Page 17 of Unholy Gambit: Checkmate in Blood (A Paranormal Halloween #5)

She was annoyed until she saw it was Axel, and she couldn’t help her smile when she answered.

“Hello there. You’re awake!”

“I am, and I’ve been in contact with your Dr. Woods. I’ll stay in a different location tonight, and will text the address to both of you once I rise tomorrow.”

“He said you might not want him to know where you bed down during the day. I guess he was right?”

He nodded. “I’m in a foreign territory with permission of the local Master, but I haven’t made it to seven hundred years of age by taking chances. I caught your broadcast today, well done.”

“Thank you. What time do you wake up?”

“Today, I woke in time to catch your broadcast.”

“Ruby says the stronger you are, the earlier you rise, and I guess that’s the right terminology? Rise instead of wake? Anyway, she said some vampires keep when they rise close to their chest.”

He nodded. “I trust you with the information, but another vampire only has to dip into your head to see what you know.”

“Then don’t tell me anything that could put you at risk.”

“In time, darling Aurélie, but not yet.” He frowned. “I can teach you to shield. You don’t have to go to someone else.”

“I appreciate that, but…” She sighed. “I didn’t know you could read my mind from a distance, and I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I’ll feel better having someone else teach me. I’ll gladly learn from you, too, but it never hurts to have multiple teachers for something important.”

“I can’t get into your head from an ocean away. Most people, I need to be within a mile to a mile and a half, but our connection is so strong, I can find you from farther away.”

“What languages do you speak?”

“I’m currently fluent in several Arabic dialects, French, and I’ve kept a strong English foundation, but I’m brushing up on contemporary American vernacular.

I could handle simple conversations in Greek, Portuguese, Turkish, Russian, Hindi, and a handful of other languages, but I’d need a week to bone up on them before I traveled to those countries.

In past centuries, I’ve spoken other languages, but I’d need a few weeks of coaching, possibly longer, before I could approach fluency.

Languages change a great deal over time, so it isn’t just recalling the language, but learning how it’s spoken in this century,” he grinned.

“This decade , if you’re talking to twenty-somethings. ”

“How much do you know about me? Just what you’ve learned on social media, or did you have other ways of finding out… things ?”

“I had other ways, and I’m not at liberty to tell you who helped me.

I’ve seen your high school and college transcripts, so I know the classes you took and your grades.

Social media was mostly a huge tease since you only posted publicly what you intended the public to see.

Even as a teen, you understood privacy, which was safe and good, but frustrating. ”

“What did you find out from your other ways ?”

“That your sole boyfriend was a long-distance thing and never went beyond kissing, for starters. That’s the only huge standout I can think of at the moment.”

“You have someone who can break into systems?” There were other ways to get transcripts, but a hacker seemed the simplest for someone outside the country.

She wasn’t so worried about him knowing she’d never done more than kiss a boy — he’d been in her head and quite clearly knew that without needing digital access.

“You think I’d have to hire someone to hack for me?”

“You’re rich, and you’re old, so it’s logical. Are you saying you’ve learned how?”

“I paid someone to show me how to do so because what was found was no one’s business but mine. I’m not an expert hacker, but I can probe into a great deal more than probably seventy to eighty percent of those who claim to know how.”

“Ruby and I had an apartment together at Vandy, and I mentioned to my parents that we were talking about getting an apartment in Chattanooga when we returned. My parents live on a huge estate, and they built me a cottage about a hundred yards from their house, to entice me to stay home. It’s peaceful, and Ruby spends the night with me there, sometimes.

Mostly, we prefer to be in the city, and I stay with her. ”

“Meaning if you take me to your home, I’ll have to meet your parents. We’ll work on what you want me to tell them. I imagine your father will want to know where I work and that kind of thing.”

“It isn’t like I’ve ever brought a man home before, so yeah, it’ll be a big deal. Also, I imagine you’re right, and he’ll want to know your education and work.”

He nodded. “I’ll come up with something verifiable. It might take a day or two.”

“I’m going to a Halloween Party. It’s a friend from school, and her house, well, the whole street, I guess, was built where there used to be a sanatorium.

There were all kinds of ghost stories around it before it was torn down, and now creepy stuff happens at the houses.

The perfect spot for a Halloween party, right? ”

He looked at her over the video feed a few minutes and said, “You don’t believe in ghosts?”

She shook her head. “No. Do you?”

“There are different kinds of ghosts. For instance, a house where they hear footsteps every night at eight o’clock, and they find out the man of the house had gone to bed every night at that time.

This isn’t the man continuing to go to bed even after he’s died, it’s a time imprint.

If he lived there sixty years and did that every night, it imprinted across time. Right?”

She gave him a slow nod. It made sense, and he seemed serious, but it was a lot to believe.

“But then there are actual spirits who didn’t go into the light. This happens in battle, sometimes, when so many die at the same time, and not everyone is helped into the light. It can also happen when the person is pissed and just refuses to go. Free will doesn’t end at death, for humans.”

“You really believe that?”

“I’ve seen it too many times not to, my darling Aurélie. I’ll go to the party with you, but you need to understand this is exactly the situation where there may actually be malevolent ghosts.”

She shook her head. “You’re just trying to scare me.”

“I promised I’d never lie to you, Aurélie.” He moved his mouse and asked, “What was the sanatorium called?”

“Pine…” She shrugged. “Pine something Sanatorium. Pine View, maybe?”

“Hmmm. TB Hospital, later used for mentally ill kids and teens. Now full of large homes with fantastic views. Sounds like it was the local spot for the would-be witches to go do their spells and shit once it closed, before the buildings were razed. What a wonderful spot for people to raise their families.”

“I guess we need to have the religion talk sooner rather than later,” Aury told him, surprised at his response.

“Basic physics, darling Aury. This has nothing to do with religion. Is this a costume party? What are you wearing?”

“Oh, I’m going as Beth Dutton, and you know, it would be super-simple for you to be Rip.

Worn jeans and a black western shirt, the right kind of jacket, riding gloves stuck in your back pants pocket, a great big tacky belt buckle, and some really worn cowboy boots.

I can buy everything for you if you give me your sizes, or we can go shopping instead of going to a bar tonight.

Or, I guess before we go to a bar. There’s a farm supply place in Hixson that has clothes and boots.

We can start there and then head to Hamilton Place for whatever we can’t find there. ”

“I haven’t seen the program, but looking at images of the characters, I agree it should be easy for me to dress as this Rip character. What version of the Beth character will you be?”

“The gold dress and the big fancy fur coat. Super sexy. Also, thigh-high boots, since I’ll be wearing a compression brace.

I’ve been working on how to walk in heels, and this will be the first time I’ve done so in public.

I’m slightly less nervous about that, knowing I’ll have your arm to hold onto, so thank you for agreeing to go with me. ”

“I look forward to seeing you in the dress, and I would love to go shopping with you before we go to a bar tonight, but you have to let me pay for my costume.”

Aury sighed. “Look, if you’re telling the truth and money isn’t a thing, then that’s fine, but if you’re having to watch your pennies, you need to let me pay for it. I have a huge trust fund, but I’m making so much with all my chess stuff, I’d be fine without it.”

“Of course I’m telling the truth. You’re going to irritate me if you keep making me remind you I promised to never lie to you.” Before she could respond, he said, “Your website says you charge two hundred dollars an hour for the first ten hours, what do you charge after that?”

“Depends on the person and how much they annoy me. Also, a little bit around how much I think they can afford. I charge one person seventy-five an hour, but most everyone else is one-fifty to one-seventy-five. One of the local private schools pays me one-fifty an hour to work with their top chess kids, the ones who make it past the local tournaments. Sometimes it’s one kid, sometimes it’s two or three. ”

“You could charge more if you could make it to the Candidates Tournament. I don’t understand why you weren’t invited last year.”

“I’ll get there, but I’m young and I have to prove myself.

I’ll have a chance to fight my way to it next year, and I fully plan to.

There are a few new tournaments next year, with sweet prize money, and I’ve already been invited to them.

They won’t get me to the World Championship, but the more I win, and the more name recognition I have, the better — and those tourneys have big money because they have lots of eyeballs.

I’ll also be in official events that can earn me a spot in the Candidates Tournament if I win. ”

She had a plan for next year, and it would be a whirlwind of tournaments, but if she played well, she’d officially be in the top eight and would get her shot at the Candidates Tournaments — if she’d also done the job with name recognition.

Not that she expected to make it to the final round her first time out.

She’d be happy to be in the top four. Eventually, she’d make it to the top.

“You had the surgery scheduled just after the National Championship tournament, this year.”

She nodded. “Of course. I’m third best in the nation at twenty-three years old, one place higher than last year. Knee surgery wasn’t happening until after I had a chance to prove myself again.”

She glanced at the clock and told him, “Look, I know you wanted to come in to get me, but I’m going to head downstairs. I’ll sit in front of the window of the lobby, and I can come out when you pull up to the door. We only have a few hours before the stores close.”

He shook his head at her, but said, “Okay, because I can see your anxiety about finding everything you think I need in only a few hours. Don’t head downstairs yet.

I have about five minutes before I can leave, and I saw something in your mind — something you tried not to think about. Why is that, Aurélie?”

She sat back. Crossed her arms. “He doesn’t want people to know he’s my mentor. I promised him I’d only tell Ruby and my parents. I don’t break my promises, Axel. Please don’t make me by digging him out of my head.”

He nodded. “Okay.” He leaned a little closer to the camera. “Okay, Aurélie. Talk to him, tell him you need to tell your…”

He frowned. Hesitated. Blinked once. Twice . “Boyfriend? Is that what I am?”

He looked so perplexed, she’d have laughed if she wasn’t trying so hard to focus on a great big red fire engine instead of her mentor, so Axel wouldn’t see him in her head.

“We have to be dating nine months. It’s in… look in my head if you must, but I’d really rather you just trusted me in this. I’ll tell you when I can.”

“Is there anything else you can’t tell me?”

“Are there more things you can’t tell me?”

He smiled. “Touché.”

“I need to brush my teeth and touch up my makeup. I’d ask you to share your location with me when you’re on your way, but that’s something I can’t know, right? I’ll see you soon, darling Axel.”