“Yes. That. Sounds fab. You’ll get it done?” He nodded.
“Where did the drones come from?” Thaddeus asked from an armchair, the same one he’d been in the last time. “They had to have come from somewhere. Maybe if we knew where that is, we could find out where the turned are hiding?”
I gave Thaddeus a thumbs up. “Capital idea, Thaddeus. Arthur?”
Arthur looked impressed for once, nodding at me. “We can try and I.D. some of the corpses with fingerprints. It’ll help narrow the area down. Even if the turned aren’t in the same city, it might be close to them.”
“We’ll need a count of how many of our humans were killed. We’re getting dangerously low on companions,” someone said.
Going through the companion selection process was long and arduous. I doubted anyone felt like doing that because I certainly didn’t.
…
“There’s always the Lycans.”
I regretted it as soon as I said it because the entire room turned into a foghorn of “NO”‘s, and it woke Kitty up. She howled at me for disturbing her rest.
“Jesus, fine,” I conceded, rocking Kitty in my arms. “But all of you get to go through companion selections, and we all know how long that fucking takes.” They groaned in response. Glad I wasn’t the only lazy one.
Shouts approached the door and someone pounded on the wood to get our attention. Arthur opened it to see Olivier standing out of breath in the bigger drawing-room.
“Lisbeth come quickly. Cameron is here.”
17. In the sunlight
Cameron was brought in and thrown onto the carpet face first. It was already stained with blood, so what the hey, let’s just rub people’s faces in it. That wasn’t the important part. The important part hit me seconds after I stepped forward to help him.
Cameron was in the sunlight.
A turned vampire was in the sunlight. What in the fucking hell?
The Council was leaving the other room when they saw him and a collective gasp ran through them. First, they stated the obvious. A turned vampire, sunlight, etc. And then they asked the real questions.
How?
“How are you in the sunlight, Cameron?” I asked him in wonder. It was a magic trick. Maybe he was a mirage we could all see. This couldn’t be real. It simply wasn’t possible.
And yet. It was.
“I’ll tell you if you grant us safety,” Cameron said from the carpet. He hadn’t looked up yet.
“Us?” Arthur repeated in alarm. “There are more turned walking around in the sunlight?”
“We’ll never be safe during the day now,” Castilla worried.
Alexander came in pulling a woman with him. He dumped her unceremoniously on the carpet next to Cameron, clearly also effected by the news of turned vampires in the sunlight. The girl saw Cameron in a crumpled heap and jumped up to check on him, swiping her long black hair out of her face.
With her face exposed, Knight sucked in an audible gasp of surprise. He’d been standing safely in the window light where he couldn’t get in the way, and now he stepped forward like he’d seen a ghost.
“Merrick,” he breathed in shock.
She looked up at him and looked equally surprised, but happy. “Jason!” She got up, ran to him, and they hugged in the rays of sunlight coming from the giant window. “Jason, I can’t believe it,” the girl said from Knight’s shoulder. “I finally found you.”
Jason. Knight’s name was Jason. And also, who was this chick? She needed to keep her hands where I could see them, and fast.
Knight ran his hands through Merrick’s long hair during their very drawn-out hug, the way he always did with mine. When he set her feet on the ground, he had tears running down his cheeks.
First girlfriend? Long lost love? High school sweetheart? There were so many possibilities.
“I thought you were dead,” he choked out to her, tucking her hair behind her ears, and I couldn’t help feeling wildly jealous. “You disappeared and I couldn’t find you again. How did you become a vampire?”
She smiled sweetly at him. “It’s a long story.” They grabbed each other in another hug, more tears and more hair pets.
Motherfucker. You are about to get it.
They had the nerve to chuckle and laugh to themselves. Eventually, someone cleared their throat and broke the little bubble of happy that they were in.
“Who is this?” Arthur asked, thank god.
“Oh, right,” Knight said bashfully. I’ll ‘oh, right’ you, you bitch! “This is my sister, Merrick.”
Ohhh.
“And here I was plotting your demise,” I told him. I took one hand off Kitty, putting it out for Merrick to take.
She shook my hand with a cautious smile. “You must be Lisbeth, my brother’s mate.”
“You’re… well informed?”
“Cameron speaks very highly of you.” She looked down at him with a smile. A smile only for him. Well. My adopted brother and Knight’s sister. That was going to be interesting.
“Why are you here?” Arthur interrupted, all business now that he didn’t have to wring Knight’s neck for cheating on me.
“We brought something. Something you’ll need to win this war,” Cameron told him. He stood up and finally looked at me. Last time we’d spoken, I was kicking him out of the castle because the Born vampires felt too threatened to have any turned in their mix. I’d felt so guilty and regretted it ever since. Cameron smiled, with no hatred in his eyes. He finger waved at me before looking back at Arthur. “We’ll trade it for safety. Both of us under the castle’s protection.”
“It depends on what it is,” Arthur countered. He crossed his hands over his chest and waited.
Cameron carefully reached into his jacket, making doubly sure no one was going to jump him for doing so, and pulled out several sheets of yellowed ink-stained paper. “This is the formula for the potion that lets us walk in the sunlight.” He waved the papers with a devilish grin.
“You stole those?” Knight questioned. “Won’t they hunt you two down for that?”
“You brought them straight to our door!” Estinien declared.
“Calm down, I’m not stupid. I copied it. Here.” He handed one of the pages for me to inspect.
“It’s his handwriting,” I confirmed. The paper smelled very old and had a few things written here and there that had become illegible with time. The formula was odd to me, but then again, I wasn’t a chemist. Cameron swiped the paper back with an apologetic smile before I could look further.
“Do we have a deal?” he asked with finality.
“Did you know?” Arthur inquired, a dark expression on his features. “Did you know they were going to attack us?”
Cameron dropped his hands to his sides and looked away. “Yes. We knew. We tried to get here first to warn you, but our information was incorrect. I think they were becoming suspicious of us. It’s why we left.”
Patting Kitty’s back, I turned and motioned for the Council to go back into the smaller drawing-room. Arthur closed the door behind us. “You know I trust Cameron, but this is a choice we all have to make. Will we protect them here in exchange for their information?” I checked the faces around me, and none were defiantly decided, which was good.
“They could have other information besides the sunlight antidote,” Thaddeus reasoned. “What if they’ve seen who’s behind this? Even if they didn’t realize?”
“We can’t even make the potion. None of us are chemists,” I pointed out.
“I don’t like it,” Estinien complained, crossing his arms over his chest. “But… if it keeps us alive… I don’t see the harm.” Aww. Look who can be mature! “I want them on guard at every hour of the day, though. No exceptions.”
“Fine,” I conceded, nodding. “All in favor?” There was a steady rise of hands. “Done. Now, we have more ahead of us in the coming days. More decisions we’ll all have to take part in. I trust everyone can compromise?”
“We will d
o our best,” Castilla declared, nodding.
“Clean-up teams. Delegate some of your people and start getting fingers from the corpses before the Lycans burn them, on the off chance we can find out where these people came from. Then we’ll get to cleaning up our home.” Everyone agreed and started filing out of the small room, but Castilla and Arthur remained. She approached me carefully, and I noticed her appearance was much improved since last we spoke, leading me to believe she’d obeyed me and stopped bingeing.
“You still went to her,” Castilla said gently. “Searching for answers and finding long buried secrets.” Carefully, she put her hand up and pulled my pendant out from under my dress, like she knew it was there. “The House of Bathory,” she said as she studied the crest. “If I didn’t know your character as I do, I would be afraid of you right now. Your mother brought us to our knees and made us pay for what we did to her. Not to mention what your grandmother did to all those humans so she could feed her bloodthirsty child.” She flipped the necklace back under my collar.
I hesitated, hoping she wouldn’t tell anyone. “What will they do when they find out?”
Her eyes shifted to Kitty, and back to me. “Nothing good. I believe this is a secret we must continue to keep. Someday the world can know, but not today.” She glanced at Arthur standing sentry at the door. “You will also keep your lady’s secret. No one can know who she really is.”
Through our time together, Arthur’s allegiance had shifted from a strict policing Hunter to being under my command. Only the purest of respect for someone could’ve shifted him like that, even without the stolen kisses we’d shared.
His haunting blue eyes flicked briefly to me, and then he nodded to Castilla. “You needn’t make me swear. I will protect her life and her secrets without question.”
Castilla admired him so intensely I almost felt jealous. “There was once a day where you would’ve done anything to uphold our laws, and now look at you. Somehow, you’ve regained your humanity. It suits you.”
He stared straight on like the soldier he was. “If I could blush… I still wouldn’t do it. Your flattery is wasted, madam, but…” His expression changed slightly, and I could’ve sworn he was smiling. “It’s appreciated.”
Castilla turned to me and leaned in close to my ear. “I saw one other thing, nothing bad, just a premonition. Three pairs of visitors will come to you, and the first has already arrived. The last pair will make you very happy.”
Okay then.
After she left, Arthur looked at me thoughtfully. “Your mother is a criminal. A wanted fugitive.” He knew of Anastasia? It was a crime to repeat her story. He saw my confusion and explained, “I stole the journal and read it.” Oh. Of course he did. Why was I surprised? He took a step towards me and a small wave of anticipation hit me that I tried hard to quell. “You’re nothing like her.”
Amused, I laughed bitterly. “That’s where you’re wrong. I am exactly like her. We killed her mate. I would destroy the world if Knight was killed.”
“And so you should.” He stopped, considering his next words carefully. “I am glad he accepted you back in his arms. It’s where you belong.” I waited, hoping to glimpse something from him. An emotion. Any emotion. But he remained silent and blank as he always was. “Forgive my candor. The turned need to be monitored. I volunteer Olivier for the task.” I nodded. “I’ll begin work on the perimeter.” He bowed slightly and was gone.
It really would be like nothing had happened between us, then. Though Knight was enough for me, a sadness settled over my heart that I couldn’t explain.
“Yo,” Knight called. He stood in the doorway, smiling at me. “Olivier took Cameron and Merrick to be microchipped or something. She said it was to make sure we always knew where they were. I wanted to break her arm for not trusting my sister.”
“I’m glad you didn’t.” My smile fell as quickly as it came.
Knight walked to me, reaching for my free hand. “I heard what he said to you.” Knowing he’d heart made me feel embarrassed, and I couldn’t say why. “He loves you.” I scoffed, because if that was true, he wouldn’t have rejected me. “I’m serious, Lis. I saw it the first day I came here, before I knew you’d been with him.” He put his hand on my neck, right over his bite. “I asked you before if you loved him.”
“And I said I didn’t know,” I said quickly, not at all comfortable with this conversation.
“Yes,” Knight said gently. “But you care for him, deeply. I can see it on your face. I respect what you have with him. If you need both of us…” My breath caught in my throat, waiting for him to finish. “I’m fine with it.”
I pulled his shirt and smashed my lips against his, letting out all my love for him, because I could live a thousand years and never deserve him. We rested our foreheads together, as close as we could get with Kitty in my arms. “He might love me, and I need him in my life like I need you, I will admit that. But… no matter what he feels, he said no. It seems it’s just us. For now.”
He kissed me again, not finished with his side of it. “If one day, I’m no longer here, which will mean I’m dead because let’s face it, I want you forever.” I pressed my face to his chest at the thought of him dead. “I know,” he soothed. “But if. If that day comes, I can take comfort in knowing he’ll be here for you.” I couldn’t help crying over the thought of Knight dead, the thought that had haunted me into near madness.
“Stop, I can’t.” No, never again. Without Knight, I couldn’t live. My lungs seized on me and I felt like I was drowning.
“Sssh,” he said, and brought me up against him in a warm, loving hug. “I’m sorry, love. I wasn’t trying to upset you.”
“You…” I sobbed and tried to breathe. “You’re just trying to protect me.”
“Yes. Sssh now. No more talk of death. I’m not dying. You’re not dying. No one is dying. Not now, not ever.”
It took me some time, but I managed to calm down enough to curb the anxiety rushing through me, not all of which was stemming from the thought of losing my mate. I straightened away from Knight’s arms and looked around for something to wipe my face with. Knight was already ready, holding out a box of tissues.
“Trade?” He motioned to Kitty and I carefully handed her over, taking the tissues. Knight cradled her in his arms like he’d been around babies his entire life. I blew my nose as quietly as possible so I wouldn’t interrupt them. “Hey there,” he cooed. “My name is Knight, and I love your mommy.” Kitty spasmed in her sleep, stretched, opened her purple-blue eyes to stare at the man holding her, and I expected her to scream or something, looking up at the face of a stranger. She didn’t. She smiled, cooed back at Knight, and reached her hand out to touch his chin like they’d been friends forever. Knight smoothed her thin, black curls back and kissed her head. “She looks like you.”
I tossed the tissues on the couch and rested my head against Knight’s other shoulder so I could see my daughter’s face. She did look like me, but as I studied her more closely, I noticed something else. Something in her smile, or her nose, or the shape of her head, I really couldn’t say.
“She looks like Clara,” I corrected, smiling. It was silly to say my daughter resembled her aunt more so than her grandparents, but there it was. The realization gave me hope that Kitty would be okay. “Fuck, I miss them,” I said quietly. “I don’t want to admit it, but I do.”
I wanted to go back to that little house where everything was simple, and the only thing I needed to do was wash my mom’s hair, bake bread with my aunt, and watch Lucas and Knight playing with Kitty by the hearth while Arthur stood stoically in the corner and Balthazar commented on our love lives at the table.
Knight kissed my forehead. “I know.”
18. The sister
Waiting in the bigger drawing-room was my new sister. She stood in the sunlight, soaking it in with a smile on her face like she was a potted plant that had been in the dark for too long. She smiled when she saw us and came forward.
“What is her name?” she asked, motioning to Kitty.
“Katherine. We call her Kitty.”
Her smile grew wider. “A nice name. She is lovely. Jason, can I speak to your mate alone?” Jason. Fuck, that was still weird.
“Merrick,” Knight said cautiously, crossing his arms over his chest like a chastising big brother. “I know you. You’re being passive aggressive right now.” She was? But she was smiling at me.
His sister lowered her eyelashes and I saw her face change a little. “Cameron might have told me the story of the woman my brother chose as a mate, and I have to admit, I don’t know why you forgave her after she fucked someone else.”
Bitch.
My hackles rose and I wanted to tell her off, but it wasn’t my place. Knight bristled beside me. “How about instead of criticizing me for my life choices, little miss thang, you explain how you’re not dead? That’s a very good fucking place to start. Merrick Trimble, born November 13th, 1847, last seen in 1865, abandoning her brother after he got back from fighting in the war.”
She scrunched her mouth in anger. “You went off to fight while mother and I stayed behind with no one to protect us. She died waiting for you to return. You came back with some slut on your arm, expecting me to just fall in line and obey your orders.”
Slut?
Knight groaned slightly when he saw me react to that word. “Merrick, I’m sorry. I was young. I’d just been through enough trauma on the battlefield to break a man. You remember that part, right?”
“Well enough.” She crossed her arms over her chest with a surly expression, so very different from her brother’s demeanor. I wondered who she’d gotten that from. Was their mom the surly one, or their dad maybe? “I left, that much is true. What you don’t know is that I came back, and you were there at the farm house. You looked sick and you stumbled outside, I figured you were drunk. It was raining, but then the moon was out. You saw it, and you started… changing. I realized what you had become, and I ran. My brother had become a werewolf.” She dropped her hands, looking down at the floor. “After that, I found out everything about the world you were part of, and eventually I found rogue vampires once I knew what to look for. They offered me immortality in exchange for my loyalty, and since you were immortal too, if I had the ability to live forever, I could live long enough to find you again. To tell you how sorry I am for leaving you.”
The Born Vampire series: A Reverse Harem Paranormal Romance (The Complete Series, NSFW Edition) Page 49
