He shook his head vehemently.
“All right. You don’t have to,” I said, startled by his reaction.
Upstairs, Sarah stopped me. "So are you coming tonight? I want you to meet Jesse."
"Um, probably," I said. "One sec." I walked quickly to Charlie’s office, where I found him speaking urgently into the phone.
“Check it again,” he yelled and slammed the receiver down and looked up at me. “We need to get everybody out of here.”
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know how it’s going to happen, but we’re going to be attacked.”
“When?”
“Soon. I can’t tell for sure, but I feel it. My skin is crawling; it’s horrible. We need to get everybody out now.”
“Has security noticed anything strange?”
“They said everything’s fine,” Charlie said as he walked out of his office.
I followed. “Do you know who’s going to attack us?”
He stopped and faced me. “That’s the strange thing. Whoever it is, they feel—” he chewed his lip before continuing. “—wrong. Could be vampires, witches, I don’t know. The signal is all messed up.”
I didn’t like the word wrong. “I’ll help get everybody out.”
Thumping loudly against the wall with his fist, Charlie announced to the office that they were going to have a practice fire drill. Annoyed sighs and moans filled the air.
“But it’s almost five o’clock!” someone said.
“Can I get coffee while we’re out?” asked Sarah.
“Sure, whatever. Let’s just get going. I’m timing you.” People stood but no one took it seriously. Charlie jogged up and down the aisles trying to hurry them along. “You’re being timed people. Move it!”
Without warning, the lights overhead turned off. Only a little streetlight found its way through the slated blinds, but it wasn’t enough to help us maneuver about the many cubicles.
“Sarah!” Charlie called.
“Yes?” she said, her voice still casual.
“Call security.”
I heard the phone being picked up.
“That’s strange,” Sarah said. “The phone is dead.”
“Eve!” Charlie called, the panic in his voice unmistakable.
“I’m over here,” I said next to Sarah.
“Get everyone into my office and lock the door behind you, do you understand?”
I called out, “Whoever’s still left in here, follow the sounds of my voice if you can’t see me.”
Several people, unknown to me in the darkness, found their way over. I told them to follow the length of the wall until they reached Charlie’s office. Meanwhile, I heard Charlie hurrying around the office opening all the blinds, but the dim, orange streetlights barely reached us.
I tapped Sarah’s shoulder. She had yet to move from her desk as she was on her cell phone talking about the current excitement with a friend. The light from the phone lit up her thrilled face.
“Get off the phone, Sarah,” I said.
She lifted a finger to signal ‘in a minute’. I snatched the phone from her hand and tossed it into the wall. As soon as it hit, there was a loud explosion near the floor’s break room.
“What the hell was that?” Sarah asked.
The silhouette of Charlie’s body slid skillfully over a desk toward me. “Get down!” he yelled and pulled Sarah’s desk on its side and jerked her to the floor next to me. He withdrew two revolvers from within his jacket. A few people who hadn’t quite made it to Charlie’s office began to run. Sarah scrambled after them.
“Go with her, Eve,” Charlie said.
“I’m not leaving you. I can help.”
“It’s too soon. You’ll get yourself killed.”
“I won’t,” I said, wishing I had just told him already about being an immortal. “I’ll be—”
A shrill cry pierced the air behind us, from a direction we weren’t expecting. I turned around, my heart almost beating from my chest. A dark figure of a man was gripping a woman by her neck with one hand high in the air, her legs dangling beneath her.
“Let the killing begin,” he said, and he tossed the woman across the room.
39
Charlie fired his gun, drilling one bullet after another into the looming figure’s chest. The man’s body jerked, but he kept moving forward with frightening determination. That’s when I knew. He wasn’t a man. He was a vampire.
A sound snapped. Charlie swung his gun around and fired at another vampire. Again the bullets did nothing but slow him down. Charlie stood up and darted across the room, attempting to draw the intruders away from Sarah and me, but only one took the bait.
I gritted my teeth. Two very different kinds of magic inside me fought for control. There was the rush of anger and fear, but also something new—a fierce desire to protect those I cared about. I was afraid to let the new feeling take over, worried it might not be strong enough, but when I saw the nearest vampire pick up Sarah by the hair, I had no doubt which magic would be more powerful. The love for my friend was far stronger.
Mentally, I took hold of a chair and pushed it toward the vampire. It knocked his legs out from under him, and he dropped a still-screaming Sarah. I rushed to her and half-dragged her into Charlie’s office with the others. A few men stood ready to charge out and help fight, but I pushed them back.
“Stay here and get everyone out the fire escape.” I closed the door and turned back around to focus on Sarah’s attacker, but he was gone.
On the other side of the room, Charlie was trying to get out from beneath another vampire. I lifted a paperweight from a desk, and using a combination of strength and magic, threw it at the longhaired vampire. The paperweight hit him directly in the temple, and he fell off Charlie, stunned.
Charlie scrambled toward me. Blood from a deep cut above his eye dripped down his face. He took me by the arm and pulled me toward his office. “You’re getting out of here. Now.”
From above, hiding in a corner, the vampire who had attacked Sarah dropped down. He lunged for me, but Charlie pushed me out of the way and kicked at the vampire, making the vampire stumble back several feet. Charlie quickly removed two wooden daggers from each of his sleeves.
“You came to the wrong office,” he said and swiped at the vampire in a circular motion. He missed but was already swiping with his other hand, so when the vampire moved, Charlie was able to catch the vampire’s shoulder.
The vampire growled, showing the razor sharp fangs that filled his mouth, and rushed Charlie. Judging by Charlie’s wide-eyed expression, he was faster than Charlie expected. The vampire slammed into Charlie, sending his body flying into a wall behind him, which buckled under the pressure.
I jumped to my feet and thought of the moves Charlie had taught me. I punched my fist hard into the vampire’s throat, causing him to stumble to the ground gasping for air, a habit he had no need for. I moved to help Charlie, but already the vampire was back on his feet and coming for me again. He swung his fist quick and hard, easily connecting it with my face. I fell backwards directly into the arms of the other vampire who I’d hit with the paperweight. He wrapped his arms around me.
“You’re going to pay for that one, beautiful,” he said in my ear.
Charlie struggled to get up.
“Eve,” he mumbled. The other vampire kicked him hard in the face, and Charlie fell over unconscious.
I grabbed the arm of the longhaired vampire holding me and bent over quickly, flipping him to the floor. I needed powerful magic and fast. I thought of the children at the Academy, of Charlie, and of Lucien. This filled me with a burning power hotter than I thought I could stand. In one fluid motion of my finger, I sent both vampires flying through the air. Their bodies smashed high against the wall where they remained frozen, arms outstretched. My head burst into a million colors of pain, but I maintained their position.
“Say cheese,” the longhaired vampire said.
I l
ooked up just as a bright flash filled the room. Over by the window, the dark outline of a man or vampire—I couldn’t be sure from this far away—had taken my picture. Before I could react, he jumped through the window, breaking the glass as he went. Both vampires laughed.
I responded by raising all the pencils from the desks. They came together and rushed at the two vampires, but I stopped them inches before their hearts. They weren’t laughing any more.
“Settle down there, missy. We were just having some fun,” Longhair said.
“Right. Harmless fun,” the other said. “So let us down, and we’ll get out of here.”
“Who sent you?” I asked.
Silence.
“I will ask one more time. Who sent you?”
They glanced at each other but remained silent. I didn’t hesitate. Mentally, I shoved one of the floating groups of pencils directly into the heart of the longhaired vampire. His body wilted and caved within itself until there was nothing left but dust.
I fell to my knees, the pressure in my head reaching a whole new level, but I still managed to maintain my grip on the last vampire. Through my clenched teeth, I said, “Tell me who sent you or you’ll end up just like your friend.”
“The Dark Prince,” he said, his bottom lip quivering like a puppy.
“The Dark Prince? I need a real name.” I let the pencils hover closer.
“I don’t know! Really, I don’t!”
“Why was my picture taken?” I asked, pressing my hand to my aching head.
“For the Dark Prince. He told us to keep our eyes out for a powerful witch.”
The pain in my head spread to my body, and I wondered how much more I could take. The vampire slipped a few inches.
“Having some difficulties?” he asked, his voice dropping a tone.
I dropped to one knee, and that’s when I felt it—a hand gently touching my shoulder.
“It is enough,” a kind voice said, though I couldn’t be sure if I’d heard the words or if they had been placed inside my head.
My gaze turned upward. I stared into the face of another vampire but knew there was nothing to fear. His commanding presence personified one who abhorred darkness and cherished truth and light. I felt his power, greater than anything I’d ever encountered, but it didn’t frighten me. I found comfort in it.
Henry, the founder of the Deific.
He nodded and smiled as if he’d read my mind. Maybe he had.
I let go of my mental grip on the vampire, but Henry, his arm out stretched, kept the vampire pressed against the wall. A second later, the pencils shot forward, piercing his heart.
I stared at him, my mouth open. He could use magic. The only other vampire I knew who could do that was Boaz, but he had to steal it from me to do so. It wasn’t this way with Henry, though. So how was he able to do it? I shook the thought from my head. I had to help the others first.
I ignored my aching body and moved to attend to Charlie, but Henry stopped me.
“He’s fine and will wake soon,” Henry said.
“What about the others?”
“They made it safely outside. The police will be here any minute, and I don’t want you answering any questions in your condition.” Henry walked to the back of the office. He didn’t have to ask me to follow—I did so instinctively.
Inside the office’s break room, he opened a cupboard and reached to the very top. He must have pressed a button, because all of a sudden the cupboards swung open, revealing a room the size of a closet. Once inside, I realized it was an elevator. Henry pushed the button going “up”.
I glanced sideways at him. He was staring at the doors with a blank expression, and yet I felt as if the whole space was brimming with all kinds of emotions. Henry had wavy light brown hair, and his golden eyes matched the color of his tanned skin. He was dressed surprisingly well in a dark suit and a floor length overcoat. His full lips parted when he said, “We’re here.”
The doors opened into a library and what I thought was the top floor. Henry walked over to a hutch and withdrew a blanket and pillow. He carried them to a leather sofa in the middle of the room. “You’ll have to stay here for tonight and probably part of tomorrow. The police will be busy for a while.”
I immediately sat down, the pain in my head making it difficult to stand. “How did you know to come?”
“Just a feeling. I would’ve come sooner, but our other offices were hit with much heavier casualties. I helped them first because I knew you were here.”
“But we’ve never met,” I said.
“Not officially.”
“The Dark Prince,” I said suddenly. “The vampires called whoever was in charge of this attack ‘The Dark Prince’.”
“I know. I questioned one of them in our London office.”
“How long ago was that?”
He looked down at his silver watch. “Twenty minutes.”
He was using magic to travel, much like I thought Boaz had.
“Oh, and the one who got away took my picture,” I added.
For the first time, the calm in his demeanor cracked, and he frowned. “Were you able to find out why?”
I shook my head.
“That is disturbing. I’ll get someone to look into it as soon as possible. How are you feeling?’
“My head hurts.”
“It’s like that in the beginning.”
“I never felt that when I used magic before. It was the opposite. If I didn’t let the evil out—” I stopped, embarrassed. I didn’t know how much he knew about me.
“Withholding evil’s power can be very painful,” he said as if he understood.
“But why do I have pain? The magic I’m using is good.”
“Because the good is you—a part of you anyway. When you let it go, your body responds physically. Whereas when one is evil, the evil only wants to escape and spread like a virus.” He narrowed his eyes in concern. “You need to get some rest.”
“Wait! I want to ask you something.” I wasn’t sure how long it would be until I would have the chance to speak with him again.
“Then ask.”
“I don’t understand how—”
“A vampire can be good? Use magic?”
“Both.”
“I can use magic because I was like you before I was turned. A witch. And I am good because I choose to be, Eve. There are certain eternal truths about our universe that can never be altered. Free agency is one of these. Every living creature has the ability to choose good or evil, life or death.”
“Then why are vampires evil? Most of them,” I corrected.
“It’s the power, the blood lust. It’s very difficult to overcome. Once a vampire crosses a certain line, like taking a life without provocation, it’s almost impossible for them to rid themselves of the evil.”
“How many good vampires are there?”
“Only a handful. Very few choose to live our way.”
“What of Lucien? Do you know him?”
Henry looked past me. “I’ve watched Lucien for a long time, hoping. But he seems to be stuck.”
“What happened to him?”
“He changed history.”
“What do you mean?”
His gaze returned to mine. “It is not my tale to tell.”
“Then do you know why I’m drawn to him?”
“It’s the ancient power within you both.”
“I’ve felt it before with someone else, but it was an evil feeling.”
“Boaz,” he said, surprising me. “All of your lives are connected, including Lucien's to Boaz's and even to mine."
"How is that possible?"
Henry's jaw tightened. "There is a long history between all of our families. I wish I could say more, but there's too many unknowns right now. One day I will tell you everything."
This revelation surprised me, and I leaned back into the cushions.
"I find it interesting that the good in you is drawn to Lucien," he said. "It gives me
hope.”
“Why?”
“If the good in you is drawn to him, then that means there is still good in him, too. The problem is he doesn’t know it.”
“How can I make him see it?”
“I don’t know if you can.” He stopped and tilted his head slightly as if listening to something far away. “I need to go. You’ve come a long way. I’m proud of you.” He pointed to a refrigerator behind me. “There’s food in there if you need it.”
I glanced at it briefly, but when I turned back, Henry was gone.
40
It was a long night. What Henry had said about all our lives being connected had kept me awake, so I rose early to search the many books on the shelves, trying to bide the time before I could go downstairs. Most of them were history books, all dedicated to the dark creatures of the world.
I turned down the third aisle of bookshelves and scanned the titles. I stopped when I recognized a symbol that had been burned onto the outer spine of a brown book. It was a picture of the same fighting lions at my grandfather’s house. I removed it from the shelf.
It was a faded leather book, loosely bound; several of the pages were no longer connected. Carved on the front was the Whitmore family crest. Unfortunately, most of the words inside had faded, but from what I could decipher, the book had been a Whitmore journal handed down for generations. The Segurs were mentioned many times, and the passages I could read were always negative. It was true what Boaz had told me: the Whitmores had hated the Segurs.
Only two other names were mentioned: the Bradys and the Archers. None of these names were familiar, and since I was unable to read the full text, I couldn’t determine their connection to my family.
Boaz’s name was mentioned just once. In dark ink, on the last page of the book, a heading read “In Service to Boaz”. Beneath this, several names followed, most of which had been crossed out. The final entry was on January 12, 1889. This must’ve been the time when the Deific came in possession of the book. I closed it and placed it back on the shelf.
By five o’clock the next day, I could wait no longer. I returned to the elevator and, after listening carefully through the wall, slipped into the empty break room. I stuck my head into the office and looked around.
The Devil's Fool (Devil Series Book One) Page 26