Chapter Ten
~Claire~
“This is incredible,” Becki LaFey said softly as she inspected the carvings on Victor’s sarcophagus. “I always thought Mama made the story up.”
“So did I,” Bonni agreed, staring wide eyed around the tomb. “I mean, she never told us their names, but I can’t count how many times we heard the tale of the vampire prince who loved his mate so much that when he lost her he gave up everything to avoid having to live without her.”
“How did the story end?” I asked.
“The way the great ones always do,” Becki answered with a shrug. “His soul mate returned, and the spell was fully broken with true love’s first kiss.”
“Well there you go!” Candi said happily. “Crack open this cold one and give your mummy a big old smooch.”
“I’m not kissing a mummy,” I hissed, rolling my eyes at her. “And Booker said it was dangerous to open the coffin to a vampire that hasn’t fed in two hundred years. Plus, we don’t know that I’m his soul mate returned.”
“There’s an easy way to find that out,” Bonni insisted. “We can do a past life regression hypnosis for you.”
“That could be dangerous, too,” Trudi warned.
“Why?” I asked. I wasn’t even sure I believed in hypnosis, but if we could learn the truth without me having to worry about swapping spit with an almost corpse, I wanted to at least hear about it.
“You could end up with two complete sets of memories,” Trudi explained. “Or more, if you’ve been reincarnated multiple times. That kind of regression can tear your mind apart.”
“Is there maybe a third option?” I asked, not at all liking the sound of going insane. “Like seal the tomb back up and move on to a less dangerous job? Perhaps shark diving or lion taming.”
“Oh, I always wanted to go shark diving,” Candi said. “They make it look so fun on Shark Week.” She turned to Mindi, her hands moving excitedly. “Do you remember the one where Dicky was laying on the raft shaped like a seal, and they dragged him behind the boat? That was awesome. That kid is crazy.”
“Can we focus, please?” Becki asked. “Claire, of course you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. But I’m an empath and I can assure you that if we go through with the hypnosis, I won’t allow any memories to hurt you. I can guide you gently enough to focus on the past we want, and if it’s not there, no harm will come from trying.”
“And if it is?” I asked cautiously.
“If it is, and you do find yourself with memories of now and then, they will be the memories from the same soul. It will not adversely affect your mind.” She walked over and put a gentle arm around my shoulders. “But it will be up to you. And whatever you decide, we will help you figure this out.”
So my options were hypnosis, kissing a mummy or letting the mystery go. None of those seemed like any fun at all, if I were completely honest. But I was stuck. If I continued to dream of Victor, I’d always wonder if they were actual memories fighting to come forward, or if it were all in my imagination. And would that drive me any less crazy than knowing the truth?
While we’d been waiting for Bonni and Becki to come to the island, I’d read through the rest of the messages from Hugh, and Victor seemed like he was a really great guy…or, vampire.
He helped mortals build businesses in Canada, offering loans and labor to assist them. Everything ever written about him, from human or monster perspective was nothing but reverent and appreciative. Even though the normals hadn’t even realized that Victor was a vampire. At least, I guess, until the end.
The last email had contained a drawing of Victor Galt, and I couldn’t even say I was surprised when I opened it to see the man who had been in my dreams since I’d arrived at Isle Aux Monstres.
I was struggling with the fact that deep down…I wanted to be his soul mate. And if that wasn’t how this story was to end for us, I wasn’t sure I was ready for it to end at all.
“Why don’t you sleep on it?” Bonni suggested. “None of us is going anywhere, so we’ve all the time in the world to decide.”
“I’m not sure Colton—”
“Colton will do whatever Trudi tells him to do,” Candi interrupted me, shaking her head.
While that was probably true about a lot of things, I wasn’t sure it extended to paying me to sit around and think about my own involvement with the island tomb.
Colton had hired me to excavate and investigate. Not to insert myself into some weird love story.
The smart thing to do would be to move everything in the tomb to Dublin and let Colton have his island back without the threat of a supernatural monster wreaking havoc with the weather.
“I think you’ll find that my husband is just as much of a sucker for a good love story as anyone else,” Trudi added with a bemused smile. “I’m quite sure he’d be willing to build you a home and let you move to the island indefinitely if you wanted him to.”
“I highly doubt that will be necessary,” I said. Then, before I could chicken out…”Let’s do the hypnosis.”