Dixie had twenty-nine. She took the warm bundle of newspaper and went out to the car. Now all she had to do was follow signs to the Abbey.

She nibbled chips as she drove, breaking off chunks of batter-covered fish between times. It was too hot and burned her tongue, but she munched on. Nervous eating? Definitely. By the time she parked, her heart raced like a hummingbird's and half- chewed fish and chips congealed in her stomach.This was it.

She locked the car and walked up to the Abbey-or as close as she could get, what with a high fence and locked gates. The fret had lifted. Stars and a gibbous moon filled the dark sky, and a breeze off the sea cooled her flushed cheeks. Moonlight cast shadows over the ruins, and the swell of waves at the base of the cliffs was the only sound. There were no campers. They'd fled for safer pitches.

She was alone. Or was she?

Christopher, are you here? Her mind reached out as if fumbling through mist. Christopher! It was no use. Christopher!

Then it happened, like a spark on a pile of tinder. Dixie! Here?

Warmth, joy, excitement. Wonders! She wanted to whoop, shriek, laugh and cry. She had to find him. Follow her senses to his resting place.

But how?

Cold wrapped her like a used shroud. The air went silent. Nothing. No answering warmth. No reply. Just the silence of the sky and the slap of distant waves on the rocks below.

Christopher! Her soul shrieked through desperation and loneliness.

The hush of centuries replied with silence.

Justin arrived a few hours before dawn. "She's safe, my friend," he said as Christopher stirred.

"How is she safe?"

"I persuaded where you could not. She agreed to go home. I can't claim all the credit. Something happened."

"What?" Christopher grabbed his friend's shoulders. "What happened? She's hurt?"

"No!" Justin shook him off. "She's not hurt. Thank Abel! But..."

Dry ice crystals formed in Christopher's heart as Justin recounted the events of Friday. So much for no revenge. He vowed a million revenges. An eternity of retaliation. "They tried to kill her. They'll all die. Every last one."

"No! Revenge is beneath us, Kit. You know our tenets. And besides, Dixie is safe. By now she's back in Charleston."

They probably heard his laugh across the coast in Robin Hood's Bay. Christopher didn't care. Nothing mattered now. "Safe, you say? Back in South Carolina? Old friend, you are wrong. She's here."

For the first time in centuries, he'd rendered Justin Corvus speechless. For a few moments. "She can't be. I took her to the airport, luggage and all."

"She can. She was. This very night. Just hours ago."

"She found you?"

Christopher ran both hands through his hair, letting his nails sc.r.a.pe his scalp. Anything to ease the torment of losing Dixie. "Her mind met mine, as I lay half-awake. We joined and then I blocked her out. She couldn't penetrate the wall I built. She stayed more than an hour, crying, her mind searching for me, and I let her drown in misery while I burned with loneliness."

"You kept her safe."

"Safe? What sort of safety is that? Only chance saved her there. They'll be after her, you know that. If they harm her, forget our code! I'll exact a life for every fingernail she chips."

Justin paced between the resting places. "This changes everything. If only I'd waited. I should have seen her go through customs. I never dreamed-"

"She outsmarted you, old friend, and outwitted Caughleigh, by the sound of things-at least for now. She has to be kept safe and only I can ensure that."

"No. You can't risk seeing her again."

"I need her. And she needs protection. It's that simple."

"And what protection can you offer? A wanted man. A murder suspect. Your description is in every police computer in Britain, and no doubt they lifted fingerprints from somewhere."

Kit Marlowe smiled. "But not my photo." He paced the packed earth floor. "Listen well. I've decided I'll rest today. It's too close to dawn. But tonight, I'm rising. To find Dixie. She crossed the length of England for me. We're meant to be together."

Justin's eyes paled in the gloom. "You'll pay the price? For a mortal?"

"You did."

"It's a heavy price. Banishment from the colony for her lifetime."

"Not as heavy as eternity without her."

"You'll have to watch her age, sicken, get frail. Time is cruel to mortals."

"So is loneliness."

Justin sank to the earthen floor, his head cast back against a stone slab. "Tom and I will miss you. Ours has been an old friends.h.i.+p."

"And will be again. We have eternity."

Justin nodded. "Rest. You'll need the strength. If you're still of the same mind at sunset, we'll part. Tom and I will watch Dixie tomorrow. When you've rested, we'll help you disappear-throw some false trails to confuse the police and the others."

Christopher clasped his old friend to him. "For this, I thank you, Justin. One day..."

"One day is all we have."

Sebastian arrived at York just after dawn. Driving through the night wasn't his idea of fun. d.a.m.n Dixie! She'd been nothing but trouble from the day he got her first letter. He found a car park near the station and dozed. He had his story for the rental office, whenever they opened. A cricked neck and crumpled clothes could only add color.

"... so you see, she must have hired a car and gone on by herself. She probably thought I'd stood her up." The booking clerk wavered between customer confidentiality and thwarted love. Romance won. "I shouldn't be telling you this, but," she lowered her voice, glancing over her shoulder, "a Miss LePage did rent a car yesterday."

Success. "Can you give me the model and number?"

Scruples surfaced. She preferred continued employment to aiding a desperate man. "I wish I could-that I'd get sacked for.

But..."

Reining in his irritation, he smiled and turned on his full charm. "Can you at least tell me where she went? Did she ask directions?"

"Oh, yes. She wanted to go shopping. I marked a shopping center on her map."

Very helpful! He already knew where she'd bought her toothbrush. He tried a leading question, "Did she say anything about driving to er... Beverly?" He recalled a name from a signpost last night.

"No. I'd remember if she had, my old aunt lives in Beverly."

Sebastian hoped her old aunt had arthritis, brittle bone disease and something fatal thrown in for good measure. Where in Hades was Dixie? She could be halfway to Scotland. But he knew she wasn't. She'd come to Yorks.h.i.+re. Why?

He needed a shave, a shower, breakfast, and some idea of where to go next. He found the first three in the station hotel, and the last during breakfast. His portable phone bleeped as he chewed his bacon.

"Sebby, I've found her. I came in early. I know where she is." Emily almost hyperventilated down the phone line. "She's in Whitby. Last night she bought petrol in Lewisham and later charged something at a Linden House Private Hotel in Whitby."

He had her. Just a short drive away. She'd gone to Whitby and wasn't coming back.

Against all odds, Dixie woke refreshed. She pulled back the chintz curtains and admired the promised view, the ruined Abbey and the cliffs bright in the June suns.h.i.+ne. Christopher was there and chose to shut her out. Was she crazy? Racing across England to find a vampire? No. She smiled at her reflection. Not crazy, just in love. And wasn't that supposed to make fools of everyone?

"Any special plans for today?" Mrs. Thirlwood asked as she cleared Dixie's plate away. "Nice day for a walk on the cliffs."

"I thought about seeing the Abbey. I noticed the ruins last night."

"Haven't been there myself, but all my guests seem to like it. Ancient, it is."

"Yes. Was it ruined in the Dissolution or the Civil War?" She'd learned Henry Vlll and Oliver Cromwell had caused most of the ruins in England.

"The Jerries mostly." Mrs. Thirlwood smiled. "During the war, they sh.e.l.led it."

Not quite as fascinating as earlier history, but there she was. It wasn't the history of the Abbey that interested her. "Can you walk along the cliffs?"

"Oh yes, love. Have to watch for weak places, you do. Erosion, you know. Parts have collapsed-one did just last week-but it's a nice walk on a day like this. You can go all the way to Robin Hood's Bay. It's a lovely walk. So peaceful."Chapter Thirteen

Sebastian smiled at the gray-haired woman who opened the door. Shouldn't be too hard to bamboozle this old biddy. "My name's Caughleigh, Sebastian Caughleigh. I'm looking for Dixie LePage. She's staying here, right?"

The cold cow gave a grunt that could mean yes or know. What matter? He knew the answer. "Dixie and I were engaged until two days ago. We had a terrible fight. It was all my fault. I'm what you might call bearing an olive branch." The cellophane crinkled as he s.h.i.+fted the sheaf of red roses. "Could I put them in her room? Sort of a peace offering, you know."

"I'll take them."

He wanted to s.n.a.t.c.h them back from the old crone's grasping hands, but he smiled. "Could I wait until she gets back? You have a bar?"

"Were not open during the day off-season."

He'd like to ram each stalk down her scraggy throat. "Please. I must talk to her."

She folded her arms over her chest. "I'll give her the flowers and deliver your message. If you want to see her, come back tonight. She's gone for the day."

"Where?" He'd asked that too fast. The old biddy looked down her nose at him. He wanted to smash it but he smiled. "Sorry, I must seem rude. I've been such an a.s.s."

She nodded as if agreeing. The old hag! "She'll be back tonight."

He put a hand on the jamb and smiled, daring her to close the door on him. "Could I maybe find her in the town? I have to see her. I'm getting desperate." The last wasn't a lie.

She unbent a little. It was enough. "She spoke of seeing the Abbey and then walking to Robin Hood's Bay. Maybe she did.

Can't say."

A start at least. He left the flowers, hoping the old bat scratched herself on them. A few yards down the road, he pulled out the maps he'd bought. A nice, twisting cliff path led from the Abbey to Robin Hood's Bay. What could be better?

"Curly reddish hair. I'm sure she was here. You must have seen her," Sebastian insisted. He'd used sister rather than fiancee with the old dodderer at the Abbey gate, but it didn't help.

"I sell tickets. I don't watch everyone who comes here. The place was packed this morning. Ruddy school party." The attendant sniffed and went back to counting coins.

Sebastian shared his distaste for schoolboys. One had pinged his car with a tennis ball as he parked. "I'm certain she came. We agreed to meet here. I got delayed."

"Teach you to be on time then, squire, won't it?" The man offered a toothless grin and turned back to his twenty-pence pieces.

Sebastian wanted to stuff one in each of the man's hairy ears.

"I say, excuse me." Sebastian turned. The master who inadequately chaperoned the brats smiled at him. "Excuse me," he repeated, "but I heard you ask about a young woman. She wouldn't be an American, by any chance?"

Previous Top NextBy every chance. How many others could there be in this G.o.dforsaken dot on the northern sh.o.r.es? "Yes, my sister. I was supposed to meet her here. You've seen her?"

"Yes. My bunch of hooligans almost trampled her to death. Very nice about it, she was. We're from St. Dunstan's in York.

Supposed to have left for Scarborough Castle by now, but one of my little Turks dropped his watch somewhere and we're trying to find it." He nodded towards the knot of boys scouring the gra.s.s and ruins. "If they don't trample on it first."

They could have come from the moon for all he cared, and the fate of some urchin's watch ranked right up there with the fate of mosquitoes. But he smiled the smile reserved for his wealthiest clients. "You saw Dixie? Wonderful! I'm sure she gave me up for lost."

"She didn't wait long. Set off along the cliff path before we had lunch even. Haven't seen her come back. She might have, of course."

But he'd bet she hadn't. That old biddy was right. "That's the path to Robin Hood's Bay?"

"Right. Nice walk. We did it one year, but one of the squirts fell off and we had to call out the rescue people. Headmaster has vetoed it ever since."

Opportunity was sweet. Sebastian sang a silent Hallelujah chorus. Soon there would be another fall, but he wouldn't bother the rescue teams.

"Sir!"

"Here it is. We found Jenkin's watch, sir!"

"Binns found it, sir!"

Half a dozen of them came running up, followed by the rest of the tribe as they started shouting and calling and jostling Binns as he pushed forward with his find. The now-muddy watch restored to its owner, the master called the group together. "Right, now, that's everyone, I hope. Let's get on the bus and if anyone else loses anything, we'll donate it to the gulls."

The bus pulled out. Sebastian squashed the memories of his own miserable school days, but spared a fleeting thought for Jenkins who'd be ribbed all the way to Scarborough for losing his watch. Would he get his head sat on in the back of the bus while the master smoked at the front, oblivious to the torture behind? Or have his shoelaces removed and used to tie his thumbs together behind his back?

Sebastian was long past boyhood terrors, with a job to do before he slept. He unlocked his trunk and rummaged under the spare for a pair of binoculars. He wished he'd brought trainers but his wingtips would have to do. After this, he'd treat himself to a new pair. He'd watch that near-deserted path, then go to meet her.

He looked up from locking the car, the binoculars heavy around his neck, to see a puffin perched on a telephone pole. The squat-bodied creature that seemed to be watching him. They were strange-looking birds. This one swiveled his head as if to follow Sebastian's movements. Then, as if thinking better of it, soared overhead and disappeared towards the southeast.

On a happier day and with an easier frame of mind, Dixie would have enjoyed herself. The cliffs offered views on the coast that bordered on the magnificent. The suns.h.i.+ne warmed her back through her tee s.h.i.+rt. The breeze ruffled her hair into tangles and freshened her cheeks, and the scents of fresh-cut gra.s.s, sea air, and wild honeysuckle would have stirred a heart that wasn't knotted with anxiety.

In Robin Hood's Bay, she stopped for tea, and beans on toast in a small, dark tearoom festooned with fis.h.i.+ng nets and gla.s.s floats. A glance at her watch had her gulping down her last cup. She'd better get going. She wanted to return at dusk, but negotiating the narrow cliff paths in the dark was another matter.Dixie stopped to rest on a handy stile and eased off her now-weighty pack. She was dog-tired, her legs ached, and the path was narrow. Remembering the walk here, there had been quite a few places where the path sunk or even disappeared completely. She didn't fancy the drop to the rocks below. Turning her face to the sea, she inhaled deeply and felt the breeze freshen her heated face. Why was she standing here, miles from anywhere, probably on a wild goose chase? No. That wasn't true. Christopher was in the ruined Abbey as sure as b.u.t.ter melted on grits.