Loved by Morgan Rice Page B

the reflection of a store window, and realized that they were a startling couple. They were anything but inconspicuous. He was so tall, and dressed elegantly in all black. He look like a movie star, plopped down in the middle of the street. Standing next to him, she felt more average than ever.
    “Maybe we should start with the obvious?” she asked. “My last name. Paine. If my Dad still lives here, maybe he’s listed.”
    Caleb smiled. “You think he’d make his number public?”
    “I doubt it. But sometimes the most obvious answers are the best ones. Anyway, can’t hurt to try. You’ve any other ideas?”
    Caleb stood there, staring. Finally, he shook his head.
    “Let’s do it,” she said.
    For the millionth time, she wished she still had her cell. Instead, she looked around and spotted an Internet café across the street.
    *
    Caitlin had typed every variation on “Paine” she could think, and still, there were no results. She was annoyed. They had searched every possible residential and business listing in Salem. They had tried Paine and Payne and Pain and Paiyne. Nothing. Not one single person.
    Caleb was right: it was a silly idea. If her father did live here, he wasn’t going to make his number public. And she had a feeling, given the mysterious clues so far, that he would never make it that easy on them anyway.
    Sighing, she turned to Caleb.
    “You were right. A waste of time.”
    “ The rose and the thorn meet in Salem ,” Caleb said slowly, again and again.
    She could see him thinking.
    She had been repeating the phrase in her mind, too, and it felt good to hear it out loud. She had been turning it over and over, but still had no idea what it meant. A rose? A thorn?
    “Maybe there’s a rose garden somewhere?” she said, thinking out loud. “And maybe there’s some sort of clue hidden underneath it?” she said. “Or maybe it’s the name of a place?” she added. “Maybe there’s a bar, or an old inn, called the Rose and the Thorn?”
    Caitlin turned back to the computer, and tried several variations of the search. She tried just rose . Then just thorn . Then rose and thorn . Businesses establishments. Parks. Gardens.
    No results.
    Annoyed, she finally reached over and shut the system down.
    They both sat in silence for several minutes, thinking.
    “Maybe we’re thinking about this the wrong way,” Caleb suddenly said.
    She turned to him. “What do you mean?”
    “Well, we’ve been looking for a living person,” he said, “in today’s world. In this century. But vampires have lived for thousands of years. When one vampire says to another, come meet me , he doesn’t always mean in this century. Vampires think in centuries, not years.
    “It could be that your father is not here now. But that he was. A very long time ago. It could be that we shouldn’t be searching for a living person. But one who lived here at some point. And maybe even died here.”
    Caitlin stared at him, not really understanding.
    “Died? What are you saying? My father is dead?”
    “It’s hard for me to explain this to you, but you need to think about this differently. Vampires live through many incarnations. Many of us have gravestones, even though we are living today. I myself, under different names, am buried in many cemeteries in many countries. Obviously I am not really dead, or buried. But at the time, the locals needed to be assured that I was. We had to stop the evidence, reassure them that I wasn’t coming back to life. And a burial and a tombstone was the only thing that would put them at ease.
    “The vampire race does not like to leave trails, and we do not like it when humans know that we have come back. It brings too much unwanted attention. So, sometimes, when there is no other choice, we let them bury us. And then we sneak out, quietly, in the middle of the night, and move on.”
    He turned and looked at her.
    “It could be that your father was buried here. Maybe we shouldn’t be searching