by Sage, May
By the time he made it back to his kitchen, Avani was leaning on a wall, eyes closed, and now her fatigue was plain as day. She might fall asleep like this if he left her to it for long enough.
Her pride or her sense of self-preservation hadn't allowed her to drop her guard in a room full of predators, he surmised.
"Your room's up on the second floor. Shall I carry you?"
Her eyes flew open, narrowing on him.
He laughed. "Maybe not, then."
Alexius effortlessly lifted the teenager up on one shoulder and led the way.
The house had been built somewhere around the sixth century—it had been five hundred years old by the time he'd opened his eyes. In fifteen hundred years, it had been demolished, built, entirely rebuilt, extended, and polished. In the nineteenth century of the previous era, the Helsings and Drakes started an open war that destroyed most of both families. Alexius wasn't totally sure who won; all he knew was that his family went from fifty-something annoyingly smug know-it-alls to a handful of sullen survivors. One of those survivors had been bitter enough to whisper in a human ear in order to destroy the Drakes' reputation, and the novel Dracula was born. Ironically, the Drakes loved it.
Before the clan war, the Helsing house had housed hundreds of people at times. Guests and family members.
The first floor was laid out in rows of identical rooms, comfortable, certainly, but small and impersonal. As Alexius rarely received guests, he had the entire floor shut off a couple of hundred years ago.
The second floor only accommodated ten rooms, all much larger and more luxurious. In the old days, the master used to be at the center of the floor, and the servants had been housed on the third floor. He still used it occasionally, when he brought his conquests home.
Rather than housing servants, Alexius hired maids from Adairford now, so he had had the last floor entirely remodeled, breaking down every wall and turning it into an open concept space that was solely his. No one had ever stepped there and he liked it that way. Though cleaning it was a bitch. Praised be whoever invented robot Hoovers.
Alexius stopped by a cream and yellow room with heavy brocade and raw silk curtains, dropping the boy on the elegant bed before walking out.
Avani waited until he'd shut the door before whistling low, visibly impressed. "Damn, I know you guys are vamp royalty, but I didn't expect your houses to actually look like palaces."
Alexius shrugged. "They're just old. And I'm not inclined to have it redesigned again. This way."
He bypassed the master, which he didn't think had been cleaned since his adventure with…Laura? Lise, that was it.
To its right, there was one room that had been redesigned at the same time as his—the only one he'd bothered with on this floor.
Instead of outdated four-poster beds with curtains and dusty tapestries on the walls, this room looked like the inside of a cabin, with wood on three of the walls; the last were fresh doors leading out to its own balcony.
The bed was a high fabric box spring, and at each side, there was an antique Chinese bedside table—one bright red and the other turquoise. Fresh flowers had been set on them.
Walking in, Alexius started the mechanism of a fountain that lit up in a dim glow.
Avani practically leaped inside and threw herself at the bed with a sigh of delight.
Alexius laughed.
"Were you waiting for company?" she asked, pointing at the flowers without moving her head.
"No, I get maintenance to change them weekly. This is my sister's room."
Avani peeked up at him. "Won't she be pissed I use it?"
He chuckled. "I wish. But she'll never know. Diana doesn't come here. It's only set up in case she chooses to."
Seeing some pity in her eyes, he was quick to change the subject. "The clothes in here are new." He tapped his fingers over the surface of a wardrobe. "They should fit you, more or less. Help yourself. If you need anything—well, you have legs and a brain. Use them."
"Thank you." She didn't seem put out by his abruptness. Maybe she was just that tired.
Or used to assholes.
"I don't even know your name."
"I'm Alexius Helsing. And you're Avani."
"Avani Parker. Nice to meet—" Her words were interrupted by a long yawn.
"I prefer crazy girl. Sleep, Avani. The others will arrange your transfer to the Institute shortly. You may remain here in the meantime."
"You know, I thought you were a complete prick, but you aren't. You simply keep people at arm's length."
Her voice sounded heavier, indicating that she was close to crashing.
"What makes you think that?"
There was no answer. From the sound of her breathing, she'd finally succumbed to a deep slumber.
Another World
Avani woke up alert, every memory from the previous night crashing into her like a freight train. The run, the hunt, then being chased by the pack. Zayn.
And of course, the skinless monster who'd saved her from him.
Avani remembered smelling Zayn's blood, and the wolf's head had been twisted at a wrong angle. Had Alexius drained him? Broken his neck? Either way, she was fairly certain that the alpha's son was dead.
Which meant that Draiden would find a way to make her pay for it.
Shit. How could her life have changed so much in such a short time? Yesterday she'd been in the Wolvswoods, hanging out with Julie and the twins. Now she knew that entering pack territory was a death penalty for her. Whether or not Levi had banished Draiden from Oldcrest, he'd still be the pack's alpha.
God, she was in deep shit.
She had to admit, she didn't exactly feel like she was in deep shit right this moment, though.
The shirt around her shoulder smelled like heaven. Her bed was far too comfortable for her to give in to fear. There were fragrant bouquets of sweet peas either side and a stone fountain with amethysts set up around it. It occurred to her that, while empty of personal touches, this room had been designed with loving care, to fit the taste of a specific individual. She imagined a hippie would love it here.
Alexius had said it was his absent sister's room. If she hadn't been exhausted, she might have been nosy enough to ask more about why she never used it. It was their family home, right?
She managed to sit up on the side of her borrowed bed. The box spring was so high she had a bit of a Princess and the Pea fantasy, looking at the floor two feet down.
Well, if he'd stuck a pea under those mattresses, she'd failed the test.
She leaped down, and upon seeing a door to her left, close to the wardrobe and away from the exit, she headed for it, hoping for an en-suite.
Her jaw hit the floor when she opened it. It was a bathroom, all right. Only it was the size of the bedroom, if not larger. There were no windows although dim quartz lights lit up when she walked in. Instead of a bath, there was a pool surrounded by stones, crystals, candles, and flasks. To one side, on a gold platter, there was a bottle of red wine with an elegant glass.
Avani had actually entered her version of paradise.
She started a hot bath. A wiser woman might have been wary of the unlabeled, unfamiliar concoctions inside the flasks, but caution wasn't in her nature. She opened them one by one, sniffed them, and tried a drop or two in the bath when she liked the smell of them. She doubted he would have left something corrosive out for his sister.
A translucent silvery liquid somehow turned the water purple, and the gold one made huge bubbles erupt on top.
When she was done playing, she sank into the water, its various scents assaulting her finely tuned sense of smell.
She moaned in delight. It felt like the water was massaging her shoulders. Which was impossible. Then again, she was in a vampire's house.
She remained until the water was lukewarm; her skin was peeling off, but she didn't have any regrets.
Back in the room, opening the wardrobe, her suspicions about Alexius's sister were confirmed whe
n she found long, flowing skirts and beaded suede vests—all with tags. Diana Helsing totally was a hippie. Or maybe he'd just bought her stuff in the sixties.
She found a pair of normal jeans behind the elephant and harem pants, and a white T-shirt.
Alexius was right, his sister was around her size, though taller. She rolled the bottom of the jeans to her ankles.
No such luck with shoes; they were two sizes too large.
Having to resort to using someone else's belongings sucked at the best of times, but the fact that they were new helped. Still, it only served to remind her that her life was a huge freaking mess. She couldn't go get her stuff. Her shoes, her clothes, her computer.
Sadly, the list of belongings she owned that mattered ended there. Most of all, her computer mattered. She was due to film another video in a couple of days; she'd said so on her last review.
Avani bit her lip. She knew her passwords. Maybe Chloe could lend her a laptop.
And she had other immediate problems. She needed shoes, clothes that were hers—that meant having money.
She hadn't exactly gone on a pack run with her wallet in her mouth, sadly. She knew after a phone call to her bank they'd send another card to her mailbox in Edinburgh, but that wasn't next door.
Whatever way she thought about it, she was going to have to ask for help. Her pride didn't like that. She'd already been saved, and needing more assistance, beyond letting her crash for the night and allowing her to go to school, made her feel so damn weak.
School. She hadn't taken the time to think about the implications.
Avani had been homeschooled; she hadn't had any other choice while on the run from anti-shifters. Thankfully, her mother used to be a professor, so she didn't botch her education. She'd loved learning, soaking in every bit of knowledge her mother wanted to pass on to her. Then, after her death, she'd been brought here, to Oldcrest, where there had been five computers in the whole pack and less than a hundred books.
She'd learned to love other aspects of life—running the woods, the safety of being stuck behind magic walls. But she'd been so very frustrated by the fact that she couldn't continue her education.
Now they were giving her a chance at it.
Maybe.
She doubted the vampires were offering it without strings attached. Besides, the pack would try to get to her—staying here might not be worth it.
All of those issues swirled in her mind until she came to one conclusion that answered every point.
She needed to contact Knox.
Avani resolved to only ask for a phone—that wasn't too much of a favor. Knox was her turner—if he'd been a vampire, he would have been called her sire—and as such, she was his responsibility. He'd made it clear that she understood that before they parted ways. She balked at being anyone's concern, but if she had to beg someone for help, it might as well be the one person who felt like he owed her something.
As she came down the stairs, she sniffed the air, and rushed forward when the distinctive smell of bacon hit her nostrils.
"God, I could eat a—" She came to a halt in front of the kitchen.
Alexius wore a gray shirt today, still with jeans, and was holding onto two plates—one piled up with sausages and the other with bacon. On the breakfast bar where she'd perched yesterday, there was a huge buffet with pancakes, fresh mango cut in chunks, maple syrup, eggs, croissants, and for some reason, haggis.
The teenager from yesterday was seated and already digging in.
"You…cook."
Her brain wasn't functioning very well right now.
"When you're my age, there won't be much you can't do," Alexius replied. "Sit. Eat. Don't wait for me."
She'd read that vampires didn't need to eat as much as mortals. Which begged the question: why was he cooking for a football team?
"That's a lot." She sat down in front of an empty plate, poured herself a glass of orange juice, and started to pile up food on her plate.
"I didn't know what you guys ate. Plus, wolves are insatiable after runs, if I recall."
He was right about that. She couldn't eat for twelve people, but she certainly made a pretty big dent in the buffet.
"How are you doing?" she asked the teenager.
He grinned. "I'm alive. Thanks to you. And I have a cool-as-fuck story to share with my class. I mean, I can share, right?"
His eyes traveled from Alexius to Avani.
Declining the role of the adult here, she stared at the vampire pointedly.
He shrugged. "Sure. Anti-sups will always find material, anyway. And the fact that you were helped by a vampire and a wolf makes it a happy ending."
Avani didn't point out that the ending hadn't been quite so happy for everyone. She doubted the other two humans had seen the light of day.
“Wicked.”
The boy returned to his food happily.
After demolishing a huge pile of pancakes, Avani peered at Alexius’s plate as he finally sat down. He’d cleaned up the kitchen before joining them.
“That’s just sad, dude.”
He only had two teensy little pancakes, a spoonful of eggs, and one piece of bacon.
One. Who ate one piece of bacon?
He grinned. “I’m already pretty full.”
Avani blushed, her mind traveling back to Zayn and the smell of his blood in the air.
Full of werewolf.
She wanted to ask if he’d killed him—she was about ninety percent certain he had—and then, she could prepare herself for the backlash. She thought better of it after a moment. That wasn’t a conversation to have with a regular mortal teen in the room.
Alexius glanced at the grandfather clock in one corner of the wood and beige kitchen. “Finish up,” he told the boy. “Mikar will be here to take you to your parents soon.”
The boy lost some of his cheer. “Can’t you take me?” he asked, somewhat wearily.
He’d showed more courage than expected, but he wasn’t dumb. It’d be a long while before he trusted a sup again.
Which was good. Mortals could get along with sups, but there was no denying that their world held some danger.
Alexius winced. “Because I can’t. I trust you remember what I looked like yesterday? That’s what happens when I leave this place.”
Avani had so many questions all of a sudden. Before she could ask, a doorbell rang, interrupting her.
“It’s open,” Alexius shouted. Then his eyes went to Avani. “You should go with them; they’re heading to a human town. I’m sure you need…stuff. Shoes, whatever.”
He was right there. “Could I borrow your phone, first? I need to get in touch with Knox, tell him what happened.”
“I called him yesterday,” Alexius said, surprising her.
Alexius knew Knox? As in, knew him well enough to have his phone number? Not many people did.
“He said he’d get in touch with you. He just needs to clean up after the pack first.”
In other words, take care of the bodies they’d left behind and probably smooth things over with the human authorities by promising that the culprits would pay.
Then make them pay, somehow.
If Knox was taking care of it, maybe she didn’t have to fear the Elder Pack. She wouldn’t give in to hope until she’d spoken to him.
Mikar walked in, remaining intense and silent as he had the two times she’d seen him. The dark-haired, olive-skinned vampire had a wild edge, very different from Alexius’s suave demeanor.
“Okay. It has to be somewhere where I can stop by my bank…”
Without her bank cards or ID. Dammit.
Alexius pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and extracted a bunch of fifty-pound notes without counting them, before handing them to her. The stack was thick. She looked at it like the notes might bite.
That was a lot of money. Way too much. And things weren’t given for free in her world.
As if he read her mind, Alexius rolled his eyes. “You don’t have a
nything. No computer, no clothes, no phone—hell, no shoes. Use what you need, bring me back the rest. Knox can pay me back, whatever.” Her expression must have been plain as day. He corrected himself immediately. “Okay, you can pay me back. Or, don’t. It’s not like I’d notice. I’ve had a long time to amass cash, crazy girl. This is just…pink leaves.”
The teenager gasped. “Pink leaves? There’s at least five thousand there.”
Avani chose to ignore his candor, but reluctantly, she had to agree with one of his points. She had literally nothing. Which meant she had no choice.
“All right. I’ll pay you back.”
He truly didn’t seem to care one way or another.
Regulars
The kid was literally never going to shut up. He had a billion questions, all directed toward Mikar, which was hilarious because the stern vampire was obviously not used to dealing with children. In fact, he looked scared of the teenager. Listening from the back seat, Avani almost felt sorry for him.
Almost.
“Are you guys sensitive to sunlight like in the movies?” the boy asked.
“Do I look like I’m turning to ashes?” Mikar grumbled.
“Hey, like, maybe you still don’t like sunlight. I don’t like math even though I still do my homework.”
“Good. Let’s put some music on.” Mikar turned a radio on the first station, cranking the volume up to drown out any attempt at conversation.
He underestimated the kid. The boy simply turned the volume down to a reasonable level and kept going with his questions.
“We don’t really see vampires during the day. I live in London, people say there’s loads of vampires there, but I’ve never seen one before.”
“Really?” Mikar asked dryly. “I wonder why. Vampires obviously should want to hang out with fifteen-year-olds.”
“Maybe not, but I should at least have seen one, right? Oh! Do you turn into bats?”
Avani attempted to hide her smile as Mikar grunted.
She finally took pity on him. “Vampires can’t turn—that’s what shifters do. They don’t have an animal inside them. They can, however, sync with their familiars. That means their mind and body inhabit the animals they’ve formed a bond with for a time. And while sunlight doesn’t tend to hurt most vampires, they prefer nighttime, like most sups, because your kind dominates the day. And while some people are fine with us, like you, there are plenty of others who love to make life difficult for us.”
