by K. A. Last
“Um … maybe I’ll stay close.”
“That’s a good idea.” I snuffed the flames out and unlocked the padlock on the chain. “If we’re going to be working together, I should know your name.”
The vampire snorted and stood up, the chains falling to the floor with a clink. “Let’s get one thing straight. I don’t work with hunters.”
He ran towards the door, as I knew he would. I misted, landing in his path before he could make it outside, and punched him in the chest. He flew backwards along the hall and hit the kitchen counter, then landed in a heap, groaning.
“I told you not to run,” I said. “Next time there will be fire behind that punch. Now let’s go.”
Archer picked the vamp off the floor and shoved him down the hall. “I’d advise you not to try that again. We know every move you plan to make before you decide to make it.”
Maybe not we. Me. I’m the one who can read minds, but the way Archer said it made it sound so bad-ass.
“If you don’t tell me your name, I’ll call you stupid,” I said. “Will you answer to that?”
Ryan closed the front door and locked it with a key labelled ‘front’ that he’d found in the kitchen drawer. Then we headed down the steps to the footpath.
The vamp growled. “It’s Max, okay?”
“Well then,” I said, stopping and facing him. “Please, Max, lead the way.”
Max shouldered past me and led us down the tree-lined street towards the bridge in the distance. Archer and I flanked him, in case he decided to go back on his word. I made sure I was between Ryan and Max, since all he could think about was sinking his teeth into Ryan’s neck. Max walked with his head down, and his shoulders hunched.
“Where are we going?” Archer asked as we rounded the corner at the end of the street.
“You’ll see,” Max said.
“He’s taking us to the war memorial,” I said. “It’s in Dhye Park.”
Max glared at me. “I don’t like hunters; they think they’re so smart.”
I smirked. “I don’t like vampires; especially the stupid ones.”
FIFTEEN
Josh
The moon peeked out from behind the clouds, and I was glad the rain had finally decided to let up. I didn’t need the weather adding to my already glum mood.
We left after sundown, and Charlotte led us away from the city centre towards the outskirts of town. We walked for about twenty minutes at a human pace so as not to draw attention to ourselves. I had my head down, staring at my feet and trying to remember Grace, when Charlotte stopped in front of another terrace house with a weird-coloured door. It was the first in a long line of houses, and the one that looked the worst of the lot.
“Who lives here?” I asked.
“My terrace is much nicer,” Lilith said, smirking.
“You used to live here with me,” Charlotte said. “And this would be the first place Grace would look for you.”
“What?” I stared at Charlotte. “I’ve never been here before.”
Lilith glared at me. “You two lived together?”
“But we were never together,” Charlotte said.
Well, that was a relief. I didn’t like the thought of standing next to someone who I may or may not have been with. It was weird enough I couldn’t remember Charlotte, let alone adding the complication of that kind of relationship.
“You better not have been.” Lilith frowned. She was sexy when she was mad. “Who else knows this is your place?”
“Lucas,” Charlotte said. “It was his at one stage, too.”
“Of course. Which means every vamp in town probably knows as well.”
“Why would Lucas have lived here?” I asked.
Charlotte ignored me. “My guess is Grace and Archer are here, since that’s their car.” She pointed to a black 4WD parked a few car spaces up the street.
“Why doesn’t anyone ever answer my questions?” I looked at the balcony above, not expecting an answer to that question either.
So far nothing about the terrace had jogged my memory, but nothing ever did if I looked for it. The moments I’d had any inkling about something to do with my past, they crept up on me and took me by surprise.
“Come on,” Charlotte said, approaching the door. “Welcome home, Josh.” She put her hand into her pocket.
“Allow me.” Lilith lifted her leg and kicked. Chips of paint and splinters of wood fell onto the step as the door swung open.
Charlotte sighed. “I have the keys.” They clinked together when she held up her hand to show Lilith.
“Oh well, too late now.”
“Whoever is in there definitely knows we’re coming,” I said.
“Hello,” Charlotte called into the house. She took a slow step over the threshold. No answer. But really, who would answer if they were in someone else’s house?
Once we were inside, Lilith closed the door. Charlotte got halfway down the hallway before she stopped and I bumped into her. Lilith shouldered past us and walked farther into the house.
“What happened here?” I stared at the smudge of blood on the wall.
The place was a mess, but at the same time it wasn’t. All the furniture was broken, but it had been stacked or leant against the wall. The couch cushions had huge gashes in them, but they’d been put carefully back into place. The stuffing and foam were swept neatly into a corner. A huge scorch mark marred the floor, and another on the front of the kitchen bench.
“Grace has definitely been here,” Charlotte said. “Who else would take the time to clean up my mess?” Her gaze settled on the blood-stained wall. “Actually, half of it was yours.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“The blood stain … you threw a bottle at the wall during a fight with Grace not long after we left Hopetown Valley. We never got a chance to clean it up,” Charlotte said. “Angelica came for me. I think she came for both of us. We fought her off before we were separated. I didn’t see you again until I tracked you down at Lilith’s.”
The scarred room and messed-up furniture teased me and I shook my head. “I don’t remember.”
“Some things aren’t worth remembering.” Charlotte pursed her lips.
I left Charlotte and Lilith in the living area and headed for the stairs. If I used to live in this house then surely there would be something I’d left behind, something that would give me a clue as to who I was.
At the end of the upstairs hall was an open door that led to the master bedroom. The things in that room seemed to belong to Charlotte. The bathroom door was open as well, the room empty, so I headed for the only closed door, which was at the other end of the top level. I took a deep breath I didn’t need and turned the knob.
What greeted me was more than disappointing. It was downright depressing.
Someone had staked a vamp. A pile of dust sat on the floor in the middle of the room, and I made a mental note to tell Charlotte about it when I went back downstairs. The bed was made, but dirty clothes littered the floor. A bloodstained glass sat next to a lamp on a stack of phonebooks that made a bedside table. I went farther into the room. A small chest of drawers I hadn’t seen from the doorway sat in the corner. Something stuck up from the top of it, and it took me a minute to realise it was a photo frame that had been laid flat.
When I picked it up and looked at the face trapped behind the glass, something in my mind flinched. I had that feeling again. There was a memory at the front of my thoughts, but something held it beyond my reach. The girl in the photo was beautiful, even more so than Charlotte and Lilith combined. I ran my fingers over the glass, wishing I could meet this angelic person.
I flipped the frame oven and opened the back, slipping the photograph out. A short message was written on the back in neat, pretty handwriting.
Dear Josh,
No words can fix what happened, but I needed to say thank you. You gave me the most beautiful gift when you gave me the ring, and I’m sad that I have nothing to give i
n return. It’s true, I never told you I love you, but maybe one day I can.
Grace xxx
The glass in the frame cracked under the pressure of my fingers, and the wooden frame splintered in my hand. I shouldn’t have been so angry. I didn’t know this girl, or at least I couldn’t remember her. So why did it hurt so much to find out she’d never told me she loved me? I’d obviously told her. I’d given her a ring, for God’s sake. It probably had my name engraved on the inside like hers was on the one I wore. How cliché—we had matching rings.
The glass and wood fell to the carpet and I flipped the photo over to look at Grace. A red splotch appeared on her cheek and I wiped my thumb over it, unaware at first that it was blood from my tears.
“You okay?” Charlotte leant against the door.
“This is Grace?” I showed her the photo.
Charlotte nodded. “Yes, that’s Grace.”
“When I look at this photo, something … I think I’m about to remember her, but then it slips away.” I folded the image in half and put it into the back pocket of my jeans. “It’s very frustrating.”
Charlotte sighed. “Things happened that messed us all up. I wish we could do it over, but we can’t. I have regrets, but I can’t change the past. What I can shape is the future. We can stop this army from happening, but we need each other. You have to trust me.” She pursed her lips. “Do you trust me?”
I couldn’t help laughing. How could she ask me that question? How was I supposed to trust her, when I couldn’t even trust my own mind? “I want to, but all I know is Lilith. I have nothing before her.”
Charlotte nodded. “I guess I’ll have to live with that.”
“If you can tell I’ve got a mind block, can you fix it?”
“That block was put there by an Angel of the Light, which means it can only be removed by the same angel,” she said. “I have a pretty good idea who did it, but we won’t know for sure until we find her.”
“Great, someone else we have to find.” I ran a hand through my hair and stared at Charlotte.
Her gaze moved to the pile of dust on the floor. “It looks like Grace is doing her job.”
I shouldered past her to go downstairs and find Lilith. She hadn’t moved from the kitchen. She hunched over the bench, inspecting some weapons.
“Found them in those bags.” She pointed to a gym bag next to the couch.
Lilith picked up a miniature crossbow and pressed the button on the handle. The limbs flicked out and clicked into place, and the bow loaded a small arrow from a storage section in the handle. She aimed it at the wall and pulled the trigger.
The arrow embedded into the wall in the middle of the bloodstain. Lilith smiled.
“Careful with that thing,” I said. “You don’t want to shoot someone you’re not supposed to.”
“Can I take it with us?”
“Why? You’re a vampire; you have teeth to kill people.”
“But I like having toys to play with.” Lilith pouted, and for a moment I saw the Lilith I knew, the Lilith who’d pulled me out of a ditch and given me a home, oozing sex appeal with every move she made.
“I say we arm up,” Charlotte said, following me into the room. “It won’t hurt to have a little more punch on our side.”
“Let’s get one thing straight,” I said. “We don’t kill anyone we don’t have to.”
Charlotte smiled, but her eyes were sad. “I don’t kill people full stop, Josh. I only kill vampires.”
“Well, since I am one, that’s nice to know.”
“I won’t hurt you.”
“Yeah, because I won’t let you.” Lilith aimed the crossbow at Charlotte.
I moved in front of her. “Play nice, please.”
Lilith lowered her arm and pouted again. She strapped the crossbow to her wrist and pushed the button to fold the outer limbs in. She hid the weapon under the sleeve of her black cardigan.
“We should decide on a plan.” Charlotte leant against the bench.
“Well, we know Grace has been here, but we don’t know where she’s gone,” I said.
“It will be easy enough to find her. Archer and Ryan have been here as well. If we lose Archer’s scent, which is highly likely because he’s a hunter, then we can probably keep on Ryan’s.”
Lilith lifted her nose and sniffed the air. I had to stop myself from laughing. She looked like a dog, and probably wouldn’t be too pleased if I told her so. Charlotte was right though; I could smell one very distinct person, another not as strong, then a faint lingering smell, like fresh summer rain.
“That’s Grace,” Charlotte said. “You’ll have no hope of following or finding her. She has the ability to switch it off. I’m guessing she’s marked the terrace in the hope you’ll know she’s been here.”
There was the dog analogy again, and the mind reading. I smiled.
“Can I ask one thing?” Lilith said. “Who’s Ryan?”
Charlotte bit her lip and looked straight at me. “Ryan is Josh’s best friend.”
Great, just what I needed—more complications. Was there anyone who didn’t know who I was? Because I didn’t know any of them.
“Can we leave? If we’re going to find all these people that I apparently know, shouldn’t we have gone already?” I said.
“And the plan is?” Lilith asked.
“We find Grace,” Charlotte said. “And we get her to help us fight Lucas. We all have our reasons why we want to stop this army, don’t we?” Charlotte said.
“I want my city back,” Lilith said.
I shrugged. “I don’t know what I want.”
“You will once you have your memory,” Charlotte said. “We’re not the only ones fighting this war. The other hunters and the city angels know what’s going on. Everyone is looking for me for one reason or another, and none of them will stop.”
Before Charlotte finished her little speech I knew what she was going to say, and I didn’t need to be a mind reader to figure out the plan. Lucas wanted her, and it angered me more than I’d first realised, the thought of anyone hurting Charlotte. When the anger filled me up so much I thought I would burst, it surprised me. I cared about her on a level I didn’t understand. She’d said we were connected, and I believed it was true.
“If Lucas wants me, he can have me. We’ll attack from the inside. Since Grace and I aren’t on the best of terms, she’ll probably agree it’s a good idea. Once we find her we can decide exactly what we’re going to do.” Charlotte slipped a stake into her back pocket. “Lilith, does Lucas still think you’re loyal to him?”
“He doesn’t think I’m not.” She folded her arms.
“Then he won’t know what’s hit him.”
I didn’t want to hand Charlotte over to anyone.
“You don’t need to worry about me,” Charlotte said.
“You’re sure about this?” I asked.
Charlotte nodded. “I might have a little something up my sleeve.”
SIXTEEN
Grace
Late Saturday night
Being a Saturday night, there were a lot of people out walking the streets. Every café and pub we passed was full to bursting. Music blared from the nightclubs as people lined up to wait to get in. Cars honked their horns, and sirens blared in the distance. I missed the relative quiet of the country, where it was just Archer and me arguing, and the sound of the birds in the trees.
When we reached the park, we ascended a large set of stone steps to the mouth of a tree-lined tunnel. Two rows of yellow lamps lit the way, casting an eerie but beautiful glow. Shadows danced through the trees as we walked, and I shivered at the sight of the majestic Moreton Bay Figs. The huge trees didn’t have quite the same effect on me as they used to. It wasn’t every day you got to see the gates of Hell, and since I’d discovered the reason behind my dislike for them, it had become easier to deal with.
“It’s big,” Archer said.
Big was an understatement.
I suppose if you
looked at it from a country girl’s point of view, it wasn’t really big at all. The park could fit into the grounds of Hopetown Valley High fifty times over, but we were in the city. In a landscape of concrete and high-rises, green spaces like Dhye Park were huge.
The path Max led us along seemed to stretch on forever, and the noise of the city faded into the background. A few people milled about, walking in both directions. A young couple sat entwined on a park bench, oblivious to everyone around them. I smiled at their public display of happiness, but seriously, they needed to get a room.
Max drooled and a growl rose in his chest. He kept his eyes on the couple as we passed, and I gave him a good shove to keep him moving.
“Don’t even think about it. You’re not eating anyone on my watch,” I said.
The end of the boulevard opened onto a large hexagonal area with a fountain at its centre. Rivers of water cascaded from the nostrils of two horses’ heads, which flanked a man holding out his right arm.
“Ah! Apollo,” Archer said.
“Huh?” I stared at him.
“Here we go,” Ryan said. “He’s about to launch into one of his geeky fits.”
“The god of light and the sun, among other things.” Archer walked slowly around the fountain. “And look, there’s Diana, the goddess of purity, and there, the young god of the fields and pastures.” Archer’s eyes lit up. “Look, Grace, Theseus. He’s the one who vanquished the Minotaur. This fountain is the ultimate representation of good triumphing over evil.” My dork of a brother stopped and leant on the fountain’s stone lip, gazing into the dark water.
“Okay, thanks for the Greek history lesson.” I laughed. “But I think we represent good triumphing over evil pretty damn well ourselves.”
I took in the rest of our surroundings. The facade of a majestic gothic-style cathedral caught my attention, its spires reaching for the stars. The grand building looked out of place, like it had been left behind by some bygone era.
“How far is the memorial?” I asked Max.