Forever: A Novel of Good and Evil Love and Hope Read online

  Darci’s head came up so quickly she almost hit his chin. Her face was level with his, her lips near his.”Promise me?”

  “Sure,” he said, but his voice came out raspy.

  “Swear it.” She grabbed the sides of his leather jacket and pulled on them, drawing his face even nearer to hers.

  Her breath smelled so good that for a moment Adam was dizzy.

  “Swear it!” she said. “Swear it on....What do you hold sacred?”

  “At the moment, my sanity.”

  “None of your dumb jokes now. This is important.”

  “I swear on my sister’s life that I won’t abandon you.”

  That statement made him curse under his breath, because he’d revealed something that he hadn’t meant to. Maybe she wouldn’t notice his slipup.

  But Darci’s eyes widened until he could see white all around them. “The Internet said that you’re an only child, so who is your sister?”

  “She—” Adam looked around Darci’s head. “The hotel people must have told him what kind of car I’m driving, because your father is coming this way.”

  “No!” Darci half squealed, and Adam nearly wept with relief when she rolled away from him to go to the other side of the car. Her anxiety about her father had made her stop asking questions about his sister. For a moment, Adam closed his eyes and tried to regain his equilibrium.

  When there was no sound from Darci, he looked at her sitting in the passenger seat. Her face was as white as a marshmallow. She wasn’t going to faint again, was she? he thought, and at the same time he wondered how much time he was going to have to spend acting as mediator between these two strangers. All he wanted to do was work on the problem at hand, but now he’d have to be a family counselor. The truth was, he’d been hoping that this man Taylor could baby-sit Darci for a day or two so he could go back into those tunnels. On his own, he could make a map. On his own, he could—

  When he heard Darci open the car door, he stopped his thoughts and looked at her. She was staring, with a look he’d never seen before, at the man walking slowly toward them. The man certainly did look like Darci, Adam thought. There’d be no need for DNA tests to prove paternity.

  Darci started to get out of the car.

  “Wait a minute and I’ll go with you,” Adam said. “I’ll— Damnation!” The seat belt lock was jammed, and though he pushed as hard as he could on the red button, the thing wouldn’t release. But after a moment, he stopped pushing the button and looked out the window at what was happening.

  Looking as though she were in a trance, Darci had gotten out of the car, leaving the door open, and slowly begun to walk toward the man as he walked toward her. His eyes were intent on the young woman coming toward him, and the closer they got to each other, the faster they began to walk. By the time they were thirty feet from each other, they were running.

  A car had pulled in beside Adam’s in the parking lot, and half a dozen people had climbed out, their arms laden with shopping bags, but when they saw Darci and the man walking toward each other, they halted and watched also. Adam had to admit that it was a sight to see, these two people who looked so much alike running toward each other, their arms outstretched.

  When Darci was about a yard from the man, she leaped off the ground.

  For a moment, Adam held his breath; then he jerked hard against the seat belt and it released. In one quick movement he was out of the car, ready to run to Darci’s rescue if this man didn’t catch her.

  But he needn’t have worried, because the man caught her against him and enveloped her in his arms. Darci’s legs went about his waist and her head buried itself into his shoulder, as she curled herself against him in complete and total submission.

  And love, Adam couldn’t help thinking as he watched them, and a white-hot emotion ran through him. The feeling was something like anger, no . . . actually, it was more like rage. But it also felt like....

  His thoughts were interrupted by the people standing by the car next to his. They were applauding! One of the women was wiping tears from her eyes; a teenage boy put his fingers to his mouth and gave a loud whistle, then he clapped some more.

  Adam was quite annoyed. His inclination was to snap at the tourists that this was a private reunion between a father and daughter who had never met each other, and therefore—

  But Adam didn’t say any of that. In fact, he didn’t say anything at all to the people, even though they were gushing about how “romantic” what they’d just seen was. After closing his car door and locking it, Adam went around to the passenger-side door, closed, and locked it. When he thought he’d delayed as long as he could, he turned and started walking slowly toward father and daughter, who were now standing close together, Taylor Raeburne’s arm around Darci’s shoulders, hers about his waist.

  Taylor Raeburne was only about five-foot-six, maybe seven, inches tall, Adam saw as he drew closer. From the photo, Darci’s mother had seemed to be rather tall, so he’d wondered why Darci was so short. At the time, he’d figured that it was malnutrition. But now he saw that it was heredity. In fact, looking at them together, he didn’t think he’d ever seen a parent and child more alike than these two.

  “You’re Montgomery?” Raeburne asked when he saw Adam.

  When Adam looked into the man’s eyes, he knew that there weren’t many people who’d called Taylor Raeburne short and lived to tell about it. He reminded Adam of a gladiator of old: small but powerful. This man had an air about him that would make people notice him wherever he was.

  “Yes,” Adam said, trying not to look at Darci as she clung so closely to this man. “There’s no need to ask who you are.”

  At that, Raeburne just stared at him, blinking, as though he hadn’t understood the language Adam was speaking.

  “Don’t mind him,” Darci said. “He’s always trying to make jokes and failing. He just meant that he could see that you’re my father.” Darci gave the man such a look of love that again that feeling went through Adam, this time so hard that he had to look away for a moment.

  “So where do we begin to work on clearing out these witches?” Taylor asked.

  Adam looked back at the man, glad to be on familiar territory. “I thought that maybe you and Darci could spend some time together and get to know each other while I do a little ...well,mapping.”

  “Of the tunnels?” Darci snapped, taking her arm from around her father’s waist. “You can’t go without me!”

  “I’d do a great deal better without you!” Adam snapped back. “Look at what you did last time!”

  “I got you your dagger, that’s what I did. You couldn’t reach it, but I set off the alarm and that gave you time to reach in and grab the thing. Not that finding that knife has helped us any.”

  “You act as though you planned that,” Adam shot back at her. “You act as though—”

  “You two haven’t become lovers, have you?” Taylor asked, interrupting the two of them.

  “With him?” Darci said, almost sneering. “No, he’s saving himself for Renee.”

  “Very funny.” Adam looked at Taylor.”Renee is my dog.”

  Taylor Raeburne didn’t smile.”It’s a good thing that you haven’t become lovers because as I’m sure you know, my daughter must remain a virgin if she’s to read the mirror.”

  When Taylor said that, Adam could feel Darci staring at him. That’s why you hired me! she screamed in his head. You hired me because I’m a . . . a. . . . Even in her mind she couldn’t say the word.

  “Darci, I—” Adam said, turning to look at her. “Ow! That hurt!” he said when a sharp pain shot through his head. A pain like an ice pick went in one temple, straight through his brain, and out the other temple. “Stop it,” he whispered, putting his hands to the sides of his head.

  Through this Taylor had been standing in silence and watching, but now he understood what was going on. Grabbing his daughter’s thin shoulders, he stepped between her and Adam. “Darci,” he said, but the expression on