A Billion Secrets: Vampire Romance Novel

by Angela Foxxe

  “Like Lily?” she began.

  He froze. Like Lily. How would he begin with this? She looked just like Lily. She was descended from Lily’s family. Her parents were dead because of him… “Lily is – was… she was someone very special to me.”

  “Were you married to her?” Isla asked him.

  He shook his head. “I just loved her. And I suppose Isaac did too, in his own scary way.”

  “Who was she? Why did he keep saying I looked like her? Do I really?”

  Gabriel took a deep breath and took out a gold locket. He opened a latch and held it up for her to see. She frowned at first, taking the watch from his hand. Then her eyes widened and she gasped, quickly returning the watch to his hand.

  Isla felt like she was looking at her own photo, taken a hundred years ago.

  “You even have the same eyes,” he said, his voice sounding hurt. “I couldn’t believe it at first, when I saw you. I felt like she had come back and I had a chance to atone for my sins.”

  “What sins?”

  “I killed her,” he uttered, closing his eyes again, “like how I killed your parents.”

  “Did you, really?” she asked in a soft voice. “All I remember was someone stood between the road and our car. The light from the sun was fading. Then I remember the cold water, and I saw my mother and father unconscious. I passed out. The next thing I know, someone was pulling me out. It was you, wasn’t it? You could have left me there to die, if I’m really a descendant of some family that hates your kind…”

  He shook his head. “I couldn’t leave you there. Not when your father asked for me to save you first. Isaac was on that road, your father avoided him. I had wanted to make a deal with your father. All nightwalkers saw your family as a threat, but your father didn’t kill me, even if he knew who I was. The Hunters all have this compulsion to kill us. Most of these Hunters are from the Ashworth family. They used to kill us with stakes made from Ash wood and silver tips. Your father was an Ashworth. Isaac killed your grandparents first.”

  Isla listened, unable to believe the revelation. “So I’m really an Ashworth? And my father masqueraded as an archaeologist?”

  “I suppose he wanted to protect you. It was clear he loved you, I saw it in his eyes as water surrounded the car, he was begging for me to save you…”

  Tears began to flow from her eyes. She barely remembered anything from that traumatizing night, yet here was Gabriel, the man whom she thought killed her family. Isaac had made it seem like that.

  “You still trusted me. Why?” he asked.

  “I remember something vaguely. Your eyes. You made sure I was alive when you left me on the embankment…” she whispered, suddenly feeling the intense cold, like she had been plunged into the river not far away from Blackwell Hall.

  “Your parents were here to search for the red diamond.”

  “But they didn’t find it, I did.”

  “You have to keep it safe, no matter what.”

  “Why? Can’t he just steal your ring?”

  “It gives allegiance. It’s something I didn’t discover until after a while. Did it talk to you?” she asked.

  Isla looked surprised, and then she nodded. “I thought I was going crazy.”

  “What did it say?”

  “To keep it safe.”

  “If that falls into Isaac’s hands, he can attack anyone he wants to in broad daylight. He’ll expose us and the remaining Hunters from other families will destroy us all.” He looked at her solemnly. “We aren’t all bad, Isla. We’ve adapted. But some, some keep to the old ways. Some have this unshakable ego and bloodlust.”

  “Why haven’t the Hunters found out about you? If you all live in the same country?” she asked.

  “We don’t. Your father left for his family’s safety. The compulsion to kill isn’t passed on to every generation. It can lay dormant for decades. And it’s only passed to the male lineage.”

  “And here I thought I’d have special skills.”

  “I’m vulnerable to you, that’s a special skill right there,” he joked quietly.

  “I’m just another Lily. Whoever she was.”

  “You’re a different person entirely, even if you looked alike,” he said. “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t surprised to see you back on English soil after that accident. I wanted you safe. I remembered your eyes and how you faintly looked similar to Lily when I saved you from that river. Seeing you in the museum was a sign. I was given another chance.”

  “To what?”

  “To care for you. To love you.”

  “I’m not Lily,” she snapped.

  “You’re not. You’re Isla. And you’re someone I’ve fallen in love with entirely.”

  “How can I be someone you love already? You barely know me.”

  “I don’t need to know everything about you. The fact that you’re here, the fact that you still trusted me even after all that Isaac said. I’m not asking you to love me back, all I’m asking is to let me care for you and let me protect you.”

  “I don’t need protection. I can just wield anything silver and I’ll be fine.”

  He shook his head and faintly smiled. “He’ll kill everyone that stands in his way. He won’t kill you, because to him, you’re Lily reincarnated. A second chance from the rejection he received years ago, a rejection he didn’t take lightly.”

  “This sibling rivalry has gotten out of hand.”

  “I don’t blame him. But he hasn’t been responsible. He may not have been the heir to Blackwell Hall, but he was fully supported by our father. He had met Lily first, when he unknowingly treated Viscount Ashworth’s injury from hunting one of us. Lily didn’t respond to his feelings.

  Then I made that foolhardy decision to turn my family. He took our father’s death as a personal vendetta against me. He had a choice and he squandered his talents on murder and mayhem. He met Lily again, but by then I was seriously pursuing Lily, with the foolish notion that she and I could end up together happily.”

  “How did…how did she die?”

  “After all these years, I know I killed her. She chose to stay with me, and I wanted her to stay with me. It was selfish. I should have let her go. By that time, her father had known about me and he wanted me dead. I didn’t kill her father, she ran away to be with me, from London all the way here. The Hunters were out for me, including her father. Isaac had stirred up some trouble. I was no wayward nightwalker, but the blame was pinned on me…” His voice trailed off, remembering that fateful night.

  *

  1895

  The snow-white hand and head of gold

  Lie low in a marble sleep—

  I stretch my arms for the clasp of old,

  But the empty air is strangely cold,

  And so my vigil alone I keep!

  “Lily, why? Why are you here?” Aidan gasped holding her face as the light rains mixed with snow battered the marsh. He had gone to the marsh to see if Isaac had actually killed villagers for the sake of it. At the embankment there were bodies carelessly piled on top of one another. Aidan had had enough, Isaac had to be stopped now.

  “I couldn’t, I couldn’t leave you alone. I’m not leaving you alone,” she cried out, kissing him. “There has to be a way, we can prove you didn’t commit these murders. They’ll leave you alone! They’ll leave us alone!”

  “Don’t you see? There’s only death for you with me,” Aidan told her. “I made a promise to your father. I told him I would leave London, I would leave England and never come back, just as long as you’re safe.”

  “You have it under control, not once have you hurt me! We can prove it to them,” she implored. “You don’t have to keep away from me.”

  “Isaac won’t stop, Lily,” he told her. “My brother won’t stop until he has what he wants, and that includes you.”

  “He wants the stone more,” Lily said, in tears.

  “Please Lily, if you truly love me, you’ll leave. Go back to where you’re safe–” />
  “Yes, Lily. Go back to where you’re safe. I assured you of your safety, I assured you of love,” a voice interrupted them, “yet here you are, welcoming death with open arms all for my brother who only used you.”

  Aidan glared at Isaac.

  “They’re coming, Aidan, the Hunters. It could be me and you against them. We could turn Lily into one of us. Imagine the scandal it would create for Lord Ashworth.”

  “Stop it!” Aidan bellowed. “You are not touching her.”

  Isaac took a step forward. “I want the stone. Where is it? Have you always been such a selfish brother? We’re the only Blackwells left. First, you take my birth right away from me, then my father, and now this?”

  “I had nothing to do with that!”

  “You had everything to do with this!” Isaac screamed. “Lily, Lily, come with me, I’ll keep you safe. With Aidan there’s only death for you and it’s not the kind of death I’d want for you…”

  Lily shook in place and her hand reached out for Aidan’s. Isaac saw this, and shook his head slowly, never stopping until his eyes changed color and his cheeks grew hollow. His nails lengthened and sharpened. Without warning, he ran for his brother and attacked him, knocking both Aidan and Lily to the ground.

  “Lily!” Aidan shouted.

  Lily slowly stood up, dazed from the sudden violence.

  Isaac looked at Lily, a brief moment of concern flashed on his face. Then he glared at Aidan. “The diamond. Give me the diamond. I know it answers to no one, except when it is given freely. Give me the diamond.”

  “I don’t have it,” Aidan replied, keeping Lily away from them. “Please, just let Lily go. You’ve already killed enough for tonight.”

  From a distance, they could hear the search dogs howling, intent on finding Lily and killing the two brothers. Lily’s eyes looked around wildly, wondering how to stop Isaac. Aidan had told her to never divulge where it was, for everyone’s well-being. She had never seen Aidan change in front of her and seeing Isaac made her feel frightened. Her father had warned her, but her love for Aidan prevailed…

  “Let her go?” Isaac laughed. “The only one who’s holding her captive is you.”

  There was a flash of silver from Isaac’s hand and he stabbed Aidan, but when he looked up, he found those haunting grey eyes staring back at him. Lily took a breath.

  “Lily?” Isaac gasped. “No…” he reeled back, falling on the mud and snow.

  Lily stared at Isaac for a moment, and then she looked down to feel warmth gushing out of her chest.

  “No!” Aidan cried out, cradling her as she fell to the ground.

  He had never cried, not even when his entire family died. But now he was, and his crimson tears mingled with the snow. He could smell her blood and his eyes changed color, grew darker.

  “Lily,” Aidan choked. “Please, help will be here soon. Please, hold on.”

  “This is all your doing,” Isaac whispered, staring at Lily’s blood more than he stared at her face.

  Aidan didn’t look at him. He kept whispering to her. “Everything will be fine. You’ll be alright. I didn’t want you hurt. Oh god, Lily, why? I love you, I love you, please don’t do this to me. Please live…”

  Lily looked at him, her eyes fluttering. She smiled, a faint smile. “You need to get away. Drink from me…”

  “No…” Aidan told her, “I told you I’d never hurt you.”

  “I’ll never survive. You need strength. Do it. Do it for me. And live. Someday, someday…” she struggled in between breaths.

  Someday? Aidan stopped. He saw the determination in her eyes, those eyes that made him fall for her the moment he saw them. With her last ounce of strength, she gripped his hand and guided it to her neck. Aidan felt tears flow freely this time, and he slit her neck open…

  *

  “I killed her in the end.” His voice was quiet. “I didn’t drain her, I left just enough blood, and she had wanted to see me leave. Isaac had escaped by then, I heard the Hunters grow closer and I did the most deplorable act of leaving her there. The moment I left, the ridge caved in and Lily, along with the rest of those people fell into the river.

  “I never forgave myself. I had almost forgotten about the watch. I didn’t think it would be with her. I thought she had surrendered it to her father, to keep it safe. Then I found out it wasn’t with him when I came to visit her tombstone many years later. Their estate has been relinquished to relatives, and my family’s bank handled their finances with the aid of their solicitor.“The watch wasn’t among those possessions. It was the only one of its kind, I had thought the relatives would find it and sell it. I didn’t want to go back to the river, not until many, many years later. The river had by then taken a new course, and I thought I could never find the watch.

  “And then, you, you came along. You, with the same features as Lily,” he said, looking down. “I truly loved her and I still carry the same sentiment for the woman who saved my life. She had told me ‘someday’, before she died. I pondered what it meant, and I thought someday I could atone for what I did. I didn’t know that someday, I would meet you. You’re a breath of fresh air to this cold and almost dead world I have. I hadn’t thought I would fall for you so soon, but it happened. I stand by my word to keep you safe.”

  “Will you kill your brother?” Isla found herself asking, secretly startled at this revelation.

  “If he hurts you, I will.”

  “He’s the only family you have left.”

  “There’s a fine line between what should be kept alive and what should be kept dead in my world. My brother hasn’t changed, his bloodlust stayed the same.”

  “You told me the ring owed its allegiance to its owner. If this gemstone isn’t owned by anyone, can’t he just take it easily?”

  “I kept it from him, encased in silver, knowing full well the abuse he would do if he had it. The gemstone was owned by Lily. I had given it to her, and then, when she accepted her death, it had become hers completely. He thinks he can make it switch ownership by killing me.”

  “But I have it now…”

  “For good reason. This red diamond is the only respite we have to being nightwalkers and I am one of the lucky few who have it.”

  “How do you know it won’t work on him? What if he stole your ring?”

  He laughed mirthlessly. “He tried to before. It burned him like silver, or the sun. That’s when I knew what power this gemstone had. I’m sure it has more untapped power.”

  “You asked Lily to keep this for you the whole time?”

  He nodded. “When Isaac found out I could walk while the sun was still out, he grew envious once more. Lily could hold onto silver, and by encasing the stone in silver, I couldn’t even feel its presence unless she opened it. There’s a certain warmth to the red diamond that attracts our kind. Like a reminder of our human selves. I think we’d latch onto anything that has the kind of warmth we crave, and not just heat from a fire. I think that’s why we also enjoy blood, it’s one of the closest things to bodily warmth.”

  “You miss being human?”

  “Sometimes…” his voice trailed off, “speaking of human, you need to rest. Let me just check the bedroom.” He stood up.

  “Gabriel?” she began.

  He stopped by the door, not looking at her. “What is it?”

  “Don’t let me go.”

  He closed his eyes and nodded. “I won’t.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  He knew she had to sleep, but he couldn’t resist checking up on her. It was nearly daybreak when the door creaked open, and he watched her, with her back turned to the door. She was half naked and her creamy, alabaster skin glowed softly from the candlelight in the room. Her clothes were neatly laid out on a chair beside the window. They looked rather filthy from the graveyard incident.

  She stirred a little and he backed away, intending to let her sleep through the rest of the morning. Just as he turned his back, Isla called out his name.

&nb
sp; “Don’t leave me alone,” she told him, sitting up and wrapping herself up partially with a thick, velvety, wine-red comforter. She looked alone and unsure, and had probably forgotten she was half-naked.

  Gabriel nodded and walked for the bed, sitting beside her. “I think you still need to sleep. You need rest.”

  “Don’t you sleep?” she asked, looking down and realizing she was bare at the top. She slowly wrapped the sheets closer to her body, hoping he didn’t notice.

  He tried to hide a smile, his first genuine one in days. “I just nap. An hour a day is fine. I napped already before I came to check on you.” Gabriel saw that the cold caused goose bumps on Isla’s arms. “Are you cold? I’ll light up a fire for you,” he said, turning away.

  Her hand shot out. “Just don’t…don’t leave me alone.”

  He felt something stir inside him, and he knew he wanted her. This isn’t the time for intimacy he told himself, almost angrily. But she moved closer to him, the blanket slipped off, exposing her breasts. Without saying another word, she reached out to kiss Gabriel. He cradled her head softly as they continued kissing, pulling her body close to him.

  Their kisses started out as slow, almost chaste, then Gabriel’s hand trailed down to Isla’s neck. He leaned in closer, with one knee on the bed, close to crushing against Isla’s petite frame. Their kisses grew fervent and urgent and he gently laid Isla down the bed again. Isla gasped when his free hand found its way to one of her breasts and he caressed her as they continued to kiss, grazing her nipple with his thumb. He felt warmth creep up to him, and he knew he wanted this more than anything else at the moment.

  She left a trail of kisses on his neck and he gave a soft moan. Gabriel realized he had never felt this much desire for anyone as his hands roamed, from her neck, to her stomach, to her thighs; he gripped a thigh with sudden force as he licked her nipple.

  She gasped and let the pleasure steal through her. Nothing else mattered but this feeling of being with him. She saw Gabriel’s eyes; the color had taken a deep shade of something close to gold. Gabriel’s hand wandered down as he continued to kiss her. Then his hand slid further, his tongue trailing on her neck. She writhed with his touch.