by Rye Brewer
“I can access witch passages,” Fane said.
Allonic nodded. “Yes. We Custodians are well aware of your skills., Fane. However, this is something beyond even your skill level.” His voice was heavy with respect, and Fane seemed to take it well.
I, on the other hand, stared wide-eyed at the shade. The Custodians knew of Fane’s skills? Of course—they knew everything, didn’t they? I wondered what else they knew. Did they know all along that my father was alive? Did Steward know and keep it from me? Funny how a thought like that could color everything else. All the memories of moments spent with Steward took on a different meaning.
Fane shrugged. “We need a witch, then I’ll have to get Sirene to help us.”
I gritted my teeth again at the mention of her name. Why did she have to be involved?
“We have to go now, though. I don’t want to wait around and run the risk of anyone else joining us. We already have enough in tow.”
“What about the clan?” I asked as we gathered on the roof. “Who’s going to lead them now?”
Philippa shrugged. “Nothing will happen while we’re gone. Things are calm right now. Besides, I trust Scott. Don’t you?”
I nodded. “Yeah, I trust him, but I don’t like the idea of him leading by default—especially when we haven’t had the chance to talk things through.”
“We don’t have time,” Fane insisted. “Come on.”
I didn’t like being forced that way, but I could see there was no choice.
All eyes were on me.
“Okay. Let’s go.” I tried to take Anissa’s hand, the way I had when we ported over from the cemetery, only she shook me off. I leaned in to murmur in her ear. “I’m sorry.”
She shrugged. “So?”
That stung. She had never acted that way—at least, not since we got to know each other. She reminded me of the assassin I first met in the alley that night, outside the club, when she was supposed to kill me.
I refused to believe we had gone backward like that.
“I want to talk to you as soon as we get the chance to be alone,” I said.
“Good for you. The odds aren’t in your favor.” She looked around at the others.
Angry or not, she had a point. That didn’t mean I’d stop trying.
Fane threw the portal. “Hurry,” he said.
We took turns going through—Anissa went ahead of me.
I wanted to be sure she made it through safely before I went.
Just because she was hardly being civil didn’t mean I loved her any less.
16
PHILIPPA
One minute we were standing on the rooftop with Manhattan spread out in front of us.
The next, we were in the middle of what looked like a creepy, foggy old cemetery. Not just old. Ancient. I was afraid the headstones around me would turn to dust if I touched them.
Maybe it was morbid, but I couldn’t help trying to read some of the stones. Time had worn them down until the letters and numbers carved into them were indistinguishable. I crouched down to get a better look.
“Don’t waste your time.” I glanced up.
That Allonic character was grinning down at me.
“What do you mean?”
“They weren’t written in English, or any language used on Earth for hundreds and hundreds of years.”
I stood slowly, looking around. “Where are we? I thought we were going to England.”
The air was dank and cool, but it didn’t stir. It was strangely still. There was no sound of birds or bats or any other type of life. No stars, either. No sky? Just blackness. I couldn’t understand what I was looking at as I craned my neck and a shiver ran down my spine.
“This is a pit stop,” Jonah muttered darkly.
I hated hearing him like that, though I should’ve known. I let it slip about Fane being our father and he couldn’t forgive me for it.
Granted, his precious Anissa would’ve found out when Gage showed up even if I hadn’t said a word. But no, he chose to hold it against me instead.
Meanwhile, I had a scar on my cheek from her blasted silver blade, but would he get an attitude with her about that?
No, he’d probably say it was my fault for going after her first, even though by the time she burned me I was nowhere near her anymore.
I wasn’t even paying attention, which was exactly how she took advantage of me. No way could she have burned me like that if I had been paying attention.
Still, she was right and I was wrong. She was perfect and I was a nuisance.
I held back my anger and frustration.
“Come. This way.” Fane pointed to a huge marble structure in the distance, and we slowly made our way through the fog.
Jonah and Anissa looked a lot more surefooted than I felt—I stumbled more than once over the little bits of marble and granite that were just barely sticking up from the ground, and gave Gage the heads up so he could watch his step.
The stones must’ve sunk down over time. How many were buried there? Who were they? Why was this the meeting place Fane had chosen?
Allonic kept looking at me with a curious expression.
Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. “Why are you looking at me that way?”
“Was I looking at you?”
“Yes. You were.”
“I’ve never seen anyone so fascinated with a cemetery before, I suppose. I’m sorry if I was rude. I’m not used to the ways of vampires.”
I couldn’t help but laugh under my breath at that. “It’s considered ill-mannered in just about every circle to stare,” I explained. “Not just among vampires.”
“All the same, I’m not used to being around so many other types of creatures. I’ve spent most of my life with the shades.”
I didn’t know much about shades, but I knew he wasn’t telling me the whole truth. He wasn’t all shade. There was something else inside him. Then, I remembered him talking about “their” mother with Anissa. He was Anissa’s brother! I wrinkled my nose in distaste while he was looking the other way.
Yet another half-breed. Still, he didn’t seem all bad, and he was our key to finding Valerius.
Once we reached the big, tall structure—a mausoleum, I saw, complete with carvings and an iron gate—a dark-haired witch emerged from the shadows inside. Did she live in there? Who lived in a mausoleum?
The place was getting creepier by the minute.
“This is Sirene.” Fane introduced me and Gage.
I noticed he left Jonah out—but from the way my brother looked at her, it didn’t seem like they were strangers.
What did he have against her? There was so much kindness in her eyes. No, we weren’t exactly friends with witches, but I was willing to give her a chance if Fane considered her a friend.
Jonah obviously didn’t feel that way.
“Allonic?” Fane turned to him. “Can we speak with you, please?”
Sirene, Allonic, and Fane, the three of them bowed their heads, murmuring together.
“Can I talk to you now?” Jonah was pulling Anissa around the corner.
From the way she resisted him, she didn’t want to go.
What was her issue?
It seemed to me like she was always trying to make drama where there wasn’t any. Wasn’t what we were going through dramatic enough without her stirring the pot?
Still, it gave me the chance to talk with Gage more privately than we’d been able to since he showed up.
“Can I tell you something and trust you won’t take it the wrong way?” I asked.
“That depends.” Even though exhaustion seemed to leak from Gage’s pores, he managed a small smile.
“You look like hell.”
“Now, why would I take that the wrong way?” he asked, then leaned against what looked like a coffin made of stone.
The way people chose to commemorate their dead was an endless source of fascination to me. Why replicate what was underground?
I looked around t
o be sure we weren’t overheard. “Okay. This is me you’re talking to now. Are you sure you don’t remember anything about what happened to make you this way?”
He rolled his eyes. “Philippa…”
“I’m serious. You know you can tell me. I understand if you wanted to keep it from the others for some reason, but we talked back at headquarters. You told me why you were there. So I already know. You don’t have to lie or leave things out.”
“I’m telling you, I’m not leaving anything out. I wasn’t kidding earlier.” He looked me straight in the eye. “I’m serious.”
“All right, all right.” I ran my hands through my hair, distracted, wondering what to make of it. “Do you think it was Lucian, perhaps? Maybe he found out why you were there, what you were thinking?”
“I don’t know how he could’ve found out what I was thinking, since I never told anybody but you.”
I frowned. “You can’t think I would’ve shared that with anybody else.”
“No, I don’t think that at all. But that’s my point. Unless he used his grudge against the family as a reason. I don’t know how he thinks.”
“That’s probably a good thing,” I smirked.
“Even so,” he continued, “that’s not proof. I can’t prove who did it.”
“What about getting away? Do you remember anything about that?”
“Not a thing. I woke up…” He trailed off for a second, and his eyes went a little unfocused. “I woke up in a forest. In a cave in a forest, that is. I don’t know if whoever did it to me dropped me there, or if I escaped somehow and found it myself. Although, honestly, I was in such bad shape, I can’t imagine finding my way anywhere. I could barely lift my head when I first woke up.”
That was strange. He could barely lift his head, but he’d somehow healed fast enough to get home in pretty short order?
He wasn’t missing for all that long after I met with him. The sort of beating he took, complete with the burns all over him, should’ve taken days to recover from before he had the strength to course.
I looked at him, hard, trying to figure out what he was holding back. And why.
I came close to asking why he wasn’t being completely honest, but decided to let it go. There was no point in starting an argument so soon after being reunited.
Instead, I looked over to where Fane was talking with the witch and the shade. It was the first time I had a chance to really take a look at him without him knowing I was looking. It was easier to observe him that way.
“Does he look different to you?” I whispered, pointing toward our father.
“Different how? His face looks the same—I recognized him right away.”
“I did, too. I don’t mean that way. It’s more the way he carries himself. He seems a lot older than he should, too.”
“I guess he’s seen a lot,” Gage mused. “Certain things age us faster than others, I suppose.”
“You must be right.” Except for his face, I wouldn’t have guessed he was my father at all.
My father was always confident and sure of himself, but there was also a twinkle in his eye. Good humor. He loved a joke more than just about anybody I knew. He loved to banter, too—and I used to love getting into little wars of words with him, debating and bantering and trying to make him laugh. And when he did laugh, the sound would fill whatever space we were in. He was larger than life in every way imaginable.
Fane, on the other hand, was terse. He used few words.
I couldn’t imagine Fane laughing, ever. The weight of the world was on his shoulders. He had skills I had no understanding of. So many secrets. There was no joy, no spark, no vitality. He was a survivor—all the joy had been rubbed away, just like time had worn down the stones in the cemetery.
“What do you think about him now?” I asked Gage. “What’s your gut reaction?”
“I was overjoyed when I first saw him, if that’s what you’re asking.”
“And now?” I forced him to meet my eyes, dipping my head to follow his gaze until they locked. “Now what do you think?”
He shrugged. “Now I have questions. A lot of questions.”
“Yeah. Me, too.”
17
ANISSA
The second we were out of sight of the others, I pulled my arm from Jonah’s grasp.
“What is wrong with you?” I hissed through clenched teeth. “Why are you hell bent on making a scene in front of everyone? Especially your sister?”
“Why are you hell bent on starting a fight with me?” he hissed, just as sharply.
“Because no matter what we go through or what I do to show you I’m trustworthy, you still lie to my face. Continually. Why do you do that?” I wanted to hit him—anything to vent how I was feeling. “I mean, you tell me you want to protect me or something, right? How can I trust you to do that when I can’t even trust you to be honest with me?”
“That’s exactly why I held back. To protect you. And while we’re throwing accusations around, why do you insist on making it so hard to keep you safe? You question me at every turn. You make my life impossible.”
“Oh, well then.” I took a step back. “Don’t bother yourself anymore. I don’t want to make your life any more impossible.” I turned to go back to the others and find some way to get back home, but he stepped in front of me.
“No. Not until you listen to me for once.”
“For once,” I laughed, not bothering to hide the scorn on my face.
“Yeah, for once. Really listen. Don’t run away before I get a chance to explain to you.”
I was fine until I met his eyes. I was always a fool for him when I caught sight of his eyes.
And he probably knew it.
“Fine. I have nowhere to go, anyway. Not without help.”
Still, I stood at a distance. Every moment that passed only made my fury more real, almost strong enough to taste.
He lied to me. He didn’t think I mattered enough to tell the full truth to.
I felt like such a fool for ever believing him.
He took a deep breath. “For one thing, it wasn’t my secret to tell. It’s Fane’s.”
I rolled my eyes even though he had a point. “That’s pretty convenient.”
“Second, there’s a reason why he’s been in hiding all this time. I believe him when he says it’s dangerous for us to even know he’s Fane. You don’t know how much I wanted to tell you, but when have we had more than a few minutes alone since he reached out to me?”
“Keep talking.” I hated the way he melted me down even when I was determined to punish him for lying.
He might not have come right out and lied, but a lie of omission was just as bad.
“I had to ask myself if telling you this secret would put you in danger. Fane isn’t exactly revered. There are groups who want him dead, and I doubt they’d stop with killing only him if they found out he had a group of other vampires around him who knew his identity. Think about it: why did he adopt this identity? What has he seen? What secrets might he know, and what did he have to do to survive over the years?” He paused for effect. “What did he reveal to us that we might tell others?”
The whole cold truth hit me.
We could die just for knowing Dommik Bourke wasn’t dead.
“And while I trust you not to give away his secrets, I know there are people out there who won’t stop at anything to learn what they want to learn. I shudder to think what they would do to you to get their answers. Remember what Marcus did to your sister? I bet that’s child’s play in comparison.”
I shuddered—the memory of Sara’s agony was etched in my mind and heart. I would never forget the screams, the torture on her face. She had transformed into a soulless monster—she couldn’t think or reason or feel anything but soul-searing hunger. It was living hell.
Even so, there was a flaw in his logic. “Just being in Fane’s company marks me for punishment, right? No matter whether or not I know who he is, his enemies will see me
as a threat. Why would it matter if I know who he is, then? I’m already in trouble.”
He sighed. “Don’t remind me, okay? I can’t help that, but I don’t want to make things worse, either. I’m scrambling around, trying to do damage control. I can hardly keep track of who knows what anymore or who’s a bigger threat to us at any given moment.”
I felt sorry for him as he leaned against the thick marble wall, even though I was still hurt and angry. I hated thinking of myself as a burden, but that’s how he made it sound. Like I was just one more thing for him to worry about.
He already had his clan and his father and the brand on his arm, not to mention his missing brother—who at least had reappeared now.
“Would it make things easier on you to share with me? I might have a perspective that helps you. You never know.”
He tilted his head to the side, staring at me. “Maybe.”
“You can trust me to keep it between us.”
“That’s never been an issue,” he snapped. “Stop making it about that. I’m telling you, it’s the rest of the world that I don’t trust.” His eyes glowed with a light I had never seen.
“Okay, okay.” I didn’t like him taking that tone with me, but we could talk about it later—when I wasn’t concerned he would try to rip my head off.
“This is all about Lucian,” he murmured. “He’s the reason my family turned vampire. He’s been bent on revenge against my father for centuries.”
My head spun just from that little bit of information.
Lucian.
I had no problem believing it, even without explanation. How I’d always felt like he didn’t mean half of what he said. The coldness in Lucian’s eyes. How he obviously loved the attention, even when he pretended to be humble. As though he only cared about the League and the vampires he led.
“Why?” I breathed.
He told me the story of his father’s youth as a human, how he and Lucian were best friends. I could almost see all of it—the way Elena and Dommik fell in love and brought on Lucian’s jealousy. The obsession that led him to turn Elena, and the love that led her to turn her husband—not to mention the love it took for him to want to turn.