by Myers, J. L.
“You,” Kendrick coughed, staring at Marcus. “You intended to bond with Amelia? To be bound to her in life and eventually in death—for all eternity?”
“What?” Kendrick’s thoughts were rushing through my head, too fast, too muddled to make sense of.
Marcus released my hand and turned to the doorway with a shoulder-lifting sigh. “Even in death, a spirit blood bond cannot be severed.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
As Marcus turned away I heard a clatter. Something rolled across the uneven stone floor. He moved in a flash, swooping before reaching the doorway. “We have to go, now. I intercepted the guards on my way down and compelled them away. Caius was already gone, but it won’t be too long before he realizes something’s gone astray.”
After a fleeting look at the dank chamber that could have been my final resting place, we rushed after Marcus. Our shoes splashed through an inch of foul-smelling water in the shadow-darkened tunnel. It was so rank I had to fight the urge to gag. That smell was never coming out of my Vans.
After a string of labyrinth twists and turns, Marcus disappeared into a dark recess in the tunnel. It was one of many recesses we had already passed. A loud protesting creak of weakened metal echoed past us. Marcus had begun climbing a rickety, spiraling staircase. Kendrick’s hand found mine and he pulled me onward. The rusted stairs protested louder with high-pitched squeals. I cringed. Good luck sneaking out of this place unseen or unheard.
Before I could dwell on the complication, trepidation channeled through my heart, elevating its beat to marathon speed. The feeling wasn’t my own, but Kendrick’s, except not for this moment. I could see through his eyes and feel the fear that stole his breath on receiving my dire text. He had raced downstairs after searching my room and burst into Caius’s office.
For a moment, I wondered if he’d somehow figured out that Caius had been behind my disappearance. But no. He’d instinctively gone there hoping Caius would be able to help find me. Of course he’d found no one. We had already disappeared below.
Defeated, Kendrick had turned to leave. If finding me meant searching the entire castle and its surrounding grounds, he’d do it. But then he paused. The room’s light had caught on something that reflected a pure-white flash of light. He spun back, eyes dropping to the source of light and finding the diamond-cut paperweight. Its tip was smeared with blood. More blood spattered across the wooden floorboards to disappear beneath the edge of the Persian rug.
My breath had turned sharp and shallow and I fought to steady it. Kendrick’s hand tightened over mine. He was about to ask what was wrong, but then he knew, feeling his way through my thoughts. My free hand rose to the bruised spot on my temple. I remembered the moment pain had pierced my skull, rendering me unconscious.
A stream of light from above forced my attention from Kendrick’s memories, slamming me back into the present. Marcus had edged open the trap door and was now scanning through the crack. Nervous sweat dampened my palms.
“It’s clear.” Marcus flicked us a backward glance before throwing open the hinged door.
I sucked in a breath as we stepped up and into the center of Caius’s office. The room was, as Marcus had declared, ‘clear’. Not a single object seemed out of place. The leather-topped desk was its usual mess of skewed papers and folders. The blood that had dripped from my head and patterned the wooden floor had been wiped clean. The diamond paperweight had also been repositioned atop the desk. It was now free of any damning remnants of my spilled blood.
“What now?” I asked. In all truth I wanted nothing more than to escape the Armaya and its surrounding grounds for good. But I couldn’t. We couldn’t. Not yet.
“You think we can find a clue?” Kendrick asked, retracing his steps back to me from the door. From the uncomfortable prickle in my head, I could tell he’d read my thoughts. Now he understood my hesitation.
“A clue for what?” Marcus questioned glancing from Kendrick to me. “You know there really isn’t any time.”
Your gift of eternal life will grant me the stepping stone I require to save—.
Caius had said the words when he thought I’d never live to contemplate them. Now I couldn’t ignore the threat. There was a hidden meaning behind Caius’s cut-off admission. It was clear that taking my life was just the beginning. But what would taking my life help him save? Would immortality ensure his ability to rule forever? That is the ultimate desire of an evil mastermind, isn’t it? Power, eternal life…
“Caius is planning something.” I moved behind the desk and began rifling through the stack of papers. “Immortality was just the beginning.”
“Planning what?” Marcus eyed me then shifted his weight, glancing at the door to the hallway.
“I don’t know, exactly.” I shoved the remaining folders from the desk, frustrated at only finding minute records from boring council meetings.
Kendrick had begun sifting through one of the mahogany bookshelves. “And we need to figure out,” he said throwing me a quick glance, “how your blood could grant Caius immortality.” His next words were mute, for my recognition only. Kendrick may have accepted Marcus’s explanation, but he still had reservations about his motives in all of this. How it’s possible that you possess The Sight.
There was a mental prompt to keep my mouth zipped on revealing my ability. I was about to question it when Marcus dug into his pocket. He pulled out a folded piece of paper and handed it to me. “These are the only immortals I’ve ever heard of.”
Kendrick, intrigued and suspicious, moved from the bookcase to stare over my shoulder. The parchment paper was thin and delicate, inscribed with a scrawl of handwritten cursive. It wasn’t addressed or signed.
‘The damned are evolving, and I fear we may lose control.’
“Where did you get this?” Kendrick narrowed his eyes at Marcus accusingly. “I thought the damned were hunted to extinction.”
Marcus mocked insult. “I found it during one of my snoops. It was jammed behind the top drawer in Caius’s desk. And,” he added, “I too believed the damned were extinct.”
Acid crept up my throat. Just the word damned brought pulsing coldness to my heart that threatened to spread like poison throughout my entire body. I swallowed as a memory rose to the surface. “The diary of Uriel Aswind….” I turned to Marcus, disbelieving. “You were the last person to check it out from the library.”
“You ripped out the pages?” Kendrick accused Marcus, recalling my memories just as I did.
Marcus’s looked incensed. “You still don’t trust me? Even after everything I’ve done for you.” When Kendrick and I remained silent, he moved to me. His fingers curled around my hand that clutched the note. A slight spark of electricity tickled my skin. “This note is not the first time I have heard current mention of the damned.” He released my hand. “You tend to pick up things when someone believes they can to compel you to forget. And you are right. Caius is planning something, but apart from being linked to the damned in some way, I have no idea what that something is.”
“Then we have to go to The Council,” I blurted, tension rising up my neck. “Tell them what Caius did to me, and show them the note.”
“No!” Marcus and Kendrick barked in unison.
Marcus motioned to the door mumbling at Kendrick, “You explain it to her.”
Kendrick tilted his head and grasped me by the elbow, forcing me from the room. The hallway was still strangely unlit, and bar the three of us with our quick, sloshing footsteps, it appeared vacated.
“Explain what?” I demanded feeling irritated by their childlike treatment of me. This situation had as much to do with me as it did either of them, if not more. Shouldn’t I have a say?
They’ll never believe us, Kendrick’s thoughts merged inside my head. We have no proof.
“We have the note,” I corrected as we climbed the stairs. With my free arm I drew back my long matted hair from my neck. “And we have these.” I knew the bite marks had already close
d up. But through Kendrick’s quick glance, I could see white scarring as well as drying, smudged blood. The proof of my punctured flesh was there. “My blood must have marked the ground in that cell, a cell that Caius has access to. Plus there are three of us against one. They’ll have to believe us.”
We entered my room after Marcus who was now on his mobile, barking commands into the speaker. “Have my car fueled and ready in two minutes.”
“Look Amelia,” Kendrick said gripping my upper arms with curled fingers. “I want to tell them. You know I do. But the note wasn’t addressed to Caius. It’s not irrefutable proof. Besides, those tunnels and cells are the catacombs, old ruins of torture chambers and guardian quarters. Abandoned ever since the War of the Races. There are at least a dozen secret entries to the tunnels.” He sighed and released my arms. “At most, all we have is hearsay. It’s our word against one of the most revered reigning Pure Bloods. No one will ever believe us.”
With a deep sigh, I shrugged. The argument was over, and I knew I’d lost. “So what now?”
Marcus returned to our sides and hung up his mobile. His lips thinned with smile. “It time you both went home.”
Back upstairs we change our soiled clothes and quickly packed our belongings. I chucked out my ruined Vans with a sigh. Better them than me. Then I joined Kendrick in chugging down a few bottles of blood. It still wasn’t enough, but right now it’d have to do.
Marcus took my bag and warily escorted us from the castle to a shiny, black Rolls Royce. A motorbike would have been a cooler getaway, but I wasn’t about to argue and slow us down. I just wanted to get moving, the sooner the better.
It was still daylight. The brilliant globe was high in the sky, casting warm radiance over the horizons rolling mountains. In vampire terms it was night, the light hours that all vampires apart from me avoided.
Marcus moved to the driver’s side window, speaking to the chauffeur under his breath. Kendrick, now wearing beige cargo pants and a polo shirt, jumped into the backseat and scooted into the tinted windows’ cover. For just a few seconds before his retreat, I experienced something for the very first time. Through the otherworldly bond we shared, I actually felt what it was like to have the sunlight kissing a vampire’s naked flesh. It was warmer than I had expected. A growing heat that sent crawling tingles up my arms and across my face. It was a little uncomfortable. Still, compared to the agony of being drained alive, it was tolerable. Like an almost welcome sensation that showed me what it was like to be ordinary, as ordinary as any vampire could be. Sweat began to bead along my brow and above my upper lip. It was another reminder that I was still alive.
A gripping hand caught my wrist and hauled me into the backseat. You will never be ordinary. Kendrick smiled, lacing his fingers through mine. To me, you are and always will be, extraordinary.
“Ahem,” Marcus interrupted, poking his head through the open back door. He removed his pea coat and hurled it at me. “Use it as a pillow, if you want.”
A frozen wince was painted across his face. I wondered if the sun across the exposed flesh between his hairline and collared shirt caused the expression. But he didn’t flinch, rush his words, or try in any way to evade the light.
“My driver will deliver you both to Anchorage International. Your tickets home will be waiting.” On seeing my confused frown Marcus waved me off. “Don’t worry. I compelled him. He won’t remember whom he’s transporting. He won’t even remember leaving…”
“No, not that,” I cut him off. “Aren’t you coming?”
Marcus shook his head. His hair caught the sunlight and gleamed like spun white gold. “No. Caius doesn’t know I had anything to do with you surviving, or your escape.” A resigned smile tugged at his lips, revealing pearly white teeth. “Besides, my life is here. And you’ll both need someone to keep an eye on Caius. I can give you a heads up if he decides to come after you.”
“But—” I began to argue but stopped. Kendrick’s clasp on my hand had tightened.
“Marcus is right,” Kendrick said. But I questioned his motive, feeling a slither of jealousy for the connection I felt to Marcus.
A long, drawn-out sigh blew from my lips. Kendrick’s ulterior motives aside, I ached not to leave Marcus. I wanted to figure out and understand this connection we shared, but I couldn’t deny logic. This decision was best for all of us. My hand broke Kendrick’s hold and I threw my arms around Marcus’s neck. A ripple of possessiveness surged through me, Kendrick’s. I ignored the irritation and squeezed my arms around Marcus tighter. “Thank you, for everything.”
Before I was ready to let go, Marcus wriggled out of my grasp. He reached into the inside pocket of his discarded pea coat across the back seat. Then he hesitated. “Now, remember. Everything I did was to help you.” He pulled out a manila folder that had been folded in half and handed it over.
An amalgamation of events filtered to the surface of my mind. Without opening the front cover, I knew exactly what lay heavy in my hands. It was the same manila folder I had found in the library over a week ago. The inside pages held detailed events of my life.
“You compelled me to forget.” The words I spoke held no accusation, just the strain of confusion.
A tense smile thinned Marcus’s pale lips. “I know. But I hope it will help you discover who you are and the secrets of your past.”
With a frown Marcus straightened, swung the car door shut and tapped on the roof. Instantly the Rolls took off, tires skidding over the cobblestone lane. The castle’s great walls and reaching towers shrunk, disappearing into the distance. The weight, a pressing bolder against my chest, began to lift. I hated the thought of leaving Marcus behind. Still the guys had been right. It was safer for Marcus to stay. The double-edged sword was that we needed him be our eyes and ears, our warning of approaching threat.
I shrugged into Marcus’s pea coat and settled into the comfortable leather backseat of the Rolls Royce. Lush green and snow-topped rolling mountains passed by. A running stream snaked in and out of the mountainous terrain. Sometimes it disappeared completely. Then minutes later it would reappear, running almost adjacent to the beaten, gravel road. Humming the Three Days Grace song ‘Now or never’, I knew our lives had changed. Our future and innocence would never be the same. I had been weak and unaware, an easy pick. Never again.
“So, are you going to open that?” Kendrick asked, disrupting my resolution. He was staring intensely at the manila folder that sat heavy in my hands.
The memory of its contents burned into my mind. Kendrick of course knew with my own recollection what I had originally discovered inside the cover. Most of the contents had been recapped events detailing my life. Then there was the photo of Caius cradling two infants. And lastly the recipe Marcus had used to poison me. Through our blood’s bond I could feel a stream of anticipation coiling through Kendrick’s chest. He was dying to lay his eyes on the information. To see if it could shed any light on why Caius believed my blood would make him immortal. To know how the affinity for spirit could reside within my body and soul.
But I couldn’t bear to open the cover, not yet. Resolution or not, it was all too much. After everything that had happened and after almost dying, it was a miracle that I wasn’t stark-raving mad. The fact that I was maintaining an exterior air of control was amazing. But that was the outside. Inside I felt raw to the bone, filled with self-doubt. A gripping pain stung my heart. It had been growing ever since my awakening. I had tried to ignore it, to push it aside, to only focus on our escape. But the thought of Ty had never fully left my mind. A choking sob constricted my throat.
Kendrick hauled me against his side, rubbing a broad hand up and down my arm. “We’ll worry about it later. There’s no rush.” He reached into his pocket and handed me his iPhone.
“What’s this for?” I asked, already knowing the answer.
Kendrick shrugged and turned his head. He peered blankly out the window at the thickening green and white rush of snow-veiled forestry. “So
you can call him.”
Needing to hear Ty’s voice almost more than I needed to breath, I snatched the phone and dialed his number. With every passing ring my heart dropped. Then the ringing stopped and everything fell silent.
After the longest moment of heart-racing suspense, Ty’s hesitant voice finally answered, “Hello?”
“Ty, it’s me. It’s Amelia.”
A long exhale sounded, followed by a moment of nerve-racking silence. “What do you want?”
My pierced heart sank to the depths of my twisting stomach. In our last conversation I had declared that I didn’t want or love him anymore. I had metaphorically ripped out his beating heart with sharp-nailed fingers. He may have been concerned enough to call Dorian afterward, but his anger over what I had put him through was unmistakable. “I have so much to tell you.” My vision blurred. “And I need you to know… I’m sorry.”
Next to me Kendrick’s inner angst reared its ugly head. He could hear every heartfelt thought I wanted to blurt out, and feel every intense emotion I was experiencing. The desperate need to reaffirm my undying love for Ty was clear as day. And the total fear that stole my breath at possibly having lost him forever confirmed it all.
“You’re telling me this, why?” Ty’s voice was utterly emotionless.
Every part of me ached to put his mind at ease. But I knew I couldn’t. Not now. Not like this. And especially not with Kendrick right beside me, filling my head with his not-so-latent jealousy. I choked on my words. “We’re coming home.”
“I thought your home was there,” Ty goaded.
“No! That place will never be my home.” My free hand curled around my disheveled hair and tugged. Without chocolate I needed to do something to distract me from bursting into tears. “Ty, I made a mistake.”
“What does that mean?” Still his voice held no emotion.
“The dream… I didn’t mean what I said, none of it. I still…” The words, I love you, died on my tongue as I fought back a blubbering sob. I cleared my throat and blinked my vision clear. “I can’t explain now, but I will, as soon as we’re back.”
