by Cas Martin
‘I think so too.’
Monica wandered off into the kitchen to place the order and Elizabeth watched her go. She looked physically fit and emotionally in control, with no hint that she had been to hell and back. That she was already thinking about work was a good sign. Normality would return soon enough for Monica. Elizabeth was instead heading back to a paper that was overdue and a life she’d left behind.
‘Thanks,’ she said, as Monica handed her a beer. ‘I was just thinking about how we’re both going to go back to normal.’
‘I’m not sure normal ever applies.’
‘Do you think anyone in England will know that I came over here to help you?’
‘I’m not sure. Are you worried you won’t be safe?’
‘A little. I left them alone and they left me alone in return. Should I start watching my back again?’
‘If you want my honest opinion, then you should never have stopped.’
‘I suppose.’ Elizabeth had to concede the point. Maybe she had simply been lucky so far.
‘There’s nothing wrong with what you did. Sometimes I wish I could step off the rollercoaster and let someone else be in charge for a little while. It’s normal to be overwhelmed. It had been a pretty intense few years leading up to it. You needed to grieve for your father.’
‘That was exactly how I felt. Like I needed to stop for a while. David’s death compounded that. I didn’t want the responsibility anymore.’
‘What about now?’
‘I’m more at peace with the fact that there are some things beyond my control. But if something had happened to either you or Garth, or Dennis, then would I be able to say the same thing?
‘It’s a lot to handle.’ Monica took a sip from the bottle. Elizabeth watched as her eyes wandered around the room, a certain sadness in them. Monica’s responsibilities were far greater than her own. ‘I’m still getting to grips with how difficult it is to be the leader of a family like mine. So much history, so many expectations, important enough to always be a target. It’s never going to be easy.’
‘I’m sure it wasn’t for your predecessor either.’
‘He never made it look this difficult.’
‘You have to stop being so hard on yourself. Sure, this has been a bit of a blip, but things can return to normal now.’
‘I’ve got the Sekhmets under near constant surveillance so I can breathe easier on that front. I expect there to be anger and possibly lone wolf retaliation, so they’ll be watched for a long time. If the family has been spread far and wide trying to find a new home, then it could take years for the next leader to come forwards.’
‘That should buy you some time at least.’
‘They are at their most vulnerable now though. I don’t know what I’ll do if another family decides to attack them.’
‘Do you have to do anything?’
‘Perhaps. Word has got out that they were responsible for the disease. I worry that things could descend into chaos if I let things go too far.’
‘Do you wish you had taken them over after all?’
‘Definitely not,’ Monica looked up as there was a knock on the door. ‘That’ll be the pizza.’
Elizabeth took another sip of her beer and watched as Monica answered the door and grabbed a pile of napkins from the kitchen on the way back. The smell of freshly cooked carbs and melted cheese filled the apartment and Elizabeth salivated. It would be hard to go back to her own cooking.
‘Damn, this is good,’ she said after the first bite.
‘What did I tell you?’ Monica looked triumphant enough to have baked it herself. ‘The best pizza in New York city.’
‘I guess late night pizza making is a perfect occupation for a vampire.’
‘It suits the hours. It’s amazing how many ways we’ve become useful members of society.’
‘Well, this is the most useful I’ve seen, that’s for sure.’
‘I’ll try not to be offended.’ Monica took a huge bite. ‘So what are your plans once you get back home? Back to the books?’
‘I guess so.’
‘You sound disappointed.’
‘I am. I love it, but after all this, it seems a little bit boring.’
‘Your father found a way to balance the academic life with our world. I’m sure you will too. That is, if you want to.’
‘I’m not sure I have a choice. This is something I’m meant to do. I know that now.’
‘Well, you know where I am if you ever need to talk. Or if you want a vacation. I could even take some time off work.’
‘I wouldn’t make you do that. I know how much you love your job.’
‘Everyone needs a break every once in awhile, even me. If the last two weeks have taught me anything, it’s that.’
‘Well, I can return the offer if you’re ever in England. You’ve seen that my house is big enough for both of us.’
‘It was nice. Exactly what I expected.’
‘My father enjoyed living up to the professorly stereotype. I’ll never be that, but I miss him enough to keep it unchanged. That way, it still feels like he’s with me in spirit sometimes.’
‘That reminds me. Elverez asked me to pass on his regards.’
‘He does? I’m glad he didn’t catch it in the end.’
‘Apparently not. He sounded quite cheerful when I spoke to him on the phone. He refused to answer any of my questions about you or your lineage by the way. I’m sorry.’
‘I never really expected that he would. If a time comes when he wants me to know then he’ll find a way.’
‘Sometimes I think he’s the real leader of the family and I’m just his puppet. He pulls my strings and I run to you.’
‘You would have worked it out eventually.’
‘Would I? I should have remembered from the time before. The way I felt after feeding, it wasn’t normal.’
‘Perhaps you were trying to forget. For me. I told you to. Be happy that he’s on your side. Most people see him as an old man sitting at the back of the room, but he would be fatal as an enemy.’
‘He has more in his head than anyone I know. Over the years he’s listened in on so many conversations. You never know, one day we might get the whole story.’
‘I’d love to know the truth about my father. There’s another side to him that I never knew. More than just knowing about vampires, but how he felt about everything. Elizabeth finished her last mouthful of pizza and sat back in the chair. In another world, this would be nice. She and Monica would be friends and this would be something they could do once a month and catch up on gossip.
‘Do you think you could lead the same double life?’ Monica picked up her final slice and lifted a piece of pepperoni from the top. ‘Relationships can be hard.’
‘I don’t know,’ Elizabeth sighed. ‘I’m not sure I want to live a life hiding things. Hiding who I really am and that you exist.’
‘Well, if you want be with someone who knows, then you’re dramatically reducing your dating pool. It’s either one of us or Garth,’ Monica teased.
‘I don’t think Garth and I would hit it off somehow. It would be like dating my younger brother.’
‘Yeah, I can’t see it working either. But it was funny to try and picture it for a second. Besides, he’s changed a lot.’
‘You thought so too?’
‘He’s doing the things that you’re not here to do, and he’s doing them well. I think your father would have been proud to have him as a potential student.’
‘I sense a but…’
‘Maybe. I worry that by chasing the worst of my kind, he only ever sees the darker side. He’s still angry. I can see that now.’
‘Perhaps Dennis could have a word with him?’
‘I don’t know about that. I can’t see them meeting up for a coffee and a friendly chat somehow. They’ve always maintained something of a respectful distance, in a manly kind of way.’
‘Despite what you’re saying, Garth obviously fe
els like you’re an ally as well.’
‘I’m not so sure about that. He is loyal to you, not me. He didn’t want you to get hurt, that’s all.’
‘Wow, you make it sound so much more complicated than it actually is.’
‘Either way, I can’t give you dating advice. You’ve met my most recent dating disaster.’ Monica smiled.
‘Harlan seemed nice. Very committed to his work.’
‘He is. Besides, he seems happy now.’
‘He’s not the only one who deserves to be happy you know.’
‘I know. But looking after the family is my life now. I don’t have enough time to date and fight off leadership challenges and threats. Can you imagine how much paperwork is involved? I have a team of lawyers working round the clock to layer the system. It’s not easy to account for the deaths and protect the survivors.’
‘I’d never considered that. It’s easy to forget about those kinds of things in the heat of battle, I guess.’
‘Plus we’ve extended the vaccine to the other families who are allies. With them coming and going, it’s far from settled yet. There’s a schedule to make sure we don’t get swamped with vampires from other families in our home. That would be one way to guarantee a flare up of natural possessiveness and a whole new line of trouble.’
‘I appreciate that you’re not handing it over to them.’
‘Speaking of which.’ Monica stood up and left the room. Elizabeth felt an uneasy feeling settle in the pit of her stomach. There was more bad news to come. When she came back into the room, Elizabeth could see the uncertainty in her eyes as she sat back down. ‘I have a confession.’
‘Go on.’ For some reason, it was hard to breathe.
‘I have this.’ Monica opened her hand to reveal a vial of blood. Elizabeth recognised it immediately.
‘But—’
‘Before you kill me, you should know I haven’t opened it. I haven’t touched it. It’s been locked in my safe the whole time. That was why I gave you the combination. I knew you would recognise it and destroy it before anyone else knew it was there. I don’t know why I took it. Everything else was destroyed as part of the process. I promise that. But this one still remained. For some reason I couldn’t leave it with Harlan. On some level I didn’t want it to be destroyed I guess. I don’t know. I know it was wrong. Can you forgive me?’
‘You never make this any easier for either of us, do you?’ Elizabeth hung her head in her hands. The disappointment hurt more than anything else.
‘I know. Call me crazy. I didn’t understand it at the time. I’m not sure I do now.’
‘You knew enough to tell me how to get it if anything happened to you.’
‘And then you showed up anyway. I didn’t expect you to help us.’
‘That’s because I knew if anything happened to me, this wouldn’t matter regardless,’ Elizabeth reached out and took the vial from Monica’s hand. ‘When you told me the details for the safe, I guessed what was in there. I decided that if I died helping you then it wouldn’t matter who got their hands on it anyway. If I didn’t die then we would have this conversation at some point. I would have trusted you less if you hadn’t told me tonight. I’m still disappointed that you did it though.’
‘I don’t know what to say.’
‘There’s nothing to say. Put it back in the safe. Destroy it when you get the chance. I don’t think it would be worth keeping around for much longer anyway.’
‘Why?’
‘Hardly the best storage conditions, I’m sure you’d agree.’ Her anger was muted by exhaustion. She could forgive, but she wouldn’t forget. Not this time.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘Monica, people are wary of you because you try to deny your nature. You’ve always tried to walk in my world more than your own. Maybe it’s because of the human in your past, I don’t know. But between the fasting and the career, you’re always trying to suppress the vampire in you. I don’t expect you to do that. Whatever promises you make to me, I will always come second to your family. Stop pretending to be someone you’re not.’
‘You’re a fine one to talk,’ said Monica with a smile.
‘What’s that supposed to mean?’
‘For over a year you’ve pretended you have no place in my world. You know that’s not true. Even now, you say you don’t know what to do when you get home, but you’re delaying the inevitable. It’s in your blood. Something keeps you tied to us. Your family is somehow tied to my family. When we met, the bond that had been severed with your father’s death came back together. Perhaps stronger than ever, if I’m allowed to say that.’
‘I don’t want you to be right.’
‘I can’t say I understand it, but denying it is about as useful as me denying my need to feed. I can suppress it for so long, but it will never go away completely.’
‘So here we are, both of us in denial.’
‘Another stalemate.’
‘I’m still going back to England. I want my old life. Even if I can’t escape you and your family, I need other things to keep me sane. Keep me balanced. The same way you need your job and a life completely separate to them. You need it to maintain some sense of who you are. What makes you different from everyone else?’
‘For what it’s worth, I think you’ll make a great academic. As great as your father was.’ Monica chinked her bottle of beer against Elizabeth’s.
She didn’t think she’d ever been paid a higher compliment from someone who knew what that truly meant.
65
Jack LeTraub stirred his tea with methodical rhythm. His thoughts returned to Elizabeth time and time again. Life was always more worrisome when she was around.
For the eighteen months since they’d last met, she had stayed out of trouble. Now the shock had worn off and she had allowed herself to become entangled in their world once again. She was stupid to think she had a place here. Naive. With her father gone, it was now up to him to clear up the mess.
Something as fortuitous as a deadly disease came round once in a millennia. It would take a long time to recover to full strength, but with Elizabeth’s help, they now would. A golden opportunity to tip the balance in favour of humanity had been lost. Jack LeTraub was furious with her for undoing everything.
His anger didn’t show through in his hand as he lifted the teacup to his lips in a single smooth movement. All was not lost. He could make her see the error of her ways, even if she was slow to learn. It was a shame. In other ways, she caught on so quickly. Yet the bigger picture somehow still always eluded her. Her father’s weakness had always been to lead with his heart, but he had overridden his better nature in the end. Jack could only hope that Elizabeth would learn to do the same.
They were running out of time.
Years would pass by like sand in an hourglass before she realised she was the key to everything. Yet she stood in front of the doors she was meant to open and then resolutely turned away.
Jack LeTraub was a man used to waiting. But even he was beginning to lose patience with Elizabeth.
The stupid girl was going to destroy them all.
Blood Echo – A Lazarus Hunter Novella
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Ancient relics, forgotten histories and a quest for revenge. Never trust a vampire with nothing left to lose…
Told exclusively from Elizabeth’s point of view, Blood Echo is a standalone Novella in the Lazarus Hunter world.
About the author
Cas Martin loves writing character-driven stories and believes that diverse characters shouldn’t come at the expense of great plots — readers deserve to have both. When she’s not writing, she can usually be found with her nose in a
book (or pressed against the Kindle screen). Her third biggest passion in life is travel, so although she’s based in England, for much of the year you won’t find her there. Instead she’ll be hanging out with her wife in some amazing city or, more likely, at the beach.
She also writes lesbian fiction as C.K. Martin. You can get in touch with the author by email [email protected], or follow on twitter @CKMauthor. For more frequent updates, visit http://www.ckmartin.com/
Other books available from this author
lazarus hunter series
Blood Inheritance
BLACK MARKET BLOOD
SHADOWS OF BLOOD
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Blood Echo – A Lazarus Hunter Novella
About the author
Other books available from this author
Contents
