mousy waitress stepped forward, pleading. “Please!”
One of the combatant’s elbows sent her reeling against the bar. Her tray fell to the floor and rolled away.
Benjamin grabbed the two men by the fronts of their shirts, and raised them into the air. They flailed and tried to break free.
“Enough!” He brought their heads together in midair with a crack and then tossed them in opposite directions. The two men skidded across the floor, bumping into tables and chairs, until they came to rest against opposite walls.
The smaller one rose first, rubbing his head and glaring at Benjamin.
Benjamin took a step in his direction and the man staggered out the front door. The taller man followed, half running and half crawling, and the door swung shut behind him.
After a moment, applause rose from the remaining customers. Benjamin bowed formally, then turned toward Abby and offered his arm again, which she took.
As they passed the younger waitress, who swiped at tears as she retrieved her tray, Abby stopped. “Poor Tess. I’m not sure she’s really suited to this job.” She looked up at Benjamin with eyebrows arched. “Maybe she needs a little boost in self-confidence?”
“As you wish.”
Abby whispered something to Tess; Benjamin purposely didn’t listen. Then she waved to Rick, who nodded, and the two women started toward the back of the building arm-in-arm.
Benjamin followed. As they climbed the old staircase, constructed at least two hundred years ago, he studied the women, so dissimilar in their matching outfits. Where Abby was round and soft with curves he knew well, this new woman, Tess, was angular and tight—not unattractive, but very different. She was quite a bit shorter than Abby, who was fairly tall for a woman.
Both had strong, steady heartbeats.
At the top of the stairs they turned to the right and continued to the last room, which Abby unlocked with a key hidden on top of the doorframe. She called this her resting room, although as far as he could see she rarely rested here. The Tangled Net had once been an active brothel. Now it was a nice, generally quiet place to drink a beer or two, and Abby, as part owner, did as she wished. She was, however, no whore, simply an enthusiastic partner for one or two men. And Benjamin.
“I’m really sorry,” Tess said, wiping fresh tears with the back of her hand.
“For what?” Abby sat on the edge of a quilt-covered bed and drew the smaller woman down beside her.
Benjamin unbuttoned his cloak, hung it on a hook by the door, and settled into one of the upholstered chairs facing the bed where he could continue to study the two women. Wind rattled upstairs windows and drove occasional drops of rain against the ancient glass where they pinged like pebbles.
“They were fighting because of me,” Tess sniffed. “And I dropped a bottle.”
Abby patted her hand in motherly fashion. “They were fighting over you. A different matter altogether. And we all drop drinks now and then. No big deal, as long as you don’t make a habit of it.”
She nodded, but didn’t look convinced.
Abby glanced at Benjamin.
“Tess, is it?” Benjamin rose and extended one hand, palm up.
The woman nodded again. After a moment’s hesitation, she placed her hand in his. He drew her to her feet and gazed down into her hazel eyes. She couldn’t be much more than five foot two, so barely reached his chest.
“My name is Benjamin,” he said, softening his voice. “Are you from Black Cove?”
Her hand trembled in his, and she shook her head. “Gloucester.”
He smiled. “Daughter of the sea, then.”
She nodded.
He pictured heavy rock buildings and grey boulders rising from green hills leading down to the water’s edge. He smelled salt and rotting fish warming in the sun, and heard water slapping against wooden hulls. He felt the steady rise and fall of the tides like the breath of the Earth itself. And he listened to her heartbeat.
Tess’s hand stilled.
He rolled the sensations together into a bundle and let them radiate from his fingers as he reached up and stroked her cheek. “You are part of all this,” he whispered, “reaching back through time. Take it into your heart.” He cupped her jaw. “Draw strength from it.”
He felt the line connect at that point, and Tess’s eyes widened. She saw the glory of the past and the strength of the sea. He had a clear path into her thoughts. “What passes here tonight you won’t remember as anything unusual,” he said.
Her eyelids fluttered and he caught her as she collapsed. Gently, he returned her to her seat on the bed and plopped back into his chair.
Abby held the younger woman’s hand. “Is she okay?”
Benjamin nodded. “Easier to influence than some.”
“Like me, you mean?”
He raised his foot. “Perhaps.”
Abby tugged off one boot and then the other, dropping them to the floor. “Come on, tell me. Did you do this voodoo stuff on me when we first met?”
He grinned, his mouth firmly shut.
In fact, he’d spent a full year visiting Abby every few months before she realized what was going on. But she was stronger-willed than most mortals he’d known, and he’d finally been unable to remove the memory. Fortunately, she’d remembered with acceptance.
Taking his hand, she drew him to his feet and toward the bed. “You don’t plan to make me wait all night, do you? I have customers downstairs.”
He had absolutely no desire to make her wait. In fact, he was doing his best not to think about the upcoming activities to maintain his appearance. But the sound of her heartbeat continued to strengthen in his head, reminding him of the beauty of her face in the throes of passion. His mouth ached and his vision began to take on a tinge of red.
Judging by her smile, his appearance had already changed. He ran his tongue across one enlarging fang.
Abby drew her blouse off over her head and then wriggled out of her skirt and underclothes and kicked off her shoes. In spite of the ten years she’d aged since he’d started visiting her, she was still an attractive woman. She had full breasts he loved to caress, and his palms felt empty as he admired them. Her red hair framed her face with a glow reminiscent of sunrise.
He unbuttoned his shirt, shrugged it off, and shed his stockings. Although his pants felt tight, he kept them on for the moment.
Abby laughed and dropped back on the bed with a bounce, raising one knee suggestively.
“What about Tess?” she asked.
Benjamin ran his hand down the side of the younger woman’s face. She opened her eyes and looked up at him.
Her
