by Morgana Best
He nodded slowly. “Yes. I’ve been trying to keep them safe ever since they came back to Lighthouse Bay. I don’t know if you’re aware, but someone here is working for The Other. I thought it was Killian Cosgrove, but now I’m not so sure. Any spy for The Other wouldn’t be as stupid as he was.”
“You’re a vampire?”
Alec nodded. “Yes,” he whispered. “Come on, I’ll take you back to your aunts.”
“I must call them and tell them I’m safe,” I said, but then said, “Killian had my phone in his pocket and it’s gone over the cliff with him.”
“Never mind, I’m sure you’ll get a new one on your insurance,” Alec said in a soothing tone. “I must get you back to your aunts and inform the police. I don’t carry a mobile phone. I find them vulgar.”
We got in the car and he handed me a flask. “Witches’ Brew,” he said. “You look like you could do with some.”
I thanked him and took a large gulp. Alec Aldon had been working for the Council this whole time? I could scarcely believe it, but then again, I’d had a horrible shock. I had only been inches from certain death and I had been saved by the most unlikely person.
I did not realise anything was amiss until Alec stopped the car at a deserted lighthouse. “What are we doing here?” I asked Alec. I wondered why my voice was hoarse. In fact, I wondered why my sight was blurred.
Alec shook his head. “I had no idea you were so gullible, Miss Jasper. I’m going to trade you for your parents.”
Chapter 21
I couldn’t sleep the whole night, racked by dreams of Alec Aldon kidnapping me to trade me for my parents. Alec wanted to destroy the vampire Council, and he believed killing my parents would help get the job done. In one of the many dreams he had whispered his plan to me in that infuriatingly quiet voice of his, “You’ll be just fine, Miss Jasper. It’s just your parents who are going to die.”
I woke with tears streaming down my face. I realised I wasn’t in my own bed at all.
It was a moment before I gathered myself together. I was in a small room with round stone walls, and a small window shaped like an arch carved into the stone. I’d never seen such a strange room before. I stood on the bed, ignoring the creak of rusty springs, and glanced out the window. We were high on a cliff top overlooking an ocean.
I could hear the waves now as my heartbeat quietened far too slowly for my liking. They weren’t dreams after all. Alec Aldon had kidnapped me, and he planned to trade my life for the life of my parents.
I tried to concentrate on an escape plan. If only Breena were here. She could have lead Lucas to where I was being kept. I guessed from the strange roundness of the room and the ocean below that I was being kept in a lighthouse, perhaps the run down old thing that I used to jog past, that parents warned their children to stay away from, that the homeless used to shelter in from the storm.
My heart thudded loudly now. Nobody would find me here.
It didn’t stop thudding when the door opened and a figure stepped into the room. Alec Aldon. My hair stood on end as he whispered, “Enjoying the view, Miss Jasper?”
I tried not to let him see me jump out of my skin. “Yes. It’s lovely. What girl wouldn’t want a free holiday at the beach? I hope you will let me skip the mini-bar bill.”
I stayed standing on the bed, looking down my nose at Alec Aldon. He could kidnap me and plan the murder of my parents all he liked; I refused to show him a second of fear.
“I’ve sent word to your aunts,” he said now.
“They’re probably too busy to pay attention to you,” I announced haughtily and folded my arms. I hoped my aunts, my parents, and Lucas refused to give into Alec’s demands, but I also hoped they would come up with a plan to find and free me.
“I can see your mind ticking over,” Alec said now. “Don’t try anything reckless, or it is your friends who will pay.”
One thing bothered me. “Why did you alert me to the fact that Weston Maxwell killed his uncle, Beckett? You and Weston were both working for The Other.”
His expression changed to distaste. “Weston was careless and went against orders. He didn’t know who I really was, so I thought it best to dispose of him. I shall leave you alone for now, Miss Jasper.”
I sighed deeply with relief when he slipped slowly out of the room and closed the door. I heard the turning of a key in the lock and footsteps as he walked down what I assumed was a spiral staircase.
“Think,” I whispered to myself, but it was hard to see what I could do locked in a tiny room way up high with only a bed and an old fashioned picture of a boat nailed high on the wall.
I remember how he had kidnapped me now. He had no doubt spiked the Witches’ Brew with herbs that brought on a restless sleep. No wonder I felt so dizzy.
I sat on the bed and buried my face in my hands. I stayed this way until the sun was high in the sky, when Alec opened the door and escorted me down to the kitchen. He’d packed away all the utensils, so stabbing him in the hand with a butter knife and running out of the lighthouse was sadly not an option.
He told me to sit and placed a piece of burnt toast and a cup of flat lemonade in front of me. Alec had treated himself to a more scrumptious lunch; he set down a plate of barbecued mackerel with beetroot and apple salad, and an ice-cold beer. I tried not to cringe as he smacked his lips, sucking the meat off the bone of the fish with primal glee in his eyes.
I nibbled on my toast, nodding along as he ranted in that quiet voice about the Council and my parents. I hoped he’d finish up soon so I could return to the little round room. Isolation was far more enjoyable than spending any time whatsoever with Alec Aldon.
Glancing over to the window, I noticed the flicker of a sleek black tail, and then two yellow eyes looking at me through the greenery. It was Breena!
I had to dig my fingernails into the palms of my hand to stop from screaming out, but even then Alec had noticed my body language go stiff. He glanced over to the windowsill, but Breena had vanished with another flick of her tail.
So my aunts and Lucas knew that Alec had kidnapped me, and now they would know where he was keeping me. I was a girl who liked to save myself, but I didn’t mind the occasional gorgeous vampire bursting in to save the day either, and I hoped Lucas wouldn’t take too long to make his way to the lighthouse.
The lighthouse already had signs warning people to steer clear, and now I’d gathered my thoughts a little better, I remembered on the drive up to the cliff side passing at least a dozen more warning signs. Alec must have put them up to make certain everyone was determined to avoid the lighthouse and the sheer cliff drop below it, so nobody would find where he was doing his nefarious business.
I hoped Lucas would trust Breena and not pay any attention to the signs.
Not that I had to worry. Five minutes later, while Alec was licking his plate clean, and my half eaten toast was gathering a fly or two, the lighthouse door burst open.
Lucas flew into the lighthouse. Breena padded in behind him, and looking very pleased with herself.
“Get away from her,” Lucas shouted as Alec wrapped a hand around my elbow and pulled me out the back door.
I was too stunned to react in time, and it didn’t help my cause that Alec was incredibly strong. Even though he came across as an anaemic man without the energy to speak above a whisper, he was a vampire, which meant he would have no trouble fighting me off.
It only took five steps for Alec to manoeuvre me to the cliff edge.
“What do you want?” Lucas demanded.
“You know what I want,” Alec whispered.
“Breena, go and tell the aunts to fetch Pepper’s parents,” Lucas said to my cat, who curled her tail with annoyance and just sat there. Cats don’t really take orders, not even in a life or death situation.
“Don’t take a step closer, or Miss Jasper here goes over the cliff,” Alec told Lucas.
“If I go over the cliff, then you won’t have anybody to trade for my parents, Alec
,” I told him. “Come and stop him, Lucas,” I added.
But it didn’t appear that Lucas was willing to take any risks. I noticed his throat tighten as he looked back and forth between Alec and me. He had a curiously expressionless face, but I knew Lucas. I knew his protective instincts were screaming right now.
“We’re both vampires, Alec. Surely, we can solve this issue together. Nobody has to die,” Lucas reasoned.
Alec shook his head and sneered, “I want the Council destroyed, and I always get what I want.”
I flinched as he jerked my arm, and noticed that Lucas flinched too. I decided if Alec tried to throw me over the cliff, I’d drag him down with me. At least that way my parents and the Council would be safe from his schemes.
“All right. All right. Just relax,” Lucas said.
I shook my head. It wasn’t a big enough gesture for Alec to notice, but Lucas, who was always watchful of my every move, noticed, just as I noticed his brow furrow slightly in confusion. I nodded toward Alec in the hopes Lucas would get my non-verbal message. For a moment he didn’t, and then his eyes widened in surprise. He nodded at me, but only so I would notice. Alec was really too concerned with himself and his plan to read our body language.
“Or don’t relax,” Lucas said. “You’re not smart enough to bring down the Council, Alec.”
He sniffed. “What is this? Reverse psychology?”
“No. It’s the truth.”
“Hardly.”
“You can’t take down the Council so you kidnap a defenceless person.”
“You and I both know Miss Jasper is not defenceless,” Alec replied.
“Compared to the Council she is defenceless, but you’re neither smart enough nor strong enough to take them on directly, so you sneak about like the stupid little ferret you are, scheming and planning and rubbing your hands together like you are a big bad vampire.”
“I am one of the strongest vampires in the world.”
“So that’s why you’re trying to kill an innocent woman, because you are so tough?”
My plan was working. I’d signalled Lucas to wind Alec up, and I could sense Alec getting angrier and angrier by the minute.
“I don’t listen to little boys,” Alec sputtered, squeezing my arm even tighter. I tried not to show the pain on my face, or else Lucas would stop winding Alec up and my plan would be ruined.
I needed this plan to work. I didn’t have time to think of a second.
“A real vampire with any sort of power wouldn’t need to skulk around. They attack directly.”
“Why you—nonsense—I’ll show you…” Alec cried, for the first time raising his voice a little above a whisper.
He pushed me to the side. Luckily, I’d balanced my weight just in case he did this, and I fell forward onto the grass instead of toppling over the cliff and onto the rocks below.
Alec lunged at Lucas, but Lucas stepped to the side. While Alec recovered to launch another attack on Lucas, I had enough time to snag a shovel out of the long-neglected garden and clock him on the back of the head. He collapsed onto the ground, unconscious.
I was just about to see if he was breathing, even though I could see from the rise and fall of his chest that he was, when Lucas grabbed me and pulled me into a tight hug.
All the muscles in my body relaxed as I felt his warmth through the thin cotton of his shirt. He broke away from me for a moment to slip his jacket around my trembling shoulders. Now that Alec was down and out I was no longer afraid to show how vulnerable I felt, and I let myself sigh as Lucas pulled me back into his arms. He whispered something into my hair, but the noise was muffled. I laughed, not caring what he said, just happy to be alive and to be alive in the arms of Lucas.
I heard a car tear up the cliff road. I guessed my aunts had ignored the signs blocking the road, but Lucas and I refused to let go of each other. I could let my parents and the aunts fuss over me later, and I could explain to Breena that she should listen when someone asked her to go for help. But for now, I wanted to stand there on the cliff edge and listen to the beating of Lucas’s heart.
Minutes later, the aunts arrived in Agnes’s car, tires screeching, and took Alec Aldon away to be interrogated by my parents.
“I’m sorry,” Lucas whispered in my ear, his hand pressed protectively into the small of my back as we walked away from the lighthouse. “I should have stopped Alec before he kidnapped you.”
“That’s all right, Lucas. I’m fine. I promise.”
But Lucas still looked worried.
“I’m fine, really,” I said again.
“I hope you’re not just saying that so I won’t worry about you. I’m always going to worry about you. You do like to spend your time solving murders, and murderers don’t seem to like it all that much.”
I didn’t say anything. Instead I slipped my arm through his and sighed. Lucas seemed too absorbed in his worried thoughts to notice.
I wished we didn’t have to leave the lighthouse. I wished I could spend the afternoon among the bumblebees on the soft grass with Lucas, but I desperately wanted to race to the tunnel and speak with my parents about Alec.
Chapter 22
After my parents told me they were still questioning Alec Aldon, and scolded me at length for putting myself in danger, Lucas and I found ourselves drinking tea in the kitchen at Mugwort Manor. Aunt Dorothy was asking me if I was quite all right. At least, Aunt Dorothy thought she was asking me if I was quite all right. She was actually talking to the curtains but didn’t seem to know it, given her eyesight was still very poor and she still refused to wear glasses.
“Does Aunt Dorothy really think I’d wear that shade of green?” I muttered to Aunt Agnes, looking at the hideous curtains.
“You’d look lovely in anything,” Aunt Maude said. “Now would you please take these spinach artichoke bites to the table in the garden?”
“No,” I replied, pouring myself a very large glass of Witches’ Brew. I had the feeling the aunts were going to be extra strange tonight.
Aunt Maude huffed, “Why not?”
“Because they’re spinach artichoke bites.”
Dorothy was now telling the curtains about how on the 17th of September in 1837 the London-Birmingham line opened in England and the railway boom started. “The line connected London to the Midlands for the first time,” she said, “and had been planned since 1833.”
“Never mind the daft old bird,” Aunt Agnes said to me, “you need to show off more cleavage if you want that fella to stick around.”
“Aunt Agnes,” I cried, “Lucas doesn’t want me for my breasts.” I considered the aunts had been drinking far too much that evening.
Aunt Agnes nodded. “I know. How could he when you don’t have any?”
“Spinach artichoke bites,” Aunt Maude reminded me, pushing the platter of foul little edibles into my hands.
When Aunt Maude was too busy arguing with Aunt Agnes, I ditched the platter on the windowsill and picked up a bowl of guacamole hummus and tucked a packet of corn chips underneath my chin. No matter what Agnes believed, my apparently non-existent bosom was hardly going to scare Lucas away, but Aunt Maude’s appetisers definitely would do the job.
“How are you?” Lucas said when I reached the garden, his handsome face golden and radiant in the twilight.
“Aunt Dorothy is talking to the curtains.”
Lucas grinned. “It’s only a concern if the curtains talk back.”
Aunt Agnes had decorated the table with a centrepiece of chequered Irish moss, which was lovely and also very illegal, since she’d hopped the fence in her gumboots and stolen the centrepiece from Euphemia Jones.
“I filled a galvanised-metal planter with potting soil and arranged the Irish moss in two shades. I picked the dark-green Sagina Subulata and the chartreuse Sagina Subulata,” Aunt Agnes had announced after she stepped back into the manor with the centrepiece tucked underneath one arm.
I had replied, “Don’t you mean Euphemia Jones
filled a galvanised-metal planter with potting soil and arranged the Irish moss in two shades?”
Aunt Agnes had tilted back her head and said, “Who?”
Now I said to Aunt Agnes when she appeared with the pink champagne at my elbow, “I don’t think those are our cushions either.”
“They are now.”
“I’m worried about Valkyrie.” Aunt Dorothy emerged from the house with her eyes narrowed. “She’s looking a little green, and she didn’t care even a little bit about the British railroad.”
“Probably because she was a curtain,” Agnes said.
“And the British railroad was incredibly boring,” Lucas added in my ear.
Now Aunt Maude appeared with the spinach artichoke bites and a furious expression on her face. I ducked behind Lucas and waited for the storm to pass me in a huff. Then I filled a flute of champagne and sat in a chair. I’d only just escaped a kidnapper intent on murdering me, and then another kidnapper intent on murdering my parents, and now Maude expected me to suffer artichoke too.
“Are you all right?” Lucas sat in the chair beside me.
“Of course,” I said. “Why do you think I’m not all right?”
“Because you just sculled a whole flute of pink champagne, and now you’ve got the hiccups.”
“I do not,” I muttered, and then I hiccupped.
“You mustn’t mind Valkyrie’s itty bitty bosom, Lucas,” Aunt Agnes announced. “She can’t help that she’d rather be brainy than beautiful. Some girls are like that, you know. It’s a most admirable quality.”
An arrogant voice said, “What did you say?”
We turned to see Euphemia Jones sticking her bright pink face over the garden fence.
Aunt Agnes furrowed her brow. “I wasn’t talking to the likes of you.”
“Is that my Irish moss?” Euphemia said then.
“Is it on your garden table?”
“Well—no?”
“Then go away.”
Aunt Agnes turned her back on Euphemia while Aunt Dorothy started talking to the garden rake by the watermelons. “You must eat more, Valkyrie,” she pleaded. “You were looking green a few minutes ago, and now you are looking incredibly thin. It’s not healthy, my dear.”
