Enemy Within (Vampire Born Trilogy, #2)

by Kace, Angeline

  “But that’s not fair! It’s my life on the line. Shouldn’t I be able to present a fair case?”

  It is unfair. She should, but this is Pijawikas we’re talking about.

  “This is not a courtroom or any trial you are familiar with. We do things differently. What we say is the way it is.”

  “Well, you’re the leader of all them. Shouldn’t you be able to say how things are going to be?”

  “I am more powerful than each one of them individually, but I am not all-powerful. The Commission exists to distort absolute power among our people. As long as they abide by the rules, so must I.”

  Brooke pulls the sleeves of her thermal over her hands. “And now Emerik’s dad is going to vote against me. I’m sure he wants me dead as much as Emerik does.”

  The library door opens and Brooke’s mom peeks her head in. “There you are.” She pushes the door open and comes in carrying a glass or water and something cupped in her other hand. “I knew you were up, but I didn’t know where you’d run off to. I figured you might want to take these soon.” She hands Brooke the glass and drops two white pills into Brooke’s palm.

  “Thanks,” Brooke says and pops the pills into her mouth. She sips the water and then hands the glass back to her mom.

  Annette peers at each of us. “What’s going on in here?”

  “I’m preparing Brooke for her testimony,” Zladislov says.

  “Oh.” Brooke’s mom takes the empty seat between Brooke and Zladislov.

  Zladislov clears his throat. “I can’t have you in here for this.”

  She grimaces at Zladislov, looks at me, then back at him. “I’m her mother.”

  “You are also a human, and these things are forbidden from you.”

  Fire flares in Annette’s eyes. “One of the things I admired about you was that you never treated me as an other. And I will not allow you to start now. Especially when our daughter is involved.”

  I see now where Brooke gets her tenacity. I recognize that same tone from all the times Brooke’s used it on me. I watch Zladislov for any indication that it has the same effect on him.

  He’s stoic as he meets Annette’s unwavering glare. “All right, I’ll allow it on the terms that you are her mother, since these are unusual circumstances.”

  He doesn’t show it, but I’m certain he’s soft for her still. I tuck that away for later. “Where does that leave Ivan?” Ivan is the remaining Commissioner Zladislov hasn’t mentioned yet.

  “Ivan may vote either way.” Zladislov turns his focus to Brooke. “He’s the one you will want to persuade. You’ll know him as the tall one who is partial to pinstriped suits. If he finds you interesting and not posing a threat, he’ll vote to dismiss you.”

  Brooke swallows and lifts her eyelids, peering through her top lashes. “But even if I can persuade Ivan, that means four against four if Orell votes against me. What happens then?”

  “In the event of a tie, the weight of the Head, my vote, becomes the deciding vote. However, if it does come down to a vote about my position as remaining the Head, my vote cannot be weighted because it is in direct benefit to me. In that case, the vote will lean toward the solution that causes the least amount of bloodshed to Pijawikas. Keeping my position as the Head of the Commission would cause less bloodshed for Pijawikas than if I were removed.”

  “Won’t your vote in favor of dismissing Brooke be in direct benefit of you as well?”

  “It does benefit me, but the vote is not in regards to me.”

  Brooke chews on her sleeve. “But if we can convince Orell to continue to forfeit his votes, things would be more likely to go our way, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “But how do we do that?”

  “Is that why you let Emerik go?” I ask Zladislov.

  “Partially. Killing him would ensure his father’s vote against us. I also couldn’t do it because we have been friends for over seven centuries. I could not see his life come to an end by my hand.” He looks down and brushes lint off his suit pants.

  I don’t believe it. A Pijawikan betrayal is a serious offense, and Zladislov is not that soft, or weak. I stare at him until he looks up. I lock his blue gaze in challenge. “There’s something else, isn’t there?” If he knows something that could help us, to help Brooke, I need to know about it.

  He inhales deep, as if considering what to tell me. “When you have been as close to someone as I have to Emerik, for so long, you become aware of … secrets about one another.”

  I consider that for a moment. I’ve never doubted Emerik and Zladislov have been through a lot together, but now I’m curious as to what Emerik has on him. I’m even more interested in what he has on Emerik as he’s now my enemy. “So, if Emerik were to die, your secrets would no longer be safe? Is that what you’re saying?”

  “You could put it that way.”

  Now I can understand why Zladislov let Emerik go.

  “There is one more thing. When we go to the meeting, only Pijawikas are allowed inside the auditorium.”

  This is bullshit. “I can’t go in with her?”

  “But I’m her mother!” Annette shrieks.

  “I can’t do this—” Brooke starts, but Zladislov cuts us off.

  “Both of you can go, but neither of you will be allowed inside the room as Brooke testifies.” He angles toward Brooke. “I will be there with you the whole time, so don’t fret.”

  How can he tell her not to fret? I’m not even the one on trial here and I’m fretting the fuck out!

  Brooke scoots toward the edge of the couch. “Let me make sure I have this straight: I can’t have any witnesses, I’ll answer the questions as they ask them, I have to appear non-threatening, and I basically don’t get anyone there with me for moral support.”

  “Yes, yes, yes, and I said I’ll be there with you.”

  Brooke exhales. “I hate this. Are we done here?”

  “Yes, that was everything essential you need to know.”

  Brooke gets up. Annette follows her out.

  I stand but linger. “What happens if Orell and Ivan vote against Brooke?”

  “At this point, I don’t see Orell doing that.”

  “But what if he does?” I say sternly. I don’t care what he sees happening. I need to know what we’re really up against. “Or if Orell nullifies his vote, but Ivan votes against her?”

  Zladislov stands and takes two strides across the rug, stopping in front of me. “If it comes to that, I will resort to Plan B.”

  “Which is?”

  “Something so terrible I won’t even discuss it.”

  That should alarm me. Whatever it is, it’s bound to carry vast repercussions. And even knowing that, I still feel better that Zladislov will do whatever he needs to keep Brooke safe.

  Because that’s my plan, but he’s much more powerful than I am.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Brooke

  Today’s Monday. We only laid David to rest four days ago, but Jaren and I have to go back to school. I’ve missed so much lately that it may take me getting held back to catch up. School seems so insignificant now. Something to take up hours of my days when I should be preparing to get out of this mess.

  I have yet to hear from Kaitlynn as to whether she’ll be coming today. I have yet to hear from her regarding anything. She’s closed herself off from me. She takes my calls, but she doesn’t speak. When I ask to come over, she says she wants to be alone. I know she’s grieving, but I’m worried. Mirko has had Ace, Hawk, and Bruce switch off keeping an eye on her, so she’s physically safe, but I’m worrying about much more than that now.

  Someone knocks and opens the door as I stand in front of the mirror and stare at my quiet phone.

  “You look stunning,” my father says, sitting down on the edge of my bed.

  Stunning isn’t really what I was going for. I picked my outfit because of its dark tones; black fits my mood lately. “Thanks,” I say. I turn and sit next to him on the bed.
<
br />   My dad reaches behind me and pulls a strand of hair to drape over my shoulder. “Your mother tells me David’s was your first funeral.”

  “Yeah.” I drop my eyes. “We’ve never stayed anywhere long enough to see anyone pass away.” I mean old people. It’s what the old me thought. Only old people pass away. Death doesn’t touch the young. It won’t happen to me and it won’t happen to my friends. At least not until we’re old and it’s our time.

  Only it has, and it seems to be all around me.

  He looks at me apologetically. “I regret missing so much of your life.”

  “Me too,” I say. “I used to be so mad at you. I hated you. I would play out in my head all the hateful things I’d say to you once I met you. But when you pulled up at the hotel, I was excited to see you for the first time. I didn’t want to hate you.”

  He cups the uninjured side of my face tenderly. “I didn’t abandon you or your mother. She left me.” His eyes tighten.

  “Did you love my mom?”

  “I still do,” he says.

  I’m shocked by his honesty and figure it’s a good time for some answers. “But you’re willing to risk everything for me. Why not for her?” Everything about their relationship is still a mystery to me. He’s still a mystery to me. I want to spend time with him, to get to know him, but I find myself hiding or withdrawing from him when I have the chance.

  I don’t want to risk him seeing something in me that will reveal my love for Mirko. So I risk not having a real relationship with him instead. Maybe I can have both.

  His brows dip. “I needed more time. I was going to turn her, but she left. I believed she changed her mind about us, about our future, about turning. I suffered when she left, but I thought I understood. Then seventeen years later, I find out she left because she was with child. I am not certain I can ever forgive her for that.” He shakes his head.

  I feel the same way. Not only did she take me away from him, she took him away from me. I can’t help but allow some of my past hatred toward him to be transferred to her.

  Yet, she’s my mom. My instinct is to protect her, even over something as simple as my dad’s frustration with her. “She told me she loved you.”

  He looks away. “She should’ve told me. I would’ve fought for you. For both of you.”

  My throat tightens. I went from thinking he abandoned me, to him wanting to kill me, to him wanting to save me from Jelena, then back to him wanting to kill me. And now he’s saying he would’ve fought for me. I want to believe he would have. He banished Emerik—his best friend for centuries—in defense of me. And risked confidential secrets in the process.

  “I’m conflicted. I’m so mad at her, but at the same time, I’ve never seen her unafraid.” I look down and fold the fabric of my long sweater between my fingers. “I used to think her rules and craziness were because she was uptight and a control freak. But now I see it was because she was terrified. I know she thought she was protecting me. She probably thought she was protecting you too.”

  I unwind the fabric from my finger and smooth it out. “Sometimes I wish I never had to be protected in the first place.”

  Silence fills the room, making the air uncomfortably thick. His penetrating blue eyes hold me still when I want to look away. Maybe I shouldn’t have told the ruler of all vampires that I sometimes wish I weren’t one.

  Finally, he speaks. “We all need protection. Actually, I am indebted to your mother, not for taking you away from me but for protecting you when I was not there. I am indebted to Garwin and Mirko as well.”

  It must be hard for him to say he’s indebted to a human and a Zao Duh. But I’m finding out my dad really isn’t like all the other Pijawikas I’ve met. I relax, even though the topic is on Mirko. “They’ve done well protecting me.”

  “What happened between you and Jaren? I gather he used to be your boyfriend?”

  “Yeah. Uh … a lot of things, I guess.”

  He raises an eyebrow. “Was Mirko one of those things?”

  I laugh nervously as my heart quickens.

  Okay, I really don’t want to talk about Mirko with him anymore. It’s getting too close for comfort. And he can probably hear how my thumping heartbeat changes. I should say something to explain it away. “It’s kind of weird talking about boys with you. I mean, you’re my dad.”

  He gives me a lighthearted chuckle. “That’s fine. But I do need to know this: is something still going on with you two?”

  Crap. This is not good. “What makes you think that?” I’m flustered and fumbling. I shouldn’t be stalling. I need to lie through my teeth and tell him the furthest thing from the truth, but I’m still a terrible liar and he’s probably really good at seeing through people.

  I’m freaking out.

  “He’s very loyal to you,” he presses.

  “He is.” I can’t help but smile. There’s no way I can lie and make him believe I don’t still feel something for Mirko. Tiptoeing across the truth will throw him off better. “Well, I wanted to be with him. But he told me we couldn’t, and that was that.” I let all the sadness over that truth wash over me in hopes he’ll see it.

  “He is right,” my dad states. He says the words so nonchalantly, but they weigh heavily on me.

  Mirko and I knew my dad would feel this way. But it doesn’t spare me the pain from his confirming it. I should be mad all over again, but all I have is overwhelming sadness.

  I drop my head and pick at my cuticles to hide my pain. It’s one thing to let my dad see me sad when it benefits me, but this makes me feel too exposed.

  “I’m sorry, Brooke. It’s the way things are. And also why it didn’t work with your mother and me,” he says in a soft, soothing tone.

  But it doesn’t soothe me. It doesn’t change anything because he doesn’t say I am free to love Mirko.

  I roll my tongue on the roof of my mouth to calm the ache in my throat from holding back tears. “Yeah, but it didn’t have to be.” I look up at him. “There’s just never been anyone with enough power and sway who’s fought for it.” I guess it’s still unfair for me to blame him for the way all Pijawikas think, but he has the influence and motivation to change things, and he hasn’t.

  “It’s not that easy,” he says.

  “Nothing worth fighting for ever is.”

  He nods. “You’re right. And wise.”

  “Lijepa told me that.”

  “Ah, Lijepa.” My dad smiles, a glint in his eyes, before they dull again. “David isn’t the first person you’ve lost, is he?”

  I shake my head. “No. Lijepa was.” I hadn’t known her long at all, but my chest aches every time I think of her. And it aches enough right now—over David, over Kaitlynn, my hidden love for Mirko, and over Lijepa—that my eyes sting with the threat of tears. My emotions are so erratic lately, I can’t control them.

  “How long did she train you?”

  “Not very long. Jelena came before we got very far.” When I asked Mirko shortly after about Lijepa’s funeral, he told me she wouldn’t have one. Pijawikas don’t mourn in public. It’s a sign of weakness. People would grieve for her in private while she was taken to a crematory and burned to ash.

  I’d fought Mirko to get her body. I couldn’t stand the thought of another flame touching her skin, but he said it was for the best. With technology nowadays, Pijawikas, and the rest of us, can’t risk for our loved ones to be buried only to be dug up and examined later.

  It made sense, but I still didn’t talk to Mirko for a full twenty-four hours.

  I’m grateful when my dad pulls me from the memory. “What did you and Lijepa focus on and how far did you get?”

  I tilt my head. Why is he so interested in my training with Lijepa?

  “I only ask because I intend to begin where she left off. Training with me may not go as smoothly as it did with her. I don’t have that special sense about powers like she did, but I’m better equipped to train you than most.”

  Wow. My dad is wil
ling to train me? I’d love for him to pick up where Lijepa left off. “Well, I didn’t know anything before I went to her. Mirko took me to her after I breached a Pijawika’s mind to torture him.”

  “Are you saying you were unaware of how to use Sanjam before that?”

  “Yeah. Mirko had barely taught me how to extend my fangs, so I guess you could say I was a late bloomer. Anyway, I pushed too hard and out too far. By the time I was done, my nose was bleeding.”

  My dad regards me in a similar way Lijepa did when I surprised her. Except his is reserved pride.

  My goal is to get him to drop that wall around me.

  “Yes, you pushed too hard.” He stands and pulls something out of his pocket. A gold chain hangs between his fingers. He opens his hand and places the object on the bed, straightening out the necklace with delicate pinches of his fingers. It’s his znak.

  My initial reaction is distress, and I flinch at the sight of it. I’ve feared what I thought was his znak for so long that I can’t help it.

  He picks up the two black pieces that resemble charcoal, and then walks over and closes the door before coming back to sit down. “I’m going to share a secret of mine with you. It’s a big secret, and crucial to our safety. I’ve never told anyone about this. Not even Emerik, so I can’t have you telling anyone about it.” He eyes me sharply. “Do you agree?”

  I’m not sure what I’m agreeing to, but how can I say no? “I promise.”

  “Then I shall proceed. When it comes to Sanjam, I am considered the strongest living Pijawika in the world. However, technically, I am not.”

  My jaw drops. “But even Lijepa told me you were.” And Lijepa knew everything.

  “She didn’t know any different because it is not a power. It is a technique, but using it stirs something within me that gave Lijepa a taste of it.” His smile turns jaunty. Whatever he’s about to tell me, it excites him.

  I can’t help but be excited with him. I’m sharing secrets with my dad—a secret he’s only ever shared with me. It’s like a rite of passage, and one I never knew existed or that I was missing out on. I tuck my feet underneath me and lean in attentively. “So how do you do it?”