Briar

by Ripley Proserpina

  “We are,” Hudson said. “We can be killed, but we don’t die of natural causes. We don’t age.”

  “You don’t burn in sunlight,” she added.

  “We’ll get to that,” Marcus interrupted. “But to answer your question. Yes. If a vampire makes another vampire, usually it is to keep them by their side for eternity. Our maker created us to be his sons and heirs. Keep in mind this was a long time ago. When Hudson and I were made, sons were an extension of power, and our maker was the king.”

  “We were supposed to lead his soldiers, carry out his will. Make him the most powerful vampire ever,” Valen said, his voice distant. Valen had been created specifically to lead the soldiers. As a marauder, he’d been adept at war.

  Hudson, on the other hand, had come to the role with no experience. A fast learner, however, he’d soon made a name for himself as one of the most merciless and cruel generals his father had.

  Marcus, when he was created, gave Hudson some competition, but neither of them could hold a candle to Valen’s skill.

  “Your maker sounds like a jerk.”

  Hudson laughed. “Evil is a more accurate term.”

  “Yeah,” she answered. “And he’s not dead?”

  “Unfortunately, no.” Hudson leaned his head against the mattress and dragged his hands down his face. Asher was very much alive. If he'd been stronger or smarter, he’d have killed his father when he had the chance thousands of years ago, before he’d amassed an army of vamps, or had age to add to his power.

  “If I see him again, I will kill him.” Next to Briar, Sylvain’s fists clenched. Hudson believed him. Given the chance, any one of them would jump at the opportunity to end Asher.

  “He’s more powerful because he’s old?” The girl was smart. She caught more than Hudson meant her to.

  “Yes,” Marcus answered after a moment. “But Asher is alone, for all his soldiers and strength, he has no one he trusts.”

  “We left him a long time ago, and as far as we know, he’s created only soldiers and crawlers.”

  “Thank goodness,” Briar said. “Except you guys didn’t turn out badly.”

  “It took us a thousand years to get here,” Marcus was quick to point out.

  Briar seemed to move without thinking, reaching for Sylvain’s hand. “Except for Sylvain,” she teased. His brother startled, amazement dawning on his features. “You’re something of a genius if you’re the youngest. Took you only a few hundred years to do what they did?”

  “Hey!” Marcus replied, but he smiled at her joke and winked at Sylvain, who seemed frozen. She took Sylvain’s tight fist in both of hers and uncurled his fingers. “Hmm. Is he someone we need to worry about?”

  Hudson didn’t like the way she said “we.” The last thing he wanted was Briar anywhere near Asher. The very thought sent shards of ice along his veins. She was too important, too precious to be at their maker’s mercy.

  Deep inside him, the general and warrior he used to be clawed his way to the surface. He'd never let Asher touch Briar, and from the looks on his brother’s faces, neither would they.

  “Asher is someone I always worry about.” Sylvain spoke slowly, as if every word was yanked from his throat. “Just when you think he’s disappeared, he suddenly shows up.”

  “With a diabolical scheme,” Briar whispered, and when Hudson caught her eye, she winked. “I make bad jokes when I’m nervous.”

  He sniffed the air. Her scent had changed. She’d attempted to alleviate the tension Asher had caused with jokes. Unused to looking at the world through human eyes, he was surprised it wasn’t terror he sensed. Though if any of them explained the things Asher had done, he was sure that would change.

  Hudson debated doing this. The rational, scientific part of him thought if they gave all the facts to Briar, laid it out piece by piece, it would be better for all of them. Perhaps if she knew their past, and the evil which had shaped them, she’d leave.

  And it would be better for them all if she left sooner rather than later.

  “Asher has only made crawlers and soldiers. Is it because he hasn’t been able to make vampires?” she asked, and lifted Sylvain’s hand to her mouth, thoughtlessly running his knuckles across her lips. Hudson couldn’t look away. “I—” Realizing what she’d done, her face flushed, and she lowered Sylvain’s hand to her lap. “I’m sorry.”

  His brother cleared his throat. “Don’t be.”

  “I—I was saying.” Briar shut her eyes and let out a breath. “Was the crawler who I met in the woods Asher's? Or another vampire’s?”

  Hudson crossed his arms and leaned back, smiling. He loved how her brain worked. It was a thing of beauty. Look at her. The connections she made were split second. “I can’t wait to see what you do with your brain,” he burst out. “You’re going to blow your professors away.”

  She flushed and smiled. “Maybe tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow?” He shook his head. “Tomorrow’s a little early to be getting back to classes.”

  “But that’s what I’m here to do,” she argued. “And…” Uncertain, she broke eye contact and stared at her and Sylvain’s joined hands. “And I wasn’t asking.”

  “Hudson is right,” Valen said. “You’re smart. Very smart, and you were correct in your assumption. The crawler and soldier who accosted you in the woods were Asher’s. He’s taken an interest in you, and we don’t know why.”

  “Probably because you’ve taken an interest in me, Valen.”

  “Obviously,” Marcus answered. “But we're all surprised he let you live.”

  The scent of Briar’s fear blossomed like a rose, and as one, Hudson and his brothers growled. He struggled to tamp down his beast who wanted to roll in her scent. It was equal parts arousing and upsetting. He didn’t want her to be afraid, and yet, fear would keep her alive. A healthy dose of it would keep her alert. “We’re predators, Briar. You can’t forget that.”

  “I know,” she whispered. “But you don’t frighten me.”

  “We should,” Marcus answered, shocking Hudson. Rarely did his brother stay this serious this long. “We’re monsters, as much as Asher is.”

  “But you won’t hurt me.”

  “Moments ago, I attacked you, Briar. You may think we won’t hurt you, but we might.” Hudson hated to admit his lack of control, but she needed to understand.

  Waving away his concern, she scoffed. “Can we discuss your dangerousness later? And focus on Asher and his creepy crawlers?”

  Sylvain chuckled, and Hudson pinned him with a narrow eyed glare. Not helping.

  Briar went on. “Why, as Valen noted, did he let me live if he could have killed me? I could have fed his troops. Instead, they played with me like a ball of yarn.”

  Her words were enough to fill the room with growls and snarls. Hudson hadn’t seen her after the woods, but Marcus had. Had they injured her?

  Briar yawned then hissed in pain as the movement stretched the skin on her neck.

  “Enough talking,” Hudson cut in. “You need rest. Take a nap, and we’ll talk more tonight.”

  “I have too many questions to sleep,” Briar said but crawled onto her bed and pulled the blanket over her body.

  “You can ask them later,” Hudson replied and allowed himself to sweep her hair away from her face. Her skin was so soft beneath his fingers. It reminded him of how fragile she was and how with one too-rough movement, he could break her.

  She gripped his hand when he would have taken it away, squeezing tightly. The birdlike bones in her hands transmitted strength more than fragility, and he smiled. He was wrong; she was tougher than she seemed.

  Chapter 22

  Briar

  Briar fell asleep in a matter of moments. She’d had every intention of waking up within hours, but her body had other ideas.

  The room was pitch black when she awoke, and she sighed in relief. At least in a house full of vampires, they would be uniquely suited to understand, and remember, her issues with sunlight.
>
  Or would they?

  Sylvain, Marcus, Hudson, and Valen all walked in the sunlight with none of the protection she needed when she went outside. When she’d asked about it the sun earlier, Marcus had said it was a story for another time.

  Briar lay in the cool, dark room and let her mind shift through everything she’d learned. She should probably be freaked out, but she wasn’t. It was, quite possibly, the coolest thing in the world.

  Vampires!

  They were real.

  Hudson’s area of expertise made perfect sense now. A vampire who knew all about sun allergies? It wasn’t ironic; it was serendipitous. Briar suspected both Marcus and Hudson were scientists in order to compensate for vampire shortcomings.

  Pushing aside the covers, Briar stretched her toes and reached her hands over her head. Someone had plugged in her phone next to the bed, and she picked it up.

  For alleged monsters, they were certainly thoughtful. Smiling, she thumbed in the password. Eight o’clock! In the morning!

  Jittery with anticipation, Briar jumped out of bed and ran into the bathroom. Windowless, she didn’t have to worry about blocking UV rays as she went through the motions of getting ready.

  She’d bathed yesterday, so she carefully washed her face, brushed her teeth, and replaced her bandage.

  Today was her first day of school. Most of her classes were in the evenings, as graduate students were eventually expected to sit in undergrad classes to support professors or run labs. But today she had two classes, one with a three-hour lab, and she couldn’t be more excited.

  While she’d done most of her undergraduate work online, there were some things she couldn’t do from the comfort of her bedroom in West Virginia. And one of those things was labs.

  She could do the basics, write hypotheses, watch videos online or take data, but her mother drew the line at sending away for fetal pigs to complete anatomy and physiology requirements.

  And chemistry? When she’d order the first box of acids and bases, Mom had literally flipped out. “How do they send this through the mail, Briar? Am I going to have the Department of Homeland Security at the door because you sent away for a bomb?"

  High drama in the Hale household when it came to chemistry.

  So she had a couple of undergrad requirements that had to be made up, and one of those happened today.

  She dug through her drawers, touched at the amount of time and trouble someone had gone through to fold each of her shirts and pants. In the top drawer, her gloves had been paired and stacked neatly in a pile.

  It was a special day, and she chose her outfit with more attention than she usually did. Generally, she was limited. All she had were variations of a long-sleeved t-shirt. But some of her sun protection shirts were more expensive than others, and she had two she’d spent money on and categorized as “dress up.”

  And that was what she’d wear today.

  Careful of her bandage, she stretched the shirt over her head and smoothed it over her hips. Gloves and hat in hand, she was set. As she was leaving, she remembered her backpack and books.

  Giddy, she examined the tall pile of textbooks to find what she needed. Each book went into her backpack along with her laptop and a notebook.

  School!

  Practically skipping, she left her room and went downstairs, listening for the guys.

  “Where are you going?” Valen’s voice in her ear had her jumping and spinning.

  “Holy cow, Valen!” Her heart thudded against her chest, and her pulse raced. Beneath her bandage, she could actually feel the skin stretching and retracting, and she put her hand there. “I’m going to put a bell on you if you can't give me a warning.”

  “Like a cat?” he asked.

  “I've always wanted a cat,” she answered.

  Valen smiled, but it dropped away when he eyed her backpack. “Where are you going?”

  “School.”

  “I thought we talked about this,” Sylvain said, sitting up from where he must have been resting on the couch.

  “That’s it!” Briar announced. “Bells for everyone! Jiminy Cricket, you guys.”

  “You’re not going to school,” Sylvain said and stood. “You got out of the hospital yesterday.” He walked to a curtain and, with a glance of warning, flicked it to the side. “It’s full sunlight. Not a cloud in the sky.”

  Briar sighed. She’d been through this with her family, too, and eventually their fear of the sun enveloped her. It had taken years of studying her condition, and suffering burns, to come to the point where she was now.

  “I have a nine-thirty chemistry with a lab. I’ll be inside for the brightest part of the day. And I’m covered. I’m going to be careful. But—” She made sure to transmit her seriousness with her gaze. “I’m going.”

  “Then we’ll come,” Valen said.

  “What are you going to do?” She threw her hands in the air, and let them fall to slap her sides. “Hold an umbrella over my head? Guys. Back off.”

  Valen’s face shuttered, closing off any sign of emotion, and she immediately apologized. “I didn’t mean it like that, Valen. I just meant please don’t stop me. That was rude. I’m so sorry.”

  Valen nodded and stared at the floor. “Yeah. So.” Without another word, he strode toward the back of the house. Briar heard the door slam, and the pictures on the wall shook. Her earlier excitement drained away, replaced with self-loathing. Hurting Valen was like kicking a puppy.

  “Darn it.” She slammed her fists onto her thighs. “I didn’t mean to do that. Stupid, Briar. Mean and stupid.”

  “Give yourself a break.” Sylvain walked over to her and took her tight fists in his hands. “Valen knows you weren’t trying to be mean. He’ll figure it out.”

  Angry tears leaked from her eyes, streaking down her face. She dashed them with the back of her glove. “I wasn’t trying to push him away. I just want to go so badly.”

  She risked a glance up at Sylvain. He regarded her seriously and then sighed. “Valen is… It seems to be his lot in life to be the guy who sticks around when everyone else is pushing away.”

  It made Briar feel worse. She was just one in a line of people who took Valen’s caring and consideration and threw it back in his face. “I have time,” she said under her breath.

  “Time for what?” Sylvain asked, but she’d already moved away. Backpack on her back, she followed Valen out the back door. It was eight o’clock, and she should be able to make it from Back Bay to BC in an hour. That left her with half an hour to search for Valen and apologize.

  “Time to find Valen and apologize before my first class starts.” She adjusted her hat on her head and slid her glasses onto her face. “I’m ready.”

  “You’re still not going.”

  “Absolutely, I am.” She strode by him and opened the door, but he stopped her with a hand on the doorframe.

  “Briar.”

  “Sylvain. Do you want to come with me?”

  It stopped him in his tracks. “Come with you to find Valen?”

  “Yes. And then if you want, you can come to school with me. I’m in undergrad classes today, and they’ll be packed. They won’t notice one more person. I’m sure of it.” She hesitated and studied Sylvain. With his wavy, shoulder-length brown hair, sexy scar through his eyebrow, and broad shoulders, not to mention his height and muscles, he was going to get noticed. “They’ll probably notice you,” she amended. “But I don’t think they’ll mind.”

  A pink flush appeared high on his cheekbones, and he rubbed the back of his neck. She’d made him uncomfortable. He shook his head. “Okay. I’ll come. I wasn’t doing anything else today.”

  Snagging his hand, she dragged him toward the door. “Great. Enough talking, let’s find Valen.”

  They stepped into the bright sunlight, and Briar paused, instinctively expecting pain. But her clothing did its job, and all she felt was the heat of the day. From the corner of her eye, she caught Sylvain staring at her. “How was my imp
ression?” she asked.

  Drawing his eyebrows together, he studied her. “I don’t get it.”

  “Come on!” she said, and pulled in her hands like claws before hissing. “Nosferatu?”

  “Oh.” He nodded. “I get it. Ha.” But the corner of his mouth quirked upward, and he took her hand.

  “Valen!” she yelled, and Sylvain jumped.

  “Just diving right in, aren’t you?” he asked.

  “Chop, chop.” She bounced down the steps but didn’t let go of his hand. It was really nice to have him with her. Truth be told, she was as nervous as she was excited about going to class, and Sylvain was a bit of a buffer. It made it much less intimidating, and overwhelming, to have someone with her to work out the kinks of her new routine. “Valen!” she yelled again. “Do you know where he’d go?”

  “Not far,” Sylvain answered. His gaze raked her from head to toe, and she felt her cheeks heat. With the back of his hand, he pressed it against her face. “You’re not getting burned?”

  It was hard to find her voice when his skin touched hers. “No.” Nice Minnie Mouse impression. “No,” she said again. “I feel good. Are there any graveyards nearby?”

  He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head. “Huh? What are you—graveyards?”

  “Crypts? Coffins?”

  “You’re joking.” He glanced away from her and examined the street ahead of them.

  Only a little, actually. Marcus had a home, but she had no idea where Valen and Sylvain spent their time. There were still so many things for her to learn about vampires. “I don’t know where you guys stay.”

  “We’re staying with Marcus right now. My bedroom is across the hall from yours, and Valen’s is near the stairs,” Sylvain replied as they strode down the street. At each alley he peered inside and took a deep breath before giving her a light tug to encourage her onward.

  For her part, Briar stood on her tiptoes and did an impression of an old fashioned cat clock, eyes darting from side to side. “So no coffins?’

  “Are you honestly asking me this question?”