Aidan placed Alexandria on the sand and pulled Joshua gently to her side. “She is very ill, Joshua. I want you to sit right beside her so she can feel your presence and know you have not been harmed. She will need us to take care of her for a while. You are a big boy. You can handle that, even if she says things that are scary, can you not?”
“Why would she say something scary?” Joshua asked suspiciously.
“When people are very sick, fever can make them delirious. That means they do not know what they say. They can be afraid of people or things for no real reason. We have to stay close to her and make certain she does not harm herself.”
Joshua nodded solemnly and sat down in the wet sand beside Alexandria. Her eyes were closed, and she didn’t respond even when he bent down and kissed her on her forehead as she sometimes did to him. Sand and salt caked her skin. Joshua stroked back the wet strands of hair gently, singing softly as she often did to him when he was sick. She seemed very, very cold to him.
Watching them together brought a lump to Aidan’s throat. They looked the way a family was supposed to look. The way Marie, his housekeeper, had looked at her sons as they grew, the way she looked at him and he could never reciprocate. Sighing, he went about the grim business of disposing of the vampire’s remains. Vampires were always dangerous, even after they were dead. He had extracted the heart, but even now it was pulsating, broadcasting to the undead its location, that the vampire might reunite its form. Aidan concentrated on the sky, built a storm in his mind, and created a whip of lightning that sizzled and danced as it struck the ground. Flames rushed along the path of crimson, leaving behind black ashes. The vampire’s body shriveled. Blue and orange flames whirled together, and a low shriek seemed to rise above the wind.
The smell was putrid, rank. Joshua held his nose and watched wide-eyed as the vampire simply vanished in the black, noxious smoke. He was shocked when the hunter held his hands in the orange flames. The flames didn’t burn him. Aidan tiredly wiped his palms along his trousers before turning back to the little boy trying so hard to guard his sister on the beach. A faint smile softened the hard line of his mouth. “You are not afraid of me, are you, Joshua?”
Joshua shrugged and looked away. “No.” There was a small, almost defiant silence. “Well, maybe a little.”
Aidan hunkered down beside the boy and looked directly into the blue eyes. His voice dropped an octave, became a pure tone, silver notes that entered Joshua’s mind and took possession. “I am an old family friend you have known all your life. We care a great deal for one another and have shared all kinds of adventures.” He sent himself outside his body and into the boy, studying the memories the child had of his young life. It was easy to implant a few memories of himself.
Aidan maintained eye contact with the child. “Your friend
Henry had a heart attack and died. It was very sad. You called me to come and get you because your sister was so ill. You and Alexandria have been planning to move in with me. The two of you have already brought some of your things into my house, and you have met my housekeeper, Marie. You like her very much. Stefan, her husband, is a good friend to you. We have been arranging the move for weeks. Do you remember?” He implanted memories and images of his housekeeper and caretaker so the two would be familiar and comfortable to the child.
The little boy nodded solemnly.
Aidan ruffled Joshua’s hair. “You had a bad dream, something about vampires, but you do not really remember it. It is all very hazy. You talked to me about it, and if it ever returns to haunt you, you will come to me, and we will discuss it. You always feel free to talk with me about things that sometimes do not make sense. You want me to be with your sister always. We talk about it together and plot together to make her want to stay with me as my wife, as family. You and I are the best of friends. We always look out for Alexandria. You know she belongs with me, that no one can care for her and protect the two of you as I can. This is very important to you, to both of us.”