Darkest Whispers (Eternal Shadows Book 2)

by Kate Martin

  Suddenly I felt like I had done this before.

  Solo smiled back. “Now that’s much better. You’re really beautiful when you smile. Ever since I’ve met you you’ve always had this sad look about you.”

  I averted my gaze, knowing, and not about to deny myself, that it was true. “Unfortunately, we always seem to meet up after the worst happens.”

  “Well, the worst hasn’t happened yet. Little Lord Frankenfurter over there is pretty bad, but certainly not the worst. Why not enjoy yourself a little?”

  I didn’t get to answer. Solo switched out of the standard waltz position and began leading me through alternative holds; side by side, front to back, even a sort of grapevine with our feet. I had taken partnering class once, but the boys had all been inexperienced. Solo was anything but. It was so easy to follow his lead, like we had been dancing together for years. Every slight change in his wrists, in his fingers, signaled to me like an instinct what to do next. I closed my eyes and let my body relax. Like a dream.

  The thought of dreams reminded me of my nightmares. I thought again of my memory, of Eva dancing with Rhys in the elegant ballroom, her skirt twirling about her legs, and Rhys leading her across the floor like a man who had practiced for centuries. Rhys, happy and safe and whole. Unbroken by fate and still free.

  An image of Rhys, pale, dust-covered and burned flashed before me. The steel bars of his cell door marring the only view.

  I opened my eyes and saw Solo, groomed to perfection, so unlike his usual self.

  It should have been Rhys.

  “I can’t.” I pulled away from Solo, a hand over my mouth to keep myself from crying, or worse, getting sick. Not that I could. But I wanted to. I could taste the betrayal in my mouth. How could I enjoy myself knowing where Rhys was at that very moment? How could I let another guy make me forget that everything in my life was wrong? I pushed through the crowd of dancers, searching for an exit like an oasis in the desert.

  “Kass, wait!” Solo came after me, his expensive shoes clicking against the floor and getting far too close. His hand closed around my wrist and pulled me to a stop just as I reached the edge of the dance floor. He spun me around to face him. “Kass, what’s wrong?”

  But I didn’t see him when I turned around. I saw another man, older, taller, and surrounded by the furnishings of another time, French in origin. So many things were different; the size of the nose and the line of the jaw, but other things—more important things—were exactly the same. The same lips, thinner on top than the bottom, and the same brown eyes, flecked with gold.

  I blinked and Solo’s face returned, a lock of hair falling into those brown eyes, and those lips drawn into a tight line of worry. Almost as though a strong family resemblance.

  But I knew. I knew what I had seen. Jacqueline’s husband. My husband. Not a memory of mine, but a link through Solo.

  A past life.

  I had sensed his past life.

  As my husband.

  Chapter Eighteen: Familial Relations

  I tore myself away from him and ran back through the crowd of guests. I needed air. I needed space. I needed to get away.

  I needed Rhys.

  I tripped over the rug, my stupid stiletto heels catching in the fibers and sending me tumbling forward. My balance wouldn’t come. In that moment I couldn’t remember anything I had learned, any of the grace and skill Cade had literally beaten into me. I remembered what they had taught me in kindergarten; put up your hands to brace your fall.

  Large hands caught me by the waist, and my hands collided with something solid and broad, and not the floor. Righted, I was set back on my feet.

  “Easy there,” a man said, his voice deep and gravelly. “What’s the hurry?”

  The man was tall—as tall as the General—and nearly as broad. His tuxedo was just as brilliantly tailored as everyone else’s. Expensive and made just for him. His hair was ordinary brown, no highlights or even streaks of grey. A strong jaw line matched his cheekbones, and combined with his nose, which looked like it had been broken a few times, the overall effect was one of strength. But his eyes were what rendered me speechless.

  Brown, flecked with gold.

  Solo caught up to me, standing at my side with a hand on my back. He didn’t ask if I was all right, just watched me. It was then, with him at my side and the huge man in front of me, that I realized a number of other people, easily a half-dozen, lingered all around.

  I was surrounded. But by what?

  “Are you all right, Miss?” the huge man who had caught me asked, his voice lighter, softer than I would have thought from his size.

  “Yes. Yes, thank you.” I pulled myself together, standing straighter and stepping away from Solo’s supportive hand. I tried not to look nervous as I glanced at the others all closing in around me. Three women and two other men. One of the women looked foreign, with skin the color of dark sand and eyes to match. The other two shared a mix of features—one brunette with striking blue eyes; the other blonde, freckled, and taller than even the men. Those men stood shoulder to shoulder, broad and imposing, their expressions impassive. Both had dark hair, but their features couldn’t have been more different; one all lines and sharp angles, the other rounder, softer.

  But I couldn’t keep my eyes from returning to the first man, the one who had caught me.

  “Please allow me to introduce myself,” he said. “I am a long time friend of your grandmother’s. My name is Fillip Bontecou.”

  Bontecou. Jacqueline’s married name.

  I stared at his offered hand. Afraid to touch it. Jacqueline’s husband had been a Hunter. Hunting was a family occupation. It couldn’t possibly be a coincidence. If I touched him . . . would he know? Did he know already? Jacqueline had learned something about auras.

  Shit.

  Taking a deep breath, hoping to seem human, I shook his hand. A black tattoo peaked out from the edge of his cuff-linked sleeve. The shapes of scales and spines looked vaguely familiar. “Kassandra Thomas. But I guess you already know that.”

  Fillip smiled. “I do. Your grandmother speaks very highly of you.”

  “Well, I hope she doesn’t lie too badly on my behalf.”

  The strangers all smiled or laughed lightly at that. Ice began to creep along the back of my neck.

  “She didn’t lie about your wit,” Fillip said. “She was hoping we could speak tonight. I believe I have some information that may be of interest to you.”

  “Oh? Are you sure? Because what my grandmother finds interesting and what I find interesting is usually pretty different.”

  “It has to do with your father.”

  My stomach jumped into my throat. “My father?”

  “Yes. Why don’t we go somewhere a little more private?” He gestured towards the hall leading away from the ballroom.

  My brain started firing off warnings at a speed of about a billion per second, mixed with doubts and claims that I was imagining things. I had no proof they were Hunters. None at all. Names were common enough. Coincidences happened.

  But the chill on my neck had set in at full power. And I had learned to trust it.

  “I like the atmosphere here, actually.” I suddenly wished Cade hadn’t deemed me capable enough to handle myself. He was close by, watching, ready if I needed him, but out of sight, out of range of my sense of smell. I wanted to run screaming to his side, but the thought of him made me remember everything that could possibly be at stake here. I had to remain calm, had to play the game. I was certain they were Hunters, but I wasn’t certain they knew who, or what, I was. If I did this right, I might be able to keep my head. Literally.

  Fillip took a step closer, extending his arm as though to wrap around me and lead me out. “The band is too loud for proper conversation.”

  I pulled away. “My grandmother will wonder where I am.”

  In backing away, I backed into Solo, who promptly placed an arm around my waist. “Kass,” he said, leaning in close and whispering,
“they’re not going to hurt you.”

  “What do you know about it?” I hissed through my teeth, shoving him away. Did he know who these people were? If they really could sense auras, then we were both screwed.

  “I know a lot.” He grabbed for my hand, but I pulled away again.

  The dark woman with the piercing gaze came up on my side. “Please,” she said. “Let us speak.”

  Anything else would be futile. That much seemed to hang unspoken between us. I decided to gamble. “Fine.” Without waiting for them, I turned and pushed through the crowd, no longer caring about manners, and stepped out of the overheated ballroom and into the cooler hallway. They all followed, moving around me once we were free of the mass of people and leading the way into a small meeting room that lay a few paces away.

  Solo stayed at my side.

  “What are you doing?” I asked him, not yet ready to step through the door.

  “Staying with you. I meant what I said before. They won’t hurt you. They just want to talk.”

  “And you have what to do with all this?”

  Alone in the hallway now, he undid the cuff-link on his left sleeve, and pushed it up. He held his wrist out to me like an offering, exposing the dragon tattoo I had seen on our last meeting. The scales and lines were the same as I had seen earlier—on Fillip’s arm.

  I shoved him away and stepped back, pressing against the wall. “You’re one of them!”

  Solo’s gaze darted around nervously before he stepped towards me, effectively pinning me to the wall as he harshly shushed me. “Keep your voice down,” he said, low enough that no human would hear. “They don’t know what you are. They don’t, and I will keep your secret, I swear it.”

  “How? How can they not know? I’ve done my research, I know they can tell a—they can tell by auras. How could they possibly not know?”

  He paled, shocked. “How do you know that?”

  “I get to ask the questions right now. Not you.”

  “It’s a long explanation, and I’ll give it to you, but not now.”

  “Do they know what you are?”

  “Yes.”

  “And they have no problem with it?”

  “Another long explanation. I’m a Hunter by birth, was one all my human life. This situation I’m in now is an unfortunate occupational hazard. They trust me though. For the most part.”

  “He looks like you.”

  Apparently there was no confusion in who I meant. “Fillip is a great-grandnephew of mine. I’ve managed to keep in touch with the family.”

  “Why didn’t they kill you when you got turned?”

  “A story for another time.”

  Fine. “Why are they here?”

  “They’ll tell you everything. Just don’t do anything that will give your secret away. They cannot know. Not yet.”

  “Won’t they be suspicious of us talking like this? Hiding in the hall?”

  “No. It was my job to make contact with you, and to gain your trust.”

  I punched him hard in the chest. “You’ve known about this the whole time?”

  He had the decency to flinch from my hit. “Yes. Now, please, just go in and listen to them.”

  “And then you’ll get on with the long explanations?”

  “You have my word.”

  “I’m not so sure what that’s worth.”

  He hung his head for a moment, most likely in frustration, though it should have been shame. Then his eyes met mine again. “Just—trust me.”

  Trust. That word had been thrown around a lot since my eighteenth birthday. Unfortunately, everyone wanted my trust, but I wasn’t so sure how often I should be giving it out. “Get out of my way then,” I said.

  Solo stepped back, giving me the space I needed. “They’ve tried to test you. To be sure. Answer their questions carefully.”

  Whatever. I brushed past him and stepped through the door to the meeting room, hoping it wouldn’t be the last thing I ever did.

  Hunters. Ha. Cade would kill me.

  I didn’t let myself think about Rhys.

  Fillip and his entourage had placed themselves about the room, some sitting, some standing. Fillip came forward when I entered, and Solo stepped in behind me, closing the door.

  Trapped. Like a rat.

  God, I hoped not. If Solo betrayed my trust, he would be the first one dead.

  “I apologize for making you uncomfortable, Miss Thomas,” Fillip said, leaning against the superbly polished table. “But given the situation, we have few choices.”

  “Just get to the point, please. You said you had information, about my father.”

  “We know he was not reassigned. He is dead.”

  I wasn’t sure if I should feign surprise or not. I tried for somewhere in between shock and guarded knowledge. “Dead?”

  “Killed. By the vampires that took his place in our government. The vampires that have invaded your home, and held you hostage for the past four and a half months.”

  So that’s what they thought. “And how do you know that?”

  “It is our business. Hunting and tracking vampires has been the sole focus of The Society for over a thousand years.”

  “And so, what? You’re here to save me?”

  “Not exactly.”

  “Get to it then. My grandmother will start looking for me.”

  “She knows we are speaking with you. She invited us for that purpose.”

  “She knows what you are?”

  “Yes.”

  “And did you tell her that my father is dead?”

  Fillip looked appropriately reserved. “No. We thought it best she not know that particular detail.”

  “Did you tell her I’m living with vampires?” If she knew that I had a world of problems approaching fast.

  “We have implied that you are under watch.”

  “And worrying her accomplishes what?”

  “She came to us. Her company can assist us as well, so we all benefit from the arrangement. The Carters have long had ties to the Society, though they have never been a part of it.”

  “How can CEI help you?”

  “I’m afraid we cannot divulge those details at this moment. But I can tell you, that in the next few months there will be drastic changes made. Humans will no longer have to fear the vampires as they do now.”

  I wanted to ask what he meant by that, but I kept my mouth shut. Fillip wouldn’t answer me, I was sure of that. And asking too many questions on my part would only cause trouble. “What does all this have to do with me?”

  The dark woman walked around the table to stand with Fillip. “We would like to enlist your assistance.”

  Why was it that everyone suddenly wanted my help? I didn’t know how well I could play both sides. I decided to see what a little arrogance could get me. “And you are?” I stared at the woman as though wondering why she was talking to me when Fillip had been the only one to introduce himself.

  “My apologies,” she said. “I am Indira Channing.”

  Interesting. Or maybe not. I reminded myself to focus. “How could I possibly help you?”

  “You are in the lion’s den,” Indira said. “Behind enemy lines. You must see things.”

  “Not really.”

  “You know where they live. When they move. You see who they speak to, who they trust.”

  “Again, not really. No one tells me anything.” And that was the truth. Mostly. “Besides, how do you know they haven’t somehow gained my trust? By speaking to me you could be endangering yourselves.”

  “Solo has assured us that is not so,” Filip said.

  I turned and looked at the vampire in question. Solo was the only thing between me and the door, and though I didn’t know him well enough to see telltale signs of his discomfort, something told me we were suddenly straddling a thin line.

  When we had first met, Solo claimed to be out for only himself. Now he seemed to be on the side of the Hunters. What game was he playing?

>   What game did he want me to play? “He’s trustworthy enough,” I said, sparing him any metaphorical injury. “But I really have nothing to offer you. They keep me pretty well in the dark.”

  “You could give us names,” Indira said.

  “Names? You mean give you a list of vampires to hunt and kill? No thanks. I don’t need to be eaten. Crossing them guarantees to be a lot more painful than crossing you.”

  The room fell silent. The steady beats of the Hunters’ hearts ticked away like multiple clocks, filling me with a sense of time that I hadn’t had in months. And time dragged on, stretching thin until it had to snap. Solo had gone statue still behind me, and in the eyes of each Hunter I could see suspicion growing. They studied me like a mouse in a lab maze.

  Indira spoke, taking a few cat-like steps towards me. “Why do you protect them? You must know what they have done.”

  I held my ground. “I am not protecting them. I am protecting me. If they found out I was here talking to you I could be breakfast tomorrow.”

  She digested my answer before speaking again. “Those are some interesting scars you have.” One graceful hand reached towards my shoulder and the makeup covered locket mark from Malachi.

  Could they tell gold burns from other scars? “Yeah, well, I live with vampires. Interesting scars come with the territory.”

  She made a thoughtful sound, then moved on. She exchanged a glance with Fillip half a second before the man picked up the conversation.

  “Your grandmother said she had a number of gifts for you tonight. I see the necklace and the earrings, but she was quite excited over the emerald bracelet she had made for you. Why are you not wearing it?”

  Damn, they were good. I was willing to bet they had told my grandmother to make the jewelry gold as a way to flush me out if I was a vampire. Solo had said they had tried to test me. “It didn’t fit,” I said, holding up my bare wrist so they could see it wasn’t burned beyond recognition, but not intending on letting them close enough to see the tiny red burns. “I have small wrists. A big inconvenience when people are trying to give you expensive presents.”

  “A shame,” Fillip said, not looking convinced, but not pressing the matter.