02 Blood Roses - Blackthorn

by Lindsay J. Pryor

  ‘I hear what you’re saying and you know no one wants this more than me, but taking Leila’s life for it. You really think you can do that?’

  ‘You’re seriously asking me that?’ Caleb asked, his gaze locked on his brother’s, irritation stirring at his protests. He needed him telling him it was the right thing to do, not making him question himself even more than he already was. ‘A sacrifice needs to be made, Jake. And Leila’s that sacrifice. Now that she knows the Armun has come to fruition, she’ll have only one mission and that’s to stop it happening.’

  ‘Which is why you let her know. You want her to make this decision easier for you. Because you know this is wrong, don’t you?’

  ‘I’ll tell you what is wrong. That this already overcrowded district will only increase in its density and pollution – increase to the point where the Global Council decide they need more drastic management to prevent the overspill. Where, deemed no better than the criminals we’re forced to reside with, we’ll be subject again not only to the powers that be, but our own Higher Order. The Higher Order that take their backhanders to manage the district with injustice, while they keep themselves in luxury. The Higher Order that have no more loyalty to their own than the Global Council itself. I won’t let that happen.’

  ‘So you’ll spill the blood of an innocent girl. A girl who saved my life. A girl who wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me. I don’t want to win that way. And the brother I know and love, the real Caleb, doesn’t want that either or you’d already be in there feeding her dry.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter what I want, Jake. What matters is doing what I can for our kind beyond those doors. What matters is knocking the Higher Order off their pedestal. And if I’ve got to kill Leila to do it, so be it. I will not beat myself up over some little witch I’ve known less than two days.’

  ‘But that’s not all she is, is she? And you’re lying to yourself if you think she is.’

  ‘It was too late the minute I bit into her. I either lock her up and throw away the key or I end this.’

  Jake stepped over to the bar. He braced his arms on the counter and lowered his head. ‘This is all my fault.’

  ‘If not this way, I would have met her somewhere else and some other way. You bleeding that girl to death has given us the upper hand, Jake. And this is our chance to make the most of that, to turn things around, to change everything we know.’

  Jake shook his head and pulled away from the bar. He sat back on the sofa, his head in his hands.

  Caleb followed him over, took the seat opposite. ‘You know it makes sense, Jake.’

  Jake looked back up at him. ‘And that’s what you’re going to keep telling yourself is it, despite the feeling in your gut?’

  ‘Hundreds, maybe even thousands of lives turned around for the sake of the death of one serryn, Jake. Whatever the feeling in my gut, I can ignore it. I have to.’

  ❄ ❄ ❄

  Lying, devious, manipulative bastard.

  Leila tried pacing. She tried burying her head in her lap. She tried rocking. Now she sat clutching the edge of the bed, her foot bouncing in agitation on the floor, her eyes fixed on the melting candles to her right.

  She’d been thirteen at the time, when she’d first made the promise to Alisha. She’d been at her desk with her piles of schoolwork pushed aside. Her grandfather’s texts had been spread in front of her, pages of scribbled notes and diagrams spilling out onto her bedroom floor.

  Sophie had been causing a racket downstairs, pouncing over furniture, slamming doors. Alisha’s laugh had resounded up the stairs a couple of times, assuring Leila that everything was all right or, at least, not bad enough that she’d have to intervene. Grandfather had another meeting so he had left her in charge again. Usually she didn’t mind, but she’d found some interesting pieces in his books whilst reading into the early hours and with school since having consumed most of the day, she’d been keen to get back to it all that night.

  ‘No!’ The protest had been somewhere between a scream and a cry. ‘I don’t want to I said!’

  Leila had listened for a moment to Alisha’s aggravated and shrill little voice.

  ‘No!’ she’d protested again.

  A bang. A clunk.

  A scream.

  Leila had slammed down her pencil, shoved back her chair and swept down the stairs.

  The living room door had been wide-open but there was no sign of them – just the chaos of toys, strewn around cushions, the chenille throw from the sofa in a bundle on the floor.

  A cup had smashed in the kitchen beyond.

  ‘Get away from me!’ Alisha’s cries had been more panicked, sobs beginning and ending the sentence.

  Leila had propelled herself through the open door, her heart pounding.

  She’d walked in to see Alisha curled up on the floor against the dishwasher, her large tearful eyes wild in panic, her black cape spread around her, flour all over her face, red liquid smeared around her mouth.

  Sophie had been stood over her, padded up in a body warmer, a headlight plastered to her skull, a pointy wooden stick in her hand, something else clutched in the other.

  They had both looked to Leila at the same time.

  Sophie had folded her arms as Alisha scrambled towards Leila for protection, grabbing her leg.

  ‘She’s trying to kill me!’ Alisha had proclaimed.

  Leila had crouched down and rubbed the liquid off Alisha’s face to try and work out what it was.

  ‘It’s just ketchup,’ Sophie had declared. ‘She’s a vampire.’

  ‘I am not a vampire!’

  ‘Yes you are, and you’ve just bitten someone.’

  ‘No!’ Alisha had protested more viscously now that she had her big sister for protection.

  Leila had stared at the stick. ‘What are you doing with that?’

  ‘I’m going to stake her,’ Sophie had declared, arms still folded as she shrugged. ‘It’s what vampire hunters do.’ She had smirked at Alisha. ‘After I’ve fed her garlic.’ Her eyes had flashed wide as she’d opened her hand and held it out towards her little sister tauntingly.

  ‘No!’ Alisha had protested again. She had stared up dewy eyed at Leila. ‘She tried to make me eat it!’

  ‘For goodness sake, Sophie.’ Leila had reached forward and snatched the stake out of her hand. ‘You know she hates those games.’

  ‘She said she wanted to play then she got all whiney.’

  ‘You said I could be a vampire princess!’

  ‘Yeah, well even vampire princesses have got to be staked!’ She had switched on her light. ‘Or burned with sunlight.’

  ‘I’m not playing anymore! I’m never going to play with you ever again!’

  ‘Then I’ll get you when you’re asleep.’

  ‘No!’ Alisha had squeezed Leila’s leg tighter.

  ‘Enough!’ Leila had snapped. ‘If she wets the bed again tonight, you’re changing it. Do you understand?’

  ‘What have I done? I’m only playing.’

  ‘She’s six years old. And you know how she feels about them.’

  ‘She’ll get over it.’

  ‘You shouldn’t even be joking about it,’ Leila had said, her voice low in warning as she half-covered Alisha’s ears. ‘You know how Grandfather feels about you making light of it.’

  ‘He also says all vampires have to die,’ Sophie had exclaimed. ‘And that’s what I’m doing. One by one,’ she had added, smirking at Alisha.

  Alisha had yelped, gripped Leila’s leg tighter, burying her face in her jeans.

  ‘Enough! The game’s over. Clear all this up before Grandfather gets home. Haven’t you got homework to do?’

  ‘Done it,’ Sophie had declared with a sneer as she’d sauntered back into the living room.

  Leila had crouched down in front of Alisha, pushing her fair hair back from her ketchup-smeared face, wiping away some of the tears. ‘Let’s get this muck off your face, shall we?’

  ‘She wasn
’t really going to stake me, was she?’

  ‘No, she wasn’t. It was just a game, Alisha.’

  ‘She told me she’s killed a real one,’ Alisha had whispered back.

  Leila had held Alisha’s gaze for a moment before standing up. Placing the stick on the worktop, she’d run some kitchen towels under the warm water tap. ‘She’s telling you fibs, Alisha. It was part of the game.’

  ‘Can you really kill a vampire with a piece of wood?’

  ‘Killing vampires is against the law, Alisha. Sophie would be in a lot of trouble if she had killed one.’

  ‘Not if they tried to kill her first. Sophie told me. Sophie told me it’s okay to kill vampires if you’re a shellfish fence.’

  Leila had managed a smile as she lowered back down in front of Alisha, wiped the ketchup from her delicate pale skin. ‘I think you mean self-defence.’

  Alisha had gazed at her sister, her brown eyes wide. ‘Have you ever killed a vampire?’

  Leila’s hand had frozen against her sister’s face for a moment, before she hurriedly wiped the remains off. She stood and marched back over to the bin. ‘I think we’ve had enough vampire talk for one night.’ Facing her again, she’d crouched back down in front of her little sister, catching hold of her hands. ‘Where do we live, Alisha?’

  ‘19, High Grove Avenue, Summerton.’

  ‘Good girl. Where do the vampires live?’

  ‘Blackthorn. The nasty place.’

  ‘That’s right. And we’ve got two whole districts between us and lots of very strong people who guard all the people who come in and out of Summerton. So we don’t have to be afraid, do we, Alisha?’

  ‘What if some move here? What if some move next door?’

  ‘A vampire isn’t going to move next door.’

  ‘But if one did, you’d look after me, right?’

  ‘I will always keep you safe,’ Leila had said, rubbing the last of the gunk off her face. She had looked her in the eyes. ‘I promise.’

  And it was a promise she swore she’d keep. For her parents, for her grandfather, for herself, she would always keep her sisters safe.

  In the shadows of the room, Leila frowned at the candles. She looked at the sconce to its left and then the sconce to its right before looking out at the ones on the table.

  And, like the flames that burned, a plan ignited.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Caleb stepped into the library and stared down at the unbroken circle of wax.

  ‘You’ve got to be kidding me,’ he said as he closed the door behind him, his eyes flashing partly in amusement and partly in irritation.

  Leila took a step back so she was exactly in the middle of the ten-foot-diameter circle she’d created – an instinctive reaction despite the impenetrable barrier between them.

  ‘Very clever,’ he said, as he approached the circle and strolled around its periphery, his eyes locking in resentment on hers. ‘Very resourceful.’

  Leila remained silent as she watched him warily.

  ‘I admire your ingenuity,’ he said, lifting his hand to touch the protective wall, flinching as the spark shot up his arm. ‘And this one is very nicely done. But like I keep saying – you’re a powerful girl.’ He kept walking, his gaze locked on Leila’s as she turned on the spot, refusing to break eye contact with him.

  ‘The advantage of pure beeswax candles,’ Leila explained. ‘As opposed to the synthetic concoctions.’

  ‘What can I say?’ Caleb said, his eyes betraying his annoyance. ‘I’m a traditionalist.’ He ran his hand an inch away from the invisible barrier, a flash of light igniting his fingertips. ‘Does this mean we’re breaking up?’

  ‘Don’t mock me, Caleb,’ she warned, her eyes narrowed. ‘I’ll stay in here until I die of starvation if that’s what it takes.’

  ‘What, you in there and your sister out here with me? I don’t think so.’

  ‘Alisha leaves now or I’m not stepping out of here.’

  ‘Which you’ll do the moment I let my leverage go? Sorry, but there’s something very flawed in that deal somewhere.’

  ‘It’s the only deal I’m making,’ she said. ‘You need me. And you’re not having me unless she’s gone. Unless I know she got home safe.’

  Caleb stepped up to the line, his eyes solemnly on hers. ‘You know I’ll get you out of there, don’t you, Leila? You’re not that naïve.’

  Something clenched in the pit of her stomach. ‘You touch her and I promise you will suffer. Both you and Jake.’

  ‘Come on, fledgling. You don’t really want me to let her go – out there into the darkness of Blackthorn all by herself.’

  ‘She’s in less danger out there than she is in here. At least out there she’s got a fighting chance.’

  ‘And let her go straight to the authorities?’ Caleb glanced down at the sconce in the circle then narrowed his eyes on Leila. ‘What have you got in your hand?’

  She clenched her perspiring hand tighter.

  He stepped up to the edge of the circle. ‘What have you got?’

  Leila pulled her hand from behind her back and opened her palm to reveal the three nails.

  ‘Clever girl,’ he said softly to her, his attention unwavering.

  She could have sworn she saw a glimmer of concern in his eyes. A glimmer of panic.

  ‘And don’t think I won’t do it,’ she said. ‘You let my sister go or I will do this and there is nothing you can do to stop me. I swear I will shed every last millilitre of this precious blood you need all over this floor.’

  ‘You don’t mean that.’

  ‘Do you want to try me?’ she asked, glaring at him. ‘You need me alive. The only thing I need is my sister and if I can’t save her, what’s the point? For all I know, you’re going to kill her anyway. Why should you get your prophecy fulfilled as well? You let her go and I’ll throw these out to you. You refuse me and I promise you, I will end this now.’

  ‘And what’s to stop you doing it anyway?’

  ‘I will give you the nails once I know Alisha is free and okay. No more bartering.’

  Irritation clouded his eyes as he strolled around the circle again. ‘You drive a hard bargain, fledgling.’

  ‘You leave me with no choice.’

  Caleb surveyed the height of the barrier. ‘Just how far do these things go up?’

  ‘There’s no way in.’

  He smiled. ‘There’s always a way in.’

  ‘Don’t underestimate me, Caleb.’

  ‘I haven’t. From the minute you walked into this place.’ Caleb stopped and folded his arms. ‘I knew you were going to be trouble as soon as I laid eyes on you.’

  ‘Then you should have let me go sooner and none of this would have had to have happened.’

  ‘But then we never would have discovered your little secret.’ He paused, stepping as close to the line as he could. ‘I came down here to talk to you.’ He scanned the barrier again. ‘It’s a shame about all of this.’

  ‘I think we’ve done enough talking, Caleb. Unless, that is, you were coming down here to tell me you’d decided to do the right thing. Only that would mean choosing to do that over Feinith, over the entire freedom of your kind, wouldn’t it?’

  ‘And what would you do if you were me? If you had the chance to redeem your kind from oppression – to change the course of their destiny? And all for the sake of draining the life out of some serryn who has so much hatred for your kind that she stands for everything you long to overcome.’

  ‘And what would you do if you were me, on the cusp of losing everything you have left to care about? And all because of the decision a deceitful, double-crossing, paranoid vampire made.’

  He placed both hands on the barrier, it sparking fiercely at him, his green eyes square on hers. ‘Don’t make this harder on yourself than it needs to be, Leila’

  ‘Take your own advice, Caleb. Get Alisha out of here.’

  He retracted. ‘Maybe I should bring Alisha here. Maybe she c
an watch you give up on her.’

  ‘I’m not giving up on anything.’

  ‘Do you think she’ll see it that way? Will it be so easy to slice through your veins with her watching?’

  She narrowed her gaze on him. ‘I don’t make false threats, Caleb.’

  ‘But I’ve got a lot riding on this one. As well you know. Be honest, Leila – you’re not going to take your own life.’ He paused. ‘Unless you’d like to tell me it’s just a myth that if a serryn takes her own life, her curse passes on to one of her siblings – punishment for serryns looking for the easy way out.’

  Leila felt as though she’d been punched in the stomach. Her throat constricted, her chest tightened.

  His green eyes were unflinching on hers, sharp, perceptive, attentive to her every reaction.

  The triumph behind them, the coaxing of his smile, sent a cold perspiration sweeping over her. ‘You die and we’re going to need a backup,’ he said. ‘Sophie or Alisha make very suitable replacements. Especially with them already being in the district. It’s all very convenient.’

  Leila narrowed her eyes. ‘You touch either one of them…’

  ‘And what?’ He stepped as close as he could, a couple of sparks flying. ‘What are you going to do from in there? How are you going to protect your sisters from your little cage?’

  Leila’s heart threatened to break free of her ribcage as she glared at him. ‘You leave them alone.’

  ‘Then step out of the circle, Leila. You know the only one I really want is you. Stay in there and bleed to death or stay in there and let yourself starve, it’s the same outcome – it’s still suicide.’ The taunt of threat and promise in his tone, the intent in his eyes, made her chest clench. ‘Either you let your sisters take your place, or you drop those nails, get yourself out here and face what you are for the first time in your life.’

  ‘Even if I do step out, I have no guarantee you’ll leave them be.’

  ‘Fine,’ he said, turning away. ‘Do it your way.’