by Dina James
What had the blond boy—Sydney—meant when he said Nana was closest?
Closest to what? And he would have used the entrance but it was sealed?
What entrance? How was Nana acting like her old self, and as though this kind of thing happened every day? Entering the hidden room again, Rebecca passed the case to her nana.
“Thank you,” Nana said in that same, calm voice. She reached for the case and opened it, pulling out various things out as she spoke again to Rebecca.
“Go downstairs and bring me the two big pots, filled with water. The temperature doesn’t matter. Sydney will help. Won’t you, Syd? And Sydney?
See to the portal seal and raise the boundary? That’s a good boy. Just in case anything followed. We may need additional help.” Sydney looked like he’d been about to protest, but nodded with a wry smile.“As long as this doesn’t take too long,” Sydney said, standing up. “After all, I left things in disarray. They’ll need me back soon.” Nana waved her hand, dismissing Syd’s words. “This is more important than hand-holding your scared little clan. Now, tell me, what’s this? Who broke the truce?”
“There really isn’t time, Martha,” Syd said. He looked to Rebecca.
“Shouldn’t you be getting that water?”
“Look, I don’t know who you are—” Rebecca began, irritated and tired of being ordered around like a lap-dog. She might do whatever her nana wanted, but there was no way some guy she didn’t even know—
“Rebecca,” Nana interrupted. “Quickly now or this boy is going to die.” A glimpse of yellow caught Rebecca’s eye. Ryan’s lucky pencil was sticking out of the back pocket of the jeans that lay in a discarded heap at the foot of the bed. Rebecca’s head spun as she tried to take in being in this strange hidden room with this strange, unfamiliar woman that looked like her nana who was somehow working to save Ryan’s life.
Why couldn’t they have just gone to the hospital? Rebecca thought as she ran downstairs again, her brow furrowing. Why did they come here? Why is Nana acting like...like normal? Well, not normal, but like she does this sort of thing all the time?
The questions came faster than Rebecca could fathom as she filled a large stockpot with water. She was filling the other when suddenly Sydney was standing beside her.
“Holy crap!” Rebecca flinched away from the boy and stared at him, wide-eyed. “How the heck did you do that?”
Sydney lifted the full pot into Rebecca’s arms. She took it automatically, wrapping her arms around the bottom. Wow, it was heavy.
“The same as always,” he said, sounding confused by her question.
“You need help getting this stuff back upstairs, and your way takes forever.” He didn’t wait for Rebecca to ask him anything else. Instead he shut off the water filling the second pot and put a hand on her shoulder. He put the other on the second pot and suddenly they were back in the dark room with Ryan and Nana.
Rebecca’s stomach lurched and she set the pot of water next to Nana, just in time to be sick in the corner.
Sydney’s eyebrows rose. “Don’t worry, that happens to a lot of humans when they shift for the first time,” he said.
“A lot of humans? What? I mean...Nana? What’s going on?” Rebecca asked, her stomach tightening more at the disturbing suggestion in Syd’s words.“I don’t have time to explain now, little dove,” Nana said distractedly as she soaked strips of cloth into the water they’d brought up which was suddenly steaming hot, though it had been only lukewarm moments ago.
“Give me a few minutes to see to this boy. What’s his name, Syd? Names help, as you know.”
“Ryan,” Syd replied in a whisper. “Ryan Dugan.”
“‘Ryan’,” Nana repeated before turning back to Rebecca. “Give me a few minutes to see to Ryan, little dove. He’s been bitten by a hellhound. And a vampire.” Nana muttered those last words under her breath in disapproval.
“Really, Syd. Did you have to bite him?”
“It was either turn him or watch him die. He’s been good to us,” Syd replied. “You know I wouldn’t have done so this way unless there was no other choice, Martha.”
Nana nodded. “I know. It’s just...well...he won’t die of the hellhound bite, that’s for sure. If he survives the turning...well...we’ll deal with that part when it comes. If it comes.”
Sydney nodded and sat on a chair beside the bed as Rebecca watched Nana work.
Hellhounds? Vampire bite? What?
It finally seemed quiet enough for Rebecca to ask a question, but she didn’t want to bother her nana. Instead, she looked to Syd.
“Because this is the place wounded Ethereals are supposed to come,” Sydney said before she could form the question in her mind. He glared at her deliberately, his eyes flashing in the light like Mishka’s sometimes did.
Hadn’t they been a shade of dark blue in the kitchen? “This is neutral ground, a haven, where the wounded can come for healing.”
“Wounded?” Rebecca asked. Wow, what was with his eyes? “I don’t understand.” Was that her voice sounding all dreamy like that?
“Rebecca, don’t look a Master vampire in the eye. It’s not only rude, it’s dangerous. Sydney, stop it,” she heard Nana order in that firm-yet-soft voice Rebecca had never heard her use before. “Leave it lie. She doesn’t know any of it. I...I never trained her. I didn’t want her involved.” Leave it lie? Rebecca thought as she shook her head to clear it of the fuzziness she hadn’t even noticed was there. Who talks like that anymore?
Master vampire? Oh, please. I’ve finally watched one too many late-night horror movies.
Sydney looked at Martha, incredulous. “You mean to say that she doesn’t know you’re a Healer?” He sounded surprised and a little angry. “The Healer, if it were told true? Lady Healer. Or that she’s one of your line?”
“After losing my daughter, do you think for one moment I would want Rebecca exposed to this?!” Nana snapped, pointing to Ryan’s limp body. “We’re mortal, and maybe you don’t know just how short a time that is, but to we humans, it’s too short! I’ll not lose my granddaughter as I did my daughter!”
“But...Mom died in a car accident,” Rebecca spoke out. “You told me a drunk driver killed her and Daddy.”
Nana looked pained and guilty. She didn’t say anything more as she kept her eyes on Ryan’s deep wound, cleansing it with a concoction she’d made from the contents of a jar taken from the suitcase.
Sydney stood up and reached for Rebecca’s shoulders. She flinched as he touched her, but he held her firm and guided her to a long mirror mounted on the wall of the room.
With a gesture of his hand, the unlit candles in the wall lanterns all blazed bright, bringing much more light into the room, illuminating the mirror.“Thank you,” she heard Nana say.
Rebecca gasped as she looked into the mirror and saw only herself reflected back. She knew Syd was right there, behind her. She could feel him touching her. She looked to her shoulder and saw Syd’s longish blond hair mingling with her own, but there was no trace of it in the mirror.
His lips twitched in a little smile as he looked down at her and nodded at the mirror again.
Rebecca looked back, and though she couldn’t see him do it, she saw her hair being moved aside. She felt him tilt her chin so she could see the huge mark on the right side of her neck she hated so much. It was a dark, tea-colored stain that covered half her neck, shaped like a funny asterisk.
Ever since she’d started school, kids had teased her without mercy about her birthmark, and Rebecca tried to cover it as much as possible. Everyone still made fun of it, except Robin. Robin only teased her for keeping it hidden with her hair. Robin thought it was cool—almost like a tattoo of an eight-pointed star.
“Be proud of it! Show it off! You have this great piece of body art you didn’t even have to pay for, that no one will yell at you for getting! How cool is that?” Robin always said in that over-enthusiastic way that made her such a great friend. Rebecca didn’t mind
it when Robin mentioned her birthmark. Robin never made her feel horrible about it. Robin never made her feel different, or that there was something wrong with her.
That didn’t make her feel any better about that horrid thing on her neck.
It looked like someone drew a little t on her neck, then changed their mind and drew an X over it. Rebecca was going to see about having it removed as soon as she was out on her own and had the money.
She felt Syd’s fingers touch her neck and she glanced at it in the mirror, scowling at her reflection. Her brow furrowed as she realized that she could see the pulse that beat below the skin there.
She looked up at him, confused. Rebecca could see two small white points poorly hidden behind a suppressed smile.
Were those fangs?
“If you’re really a vampire, shouldn’t I be staking you through the heart or something?” Rebecca asked with a bravado she didn’t feel. “I mean, you know...like in Buffy?”
A soft laugh escaped Syd as he released her.
His laughter almost annoyed her. People laughed at her all the time and it always made her feel stupid and hurt. She didn’t need yet another gorgeous guy making fun of her—certainly not when he was the one who had shown up at her house totally uninvited. Yet somehow Syd’s laughter didn’t hurt like it did when the kids at school did it. His was...Rebecca didn’t have a word for it, other than “warm.” Gentle, maybe. Not meant to hurt.
He was amused by her, not trying to make her feel stupid.
“Do you really think you could?” He smiled so that his fangs could be seen. Rebecca gasped and took a step back at the sight of them. “Tell me, Acolyte—ever kill a spider?”
Rebecca nodded, wide-eyed. How did he know about—?
“It hurts, doesn’t it, just a little bit?” Syd continued.
Rebecca nodded again, biting her bottom lip. She always tried to catch them instead, and take them outside because it did hurt. Physically. Not just because she felt sorry for them when she accidentally killed one, which was probably dumb, but it didn’t stop her feeling it.
“Or when you want to hurt someone, like today in detention, when you wanted to slap—”
“Shhh! Please!” Rebecca glanced over at her grandmother, but Nana was focused on Ryan and hadn’t seemed to notice her talking to Syd.
“Did Ryan tell you about detention?” she whispered to the boy. Well, he wasn’t really a “boy,” was he, if he was a...a...
Syd smiled again and gave that soft laugh that both annoyed and captivated Rebecca. “‘Vampire,’” he said. “You can say it. I’m not as sensitive about the term as some.”
“Sydney,” Nana called suddenly. “I can’t slow it. It’s too late. He’s turning.”
Sydney instantly crossed to the bed where Ryan lay and knelt beside it. He took Ryan’s hand as the bed shook. Ryan seemed to be having some kind of seizure, and looked all but dead to Rebecca.
“It’s all right, buddy,” Syd soothed. “I’ve got you the best Healer here, and we’re going to take care of you. Don’t fight it. I know, it’s earlier than we planned, but take it in stride. Come on...”
Rebecca just stood and watched as Sydney stroked a damp cloth over Ryan’s forehead, which came away stained with pink and red. Ryan seemed to be literally sweating blood.
Nana stood and sighed, shaking her head. Rebecca moved to her grandmother, and when Nana held her hand out, Rebecca, like a child of seven instead of a girl of nearly seventeen, took her grandmother’s hand and clung to her side as she watched the wounded boy on the bed thrash.
“Come on, let’s get some tea,” Nana said in that weird, gentle voice.
“Syd will stay with him. There’s nothing really to be done now but wait until it runs its course.”
“This wouldn’t have happened if the entrance hadn’t been sealed!” Syd snapped, glaring at Nana. “Why was that done? You wasted my time, making me come ask for entry like a common human!”
Nana didn’t seem at all offended by Sydney’s outburst or his accusa-tions. “Who broke the truce?” she countered. “That entry has been sealed for nearly fifteen years, which you well know, Sydney Alexander. After the last battle, you know what precautions were taken.”
“Precautions that apparently included keeping your own granddaughter, the last of your line, ignorant of her own power!” Sydney growled darkly.
“You didn’t tell the Council that part of your plan to close the Eastern Enclave. She doesn’t even know...how could you not warn her, Martha Althea?
If the flames of war have again been fanned, what makes you think her ignorance keeps her safe? She is a valuable asset to any side, and keeping her unaware can only lead her unknowingly astray!” Nana and Syd continued to glare at one another for a long moment before Rebecca felt a tug at her hand.
“Come,” Nana said again. “This isn’t something you need to see.” Rebecca pulled her hand free. “No, wait, Nana,” she said, looking toward the now-still form of Ryan on the bed. “He...I know him. I mean, not very well, but... He goes to my school. He won’t know where he is, and he’ll be scared when he wakes up.”
“Sydney will stay with him, Rebecca,” Nana replied. “Let’s wait down in the kitchen. It’s not a good idea to be so close, even with the protections we have. A fledgling vampire is not easily controlled. It’s fortunate we have a Master here with us to watch over him as Ryan turns.”
“‘Turns?’” Rebecca echoed, looking back to her nana. “You mean...”
“Into a vampire, yes,” Nana said. “And though turning a human is never easy or done lightly, Sydney had to do it to save Ryan’s life. Ryan is fortunate that he was brought to me in time to wrest the dark magic from the bite of the hellhound or he wouldn’t have even survived long enough to turn. I’m sorry, Sydney. I wish I could do more.”
“There is no cure for the final bite,” Syd said. “Nothing can stop a turning.”
Rebecca could all but feel his acceptance...and regret.
Syd kept his eyes from Martha’s as he wrung out the blood-soaked cloth with fresh water. “I know that.” He brought the damp cloth back to Ryan’s face and continued wiping it. “I couldn’t let him die, Martha.”
“I know, Syd,” Nana said with a gentle smile. “I know.” They left the two boys in the hidden room. Rebecca marveled at the linen cupboard shelves that swung shut behind them as Nana led the way down to the kitchen. Rebecca put the kettle on and made a pot of tea. She felt very, very strange and needed to do something that made her feel somewhat normal again. Nana sat quietly in a kitchen chair, but without the usual, vacant look on her face that Rebecca was accustomed to seeing.
As Rebecca sat a mug of tea in front of her, Nana—Martha—spoke.
chApter three
“I never wanted you to know, but I see now I shall have to tell you, before Sydney leaves with Ryan,” Nana said in pained resignation. “Once he leaves, he’ll take his power with him and I’ll forget myself again. I’m sorry, Rebecca. I’m sorry for what’s become of me, what you have to endure day after day.”
“Nana—” Rebecca began to protest.
Nana held up a hand. “Please. Let me talk and don’t interrupt.” She took a sip of tea and swallowed hard.
Rebecca sat down in her own chair, cradling her hands around her mug in a futile effort to warm them.
“I should have told you all these things long ago, but after Helene died—” Nana closed her eyes for a moment, then smiled at Rebecca.
“No matter what I might not want you to know about things, I still know about them. I just can’t quite remember everything. This happens, when Healers reach the age of sixty. While Syd’s here I’m able to use his power to clear my mind, but he won’t be here long enough for me to tell you all I need to,” Nana said. “I’m sorry for not telling you these things before.
Syd’s right. I’ve likely done more harm than good trying to protect you from your birthright with ignorance. I should have expected the war to start again,
but the peace has held for so long... I forget that mortal time means so little to Ethereals. I suppose I was hoping you’d be grown and gone before—” Nana stopped herself and shook her head before going on. “But, you’re not, so now we must deal with that.”
“Before...what?” Rebecca asked. She bit her bottom lip.
Nana reached across the table and took one of Rebecca’s hands in hers. “Rebecca...you’re a Healer.”
Well...that didn’t sound so bad, Rebecca thought. In fact, something inside her leapt at the word, and a kind of heat spread through her limbs. Her cold hands were suddenly warm, and she smiled. Still—
“A Healer? Like...a doctor?” Rebecca asked.
“In a manner of speaking,” Nana replied and released Rebecca’s hand.
“You were born with the gift to channel power to your own use...that is, to share your life’s force with those who are in need, and to heal those beings thought to be immortal. ‘Immortal’ does not mean ‘invulnerable’, little dove.
Your friend was bitten, very nearly lethally, by a hellhound, who no doubt attacked Syd’s clan. Vampires are a delicacy to hellhounds because they have no soul. It was only Syd’s bite, the final bite of a vampire, that saved Ryan.
I don’t agree with it, but it saved your friend’s life.” Rebecca tried to process everything her nana was saying. It was like talking to someone else, someone completely different than the grandmother she had grown up with.
Nana was a...a what? A healer of vampires? And I’m supposedly one, too?
“So...” Rebecca said slowly. “We’re a family of...vampire healers?” Nana laughed and took another sip of her tea. “More or less,” she said after a moment. “Sometimes more, sometimes less. It’s not just vampires. We help the hellhounds, too. Goblins, ghosts, specters, shades, werewolves—demons are really the only ones who shun us and refuse to ask a mortal for help.” Goblins? The word brought a flash of something to Rebecca’s mind, and she recognized it as what she’d seen that afternoon peeking in the door to the girl’s bathroom at school. Those...were real? All the things she’d been seeing...those had been real things? She thought back over the past few...how long had she been seeing things? Months? A long time, anyway. First little weird things in the garden that she dismissed as birds, then spiders behav-ing strangely—looking like they were waving at her and so on, then stuff with huge eyes peeking out behind shelves and bushes and even people’s pet doors. What were they?
