Valentina put a stop to her incessant pacing to sit down next to me. “I’m worried about you. I’ve never seen you so upset. What if you’re wrong? You said your father died before you were born.”
I sighed in annoyance. “Yes, Jane told me my father was dead. She also told me that she was my mother.”
Valentina nodded. “That would mean you have a sister. That might be nice.”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes, the daughter of Pythia. I’m sure she’s an angel.”
I heard the bitterness in my own voice as I spoke, but I didn’t care. My heart was tightening inside my chest, and I had to stay closed off or I would fall apart. Maybe someday I could let myself weep over the life they stole from me. But not today. Today, I was out for blood.
The guards quieted. Aldric shot me a look. We could both feel it. Magic. It was moving toward us. She was here. My emotions swirled through my blood like wildfire. I wrestled between the longing to look upon the face that once soothed me and contempt for the woman who had abandoned me for dead.
The door swelled and pulsed as the spell was stripped down layer by layer. Valentina stepped back and crouched down behind me. Lucien laughed like a maniac. My knees trembled. Images of my childhood flashed through my mind. Aldric planted himself in front of me. The door burst open and flew off its hinges. I held my breath as she emerged from the shadows. Like a thief in the night, in she walked.
Jane was more polished than I remembered. With her icy blue eyes and chestnut locks, she resembled a painted doll. The kind you put on a shelf because it’s too pretty to play with. Her skin was fair and flawless with just a touch of pink on her cheekbones.
I drew in a sharp breath as she entered the room. Behind her, a trail of guards lay scattered in pieces.
Lucien was furious. “I called you to help me, not wipe out my entire security system.”
Jane kept her eyes on me. “Leave us. All of you.”
You could cut the tension with a knife. Lucien scowled and muttered to himself as he scurried out of the room. Valentina squeezed my arm and gave Jane a quick nod as she followed Lucien out. Aldric, however, would not move.
Jane cocked her head to the side and smirked at him. “Did you not hear me, handsome? I said everyone out.”
Aldric was as still as a statue. “I’m not going anywhere. I won’t let you hurt her any more than you already have.”
She smiled demurely at him, but her eyes were as dark as the devil’s. She was not the mother I remembered, but I knew she wouldn’t talk unless we were alone.
I placed my hand on his shoulder. “It’s all right. I’ll be fine.” His eyes pleaded with me as he gripped my hand tight.
“Aldric, please. I can handle her. Go.”
His eyes darkened, shooting daggers in Jane’s direction. “I’ll be right outside.”
After four hundred years, Jane and I were finally face to face. She snickered. “He’s attractive. Loyal too. Quite the change from Dragos.”
As the shock wore off, the anger boiled beneath my flesh. “I didn’t summon you here to talk about my ex-boyfriend, or my current one for that matter.”
She looked me up and down as if she were memorizing every inch. “Yes, I imagine not. You must have many questions.”
I clasped my hands behind my back to stop them from shaking. “I want answers. I want to know who I really am.”
Jane stared, a blank look on her face. Right in front of me, but a million miles away. “We never wanted this life for you. We tried to protect you for as long as we could.” Her voice changed, sad and bitter.
Every muscle in my body tensed. “Protect me from who?”
Her eyes welled up with tears. “From your father, Tobias.”
My heart stopped. I knew it was true with every fiber of my being, but there was still a small part of me that hoped it wasn’t. That what I saw in that file was a lie. “You said ‘we.’ Who was helping you?”
Jane studied me for a moment before taking a deep breath. “Jezebel. She was my best friend, and she was your mother. Your real mother. I would’ve done anything for her, so when she asked me to take you and run away, that is exactly what I did. I cloaked us with magic and raised you as my own.”
My head pounded. “Why did I need protection from my own father?”
Jane’s eyes darkened. “Because he’s pure evil. He was going to turn you into a Dhampir when you became of age and link you to a Bannister Witch. You were to be the first of our kind. Half-Witch, half-Dhampir, with the blood of the gods running through your veins. He was going to use you to create his army.”
It was insane. I used to think of myself as a target, a pawn. If what Jane said was true, then that meant, I was the actual game.
Jane continued. “Jezebel was terrified of Tobias. We all were. We were his prisoners. Tobias believes that we belong to him. That he owns us.”
The weight of her words crushed me until I could barely breathe. My voice trembled as I struggled to speak. “Why didn’t she come with us?”
Jane smiled sadly. “To distract him. To give us a chance to run. She loved you more than she loved herself. She could live with never seeing you again if it meant you were safe.”
Tears streamed down my cheeks. I felt like I was losing everything all over again. My blood was filled with guilt and shame. Jane had sacrificed so much for me, and I’d spent the last four hundred years hating her. Every emotion and every thought I’d ever had, had been wrong and misdirected. I never stopped for one second to even consider that she never had a choice.
My selfishness sickened me. I should have given her the benefit of the doubt. “When did it all go wrong?” I was almost afraid to ask, but I had to know the whole truth.
Jane’s eyes hardened. “Over the years, the Consilium grew stronger. More powerful. My spell had weakened. Nicholas Bannister discovered where we were. He was sent to kill me and bring you back to Tobias. But Nicholas was threatened by you. He didn’t want you to be found. He was going to kill you instead. He turned me into a Dhampir as punishment for my betrayal. I panicked. The only way I could protect you was to turn you too.”
She paused to take a swig from one of Lucien’s bottles of wine. “A cruel twist of fate. I turned you into the very thing that we were trying to keep you from becoming. Nicholas was furious. His soldiers took me back to Tobias. That was the last time I saw you alive until the day I was summoned by Valentina to break you out of the Ligaveris spell.”
The world was closing in on me. My chest was tight, heavy. I couldn’t breathe. I felt more lost now than I did then.
“My mother, Jezebel, where is she?”
Jane looked down at her feet. “When Nicholas returned, he told us you had died. Of course, I knew that wasn’t true, but they believed it. I knew Tobias would stop looking for you if I let him believe it. Before I had a chance to tell Jezebel the truth, she took her own life. She had no reason left to live. I had failed her.”
I gasped. Once again, a mother was being snatched away from me. The realization that I would never meet her or feel her embrace filled me with a sorrow I had never felt before. I was drowning in it.
My thoughts turned to Nicholas with a new and darker thirst to tear him apart. Jane watched every twitch and flutter that passed through my face. My mind flashed back to the day Jane left. I tried to convince myself that it was just a bad dream. I had never spoken about it with anyone until now.
“He tried to kill me that day. He tied me to a stake and set me on fire. I was scared. Confused. It burned everything except my flesh. I didn’t understand why I wasn’t in pain. Why I wasn’t dead. He was as surprised as I was, so he fled. Then the thirst came. It scratched at my throat until I thought I would claw out of my own skin. I didn’t know what I was. I was alone, and I hated you for it.”
Jane stifled a sob. “I know. I wore that hate like a badge of honor because I knew you were safe. Even though it broke my heart.”
All these years, my hatred toward her defined me
. Fueled me. An hour ago, I wanted to rip her throat out, but now, I just wanted to find a way to make myself worthy of her love. She gave up her life for me. Jezebel literally lost her life because of me. I owed it to them both to see this through.
The quiet stillness between us was a refuge from the chaos that we had left in our wake. There was just one more thing that gnawed at me. “Did he buy it? Does Tobias think I’m dead?”
Jane sank into Lucien’s chair. Her eyes were dark and glassy. “You already know the answer, Gray. You can feel him in your bones as he feels you in his. I can see him in you now as you stand across from me. You’ve always known. You just didn’t know what it was. That thing pulling you toward darkness…is him.”
Eighteen
The others waited for us near the entrance to Lucien’s compound. Aldric was pacing back and forth. He let out a heavy sigh as I approached, searching my face for some indication of what was to come.
Jane acknowledged them with a nod before turning back to me. “We cannot meet again. It’s too dangerous. I’m working on a way to end this, but I need you to stay out of it.”
She was still trying to protect me after all these years. I felt even more guilty for spending the last four centuries despising her, but I was in too deep to stay out of it now. Tobias had to be stopped. That was the only way this would end.
I nodded to appease her. There was no point in wasting time arguing. Her eyes welled up with tears as she took a last lingering look at me. I pulled her into an embrace, drawing gasps from both Aldric and Valentina.
Lucien grunted in disgust. “How heartwarming.”
Caught up in their shock of witnessing my rare display of affection, they didn’t notice my sleight of hand as I plucked a tiny strand of hair from Jane’s head, a necessary ingredient for a tracking spell. I clutched it in my hand so that no one else could see.
Jane squeezed my hand. “Take care of yourself, Gray. Trust that we will see each other again.”
I nodded and squeezed back. Guilt stabbed at me. If she only knew it would be sooner rather than later.
It was good to be back in New Orleans. I felt more at home here than I had ever felt in England, but I couldn’t stop thinking about the past. The memories I had tried so hard to forget flooded back. I had to let them in. The path to the truth might be locked in there.
It occurred to me that my intrusion at Lucien’s compound would not go unnoticed by the Consilium. “We can’t go back to the Three Blind Mice. I have secured us another location. We need to stay out of the city.”
A car was waiting for us just like the first time Valentina and I had arrived. It seemed so long ago now. The new villa was isolated on a plantation about twenty miles away from the Quarter. It was dark, quiet, and surrounded by large oak trees. The air was damper out there, earthy and crisp. A welcome respite from the liveliness of the Quarter.
Inside, the furniture was covered with sheets and plastic tarps. The electricity had been shut off, but there was a tall stack of wood by the fireplace. Cobwebs and dust lurked in every corner. It wasn’t what we were used to, but it was the perfect place to hide.
Valentina yawned and stretched her arms out over her head. “I need a drink and a dark room. Talk more in the morning?” Her eyes pleaded with me.
I nodded. Aldric and I were finally alone but he had questions in his eyes that I didn’t have the answers to. I wanted to run into his arms and feel the weight of them around me. He was my safe place. My sanctuary. But I couldn’t allow myself to feel safe now. There would be time to catch my breath later. For now, I needed to stick to my plan. Even if it meant pushing him away.
“Gray, you know you can talk to me about anything, right?”
I bit my lip and looked away. “I…I’m just…I need to process everything. Jane. My father. All of this.”
Aldric nodded and folded his arms to his chest, but his eyes were full of doubt. I wanted to reach out and reassure him, but I couldn’t. I had to track Jane tonight and I couldn’t let him know. I would explain everything to him later, but for now I had to stay focused.
The air between us was layered with hesitation and uncertainty. He let out a deep breath and cupped my face in his hands. “It’s been a long day. I’m going upstairs. Come up when you’re ready.”
I squeezed his hands, nodding. Knots formed in my stomach. I hated myself for lying to him. For shutting down. I waited till I could no longer hear his footsteps, and then I slipped out into the night.
Walking away from the villa, my thoughts drifted to what Jane had said last night. How Tobias wanted me to link with a Bannister Witch. How Jane turned me into the very thing she was trying to protect me from. I thought about The Keeper telling Aldric that our paths were meant to cross. That it was destiny. It seemed no matter what anyone did to try to change it, here I was, linked to a Bannister Witch. Tobias got what he wanted after all.
I was deep in the bayou when I realized the tracking spell was taking me toward the Wolf and Crescent. Why was she all the way out here? Was she looking for Josephine? Maybe she was on another errand for Tobias.
The knife in my heart twisted deeper. I don’t even know what my father looks like. He could have walked by me a thousand times and I would have never known.
As I got closer to the ruins of the Wolf and Crescent, I heard voices. I strained to listen, but they were muffled just below a whisper. My hearing was impeccable, but I couldn’t make them out.
I moved closer, remaining hidden. I heard two, maybe three voices. One was the deep tone of a male voice. The second voice was high pitched and almost shrill. The tones were hushed, but aggressive. They were having an argument.
I strained my eyes to see, but all my senses were dulled. The shapes were fuzzy. Magic surrounded me with the push and pull of two different spells, working against each other like a black cloud hanging over the sun. I had to get closer.
I was almost to the blackened door frame when I saw them. My stomach dropped and the blood rushed to my feet. Jane was tied to a chair and standing on either side of her were Pythia and Dragos.
Pythia’s eyes glowed in the dark, gold and orange like two amber stones. She wore a hooded cloak of black velvet, half-covering her head. Her hair was thick, knotted, and the color of wet soil. She pranced around Jane, jumpy but graceful. Like a cat with the intentions of a lion. The stench of oleander draped the air.
Dragos hovered next to Jane like a shadow. My heart raced at the sight of him. His skin was smooth, golden brown. A striking contrast to his light grey eyes. His black hair was shorter than I remembered, with no trace of the boyish curls he hated so much. I used to love running my hands through them.
I shivered. It felt like a lifetime ago since we had been this close. He used to gather me up in his arms like I was made of paper. He was slender but strong, and he towered at least a foot above me. He made me feel small and fragile, like a tiny bird. I used to think that’s what being safe felt like. I know now that it was just a cage.
I shouldn’t have come, but it was too late to turn back now. They already knew I was there. I took a deep breath and walked through the door.
Dragos and I locked eyes. My heart fluttered and beads of sweat formed between my fingers. His lips parted, letting out a slight gasp. The corners of his mouth turned up into a devilish grin. He still affected me, and he knew it.
Pythia cleared her throat. “Well, look who decided to join us.”
“Pythia.” I swallowed hard.
Pythia circled me like a snake. “I see so much of your father in you. You have his tenacity.”
Jane whimpered, struggling against her ropes. My heart sank. This was my fault. All this was because of me.
Pythia chuckled at seeing me in pain. “She cannot move, or speak for that matter. She’s done enough talking for one day. Don’t you think?”
“Let her go. I’m the one you want.” I should’ve known they were going to use her to get to me.
Pythia laughed. “I’m afraid
I can’t do that. See, she violated the terms of our agreement. You were not supposed to wake up from that spell until I allowed it. In exchange, she would get to keep breathing.”
Jane and I locked eyes. I tried to will my thoughts into her mind. To tell her how sorry I was for leading her into this trap. But there was no way of communicating this to her now.
Pythia continued to slither around the room with that smug look on her face, delighting in my struggle. “I knew you wouldn’t be able to stay away once you discovered the truth. I was counting on it. I love it when a plan comes together. Here you are, right where I want you.”
With my body temperature rising, I imagined what it would feel like to crush her bones between my fingers. “And what is it that you want, Pythia?”
She grinned from ear to ear. “Well, a family reunion of course. Tobias would like to invite you and Aldric to join us at Infitum. Where is your other half, by the way? I thought you two were linked at the hip.” Dragos rolled his eyes.
A wave of possessiveness flowed through me. “Leave Aldric out of this.” I clenched my fists to keep them from shaking.
Pythia chuckled. “You’re in no position to make demands. I have the Sang Magi. Besides, my magic is stronger and much older than yours.”
My blood was boiling. “Now that you mention it, you are looking a bit older these days.”
Her eyes darkened. “Enough. I’m growing tired of your childish antics. You will join us. One way or another. You have until the next full moon to get your affairs in order. You and Aldric can come willingly or by another means that will not be so pleasant. Jane will stay like this until you do.”
My lungs tightened. A rage grew inside me, replacing any fear. Jane’s eyes bulged as she struggled to speak. I wanted to set her free. To break the ropes and wrap them around Pythia’s neck. But I couldn’t do anything. She was right. My magic wasn’t strong enough.
Blood and Magic (Blood and Darkness Book 1) Page 11
