I felt his scalp but couldn't find any lumps that would explain away his memory loss. Obviously Jerry hadn't bumped his head when he fell or, if he had, he'd already healed. He eased away from my jugular and licked the punctures.
"Delicious. Wait for me and I'll be happy to enjoy a bit of sport with you later, lass. But right now I've got MacDonalds to hunt." He grinned and winked, then bodily lifted me off, patting my butt as he did so.
It didn't take mind reading to see that he thought of me as nothing more than a stranger, bought and paid for to please him any way he wanted. I jumped to my feet and glanced at his father.
"Jeremiah, there's to be no riding out for you, Son. Not tonight. I've got plenty of men looking for whoever sent Mara in here with that tainted knife." The laird gave Jerry a hand up until the men stood toe-to-toe. Jerry wasn't happy with his father's order.
"But, Da, I'm fine now, fit as can be. The lass's blood healed my wound and I'm ready to ride. Bring the horses around and we'll be off." Jerry grabbed his father's arm. "I heard enough to understand that it's the witch the MacDonalds hired to curse us who must be behind this."
I'd heard enough myself. "Mara, what exactly do you remember? Was the name MacDonald ever mentioned?" I was heartily sick of her. She'd fallen sniveling in a heap to the stone floor and I jerked her to her feet. "Pull yourself together. Obviously no one here is holding you accountable. Though why, I can't imagine." I gave Jerry and his father a sharp look.
"Mara is a family friend. Has been for years. Why should we doubt her word? And who are you to lay hands on her? Or stick your nose into our business?" Jerry pushed between Mara and me. "I don't even know your name. Speak, woman. How do we know it's not your work, this tainted knife and witch outside our gates?"
I opened and shut my mouth, for once speechless. Any hope I had that I'd misread him vanished. He really didn't know me. Oh, God, no. I wanted to kiss him until he felt our connection. Press my body against his and show him how we fit. But he looked at me without a single glimmer of recognition and my bravado leaked out until I wanted to sink to the floor and soak his kilt with my tears. Who had done this and why?
"Son, this woman isn't a stranger to me. And definitely not to you. The knife was poisoned. It's messed with your mind." The laird dropped a heavy hand on Jerry's shoulder and I saw him squeeze hard. "You aren't remembering things aright. What year do you think this is?"
"Year? What kind of a question is that, Da?" Jerry faced his father. "It's the year of our Lord, fifteen hundred and ninety-six, of course."
"No, my boy. It isn't." Angus staggered, suddenly looking older than the thirty or so he'd been when he'd been turned vampire. "Jeremiah, lad, we've had centuries pass since those days. You met this woman in London a few years after that year and made her vampire. You don't remember?" Angus eased Jerry back into the living room. "Sit. Rest. I can see this is puzzling you."
"Puzzling me?" Jerry jerked away from his father's grasp. "Stop it! What kind of sick game is this? Centuries? No, I don't believe you." He did collapse onto the love seat though and run his hand through his hair, a familiar gesture that brought a lump to my throat. I must have made a sound of distress because he stared at me.
"And you claim I made this woman? Turned her? I don't create other vampires. You know that, Da. Unless she was in danger of losing her life." He glared when I sat beside him again. Like we'd sat, oh, it seemed like days but had actually been less than half an hour ago. "Are you taking her word for this?"
"Angus met me long ago, Jerry. When you brought me here, to the castle. To meet your family." I suddenly couldn't breathe and had to stop to collect myself. His face blurred but I wasn't going to cry, not until I finished this. "You made me vampire for love. We, we were in love, Jeremiah. You've loved me for more than four hundred years." I brushed away the tears that had finally fallen despite my best intentions. Damn. I hated the suspicious look he still gave me.
"Impossible. I can't imagine clinging to one woman for so long." He looked down to where my skirt had ridden up to expose my knees. "Though when you dress like a doxy, I can see the advantages in forming an alliance with one such as you." Suspicion was replaced by something I wanted to slap off his face. "A hot couple, were we?" He slid a hand up my leg.
I hissed and grabbed his wrist, ready to add to his injuries. I didn't care if he was stuck in the sixteenth century, I was not going to be treated like a cheap whore. We were going to get this straight right now.
"Gloriana, calm down. Give the lad some time to get his head straight. Perhaps you should fetch him a fresh shirt. You know where his bedroom is." The laird settled into his chair and picked up a cordless phone.
"I'm not leaving this room. Get a servant to fetch it." I glared at Jerry when he stood to strip off his bloody shirt.
"So we share a bed." He grinned. "And in my father's house." He dropped the shirt on the floor. I could see his wound now, a jagged cut that was already a bright pink and healing. But it was his chest and strong shoulders that made me lick my lips. We'd been apart so long. Months. I itched to touch him, my anger vanishing as I remembered he'd been poisoned. This was witchcraft at its worst.
"Keep looking at me like that and we'll both go get that shirt and take a fine long time doing it." Jerry moved closer and pulled me up. He stared down into my eyes, searching, as if hoping he'd find something there he recognized. Then he shook his head. "Damn, but I can't recall..."
"Never mind, Jeremiah. Here's Bertie with your shirt. Get dressed and rest. I want to get to the bottom of this attack." His father nodded to one of his men who'd escorted a dazed Mara into the room.
Jerry drew on the shirt and sat again, rubbing his forehead. I resisted the urge to sit beside him this time and walked around to hold on to the back of the love seat. The attack. Yes, we needed answers.
"Mara, call your fiance and get him over here. Let's see if he knows anything about this." Angus held out the phone.
"He wouldn't, he's not involved - " She took the phone with shaking hands. "But I do want him here. He can take me home."
"When we're satisfied your story is true." Angus frowned as he studied his son. "Witches, poisoned knives. Now Jeremiah's brain is amuddle. There's much to explain and I don't like your riddle, miss."
"It's not..." She flushed, then punched in a number. "Davy, can you come to Castle Campbell? I, I had a spot of trouble here and I need you." Her voice broke and she handed the phone back to Angus.
"Yes, McLeod, she's upset." Angus listened for a minute. "Just come here and we'll let her tell you all about it. See you in a bit."
"Davy McLeod? I thought you married MacTavish, Mara. Where is he? And what the devil were you talking into?" Jerry leaned forward, totally focused on Mara. Even the apparent novelty of the telephone had held his fascinated gaze longer than I had.
"I did marry Mac. But, Jeremiah, that was centuries ago. He's, um, gone." Mara looked away, refusing to meet Jerry's intense stare. "Some things are best forgotten."
"Gone? What the hell does that mean?" Jerry jumped to his feet. "I'll not forget my best friend."
"Mac was killed by a vampire hunter, Jerry. It was horrible. We all mourned him." I laid my hand on his back but he shrugged it away. "His death did force Mara to finally admit that her child Lily is yours, not sired by MacTavish."
"What's this?" Jerry rubbed his forehead. "What is the lass raving about, Mara? Lily? I remember you had a child before you were turned. But - "
"Can we get into this later? Obviously you've been poisoned and it's affected your reason." Mara's eyes were wide and she had her hands clasped in front of her. She looked appropriately pitiful and Jerry was usually putty in her hands. I waited for him to fold.
"My reason is fine. Spit it out, woman. If I have a child, I'll know it now or I'll shake the truth out of you." Jerry moved before either Angus or I could react. He jerked Mara to her feet. "Do I have a child? Did you keep her from me?"
"Yes! I passed her off as Mac's as long as he was alive. He doted on her. He was a good father." Mara's hair flew around her head when Jerry gave her a good shake. I couldn't believe he was acting out his anger. The Jerry I knew never would have laid a hand on her.
"You don't think I would have made a good father?" His teeth were gritted, his fangs down. I swear he was ready to rip her throat open.
"No, I don't! Or at least not back then. You didn't love me. You tumbled me in your father's hayloft and then went on your merry way to take advantage of the next besotted girl. I was nothing to you. Why should I give you a child after that? Mac adored me. He would do whatever I wanted, give me the world. You hied off to London soon after you got your fangs and then brought home this twopenny whore, embarrassing your parents and - " Mara gasped when he threw her back into her chair.
"I have never wasted my blunt on whores, woman. And I don't tolerate liars. I'm beginning to think this knife attack may have been your idea. That there was no witch. Where did you get the poison that jumbled my mind and where can we find the cure?" Jerry glared down at her.
"Step away from her, Campbell." A man that I assumed was Davy McLeod strode into the room and grabbed Jerry by the shoulders. He practically threw him at me and I was happy to catch him. Jerry was out of my arms in a blink, though, obviously eager for a fight.
"Careful, McLeod. I'm in a temper and beating you to a bloody pulp would go a long way toward satisfying my urge for action," Jerry snarled, his fists up and a wicked gleam in his eyes.
"What the hell's going on here? Mara, love?" Davy ignored the taunt and scooped Mara up to hold her in his arms.
"It was awful, Davy. I, I attacked Jeremiah. But it wasn't my fault. I was under a witch's spell. You've got to believe me." She looked up at him with tears running down her cheeks. Damn, how could she look so beautiful while crying?
"Of course I believe you. Why would you need to lie about something like that?" Davy gave Jerry a hard look. "Touch her again, Campbell, and I'll end you."
"You could try." Jerry was obviously still eager for a fight.
"That's enough. I hear my men returning. Let's see what they found outside." Angus stepped between them and we all turned toward the door. Several burly men in Campbell plaid crowded into the room. They brought with them the smell of damp wool and cold air.
"No sign of a witch or a MacDonald, Laird. I've sent some men into the village to search further," the obvious head of the group reported. He nodded at Jerry. "Glad to see you on your feet, Jeremiah."
"Aye, I'm on my feet, but seems I've lost my mind, Fergus. What year is it?" Jerry turned his back on Mara and her fiance.
"Twenty thirteen. Did the lass's blood not cure you?" Fergus nodded to me. "Welcome, Gloriana. It's been too long."
"Fergus. I hope Maeve is well." I recognized Jerry's cousin and remembered his wife as a friend here. Another Campbell. Would this friendly greeting help my lover realize I did have a place in his life?
"She's tip-top. Started a business online. I'll have to give you her card. Makes some mighty fine jewelry. Celtic. You'd like it, I think. Maybe could sell a bit in your shop." He turned when Jerry punched his shoulder. "What?" He rubbed the spot. "I'm sorry I didn't find the witch but that's a bit harsh, don't you think?"
"Stop yer blatherin'. Twenty thirteen? You mean two thousand and thirteen, man? The year is two thousand and thirteen?" Jerry swayed and the laird and Fergus both jumped to catch him. He threw off their hands and pulled himself together with a shake of his head.
"Lad, sit. Gloriana, give him your wrist again. He's light-headed. Or maybe I should call for some synthetic." Angus shoved everyone aside until he had Jerry in his leather recliner, then forcibly pushed the seat back. "Now, listen to me, boy. You were stuck with a potion that's given you amnesia of a sort. Take it easy. Let us care for you."
"Da, I can't believe I've lost over four hundred years of my life." Jerry gazed up at his father. "Nothing looks right except you, Fergus and those two." He gestured toward where Mara was trying to tug Davy out of the room. "Stay. I want to hear about my daughter. You owe me that, I think."
She cleared her throat. "Yes, I suppose I do. She's beautiful, Jeremiah. But willful. As long as Mac was alive, I didn't worry too much about her because she ever wanted him proud of her. But she's led a dangerous lifestyle since then, kept bad company. You were helping control her in Austin. She'd moved in with you."
"Austin?" Jerry closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. "Where the hell is that?"
"It's where we live, Jer. In Texas." I realized he had lost the years that even included the formation of the States. "Um, in the New World."
"What the hell was I doing in that wilderness?" He opened his eyes and stared at me. "We lived together there? Were we married?"
"No. We didn't even live in the same house. The New World's not a wilderness now. It's a prosperous country and we lived in a large city there." I moved close to him. If he wanted to drink my blood again, I was all for it.
"So we never married. Yet you claim we were together for four hundred years?" He ignored my outstretched hand. "You were my mistress?"
"I suppose you could call me that." I frowned, not liking that term at all. "If you need blood, take mine again. Maybe it will help you remember things."
"It didn't before." He jumped and looked down at his sporran, the man purse he wore over his kilt. "What the hell? There's something in my pouch." He clapped a hand over it. "Did you stuff a beastie in there, Mara? Is this another trick?"
I grinned and flipped open the flap. I knew what was happening. "It's your cell phone, Jerry, set to vibrate." Sure enough, his cell was lit up. I punched a button and held it to my ear.
"Hello. This is Gloriana, for Jeremy Blade."
"I'm looking for Blade. This is Adams, his manager in Miami. We've got an emergency and I need a quick decision."
I glanced at Jerry. He was frowning at me and the phone at my ear, clearly a mystery to him. "Look, I'm sorry, Adams, but Blade has been in an accident. He's not in any shape to talk to you about business. You'll have to take care of things yourself. Can you handle it?"
"You sure he can't come to the phone? Talk to me for just a minute?" The man was clearly horrified.
"Positive. Make the right decision and I'm sure he'll reward you. What do you think?"
"If you're sure he's not available. Seriously, he's always available." Adams obviously doubted me but had no choice but to take my word.
"Not this time. He hires only the best, so make the decision yourself." I skipped out of reach when Jerry tried to take the phone then ended the call.
"What the hell are you talking into?" Jerry grabbed the phone out of my hands to study it.
"It's a cell phone." I wanted to cry as he turned it over in his hands, obviously at a loss to know how to even turn it on. I pulled mine out of my skirt pocket. "Here's mine. You gave me the cover for it."
"Now that's just ridiculous." He shook his head over the pink crystal case. "What does it do?" He put his black phone to his ear and frowned. "You were talking to someone. Who?"
I had to clear my throat to speak. "Your manager in Florida, that's another state in the New World. You have businesses all over the United States, that's what the New World is called now. You go by the name Jeremy Blade over there. I'm sure you can trust him to take care of things until you can handle them yourself again." I smiled when Jerry grumbled about black magic, shook the phone then put it to his ear again.
"Son, don't worry about business or these newfangled gadgets." Angus took the phone out of Jerry's hand. "Relax, drink some blood. Get your strength back and I'm sure your mind will come back along with it." He gave me a searching look. "Gloriana, perhaps you could give him some time with Mara. To ask about his daughter."
"Oh, sure." I realized Angus had a glass of synthetic in his hand which he gave Jerry. I was getting the bum's rush. "You want me to get a room in the village? Or I can sleep in my car again."
"Now, don't get your feathers ruffled, lass. Just give them a little time." Angus eased me to the door. "You have luggage? I'll have a lad bring it in. You are welcome to stay here as long as you wish. You can even sleep with Jeremiah if he'll let you. Give Fergus your car keys."
"It's a rental. I'd like to return it if I'm staying awhile. To Edinburgh. But I guess..." I didn't know how to proceed. Jerry didn't know me. Angus was sending mixed signals. He was offering hospitality but the attempt on Jerry's life had arrived with me. I could read that suspicion in his mind. "Well, we'll play this by ear. Give me my own room. Right now, I'd like to look around the grounds myself." I glanced back. As long as Davy McLeod was riding herd on Mara, there was no danger she was going to make a play for Jerry, not if she wanted to keep that rock on her finger.
Davy was a handsome man, tall and blond with a keen intelligence in his bright blue eyes that dared anyone to do his fiancee wrong. I had liked him on sight. Mara didn't deserve him and he sure didn't deserve a woman like her, but men could be fools when in love. I glanced back at Jerry, my heart turning over. So could women.
"Fine. Do that. Will you be wanting one of the lads to accompany you? For your safety?" The laird really was concerned about me. I could see that. And he'd obviously seen how worried I was about Jerry.
"No, I'll be fine." He didn't know that I had developed some superpowers lately. Not that I'd tested them against a witch. It wasn't something I wanted to try either. If the men hadn't found her, I probably wouldn't either. I just needed fresh air and time to think not surrounded by people who considered me an outsider. Plus seeing Jerry so confused was breaking my heart. I'd like a chance to shed the tears in private that were clogging my throat.
"If you're not back in an hour, I'm sending a search party." Angus kissed my cheek. "I'm glad you're here. I'm worried about the boy. He does love you and has been moping about. He wouldn't tell me what was wrong, but I gleaned enough to know it was trouble between you two. Your coming here was just what he needed. He does have his pride, all the Campbells do."
"Just one of the reasons why I love him. And you." I hugged him then followed Fergus to the car. I pointed out which bags to bring inside then walked along one of the rough paths toward a stream that ran down a hillside. Fog had rolled in and it was getting harder to see, but I just wanted some space away from Angus's security cameras. I sniffed the air, trying to pick up some hint of whether another paranormal creature had been here recently. I got plaid and vampire but nothing else.
I was on a wooden bridge that crossed the shallow stream when I suddenly realized I wasn't alone.
"Who's there?" I clutched the handrail.
"The person you were looking for, Gloriana." The voice was husky and definitely feminine.
"The witch?" I could make out a dark, cloaked figure walking toward me at the edge of the path. Her footsteps made hollow sounds when she stepped onto the wooden bridge. "The one who gave Mara MacTavish the poisoned knife?"
"Poison? I guess you could call it that. The knife was dipped in something more powerful than a mere poison. I'm not a witch. Those creatures are so beneath me. Literally." Her laughter was a trill that contrasted sharply with her hoarse speech. "You should be thanking me, Gloriana. Now you have a chance to start over. A new beginning. No messy man baggage."
She knew my name. So this was personal. Had Lucifer sent someone new to torment me? We'd had some serious issues recently. "Jeremiah Campbell is not baggage. He, he is the love of my life." I cleared my throat. "Why do you care what happens to me? Who sent you? If you've come from hell, then you can crawl right back down where you came from. I'm still not interested in anything your boss has to offer."
"Hell? You insult me. I have no truck with demons." A wisp of power pushed me against the railing as she threw back her cloak. I still couldn't make out her face, though. "As to why I'm here...? Well, I'll get to that in a minute. And calling Campbell 'the love of your life'?" The trill of laughter again. "How melodramatic, Gloriana. I swear you should have stayed on the stage."
"Listen, you bitch! I don't know who you are, but this isn't funny." I tried to strike out at her but couldn't move my arms. Power. She was loaded with it. "I have loved Jerry for hundreds of years. And he has loved me. Not that it's any of your business."
"What amazing devotion. From him. And foolish waste on your part. There are so many men. In the sea."
"Who are you? A Siren? One of the Siren sisters? How do you know so much about me?" I'd met the Sirens and found out I had been cast out of their ranks and made human just before I'd met Jerry in London all those years ago. If he hadn't turned me vampire, I'd have died a mortal's death back then.
"No. Nothing so simple." She threw back her cowl and moved closer. Now I could see her golden hair and eyes the color of the sea. "I am your mother, Gloriana."
"What?" I drew back, not a little scared by her. Her blue gaze was too intense, wild and terrifying. Her pale skin glowed with an unearthly light. And there were those pulses of power that reminded me of other beings I'd met recently and not fared well with.
"Unearthly. Yes, I am that. I'm reading your thoughts, of course. I am from Olympus." She smiled when I flinched. "Oh, yes. It's a frightening thought, I know. We are very powerful there as you saw when you encountered the Storm God. That man is so crude. He told you that Sirens are a goddess's by-blows. Bastard children. Accidents. I cannot like his phrasing but he is right. That is indeed how it comes about. For some of them anyway."
"You are a goddess? And I'm one of your mistakes?" I put my hand to my stomach, sure I was going to be sick.
"Oh, my dear. What can I say? I get these urges, you see. To explore Earth's, shall we call them, bounties. Human men can be quite amusing." That laugh again. I wanted to shove stakes into my own ears to keep from hearing it again. "And they have something the toga-wearing gods upstairs lack. A certain, um, innocence. Thinking they can win my heart." Her smile was tinged with sadness.
I just stared at her. What could I say? If the woman had a heart, it was not apparent to me.
"Now you know why you enjoy men so, Gloriana. It is your legacy from me and has nothing to do with being a Siren once." She gave an elegant shrug. "Obviously you ended up there because one of my forays had unexpected consequences."
"Consequences." I sounded bitter but who could blame me? "Ever hear of condoms? The pill? Get a clue. What is your name anyway? I won't call you Mother."
"It's that or nothing. I won't share my name with you. It's for your own protection." Now she sounded bitter. "Zeus has no tolerance for bastard children in his realm. So those of us who make a mistake" - she smiled with a twist of her perfect mouth - "well, we either terminate it or play 'least in sight' until we give birth. Which I did when I carried you. I wanted just once to see what lying with a perfectly charming earthling wrought."
"Nice. So I was an experiment. And my father? Did you just pick some random guy who took your fancy, sleep with him, then abandon him? Or did you do the Siren thing and end him?" I couldn't believe I was having this conversation. I'd had parents. Not the simple folks I'd imagined but a goddess from Olympus and some poor sap she'd used as a sperm donor. It made my brain hurt to imagine it.
"Really, Gloriana, you must quit judging me. I visited him in his dreams. He had many wonderful nights with me. He was left with fond memories. But, as a mortal, he's long gone." She smiled wistfully. "Of natural causes."
"Gee, how kind of you." My knees gave out and I sat down hard on the wooden bridge. To hell with my cute skirt. Jerry didn't know me anyway. "So you dumped me into the Siren system and left me there. Whoopee. Why are you here now and what did you do to Jerry?" I looked up, teary in spite of a vow to be strong around this bitch. "Fix this. Fix him."
"I'm here to help you discover your full potential." My mother, which was the only way I could refer to her, sank down gracefully across from me. She wore the Olympus uniform: white toga with some kind of gold and diamond pin on the shoulder. She had a perfect figure. I bet she hated mine.
"I was doing fine without you. You have no business meddling in my life, and certainly no right to fool with Jerry's. What's with the poison on the knife?"
"Gloriana, listen to me. I was captivated by your beauty the moment you were put in my arms. I couldn't just drop you back to Earth into some mortal family's care. So I gave you immortality the only way I could. Perhaps not the best life, but - "
"Not the best? Seducing men and then killing them for their treasure? It was horrible. I had no stomach for it. What kind of mother does that to her child?" I turned away to stare down at the water flowing over the stones below. This sickened me. That a woman could doom her child to that kind of existence...Her hand landed on my chin, light as air yet hot as a brand.
"A mother who can't bear to see her daughter die." Her words whispered into my mind.
"Seems to me you forgot me for, oh, centuries." I jerked away from her creepy touch. "Now fix this. Jerry hasn't done anything to you. Take that spell off him and give him back his memories."
"He made you vampire. You drink blood, have fangs." She shuddered. "It is unseemly."
"After the Storm God dumped me out of the Siren club, Jerry gave me back my immortality. I would think that would please you. Since you're all over this motherhood thing now. I would be six feet under if not for him." I scrambled to my feet. "Damn it. This is nuts. Why are you showing up now?"
"Circe came to me. She saw our resemblance and reminded me that you exist. Then she told me what Achelous did to you and I can see for myself, Gloriana, how he ruined your body. He will pay for that, the bastard." Thunder clapped and shook the bridge. I wondered if that was her warning to him or his taunt that she could try.
The damp fog surrounded us and just added to my sense that this was all a horrible nightmare. That my brain was as muddled as Jerry's right now.
"Circe needs to mind her own damned business." I shivered. Even my underwear felt damp from the fog and the cold, wet boards under me.
"No, she did me a great favor which puts me in her debt." My mother sighed. "You don't know what Olympus is like, Gloriana, the politics, the power plays. It is little wonder that I neglected you. I have been...busy since I gave you away. I forgot..." She jumped to her feet and turned to stare down at the water. "It was not right of me to abandon you. I should have taken my chances with Zeus."
"Well you didn't. So forget bonding with me now." I got up too and glanced at her. "You owe Circe two debts. Because she sent Blade in my path and here I am today, still alive. So you owe him. Fix his memory problem."
"No." She turned back to me. "You don't need to be with a man like that, a bloodsucker. I can take you back to Olympus now that you are a woman. Rid you of those dreadful fangs, return your perfect body." She tried to grab my hands. "Give you everything."
I darted out of reach. "I like my dreadful fangs. Love my blood-sucking boyfriend. And I'd never want to live in a place with creeps like the Storm God. No way in hell or Olympus." I wanted to slap her, throw her off the bridge, something. But I knew better. A goddess from Olympus. I could feel her power like electricity in the air, shoving at me, but stopping short of actually hurting me. Restraint. Guess that was her version of motherly love.
I knew the bits and pieces of power I had paled in comparison with what she'd have in her arsenal. Make her lose her temper and she'd probably "forget" again that I was her daughter and blast me until I was little more than a stain on the wooden planks beneath my feet. Her daughter. I backed away, disgusted and horrified at the thought.
"You can't change where you came from, Gloriana. But I can change what you are now. Make your body glorious, your teeth perfect, put a banquet before you that you could actually savor - every bite. If you want your beloved's mind whole again, come with me. I can fix him with a snap of my fingers. Is that what you want? It would certainly please me." She was close to me again, eyes sharp, watching me like a bird of prey hovering over its next meal. "But you'd never see him again."
"Never see him again?" I wanted him to remember, but to remember me, our love. What good would it do to have this woman restore his memories just to have me abandon him? He'd mourn me. I'd seen how he still loved me. It would be cruel, almost as cruel as leaving him stuck in the sixteenth century. And me? I'd have my heart ripped out.
"I can't bear to see you live as a monster. If you want him as he was, you'll leave him and come with me now. Otherwise, there is very little hope that he can get his memories back." She smiled slowly. "Of course you could leave him as he is and try to make him love you again. You are my daughter. I'm sure you are more than capable of seducing him if that is what you wish."
"This is about more than lust, woman." I wouldn't call her Mother. Never. This cold and heartless creature? "I want him to remember the last four hundred years. He'll be in shock once he leaves the castle and sees all the inventions, the changes..." I pressed my hands to my stomach. "God, I can't imagine how he'll feel. It will drive him mad."
"Amazing. You really do love him. I blame it on your time as a human." She looked skyward. "Another sin Achelous will answer for. Those of us who call Olympus home don't waste our energies on such trivial emotions." She sighed. "If you truly want this man, then he must prove he's worthy."
"Of course he's worthy. He's strong, loving and brave. And he's been true to me all these years."
"A paragon, it seems." Her smile was cold and knowing. "I'll believe it when I see it."
"What do you mean?" I didn't like our proximity. She held me close enough with her power that I could smell her, a strange perfume of lavender and musk that made my nose twitch. Lavender. I had always loved it, used it as a body wash. I was tossing it as soon as I got home.
"I mean, Gloriana, that I will test this man of yours. To see for myself if he deserves my daughter."
"Test? What kind of test?" I finally managed to get away from her. "Please don't hurt him. Haven't you done enough? The man can't remember - "
"I'll decide when Jeremiah Campbell has had enough. And, if you want me to spare him, you will call me Mother." She loomed over me, her power making my hair crackle and lift as if a strong wind had caught it. "Do you understand?"
"I understand that you want him to fail, Mother." I glared at her, dredging up courage despite my roiling stomach. "He is far worthier of me than I am of him."
"We will see, Daughter, we will see." She toyed with my hair, freezing me in place when I would have jerked away from her. "So very headstrong. No wonder Circe recognized you. You are the very image of me in my younger years." She laughed softly, no merry trill this time. "I will be watching. If you change your mind, call for your mother and I will come. And if that man disappoints you, I will be glad to make him suffer, never doubt it."
"Make him suffer? Haven't you already started?" I watched her fade from sight. "Damn you! Stay away. If you won't help him, just stay the hell away from both of us."
I turned and ran down the path toward the castle again. But before I got too close I stopped to compose myself. I could never let the Campbells know that it had been my fault Jerry had lost his memory. Oh, God, what would she do to him next?