“Why?”
“I don’t know, something tells me I don’t need to be.” She smiled warmly at him. Her eyes shifted to the painting again.
“I do love you,” he said, as though he had to remind her.
“I know,” she whispered.
“I think I killed her. I remember the visions now.”
“I remember them too.”
“Cianán was right; it was my fault.” He lowered his head again, but she wouldn’t let him and lifted his chin.
“Do you really believe that? The visions didn’t show you killing her.”
“Ye saw it yourself, in your dream.”
“Yes, but I’m not sure it was you. Something was different. It could have been anybody.” She folded her legs beneath her, sitting in front of him, and took his hands in hers. “I know you had the visions, but it doesn’t mean you did it. I had the visions too, and I sure as hell wasn’t around to kill her. Besides, it’s not like you to do something so horrible. At least, I don’t think it is. You stopped yourself from biting me. I didn’t stop you. I couldn’t. You stopped before the locket brightened and shrieked, despite the other side of yourself.”
“I don’t know—”
“Think about it, Grant. Try to remember more.”
He shook his head. “I can’t.”
“Yes. You can. Now think.”
Grant looked surprised, and she smiled. For the first time in her life, she felt stronger than ever, and she didn’t care where the feeling came from.
“All I can see is jealousy.” He stared at the floor. “Someone green with envy.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m empathic, so I see emotions. The last thing I remember was envy before blacking out. I blacked out between the festival and finding her . . . over there.” He pointed to a spot ten feet from The Morrigan. “I don’t understand it. I don’t recall being jealous . . . . Shit, I just realized somethin’.” His eyes met hers. “That creature ye painted? It was me.”
“Then why did you buy it?”
“I thought it was Cianán. I’d hoped to use it as target practice.”
She laughed and covered her mouth with a hand. “I’m sorry.”
“No, it’s okay. It’s funny.”
“Why don’t you tell me the rest.” She sat back on her feet and looked up at him, holding her nightgown closed where he’d ripped it.
He stared at her.
“Tell me more about yourself.”
“Are ye sure you want to hear it?”
“Of course. You can’t put me through all of this and not tell me more,” she said and grinned. “Why would you be jealous? Or why would anyone be jealous when it involved her?”
They sat on the rug in the large foyer and Grant told Kylie the rest of his story—the search for the locket and how he was supposed to receive it.
“The moment we met, I started fallin’ in love,” Grant said.
Kylie smiled and patted his hand. “She must have been very special.”
He lowered his head and looked back up at her with a smile, showing fangs that had yet to vanish. “I meant you.”
She felt the heat of a blush rush to her cheeks. “Oh.”
“Cianán wanted to sacrifice Siobhán.”
“How?” Shocked, she had to force her mouth closed.
“It’s a blood sacrifice, really. I don’t think he was going to kill her, but I can’t be sure since it never played out.”
“Why would he need a blood sacrifice?”
“It would make him even more powerful. I don’t know if there would be a way to kill him once he harnessed the power.”
“Powerful, like a god?”
“Exactly like a god. If the ritual is a Druid one, or more precisely a Gallic one—where he spent quite a bit of time—it would be a human sacrifice.” He placed his fingers on his chin and tapped lightly. “To be honest with ye, I really don’t know that much about him. I don’t know how or when he became a vampyre; he never told any of us. I know he’s very old, over two thousand years, but I don’t know exactly how old.
“He wasn’t always like this, either. Ages before I met him, he was actually nice. I have a brother, a blood-brother, who knew him long before I came around. He told me what Cianán was like when he was a fairly young vampyre. He was the first of Cianán’s original coven. Cearbhall, my blood-brother, said he was quite charmin’—”
“Well, he charmed me, but I had a feeling there was something different about him. Something off.”
Grant nodded and smiled. “Charmed ye, huh?”
“Shut up!” She slapped his arm and balked at her action. “Seriously, I’m like five around you. What the hell?”
He laughed. “By the time I met him, he’d become obsessed with this . . . Rítus. If he has his way, becomes this god, the world as we know it will forever change. More so, I don’t want him to hurt you. He’s going to take ye away from me, just like he took her.”
“Is it your job to protect me?”
“It is, now that I’ve fallen in love with ye,” he replied. “Isn’t that what I’m supposed to do?” He kissed the back of her hand.
“And before you fell in love with me?”
“Truthfully, I didn’t care what he was up to an’ hadn’t for a long time. You found me in your studio that day because I was curious about your last name an’ the fact that I couldn’t kill ye for some reason. Don’t be mad at me, but you’d been prey I stalked the day before. I was also looking for the locket. When we had lunch together, an’ dinner that evening, I felt something I hadn’t in so long. You’ve captured my soul, Ky. I knew something was wrong when he didn’t kill ye—which is very, very rare. Nor did he put a spell on ye to keep you to himself, which surprised me at the time. It meant you were special to him. It meant he couldn’t be-spell you because ye needed to have free will. It wasn’t until I noticed something later that night that I realized what he was doing.”
“Wait, spell?”
“Aye, the Merlin trained him. That is, until the Merlin discovered something very dark about him, from what I understand.”
“The Merlin?”
“That’s where he learned his sorcery from.”
“He’s a sorcerer?”
“Aye.”
Kylie blinked. “I thought Merlin was just a fairytale character.” She didn’t find a trace of lie within his ice blue eyes. “And what about you, did you learn any of that?”
“Some.” He grinned widely. “How do ye think I got into your studio that day?”
She slapped him again. “I knew I locked that damn door!”
He laughed heartily and it sounded good in her ears. She thought about everything he’d told her and bit her fingernail.
“So why do you think he’ll hurt me? Does he want to sacrifice me now?”
“Aye, that’s why you must never take the locket off. It has a protection spell on it, one of the first spells I learned.” His eyes shifted to the locket. “I should probably make it stronger . . . an’ add more blood.”
“Why me?”
“He thinks you’re his Chosen One. I’m afraid he might be correct. Your birthmark is the Talisman of the Sacred Three. I never connected it before until I saw it on you. Siobhán had one as well, only hers was on her arm.” He smiled and raised a brow. “I kinda like where yours is.”
She grinned. “I bet you do. And when exactly did you see it? I would have to be na—”
“It was the night I cooked dinner for ye. After I put you to bed, I went in later an’ checked on you because I was concerned. You were scratching your ribcage an’ pulled your shirt up just enough—”
“What else did you see that night, Grant?”
“Nothing,” he replied, miming like he swore upon a Bible. “I swear it.”
“Sure, I believe you. Not. And here I thought you were a perfect gentleman,” she said.
He shook his head and chuckled.
“Is that the only reason he wants me,
because of my birthmark?”
“Aye, as far as I’m aware. I’m not quite sure how the whole thing came about. I think it has something to do with your gifts, your powers. It runs very deep in your bloodline. You do realize ye have certain gifts, don’t you?”
She shook her head. She didn’t understand what he was asking.
“Don’t you fall into trances?”
She nodded.
“What about your dreams? I think they’re visions of what events that have passed or what’s to come. The one you had earlier told you what just happened here.”
“That happens all the time.” She cringed a little at the reminder of the dream and what always followed. “I told you earlier, every time I have that dream, someone dies. It’s happened that way most of my life.”
“Interesting. You’re a strong psychic, which would explain how you read my mind earlier tonight.”
“I did?”
“Aye. Quite a few times, actually. Let me ask you somethin’. The blood drop that was in the locket, what happened to it?”
She looked at him oddly. “Blood drop?”
“Aye, the one that was inside the locket. You did see it?”
“Yes.”
He paused and studied her face. “Did ye ingest it?”
She cleared her throat and looked away. “I thought it was mine.”
He laughed. “That’s why I smelled my scent on ye. I thought it odd; I hadn’t really been around you much. I thought ye might have known about me already.”
“Perhaps on some level I did. Why didn’t the blood dry?”
“Because I’m immortal, as is my blood.” He chuckled, and continued. “Kylie, you have an incredible amount of power inside you, and it seems to be growing. I don’t know why, maybe it’s your surroundings, being here with me—”
“Maybe you’re rubbing off on me,” she said with a grin.
“Or your powers are growing because you’ve come to your family’s homeland. I’m not exactly sure how it’s happening; perhaps somethin’ to do with your age as well, but you’re getting stronger. I wish we could find out why.”
“I’m sure there’s a way to, Grant.”
“I don’t even know how old ye are.”
She grinned again. “It’s not polite to ask a woman her age. But if you really must know, I’ll be thirty-three on Halloween.”
Shock jumped over his features. “Thirty-three? That’s a sacred number. Did you know there are approximately thirty-three gods an’ goddesses in the Celtic pantheon?”
“No, and I don’t care,” she said.
“An’ All Hallow’s Eve? That’s a sacred day.”
“Yeah, where kids dress up and get bags full of candy.” She leaned forward. “How old are you?”
“Much older than you.” His grin widened.
“Oh, come on, I told you.”
“Halloween is the eve of the festival. I wonder—”
“Grant!”
He grabbed both of her hands and looked deeply into her eyes. “Kylie, when I said I needed ye, part of what I meant was I need your help fighting him. I wasn’t sure who was going to help me, but now . . . .
“This explains why I was drawn to you; why I couldn’t kill ye or harm a hair on your precious head. You don’t remember seeing me in the club, do ye?”
She shook her head.
“Think about it. Wasn’t there a second of time when you saw someone, glanced at him, an’ it seemed to last forever?”
She stared at the floor, trying hard to remember. She gasped. “It was you.”
He smiled.
“You disappeared so quickly. I’d never felt like that before.”
“Neither had I,” he said.
She lightly touched his face. He closed his eyes, obviously savoring the feeling her touch gave him before he spoke again.
“I’m not strong enough to fight him, Ky. He’s much stronger here and I never learned enough to go up against him in battle. He was weak in Arizona, and knew it. He wouldn’t fight me there. Or maybe he wasn’t prepared for it. I’m not sure—”
“When did that happen?”
“The night ye found me wanderin’ outside.”
“Well, that explains that. At least I know I’m not going crazy. Or maybe I am. This is so much information. These things aren’t supposed to be happening in the real world.”
“I know it’s overwhelming. Believe me, I know, but you’re a strong woman.”
“It’ll be okay, Grant. I think I can handle it. I just need to let it sink in.”
“We don’t have that much time,” he said with a grin.
She slapped his thigh.
“Besides, your strength is why I love you.”
“Is that the only reason?”
“You know it’s not.”
“Just checking,” she said with a smile. “I don’t understand how I can help you.”
“I’ll teach ye, but like I said, we don’t have much time.”
She wondered briefly if she’d be stronger as a vampyre. After all, she already had a drop of his—
“No!”
She fell back on her ass.
“You will not become vampyr.”
“Jesus, it was just a thought.”
“Well, don’t even think it. I will not do that to you.” He crossed his arms over his broad chest.
“What if you already have?” She’d thought he was going to ignore the question, he sat silent for so long.
“Not possible with only one drop of blood. The transformation is a delicate process, an’ I haven’t taken your blood.”
She froze. “Wait a minute. How’d you know what I was thinking?”
“I’m still tryin’ to figure it out myself. I’m telepathic, but ye block me most of the time. I don’t understand it.”
She was okay with that . . . maybe. “What if you don’t have a choice but to change me?”
He shook his head. “It doesn’t matter, I can’t—”
“Will you become like me again if Cianán dies?”
“When he dies, an’ I don’t know,” he replied.
“What do you mean you don’t know? He’ll be dead and there will be a chance that you’ll stay a vampyre? I see, so you’ll live forever and I’m supposed to grow old and die.”
Grant hadn’t planned on falling in love with Kylie, or meeting her at all. He’d never considered the idea of changing Siobhán, but she wouldn’t have understood what was happening, and he definitely wasn’t strong enough to kill his Master back then.
Kylie did understand, though, or so it seemed. She might be stronger as a vampyre, and his strength would certainly grow, but he didn’t want to bring her into this life. He didn’t want to tell her he might not even exist anymore once Cianán was dead.
“The answer is still no.”
“Do you love me?”
“Of course I do,” he said, upset she would even ask him that.
“Then if this doesn’t work, promise me we will be together . . . forever.”
“You have no idea what this life is like.”
“If I’m with you, I don’t care what it’s like.”
“Ye will, after the fact. Besides, I don’t know what it’ll do to you. There’re things ye don’t know about yet.”
“Then tell me,” she begged, and took both of his hands in hers. “Please, tell me about your world. You’ve brought me into it whether or not you like it. I think I have a right to know, don’t I? Especially if I’m to be sacrificed. If I’m this so-called Chosen One, I was going to end up in your world one way or another. Perhaps you’ve given me an advantage here.”
He sighed, knowing she was right. There was so much she didn’t know. As much as he wanted to tell her, there wasn’t time for everything. The short version would have to do . . . for now.
“I’ve never said these things to a mortal before.”
She nodded, waiting for Grant to begin.
“Pardon me if I have a little trouble . .
. .”
He cleared his throat.
“Not all vampyres are exactly the same. When we’re born into this life, if ye can call it that, each of us goes through the end of the Change differently. Some receive the power of telepathy, some telekinesis, and some receive other gifts. I have telepathy an’ most vampyres are empathic, but mine is stronger. These gifts are strong at night, but for reasons not known to us, our gifts are weak durin’ the day.
“The sun doesn’t kill us. We aren’t going to explode, catch on fire, or the like. That’s a myth, an’ you’ve seen that it truly is just a myth. However, we can be killed, but only if ye can get close enough an’ can catch us off guard—a nearly impossible feat. The only way to kill a vampyre is to be-head one. A stake in the heart can slow the older ones down tremendously, but it won’t kill us. Believe me, I know it very well.”
“Oh my God.” She placed a hand over her heart.
“God has nothin’ to do with it. But that which doesn’t kill us, only makes us stronger; probably one of my favorite quotes of all time, an’ so very true for vampyres, as we grow stronger with each trial. There are some vampyres who believe in the myths. It’s easier to kill them. For them, it’s really all in the mind. If they think they can’t go out in the sun, they can’t. Mind over matter. I’d say wisdom really does come with age, but some of the elders believe the myths. Of course, our favorite vampyre isn’t an idiot; he knows the myths are false.
“The younger ones, however, can be killed with a stake before their one hundredth deathday. It takes that first century to gain any real strength.”
“Wow, I can’t imagine living that long.” Kylie peered up into his eyes. “I’m sorry, I interrupted you. Continue.”
He smiled. “It’s okay. We prefer the night. It’s when the hunt takes place. Best time for it, really. Since you’re mortal, I haven’t had much of a choice lately but to spend most of my time in the sun, an’ I haven’t been hunting at night.” He smiled and tightened his grip on her hand. “Which we now know to be a very bad idea.”
“Agreed.”
He drew in a deep breath and patted her hand. “I met this gentleman once during the seventeenth, or maybe it was the eighteenth century, Sir Laurence of Strathclyde, who could shape-shift. He changed into another person right before my eyes, but that’s a story for another time. It was one of his special gifts an’ I wish I had it. My point is, Cianán has that gift as well an’ he’s very good at it, so we have to be careful.”
The Dracove (The Prophecy series) Page 19
