“My blood? Why?”
“Because incredible power flows through your veins,” Bryn told him. “Angel blood and vampire blood both contain strong magic. And in you, they combine in a way that’s totally unique, amplifying the magic exponentially. So someone else, someone like Augustine, would have to be calling the shots in order for a warlock to pass up your blood.”
“And what would a warlock do with my blood, exactly?”
“Blood is often used in spells and potions, and the use of your blood in particular would make them infinitely more powerful.”
Alastair grinned. “And here I am, face to face with a warlock. Should I be alarmed?”
Bryn chuckled at that. “Hardly. I consider you family, Allie, and I’d sooner cut off my own arm than harm a hair on your head.” His warm brown eyes met Alastair’s.
“How do you and I know each other, anyway?”
“I found you the first time you ran away from Augustine. You’d been his prisoner for seven years at that point and he’d tried his best to break you, to turn you into an obedient little lap dog. There wasn’t much left of you, I’m afraid.” Sadness tinged Bryn’s features.
The warlock took a breath before continuing. “But I nursed you back to health, and was delighted to find that Augustine had failed miserably in breaking you. You still had such an incredible spark, such powerful inner strength and unshakable defiance. You were, and are, the strongest, most resilient person I’ve ever met.”
“And after all this time, Augustine’s still pursuing me.”
“Your maker will continue to pursue you until his dying breath. You and Joey are constantly on the run from him.”
“I don’t get why he’s wasted so much time on me. Two centuries is a hell of a long time to play cat and mouse.”
“Actually, two centuries means little to someone who’s been around as long as Augustine,” Bryn said. “No one knows for sure, but by all accounts, he isn’t merely old, he’s ancient. I’ve heard speculations that he’s upwards of fifteen, maybe sixteen hundred years old.”
“That’s almost inconceivable.” Alastair shook his head as he tried to imagine a life that long. “Still, why he doesn’t just kill me since it’s obvious I’ll never be what he wants? It sounds like he’s had plenty of opportunities.”
Bryn leaned back, steepling his fingers together as he rested his elbows on the arms of the plush chair. After a pause he said, “He doesn’t kill you because -- God, I hate using the word love when talking about Augustine. But truthfully, he doesn’t kill you because he loves you. I may even go so far as to say he’s in love with you.”
“My maker is gay?”
A little smile played around Bryn’s lips. “No, not exactly. I’m gay. I suppose I’d call Augustine…omnisexual.”
“What does that mean?”
“I guess it means that he doesn’t fit a label, that his sexuality isn’t defined by any one category. That’s fairly common actually, with beings that have been around a long time. After a while, they tend to open up to a broad spectrum of experience.”
“Ok. So apparently he loves me. And yet you said he’s spent years torturing me. How does that work, exactly?”
“Vampires who choose to let go of their humanity have a radically different sense of right and wrong than the rest of us,” Bryn said. “Torturing you is just a means to an end, as far as Augustine is concerned. With his humanity switched off, he’s incapable of seeing anything wrong with it.”
“But still, that’s madness, torturing someone you love.”
“And that’s Augustine.” Bryn stood then, stretching his back in a way that made him seem far older than his outward appearance would indicate. “Ok, enough about that bastard. Do you think you’re up for another round of Vulcan mind meld? I want to get to it while I’m still relatively fresh.”
“Vulcan what?”
Bryn smiled. “Me poking around in your noggin. Think you can stand some more? Or are you content to just let it be?”
Alastair sighed and rose to his feet, pushing his hair back from his face. “I can stand it if you can.”
Bryn crossed the room to the bed and grabbed a couple pillows, then tossed them on the floor. He sat down cross-legged beside them and gestured to Alastair to join him.
“Why are we on the floor?” Alastair asked as he sat in front of the warlock.
“Just in case,” Bryn said.
“In case of what?”
Bryn avoided his gaze and said, “In case I have a seizure. This way I won’t fall off the furniture and crack my head open.”
“Wait -- this could give you a seizure?”
Bryn glanced up at him. “From what I saw yesterday, I’ll have to give this all I’ve got, literally. It will completely drain me of energy, and when I get that depleted, I sometimes have a seizure. Don’t be frightened though, ok? It’ll pass. And the spell I’ll be using to keep you immobile will release you as soon as I stop concentrating on it, so you won’t have to worry about that.”
Alastair reached out and took Bryn’s hands in his. “I didn’t realize how much this would hurt you. We can’t go through with it.”
“I want to, Allie. Please let me try. I shouldn’t have even mentioned the seizure, except that I didn’t want you to panic in case it happens.”
Alastair continued to hold his friend’s hands as he said gently, “I can’t ask you to hurt yourself for me.”
Bryn smiled and said, “You’re not. I’m asking you to let me help. Not only because you’re my friend and I love you, but because I need to understand what was done to you. There’s a very delicate balance in the world among those that practice magic. And if there’s some new player on the scene, one with enough power to bespell vampires, I need to take a look at his or her work, to try to get an idea of what they’re capable of.”
After a long moment, Alastair nodded. “Ok. We’ll do this as long as you promise to draw as much of my energy as you need to keep yourself strong, and to quit before it gets to be too much.”
“I promise.” And with their hands still linked, Bryn took a deep breath, shut his eyes and went to work.
Chapter Thirteen
In her dream, Lu was being chased by vicious dogs with long, sharp teeth, running fast, closing in. She jerked upright and lashed out blindly, and her wrist was caught in a strong, cool grasp. It took her a moment to come fully awake and focus on Joey, who sat cross-legged on the bed beside her. He was grinning.
“A girl that wakes up swinging. I can see what Alastair likes about you,” he teased as he released her wrist.
“Wow. I’ve been awake for two seconds and already you’re annoying,” she told him. She glanced around the room then and asked, “Where’s Alastair?”
“With Bryn. We got warlock mail about an hour ago saying they were going to try to go into Alastair’s mind again, and we kids were not to disturb them.”
“And warlock mail is what exactly?”
“It’s a note that drops into your lap out of nowhere and totally gives you the willies,” Joey told her.
“And my next question is, why the hell are you practically sitting on top of me? Don’t you have anything better to do than watch me sleep?”
He tried to play it off. “Don’t flatter yourself, Cupcake. I came over here when you became agitated by whatever nightmare you were having. I was getting ready to wake you when you tried to throw a punch and woke yourself up.”
She rolled away from Joey and out of bed. Her body felt stiff from spending most of last night in a car, and she raised her arms toward the high ceiling and stretched her neck from side to side. The clock on the bedside table told her it was early afternoon, but the room was dark thanks to heavy drapes at all the windows, the only light coming from a few little table lamps. She said, “I feel like going for a run. Is there any reason I shouldn’t do that?”
Joey shrugged. “It might be fine. Or, you might end up running for your life. Which, if you want to put a positive
spin on it, would be an awesome cardio workout!” He smiled brightly.
Lu crossed her arms over her chest. “So basically, I’m stuck in this house.”
“Not necessarily. If you wait until it’s dark out and go running then, I’ll go with you. I can certainly keep you safe.”
“But when it’s dark all the bad guys come out that want to kill you.”
“There are plenty of people that want to kill us when it’s light out, too,” Joey said. “But at least at night I won’t burst into flames. I’m not much good as a bodyguard after I’ve been reduced to a little smoldering heap of ashes.”
“But no one wants to kill me. It’s you and Alastair that are on everyone’s hit list, so I should be fine on my own,” she told him.
“We don’t know who saw you roll into town with us, though. Never mind the fact that Alastair’s scent is all over you.”
“What does his scent have to do with anything?”
“Most supernaturals hunt by scent. They’d smell him on you in an instant.”
Lu sighed. “Fine, I won’t go running. I’ll just go get a shower, and then I’ll take you up on that fridge raid you mentioned last night.”
“Sure, but a shower won’t get rid of Eau de Vampire. It’ll lessen it a bit, but the second you touch Alastair again, there it is.”
She raised an eyebrow at Joey. “That’s not why I want a shower.”
“I know. I’m just saying. And I think I’ll get cleaned up, too. See you back here in a bit.” Joey grabbed his backpack and left the room.
Fifteen minutes later Lu was clean, her damp hair slicked back into a ponytail. But she was dressed once again in her same t-shirt and yoga pants -- it was all she had. Joey had showered too, and she noted the way his short blonde hair stood up in wet little spikes as she followed him down a long corridor.
The house was perfectly still. There was no sign of the massive party of the night before -- no people, no mess, nothing. Not even one red plastic cup left behind.
And throughout the house all the drapes were drawn against the bright sunlight. “Thoughtful. Bryn’s looking out for you,” Lu said, gesturing toward the curtains.
“Yeah. Well, you know, I’d probably take out a few of his antiques if I ignited, so he’s being careful.”
“You make him sound callous.”
“He’s totally not. That’s just my lame attempt at humor,” Joey grinned.
He led her down a metal spiral staircase and they emerged into an enormous kitchen. “Man, my entire house could probably fit into this space,” Lu mumbled. Thinking about the little red cottage in the woods caused an immediate pang of homesickness, and she asked, “Speaking of which, when do you think I get to go back home?”
“Soon as we know it’s safe,” Joey said. “We have to assume your house is being watched, either by the weres that chased us or by whoever sent them. They’ll probably be waiting to see if we return. So if you went back now, they’d most likely snatch you to use as potential leverage in getting to Alastair.”
“I’m potential leverage. That’s special.”
“Yeah, I know first-hand just how special that is.”
Bryn’s kitchen was all stainless steel and honey-colored granite and rich dark wood, and Joey sauntered through it like he owned the place. He tugged open the huge Subzero refrigerator and surveyed its contents. “Whatcha in the mood for, Cupcake?”
She peered over his shoulder. “I feel kind of weird just helping myself to this stranger’s food.”
“He’s not a stranger. Bryn’s the closest thing to family that we’ve got, he and Allie go way back. We even lived here for a few weeks last year.”
“Well, he’s a stranger to me.”
“You can’t look at it that way,” Joey said. “As long as you’re travelling with Alastair and me, what’s ours is yours, whether it’s friends, clothes, money, you name it. That’s just how it works.”
“Fine. I’m too hungry to argue with you.” Lu reached past Joey and pulled out a container of spinach pasta with pesto sauce, and Joey found her a fork. She took both to the long granite breakfast bar and ate the cold pasta right out of the plastic storage bowl.
Joey frowned at the green noodles. “Normally I envy humans for being able to eat. Thank you for choosing something so disgusting that envy is not a problem.”
She looked worried. “Is it the garlic? I can eat something else if it’s affecting you.”
Joey rolled his eyes. “What, because I’m a vampire? Oh heck no. That garlic thing’s a bizarre myth. As if I could be brought down with a fistful of tubers. Please.”
“Garlic isn’t a tuber.”
“Whatever. I’m just saying that what you’re eating looks really nasty.”
“This from someone that ate a werewolf yesterday.”
“Ugh don’t remind me, that was gross. Though technically I didn’t eat a werewolf, I just accidentally swallowed some of his blood. To actually eat a werewolf would require an industrial size Hibachi and like four hundred gallons of barbeque sauce.” His green eyes sparkled as he smiled at her.
She looked at him with mock disgust as she tried and failed to suppress a grin. “You’re a total dork, you know that?” she told him.
“I do know that.”
“Ok, so the garlic-and-vampires thing is a myth. Clearly that whole having to be invited into somebody’s home thing is a myth, too. Both you and Alastair came into my house uninvited.”
“That’s kind of a myth. Plenty of homes, especially older ones, have been warded specifically to keep vampires out. In those places we really do have to be invited in to get past the wards.”
“And wards are what exactly?”
“Spells. Protections put in place by someone who practices magic.”
Lu twirled her fork in the pasta. “I gotta say, even though I’ve somehow come to grips the whole vampire thing, I’m still having trouble accepting that magic is real.”
“But it’s one and the same, really. Vampires are what they are because of a curse. Magic is at the root of it.”
“Part of my brain refuses to accept it. I keep trying to find an explanation for all I’ve seen,” Lu said, shaking her head. “Even as I sit here in a warlock’s kitchen, in a house where doors appear and disappear. There’s probably magic all around me right now, isn’t there?”
Joey smiled. “You wouldn’t even believe me if I told you how much magic is in this place. I wish you could see it, actually. It’s incredibly beautiful.”
“You can literally see the magic?”
“Yup.”
“Weird. What does it look like?”
“It looks like a subtle white glow, breaking apart at the outermost edges of my vision into vibrant color, like a prism.”
Lu tried and failed to picture this as she ate.
Joey hopped up onto the breakfast bar and sat swinging his legs. After a while he changed the subject by asking, “You’re like, seventeen, right?”
“Yeah.”
“So how come you live alone?”
“How do you know I live alone?” Lu countered.
“Yours and Alastair’s were the only fresh scents in your house. There were older scents too, but they were really faded out.”
“The scent thing is pretty odd,” she told him, then pulled up a big tangle of noodles and folded them into her mouth.
“You’re totally not answering my question,” he said.
She sighed and finished chewing and swallowing. Then she said quickly, before tears had a chance to cut her off, “I live alone because my Aunt Claire died in September. I used to live with her.” Lu put her fork down.
“I’m sorry about your aunt,” Joey said gently. “But how come you’re alone if you’re underage? You’d have to have a legal guardian or something.”
“I do, my cousin Bonnie. She’s Claire’s only child and my guardian until I turn eighteen next year. The house is being held in a trust for me until then.”
“So whe
re’s Bonnie?”
“She lives in Chicago, where she’s doing this high-powered-lawyer-plus-perfect-wife-plus-supermom thing.”
“Does she mind that you’re inheriting her mother’s house instead of her?”
Lu shrugged. “It’s not like Bonnie wants it.” Then she added, “And she told me she thinks I deserve the house, since I’m the one who took care of Claire while she was dying. Bonnie only came out twice after her mom’s cancer diagnosis, once for a two-day visit, once for the funeral. I think she feels guilty about that. So she’s being super nice about the whole guardian thing, kind of letting me do whatever I want, including not making me move in with her.”
Joey had stopped swinging his legs. “You took care of your aunt? That must have been hard,” he said.
Lu fidgeted with the heavy silver fork, her appetite long gone. “Yeah, well, Aunt Claire took care of me for five years before she got sick, so it was my turn to look after her for a change. She really didn’t want to end her life in a hospital, which I can certainly understand. So even though it was really hard, I’m glad I was able to do that for her.”
“No wonder you’re good in a crisis,” Joey said gently. “You’ve already dealt with a lot in your life. Maybe that’s why you’re able to deal so well with all of this.”
“I guess.”
He asked quietly, “So, did you have to drop out of high school to take care of your aunt?”
“No, I graduated this past June. When I moved to Oregon five years ago, I got bumped up a grade based on these placement tests they had me take. That’s why I graduated at seventeen.”
Lu remembered her graduation with a sharp stab of sadness. Her aunt was already pretty sick in June, but despite that, she had made it to the ceremony. In fact, Aunt Claire had absolutely insisted on going. She was the only real family Lu had at her graduation, though Ted and his parents and sisters were there to see her graduate, too. His parents had always insisted Lu was part of their family.
Before Ted dumped her, anyway.
“I’m sorry for asking so many questions,” Joey said. “I was just curious about your situation. I didn’t mean to like, open up a can of worms. Which, incidentally,” he added, trying to lighten the mood, “is exactly what that junk you’re eating looks like.”
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