Vampires Are Foreve(86)

Inez considered the cousins Thomas had mentioned being in California with Christian and wondered if Bastien had thought to try to contact them. If it was one of those men who had dropped out of the group when it moved on to York, they might be able to lead them in the right direct—

Inez thoughts died abruptly as she suddenly found herself standing up and turning away from the table. She wasn’t doing either thing herself, it was simply happening, as if a puppet master were directing her movements.

That thought sent a wave of panic through her as she recalled Christian’s description of most mortal women being nothing better than blow up dolls or puppets to immortals. She was being controlled again, Inez realized, and wondered if the first two times it had happened she’d been aware and felt the panic now claiming her. And Inez was most definitely feeling panic. Her heart was thumping wildly in her chest, her mind racing with desperate ideas to end this. She tried to take back control and force her body to stop, but couldn’t even manage to slow her steps. Inez then tried screaming or even whispering, but her mouth was tight closed, not a sound coming from her throat.

Don’t panic, she ordered herself. It will be all right. So what if your mind is erased again? You haven’t been hurt by it before, she told herself, but the thoughts had a hollow ring to them. The previous two times she’d been controlled she’d been returned to Thomas, the first time back to the hotel in Amsterdam, and just an hour ago in the café she’d been sent back to their table—but now she was being led away from Thomas. Surely if they just wanted to erase her mind, they didn’t have to take her away to do it!

Inez had no idea, she didn’t know how it was done, but for some reason this time felt different. She didn’t think the intention was to just erase her memory and let her go again.

She was walking through the middle of the pub on a path to the door, weaving her way around groups and individuals and no one seemed to notice the least little problem. Surely her eyes showed her panic?

Inez tried to find Thomas with her eyes. He at least would realize something was wrong, he would see her fear, she thought, but couldn’t find him in the crowd. She couldn’t even see the bar for the people between her and it. Inez kept trying, though; right up until she reached the pub door and her hand rose to push it open. As she stepped out into the cool night breeze, Inez knew she was lost.#p#分页标题#e#

The area around the bar was thick with people waiting their turn. The man pulling the draft was being worked off his feet, but was cheerful despite all that. Thomas waited, trying to be patient. It was always difficult to wait when you knew that, ultimately, you didn’t have to. He could easily have taken control of the man and had him serve up their drinks in front of the others, and then could have stopped anyone who took issue with his being served before them, but he didn’t. At least, he didn’t until he saw the waitress who had served them on their arrival, slip behind the bar to collect drinks.

Pursing his lips, Thomas glanced at the long line still in front of him, and then slipped into the waitress’s mind, deposited his order there for her to bring to their table, and then headed back to Inez. Crowded as it was, Thomas was almost back at the table before he realized Inez was no longer there.

Surprise flickered through him, but was quickly followed by alarm when he saw that her purse was still at the table, sitting out in the open for anyone to take. In fact, someone was approaching now and reaching for it, he realized and narrowed his eyes on the woman.

“I wouldn’t if I were you,” Thomas growled as he reached the table.

The woman snatched her hand back, saying quickly, “I was just going to take it to the bar. I thought the girl forgot it when she left.”

Thomas didn’t bother to argue with the mortal woman. Lips twisting, he snatched up the purse and started to turn away, but then frowned as he realized what she’d said. Swiveling back, he stabbed her mind with his own, entering swiftly and found a vision of Inez walking stiffly out of the bar, her expression blank.

Cursing, Thomas whirled away and hurried for the door, Inez’s pursed tucked under his arm like a football. It never occurred to him that he might look like a mugger fleeing the scene of a crime until a man stepped in his path, snarling, “Give it ’ere ye lousy t’ief.”

Thomas nearly mowed the man down, but then quickly slipped into his mind and moved him aside instead. It was rare enough others troubled themselves to stop a criminal; and while the man had misunderstood the situation, he thought he was stepping up to help a lady in distress. Thomas thought he should be rewarded, not plowed down.