The Den of Shadows Quartet

by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes

  Christine … did she remind Nikolas of the Christine who had hurt his brother? Had some slight nuance of expression been so important that the girl now refused to respond to her real name?

  “But he asked me to dance, and I thought I might just die, because he was so hand some and … unearthly. I’d say like an angel but he wasn’t at all, he was like … I don’t know … seductive, just by existing.”

  Kristin sighed, then continued. “After the dance he held me in his arms a minute longer, and I remember … I remember his lips on my throat and I just relaxed, because it felt so good …” She gestured to the marks on her arms. “I don’t remember when he made these … they didn’t hurt …” She paused.

  “And then?” Sarah said, and the girl blinked.

  “No, I don’t want to talk anymore.”

  “You started telling us, Kristin — you have to finish,” Sarah said, meeting her eyes. She wasn’t as good as the vampires at influencing human minds, but Kristin’s defenses were weak.

  Kristin nodded. “He … he didn’t really take much blood. I remember not wanting him to stop when he pulled away, because it felt so good …”

  Robert made a sickened sound, but Kristin didn’t notice as she went on. “And he said … he said, ‘I want to make you mine.’ And I said yes and yes was all I could say for a moment, but then I said no.” She shook her head, trying to clear it. “And he … he looked so surprised, and he just asked why … and I … I said, Because I need to go home,’ and he asked why again, and I said, ‘Because my brother will be sad if I don’t go home, and he’ll be lonely’”

  She put her head into her hands and started to cry. And he … he pushed me away and said, ‘Get out,’ and that’s all he would say to me. I didn’t understand and I tried to talk to him, but he pulled some other person over and said, ‘Get her out of here.’”

  “And then?”

  “Then … the other guy asked, And do what with her?’ and Nikolas said, he said, ‘I don’t care, just get her home to her brother.’ And … no.”

  “Go on, Kristin,” Sarah urged, but the girl just shook her head.

  “No, no …”

  Despite Sarah’s encouragement, Kristin would say no more. The block was partially vampiric mind control, but mostly simple, human denial.

  CHAPTER 24

  ALL THREE OF THEM jumped at the knock on the door.

  “Who is it?” Robert called.

  “Is Sarah in there? It’s Nissa — I need to talk to her —”

  Robert had opened the door before Sarah could tell him otherwise. Sarah fell back into a fighting stance, unsure what Nissa wanted.

  “Sarah, I’m glad I tracked you down. Nikolas is calling for your blood. What the hell did you do to Christopher?”

  “I did what I needed to do to survive,” Sarah answered, but Nissa’s attention had left her and moved onto Kristin, who was huddled in a corner, sobbing.

  “God …” Nissa looked at the marks on Kristin’s arms, and then said, “Nikolas didn’t do this to her. These are his marks, but he would never … leave someone like this.”

  Robert frowned. “If he didn’t, who did?”

  “What are you doing here?” Nissa asked, as if just realizing that the human boy was in the room.

  “I live here,” he answered. “And since you’re in my house, maybe you should answer my questions.”

  Nissa just shook her head. “What happened to her?”

  “Why do you care?”

  “Why do I care?” Nissa said between her teeth. “I care because she is a living human being, and she’s …” She shook her head violently, and then put a hand on Kristin’s shoulder. The girl looked up at Nissa, who caught her eye.

  Kristin screamed again, bolting from Nissa’s hold.

  “What the hell did you do to her?” Robert demanded.

  “I just tried to find the memories of what caused … that,” Nissa spat, looking at Kristin. “I should have known this is the kind of mess Kaleo would leave behind.”

  “Kaleo?” Robert repeated. “Who the hell is Kaleo?”

  Nissa laughed, a pained sound, but she did not answer. Instead, she turned back to Kristin, who was sitting silently in the corner, terrified. “I don’t think I can help her. Kaleo has her blood bonded to himself, and I’m not strong enough to reach her mind through that.”

  “You mean someone stronger could help her?” Robert asked, catching the unspoken statement.

  “I don’t know exactly what caused this, but if someone could reach her mind through all the mess he’s put in there, they could help.”

  Robert stalked over to where Nissa was standing. “I don’t want to know what you are or what relation to Nikolas you have. If you can help my sister, or get someone who can, I don’t care if you’re the devil herself.”

  Nissa shook her head. “I don’t think —”

  “Please. If you know how to help her, you have to. She wasn’t like this before. She was … colorful. Alive. Intelligent. Kind. She had dreams. But the monster who did this took all that away.”

  “I know someone who would be strong enough to help her,” Nissa said slowly, but she looked over Robert’s shoulder and met Sarah’s gaze. “But he —”

  “Then get him to do it!” Robert ordered, but Sarah was very slowly shaking her head.

  “Sarah?” Nissa left the rest of the question unspoken.

  “Would he help?” Sarah asked quietly. “Or would he do more damage than Kaleo did?”

  “I think he would help,” Nissa answered, and Sarah nodded.

  “Fine, then.” She was leaving sanity in the hands of the insane. Since when were the monsters called in to heal the innocent?

  Nissa disappeared, and Robert shouted, “That … that …”

  “Was one of the simplest vampire tricks you will ever see. She could be in China now with no more effort than you would use to blink.”

  Robert sat down, his legs folding under him.

  “Is she gone?” Kristin whispered as she lifted her head.

  “For the moment,” Robert answered, still dazed.

  While Nissa was gone, Sarah drew the knife from the sheath on her back, unsure what was going to happen once she reappeared.

  “What’s that for?” Robert asked, nervous.

  “Just in case I need it,” she answered. She moved so her back was to a wall, and crossed her arms. She could defend herself if necessary, but she didn’t want to start a fight if Nikolas was going to help Kristin.

  “You just carry that thing around?”

  “This and two others,” Sarah answered. “Sometimes more. It depends whether the knife sheaths match my outfit.”

  Robert looked at her as if she might be crazy, but then seemed to realize she was making a joke. He didn’t realize that she was also telling the complete truth — she tried to wear as many knives as her outfit would safely hide.

  Then Nissa reappeared with Nikolas and everything happened at once.

  Robert’s eyes narrowed as he realized who Nikolas must be — black and white.

  Sarah and Nikolas locked glares, and he took a step toward her.

  Nissa stepped between Nikolas and Sarah.

  Kristin vaulted across the room and fell at Nikolas’s feet.

  Nikolas’s attention snapped away from Sarah as he pulled Kristin up, looking at her quizzically Sarah could see recognition in his eyes.

  “Christine,” he recalled aloud.

  The girl did not argue the name, but instead nodded, leaning against him. Nikolas tensed for a moment, and then put a comforting arm around her, looking over her to where Robert was standing.

  “You’re the brother?” Robert nodded. “I sent Christine home. What happened to her?”

  Robert opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again. “I thought …”

  “She told us what happened up until you sent her off,” Sarah said. “Then she broke down, hysterical. Nissa said Kaleo did this.” Since when did Nikolas turn into a cuddly
sweetheart? Sarah wondered cynically seeing the tenderness with which Nikolas held Kristin.

  Nikolas’s eyes narrowed. “It would be like him.” He looked around the room, taking in the lack of color, perhaps seeing even more in it than Sarah had. “This isn’t his, though … Kaleo likes color, especially red.”

  Kristin shivered, and put her head down on Nikolas’s chest, crying.

  “She can’t stand color anymore,” Robert explained, watching his sister in Nikolas’s gentle embrace. “She screams at anything red.”

  Nikolas nodded, and then returned his attention to Kristin, lifting her face.

  “What happened after I sent you away, Christine?”

  She shook her head violently. “No, no —”

  “Christine, look at me!” Nikolas ordered. He put his hands on her shoulders and forced her to meet his gaze. Sarah heard the echo of his voice in her own mind, and she could tell that Nikolas was forcing his words into Kristin’s mind as he spoke aloud. “You’re … safe, Christine. No one is going to hurt you. Calm down.”

  Kristin relaxed a bit as his mind reached into hers, speaking his words directly to her thoughts.

  “Now tell me what happened.”

  “No, I —” She broke off, finally looking away from his black eyes. “You sent me away, and he took me outside … he said you didn’t care what happened to me …”

  “Go on.”

  “And he … he bit me, but it wasn’t like when you bit me, it hurt …” She moaned. “I tried to push him away but it just hurt more …”

  She collapsed back into sobs and he put his arms around her, comforting. He ran his fingers through her hair, and Sarah saw him hesitate when he noticed the dye.

  “Go on, Christine. He isn’t here; it doesn’t hurt anymore.”

  “I think I blacked out, and when I woke up I was in a hospital, and people were asking me questions, about you. That’s all they cared about. The police thought you had hurt me, and I told them no, you tried to send me home, but no one would believe me. And they had an IV in me, and the blood was so red …”

  She was babbling now, but Nikolas simply held her, looking over her shoulder as if he couldn’t stand to see the mess she had become.

  “Christine,” he said, looking her in the eye. “It’s over now —”

  “No!” She screamed it. “They keep telling me it’s over… that there’s nothing to be afraid of, that … but it is’t… it is’t …”

  Now she did collapse, and Nikolas caught her easily. He whispered into her ear and she moaned in unconsciousness. Suddenly his eyes narrowed as he found something in her mind he didn’t like.

  “I’ll kill him, Christine,” he said softly, speaking to the unconscious girl. “I wasn’t strong enough to protect Father, but for this, Kaleo is dead.” Looking up, he spoke to Robert. “I’m taking her with me.”

  “Like hell you are!” Robert started to lunge at Nikolas, but Nikolas pulled his knife from his pocket and snapped it open, tilting it toward Robert.

  “You don’t understand, boy. Kaleo has been feeding on her — not just once, but ever since he found her,” Nikolas snapped. “And he has blood bonded her to himself, which means he has complete control over her mind. I’m taking her someplace safe until I can stop him. Then, if she wants to return, I’ll bring her back.”

  “Like I would believe you.”

  “I never lie,” Nikolas answered, and Robert glared at him. “Normally, the humans invited to our circuit are loners — they don’t have anyone to miss them, or anyone to miss. Christine should never have been invited in the first place. Once I am satisfied she is safe, I will let her come home. I would not take her away from her brother.”

  Robert was unconvinced. “Let go of my sister.”

  “I was asked to help her — do you really want me to leave her here until Kaleo drives her completely insane?” Robert took a step back, but his glare didn’t soften. Nikolas sighed. “Did she ever once say I hurt her?”

  “You knifed her!” Robert shouted.

  “I marked her. That should have protected her from Kaleo. But I told him I didn’t care what happened to her, so long as she got home. Did she ever say I hurt her?”

  “What are you trying to prove?” Robert demanded.

  “I do not torture my prey the way Kaleo does.” Sarah smirked, and Nikolas commented, “As I recall, Sarah, you were trying to kill me. You’re a Daughter of Vida, and you broke into my home. I would hardly consider you prey.”

  “You don’t torture your prey,” Sarah challenged. You just kill them.”

  Nikolas shrugged, acknowledging the truth. “Yes, I kill. I have no reason to deny that fact.” Turning to Robert, he said, “But I will not kill Christine.” He whispered something else, and Sarah thought she might have heard him say “Again.”

  “Just for the record, what happens once you’re satisfied she’s safe?” Sarah asked.

  Nikolas looked up and then tossed something in her direction. She caught it instinctively, and Nikolas disappeared, taking Kristin with him.

  CHAPTER 25

  SARAH CAUGHT NISSA’S ARM before the other girl could disappear, and herded her into another room.

  “What is he up to?” she demanded instantly. Nissa looked startled. “What?”

  “Nikolas is a self-admitted killer. Suddenly he’s all heart.”

  Nissa shook her head slowly. “Nikolas is … Nikolas,” she answered vaguely. “His marks make him more blatant among vampire hunters, but he isn’t even as bad as most of my kind.” She sighed. “You see him only as a killer, the same way he sees you only as a threat to himself and Christopher. Nikolas has rules of his own, and he would never torment an innocent girl like Christine.

  “Nikolas sees you as his enemy because you threatened someone he cares about.” Nissa sighed, grasping for the words. “But Christine is someone he has chosen to defend. Nikolas is a harsh enemy, but much of that is because he is a fierce protector.”

  Sarah shook her head, not understanding. “So he chooses to protect Christine … but at the next bash, or probably even tonight when he hunts, he will kill some other girl who might as well be her.”

  Nissa looked heavenward as if for assistance, which was not forthcoming. “You know my brothers used to hunt together. They had — and Nikolas still has — scores of admirers, all of whom were completely safe. They were more than willing to donate blood, and beyond them, people would come to my brothers who wanted to die. I will never understand how my brothers’ minds work, but they aren’t … evil. They could never be that.”

  Robert entered the room and Sarah jumped at the sudden intrusion.

  He turned to Nissa. “Is my sister going to be safe with this guy?” he demanded.

  Nissa nodded. “With Nikolas is probably the safest place she could ever be.”

  Robert nodded sharply. Then he groaned, and leaned back against the wall. “What the hell am I going to tell my parents?” He turned back to Nissa. “Never mind. I don’t care about my parents. Thank you. Tell Nikolas that too. I just want my sister to get better.”

  Nissa smiled faintly “I’ll tell him, the next time I see him.”

  She disappeared, and Sarah finally relaxed. Remembering the note she was still holding, she quickly skimmed over the words.

  Cold as winter, strong as stone;

  She faced the darkness all alone.

  A silver goddess; a reflection.

  A mirage; a recollection.

  No return; no turning back.

  The past is gone, the future, black.

  Serpents gather in their nest,

  And she stands above the rest.

  Shadows hunt; she hunts the shadow.

  The moon is risen; she stands below.

  She views her world through the eyes of others.

  Black and white; there are no colors,

  As she looks down upon a shattered youth.

  A shattered mirror shows a shattered truth.

  The poem rem
inded her of the notes Christopher sent to her.

  On the back of the paper was a drawing of Nikolas, standing back to back with Christopher … or a reflection of himself. At the bottom of the paper were three words, written in black ink: Midnight; my house.

  “I don’t think so,” she whispered.

  Robert looked over at her shoulder and read the message. “You going?”

  “I already gave him a free shot at me. I’m not really suicidal,” she answered absently.

  “Huh?”

  “He said he would help your sister,” Sarah snapped. “That doesn’t mean he’s suddenly a good guy. He isn’t particularly fond of me, and if I go there, he will try to kill me.”

  “He didn’t act like he wanted to kill you,” Robert pointed out. “And what’s this poetry about —”

  “Robert, give it up!”

  “I think you’re misunderstanding something —”

  “Robert, I’m a vampire hunter. Nikolas is a vampire. He has a million and one reasons to kill me and not one to let me live. Don’t let poetry and a moment of kindness on his part fool you. Nikolas has only one way of dealing with things, and that’s by killing. You heard it when he was talking about Kaleo.”

  “The guy who did that to my sister deserves to die,” Robert growled. “I’d kill him too.”

  “I’ll deal with Kaleo later. The only one on my hit list right now is Nikolas.”

  “No,” Robert said.

  “What?”

  “No,” he repeated. “If you kill Nikolas, what’s going to happen to Christine?” he demanded. “Kaleo will keep hurting her, and —”

  “Doesn’t anyone remember that Nikolas is a killer?” she hissed.

  Sarah cut off his answer and left abruptly. Robert didn’t understand, and she didn’t know how to explain to him. Instead she went home and collapsed onto her bed, still holding Nikolas’s invitation.

  CHAPTER 26

  SARAH RETURNED to wakefulness gasping, struggling to fill lungs with air thick as charcoal ashes, and struggling to clear vision fogged with … she didn’t know. She could see, but the sight seemed imperfect and she could not tell why.