by Kate Martin
“Falsely.”
“Sure. If you’re getting specific. I’m sure he’s been guilty of murder at some point or another. Hundreds of years ago there were no blood banks to feed from.”
“If you want me to listen to you, you need to stop saying horrible things about Rhys, and get explaining like you promised. Why didn’t the Hunters kill you when you first got turned?”
“They didn’t know. I hid. For ten years. When I finally showed up on my parents’ doorstep, alive—so to speak—they embraced me and welcomed me back into their home like the Prodigal Son.”
I stopped walking and studied his serene face. “They did not.”
“Correct. I was far removed from the human world until I liberated myself from my sire. I had no other choice. My sire was a sadistic bitch. She kept me more like a trophy, or a pet. The Hunter she had brought down. I didn’t get away until I killed her. By the time I resurfaced, my parents were dead, and when my younger brother saw me, he and his compatriots grabbed me, bound me in gold and proceeded to question and torture me for weeks.” The grin he put on held a tinge of bitterness.
“That I believe,” I said, actually feeling sympathy for him. To be rejected like that . . . “That sucks. I’m sorry.” Yes, I felt sympathetic, but that didn’t mean he had earned enough trust for me to show it. “And so how did you gain your brother’s trust?”
He pulled a branch from a nearby tree and started picking off the bark. “I didn’t. One of the elders found out he had me and put a stop to it. He questioned me himself, and determined that I still hated vampires as much as I had when I was human. Really, it was all very progressive of him, you know, for the early nineteen hundreds. He put me on a short leash and I worked for him until he died. When that happened, I wandered off on my own, but I kept in touch, provided information. I’m not a full member, but we have a sort of ‘you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours’ type of agreement.”
“Meaning they won’t kill you if you help out?”
“Pretty much.” He tossed the branch aside. “But don’t get me wrong. The Society is my heart and soul. The only reason I’m not there all the time is because they won’t have me.”
“Why not just kill yourself?”
“Not that easy, as I’m sure you know. Besides, I like life. I’m not quite done yet. Call me sinful, but if my soul is traded for immortality, and I can’t trade it back, I’m sure as hell going to take full advantage of the situation.”
“Never thought of it that way.”
“A hundred-plus years gets you some insight.”
“Good to know. But now you have another thing to explain. Why don’t they know what I am? They know what you are. What everyone else is. It’s how they hunt.”
“How do you know that, by the way? About the auras?”
“I’m not the one answering questions today.”
Solo grumbled and turned, catching an empty swing and sitting. I followed, but swinging was the last thing on my mind. “Your aura,” he said. “It looks human.”
Human. There’s a word I never thought would be applied to me ever again. “How? Why?”
“I have no idea. I can still see it, even considering my current condition.” He grinned, pleased with his ability to conceal his vampire nature in conversation. “I can see every aura in this town, and yours is just as bright as the little girl who was climbing the jungle gym this afternoon. If I didn’t know better, if I only relied on that sense, and not the others I have now, I would think you were mortal.”
“But why would I be different? It can’t have anything to do with having Hunter blood—if that’s even true—right? Is your aura like mine?”
“Nope. Mine’s as dark as the night. There’s only ever been one other vampire with a bright aura on record. They didn’t catch his name, but he showed up at a garden party in France years ago. A Society party, thrown by two newlyweds.”
Everything Cade had said to me on the night of the arrest suddenly made sense. The intense interest on both sides, the reason why the Council had been waiting to get their hands on him. And by what I saw in Solo’s eyes, he knew who he spoke of. Knew, that the vampire with the bright aura had come to see me, back when I was Jacqueline. Back when we were married. “Rhys.”
Solo just raised his eyebrows at me as confirmation. “Small world, huh?”
“That’s insane. Why would we be any different?”
“Why indeed?”
“My life is way too complicated right now.” I half stumbled to the swing beside him and collapsed onto it. The smooth, rocking motion didn’t do much to calm me. I was already a vampire, alienated from my friends and family, now I had to be a freak among the freaks? Great. “Why? Why would our auras still look human? That doesn’t make any sense.”
“No, it doesn’t. And there are a lot of people who would love to know the reason behind it.”
I put my face in my hands. There was no reason for Rhys and me to be different. None. We weren’t special. Not to anyone other than each other. It had to be a huge universal joke. It had already become quite clear to me that some grand design existed to keep Rhys and me miserable and without each other. Though, maybe this could be used to our advantage. Maybe if the Council knew I was as intriguing as Rhys they would reverse the order to have me killed. Maybe I wouldn’t have to go through with this little exchange I had agreed to.
Too late to turn back now, of course.
“You could cheer up a little, you know.”
Slowly, I turned my head to look at him. “Are you kidding me? What do I have to be cheerful about?”
“Good company?” He smiled lopsidedly.
“It would be nice if I had some.”
“Ouch.” He placed a hand over his wounded heart. “Come on, Kass. I’m just trying to help here.”
“I know. Sorry. I appreciate the sentiment, but it’s just not in me at the moment.”
“I should admit why I really came here today.”
“You mean it wasn’t to give me all the answers you had promised?”
“Well, that was one of the reasons. I came because I want you to reconsider.”
“Reconsider what?”
“Me.” He pushed off the ground and sent his swing forward, pumping it along with his legs as though we had been discussing crayons.
“You?” I played dumb. I doubted he would fall for it, but I was hoping he would.
“Yes. Me. We’re two peas in a pod, you and me. Both turned against our will, both from Hunter families. We’re perfect for each other. And fate’s even given its blessing once before.”
All true. But there was one problem with his logic. “I’m with Rhys, Solo. I love Rhys.”
He stopped the swing with a quick planting of his feet in the woodchips below. “Yeah, and where has that gotten you so far? He’s in prison, you’re under attack all the time. Maybe I’m weird, but that doesn’t seem all that ‘happily-ever-after’ to me.”
“Happily-ever-after is always preceded by pages and pages of trials, horrors, and heartbreak.”
“Not in the real world.”
“We don’t live in the real world. Not anymore.” My voice sounded far more bitter and despondent than I had expected.
“I mean it, Kass. Choose me.”
“I don’t even know you.”
“And yet every time we meet we sit and talk like old friends.”
“You can’t change my mind.”
“You can’t even have a life with him! He’s locked up, with no release date in sight. Are you going to spend your eternity miserable because of some false notion that you owe him something? He’s let you live your life before, you think he wouldn’t do it again?”
No. He would tell me to live my life, but he would die inside. And I couldn’t live like that. “It’s my decision.”
“Kass—”
“No.” I cut him off, not wanting to hear any more of his logical, sound and reasonable arguments. “Just let it go. It doesn’t matter.�
� I stood, pushing the swing away. It hit Solo’s swing in the process, and Solo as well. The unmistakable sound of chain thudding against flesh broke through the night. Moving so quickly, the book shifted heavily in my pocket and remembered why I was really there. I checked my watch.
“Your five minutes are up,” I said. “You need to go now.”
“No way. We’re not leaving the conversation like this.” He got to his feet, reaching for my arm, but I pulled away. “What is wrong with you?”
“You need to go,” I said again. “Leave. You can’t be here anymore. I gave you your chance to talk, and I appreciate the answers, and the sentiment behind the offer, but I have this under control.”
“Have what under control? And why do you keep checking your watch? Is this some sort of meeting? Are you expecting someone?”
“Leave, Solo.” I stared him down, wishing charming worked on other vampires. All I could do was try to look as intimidating and competent as possible.
He stared right back, then cursed. “What the hell have you gotten yourself into?”
“None of your business.” I had agreed to meet at the bench, so I headed in that direction, foolishly hoping I could just leave Solo behind.
“Kass.”
“Leave! Before you get us both killed!”
“Oh sure,” he said, pulling up short of the bench, but not leaving. “That makes me really want to leave you alone here.”
“Please, Solo. I am literally begging you. Go.” This was my mistake. My fault. I never should have let him stay in the first place. If I had been smart, I would have just made him go away without a word. Now, I could hear someone coming. If they saw him here with me . . .
This time Solo grabbed me, and for the first time, he exerted enough strength that I couldn’t just shove him away. “Are you in some kind of trouble?”
“That much is obvious, isn’t it? Now, let go. I’m in more trouble with you here.”
“Let me help.”
“No.”
We were nose to nose, both of us snarling at the other like wild animals when that smooth voice carried through the dark park. “Well, well. I thought we agreed to meet alone, Kassandra.”
Chapter Twenty-five: Negotiations
He looked just as I remembered him. Cool, collected, completely non-threatening. He approached slowly, hands in his pockets, cigarette pinched between his lips.
I stepped back from Solo and forced my fangs to retract. “Trust me, he wasn’t invited.”
“Risky, considering your life is on the line.”
Solo stepped between me and the other vampire. “What kind of meeting is this? You open with threats?”
The messenger—why hadn’t I bothered to learn his name?—laughed, then took a long drag of his cigarette. “Easy there, White Knight. Her life isn’t in danger from me.”
“Then who? And who the hell are you?”
“You can call me Emyr,” the vampire said with an easy smile.
“Solo, let me handle this.” I moved around him. Emyr—yay for names—had made a good point, and I didn’t need a white knight. I could take care of myself.
“Yes, Solo, please let her handle this,” Emyr said around his smoke. “We already have everything worked out. This meeting is simply the signature on the dotted line. She gives me what I want, and in return I’ll ensure she isn’t killed while her dearly beloved watches.”
“I’m sorry—what?” Solo turned on me, incredulous and nearly spitting with rage. “You’re going to be killed?”
See, now, why couldn’t anyone just keep their mouths shut? Emyr included. Why didn’t guys listen? “Not if you let me finish here.”
“Why kill you? I thought Rhys was the one wanted for murder.”
“He is.”
“Then what is he talking about?”
Emyr crushed what was left of his cigarette under the heel of his boot. “Would you like me to tell him?”
“No,” I snapped, having it up to here with people butting in where they didn’t belong. I didn’t owe Solo any explanation, but I knew he wouldn’t just let it go, and I wanted to get on with things. Every second wasted was one more second Rhys had to spend in that prison. So I went for the short, but thorough explanation. I didn’t want any more questions once I was done. “Rhys is wanted for murdering a Council member’s mate. At first he was just going to be dismembered, but Tyrus went to the prison and no one knows exactly what happened, but when Rhys couldn’t give him any answers Tyrus became even more enraged about the whole thing. He demanded that I be killed, like his Lydia was killed, so Rhys would know his pain.”
Solo had gone a little pale. I thought the reaction had been due to the knowledge of my impending doom, but then he gathered himself. “Lydia?” he said. “The vampire Rhys is supposed to have killed was named Lydia?”
“Yes. What about her?”
“And she was involved with the Council?”
“Yeah.”
“Shit.” He looked around suddenly, as if searching for danger. Then he looked back at me, leaning in close and whispering. “Listen, Kass, don’t give them what they want.”
“Why not?”
“Just don’t.”
“I don’t have time for this. I have no other options.”
“Not true. You just haven’t looked into everything yet.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
Emyr had crept closer, trying to hear our conversation. No doubt he had no trouble hearing my last words.
Solo stayed silent. He looked like maybe he wanted to say something, but wasn’t sure if he should, or could.
I shoved him hard in the chest. It only knocked him off balance for a moment. “Tell me.”
“This isn’t easy, Kass.”
“What? What could you possibly–” I stopped. What could he possibly know. He’d been a Hunter, turned by a sadistic vampire who loved to play games. Murder games. He’d killed her after only thirty years of this second life. He was one hundred and forty now. The name Lydia meant something to him. I could do the math.
Now his gaze made sense. He stared at me, trying to tell me everything with nothing but his eyes. But I had been on edge for a really, really long time.
I punched him.
My strength was enough to lay him out, though maybe some of it had been his surprise. “You knew! You knew something and you never said a word!”
Shouldering himself up, he spit blood. “Shut up, Kass.”
“Why? Why should I?”
“Because for one thing, he’s here.” He jerked his head in the direction of Emyr—who I had momentarily forgotten about it. “And secondly because he has three others with him.”
That cold chill ran down my neck. Emyr sighed, and heaved his shoulders in defeat. “Well, this is unfortunate,” he said, pushing his glasses up on his nose. “I was hoping to not have to make a mess. Last chance, Kassandra. Do we have a deal?”
I looked at Emyr, then Solo on the ground. I didn’t particularly trust either of them, but if I had to pick . . .
“Sorry,” I said. “It seems there’s been a change of plans.”
“Pity. For you, that is. My plans haven’t changed a bit.” He smiled in the darkness, and snapped. The three vampires Solo had noticed while I was too distracted by my own feelings appeared from the shadows, walking along the paths and grass like they were out for a stroll.
A stroll that involved chains and long knives.
Great.
Solo got to his feet. “Well, good going, Kass. Look what you’ve gotten us into.”
“As I said before, you weren’t actually invited.”
“Want me to leave?”
“No, I want you to tell me everything you know.”
“Heh, I bet freckles here wants me to keep quiet. Or be dead.”
From under his sleeve, Emyr revealed a long blade. “Dead will suffice.”
Solo gave him a thumbs up.
“Seriously?” I said. “Do you take nothi
ng seriously?”
“I take a great many things very seriously.” He drew a long blade from somewhere along his back and grinned. Suddenly I knew what people meant by a “shit-eating grin.”
“Expecting trouble, were you?”
“I know better than to leave the house unarmed.”
“Well, so do I.” I pulled my dagger from its sheath, and just in time—because the vampires had us surrounded now. Emyr directly in front, a woman with deep brown skin and braided hair at my right, another similar woman at my back, and a man with so many scars along his arms and neck it was hard to notice anything else coming around on the left.
“I’m not really into hitting girls,” Solo said. “You take the chicks, I’ll take the dudes?”
“Bite me.”
“Later.”
The first woman rushed me, the other held back. I guess they didn’t feel like both getting dirty if they didn’t have to. I ducked and swerved, saving myself from a nasty chain around the throat. Point for Cade and all his insane, unscheduled attacks. Cutting around, I brought my dagger about in a sharp arc, planting my blade firmly in the back of her thigh.
She didn’t seem pleased about that. Especially when I added the gold to the mix.
Her hiss was inhuman, and I was grateful for it. I had fought the seriously undead cariosus, but thinking, feeling vampires was another matter altogether. She whipped around, knocking me upside the head with the back of her fist and I went flying. The bench that had once given me such a kind place to sit snapped and splintered beneath my back.
Groping for my dagger, which had thankfully landed just beside me, I got myself back on my feet. The other vampire stalked towards me, watching, waiting. No doubt she was older than me. Possibly older than Solo, but certainly not older than Cade.
If I could dodge him, I could dodge her.
Of course, dodging wouldn’t put an end to anything. It would just prolong it.
“Where you gonna go, pretty girl?” she said, her voice with a lovely, lyrical Jamaican accent. “There’s nowhere to run. I’ll catch you.”
“Guess I’ll just stand here then.” I could see Solo off in the distance, fighting one on one with the scarred vampire. I couldn’t tell who was winning. Between us, a body lay still on the ground, head detached and burning. The other woman. Had Solo already killed her? I couldn’t see Emyr anywhere.