Absolution (League of Vampires Book 3)
Page 23
She shook her head, and her beautiful, wavy hair moved over her shoulders. “No. Things happen all the time—strange things, wonderful things, things we can’t explain. Sometimes they happen to us, sometimes they happen to others. We can’t control them.”
“I’m tired of not being in control,” I whispered. “Things have been so confusing lately.” I leaned against her knees, and she let me rest there. It was nice, being able to rest, letting go of my burdens for a little while. It was nice having a mother to talk to again.
“I can imagine that they have been,” she whispered, glancing again at Sara.
She was still out cold, but her eyelids fluttered every so often.
“We’re trying to understand how this happened to her,” I said. “We thought she might have drank contaminated blood, but Allonic doesn’t believe she would possess these powers just after feeding once or twice.”
“I think it depends upon the concentration in the blood,” Mom replied. “I did a lot of studying when I was in the Sanctuary.”
I noticed for the first time the stacks of books on either side of the bed, not to mention another stack behind where Sara’s head rested on the lounge.
“Well, no matter how it happened, she’s struggling with this. We had to get her out of sight, before another vampire saw her and spread the word. I think a sparking, cracking vampire will attract attention.”
“What about the one she was with?” Allonic asked.
Mom gasped. “She was with someone else?”
I waved a dismissive hand. “Raze. You remember Raze.”
“Oh, yes.” She grinned. “He was always crazy about you.”
“Mom.” I blushed. I couldn’t believe she was teasing me. “We’re just friends like we always have been. Anyway, he’ll keep her a secret. I mean, he didn’t have to hide her, did he? But he did.”
“I trust him,” Mom said, turning to Allonic. “You were smart to bring them here.”
“I had always intended to bring them to you, like we discussed.”
It was still so odd, thinking about them having a relationship apart from the one Sara and I had with her.
They had their memories together.
I wondered if he knew the song she hummed, too.
3
ANISSA
“I think I’ll make us some tea,” Mom announced, standing. “She’ll be all right. She just needs some rest now.” She stood in a graceful, fluid movement.
I had always thought she could’ve been a dancer, she was so graceful. I loved watching her move around the chamber, soaking her in with my eyes. I had years and years of missing her to make up for.
While she was busy in the kitchen, I motioned for Allonic to join me by the window—if Mom noticed, she was discreet enough to pretend she hadn’t.
“I have a few questions for you,” I whispered, glancing back at Mom and Sara.
“Perhaps you could make it a little more obvious that we’re having a secret conversation right now,” he whispered. “Perhaps we should whisper behind our hands.”
I scowled. “All right. I’ll let you have that one, because I’m always giving you a hard time, but that’s all. Deal?”
His chuckle was a deep rumble in his chest. “All right.”
I grew serious. “You never did tell me why you drank from Valerius when we were in Sorrowswatch.”
His smile, faint as it was, faded completely. “I thought I had.”
“No. You said it had something to do with needing his blood, I’m sorry if I don’t quite remember—it was a very hectic trip.”
“A good way of describing it,” he agreed.
“So? What was it all about?”
He gazed out the window, down, down, down to the world below.
It was overwhelming, being so far up.
I was sure I could touch the moon from where we stood.
Everything below us looked small in comparison, almost minuscule. Except for the mountains, which were just as majestic as they were from the ground.
When he spoke, his voice was softer than usual. “It’s not easy, being an outsider.”
“I know all about that,” I agreed.
“Then, you know what it’s like to feel as though you’re caught between two worlds. For me, I know I’ll never be accepted by either side of my blood.” He scoffed, shaking his head. “As far as my fellow Shades are concerned, my position is tenuous at best. I’ll never reach a position of authority, even though I should rightfully do so based on my parentage. If I were full Shade, there would be no question. The only reason I’m kept around, in fact, is because of who my father was. If he were just some lowly Shade living at the Sanctuary, I might not have a home there.”
He took a deep breath. “And if that were the case, I wouldn’t have a home anywhere, since we both know how accepting and welcoming vampires can be.”
“Oh, yes,” I growled under my breath.
“If I’m barely existent according to the Shades, I’m a non-entity as far as vampires are concerned. I’m nothing. I have no position. I shouldn’t even exist, according to the beliefs held by a good many of them. I have no claim to a name, no respect, no anything. I simply happen to have a vampire mother.”
“But why feed on Valerius?” I asked, still not understanding.
“Because Valerius has power. Ancient, incomprehensible power. Power I would never have on my own, as myself.”
“Power is that important to you?” I murmured, looking again at Mom.
Her back was to us, and she was humming happily as she added tea leaves to a pot and poured boiling water from the kettle.
“Not power in and of itself. But when power can be used for protection or in times of crisis, yes. Wouldn’t you prefer having power to the alternative?” He looked down at me with searching, questioning eyes.
He always seemed to be so collected and in control, it was slightly jarring to watch him question the way he was.
“When you put it that way, of course. I would want to protect those I care for, or cover my back in case someone challenged me. Yes, I would take the power if I could.”
He nodded.
I could tell he was relieved, even if he didn’t want to speak the words out loud.
“When I saw my chance, I took it. I didn’t even think much about it. I’ve spent so long wondering if there would ever be a time when I would fit in, or at least deserve a little respect. I don’t worry about that as much from the Shades as I do from the vampires, since I know the vampires actively hate anything slightly different from themselves. So, I took Valerius’s blood.”
I looked him up and down, noting how he looked the same as he ever did. “Do you feel different?” I whispered.
“Not very,” he replied in a hushed tone. “But I have this… this knowing. I know the power is there if I ever need to call on it.”
I placed a hand on his arm. “For what it’s worth, I hope you never have to call on it.”
Strange, but true: I had started to become really fond of him, even outside the fact that he was my brother. He was always there for me when I needed help.
He nodded, smiling a little. He needed to do more of that. He looked handsome when he did. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Are you going to tell the Bourkes about the contaminated blood? You should, and soon. What if there are others going through this same thing Sara’s going through? That could be extremely dangerous.”
“I know. This is all on my mind at once. Knowing what I have to do, knowing why I have to do it. Not wanting to do it.” It was my turn to look out the window, away from him.
“Why don’t you want to do it?” he asked.
“Because I’m not sure that I want to see Jonah right now—and yes, I know that’s immature, and I’m only thinking about myself, but haven’t I spent enough time thinking about everybody else? I mean, for years. I had to work to keep Sara alive. I had to protect her when I rescued her—and I would do i
t again, don’t get me wrong. It hasn’t been entirely about me for a long time. Even with Jonah, I’ve been worried about him for almost as long as I’ve known him. Maybe it’s time for me to be a little selfish. Just a little.”
It was a long time before he spoke again. “I understand how you feel. I felt the same way when you first came to me.”
“You did?”
“Yes. It was a big risk, taking you in. And then you ran off…”
“I remember,” I said, wincing.
“But Anissa, this isn’t just one or two other vampires facing the possibility of getting… these powers,” he said, looking over at Sara.
She was still resting. I wondered how much longer she would need to recuperate.
“There are thousands of Bourkes in that building. Any number of them might have gotten that contaminated blood.”
“And one of them might have brought it to the clan,” I added with a frown. “There’s no way of knowing yet how it got there.”
“Don’t you want to know?”
“Of course, I do. But it’s definitely not my place to walk into a clan meeting and start asking questions.” I leaned against the stone lining the window and wrapped my arms around myself, still looking out across miles and miles of land that looked silver in the light of the full moon. “I could talk to Jonah about it, though, and he could go to the clan. That’s his job.”
I turned away from the window and looked up at my brother. Brother. The word still stuck in my mind sometimes.
“You’re right. I’ll figure something out, even if it’s not to help them but to help myself. Because I do want answers. Who did this to my sister?”
“That’s a start,” he said, then added, “Our sister.”
I smiled. “Right. Our sister.”
Mom’s voice floated over to us from the other side of the chamber. “The tea is ready.”
She practically glowed from the inside out. It hit me that this was the first time she had prepared anything for all her children at once. No wonder she looked so jubilant, even if she was only pouring tea for us.
I took a deep breath and breathed in the sweet, slightly spicy blend before drinking.
“What happened?”
The three of us looked over to where Sara was sitting up, looking around with a dazed expression.
AFTERWORD
I hope you enjoyed Absolution! I can’t wait to bring you the next book in this series!
Retribution
— Coming Soon! —
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Copyright © 2017 by Rye Brewer
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Absolution
1. Jonah
2. Jonah
3. Anissa
4. Anissa
5. Philippa
6. Jonah
7. Philippa
8. Anissa
9. Gage
10. Gage
11. Jonah
12. Philippa
13. Anissa
14. Anissa
15. Jonah
16. Philippa
17. Anissa
18. Anissa
19. Anissa
20. Jonah
21. Jonah
22. Philippa
23. Philippa
24. Jonah
25. Jonah
26. Gage
27. Gage
28. Carissa
29. Jonah
30. Jonah
31. Jonah
32. Anissa
33. Anissa
34. Anissa
Excerpt
1
2
3
Afterword
Copyright