Free The Vampire's Betrayal by Raven Hart Page B

main squeeze is supposed to kill you? That’s a colossal bummer.”
    “Tell me about it.”
    “What are you going to do?”
    “I’m not sure yet. I’ve got to figure some things out. For example, why do you think she forgot what went on there when she got back here and into her body?” I asked.
    “Think about it, Jack. Nobody is supposed to be able to go to the underworld and come back to the land of the living to tell about it. It’s against the most basic rules of God and the universe. So in the rare instances when it’s been done, the people involved are stripped of their memories of what happened in the afterlife.”
    “But Connie was always supposed to come back—as the Slayer,” I said. “It seems like she would need to remember being sworn in. Besides, I can remember what happened.”
    “Maybe she’s supposed to remember at some later time,” he suggested. “Or it could be that the shock of the whole experience caused her to have temporary amnesia. The only reason I can figure for why you can recall what happened there is that you’re not, strictly speaking, a human anymore.”
    “That makes sense, I guess,” I said. “Do you know everything now that you’re dead? The meaning of life—all that kind of stuff.”
    “No, of course not. There’s just too much to know. What kind of information do you need?”
    “I need to know anything and everything about vampire slayers.”
    “I guess you do at that. I’m afraid that’s one of the things that’s not in the handbook.”
    “There’s a handbook?”
    “Kidding,” Sullivan said. “Although now that I think of it, one would be good to have.” His gentle laughter rustled the leaves at my feet, causing them to fly away as if chasing one another on a little updraft of salty breeze.
    “You’re a writer. You should get right on that,” I said. “It would make a helluva movie.”
    “It would at that. Not a bad idea,” he said. “About the other thing, though—I’m sorry I can’t help you, Jack.”
    “Oh well. Maybe she’ll never remember that she’s the Slayer and everything will be like it was before Melaphia figured it out.”
    “I wouldn’t count on that.”
    “Why?”
    “Destiny is a powerful thing, my friend. That’s one of the things that I have been able to learn down here. If Connie’s destiny is to be the Slayer, she can’t escape it. Somehow, some way, she’ll find out.”
    “Oh, crap.”
    “You asked.”
    “I gotta go,” I muttered.
    “I’ll see you around,” Sullivan said.
    I just love a corpse with a sense of humor.
     
    On the way to check on things at the garage, I wracked my brain for any solution to the Connie dilemma. Olivia might know something, but William would have gotten to her first. Besides, Olivia would be just as anxious to see Connie dead as any other blood drinker. I wondered if any guy in the history of the universe had ever had my problem. What I wouldn’t give to have some sort of normal predicament like in-law trouble or money difficulties. If I went to Dr. Phil with this crisis, what was left of his hair would stand on end and he’d go screaming out of the studio.
    Nope, I was on my own with this one. I had to protect Connie from the danger she was in from my own kind—hell, from my own family. I couldn’t even tell her about the threat she faced, or she might try to kill me . I just wish I knew more about slayers so I could come up with a plan.
    There was one last person I might be able to turn to for information if I was very, very careful—Travis Rubio, the ancient Mayan vampire I met a while back. He had told me a story about being spared by the slayers who had slaughtered the Mayan blood drinkers he lived with hundreds of years ago. I’d have to see if I could puzzle out how to reach him without William finding out.
    When I got to the garage I paused for a minute outside. I’d only been gone from here a few nights, but it seemed like a lifetime. It was good to see the old