“The root word is pecco, so that is ‘to do wrong’ here, then here: venia, ‘pardon’ or ‘forgive’—”
“Hey Doc, hold the Latin and try it in plain English,” Johnny said.
“It means,” the doctor said, “that Goliath must be present during the ritual and ask Theo to forgive him.”
The emotion in the room sank in the silence that followed. My heart and my hope for Theo sank with it.
“You’re saying in order to save Theo, we have to get the vamp asshole who did this to her to participate in the ritual to heal her,” Johnny grumbled.
“That’s how I read it,” the doc shrugged.
“My Latin is rusty,” said Nana. “He minored in Latin at OSU. Trust his interpretation.” She looked at me like she was going to be sick.
“I thank you for that, Demeter,” Dr. Lincoln said, “but my education didn’t cover local dialects and distinctions that witch Latin or even medieval Latin might be laden with.”
“You’re all missing the point,” I stressed. “We can’t move Theo. To do this means I have to ask the vampire to enter my home.” Damn! That was, literally, a violating thought.
The collective sigh that followed thickened the gloom. Silence followed. Celia ventured, “Well, that’s stupid.”
“What?”
“You can’t have a vampire in your ritual anyway. They’re dead.”
“Actually,” Nana said, “they are not.”
“What?” Johnny, Erik, and I said it almost simultaneously.
“For the night hours, they’re alive,” Nana stated.
“They’re just reanimated,” I said. “It’s not the same thing.”
“Isn’t it?” Nana said.
Tension suddenly replaced the defeated feeling in the room. “Explain.”
“The living dead, Persephone. You saw how Goliath treated the girl. He’s a conscious creature for the night hours. At the very least, a vampire’s brain stem functions. Maybe we all need to look at them differently, if just for tonight. See them as the cursed people they are.” She gestured at the book. “Cursed by the sun—cursed to die every single day, to lose the reassurance of the warmth of sunlight on their faces. Cursed people, but people nonetheless.”
“People who eat other people,” I insisted.
“No,” Johnny said softly. “It’s wæres who will actually eat other people. Vamps only drink the blood.”
I rubbed my forehead. Getting the vampires to help was not what I wanted to do. But I had no time. Theo had no time. “The problem,” I said, “is this: I’ll have to give up the very thing defending us. I’ll have to ask them to enter.”
“Only Goliath,” Johnny said.
“And once he’s in, all he has to do is invite his master, so I might as well ask them both and hope that my courtesy wins me some brownie points.” No one argued with that. “And once I’ve uttered those powerful words, once I ask them into my home, there’s nothing stopping them from simply coming in, taking Vivian and the book, and leaving.”
Chapter 21
I sat on the edge of the bed, Theo’s hand in mine. My bedroom was empty save for the bed, Theo, the medical monitors, and me—Dr. Lincoln had stepped out. Directly across from me, cobwebs frosted the wall where my dresser had been, and a layer of dust coated the floor in patches where the dresser and bedside tables had sat. An injured patient should be in a clean room. I’d thought it was clean.
I put Theo’s hand down and stood up. Taking a clean cotton shirt from the closet, I began wiping away the cobwebs and dust, wishing I could wipe all the hurt and turmoil from the lives of the people in my house.
I didn’t want Theo to die. I didn’t want anyone to die, and if the vampires went postal in my home, we all would. Actually, “going postal” would be too mild a term for what they’d do, not to mention sounding insultingly mortal to them. They’d go “nuclear” or “nova” or something that sounded impressive, but it would really just mean something much more intensely bloody and horribly painful than a mere mentally disturbed human with a loaded gun could accomplish.
The steps squeaked, and I knew someone was coming to warn me of the time. I expected Nana because the steps were slow, but it was Johnny’s face that appeared in the doorway. “What have you decided?”
“I’ve decided that no matter what happens, I’m screwed.”
“Can I apply for that job?”
I smiled. “Johnny.”
“If you can still smile, then all’s not bad, Red. Have faith.”
“Faith. In what? Myself? Fate?”
“Yes.”
I thought of Nancy. Her faith hadn’t kept her friendships from crashing, hadn’t kept her out of the dark valleys of human experience.
But it kept her to her purpose.
It was almost like hearing Amenemhab’s voice in my head.
My attention strayed to Theo. I had a purpose too. My lungs filled up, and I let them empty again. Goddess guide me, I thought.
“I’m ready.”
I walked out into the hall and to the darkened guest room, I left the door open so the light from the hall could shine in. I eased down onto the floor beside the air mattress and touched Beverley’s shoulder. She didn’t immediately rouse. It made me feel guilty to be waking such a tired, tormented child who’d found some release in her sleep. I shook her again. “Beverley.”
“Mmmm. Seph?”
“Beverley, I need your help. I wouldn’t wake you otherwise.”
“What is it?” She rubbed at her eyes.
“I know Goliath has treated you well, but he’s also done some bad things in the past, and…” There was no way around this. “I’m going to have to ask Menessos and Goliath to come inside my home.”
“Really?” She sat up, eyes wide.
“Really. I thought I should tell you that, in case the ritual woke you, so you wouldn’t be alarmed. And…honestly, I had wanted to keep you away from the spell, since Theo will change, but now—now I’m hoping you’ll agree to be a witness to it. Goliath seems to genuinely care about you and, this is crappy of me, I know, but I think if you’re there, he’ll be less inclined to let any of his bad qualities from the past creep into this situation. Do you understand?”
“Yeah. It’s like his gift of the iPod. It kept me from seeing or hearing things that wouldn’t have happened if I’d been watching or listening. If I’m there, watching and listening…then he’ll behave.”
She was so awesome. “Yeah. That’s exactly right. Are you okay with that?”
Beverley grinned. “You were going to go out and take on a vampire for my mom. And for me. If I can help you out by simply showing up…that’s easy.”
I hugged her.
“Theo will change,” I said again, pulling back. “I don’t want you to be freaked out by it—”
“Mom didn’t want me to see her change, but I always wanted to.”
“It is scary, Beverley.”
“I’ll do it, Seph. I want to help.” She kicked her feet from under the covers, ready to go, just like that. “I think it’ll be cool.”
I couldn’t help but admire her. “It’s very serious in a circle. No giggling, okay?”
“Right.” Her face was earnest. “I get to stand in a circle with witches, wærewolves, and vampires? Wow. Cool.” Then she hesitated. “What about…her?”
She meant Vivian. I said, “When this is over, the vampires will be taking her with them. She’s going to get what she deserves for what she’s done.”