by Karen Lynch
A suspicion hit me, and I looked at the only person I knew who’d fought off a Hale witch. Someone who also had the miraculous power to heal, and who was apparently keeping secrets again.
Sara tried to give me an innocent smile, and failed.
“Is that so?” I said slowly. “I wonder what could have caused it.”
One corner of Desmund’s mouth lifted as he placed his hand over Sara’s. She looked surprised, but she didn’t pull away, telling me they were well acquainted.
“If I could credit it to anything, it would be my charming little friend here. I cannot tell you how much I have enjoyed our evenings together.”
I knew Desmund was playing with me, but the sight of his hand covering Sara’s did not sit well with me or my Mori. I bit back a comment, not wanting to ruin Sara’s first holiday here.
“We play checkers,” Sara said quickly. “One of these days I might actually beat him.”
“Checkers. How quaint,” said Celine as she took the chair on my right, reminding me that I needed to have a talk with her about her conversation with Sara.
But not tonight. Tonight I was spending my first Thanksgiving with Sara, and nothing was going to spoil it for us.
Celine laughed. “Although, I can think of much more entertaining ways to spend an evening.”
So could I. After dinner, I planned for Sara and I to spend more time alone together taking it slow. Maybe not too slow. If I had my way, there’d be kissing involved.
“Ah, the beautiful Celine,” Desmund drawled, sounding like his old self. “Did I ever tell you that you remind me of a courtesan I knew once in King George’s court? She was stunning to look upon and much sought after.”
“You flatter me, Desmund. Was she someone of noble birth?”
He took a sip from his water glass. “No, but I believe she serviced a duke or two.”
Sara choked on her water and went red in the face. Without missing a beat, Tristan patted her back while he sought to pacify Celine after Desmund’s well-aimed insult.
“Celine, I have a Beaujolais that would go lovely with this meal. If I remember correctly, you prefer French wines.”
“That would be lovely, Tristan,” she replied in a tight voice.
Dinner went smoothly after that. The wine arrived, and Tristan offered some to Sara. I didn’t try to hide my smile when she turned a little green and waved away the bottle. I had a feeling it would be a long time before she touched alcohol again.
Conversation at the table inevitably came around to Council talk. One of the older members had just found his mate after six hundred years on this Earth, and he wanted to step down to spend time with his new mate. Now people were wondering who was going to be invited to take his place on the Council. If Tristan knew who the choices were, he wasn’t saying.
The meal was almost over when Ben came to our table and spoke quietly to Tristan.
Tristan frowned and stood, looking slightly perplexed. “Please, excuse me. Something needs my attention. I’m sure I’ll be back before you finish your pie.”
He walked out, and I turned to meet Sara’s questioning gaze.
“The rest of the world doesn’t take a holiday when we do,” I told her. Although, it wouldn’t hurt the Council to go one day without talking to Tristan.
She nodded, but didn’t resume eating. Less than a minute later, she laid down her napkin and stood. “Excuse me.”
I stood, along with Chris and Desmund. “Is everything all right?” I asked her.
“Yes. I just… I need to check on something,” she said hurriedly. “I’ll be back in a little bit.”
Celine made a sound. “She’s fine, gentlemen. She doesn’t need an escort to go to the ladies’ room.”
Sara smiled at us. “She’s right. Please, finish your dessert.”
Reluctantly, I sat. I’d known Sara long enough to tell when something was bothering her. What I couldn’t figure out was why she was concerned about Tristan leaving. I knew she wasn’t going to the restroom, and I could think of no other reason for her to suddenly excuse herself.
I looked at the others. Chris had gone back to eating his pie, and Desmund was swirling his glass of wine thoughtfully. Neither of them looked concerned. Maybe I was overreacting.
“So Desmund, how did you and Sara become such good friends?” Chris asked. At the other warrior’s raised eyebrow, he shrugged. “It’s no secret you like to keep to yourself…or did.”
“I was keeping to myself when she decided to invade my library one night. I tried to convince her to go somewhere else and read, but she didn’t take the hint.” He smiled fondly. “She kept coming back, and I found myself quite taken with her.”
Chris grinned. “Knowing you both, I can only imagine how your first meeting went.”
Desmund’s eyes sparkled with amusement. “She called me Lestat and told me I smelled old and musty.”
Chris and I laughed, and Desmund joined in. I pictured Sara standing her own against him. She would have given him as good as she got. A girl who befriended trolls would not be cowed by a surly warrior, even one as bad-tempered as Desmund.
Later, I’d get her to tell me how she’d healed him when our people had tried unsuccessfully for centuries to heal Hale witch victims. What she’d done was nothing short of –
I sucked in a sharp breath as a wave of pain and grief washed over me.
Sara.
I leapt to my feet, sending my chair skidding away from me.
“What –?” Chris started to ask, but I was already running for the door.
The front door was open, and I ran outside. At the top of the steps, I stopped and stared at the scene below. At the bottom of the steps Sara, Tristan, and Ben stood facing a white van parked in the driveway. Beside the van, Nate stood in front of his wheelchair.
Nate took a step away from the chair and raised his arms. “Look, I can walk again. Aren’t you happy for me?” he asked Sara.
The horrible truth hit me as Tristan and Ben moved quickly to grab Nate and hold him between them.
Nate merely smiled and flashed his new fangs at Sara. “I have a message for you from the Master. Eli was his favorite and he was very upset to lose him. The Master thinks it’s only fair that, since you took one he loved, he should take someone you love.”
Sara staggered, and I was behind her in an instant to catch her before she fell.
“I’m here, malyutka,” I said as another blast of pain hit me.
She tensed and tried to pull away, but I wrapped my arms more tightly around her.
“It’s me, Sara. I’ve got you,” I said softly. I wasn’t sure if she even heard me, but she stopped struggling and stood quietly in my arms.
“Nikolas, it’s good to see you again.”
I raised my eyes to the man I’d come to respect and think of as a friend. Sorrow filled me. “I wish I could say the same. I’m sorry this happened to you, Nate.”
He grinned. “Don’t be. I’ve never felt so whole or so strong.”
Seamus and Niall arrived, and Nate stood quietly as they placed thick iron cuffs on his wrists. The twins cast pitying glances at Sara before they began to lead her uncle away.
“What…will you do with him?” she asked brokenly.
“What do you think they will do?” Nate jeered at her, and I felt her stiffen. “You are vampire killers, after all.”
“We will question him about the Master,” Tristan said vaguely.
“And then?”
He looked at me, and I could see how much it weighed on him to say his next words.
“He will die. I promise it will be quick and…”
Sara sagged in my arms, and I held her against me. “Let’s get you inside.”
She shook her head weakly. “No, I need… I need to be there.”
“It won’t happen today,” Tristan said gently. “It usually takes a few days to get them to talk. He won’t hold out long without…sustenance.”
A shudder went through Sara.
I wanted to tell Tristan to stop, but she needed to know why she couldn’t be there. She was suffering enough. There was no way I was putting her through the horror of seeing her uncle starved and screaming for blood.
Desmund appeared beside us and spoke to Sara with uncharacteristic tenderness. “You are turning blue from the cold, little one. Let Nikolas take you inside, please.”
She nodded, and we turned to the steps where everyone from the dining hall was gathered. Sara faltered, and I moved to pick her up and carry her inside.
“No,” she whispered, gripping my hand instead.
I led her inside, and the crowd parted for us as we passed. I planned to take her to my apartment, but she moved toward her floor as if on autopilot. When we entered her room I expected her to cry, but she curled up on her side on her bed, hugging her knees. She shivered violently, and I grabbed the quilt at the foot of the bed and covered her. I watched her helplessly, and I would have taken her pain into me if I could.
A soft knock on the door heralded Tristan’s arrival. He entered and looked at the small form huddled beneath the quilt.
“How is she?” he asked in a low voice.
I stepped outside to talk to him.
“She’s in shock.”
Worry darkened his eyes. “Should we send for a healer?”
“All they can do is sedate her. I’ll take care of her.”
He dragged a hand through his hair. “God, if I had only known. This will kill her.”
“No, it won’t,” I said fiercely. “I won’t let it.” Nate’s death would haunt Sara for a long time, but she was a survivor. And I’d be beside her every step of the way.
“Is there anything I can do?” he asked desperately.
“Find out what he knows and end it quickly,” I said in a low voice.
The longer Nate was alive in this state, the longer it would be before Sara could begin the grieving process. I wouldn’t extend her suffering one minute longer than necessary.
He nodded grimly. “I’m on my way to see him now. I wanted to check on her first.”
I didn’t envy him his job tonight. He’d formed a friendship with Nate over the last month. Now he had to interrogate and most likely torture the vampire that used to be his friend.
As soon as Tristan left, I pulled out my cell phone and called the one person who could help Sara through this. Roland was her best friend, and he’d known Nate his whole life. As much as I wanted to be the one she turned to, she needed Roland more now.
“Nikolas?” Roland said slowly. “Did you dial the wrong number?”
“No.” I lowered my voice. “Something has happened.”
“What?” he demanded. “Is Sara okay?”
“Sara is okay, physically at least.”
His voice rose. “What the hell does that mean? What happened to her?”
“What’s going on?” asked a voice in the background that I recognized as Peter’s.
I let out a deep breath. “It’s Nate. He just showed up here as a vampire.”
“Oh, fuck no!” he cried. I heard him repeat what I’d told him to Peter. “Did you…?”
“We have him locked up for now, but we’ll kill him in a few days.”
“Oh, God. This’ll destroy her. She’ll blame herself.”
I stared at the closed door to her room. “That’s why she needs all of us now. Can you come here?”
“Yes,” he said without hesitation. “It might take us a day because of the holiday.”
“Don’t worry about that. I’ll send our jet to pick up you and Peter in Portland,” I told him. “I’ll have someone call you to let you know when to be there.”
“Okay. Tell Sara we’ll be there as soon as we can.”
I hung up and called Claire to ask her to arrange for the jet to pick up Sara’s friends in Portland. Then I turned off my phone and entered the room again.
Kicking off my shoes, I lifted the quilt and lay down behind Sara. She whimpered when I curled my body around hers, and the sound tore at my heart.
“I’m so sorry, Sara,” I whispered against her hair.
The nightmares began an hour later. All I could do was hold her as she tossed fitfully and called out for her father and Nate. In the early hours of the morning, she cried Nate’s name and began to sob uncontrollably against my chest. I rubbed her back and whispered soothing words to her until she quieted again.
The sky was light when I eased her out of my arms and left the bed. She was finally sleeping soundly after her restless night, so I hoped she’d sleep for a few more hours.
I hated to leave her, but there were things that had to be done. Nate’s arrival last night proved the Master knew Sara was alive and at Westhorne, and he wasn’t playing around. We had to find out what Nate knew, and then we had to come up with a plan to keep Sara safe.
I met Jordan in the hallway. She was carrying a covered tray, and she came up short when I stepped out of Sara’s room.
“I thought Sara might be hungry,” she explained.
“She’s still asleep, but she might want some food when she wakes up. Maybe you could stay with her while I take care of a few things.”
“Sure.”
I opened the door and closed it behind her. Then I went in search of Tristan, who was in his office, looking like he’d been put through the wringer.
“How’s Sara?” he asked as soon as I entered.
“She had a rough night, but she’s sleeping now. Jordan’s with her.” I sank into one of the chairs in front of his desk. “Did you find out anything from Nate?”
“No, and I don’t think we will. It looks like he was compelled by a much stronger vampire, his maker most likely.”
I nodded. The vampires knew we’d question Nate, and they wouldn’t have wanted to take a chance of us learning something important from him. He’d been nothing more than a way to hurt Sara since the Master couldn’t get to her.
“They know where she is,” I said.
“Yes.” Tristan rested his arms on the desk. “We might have to consider moving her to a different location.”
“So you think it’s no longer safe here for her?” I’d asked myself that question a number of times last night, but I wanted to hear his thoughts.
“No stronghold has ever been breached, and we’ve added extra security since Sara came. This time yesterday I would have said she was absolutely safe here. Nate changed that.”
I sighed wearily. “I’ll talk to her about it in a few days. She can’t handle anything else now.”
“You’re right.” He let out a ragged breath. “She was so happy to see Nate, and then he stood up. God, the look on her face. It’ll haunt me forever.”
“That’s what they wanted, to cut her as deeply as possible. It’s going to take a long time for her to heal from this.”
It was hard enough for her, knowing that Nate and her friends would age and die, but for Nate to go this way. This never should have happened.
My hands clenched the arms of my chair. “I should have known those bastards would go after Nate to get to her. I promised Sara they’d both be safe, and I failed them both.”
Tristan shook his head. “We failed them. I was so happy my granddaughter was here I didn’t do my duty as a warrior. I should have left someone in Maine to watch over Nate until we caught the Master.”
“And now Sara and Nate are paying the price.” I rubbed my jaw, which was covered in a day-old beard. “I’ve never seen her like this, Tristan. I don’t know what to do.”
“Be there. That’s all you can do. The bond will help. She has a strong connection to you, and it will let her know she’s not alone.”
He clasped his hands. “Claire told me you sent for the werewolves.”
I frowned. “Is that a problem?”
“No. I’m glad you did it. Sara talks about them like they’re family, and she’ll need them, especially after Nate’s gone.”
“About that.” I leaned forward in my chair. “I want to gi
ve him a proper burial. I know that’s not how we dispose of vampires, but this is Nate.”
“I agree.” He wrote something on a notepad. “I’ll arrange for cremation, and we can have a celebration of life ceremony here.”
“She’ll appreciate that.”
Tristan finished writing and pushed his chair back. “I’m going to see Nate again. Do you want to come with me?”
“Yes.” The last thing I wanted to do was see Nate as a vampire and chained to a wall. But I owed it to him and to Sara to be there.
The cells and interrogation rooms were located in the lowest level of the main building, and they were specially constructed to contain even the strongest vampire. The stone walls and floor were two feet thick and reinforced with silver mesh. There were no windows, and the only door was warded by an ancient Druid spell.
Ben was standing guard when we got there, and he smiled grimly at us as he took a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the door to the cells.
“What’s it been like down here?” I asked him.
“He’s screamed for blood a few times, but other than that he’s been quiet.”
We stepped into the hallway that housed the cells and closed the door behind us. We’d only taken a few steps when Nate’s voice came from the cell at the end.
“Tristan, back so soon? And who do I smell with you? Nikolas, maybe?”
“Hello, Nate.” I stepped up to the barred window and flipped the light switch to illuminate his cell.
Nate stood chained by his hands and feet to the back wall. He smiled and rattled one of his chains. “When you asked me to visit, I had no idea the accommodations here were so grand. I should have come a lot sooner.”
“I wish you had,” I said regretfully.
Seeing him like this doubled the weight lying on my chest. Nate had been a good man, a loving father to Sara, and he never should have come to this end.
“Well, I’m here now.” He licked one of his fangs. His eyes were the coal black of a new vampire, and they glittered with hatred.
“I was hoping Sara would come to visit me. Where is my dear little niece?”
“Busy.” If I had my way, she’d never see him like this.