by Rye Brewer
Especially not Anissa.
I gave her what I hoped was a smile that would put her mind at ease. “Rest assured I’m all right. There’s nothing to worry about.”
As a second thought, I turned to where I’d first fallen into the room. The portal was gone. Fane hadn’t followed me through. How would I find him again?
21
Philippa
It took less than half an hour before Vance and I reached the cathedral at the League of Vampires. It felt like I had just been there, maybe because I had. And there was Gage, sneaking in after I had already left. He never had great timing, my brother.
The spires of the cathedral climbed toward the sky, and from the many windows lining the great building came a soft glow.
“Someone’s in there,” I murmured as Vance and I approached.
“Of course,” he chuckled. “Somebody’s always in there. There’s at least one guard on duty at all times.”
“How will we get in if they’re watching I don’t think we can simply walk up and knock. Or can we?”
He snickered. “No. I don’t think that would be a good idea. Come on. I have a better way.”
Instead of leading me to the front entrance, which we’d used for the meeting, Vance snuck around the side of the building to a series of windows along the back. It must have been a basement of some sort when the building was used for its original intention.
“We’re breaking in?” I asked, shocked.
“Not exactly.” He bent down and, with the tip of one finger, delivered a series of taps against the glass.
As if by magic, the window swung open.
“After you,” he said, motioning to the opening.
“You want me to go in through there?” I wasn’t exactly keen on sliding in through a dirty, dusty old window. I might have been head of the clan and had to give up partying, but I still liked looking nice. Or not like a hobo, at least.
“Yeah, I do. If you want to see your brother again.”
When I looked down again with a frown, I heard him sigh.
“Here. Wear this. Girls are the worst sometimes.” He took off his hoodie.
I couldn’t take my eyes off his strong, broad body as he handed it over.
I wrapped it around my waist, covering my legs and butt to protect my clothes before sliding through the window and into the basement. I heard Vance following me.
There was a figure in the shadows, one I recognized.
“Gage.” I rushed to him, nearly crashing into him as I threw my arms around his neck. “I would appreciate it if you never did anything like this again. All right?”
He hugged me back, but it was brief.
I felt the hesitation in him and knew there was plenty for him to tell me.
I turned to Vance, who waited by the window. “I think Gage and I should talk alone,” I murmured.
He seemed annoyed, like he wanted me to thank him or at least give him the chance to hear what my brother had to say, but I didn’t owe him anything. He climbed back out of the window.
“No, no, it can’t be here. I don’t trust this place.” Gage glanced around.
I wondered if he was becoming a little paranoid. He had a haunted look about him. Well, could I blame him? He knew he was in danger. Exactly how much danger, only he knew.
“Where should we go?” I whispered.
“Away. To the forest. Anywhere.” He helped me out through the window then followed me.
We went far into the woods, miles away from the cathedral until it was nothing more than a dot on the horizon. It didn’t take long using our natural speed, though I was already weakened from coursing to the cathedral.
“All right,” I said when he stopped. “I think we’re safe out here, don’t you?”
“I don’t know where I’m safe,” he admitted, fear in his voice. It felt like a hand clutched my heart and squeezed tight.
“What do you mean? What’s happening?” I took him by the shoulders, staring up into his face. “I don’t understand. You run off, and then you tell me you’re afraid. Afraid of what? Why do you need to go to Lucian for protection?” I stepped away, suddenly understanding more than I did before. “What have you done that you need protecting?”
“I didn’t do anything,” he insisted. “Nothing, except find out more than I should have.”
“About what? You know I don’t like it when you’re cryptic like this. We don’t have much time.”
He nodded. “I know.”
“So, what is it? What do you know?”
He turned away, hands in his pockets. “You know about my group.” He seemed to shudder a little when he said it.
“Yes,” I whispered. “I saw it.”
“So you know how vicious it was?”
“I do. I would run, too, if that happened to my group.”
“I’m scared I’ll be next.”
“I don’t blame you, but you can’t stay here forever. What happens if you’re discovered? What happens if Lucian doesn’t want to involve himself any longer? I mean, if it’s the Carvers doing this…”
He stiffened at the mention of the Carver name.
I watched him closely and took note of the way he wouldn’t face me. “Why are you looking away?”
“I’m not.”
“You are. Turn around and face me, then.”
When he didn’t, I knew.
“You’re holding something back, aren’t you?”
“No.”
“Yes, you are. There’s something you’re not telling me.”
“Maybe it’s for the best that I don’t.”
I growled. “This is ridiculous. You’re still a Bourke and you’re still my brother, and I’m still head of the clan. I want you to tell me what it is you know. I’m tired of you keeping secrets and skulking around. All you’re doing is putting the rest of us in a bad position by keeping things to yourself. Don’t play the hero, telling yourself you’re only doing it for my good. Because I’m not going to stop trying to help you.”
“You should. You shouldn’t be here.” He glanced up at the sky, breathing hard.
“Too late. Now tell me.”
He waited a long time, but I would always outwait him when it came to getting what I wanted. “I’m not here to get protection from Lucian,” he finally admitted.
“Why are you, then?”
He peered over his shoulder at me. “I’m here to kill him.”
I gasped, throwing my hands over my mouth. “Do you know what you’re saying?” I hissed when I was finally able to speak again.
“Yes, I do.”
“You’re honestly telling me you’re here to kill the head of the North American vampires? The most powerful vampire we know? The head of the League of Vampires? You’re going to kill him?” I was barely whispering, barely moving my mouth. No wonder he’d wanted to get so far away from headquarters before speaking with me.
“Yes. That’s what I’m telling you.”
“But why? I don’t understand.” I wrapped my arms around myself, suddenly much colder than the breeze sweeping over me. I felt alone in the middle of the barren trees, even with my brother there with me.
“No, you don’t, and that’s why it would be better if you didn’t know.”
“No way. You don’t get to do that.” I walked around him, looking up into his face. “And stop turning away from me. I need to know now. You can’t say something like that and not explain why. I need to know you haven’t lost your mind, Gage.”
“I haven’t. I’m saner than I’ve ever been in my life.”
“So why, then? Why?”
“Because he set the Great Fire and blamed our parents.”
I took a step back. Would there ever be an end to the horror he was sharing with me? If this was what being clan leader was all about, he could have it. I didn’t want it.
“No,” I whispered. My mind refused to believe it. I couldn’t entertain the idea of Lucian doing something like that to anybody, but espe
cially not to my parents.
He nodded, a grim smile on his face. “That’s how I felt when I first found out. I remember how horrified I was. I was sure he would never do anything like that. Not Lucian. Everybody loves and respects him, right?”
“Right.”
“It’s an act.” His smile turned into a sneer. “He’s evil, wicked. A liar. He uses others and manipulates them.”
“But why our parents?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I only know they’re gone because of what he did. When it became clear he had framed them, they ran. They had to, don’t you see? It was the safest thing for us, the kids.”
“Did he kill them?” I whispered, and tears sprang to my eyes when I thought about them.
My handsome father. My beautiful mother. I hadn’t seen them in decades. One day, they were gone. No explanation. No goodbyes.
“I don’t know. Who knows what really happened?”
“But there’s a chance they’re alive, and they ran because of the fire? To protect us?” I couldn’t help hoping.
“Like I said, there’s no way of telling… but that’s not the point. The point is, it was Lucian, and it was a deliberate move. And I know he slaughtered my guys, too, or sent the ones who did. He’s behind everything, don’t you get it? He holds all the strings and controls us all like puppets.” He slammed his fist into his palm again and again. “I have to do something. I need him dead.”
“No, Gage. You must have the wrong information.”
Not only did I not want to believe Lucian—Vance’s father—could have done it, but I didn’t want to encourage Gage on what was nothing more than a suicide mission. There was no way he could get close to the great vampire, not with the way he protected himself. Lucian could see three steps ahead, everybody said. I didn’t know if he could read minds or what, but he always foresaw danger and took steps to prevent it from touching him.
“I have the right information. Don’t worry.”
“How? How did you find out?”
“No. You don’t get to know that. The less you know, the better—I’ve already told you too much as it is.” He turned away, shaking his head.
He paced the perimeter of the little clearing we’d stopped in. The crisscrossing branches overhead allowed in a little bit of starlight here and there. The sky was still deep black, which told me I had plenty of time before dawn. But how long would it take to convince my brother he was wrong and should come home with me, or at least give up his crazy plans?
“I can’t have you doing this,” I whispered. There was a plea in my voice, desperation. I couldn’t let him take his life in his hands. “Please, Gage. Tell me you’ll give this up and come with me. I’ll protect you.”
“Nobody can protect me.” He stopped pacing and glared at me from across the clearing. “The entire reason I came to him for help was to convince him I didn’t know he was behind it. I want him to think I trust him. If he does, he won’t suspect me. Get it?”
“I get it. You don’t have to explain. But that doesn’t make it a good idea.” I ran my hands through my hair, my mind racing. What could I say to get him to give it up? I couldn’t let him get himself killed over some crazy theory, which was basically all he had to share with me up to this point. A theory. There was no proof. There couldn’t be. Not Lucian. Not Vance’s father.
“I never said you had to help me,” he muttered.
I had never felt so helpless in my life. It was like standing back to watch somebody willfully kill himself. He wouldn’t listen to a word I had to say.
He stared at the ground. “How’s Jonah?” he asked in a quiet, almost soft, voice.
“I don’t know. He’s gone.”
“Gone?” He looked up at me, questions in his eyes.
I nodded. “He went away. With the half-breed.”
He nodded. “That’s good for him. Probably better he’s not part of this.” He walked to me, took my hands in his. “I need you.”
“Me? For what?”
“To join me in the war against Lucian.”
“No.”
“Clan versus clan. We have the power. We have the bodies. We’re strong. We can band together.”
“No, I said. It’s suicide. Don’t you get it?” I could tell from the half-crazed appearance in his eyes he didn’t.
It was too late to get him to listen to reason.
22
Jonah
What is this place?” I glanced around. The light coming through the open door revealed a little more about the structure of the walls and floor. It was like a tomb. I shivered as I remembered the tombs all around me when I first saw my father again.
No, not my father. I couldn’t think of him that way. He was Fane. I had to think of him as Fane.
I couldn’t run the risk of telling anyone I’d met my father again. If I let anything slip, which I didn’t plan to but it was still possible, I could only refer to him as Fane. I had to get in the habit.
Fane. Fane. Fane. I repeated it in my head as if it were a mantra.
“It’s somewhere far away from where you were.” Marianelle was very good at answering questions without actually answering them. She knew precisely the words to use.
What would Fane do? I told myself to stop thinking about him—I didn’t want anyone there to know I had been with him, not even Anissa, not when he told me how dangerous it was to be near him or know he was alive. No matter how I tried, though, I couldn’t help but remember what it was like to stand in his presence again. It had been so long. Knowing he was still alive should have been a gift, and it was a gift—one that came with a heavy price, however.
Would he go after Gage? I should’ve asked him where to find Gage. I should’ve asked what Lucian had to do with any of what had happened. Why was he a threat to Gage or any of us? Maybe I should’ve gone with him. I should’ve stayed there.
No. I couldn’t have. Whenever I looked at or touched Anissa and saw the way she stared up at me with so much trust and faith, I knew I couldn’t have gone. Not if it meant being away from her, not knowing where she was or whether or not she was safe. And there wouldn’t have been any way to let her know where I was, either, or what I was doing. She would wonder why I had left her. Talk about an unbearable situation. It would’ve torn me apart—and that wasn’t the optimal mindset to be in when I was trying to help my brother. If he deserved my help.
She was shaking. I touched her shoulder and felt her trembling under my hand. “You’re a mess.”
“Tell me something I don’t know,” she whispered, laughing shakily.
“Here. Let me.” I picked the refuse from her hair—the grime turned her almost white hair to a dull brown—before brushing off her clothes. She had been underground, for sure. There was muck caked in the creases of her neck, the creases of her pants. Inside the tops of her boots—I helped her take them off to shake them out before putting them back on. She turned her pockets out and more dirt shook free.
“What happened to you?” I asked.
Her cheeks reddened. “I need to get cleaned up, for sure.”
“You still look good to me,” I murmured as I ran a hand over her filthy, dusty hair.
Even caked with dirt as she was, she seemed to glow with a sort of incandescence. I couldn’t keep from staring at her, the way a moth was drawn to a flame. She was my flame. I had to protect her.
“Even so, I would feel much better if I were cleaner,” she murmured. Her eyes were wide, reminding me of a rabbit in a trap. Like she didn’t know what to expect next.
Neither did I.
“I understand that.” There was also my need to be alone with her. Was there anywhere we could be truly alone—especially since she was, in essence, a flight risk? Would Steward take the chance of leaving us on our own again?
I noticed how cold he was toward Marianelle, and how much she seemed to revel in the way he looked at her. She was toying with him. I wasn’t sure I wanted to know what was going on between the
two of them. Regardless of what it was, he seemed a little distracted.
And Allonic—well, I didn’t know the story with him. Only that he seemed to hover around Anissa. I would have to keep an eye on him. What were his real intentions? It was clear Anissa and I had a lot of catching up to do, even after spending what was really a short amount of time apart.
I especially wanted to tell her what happened on the other side of the portal. No, I couldn’t tell her the specific details. Only that I had met the infamous Fane. She would know who he was. Everyone did. I would tell her Fane knew where my brother was, but that I hadn’t had the chance to get the information from him before he transported me back to where I’d come from.
It didn’t matter what I wanted to tell her if we never made it back to somewhere we could be alone. I felt the presence of the others very acutely. Marianelle managed to pry her eyes from Steward long enough to shoot me a knowing look. She was the only one who knew exactly where I had been and exactly who I’d been with.
Or was she?
Allonic seemed to be giving me a knowing look, too. Almost like he knew exactly what was happening inside my head, or at least like he could get a feel for it. How was that possible? Could he feel all others, not just his sister? What an unnerving thought.
I turned to the witch. “How can I get a hold of you when I need to return?”
“Return where?” she asked. “Or should I say, to whom?”
“Enough of your games. We both know he wouldn’t be happy if he knew you were playing them with me.”
Anissa’s hand slid into mine. “We all know who you’re talking about.”
“You do?” My head snapped around in her direction.
She nodded. “Yes. Allonic told us that was where you were going—to meet with Fane.” She squeezed my hand, but I could hardly feel it. There was too much going on inside to process minute by minute.
“At any rate,” I managed to sputter, wondering how much danger Anissa was in by knowing who I’d been with. “How do I find you?”
