by SARA FREITES
“That was the fastest I’ve ever seen you eat. You must’ve been hungry,” Thade observed.
Shrugging, I stared down at my plate. He slid a familiar little burgundy booklet across the table.
“You’re going to need this in the coming days,” he advised. “I meant to bring your pocketknife, as well, but I couldn’t seem to find it.”
I drew the pocketknife from my jeans. Thade’s face wrinkled even more across his forehead when I set it on the table.
“Blake gave it back to me,” I informed him as I took the spell book.
The look on his face had a laugh swelling in my chest, but then, I watched his displeasure turn to confusion. Neil sat up straight. His off-white hair, cut shoulder length, hung over his collarbones when he leaned on the table. While gleaming across the table at me through the dim light, his inhuman slate-colored eyes studied me closely while I studied him. The skin on his pale, long face reminded me of the cracked bark of a birch tree. Neil, as I learned, was the leader of the Nuit Froide Clan in London. The Nova was his safehaven.
“The holder of Lady Latresma’s soul is truly sitting across the table from me. I just can’t believe it.” His lips unexpectedly curled up, and he boldly smiled at me, fangs and all.
I don’t think I’d ever seen a vampire smile so genuinely the way Neil did then, much less at me. His British accent was strong and refreshing to my ears.
“Yes,” Thade replied. “I still can’t believe it myself.”
As I sat there, I filled the two head-clan leaders in on what I’d learned from Rosetta. I explained everything from how to send Arlos back to hell to the daggers’ origins, everything I could remember. Lastly, I tried explaining Blake’s background, what he really was, that Arlos had manipulated him but had helped me escape. But Thade didn't want to hear it.
He mumbled something about how he should’ve known Blake would turn against us. “Thank you for the information you provided tonight. It will be extremely useful to us,” he said. “Within the next day or two, we have to get you back into that estate somehow. We have one dagger, and now, we know Arlos has the other. It’s perfect.”
“Question is, how do we do this?” Neil asked as he folded his hands and set his elbows on the table.
Thade’s eyes were on him in an instant. “I don’t know, Neil,” he replied. “We have to figure something out together. I wish there was a way to get in contact with Rosetta. She could have played a huge role in helping to get the second dagger into our hands…if she could get it back from Arlos, that is.”
“I have to go back there? By myself?” I asked, afraid to hear his answer.
Thade faltered before replying. “It’s risky, I know. But I don’t know how we could get anyone else in there without it seeming like an obvious setup. We’ve got to combine those daggers. It’s just going to be impossible without someone on the inside like Rosetta helping us.”
“We need Blake. He can help us—” I began.
“No,” Thade bit back. “I don’t want to hear his name again unless it’s to curse him. We don’t need to go kindling another partnership with him.”
“But he’s the only reason I’m here. I just told you that he helped me escape the estate and—” I tried to finish.
“The last time you stuck up for him, he ended up letting you, along with the rest of us, down. He has caused us enough trouble already, and I guarantee he’d turn around and stab us in the back all over again if we allow him. The only reason we’ll need the evnaut now is for his blood when the time comes to unite the daggers.”
My heart sank.
“Alright,” Neil cut in. “We collect Blake’s half-demon blood, which could be quite the task in itself, and send Autumn into that old git’s estate with the dagger. We’ll have to work out how she reunites the second dagger with the first. Next, someone turns her. But you told us Rosetta doesn't have that ability any longer, so we’ll need someone else to go in. That person will have to turn her as close to midnight as possible so that Latresma will, or hopefully will, take care of Arlos with the newborn Blood Claymore.”
“Yes,” Thade replied. “Once Autumn has become one of us, Latresma’s body will materialize. Then, she can defeat Arlos.”
“It will be easier said than done,” Neil nodded. “This will be a proper chore, I’m afraid.”
“Indeed,” Thade agreed.
“I have a spell that could get us in unnoticed, but that’s as far as it would get us,” I told them, thinking of my invisibility spell. “I also don’t know my way around that place. It was huge.”
“And again, if we got caught, it would look like an obvious setup, which wouldn’t end well,” Thade began. “We need to find a way to get Arlos to cooperate with us somehow—get him to let us walk right in the front door without a fight and be able to get close enough to him to swipe the other dagger off him.”
With their hard, dead-looking eyes on me, I scooted down in my seat. After the night I'd had, I’d completely forgotten about becoming a vampire. My chest became unbearably tight at the thought of it. I could feel the veins under my skin pulsating. It would only be a matter of days, if I was lucky, before I was turned. I still didn’t know what the hell was supposed to happen to me after Latresma sent Arlos back to hell. Would I still be me? Could Latresma even defeat him? What if she couldn’t? What if he killed her? Did that mean I would die, too? I had so many questions that no one could seem to answer.
I stared blankly at the detailed ivory tablecloth, trying to think about something else. The patterns and handmade-look reminded me of the tablecloth my grandmother used to have on her kitchen table. It made me think of the days from years ago when Jericho, Jacoby and I were younger, long before Sammy came along. We ate all the sweets that my mom wouldn’t allow us to eat before dinner time on that tablecloth.
“I’ll be right back. I need some more time to clear my head,” I told them, picked up Latresma’s spell book and walked into the hallway.
“Of course,” Neil replied. “Thade and I will try to come up with a plan.”
As I moved, my legs felt as if I were trudging through a swamp. My chest tightened even more. I tried to calm myself as I went through the basement entrance. I stopped on the landing in near disarray.
“Autumn?” a quiet voice floated up to me.
Terry ascended the staircase. I tried regaining my composer, frantically wiping away a stray tear.
“You’re not well,” he noticed.
“I’m fine. I just…” I wavered. “I found out a lot of horrible things tonight. I’m just being emotional.”
“I have a feeling I know at least part of the reason you’re upset. Try to be strong,” he encouraged me. “This may all seem like the end to you, but it certainly is not. Being what we are, it’s beyond anything I can describe to you. You’ll have a new family who will care about you and take care of you. I know Thade and the others seem cold and heartless at times, but deep down, they are looking out for your wellbeing, not just because of who you are in the scheme of things. It’s going to be a rough adjustment. It’s not only something you’ll have to get used to physically…but emotionally, as well. Nonetheless, you’ll adapt. And we will all be here for you.”
He was right. I had to keep looking at the bigger picture. I’d already tried convincing myself of this only a few hours earlier, but it would be something I’d continually have to fight. Rosetta, Thade, Harper, Terry, Blake, Eden—they’d all gone through things I couldn’t even imagine, and they somehow managed to survive it. I had to try, too.
I nodded at Terry in response. “There’s something I need to tell you,” I said to him. “You probably won’t believe this, but while I was in Arlos’ estate, I met Rosetta. She’s been there for a really long time.” I didn’t have to say anymore.
Terry’s eyes widened. His face became paler than it naturally was. “Rosetta?” he asked, his tone doubtful.
“She wanted me to tell you she loves you and—” I began.
“Wait. You mean, my Rosetta?” he leaned in as he spoke.
“Yes, but—”
“That’s impossible. You must be mistaken,” he said as his voice rose, sounding offended.
“No, it’s definitely her. She knew so much about you, Latresma, the daggers, everything."
“But she…there’s no way. She went missing centuries ago. I thought she left me, just decided it was all too much for her—turning, running from a demon, getting married. I was so afraid she’d realize what she’d done, what she’d become and want to escape it all. She was just too young to handle all of it at once.”
“Arlos kidnapped her a few months after you two got married,” I explained.
“What the hell!” With a hand on the side of his head, he paced at the top of the steps by me. “Why is he holding her there?”
“She said he took her for her dagger, but now that he has it, she’s not sure why he’s still holding her there,” I explained. “Look, I know this is a lot to take in, but—”
“I have to go to her. Now. Tell me where she is.”
“I don’t exactly know where the estate is, and even if I did, she physically can’t leave. Arlos bit her, and now he holds some kind of power over her.”
“I need to talk to Thade. We’re getting her out of there tonight, one way or another.”
He started to leave. My hand reached for him on its own. I felt his cold skin through his sleeve as I grasped his forearm. I crushed the urge to rub his arm to warm him. He stopped in place as if my strength alone kept him from moving on.
“No, not now,” I suggested, my voice shaky yet stern.
“I have to see her.”
“Terry. Listen,” I hissed quietly. “She’s been there for decades. Believe me, she can wait another couple of days, and so can you. Okay? Also, I don’t think she can even leave there unless something is done about Arlos. You just have to hold out until Thade and the others get a plan together. They’re trying to work something out as we speak.”
“Did you tell them she’s there?” he asked.
“Yes. They know. They plan to talk to you about it. She has the dagger with her, too. The Lumière Dagger. Well…Arlos actually has it.”
I let him go. He waited, maybe in deep thought as we stared at one other. His chocolate brown, seemingly pupil-less eyes pierced through me and seemed to turn red around his eyelids.
“All this time, I’d thought up thousands of things that might have happened to her,” he whispered. “Now, I know.”
“There’s more. Blake is kind of…your stepson.” I tiptoed around the sentence, unsure of how he’d react.
His eyebrows lowered, rushing in close together. “What do you mean?” he questioned.
“Arlos and Rosetta had a child together last year, and that child was Blake. Arlos forced her, but it didn’t happen the way you think it did.”
“Arlos, that bastard!” Terry shouted.
“I’m sorry, Terry.” I wasn’t sure what else to say.
“Blake is a vampire-hybrid, a half-demon?” he asked me.
“An evnaut. A light evnaut. Yes,” I confirmed.
“I don’t know what to say right now.”
I felt for him, knowing how badly he wanted to see Rosetta. I questioned myself for telling him about her, worried he might do something rash. Or maybe, that was just what we needed.
“Come here for a minute,” I urged. “We might be able to do something about this sooner than I thought.”
With a plan forming in my head, I led Terry back to Thade and Neil. They sat right where I left them, speaking in hushed voices. The two vampires took notice of our approach. Thade’s cell phone rang. He answered it.
“Yes?” There was a pause. “What? When?” Another pause as Thade abruptly stood up from the table, both his face and his voice changed drastically. “What did they want?”
Terry stepped in closer to Thade. Neil slowly stood, noticeably worried. I knew they could hear the person on the other line.
“We’ll head back as soon as I can get arrangements with my pilot,” Thade finished the call.
“Damnit,” Neil said.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
Thade pulled the phone from his ear and stared at it in his hands. “There was an ambush on one of our neighboring safehavens in Chicago,” he said.
“What?” I reeled.
“The clan fought off the two attackers, but no one could track them once they fled,” Thade went on to explain. “We had numerous casualties. As much as I don’t want to leave London right now, we need to go back to Chicago. Our clan and our city needs us. We need to take care of this matter while we have one of the daggers to fight with, before we go into battle with Arlos. We don’t want Arlos and these two other men joining forces.”
“We need to take Blake with us,” I interjected.
“I’ve already said I don’t want anything to do with that half-breed,” Thade said in a threatening tone. “We need his blood. Not him. We’ll deal with him when we get back.”
“If we don’t go get him before we have to fly back to the states, there’s no telling what Arlos might do to him for helping me escape,” I asserted. “If he kills Blake, we lose our only way of sending Arlos back to hell. Yes, we need his blood, so we need to keep him safe with us as long as possible. That way, we can use him when we need him. Knowing what Arlos was doing to him this whole time, do you really think Blake still wants anything to do with him? Look, this entire situation sucks. It just does.” My voice wavered, but I quickly took a breath to calm myself before I could go on. “He’s no saint, and he’s done some horrible things, most recently things that have affected me personally, but I’m choosing to put that aside, at least for now. Arlos is the real threat, and I know Blake would be willing to help us take him out if he knew we needed him. We need everyone we can get on our side.”
Neil grinned at Thade, another one of the very few vampire smiles I ever saw. “Stubborn little bit, isn’t she?” he asked Thade through a snicker.
“And for good reason. She’s right, Thade,” Terry spoke up.
“I’ll have to agree,” Neil added. “This situation calls for actions you wouldn’t normally take, my friend. If we don’t adapt and make compromises, Arlos, and possibly even the two men who attacked your neighboring safehaven, will end up with the upper hand.”
“I hate to put our fate in the hands of someone I can’t trust,” Thade huffed. “I can’t argue that we need Blake. However, I will not put myself or this clan in a situation where I have to fully rely on him again. After this fight is over, I don’t want anything to do with him. We use him for his blood and his strength to aid us in our fight against Arlos and anyone else who stands with him. Nothing else.”
Thade motioned for us to follow. He called for Harper, his son and daughter and a few others. Neil went to the closet to hand out several familiar trench coats to those who gathered around.
“Where are you going?” I asked them.
“To find Blake,” Thade replied coolly. “You’re coming, aren’t you?”
His question threw me off, but I replied without hesitation. “Of course.”
“Then, throw this on,” he suggested. “It will help hide your aura. We don’t want to attract any of Arlos’ men just yet.”
The vampire leader tossed me a coat. I slipped it on over my head. The sleeves stretched out past my hands, and the big floppy hood fell over my face. Eden helped me fold it back so I could see.
“I'm going to unroll the sleeves to hide your hands,” she explained as she adjusted the coat around my collar. “You're aura shows everywhere your skin does.”
I looked around as she worked on my coat and counted twenty-two vampires in the search party.
“Everyone!” Thade announced. “We’re searching for the evnaut. As you all know, we need his blood. We can’t sense him, so be sure to search every nook and cranny as we pass each building, street and alleyway. There are gloves and face masks
in the closet, as well. The sun may rise before we get back, so I suggest you bring them along as a precaution.”
He took the black gloves and masks from the closet while the small group threw on their coats. Harper leaned against the wall with his arms crossed tightly over his chest, his coat crumpled at his feet.
“I’m not going. I’m glad he’s gone,” he murmured to Thade.
“That’s fine. I need you here,” Thade replied while stuffing a ski mask and gloves into his jacket pocket. Thade came to stand with his back to me. “Climb up,” he offered.
I reached for his shoulders. “You’re too tall,” I timidly said, afraid he might turn to glare at me.
Instead, he knelt. I wrapped my arms around his neck, lifting myself and guiding my legs up to his waist. Everyone else filed out of the side door, and I guided the hood of my coat over my head.
“Don’t let go,” Thade warned me.
“Not on purpose,” I promised.
We roof-bounded around the city for over an hour with me holding on to Thade with everything I had. Roof-bounding was an exhilarating experience but also frightening. Deep down, I knew the vampires were graceful enough to keep themselves balanced, but the reality was that we were jumping from the roof of one twenty-story building to another. Each time we landed on a roof, I thanked God we made it, and each time we left a roof, I held my breath and prayed we’d land safely again.
“I bet it’s the two men who attacked Blake and me back in Chicago,” I told Thade.
“So do I. To be honest, I don’t know how we are going to do this,” he replied. “They killed vampires tonight…killed vampires.”
“Don’t worry. Blake really is on our side. He will help us.”
One of the vampire’s spoke up while pointing in the distance. “I smell freshly spilled blood. It’s not human or haviden.”
“Let’s go to it,” another advised.
We changed direction.
“Is that him?” someone called out several minutes later.
“Yeah, that’s him,” Terry confirmed.
Sure enough, in the shadows of an alleyway below, I caught sight of a human form slumped against the next building over. As we landed, I slipped off of Thade’s back without thinking twice. Blake lifted his head, one arm wrapped around his waist. He quietly said my name. I started toward him, but Thade extended an arm to stop me. That’s when I noticed the blood. I tried to keep myself from reacting to it, but the profusely bleeding stab wound was hard to ignore.