House of Ravens

by Keary Taylor

  Henry swivels in his chair, facing the refrigerators, crossing his arms over his chest. “He had no idea this lab was built with the house,” he continues. “He had no idea that I was researching anything, where I disappeared to for hours during the day when I could not go outside into the light.”

  Hard lines form on his face, and I feel his anger rising like it is a tangible thing that just leaked into the room.

  “When Rath was approximately twenty-eight years old, a mob showed up at the house, in the bright daylight of the afternoon.” He clenches his teeth tight, his words coming out as a hiss. Henry suddenly stands, shoving his hands into his pockets, standing with his back to me. “They came up with a lie that he’d forced himself upon one of the young ladies in town. But it had been brewing for weeks. They didn’t like the freedoms I granted him and the other workers. They said Rath needed to be put back in his place.”

  A cold sick settles into the pit of my stomach. The reality of the South’s history is so bleak. Too difficult to swallow.

  “They dragged him into the middle of a field while I was down here in the lab. I couldn’t hear a thing. There were a dozen of them. They beat Rath within an inch of his life.”

  Henry suddenly grabs an empty beaker from a shelf and hurls it across the lab, where it shatters against a wall, glass spraying to the floor.

  “I found him over an hour after they’d all left,” he says, his voice low and even. “The blood… There was too much of it. It was obvious—my best friend, my brother, he was going to die.”

  Henry sinks into his chair once more, his head hanging in his hands. “I couldn’t stand to lose him. So, I did the only thing I could to save his life.”

  “You bit him,” I say. “You turned him.”

  Henry nods his head, and the way his shoulders sag, it is as if it is a physical weight upon them. “Yes,” he confirms.

  Several long moments pass and I let my father have his silence.

  “He recovered,” Henry continues. “Hours later, he woke up, thirsty, his eyes yellow. So utterly confused. He fed, and I told him everything. The truth that I had been hiding from him for nearly a decade.”

  Poor Rath. Awakening with a thirst he could not understand.

  And a Debt he would do anything to honor.

  “He tried to forgive me. To adapt to his new state of being,” Henry says as he looks up. His eyes are bloodshot, and I swear they’ve aged twenty years just in the last few minutes. “But it was there in his eyes. He hated everything he was. That he had been given no choice in it. And that he no longer truly had any free will.”

  I lay a hand on my father’s shoulder, trying to comfort him, knowing I will fail. But still. This is my family, and his pain is so obvious.

  “For the next five years, I worked on a cure,” Henry says. His voice is rough, angry. Frustrated. “I tested so many different serums. I turned over a dozen innocent people, all in the quest to find a cure for my friend.”

  Henry stands and walks to the fridge. He opens a door, and reaches for the vials labeled BC COMPLETE.

  “Bitten cure,” I whisper.

  Henry nods, turning the vial over in his hands, over and over. “But I was selfish. The dose I gave Rath contained not just the cure, but what I thought was the key to the Born’s immortality. I couldn’t stand to lose him again.”

  I find myself on my feet, my brain racing a million miles an hour. “But he’s still aging,” I fill in. “Very, very slowly, but that’s why he looks younger in the picture than he does now.”

  I grab it off the table and study it again. In the image, he looks to be in his younger thirties, it’s a little hard to tell. But now, Rath looks like he’s around forty.

  “Yes,” Henry confirms. “He is no longer a vampire. He does not thirst for blood. But he is stronger, faster, more aware than your average human. And twenty years to him is like one to a human.”

  “That’s amazing,” I say breathlessly as I look over at Henry. “Cyrus said he was a unique being, but I had no idea.”

  He nods, his eyes sad. “Rath eventually forgave me, and the wounds healed. Though, I will say I have not forgiven myself.”

  Something settles into the back of my mind, and one more puzzle piece falls into place.

  When Cyrus was here, in my House, he made me play a game. He presented two people who he said had betrayed me, and said someone had to die.

  While I was still getting my thirst under control, I accidentally created a Bitten named Danielle. Instead of killing Trinity or Luke like Cyrus tried to manipulate me into doing, I killed her.

  An innocent girl, turned because of me.

  Just moments later, Rath told me he was resigning and leaving me.

  He had seen the monster I had become. Me killing someone who was turned against her will and knowledge, just as he had been, was the last straw for him.

  “We all make mistakes,” Henry whispers, drawing me back into the lab.

  “Yes, we do.” I’ve made so, so many of them.

  I bite my lower lip, pushing down the bad memories that I cannot change. “If Rath never knew about the lab, about all of your work down here, how did he think you cured him?”

  Henry folds his arms across his chest, his eyes dropping away. “I told him I procured it from Court, that Cyrus had people working on all kinds of things in that castle of his. Which isn’t a full lie.”

  I can imagine, now that I’ve been witness to the truth of the castle’s underbelly.

  I lay the picture back down, so saddened by Rath’s tragic story, but also so satisfied to finally know the truth. The mystery of Rath solved.

  “You said your life was in danger,” I move on. “Because of your work. Why?”

  Henry looks up at me, and the relief is evident on his face at getting to move on from such an emotional topic. He goes to the last bins, the last vials. He reaches in, grabbing one and holding it up, its acid green color reflecting in the dim light.

  “Because of this,” he says as he hands me the vial.

  “What is it?” I ask. There’s something that crawls under my skin. A very real and instinctual reaction in my body knows—this stuff is dangerous. I hand it back to Henry immediately, glad to be rid of it.

  “It’s a cure,” he says, replacing it in the fridge. He turns back to me and removes his gloves. “For any kind of vampirism. Even mine. Even King Cyrus’.”

  The lab grows very quiet and cold. Electricity sparks in the air and my heart begins to race.

  “You could turn Cyrus back human?” I say, very quietly, because this is indeed incredibly dangerous, and the King has ears everywhere.

  “Yes,” Henry says. “And when he is human-”

  “You could kill him.” I whisper the words. The emotions are running through my body with the power of a stampede of jungle animals.

  Victory. Fear. Anticipation. Dread.

  “Yes,” my father says once more. “This is where my research began, what lead to all the other discoveries. Because a man who cannot be killed is bound to take things too far at one point. You’ve seen it; he is a maniac. And should he tip over the edge of sanity and control, our kind now has options.”

  “But how did you know that he was truly immortal?” I breathe. “When that Bitten staked him, even Cyrus’ court members were shocked he recovered.”

  “Another story for another time,” he says, closing everything up, getting across the message that we are done with the history and revelations for tonight. “For now, I think it is time to check on the others and prepare for war.”

  My head is spinning. There are so many implications to this. A cure. Henry said for all vampires.

  Including those who hate what they’ve become.

  SO MUCH IS GOING ON, but nothing is moving.

  We’re hunting. Searching. Killing the Bitten as we find them. We find seven more. But the real war? We’re still waiting for the trigger to be pulled. I’ve done all I can do. I called Noriko, explained everythi
ng. She’s sending soldiers; they’ll arrive in two days.

  I can only hope things stay under control for that much longer.

  But for now, Ian and I sit on the grass between the graveyard and the river. The stars shine brilliantly, the moon three-quarters full. A light breeze brushes my hair over my shoulder, bringing with it the scent of so many things I still do not recognize or know in Silent Bend.

  “How was Lula today?” I ask him.

  He sits beside me, his arms wrapped around his knees, mirroring my position.

  “About the same,” he says. “Her lungs still aren’t good, but they aren’t terrible. Her vision seems to be fading fast, though.”

  “I feel terrible for not going to see her, to thank her for the diamond,” I say, looking down at my beautiful ring once more. “But I have a feeling my visit wouldn’t be received well.”

  Ian laughs. “Probably not. You just might send her into a heart attack and finish her off.”

  “Jerk,” I say, taking a swing at his shoulder and knocking him over onto the grass.

  “Hey, I speak nothing but the truth,” he defends as he rights himself.

  I smile, shaking my head at him. But he’s right. Lula hates me. I think back to the days where she literally cussed me out of the house, hands flying, her dentures falling out and everything.

  “Someone left her some nice flowers, though,” Ian says. “I forgot to ask Elle if she was the one who visited her. She knows she’s not supposed to leave the house.”

  “You can’t treat her like a child, though, Ian,” I say. “She’s a woman. A strong one, at that. For her very human status, she’s pretty good at taking care of herself.”

  “I know,” he shrugs. “I just kind of forget sometimes. To me, she’s still that little toddler I went running through the woods with, getting away from our kind. That big brother instinct doesn’t die easy.”

  I shift positions, laying my head in his lap and curling up into a ball on my side. The grass feels good, cool and soft after such a hot and humid day.

  “I’m really happy for you, Liv,” Ian says. He runs his fingers through my hair, and it’s one of the best feelings in the world. “That you and Henry found each other again. He’s not what I remember him to be. He’s different when he’s around you.”

  I nod. “That’s what everyone who knew him from before has said.”

  “It’s kind of hard to imagine, people finding happiness in these dark times, but I think he’s happy.”

  I press my lips together, knotting my fingers. I don’t want to say the words I have to say next, but if Ian and I are going to start this relationship on the right foot, I have to tell him the truth.

  “Ian,” I say, unable to look him in the eye. “I have to tell you something about what is down in the lab. Something that could change…things.”

  “What is it?” he asks. He takes one of my hands in his, rubbing a calming thumb over my knuckles.

  My heart races and my palms prickle with uncertainty. What if this changes everything? What if I lose him because of this?

  I can’t be selfish, though.

  “Henry made a cure,” I say, still unable to look at him. “A cure for the Bitten. But also…” I take a deep breath, knowing once the words are spoken that I cannot take them back. “But also a cure for all vampirism. It can turn a Born back into a human.”

  Every muscle in my body tenses, as if I can fold my body in on itself and disappear. A defense mechanism, bracing for the very worst possibility.

  Ian doesn’t say anything for a long, long moment, and every second he doesn’t say any word is death, my heart shattering into a thousand tiny pieces. I slip away into a safe place of oblivion, because I’m sure that in just a moment, my world is going to end.

  “That’s amazing,” Ian finally breathes. “He really thinks he can reverse the Resurrection?”

  It’s so utterly painful, every movement of it, when I nod yes.

  “That’s…” he says breathlessly. “Incredible.”

  Emotion pricks in my eyes. Here we are once again. With me unable to fight my destiny, and that threatening to tear us apart.

  “This could change a lot of lives, Liv,” he says excitedly. “I mean, just think of how many of your House members didn’t know what they were. They just woke up and found out they were this entirely different species. Lillian, Cameron, Nial.”

  I nod, biting my lower lip. “But we have to keep this quiet. As many people as it might help, we can’t tell anyone. It’s the main reason Henry first went into hiding.”

  “So Cyrus wasn’t just messing with you when he said he would have killed him,” Ian says.

  I shake my head, curling into myself a little tighter.

  “Hey,” Ian says, bending over me, brushing my hair back from my face. “What’s wrong?”

  I shake my head. I don’t want to talk about it. I want to go back inside and curl up in my bed and pretend this isn’t my life. But here we are, and I can’t pretend it all away.

  “You’ve hated everything you are for the last six months,” I say quietly, pressing my cheek into Ian’s jeans. “Here’s your chance to reverse it all. To go back to what you were.”

  Ian grows quiet and it’s impossible to tell what he’s thinking. He’s stopped breathing. He doesn’t move. And it’s all just torture.

  “Liv,” he finally breathes. “Liv, please look at me.”

  A tear breaks free from my eyes. I move to quickly wipe it away, but Ian catches my hands and pulls me to a sitting position, forcing me to look him in the eyes. “Hey,” he says, his brows furrowing. He almost looks angry. “Liv, me taking whatever concoction your father thinks he has did not even cross my mind.”

  “What?” I breathe in disbelief.

  Ian shakes his head. He takes my left hand in his and raises it up to eyelevel between the two of us, my diamond sparkling. “You see this here? This means I’m in this. You and me. Forever. Yeah, I was an asshole in the past and I said some stupid stuff, but, Liv, I’m different now. Don’t you see that?”

  Another tear breaks free onto my cheek and I take a big sniff before wiping it away. “Yeah, but-”

  “No but,” Ian says, shaking his head. “My status as human or Born doesn’t really matter anymore. I finally realized I can still be Ian. And I want to be Ian, who’s married to Alivia. Who gets a complicated, but together, happily ever after. Got it?”

  My eyes, so full of moisture, rise up to meet Ian’s. “You really mean it?” And my heart begins to dare to hope. It swells, timid and unsure.

  Ian lets out a breathy laugh and places his hand on the side of my neck, pulling my face closer to his. “You’re kind of a blind idiot sometimes,” he says, shaking his head. “Don’t you realize I’ve been done for since the moment you tried to wrestle me to the floor in my cabin?”

  A relieved laugh escapes my chest as I recall the day. The morning after I’d gone to hide away in his cabin, when we thought Jasmine was going to come after me. I’d woken him with a start and he attacked, thinking I was an enemy. He’d taken me down in about three seconds flat.

  I let out a sigh of acceptance as I settle back onto my heels, fanning my face. All the emotions roll back out to sea with a rip of relief. “I’m sorry,” I say, shaking my head. “I just really thought that you’d want to go back to the way things were before.”

  “I told you once,” Ian says, leaning toward me, forcing me to sit back on the grass. He shifts, placing a knee on either side of my hips. Slowly, he forces me to lie back flat on the grass. “Even forever isn’t going to be enough.”

  A pure, huge, genuine smile forms on my lips, just before he kisses me into the beginning of our promised forever.

  TWENTY-FOUR HOURS PASS, AND THEY’RE intense, white-knuckled ones. We’re all just in a state of waiting. Searching. The trigger will be pulled, but not by us.

  And I hate feeling at a disadvantage.

  Anna bursts into the library, where I’m sitting with He
nry and Rath, her eyes glowing and ready for a fight. “Luke just called; there’s a report that sounds an awful lot like a nest of vampires, about ten miles outside of town. I’m taking Danny and Leigh with me to go take care of it.”

  “Is that enough bodies?” I ask, my brows furrowing in concern. “How many Bitten?”

  “Sounds like it’s only a few.” She spins a thin, silver vial, one I know to contain a razor, needle-like saber. There’s a handgun strapped to her leg and four stakes strapped to the other one.

  “Be careful out there,” I say with a nod.

  Leigh appears in the doorway, and the two of them head out into the daylight with their shades.

  “I do not understand how they are waging warfare in this way,” Rath says. He sits with his ankle crossed over his knee, his fingertips pressed together. “It’s almost as if they are letting their soldiers fall on purpose.”

  “It doesn’t make sense,” I agree. “They’ve been so smart and careful, up until the last few weeks.”

  “It has to mean their numbers are amassing,” Henry says as he stands. He slowly begins pacing the room. I smile at that because I’m fighting the very same urge. “They have too many numbers to tactfully stay hidden anymore.”

  The phone in the foyer rings. Rath stands to go answer it, but I jump to my feet, too agitated, ready to do something. “I got it.”

  I pick the handset up and hold it to my ear. “Hello?”

  “Alivia.” I instantly recognize the sheriff’s voice. There’s a massive amount of noise in the background. “There’s been an attack. The woman got away, but she said three vampires tried to bite her. On the far north end of Silent Bend, just off of Catawa Road.”

  “I’ll send a crew out to take care of it,” I say. “Where are you?”

  “Down at the church on the water,” he says over all the noise. “There was a huge accident, and it started a fire.”

  There’s a little prick at the back of my mind. Something about all these things, happening all at once. “This doesn’t seem right,” I say quietly into the phone. “This feels…all this feels planned.”