Now we were getting somewhere.
"What exactly did you see, Mary?" I asked, unable to stop myself from interrupting her story.
"She needed children to continue her line. Two for two. Two for two. Two for two."
A shiver ran through me at those words. I'd heard them before, when Mary had fallen into a fit.
This was not good. I met Stephen's wide eyes, disappointment warring with concern because I already knew what this meant.
Mary's lucidity was fading before our eyes as she repeated those three words over and over. Their rhythm reverberated, gaining speed until it reached a frenzied height. Then it slowed, somehow lulling her restless mind, but also taking with it the memories that held the crucial information that we so desperately needed.
Stephen walked Mary back to her room, murmuring comforting words to her. It felt like we'd exhausted all our options. There were no more avenues of research to follow. Tonight the vampires would come for me again. I knew it with a certainty that couldn't be evaded.
"I need to tell him," I muttered, half to myself.
"Yes."
Brief as always Emily stood to leave. Pausing by my chair, she raised a hand to my shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze.
Surprised by the gesture, I looked up. She was already out the door.
I was still trying to decide how to broach the subject of my midnight escapade, when Stephen returned.
"Coffee?" he asked, dejection seeping from his tone.
Watching him move around the kitchen, a wave of sadness caught me by surprise. The careful order with which he carried out the mundane task was achingly familiar. I had seen him do this countless times in our old apartment – our old life.
God, I missed him so much. And the coffee he made was so good. He turned and handed me a cup just as the wave of emotion crested. We hesitated, our fingers touching. His blue eyes darkened in understanding.
I pulled away. The flimsy bridge of friendship we were building from the rubble of our fractured relationship was about to be washed away on the flood of my confession. I wasn't sure if I was happy about that or not.
Stephen sat in silence as I recounted my tale. I left out the part about rifling his mother's wardrobe to save his feelings. Who was I kidding? I was trying to avoid his disappointment. Judging by his stony glare I had failed miserably. It made me glad that I had skipped over Emily's involvement – no need to get her in trouble too.
"You should have taken us with you. You've always been too trusting, Alice. They're vampires, they're not driven by the same motivations as you and me."
"Not sure you should be the one to lecture me about my trusting nature, are you? What exactly was your motivation for sleeping with me, Stephen? It certainly wasn't out of love and respect."
As predicted, all good feelings were engulfed by the deluge of our past. Anger sizzled in my gut, and I had to remind myself that I was the one that was supposed to be apologising here.
"Look, I was desperate for some information. There was no way that you and Emily would let me meet James again. I had no idea that Thomas would be there."
Stephen held his head in his hands for a few long moments. Finally, he rubbed them over his face to clear away the remnants of our angry words. When he met my eyes again heat poured into me from his gaze. Those familiar deep blue eyes brimmed with emotion, a hint of anguish pooling with desire as he focused on me with an intensity that made energy pop and flicker deep in my core.
There was something else, and it looked very much like sincerity.
"I loved you Alice. I don't expect you to believe me, but I loved you from the very start of our relationship. You have no reason to trust me, but ours was my first and only lasting relationship. You're the only woman that I've wanted to share that much intimacy with. I knew all along that I would eventually lose you, and it killed me."
"Forgive my lack of sympathy."
But my words were hollow. Deep down I knew that not everything between us had been false. Our relationship hadn't been entirely one-sided.
I also understood that his motivation for lying to me had disappeared once I volunteered to stay with them. But I really, really didn't want to believe him. It was so much easier to fall back on my hurt and anger when my feelings for Stephen got too complicated.
My emotions were raw and too close to the surface for comfort. Our conversation had unlocked something within me that I didn't want out. I loved him. But could I trust him? I also loved Thomas. What the hell was I supposed to do with that?
So I changed the subject. "You know, Mary's life-force is green."
Confusion drew Stephen's eyebrows together, before his face smoothed out in understanding and curiosity sparkled in his eyes.
I had never spoken to anybody other than Anne about my ability to identify a witch's life-force through its colour.
"I've seen that before," I continued, slanting my eyes to his face, "in both Roger and Ben."
As if on cue the doorbell sounded.
Stephen jumped up to answer it, far more eagerly than warranted. I really needed to know about his connection to those guys. They were the princes of the Southern Coven, for Christ's sake.
When Ben strode into the kitchen and enveloped me in an enthusiastic bear hug, I couldn't suppress the grin that stretched out my face. I peeked at Stephen over the huge man's shoulder.
He looked worried. He should be. He couldn't avoid my questions now.
Smugness brimming out of every pore, I wriggled out of Ben's massive arms. He looked at me indulgently, ruffled my hair, and then steered Stephen out of the room without a word.
What the hell? I'd made the deal with Roger. There was no way they were freezing me out.
Ben stood at the side of Mary's bed. The moment that he took her hand, his bright green life-force began to infuse Mary's weaker haze. Tiny particles of glittering energy zipped about, connecting with Mary's slower, duller specks. Thin fibres floating aimlessly in Mary's life-force were gathered up in the strong web of Ben's magic. The sequences connected and adapted creating something new, something stronger, until the shades of green merged and it was impossible to tell where one began and the other ended.
The energy in the room increased as the magic built, the new sequence bright as dewy grass on a spring morning.
My own power surged forward in response. Silver particles frantically multiplied from every place that my skin was exposed, knitting together, forming winding tendrils that reached out, eager to connect with Ben and Mary's rich magic.
Ben looked at me and raised his hand, calling to my life-force with a silent entreaty that transcended language. His magic called directly to my own, and when I answered, it wasn't with my human consciousness. My silver life-force rose up to meet Ben's power. The thick limbs of silver webbing separated out, weaving themselves into the sequence of green energy that surrounded Ben and Mary.
My body hummed with satisfaction, the sweet chimes of silver leaves telling me how good, how right this was. The silver particles multiplied faster, more and more flowing into the green energy until its colour began to morph, millions of silver stars twinkling before they joined to form a bright silver web.
When my hand touched his, my body jolted with the rush of power that forged through the connection, eager to claim, to transform. But as my life-force flowed into Ben, something else happened. I began to see how amazing Ben's ability really was. He was a conduit, taking my magic and diluting it, so that it could be safely passed onto Mary.
Memories of my experiences with the Sheffield coven pushed into my mind: when Hazel had drawn my power into the tree mosaic, I had been weakened. They had taken something from me without my permission, and offered nothing in return.
This felt different. Now my power was infinite as it flowed from me, through Ben, and into the one who needed it. Instead of consuming the green, silver ran through Ben's life-force in intricate veins reminding me of the roots of the silver tree.
Mary's life-force showed no trace of silver, but the green hue of her power had strengthened immeasurably, and continued to do so the longer that Ben joined the three of us together.
Finally Ben dropped my hand. The delicate veins of silver lost momentum, drifting apart, loose threads dangling behind as their colour dimmed. He held Mary's hand for a moment longer until all the remaining silver particles had been absorbed by the sequence of his green magic. When he looked up, a shimmer of silver swirled in his iris. He blinked and it was gone, replaced with his usual hazel colour.
Ben shook out his shoulders and arms and did a little jog with his legs. "Bloody Hell, Alice. You've got some juice there."
"Will she be ok now?" Stephen asked, the faintest trace of green energy buzzing close to his skin.
"Roger wants Mary to come and live with a coven family so that when her memories return, she has some context for them. We still have members who remember Mary as a child. She'll be welcomed."
"Surely Mary can decide for herself if she wants to re-enter the coven?" I asked, surprised that he would assume that she wanted to return to the people who had cast her out and stripped her of her power.
"I thought you understood. Coven membership isn't optional, Alice," Ben said, with concern.
"I guess I'm the exception then, am I?"
Ben blushed, his face creasing into a grimace of embarrassment. It wasn't an expression that I ever thought I would see on the huge, overbearing man.
"I don't think they consider you one of them, Alice. I'm sorry?" Stephen offered, his condolence coming out as more of a question than a statement.
He was right. I didn't know if I was hurt at the rejection or grateful that I was exempt from mandatory enrolment.
"I'll oversee Mary's recovery. I agree with Roger that she needs our expertise to regain the balance of both her power and her mind. As her nephew, you need to be on the lookout for any flare ups too," Ben said, giving Stephen a pointed look.
I pressed my lips together. Stephen's life-force had pretty much faded to nothing now anyway. No matter how conflicted my feelings for him, I didn't want to lose him to the coven.
Ben collected his things, ready to take his leave. He hesitated at the door. "There's something else," he said, looking acutely uncomfortable. "I've been instructed to tell you that the price of my help with your father has been decided without the magistrate's interference. You must allow Roger to court you."
Nooooo! Not Roger.... Yuk! Lots going on for Alice in this chapter. Hope you like it.