“I’m sorry,” Cassie whispered.
He shook his head. “Don’t be.” He took a step closer, and then another. “I guess things change, that’s all. People change.”
Cassie blinked up at him. “You think you’re different now?” she asked, her voice a whisper. They were alone in the shadows of the balcony, suspended partway between the loud cheers in the ballroom and the empty black of the garden beyond.
Hugo reached out and brushed a strand of hair from her face. Cassie felt the touch as if she’d been burned. “You look beautiful tonight,” Hugo said, not answering her question.
Cassie tried to breathe. She felt unbalanced, standing so close to him. Too close.
Inside, the crowd began to chant the countdown. “Ten, nine, eight!”
“Tell me your resolution,” Hugo murmured, dipping his head closer to hers.
Cassie felt a pull, something deep inside keeping her frozen in place, barely breathing. “I . . .” she began, fighting to remember.
“Five, four!”
Hugo slid a hand around the back of her dress, pulling her toward him. Cassie faltered.
“Three, two, one!”
“Happy New Year,” Hugo murmured, as his lips closed the distance and finally met hers in a searing kiss.
24
CASSIE DIDN’T STAY FOR THE REST OF THE PARTY; SHE RETREATED upstairs to her room as soon as the confetti settled. Still, even sitting in the quiet, alone and far from the revelry below, she felt the shadow of Hugo’s lips on hers, the quicksilver of adrenaline in her veins.
It had only been a moment, the kiss. As soon as the cheers of New Year had receded, he’d stepped away with a quiet smile. Guests had spilled out onto the balcony around them, and the moment was broken, but Cassie couldn’t forget the way she’d felt in his arms.
She’d wanted more.
Shivering, she locked the door behind her and stripped off her dress, pulling an old sweatshirt over her head and sliding between the heavy covers of the bed. But sleep was impossible with her heartbeat still racing in her chest, and the swirl of questions circling her mind. Cassie tossed and turned, trying to fit the pieces together in a way that made sense, but it was all a jumble of half-truths and suspicion. The only thing she knew for sure was that nobody here was to be trusted.
She wasn’t sure how long it was until the dark finally claimed her, but sleep offered no rest. She dreamed again of catacombs, of running panicked through the darkness, searching her way out of the stony crypts. He was there, the figure in the darkness, calling to her with a force she didn’t understand, until—
Cassie woke to the sound of her own gasps, panting for breath in the dark room. She clutched the bedclothes and waited for the nightmare to recede again, still feeling the dry heat of the stone tunnels, the sharp taste of blood in her mouth. It was just a dream, she told herself, chanting the words in her mind until they blocked out the terror. It was all just a dream. Slowly, her pulse evened, and she could breathe normally again. She looked around, her eyes becoming accustomed to the dark.
There was a strip of faint light across the room. The door was ajar.
Cassie’s heart stopped. She struggled out from under the blankets and darted across the room. The door swung open under her hand. The hallway outside was empty.
Cassie backed into the bedroom, closing the door with a click. Her mind raced. She’d locked the door behind her when she’d returned to the room, she was sure of it. These were old wooden frames, ornate and heavy; it couldn’t have swung open by accident.
Somebody had been there.
Shivering, she felt suddenly vulnerable and exposed, there in a house where nothing was as it seemed.
She heard faint laughter from outside the windows. Tugging her sweatshirt down over bare thighs, Cassie crossed the room and opened the iron-paned glass wider, peering out into the pitch-black night. Security lights were set along the walls, casting a glow over the side of the house. As she watched, a cluster of shadows skirted the building, their voices hushed. Drifts of laughter carried up to her on the night breeze, along with hissed shhh sounds.
Cassie ducked back, her heart pounding again, but this time with anticipation, not fear. She pulled on her jeans and sneakers, fumbling in the dark, then quickly left the bedroom, tiptoeing swiftly down the hall and main staircase to the ground floor. It took her a moment to get her bearings, lit by the low light of the lamps along the hall, but then she quickly raced back through the great ballroom, now littered with spent confetti and empty wineglasses. Outside on the balcony, the night air was a shock of cold against her skin; she bound down the flight of stone steps to the garden and hesitated, looking around.
It was a cloudy night, cold and crisp, and the moon was almost hidden. There was no sign of the movement she’d seen from her window. Cassie was alone, the black stretching around her, dark hedgerows looming up in the night.
Then she caught a glimpse of light, flickering across the lawn. A lamp or cell-phone display. Cassie took off across the lawn, jogging slowly, trying to keep to the edge of the gardens where shadows would mask her figure. She skirted around the edge of the walled garden, following the light that danced and bounced ahead of her, heading farther away from the house. As she drew closer, she could hear voices—louder now that they were out of earshot of the main building.
“Why do I always have to be the one to carry everything?”
“Because you’re a big strong man, silly.”
“Right, cast feminism aside the moment you want a favor.”
“Shh, cut it out. Someone will hear!”
“Relax, Liv, it’s four in the morning. Nobody’s listening.”
Cassie crept after them, picking out the voices. Olivia, Paige, Miles . . . there were half a dozen people in the group at least, heading toward the large shadowed hedgerow on the far side of the lawn. She kept her distance, careful not to come too close in case they heard her footsteps, but she needn’t have worried; their laughter carried back to her until the flickering light went dark and the voices were swallowed up out of hearing.
Cassie arrived at the hedge and stopped. It was the entrance to the maze, she realized, the square-cut bushes lining a gravel path, snaking into the black. Her heart fell. She could hear Olivia and the rest of the group inside, getting farther away from her, but she could barely make out the shrubs in front of her; would she even be able to find her own way in the dark if she let them get too far ahead?
She’d come too far to turn around and slip quietly back to her room. She stepped onto the pathway, gravel crunching under her feet as she reached to trace her way along the first, leafy wall. Her fingertips felt their way along the wood and scratchy branches, leading her deeper into the maze, the hedges looming above her, blocking out even the faint light of the moon. The only sound was her own heartbeat, drumming in her chest.
Cassie stumbled on, praying she wouldn’t miss the route. Olivia and the rest would know the path by heart, but she had terrible visions of fumbling around in the dark until morning and, worse, having to explain her nighttime wanderings. She was just beginning to wonder if she should have turned back to the house when her fingertips found something soft against the branches. A ribbon pulled taut, tied between the branches. Cassie felt a rush of relief, gripping tight to the guide. No wonder they were moving so fast ahead of her. Someone had tied the ribbon in place to steer people through the twisting paths. Cassie took hold, running the ribbon between her hands and following the path marked along the branches, her footsteps quickening until she could hear voices again.
“Pour me another!”
“Shh.”
“You can stop that now. We’re miles from the house, nobody will hear.”
Cassie silently crept closer. She found a gap in the hedgerow, a narrow sliver of a window, and she crouched down, peering carefully through the gap.
On the other side, the center of the maze was marked with a crumbling stone fountain and several statues. Olivia, Pa
ige, Miles, and several others were setting lanterns around the perimeter, flooding the space with light. There were more people than Cassie had expected: she recognized Olivia’s professor friend, Lewis, and a few of the party staff, two waitresses who were still dressed up in their uniforms, their hair falling out of their pinned styles, and a flush-cheeked boy who couldn’t have been more than nineteen. They were clutching bottles of champagne, giggly and full of anticipation.
“So what’s the big surprise?” one of the girls asked.
Paige smiled at her, moving closer to stroke her hair back from her face. “The after-party is the surprise,” she said, laughing. “Were you expecting something more?”
“She means the good stuff,” Miles spoke up, languid, from where he was lying on his back on the edge of the fountain. “Who brought the gear?”
“I did.” Olivia settled on a blanket and patted the spot beside her. Lewis dropped obediently down. As Cassie watched, Olivia pulled a slim box from her bag, carved and ornate. She opened the lid and offered it to Lewis. He took something from it and lifted it to his lips.
Olivia offered the box to the girls.
“I don’t know . . .” One of them hesitated. “I think I’ll just stick with the booze.”
“Don’t be scared.” Paige reached into the box and lifted her fingertip to the girl’s lips. Cassie caught a glimpse of a tiny white pill on her finger. “It’ll be fun,” she murmured, slipping the finger into the girl’s mouth and following with her lips, leaning in to kiss the other girl until she broke away, giggling and flustered.
The box was passed around until every guest had taken a pill. But only the guests; none of the Raleigh group took one, Cassie noticed.
“Now what?” The blond girl looked around. “I don’t feel anything.”
“You will.” Olivia smiled. Lewis lay down, resting his head in her lap like a pet, and Olivia slowly stroked his head. “You’ll feel everything.”
Cassie stayed glued to the gap in the hedges, watching with a growing sense of unease as the guests passed champagne and chatted among themselves. Olivia was too calm; she was waiting for something, Cassie could tell. And it was the same with the others. They relaxed, watching the newcomers with such a calm sense of power that it reminded Cassie of lions on the savannah, lazily circling their prey.
Then Lewis let out a whimper.
Cassie startled at the noise. Olivia’s eyes drifted closed, her head tilting back, an expression of ecstasy on her face. Lewis’s body jerked, shuddering on the ground, and Cassie could have sworn she saw the air shimmer between them, a surge of energy pulsating up from where Olivia’s hand rested against his head.
Cassie caught her breath, looking to the rest of them. One of the partygoers lay on the bench beside Paige, moaning softly as Paige cradled her body. The boy was on the ground beside Miles, thrashing as if in the grip of a nightmare. And all the while, the air pulsed around them, a vivid glow emanating from their bodies like an aura, some whirl of energy. Cassie shivered, unable to look away. She couldn’t explain what was happening, but somehow, she understood. They were taking something, drawing some kind of power from their victims, delighting in the surge of energy that crested between them, an unholy bond. It was wrong, that much was clear. A violation. The noises the guests were making were faint, animal, whimpers of distress, while Olivia and the others seemed to revel in it, their faces lit up and euphoric, almost orgasmic in the glowing lights. Everything in Cassie’s body screamed at her to run, but she bit back the compulsion. She had to find out more.
Slowly, the group came up for air, releasing the guests who lay motionless beside them. All except Olivia. The energy hummed around her, and Lewis thrashed again, his whimpers turning into cries.
“Liv,” a warning voice came, and then Hugo stepped out of the shadows. Cassie gasped. He’d been there all along?
“Liv, you need to be careful,” Hugo warned again “Liv!” He strode over and pulled her back from Lewis. Olivia’s eyes flew open.
“What are you doing?” she demanded, panting and disheveled.
“You’re going too far,” Hugo exclaimed. “I told you, you’ve fed too many times. You need a new source.”
“But I like this one,” Olivia said, her voice pouting. “His mind is so . . . delicious.” She stroked Lewis’s hair again, possessive.
“And soon there’ll be nothing left,” Hugo replied grimly. “God, can’t you control yourself for once? You know what happened last time.”
Olivia caught her breath. Her hair shimmered gold in the lantern light, her skin radiant with exhilaration. “How many times do I have to tell you I’m sorry? I didn’t know how unstable she was. Lewis is fine. I know how far to take him.” Olivia ran a hand over him, a smile teasing on her lips.
Hugo didn’t relent. “And Evie was fine too, until you pushed her over the edge.”
Cassie’s blood ran cold. She clutched the branches for balance, her mind racing back over what she’d seen. They’d done this to Evie?
“Hugo, enough with the stern father act. You’re ruining the fun,” Miles spoke up. He stretched lazily, trailing one hand over the boy’s comatose body. “Come play with my guy, he’s fresh. Brimming over with youthful possibility.”
“I’m not in the mood.” Hugo’s face was set, his jaw clenched.
“Look, I’m sorry.” Olivia sighed again. “It was an accident. It wasn’t your fault.”
“You should never have done it in the first place,” Hugo told her, angry. “There are rules. She was one of us.”
“If propriety’s what’s got you all riled up, where’s Cassie?” Olivia asked, giving a wicked smile. “You said you’d bring her. It’s not like you to miss a feed.”
At the mention of her name, every muscle in Cassie’s body clenched with fear.
There was a pause. “She’s proving . . . resistant,” Hugo replied at last.
The others sat up, looking interested. “Resistant, how?” Paige asked.
Hugo looked reluctant. “I don’t know, I’ve never felt anything like it. I can form the connection, but then it’s like her mind is closed off to me. Something’s pushing back.”
Cassie felt sick. He’d done this to her—or, at least, tried to?
But the others weren’t surprised by the revelation, only the fact he hadn’t succeeded.
“So she’s strong . . .” Olivia mused, thoughtful. “Is she a candidate?”
“No,” Hugo replied quickly.
“The rising is soon. We need an offering,” Olivia pressed him.
“We’ve got Lewis,” Hugo said. “You said he’d volunteer.”
“He’d do anything if I asked,” Olivia said dismissively. “But if Cassie is stronger . . .”
“I said no,” Hugo barked. “You don’t touch her, you hear me?”
There was silence. Cassie forced herself to still her breathing. She was crouched, unmoving, but a single motion could reveal her presence. And then what would they do with her?
Olivia stared back at Hugo coolly. “I hear you, cousin. Loud and clear.”
“Enough bickering.” Miles yawned. “Time to trade. Paige?”
“Be my guest.”
The group turned back to their prey, the air shimmering with energy again. Cassie watched, helpless as the bodies twitched and whimpered, drained of something essential, something that should never be taken. She felt a shudder of revulsion. She’d seen enough. But as she eased back from her hiding place, her foot crunched on the gravel.
Hugo’s head turned.
Cassie froze. For a terrible moment, it was as if he stared right at her, as if he saw her hiding there in the bushes. Her heart beat wildly in her chest, her muscles screamed in their fixed position. Finally, he looked away without a word.
Cassie exhaled. Paige began talking, something about a party next week, and Cassie took the chance to creep backward, step by excruciating step. She longed to turn and run, flee this terrible scene as fast as her feet would carry h
er, but she knew the smallest sound would reveal her presence. The hedges stood tall around her, a dense wall of dark, as she gripped the ribbon with a trembling hand, retreating through the twisting maze until the voices were a hum behind her.
“Cassie.” The whisper came from right behind her. Hugo, a shadow looming in the dark.
Cassie let out a scream. She tried to run, her sneakers scrabbling on the loose gravel, but he was faster—clamping a hand over her mouth and pulling her back into the hedges. She fought, panicked, but he held tight, trapping her arms at her sides. “Shh!” he hissed. “They’ll hear you!” He forced her face around so she could see him in the dark. His eyes were panicked. “Trust me, Cassie,” he ordered. “Relax!”
Cassie fought harder, every sense alive and screaming with fear. Her instincts had been right, that first night they’d met. All along, she’d been a target. A potential victim. The night she’d stayed at his house, the open door here at Gravestone . . . What had he done to her? What would he do now?
“Cassie, please!” He was begging, but she couldn’t listen. She wouldn’t be fooled again. Cassie lashed out with her elbow, making contact with his ribs. He doubled over, and she lunged for freedom, but he caught her, tumbling them both to the ground. She kicked out, but he pinned her down, rolling on top to straddle her, trapping her arms against her sides.
“No!” she cried out, and then she felt it. His hand on her forehead, a dark pressure building where he touched. Cassie struggled again, but it was no use. Something was invading her mind, slipping inside, a darkness snaking deep into her thoughts.
“Relax,” Hugo whispered again. She fought, tried to push it out, blocked it with everything she had, but it wasn’t enough. Something in her mind reared up in answer, reached toward the blackness and gripped hold tight.
The shadows came rushing in. Dark and cold, an endless winter’s night. Hugo was everywhere, a tidal wave of pure sensation spiraling through her, burning like black fire in her veins. It felt like home. Cassie fought with everything she had, but her own mind was betraying her. It demanded more, reaching for him, craving release.
The Oxford Inheritance Page 23
