“You’ll never believe it. It’s too crazy to—”
A door opened behind the girls and Johnny Hill stuck his head out. The sound of the Jeopardy! game show spilled out of the room. “Hey! What are you two doing down here?” He looked down the hall in the opposite direction, spotted the library door open, and looked back at them. “Hey!”
“We’ll clean it up later, Johnny,” Kaleigh hollered. Then the girls made a run for the stairs.
Fin left the teenagers in his office taking turns spinning in his chair while they drank Cokes and ate cheese crackers he’d retrieved from the break room. He was shocked by what they had found in the library, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it; he had to take action.
He’d stepped out of the room to call Dr. Caldwell and make the necessary arrangements, should they be able to convince the High Council of the justice in the solution offered in Rob’s diary. Unfortunately, Rob did not remember the incident. He didn’t even remember that life cycle, but Fin was confident that Kaleigh was right. It didn’t matter that Rob couldn’t tell the tale; he had done so in the diary.
Before Fin made the call to Dr. Caldwell, he dialed another number. He prayed she would pick up.
The phone rang once, twice, three times. In a minute, the answering system would take over. Fin’s heart took a tumble. “Elena,” he whispered.
“Hello?”
Fin was startled by the sound of her voice. He was afraid she had already gone. “Elena! It’s Fin.”
“I can’t talk, Fin. The van has arrived to take us to the airport.”
“No! No, you can’t go.” He gripped the phone. “You and your family need to stay tonight. You need to be here.”
“We had agreed there was no need for us to be here. We’ve already said our good-byes to Lia,” she said sadly.
“No, you don’t understand.” He glanced in the direction of his office. Kaleigh was watching him. He held up his finger to tell her he’d be with her in a moment. “Elena, you have to stay,” Fin said. “Because Kaleigh may have figured out a way to save Lia’s life.”
For a moment there was silence on the other end of the phone. Fin was afraid she might have hung up. “Elena?”
“You could save her?” Elena managed, emotionally.
“It’s complicated. She could never go home.”
“We don’t care,” Elena said desperately. “Anything would be better than this. My sister, she would—” Her voice broke and she couldn’t finish her thought.
“Listen, I have a lot to do and not a lot of time. The hearing will take place in the churchyard. You know where the church is, right?”
“Yes.”
“Be there with your family at midnight. Come on foot. Draw no attention to yourself and no flashlights or anything, of course.”
“Of course.”
“And come prepared to say good-bye”—he held his breath—“no matter what.”
“Thank you, Fin,” Elena breathed. “I…my family can never thank you enough.”
His gaze settled on a bulletin board on the wall across from him. Pinned across the top were the photos of Lia’s three victims. The young men were all smiling. “Not having to tell another family that their loved one is dead will be thanks enough.”
Chapter 26
Fin walked slower than he would have ordinarily, but Lia’s legs were short, as was her stride. Pete Hill had suggested leg irons, but Fin had put his foot down. The girl wouldn’t attempt to escape, escorted by two male vampires. Fin wasn’t entirely sure she even wanted to. In the last two days, despite her words when she was first incarcerated, she seemed to have had a change of heart. He saw remorse in the face where he had seen anger that first night. She hadn’t begged for her life. She seemed to accept her fate with a dignity that surprised him. Maybe Kaleigh was right; maybe her soul could be redeemed.
Lia walked down the dark street between Fin and Pete. She didn’t look at her surroundings, or at them, she just walked, head down. She was sure this was the end.
When the time had come to take Lia from her cell and escort her to the waiting members of the High Council, Fin had considered telling her that her life might yet be spared, but he thought better of it. It was not his place, he told himself. But he wondered if the real reason he hadn’t told her was that he feared giving her false hope.
“How much farther?” Lia asked. It was the first time she had spoken in hours.
“Not much farther.”
Ordinarily, High Council meetings were held in the museum. For practical reasons, considering the impending beheading, however, the meeting had been moved to the cemetery behind the old brick church, St. Patrick’s. Kaleigh had warned Gair that she would be offering an alternative to the death sentence and had asked for special permission to allow the Ruffino family to attend. Somehow, she’d gotten him to agree to her request. Fin wasn’t entirely sure having them here was a good idea, but he was glad he would see Elena one last time.
Fin and Pete led the prisoner, who more resembled a scared teenager than a cold-blooded killer, down the brick sidewalk toward the dark, silent church. Here, at St. Patrick’s, the Kahills had worshiped since they built it in the late sixteen hundreds. At the rear of the church, under a canopy of pin oaks and silver maples, was an iron gate which they passed through.
The gate opened into a cemetery, but no ordinary cemetery. Here, Kahills were not buried, but brought back to life in teenage bodies. The elaborate marble tombstones marked fake graves, with the exception of a couple, including the three sept members killed two years ago. The old and new tombstones were there to make humans who might pass through think it was an ordinary, quaint cemetery like many that dotted the area.
“This is creepy,” Lia whispered, moving closer to Fin. She looked like a little girl. Sounded like one. It was hard to believe she had had sex with three young men and then murdered them. Actually, she’d only had sex with two. It hadn’t been necessary with Richie, she had explained during her confession the night Fin was called to Rose Cottage.
“It’s so dark,” Lia whispered. “I know it sounds silly, but I’ve never liked the dark.”
Her comment re-emphasized Kaleigh’s argument that even if the girl was five hundred years old, she was still a child in many ways and could not be tried as an adult.
“It’s okay,” Fin whispered, surprised by the compassion he felt for her. “Your parents will be here.”
Her voice quavered. “Kaleigh?”
“She’ll be here, too.”
“She was nice to me,” she commented softly.
Fin led the girl deeper into the cemetery that bordered the forest reserve, soft, fragrant grass under their feet.
Lia gasped when the High Council members came into view and she froze. They had already gathered in a circle around the aboveground tomb that served as a platform for the bodies of those in transformation. The members wore long, black ceremonial cloaks with hoods pulled up to conceal their faces. Fin knew every man and woman on the Council; Fia was among them.
“You need to stand over here,” Fin said, gently pushing her forward. Thanks, Pete. I can take over from here, he telepathed.
Pete took a few steps back.
“Right here.” Fin directed Lia to stand near the tombstone of Mary O’Malley. It was an inside joke. There were no O’Malleys buried in the churchyard, but they had all known a Mary O’Malley once upon a time. Her sons were the vampire slayers who had ultimately driven the Kahills out of Ireland and inadvertently offered them the potential of salvation.
“Do I have to stand?” Lia asked shakily.
“You can sit if you want. They’ll tell you when to stand.”
The girl glanced over her shoulder at the tombstone, but realizing she had no choice, she sat on the grassy grave.
Kaleigh entered the graveyard with Patrick Caldwell, the town’s only doctor. He carried a duffel bag. Behind them walked the Ruffino family, dressed in somber clothing, heads bent as if already in mourning
.
“Stay put, Lia,” Fin warned. He passed Kaleigh as he walked toward Elena. Ready? he telepathed.
I think I’m gonna throw up, she returned.
Fin almost smiled.
At the sight of her family, Lia made a sobbing sound, but she did not get up and her family knew enough to stay back. Fin nodded to Celeste and her husband and grabbed Elena by the hand and pulled her away from the group.
“What did you tell them?” he whispered. There was no need to continue to hold her hand, but he did anyway.
“I just told them that the High Council demanded their presence.”
“They expect her to die?”
She looked into his eyes, her own dark eyes were moist with tears. “I thought it better.”
“You’re probably right,” he agreed grimly.
Movement in the trees beyond the graveyard caught Fin’s eye. At that moment, Gair saw it, too. One figure after another appeared from the forest and gathered at the top of the small rise at the edge of the churchyard. Fin recognized the teenagers. It was Kaleigh’s gang: Rob, Katy, her boyfriend, Pete, and others all about the same age.
Gair turned to Kaleigh. He didn’t speak.
“Please,” Kaleigh murmured to the old man. She laid her hand on his arm, something few in the sept would dare do when Gair was wearing the black robe.
“If the High Council agrees to my proposal, we’ll need them,” she said, taking care to keep her tone reverent.
Fin couldn’t see Gair’s facial expression, but he could tell it softened. He’d always had a special place in his heart for Kaleigh. He was also the type of leader who knew when to give his people a little latitude.
“They may not be a part of these proceedings.”
“I know. They know.” She glanced up at them.
The teens remained in the tree line.
The chieftain stepped back from Kaleigh and lifted his arms skyward. “Caraidean.”
The teens had been quiet before, but now they were utterly silent. Ghosts in the darkness. The only sounds were those of the wind gently rustling the trees overhead and the night song of the birds and insects.
“It’s time to start.” Fin held Elena’s gaze. “You are observers. You may not participate in any way. You may not speak unless the chieftain orders it. And no matter what, you all must remain here on the sidewalk, you understand?” he asked.
Elena nodded. She understood. She understood that even if Kaleigh could not convince the Council to spare Lia’s life, even if Lia was sentenced to death and the sentence was carried out, the Ruffino family could not interfere.
“Is there anything I can do?” Elena whispered as he walked her back to her huddled family.
“Pray,” he answered. Then he squeezed her hand and let go, moving to stand behind Lia, among the gravestones.
“Caraidean,” Gair repeated, seeing that he now had everyone’s attention. “We gather tonight in solemn accordance with the laws established by this sept…”
The chieftain uttered the words of the sacred ritual. As always, he spoke in the old tongue, their native Gaelic, his gravelly voice crackling in the night air. With each ancient word, the lives of those who gathered seemed to grow more tightly woven until the energy in the graveyard crackled and a faint blue light arced between the twelve cloaked Council members.
In the same manner that each High Council meeting began, Gair chronicled, by rote, the establishment of the sept in the fifth century of recorded time. Those were the days when Rome was in decay and the great tribes of Ireland and Scotland struggled with old and new ways, battling for their faith. Christianity was on the ascent, but not without violence. It was a time when the sept developed a taste for power and for blood.
Then came the mallachd.
They were all damned by God for their refusal to reject their pagan gods, for their refusal to accept St. Patrick’s message of the new faith. They were cursed for the blood of mankind they spilled.
With all the skill of a trained Shakespearean actor, the chieftain continued his time-honored speech. He reminded the Council members of their vow taken three centuries ago. He warned them of the magnitude of the decision the High Council would make tonight, and of the reason such difficult judgments had to be made. He reminded them of their ultimate goal; to ease the pain and suffering of humans and to ultimately gain God’s absolution for the sins they committed so many centuries ago.
Without further introduction, Gair switched to English and asked Fin to give the facts of the case. Fin tried to close off his feelings. He knew his words were sentencing Lia to death as he provided the details that everyone in the cemetery already knew. He finished by speaking the names of the three dead men, his voice ringing ominously: “Colin Meding, Richie Palmer, Trey Cline.”
Gair turned to Lia, who still sat on Mary O’Malley’s fake grave, and signaled for her to stand.
As Fin stepped back, he fought the urge to help the girl to her feet.
Lia was shaking all over.
“You have heard the charges,” Gair declared, his tone grave. He took no pleasure in proceedings like these. “How do you plead?”
The silence of the dark graveyard was almost overwhelming at that moment. The High Council members waited. The teens waited. Lia’s family waited. They all knew the answer. Yet they waited.
“Guilty,” Lia declared, her voice surprisingly clear.
Somewhere, an owl hooted.
“Guilty,” Gair repeated. Then he raised his hands again. “Before the sentence is handed down, does anyone wish to speak on this woman’s behalf?”
Fin caught Elena’s eye and shook his head. The invitation was meant for Kahills only.
Lia lowered her hands to her sides. Her mother had sent her clean clothes to change into tonight. She wore a pale yellow sundress. Fin wondered if this would be her death shroud.
Fin looked to Kaleigh, realizing she had not yet spoken. Go on, he telepathed. We’re listening. This is your chance.
Kaleigh stepped forward. “Me. I’d like to speak for the accused.”
There was a twitter of sound from the teenagers on the fringes of the graveyard. Their thoughts bounced around, mixing with the thoughts of the Council members.
You go, girl.
I heard she was going to speak.
This is why these hearings should be closed.
If this works, do we have to be friends with her?
Holy Mother of God, what does she possibly think she could say in the girl’s defense? The Italian confessed!
“Kaleigh.” Gair’s voice seemed to soften. “You wish to defend this woman who has freely admitted her guilt?”
“I do not wish to challenge the verdict.” Kaleigh’s voice trembled as she left Dr. Caldwell’s side and moved to stand in front of the tomb where the cloaked Council members stood. “It…it’s the sentence I wish to challenge.” She paused. Swallowed. “According to a basic interpretation of our laws, this girl should be beheaded for the crimes against humans that she has committed. But I would suggest that this vampire cannot be held accountable in the same way that we hold each other accountable.”
There was more whispering. Fin blocked the thoughts still bouncing around. They made it too hard for him to concentrate on what Kaleigh was saying.
“Lia Ruffino Deluce’s curse is not our curse. Her entire family and the families of her village were made vampires because of the sins committed by her grandfather. Since the fifteenth century, she has been locked in this child’s body, worse, in this child’s mind.”
She looks like a child, doesn’t she?
My little Maria had the same sweet smile.
Man, you really think she didn’t understand what she was doing?
Child? I don’t care what she looks like. She fucked them and then she slit their throats.
Fin hoped that Kaleigh was smart enough not to be listening to what everyone was thinking, even her friends. He made eye contact with her and she went on faster than before as
if she feared the Council members might grow impatient and cut off Lia’s head before Kaleigh had finished stating her case. “The Ruffino family’s mallachd does not include life cycles. This girl, although she is five hundred years old, is still a fourteen-year-old, emotionally. Around the age we’re all reborn.”
Kaleigh paused, looking from one cloaked figure to the next. “Would you condemn one of us to the same fate, the day we were reborn?” She hesitated. “What I’m saying is that our laws are intended for those with old souls. Lia is not an old soul.”
“Even if what you say is true, there must be punishment,” Gair said. “She cannot be permitted to move about the earth killing humans because she knows no better. It’s our duty to protect God’s humans from vampires like her.”
There must be punishment. The voices pressed the edges of Fin’s mind.
There must be punishment.
“Yes,” Kaleigh agreed. “There must be punishment, but I have an account of a punishment handed down by another family that might be more appropriate in this case. It’s recorded in Rob Kahill’s own handwriting in the seventeenth century.”
“But it was not handed down by our family?” Gair questioned.
“No.” Kaleigh put out her hand and Dr. Caldwell handed her a small leather book. “But at previous hearings, we’ve used other councils’ precedents.” She clutched the book to her chest. “I’m sure that you remember that time we accepted the ruling by the Chin family in Singapore? And…and what about the Red Mark incident with the Coyote Clan of the Comanche?”
Gair nodded and Fin could have sworn he detected a note of pride in the old man’s voice. “Your memories are returning. You’re beginning to learn how to use them. That’s good, Kaleigh, good for all of us,” he said, raising his voice. “So what punishment do you suggest?”
Kaleigh glanced at Fin. They’re listening, she telepathed.
Told you they might, he answered.
“I thought you should hear it from him.”
Kaleigh put out her hand, and Rob moved in from the shadows, down the little hill to stand beside her. She handed him the book, open to the specific page. When Rob started to read, his voice was shaky, but as he continued, it grew stronger. He recounted the frightening tale of a young German vampire taken in by zombies and the crimes the boy committed, at their instruction, on the streets of London. The Thomas family of vampires apprehended the boy and found him guilty of the crimes, but not entirely responsible for his actions. Rob then related the process by which the Thomases killed the boy and brought him back from the dead, making him one of their own.
Immortal Page 26
