by Myers, J. L.
I hung up the phone and dropped my head into my hands. How did everything become such a mess? To my surprise, Kendrick didn’t bother to answer my unasked question. Instead he simply placed a broad hand over my back. This was hard for him, I realized. Of course it was. Kendrick wanted nothing more than to comfort me, but my tormented feelings for Ty crippled him. No matter what I did, said, or thought, I would hurt him. There was no way to hide my feelings for Ty from him. There was no way to downplay them to ease his suffering. Now and forever, he would know exactly what my heart held.
I slumped into the leather seat and opened the cover of the manila folder. For my sake and for his, I needed to contemplate something other than Ty.
Kendrick stiffened beside me, staring at the black and white photo above a bunch of papers. The photo was set in a room surrounded by stone walls and rustic, antique furnishings. A wall lantern burned behind Caius’s head. Kendrick sent me a mentally confirming nudge. The photo had been taken at the Armaya, inside my former uncle’s private quarters. “Marcus had this?”
“Yeah,” I said, voice hesitant. “Why?”
Kendrick plucked the photo from my lap and raised it to his eyes, studying. “That’s you in Caius’s left arm, isn’t it?” I nodded. “And in his right arm…”
Anxiety sent blood rushing to my extremities, leaving my head airy and light. “Oh my God, that’s Marcus?”
Feeling lightheaded, I swayed. Kendrick steadied my body before I could slump into unconsciousness. He propped me back against car seat, hearing the drowning suspicion fogging up my mind.
“You don’t really think that, do you?”
I bit my lip and nodded. “Why else would Caius have had that photo taken?” Ice crystallized beneath my skin. “It’s a memento, the beginning of this experiment. And Marcus is a part of it.” I remembered with fond-horror the electric connection I felt toward Marcus. This was the explanation I’d been looking for. “I don’t think I’m the only one with immortal blood. I think Caius poisoned Marcus too.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
“Oh my God!” Mom exclaimed as we entered the front door. She rushed to squash me in her arms. “You’re okay?” Her hands gripped my shoulders, holding me at arms-length. Her tear-reddened eyes studied me head to toe. “I can’t believe it. I was so worried. And Caius, he’s been beside himself.”
What the hell did that bastard tell her? I felt like screaming as Mom switched back and forth between hugging and studying me, as if looking for an injury.
At her words Kendrick’s expression had turned indignant. He shrugged with a deep sigh then looked sideways at Dorian. He’s not doing so well.
Dorian’s face was a ghastly shade of gray. He stood leaning into the foyer’s glass-topped table. It was a sturdy piece of furniture, which was good. It appeared to be the only thing holding him upright.
After a quick call he’d eagerly volunteered to pick us up from the airport after dropping off his latest squeeze. On his arrival he’d been full of questions. But that didn’t last. As Kendrick and I unveiled Caius’s plan to take my life, he’d quickly turned to shell-shocked silence. He managed to utter at some point that he believed us, but hadn’t spoken a single word since. He hadn’t even waited to cool our car’s turbo down when we’d arrived home.
“Caius called only an hour ago,” Mom went on, oblivious to Dorian’s detached expression. “He’s had the entire community on high-alert, searching tirelessly since morning for you both. After the security breach, and when he couldn’t find either of you…” Her voice dropped to a choking whisper. “He feared the worst.”
Security breach? Caius had used the same excuse to lure me down to his office. Yet I knew through Kendrick’s trained thoughts, that there had never been an actual security breech. Well, none that had raised any alarm before we escaped. Back then Caius’s plan had been to shift the blame of my death onto my best friend. But when he couldn’t find us…
He created a cover up. Kendrick sent his silent message through our bond. It was the perfect diversion to clear him of ANY wrongdoing.
Caius’s arrogance lit a fury within me that spread to encapsulate every inch of my flesh. I had to grate my teeth to keep my mouth from shouting, that son of a bitch! Instead I curled my hands into fists behind my back while struggling to keep my rising voice level. “He said we could be dead?”
Mom’s chin trembled with the promise of fresh tears. “But you’re not. You’re both okay.” She fished with shaking hands into her pantsuit pocket and pulled out her mobile. Clearly she’d already been dressed for work prior to Caius’s panicked call. “I must call your uncle. Tell him you’re both okay.”
“Wait!” I shouted.
My eyes flicked to Kendrick who dipped his head in support. “Ms. Lamont, we have something important we need to tell you first.”
“I’m sorry, Kendrick, but whatever you have to say can wait.” Mom’s fingers were already keying that monster’s number. “Caius is wrecked with fear for you both. He has to know you’re safe.”
The phone had begun ringing. Before Mom could raise it to her ear, Dorian shot forward stilling her hand with his. She looked up, startled.
Dorian’s eyes trained on hers, trapping her wide-eyed gaze. “Mom, please. Give us a minute. You need to hear what we have to say.”
Mom’s expression fell slack for a brief moment. Excited hope swelled inside me. My brother, sneaky, shifty, but talented Dorian, was compelling her, another vampire.
“Hello? Hello? Lamayli, is that you?” The phone in Mom’s hand had stopped ringing, and Caius’s voice was bellowing through the speaker.
Instantly, the cloud of Dorian’s compulsion shattered, and the muddled expression returned to Mom’s face. She yanked her hand free and raised the phone to her ear while mouthing with stiff lips, “In a minute.” She turned and glided into the lounge room, which was darkening with the approach of dusk. “Caius, sorry, I’m here…”
“Shit,” Dorian swore. “That usually works.”
I raised a questioning eyebrow. “Usually?” So Mom had been Dorian’s compulsion guinea pig, not some girl. I wasn’t sure which was worse.
Despite the situation, Dorian smiled. “Yeah. Mom thinks it was her idea to let any girl I want stay over. Even on weekdays. She thinks she’s letting me be a normal teenage boy.”
“You can successfully compel her?” Kendrick questioned.
There was a hidden suspicion behind his question. The ability to compel turned vamps and humans was second nature to royals, a birthright. It wasn’t like that for turned vamps like us. Our ability to compel humans was a learned and practiced one. It generally didn’t fare well on other non-born vamps.
“Caius must have done something to you too,” I said, looking at Dorian. “It’s the only thing that can explain the greater powers we’re developing.”
“So, mind control and visions,” Dorian said, looking excited rather than disturbed. “I can’t say I’m complaining.”
I glared at him. “This is not great news. It’s not a time for celebrating. He did this to us!” The memories of every time Caius had drawn back my hair and embedded his fangs in my neck slipped through my mind like flour grating through a sieve. I gulped at the spike of vomit rearing up my throat. “And now he’s covering his tracks.” I nodded towards the lounge. Inside Mom stood pacing before the cushioned bay window. Her closed shoes were wearing tracks in the mink-white carpet. “What if she doesn’t believe us?”
“She will,” Kendrick said. His hand found my shoulder with a squeezed. “But you don’t want tell her about The Sight.” Before I could ask why, a buzzing sounded. With a deep frown, Kendrick shrugged and pulled his iPhone from his pocket. He held it out so we could all view the text on the screen. The number was blocked. But you didn’t need to be a genius to figure out who had sent it.
‘Keep your secrets, lest the innocent pay for your stolen time.’
“What’s going on?” Dorian demanded.
I gulpe
d, raising my eyes to him and lowering my voice. “If we out Caius, he’ll kill our mom.”
“Yes,” Mom said, no longer pacing before the window, but gliding our way. “It was a complete misunderstanding. And thank you, Caius, for being so tolerant. I am sure they didn’t intend to cause such a commotion.”
“Already forgotten,” Caius replied, loud enough for us all to hear clearly. His genuinely relieved and totally understanding voice made me want to scream. “And, Lamayli, I love you.”
Rose dyed Mom’s cheeks with a sudden flush. Her eyes darted away from us. “Me too.” She hung up and quickly replaced the mobile in her pocket. Then she turned her attention back to the three of us. “Now, what was it you wanted to tell me?” She glanced out through the long window framing the front door. The sun had dipped below the horizon, leaving a wash of fast-darkening tangerine bruising the sky. She looked back us. “After all this confusion I’m already late for my meeting with The Council. With a breach in security at the Armaya, it’ll be utter chaos.”
She can never know what happened, Kendrick’s voice rose in my mind.
“It, um… We needed…”
Kendrick, thank God, jumped in with the most rationally expected response. “What Amelia is trying to say, is we’re sorry. We freaked when the alarms went off and ran. We should have called.”
“Yes you should have,” Mom said planting her hands on her hips. “But there’s nothing we can do about that now.” Her face and voice softened. “I’m just so relieved you’re all okay, and I’m so glad you’re home.”
“Are you going to send me back there?” I asked suddenly. Fresh fear since we had walked through the door had taken hold of me. Now it had a hold of my entire body. Still, regardless of her response, nothing she could say or do could ever make me go back to that place. Or the monster I’d loved as my uncle.
Mom shook her head. “No. Absolutely not. At the moment it’s far too dangerous.” She plucked her cherry-red briefcase from the foyer table and opened the front door. “Though Amelia, we still have serious matters to discuss.”
There was no doubt she was talking about Ty. Although whether we had anything at all to discuss, I didn’t know. Not yet. Not when I hadn’t even had a chance to see or speak with him. Mom glanced down at her Cartier watch and stepped with a rush out the front door. “But right now I’m out of time. This will have to wait until the morning.”
~
I stared after Dorian as he walked from my bedroom down the dark hallway. His hunched shadow created by propelled starlight through the adjacent windows lurked across the wall.
Kendrick and I had answered my brother’s many questions after Mom’s departure. By the end of it he appeared utterly fatigued. He excused himself and promised he’d be okay. Worried for him, I question whether we should have burdened him with any of what had happened. Had telling him only endangered his life too? Or had it prepared him for everything that was sure to come?
I sighed and turned into my room. My familiar band posters taking up the walls and splashes of varying purples were a comfort. After everything that had happened this house and room surprisingly felt like home.
Before Dorian left, Kendrick had also explained why no one could know about my visions. Apart from it being a super rare spirit ability, there hadn’t been a Pure Blood with this power in centuries. And I wasn’t even a Pure Blood. Kendrick wasn’t sure what The Council would do, or what they might expect of me if they discovered the truth. Would being honest put me at risk?
Even with all of this to mull over—fan-freaking-tastic—there was something I desperately needed to do.
Kendrick handed me his iPhone, though I could tell that every part of him wished he hadn’t.
“Thanks,” I said, forging a tense smile. Then I typed what I hoped would begin the repair of Ty’s and my decimated relationship.
‘We R back. Plz meet me. B W8ing at Mt Major in the clearing below the bluff.’
I stared at the screen for a moment, recalling our call to Marcus. We’d told him that Caius had done something to him too, had altered him in some way. Marcus had guessed his resistance to compulsion could be a side effect. Still, even with the possibility, nothing I’d said had swayed him to leave that place. He was beyond adamant. He would stay as long as there were questions surrounding Caius that we needed answers too.
In the end, I traded one problem for another and handed the iPhone back to Kendrick. He sighed. “This is a bad idea, you know.”
In his mind I could read every rational reason against me going to see Ty. I could also feel his struggle as he tried to keep his thoughts to himself. “I’m sorry.” I curled my arms around his waist and pressed my face against his chest while holding him tight. “And you know I love you. But after everything that’s happened, I won’t have anyone dictate my future. Life is too short.”
“I know,” Kendrick said as he wriggled from my hug. He’d considered arguing me out of leaving, but just as quickly had discarded to idea. He knew that nothing he could say would change my mind. Instead he crossed the lit space of my bedroom and threw open the high-arched window. “Don’t forget. I’ll be watching.”
The statement was as much a mention of the unavoidable as it was a warning. Kendrick would be keeping an eye on Ty and everything he did. Suppressing a groan, I crossed my room. My hands buried in the pockets of Marcus’s pea coat that I was still wearing. “Don’t remind me.” As I said the words my fingers connected with something small, cold and cylinder-shaped.
“What is it?” Kendrick asked.
Already knowing I pulled it from the pocket. In my hand lay the vial that had held the silvery substance Caius had forced me to swallow. The same one he’d claimed to contain ancient vampire blood. According to him, it was a necessary step to complete the conversion within my blood. The key needed to steal my so-called immortality. There was barely a residual drop coating the inner walls of the tube. There was also a card, business sized, that I had pulled from the pocket along with the vial. The front was printed with a name and title. Simon Beatty, Specialist Blood Analyst. On the back was a single handwritten note:
Amelia,
For the answers you need, he’s a trusted friend.
Faithfully,
Marcus.
“That’s why he gave me his jacket?”
“I guess so,” Kendrick said. His hand found my shoulder and his eyes lit up with a surge of anticipation. “You know what this means?”
I frowned looking up at him, ready to demand the answer. Except the time for surprise and secrets was long gone. I knew exactly what he was going to say. “This is just the beginning, a starting point, and our first—real—clue.”
~
I stood pacing in front of a solid red maple beside a now-frozen river. It was the very same river Ty had transformed before. A browning hole was growing within the crushed snow beneath my crappy, airport-bought shoes. Just looking at them had me missing my Vans. Ten minutes had passed with no sign of Ty. After a mental check in with Kendrick I knew there hadn’t been a reply to my text either. Despair pressed in on me. The night’s temperature had plummeted as I’d sprinted to reach my destination. Mist now rose all around. I shivered. Not from the cold, but out of despair unfurling into desolation. He wasn’t coming.
“Amelia?” The unmistakable voice rose behind me.
I whirled and almost lost traction in the mud. “Crappy shoes,” I muttered as my eyes fell on the source of the voice. Beyond the hazy tree line Ty was materializing through the mist. The sheer sight of his naked, scarred chest heaving and speckled with sweat made my breath catch. It was almost impossible to believe that only days ago I had broken his heart. That I had declared I didn’t want him anymore. That I’d decided with all certainty that my irrefutable feelings for him had faded to nothingness. How wrong I’d been. The sight of him now proved that more than ever. My pulse galloped while flames scoured my face red and engulfed every inch of my flesh.
Ty’s approach
stalled before he reached me. He shoved his hands into the pockets of his black shorts and kicked at the snow with his hunting boots. “On the phone, you said you were sorry.”
Being closer to him brought his features under sharp inspection. His usually perfect facade wasn’t so seamless after all. Dark crescents circled his eyes, his hair was unkempt and rough, black stubble shadowed his angular face. Did he look so wrecked because of me?
Ty’s expression remained a mask of indifference. Though a glint of what I thought could be hope betrayed his eyes. “What were you sorry for?”
I chanced a step forward, fearing Ty’s retraction. He stood his ground, face now straining as though my closer proximity pained him.
Start at the beginning, a little voice that was Kendrick’s whispered as if he were standing right beside me.
Warmth ballooned from my heart. “Okay.” I nodded, lifting my eyes to Ty’s. “When I said I wanted a future at court. It was only what I thought I wanted. I…”
“So you’re not staying there?” Ty interrupted. “You’re back for good?” When I nodded, wondering how to deliver the rest of what I had to tell him, he laughed. “Great! So you threw me away because of a split-second decision. ’Cause you thought you wanted a future at that damn place.”
“No, wait! You don’t understand!”
Ty’s jaw clenched and turned to stalk away. “Thanks for calling me all the way out here to rub it in!”
His angry words bit into my chest. This was my only chance to explain, and I was fucking it up. I needed to stop him. I needed to somehow make him understand. There were only two options available. Let him go. Or fight. I made my choice. The only choice I could make. When it came to Ty I would always choose to fight.
I sprung from the snow-littered ground, twisting in the air to land facing Ty. He jerked to a stop and my palms shot up. They imprisoned his face and forced his angry, gold-rippling eyes to meet mine. “I was compelled! I never wanted to leave you. All I ever wanted was you.” My words washed away some of the anger from Ty’s eyes. My hands dropped from his face. “Ty, please, I’ll tell you everything, if you’ll just let me.”