by Anna Santos
“Are we going to war?” Anna asked the thought that was crossing my mind.
“King Francesco thinks that Father is weak and no longer has the power he once had. He has no idea that we have a bigger and stronger army of werewolves and vampires. He always relied on his coven of witches to fight dirty. My family has friends in high places. We have powerful supporters if it ever comes to fight a war between our clans.”
I widened my eyes at him and leaned back on the couch. “Eric, I’d rather leave than cause a war. I only want justice for my family, but I don’t want anyone else to die because of that.”
“If Francesco is killing covens of witches to steal their grimoires, someone needs to put a stop to it,” Eric said solemnly. “But in the meantime, you are safe in our lands. You have our protection and I’ll increase security and double the patrols. He may send more assassins even if he vowed he wouldn’t. Anna and Shane are good bodyguards, but you should move to somewhere safer like the palace.”
“That’s really nice of you but I would rather stay with my friends. Plus, I need to go to the town library and search for ancient books and even older dictionaries. I have a lot of work ahead of me and I don’t want to be any more of a bother.”
“About that, Kevin told me about your project. I would offer you my library but the books here aren’t that old, but I’m positive that you will find everything you need and even more in my father’s library. Actually, it’s the family library and now that you are here, I can give you a tour of the palace and the library.”
“Really?” I asked, eager to see a huge library with old books. Anna had told me that it was enormous and had all sorts of old books and ancient parchments.
“My Mother had a huge collection of grimoires and she liked to keep detailed reports about family trees and biographies of important people, whether they were witches or vampires. She grew up among witches and she was always passionate about magic. At least, that’s what Father tells me about her.”
“Uncle, do you believe that King Francesco is one of Alaric’s allies?” Anna interrupted our conversation.
Alaric was her family’s biggest enemy. Actually, he was an enemy to all hybrids. And he also targeted any supernaturals who married outside their species and dared to procreate. He had been the one who had put Kevin in a coma. Kevin had been lucky because he could have been killed right away like every hybrid before him. It was him being a pureblood vampire that had kept him alive, until, eventually, he fell into a coma.
Eric turned to stare at her, taking her hand in his. “He has firmly denied any association to Alaric. He knows that Alaric killed your parents, so if there were any reason for us to believe that he was helping Alaric, it would increase the probability of a war. The High Council has declared Alaric’s immediate death. Any of his allies would have the same fate.
“Diplomacy is so annoying; no wonder you look exhausted!” I mumbled. “For how long did you talk to him?”
“For a while. We finally agreed on some terms.”
I straightened up, eager to know. “Is he leaving me alone?”
“Well, he wants his vampire girls back. And now that he knows that you were under my protection, I believe that it would be foolish of him to send more assassins to invade our territory.”
“What does he want so that he will leave me alone?” I asked impatiently.
Eric looked serious, as though he were deep in thought while staring at me.
“He wanted you to give the grimoire back in return for your life,” he replied slowly. His deep blue eyes studied my embittered expression.
I fisted my hands and got up. “What?”
“He said you tried to kill him. Trying to kill a Vampire King is a serious accusation, and it only lays blame on the attacker. He claims he can argue that you acted on my orders, since you are our witch.”
“What?” I asked, growing even more infuriated by that bastard’s arguments and allegations.
Anna stood up and put her hand on my shoulder. “Please sit down and listen to what Eric has to say.”
I slumped on the couch, folding my arms and crossing my legs.
Anna sat beside me as her uncle made sure I was listening before resuming. “Jessica, I did what I had to do in order to buy us more time so we can discover more about what’s going on. I can use my sources to know if he’s sending anyone else to attack us. Now that he’s a suspect, surveillance on him can be increased, and we can investigate closer to see if he has any deals with Alaric’s men. He might even give us a clue to Alaric’s whereabouts.”
I relaxed, following his clever reasoning. “It’s my book, he has no right to have it in his possession.”
He put his hands up in a clear sign for me to calm down. He looked calm enough. I pursed my lips while Anna rubbed my shoulder.
“Some tea will do you some good,” Eric said, getting up from the couch and walking to the phone on his desk. “Rose, could you brings us tea for three in my office? Anna is here, bring her favorite cake. I know that you have some just for her.”
Eric smiled at us after fixing his collar and sitting back down. “I should have remembered about the tea sooner.”
“It’s fine. We ate before we came here,” Anna said. “Do you think Kevin is up?”
“It was dawn when he arrived home,” Eric informed us.
Anna rolled her eyes. “He could really use some more combat practice. He just parties and sleeps. I need to talk to Sebastien about this.”
“Let your brother have some fun. He was in a coma for six months after all,” I said, feeling tired because I had been partying late with him and Sebastien, too. Besides, a sharp headache was taking form and my eyelids were growing heavier. I rubbed the back of my neck to ease the pain.
Anna frowned at me, unpleased. Then she looked at Eric. “If Jessica gave him the book back, would he let go of his grudge and not accuse Jessica of a crime to the High Council?”
“It’s my family’s grimoire!” I protested.
Anna tried to reason, “We can steal it back without being caught or seen. Plus, an attempt on a King’s life is a serious crime. The High Council may not take things lightly and sentence you to prison or worse.”
Eric added, “Francesco said he would let it go if we would let his guards leave our lands unharmed and if we kept the High Council out of this for the time being.”
“And you believed that?” I asked a lot more distrustful about Francesco than Eric, apparently.
“Well, I was able to let you keep your family’s book for a bit longer and protect your life. I think I can let some girls leave if they never come back here.”
“So nice of you,” I remarked, grinning since he was smiling at me.
Any attack of people on an enemy’s land is breaking the peace arrangements between kings and should mean death by decapitation for the attackers. The girls should be killed. It was a hard and evil law but a necessary one to keep peace and order. Vampires and other supernatural beings liked to keep their heads attached, so death sentences were a convenient way to make them obey the laws of the peace agreement.
“He wanted his girls back really bad. The first thing he asked me about was if they were still alive or not. Once he continued to inquire about that, I knew I could negotiate around that.”
“You are really good at all this stuff.”
“All what stuff?”
“Diplomacy. I’m not very good at it. I would rather just go off and insult him. He's a lying bastard,” I said with my teeth clenched.
“We need to keep calm and find out what’s really going on. If King Francesco is associated with my brother, then we need to tread very carefully. Meanwhile, he said he would send someone to procure the girls.”
“Why don’t we send them off then? We can take them to the airport and ship them to Europe. There is no need for a babysitter,” Anna protested.
Eric nodded. “Yes, I agree. I guess he wants to send someone here to study our lands, see our army, and analyze how powerfu
l and resourceful we are. Besides, he selected an old friend of my father’s to come. He wants to speak with the king, my guess would be to see if he can make him change my mind,” he replied, waiting for my reaction.
“And can he?”
“My father couldn't care any less about mundane issues. He is too busy living in his world full of memories. He won’t undo an order or a promise I have made,” Eric stated matter-of-factly.
Chapter Five—The Fall
JESSICA
After tea, Anna excused herself and left to meet Shane at the training facility. I was left behind because Eric had volunteered to give me a tour, and I couldn’t wait to discover every corner of that huge place. Consequently, we walked around the palace, sightseeing and discovering all the corners of Eric’s home for hours. He was a fountain of knowledge about the paintings, the date of construction of some of the rooms, and the architecture of the building. He loved to talk about architecture and art pieces. It was like having a history teacher as a guide.
The massive palace was astonishing. The main entrance was breathtakingly beautiful.
“The palace wasn’t this big when we brought it over from Europe. I helped Dad with the new layouts. He made it his personal project to paint the frescos on the ceiling and the wall surfaces.”
My mouth was agape and my eyes were looking at the huge hall and the two curved staircases that rose from the east end of the grand foyer. An enormous central bronze and crystal chandelier hung from the glass cupola over the entrance.
“The ceiling is beautiful,” I mumbled.
“The kitchen and the game room are on your left and there’s a ballroom on the right. The home office is also downstairs. We use it to take care of business or to watch movies. There’s also an amazing view of the back gardens.”
“And where does the door in front take us?” I wondered aloud.
“It’s just a long corridor that leads to the old parts of the palace. It’s mostly dusty rooms that no one ever uses and storage rooms that Dad uses to keep his old canvases. It used to be where we lived before we restored the first floor and redecorated all the bedrooms and living areas.”
The explorer in me wished to discover those old rooms, but I just followed Eric who was already climbing the first row of stairs to take us to the first floor.
On the first floor, we followed a long corridor illuminated by small sconces on the walls. There were closed doors on both sides and many paintings of landscapes with rivers and mountains.
Eric opened a door to show me one of the bedroom suites.
“This is a guest bedroom. The majority of the doors you see here are for guests. Some suites are bigger than others but we made sure that every room had their personal bathroom. It’s been awhile since we had family or royalty coming to visit us, though. Well, except for Anna and Kevin. But their bedrooms are in the private quarters of the family.”
I frowned and Eric smiled.
“It’s on a different corridor,” he explained. “The last door at the very end of the corridor is the main entrance to the library. The French door on our left, with decorative lead glass inserts, opens to another part of the palace where Father and Kevin have their quarters.” I nodded, taking in the beautiful gold furniture and tray ceiling in the princess bedroom suite. Eric continued, “All the suites have hardwood floors, long Victorian windows, and customized closets. The bathrooms have a glass-enclosed steam shower with body sprays, sunflower shower heads, and corner bench seats. Some even have luxurious bathtubs with a whirlpool.”
“Are you showing me the palace or trying to convince me to live here?” I questioned.
“I believe you would be safer here, and I’m sure that you would find a suitable bedroom if you were so inclined to come and live here.” Eric smiled and entered the bedroom. “They come in different colors if you don’t like gold and white furniture.”
“I love the swag valance curtain set with the gold silky brocade fabric”, I pointed out. “This is a lot more elegant than Shane’s cabin but I wouldn’t feel comfortable staying here on my own. At least, there I have Anna to keep me company.”
“If you’re going to use the library, you’ll need to spend a lot of time here.”
“Maybe…But it’s too far from everything.”
“I’ll let you think about it. Meanwhile, you should know that I’ve appointed you a bodyguard. He will follow you and take you wherever you wish to go.”
“Why?” I followed him outside only to enter another bedroom. The decor was blue.
“You know why. King Francesco may try to kidnap you. We have a lot of people coming in and out of town.”
I put my hands up as if to say I surrender and nodded. I knew that I wasn’t going to change his mind, so I wasn’t going to keep complaining about the extra protection. After a few more bedrooms, we finally arrived at the end of the corridor where Eric approached a door that was bigger than the others and opened it to the library.
The library was as wonderful and extensive as Anna had said. I had never seen so many ancient books altogether. It was immaculately kept and logged. I didn’t notice much about the décor, because my eyes were glued to the books. There were a lot of shelves, statues, paintings, and chairs all around. There was even a twin-pedestal mahogany desk with a rectangular top inset with green, tooled leather. The desktop was piled high with books, papers, and a modern desktop computer. Across from the desk, there was a black velvet armchair that looked cozy but too important to sit in. I decided to take a seat on a loveseat next to the big windows. I sighed as I sat down a bit tired from walking around.
I studied Eric, who stood next to the desk, playing with a pen. “Father must be sleeping or in his office.”
I wanted to check the books, but I needed to rest a bit and maybe eat something. I realized that I hadn’t had lunch.
“Eric, do you have food?” I asked, capturing his attention.
“Yes, in the kitchen. It is mainly just for the servants and Dad. I don’t eat food. I just keep our blood in the fridge. And Dad eats—late.”
“Good, because it is already past lunch time, and I’m starving,” I complained.
“Oh, I’m sorry,” he said, looking at his watch. “I didn’t realize it was so late. You can stay here in the library for a moment while I go and get you some food.”
“I can go with you to the kitchen. You don’t need to bother.”
“You’re tired. This place can be exhausting to travel around for mortals. I can go, and you can rest here for a while,” he insisted.
“That's really sweet of you, even though you just called me mortal,” I said with a wide smile on my face as he became aware of what he had just said.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it as an insult. It’s just that vampires travel faster and don’t get tired as easily.”
“I know. I was teasing you.” I giggled. He looked relieved.
“Just wait here,” he requested after giving me a genuine smile.
I was going to ask him something but he had already left, leaving me alone in this intimidating place. I moved around the loveseat to stare at the books on the shelves. Then I noticed the huge portrait of a beautiful woman on the wall. She was really pretty and appeared to be happy. I walked toward the painting and thought someone must love her dearly to have given her such an important place on that wall. I wondered if Eric had painted it, since he had a lot of art books in his study. Maybe it was someone important in their family. She should be important. I would ask Eric all about her once he came back.
Then, I sighed and looked around for something to do. To my right was a shelf from floor to ceiling with organized books. I was amazed by the mere size of it as I tried to read the shelf’s title: mythology and witchcraft. That was definitely the first place I wanted to look for things that could be useful to me. There was also an entire wall filled with grimoires and mythological books. There were even books about family insignias. Maybe it wasn’t going to be that difficult after all t
o find Kevin’s soul-mate.
The book about insignias of different witch families was too high for me to reach, and my kinetic powers were low so I couldn’t use magic to dislodge it and bring it down, to my dismay. I was terrified of heights—it gave me the creeps to climb or be in high places and made me sweaty and dizzy. However, that book could have the symbol that had tattooed itself on Kevin’s forearm.
There was a ladder on the right side of the room used to reach the higher shelves. It had a rolling system and was firmly attached to the wall. I double-checked before I rolled the ladder to the side of the shelf that I wanted. Then, I tried to climb up.
Mental note to myself—bring sneakers the next time I come here. It was really hard to climb the ladder with high heeled boots. But at least I was wearing jeans, it would have been worse if I’d been wearing a skirt that showed off my sexy panties to Eric if he arrived back anytime soon. Or maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad. I did like him. A pity that there was no sexual attraction there. I did think he was gorgeous, but it just wasn’t right. Anyhow, we would be good friends without a doubt. We had nothing in common. Yet, I wanted to be his friend and help him feel less lonely. His loneliness and solitary life saddened me. I felt an unusual desire to protect him and to make him feel wanted and loved.
Managing not to fall and die, I climbed up quite a few steps on the ladder and reached for a hardback book in front of me. I didn’t think about the fact that it was a large, heavy book. Once I had it in hand, I couldn’t support the weight and immediately had difficulty keeping my balance. I told myself not to look down. If I did, all my irrational fears and dizziness would hit me hard. I could even fall. That wouldn’t be good with me just now recovering physically. I was, as Eric had said, mortal after all—and fragile.
I thought maybe I should just leave the book and ask Eric to grab it for me when he came back. As I put the book back, I tried to maintain my composure. When I thought that I was safe and ready to climb down, the worst thing happened.
“Who the hell are you and what are you doing here?” a severe and authoritative male voice inquired. I trembled with fear and lost my balance.
