by Kate Martin
“Kassandra,” the General said, clearing his throat and standing upright, “is there something we can help you with?”
“I ran into Gia on the steps,” I said, as Aurelia gently closed the cover on the old book. I recognized that old leather and worn binding. It was the generation book Rhys had showed me all those weeks ago. “She said you were going to meet with the Council.”
“I am.”
“Has something happened? Something with Rhys?”
He shook his head. “No. This meeting concerns a great many things, though I do plan on addressing Rhys’s situation.”
Situation. Like it was so simple. “So nothing’s changed? We still have no proof?”
“Unfortunately.”
Aurelia took up the book, folding it into her arms like a child. “Kassandra, we have done everything.”
“Everything? Really? What about–” I hesitated, but I had to ask. I couldn’t possibly leave a single stone unturned. “Has anyone considered contacting the VFO? Trying to strike a bargain? They did this; they must want something in return.”
“They want to create dissent among us,” the General said, “nothing more.”
“We won’t know that unless we talk to them. If it could mean freedom for Rhys—”
“Kassandra.” His voice boomed, making my name sound like a canon shot. He stepped forward, towards me, his eyes dark and steady. “We do not make deals with the VFO. We will not bargain with them.”
“Not even for Rhys?”
“Not for anything. All they have to offer are lies.”
It was difficult not to duck my head, not to look away and stare at the floor like a child, but I didn’t. I stared the General down. I had seen too much lately to be frightened by a pair of steely eyes. “And when Rhys is in pieces beneath the prison? What then?”
“He will be alive. We will have time.”
“He’s already spent enough time locked away. Why not try every single option?”
The General drew in a deep breath, and I thought he was going to yell—but then he paused, remained silent, and his entire demeanor changed as he studied me. “Have they approached you, Kassandra?”
“Does attacking count as approaching?”
“They’ve taunted you with something. Placed a carrot on a stick.”
“I haven’t been talking to them, if you’re about to accuse me of that.”
“Do not bargain with them. You will be branded a traitor, and not even I will stand between you and the Council should that happen. I will get Rhys back. You must trust me.”
“How? What are you going to do? Trust runs both ways, you have to tell me something. What’s your plan?”
He left without a word, hands clenched into fists at his sides.
I screamed after him, “You have no plan! That’s the problem!”
Aurelia’s hand on my arm startled me. I spun around and away, seething suddenly. Everyone wanted me to trust them, but they wouldn’t trust me. And I hadn’t exactly helped matters.
“This is very difficult on him,” Aurelia said, still holding the ancient book. “You need to remember that.”
“If there is a way to get Rhys back, and we don’t try it, what does that make us?”
“Sensible. The VFO will not deal honestly, Kassandra.”
“We don’t have to deal honestly either. What has the Alliance done for us lately? They’ve allowed Rhys to be locked away, and they’ve done nothing to help clear his name.”
“Be careful, Kassandra, your dual nature may betray you.”
“What dual nature?”
“The hunter’s blood that runs in your veins.”
“Is that what this is about? No one trusts me now because my mother came from some secret society that she apparently left and never told me about? Wow.”
“It is not that we do not trust you, but you are young, and we must be cautious.”
“Cautious, sure. Me too. What’s in the book?”
“This book is not for your eyes.”
“Of course it’s not. Nothing is. Because no one thinks I’m capable of higher reasoning. The only one who treats me like a thinking, reasoning being is Cade.”
“Cade is talented at handling you, yes.”
I couldn’t take it. Not her cold eyes, or her regal bearing. Not that tone that was meant to soothe and placate me. “You know what, screw you. I have done nothing but play the good little vampire since you people walked in here and stole my life.” I moved towards the door. “I’m gonna get some air. Don’t send anyone after me.”
She didn’t.
I headed upstairs first. Mad as I was, I wasn’t going to be as stupid as they all clearly believed me to be. If I was headed out, I would have my dagger. I strapped it on, then put on a long sweater that would hide it along my thigh. Warren’s door was closed, but I thought maybe he wouldn’t mind walking with me. He wasn’t a vampire, I wasn’t mad at him. Unfortunately, two feet from the door I caught Olivia’s scent, and thought better of my plan.
I went downstairs, alone, and resigned to be so.
Cade met me by the front door.
“I heard yelling.”
“Good for you. Your ears work.” I wasn’t in a very good mood. Pushing past him didn’t work, he grabbed my arm, loosely, nothing I couldn’t break out of, but that in and of itself was enough to get me to stop.
“Calm down.”
“Why? My life sucks. There’s nothing to be calm about. Don’t worry though, I won’t do anything stupid. You can take the day off from ‘handling’ me.”
He tossed me out the front door. I stumbled down the front steps, then caught myself before face-planting ungracefully on the walk. “Cool off,” he said. “Go for a walk.”
“What about the buddy system? No one goes anywhere alone.”
“You can take care of yourself. I saw to that.”
“Yes, you certainly did, didn’t you?” I stormed down the driveway, headed for the street, and not at all sure why I had gotten so angry so quickly. Maybe it had been building up? Either way, I liked it, and I didn’t want to shake it off just yet.
Millie and Brody came from the direction of town, smiling and laughing and holding hands. Millie looked a little glowy, and smiled when she saw me, waving.
“Sorry, Mil. In a really bad mood right now.”
“What happened?” She stopped, reaching for me, but I didn’t let her touch me. Just looking at her face, where the marks of the attack still marred her usual perfection with faded pink lines made my blood boil. That was my fault. She had gotten hurt because of me. Maybe everyone was right not to trust me.
“I just need some space, okay?”
Millie looked hurt. Brody looked cautious. “Kass, you seem really jumpy. Sure you don’t want to talk about it?”
“Talking’s not my strong suit right now,” I said, walking away, but then I stopped. “Actually, Millie, if you wouldn’t mind answering one simple question.”
She stood between me and Brody, making her body a shield against a potentially short-fused vampire, but her voice was still as soft as ever as she answered. “Of course.”
“How long did it take for the General and Aurelia to trust you?”
“Oh, Kassandra. Things were different then. We had been invited into this life, there wasn’t a war . . .”
“So pretty quickly then. Okay, thanks. That’s all I needed to know.”
“They do trust you,” she called after me as I walked away.
“Not today, they don’t.”
I put as much space between them and myself as I could quickly. The park was a welcome sight. Nothing but humans as far as the eye could see. They had every reason not to trust me, but they didn’t know that, and I liked feeling like I could disappear into a crowd. It had been a long time since I hadn’t had all eyes on me. Sitting on a bench by the swings, watching the kids squeal and laugh as they flew back and forth, jumping off and landing clumsily in the wood chips, I finally started to rela
x. Reclining, I closed my eyes.
So they didn’t trust me. Had I expected them to? If I was honest with myself, I knew they didn’t. I was rash and impulsive, and young, and inexperienced, and sick with worry.
But I was still mad.
I pulled out my phone and called Sara. I needed my best friend, and now that I had her back there was no reason for me to suffer without that comfort.
The phone rang. And rang. And rang. Finally her voice mail picked up. “Hey,” I said after the beep signaled the all clear. “I just—I just needed a friendly voice. That’s all. I guess maybe you’re in class or something. I’ll try again later. Everything is fine. No worries. Catch up with you later.” My phone clattered against the bench. Useless. I would have to be content with the company of strangers and birds.
I really needed to learn to be careful what I wished for.
The strange scent preceded the footsteps, which preceded the oddly paced breathing and the clearing of a throat. “Mind if I sit?” The voice was male, and a little gruff.
“Yes.”
He sat anyway. No surprise.
“Mind if I smoke?” He’d already flicked his lighter and the smoke wafted past my nose.
“Won’t kill either of us.” I glanced to the side in time to watch him puff a smoke ring and watch it float away. His body was young. My age, or thereabouts. Red hair, freckles, and glasses that he no doubt had no need for. All in all he appeared very unassuming, non-threatening. A suitable messenger. “What do you want?”
“It’s what we both want.”
“Let me guess. You’re here to tell me the details of the trade.”
“Our last ambassador went rogue. We want to apologize for that.”
“Apologize for almost killing my best friend?”
“Yes.”
“Apology not accepted.”
“Understandable.”
I shoved my phone back in my pocket, half to keep him from running off with it for nefarious reasons, half just to give myself something to do with an annoyed air. “You’re very reasonable.”
“It’s gift.”
“And why they sent you.”
“Yes.”
“So, get at it then. I’m in a foul mood. See if you can reason me into amiability.”
“Trouble at home?”
“You talk. I’ll listen.”
“Fine.” He took a drag of his cigarette. “There’s a map. Julius keeps it well guarded, well hidden. We want it.”
“A map to what?”
The VFO messenger shook his head. “That I can’t say.”
“And yet you want me to get it for you.”
“In return, we will exonerate Rhys O’Shea.”
“That simple, huh?”
“That simple.”
“So I trade a map for Rhys, and what? You use this map to conquer the world? Find buried treasure? Does it lead to a doomsday machine? Will I be an accomplice to mass murder?”
He laughed. “Nothing of the sort. Though I admire your imagination.”
“And what if I don’t believe you?”
“You’ll have to trust us.”
“That is my least favorite word today. What guarantee do I have you would really let Rhys go once I handed over this map?”
“Should you agree, and bring us the map to make an exchange, we will make the call right then and there, where you can see and hear us.”
“Still rather flimsy. I’d rather you bring him with you, hand him right to me.”
“Even we cannot take someone from Infragilis that easily.”
“Pity, that.”
“Do we have a deal?”
“No.”
“That’s disappointing.”
“So much of life is. Deal with it.”
“You may want to reconsider. As I understand it, Rhys is wasting away in that cell. Infragilis is not meant to be just a place of incarceration, but a place to break the strong. Most vampires never emerge the same, if at all. I once had two people I cared for locked up within those walls.”
I scoffed. Couldn’t help it. “Only two?” I figured Infragilis was filled with members of the VFO.
“I did what was necessary to get them out. No price was too high.”
“And are you still paying that price?”
He smiled, and there was something sad about it. “Perhaps I am.” He stood, and pulled a card from his front pocket. “I’ll leave this with you. My direct line. If you change your mind, let me know. The map is old, and not really a map. You’ll know it when you see it.” When I didn’t reach out to take the card he set it on the bench beside me. “It was a pleasure meeting you, Kassandra. I hope everything works out for you. After so many centuries of misfortune, I’d say the universe owes you.”
Did it owe me, I wondered as he walked away, smoke trailing in his wake. Maybe. If I was the kind of person who believed in karma and paying dues. Rhys and I had certainly gone through enough.
I picked up the card, running my thumb over the number printed there. Did I have price? Was there something they could ask me that wasn’t worth Rhys’s freedom? I’d been a vampire for less than a year, and in that time I had gone from self-destructive, to fated for epic love, to alone and powerful enough to tear the heart out of a living, thinking being. Truthfully, I was beginning to realize I didn’t really know who I was in this new life. Every day I discovered something new about myself. I could be capable of anything.
Maybe I could trade the world for Rhys. Who knew?
Was I mad, at the situation and my new ‘family’? Yes. Mad enough to do something desperate? No.
Not yet at least.
Chapter Twenty-three: Desperate Times
When I returned home Cade’s scent left a trail leading to the study—no real surprise—and so I followed it. They all turned to look at me when I stepped into the doorway. Aurelia stood with a hand on the General’s shoulder, the table broken clean in two, and slumped at his feet. Across the room, at the window, Isaac stood still as a statue guard over the twins. Millie sat in the arm chair, Madge at her side, but she stood, shakily, when she saw me. Madge had to grip Millie’s arm in support to keep her on her feet, and for a moment I did nothing but look at their two faces, side by side. The deep wound across Millie’s face made her look like a painting that had been torn, and Madge looked like the original. Identical twins, identical no more. Because of me.
Millie forced a smile over her drawn features. “Kassandra.” Her voice sounded as strained as her expression looked.
Cade stood at the bar, a sheet of crumpled paper in his fist, looking nowhere but at me. It was his stony gaze that clued me in; I had gotten to know him fairly well over the last few months. Something had happened while I was out. Something bad.
Rhys.
“What happened?” Strangled words, perhaps not even intelligible. I gripped the back of the nearest chair. I held Cade’s gaze for a while, wanting him to tell me, but the General was in the room, and everyone waited for him to speak.
Not liking what I saw in Cade’s eyes, I turned to the General.
“Tyrus paid a visit to Infragilis last night,” he said. “He spoke with Rhys.”
The ice had returned. “Why? Why would he do that?”
“He wanted to hear from Rhys’s own lips what had happened. He wanted answers.”
“But, Rhys didn’t do it. Rhys doesn’t have any answers. Does he know that now? Does he understand now that this is all wrong?”
The General dropped his gaze, and my stomach plummeted with it. “Tyrus went there alone. No witnesses. No one saw exactly what happened.”
“He’s still alive.” I said the words faster than I thought them. “He’s alive. Right? He’s alive. I would know if he wasn’t.” If anything happened to Rhys my impeccable sense of doom would have told me. It had warned me about Sara, it would warn me of any danger towards him. I would know.
The General nodded. “Yes. Rhys is alive. Tyrus wouldn’t go that far without san
ction from the Council.” Which he wouldn’t get. Not as long as Julius still walked the earth.
“Then what happened? Just tell me already.”
Cade answered me this time. “Apparently whatever Rhys had to say was unsatisfactory for Tyrus. Whatever occurred between them only increased Tyrus’s anger. Katya has contacted me,” the paper in his hand crinkled in his first, “explaining that Tyrus had gone mad. It took nearly half her guard force to get him away from Rhys’s cell and out of the prison. All the while he screamed and ranted—demanding a different punishment.”
A punishment they skirted around telling me. My hands shook from the intensity of the ice that threatened to envelope my entire body. “What punishment?” Not execution. He couldn’t. The General would never allow it. Right?
“Rhys is still to be dismembered,” Millie said in a small voice, her hand tightly wound around Madge’s. Her tone seemed to be meant to comfort, but she wouldn’t look at me. “That much hasn’t changed.”
I was actually relieved. Some of the tension left my shoulders and my throat, and it was easier to speak. “He won’t be killed?”
Cade shook his head. “No. Rhys will live.”
I hated silence. Especially a silence that seemed to scream at me. “Could you all stop trying to spare me please?” Rhys would live. He would live. Was there a fate worse than death?
Madge’s voice snapped across the room. “It’s you,” she said, and something about the way she said it made it sound like it was my fault. “Tyrus wants you dead. He wants Rhys to feel the same pain he’s lived with for all these years. You will be executed, while Rhys watches. Then Rhys will be dismembered and left to live with the knowledge that you are gone forever.”
The floor wavered beneath my feet, or maybe my knees weakened. It sounded like the blood rushed behind my ears, but that couldn’t have been possible. “Can—can he really ask for that? Can that happen?”
“Tyrus can ask for whatever punishment he sees fit,” Cade said. “But, Kassandra, we won’t let that happen. Whatever happened between him and Rhys, we will clear it up. You will not be killed.”