Marcia Iverson is newly wed but newly widowed by a terrorist act. Grieving but still aglow with the memories of a deliriously happy honeymoon, she decides to continue the plan she and Michael shared to return to his boyhood home in a semi-rural Louisiana backwater. Having cut her ties to her apartment and brokerage job in New York City for marriage, she has nowhere else to go, nowhere to practice her profession, and no one but herself to depend on. When she finds that Michael's death has made her heir to Magnolia Manor, a rundown, nearly bankrupt motel, she applies her abilities to restoring the motel to a paying proposition, building a new family, and making new friends. Just as her plans for the Manor begin to succeed, murders on the premises complicate them. Adding the clues that she gathers to those that an attractive local lieutenant of police shares with her, she runs the risk of herself becoming a victim.

Infectus

the incomplete. the darkened. the corrupt.By kelly varesio

iUniverse, Inc.

Copyright © 2012 Kelly Varesio
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4697-4647-0

Chapter One

Taverin was finally home.

She opened the curtains to the beautiful French mansion, smiling as she felt the warmth of the sun's rays shine on her face. She opened the window and inhaled the cool, winter air. The chill that filled her lungs felt wondrous. Especially since she had been feeling so sick of late.

It was 1844—a new year. And she planned to make the most of it. William, the only boy she'd ever loved, proposed to her not a day ago. As she glanced down at the beautiful silver ring on her left hand, she couldn't help but giggle. The fact that she was only sixteen marrying a near twenty-one-year-old really didn't matter; she had no pompous family to mind about her age. Rein was her sister, the only person whose opinion meant anything. Rein would tell her to follow her heart. She hadn't even told Rein of her engagement yet—she was on her honeymoon.

Wiping her hands on a napkin, Taverin turned from the parlor and headed back into the dining room, trying to shake the nagging sickness that had plagued her stomach for over a month. Regardless, she was more than happy—she was back in Cherbourg, the beautiful town she'd grown up in. She had nearly forgotten the terror she'd been through within the past year. She was relieved to be living a normal life, with normal people. She wanted to forget about vampires as well as she could ... though that endeavor was impossible. She still had to tell William someday. Somehow.

A good two months had gone by since she had moved in with Catherine Treau, her best friend and William's older sister. Although during the Napoleonic battles Cherbourg was heavily damaged, France had in the last thirty years build that town up to be one of the prettiest places in all the country. It was strange for her to think about how her only family was from France's rival country, England, and proud of it, yet she was the opposite: the French-raised daughter of an Englishman and a French gypsy. But she embraced that; she couldn't hate England no matter how patriotic she was. England saved her in the sense that her father took her there and saved her from life on the streets of France—the life she would've had after her horrid mother died ...

"Taverin, that feels so much better!" Marques, William's older brother, proclaimed from the dining room table. "Feel the wind? Air circulation, so much better ..."

They were in the middle of having dinner together: she and the four Treau siblings who lived together in the massive estate left to them by their late parents. William, Catherine, Marques, and their younger sister Margarete occupied the house, which made for a lively home.

Taverin took a seat next to William, who was intently cutting his roast. His auburn hair was tied back very neatly, his hazel eyes perfectly delighted at her return beside him.

"Only for a short while, though, Marqu," Taverin said. "After all, no matter how stuffy it is in here, it is still winter, therefore cold."

"And as ill as she's been feeling, I doubt if too much is good for her," Will said as he took a bite off his fork. "Are you all right, pet?"

She nodded with a smile. She adored that name he had for her. She adored him.

"So have you told your sister about your engagement, yet, Taverin?" Margarete, the more inquisitive of the two sisters, asked.

"I haven't spoken with her yet, but I will as soon as I can."

"Where is she again?" questioned Catherine. "Just gone for her honeymoon?"

Taverin nodded, taking her first bite of the delicious roast.

"I have yet to meet Rein myself," William said after taking a drink. "Or her new husband. But I can only imagine they're very kind persons, by word of Taverin. Although British."

Indiscreet snickering ensued. William was allowed to joke about England, but Taverin made it clear that joking was to be light. She had to make that clear, with a brother-in-law as patriotic as Traith. A laugh slipped out in thinking about that ...

"So ... is Rein's husband blind, Taverin?" Marques asked, his dark, slicked-back hair falling out of place as he leaned forward. "I mean, I did hear that from a flibbertigibbet."

"Marques!" William declared. "What sport have you in poking fun at dear Cat?"

"Oh, leave me alone, both of you, brutish brothers." Catherine smiled through a sip of her wine. "I only repeated what I was told."

"Well, is the man blind?" young Margarete reiterated her brother's question.

"He was."

Marques chuckled, wiping his mouth of excess food. "Where would they go then for their honeymoon if he couldn't very well see it?"

"Why would she marry a blind man?" Margarete questioned under her breath.

Catherine elbowed her.

"He was blind," Taverin said, "but he's regaining his sight. To everyone's happiness, especially my sisters, he gained a fraction of it back just during his wedding. He saw her. So romantic, it all was ..."

"Amazing," Will said, happily chewing on a piece of meat. "Lord-willing he gets all his vision returned him. That uncertainty must be a terrible thing to deal with."

"He wasn't supposed to get his sight back at all until somewhere from one to ten years went by," Taverin continued, feeding off their interest. "It is definitely a miracle."

"My," Margarete spoke in a daze, fork rested on her plate. "How do doctor's know these things? Numbers so precise as to count the years ..."

"Does your sister or her husband have any family? Other than you?"

"Well, Traith has a sister named Ana," Taverin answered. "That's it."

"My."

"Only one sibling?"

"His name is what?"

Taverin laughed. "His name is Traith. Not sure where it's from."

"Where did they go for their honeymoon, by the way?" Catherine asked.

"Oh, a place Rein's always wanted to visit," Taverin answered, sighing dreamily in thought of her sister. "America."

She wondered what, at that moment, Rein was doing as a newlywed ...

Chapter Two

"So it was your favorite cat, hmm?"

She giggled as his finger toyed with a lock of her hair.

"Definitely my favorite," he said. "I found Sophie when I was ... nine, I think? Something like that ... a sweet little grey thing. My sister tended to get irascible because she always wanted to play with me, and the cat took up most of my time. She hated Sophie because of that."

"Did you name the cat?"

"Yes, I did," he murmured with a chuckle. "I always liked the name Sophie for a cat. Don't know why."

"Just for a cat?"

He nodded, shuffling beneath the covers. "I don't fancy it much for a person."

She yawned and stretched, his bare body entwined with hers, his breath against her neck. He couldn't keep his hands off her. She loved that. Loved him.

It had only been a day since she'd gotten married. Married.

One day.

It had to be nearly four o'clock in the morning, but it was hard to tell time with the curtains drawn and the lights out. The blankets were so soft, and the bed was filled with feathers. A small bookshelf was in their hotel room, and a table. But they'd gotten there around six o'clock the previous night, and after slight unpacking, the first thing they did was get into bed. She'd gotten no sleep since then, and...