Bad Blood

by Everly, Faith

  She looped her arms around my neck with a wry expression. “That’s a lot to ask.”

  And to think, this was the tip of the iceberg when it came to what I would one day ask from her. “I know.”

  “And I don’t completely forgive you.”

  “I didn’t expect you to.” At least, not so soon.

  “But I understand why you did it. I don’t hate you for it.”

  It wasn’t until then that I knew how heavy a burden the killings had been, how they’d weighed me down for a decade.

  Not until my heart lightened for the first time in all those years.

  Fifteen

  KRISTOFF

  “You must be joking.”

  I stood in wonder, taking it all in. Why did Gabriel have to be unconscious? Why had Dominic sent me on my own?

  The station had been abandoned long since, ever since the subway was rerouted a century earlier.

  Now, it resembled a cave lit by lanterns, candles, their flickering flames casting eerie shadows along the walls and stone archways. Cherubs carved in the masonry took on a more sinister look when the light hit them a certain way, then appeared innocent again a moment later.

  Jessa joined me, with a pale-faced Poppy clinging to her. “I’m gonna throw up,” the witch whispered. “I’ve never done that before.”

  “You get used to it.” My sister seemed keen on making sure the girl was all right. It was unusual for her to show such care for anyone but herself. Had she turned over a new leaf?

  I climbed a set of narrow stairs along the slime-covered wall—how could Magda live, breathing in so much mold and gods only knew what else?—before walking along the platform. “Magda? We come as friends. I have Gabriel St. Germaine. He’s been bitten by a lycan and needs your help. Dominic is coming soon, with Sophie Strickland.”

  A moment of silence fell over us once the echoes of my announcement faded to nothing.

  Then, a thin, raspy voice filled the air. “You think I am unaware of this? Come. Bring my granddaughter with you.”

  Poppy shrugged. “Not exactly her granddaughter. But yes. I’m one of her descendants.” The girl was full of surprises.

  We walked deeper into the station, leaving the tracks and platform behind. Old, rotting benches where passengers used to wait for their train. A ticket booth.

  “Through there.” Poppy pointed to a door set in what was once a handsomely tiled wall. Now there was more rotting plaster than tile. “It used to be a private waiting area for wealthy travelers who didn’t want to wait for their train with the common rabble. I’ve been here before, remember.”

  My sister opened the door. I ducked through, turning to fit Gabriel’s limp body through with me.

  And I stepped into a comfortable, even cozy room. It was still lit by candles, but their light cast an inviting glow over the space. There wasn’t the sense of danger lurking in the shadows.

  Piles of pillows and cushions were arranged along two silk-papered walls which had somehow escaped the wet and mold which seemed so pervasive outside Magda’s chamber. Stacks of books and rolls of parchment lined a third wall, mountains of them.

  Along the forth was a wide table covered in bottles, vials, pouches. In one corner of the table sat a large mortar and pestle. A spicy, herbal scent came from that area.

  Before a fire in the hearth beside that table sat a woman whose long, silver hair hung in a braid over one shoulder. She wore a tunic of deep purple, a ring on every finger. Those fingers caught my eye thanks to the work they were engaged in. She picked through herbs, placing the ones she liked in a silk scarf spread out on the floor.

  This was Magda. The strength of her power hit me from across the room. She wore it like a second, invisible garment that couldn’t be removed.

  So unlike my uncle, who raged and threatened and snarled to convey his power. The same was true of my father, who the mere thought of made my skin crawl.

  She gestured to the pile of cushions without looking up from the mixture in the bowl. “Place him there. Wash the wounds. Poppy, I already filled a basin with blessed water.”

  I was as gentle as I could manage, which wasn’t saying much. Gabriel landed with a thud. Jessa shot me a withering look. She could’ve carried him all that way as far as I was concerned.

  Poppy pulled off his jacket, his t-shirt. His wounds had already begun to fester, swelling and weeping.

  Not much could kill a vampire. The bite of a werewolf was one of those things. The lycan’s saliva would infect us far worse than it would a human, eventually shutting down organs which only worked thanks to the vampire blood in our veins. The blood of our sire which had reanimated us after we were brought just past the brink of death.

  The werewolf’s saliva counteracted our sire’s blood, rendering it powerless to keep us breathing.

  Poppy murmured, soft and low as Magda did, while washing the wounds. The water bubbled when it hit the exposed, torn flesh.

  Magda stood, revealing a tiny frame, and shuffled over to the mortar and pestle where she ground the herbs she’d chosen. Moments later, she joined Poppy. “The poultice will draw the saliva’s poison from his blood.” She packed it into the wounds, the sound of her murmured chants mixing with Poppy’s and creating a strange, almost hypnotic tune.

  Poppy finished, looking up from the motionless body.

  Magda did the same, following the direction Poppy’s gaze had traveled.

  Sophie and Dominic had come in while the witches treated Gabriel.

  And Sophie looked equal parts intrigued and stunned. “Poppy?” she whispered, brows drawing together. “What do you have to do with any of this?”

  Poppy’s mouth fell open. She wanted to make her friend feel better, to soften the blow, but sometimes a person didn’t know where to start. I wouldn’t have.

  Magda stood, a slow smile rearranging the deep wrinkles in her thin, ancient skin. “Sophia. You are the image of your ancestor. My beloved Aurelia. I feel I’m looking upon her again after so many centuries.”

  She extended a hand in Poppy’s direction. “I sent my descendant to you as my great-grandmother sent me to Aurelia. To guard you, to guide you. She has come to love you as a sister, much as I loved Aurelia. You must not blame her for hiding the truth from you. You were not in any place to accept your role. Over time, you’ve strengthened, you’ve grown. I know Aurelia would be proud of you.”

  “I do love you, Soph,” Poppy whispered. “That’s never been a lie. And I’m sorry. It was for your own good.”

  Sophie wiped away a single tear. I waited as the rest of us did, hardly breathing.

  “Is he going to be okay?” She nodded to Gabriel.

  “It will take time.” Magda didn’t seem surprised this was what concerned Sophie most. “But he should recover. It isn’t too late.”

  Sophie nodded. “Then can I have something to drink? I threw up a bunch of scent blocker earlier and would love to get rid of the taste.”

  My resilient queen.

  “I’ll fix you some tea.” Poppy got to work while Dominic guided Sophie to cushions along the wall perpendicular to where Gabriel lay.

  “You look worn out.” Magda patted Dominic’s cheek. “Have you fed recently?”

  “I have a few more bags left.” I opened the flap on the messenger bag still slung across my chest. “We could all use our strength.”

  I glanced toward Sophie, though, wondering how she would react to our feeding. She didn’t seem to care much, more interested in her friend. Obviously, that was the next big surprise she would latch onto.

  Crouching in front of her, I took her hand. “Are you all right? Do you mind if we step out for a moment?”

  “Of course not. Do what you have to do. I know I’m safe here.” Her hand turned under mine until it was palm-up. The connection between us was like an electric hum, sending a tingle through my arm. The tiny gasp from her told me she felt it, too.

  Her eyes were wide, luminous, when they met mine. “I feel like w
e have a lot to talk about.”

  “We do,” I whispered with as much hope as I’d dared let myself feel in decades.

  * * *

  SOPHIE

  “They’ll feed outside, in the station.” Poppy turned to me with a mug of something fragrant and steaming. “I’m sure they don’t want you to see them doing that. Not yet. It’s all a little new.”

  I glanced at Magda, who crooned softly over Gabriel’s body while holding her hands an inch or so over it. Like Poppy had earlier.

  “You’re a witch, huh?” I accepted the tea gratefully. Anything to get the rotten taste out of my mouth.

  “Fraid so.” She pulled a cushion free from the pile next to me and tossed it a foot or two in front of where I sat. “May I?”

  “Of course.” She was more familiar with this place than I was. With this entire world, in fact.

  “Are you mad at me?” She sat cross-legged, elbows on her knees, chin in her hands. Like I had seen her sit so many times before.

  “No. I mean, I’m a little hurt that I didn’t know, but I think that’s more a matter of pride than anger. Like, how did I not know you elbowed your way into my life on purpose?”

  “I don’t think I elbowed my way in.”

  “You literally bumped into me so hard outside the store, we both dropped our bags. My ice cream rolled into the street.”

  She bit her lip. Another thing I’d seen more times than I could count. The way she tried to hold back a smile. “I had to get your attention.”

  “You did.” I sipped the tea and felt my muscles loosening. “What did you put in this?”

  “Who says I put anything in it?” When I shot her a look, she grimaced. “Just a tiny little bit of something to help you relax. You’re gonna get hit with a lot of knowledge here, and I want you to be able to take it without freaking out.”

  “Uh, you’re a little late to the party. I’ve already gotten knocked sideways more than once.”

  “And you’re still here, huh? Still alive and breathing, still the same Sophie I’ve always known. I knew you could handle it.”

  “Oh, did you?”

  She didn’t smile. “I did. I always did. And oh, I was right. What a big surprise.”

  “Shut up.” I touched the back of my head to the wall behind me. The tea had me feeling all sorts of mellow. The last way I would’ve expected to feel after seeing Gabriel almost killed.

  There he was. Out cold, still. “He said he loves me, you know.”

  “Gabriel?” I nodded. “He would, wouldn’t he? I know he does. They all do.”

  “What?”

  “They all do.” Magda turned away from Gabriel. “As they were destined to do. They love you and would die for you if called upon to do so. I’ve seen it all.”

  “Kristoff, too?”

  “Kristoff, too.” Her smile was warm, loving.

  “Jessabelle?”

  “Not in quite the same way, but she will. And with their guidance, especially in the early days of your rule when you are still new to our world, you will thrive in your role.”

  I looked at Poppy, who only nodded slowly. “She’s never wrong. Do you think I would’ve let her conceal my powers all this time if I didn’t have complete faith in her—and you?”

  “Conceal… You mean you had to lose your powers to be my friend?”

  “Don’t make it sound so tragic. I knew it would be temporary.”

  “But why?” I looked to Magda for answers, but she was back to treating Gabriel.

  “I couldn’t risk standing out when I was around you,” Poppy offered instead. “It might’ve been overkill—” She glanced toward Magda’s back, so I could tell how she felt about this—“but it seemed like the only way to be completely safe. And I couldn’t risk slipping up and letting my powers show around you.”

  “Hell. It might’ve been easier if you had. It might’ve softened the blow a little when I found out you and the vampires and everybody else exists.”

  Another glance at Magda. Knowing my best friend, she had already sounded her concerns. “Yeah, well, that’s the way it went down.”

  “I get it.” She shot me a disbelieving look. “No, I do. What do you expect? For me to throw a fit and call you a liar? You’re the one who put this mellow shit in my tea, remember.”

  She laughed softly, which all in all seemed out of place under the circumstances. Or maybe it wasn’t. Maybe this was exactly the time a person had to laugh, when everything else was so messy and complicated.

  “It’s more than that. You’re different already. You’ve started to accept who you are. It shines from inside you. I can see it.”

  She gasped. “I can see it!” Her face lit up like a Christmas tree.

  My face probably lit up, too. “Does that mean—”

  “There isn’t any reason for you to no longer have use of your powers.” Magda touched the top of Poppy’s head. “You’ve had use of them since meeting up with Sophie in the park. I saw it as it unfolded, hence the poultice being nearly finished when you arrived.”

  “Sure.” Poppy rolled her eyes with an exasperated sigh. “I should’ve figured it out when I held my hands over Gabriel and felt his essence. It was reflex. I did it without thinking.”

  “So, does that mean you’re too cool for me now?”

  Another eye roll. “Not even close.”

  “Oh, that’s true. Of all people, I know how cool you aren’t.”

  “Watch it. I’m a witch. You might end up with warts all over your face.”

  Magda chuckled while pouring herself a mug of tea. “It does me good, hearing your youthful banter. I feel younger. Though truth be told, I will need my rest soon. Treating wounds as severe as Gabriel’s takes a great deal of energy.”

  There was a second door next to the fireplace. She shuffled over to it. “I’ll lie down for a bit. Please, make yourselves at home. Tell the others to do the same. There are a great many things to discuss.”

  For the first time since this whole adventure began, I felt hopeful. And I wanted to hear what she had to say.

  I wanted to learn about my past. And my future.

  Sixteen

  JESSABELLE

  “So she’s lived here all this time.” Now that I’d fed—my brother was always smart about those things, the pragmatist, the one who planned ahead—I was better able to study our surroundings with a clear head.

  Not exactly charming or homey, though Magda’s chambers were pleasant and comfortable enough.

  Outside her chambers, on the other hand? Another story altogether. The near constant drip of water from some un

  “She’s sacrificed for so many years.” Dominic’s sorrow was obvious. “I should’ve put a stop to him long ago.”

  “Lucian?” I couldn’t help but scoff, but at least I was quiet about it.

  He shot me a cold look. “Could you not sound so condescending? Just once?”

  “Just once?” When he bared his fangs in outright anger, I waved a hand. “Lighten up. You’ll need to keep a healthy view of things if we’re going to get through what’s coming up ahead.”

  “Oh, and you’re so wise? Or have you developed the sight, as Magda has?”

  “Enough. Both of you.” Kristoff rubbed his temples, though we all knew vampires didn’t get headaches. “You drive me to distraction. Jessa’s right. We need a little balance, or else we’ll tear each other and ourselves apart.”

  “I would appreciate it if certain members of our group tempered their sarcastic nature a bit.” Dominic glared at me still, in spite of Kristoff’s reasoning. “Yes. I should’ve put a stop to Lucian. I’ve known all these years what he was after. I knew Magda went into hiding because of him. I could’ve done something more.”

  In truth, I felt sorry for him. He took too much on his shoulders.

  I made an effort to soften my voice when I responded. “You can’t do everything. You’re too hard on yourself. It’s easy to look back and blame yourself, but you forget the strengt
h it took to hide your feelings toward him. You did everything you could to make it seem like you were on his side.”

  “I only wish you’d told us,” Kristoff confessed.

  “It was to protect you. Do you think I wanted to bear everything on my own? I would’ve loved having your help.”

  “You have it now. Really.” When he raised an eyebrow, I sighed heavily. “You have to meet me halfway. I’m doing my best.”

  “Everything okay out here?” Poppy leaned out through the half-open door to Magda’s chambers.

  “Just fine.” I was glad she’d interrupted before there could be any more arguing. “How about in there?”

  “Good. Really good.” Her smile told me she’d worked things out with Sophie. If our one-day queen had rejected her, she wouldn’t look so relieved. “Magda went to lie down. Gabriel’s asleep, of course.”

  Dominic took a step toward her. “How do his wounds look?”

  “You can come in and see for yourself.” She stepped aside, holding the door a bit wider for him to enter.

  I barely bit back a smile. It was refreshing, seeing somebody put him in his place for once. Dominic meant well and had the best of intentions, but he’d always been a bit pompous for my tastes. As Lucian’s right-hand, or practically, there hadn’t been many who’d dared smart off to him in a very long time.

  What did a witch care about that?

  His irritation was evident, practically tangible, but he went inside without any further comment. Kristoff followed.

  I stayed behind. Poppy joined me, closing the door on them. The few candles burning out here—surely, their power was derived from magic, for who would leave them burning unattended?—case eerie shadows over the century-old plaster work and tile.

  “Not the prettiest place.” Poppy looked around, rubbing her bare arms.

  “Are you cold?”

  “No. It gives me the creeps.”