Faith stood. Thomas and Jonas followed suit.
On the couch, I hugged my knees to my chest, dizzy from the energy in the room, from her words that made little sense yet rang true.
She gazed at me with foggy eyes, the centers spinning like a tornado. “The Transfiguration has begun,” she intoned. “Carina Agostina Ottavia Tranquilli.” My name boomed around the room. “You are the star, the light, the Nexus. The Youngling, your Key. Thus the five-pointed star is completed. The Five supports the Nexus. A formidable power in the Endgame. The blood ritual approaches. Your power, your courage, your will, your life and the survival of all rests upon your decision. When Saturn returns to the moment of your birth, you much choose as you were chosen. The Great Darkness watches the unfolding. Its minions are many. They—”
Blackness crept across her eyes, from corner to corner, deepest, darkest black. I scrambled to my feet. The darkness stared at me. My skin crawled. Something was in there. It wasn’t Faith.
“We know who you are.” Her voice vibrated with the sound of three male voices. “We know where you are and you will be Ours.”
Thomas and Jonas hissed. Their power blasted over the room. I huddled on the couch. As much as I wanted to help my friend, I had no clue what to do so I let the vampires drive. “What is that and can you get it out of my friend?”
Thomas and Jonas growled.
“My Mistress approaches,” Stella announced. “With company.”
The door opened and in flowed Tessa, in a royal blue silk wrap dress and matching strappy sandals, hair cascading around her shoulders like a radiant, golden shawl. Her luminous, blue-green eyes beamed love at me, while her lavender scent permeated the air, causing much of the tension in my body to fall away.
She held out her arms. “Come, my little Star.”
I hustled over to her. “Can you help Faith?”
“Worry not, my darling child. She will be freed.” Her voice held strength, confidence.
“Okay.” I pushed away my worry and let her comfort me, breathing her in. Oh, how I remembered and loved her scent. She represented safety, comfort, all things maternal. She was home. That reminded me we still lacked one player. Where was he?
“Dov’è Zio Zi?” My Uncle Zi remained conspicuously absent.
She stiffened. “In Italy.”
“Why isn’t he here? He should be, right? I mean, if he cares about me as much as I remember now.” I stepped out of her embrace.
“Oh, child, you cannot fathom the depth of his affection.”
“But he’s not here.” Sadness tinged my voice, tightened my throat.
“Detained,” Jonas supplied.
“Unavoidably,” added Thomas.
Well, gee, that explained it. Not at all.
A rap on the door interrupted us.
“Enter,” Tessa ordered.
At this point, I expected the arrival of Doc Scott or a nurse to check on Mark and Ren. Instead, my burly former nanny, Roland, entered the room dressed in a studded leather jacket, a black T-shirt, dark jeans and combat boots. He pushed a dark wood cart. A three-tiered tea sandwich tower and a floral china teapot with matching cups and saucers occupied the top. On the cart’s lower shelf, another teapot, cups and one liquor bottle.
My jaw dropped at the incongruous sight of this huge, punked out vampire maneuvering a tidy, traditional, British tea service. It was so stunning it took me several seconds to notice the smaller person trailing behind him.
It was the petite blonde witch from the housekeeping crew. She’d swapped out the black coveralls for a black velour tracksuit, the hood pulled up over her head. Her dark blue eyes stood out like beacons in her serious, pale face. She looked innocuous, surveying the room in silence, but something about her sent a chill up my spine.
Enemy.
There was the voice again, the one recognizing Alexander as mine. It didn’t like this cute little witch at all. I almost growled at her.
“Brigid, please attend to the Seer,” Tessa commanded.
The witch approached Faith, still sandwiched inside Thomas and Jonas’s power.
I moved to intercept. “Stop. Don’t touch her.” My gut screamed not to let her mojo anywhere near Faith.
“Va bene, Carina.” Tessa restrained me with one delicate yet strong hand. My vampire mentors were annoyingly powerful at times like this.
My unease increased. “No, it’s not okay, Tessa. I don’t want that witch touching my friend.”
“She will exorcise the evil, my sweet. Our men have it contained, but they cannot draw it out. We require a witch’s touch for that.”
I remained unconvinced. Brigid walked a circle three times around Faith before stopping to place her hand below my friend’s throat.
Wrong, the voice growled. Enemy.
“Don’t touch her!” I strained against Tessa’s hold. My power flared with my anger and swiped at Tessa’s hand.
“Carina, calmati,” Tessa purred. Her power squashed mine as if it were a pesky little gnat. Lavender suffused the air, willing me to relax, but I resisted.
“Back off, witch!”
Brigid ignored me, speaking in a language I didn’t understand.
Gaelic, Jonas supplied in my head.
Do not worry, Thomas added.
Yeah, right. I was beyond worried. A dizzying wave of energy prevented me from arguing further. Once it dissipated, Brigid broke contact. Spell complete.
My friend swooned. Jonas caught her, lowering her to the couch.
Brigid left the room, but not before she cast me a furtive, malicious glare. My fury flared. Bring it on, wicked bitch. I yanked at Tessa’s hold on my arm, but she held firm. Brigid escaped with one last smirk in my direction.
Evil.
Why did the vampires trust her? Couldn’t they see she was bad news? “You all trust that tiny witch?” I want to beat the crap out of her.
Tessa nodded. “Of course. She is ours.” As if that explained it. She released me and I rushed to my friend. “You okay?”
“Yes.” Her brown doe eyes blinked at me. Back to normal. Phew.
The witch had helped. But I still didn’t trust her. “Someone want to explain what just happened here?”
“Information overload,” Faith replied. “And an unwelcome visitor.”
“Yeah, I got that much. Details, please.”
“Well, I—”
“Hot toddy?” Roland’s rumbling voice interrupted. He offered me a cup. “Good for what ails you.”
Laughter burst out of my throat. My mind couldn’t parse this giant man handing me a dainty cup of tea, right after a witch had exorcised some kind of evil out of my best friend who’d experienced the wackiest trance of her life, right after I’d had an emotional greeting card moment with my long lost vampire relatives following an attack by a psychotic vampire and his undead biker gang in a restaurant serving blood and bloody steaks.
All that after waking up on my birthday with a hangover, beating up a witch, dealing with mayhem at the museum, meeting the hottest guy on the planet and almost dying from not one, but two supernatural asthma attacks and last, but not least, getting my arms chewed on by two vampires in my own club to jump-start my memory and free my power, which caused a few seizures and a four-day coma.
Just. Too. Bizarre.
I laughed so hard tears leaked out of my eyes. Faith held my hand and giggled a little, too.
Thomas and Jonas joined us on the couch. Jonas handed me the tissue box and I mopped up my face. Again. That almost restarted my laughing fit.
Stella picked up an overstuffed lounge chair and placed it opposite the couch. Tessa gave me an indulgent nod and sank into it.
Roland placed a teacup for me on the coffee table, along with the sandwich tower. He pointed at the top. “Cucumber and cream cheese.” Then the second tier. “Ham and brown mustard, tomato and cheddar.” And on the bottom, “chutney and cheddar, egg salad.”
I worked hard not to bust out laughing again. “This is
so weird.”
“A thank you would be the more appropriate response, my child,” Tessa admonished.
“Thanks, Roland.”
Roland inclined his head. “You are welcome, Princess.” His gaze landed on Faith. Right. They didn’t know each other.
“Faith, this is Roland, he was my nanny—” Roland scowled. “I mean, my bodyguard when I was a kid.”
Faith graced him with her small, gentle smile.
His face softened. “Hot toddy, Miss Faith?”
“Yes, please.”
I picked up my cup and took a sip. “What is this exactly?” Tasted like a not-so British green tea, a hint of lemon and sugar, and a generous dose of alcohol. Delicious.
Roland handed Faith a cup. “Tea with brandy. Hot toddy.”
I selected a sandwich triangle from the top tier and bit into it. Yum. Roland made a good sandwich. I devoured it and reached for another, this time from the second level. Might as well sample them all. My gut rumbled. Apparently, hefty bouts of supernatural hijinks made me ravenous.
Roland prepped four more cups, this time using the teapot on the cart’s lower shelf, distributing those to the vampires. Warm blood, of course.
Faith and I sipped our beverages and consumed many tiny sandwich triangles.
“Roland, these sandwiches taste great,” I praised with a grin at my former nanny.
“Thank you, Princess.”
“Why do you call me that?”
“It is who you are.”
“I’m no Princess,” I scoffed, glancing at Thomas for confirmation. He gave me none. I tried Jonas and received an impassive stare. Tessa flashed her fangs and shrugged.
Her teeth distracted me from the royalty comment. “I notice you guys can make your fangs come and go at will.” I also remembered this tidbit from my childhood.
She nodded and retracted her fangs to demonstrate. “But it is not always necessary. Usually a bit of glamour suffices as most human minds are weak. They see what we want them to see.”
I drained my cup, enjoying the warmth of the brandy as it spread through my body down to my toes. “Can all vampires, no matter how old, do the glamour thing? And compel people like they’re puppets?”
“Yes. Some better than others.”
“Let me guess, the older you are, the better you are at it, right?”
She inclined her head. “With age comes power, but not for everyone.”
“But definitely for the four of you,” I included Uncle Zi in my comment and they knew it.
She flicked her fingers. “Gifted in life, gifted in death.”
“Enough about us,” Thomas interrupted. “Let us proceed to the matter at hand.”
“Only if the matter is what just happened to Faith.” I snagged a cheese and chutney triangle, glancing at the closed bedroom door. “Where’s Kai? We were noisy. He should’ve come running.”
“The young man sleeps,” Thomas replied.
“You mean you made him sleep, yeah?”
“Yes.”
“I guess I should’ve expected that.” I polished off my sandwich. “Now spill it. What’s up with Faith’s mega vision? And the black thing? The crazy voice. No, wait. Hold that thought. Roland, may I please have another hot toddy?”
I was enjoying the warmth and slight buzz from the first one so much having another sounded like a mighty fine idea, especially as this conversation was about to ramp up the groovy factor another notch or two.
“Of course, Princess.”
A giggle bubbled up in my throat at the sight of my enormous former nanny interacting with the tiny tea service objects. Vampire theater of the absurd.
“Carina. We have much to discuss, and we lose the night.” An undercurrent of tension marred Thomas’s smooth voice.
“Okay, I’m ready.” I took a generous sip of my new toddy. “Tell me why Faith was trancin’ out all tornado-eyed and why her body was hijacked by evil.”
“You are a person of great interest to our enemies.”
“Oh, right, how could I forget? The target on my back. But, why? Is it the money?” My brothers and I were rich, after all. Affluent Orphans-R-Us. I bit back another giggle and swallowed more toddy goodness. “It can’t be my power. It’s nothing much compared to you guys.”
Thomas and Tessa exchanged a look. “It will grow, in time,” Thomas replied. “Now, to truly understand, we must return to the beginning.”
I nodded. “Makes sense. Faith already touched on it, right?”
“Yes. There’s more.”
Faith shook her head at Thomas, shushing him. I admired her courage, but why had she dared? “All right you two, what’s going on now?”
Faith stood but I grabbed her wrist and pulled her back to the seat. She sucked in a breath, wincing. I dropped her arm. “What’s wrong?”
Thomas answered for her. “It would appear our protection has resulted in unexpected benefits.”
My eyes widened. “Protection?” Oh, hell no.
Faith expelled a resigned-to-her-fate breath, and slipped off her jacket. Bandages encircled both wrists.
Anger burned the back of my throat. Uno, due, tre…I ran the Italian ten-count in my head, holding my body taut to keep myself from hurling my teacup at Jonas’s face and then choking the life out of Thomas. Not that he needed to breathe, but I’d enjoy the violence.
“You bit her.” Venom veined my tone.
Thomas nodded. “The marks protect and sometimes a person’s innate talents are enhanced. As we witnessed this evening with the Seer.”
“You bit her.” You jerks.
“Marked,” Jonas corrected. “It is a gift.”
I snorted. “Of course, you’d think that.” I drained my cup and plonked it on the table.
“Rina.” Faith’s slid her dainty hand over mine. “There’s no road back. Only forward. I saw the fork in my future and I chose to walk the path that included you. This is a step in that direction.”
I wanted to rail against her words, but the conviction in her voice and eyes told me she believed in this. Believed in me.
“So,” I addressed the room. “You bit my best friend here, and accidentally amped up her psychic powers.”
Thomas nodded. “Yes. The Seer has surprised us all this evening.”
“Apparently she gets a fancy new title along with her enhanced abilities.”
“She sees.”
His matter-of-fact tone irritated me. “Thanks, Mister Obvious. Your marks will protect her from other vampires?”
“Our mark is a strong deterrent, yes. But some may choose to ignore it.”
“At their peril,” added Jonas.
I raised a hand. “Fine. You chewed on my friend’s wrists, she’s okay with that, so I guess I have to be okay with it, too. Just don’t do it again, or I might have to hurt someone.”
Silence.
“You’re going do it again, aren’t you?”
Thomas set down his cup. “That, my dearest girl, depends on the choices you make in the near future.”
I massaged my temples. “I don’t understand.”
“No, you do not. But you will. In time.”
My hands dropped to my lap. “I thought were having the Big Talk now.”
“Yes, we were, but the Dark One—”
“Thomas.” Tessa cut him off, voice cracking like a whip.
“Dark what?” The vampires ignored me, frozen in place like seated statues while they conversed mind-to-mind. I tried to bust in, but didn’t know how to crack their mental armor.
Secrets, more damn secrets. Enough of the exclusion. “Basta.” I pushed to my feet. Dizziness struck and black spots edged my vision. I wobbled but managed to stay upright.
“What happened to ‘we lose the night, cara mia, we must tell you everything’?” I produced my best Thomas imitation. They rewarded me with exasperated stares.
I huffed. “I’m not a child, so stop treating me like I’ll break every time I learn something new. Or old, or, oh,
you know what I’m getting at.”
“Sit, child,” Jonas ordered.
“I’m not—”
“Sit.” Jonas’s power shoved me down next to him.
Faith tried to hold my hand, but I waved her off. “I can handle it, you know. And I understood most of Faith’s vision. Well, up until the transfigure-whatever and bloody rituals.”
Roland handed me another hot toddy.
I sipped it in autopilot while I watched the vampires. The toddy was heavy on the brandy, warming and numbing at the same time. If I were home and feeling this loopy, I’d wander to the backyard to soak in our hot tub. When not at my club, we spent a lot of time out back after hours, relaxing in the hot water, drinking sake, watching the stars—or the fog—and chatting quietly so as not to disturb our neighbors.
It was a nice life. Or had been, anyway. I don’t know what my life looks like now. No road back, Faith had said. But did I have to lose everything when moving forward?
I hoped not.
The skin at my nape tingled. All eyes targeted me. I must’ve missed something.
Thomas narrowed his green eyes. “Did you hear me?” Displeasure tainted his tone.
I shrugged. Resisting the urge to sass them proved difficult. The alcohol was to blame, but I also disliked the kid treatment. Even if they were hundreds—or thousands—of years older than me.
“Okay, no, I didn’t. I’m sorry.” Not a shred of sincerity colored my reply.
Thomas’s expression darkened. I crossed my arms and sniffed.
“Let me try,” Faith interjected.
“Sure. Why don’t you tell me so Thomas doesn’t burst an angry vein.” Snarky. I didn’t care.
Stella suppressed a laugh. Thomas and Jonas hit me with twin stern stares.
“I can’t talk about the past or the Dark—” she glanced at the vampires, “um, evil, but Alexander will be here soon.”
I perked up at her words.
“Before he arrives you need to know what I saw of the future.”
“If you say destiny one more time,” I warned.
Haven Page 14
