[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
there to catch you."
Ryan stood and bowed. "You are a worthy opponent, Inspector. I respect your intelligence, and I will keep your
threat in mind."
Ryan rang the bell for Greger. "Do you wish to question the servants, Inspector?"
"Is there any point in my doing so?"
Ryan smiled. "None whatsoever."
"Then good day to you, Lord Wolf."
"Good day, Inspector."
Ryan sat staring into the fire after the inspector left. She remembered the conversation she had had with
McKay the night after McDermott was killed.
"How could you let her?" Ryan had raged.
"How could I have stopped her?" McKay had answered, equally angry.
"By killing the man yourself!"
"Don't you think 1 would have if I had found him first? I& I loved Reesha as a daughter. You and Carissa, you
knew her for a year; I taught her, nurtured her talent for twenty years. If I had found McDermott first, I would
have killed him. But do you really think that would have spared Carissa anything? If you had killed him for
her, would her guilt be any less now?"
Ryan had felt her rage disappear as if a bucket of cold water had been dumped on her. "No, it would have hurt
her more in the long run to know she had used another to do the evil she intended."
Ryan sighed. Part of her was glad that Carissa was capable of killing. She had worried that her lover was too
gentle to survive as a vampire. Brynn's death still hung heavy on Ryan's conscience even after all the centuries
that intervened. Ryan worried now that Carissa would follow her first beloved. She felt so helpless, and not all of
her anger at the agent who had been watching McDermott or at McKay or even her servants for not preventing
Carissa from seeking revenge could replace the gnawing worry that ate at Ryan.
Carissa looked like a wraith when she walked into the study. She was almost transparent to Ryan's vampiric
sight, so little energy did she have left. Ryan stood and wrapped her in her arms. Tonight was the first time
Carissa had come down since McDermott's death. Ryan had tried to talk with her before, but she had only
closed her eyes and let the words wash over her. Now Ryan wished she could pray. "Please," she begged in her
mind, not sure of whom, "please don't let this destroy her."
"Nora said the inspector was here today." Carissa's voice was both soft and harsh from all the tears she could
not shed.
"Yes. They found McDermott's body washed up somewhere. The inspector thinks I killed him."
"Oh, Ryan, I'm so sorry. I never meant for you to be tangled in this." Carissa was shaking. Ryan sat her in a
chair and poured her a glass of wine, holding it until Carissa drank half. It wasn't blood, but it might ease
Carissa's throat.
"It's all right, beloved. There is no evidence, and the inspector is smart enough to know he cannot win this case,
and a good enough person not to try when he knows how many people it would hurt. He'll let it go."
"Can he? Won't his superiors demand he solve the case?"
"McDermott's death could just as easily have been an accident or a suicide. It is not uncommon to suffer a
broken neck if a person goes off the cliffs here. The inspector knows that McDermott was responsible for
Reesha's death. He has no sympathy for the man." Ryan did not tell Carissa how much sympathy the inspector
had for her. "I'll send someone to the inquest, but I'm sure McDermott's death will be ruled either suicide or an
accident."
Carissa nodded, relieved. "I am sorry. I didn't think about the consequences of what I did. I couldn't seem to
care. I just wanted him dead by my hands. But it really didn't change anything, did it?"
Ryan kneeled in front of Carissa, holding her against her shoulder. "How do you mean, beloved?"
"Reesha is still dead, and killing McDermott makes me no less guilty of her death. It just adds the price of
another life to my burden."
"You did not kill Reesha. You are in no way responsible for her death."
"If she hadn't been my lover, she would still be alive. I led him right to her door."
"Carissa, there is no way you could have anticipated this; no way you could have known he would kill someone
just because he had seen you together. That is the act of a madman. He killed her in a mad rage, and that is no
one's fault but his."
"Just as I killed him in a mad rage? Am I any better than he? I was afraid of becoming a monster because I
could not control my appetite, but instead I killed deliberately. What is the phrase? With malice aforethought.
What does that make me, Ryan?"
"It makes you human."
Carissa looked up, startled.
Ryan smiled. "Do you think you are the only person who has ever sought revenge for some beloveds death?
How many men have killed for much less than what was done to Reesha? Everyone has the need to protect the
ones they love, Carissa. And most people go at least a little mad when someone they love is killed. What is
different is that you have the strength, the power to exact a revenge that most people only dream about. That is
a dangerous weapon to hold. If Reesha's brother had challenged McDermott to a duel, do you think the law
would have prosecuted him? Do you think people would have looked at him with anything but admiration for
killing the monster who killed his sister?"
"It wasn't exactly a fair fight between us."
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
