you did try to help him. But where is he? Why are you here?"
Meghann sighed, and tried to put this situation as simply as she could.
"Jimmy has been hurt… badly hurt and very changed. You would not recognize