“It’s all right, Tom. Dig in.”
He lunged for the plate, digging his teeth into what I suspected was organ meat. He ripped at it and swallowed whole chunks, his fingers covered in blood. Everyone watched with repulsion as he devoured it. Everyone accept Rebecca, who seemed to be enjoying the sight. She really was a cold bitch.
He wheezed as he took a breath, his body finally coming up for air. Then he looked down at his bloody hands and shirt and started to cry.
My grandmother grabbed a cloth napkin from the sideboard and handed it to him. “You did good, Tom. Remember, it will all be over with very soon and your family will be well taken care of.”
As I watched the poor man cry, I reached my breaking point. “What is this?”
“This?” Cabot said, standing up and heading for one of the bedrooms. A horrible sound came from the hallway as he returned, dragging something behind him. He tossed another man across the dining room, where he landed next to Tom. The man’s eyes were blood red, and he hissed like a cat as he struggled against something invisible that seemed to bind his arms to his torso and restrict his legs. “That thing on the floor is a Night Walker, and Tom here is about to become one.”
Ethan barked out a laugh and then grimaced. “We interrupted him while he was dining on Tom the other night.” He walked around the table and hovered over our guest, reaching for the front of Tom’s buttoned shirt to rip it open. There was a gaping hole in the center of his chest where his heart had been removed. “We just fed Tom his own heart.”
“You ripped his heart out?” My legs went weak as I fought faintness.
Ethan scoffed. “No. That thing over there ripped it out.” He nodded to the struggling vampire on the floor, who was clearly bound by some kind of magic.
As I fought the nausea roiling up from my stomach, Ethan coaxed Tom out of his chair and started to lower him to the floor next to the bound vampire. “Remember what you’re supposed to do now.”
Tom started to backpedal, but Cabot came up behind him and blocked his escape. “It’s the only way out, Tom.” He bent down and rested his hand on Tom’s shoulder and whispered something in his ear.
Tom took a few gasping breaths and then threw himself at the Walker. The vampire sank his teeth into Tom’s neck and made a series of desperate sucking sounds that were only muffled by Tom’s screams.
I turned away, unable to watch. A few seconds later, Tom’s wails ceased and the vampire let out a sound that defied anything I’d ever heard before, something between a hissing scream and a gasp for air that pierced my ears and forced me to look. The vampire was on fire. The flames reached the twelve-foot-high ceiling as the creature flailed back and forth and began to roll across the floor. A few seconds later, the fire became a flicker and the vampire was reduced to a pile of ashes on the dining room rug.
My grandmother sighed and shook her head. “Shame about that rug. I’ll never find another one like it.” She walked over to Tom’s still body and gently closed his eyes. “You did good. We’ll make sure your children are taken care of.” She straightened back up and looked at me. “Mr. Miller was a victim. Once that Night Walker drained him and ripped his heart out, it was only a matter of time before he turned. We gave him a choice of how he wanted to end it. He could help us kill the thing, or we’d have to kill him once he became one of them. He chose to help us in exchange for financial security for his family.”
Cabot bent down to examine the body. “I’ll have the funds deposited into his widow’s account by morning.”
My grandfather patted me on the back. “I’m sorry we didn’t warn you, sweetheart, but some things have to be seen with your own two eyes. This is what it means to be a Winterborne. It’s what we do.”
I looked back at Tom. “What killed the vampire?”
“We starved him for a couple of days so we knew he’d go after what little blood was left in Tom’s body. His hunger was uncontrollable. Then we laced Tom’s heart with a little banshee blood. Hard to come by, but it’s one of the few things that will kill a Walker. Once Tom ate it, so did that vampire.”
“That was an awful lot of work to kill a single Night Walker,” I said, still staring at the mound of ashes on the rug. “No wonder their numbers are growing.”
Her forehead scrunched. “Darling, this little show was for you. There are much easier ways to kill a Walker, decapitation being one. But I prefer to ruin a single rug than to spend the entire evening scrubbing the walls.”
“What will we do with Tom’s body?” I asked, morbidly curious about how they planned to get rid of it.
“We’ll have someone weight it down and dump it in the ocean,” my grandfather said. “I know it sounds disrespectful, but it’ll be much kinder to his family to think he’s missing than to find out some monster ripped his heart out.”
We all sat back down, and everyone finished their dinner, not the slightest bit put off by the dead body and the pile of vampire ashes at their feet.
Chapter 12
Were we as bad as the monsters we were hunting? Or were we just hardened or numb from all the killing? I was beginning to wonder what I’d be like a year from now, after I got a good taste of blood. A queen was expected to make sacrifices. Do whatever it took to serve her people, and this clan was my kingdom. But I couldn’t get that man’s face out of my mind. I had to force myself to remember that he wasn’t a man anymore—he was about to turn into a monster. He might have even gone home and killed his own family if we hadn’t stopped him.
As I headed for my bedroom to get the journal, I caught something moving past the window from the corner of my eye. It was just a flicker, but the hair on the back of my neck stood up. When I looked outside, I noticed the conservatory door was ajar. The wind had picked up and must have blown it open again. It was also starting to rain.
“I’ve got to get that door fixed,” I muttered as I headed outside, my power hand itching from the heat building in my palm.
The door slammed shut behind me as I ran inside the steamy conservatory. The glass fogged up quickly, and the scent of jasmine filled the air as the orchids released their night scent.
I headed deeper until I reached the waterfall, but Monoclaude wasn’t in his usual spot on top of the boulder. “Where are you, frog? Why didn’t you warn me about the Circle?” He had to have known about what I’d witness at the meeting, so could have at least prepared me for it.
“You know exactly what your people do.”
I looked to my left and spotted him at the edge of the pond. “Yes, but I didn’t expect to see my grandmother feed a man his own heart. I thought we just—”
“Killed them nicely? Politely drove stakes through their hearts quickly and cleanly?”
“Yes,” I said. “There are kinder and more humane ways of killing vermin.”
“Wake up, Morgan. The Winterbornes have been ridding the world of vampires for centuries. Develop a heart of stone, or you’ll find yourself on the receiving end of a very sharp set of fangs. Bring it out for the kill but learn to shove it back inside when the deed is done. Now that’s the sign of a queen.”
I got a disturbing image of my mother in a pink Chanel suit, standing over a man with his bloody heart resting in the palm of her hand. Then I thought about all the times she’d come home late at night after a hunt with bloodstains on her clothes and debris in her hair. She’d head straight for the shower and come out half an hour later, looking good as new. My mother was a killer.
“Make no mistake, Morgan. It’s us or them. They die, or all of New York dies.”
A long breath shuddered out of me. “I just wish I had my mother’s stomach for it.”
He cocked his head and stared at me with his gold-speckled eyes. “You stayed to watch, didn’t you?”
“Did I have a choice?”
“You’re the queen. You have more choices than any of us. Do you think your mother did what she did because she had no choice? Don’t be naive. Katherine Winterborne chose to be a hunt
er.”
The revelation hit me hard. Maybe there was a killer inside me, inherited from my mother.
Monoclaude hopped on top of the boulder, his green skin fading to gray. “Choose, Morgan. A hunter or a safe queen in her castle. Now leave me to rest, and go find that crow.”
“Wait! What about the crow?”
He hardened to stone faster than I could get him to answer me, but I had a feeling I knew what he meant. God, I hoped not.
The wind began to batter the sides of the conservatory as I made my way out. As I approached the door, I noticed a shadow standing perfectly still outside in the storm. The door flew open and I ran to shut it, not knowing who or what was out there and too wary to find out.
As I tried to pull it shut, someone reached inside and grabbed me around my waist, dragging me out into the pelting rain. I tried to raise my hand to release the magic building in the center of my palm, but my arm was trapped between us. I struggled harder and flew back against the conservatory glass.
“You!” I growled when I regained my balance and blinked the water away from my eyes. Hawk was standing a few yards away.
I raised my hand and hurled a ball of light at him, but he ducked and let it sail into the storm.
“Stop!” he said with a force that got my attention as I raised my arm for a second attack.
For reasons I couldn’t fathom, I dropped my hand and looked around. The storm continued to rage, rain pelting the terrace like shards of glass spit from the sky and lightning cracking across the horizon. It was all around us, but the space we occupied was dry, calm and quiet as if the storm were outside a thick wall of soundproof glass.
“We’re in the eye,” he said. “As long as you stay close to me, the storm won’t touch you.”
“Just tell me what you want from me, Hawk. While you’re at it, why don’t you tell me what you are.” I stared at his face for a moment, trying to figure him out. “Why do you keep coming here? I’m still alive, so you’re not trying to kill me.”
His face twisted up. “Why would I kill you?” He seemed almost annoyed by the question.
“Answer me,” I said, pumping my fist to keep the fading energy stoked.
His eyes flashed red, eventually turning dark as his mouth parted. I felt my heart speed up when the tip of a fang peeked out from under his top lip. He came closer and grabbed my hand, pressing it firmly against the glass, glancing at the bright glow at its center. “I pegged you for a fire witch, but you prefer to play with light.”
“And you’re a vampire,” I replied, the heat from his body traveling into mine. I thought he’d be cold, but he was warm and gave off an interesting scent, like pine needles and musk.
His head dropped to the crook between my neck and shoulder, and his lips grazed my skin, traveling back up the side of my cheek. “You can trust me,” he whispered against my ear.
I opened my clenched hand to release the heat from my palm. Anything to cool myself down.
He abruptly let go of me and stepped back, and I shuddered from the cold that suddenly washed over me as the gap between us widened.
Before I knew what was happening, he pulled me against him and pressed his mouth to mine, the tips of his fangs grazing my lower lip. The kiss deepened, and the burning in my throat intensified. And then the taste of copper filled my mouth as he nicked me.
With my power hand, I shoved him, sending him stumbling back. The onslaught of the storm hit me as I ran out of the eye and headed for the terrace door. As I shut it behind me and looked back, the crow swooped down from the sky, gunning for Hawk with its talons spread wide. Hawk hit the conservatory wall, shattering one of the glass panes before disappearing into thin air.
The crow shot into the sky, circling the building once before descending again. It flew toward the door as if it intended to sail straight through it, but it suddenly stopped and hovered on the other side with its onyx eyes trained on mine. It stared at me for a few more seconds before dropping something from one of its talons at the foot of the door. Then it let out a loud caw and disappear back into the night sky.
Convinced it was gone, I opened the door and picked up the silver chain. Dangling from it was an alchemy symbol, and Monoclaude’s words from the day before filled my head.
I’ve found you something better than an old frog.
Katherine Winterborne
November 26, 1994
I can list on one hand the days that have profoundly changed my life. My wedding day, the days my children were born, and the night I just spent with Ryker. I never thought I could completely give myself to someone. Open myself up and lose all control to a man I barely know. Not even with Phillip. Especially not with Phillip. The passion I feel with Ryker is raw, dark, and frightening.
We made love last night on the rug in his living room, inches away from the flames in the fireplace. We couldn’t get enough of each other or the heat. We kept inching closer to the fire until I thought my skin would burn. Afterward he got up and went to the desk on the other side of the room. He returned with a small box containing the most beautiful ruby earrings. He said he’d had them made for me in Paris, but we’ve known each other less than a week. How is that possible?
Ryker wasn’t happy when I refused the gift. I told him they were too expensive. Everything about this affair is too expensive. I started to panic and wondered what I was doing there, but when I tried to get up to find my clothes, he kissed me and sent that drug racing through me again.
I’m beginning to wonder who I am, because something is happening to me. I can feel the magic in my bones turning dark and my blood thickening like honey when he says my name. He calls for me every time I close my eyes. He’s my drug.
Ryker Caspian is dangerous.
Chapter 13
The light coming through my bedroom window startled me as I tried to remember what day it was. Realizing it was Sunday and I hadn’t overslept, I relaxed back into the pillows and tried to clear my foggy head. When I sat up, the journal slipped off my stomach and fell to the floor. I’d fallen asleep while reading it.
I glanced at the nightstand and saw the alchemy pendant next to the lamp. What are the odds that it was the same one Monoclaude gave me twenty years ago? I climbed out of bed to see. My jewelry box was full of old necklaces and earrings I hadn’t worn in years, and when I dug through the tangled mess of chains, I realized it was gone. The pendant on the nightstand had to be the same one. That crow was Monoclaude’s replacement. My new familiar.
“Great,” I muttered. “A familiar with talons.” Wearing it didn’t mean I was agreeing to the partnership, but I wasn’t letting the pendant out of my sight. Not until I had a little talk with that frog.
Before I did anything, I was making myself something to eat. After heading into the kitchen and starting the coffee, I glanced at the ceiling over the table, dreading the thought of contractors tromping around my apartment for days. It was completely clean. The walls were pristine too, not a scorch in sight.
I went into the living room to find my phone. “Did you let a contractor into my apartment last night while I was at the meeting?” I asked Jakob when he answered. It was nearly impossible, but we were Winterbornes. We could buy anything, including a construction miracle.
“You’ll have to be a little more specific, Mora.”
I stuck my head back in the kitchen to make sure I wasn’t losing my mind. “The burnt ceiling. It’s been repaired, and I certainly didn’t do it.”
He went quiet on the other end for a moment. “Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. I’m staring right at it.”
“Interesting,” he mused. “Subconscious magic. I’ll be right up.”
I looked back at the ceiling and shook my head. “What are you talking about?” He’d already hung up. “Subconscious magic? What the hell is going on around here?”
While I waited for Jakob, I glanced outside and remembered Hawk hitting the glass wall of the conservatory. How would I explain t
hat without telling the entire clan about the vampire who’d shown up on my terrace and crashed through it? Surely someone would notice giant panes of glass being hauled up to the penthouse through the service elevator.
I went outside to get a look at the damage and come up with a story to explain it. Jakob walked out a minute later and found me staring at the glass. There wasn’t a crack in sight. “Mora? Are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” I said, still looking at it and wondering if Hawk had been here at all. Could I have dreamed it all up?
He glanced down at my bare feet and took me by the arm. “It’s cold out here. Let’s go back inside and have a look at the ceiling.”
We walked into the kitchen and Jakob looked up at the unmarred ceiling. “Nice work. I’m impressed.”
“You’re not suggesting I did that?”
“Well who else could have done it?” he said. “It wasn’t me.” He poured us both a cup of coffee and leaned against the counter next to me. “Your magic is getting stronger. In fact, it’s getting so strong you can do it in your sleep—literally.”
“You’re saying I fixed the ceiling in my sleep?” A short laugh burst out of my mouth. “I couldn’t fix it if I was awake.”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying. Subconscious magic is exceptionally rare. Your mother would be proud.”
Maybe he was right. Even if a contractor miraculously slipped in here yesterday evening and fixed my kitchen, which I rationally knew was impossible, that conservatory glass hadn’t fixed itself overnight. And since that alchemy pendant was lying on my nightstand, I knew Hawk and that crow had been here in the flesh.
“Not even the great Katherine Winterborne could master that form of magic. I couldn’t be prouder of you myself.”
Otto’s voice announced a visitor. “Cabot is on his way up, mistress.”
Dark Legacy (House of Winterborne Book 1) Page 9
