by Raven Steele
“I came here to kill Alarica, but you just informed me that you are Eve. We’ve never had concerns for the daughter of Sable Whitmore and Erik Segur, though I must admit when you were born, we were worried.” Charlie furrowed his brow. “By the way, how did you become Alarica?”
“It wasn’t by choice. It was my parents,” I could barely say his name, “ and Boaz.”
His eyes grew big. “Say that again?”
In a louder voice, I repeated, “Boaz.”
“I know this may be difficult for you, but I must know more about this Boaz.” Charlie’s tone was hard, yet he managed to keep his expression gentle, encouraging me with a small smile.
I breathed in deeply to relieve the pressure on my chest and then said, “He was a vampire. My parents introduced him to me when I turned twenty-one, almost a year ago.” Had it only been that long?
Charlie leaned forward. “What does he look like?”
I groaned, his image still fresh in my mind. If only I could forget his face, but he refused to be stuffed into the confines of my mind with the rest of my past, leaving me with a constant reminder of who I was and what I’d done.
“I can’t. I’m sorry.”
“Please, it’s very important.”
“He had long black hair and dark eyes,” I blurted.
“No offense, but you just described ninety percent of vampires.”
My muscles tensed. “You don’t know what you ask. You couldn’t possibly…” I forced myself to calm down. Boaz was gone, so what did it matter? Why was I getting so upset? I met Charlie’s gaze and said, “He had a tattoo of a snake on his forearm.”
Charlie reared back. “It can’t be.”
“Why?”
He was talking to himself but too quietly for me to make out any of the words.
“What’s wrong?”
Charlie stopped mumbling and looked up at me as if he was surprised to still see me there. He cleared his throat. “That’s the thing, Eve. The vampire, Boaz, he’s supposed to be dead.”
Chapter 28
“What do you mean dead?” I asked.
“We killed him once before. If what you are saying is true, then we failed. Are you sure about the tattoo?”
I swallowed around the tightness building in my throat. He’d been killed before and didn’t really die. What if he came back again?
“Eve?” Charlie asked, waving his hand to catch my attention again. “I said, are you sure you described him right?”
I nodded, my hands trembling, unsure if I could even form words.
Charlie dropped his hand. “I’ve worried you. I'm sorry, but right now we need to focus on Alarica. You were telling me how she came to be. Please, go on.”
I inhaled a deep, shaky breath, and wrung my hands together. It was time to move on, and that meant getting everything out on the table. “My parents placed a strong spell, more like a curse, on some old silver necklace with a glass orb gripped between some kind of claw.”
I wondered briefly if I should’ve begun at the true beginning, the part where Boaz injected me with some kind of immortal serum, but the time didn’t feel right.
Charlie balled his fists again, and I noticed something flash in his eyes, but when he didn’t say anything, I continued. “The orb was filled with blood. Whatever they did to it, it changed me. The moment that thing was around my neck, all I could feel was evil. I smelled it, breathed it, I could even taste it. It filled me with such rage that I couldn’t help but destroy everything in my path. Physically, my body couldn’t contain the power.” My voice cracked.
“It wasn’t you, though, not really,” Charlie pointed out. "True darkness has a way of transforming people into what it wants for itself. Your ability to choose was taken from you the moment that necklace went around your neck."
“But part of it was me. They were my feelings, my pain that Alarica used. If it wasn’t for the vampire who stopped me, I would’ve hurt so many more people.”
Charlie leaned forward. “I can’t imagine what you’ve been through all these years, but you have a chance now at a new beginning, a new life.”
“I don’t see how that’s possible. My parents will see that my grave has been destroyed and know that I'm free.”
“We’ll take care of the grave, and as for your parents, they don’t matter anymore.”
“You’re wrong about that. Erik will never give up. He will hunt me down until I’m dead.”
Charlie pursed his lips together. “Right. Your father. There’s something I should tell you.”
“What is it?”
“Your father, well, he’s dead. By his own hand, I think,” Charlie mumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. “It was strange. We captured your parents about a week ago and were questioning them when all of a sudden your father keeled over. His heart just stopped. Personally, I think he stopped it himself.”
Erik’s dead? A feeling sort of like being punched in the gut sucked the air from my lungs, and my head began to spin. I looked up to the circling trees above. Charlie said something else, but I didn’t hear him over the ringing in my ears.
“Eve?”
“I need to get out of here,” I said before I lost the ability to speak altogether.
Charlie scrambled to his feet. “Hold on. I’ll help.”
He wrapped my arm around his shoulders and easily lifted me to a standing position. I leaned into him, trying hard to keep my feet beneath me, as he walked me through the dark forest.
I didn’t know where he was taking me, nor did I care. Erik was dead. The man who had tortured me mercilessly, who had also killed Madelyn. But the man was also my father. I should’ve felt glad, but the feeling wasn’t coming. In its place came a barrage of emotions too much for me to process.
When I stumbled over a log, Charlie’s hand gripped my waist. “Just a little bit further,” he said. “My car is just over that ridge.”
It wasn’t long before the forest gave way to a grass field with blades that came to my knees. The full moon provided plenty of light, but I tripped again. This time, Charlie didn’t steady me. He scooped me up and carried me in his arms.
Too exhausted to protest, my head fell against his chest, and I closed my eyes. I didn’t think about anything except for the gentle movement of Charlie’s footsteps, the swooshing of his steps through the tall grass, and the sound of his steady heartbeat. Before I knew it, I fell asleep.
I woke when Charlie set me down to open a car door. The black metal of the vehicle, a sports car of some kind, was shiny and had sharp lines that curved up toward the front of the car, and then smoothly curved back down into a V on the hood, meeting the lines on the other side of the car. A six-inch, silver metal statue of an angel with wings, perched on the front hood.
“Nice car,” I mumbled, my eyes still half-closed. I brushed off as much dirt as I could in my hair and on my clothes.
Charlie helped me into the leathered passenger seat and then rounded the car to hop in behind the steering wheel.
With the press of a button, he brought the engine to life. “Go back to sleep. We have a short drive, and then we’re going to hop on a plane.”
“A plane? Where are we going?”
“Somewhere you can heal.”
I leaned my head against the window and, as I’d done my entire life, I didn’t allow myself to feel anything. Hearing of Erik’s death had brought many emotions to the surface, and they had almost overwhelmed me, but now, under the soft moonlight, I thought of nothing.
Charlie drove along a deserted road, passing several small towns and rural farmhouses until eventually there was nothing but fields. The area was not familiar to me, but by the road signs we were traveling south.
After a while, Charlie glanced sideways at me. “I’m sorry about your father.”
“Don’t be. It was a good thing.”
“I had no idea he’d do something like that. Maybe I would’ve handled things differently.”
“What of my mother?
Where is she?”
“We have her. She won’t be leaving anytime soon.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “So I really am free?”
Charlie took his eyes off the road to address me. “No. There are others who may not believe you are dead, especially Boaz.”
“Boaz won’t be looking for me.”
“How can you be sure?”
“He’s dead. At least I think he is, but if he was able to come back from the grave once … "
“How?”
“I blew up his house with him in it.”
“Did you actually see him die?” he asked.
I repressed a shiver. “No.”
“Then we can’t assume he’s dead. I’ll get a team together to search for him, but in the meantime, you need to stay hidden for a long while.”
“Why?”
“It wasn’t just Boaz who would do you harm. Both sides of your family would love to get their hands on you.”
I silently agreed, remembering the encounter with my grandfather months ago. “So is that where we are going now? To hide me?”
“Yes.”
After a moment of silence, I turned abruptly to Charlie. “What did Sable do when she saw Erik die?”
“She laughed. He died right next to her, and she laughed.”
Bile swirled in my stomach, and I covered my mouth. My life had been so full of cruelty and lies, how could I ever recover?
Charlie pressed on the brake, slowing the car to turn down a dirt road. The forest opened up and gave way to a narrow field with a narrow, paved runway down its center. At the end of it sat a small personal jet, its engine running as if it knew we were coming.
“I have food for you on the plane. The flight’s about three hours so you may even be able to sleep.” He parked the car. “Oh, and there’s a small bathroom so you can at least clean yourself up a little.”
My heart raced as he rounded the vehicle to help me out. What am I doing?
He opened my door and held a hand out to me. “Ready?”
“I was headed to Wildemoor,” I said, but realized how bad of an idea that was now. I couldn’t use Liane’s money or support, not after what she did to me.
“It’s much safer if you stay where I’m taking you, at least for a while.”
“And where is that?”
“Rouen, Louisiana. Blutel Estate specifically, to join others with the Ames de la Terra.”
Of all the many places Boaz had taken me to, Rouen was the one place Boaz hadn’t wanted to visit, even at my request. He’d claimed the humans there were low-lifes and the supernaturals were even worse. Because he’d made it sound like a boring place, I hadn’t pressed the issue.
“Who are the Ames de la Terra?” I asked, my eyes drifting back to the plane.
Charlie leaned against the car and folded his arms. “They are supernaturals like yourself, but they’ve chosen to take a different path, one that doesn’t involve pursuing power, killing, or harming and manipulating humans. They believe humans should be protected.
“Many of them are like you in the way that they’ve walked the dark road only to have something so horrible happen, they’re forced to take a hard look at their life and the choices they’ve made. This leads to a period of great turmoil. Blutel Estate offers sanctuary for those supernaturals. They give them a chance to heal in peace.”
That sounded exactly like what I needed. Peace. Every time I closed my eyes, images of those I’d hurt flashed in my mind. Somehow, I had to make it right.
Starting now.
Chapter 29
The small jet seated eight people. Other than the pilot, we were the only passengers. Charlie settled me into my chair with a blanket, then handed me a bag. “There’s plenty of food inside. Help yourself.”
I tore into it and started with a wrapped ham and cheese hoagie. It was the best thing I’d eaten in my whole life. I washed it down with water, then headed to the small bathroom to try and clean off much of the dirt from my face and hair. It was a long process, but when I was finished, I returned to my chair and sunk into it, hoping sleep would come but it never did. I had no idea what the future held and this terrified me.
As we neared Rouen, I peeked out the window. Moonlight blanketed the city in a silvery web. Tall buildings clustered at the center of the city then slowly spread out across the landscape. It was much bigger than I expected. My heart raced, and I clutched the armrest.
“You’re going to love this place,” Charlie said from across the aisle as if he could sense my growing discomfort.
We landed in another remote field. A car was waiting for us not far away. The driver, a shifter of some kind, smiled and nodded at me as he opened my door. I wondered if he knew who I was, but he didn’t say anything to me. Possibly because he didn’t get the chance. Charlie was asking him question after question about different people I’d never heard of.
I settled into the backseat and listened to Charlie’s smooth accent as he talked to the driver. There was something oddly calming about Charlie, and I sighed contently, my eyelids growing heavy.
Charlie nudged me before I could drift off to sleep. “There it is. Blutel Estate. Isn’t it amazing?”
I looked out the window. In the distance, a large ancient structure came into view and rose toward the sky. Soft light illuminated many of its windows. Made entirely of stone, the architecture included sweeping roof lines and rounded turrets, which made it look welcoming, the complete opposite of my parent’s home which had way too many sharp lines and angles.
Charlie leaned toward me to peer out the same window. “It’s much bigger than it looks. There’s several buildings behind it and a massive courtyard in the center.”
“How many people stay here?” I asked, then swallowed. I didn’t feel like being around others.
“Hard to say. The population fluctuates a lot, but don’t worry about running into them, especially during the day. Most come out at night, but even then, they like to keep to themselves.”
The driver circled the wide driveway, then stopped the car directly in front. He left the car idling and when we exited, he said goodbye and pulled away. Charlie kept a steady hand on the small of my back, which I appreciated. Even though I’d eaten, my body still felt incredibly weak.
“Are they expecting me?” I asked, my voice soft.
He nodded. “Samira has prepared everything.”
“Samira?”
“She’s the president. You’ll love her.” He cleared his throat. “She’s also a vampire, an extremely old and powerful one, but extraordinarily good.”
This surprised me. I’d heard of vampires who chose to shun the darkness and power that always came with vampirism, but I’d never encountered it. Unless I counted the strange vampire at the park, but I didn’t know enough about him to know for sure.
After inhaling a deep breath, I made my way across the stone bath to the front doors. They opened before we reached them. In the doorway stood a lithe woman dressed in black leather pants and a black blouse. I immediately sensed she was a vampire. She smiled at me but the motion didn’t quite look natural on her. This might’ve put me on edge, but then I met her intelligent gaze. Her striking blue eyes reminded me of the power of lightning, but the way they burrowed into mine, I felt only a fierce desire to protect me. Never in my life had anyone looked at me like that.
“Samira!” Charlie bellowed and embraced her tightly. “It’s been way too long.”
“It has.” She released him then turned to me. “You must be Eve Segur.”
I flinched at the sound of my last name. “Please just call me Eve.”
“As you wish.” She motioned us inside. “I’m so glad you could join us.”
The inside was just as inviting as the outside. Dark wooden wainscoting lined the walls and above it, the floral wallpaper reminded me of an older Victorian home.
“Thank you for having me,” I said. I smoothed my hair back subconsciously. Even though I’d gotten most of the
dirt off me on the plane, I knew I still looked filthy.
She motioned us forward. “I’ll give you a quick tour, then take you to your quarters. I’m sure you’re exhausted.”
Leading me down a long hall, Samira pointed out the dining hall, the library, and the exercise and game rooms. This place seemed to have it all. It even had a spa. She took us out a back door and into a courtyard full of trees and groomed bushes and flowers. Beneath the moonlight, the gardens looked almost supernatural with many of the flowers still in full bloom. Maybe they were.
She turned left when the path split in three different ways. “Your building is over here. You’re in room number two twelve.”
“I don’t have anything with me,” I said, my voice apologetic.
“Not a problem,” Charlie said from behind us. “I’ve taken care of everything.”
I glanced back at him appreciatively, choking back the sudden emotions swelling in my throat. I’d never been shown so much kindness from strangers before, especially after all I’d done. I wondered how much Charlie had told her about me. Did she know I was Alarica? If she did, she didn’t show it.
After unlocking the door, Samira showed me into my room and flipped on the lights. It was so much more than the single room I had imagined. Black and white furniture had been set around a large living room with gray walls and white trim. Teal-colored pillows and a matching ocean painting balanced out the room. In a way, the painting reminded me of Eden, and I wondered if Charlie somehow knew about my private sanctuary.
“This is more than I expected,” I said. “Thank you.”
Charlie moved into the apartment to check the cupboards and fridge.
Samira remained in the doorway. “Treat this place as your own home and take as much time as you need to heal. When you are ready, feel free to socialize with others here or join one of our many groups. We even have one for witches you might enjoy.”
“I appreciate it.”
“Is it okay if I check on you off and on?”
“Of course.”
She shifted her attention to Charlie. “Come see me before you leave?”