“Hey, Alice, how are-” Milo was saying as he walked into my room, but then he saw me pulling on my shoes and stopped. “Where are you going?”
“Out,” I said, then sighed and shook my head. After what happened with Jack, it would probably be better if I didn’t keep anyone in the dark anymore. “Olivia called. She wants me to come over.”
“What for?” Milo asked, narrowing his eyes.
“I don’t know, but it sounded important.”
“I’m going with,” he said, and he’d been starting to master Ezra’s tone when something wasn’t open for debate.
“Don’t you have school or something?” I didn’t want him to go with me, not if Olivia’d gotten herself in trouble, but I couldn’t very well tell him that. He’d only insist on coming with more.
“It’s ten o’clock at night, on a Friday.”
“Oh. Right.” I nodded. “Well, then. Come on.”
Since Milo came with, that meant Bobby had to tag along, not that I minded. For reasons I couldn’t explain, I felt better about bringing Bobby along on dangerous excursions, even though he was more fragile. I cared about Bobby almost as much as I did Milo, so that wasn’t it.
In a weird way, Bobby felt more like an equal to me. Milo would always be my kid brother who’d gotten shoved into lockers and needed me to look out for him. Bobby was more like… a sidekick.
Milo didn’t see it that way. They’d apparently had some major fight about Bobby sneaking out with me, but thankfully, I’d slept through it. On the car ride to Olivia’s, Milo made a point of telling me exactly how unhappy he was with me for putting Bobby in danger, even though they’d already forgiven each other and made up.
I hated how easily they always seemed to make up. I blamed Milo and his never-ending patience for that, and Bobby’s unadulterated worship of Milo. Their relationship should’ve been almost as complicated as mine and Jack’s, but it wasn’t.
It was a Friday night, so the vampire club was even more packed than it had been the last few times. We went through V to get to the elevator up to Olivia’s penthouse because it was usually quicker, and on nights like tonight, it could be rather tedious.
La Roux’s song “Bulletproof” blasted over the dance floor, and even though I liked it, the decibel hurt. I hadn’t gotten enough sleep or eaten lately, and a migraine loomed behind my eyes. The music only it made it worse.
I plunged into the sweaty bodies filling the dance floor and pushed my way through. I used to be delicate and careful, but now I’d shove anybody that got in my way. The crowd kept trying to swallow up Bobby, so I grabbed his arm and yanked him forward. Milo trailed behind him, fighting off anyone that might go after Bobby.
“Watch where you’re going!” someone yelled at me, and I wouldn’t even have stopped to look if he hadn’t laughed. “You’re following me, aren’t you?”
“Hey, it’s that douche!” Bobby said, almost cheerfully.
I turned back to see Jonathan with his shit-eating grin. He wore a leather jacket hanging open without a shirt underneath, and even if he did have perfect abs, it still looked tacky. He even had a silver cross hanging down around his neck, and I wanted to punch him just for wearing that.
“Do I have a reason to follow you?” I asked him.
Jonathan stood a foot or two in front of me, and the other people had stopped crowding around us. We were on the edges of a small circle where nobody danced, like we were about to dance off or throw down. Bobby and Milo stood behind me, adding to the feel that we were about to rumble.
“Only the same reason as everyone else.” Jonathan’s smile widened, revealing more teeth than he needed to.
“And why’s that?” I asked.
“Cause you can’t resist me, baby!” He spread his arms wide in a grand gesture, and Bobby scoffed. Jonathan’s smile faltered, only for a moment, but it was enough where I knew he was pissed off.
He’d always given me the creeps, but it’d only gotten worse. The blood in my veins burned around him, like I physically couldn’t stand to be near him. My stomach churned, and I just wanted to get away.
“We don’t have time for this.” I rolled my eyes and turned to walk away.
Bobby made a smart remark about resisting him, and he’d barely gotten it out of his mouth before Jonathan reacted. He flew forward, striking out at Bobby. I didn’t move fast enough to stop him from hitting Bobby, but he only got in one punch.
I whirled on Jonathan, kicking him in the back of the legs so they buckled, and Jonathan leaned back and fell on his knees. With my left hand, I gripped his neck, closing my hand so tight on his throat that I felt his Adam’s apple crack, and I punched him in the face as hard as I could with my right hand. His jaw felt like concrete against my fist, but it gave away, shattering underneath my knuckles.
I pulled my fist back to hit him again, but Milo’s hand on my arm stopped me.
“Alice!” Milo yelled.
The bottom half of Jonathan’s face looked like hamburger, and his blood streamed down over my hand. He gasped for breath, making the blood gurgle through his smashed mouth, but he didn’t even try to fight me. His arms hung limp at his sides, and his head lolled back. His eyes were wide open, staring at me with that same dead shark-eye look always he had.
Even with that, knowing I’d be beating up someone that couldn’t even fight back, and with Milo pulling on me to leave, I didn’t lower my arm. My blood burned, searing my muscles, and my whole body felt electrified. I wanted to destroy Jonathan.
“Alice! Bobby needs to get upstairs!” Milo shouted. Based on his painful grip on my arm, he was using almost all his strength to drag me away, but I stayed cemented in place.
The crowd still circled around us, watching as I held Jonathan captive. If he’d been human, he’d probably be dead, and that sent a new chill down my spine. Without even trying, I’d almost killed him.
I let go of him, and Jonathan stayed kneeling. He leaned back, hanging in midair as if suspended by a string. His swollen bloody mouth curled, making some poor attempt at a smile, and I looked away. I couldn’t stand the sight of him anymore.
Once Milo was sure I would follow him willingly, he let go of me. He looped an arm around Bobby, half-carrying him to the elevator. People gave us a wide berth as we walked, but nobody said anything to me, not even Milo.
“What the hell was that?” Milo hissed once we were in the privacy of the elevator.
“I’ll be okay,” Bobby had his hand over his eye, but some blood dripped down from it on his cheek.
His scent filled the small space so much, it was almost suffocating, especially since I hadn’t eaten in so long. I paced the elevator and wiped my hand on my jeans, getting Jonathan’s blood off of me.
“I know,” Milo said. “But I wasn’t talking to you, even though that was really stupid. I meant Alice. What the hell was that back there?”
“He hit Bobby,” I mumbled.
But I knew that wasn’t it exactly. I had been pissed that he hit Bobby, the same way I would be if anybody hurt him or anyone else I cared about. But it was something else. A rage I couldn’t control had taken over me.
“Yeah, I know, but I thought you were going to kill him.” Milo had his arm around Bobby, almost cradling him to his chest, and he kept his voice even.
It wasn’t until I looked back at him that I realized that Milo was afraid. He’d seen something in me that had scared him.
“I told you I can take care of myself,” I said.
“Don’t be mad at her,” Bobby told Milo. “She was just defending me. It’s a good thing.”
Milo sighed but didn’t say anything. Bobby tried to convince him that his injury wasn’t so bad and that I hadn’t done anything wrong, so Milo just kept shushing him.
When the elevator doors opened, Olivia was standing in the middle of her penthouse. Her hair hung down her back, blending in with the long black dress she wore. In her hand, she had held a wine glass of fresh, cold blood, and my mouth water
ed a little.
“Alice, darling, is something the matter?” Olivia asked, stepping forward.
“I need to get him cleaned up,” Milo said, helping Bobby off the elevator. “Do you have a bathroom I can use?”
“Yes, right around the corner, past the kitchen.” Olivia pointed in the direction, and Milo led Bobby away. “What happened to your human?”
“What’d you need me for so urgently?” I asked, hedging her question.
I shoved my hands in my jacket pockets and walked around her penthouse. Nobody else appeared to be here, except for us, and I didn’t sense any sign of danger. I still felt jumpy and anxious from the run-in with Jonathan, but my blood had started to cool, returning to its normal icy temperature.
“Do you want me get you something to drink?” Olivia asked. I stopped at the windows, looking down at the city lights, and I glanced back at her. “You look like you do.”
“Yes, please,” I nodded.
Olivia went into the kitchen and poured me a bag of blood into a wine glass. Milo came out of the bathroom, and she got him an icepack from her freezer, and he ducked back in the bathroom. She didn’t eat, but she kept her place stocked for her human visitors, the same we kept ours stocked for Bobby.
“Here you are,” Olivia smiled, handing me the glass.
“Thank you.” I’d never drank blood from a glass. It looked elegant, and I took a sip of it, instead of guzzling it down the way I normally did.
“Something happened to you,” Olivia said, studying me.
“It’s not anything I need to talk about.” I shrugged and took another a sip.
“Sit.” She gestured to her couches. “Calm your nerves. Then we’ll talk.”
I sat down, and Olivia lounged on the couch across from me. She pulled her legs up next to her, letting the long silk of the dress flow around her. She twirled the stem of her wine glass between her fingers and watched me as I drank mine.
I tried to drink it slowly, but I really needed it. The blood rushed through me, filling me with the warm ecstasy. My body seemed to lighten. I felt buzzed, but that actually made me more alert than I had been before.
“Did you invite me over here to seduce me or something?” I asked.
Olivia wore a dress, and I’d never seen her in one before. Classical music played in the background, I think Mozart. The lights were dim, and she was plying me with blood in wineglasses.
“No, I wanted you comfortable,” she smiled. “I have conquests much higher than you in my sights.” I wondered if she meant Violet, but I didn’t ask.
Milo and Bobby came out of the bathroom, with Milo leading him along like a Seeing Eye dog. Jonathan had punched him in the left eye, and Bobby held an ice pack over it.
“How are you?” I asked.
“Good as new.” Bobby sat down on the couch next to me, and the ice pack shifted in the process, so he grimaced. “Well, almost good as new.”
“So did you find out what the big news is?” Milo asked, sitting on the arm of the couch beside Bobby. He had his arm around him meant to look like a romantic gesture, but Milo was protecting him. He still didn’t really trust Olivia.
“Not yet,” I said. “Why am I here, Olivia?”
“Violet.” Olivia leaned her head back, speaking towards the bedrooms behind her.
Milo tightened his arm around Bobby, making him wince, but Milo didn’t loosen his grip. I have to admit that any information shrouded in secrecy and Violet tended to make me nervous too, but the blood was working against that. I felt almost serene.
The door to Violet’s bedroom opened, but she didn’t step out. Instead, a child of about eight or nine came out of the room. Her wavy brown hair hung neatly around her shoulders, and her skin was flawless and smooth. She moved in a slow, deliberate way, and she had poise like I’d never seen.
When she looked at me, that’s when it really hit me though. Her blue eyes were ancient. They had none of the innocence and energy a child of her age would have.
“Oh my god.” I gaped at her. “How old are you?”
“That’s not polite,” she said, her voice like a cold bell.
“Alice meet Rebekah, the oldest living child vampire I’ve met.” Olivia smiled, and turned to face her a bit. “Can I tell her old you are?”
“I’m over a thousand years old.” Rebekah sounded bored with the idea.
23
Rebekah didn’t move at all. She had a stillness about her that I didn’t know any living thing could master, and her eyes seemed to stare right through me, right through everything.
“She’s like a porcelain doll, only way creepier,” Bobby said in a hushed voice.
“I know, right?” Violet agreed. She’d come out of the bedroom, but I hadn’t noticed her because I’d been too fixated on Rebekah. Violet twisted a strand of her hair and eyed up Rebekah warily
There was something tremendously unsettling about her. She looked like a child, and she clearly wasn’t one. But it was more than that. I’d never see another vampire that looked less human than her.
“Rebekah, have a seat,” Olivia told her, and with a resigned sigh, Rebekah sat on the couch next to her. “She’s why I’ve been gone. I went to get her.”
“Was she in trouble or something?” I asked, and I pulled my eyes off Rebekah. She had to think it was impolite that I stared, but I couldn’t help it.
“No, I brought her here for you,” Olivia said. “You told me about the predicament with your child vampire, and Rebekah knows how to control them. She’s managed for centuries.”
“I hardly even remember being a child,” Rebekah said with some disdain.
“Yes, well, you’re the only expert I know.” Olivia smiled thinly at her, and Rebekah regarded her with her strange doll eyes.
Rebekah even dressed like a doll. Her dress was more of a gown, and too lavish and ornate for anything a child would wear today. It was as if a porcelain doll had come to life, or at least attempted to, since there didn’t seem to be much life in Rebekah.
“I have helped some children over the years, although I’d rather not be doing it anymore.” Rebekah crossed one of her legs over the other and laced her fingers on her lap. “Olivia pulled me from Prague for this, and here I am.”
“Even you agreed it was time that you returned the favor,” Olivia looked coolly at Rebekah.
“I honor all my debts,” Rebekah said, holding her chin higher.
“What debts did you have to Olivia?” Bobby blurted out, and I elbowed him in the side. “Don’t take me places if you don’t want me to talk, Alice.”
“No, it’s quite alright,” Olivia said and sipped her glass. “Young Rebekah had been living in England with her ‘family’ during the War of the Roses in the fifteenth century. Rebekah allied herself with the house of Lancaster in an attempt to control the throne of England, but that gamble didn’t pay off. Rebekah’s family was slaughtered in a battle, and she was left an orphan, or so it would seem.”
“That’s not entirely accurate,” Rebekah cast a glare at Olivia, but Olivia waved it off.
“Rebekah was cast out of England, penniless and unable to fend for herself, at least not economically speaking,” Olivia said. “I happened to be a courtesan in France, childless and widowed, and that fit Rebekah’s needs perfectly.”
“She turned you?” I sat forward, looking between the two of them.
“Indeed.” Olivia looked over at Rebekah, her expression an odd mix of affection and loathing. “My maker is a child.” Rebekah sighed at the use of the term ‘child.’ “We created an arrangement, after I’d been turned, of course. I would keep her safe, live as her mother in public while in reality I was nothing more than a servant.”
“Don’t be so dramatic, Olivia,” Rebekah said tersely and leaned back on the couch. “We had a good life. Did I ever leave you wanting for anything?”
“You left me wanting my humanity,” Olivia replied, surprising me with her depth of emotion. She rarely expressed anything
deeper than hunger or annoyance. “It is a debt that you can never repay.”
“After this, I will consider my debt paid in full,” Rebekah told her.
“I worked for you over two hundred years, and this is only the second favor I have ever asked of you.” Olivia’s voice began to rise, but she shook her head and took another drink from wineglass. “But it’s as you say. This is the last time I call upon you.”
“Very well.” Rebekah’s lips curled up ever so slightly, revealing a hint of a smirk, and she turned to me. “Where is this child of yours?”
“Um, she’s hiding out,” I said. “I didn’t know I was supposed to bring her.”
“I’m certain it’s for the best that you didn’t,” Rebekah said. “How old is she?”
“She’s five,” I said. “And she’s been a vampire since November.”
“I see.” Rebekah pursed her lips and didn’t elaborate.
“You can help her, though?” Milo asked. He’d loosened his grip on Bobby, becoming more interested in Rebekah and what she could do for Mae and Daisy. “You can make it so she stops killing people?”
“She’s a vampire. Of course I can’t guarantee that,” Rebekah said. “I can help her learn control. It’s a myth that child vampires never grow up. We don’t, physically, but with time and practice, we gain the same emotional and mental maturity as our adult counterparts.”
“She eats bugs and kills animals,” I said, and everyone looked disgusted at that. “Can you stop that?”
“Yes,” Rebekah nodded. “It’s fairly common for child vampires to be unable to control their hunting impulse. In truth, vampires do crave more than blood. We were meant to kill. But with time, that urge can be dulled.”
“How long does that take?” Milo asked.
“It depends.” Rebekah tilted her head, thinking. “A decade before I’d let her live in a community with humans. Half-a-century until she matched your level right now. In a full century, you wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between her or Olivia, as far as control goes.”
Wisdom (My Blood Approves series) Page 24