by Lund, S. E.
“I can go out in the sun right away?”
He nods. “It acts very fast. By dawn, you should be ready to go.” He glances at the men still standing around his desk by the window. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some logistics to go over with my officers.” He bows low to me and turns on his heel, leaving Dylan and me behind.
“I don’t believe he’s actually letting me leave.”
Dylan takes my hand and helps me up from the sofa. “He has what he wants—your father. He’s certain you’ll do anything to keep him alive. As I will for my family.”
I look at Dylan and force a smile. “Our families and those we love are our weakness. Speaking of which, I want to say goodbye to my father.”
I wake my father up when I return to his room. There’s only an hour or so before dawn, and I want to say goodbye in case I don’t come back for a long time. Or ever. There’s always that possibility.
“We’re going,” I say when we have him seated by the fire. “We have to obey Blackstone’s orders and go to Soren.”
My father shakes his head. “This is what your mother and I tried so hard to prevent. You serving any of these monsters.”
“I know,” I say, taking his hand and squeezing it. “But that’s our fate. Or at least,” I continue, correcting myself since I don’t believe in fate, “that’s the only real choice we have. I have to trust that Julien and Michel have other plans and that one day, both Blackstone and Soren will be defeated.”
“I can only pray for that.”
I sigh. “Better to act than pray,” I say, belligerent to the end. My father isn’t truly religious, but he was raised in a Catholic home and can’t escape its legacy.
“Come back,” he says and takes my hand, holding it between both of his. “I’ve only just found you. I don’t want to lose you again.”
“Me either,” I say and lean over to kiss his cheek. He’s so frail compared to what I remember of him from my childhood. He was always my teacher and my protector. He seemed tall and strong. Now, he’s a shadow of what he used to be, thin, pale, and greying.
It breaks my heart to see him like this. It’s something every child must face—that moment when their parents no longer seem invincible and all-powerful. I thought it would be years and years before that happened to me, when my father was much older, in his seventies perhaps. Instead, he’s in his forties, thin and frail, his eyes wide and his cheeks gaunt. I should be staying with him for a week or more just to ensure he eats properly and starts to recover from his ordeal, but I know Blackstone will never tolerate it. I wish I could take my father with me, but then Blackstone would have less leverage over me.
I think of my foster parents. In the shock of learning my father wasn’t mentally ill at all, I realize I’ve neglected to think of them at all and a sense of guilt fills me.
“My foster parents!” I blurt out. “I want to ask Blackstone about them. He never mentioned holding them.”
Dylan closes his eyes as if he too only now thought of it. “I would’ve thought he’d throw that in your face as a way to pressure you into cooperation. Maybe he doesn’t have them after all.”
“But then who? Soren?” I try to imagine what Soren would do to them, how he’d treat them, but can’t.
“Has to be Soren,” Dylan says, frowning, “unless they picked up and left and were unable to send a message to you. But that doesn’t sound like them.”
“I want to speak with Blackstone before I leave,” I say. I hug my father once more. “I’ll be back,” I assure him, although I can’t really promise anything. “One day, we’ll move to the Pembrokeshire Coast and live in a cottage by the ocean.”
He smiles. “Like the one near St. David’s?”
“Yes,” I say and kiss his cheek once more, tears biting at the corners of my eyes. “With a garden filled with wildflowers.”
“Your mother loved them. Especially lavender.”
I force a smile and leave him, pushing out of the door and down the hall, then down the stairs to Blackstone’s study. I stand at the doorway and see him deep in conversation with some of his men. He glances up and waves me in.
“Eve,” he says as if we’re old friends and not sworn enemies. “How is your father? Rest assured I’ll keep him safe, comfortable, and well-fed while you’re off slaying dragons for me.”
I smile to be polite, but of course, I hate him. “I appreciate that. Do you have my parents as well? My foster parents? We went to their cottage the other day and it was empty. It looked as if it had been looted. All their possessions were gone.”
He shrugs. “I don’t have them. Perhaps Soren took them as bargaining chips. He’s not the sort to leave things to chance, but if he has them, he said nothing to me when I sent my offer of sharing the spoils of war. He gets the pews and I get the streets, as I said before. For a while, at least.”
“You can’t really believe he’ll cooperate with you,” I scoff. “Don’t you think he’s planning on getting rid of you as well?”
Blackstone shrugs. “If he wasn’t planning on it, I’d think far less of him. Soren’s a worthy adversary. I imagine he has plans for every eventuality. I do.”
He turns his back on me to speak with his lieutenants. I take that as my cue to leave. Dylan takes my arm and leads me out of the study. One of the guards escorts us to our cart and horse and we ride off as if nothing’s happened.
I can’t believe what I’ve just lived through. Meeting Blackstone and his son. Finding my father alive and sane. Learning of Michel’s possible deceit about my father’s well-being. The mystery of the disappearance of my parents. Taking the daywalking serum and my newfound freedom to live in the sunlight.
It’s almost too much to take in for one week.
We drive through the deserted streets of Cambridge to Boston and the sector of town Michel and Julien have under their control. The sun is rising steadily, and for the first time since I became a vampire, I’m able to watch the dawn and feel the sun’s warmth as it rises over the ocean. After we stop in to speak with Michel and Julien, we’ll make the trip to Soren’s stronghold in Davis Cove and see what he wants of me. I imagine I’ll play his little Adept and funnel power to him from his worshippers the way I did before my transformation.
Dylan wanted to bypass a stop in Boston, afraid perhaps that I’ll become too upset by Michel’s lies, but I must see him—and Julien—once more before I go to Soren, perhaps to my death.
On the trip, Dylan and I speak of the Council and what it means that Blackstone has control over it. We can’t go to those we once trusted. A new Council has to be formed by people we know for certain share our goals.
“I know you have no reason to trust me, Eve,” Dylan says, his voice filled with pain, “but you have to know I’m going to do everything in my power to fight Blackstone and Soren. To free my parents. If you and Michel are going to Soren, Julien and I need to find a way to fight Blackstone. I have to keep up the front that I support Blackstone’s goals while working to stop him.”
I nod. “Julien can help. He has more reason than most to want Blackstone dead.”
We have to sit down as a group and figure out how to respond. We need a plan.
As I think about going to Soren with Michel, I remember what Blackstone said, casting doubt about Michel’s role in my father’s imprisonment. I'll confront him about my father and see what he says. I want to watch his face and hear his voice when he denies it—or confirms my worst fears. Did he know all along my father was sane and keep him out of my life so I would study science and take up my mother’s place as an Adept for the Council?
I shudder as the sun finally rises above the horizon. The morning sky is blood red. I can’t help but think of the symbolism.
“Red sky at night, sailor’s delight,” I say.
Dylan smiles ruefully. “Red sky at morning, sailors take warning,” he replies, completing the old adage. “Looks like there’s a storm on the horizon.”
“I’m afraid you�
�re right,” I say and pull my scarf more closely around my neck.
Chapter 93
“The only abnormality is the inability to love.”
Anaïs Nin
We pass through one guard post after another until we finally arrive back at the safe house. Michel and Julien rush to me once I walk through the door to the apartment, both of them reaching out to me. I glance from one to the other, not knowing how to handle this. Of course, they’re both concerned about me, considering I was at Blackstone’s residence and took the daywalking drug, but who do I acknowledge first?
“How are you?” Julien says, taking hold of my shoulders before Michel can. “How do you feel after taking the serum?”
Michel steps back, reluctance clear in the frown that creases his brow.
“Like crap,” I admit, removing Julien’s arms. I glance at Michel. “But I’m glad to be able to go outside during the day. I missed the sun.” I smile at him and he smiles back, his frown diminishing. I step back and exhale, my gaze moving from one brother to the other. “We have to talk.”
* * *
Julien is furious.
“No,” he says, chopping his hand down on the palm of his other hand. “I won’t let you go without me.”
“It’s not up to you,” I say and cross my arms in defiance. “Blackstone has my father. He’s working with Soren for now, but he plans on destroying him once the Church has established some kind of order. He expects me to help Soren gain temporary power, do his miracles. Then, when they have the virus perfected, we’ll take Soren down permanently. Once we do, we can deal with Blackstone separately.”
“It sounds so easy,” Michel says and I hear the doubt in his voice. “You and I go and help Soren gain power, and then when Blackstone decides it’s time, you administer the virus. Sounds far too good to be true, Eve. I don’t like it.”
I turn to Michel. “You said that Soren plans on using you as well, Michel. As his high priest. You’re part of this. Have you changed your mind? I thought this was a scenario you had to see through.”
Michel shrugs but says nothing.
“What about me?” Julien says. He turns to me, his expression dark. “If you think you and Michel are going to go to Soren and leave me behind…”
“Julien,” I say, frustration filling me. “We need you and Dylan to get a plan in place to take Blackstone out. You two are all that’s left of the real Council of Clairveaux. Blackstone’s infiltrated it for the past few decades and has been in control, manipulating those on the Council without your knowledge.” I take his hand and squeeze it. “You need to develop your own plan to take down Blackstone.”
Julien shakes his head and opens his mouth to speak but stops. I already know what he was going to say. He knows all this, but he doesn’t care about the rest of the world any longer. He doesn’t care about Soren or Blackstone or Dominion. I feel it when we connect. He’s tired of fighting. He wants some happiness for a change.
“You have to stop thinking about us, about me,” I say, my voice soft. “We have to make sacrifices. Our relationship is nothing compared to what’s going on.”
He doesn’t feel that way any longer. He’s almost at the point of not caring and if he could, he’d take me away from everything so we could live together in peace, somewhere far away from Michel and Soren and Blackstone. It’s pure selfish desire on his part, and he knows it.
Michel still cares. The fight always comes first for Michel. He’s always been one to sacrifice himself for the greater good, giving up his personal happiness if need be. He wants to end this battle over humans. He wants to reestablish the Council and find a cure for vampirism. Then, if possible, he wants to live with me for as long as we’re happy.
Everything Michel’s done, he’s done for the greater good. I have to keep telling myself that when I think that he may have been involved in my father’s imprisonment. In the lie that my father was insane. In the attempt to keep me away from him so that I’d follow my mother into the life of an Adept.
Even though that’s what I wanted, and I’m glad that I did choose this path, the thought that Michel has kept the truth from me all this time… It hurts me. My chest constricts, and when I look at Michel, there’s a part of me that sees him as the grand manipulator that Lord Blackstone called him.
Is everything an act with Michel, right down to our relationship? Is it all to get my cooperation with his overarching plans?
I shiver for a moment at the thought.
I have to speak with him alone.
* * *
That night, after we’ve had a meal and sat around talking about the safeguards we’ll put in place, I say goodnight and go to my room. Julien frowns when I leave, for I know he wants to stay with me, given that this is his week, but I don’t invite him. I want to speak with Michel alone. I want to get Michel relaxed and calm and then I’m going to reach into his mind and find out the truth about my father.
Of course things don’t always go as I plan…
I tiptoe into the hallway after everything is quiet in the apartment, and just when I get to the door outside Michel’s room, Julien shows up from the living room.
“Going somewhere?”
I startle, surprised that I didn’t hear that he was still up. I glance into the living room and see that he had been at the table, reading some papers. Was he specifically waiting to see what I’d do? I don’t like to be suspicious, but I can’t help but think he was.
“Julien, I need to speak with Michel.”
“Why didn’t you speak with him earlier? Or are you planning on getting some practice in as his concubine?”
I exhale loudly and in frustration. “Julien…”
Julien steps closer and brushes an errant strand of hair from my cheek. His gaze moves over my body, across the thin t-shirt, and down my bare legs. I have nothing on underneath since I was planning on seducing Michel into a compromising position.
“You don’t look like you were going in there to talk.”
I step away. “You have to stop being possessive. You know this is going to happen. There’s no other choice.”
“Yes, but you should be with me tonight, since you’re going away. You could at least wait until you’re at Soren’s to fuck him!”
Julien turns away from me, his fists clenched. He stomps away and just then, Michel’s door opens and I see his bleary eyes through the crack in the door.
“What’s the matter?” he says and rubs his eyes.
“Nothing,” I say and leave Julien to himself. “Michel, we need to…” I say and hesitate. “Talk.”
Michel opens the door to admit me and I push past him to go deeper into the room. He’s in his boxer briefs and his skin looks luminous in the light from outside. Of course, my body responds to his male beauty and I hate myself for being so manipulative. I go right over to him and cup his cheek, pulling his head down to kiss me.
He’s surprised. I hear his sharp intake of breath, but he pulls me against his body and kisses me back without question. Luckily, I’ve developed an ability to block him from my thoughts, so all that he gets when we join senses is a wave of desire from me. I sense his mind trying to figure out what I’m doing—why I would want to make love with him instead of Julien, especially since we’re leaving tomorrow—but the feel of my mouth on his, my hands stroking up his back erase all those thoughts.
Of course, being the alpha male that he is, he has to take over, so he pushes me over to the bed and strips off my t-shirt before covering me with his body. I wrap my legs around his hips and sigh as he begins to kiss my throat.
He’s completely immersed in the sensations and so I state it point blank.
“You knew all along that my father was sane.”
He’s shocked back into the present. I can tell by the way the walls go up between us that he’s trying to hide the full truth from me, but at least I got the momentary sense from him that he did know my father was sane.
There’s more to the story, but the
rest of it will have to wait. At least I now know the truth.
Michel rolls off me and sits on the side of the bed, his head in his hands for a moment as he rubs his eyes. He sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. “Eve…”
“Don’t say anything else except the truth or I won’t go with you to Soren’s. I’ll run away with Julien.”
“No you won’t,” Michel says, his voice tired. “You want Soren dead as much as I do.”
I sit up beside him. “You knew my father was sane. Admit it to me. I want to hear it from your own lips.”
“Yes,” he says. “I knew he was sane. It was for the best that he went away, Eve. You have to believe that. If he hadn’t, he would have died when Soren’s men came for you. He was sent away for his own protection.”
That makes me mad. “Did you know the conditions he was kept in? Like a medieval dungeon!”
Michel turns to me and despite the darkness, I can see pain in his eyes. “It had to be that way. He had to appear to be insane to keep him safe. This wasn’t my choice, Eve.”
“It wasn’t his choice.”
Michel shakes his head. “This is bigger than us all. Some sacrifices have to be made.”
“I think my father has made more than enough. He lost his wife, he lost his daughter, and he lost his freedom. He almost lost his mind after being in that asylum for a decade.”
“But he’s still alive, Eve,” Michel says and takes my shoulders, shaking me a bit. “You’re still alive.”
“Hardly,” I say and pull away from him.
“You know what I mean.” He shakes his head. “Would you rather that he was dead? Would you rather that Soren had found you and taken you when you were eleven? You think you had a hard time with Franklin? You have no idea…”