“That’s why I’m back. I want to try to get you up and walking if possible. There’s still a few hours of darkness left and it would be good if you got another meal in. Stephen needs to recover before he can give more blood.”
I bit my lip nervously. Truth be told, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to go out and hunt. The idea of running into Gregory/Stefan was terrifying, since I was in no condition to defend myself.
“I’ll help you up,” Matthew said, standing himself.
I looked from him to Samuel. “I don’t want to go,” I whispered. “I might run into him.”
Samuel crossed the room so he was standing on the other side of the bed. “I’ll be with you.” He looked at Matthew. “You should come too. It’ll help Julia feel safer.”
Matthew snorted as he carefully pulled off the blanket and offered me his arm to hold onto. “I highly doubt she wants to risk being burned by me again.”
“You need to feed too. You used a lot of energy a few days ago,” Samuel replied as he put his arm around my waist, so I didn’t have to use my injured arm. A couple minutes later, I was standing next to the bed. My right leg stung slightly, but it was from minor burns that were already healing.
I still wore the torn and burned dress that I had on when the attack occurred. Other than cutting off the right sleeve below the shoulder so they could treat the injuries, no one had attempted a change of clothes. Matthew crafted a dressing out of wet bandages, and a sling out of a longer piece of cloth. It hid the fact that there was very little sleeve, even if the rest of the dress looked like I had just escaped a fire.
As I slipped my arm into it, I looked up at him. “You should come, Matthew. Safety in numbers, remember? Besides, you look as if you can use the food.”
He stared at me and sighed. “You really want me to come?”
“Why wouldn’t I? We already discussed this, Matthew. I welcome you and your power any time.”
He nodded, and a few minutes later, the three of us left the villa.
Chapter 14
I would have preferred to stay close to home to hunt, but I was overruled. I had argued that since I was unable to talk telepathically or even cloak that we should stay where the others could reach us quickly if needed. Both of them countered that was exactly why we needed to go farther– so we didn’t lead anyone home. They were both armed with swords, but I only carried my dagger because of my injuries. In the end, I couldn’t dispute their logic. The villa was more vulnerable than we were, even if I was injured.
I felt weak as I walked between Samuel and Matthew. It was not a feeling I liked, and I made it known to the men. The only good thing I saw out of this was that we were going near the Coliseum. “Are you sure we don’t have to worry about the Hunters?” I asked for the hundredth time.
“They should still be nursing their wounds, especially Gregory. Burns can kill if you don’t treat them correctly,” Samuel said patiently.
“If I had known who that Stefan really was, I would have burned him more,” Matthew grumbled.
I smiled, finally allowing myself to relax a little as we approached a few people leaving one of the nighttime establishments. Samuel took the lead in engaging three of the humans in conversation and I was more than happy to let him. He led our small group down a smaller street and hypnotized two of them, a man and a woman. Matthew dealt with his own dinner.
Clumsily, I tilted the woman’s head so I could bite where I needed to. Everything was much more difficult with just one arm. Finally succeeding, I felt warm tangy blood gush into my mouth and I savored it.
I looked at Matthew and saw his skin had taken on a more normal color and his eyes weren’t quite as bloodshot looking. “You look better,” I said.
“So do you, but I wouldn’t take off the sling yet.” He still looked anxious, keeping a slight distance between us.
“No, that wouldn’t be wise for more than one reason. Seeing a bare arm would attract unwanted attention,” I murmured as I turned to Samuel. Now that the urgency was over, I realized we had hunted together for the first time in a year or better. There had been no reluctance on his part when he suggested it. Maybe I had earned some of his trust back.
Samuel smiled at me and I swore just seeing that gave me more strength. “The blood has helped a lot. If you want to, we could go back to the villa. Or we could continue on to the Coliseum, which is a little farther down the road we were on before. It’s your choice, Julia.”
I hesitated, torn between the desire to go back home where it was safer, or to pursue my wish to see the place. “We’ve come this far. It’d be a shame to leave without getting close.”
Matthew, who had started back to the larger road, paused and looked back at us. “Not too close,” he warned.
“Why not?” I asked.
Worry flickered across his face. “Because a lot of people died in there, Julia. I’m still not sure how your ability works, but being very close could be unpleasant. And with you still being weakened it might cause unexpected results.”
“I see. I still want to see it,” I replied. Samuel sighed and walked past us, heading for the main thoroughfare. We followed and I used telepathy for the first time.
Matthew glanced at me and reached for my left hand, looking uncertain. I grabbed his hand, squeezing hard. The tension seemed to leave him at my reaction and he said,
I frowned, wishing I could find some way to convince him and the others. No one I knew but Gregory had come to me since I saw Adam after my fight with Valentino five years ago. I had tried to call for Adam, but he’d never appeared. Doubt once again crept over me. What if the vision of the “in-between” with the woman in white had simply been a demented hallucination and not a real encounter? I had no proof that it actually happened.
I looked up and smiled.
Matthew looked over at me, a troubled expression on his face.
“Is this far enough away, or do you think we need to back up?” Samuel asked, turning to look at us. I looked up and saw the huge circular building ahead of us.
“Here is good,” I whispered as I stared up at it. It was much larger than the ruins in the Forum Romanum, with dozens of stone archways running alongside. Large sections of the outer wall were missing or crumbling. The color of the
stone appeared to be white or light brown and it was beautiful. Yet, here in the middle of the night as the half-moon slipped behind clouds, it suddenly seemed to be an ominous shadow. “Thank you, but I think I’m ready to go.”
“Already?” Samuel asked, looking confused. “Are you sure you don’t want to get closer?” He glanced at Matthew, who was watching me.
Matthew nodded. “She’s seen enough. The aura is different around here.”
“The next thing you’ll tell me is that you’re seeing ghosts in the doorways,” Samuel muttered.
“I won’t be, but Julia might.”
Embarrassed, I turned back the way we came and started walking again. “Stop it. I am tired of being laughed at.” I didn’t look back, keeping my steps even and purposeful. I knew Matthew hadn’t meant to hurt my feelings, but I was suffering from enough doubt as it was.
Moments later, I felt one of them grab me by my unhurt arm. I turned to yell at them, but the look on Matthew’s face made me think twice. “Three vampires are on this road at the edge of the buildings. We can’t keep going this way unless we want a fight.”
I looked longingly back at the silhouettes of the houses and shops. “Can we sneak past them? We’re cloaked.”
“Possibly, but it’s a risk with your telepathic power being weak. We can try using the woods near the Coliseum to conceal our approach back into the more populated areas. Or use the building to hide until they leave.”
I sighed. “So my choices are risking severe injury by going back into the city proper, hope there’s enough tree cover to get us past the threat, or go hide by the creepy building?”
Matthew shrugged and nodded. “A decision needs to be made before they see or sense us,” Samuel said from behind us.
I tried not to let my frustration show as I said, “Fine, let’s try to use the tree cover to get past this area of town.”
“Let’s enter closer to the Coliseum,” Matthew replied. I reluctantly followed them back to where we had been. My gaze slid back to the towering building, and for a second, I thought I saw a shadow move by one of the doorways. I blinked and it was gone. It wasn’t worth mentioning so I headed into the trees after the two of them.
We had walked a short distance when a voice said, “What the hell are you three doing?”
I spun, pulling my dagger immediately with my left hand.
Slowly, I exhaled and put my dagger away. “Damn it, Lane, don’t do that!”
Samuel sighed. “Sorry. She’s nervous tonight.”
I glared at him as Lane asked, “What are you doing? You do realize there are three vampires closer to the buildings, don’t you? They’ve probably sensed you by now.” He studied each of us for a moment, his eyes hovering on me the longest. “And it doesn’t look like you are up to a fight.”
We looked at each other. “We know. Did you see us enter the woods?” Samuel asked.
Lane shook his head. “No, I sensed you come in. They must have by now as well.”
“You sensed me, didn’t you?” I asked, feeling my cheeks grow warm with embarrassment. I had just endangered all of us by not being strong enough to cloak correctly.
“I detected all of you.”
I looked at Samuel, startled. He looked at Matthew who shook his head slightly. “You sensed us?” Samuel echoed warily.
Lane nodded. “Why aren’t you running? You should go before they get here.”
I looked from Lane to my two ka-tet members. Did this mean I was still cloaked? Were all of us still cloaked? I decided to let Samuel or Matthew handle this. I wasn’t sure what to say.
“Those vampires are still roaming the neighborhood over there. If anything, I think one of them walked farther away from us,” Matthew said, sounding relieved. No doubt he was worrying about the same thing I was.
Samuel nodded and looked at Lane. “We can stand here all night, Lane. They won’t have a clue any of us are here unless they walk straight into our path.”
“What do you mean?” Lane asked with a frown.
“You’re the only vampire besides my group who can sense us right now,” Samuel stated. He was silent a moment, reluctant to explain more.
I looked sideways at Samuel.
He glanced at me, but turned his focus back to Lane. “We’re cloaked from other vampires, similarly to how you keep yourself concealed from all vampires, including us.”
I pondered for a minute. Lane could cloak from other vampires, but he could sense us? All right, I know he keeps hidden from us, but Samuel is able to conceal himself from us as well. I’ve only known ka-tet members who could sense us.
Lane looked puzzled. “I don’t understand. I can sense all of you without a problem. How can other vampires not sense you?”
Matthew looked from Samuel to Lane. “While our leader here figures out an answer to that question, can I ask one of you?”
He nodded.
“What are you doing all the way out here?”
I rolled my eyes as the corners of Lane’s mouth turned up slightly. “I’m a wanted man. I don’t stay in one place too long. I could ask the same of you.”
“We were trying to hunt without running into trouble,” I replied.
Lane turned his head to stare at me again. “It looks as if your attempt failed.”
“We didn’t fail. I was injured the night we talked out in the woods.”
Confusion mixed with an emotion I couldn’t read. “How?”
“Kali and I were ambushed on the way home by a group of Hunters.”
“They attacked a human girl? Most Hunters tend to protect humans.”
I sighed. “They attacked her because she was with me.”
“Is she all right? I assume they are the ones who did that to your arm.”
I nodded. “She’ll recover, but it’ll take some time.”
“Good,” Lane said.
“Samuel? Lane’s still awaiting an answer,” Matthew said.
Samuel walked a few steps away, clenching a fist at his side. “This is not supposed to be possible,” he growled. “Damn!”
Matthew looked from Lane to me nervously. Sensing Samuel’s agitation, I sought to defuse the situation before it escalated into violence we neither needed nor wanted.
He glanced at Matthew, who nodded and said, Tension seemed to drain out of Samuel a little, and he unclenched his fist. With a sigh, he turned back to us.
“Julia, what’s going on?” Lane asked. Surprised, I glanced at him. He had never called me by name before. The expression on his face had melted into a wariness that hadn’t been there earlier.
“I think Samuel and Matthew are a little confused,” I replied. “The reason the other vampires cannot sense us is because we have our own form of telepathy.” I glanced at Samuel, but he didn’t object to my explanation. “It allows our group to hide and talk to each other without being overheard by vampires outside the group.” I paused, fumbling for words. I had not had to explain it to anyone before.
“It’s called a ka-tet,” Samuel finally said, coming to my rescue. “It is something that occurs when a group of souls are united by destiny for a certain purpose or life. Members of a ka-tet are linked together by powerful telepathic connections. We find members, we lose members. Currently, there are five in my ka-tet.”
I looked at him gratefully, before turning to Lane again. The lo
ne vampire nodded. “You and Kali mentioned it, but I didn’t understand what it was.”
“Yes. When we use the ka-tet, no one outside of it is supposed to be able to sense us,” I replied.
“But you can,” Samuel said, studying him. “Just when I think I have you figured out, you surprise me yet again, Lane.” He paused, then asked, “Can you hear what we say telepathically as well?”
Lane was quiet as the ka-tet’s power bled into the area. It wasn’t enough to be a threat, but I wasn’t sure if he knew that. “Stop it, Samuel. I have enough problems without you getting into a power struggle,” I said.
The power faded almost as quickly as it had been called. “I’m not trying to cause problems. Merely curious about what he can sense.”
“I felt that,” Lane said. “Just as I sensed the three of you. However, if your group is talking telepathically, I have not heard you.”
Samuel nodded as Matthew looked from us to Lane. “So, what does this mean?”
Lane shrugged, and Samuel replied, “No idea.”
“Thank you for trying to warn us,” I said. I still thought it was unusual how our paths kept crossing.
Lane nodded, looking deep in thought, his gaze drifting from Matthew, to me, and finally lingering on Samuel. I looked at Samuel myself, remembering our conversation about Lane. Samuel was so reluctant to speak to him about anything that might indicate he had something in common with him. If only I could get them to truly talk to each other . . .
I sighed as I thought of another question. “Have you seen the Hunters?”
“I’ve seen a number of them. I’m surprised more of Rome’s vampires haven’t met their end by them.”
“Yes . . . well, they seem to be a peculiar little group of twelve,” Matthew muttered.
Surprise flickered in Lane’s eyes. “Twelve? I guessed their number to be almost double that,” he said.
The three of us looked at each other with newfound alarm. “At least twenty? Are you sure?” Matthew questioned.
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